Sports consulting and talent management solutions company ITW Consulting Private Ltd will make Indian cricket all-rounder R. Ashwin an ambassador for over 15 brands by the end of this year, a top company official said.

The company has signed with Ashwin to manage his commercial brand endorsements.

“There is good potential for brand Ashwin. We intend to bring in excess of 15 brands,” ITW Consulting co-founder Bharirav Shanth told reporters.

According to him, by the end of this year, Ashwin will be endorsing most number of brands.

Shanth said Ashwin’s brand equity level has certainly gone up following him being named as the International Cricket Council’s Player of the Year.

Queried about Ashwin’s attributes and why should a brand owner hire him as an ambassador, Shanth said: “Ashwin has a clean image, a tough player on the field, a commitment to perform and dependable.”

Those brands that convey these attributes would certainly pitch for Ashwin, he said.

“We will decide which brand to endorse,” Ashwin added.

According to Shanth, after the legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev, the Tamil Nadu player is the genuine world class all-rounder that the nation has.

“In terms of brand equity had Kapil Dev been playing now, he would be earning more than the topmost cricketers now. The market now is completely different from what it was when Kapil Dev was actively playing cricket,” Shanth told IANS on the side lines.

Speaking about his playing style and the changes, Ashwin said his mother once told him that a person will not improve unless he changes is attitude.

“Change and improvement are directly proportional,” Ashwin said.

Ashwin refuted views that a vacuum has been formed with M.S. Dhoni stepping down as the skipper of India’s One-Day International and T20 Internatinal teams.

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IANS

Excellent batting by Joe Root and Moen Ali helped England post 311/4 in their first innings on the opening day of the first cricket Test against India. Coming together after England lost three wickets in the first session of the day, Root and Ali added 179 runs between them to help the visitors to a comfortable position.

Root scored 124 before being caught and bowled by pacer Umesh Yadav. Ali was on the cusp of a well deserved century as he was unbeaten on 99 at the close of the day’s play. Ben Stokes, who was batting on 19, was giving Ali company at stumps.

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Scorecard:
England Innings 
Alastair Cook lbw b Jadeja 21
H Hameed lbw b Ashwin 31
Joe Root c and b Yadav 124
B Duckett c Rahane b Ashwin 13
Moeen Ali not out 99
Ben Stokes not out 19

Extras (b 1, lb 2, nb 1) 4
Total (in 93 overs) 311/4

Fall of wickets: 1-47 (Cook, 15.1 overs), 2-76 (Hameed, 26.3 overs), 3-102 (Duckett, 32.3 overs), 4-281 (Root, 80.5 overs).

Bowling:
Mohammed Shami 12.1-2-31-0
Umesh Yadav 18.5-1-68-1
Ravichandran Ashwin 31-3-108-2
Ravindra Jadeja 21-2-59-1
Amit Mishra 10-1-42-0 

INAS

The newly appointed selection committee have recalled Suresh Raina and Hardik Pandya but in a surprise move they’ve left out regulars spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. The squad has been selected for the first three matches of the five-match One Day International series against New Zealand, starting on October 16.

This was the first assignment for the newly-appointed selection committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India headed by M S K Prasad. The 15-member squad led by limited overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who last played the ODI and T20 International series in Zimbabwe in June. 

The batting department has been bolstered by the return of Test skipper Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma while Manish Pandey is likely to fill in for injured Lokesh Rahul as opener. Maharashtra stumper Kedar Jadhav and Punjab batsman Mandeep Singh also retained their places in the squad.

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Meanwhile, the pace bowling department will be spearheaded by Umesh Yadav, and will also comprise Jasprit Bumrah and Dhawal Kulkarni. The spin department will be headed by senior leg-spinner Amit Mishra in the company of left-armer Axar Patel and offie Jayant Yadav.

The first match will be played in Dharamsala on October 16 followed by the second at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla on October 20 while the third match will be played at Mohali on October 23.

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav.

IANS

India’s Test skipper Virat Kohli said that the team is not too much concerned about losing the No.1 position in the longest format of cricket as they don’t play for rankings.

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India had to win the fourth and final Test against hosts West Indies to hold on to their No.1 Test spot, but with rain playing spoilsport, and the match ending in a draw, Pakistan were promoted to No.1 spot from second for the first time.

India had already won the Test series 2-0 against the West Indies.
“Had Pakistan not won, had we drawn the last game, the rankings would have looked different again. It is a very short-term incentive because we understand that the points’ table is very close,” Kohli told reporters after winning the series here.

“But as a team we think we can assess ourselves at the end of this season, not one Test at a time,” he added.

“The other teams have played more games than us and we need to play as many games to be able to compare after the whole season is done. Rankings keep going up and down, and you don’t play for rankings. You want to be the best side in the world and that has always been our aim.”

Kohli also praised seasoned off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha, terming the duo as the biggest positive of the tour.

Both Ashwin and Saha struck a century each in the third Test to help India recover from the top-order batting collapse in the first innings.

“It’s been a pretty good tour for us. We had come here looking to improve in a few areas and we have done that. For me, the biggest positive is Wriddhiman Saha getting runs in the lower order, plus R Ashwin coming good at No 6,” he said.

“I hope we can keep on improving this aspect of our game because there are positions, which matter a lot in Test cricket. Whenever teams have done consistently well in Test cricket, their lower order has always contributed. So, those were the areas for us to solidify,” the skipper added.

Team India now travels to Florida to play two-match Twenty20 International series against the West Indies on August 27-28.

But the big Test starts when New Zealand travels to India to kick off the long home season. The first of the 13 Tests begins in Kanpur in September. And Kohli said his team is right on track.

“It is very important to be selfless in the team and it is a quality of this team. This team has developed this attitude and we have to keep at it if we want to become the best team in the world,” the 27-year-old added.

Ravichandran Ashwin wrecked havoc on the West Indies. His 7-wicket haul in the second innings gave India an innings and 92 run victory over the hosts. After Virat Kohli’s double hundred it was the turn of Ashwin to turn the hero for India. After scoring a century in India’s first innings, the India all rounder took 7 wickets for 83 runs.

Ashwin is the third player to score a ton and take a 7-wicket haul in the same Test. With this, Ashwin emulated England’s former all rounder Ian Botham, who had also scored a ton and taken a 5-wicket haul in same Test twice. Ashwin’s bowling figure of 7/83 in the second innings is the best by Indian bowler in West Indies. Ashwin’s 17 five-wicket hauls in 33 Tests so far Most by a spinner.  Ashwin won his 5th Man of the Match Award in Tests. India’s innings-and-92-run win against WI, is the biggest Test victory outside Asia.