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Whilst recent results may have restored some of the good feeling at Old Trafford, it is clear that Erik ten Hag is still on thin ice at Manchester United with Sir Jim Ratcliffe already looking at other options.

Ten Hag facing uncertain future at Man Utd

Amad Diallo's last grasp winner at the weekend saw Man Utd progress to the FA Cup semi-finals at the expense of rivals Liverpool. Whilst the added time victory was celebrated on the red side of Manchester, many in the fanbase may still feel that the Red Devils need a new manager if they are to return to the top of the Premier League.

Man United and Sir Jim Ratcliffe planning to move for “important player”

The update comes courtesy of journalist Fabrizio Romano.

ByHenry Jackson Mar 10, 2024

Currently sitting sixth in the table, United are nine points away from the Champions League places and look unlikely to make up the gap in the remaining 10 games of the season.

Brentford

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Chelsea

Away

Liverpool

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Bournemouth

Away

Burnley

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Crystal Palace

Away

Arsenal

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Brighton

Away

Sheffield United

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Newcastle United

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In his first season in charge, Ten Hag managed to guide the Red Devils to a third-placed finish as well as a League Cup victory over Newcastle. This season has not gone as well with United struggling in the league and bowing out of Europe in embarrassing fashion, finishing at the bottom of their Champions League group.

Ratcliffe had initially shown faith in Ten Hag, however, the new part owner now looks set to explore other options to fill the dugout at the Theatre of Dreams.

Ratcliffe wants Southgate at Man Utd

As reported by The Daily Star, the new part-owner has identified Gareth Southgate as his number one target to be Ten Hag's successor at Man United.

The outlet states that "Ratcliffe and INEOS director of sport Sir Dave Brailsford have consulted some of United’s former greats about who should replace Ten Hag. And the overwhelming choice was Southgate". The former Middlesbrough manager was also the favourite of incoming director of football Dan Ashworth who had previously worked with Southgate during his time at the FA.

Despite the club's interest in the coach, the report claims that Southgate, who plays an attacking 4-3-3 system, is not interested in discussing his future at the moment with the 53-year-old focused on the upcoming European Championships in Germany.

The England boss's contract is set to expire in December 2024 with a compensation fee of around £800,000 necessary to lure Southgate away from the national team once the Euros conclude in July. Ratcliffe reportedly wants a decision from the 53-year-old soon so that he can start planning for next season.

Whilst often maligned for his style of play, Southgate has overseen vast improvements to the national team. The last three major tournaments have seen the Three Lions reach the semi-finals, final and quarter-finals respectively, with just a penalty shootout keeping them away from European Championship glory back in 2021.

With a major rebuild at Old Trafford planned for the summer, the Red Devils could do a lot worse than a manager known in England and with a proven track record in turning around struggling sides.

It is no secret that Nottingham Forest like to make new signings at any given opportunity. Since promotion back to the Premier League in May 2022, the club have brought in 34 new players with owner Evangelos Marinakis splashing out over £200m in the process.

Despite the club deploying a scattergun approach in recent seasons, they have previously utilised the facilities at The Nigel Doughty Academy to develop youngsters for the first team.

Players such as Ryan Yates, Matty Cash and Brennan Johnson are just three examples of the quality of player that the club are capable of producing, with the latter two departing the City Ground to join Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, respectively, for fees in the region of £15m and £47.5m.

With the club being charged by the Premier League for breaching their FFP and profit and sustainability rules back in January, the club may have to work on a shoestring budget over the next few transfer windows, with the club's academy potentially playing a crucial part in developing players to have an impact on the first-team.

Nottingham Forest youngster Manni Norkett

Manni Norkett is a 19-year-old striker who joined Forest from fellow Premier League side Manchester United during the summer – joining the Reds' academy setup.

The striker, who was born in Nottingham, signed for the Red Devils back in 2018, after receiving 15 offers from various sides in the Premier League.

He was a key figure for United's academy for many years, scoring frequently for multiple different age categories including United's U21s despite being just 18 at the time.

The youngster scored nine times for United's U18s in the Premier League 2 last season before his arrival in Nottingham during the summer of 2023. Whilst he's only scored once for the Reds in eight Premier League 2 appearances this season, he still has a huge future ahead of him and could be the "real deal" – as dubbed by one of his old coaches Garry Attwood.

Norkett will be looking to follow in the footsteps of fellow Forest youngster Joe Gardner who made his first-team debut a few weeks ago, coming on in the 90th minute of the FA Cup fourth-round replay against Bristol City, replacing the injured Gonzalo Montiel.

