Virat Kohli's presence doesn't instill fear in bowlers' minds anymore: Aakash Chopra

Former India opener Aakash Chopra said the conversation around Virat Kohli's form is no longer about the wait for his 71st century in international cricket but about his extended lean patch across all formats of the game. Chopra said the narrative has reached a concerning situation for India, especially in the lead up to the T20 World Cup, starting October 16 in Australia. Aakash Chopra said it's becoming more and more evident that Virat Kohli is no longer the player that he was 3 years ago, adding that the 'aura of invincibility' has gone and the bowlers are no longer fearing the former India captain's presence in the middle. Virat Kohli has been going through an extended lean patch in international cricket. Kohli has scored 175 runs in 8 ODIs in 2022 and 220 runs at 31.42 in 4 Tests and just 81 runs in 4 T20Is in the World Cup year. The former captain was expected to regain form when he toured England after a brief back following IPL 2022. However, Kohli struggled to get going in Old Blighty, failing in the rescheduled Test and the 4 limited-overs matches. With his place in the T20I side under scrutiny, Kohli decided to opt out of the tour of the West Indies and Zimbabwe. However, the selection committee and the team management has shown faith in him, picking him for Asia Cup 2022, starting August 27. "There's no doubt in anyone's mind about Virat Kohli's class and his skills, and even if he doesn't score another run in international cricket from here on, he will still be regarded as one of the greatest to have played the game. A man who did superhuman things and mastered all three formats like almost no others," Aakash Chopra wrote in his colum for ESPNCricinfo. "Still, there's also no hiding from the fact that the bat that worked like a magic wand isn't obeying his commands anymore. There are more misses than hits. The aura of invincibility has faded and his presence doesn't instil the same fear in bowlers' minds as it used to earlier," he added. Shedding light on his thoughts on Virat Kohli's lean patch, Chopra pointed out 2 areas of concern which he believes is not helping the former captain hit peak form.

BREAKS TO REGAIN FORM?

While addressing that cricketers are open to taking more breaks than before due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Chopra said he is not entirely convinced about Kohli taking breaks in a bid to regain form. Kohli has played only 4 out of India's 21 T20I assignments in the World Cup year despite struggling to put bat to ball in the shortest format of the game. "For the longest time, the only way to get back into form for a top player was to play as much cricket as possible, even if it meant playing at a slightly lower level. Everyone went through that drill till about a decade ago. But nowadays, poor form is followed by breaks from the game. "I'm not an expert and won't pretend to be one but we really don't know whether that's the best approach towards regaining form and/or confidence. Times have changed and ways of dealing with issues like this might have changed too," Chopra added. Furthermore, Chopra said he believes Kohli is trying way too many things at the start of his innings, moving away from his tried-and-tested method. "The second thing that changed with Kohli - and it only happened after he had not scored enough for a while - was his approach to starting new innings. The foundation of Kohli's batting was an absolute commitment to his method, in a manner that was almost robotic. "But in the last couple of years he seems to have tried various approaches. So much so that you hardly remember what his foolproof old method was. He has gone very hard and he has gone very cautious too. I'm not saying that he has not followed his tried-and-tested method at all but that the deviations from that method have been too frequent," he added. Chopra, however, said he hopes the break helps Kohli return to his best at the Asia Cup. Kohli will be under considerable pressure as he is all set to make his competitive return in a high-octane clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in Dubai on August 28. "Kohli has paid a huge price for his own success, which has included not only others judging him by the lofty standards that he set but also Kohli himself trying to replicate the player he was three years ago. You have almost been able to touch and feel his struggle, and there isn't a cricket lover who hasn't wished for it to end. "Sport should be a source of joy, not agony, for player and viewer alike. We hope that the break he has taken does the trick and the bat becomes his wand again," he added.

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Evacuation of Israeli military bases on the Gaza border for fear of resistance response + video

According to IRNA's report on Wednesday, Sheikh Bassam Al-Saadi is one of the prominent leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement, who was arrested on Monday night in the attack of the Zionist army on the Jenin camp in the West Bank of the Jordan River. A Palestinian citizen was also martyred in this attack.

It was following this attack that the Quds groups declared alertness among their forces throughout Palestine and called their forces and Mujahidin.

In their statement, these groups warned the Zionist regime that Sheikh Bassam al-Saadi's life was in danger.

These groups also threatened the Zionist regime, if it does not stop its aggression, it is ready for any powerful response.

It was following this threat by Quds forces that the Zionist newspaper "Yediot Aharanut" reported yesterday that the Zionist regime blocked the roads and axes near the borders of the Gaza Strip, fearing a reaction to the arrest of Sheikh "Bassam Al-Saadi".

The media of the Zionist regime also said yesterday that the security and military institutions of this regime are worried about attacking the Zionist targets near the Gaza Strip with the use of "Cornet" missiles.

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The UK's hottest day destroyed their homes. They fear it's a sign of worse ahead

As the sun beat down on her back garden in Dagenham, east London, the smell of smoke filled the air. Hilton passed it off as her neighbor lighting a bonfire, she told CNN.

What played out in the hours to come was far worse. As temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in the capital, grass fires are believed to have started in a nearby park before engulfing neighboring homes, and crossing onto the street where Hilton lives.

