Sport | Cricket

'Playing under Dhoni an incentive'

Young Turks Suresh Raina and Manoj Tiwari, who could not get much of a look-in during their tour Down Under with Mahendra Singh Dhoni's triumphant one-day team, are now looking forward to prove their worth for the respective Indian Premier League (IPL) teams.

  • By Gautam Bhattacharyya, Deputy Sports Editor
  • Published: 23:41 March 11, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Image Credit: AP
  • Young Indian cricketers Manoj Tiwari.
Image 1 of 2
12

Dubai: Young Turks Suresh Raina and Manoj Tiwari, who could not get much of a look-in during their tour Down Under with Mahendra Singh Dhoni's triumphant one-day team, are now looking forward to prove their worth for the respective Indian Premier League (IPL) teams.

While Raina had gone for an impressive $650,000 prize tag per year with Chennai, Tiwari's $675,000 for Delhi also raised a few eyebrows.

"The money is certainly good, but more importantly, it gives a platform to a young cricketer like me to grab the attention. The added incentive is I will be playing under Dhoni, our one-day captain," Raina told Gulf News from India.

A comeback

Raina, who made a comeback to the national team for the Tri-series with a string of high scores in domestic cricket, did not get a single game while Tiwari filled in for an unfit Yuvraj Singh against Australia in their first match early last month.

It must have been quite a chastening experience for him, what with Brett Lee breathing fire under overcast conditions, and the young Tiwari could survive only a few deliveries.

"No excuses for failing in that match, but the whole of last month had been quite a learning experience for me. I have got valuable inputs on my batting from seniors like Tendulkar and Sehwag and it was a privilege to share the dressing room with them," said Tiwari, getting ready to leave Kolkata for a domestic fixture.

"However, the IPL offers a new challenge and I am really looking forward to it. Our team is quite a balanced one with a number of handy allrounders from Sri Lanka (Farveez Mahroof and Tilakaratne Dilshan)," said the 22-year-old.

Raina, meanwhile, was thrilled at the idea of playing Muttiah Muralitharan at the nets - and not as a rival. "We have a number of left-handers like Hayden, (Michael) Hussey, Fleming and Jacob Oram apart from myself... it's quite a relief we don't have to play against him."

Back on the subject of Dhoni's captaincy, the Uttar Pradesh batsman said: "He is the kind of captain who always has time for you. As a cricketer, he is smart and his reading of the game is also excellent. He used to spend a lot of time with young cricketers and was always ready to share a problem."

More from Cricket

  1. Pakistan beat Afghanistan by seven wickets

  2. Aaqub Javed likely new UAE cricket team coach

  3. Gavaskar is a genius, Kapil says

  4. Minnows Afghanistan take on resurgent Pakistan

All articles in Cricket

More from Sport

Gulf News
Popular in Sport
A physiotherapist attends to Philippine Azkals’ vice-captain Emelio ‘Chieffy’ Caligdong during the first practice session of the Philippine national football team at the Al Nasr Sports Club in Dubai on Wednesday.

Football

Caligdong defies pain to train with Azkals

Marcel Siem in action on Day One of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Moist early morning conditions affected the German’s game, who now trails the leader by two shots.

Golf

Mud balls wreak havoc for Siem

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar is awarded the Hall of Fame cap by another former captain, Kapil Dev, as (from left) former cricketers Waqar Younis, Rameez Raja and Aamir Sohail; M.K. Lokesh, India’s Ambassador to the UAE; Haroon Lorgat, ICC chief executive; and Ajay Sethi, Channel 2 Group Corporation chairman, look on at a ceremony held at Sethi’s house on Wednesday.

Cricket

Gavaskar inducted into ICC Hall of Fame

Sport Editor's choice