Manni Norkett could be Awoniyi heir

Whilst Nuno's side currently have two brilliant centre forwards in Chris Wood and Taiwo Awoniyi, youngster Norkett could be a possible replacement for the duo in the years to come.

Wood and Awoniyi have scored a combined 15 goals so far this campaign in all competitions, with the pair playing their part in Forest's survival bid this season.

However, Norkett's potential should give Forest fans reasons to be excited about a potential life after Wood – who is more of a short-term fit at 32 – and Awoniyi in the years ahead.

Over the last few years, he's shown his ability to run the channels – whilst also being in the right place at the right time to finish off opportunities. Granted he's yet to feature in the men's game, but a loan move in the near future could benefit the 19-year-old, who previously bagged 19 goals in just 40 games for United's U18 side.

In The Pipeline

Football FanCast's In the Pipeline series aims to uncover the very best youth players in world football.

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Norkett has a huge future ahead of him, with Forest conducting brilliant business in bringing him into the club during the summer. Whilst he's still very young with a long way to go until he features within the Forest first-team, it's great to see a promising youngster coming through the ranks – with one eye ahead on the future.

Brisk fifties from the in-form trio of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer led India A to an eight-wicket win over West Indies A in the fifth and final unofficial ODI in Antigua. The win completed a 4-1 series victory for the visitors.India A only needed 33 overs to get to their target of 237. Gill dominated a first-wicket stand of 110 with Gaikwad, hitting eight fours and three sixes in a 40-ball 69 before being dismissed by the offspinner Rahkeem Cornwall. Gaikwad batted on until India were only 15 short of their target, and fell one short of a hundred, having hit 11 fours and three sixes in his 89-ball innings. Iyer, who put on 112 for the second wicket with Gaikwad, was unbeaten at the finish on 61 off 64 balls (3×4, 2×6).Having chosen to bat first, West Indies A made an excellent start, Sunil Ambris’ 52-ball 61 (7×4, 2×6) giving them early momentum before India A’s bowlers combined to effect a collapse from 77 for no loss to 103 for 6. Sherfane Rutherford then made 65 off 70 balls (4×4, 4×6) combined with the lower order to haul West Indies A to 236. Khary Pierre contributed an unbeaten 35 off 34 balls before he ran out of partners with 2.2 overs still left in the innings.Seamers Navdeep Saini and Deepak Chahar, and legspinner Rahul Chahar – all of whom had earned call-ups to India’s white-ball squads on Sunday – picked up two wickets each.

Tottenham "officials" are said to have "prepared a positive report for the transfer" of a title-winning forward as their summer plans continue to take shape.

Lange preparing Spurs summer target list

New technical director Johan Lange, who has been working under chairman Daniel Levy and chief football officer Scott Munn since his arrival in November, is already at work on who to sign later in the year.

Tottenham now willing to back Ange with transfer bid for £79m "magician"

Spurs are prepared to make an offer.

ByEmilio Galantini Feb 10, 2024

Reliable Spurs insider and FA registered intermediary Paul O'Keefe has explained that Barcelona star Raphinha is among a host of potential targets who Spurs are exploring right now, coming after they enjoyed a very impressive January window.

Manager Ange Postecoglou's brilliant debut season at N17 was highlighted by Tottenham beating both Bayern Munich and Barcelona to the signings of Radu Dragusin and Lucas Bergvall respectively, which comes as very impressive for a club trophyless since 2008 and not in the Champions League this season.

However, Postecoglou's style has won over plenty of admirers at Spurs, and they're now fierce contenders for a spot in Europe's most prestigious competition next campaign.

Timo Werner

Arrival

Radu Dragusin

Arrival

Lucas Bergvall

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Djed Spence

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Japhet Tanganga

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Eric Dier

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Ivan Perisic

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Alejo Veliz

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Sergio Reguilon

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Ashley Phillips

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The positivity surrounding north London at the moment will do wonders in tempting some of the club's summer targets, who will be watching on with keen interest. Alongside Raphinha, the likes of Genoa star Albert Gudmundsson, Bologna's Riccardo Calafiori, Fulham defender Tosin Adarabioyo, Atalanta midfielder Teun Koopmeiners and Brentford star Ivan Toney have been linked in the past week alone.

New names are also appearing on a regular basis, as Lange and co cast the Tottenham net wide.