"The police were everywhere, banging on people's doors, screaming: 'Get out! Get out!'" Hilton said of the chaos that ensued. The blaze destroyed 14 houses and damaged six more in the area, according to local officials, turning Hilton's suburban neighborhood into the latest victim of extreme weather.

Fires around the capital destroyed dozens of shops and houses. London Fire Brigade described last Tuesday as its busiest day since World War Two, saying in a statement that the blazes were yet another example of how "we are increasingly being challenged by new extremes of weather as our climate changes."

The searing summer weather is part of a wider regional trend, climate scientists say. Heat waves have become more frequent and intense across Europe over the last four decades, according to a study published in early July.

Global warming has contributed to the pattern, as it has elsewhere in the world -- the average global temperature has risen at least 1.1 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century, due to a surge in carbon dioxide emissions and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Changes to the jet stream, atmosphere and sea-surface temperatures may also be fueling hotter temperatures in the region, according to the report.

On Sunday, fire services declared a major incident in Surrey, a county southwest of London, and local officials called on Londoners to cancel barbecues as firefighters continued to tackle blazes in and around the capital. "We simply can't cope with the number of fires across our city directly attributable to the heat wave we're experiencing," London mayor Sadiq Khan told Sky News.

Preparing for extremes

Parts of Dagenham resembled a war-zone when CNN visited last week after the fire had been extinguished there. Cars had melted down to their metal frames, homes were gutted, their windows blackened, and lumps of plastic were all that remained of garbage bins.

Around 200 residents were evacuated from the area last Tuesday, and sent to hotels and emergency shelters around the area, Darren Rodwell, council leader for Barking and Dagenham borough, told CNN.

In The Leys park, which residents suspect was ground zero of last week's fire, Rodwell's anxiety about the future was palpable. Looking out over a burned, ash-colored field, he warned that extreme weather events could become the norm for the borough's residents.

"We've already seen in the last two years mass flooding, which we have never seen before ... we had about 20 floods in one day. That's global warming," he said. "We've just had the hottest day the country has ever seen. Again, linked to global warming."

After a month of little rain, much of the land is so dry that the capital is also at risk of surface water flooding, London Fire Brigade has warned.

Rodwell, from the opposition Labour Party, worries that Barking and Dagenham is not prepared for what's to come. "We've always had quite mild weather, whether it's summer or winter, but now we have these extremes and we need to prepare for it," he said. "The borough's infrastructure is around 100 years old now. We need proper investment into 21st-century infrastructure," he explained.

Buildings in the UK have long been designed to retain heat to cope with cold winters. But with summers getting warmer, some homes are becoming uncomfortable or even dangerous. Compared to cities such as New York, air conditioning systems are rarely seen aside from in newer office buildings and some public centers.

British firefighters have also warned of being unprepared for higher temperatures. The Fire Brigades Union says more than a decade of underfunding has affected the service's ability to respond. "Firefighters are at the forefront of the climate emergency," it wrote. "The demands of the job are increasing but ... 11,500 firefighter jobs have been slashed since 2010."

'We lost everything'

Barking and Dagenham, which is among the poorest areas in London, has more green space by proportion than any other borough, according to the local council. But those expanses of grass turned into kindling during the heat wave.

July's dry, hot weather caused multiple fires in The Leys park. "It was controlled and didn't approach the houses," but what happened last Tuesday was "absolutely shocking," resident Zoya Shumanska, 32, told CNN.

When Shumanska's husband, Lyuben Velov, approached their home after dropping her and their two sons at the airport last Tuesday, he noticed the roads were closed, and could see smoke and fire coming from the park.

"I went behind my house and started shouting to the police and firemen that my dog was in the house, and would they be able to save it," Velov said, adding that they did not hear him, so he "decided to jump in when no one was looking."

Velov said two firemen followed him over the fence and helped him break down the door. "If they didn't help me, I wouldn't have been able to save our dog ... I would like to thank them."

Their cats are still unaccounted for, he said. The 34-year-old is now staying with a cousin, but said he regularly visits the area to look for them, as do his neighbors.

Shumanska heard the news that their home had burned down as she waited to catch a flight to Bulgaria. The shock caused her to leave her bags in the terminal, but she later managed to make her flight, bags in hand, with a few minutes to spare -- crying only when she got on the plane.

"I loved this house," Shumanska told CNN with tears in her eyes on a video call from Bulgaria. "I was 21 years old when we bought it, and everyone told me: 'You can't buy a house because they wouldn't give you a mortgage.'"

Shumanska and Velov defied others' expectations and bought the two-story property around a decade ago. "This house is one really big achievement for me, so we want to rebuild it" with help from the insurance, she said.

"This is (because of) climate change," Shumanska said, explaining how her friends living in hotter countries told her that it was cooler where they were than it was in London -- a city famed for its mild and wet weather.

But even after losing their home, Shumanska and her family are "trying to be positive."

"We lost everything, but we are safe," she said. "We've lost all this material stuff -- absolutely everything -- but we are alive."

Before the school holidays began, Shumanska said that one of her sons had learned about the Great Fire of London, which destroyed parts of the capital in 1666. When their home burned down, "He (asked) me: 'Mummy, is this the Great Fire of London?'" she said with a laugh.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/the-uks-hottest-day-destroyed-their-homes-they-fear-its-a-sign-of-worse-ahead/?feed_id=2574&_unique_id=62e0880a4fd9f