- The chairman of India's selectors, MSK Prasad, said that if MS Dhoni is unable to perform well in the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka, the selectors will have to consider alternatives as Dhoni's future is in question. - Prasad cited the example of tennis player Andre Agassi, who had success even after turning 30, saying "you never know" about Dhoni's future if he continues to perform. However, they will have to look at alternatives if Dhoni does not deliver. - There is a plan around Dhoni, as with all players, regarding rotations and building towards the 2019 World Cup, but Dhoni's chances of

1. 5 games ban for Cristiano Ronaldo
Crictoday
Cristiano Ronaldo lost his coolin Madrid's 3-1 win over Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup,
and now Real Madrid has lost its main man for five matches at the start of the Spanish
season.
He was banned for five games after shoving a referee who sent him off for diving. He was
actually suspended for one game for the red card in the match against Barcelona, and four
games for pushing referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea in the back, which crossed soccer's
red line. The booking for diving might have been severe and the Real Madrid forward was
incensed.Butthe physical contactwasunforgivable.
Ronaldo will miss Wednesday's return leg of the Super Cup in Madrid plus the first four
matches of Real Madrid's league title defense. Zinedine Zidane's Madrid opens the league on
Sunday at Deportivo La Coruna. Its next three matches after that are against Valencia,
promotedLevante,andatReal Sociedad.
Ronaldo has at times been criticised for diving when tackled, about which his former Real
Madrid manager José Mourinhohad once said: "Cristiano is a player who does not have the
culture of the swimming pool, he has no culture of simulation, he is a British-trained player,
Ferguson trained. In some cases, the simulators are given more protection, and those who
are honest are often the losers. I'm not a hypocrite if I say that they [defenders] hit Cristiano
veryhard, andthat the yellowcardsdo notarrive or are slow incoming".
Earlier in his career, Ronaldo had also been described as having an "arrogant image" on the
field, with Ronaldo stating that he had become a "victim", because of how he was portrayed
in the media. He is often seen moaning, gesticulating and scowling while trying to inspire his
team to victory, with Ronaldo insisting that his competitive nature should not be mistaken
for arrogance.
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Ronaldo banned for 5 games after pushing referee
Abcnews

2. Cristiano Ronaldo lost his cool, and now Real Madrid has lost its main man for five matches
at the start of the Spanishseason.
Ronaldo was banned for five games on Monday after shoving a referee who sent him off for
divinginMadrid's3-1 winoverBarcelonainthe SpanishSuperCup.
Ronaldo was suspended for one game for the red card in Sunday's Super Cup first leg at
Barcelona, and four games for pushing referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea in the back,
the Spanishfootball federationsaid.
Ronaldo will miss Wednesday's return leg of the Super Cup in Madrid plus the first four
matches of Real Madrid's league title defense. Zinedine Zidane's Madrid opens the league on
Sunday at Deportivo La Coruna. Its next three matches after that are against Valencia,
promotedLevante,andatReal Sociedad.
RonaldoandMadrid have 10 days to appeal the federation'sruling.
Still regaining peak fitness after an extended summer vacation, Ronaldo began the Super
Cup matchon the bench,and came on in the 58th minute.
He scored with a long-range strike to put Madrid 2-1 up in the 80th minute, moments
afterLionel Messi hadequalizedforBarcelonafromthe penaltyspot.
But Ronaldo's goal celebration — when he took his shirt off and flexed his muscles — earned
hima yellowcard.
Two minutes later, he charged into the area and collided with Barcelona defender Samuel
Umtiti. Ronaldo went down hoping for a penalty. Instead, referee De Burgos showed him a
secondyellowfordivingandsenthimoff.
Ronaldo raised his arms in disbelief, then stepped up to De Burgos and shoved him in the
back withhisrighthand.
The federation ruling said that Ronaldo's shove violated article 96 of its disciplinary code,
which states that "light aggressions" defined as "pulling, pushing and shaking" of a referee
are punishedbysuspensionsof between4-12matches.
The federation also fined Ronaldo 3,005 euros ($3,500) and Madrid 1,400 euros ($1,650) for
the shove, and another 600 euros ($705) for the player and 350 euros ($412) for the club for
simulatingafoul.
Last season, Las Palmas forward Marko Livajawas given an additional four-match suspension
for pushingareferee afterhe wasshowna redcard.
In the 2014 Spanish Super Cup, Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone was handed an
eight-match suspension after he tapped the back of a linesman's head. Simeone was
suspended for four games for the tapping, two games for protesting, one game for ironically
applauding the referee, and one game for remaining in the stands instead of leaving the
stadiumafterhissending-off.

