Surrey confirm Kohli deal as India's captain gets licence to warm up for England

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Surrey have confirmed the signing of India's captain Virat Kohli for the month of June so ending months of anticipation that he would use the county circuit to warm up for the Test series against England.

Kohli will become the fourth Test-eligible Indian player in county cricket this year with fellow batsman Cheteshwar Pujara currently at Yorkshire and seamers Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron representing Division Two clubs Sussex and Leicestershire respectively.

Although there have been a few voices decrying the fact that Surrey have given Kohli useful acclimatisation ahead of India's Test series in the country this summer, the vast majority of followers of England's professional circuit will welcome the additional publicity and status it is bound to bring.

Kohli will be available for all Surrey cricket throughout the month, beginning with Royal London Cup 50-over matches against Middlesex - an opening match at Lord's for India's captain - and Glamorgan and three Championship matches against Hampshire, Somerset and, finally, Yorkshire where there will not be a guest house room to be had in Scarborough.

Kohli's presence in county cricket owes much to the attitude of India's Committee of Administrators, headed by Vinod Rai. Rai had prepared the ground for Surrey's announcement by confirming that India players would not be forced to play in a one-off Test against Afghanistan against their wishes.

"Afghanistan is playing versus India and not Virat Kohli. No player (Cheteshwar Pujara especially) will be called back from UK to play versus Afghanistan. Priority is England and to do well there, so, whatever it takes," Rai said.

England will hope that this will signal a general softening of India's resistance to their leading stars playing professional cricket in England if and when the opportunity arises.

Kohli said: "It has long been an ambition of mine to play county cricket and I am thankful to Alec Stewart and Surrey for allowing me the opportunity to join them during their 2018 season. I can't wait to get to the Kia Oval."

Stewart, Surrey's Director of Cricket, added: "We are thrilled to have signed the biggest name in world cricket for the month of June. Playing and training alongside Virat will be a massive benefit for our players who will have the opportunity to learn so much from him.

"At a time when there is much discussion around the future of county cricket, the arrival of Virat should give our domestic game a massive boost and positive exposure around the cricketing world which in turn can benefit every county."

Surrey, the wealthiest professional club in England, are making a habit of such marquee signings. Kumar Sangakkara had an outstanding summer in 2017, averaging 106.50 as he made eight centuries and three half-centuries in 13 innings.

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Holder to replace Pollard as Barbados Tridents captain

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West Indies' Test and ODI captain Jason Holder will lead Barbados Tridents in the forthcoming season of the Caribbean Premier League. Holder, who had missed the previous edition due to West Indies' tour of England, will take over captaincy reins from Kieron Pollard.

Holder, 26, has captained West Indies in 56 ODIs and 21 Tests and has played 14 first-class matches for his regional side Barbados. Weighing in on his appointment as captain, Holder said his focus would be on turning things around for the Tridents, who had finished fifth in the six-team tournament last season, winning only four out of their 10 league games.

"I am delighted to be back at the Hero CPL for this season and I am really looking forward to making Barbados proud in 2018," Holder said in a release. "We have a healthy contingent of local players in the squad this year and we are ready to make this a winning year for our home team."

The tournament is scheduled to run from August 8 to September 16 this year, with Trinbago Knight Riders looking to defend their title.

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'Important to have a Netherlands-based captain' - coach Ryan Campbell | Cricket

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© Associated Press

Pieter Seelaar's appointment as Netherlands captain to replace the outgoing Peter Borren was motivated by a continued desire amongst the Royal Dutch Cricket Association (KNCB) to have a locally-based player who trains with the bulk of the squad year-round, according to Netherlands head coach Ryan Campbell.

"We have players like Ryan ten Doeschate and Roelof van der Merwe who could fill the captaincy as well, but we feel it's very important that a Dutch-bound player leads our Dutch team," Campbell told ESPNcricinfo. "That's no disrespect to our international players because we love them all and they're massive leaders within our squad, but the feeling has always been that we want a guy who lives in the Netherlands to lead our team, who is always training with our squad, and Pieter fits the bill perfectly.

"The facts are our [English] county players don't play in all of our matches and they don't train with our squad. We have a summer training squad of 22 and to have one without a captain is a recipe for disaster. We've always felt you need a captain and a leader who is training and playing with the lads. I'm very excited to see what Pieter's going to bring to the table, because he's a different character to Peter Borren. He thinks about the game a lot and his plans have already started."

Seelaar's career stats, 111 wickets in 120 List A matches plus 33 wickets in 59 T20s, are modest for a bowling allrounder, but the 30-year-old is one of the longest tenured Dutch players after making his senior debut against Warwickshire in 2005. His career List A batting average is 14.64, but it is a deceptive figure slanted heavily by his early career as a tailender. In 2015, he was one of the leading scorers in the Dutch domestic first division playing for VOC and notched a List A career-best 68 against Scotland in the second round of the WCL Championship later that summer.

In 2017, Seelaar further cemented his batting credentials with an unbeaten 138 in an epic stand with Ben Cooper during their drawn Intercontinental Cup match against Hong Kong. Add in the fact that Seelaar is arguably the top Netherlands outfielder - he has a reputation for taking some sensational catches including one to dismiss Kevin O'Brien at the 2016 World T20 - and Campbell felt the decision was a no-brainer.

