Ankita does it again, tames Putintseva to keep India alive

Agencies
February 8, 2018

New Delhi, Feb 8: Big-hearted Ankita Raina showed nerves of steel as she yet again rose to the occasion for India by taming experienced Yulina Putintseva in a thrilling contest to level the Fed Cup tie against Kazakhstan 1-1, here today.

Ankita not only fought off a grinder but also shrugged off some poor umpiring to emerge a 6-3 1-6 6-4 winner after battling hard for two hours and 25 minutes against a player, who was ranked as high as 27 last year and had beaten top-10 players.

Before Ankita's inspiring win, Karman Kaur Thandi gave ample display of her talent but lacked consistency as she lost the opening singles of the Asia/Oceania Group I tie to world number 55 Zarina Diyas.

Ankita, who had beaten Lin Zhu yesterday, responded to the call from her team with an inspirational performance against the world number 81 Kazakh.

Putintseva, who beat players of the calibre of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dominika Cibulkova en route the final of St Petersburg WTA event last year, found the going tough against Ankita, who yet again stood out with her relentless returns.

It was a dogfight from the baseline as Putintseva, a grinder from across the court, was picking everything and throwing it back.

Ankita too was prepared to put the balls back on the court, which meant points were long and hard-fought.

Ankita will now combine with Prarthana Thombare to take on Gozal Ainitdinova and Zhibek Kulambayeva in the decisive doubles.

Ankita did create a small opening to get the first break in the sixth game by hitting consistently on the backhand side of the Kazakh and then blasted a forehand winner, but the Kazakh girl played smartly to save the chance.

However, Ankita kept putting pressure on her opponent as she charged the net and Putintseva tried a lob, which went long. It put the Kazakh down 15-30.

An error from Putintseva handed Ankita two break chances and the Indian converted the second one. It was a reward for her hard work as Ankita never let Putintseva breath easy with consistent returns on her backhand side.

Despite having to play a point twice after a call error at 30-0, Ankita served out the set at love.

A break of serve was the best possible start for Ankita in the second set but some poor calls by the chair umpire and linemen not only prevented the Indian from consolidating the break but she also lost serve.

It caused a sudden change in the fortune of Putintseva, who had raced to a 4-1 lead as the Indian dropped serve again.

Ankita's strokes lost the sting a bit and riding on the momentum, Putintseva broke the Indian one more time and served out the set to make it even-steven.

Ankita's returns were not as sharp, powerful and precise as they were in the opening set. She lost serve in the third game to let Putintseva take lead in the decider.

She was down by three breakpoints in the fifth game as well but the gritty Indian ranked just 253 in the world, fought off all break points for a crucial hold.

The slugfest continued and it was 4-4. Ankita held her own serve under pressure and broke the Kazakh one final time when Putintseva hit a backhand wide on match point to record a memorable win.

Ankita had to hold back celebration after the Kazakh team protested against a call. But the chair umpire was not convinced and Ankita bowed on the court, relieved.

Earlier, Karman took some time to settle and started playing freely only after dropping serve in the second and saving a break point in the fourth.

In a nervous start, like yesterday, she was broken at love in the second game as she hit a forehand wide and long.

While Diyas cruised to a 4-1 lead, Karman finally found some rhythm and started to stroke fluently.

Karman adopted an aggressive approach while returning as she sent deep balls on both flanks and was rewarded when she earned three break points in the seventh game and converted the second one with an exquisite forehand winner.

However, the Indian girl, while trying too hard, dropped serve in the next game. Diyas was serving for the set when she went down 30-40 but Karman hit a backhand long to let go the break chance.

That was enough for the experienced Kazakh to seal the set. While Karman was fighting a lot better, she was not consistent enough. A flurry of forehand errors resulted in an early break of serve in the second set.

Karman now was serving a lot better and got the ball to bounce, using her height. She served the third game at love and was up 30-0 in the fifth but her rhythm was disturbed when she went for a replay of a point following a debatable call.

Captain Ankita Bhambri had an argument with the chair umpire and all this affected Karman, who served two double faults to drop the serve. Trailing 1-4, Karman got one break back with a well-constructed point.

It was important not to lose serve from there on but she lost it at love, allowing Diyas to serve out the match in the next.

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News Network
July 12,2020

New Delhi, Jul 12: Former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to do away with 'umpire's call' whenever a team opts for a review regarding a leg-before wicket (LBW) decision.

The Master Blaster has also said that a batsman should be given out if the ball is hitting the stumps.

Whether more than 50 per cent of the ball is hitting the stumps or not should not be matter, he further stated.

"What per cent of the ball hits the stumps doesn't matter, if DRS shows us that the ball is hitting the stumps, it should be given out, regardless of the on-field call," Tendulkar tweeted.

