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Newcastle United are reportedly now ‘confident’ that they can sign Hugo Ekitike in the summer.

The Lowdown: January bid

A reported £33m deal for the 19-year-old to move to Tyneside from Reims fell through on deadline day in the January transfer window, so Chris Wood from Burnley ended up being the only attacker to come through the doors at St James’ Park.

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However, journalist Ryan Taylor has claimed that the Magpies have been ‘told’ that they can sign Ekitike this summer instead, but it is not clear whether the same kind of fee will be required to seal a deal.

The Latest: Newcastle confident on Ekitike

Taking to Twitter, transfer insider Graeme Bailey has revealed that Newcastle are now ‘confident’ of signing Ekitike.

Expanding in his latest article for 90min, the journalist added that they hope to wrap up a deal ‘soon’ after Eddie Howe ‘pinpointed’ him as a target back in the winter.

Sources close to the player have revealed that he is ‘keen’ to move to St James’ Park as the Magpies target another striker to bolster their ranks.

The Verdict: Get it done

After failing to sign him in January, the St James’ Park board simply must now get a deal for Ekitike over the line.

Described as a ‘very special‘ player earlier this season by his manager Oscar Garcia, the teenager has a big future ahead of him, and some in France even go as far as to believe that he could be the ‘next Mbappe‘.

With 10 goals and four assists in 25 matches across all competitions so far this season (Transfermarkt), Ekitike has burst onto the scene in his home country, so this would be an exciting deal for the Tyneside club if they can finally go through with it.

In other news, find out what exciting NUFC transfer update Keith Downie has now revealed

India’s oldest living first-class cricketer turned 100 years old on January 26, 2020

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Jan-2020Sachin Tendulkar and Steve Waugh dropped by. Soon after, another legend, Sunil Gavaskar paid a visit. Vasant Raiji does not recollect those greats visiting him at his ocean-view south Mumbai residence. But there is a reason cricketing greats want to visit Raiji. On Sunday, the oldest living Indian first-class player completed a century in life. Born on January 26, 1920, Raiji is 100 years old now.Primarily a batsman, Raiji represented Bombay (as it was known in his time) and Baroda in nine first-class matches before turning his attention to the family business of chartered accountancy. In a decade-long career that coincided with World War II, Raiji scored 277 runs at an average of 23 with one half-century.

Wishing you a very special birthday, Shri Vasant Raiji.

Steve & I had a wonderful time listening to some amazing cricket stories about the past.
Thank you for passing on a treasure trove of memories about our beloved sport. pic.twitter.com/4zdoAcf8S3

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) January 26, 2020

Incidentally, Raiji’s first-class debut wasn’t with Bombay or Baroda, but for a Cricket Club of India (CCI) team that played against Central Provinces and Berar in Nagpur in 1939. History books list it as a festival match though, in which Raiji was out for a duck in the first innings and made 1 not out in the second.It was a match in which he got the opportunity to play against some India stalwarts, including CK Nayudu, Mushtaq Ali, Vijay Hazare and Lala Amarnath. Raiji’s Bombay debut came in 1941 against Western India under Vijay Merchant’s captaincy, a match that also featured Raiji’s brother Madan.After that Raiji made his debut for Bombay in 1941 against Western India under the captaincy of Merchant. That match also featured Madan.In 2011, talking at a function organised by CCI to celebrate Merchant’s birth centenary, Raiji recounted what Merchant had told him and Laxman Kenny, his opening partner.”You two play for separate clubs,” Raiji remembered Merchant saying. “You will not have much of an understanding with each other while running between the wickets. Be very cautious.”As it happened Raiji, Kenny and Merchant were run out.Despite becoming a chartered accountant, Raiji’s love for cricket never diminished. In the 1930s, Raiji was one of the founding members of the Jolly Cricket Club along with his longtime friend, the late Anandji Dossa, a well-known statistician in the last century. Former India allrounder Bapu Nadkarni, who died recently, played for Jolly, as did Eknath Solkar, Ashok Mankad and Yajurvindra Singh.Despite switching careers, Raiji poured his love for the game into words by authoring several books, with his subjects ranging from CK Nayudu, Victor Trumper, Duleepsinhji and his own hero LP Jai, the former Bombay batsman who played one match, India’s maiden Test at home, against Douglas Jardine’s England in 1933 at the Bombay Gymkhana.Raiji was one of the thousands that turned up to watch that historic match as a 13-year-old, but it was not easy. His father Naisadrai had to shell out INR 100, a king’s ransom in those days, so that his son could enjoy India’s first Test.Raiji never forgot the events of the match, including Lala Amarnath becoming India’s first Test centurion. Did that innings make Raiji take up cricket seriously? “Back then, there was no culture of deciding,” Raiji told recently in an interview. He said Naisadrai wanted him and Madan to join NM Raiji & Co, the family-run CA firm. “Cricket was a hobby.”Raiji’s memory might be failing him at times, but he does keep half an eye on cricket. He even has a view on the raging debate on four-day Test cricket. “A four-day Test series won’t work at all. There will be too many drawn matches,” he told .A centurion in life, Raiji continues to enjoy his hobby.

