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Josh Hazlewood, who has been named a vice-captain, and Pat Cummins also return to the side to face South Africa

Alex Malcolm26-Oct-2018Aaron Finch has replaced Tim Paine as Australia’s ODI captain ahead of the three-match series against South Africa in November.The series also marks the returns of Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins to international cricket, with Hazlewood announced as one of two vice-captains alongside wicketkeeper Alex Carey. Mitchell Marsh has been rested for the series.Finch has previously captained Australia in ODI cricket, standing in for two matches in New Zealand in early 2017. But in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal, Paine was announced as Test and ODI skipper and led Australia to a 5-0 series defeat in England earlier this year.Finch, the T20 captain, looks set to lead Australia all the way through to the 2019 World Cup.Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said Paine had been relieved of his duties “to focus purely on captaining the Test team, which includes preparing for next year’s Ashes.””As was the case when we announced the Test and T20 captains and vice-captains recently, the selection was based on their strong presentations which outlined their leadership credentials, the actions they have displayed on and off the field and the vision they have for Australian cricket,” Hohns said.Australia ODI squad to face South Africa

Aaron Finch (capt), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, D’Arcy Short, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

“We expect Aaron, Josh and Alex to lead the side through a big Australian summer, where we’ll meet South Africa and India, they’ll also be driving our standards and values as we prepare our defence of the World Cup, which is only seven months away.”Hazlewood and Cummins have been preparing for the ODI series in the Futures League rather than the Sheffield Shield. They join a pace barrage which includes Mitchell Starc and Nathan Coulter-Nile. Andrew Tye has been squeezed out.Shaun Marsh and Travis Head have both been named as expected with no concerns that their preparation for the India Test series will be compromised. Chris Lynn also returns to the ODI team after an outstanding JLT Cup for Queensland.”Chris made it clear he wanted to be considered for the World Cup, and he backed it up with his performances for Queensland in the JLT Cup. He was the highest run scorer of the tournament and has been rewarded for his consistency,” Hohns said.Marcus Stoinis has been included after being omitted from the T20 squad to tour the UAE. Both Mitchell Marsh and Nathan Lyon have both been rested.”We have made the decision to manage Mitch Marsh and Nathan Lyon carefully to ensure they are in the best condition possible to put their hand up for selection either later in the summer or for the World Cup next year,” Hohns said.Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa provide the spin options as they have in the UAE. Glenn Maxwell and D’Arcy Short have also retained their places.

It may not have been vintage, but Manchester United got back to winning ways with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Fulham this afternoon, with the Red Devils leaving it late at Craven Cottage for the second season running.

A year on from Alejandro Garnacho's stoppage-time strike over Marco Silva's men to seal a 2-1 win, it was the turn of under-fire skipper, Bruno Fernandes, to produce a rare moment of quality for the visitors, after an early effort from Scott McTominay had been controversially ruled out for offside.

The composed finish from the Portuguese magician at the death will undoubtedly steal the headlines following a grim week for United, with the 29-year-old sparing both his and his teammates blushes on the day.

Bruno Fernandes' performance in numbers vs Fulham

It is fair to say it has been a dire week – and season – for the former Sporting CP man, with the experienced figurehead having been rested for the defeat to Newcastle United in midweek, after previously coming in for criticism from club legend Roy Keane regarding his status as captain following the Manchester Derby.

The best way to respond to such critique is to produce on the field, although it wasn't exactly a sparkling performance from Fernandes on the whole against the Cottagers, as he was notably "poor and wasteful" throughout the contest – in the words of journalist Sam Pilger.

That was evident as the £240k-per-week playmaker lost possession 20 times with things just not clicking into gear in the final third, having also provided just one key pass from his number ten berth – lower than his 2.8 average for the season in that regard.

Alas, the 61-cap international did manage to conjure up one moment of magic at the death to claim a perhaps dubious Man of the Match award, although it is fair to say it was teammate Harry Maguire who was the "worthier winner", as per Pilger.

Harry Maguire's statistics vs Fulham

Having been stripped of the armband after making just eight Premier League starts last season, it looked as if Maguire's time at Old Trafford was coming to an inevitable end over the summer, having fallen way down the pecking order under Ten Hag.

Fast forward a few months, however, and the 30-year-old has been reinstated as a central cog in the defensive machine, the former Leicester City man capitalising on the injury woes of his positional peers to cement a place in the starting lineup once again.

