Jhulan retires from T20Is
New Delhi, August 23
Veteran Indian women’s cricket team pacer Jhulan Goswami announced her retirement from T20Is, effectively ruling her out for the ICC World T20I in West Indies in November. She played 68 T20Is and took 56 wickets at an economy economy rate of 5.45. India rarely play Tests and last played one in 2014, so Jhulan is likely to be restricted to ODI cricket. The 35-year-old is the highest wicket-taker in ODIs with 200 scalps from 169 games.
Of late, her lack of wickets in the shortest version was coming under the scanner and her big-hitting abilities down the order were also on the wane. The underwhelming performance at the Asia Cup, where India lost to Bangladesh twice, including in the final, was certainly the trigger for her decision to retire. Jhulan, who opened the bowling, got only one wicket in four matches and never looked penetrative enough. The fastest woman pacer of India has lost out on speed and is also not the quickest on the field now.
“Jhulan thanked BCCI and her teammates for all the love and support she garnered during her stint with the T20I team and wished them luck going forward,” BCCI stated.
With Shikha Pandey ready to take over as the pace spearhead and young guns like Puja Vastrakar and Mansi Joshi showing promise, it was time for the Bengal speedster to make way for the Gen-Next. Jhulan and Mithali Raj are the two oldest cricketers in the current set-up. Jhulan made her debut against England in Chennai way back in 2002.
Hailing from a nondescript town of Chakdah in West Bengal’s Nadia district, Jhulan’s journey was also one of breaking stereotypes. It started off with challenging the boys in her locality for pace and then the early morning train journeys to Kolkata for training at South Kolkata’s Vivekananda Park.
Although Jhulan played only 10 Tests in a 16-year-old career, Jhulan took 40 wickets, including a 10-wicket haul against the English women at Taunton. She was adjudged 2007 ICC Cricketer of the Year, when she was at her peak. — PTI
BCCI’s new constitution comes into effect
New Delhi: The Committee of Administrators (CoA) issued a directive today that effectively withdrew all the functioning powers of the current set of BCCI office bearers while dissolving all the committees. With the new BCCI constitution coming into effect, the CoA termed the old constitution as “extinguished”. Acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary and treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhry were authorised signatories in the financial decisions but now only the paid employees like CEO Rahul Johri, CFO Santosh Rangnekar, IPL COO Hemang Amin will have the powers. — PTI
Kohli reclaims top ICC ranking
Dubai: Virat Kohli reclaimed the top spot in the latest ICC Test Rankings after his brilliant show in the third Test against England. Kohli scored 97 and 103 in the third Test at Nottingham. The skipper first earned the pole position after his 149 and 51 in the first Test. However, he dropped to the second place after India’s defeat in the second Test at Lord’s but a stupendous performance has again put him at the top. Kohli now has 937 points, which is the 11th best ever in terms of rating points. The top-10 in the list are Don Bradman (961 points), Steve Smith (947), Len Hutton (945), Jack Hobbs (942), Ricky Ponting (942), Peter May (941), Garry Sobers, Clyde Walcott, Vivian Richards and Sangakkara (all 938 points). — PTI
2002 The year Jhulan Goswami made her international debut. She is the highest wicket-taker in ODIs with 203 wickets from 169 games, the only bowler with more than 200 wickets in the format. Jhulan has represented India in 10 Tests, taking 40 wickets at 16.62. She is the only Indian bowler with five-wicket hauls in each of the three formats
2/51 Jhulan’s five wicket-haul against Australia at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in 2012 are the best bowling figures for India in the shortest format
12 Jhulan’s T20I career began 12 years ago with the first ever T20I for India women vs England in August 2006
