BCCI shortlists 20 players for 2023 ODI World Cup
New Delhi, Jan 1: There is no imminent threat to Rohit Sharma's ODI and Test captaincy as the BCCI brass hasn't found anything unsatisfactory about his leadership in the traditional formats, according to sources in the board.
Skipper Rohit, along with head coach Rahul Dravid, attended the review meeting in Mumbai. The meeting was conducted by BCCI secretary Jay Shah.
Along with last selection committee's chairman Chetan Sharma, NCA head VVS Laxman, president Roger Binny also attended the review meeting.
Since the focus is the World Test Championships (WTC), where India have a good chance of making it to the finals, and the 2023 ODI World Cup, new T20 captain Hardik Pandya wasn't a part of the meeting.
Hardik is in Mumbai for the T20 international series against Sri Lanka, which starts on Tuesday.
"Rohit is leading India in Tests and ODIs and there was no such discussions about his future as leader in these two formats. Look at his captaincy record in Tests and ODIs and it is more than impressive," a BCCI source privy to the development told PTI on the condition of anonymity.
It was also decided that a pool of 20 players will be rotated till the 2023 World Cup.
"The BCCI has shortlisted 20 players who will be rotated till the 50 overs ICC World Cup," Shah said after the meeting.
In what could be a significant move by the board, Sharma, who attended the review meeting on Sunday, could once again retain his chairmanship of the senior national selection panel.
If not chairman, he is likely to be the representative from North Zone. The name of former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad is also doing the rounds from South Zone, but his induction in the panel isn't a certainty.
Sharma being included in the planning of roadmap up to the 2023 ODI World Cup in itself is a significant development.
"First things first, if Chetan wouldn't have been told, he wouldn't have applied in first place. That itself is an indication. India have a World Cup to play in 10 months. Chetan and Harvinder's presence will add continuity along with three new members," the source added.
It is understood that SS Das, a former opener, is a big favourite from East Zone because of his 21 Test experience, unless some other compulsions lead to the BCCI choosing a lightweight candidate from east.
From West, Gujarat veteran Mukund Parmar, Salil Ankola, Sameer Dighe are engaged in a three-way race.
The new committee will be named in the coming week.
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