Partnered with veteran ace Jonny Evans – with World Cup winner Raphael Varane watching on from the bench – the England international proved that he is becoming rather "undroppable", according to ex-United 'keeper Peter Schmeichel, with a dominant performance in west London.

The towering brute notably won nine of his 12 total duels on the day after repeatedly putting his body on the line for his side despite sustaining a head injury early on, with the Sheffield native seemingly playing through the pain barrier to help steer his side to a vital three points.

While the resurgent talent did lose possession on 11 occasions, he regularly looked to try and tee up those ahead of him with an incisive threaded pass, having made 12 passes into the final third – more than any other player on the pitch.

Composed on the ball and colossal off it, such a performance was a reminder of what Maguire can offer the side when at his best, with the centre-back's gritty and determined display typifying what United need as they seek to grind out results over the coming weeks.

In the meantime, Ten Hag can breathe a little easier – for another few days, at least.

Newcastle United are believed to have found their No.1 target for when the January transfer window opens, according to a new update.

Newcastle linked with Phillips and Smith Rowe

The Magpies continued their impressive form with a blistering 4-0 win at home to Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, with things going superbly for them at the moment. Away from the on-pitch action, Newcastle also continue to be linked with a move for some top-quality players, as Eddie Howe potentially looks to improve his options in January.

English pair Kalvin Phillips and Emile Smith Rowe, of Manchester City and Arsenal respectively, are both seen as options, with the pair struggling for regular minutes at their clubs currently.

While Newcastle's squad is clearly as strong it has been in recent memory, with great options from back to front, having even more depth can only be a good thing come January, at a time when Howe will hope that his side are still fighting on all fronts, whether it be in the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup or EFL Cup.

While Phillips and Smith Rowe both represent exciting midfield targets, a fresh update claims that a player in a different position is the priority option right now.

Newcastle transfer news: Joachim Andersen

A report in The Sunday People, via Geordie Boot Boys, delivered a transfer update on Joachim Andersen, with the Magpies apparently now viewing the Palace centre-back as their No.1 January target.

They attempted to snap up the Dane in the summer, but failed to prise him away from Selhurst Park, and won't be perturbed by that, looking set to return for him after Christmas – they will have to pay a lot more than the £17m Palace paid Lyon for his services, though.

Andersen could be just what Newcastle are looking for in January, especially with key man Sven Botman suffering from injury problems of late. It will add much-needed depth at the back, with the Denmark international such an imperious star for Palace.

A dominant aerial presence who is also classy in possession, Andersen's statistics speak volumes about his ability on and off the ball, with 2.9 aerial duel wins per game coming his way in the Premier League this season, as well as an 88.8% pass completion rate for Denmark in Euro 2024 qualifying.

Joachim Andersen strengths

Joachim Andersen weaknesses

Aerial duels

Discipline

Passing

Pace

Concentration

One v one tackling

The 27-year-old has been lauded by former City and England defender Micah Richards in the past, too, with the Sky Sports pundit saying of him after a win over Brentford:

"[Joachim] Andersen, he has been brilliant again this season. He always organises from the back. You have got [Ivan] Toney and [Yoane] Wissa, two physical guys, and he dealt with them really well."

The fact that Andersen now knows the Premier League inside out is an added bonus, meaning he shouldn't take time to settle, and he would add real competition for Fabian Schar and Jamaal Lascelles, not to mention alleviating the issue of Botman potentially being unavailable at times.

Veteran television journalist Rajat Sharma will be the new president of the Delhi District Cricket Association, after winning the elections at the Annual General Meeting on Saturday.

Full list of DDCA office bearers after the AGM

President: Rajat Sharma
Vice-President: Rakesh Kumar Bansal
Secretary: Vinod Kumar Tihara
Joint Secretary: Ranjan Manchanda
Treasurer: Om Prakash Sharma
First-class Cricket Director: Sanjay Bhardwaj
Women Director: Renu Khanna
DDCA Directors: Alok Mittal, Apurv Jain, Nitin Gupta, Shiv Nandan Sharma, Sudhir Kumar Aggarwal

