Former India batter Venugopal Rao will be their new director of cricket

Nagraj Gollapudi17-Oct-20246:12

Making sense of the musical chairs in DC’s ownership structure

Former India batter Hemang Badani will take over as the new head coach at Delhi Capitals (DC) for IPL 2025. Along with Badani, DC have also appointed former India batter Venugopal Rao as the director of cricket.While Badani replaces Ricky Ponting, who amicably parted ways recently after seven seasons as head coach, Rao takes over the role performed in the past few years by former India captain Sourav Ganguly. Both appointments are part of the decision taken by the DC ownership to overhaul the coaching staff and the overall running structure of the franchise which has never won the IPL. The franchise has also decided not to renew the contract with Pravin Amre, who served as assistant coach and talent scout since 2014.”With the mega auction around the corner, my job, in collaboration with the rest of our coaching staff, is cut out,” Badani said in a franchise release. “I can’t wait to get started.”ESPNcricinfo has learnt the recruitment drive to bolster the coaching bench will continue with more assistant coaches and mentor to be appointed.As part of the restructuring, the co-owners of DC – the GMR Group and JSW Sports – will swap the operational leadership roles every two years for their teams in the IPL and the WPL; it means the GMR Group will take over the men’s team for the next two seasons and JSW Sports the women’s team for 2025 and 2026. Consequently, Ganguly will take over as director of cricket in the WPL for the next two seasons. Ganguly will switch back to the IPL from 2027 when JSW Sports will be back in charge. In a media statement on Thursday, the franchise said “key decisions like auctions, captaincy, player release and retentions of both teams will be made by the Delhi Capitals’ board, and will be decided mutually by senior leadership of both groups.”Why Hemang Badani?
While the appointment of Badani, who played four Tests and 40 ODIs, is expected to arouse curiosity, the former Tamil Nadu captain has been a successful coach in the domestic T20 circuit. After being part of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) squads in the initial few years, Badani was the head coach at Chepauk Super Gillies, who have won four TNPL titles, one of which was shared. With them, Badani played a key role in the development of young players like R Sai Kishore, the current Tamil Nadu captain.That experience played a role in Badani joining the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) coaching staff in IPL 2022. He also has coaching experience in overseas T20 leagues: with Sunrisers Eastern Cape in 2023, when they won the inaugural SA20 title, and with Jaffna Kings, who won the most recent season of the Lanka Premier League. He was the head coach at Dubai Capitals (also owned by GMR Group) who finished runners-up in the ILT20 this January.Rao, who played 16 ODIs between 2005 and 2006, was part of Deccan Chargers’ IPL – winning squad in 2009 and has also been part of Dubai Capitals, first as mentor in the inaugural season and then as director of cricket.

Liverpool are “clearly ahead” of rivals Chelsea in the race to sign a “magnificent” player in the summer transfer window.

Kerkez to join Liverpool this week

The Reds have now officially signed Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen in a British-record £116m move, in a piece of business that has made the rest of Europe sit up and take notice.

There is unlikely to be a bigger signing made this summer, with Wirtz considered one of the world’s top attacking players, but Liverpool are not expected to be done there, still planning on adding fresh faces to the squad.

It looks as though Milos Kerkez will be the next name through the door at Anfield in the coming days, with journalist Fabrizio Romano claiming over the weekend that a minor issue has been ironed out and that he could be unveiled as soon as Tuesday.

David Ornstein of The Athletic has gone one better, however, saying that a medical is now expected to be done on Monday after flying into the UK, with the deal set to be worth £40m for the Bournemouth left-back.

Liverpool leading race to sign "magnificent" ace

Now, reliable Sky Sports journalist Sacha Tavolieri [via Sport Witness] has said that Liverpool are “clearly ahead” of Chelsea and others in the battle to sign Lyon winger Malick Fofana this summer.

He states that the Reds’ head of recruitment, Barry Hunter, admires the 20-year-old and has him at the top of his list of summer targets. The Premier League champions will need to sell Federico Chiesa first, though, and Fofana could possibly cost as much as £60m.

Fofana could be a brilliant long-term signing for Liverpool, with scout Jacek Kulig describing him as a “magnificent” prospect last year.

At just 20 years of age, the young Belgian has already bagged 22 goal contributions (15 goals and seven assists) in 62 appearances for Lyon, also winning one cap for Belgium at senior level, and those numbers should only improve as he matures as a player.

Predominantly a left-sided attacking player, it seems slightly strange that Liverpool would push so hard for Fofana, though, especially as Chiesa is right-sided in general.

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Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo appear to be staying put, so it would arguably only make sense for the Reds to sign the Lyon ace if one of them moves on, or if Arne Slot sees him as a backup option to Mohamed Salah on the right. But his talent is undeniable, so the idea of him in a Liverpool shirt is exciting.