The timing of Ben Stokes’ recall will raise eyebrows, but the need to be ‘fair, reasonable and proportional’ is the justification for the ECB’s actions

Andrew Miller17-Jan-2018The decision to allow Ben Stokes to resume his England career, immediately after he was charged with affray following an alleged incident in Bristol in September, is an appropriately muddled response to an issue that has tied English cricket in knots for the best part of four months.You can tell from the ECB’s statement that this was not a decision that they reached lightly. “A full Board discussion, in which all considerations were taken into account” sounds euphemistically like a bunfight, especially when you take into account the clear divisions in the ranks of the ECB’s 13 board members that were reported by The Times on Monday.On the one hand, there were the pragmatists (most notably, it seems, the top brass of Tom Harrison and Colin Graves) who recognise Stokes’ huge and enduring value as both an England match-winner and an ECB “brand leader”, and who have been adamant for several months now that his rehabilitation, as far as possible, should be conducted on the field.On the other hand, those with little or no involvement in the board’s day-to-day operations, such as the independent director, Lord Patel of Bradford, appear to have had more leeway to allow their objections to hold sway – and given that their number include, among others, a headteacher and a former deputy police commissioner – it’s clear that those concerns will have been given a significant and solemn airing.However, when push comes to shove in the cold, hard world of sports business, morality tends to play second fiddle to expediency, and it’s been self-evident for months now that England have been itching to get their star turn back into the limelight.After all, he’s been named (with obvious caveats) in every England squad since his arrest was confirmed in September – most notably, of course, the Ashes, for which he was even retained as vice-captain until the publication of video purporting to show the incident made his retention for that series too hot an issue to countenance.From that moment on, irrespective of the video’s authenticity, the ECB’s desire to ensure that England’s best player was available for their biggest series of the year had to be over-ridden by the concerns that his presence, or rather the “circus” surrounding his presence, would have detracted from the main event and brought their sport into disrepute. With that in mind, it is telling that he is not being parachuted straight back into Australia for the start of the T20 triangular, but is being teed up for a lower-key landing in New Zealand later in the tournament.But even in the midst of his Ashes exile, Stokes seemed to remain a phonecall away from a recall. There he was, hotfooting it to New Zealand on November 27, armed with an ECB no-objection certificate to play club cricket for Canterbury – and at the earliest possible juncture, it soon transpired, given that Avon and Somerset Police announced the conclusion of their investigation just two days later. And now, here he is, at the end of another 48-hour operational lag, being teed up for an international recall.Perhaps the ECB have been taken aback by just how slowly the wheels of justice have been grinding during the past third of a year, though there was never any reason to believe that Stokes’ high profile would be a reason to rush the process – quite the contrary, it could be argued. Nevertheless, their decision to slipstream the legal process by deferring any judgement until the CPS made the first move now leaves them wide open to accusations of hypocrisy.Ben Stokes walks through the airport surrounded by media•Getty ImagesPerhaps that is an unfair accusation to level at the board. Ultimately, the ECB have fallen back on that basic tenet of British law, that the accused are innocent until proven guilty – and Stokes’ own statement on Monday, in which he signalled his intention to plead not guilty by welcoming the concurrent prosecution of two other suspects, Ryan Hale and Ryan Ali, was an open invitation for the bosses to back their man.It appears that they may also have been swayed by legal advice – now that he has been officially charged, it could have been prejudicial to his trial were the ECB to extend his exile any longer, plus a potential restraint of trade.But that question of morality still lingers in the background of this story – heightened, of course, by the fact that Stokes’ primary employees are country, not club, which (rightly or wrongly) elevates his career from that of an ordinary sportsman to, for want of a better phrase, a national ambassador.A precedent for this differentiation was set in 2000, when the Leeds United footballers, Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer, stood trial after being charged with grievous bodily harm and affray. They remained available for their club throughout the legal process, as indeed Stokes has in being cleared for his Canterbury stint and, it appears, for the IPL. However, Woodgate (who was ultimately found guilty of the latter charge) was suspended by England and missed both Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup.But, with that in mind, it should also be recognised how much of a punishment Stokes has already served for a crime that a court of law may yet determine that he did not actually commit. For all of the lip service that can be paid to Test cricket in the modern T20-driven world, there is still little doubt that the Ashes remains the “pinnacle” for all English and Australian cricketers. Not only has Stokes been deselected from a series in which he would surely have played a central role, he has had to watch his team-mates get crushed 4-0 in his absence and, moreover, have their off-field activities subjected to a level of scrutiny that, as he has already acknowledged, would not have been the case but for his actions.It’s a short shelf life at the top for elite sportsmen – even the greatest allrounder in England’s history, Ian Botham, was visibly past his prime by the age of 27, which will be Stokes’ next birthday. There’s no reason to believe he won’t be at the very top of his game when England next tour Australia in 2021-22, but this is a winter he will never get back, and will unquestionably regret for the rest of his life.As the ECB acknowledged, it would not be “fair, reasonable or proportionate for Ben Stokes to remain unavailable for a further indeterminate period”. Whatever verdict is delivered by Bristol Magistrates’ Court in the near future, few could deny that he’s been significantly punished already.