Sharma beat Madan Lal, the former India allrounder and member of the World Cup-winning team in 1983, to the post. He secured 1521 votes, while Lal got 1004, with the remaining 266 votes going to others in the fray.Another former cricketer, Surinder Khanna, was also unsuccessful. He lost to Sanjay Bhardwaj in the contest for the first-class cricket director of DDCA. Surinder, a wicketkeeper-batsman, played 10 ODIs for India and 106 first-class matches overall. He has the distinction of scoring a century in each innings of the Ranji Trophy final in 1978-79, against Karnataka, to give Delhi their first Ranji title. Bhardwaj is also a former first-class cricketer, though he played only five matches in the late 1980s.Meanwhile, Shashi Khanna, the wife of the acting BCCI president CK Khanna, lost to Rakesh Kumar Bansal for the vice-president’s post. Bansal got 1364 votes to her 1086.In other decisions, the balance sheets for the financial years 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 were all passed with more than 94% of the members in each case.The DDCA also appointed Justice Badar Durrez Ahmad, a former Chief Justice of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court, as the Ombudsman.

ScorecardThe phrase “pulling your tripe out” is disagreeably graphic. However, it suggests the level of effort expected by county supporters of overseas players who arrive on good contracts to play for teams to which they have no natural loyalty. In the second session of this game such endeavour was personified in full measure by Lancashire’s Joe Mennie, whose three wickets in 23 balls briefly dragged his side back to a position of dominance.By the time surprisingly torrential rain ended play seven balls into the evening’s play the game was evenly balanced again with Essex on 221 for 6 in reply to Lancashire’s 301. While that was considerably worse than the visitors envisaged when they were 114 for 1 it was also rather better than they will have feared after Mennie and Graham Onions had reduced them to 130 for 5 in the first ten overs of the afternoon’s play. In other words, we may be set for a gripping two days’ cricket between teams who appear pleasingly well-matched.Such a situation was not the case when Essex resumed after lunch and the regulars in the 1864 suite were just settling into their baklava. Ominously for the Red Rose gourmets, Alastair Cook was unbeaten on 57 and batting in the style that has broken the will of more famous bowlers than Mennie. Among his ten boundaries had been a couple of square cuts, a punch through midwicket and a clip off the hip to backward square leg. Ah yes, we remember them well…And things were worse even than that for Lancashire: the ball was no longer new; Cook and Tom Westley had already put on over a hundred runs on quite an easy-paced pitch; and Cook had been dropped on 18 when Haseeb Hameed failed to cling on to a two-handed catch above his head at first slip off the bowling of Onions. The bowler’s bellow of disappointment encapsulated the moment. “Hold fast that which is good” reads the motto of the metropolitan borough of Trafford. Many Lancastrian lunches would have been far pleasanter had Hameed obeyed the injunction.Joe Mennie picked up three wickets•Getty Images

But Mennie responded to the challenge magnificently. Having given Cook’s technique a severe examination before lunch, he caught him between a waltz and a tango with the twelfth ball of the fresh session. Neither forward nor back, Cook edged a catch to Dane Vilas and a door was ajar for the Lancashire seamers. Four overs later it was opened a little further when Mennie yorked Tom Westley for 41, and the disappearance of Essex’s prime batsmen continued when Dan Lawrence placed nothing more useful than his leg in the path of a straight ball from Onions. Next over Ravi Bopara edged a swinging delivery from Mennie to Liam Livingstone at second slip to encourage Lancashire’s hopes of taking a substantial lead.Those hopes were dampened by Ryan ten Doeschate and Adam Wheater’s 81-run stand for the sixth wicket, only two boundaries being scored in their 22 overs’ excellent resistance. But just as Essex’s many supporters were becoming more sanguine, ten Doeschate was brilliantly run out for 43 by Vilas, who gathered the ball and threw down the stumps at the bowler’s end, the keeper’s excellence being matched by that of umpire Jeremy Lloyds, who got into a perfect position to give a decision and then twisted round to see what was happeningFive overs later the rain arrived but Lancashire supporters could go home reassured by the commitment of an overseas player whose signing may not have prompted great excitement in the county of Clive Lloyd, Wasim Akram and VVS Laxman. However, the diehards know better now, and spells such as we saw this afternoon also justified the research undertaken by Lancashire’s coaching team who considered other cricketers before reaching a decision. A few were called but Mennie was chosen.

