All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been named as India's most valuable Test player in the 21st century by the Wisden magazine. With an MVP rating of 97.3, the 31-year-old Jadeja was also rated as the second most valuable Test player worldwide, behind only Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan.
"It has been a dream to play for India and above that when you are rewarded for being the most valuable player, you feel even more blessed," Jadeja said. "Would want to thank all my fans, team-mates, coaches and support staff for their unconditional love and support." Jadeja has played in 49 Tests since making his debut in 2012, scoring 1,869 runs with one century and 14 fifties to his name. He has picked up 213 Test wickets. Based on analytics provided by CricViz, each player in world cricket has been awarded an ‘MVP rating' using a statistical model to rank their ‘match impact' compared to their peers. "It might come as a surprise to see Jadeja...feature as India's number one. After all, he's not even always an automatic pick in their Test team. However, when he does play he is picked as a frontline bowler and has batted as high as No.6," said CricViz's Freddie Wilde.
Archers Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das tie the knot
Indian archers Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das tied the knot at Morabadi in Ranchi last week. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was also present at the wedding as guests were asked to come according to different time slots with two batches of 50 each. The guests were given masks and sanitizers on arrival. Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das had originally planned the wedding after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but with the Games postponed by a year, they decided to advance the wedding. Atanu and Deepika have both already booked their spot in the Tokyo Olympics. While Atanu earned a team quota along with Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav in the World Championships meet, Deepika claimed an individual spot by winning gold at the Asian Continental qualifying tournament in November last year.
Rs 200,000 salary cap lifted
The Sports Ministry removed the Rs 200,000 cap on the salary given to Indian coaches for training elite athletes in a bid to encourage them to produce better results. The move is also aimed at attracting former players to become high performance trainers. The announcement came after the ministry's decision to extend the contracts of all foreign coaches till September 30 next year. "Several Indian coaches are showing very good results and need to be rewarded for their hard work. The government is also keen to attract the best coaching talent from across the country to train elite athletes and we do not want the cap on compensation to be a deterrent for good coaches to join," Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said. The ministry said the increased remuneration and longer contract period "is to attract ex-elite athletes into the high performance sporting ecosystem, and to use their experience and skill to train athletes bound for major international competitions, including the Olympics".