Australia grabbed a vantage point on the opening day of the Pallekele Test through the performances of their bowlers, and the only blips on their day were the dismissals of their openers

Daniel Brettig26-Jul-2016A dominant opening day for Australia at Pallekele ran more or less to the script the tourists were hoping to stick with. Features included an even bowling performance, alert fielding and the foundations of a batting platform set, before rain ended the day ahead of schedule.In rounding Sri Lanka up for a mere 117, they also avoided falling behind in the match as they did against Pakistan in the UAE in 2014. This means Steven Smith’s side are in the position they are most comfortable with – driving the game forward from a position of strength, rather than scrapping and fighting to stay in it. From that vantage point, Australia’s aggression looks dashing and purposeful rather than reckless, and opponents under the cosh tend to stay there.Nevertheless, no day is ever quite perfect, and there was one area in which the Australians will be wanting to tighten up at later stages. This is in the tightness of their opening batsmen, David Warner and Joe Burns, both of whom lost their wickets early on to moments of looseness and/or imprecision. The subsequent partnership between captain Steven Smith and Usman Khawaja represented the most measured batting of the day, and showed what players on both sides should be looking to do on a pitch that has offered just enough help to the bowlers, both pace and spin. The surface made the toss more intriguing than most in this part of the world, and it was here that Australia pulled the first of numerous correct reins.Team selection: It had always seemed likely that Australia would plump for twin spin in this series, but given how rarely such a team has been selected in the recent past – just three times have they used a full-time spin tandem since the last visit to Sri Lanka in 2011 – there may have been temptation to divert from that path. Certainly, Pallekele was always going to be the strip offering most assistance to the faster men, as it momentarily did five years ago for Ryan Harris and Trent Copeland.Sri Lanka’s players were known to be unhappy about starting here rather than Galle’s more obviously spinning track, and the ground staff here had clearly tried to dry out their pitch. But the balance provided by Steve O’Keefe was useful to Smith, while Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc operated in shorter spells. All the while, Mitchell Marsh’s lively fast-medium remained in reserve, the day’s lopsided measure best illustrated by the fact that he was not even required to bowl.Intimidation: Before this match, Smith had spoken of the fact that while Australia were playing in conditions they had often found difficult, they were also playing an opponent short of experience and confidence. This meant it was important to get on the front foot early, demonstrating through performance and body language who was in charge. Sri Lanka’s players had been spared the supposedly “demoralising” sight of the Test Championship mace being presented to Smith in public on match eve, but they could not so readily avoid the Australians in the middle.By way of verbals, Kusal Mendis was nearly goaded into reviewing his lbw, which replays showed to be smashing into middle stump. By way of tactics, the focus upon Angelo Mathews was backed up by a none-too-subtle field setting, leg gully and short leg posted when Mitchell Starc ran in at him. It works too: Mathews very nearly offered an edge first ball, then was tentative enough to