Argentina beat Netherlands 4-2 on penalties to reach final

July 10, 2014

final

Sao Paulo, Jul 10: The rainy evening at the Corinthians Arena grew colder as the second semifinal between Argentina and the Netherlands progressed to a dead end after 120 minutes.

Two saves from Sergio Romero settled the shootout and the issue for Argentina 0-0 (4-2) who are set for a date at the Maracana with Germany in four day's time.

Ron Vlaar and Wesley Sneijder were the culprits for the Netherlands, whose aspirations for a World Cup title eludes them once again.

Argentina made it to the final for the first time since 1990 where they got the better of hosts Italy also in a penalty shootout. Sergio Javier Goycochea was the hero and Romero just emulated him. In the final, however, Argentina lost to Germany.

After the high octane action the evening before, the cautious approach of two powerhouses left a lot to be desired.

It seemed that Lionel Messi actually failed to turn up for the party. In the 120 dreary minutes of non-action, the most noise were made by the hordes of Argentinian fans. They kept on singing, maybe just to keep themselves warm, as the action on the pitch barely gave then anything to cheer about.

After a couple of trademark darts, Messi made peace with the fact that he was too heavily marked. He chose to hide himself in the mesh of covering that Dutch coach Luis Van Gaal plotted for him.

A three man defence had a two man insurance on the flanks. Dirk Kuyt and Daley Blind positioned themselves wide and cut off all the adventurous streaks from the Argentinians. Pablo Zabaleta and Marcos Rojo could not move up. Ezequiel Lavezzi and Gonzalo Higuain looked out of place and that left Messi looking helplessly for support.

Whatever inspiration he managed to garner, Ron Vlaar's fearless tackles snuffed it out.

At the other end, Javier Mascherano did the similar job on Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie.

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News Network
June 27,2020

Jun 27: India's Test batting mainstay Cheteshwar Pujara cannot describe in words the influence that Rahul Dravid has had on his life but says he will always remain grateful to him for teaching the importance of switching off from cricket.

Often compared to Dravid, who was considered the 'wall' of Indian cricket, Pujara said he is thankful to Dravid for teaching him how to keep personal and professional lives separate.

"He helped me understand the importance of switching off from cricket. I had the same thought, more or less, but when I spoke to him, it gave me a lot of clarity about it and I was sure of what I needed to do," he told ESPNcricinfo.

"I also saw in county cricket how they keep personal and professional lives separate. I value that advice a lot. Many people consider me to be focused. Yes, I am focused, But I also know when to switch off. There is life beyond cricket."

In his illustrious international career, Dravid amassed 13288 runs in 164 Tests and 10889 runs in 344 ODIs. He also captained India in 79 ODIs, winning 42 of them, which includes the world record of 14 successive wins while chasing.

"I cannot say in one line what Rahul bhai means to me. He has always been an inspiration, and will remain one," Pujara said.

His mental fortitude and batting technique is often compared to Dravid but Pujara said "despite my enchantment with him" he never tried to "copy him."

"There is a similarity in our games, but that's not because of my fascination with him. That came mainly through my experiences with Saurashtra, where I learned that scoring a hundred alone isn't enough, you have to carry your team," he said.

"That is how I learned responsibility - it is about helping my team to raise a big total, and for that I ought to attach importance to my wicket. I learned that from my junior cricket days with Saurashtra, which was a weaker team in domestic cricket."

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March 4,2020

Mar 4: The BCCI has decided to implement strict cost cutting measures with the notable decision being IPL 2020 champions' prize money will be halved as compared to 2019. In a circular sent to all IPL franchises, the BCCI has notified that instead of a whopping Rs 20 crore, the IPL champion team will now receive Rs 10 crore only. "The financial rewards have been reworked as a part of the cost cutting measures. The champions will get Rs 10 crore instead of Rs 20 crore. The runners-up will get Rs 6.25 crore from earlier Rs 12.5 crore," a BCCI notification, in possession of news agency, read.

The two losing qualifiers will now get Rs 4.375 crore each.

"The franchises are all in good health. They also have multiple ways like sponsorships to bolster their income. Hence the decision on prize money taken," a senior BCCI source said.

However, a state association hosting IPL games will get Rs 1 crore each with franchises and BCCI contributing Rs 50 lakh each.

It has also been learnt that mid-level BCCI employees won't be allowed to avail business class flights like earlier times for flying to the Asian countries (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, UAE) where the flying time is less than eight hours.

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April 5,2020

New Delhi, April 5: England batsman James Vince lashed out at people for not taking proper measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and said people are going out as if "everything is normal".

"Just seen the pictures of people out and about today as if everything is normal. What selfish people, surely by now they've realised this is serious. Well done to everyone who's doing their bit and staying in," Vince tweeted.

On March 13, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Europe was now the 'epicentre' of the disease.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in the UK has exceeded 4,313 with at least 708 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the largest one-day rise since the start of the outbreak as confirmed by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The total number of cases in the UK as on Saturday is 41,903, a rise of 3,735 cases in the last 24 hours.

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