Top Stories: Things that made news in the cricket world today

No place for Rishabh Pant in the ODI team right now, feels Gautam Gambhir

• With the Cricket World Cup 2019 fast-approaching, the players are fighting hard for the spots in the Indian team.
• From the number four position, the back-up wicket-keeper to the all-rounder, there is still certain ambiguity about these positions.
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West Indies-born pacer Jofra Archer on England radar for World Cup

• It’s not too far away for the 10 teams set to compete in the upcoming ICC World Cup to come up with their respective squads.
• Even though the sides are still engaged in last-minute engagement to decide on the final picks for the mega event, one news emerged from the camp of hosts England, also considered among the favourites to lift this year’s trophy.
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I am really looking forward to meeting Kohli, having a chat with him: Shubman Gill

• It was exactly a year ago that talented young batsman Shubman Gill had made a mark with his bat in the Under19 World Cup in New Zealand.
• The 19-year-old is back in the same country, thanks to the plan that fate had for him.
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KL Rahul has the capability of becoming the next big thing in Indian cricket: Sunil Gavaskar

• KL Rahul struggled for form throughout 2018, as he lost his place in the team. With the likes of Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Aggarwal coming up, the Indian opener will find it tough to get back into the Test team.
• His problems have increased after going on the talk show, Koffee with Karan with his teammate Hardik Pandya.
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How the upcoming Test series results would impact ICC Test team rankings?

• India continued to remain at the top of the list in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) ranking for teams in Tests, thanks to their 2-1 victory over Australia on their soil recently.
• In the ranking of the batsmen, Indian captain Virat Kohli also maintained the lead to be the world’s best while Cheteshwar Pujara moved into the top three, again thanks to his splendid form Down Under.
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Effort will be to stop Virat Kohli, says Kane Williamson ahead of the first ODI

• India are set to kick off the tour of the final SENA country on Wednesday when they take on New Zealand in the first of the five ODIs at McLean Park in Napier.
• Besides being a clash between two of the world’s top three ODI teams, this series will also be a witness to two talented captains – who are also among the finest of the batsmen from their respective sides – Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli.
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PSL 2019: Trying to recreate the IPL sensation, PCB turns to rapper Pitbull

• Six years after the Indian Premier League had international rapper-singer Pitbull perform in one of its grandest opening ceremonies, Pakistan Cricket Board hopes to recreate the same sort of excitement for the fourth edition of PSL.
• In almost every aspect of the league, PCB has been trying to emulate BCCI‘s strategies regarding IPL, which makes sense given the latter has gone on to become one of the richest and most famous sporting events in the world.
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Virat Kohli is the best batsman at the moment, says Zaheer Abbas

• Indian captain Virat Kohli is just 11 centuries short of becoming the world’s topmost ton-gatherer in the ODIs and with his side set to play a whole lot of 50-over games in the coming months, including the World Cup, it is very likely that the ace batsman will scale the peak in a foreseeable time.
• The belief that Virat Kohli will smash major records of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar (he has already started breaking some) is harboured by millions of fans and several former players and now former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas has also reiterated the same.
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IPL 2019: BCCI to set up its own anti-corruption unit to handle menace

• Following the increased cases of corruption and match-fixing, India’s apex cricket governing body, BCCI, has decided to take the matter wholly in its hands by setting its own anti-corruption unit (ACU) for the 12th edition of the cash-rich tournament that starts on March 23.
• The Indian cricket board, in earlier editions of IPL, had shaken hands with International Cricket Council‘s ACU to look into the corruption in the tournament and paid cricket’s governing body hefty amounts for the job.
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Australia name two new vice-captains for the Test series against Sri Lanka

• The Australian cricket is clearly in doldrums with two of their best players not playing.
• After losing the four-match Test series to India at home for the first time in 71 years, they will be looking to make amends by winning against Sri Lanka.
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Australia vs Sri Lanka: Disappointed Matthew Wade questions the criteria to get picked in the Test team

• After their disappointing loss to India in the Test series at home, Australia made some changes to their squad for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka starting Wednesday but in-form wicket-keeper-batsman Matthew Wade failed to make the cut yet again.
• The 31-year-old was clearly dejected for not having found a berth and said he, along with other players, were not sure about the criteria for selection in the national side.
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Virat Kohli becomes the first player ever to win all the three major ICC awards

• Virat Kohli has become the first player in history to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year, the ICC Men’s Test Player of the Year and the ICC ODI Player of the Year awards following an extraordinary 2018.
• Not only is Kohli the first player to win these three major ICC awards together but he has also been named the captain of the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year for a fabulous run in international cricket.
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Krunal Pandya comes up with an incredible gesture for hospitalised ex-India cricketer Jacob Martin

• Help continues to pour in for former India and Baroda batsman Jacob Martin who is fighting for his life in hospital.
• The latest cricketer to come forward to Martin’s aid is none other than India allrounder Krunal Pandya.
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