كسر لويس دي لا فوينتي، مدرب منتخب إسبانيا، صمته وتحدث عن الشجار الذي حدث بين قائد ريال مدريد، داني كارفاخال، ونجم نادي برشلونة، لامين يامال خلال الفترة الأخيرة.

ودخل كارفاخال في شجار مع يامال عقب نهاية لقاء نادي ريال مدريد أمام برشلونة في كلاسيكو الدوري الإسباني يوم الأحد قبل الماضي، لحساب قمة الجولة العاشرة من بطولة الدوري الإسباني للدرجة الأولى.

ونجح ريال مدريد في تحقيق الانتصار على برشلونة بهدفين مقابل هدف واحد، على ملعب سانتياجو برنابيو.

وعقب نهاية المباراة، توجه كارفاخال إلى يامال، مطالبًا إياه بعدم التحدث كثيرًا، لتشتغل الأمور بين لاعبي الفريقين بالفعل ويحدث شجار.

اقرأ أيضًا .. ريال مدريد يعلن إصابة لاعبه قبل مواجهة ليفربول ورفض دي لا فوينتي التضخيم من حادثة يامال وكارفاخال، موضحًا أن الخلاف بين اللاعبين لن يؤثر على وحدة منتخب إسبانيا.

وقال دي لا فوينتي في تصريحات نقلتها ”eldesmarque” : “لم نشهد أي حادثة ولا أي سلوك غريب من أي شخص. إنه ليس شجارًا مدرسيًا والشعور هو شعور عائلي ووحدة وإعطاء الأولوية للمصلحة العامة على المصالح الفردية، هذا يظهر الكثير عن هذه المجموعة من لاعبي كرة القدم”.

وأضاف دي لا فوينتي في حديثه: “أعتقد أن الأمر متروك لأنديتهما للتحدث الآن، المسؤولون في أنديتهما هم من يتخذون القرار. لقد تحدثت كثيرًا مع لامين، كما تحدثت مع داني كارفاخال ومع الجميع”.

واختتم دي لا فوينتي في حديثه عن الخلاف بين يامال وكارفاخال: “سألتزم بالصورة من بطولة أوروبا، تمريرة لامين العرضية ورأسية كارفاخال، العناق الذي تبادلاه وتعابير وجهيهما، هذا ما يحدث في المنتخب الوطني. أنا مقتنع تمامًا أن المصلحة العامة هي الأهم هنا”.

Bayern Munich sporting director Christoph Freund says they weren't the ones to publicly reveal their attempts to sign Nick Woltemade from Stuttgart.

Stuttgart rejected Bayern Munich's €60m offer for WoltemadeBayern's sporting director stressed the club never discussed figuresSays there's no update on his transferFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Bayern's third bid of €60 million (£52m/$70m) for Woltemade was rejected by Stuttgart, who have now reportedly upped their asking price to €75m (£65m/$88m). When asked for the latest update on Woltemade's transfer, Freund claimed the matter was handled internally and no details were released. He further blamed the Stuttgart camp for causing the media frenzy surrounding the player.  

AdvertisementGetty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Bayern reignited their attempts to sign Woltemade as the striker asked both clubs to enter negotiations but Stuttgart once again rejected their advances. Stuttgart have reiterated their stance multiple times that they plan on keeping the player, with Stuttgart sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth and CEO Alexander Wehrle both stating that Woltemade will play with them next season. When asked about the forward's future, the sporting director clearly stated that they are not the ones using the situation to generate talks.

WHAT FREUND SAID

In a press conference, Freund confirmed that there have been no talks with Stuttgart and insisted Bayern are not responsible for all the media speculation. He said at a press conference: "Bayern wasn't the match that generated so much discussion. We never commented on deadlines or figures. There's no update either. We play against Stuttgart tomorrow, where the player is under contract."

Earlier Stuttgart coach was also asked about Woltemade's future, to which he said: "Nick is a part of our team and a very important building block in our team. Nothing has changed about that."

AFPWHAT NEXT FOR BAYERN?

Stuttgart's new price tag makes it increasingly difficult for the German striker to leave the club with the striker's agent having labelled Stuttgart's demands as "completely unfounded". The two clubs are now set to face each other in the German Super Cup on August 17.