"He's the perfect age and experience, he's been in the national set-up for a long time now and knows what goes around international cricket," Campbell said. "We believe that his game will improve and we've seen that with his bowling particularly. In the last 12 months, apart from an injury, he's been a standout for us with the ball and his batting is an untapped resource. He knows that he needs to keep improving but we feel that the character of Pieter Seelaar is the best fit for us with a young squad."

Seelaar will be leading a Netherlands A squad this weekend in Guernsey before taking command of the full senior side for a T20I tri-series with Ireland and Scotland in June.

As for Borren's retirement at age 34, Campbell said it should not be seen as the first domino to fall in a move toward making more changes within the squad - he doesn't want "players looking over their shoulder". However, he said that competition for spots may be ramped up following the team's poor performance at the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe. With two years until the next World T20 in Australia and the start of the 13-team ODI League, Campbell wants to take as many opportunities possible to give younger players a chance to develop.

"We play that ODI League in 2020 and that's another couple years down the track. That's a long time for guys who are suddenly 36 or 37. It [Borren's stepping down] was decided mutually," Campbell said. "He felt that he didn't have the energy to be there in two or three years' time. If that was the case, then when we're not playing in major tournaments, we need to get our youngsters as much experience as we can because the facts are we don't play enough cricket. The Bas de Leedes and Sikandar Zulfiqars, these sort of guys need to play cricket and that was the decision from all sides."

Campbell paid tribute to Borren, saying he'd made a great friend for life in him. "He beat the drums for the Associate cause. The Associate world is a tough world to live in. Just seeing his stats, the number of games he played over such a long period, some people who don't realise will say, 'Gee he didn't play that many games'. But that's how tough it is. You'll play a decade and only play 40 ODIs or 40 T20Is. It's a tough world but he's a ripping bloke and a fantastic competitor and I wish him all the best."

Peter Della Penna is ESPNcricinfo's USA correspondent @PeterDellaPenna

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New captain Shreyas Iyer's 93* off 40 blows Kolkata Knight Riders away | Cricket

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Delhi Daredevils 219 for 4 (Iyer 93, Shaw 62, Munro 33) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 164 for 9 (Russell 44, Gill 37, Mishra 2-23) by 55 runs

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03:39

Tait: Daredevils never took the foot off the gas

Thrusting a young player into a leadership position can go either way. Burdened by captaincy, a player's performance in their main role can temporarily slump, as was the case with Aiden Markram during South Africa's ODI series against India earlier this year. Or the confidence of that position can buoy, and therefore boost, a player's performance, like Shreyas Iyer in Delhi on Friday. He smashed an unbeaten 40-ball 93 to lead Delhi Daredevils to a resounding 55-run victory against Kolkata Knight Riders.

After a strong start, Iyer backed his hitting ability at No. 3. Primarily with a full face of the bat, he first accumulated before gradually increasing his tempo to the point where he took 28 runs off the final over, bowled by Shivam Mavi. He hit 10 sixes, four in the final over, powering Daredevils to 219, the biggest total of the season. Such was Iyer's proficiency with using the straight bat that he scored 77 - 83% of his runs - in front of square.

Daredevils' only worry in their defence was a 64-run sixth-wicket partnership, off 36 balls, between Andre Russell and Shubman Gill. Russell smashed 44 off 30 balls, 35 in the arc between long-off and midwicket, and his form and ability forced Iyer to use his best bowlers earlier than he would have liked. Eventually, Daredevils had sufficient confidence and runs to play with, easing to their second win of the season, in their seventh game.

A rare Powerplay blitz

With Gautam Gambhir dropped, Daredevils' openers Prithvi Shaw and Colin Munro could adopt their own template. Before Friday, they had played just three games between them this season, which meant they carried less baggage than the rest of a floundering batting line-up.

The Powerplay produced 57 runs and ten boundaries. Daredevils' average before this game was 48 runs and 6.66 boundaries. The start set the rest of the innings up. The openers added 59 in the first seven overs, Munro scoring 33 off 18 and Shaw going on to make 62 off 44. Between them, they faced a little over half the innings and scored 95.

Increasing the tempo

In Rishabh Pant and Glenn Maxwell, Daredevils arguably had more valuable scoring resources, but Iyer backed his own hitting ability and walked in after Shivam Mavi bowled Munro. With Iyer utilising a few deliveries to get set, Shaw increased his strike rate with a flurry of elegant boundaries off Mitchell Johnson: a wristy whip over midwicket, a lofted chip over extra-cover and a slapped six over square leg.

Shaw was eventually bowled hoicking across the line, much like his dismissal in Daredevils' last game against Kings XI Punjab. The second-wicket pair had added 68 in seven overs. Iyer then took over, scoring 61 off the last 18 balls of his innings, hitting eight of them for six. He had a bit of help from the fielders, with both Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana spilling potential catches over the boundary.

Beaten for pace

Knight Riders banked on their powerful top order in a steep chase, but they were undone by clever use of the short ball. First, Glenn Maxwell fired his in darts flat, preventing Lynn from getting underneath the length. He was bowled off the inside edge.

Robin Uthappa was hurried for pace, splicing a pull to midwicket off Trent Boult. Sunil Narine fell to a Boult bouncer for the second time this season, backing away and lobbing a catch to cover. Nitish Rana fended a brute of a bouncer back to Avesh Khan. At that point, Knight Riders were 46 for 4 in the sixth over, with the game all but done.

Nikhil Kalro is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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