Tottenham set sights on Baris Yilmaz

If reports from Europe are to be believed, Galatasaray midfielder Baris Yilmaz is now on Spurs' radar as well.

The international ace, who won Turkey's Süper Lig crown with Galatasaray last season, has impressed club scouts with his performances this campaign. Yilmaz has bagged three goals and an assist so far, but the versatile winger has become a mainstay and their "star player" overall.

That is according to Sabah, who also claim Spurs officials are said to have "prepared a positive report for the transfer" of Yilmaz. The 23-year-old, who can play centre-forward, has also featured as a right-back and left-back for Galatasaray in what is a pretty enticing draw.

The outlet states he'd cost around £17 million to prise away from Turkey, so the price would also be pretty affordable from a Tottenham perspective. However, perhaps most interestingly, it is believed Spurs discovered Yilmaz almost entirely by accident.

Indeed, the club started taking real note of the player's exploits after first going to check on Tanguy Ndombele's progress on loan at Galatasaray. It will be interesting to see what comes of this, as Yilmaz looks like a really promising asset.

Just over a month ago, it looked as if Chelsea's season was over, but with four wins out of the last five games, passage through to the Fourth Round of the FA Cup and the opportunity to book their place in the League Cup final tonight, things aren't looking quite as desperate.

That said, Mauricio Pochettino's side are only ninth in the Premier League and the prospect of Champions League football next season is quickly fading away.

However, with the transfer window in full swing, the Blues have the chance to give their fans something else to cheer about, and with the latest player touted for a move to Stamford Bridge likened to Lisandro Martínez, their defence could look significantly more impressive in no time at all.

Chelsea look to the French Riviera for defensive reinforcements

According to a report from French football broadcaster Telefoot on Sunday, Chelsea are among a number of top-flight clubs interested in signing OCG Nice's incredibly talented defender Jean-Clair Todibo this year.

The organization has revealed that, alongside the Blues, Tottenham Hotspur and Napoli have already held talks with the player's representatives. However, the French club themselves are keen to hold on to the player until the summer window, and any sale could end up being the biggest in their history.

In terms of how much that might actually be, journalist Ben Jacobs revealed earlier this month that a transfer fee for the talented Frenchman could reach around €60m, or about £52m.

How Jean-Clair Todibo compares to Lisandro Martínez

While Manchester United have not had the best track record when it comes to transfers in the last couple of years, the signing of Martinez from Ajax in the summer of 2022 has been an unequivocal success, he even won the fans' Player of the Year award in December 2022. It's just a shame that the foot injury he sustained in September last year has kept him out for so much of the season.

So, when it comes to comparisons to current Premier League defenders, there aren't much more flattering than the combative Argentine, and that comparison comes from FBref.

In their assessment, Martinez is the most similar to Todibo in those competitions, with the pair most notably alike in their ability to play out from the back – the World Cup winner ranking in the top 4% for progressive carries per 90 among his European peers, while the Nice star ranks in the top 7% in that regard.

Player

Club

Lisandro Martínez

Manchester United

Dante

Nice

Ibrahima Konate

Liverpool

Warmed Omari

Rennes

Danilo Pereira

Paris Saint-Germain

While comparisons to other elite defenders are always welcome and a great way of getting noticed, it should also be noted that the "solid as a rock" Todibo, as talent scout Jacek Kulig described him, has some impressive statistics of his own.

Chelsea could sign £100m "world-class" Caicedo partner likened to Enzo

The 26-year-old could be the final addition to Chelsea’s expensive midfield.

ByJack Salveson Holmes Jan 23, 2024

When compared to other centre-backs from Europe's top five leagues, he ranks highly in several metrics, sitting in the top 5% for attempted passes, the top 12% for progressive passes, tackles and interceptions and many more, all per 90.

Per 90

Percentile

81.26

Top 5%

0.64

Top 7%

5.00

Top 12%

1.62

Top 12%

2.13

Top 12%

90%

Top 14%

1.05

Top 23%

Ultimately, if Chelsea want to push on, make the most of their position in the domestic cups and rebuild their league form this season and beyond, then signing a "Rolls-Royce" of a centre-back like Todibo, as U23 scout Antonio Mango described him, is a great place to start.

Arsenal defender Lotte Wubben-Moy has been ruled out of England's upcoming double header against France after sustaining an injury.

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Defender missed end of season with injuryWithdraws from England squad for France gamesMay be back for qualifying matches in JulyWHAT HAPPENED?