He scored heaps of runs in age-group cricket, but had only 55 runs to show for his five Ranji Trophy matches before this season

Srinidhi Ramanujam17-Jun-2022Armaan Jaffer has always had an appetite for runs and long innings. At the school level, at the Under-19 level, at the Under-25 level. And now, it was visible at the senior level too, when he scored his second century of the Ranji Trophy season, on day four of the semi-final and blunted Uttar Pradesh with centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal to take Mumbai close to their first final in five years. Mumbai now lead by 662 runs.After a long gap, this hunger for runs reflected in tangible terms only recently. Having started his age-group cricket alongside Sarfaraz Khan and Prithvi Shaw, he was tipped to be the next big thing with them from Mumbai.But it was a stop-start career for Jaffer after his first-class debut in the 2016-17 season. He missed the following season due to a knee surgery but made his way back into the Mumbai squad in the 2018-19 edition after an unbeaten 300 off 367 against Saurashtra in the Under-23 CK Nayudu Trophy.However, his career never really took off at the senior level as he would have wanted it to.Before this Ranji season, Jaffer had played five first-class matches and had scored a mere 55 runs.Self-doubt started to creep in and “people also started doubting” him. It was because of the reputation he had earned and the expectations he had set after being prolific in age-group cricket. The ‘Jaffer’ tag also had its own share of pressure.Jaffer first hogged the limelight with a record 498 runs in the Under-14 Giles Shield tournament – the highest individual score in Indian school cricket in 2010. He was then picked for the 2016 Under-19 World Cup on the back of three consecutive double-centuries in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy. In the same year, he was added to the Kings XI Punjab squad for INR 10 lakh.But this drive to play long innings was rekindled by Abhishek Nayar, former India and Mumbai batter, post his 2019 ACL surgery.”I didn’t want to take any innings for granted,” he said of his changed mindset.During his rehabilitation in Mumbai, Jaffer trained with Nayar for six months and those interactions helped him get into a better mental state and “not focus on personal goals.” That was a bit of a “different preparation,” he would say.”Talking to him, him sharing his experiences…that motivated me a lot.”On my chat with Nayar, I came to know that it was his dream to hit a six off the first ball on debut like Vinod Kambli did, but that could not happen because he was under so much pressure. Then he could not string good performances, he got out for consecutive zeroes, and he was left out of the team. But he did not lose his hunger of coming back into the team and playing Ranji Trophy for Bombay for many years. Eventually, he made a comeback and went on to play for India as well. That was quite motivating for me.”For me, there was a time when I played five [Ranji] matches, and post that, I did not do anything.”I had scored so many runs in age-group tournaments that there was so much expectation from everyone, and that could not be fulfilled. So there was a lot of self-doubt, but when I spoke to him [Nayar], my dad, then my mindset changed a bit. This season I think my mindset has been better. There has definitely been hard work, but I think my mindset has been better. And that is paying off through my performances.”This clarity was visible in all the three Ranji games he has played so far. In his first match this season, against Odisha in the group stage, coming in at No. 3 and witnessing Mumbai slip from 73 for 0 to 76 for 3, Jaffer cracked a 223-ball 125 and stitched 277 runs with Sarfaraz to help Mumbai take a big lead. The next opportunity came a few months after the IPL, in the quarter-final against Uttarakhand and he scored 60 and an unbeaten 17.On Friday, in the semi-final, Jaffer scored a breezy 127 in the second innings on a flat pitch at the Just Cricket Academy and put on 286 runs with Jaiswal for the second wicket to further close in on the final spot. Mumbai ended the day at 449 for 4 with another massive lead. Jaiswal made his career-best first-class score of 181, his third consecutive century in the format.”The match was on our side, especially after they got out in the first innings,” Jaffer said. “But personally, I did not want to take any innings for granted. Regardless of the match situation, I did not want to take any innings for granted and did not want to waste any innings. My focus was to score runs. That would have helped the team and me.”In general, I haven’t made too many changes to my preparation. What I was doing at the time, I am continuing with the same now. Maybe, it was not destined to happen at the time, but now it is happening. The hard work that I have put in these years is paying off now. My preparation has been normal, I train with my father.”Mumbai might be closing in on a final spot, but Jaffer still has some unfinished business.”Before the season, the message from our coach [Amol Muzumdar] was that Bombay has won the trophy 41 times, so we have to win the Ranji Trophy anyhow. That was the goal right from the beginning,” he added.The senior Jaffer – Armaan’s uncle – has won 10 Ranji titles in his career. The junior may not be far from adding one to his name.

Smart Stats helps explain why Bumrah’s figures of 2 for 32 don’t do full justice to his impact on the match

ESPNcricinfo stats team23-Sep-2020Jasprit Bumrah was strangely off-colour in the first match of the season: against the Chennai Super Kings, he leaked 43 from four overs, and was the most expensive bowler of the match. As expected, though, it didn’t take him long to find his mojo. Against the Kolkata Knight Riders, he was back at his best, and ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats reveals just good he was.