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IPL 2022: Itinerant cricketers Karthik, de Kock, Miller, Saha relishing new challenges at new teams

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It’s never easy for a cricketer to join a new team and start performing straightway especially in a high-pressure and competitive tournament like IPL but there are exceptional players like Dinesh Karthik, Quinton de Kock, Mitchell Marsh and others, who have adjusted to the new environment quite nicely and have become a vital cog in the success of their respective franchises.
hree big superstars of Indian cricket — Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore), MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings) and Rohit Sharma (Mumbai Indians) are players who have been synonymous with their respective IPL teams and they have also made immensense contribution in the growth and popularity of the leagues.

However, there are many players who have not been able to find permanent homes for themselves in the cash-rich league. Usually, they have moved from one team to another after a season or two due to various reasons like poor form, injury or because of not fitting in the scheme of things.

Most often, these cricketers have found it difficult to adjust to the new management, culture, environment and different playing conditions. But like every other thing, there are few exceptions here as well. In the ongoing season of IPL 2022, there are many experienced campaigners, who are representing new teams, but in a very short span of time, they have become match winners for them.

A look at the brief journey of these players at the IPL:

Dinesh Karthik

The 36-year old Karthik, is a veteran campaigner in the IPL and has been involved in all the editions of the league since the inaugural 2008 season.

The wicket-keeper batter has represented six teams over the course of his IPL career. He started off with Delhi Daredevils in 2008 before moving to Kings XI Punjab in 2011. He spent the following two seasons with Mumbai Indians before going back to Delhi in 2014. RCB bagged him in 2015 and he played for Gujarat Lions in 2016 and 2017 before spending four seasons with KKR.

Ahead of the 2022 edition of the league, Karthik was released by KKR and was bought by RCB for Rs 5.5 crore in the mega Auction. This will be Karthik’s second stint with RCB after the 2015 season and it seems, he was saving his best for IPL 2022. When the wicket-keeper was playing for RCB in 2015, it was a completely different set-up and Karthik too has upgraded his batting style since then.

The veteran, who has IPL career tally of 4320 runs in 225 matches, is doing a finisher’s job for the RCB and scored 274 runs in 12 matches with an superb strike-rate of 200.00, this season. Cricket fans are highly impressed by Karthik’s heroics with the bat and want him to be a part of the Indian team for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. If RCB manage to reach the playoffs and eventually want to win the title, they would certainly ‘DK’ at his best in the upcoming matches of the IPL 2022.

Quinton de Kock

De Kock, one of the most exciting wicketkeeper-batters in world cricket, started his IPL journey with Sunrisers Hyderabad and then played for Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the next few seasons. However, his best in IPL came with the Mumbai Indians, where the Proteas cricketer played quickfire knocks at the top and also did a solid job behind the wickets, helping MI win back to back titles in 2019 and 2020.

Despite his impactful contributions, five champions MI, didn’t retain de Kock and even didn’t buy him in the auction. Mumbai’s loss became Lucknow Super Giants’ gain after the new franchise bought the left-hander for Rs 6.75 crore in the IPL 2022 mega auction.

In the ongoing season, de Kock has scored 355 runs in 12 matches and given LSG solid starts along with skipper KL Rahul. His explosive hitting is making things easier for Rahul partners and putting pressure on the opposition.

David Miller

After playing for Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) over a number of years, Miller was bought by Rajasthan Royals ahead of IPL 2020. Despite playing just one game in the IPL 2020, the franchise retained him for the IPL 2021 and he had an average season with the bat.

Known for his ability to single-handedly change the course of the match by hitting huge sixes, Miller was far from his best in the last couple of IPL seasons. But, new franchise Gujarat Titans, who bought him for Rs 3 cr in the mega auction, seem to bring the best out of the Proteas batter.

Gujarat has become the first team to qualify for the playoffs and Miller certainly played a vital role in that. The left-hander has scored 332 in 12 matches and finished matches for GT at most occasions under tremendous pressure. The Hardik Pandya led side would certainly want Miller to maintain his brilliant form in the play-off matches.

Mitchell Marsh

Marsh, who is known for his hard-hitting skills and pace bowling prowess, has played for multiple franchises — Deccan Chargers, Rising Pune Supergiants, Pune Warriors (all three defunct now) and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the previous editions of IPL. However, the Australian has never played for the full season either because of his injuries or bad-form. So, in a way, Indian fans haven’t seen Marsh at his best consistently in the IPL.

The star all-rounder was bought by Delhi Capitals for 6.50 cr in the mega auction and once again he missed half of matches in the IPL 2022 for the franchise due to hip flexor injury and Covid-19. But in his limited number of outings (6 matches), Marsh has scored 188 runs with an strike rate of 134.28 and picked 4 wickets for the DC.