The centre-back was absent from the Gunners' final four Women's Super League games of the season after suffering a foot injury. The 25-year-old has since been left out of the Lionesses squad for the Women's Euro 2025 qualifying matches against France.

AdvertisementGettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE

The loss of Wubben-Moy is a big blow for Sarina Wiegman's team. She was voted Arsenal Women's Player of the Season for the 2023-24 campaign, receiving a massive 41 per cent of the fans' vote. With the Lionesses sitting second in Group A3 in qualifying, with France two points ahead, they will hope to have her back later in the summer.

WHAT THE LIONESSES SAID

"Lotte Wubben-Moy will not participate in the forthcoming UEFA EURO qualifying fixtures against France because of a foot injury," a statement from the England camp read. "Wubben-Moy will undertake a period of recuperation and is expected to join back with the Lionesses squad in the preparation phase for the July window against Republic of Ireland and Sweden."

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England will face France at St James' Park on May 31 as they look to overtake Les Bleus at the top of their group. The following Tuesday, they will travel to Saint-Etienne to complete the double header.

Steven Smith is targeting a return to action in Rajasthan Royals’ opening IPL 2019 match. It would mark his full return to the game following an elbow surgery he underwent in January this year, which had left question marks over his fitness and preparedness in the lead up to the World Cup.The Royals’ first game of the season is against Kings XI Punjab, at their home base in Jaipur on March 25, and around a week before the fixture, Smith said that he had been hitting the ball well enough in the nets and “getting myself into a good rhythm”.Smith has a set plan for getting to his best before the team’s season-opener, in the process putting out a timeline for his return to on-field action for the first time since his surgery.ALSO READ: What Smith, Warner reintegration really means“Hitting as many balls as I can, really, over the next week, getting myself into a good rhythm. Started batting a couple of weeks ago back home, feel like I’m hitting the ball really well, so yeah, just try and get my rhythm right,” he said in a Royals’ social media chat.”(I’ll try to) make sure over the next week to get a lot of work in, so that I can probably taper off towards the back-end of the week so I can freshen up and be ready to go on the 25th and hopefully start off the Royals season with a win.”Smith and David Warner complete their year-long bans for ball-tampering on March 29. The decision on the part of the Cricket Australia management is that the two of them should have an extended stint in the IPL before returning to Australia in early May for a training camp in Brisbane ahead of the World Cup. It was confirmed earlier that Warner, who also underwent should surgery earlier this year, would be fit and available for selection in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s first game of the IPL season, on March 24.For Smith, it’s a homecoming of sorts to the Royals set-up, which he was a part of in 2014 and 2015 before the franchise was suspended for two years along with Chennai Super Kings for a corruption-related issue. Smith shifted to Rising Pune Supergiant for those two seasons before he, and Warner, were suspended from the IPL last year for the Newlands ball-tampering scandal.At Royals, one of Smith’s team-mates is Jos Buttler, the explosive English wicketkeeper-batsman who had a fantastic run in the IPL last year, his performances even leading to a call-up from the England Test team.”Yeah, it’ll be great (playing with Buttler). Makes things easier for me batting with Jos for sure. He’s an exciting player, one of the most destructive batters around the world. I’m really excited to be playing with him and hopefully learn something off him as well,” Smith said.After the IPL comes the World Cup, and then the Ashes. There is no certainty about Smith’s participation in either competition, but the former captain is looking forward to being a part of both: “They are both terrific tournaments. They are both, I guess, the pinnacle of one-day cricket and Test cricket, for an Australian player. I’d love to be involved in both for sure.”

Chelsea got back to winning ways on Wednesday night as they secured a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League.

The Blues took the lead through Mykhaylo Mudryk in the first half as the Ukraine international converted from close range but Michael Olise smartly equalised with a near post finish just before the break.

Mauricio Pochettino's side then sealed the win late on as a VAR review awarded them a penalty for a foul on Noni Madueke, who stepped up to convert the spot-kick.

Malo Gusto put in a fantastic display at right-back, and left-back later on in the game, but the manager's true hero on the night was central midfielder Moises Caicedo.

Malo Gusto's performance against Palace in numbers

Lee Dixon hailed his performance as "superb" during the Amazon Prime live coverage of the match and it was a fair analysis of the talented gem's showing.

The French dynamo, who started the clash on the right back of the back four, played a pivotal role in the opening goal with a fantastic turn on the half-way line before racing forward all the way to the left wing to slot a perfect pass to Mudryk to make it 1-0.

