The big story: ‘Dhoni was ready to take over when I left the captaincy’

Indian coach Anil Kumle on Thursday heaped praise on MS Dhoni for his apt handling of senior players in the team, PTI reported.

Kumble who had made way for the wicket-keeper batsman to be Test captain in 2008, lauded Kumble for his tenure at the helm.

“The first phase was probably easy for me because I was old, it was easy for me to say ‘MS take over’. It was difficult for me to continue at that time, the body was not willing but I thought it was the right time for me to leave as well. MS (Dhoni) was ready to take over Test captaincy,” said Kumble ahead of the first ODI against England here on Sunday.

“From there to 2007 to 2017, 10 years of captaincy is phenomenal. It goes to show the capabilities of MS as a leader and also what he has been able to achieve during the transition phase and also when the seniors left as well, it is not easy coming into the team as captain and having so many senior players. He managed them really well.

“He (Dhoni) not only got the best out of them but also got the best for the team. Both as number one Test side and later on winning the World Cup and then Champions Trophy and many other victories, he has been part of,” he said referring to the time when the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid played under Dhoni.

The other top stories

Cricket

  • India A recorded a comfortable six-wicket win over England XI in their second warm-up match at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. India chased down England’s target of 283 comfortably, losing only four wickets and with more than 10 overs in hand.  
  • Shreyas Iyer’s 82-run knock helped Mumbai make a strong comeback against Gujarat on day three of the Ranji Trophy final on Thursday. The effort saw Mumbai post 208/3 at stumps and take a crucial 108-run lead.    
  • Cricket Association of Bengal President Sourav Ganguly will have to go on a “cooling off” period of three years from June, having completed three years at the state association as secretary and president.
  • Hashim Amla scored a century in his 100th Test as South Africa posted 338/3 at stumps on day 1 of the third and final Test against Sri Lanka.
  • Bangladesh posted 154/3 at stumps on a rain-disrupted opening day of the first Test against New Zealand on Thursday.
  • The Kerala Cricket Association let off Sanju Samson with a warning for his alleged misconduct during a Ranji Trophy match with a rider that his father Viswanadh will not be allowed to “interfere with his son’s cricketing activities”, PTI reported.
  • Mumbai will play host to the Irani Cup match from January 18 to 22 at the Wankhede Stadium. The tie will see the winner from the ongoing Ranji Trophy final between Mumbai and Gujarat to cross swords with a Rest of India XI.

Tennis

  • Roger Federer will be the 17th seed for the Australian Open and could face Andy Murray or Novak Djokovic as early as the third round.   
  • Former world No. 1 Nadia Petrova announced her retirement after being plagued by injuries. The 34-year-old Russian had not played on the WTA Tour since 2014.
  • Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Barbora Strycova 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday to advance to the Sydney International final. She will face Johanna Konta or Eugenie Bouchard in the title clash.  
  • Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova beat the American-Russian pair of Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1, 6-2 to enter the final of the Sydney International on Thursday, The Times of India reported.  
  • Yuki Bhambri inched closer to the Australian Open singles main draw after defeating Serbian Pedja Krstin 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the qualifying event, PTI reported.
  • Vijay Amritraj says brother Anand Amritraj was the India’s best captain in the last three decades. The Indian tennis stalwart said he was surprised by his sacking.

Football

  • Southampton beat Liverpool 1-0 at St Mary’s to secure a slender lead in their first-leg semi-final of the League Cup on Thursday.   
  • Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 to progress to the semi-finals of the Copa Del Rey on Thursday. Goals from Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar ensured that Barcelona progressed on a 4-3 aggregate.
  • Chelsea have been given permission by the local council to build a new £500 million 60,000-seat stadium.
  • India’s national football team moved up six places to 129th in the latest FIFA world rankings that were published on Thursday. Their best ranking in over a decade.  

Badminton

  • Hyderabad Hunters entered the semifinals of Premier Badminton League with a 5-2 win over Delhi Acers on Thursday.

Boxing

  • Former world champion L Sarita Devi will make her professional debut against Zsofia Bedo of Hungary in the Indian Boxing Council’s January 29 fight night to be held in Imphal.

Chess

  • Indian Grandmaster Murali Karthikeyan defeated compatriot MR Lalith Babu to jump to the sole lead in the 15th Parsvnath Delhi International chess tournament on Thursday.

Golf

  • India’s 17-year-old amateur Arjun Prasad was placed tied-11th at the end of the second round of the Asian Tour Qualifying School Final Stage on Thursday.