Heart of Midlothian recorded a 2-1 victory over Kilmarnock in the League Cup quarter-final during the week which sent them through to the last four of the competition for the first time since the 2019/20 season.

It has been a tough start to the 2023/24 campaign for Steven Naismith as an encouraging first few weeks were then followed by a run of four straight defeats up until the international break which rocked the confidence at the club, especially after they missed out on European group stage football.

Naismith dived into the transfer market to bolster his first-team squad during the summer, eventually signing seven players and while some have had an immediate impact, such as Frankie Kent, a few have failed to really hit the ground running thus far.

This has resulted in the manager putting his faith in players who were key to former boss Robbie Neilson, asking the likes of Kye Rowles, Cammy Devlin and Lawrence Shankland to continue impressing and showing the new signings exactly what it takes in order to stand out for the club.

Shankland has been a wonderful signing for the Tynecastle outfit and is perhaps one of their finest pieces of transfer business conducted in the previous few seasons such was his impact last term.

This has led Hearts to place a big price tag on him in order to deter any potential suitors who may be willing to prise him away from the club.

How much did Hearts sign Lawrence Shankland for?

The striker played for a variety of different Scottish clubs during his formative years in his career, including Queens Park, Aberdeen, and St Mirren, but it wasn’t until he joined Ayr United in 2017 that he became the lethal machine everyone is witnessing now.

Indeed, over the next two seasons, he plundered 61 goals in just 73 matches for the club, chipping in with 24 assists too and this sealed a move to Dundee United in 2019. His goal-scoring exploits didn’t let up in Tayside either, scoring 40 in 74 games before Belgian side Beerschot V.A swooped in to sign him back in 2021.

It didn’t quite work out for the striker on the continent and Hearts shelled out £500k to bring him back to his homeland last summer as Neilson looked to get his career back on track.

Neilson managed Shankland during their time at United, and he lauded the player on his arrival, saying: “I’m really happy that we’ve been able to bring Lawrence to the club.

“He’s a player I know well from our time together at Dundee United. I know exactly what his qualities are and what he’ll bring to the team, and that’s why we really pushed hard to make him a Hearts player. I know he’ll get a great welcome and I’m looking forward to working with him again.”

He certainly went on to impress for the Gorgie side during the 2022/23 season and this attracted plenty of interest for his services.

How much is Lawrence Shankland valued at now?

During the summer transfer window, there appeared to be plenty of interest shown in the 28-year-old, despite playing just one season at Hearts.

Clubs from Saudi Arabia and England were keen on the hitman according to the Edinburgh Evening News (via the Scottish Sun), yet Hearts were having none of this reported interest.

Naismith ended up placing a £3-£4m valuation on his prized asset, and it certainly worked as he remains at the club, until January at least.

If using the top end of the valuation, it represents a staggering 700% increase from their initial £500k just 12 months prior, and it indicates that Hearts have hit the jackpot by signing Shankland.

Why is Lawrence Shankland worth this much?

The 6-foot marksman scored only five times in 28 appearances for Beerschot, yet Neilson managed to restore his confidence by making him an integral part of the side which featured in the group stages of the Europa Conference League.

Shankland ended up registering an impressive 32 goal contributions across all competitions last term – 28 goals and four assists – and although it couldn’t secure third spot in the table for the club, they would have been a lot worse off if it hadn’t been for his ruthlessness in front of goal.

Journalist Joel Sked rightfully praised him towards the end of 2022 following a wonderful first few months at the club, saying: “Lawrence Shankland has been different class for Hearts. So much more to his game than goals.

"His ability to drop in, act as that focal point and link player, his awareness and the way he creates space for himself. All so good and so vital.”

It is perhaps no surprise that the striker ranked first across the Hearts squad for overall Sofascore rating (7.11), goals and assists (28) and scoring frequency (a goal every 127 minutes) while also finishing top of the pile for shots on target per game (1.4), clearly demonstrating how effective he was in front of goal throughout the season.

Naismith has had to rely on him during the embryonic stages of 2023/24 too as the 28-year-old has scored five goals in 12 appearances, yet he may need to do more as the club are currently sitting in sixth place in the league table, eight points adrift of third spot.

It hasn’t been an easy ride so far for Naismith yet if he can secure some much-needed wins in the coming games, confidence will hopefully grow.

One of the best decisions the club made was signing Shankland and giving him a platform to succeed as he is currently one of the most natural finishers in the country at the moment.

