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

Nasser Hussain advises Ben Stokes to pick up another demerit point against West Indies

• Former England international Nasser Hussain has come up with an unusual suggestion for English all-rounder Ben Stokes.
• The active commentator has asked Stokes to intentionally pick up another demerit point in the ongoing Test series against the West Indies. The reason behind the same is that it will prevent Stokes from serving a ban during the Ashes this summer.
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Cape Town Knight Riders name Jacques Kallis as the head coach for T20 GL 2017

• Knight Riders’ director Venky Mysore announced in a press conference, earlier today, that former Proteas all-rounder Jacques Kallis will be the head coach of the Cape Town team for the T20 Global League.
•  The official Twitter account of Cape Town Knight Riders posted a picture with a caption “We are excited to have jacqueskallis75 as Head coach and jpduminy21 as Captain of CapeTownKnightRiders.”
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Mehidy Hasan claims it was joint effort by the bowling unit

• Bangladesh all rounder, Mehidy Hasan, after a spirited performance against the Aussies on the second day of the Dhaka Test match commented that it was a unified effort from the bowling unit which gave them the upper hand in the ongoing game.
• “I think our bowlers really bowled well and in partnerships,” Mehidy said. “No matter in what manner the wicket behaves, unless you can bowl in the right areas it is difficult to earn success. I think we managed to do that and it was due to that we are in this position,” he added.
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Jhulan Goswami reveals what inspired her to pursue cricket as career

• Jhulan Goswami, the veteran India pacer, has revealed her inspiration which led her to pursue cricket as a career.
• The 1997 Women’s World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand inspired India’s super woman to do something for the country.
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Harmanpreet Kaur terms Arjuna Award a great motivation

• The Punjab batter will be awarded the prestigious Arjuna Award by the Sports Ministry of the Government of India tomorrow.
•  Harmanpreet was understandably happy with the prospect of winning the award and admitted that she never expected the honour.
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Shakib Al Hasan next only to Ian Botham to achieve a unique Test record

•  He scored 84 with the bat and returned to the field to take a five-for. This was the eighth time in his career, that the Bangladesh’s experienced campaigner has achieved the double of scoring a fifty and bagging a five-wicket haul.
• This also takes him second on the list, with Sir Ian Botham (11 times) at the top. He achieved quite a number of feats through out the day.
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Rohit Sharma talks about his mid-pitch strategy with MS Dhoni

• The 3rd One-Day International (ODI) between India and Sri Lanka on Sunday saw the visitors take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the 5-match series.
• “That was the talk and that was the idea to try and create a partnership and yes Dhoni has been such an experienced player in that situation. He has batted in that situation so many times and bailed the team out. So all we were trying to do was take it over by over and just take the game till the end. We knew that if we bat till the 45th or 46th over, we would win the game. That was the idea and that was the talk in the middle,” Rohit concluded.
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I just wanted to be a part of this exciting tournament: Chris Morris

• South Africa’s first T2o league venture is all set to kick off in November 2017. The T20 Global League draft, that was held on Saturday and Sunday in Cape Town, saw famed Proteas all-rounder, Chris Morris as the first player to be signed.
• Morris, himself, was shocked at being picked first and that too, for a whopping sum of R 1.755 million. Incidentally, he had previously signed his IPL contract with the Delhi Daredevils team for $ 1 million.
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PM Modi’s tweets for us was a moment of pride, says Mithali Raj

• On the morning of the final encounter against the English, Honorable Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi posted 11 different tweets through his official Twitter handle, to convey his best wishes to every individual in the playing XI separately.
•  It was indeed a remarkable gesture from one of the most loved politicians of all time, who did something which no Prime Minister ever did.
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Schedule of inaugural T20 Global League released

• T20 Global League is the newest franchise based T20 league in the town. There is a lot of excitement about the league and enthusiasm has increased with the release of schedule of the tournament.
•  There is an action-packed calendar with 57 matches scheduled over a period of 44 days. The first match of the tournament will be played on November 3, at Cape Town while the final will be hosted in Johannesburg on 16th November.
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Match referee orders for security assurance post crowd trouble in Pallekele

• After the events occurring in Pallekele Stadium last night, where angry fans started hurling bottles on the field, officials of Sri Lankan cricket have been ordered to line up several high profile meeting regarding assurance of security in the forthcoming matches.
• With India on the verge of victory in the third ODI, Sri Lankans fans residing on the grass banks started hurling objects as play was stopped for more than a thirty minutes.
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The overnight millionaires of T20 Global League draft