With this tweet, the former India batsman also shared a video, in which he has a discussion with Brian Lara regarding the working of DRS.
"One thing I don't agree with, with the ICC, is the DRS they have been using for quite some time. It is the LBW decision where more than 50 per cent of the ball must be hitting the stumps for the on-field decision to be overturned," Tendulkar said in the video.

"The only reason they (the batsman or the bowler) have gone upstairs is that they are unhappy with the on-field decision, so when the decision goes to the third umpire, let the technology take over, just like in tennis, it's either in or out, there's nothing in between," he added.

This call for doing away with umpire's call has been recommended by many former players.
Whenever a verdict pops up as 'umpire's call, the decision of the on-field umpire is not changed, but the teams do not lose their review as well.

ICC recently introduced some changes to the game of cricket, and they gave all teams liberty of extra review as non-neutral umpires will be employed in Test matches due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, all teams will now have three reviews in every innings of a Test match. 

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News Network
March 16,2020

Mar 16: With COVID-19 outbreak killing over 5,400 people globally, former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar has lashed out at those responsible for making the coronavirus infect humans and blamed China solely for the outbreak.

"I don't understand why you have to eat things like bats, drink their blood and urine and spread some virus across the globe...I'm talking about the Chinese people. They have put the world at stake. I really don't understand how you can eat bats, dogs, and cats. I'm really angry," Akhtar said in a video posted on his Youtube channel.

"The whole world is at risk now. The tourism industry has been hit, the economy is badly affected and the whole world is going towards a lockdown.

"I'm not against the people of China but I'm against the law of animals. I understand this may be your culture but this is not benefitting you now, it is killing humanity. I'm not saying you boycott the Chinese but there has to be some law. You cannot go on and eat anything and everything," he added.

Coronavirus, which originated in China's Wuhan city, has so far spread to more than 100 countries, infecting over 1,30,000 people.

In Pakistan, the number of positive cases reached 28 on Saturday.

Many sporting events, including the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Pakistan Super League (PSL), have been affected by the disease which has now been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

While the IPL 2020, which was originally scheduled to start from March 29, has been postponed till April 15, the playoff stage of PSL has been curtailed and will be played behind closed doors.

"The biggest reason for anger is PSL...Cricket returned to Pakistan after so many years, the PSL was happening in our country for the first time now even that is at risk. The foreign players are leaving, it will take place behind closed doors," said Akhtar.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases across India has crossed 80 while two people have lost their lives due to the deadly disease. But Akhtar did not have the information and added: "God forbid the virus doesn't reach India. There are around 130 crore people there. I've been in touch with my friends in India and wishing them well."

In PSL, there will be no playoffs and the top four teams will now play semi-finals and then the final on March 17 and 18. The final was originally scheduled to be held on March 22.

"I've also heard that IPL has been postponed till April 15. The hotel industries, travel industries, broadcasters everything will incur losses because of this," he said.

The former Pakistan pacer also called on the world authorities to come out with a new animal protection law so that such diseases don't resurface in the future.

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News Network
April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: It was on April 2, 2011, when the Men in Blue went on to win their second 50-over World Cup title.

India won its first World Cup in 1983 and then had to wait for 28 years to again lift the title.
Going into the 2011 tournament, India went in as the clear favourites as the competition was to be played in the sub-continent.

Under MS Dhoni's leadership, India lost just one match in the competition against South Africa.
India had defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final to set up a summit clash with Sri Lanka.

In the finals, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first. Mahela Jayawardene top-scored for Sri Lanka as he struck a century to take the team's score to 274/6.

India in their chase got off to a bad start as the side lost Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag with just 31 runs on the board.

But Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni stepped up and stitched a match-winning 109-run partnership.

Gambhir perished after playing a knock of 97 runs, but in the end, Dhoni and Yuvraj took the team over the line by six wickets.

The winning six struck by Dhoni is still viewed as one of the most exciting moments in India's sporting history. 

As the winning six was hit, Ravi Shastri was doing commentary then, and he famously remarked, "Dhoni, finishes it off in style, India lifts the World Cup after 28 years".
As soon as the match-winning shot was hit, Tendulkar erupted with joy and had tears to see his dream finally being fulfilled.

Earlier this year, former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the 2011 World Cup win, titled 'Carried On the Shoulders Of A Nation', was voted the greatest Laureus Sporting Moment of the last twenty years.

The lap after the World Cup is still edged into everyone's hearts.

Playing in his last mega 50-over tournament, it was the last chance for Tendulkar to lift the coveted trophy.

Before the 2011 World Cup, Tendulkar had played five tournaments (1992,1996,1999,2003 and 2007), and he fell short every time.

The closest he came to winning the trophy was in 2003 as India made the finals under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly.

But the Men in Blue fell short in the finals against Australia.

Then in 2007, the biggest setback was in store for the legend has India bowed out of the tournament in the group stages.

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