prod O’Keefe to slip soon after. At no stage were Sri Lanka made to feel like they belonged in this company.Hazlewood: Perhaps it is his SCG upbringing, perhaps his commendable straightness when in good rhythm, or perhaps his height, but Hazlewood was, by a distance, the most impressive Australian bowler on the day. Where Starc was fast but slightly off-peak, Hazlewood worked away steadily, finding his range and then a probing line and length to challenge all batsmen.Initially, it was seam movement on a slightly tacky surface that worked in his favour, seaming one back to pin Mendis, then shading one away from Kaushal Silva. There was a little more swing for Hazlewood in his second spell, and he saved his best delivery for Dinesh Chandimal, a gateway server that had Sri Lanka’s most accomplished batsman playing with a slightly closed bat face to snick behind to Peter Nevill. A couple of tail-end wickets to complete a five-for would have been well-deserved, but competition among an eager bowling attack meant Hazlewood had to be content with three.Use of the spinners: Nathan Lyon and O’Keefe had both trained with near-new balls in the lead-up to the Test, and Smith elected to hand the ball to the latter as early as the ninth over. Immediately, he found the sort of beguiling variation that has helped him build, by a distance, the most handsome Sheffield Shield record of any contemporary Australian spinner.Some balls skidded on, while others gripped. O’Keefe’s slight build and somewhat round-arm action gives him a similar trajectory to Rangana Herath, and he used this well to defeat a tentative Mathews with a hint of extra turn and bounce. Lyon was held back until the last over before lunch, but he too would use the conditions nicely. Three wickets in seven balls spanning the first and third overs after the interval effectively ended Sri Lanka’s innings, with bounce, turn and natural variation all coming into play. Lyon made his debut in this country five years ago; it is fitting he now sits two wickets away from 200 on visit No. 2.Out-of-kilter openers: For a brief moment, Australia’s march towards control of the Test was held up by the rapid exits of Warner and Burns, in circumstances that both batsmen will not be best pleased about. Bowled by full deliveries, neither paid due care and attention, and the opportunity to bat under relatively little scoreboard pressure was wasted.Warner, of course, is very much short of match practice. Having suffered a broken finger to the same hand that already nurses a problematic, previously injured thumb, he delayed his return to the batting crease as long as possible, eschewing the earlier tour match. He is also reluctant to bat in the fast bowlers’ No. 1 net these days, and it is just possible that Nuwan Pradeep hurried onto him with a near yorker touching 141kph. Warner’s feet were slow to move, and the drag onto the stumps maintained a drought of overseas centuries, dating back to March, 2014.Burns has made no secret that these conditions will stretch him, but he remonstrated visibly with himself after miscalculating Herath’s skid with the new ball. Stretching forward to defend, he played for fractional turn, duly leaving a gap through which the ball hurried through. That dismissal mirrored many suffered by the Australians in the UAE against Pakistan, when Yasir Shah and Zulfiqur Babar created similar doubts, to which the only remedy is supremely close attention to the ball through the air and off the pitch. Khawaja and Smith both had similar moments of inexact judgement, but escaped to bat on tomorrow. Many more runs beckon.