More interest in the player will be inevitable across the coming months, especially if he maintains his current form and the most important thing is Hearts keep a hold of him until they have a suitable replacement lined up.

When he does depart, Shankland will rake in the Tynecastle side a major profit and this could in turn, allow the club to vastly improve their squad as they aim for success.

Mahmudullah has identified the abundance of dot balls in Bangladesh’s innings, and the lack of singles and twos, as the reason behind their fifth straight T20 defeat

Andrew Fidel Fernando at the Premadasa09-Mar-2018On the boundary tally, the teams were neck and neck. Bangladesh hit 12 fours to go with their three sixes; India 13 fours and three sixes. Where Bangladesh let themselves down, however, was when it came to picking the gaps – their 43 singles put in the shade by India’s 58. All told, 56% of the deliveries Bangladesh faced were dot balls, as batsmen repeatedly attempted to hit boundaries, and routinely collected nothing but fresh air. India’s dot-ball percentage was only 32%, and there, Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah felt, was where the game was decided.”We probably played more than 50 dot balls today [68, to be exact], and when that happens you create pressure on individual batsmen,” he said. “I played seven dot balls and got out cheaply. It’s hard to get going if you’re relying so much on boundaries. If you can rotate the strike and score boundaries at the same time, it will release the pressure on the batsmen.”Of particular concern were the middle overs. Bangladesh were not terribly placed after the Powerplay, having hit 44 for 2 from the first six overs. But between overs 7 and 12 – while top order batsmen were still at the crease – they scored four runs or fewer in four separate overs, and the innings lost steam. There would be a brief upsurge while Liton Das and Sabbir Rahman batted together, but with so much ground to make up they were forced to attempt high-risk strokes.”We often lose our rhythm when batting in the middle overs,” Mahmudullah said. “When boundaries weren’t coming, we struggled to take ones and twos. Then we gave away our wickets. I think the blame goes to our batsmen, particularly on this wicket. especially when you’re playing with five bowlers and six batters, obviously you need to do something. Someone has to step up.”This six-wicket loss to India is Bangladesh’s fifth consecutive defeat in T20s, and their 13th in their last 14 matches. They have been consistently woeful in this format since mid-2016, for all their gains in Tests and ODI cricket. In these last five matches, Bangladesh have failed to breach 150 three times.”We need to be fearless – not thinking about our doubts,” Mahmudullah said. “Otherwise no point playing these games. We’ve been discussing that we need to express ourselves, whatever happens. T20 is about taking those calculated risks.”

The breakdown of Harry Maguire’s move to West Ham United from Manchester United could be a blessing in disguise for David Moyes.

It has opened up the market and expanded the realm the opportunity, with the club now able to target younger, more dynamic, and reliable players.

In a hectic week for the Irons, they’ve had to accelerate their attempts for a new centre-back. It has been suggested that Konstantinos Mavropanos and Odilon Kossounou have the leading contenders.

However, another player is also on the shortlist…

Why did Harry Maguire's move to West Ham break down?

According to the Guardian, one of the reasons that Maguire’s move to east London broke down was because there was a feeling within the West Ham recruitment that a quicker defender would be needed.

As such, Jonathan Tah has been named as a possible option.

Read the latest West Ham transfer news HERE…

Since then, in a more recent update, it has been suggested that interest in the Bayer Leverkusen titan is ‘not advanced’, but he remains linked to a move.

What is Jonathan Tah good at?

Back in 2015, when the German joined Leverkusen he said: “I’d like to establish myself at Leverkusen and in the Bundesliga.”

Well, 306 appearances later, Tah has achieved what he set out to do.

Since signing, the 6 foot 5 mountain has never made fewer than 26 appearances in a single campaign and has become renowned for his reliability, durability, and physicality.

His former team-mate Christopher Kramer described him as a “real battleship”, whilst Leverkusen’s ex-sporting director Rudi Voller feels he is “quick, technically gifted but still robust.”

Last season in the Bundesliga, Tah started 28 games, managed an 89% pass accuracy, was only dribbled past 0.2 times per game, completed 88% of his dribbles, and didn't commit any errors leading to a shot or goal, as per Sofascore. That is the true definition of reliability.

