14-year-old scores 556, Shikhar Dhawan likely to switch IPL teams, and more - Cricket News Today - October 31, 2018

Welcome to Sportskeeda's Cricket News Today for October 31, 2018.

The Indian cricket team are currently preparing for the fifth and final ODI against West Indies to be held in Thiruvananthapuram.

After a huge victory in the previous ODI, the Men in Blue will look to close things out and seal the series 3-1. The Windies, on the other hand, will look to upset India once again like they did in the 3rd ODI.

After the ODI series against the Windies, India will travel to Australia for the much-awaited tour to end the year.

Now, let's take a look at the trending news from today.

#1 PCB head feels Sarfraz should be relieved of Test captaincy

Mohsin Khan, the newly-appointed head of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s cricket committee, feels that Sarfraz Ahmed should be relieved of Test captaincy.

The only reason why he said this was because he feels that there is an enormous amount of pressure on Sarfraz.

"I have only made a suggestion because I personally feel there is too much pressure on Sarfraz as he wicketkeeper-batsman in the team. He looked exhausted during the test series with Australia," Khan said.

"Sarfraz's body language was so down in the tournament (Asia Cup) that I felt sorry for him. I was saying you got a new guy in, don't put the burden of (captaining the side in all) three formats on him. It will make him exhausted," he said.

"I just want to see him more relaxed. He will become a better captain with time and would be able to handle the pressures of being captain in all three formats."

#2 14-year-old scores 556

Image credits- Mid-day

A young 14-year-old prodigy from India smashed his way to an unbeaten 556 run knock in the Shri DK Gaekwad Under-14 tournament game.

He hit those runs in 319 deliveries, with 98 fours and one six to his name. His team, the Mohinder Amarnath Cricket Academy, went on to score 826-4.

The youngster is being mentored by Amarnath.

"My previous highest was 254 in the same tournament last year. I was just playing my normal game as the bowling attack was good. It was a satisfying innings, but yes, I was beaten on four to five occasions," said Priyanshu Moliya to mid-day.

"Mohinder sir always watches me bat in the nets. He spoke to me about various drills and how to control different shots. After doing those drills regularly, I scored a lot of runs through the covers and got better with my back foot punches. I called Mohinder sir and he was very happy with my performance. 'Keep it up', he said," said the youngster.

#3 Bharat Arun praises Indian bowling unit

Khaleel Ahmed

Indian cricket team's bowling coach heaped praise on the Indian bowling unit and Khaleel Ahmed, the left-arm pacer, who picked up three wickets against the Windies in the fourth ODI a few days ago.

He went on to praise the entire fast-bowling unit, who have been in great form over the past couple of years or so.

"We have a very good fast bowling quartet. And also, the bench strength is very exciting. Khaleel looks a very exciting prospect. He is sharp and has the skills to do well in international cricket. He is a very exciting prospect," said Arun to reporters.

"When we started off, the onus was not only on creating a force to reckon with pace bowling unit for the Indian team, also we needed very good bench strength. To sustain fast bowling over a long period of time, you need to rotate these bowlers. The team management had to monitor the workload," he explained.

#4 Reports: Shikhar Dhawan to return to Delhi Daredevils

Shikhar Dhawan

In what could be a big switch, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Indian cricket team batting star Shikhar Dhawan could make his way back to the Delhi Daredevils. However, if he does so, Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem and Abhishek Sharma could move to SRH, according to reports from ESPN Cricinfo.

Dhawan was earlier reported to be in talks with the Mumbai Indians, who recently acquired the services of Royal Challengers Bangalore star Quinton de Kock.

However, those talks seem to have fizzled out as Dhawan looks set to return to the Daredevils.