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Apr-2015Knight Riders dismissed Aaron Finch, Aditya Tare and Ambati Rayudu for single-digit scores, leaving Mumbai at 37 for 3 after six overs•BCCICorey Anderson made amends after being dropped by Andre Russell at deep midwicket and provided the perfect support to Rohit•BCCIRohit made 98* while sharing a 131-run partnership with Anderson, helping Mumbai to 168 for 3•BCCIIt was Morne Morkel’s tight and pacy spell where he picked up two wickets at an economy rate of 4.50, that restricted Mumbai from getting too many•BCCIRobin Uthappa couldn’t replicate his form from last season and was out in the third over, edging one to Harbhajan Singh at first slip•BCCIGautam Gambhir was given at least two lifelines as he put on 85 runs with Manish Pandey, that anchored the Knight Riders chase•BCCIMumbai’s bowlers looked out of touch and even the devastating Lasith Malinga failed to threaten the Knight Riders batsmen•BCCIAfter Gambhir’s dismissal for 57, Suryakumar Yadav struck five sixes and a four on his way to a 20-ball 46 to finish off the chase•BCCIThe win gave Knight Riders their 10th IPL victory on the trot•BCCI

If Sri Lanka win both their remaining matches, they are guaranteed a semi-final place. But first, Sri Lanka must sort their muddle in the middle order

Andrew Fidel Fernando12-Jun-2013The Oval holds a special place in Sri Lanka’s cricket history. Still considered barely-better than Test minnows after their World Cup win in 1996, they were granted a one-off Test in England in 1998, and secured what remains their finest-ever away win.A 16-wicket haul for Muttiah Muralitharan heralded the brightest years of his blinding career, and Sanath Jayasuriya played perhaps his best Test innings – a first innings 213 which set up the victory.
Jayasuriya was one of two survivors from that team, when Sri Lanka played their most recent match at The Oval – an ODI in 2011.Then, Jayasuriya cut his final ball in international cricket to point and began a batting collapse that saw the side succumb to 121 all out, and lose by 108 runs. Meek batting surrenders have since become a worrying feature for Sri Lanka, particularly in ODIs. Since that match, Sri Lanka have been dismissed for less than 200 in 11 matches – over a fifth of their completed ODI count, and their record overall has suffered as a result. Their win-loss ratio of 0.76 in the last three years is significantly worse than the 0.98 ratio they had carved out before their poor run.Their last innings in Cardiff before the tournament had also been a woeful capitulation and in their last match against New Zealand, Sri Lanka finished with a total that was at least 100 short of what might have been an acceptable total on that pitch. Led by a ferocious Lasith Malinga, the bowlers almost salvaged victory, but as in so many recent matches, batting has been the prime cause for Sri Lanka’s downfall.”The whole batting unit – when it comes to the top seven especially – needs to take responsibility,” Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said. “We can’t really expect the bowlers to score runs for us. If we actually get to 240 or 250, the bowlers will actually do the job for us. More often than not they have done that.”Sri Lanka’s batting misadventures have not been brought on by sustained failures from the top order, but instead by the inability of the men that follow to rebuild on the occasions the top four do not prosper. The team had a mixed ODI run in 2012, but Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan were the heaviest scorers in the year, and maintained averages in excess of 40. It has often been said of recent Sri Lanka sides that they possessed a “soft underbelly”, and Nos. 5, 6 and 7 in their batting order are unlikely to inspire much fear among England’s bowlers.Sangakkara, Sri Lanka’s best batsman against the moving ball, was predictably the most successful at countering New Zealand’s seam bowlers in Cardiff, but despite the team fielding recognised batsmen down to No. 8, he could not find sustained support. The Oval pitch has so far had more bounce than the tracks in Cardiff and Birmingham, and Stuart Broad and James Anderson both enjoyed bowling to Sri Lanka on their last tour of England. The weather is expected to be conducive to swing as well, and if losses are sustained against the new ball, the middle order must respond powerfully if Sri Lanka are to have a future in the competition.Sri Lanka’s own pace attack is capable of exploiting helpful conditions, and with Malinga having hit form, the toss shapes as an important one. Either Shaminda Eranga or Nuwan Kulasekara will share the new ball with Malinga, the former in particular has proved penetrative when the ball has swung.”I always say Malinga is our premier bowler, but we’ve got a few others, as well,” Mathews said. “We don’t really bank on one bowler. We have the likes of Kulasekara, Eranga and Thisara Perera, so we’ve got those seam options. But I think Malinga is standing out, and he is one of those players who knows exactly what he has to do in these conditions. And also he helps the other bowlers quite a lot, which is very important”Having fought their way to an abysmal run rate in the nailbiter against New Zealand, anything less than a win against England will make Sri Lanka’s progression into the semi-finals almost impossible. But conversely, the no-result in Australia’s match against New Zealand has meant that if Sri Lanka win both their remaining matches, they are guaranteed a semi-final place. But first, Sri Lanka must sort their muddle in the middle. Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne and Mathews himself have got by on the promise of impressive isolated innings so far, but it is time they added fortitude and consistency to Sri Lanka’s batting as well.