He made two key passes in total and completed 94% (91/97) of his attempted passes throughout his 90 minutes on the pitch, on the right and the left.

It was, however, a mixed bag from Gusto on the defensive side of the game. The full-back did make three tackles and three interceptions but was also dribbled past four times and lost eight of his 13 ground duels.

Whereas, Caicedo was impressive in and out of possession throughout the match for Chelsea as he showcased his quality in the middle of the park.

Caicedo's performance against Palace in numbers

The summer signing from Brighton & Hove Albion set his stall out early with a couple of crunching challenges and kept that tempo up all night.

He won an outstanding 11 of his 15 physical contests throughout the clash, which included nine of his 13 ground duels and both of his aerial contests.

The 22-year-old battler made five tackles and one interception in total and was only dribbled past once by an opposition player in midfield.

Appearances

16

Sofascore rating

6.98

Pass accuracy

92%

Duel success rate

54%

Ball recoveries per match

4.8

His defensive statistics show that the Ecuador international was imperious for Pochettino to ensure that he cut out promising Palace attacks at source to win back possession for Chelsea, which then allowed them to control the game.

Caicedo also remained reliable on the ball to go along with his superb defending. The young whiz completed 94% (79/84) of his attempted passes from 102 touches of the ball and found a teammate with all five of his long passes.

This shows that the former Seagulls star was composed in possession and rarely gave the ball away cheaply to the opposition, which allowed Chelsea to constantly probe and cause problems at the top end of the pitch.

Therefore, Caicedo was Pochettino's true hero on the night, over Gusto, as he used his skills on and off the ball to produce a complete display in midfield.

India’s captain and coach are both World Cup winners but they rate this series win in Australia higher than those triumphs, albeit for different reasons. Ravi Shastri, the coach, was part of the India squad that won the 1983 World Cup although he didn’t play in the final. Virat Kohli played through the 2011 World Cup that India won.”I was part of 2011 World Cup team,” Kohli said, “but I didn’t have the emotion of not having been able to win a World Cup before. Playing at home and winning it eventually… a lot of the senior players had that emotion. Yes, it was a great moment for me but if you ask me which moment is more emotional, I would say this one because this is my third tour here and I have seen how difficult it is to win here. And all the struggles that we have gone through in the past 12 months as well as the team.”So, from that point of view this one is more emotional for me. It will definitely be more special, purely because of the fact that we really wanted to win a series away from home. We didn’t want to be a one-match-wonder kind of team. So, having stuck to our task and executed what we wanted and got the result, we, as a team, feel absolutely complete now that we have done what we set out to do…not to show to anyone else but to prove ourselves that yes, we could do it and we have done it. From that point of view this one is more special for me.”For Shastri, this is a win achieved in a purer format. “I will tell you how satisfying it is for me,” Shastri said. “World Cup ’83, World Championship ’85. This is as big, or even bigger, because it is in the truest format of the game. It’s Test cricket, which is meant to be the toughest.”There was the usual combative reaction to criticism – Shastri took another potshot at Sunil Gavaskar’s criticism, calling his shots “blanks” that are “blown away like a tracer bullet” by the time they reach the southern hemisphere – but there was a genuine feeling of relief and pride in Kohli. All the psyching up he had to do, all the effort put in to not let the mind wander ahead of himself, could now be laid to rest. He was asked about his comments before the Test that history doesn’t mean much to him.Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri share a light moment before team photos•Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