• On Sunday, August 27, the main player auction drafts of T20 Global League took place that saw 32 international players and 96 local players being picked up by the 8 participating franchises.
• Every franchise picked up 16 players each to make up their squad. Some of the local players have bagged hefty amounts and they have already become millionaires overnight.
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Meg Lanning not to extend her contract with Melbourne Stars

• The Australian captain Meg Lanning has decided not to extend her contract with Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) franchise, Melbourne Stars, ahead of the third season of the T20 tournament.
• The Aussie skipper is the highest run-getter in the history of WWBL and has a massive following. Lanning has already been ruled out of the rest of the summer after she underwent a surgery on her shoulder, earlier this month.
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MS Dhoni pips Rhodes, Inzamam, Ponting with 40 not outs in successful ODI chases

• The former captain ‘cool’ scored 67 and remained unbeaten till the end to pick up the winning run once again in the chase. Dhoni remained not out for the 121st time in his One-Day International career and 40th time in successful ODI chases.
• The 36-year-old backed his calm innings in the second ODI with yet another composed one which saw India chase a tricky total comprehensively.
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Mohammad Azharuddin approaches Hyderabad police to lodge a complaint

• Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin has recently approached Hyderabad Police to lodge a complaint against a person responsible for circulating derogatory messages against Azhar on an instant messaging app.
• Azhar, who is also a former Congress Member of Parliament from Moradabad, contacted the Commissioner of Hyderabad Police M Mahendar Reddy past week.
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Faf du Plessis willing to captain in all formats

• With AB de Villiers relinquishing the ODI captaincy, Faf du Plessis is said to be the frontrunner for the job.
• Already captaining the Test and T20 team for a while, du Plessis has put his hand up to take the challenge and lead South Africa into the 2019 World Cup.
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India vs Pakistan games can improve the current state of Test cricket admits Aaqib Javed

• The India-Pakistan rivalry is one of the most intense and hard fought battles on the cricket field. And when the battle switches to the longest format of the sport, it becomes more entertaining and a delight to watch.
• Former Pakistan bowler Aaqib Javed believes that matches between India and Pakistan can help in improving the current state of Test cricket. Majorly people have started to lose interest and patience which perhaps the longer format is thriving for the past few years.
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An Indo-Pak rivalry in Global T20 League

• The owners of IPL teams, Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils, have bought two franchises in Cape Town and Johannesburg but the striking thing is five teams out of eight in this league are owned by Indians.
• There are also a couple of franchises owned by Pakistanis. Benoni Zalmi and Durban Kalandars have owners from Pakistan and this was surely given the league India-Pakistan flavour.
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Cheteshwar Pujara to miss Arjuna award ceremony due to his commitments to Nottinghamshire

• Indian Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has been selected for the prestigious Arjuna Award along with Indian women’s team player Harmanpreet Kaur for their excellence with the willow which made the nation proud.
• However, Pujara, who is considered as the perfect replacement for the legendary Rahul Dravid, said that he would not be able to receive the Arjuna Award due to his commitments to the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club in England.
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Conditions in South Africa very different and western for India: Graeme Smith

• The Kohli-led side is due to tour South Africa early next year, a country where they have won just two Tests with the last one coming in 2010.
• Smith said that the conditions in South Africa will be very different from where India has been playing since 2015.
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New Zealand to host first ever Day-Night Test

• New Zealand Cricket (NZC), on Monday, announced that they will host their first ever Day-Night Test next year in Auckland. The match will be played under lights against England in first of the two match Test series on March 22 at Eden Park.
• Interestingly, the Black Caps were the first team to play the Test in these conditions at Adelaide and now England have also experienced it.
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Sourav Ganguly asks Kumar Sangakkara to come out of retirement in order to help the team

• With the loss in the 3rd One Day International, miseries seem to pile upon the team with each passing day.
• Legendary Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly feels that the board needs to act immediately and find out a solution to the problem. The left handed genius suggested that the board should ask the evergreen Kumar Sangakkara to come out of retirement and don the Sri Lankan colours once again, at least for a year.
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MSK Prasad reveals an interesting anecdote involving MS Dhoni

• MSK Prasad has taken over as the selection committee head this year, but for quite a while, he worked as an assistant to Sandeep Patil.
• He recollected how MS Dhoni managed to get the better of his injury in a short span of time, just to represent his country.
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Bay Stars hope Mandela name scores with community in T20 Global League

• Nelson Mandela has played a crucial role in building bridges through Sport and his name is taken with a huge respect across the world.
•  The franchise of Global T20 league, Nelson Mandela Bay Stars, is hoping his name to the team makes the difference to the community and their fans.
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