3. Simeone served four matches of his league suspension and the other four are pending
Atletico'sfuture SpanishSuperCupmatches.
After guiding Madrid to the Champions League and Spanish league titles last season, the
suspensioncomesduringadifficultsummer forRonaldo.
In June, a state prosecutor accused Ronaldo of defrauding Spain's tax office of 14.7 million
euros ($16.5 million). The 32-year-old star had to deny the accusations in person to an
investigativejudge lastmonth.
Now he must trust his teammates to make a good start to Madrid's defense without him.
Given Marco Asensio's great goal from distance to cap Sunday's win over Barcelona, the
21-year-oldforwardcouldtake Ronaldo'splace inthe startinglineup.
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Will Dhoni be able to survive selectors warning?
Crictoday
It was bound to happen after MS Dhoni’s struggle in recent times. Despite him playing one
or two good knocks in West Indies, the writing was on the wall for the former Indian skipper.
MSK Prasad, the chief selectors, has put Mahi on notice, stating that if he is not able to
perform well in the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka, the selectors are ready to look
beyond him. The likes of Rishabh Pant are knocking on the door of selectors since long while
Dinesh Karthik, the experienced wicketkeeper batsman, too is in good form these days. If
will be interesting to see how MS Dhoni will be able to survive this recent warning issued by
the chief selector. It is not the first time that Dhoni has been put under the scanner, having
faced it throughout his career. The point of concern is shorter formats with him not being
part of Testcricketaftercallingoff hisplayingdays.
The right hand batsman was once labeled as the most dangerous player in the limited overs
formats, finishing games every now and then with his blistering batting. There was no
bowler in the world, who got success in containing him forget about winning game for his
side when Dhoni was at the crease. Impossible looking targets were made easy by this
explosive batsman within a short span of time. However with passage of time and growing
age, he has lost his touch in the batting department. The wicket keeping skills are still
impressive with now sign of slowing down. No matter what selectors have said about his
future, he still continues to be best bet at the moment. Despite being less affective in batting,
he can still win matches for India. Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper, will have to make slight
adjustmentinthe battingordertoget productive resultsfromDhoni.

4. It is high time Dhoni is promoted up the order andlet someone else handle the finishing role.
Hardik Pandya is someone who is ready to bat at number seven spot, a position occupied by
Dhoni since long. Indian wicketkeeper takes his own sweet time before getting into
boundary mode and batting at number four will provide him this luxury. He is still needed by
Team India as stated by Virat Kohli in the past. No matter what the situation demands, Virat
has always turned to him for assistance. From bowling to fielding changes, UDRS to batting
strategies, he is involved everywhere. I am pretty sure that he will be able to keep his
position intact after series against Sri Lanka. The World Cup is just two years away and
grooming a wicketkeeper for such a big event is a difficult task so sticking with Dhoni is the
only option available. He has playedlot of cricketin England, whichis the host country of the
event in 2019. The best part will be to allow him play county cricket before the World Cup in
orderto helphiminadaptingto the conditionsperfectly.
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If MS Dhoni is not performing, we will have to look at alternatives,
says chairman of selectors MSK Prasad
India's chairman of selectors MSK Prasad believes the squad will be rotated multiple times to
trim down the best possible combination from the current 26 player options including
questionsoverMSDhoni'sfuture.
India squad for the limited over matches against Sri Lanka was announced on Sunday with
MS Dhoni finding a spot but there was no place for another veteran Yuvraj Singh. With both
stalwarts past the 35 years old mark, their future in the team had come under spotlight with
the side likelybuildingtowardsthe 2019 World Cup.
India’s chairman of selectors MSK Prasad cited the example of former American tennis
player Andre Agassi who went on to play till 36 years old and won three of his eight Grand
Slams after turning 30. “I was just reading [Andre] Agassi’s book, Open, his life actually
started after 30 years. Till then he won two or three. His actual life started after that. He
lived with media pressure, ‘When are you going to retire?’ But he played till 36 and he won
so many Grand Slams. So you never know. We don’t sayit is an automatic this thing… but we
will see. We are all stakeholders. We all want the Indian team to do well. If he (MS Dhoni) is
delivering, why not? If he is not, we will have to look at alternatives,” said Prasad to
ESPNCricinfo.

5. He added that there’s a plan around Dhoni – as is the case with all players. “Discussions
happen abouteverybody. It is not just MS. When we pick,when we talk about combinations,
we talkabout everybody.Youwillalsosee intime tocome.”
Dhoni’s chances of playing at the 2019 World Cup in England are still not entirely confirmed.
“We will see, we will see. The legend that he is, we don’t want to make it (rotations)… but
yeswe have a plan.”
Rishabh Pant would be disappointed to have been dropped for the Sri Lanka five ODIs and
one T20 series. The Delhi batsman played the solitary T20 against West Indies where he
scored 38 runs. But didn’t make a mark for India A in the tri-nation series involving South
AfricaA and AfghanistanA.He couldonlyscore 107 runs infourmatches.
“As far as Rishabh is concerned, he is one talent to watch out for the future,” Prasad said.
“We have been grooming him for A tours. He went to South Africa on the A tour but he had
a pretty ordinary tour but that doesn’t mean he is not on our radar. There is one more A
tour coming up. We all know Rishabh Pant more as a Twenty20 player, so we will look at him
inthat format also.”
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