Plays of the Day from the fourth day of the second Test between Australia and New Zealand in Hobart

Brydon Coverdale at the Bellerive Oval12-Dec-2011The anti-climax
New Zealand had not won a Test against Australia since March 1993, and they had not enjoyed victory on Australian soil since November 1985. So when the umpire Nigel Llong raised his finger to give Nathan Lyon lbw to Tim Southee, the New Zealand played were understandably elated. But Lyon asked for a review – rather forlornly – and the main questions appeared to be whether there was an inside edge or if the ball was sliding down leg. However, Eagle-Eye surprisingly showed the ball pitching outside leg – when Southee was coming over the wicket – and Lyon was reprieved. For the record, Eagle-Eye is produced by a New Zealand-based company. But in the end, Doug Bracewell rattled Lyon’s stumps and the review was quickly forgotten.The inevitable
Phillip Hughes, caught Guptill bowled Martin. That was how the scorecard had read for each of the first three innings of the series. A joke was doing the rounds that scoresheets were being handed out at Bellerive Oval with those details pre-printed. And it didn’t seem to matter where Guptill was fielding: in Brisbane it was at gully, in the first innings in Hobart it was at second slip. And so it proved again in the second innings as Hughes edged a wonderful Martin delivery that seamed away and was snapped up at second slip by Guptill. “If P Hughes is shaving tomorrow and gets a nick,” the ABC radio commentator Kerry O’Keeffe said, “M Guptill will appear from the medicine cabinet with a band-aid.”The near steal
Perhaps the catch got Guptill a little over-excited. When Usman Khawaja edged behind soon afterwards, the ball was sailing straight towards Ross Taylor at first slip when his view was nearly obscured by Guptill, who hurled himself to his right from second slip. Guptill leapt like a goalkeeper and almost got his hand to the ball, but luckily for New Zealand Taylor was not put off and clutched the take cleanly.The kick of joy
Taylor collected another catch soon afterwards when he snared the opposing captain Michael Clarke, who edged Doug Bracewell to first slip. Taylor’s celebration suited the momentum that was building behind New Zealand at the time: he launched a rugby style kick of the ball as he sensed he had a chance of becoming the first captain to lead New Zealand to a Test victory in Australia since Jeremy Coney.The ovation
Ricky Ponting’s dismissal wasn’t one of which he’ll be proud: a strangely mistimed drive that lobbed up to cover and was easily caught. Ponting walked off the Bellerive Oval to a standing ovation in what could well be his last international appearance at the ground. Unfortunately, there were only a couple of thousand spectators on hand to give Ponting his reception. The crowds had been disappointing for the whole match, and Monday was no exception.