Moreover, his on-the-ball competence is particularly impressive, as the £21m-rated man ranks within the top 10% in Europe’s top five leagues among his positional peers for pass completion per 90, and his accomplished nature means he could seamlessly adapt to the demands of Premier League football.

West Ham look set to raid the Bundesliga and could complete a double swoop of two of the division’s most prominent defenders if they can also conclude a deal for Mavropanos.

Former Stuttgart sporting director Sven Milistant has showered the Greek in praise, saying: “In addition to his qualities as a footballer, Ata is an important part of our team as a person and as a leader. Dinos brings an enormous amount of strength and willpower to our game and has proven himself at a high level physically.”

In the last two campaigns, Mavropanos has featured in 59 of Stuttgart’s last 68 Bundesliga games and his impressive statistics are indicative as to why he is such a regular asset.

Over the past 365 days, compared to his positional peers in Europe’s top five leagues, the 25-year-old ranks within the best 10% for progressive passes per 90, progressive carries per 90, interceptions per 90, and aerials won per 90.

Therefore, West Ham can swiftly forget about the Maguire debacle with these two targets representing more than worthy replacements. Should they even go as far as combining the two, it would be a match made in heaven for the Hammers.

Rohit Sharma’s record 118 against Sri Lanka in Indore on Friday – the joint-fastest T20I hundred – included 10 sixes, the most by an India batsman in a T20I game. That took his tally of sixes across formats in 2017 to 64, the highest by a batsman in any calendar year. While a look at the numbers alone may suggest Rohit is a six-clobbering automaton, the reality is that the big hits aren’t so much a product of brute force as they are of stunning timing, one example being the six that he clipped over midwicket off Dushmantha Chameera in the 13th over.Rohit admitted after the match that his game wasn’t a power-dominated one, and he instead relied on timing and picking gaps. In Indore, he was also focused on relentlessly targeting the short square boundaries.”I definitely don’t have so much power. I rely a lot on timing the ball more than anything else,” he said. “I know my strengths and my weakness. I try and play with the field a lot. When the field is spread after six overs, I try and see where I can find my boundary options. I want to score all around the park and not just one area. It’s important that I try and explore the fielding the opposition keeps for me.”In all formats, I try and do that. You can’t just hit in one area. You become predictable then. It’s always important to score runs all over the field and that’s my strength.”Rohit’s second T20I hundred was largely made up of conventional strokes. His 43-ball 118 had 108 runs come off boundaries, giving him a boundary-percentage of 91.52, the highest for any T20I innings of 30 balls or more.”I didn’t play any of those flamboyant shots. I was just trying to hit the balls in the areas that I was looking to hit,” he said. “All the shots which I played pleased me because it takes a lot of effort to pull it off. Even when you defend it, you should like it as well. It’s not only about hitting boundaries and sixes. The ball that you hit in the gap should also make you happy.”I was thinking of scoring runs, not any particular target. In all the formats, I don’t look to get to a particular milestone. My job is to go out there and score as many as possible. Not just 100s or 200s or 300s. I go out there to make sure I get my team into a good position. My job is to do that. There are times when you don’t get runs. There are times when you get runs. Never do I ever walk out thinking that I want to score a century or a double-century. I just want to give my best and get the team a victory.”BCCI

In his first full series as stand-in captain, Rohit led from the front with a double-hundred in Mohali as India went on to win the ODI series 2-1. With the T20I series, too, already in the bag, he was asked if his batting had remained immune to the pressures of captaincy. He disagreed, and said the defeat in the first ODI in Dharamsala, where India collapsed to 112 batting first, had put him under a lot of pressure.”In Dharamsala, we were in a position where the team could have folded for the lowest score possible,” he said. “After that game, I was thinking quite a bit about my captaincy and my team. I was thinking that I was leading for the first time and I had been put in such a difficult situation.”There’s a lot of pressure on you always. Wherever you play, or any opposition you play, there’s always pressure. We’ve won the series but each and every match is important. It’s crucial to use each and every opportunity. When you captain for the first time, there is obviously pressure. I don’t know when I’ll lead India again so, for me, every match, every series and every moment on the field is important.”Rohit felt India’s successful showing against Sri Lanka would help the team’s momentum ahead of the South Africa tour.”When you travel overseas, the last series does have an impact,” he said. “The momentum you create, the winning rhythm of the team does give a lot of confidence. But once you go there, how you adapt yourself – technically and to their conditions – remains important. Even their fast bowlers will be much different than Sri Lanka’s.”When you travel overseas, the skills and mindset need to be changed, nothing else. You can carry the confidence you have generated from the recent success in the Test, ODI and T20 series, so as a team we are on a high and the confidence will help us in South Africa.”