On Wednesday, nearly six months after that surreal innings in the 2021 T20 World Cup final in Dubai, Marsh played a match-winning knock of 89 runs for Delhi against Rajasthan Royals. The Rishab Pant led side have two more league matches to play and inform Marsh could play a pivotal role in their campaign.

Wriddhiman Saha

Athletic wicketkeeper and a more than handy contributor with the bat, Saha has displayed his skills for Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad in earlier editions of IPL. His glovework is second to none and the veteran has tried to make the most of his opportunities with the bat as well while turning up for his respective franchises.

He has been used as an opener in the past by the franchises and Saha has notched up some breezy half centuries in the process, scoring 2324 runs in 140 IPL matches.

A new challenge awaited Saha in Gujarat Titans and so far he has passed the test with flying colours. In the ongoing season, Saha has scored 214 runs in 7 matches, which includes two fifties while batting at the top-order.

Aaron Finch

Kolkata Knight Riders signed Aaron Finch as a replacement for England batter Alex Hales for the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League. The Australian batter, who has played 92 IPL games and has 2091 runs, joined KKR at the price of Rs 1.5 crore.

When it comes to IPL, Finch is no stranger having played for eight other franchises — Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals, Pune Warriors India, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Lions, Punjab Kings, and Royal Challengers Bangalore — since his IPL debut in 2010. KKR is Finch’s ninth IPL franchise and despite his vast experience, the attacking batter has never been consistent with his performances and has most often disappointed the cricket fans and experts.

In the ongoing IPL 2022 as well, Finch has scored just 86 runs in five matches and was dropped for the KKR’s last game against Mumbai Indians.

National News

ACC Locks Asia Cup Trophy With Instructions Of Not Be Handed To Team India Without Mohsin Naqvi’s Presence

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Lahore: The Asia Cup trophy, which was not presented to the victorious Indian team after its refusal to accept it from Asian Cricket Council chief Mohsin Naqvi, has been locked away at the ACC’s Dubai headquarters with “instructions that it should not be moved or handed over” without the Chairman’s approval.

The trophy has been at the ACC office after Naqvi walked away with it from the presentation ceremony following the Indian team’s refusal to accept it from him. India beat Pakistan in the Asia Cup final in Dubai on September 28.

Naqvi is also the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman and the Interior Minister of his country and India-Pakistan tensions have hit a peak after the Pahalgam terror attack.

“As of today the trophy is still in ACC offices in Dubai with clear intructions from Naqvi that it should not be moved or handed over to anyone without his approval and in person presence,” a source close to Naqvi told PTI.

“Naqvi has given clear instructions that only he will hand over the trophy in person (whenever that happens) to the Indian team or BCCI,” he added.

The entire Asia Cup was overshadowed by Indo-Pak hostilities. The Indians refused to shake hands with the arch foes throughout the tournament and players from both sides mocked each other with politically charged gestures.

Naqvi too made political statements on his social media pages.

The BCCI took strong exception to his act of walking away with the trophy and vowed to raise the matter in an ICC meeting next month. It is being widely speculated that a strong move to get Naqvi censured and even removed as Director in the ICC could be made.

“It remains to be seen what will be the long term ramifications for the PCB or Naqvi because the BCCI is clear he (Naqvi) didn’t have any right to insist on handing the trophy himself to the Indian team and refusing to send it to the BCCI who were official hosts of the event,” the source said.

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National News

World Jr C’ships: India beat Korea in quarters to assure first-ever mixed team medal

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Guwahati, Oct 9: India rode on the energy of the vociferous fans and the knowledge of the home conditions to beat Korea and assure themselves of a historic BWF World Junior Mixed Team Championships medal at the National Centre of Excellence, here on Thursday.

The hosts came through a nerve-wracking quarterfinal clash that lasted almost three hours and needed the team to pick themselves up after a heartbreaking reversal in the opening set to beat Korea 44-45, 45-30, 45-33 to set up a semi-final clash against Asian U-19 Mixed Team champions Indonesia, who defeated Chinese Taipei 45-35, 45-35.

The semi-final appearance also assured India of their first-ever mixed-team medal in the history of the BWF World Junior Championships.

The way India had lined-up for the quarterfinals, it was quite clear that they were heavily relying on their singles players to bail them out in case the Koreans made the most of their doubles strength.