“We all play mind-games, don’t we,” Kohli said with a smile. “Look, it’s obviously a very proud moment, more so because we understand what we have gone through as a team for the last 12 months. We understand the kind of cricket that we have been able to play, and I was just mentioning the fact that after losing tosses, we have been in competition throughout in the games that we have lost. We understood as a team we were on the right track. What has come in the most historic series for Indian cricket is the cherry on the cake and something that, as I said, in the 10 years that I have played, is the proudest moment that I have experienced.”I am so happy for the whole team because a young bunch of guys, to have that belief and to keep striving for excellence on a daily basis and to get a reward like this, we definitely have to be happy. Although changing history or creating history is still not what I am thinking of, it is pure satisfaction of the hard work of 12 months to understand that what we believed in has been proven right and regardless of the whole world being against you, if you are striving in the right direction with good intent, God’s going to reward you. So that’s what I am more happy about.””So history does matter?””Of course it does.”Shastri, though, continued to be caustic. He was asked if he would like to share this success with captains who – from Lala Amarnath to MS Dhoni – tried their best to win in Australia but couldn’t. “Past is history, future is a mystery,” Shastri said. “Okay? We have won today after 71 years, I’d like to live in the present. And salute my captain for being the captain of the team that beat Australia for the first time in Australia in a series.”When talking about the satisfaction of winning this series, Shastri again referenced teams from the past, and also said Kohli shows more passion for Test cricket than any other captain in the world.”I don’t think anyone plays Test cricket with more passion than he [Kohli] does,” Shastri said. “At least I don’t see any other international captain coming close to him on the field when it comes to showing that passion needed to play the game. He is very expressive, which is different to others. Other captains could have different personalities but Virat is someone who is in your face and it rubs off on all the youngsters who are watching the game in India. His team-mates watch him, they want to emulate him. And to believe that they can be someone like him who can go out there and strive for excellence.”So when an individual puts his neck on the line as captain then the others follow. And you have seen that transition happening over the last two-three years where guys in the team have become more and more confident, about their own ability and the ability of the team as well and it’s made all the difference. I said in Melbourne – I think I mentioned people taking pot shots and firing blanks. I wasn’t joking there, because I knew how hard this team had worked. When you fire from there, by the time it crosses the southern hemisphere, it’s blown away by the wind like a tracer bullet. But lead with something in it can be pretty serious. And that’s what we have fired right through the series against Australia. We were committed, and it jolly well made a bloody difference at the end of it all.”This is not a team of gods or demigods, seniors or juniors. This is an Indian cricket team that will jump over a cliff to win a match for the country. And that’s the determination, that’s the ruthlessness, that’s the mindset with which this team went to play in this series. And hats off to them to show that courage. Today I can say I am proud of my boys and I can also tell them one thing which Virat touched in the presentation – that this team now has an identity to look at any other Indian team from the past in the eye and say, ‘We play proper Test match cricket. You did, we did too,’ without being intimidated.”

Nine overseas players have opted for the maximum base price of 2 crore, with none of the Indians choosing that category

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Dec-2018The IPL franchises have finalised a list of 346 players who will be part of the pool for the auction on December 18 in Jaipur. Originally 1003 players had submitted their names for the auction, but the list was pruned down after the eight franchises submitted their shortlists of players.There are 226 Indian players in the list, but none of them have set the maximum base price of INR 2 crore. Nine overseas players though, slotted themselves in at INR 2 crore. Among Indians, Jaydev Unadkat’s base price of INR 1.5 crore was the highest.The nine players who have set their base price at INR 2 crore are: Brendon McCullum, Chris Woakes, Lasith Malinga, Shaun Marsh, Sam Curran, Colin Ingram, Corey Anderson, Angelo Mathews and D’Arcy Short.Among other prominent players who will figure in this auction, Yuvraj Singh, Wriddhiman Saha, Mohammed Shami and Axar Patel have set their base prices at INR 1 crore, while Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales are in the INR 1.5 crore bracket.Ishant Sharma will invite bids from INR 75 lakh onwards.A maximum of only 70 players can be bought by the eight franchises, with only 20 slots available for overseas players.The auction will have a set of internationally capped players going under the hammer first, filtered by specialist categories, followed by uncapped players. Among Indian uncapped players, those likely to attract attention could be Tamil Nadu mystery spinner Varun Chakravathi, and Mumbai allrounder Shivam Dube.The IPL also added 20 additional players to the pool that franchises had requested for. These include Aaron Hardie, the Perth fast bowler who claimed Virat Kohli’s wicket in India’s warm-up match against Cricket Australia XI before their ongoing Test series against Australia. Also part of this list is Alex Carey, who kept wicket for Australia in their three-T20I series against India that preceded the Tests, and Ajay Rohera, the 21-year old Madhya Pradesh batsman who set a world record with the highest score on first-class debut, when he made 267 not out against Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy last week.An uncapped England player to keep an eye on is the Worcestershire seamer Pat Brown, only 20 but a rising star of the shortest format after his side’s remarkable victory in this year’s Vitality Blast. He finished his breakthrough season with 31 wickets, the second-best haul in the competition’s history, and showed huge composure on Finals Day with a nerveless diet of knuckle balls and quicker deliveries.Other Englishmen of note include Laurie Evans, who on Tuesday signed a contract extension with Sussex after amassing 614 runs in this year’s Blast – the most by any player – and Somerset’s Jamie Overton, who bowls quicker than his twin Craig who debuted for England in last year’s Ashes, and who was in contention for England selection this winter after a successful return from injury.