Cricinfo asked former team-mates and players about their most memorable Anil Kumble moments

Interviews by Nagraj Gollapudi02-Nov-2008.

Venkatesh Prasad, former India and Karnataka team-mate
Anil Kumble getting his maiden Test century at The Oval in 2007 against England was a unique moment. He had a couple of opportunities before, especially in the Test against South Africa at Eden Gardens. When I walked in he was in the mid-80s but I got out and immediately he got run out on 88. He had only suggested that I “stay there”, but I disappointed him. And when he got that hundred against England I was the happiest man. Undoubtedly he was a fierce competitor.Terry Jenner, Shane Warne’s coach
The moment for me was when Kumble came back at St John’s, Antigua, with his jaw covered in bandages and bowled all those overs (14). That was courage personified. There are a lot of people who, if hit the way he was, wouldn’t come back. He came back and bowled his heart out after that. As for his bowling, it was the way he adapted in Australian conditions which was special.Sunil Joshi, former Karnataka and India room-mate
Kumble was my room-mate during my debut Test, against England at Edgbaston. In fact that was not the first time we were sharing a room as we’d been room-mates from the Under-19 days for Karnataka. On the eve of my debut he said, “Jo [Joshi], don’t worry about anything. Just go out and perform. You are the best and that’s the reason you are here.” Unfortunately I suffered a broken finger and couldn’t bowl through the game but even then Anil helped me retain my confidence. He was just keeping it positive and making me understand the pressure of international cricket. Those words still ring true even now and that’s the reason I’m still playing first-class cricket.Ajit Wadekar, former India coach
I was the chairman of selectors when Anil got the record 10 wickets in an innings against Pakistan in 1999. The single most important memory was when he asked [Javagal] Srinath, who was bowling at the other end, not to worry about the record and go for the final Pakistan wicket. He just asked Srinath to finish it off. Finally Anil got it. But he never bothered about any records.Kiran More, former India wicket-keeper
He was the Muhammad Ali of cricket. I kept to him the first ball he bowled in Test cricket. He was just awesome from the word go and he was the same all those years I kept to him, with the same attitude and the bowling style. But I will pick the game against England on an uneven Wankhede pitch. In the second innings, where he picked four wickets, he was the most dangerous bowler I’d kept to till then and even after that. He was always difficult from the third day onwards. The speed with which he bowled, the quick bounce of his top-spinners, and googlies which spat off the rough areas were really difficult to pick.EAS Prasanna, former Karnataka and India offspinner
The most important moment for me was when he took 10 wickets. Why? Firstly, he was the second player to record such a feat, and secondly, he is from Karnataka. He made me proud. I always admired his personality: a strong-minded individual who was always a committed player.Vijay Bharadwaj , former Karnataka and India team-mate
It was my first day as Karnataka coach back in the 2006-07 season and we were playing Mumbai at the Wankhede stadium. Both Anil and Rahul [Dravid] were available for the first couple of games. They were pulling my leg saying, “Vijay has already retired, Venky [Venkatesh Prasad] has already retired, and both of them are coaches now but we are still playing.” On our return to Bangalore, before our second game, Anil called up to check if it was fine to get a 16-year-old legspinner as a net bowler. I just laughed. I told him he didn’t need to call me to get permission. But he knew the coach was important and didn’t want to break protocol, so he wanted to check. He could’ve straightaway taken the decision himself because of his stature. He is a guy who gave importance to each and every detail.Sandeep Patil, former India coach
Taking three wickets [in his final Test] with an injured hand spoke volumes about his commitment. He was the gentle giant of the cricketing world. Anil Kumble with the ball and Anil Kumble were two different people. With the ball he was a terror and without it he was a soft-spoken, well-mannered and truly lovable character. His commitment, his never-say-die attitude and his determination are hard to emulate. Cricket has always been about timing and again Anil got it absolutely right, even in his farewell moment.

