After first two games I wanted the coach to drop me: Jhulan

Agencies
August 8, 2017

Kolkata, Aug 8: Indian women's team fast bowler Jhulan Goswami today revealed that she was so upset with her performance in the first two matches of the Women's World Cup, that she asked the coach Tushar Arothe to "drop" her.

However, Arothe not only backed the lanky pacer from Bengal but also got full support from captain Mithali Raj, and eventually Jhulan turned out to be instrumental in India's runners-up finish at Lord's last month.

"I was very disappointed of my show in the early stage of the World Cup," Jhulan said after being felicitated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at Cricket Association of Bengal's annual awards ceremony at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.

"After the match against the West Indies, I told my coach Tushar, 'I'm not bowling properly and you can drop me next time.' But he said 'no, I want you to be there and lead the bowling attack'," the speedster added.

Jhulan said the coach's inspiring words worked wonders for her as she worked over time with Mithali and went on to produce a gem of a delivery to castle Australia skipper Meg Lanning for a duck during India's splendid 36-run win to oust the defending champions in the semi-final.

"Australia match was important for us. They are the best team in the world. Lanning is one of the best cricketers and very strong square of the wicket. I wanted to make sure to bowl in right areas.

"I told Mithali that I would bowl to her like I would to Lanning and she would give me feedbacks. Luckily everything went in our way," the 34-year-old said.

Jhulan was wicketless in first two matches -- 0/39 against England and 0/37 against the West Indies -- but claimed 10 wickets in remaining seven matches.

In the summit clash, Jhulan's tidy spell of 10-3-23-3 had helped India restrict England to a modest 228/7 but the visitors fell short by nine runs in the end to lose out on the trophy.

Just before the World Cup, Jhulan got past Australian Cathryn Fitzpatrick to become the highest wicket-taker in women's One-Day Internationals and the fast bowler thanked CAB for the unrelenting support. "Their (CAB's) contribution is massive."

Jhulan said that initially she was apprehensive of the facilities when she shifted base to Kolkata from Mumbai in 2005-06 but CAB supported her in every possible way.

"The first question that came to my mind was whether I would get the same kind of opportunities here. Preparation was always very important for me. Result won't come without preparation. Most of the time we had the opportunity to practice alongside the men cricketers in Mumbai.

"I could bowl at the likes of Sameer Dighe, Praveen Amre when they played for Air India at one point of time. But now I've no hesitation in saying that I'm thankful to CAB for the way they have supported women's cricket for last 10 years and created a platform.

"I am indebted to them and hope many more players come up in future. For last 10 years whenever I requested, the officials always provided me with practice facilities. I'm thankful to CAB officials and curator," Jhulan said as she was handed a cheque of Rs. 10 lakh and a plaque by the Chief Minister and CAB president Sourav Ganguly.

The Chief Minister also felicitated the Bengal Under-19 team who became the all India champions after winning the Cooch Behar Trophy earlier this year. Bengal had defeated Delhi to win the title after 19 years.

CAB also honoured veteran coach Palash Nandy with 'Kartick Bose Lifetime Achievement Award' and a cheque of Rs. 2 lakhs. Nandy was the coach of the Ranji triumphant 1989-90 side when Ganguly made his domestic debut.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Jun 10: "It is never too late to fight for the right cause," said opening batsman Chris Gayle as he came out in support of former T20 World Cup-winning skipper Darren Sammy. The debate around racism in sport has kickstarted once again after former Windies T20 World Cup-winning skipper Darren Sammy alleged racism during his stint with SunRisers Hyderabad in the 2014 Indian Premier League. Taking note of Sammy's revelation, Gayle tweeted: "It's never too late to fight for the right cause or what you've experienced over the years! So much more to your story, @darensammy88. Like I said, it's in the game".

Earlier, Gayle had also revealed that he too has been a victim of racism, and added that racism is something that has been bothering cricket as well.

On Tuesday, Sammy had released a video specifying that the racial slurs against him were used within the SunRisers camp.

"I have played all over the world and I have been loved by many people, I have embraced all dressing rooms where I have played, so I was listening to Hasan Minhaj as to how some of the people in his culture describe black people," Sammy said in a video posted on his Instagram account.

"This does not apply to all people, so after I found out a meaning of a certain word, I had said I was angry on finding out the meaning and it was degrading, instantly I remembered when I played for SunRisers Hyderabad, I was being called exactly the same word which is degrading to us black people," he added.

Sammy said that at the time when he was being called with the word, he didn't know the meaning, and his team-mates used to laugh every time after calling him by that name.

"I will be messaging those people, you guys know who you are, I must admit at that time when I was being called as that word I thought the word meant strong stallion or whatever it is, I did not know what it meant, every time I was called with that word, there was laughter at that moment, I thought teammates are laughing so it must be something funny," Sammy said.

The former Windies skipper has been a vocal supporter of the protests that are currently going on in the United States over the death of an African-American man named George Floyd.

Sammy had also made an appeal to the ICC and other cricket boards to support the fight against social injustice and racism.

Ever since the demise of Floyd, protests erupted from the demonstrations in cities from San Francisco to Boston.

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News Network
February 9,2020

New Delhi, Feb 9: The Indian Fed Cup team will travel to Dubai for this year's competition as the ITF has named the desert city as the new venue for the matches, to be held from March 3 to 7.

The ITF named the new venue after moving out the matches from then Chinese city of Dongguan due to Coronoavirus threat. The Asia/Oceania Group I matches were originally scheduled to be played from February 4-8.

"The event will be held in the week following the ATP Dubai tournament at the same venue, and will see six nations China P.R., Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Korea Rep. and Uzbekistan - compete for a place in the Fed Cup Play-offs in April," an ITF release said.

The six teams will vie for two spots in Fed Cup Play-offs.

"Being in Dubai makes no difference. But the dates give enough time to Sania for her recovery. Doubles is an important point. Ankita is playing well. The other team members will also get some tournament to play under their belt," India's Fed Cup captain Vishal Uppal told news agency.

Sania's participation was under doubt due to a calf injury she aggravated during the Australian Open, where she pulled out of the mixed doubles before retiring mid-way into her women's doubles opening round match.

"I think we have a good chance but we will have to be at our best and fight hard for every point, every game, every set, every match," Uppal added.

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News Network
April 12,2020

Mumbai, Apr 12: Always eager to share his vast knowledge and experience, cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has interacted with 12,000 doctors on sports injuries.

In his over two decade long illustrious career, Tendulkar suffered many health issues, the most prominent being the tennis elbow injury.

The veteran of 200 Tests and 463 ODIs, got to know through one Dr Sudhir Warrier, an orthopaedic surgeon, that several young doctors across the country were utilising the lockdown time to effectively gain knowledge on sports injuries through live webinars.

A session on sports injuries was held on Saturday and Tendulkar, knowing that his experiences will help these doctors, volunteered to be a part of it.

Tendulkar, accordingly, interacted with around 12,000 doctors, who attended the session.

It is reliably leanrt that the 46-year-old legend said he was grateful to the medical fraternity for their service.

During the session, the young orthopaedic doctors got to know how the requirements and treatment outcomes of athletes are different from regular patients, sources said.

Dr Warrier moderated the session with Dr Nitin Patel, physiotherapist, who has worked with Indian cricket team and IPL franchise Mumbai Indians.

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