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The second ODI between India and Australia turned out to be yet another disappointing show from Suryakumar Yadav as the star batter once again got dismissed for a golden duck. In both the matches, it was pacer Mitchell Starc , who got the precious wicket of Surya on the very first delivery. As the powerful T20I batter failed to open his run-tally in both matches, some questions have been raised regarding his spot in the team for the upcoming ODI World Cup. However, veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik backed Suryakumar and came up with an interesting suggestion for the Team management regarding him.

Karthik stated that Suryakumar can be used at the No.6 position as he showcases a different style of batting when he is given limited overs to perform.

“He would have gotten out on those two deliveries even in T20s. It is not that because it is ODIs, he is getting out. This is high-quality bowling irrespective of the format. He played the two ODIs now and prior to that he didn’t play consistently. Shreyas Iyer was the preferred No.4 and rightfully so and Surya was the back-up option. Where we need to be with Surya is to remind ourselves of the talent he is,” said Karthik on Cricbuzz .

“What I like to see is can they fit in Surya at a different place to get the best out of him. I feel, Hardik enjoys batting up top so is there a possibility of sending him at No.4 and Surya at six. It is so because when you give him 15-18 overs, the way he is able to turn the game on its head is very very good. And irrespective of whether there are 5 or 4 fielders inside the circle he is able to hit boundaries at will and make a mockery out of the captain. When you give Surya lesser overs, 14-18 overs, he is at his venomous best. Suryakumar in ODIs is a non-negotiable.”

Coming to the second ODI, Mitchell Starc’s 5-53 and a blazing 66 by Mitchell Marsh helped Australia demolish India by 10 wickets, to level the series at 1-1 on Sunday.

Starc, a left-arm quick, rattled the Indian batting with his pace and swing to bundle out the opposition for 117 in 26 overs in Visakhapatnam.

Openers Travis Head (51) and Marsh, who smashed six sixes in his 36-ball blitz, then took apart the Indian bowling to romp home in 11 overs and level the three-match series with one game left.

Australia finished the chase with 39 overs to spare and bounce back from their opening loss.

(With AFP Inputs)

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The world cricket’s ecosystem is slowly seeing a paradigm shift towards franchise cricket and the entry of Indian Premier League franchises in the United States through the inaugural edition of Major League Cricket (MLC) could be a significant step in that direction. With Kolkata Knight Riders (Los Angeles), Chennai Super Kings (Texas), Mumbai Indians (New York) and Delhi Capitals (Seattle Orcas) taking ownership or making significant investments in four of the six franchises (the other two being Washington Freedom and San Francisco Unicorns), the cricketing landscape is going to change forever.

Even the two franchises which don’t have IPL investments are also owned by persons of Indian origin. San Francisco Unicorns’ top investors are Venture Capitalists Venky Hariharan and Anand Rajaraman, who have got Australian state side Victoria on board.

Washington Freedom is owned by Indian American Sanjay Govil along with New South Wales state cricket body from Australia. Not to forget Seattle has Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella as one of the investors.

But the IPL franchises are now expanding their bouquet of teams across leagues in the West Indies, UAE, South Africa and now US is another untapped market that wasn’t being explored for a long time despite the Asian diaspora craving for some regular cricket show at least once a year.

On Monday, early morning India time (Sunday night in Houston), the likes of former Australia captain Aaron Finch (San Francisco), Quinton de Kock (Seattle Orcas), a former South African skipper and even now a batting mainstay, premier pacer Anrich Nortje (Washington), Sri Lanka’s top T20 freelancer Wanindu Hasaranga (Washington), dashing all-rounders Mitchell Marsh (Seattle) and Marcus Stoinis (SF Unicorns) are the first lot of quality internationals picked up by ‘Draft System’, which is a Major League thing.

In major US sports like basketball, baseball, there are no auctions held and only the draft picks, and hence that has been followed by the Major League Cricket as well.

“A private cricket league in the US is very different from private leagues in, say the UAE or South Africa. But in terms of revenue model, I expect the MLC to be much more successful in coming years,” said Hemant Dua, former CEO of erstwhile Delhi Daredevils, who has worked in franchise business model of sport for years.

Dua, then explained why USA has potential to be successful.

“Building infrastructure is the least of the problems in the US. Also, the Asian diaspora that (Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans) comprises of people with more white-collared jobs and more disposable income than majority of the Asian diaspora in the UAE.

“Plus the UAE league is more dependant on international players but Indians in US will support their locals too. You need to factor in all these issues. One thing what MLC organisers need to look at is Indian audience timings to garner greater broadcast revenue.”

We might see more retirements in future in India

The club versus country debate has been raging for some time. The BCCI doesn’t allow its active cricketers to play any other leagues apart from IPL but the start of Major League Cricket in US could see a lot of domestic retirements in India because of the propensity to migrate to the US.

Take the case of Unmukt Chand and Milind Kumar , who have found takers in the inaugural season after chucking their domestic cricket careers in India, which wasn’t going anywhere.

“If you are not ensured earning of at least 15 crore from IPL in five years, or you aren’t a top-line India international with endorsements and Rs 50-crore plus earnings, why would you stay back?” an IPL franchise source told PTI while discussing the possibilities.

“A retirement from all forms of cricket in India opens avenues to play multiple T20 leagues, earn at least 6-8 crore per year for 4-6 months of work and also maintain a fine work-life balance. But, yes, this holds true for only skilled T20 players with no ambitions of playing red-ball cricket and I can vouch, there are many,” he added.

While the ICC has already set the next five years’ FTP in place after consultation with the various major international cricket boards, the lure of six months of work and six months’ leave and plying trade in only private leagues, is a reality that is knocking hard on the establishment’s door.

Recently, the custodians of the game, MCC, after its annual meeting stated: “The men’s cricket schedule in 2023 is saturated with franchise competitions, which overlay and compete with the ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP) of bilateral international cricket, recently released until 2027. The only gap in the combined schedules this year is in October and November when the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup takes place in India.” The Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA) had released its annual report a few months back which had stated that around 40 per cent of the current cricketers in the market are freelancers and there are 49 per cent, who are ready to reject central contract for plying trade in private leagues.

Some interesting days lie ahead for all the stakeholders in world cricket.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Shikhar Dhawan uploaded a reel on social media on Monday in which he could be seen playing the role of a police personnel. “Aali Re Aali! Aata Tujhi Baari Aali! Coming Soon For Something New,” the southpaw captioned the post. The short clip had Dhawan dressed up in police uniform. In the video he fights the goons with the song ‘Singham’ running in background. In the latter part of the reel, the goons could be seen surrendering themselves in front of the India batter.

Watch the reel here:

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Shikhar Dhawan finds himself out of the Indian team since an ODI against the Bangladesh in December 2022. The 37-year-old opener has not yet given up on a strong desire to play the World Cup at home later this year.

One of the finest openers India have produced in the 50-over format, Dhawan was dropped from the side following a lean run which included the three games in Bangladesh in December. The southpaw had led the side in New Zealand in November when Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul were rested.

Shubman Gill came into the team at Dhawan’s expense and the young opener has not looked back ever since. His back-to-back impressive performances have helped him cement his place in the team as an opener.

(With PTI Inputs)

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