MatériaMais Notícias

Em menos de um semana, a vida de Gustavo Mosquito mudou completamente. Emprestado pelo Corinthians ao Paraná, ele disputava a Série B do Brasileirão e nem poderia imaginar que pouco tempo depois ele marcaria um gol pelo Timão, na Arena. Não à toa ele se emocionou na saída de campo, na última quarta-feira, contra o Coxa. Mas tudo isso só aconteceu porque a comissão técnica de Tiago Nunes apostou no retorno do jogador, que correspondeu.

Na última sexta-feira, o jovem de 22 anos foi reintegrado ao elenco do Corinthians, clube ao qual chegou em 2019, mas não conseguiu ter uma sequência, sendo emprestado para Vila Nova, Oeste e Paraná em apenas um ano. Até que, buscando um jogador de velocidade pelo lado do campo, Tiago Nunes quis buscar um nome que vinha acompanha há algum tempo.

-Eu conheço o Gustavo desde a base do Coritiba, sempre foi um jogador diferente. Ele passou praticamente um ano parado no Coritiba por conta de uma divergência lá, o que atrapalhou o início dele. Vou oportunizar que ele tenha chance de entrar nos jogos. Ele é jovem, tem 22 anos, não podemos descartar simplesmente por uma primeira impressão não foi melhor – disse o treinador do Alvinegro em entrevista coletiva na última terça-feira.

continua após a publicidadeRelacionadasVídeoEvandro Fornari analisa vitória do Corinthians: ‘Não tem jogo fácil’Vídeo20/08/2020CorinthiansAuxiliar explica por que optou por deixar Luan no banco e escalar AraosCorinthians20/08/2020VídeoVeja os gols da vitória do Corinthians por 3 a 1 sobre o Coxa no BrasileirãoVídeo20/08/2020

O jovem nem bem chegou e já foi relacionado para viajar para Porto Alegre, onde o Corinthians enfrentaria o Grêmio, no último sábado. Apesar da oportunidade de estar com o elenco novamente, ele acabou não sendo utilizado no empate em 0 a 0, mas a nova chance não demoraria a acontecer e ela veio quatro dias depois, diante do Coritiba, após o intervalo.

Em uma partida difícil, em que o Timão não conseguia aproveitar a vantagem de ter um homem a mais em campo, o auxiliar técnico Evandro Fornari, que substituiu o suspenso Tiago Nunes, optou por colocar Gustavo no lugar de Ramiro, logo na volta do intervalo. O atacante não só ajudou a mudar o panorama da partida, como também marcou o terceiro gol, que selou a vitória.

O assistente corintiano elogiou atuação relevante do jovem de 22 anos no triunfo por 3 a 1 na última quarta-feira e explicou as características que fazem dele uma peça interessante para o elenco do Alvinegro neste momento, especialmente pela maratona de jogos que virá pela frente na temporada 2020.

-O Gustavo já vem sendo acompanhado, como outros atletas que estão emprestados pelo clube. Ele fez bons jogos pelo Paraná e tem uma característica como todos nós vimos: um jogador de velocidade, de drible, que tenta um desequilíbrio. Então a gente fica feliz, porque é um jogador a mais que vem para nos ajudar, a gente sabe da temporada que vai ter uma sequência de jogos, a gente fica contente de ele ter entrado no intervalo e ter nos ajudado a conquistar o resultado positivo – declarou Evandro.

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O jogador, por sua vez, não conteve a emoção de marcar seu primeiro gol pelo Corinthians e agradeceu a todos que estão proporcionando essa oportunidade a ele, mas aproveitando o bom momento, Mosquito projetou a conquista de objetivos ainda maiores com o clube nesta temporada.

-Feliz pelo primeiro gol com essa camisa, só agradecer primeiramente a Deus mesmo, e aos meus companheiros, que estão trabalhando forte no dia a dia, e me receberam muito bem. E é isso aí, vamos em busca de grandes coisas neste ano. Vai Corinthians – concluiu o atacante corintiano.