Zalmi will take on the winner of the first eliminator on Saturday in a bid to make the final

Associated Press15-Mar-2024

Multan Sultans breezed into their fourth straight Pakistan Super League final by defeating Peshawar Zalmi by seven wickets in a lopsided qualifier on Thursday.Sultans won the event in 2021 before losing to Lahore Qalandars in the finals of the last two editions.Babar Azam-led Zalmi will get another opportunity for a place in Monday’s final when they take on the winner of the eliminator between Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators on Saturday.Opening batter Yasir Khan (54) and the in-form Usman Khan (36*) powered Sultans to 147-3 in 18.3 overs after Zalmi were restricted to below-par 146-7.In the absence of Afghanistan fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq, who was ruled out of the playoffs because of his international commitment, Zalmi’s bowlers struggled to defend a small total.Yasir provided a dominant opening stand of 61 with captain Mohammad Rizwan (15) and raised a match-wining half-century off 30 balls. Left-arm spinner Mehran Mumtaz (1-28) couldn’t make an impact in the power play but he finally had Yasir caught off his own bowling, in the 11th over, during his return spell.Usman, who became the first batter in PSL history to score two centuries in one season, was hardly troubled by pace, and Iftikhar Ahmed finished off the game with a quick-fire 22 off eight balls.Earlier, Zalmi struggled against pace and spin after Babar won the toss and elected to bat. David Willey had danger-man Saim Ayub caught at deep square leg in the first over and Mohammad Haris’ (22) below-par tournament continued when he edged fast bowler Mohammad Ali inside the power play.Babar, the tournament’s leading run-scorer, top-scored with 46 off 42 balls but spinners Usama Mir (2-16) and Ahmed (0-9) stifled the batters in the middle overs.Chris Jordan (2-28) had Babar clean bowled off a pacy yorker in the 13th over and the Englishman tied down batters in the death overs with his variations as Peshawar could score only 38 runs off the final five overs.

Lautaro Martinez etched his name in the Argentina history books following his cameo against Venezuela.

• Martinez enters the history books
• Overtakes Maradona as Argentina's fifth-highest scorer
• Inter star struck after coming on as a substitute

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Martinez became one of Argentina's top five scorers of all time when he came off the bench to score in Argentina's comfortable 3-0 win over Venezuela in the World Cup qualifiers, putting behindthe disappointment of Inter's defeat to Udinese in the best possible way. The former River Plate sensation scored the second goal, but more importantly, he surpassed the legendary Diego Maradona's goal tally with the Albiceleste.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  His goal wasn't just any goal. Coming on in the 74th minute and scoring just two minutes later, Martinez overtook Maradona's goal tally for Argentina. The Napoli icon scored 32 goals for the national team. Martinez, with his goal against Venezuela, now has 33 goals in 71 appearances.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Since making his debut in 2018, Martinez has proved to be a clinical finisher for Argentina. He has lifted three titles with the national team — two Copa America titles (2021 and 2024) and the 2022 World Cup, not to mention the 2022 Finalissima. He also won the Golden Boot at the 2024 Copa America for scoring five goals. Martinez now needs three more goals to overtake Hernan Crespo's tally of 35 goals, and nine more goals to surpass the 41 goals scored by Sergio Aguero.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR LAUTARO MARTINEZ?

  El Toro will be hoping to continue his purple patch for his country when they visit Ecuador next Wednesday. Martinez has scored 12 goals in his last 17 caps for Argentina.