The first set went accordingly as Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu went down 5-9 in the first boys’ doubles against Cho Hyeong Woo and Lee Hyeong Woo. The girls’ doubles combination of Vennala K and Reshika U managed to reduce the deficit by one point by beating Cheon Hye In and Moon In Seo 10-9 before Rounak Chouhan brought them within one point by beating Choi Ah Seung 11-9.

However, a 4-9 loss for C Lalramsanga and Aanya Bisht in the mixed doubles against Lee and Cheon meant that Unnati Hooda had to win 15 points before her opponent Kim Han Bi could reach nine. Unnati began strongly by taking a 3-0 lead, but Kim managed to draw level at 6-6, and it felt that the set was slipping from India’s hands.

However, Unnati dug deep, played long rallies to win five straight points to build pressure on her opponent, and then went on to draw level at 44-44. However, her serve on set point landed in the net, and the distraught Unnati just dropped her racquet in despair.

India made two substitutions ahead of the second set, with Lalramsanga replacing Gobburu in boys’ doubles and Vishakha Toppo coming in for Bisht.

Lalramsanga and Bhargav then gave India a positive start with a 9-7 win over Cho and Lee and Vennala and Reshika extended that advantage to six points. India never looked back thereafter and by the time Unnati took the court for the second set, they were already leading by nine points and all she had to do was wrap up the set.

The third set started in the same manner as Lalramsanga and Bhargav gave India a 9-4 lead but Vennala and Reshika ran out of steam after the first 10 points and the Korean combination of Cheon and Moon put their team ahead by two points.

Chouhan then stepped up turned the match decisively in India’s favour with a 11-4 win over Choi and gave India a five point lead. Lalramsanga and Bisht then increased that lead to seven points and Unnati then hammered Kim 9-4 to kick-off the celebrations.

Speaking about the tactical changes in the second set, India’s doubles coach Ivan Sozonov of Russia said the changes were made because he felt Gobburu and Bisht were feeling the pressure of the occasion and they needed to change something to catch the Koreans off-guard. “I am very happy with the way Lalramsanga played and also how Rounak and Unnati handled the pressure,” he added.

Badminton Association of India secretary general Sanjay Mishra was understandably elated as BAI and the team management had set their eyes on winning a mixed-team medal. “The players had been preparing at this very venue for the last few months and we were confident that we could win a medal if they played to their potential. I am very happy that everyone stood up when it mattered today and I am sure they have the ability to beat Indonesia and reach the final,” he added.

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ICC launches Women’s Cricket Week in alignment with World Cup in India

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Dubai, Oct 9: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the launch of the inaugural ICC Women’s Cricket Week, a landmark initiative aimed at promoting and celebrating women’s game globally.

The event will take place from October 16 to 22 in alignment with the ongoing ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025, which is being hosted in India.

The ICC Women’s Cricket Week will be held annually to raise the visibility, participation, and profile of women’s cricket worldwide. The initiative encourages national governing bodies to engage in meaningful and locally relevant ways, ensuring that the celebration of women’s cricket reaches communities in every part of the cricketing world.

ICC Chairman Jay Shah praised the launch as another important milestone in the sport’s evolution, noting the unprecedented momentum surrounding women’s cricket in recent times. “This year has already marked a turning point for women’s cricket, with record-breaking crowds, landmark performances, and an unmistakable sense of momentum building around the game,” Shah said. “The launch of the ICC Women’s Cricket Week is another proud milestone — a celebration not just of the players on the world stage, but of every girl picking up a bat or ball, dreaming of what’s possible. It gives our Members, from Full to Associate, a meaningful opportunity to participate in the global narrative and shape the future of the women’s game in their own communities.”

The initiative was endorsed earlier this year by both the ICC Women’s Cricket Committee and the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee, highlighting the organisation’s enduring commitment to strengthening women’s cricket at all levels. It aligns with the ICC’s wider mission to develop sustainable frameworks that promote participation, leadership, and visibility for women in the sport.

Several Full Members have already committed to the campaign with innovative plans that will run alongside the global celebration. The England and Wales Cricket Board will concentrate on promoting recreational cricket and generating excitement ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026. In South Africa, Cricket South Africa will host a full-day event at the high school of Proteas wicketkeeper Karabo Meso, which will include a panel discussion, mini-cricket matches, and a friendly game featuring former South African players. New Zealand Cricket has already organised a “Mini World Cup” for young girls, aimed at inspiring early engagement with the game.

Many Associate Members have also expressed their support, with their activities focusing on three main areas: community watch parties to unite fans and raise awareness of women’s cricket; educational programmes for female coaches and teachers to tackle the shortage of women leaders in the sport; and women’s participation events such as local festivals and competitions organised under the ICC’s criiio programme.

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