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Asia Cup: India's Hong Kong dress rehearsal before Pakistan test

Agencies
September 18, 2018

Sept 18: A formidable India will be aiming to make short work of minnows Hong Kong in their Asia Cup opener Tuesday before getting battle-ready for their much-anticipated clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on Wednesday.

The match against Hong Kong will be an 'appetiser' before cricket junkies are treated to a lavish spread of main course which will be the Indo-Pak rivalry.

Even without regular skipper Virat Kohli, the Indian side, led by Rohit Sharma, is an intimidating one in the limited-overs format.

Although Rohit and his colleagues won't want to take Hong Kong lightly, in reality the match will only be a pre-cursor or a glorified dress rehearsal before they take on an in-form Pakistan the very next day.

In the searing Dubai heat, where the mercury has risen up to 43 degree Celsius, the primary aim for the Men in Blue would be to get their combination right before the big game.

Hong Kong lost their opener against Pakistan by eight wickets in a thoroughly one sided showdown where they could manage only 116 runs.

Unless a miracle happens, there won't be a remarkable improvement in their performance against an Indian team that boasts of the likes of Rohit, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav in batting along with Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in bowling.

For the past few years, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's waning batting skills have repeatedly come under scanner and this tournament will give everyone a fair idea of his ideal position.

Whether it would ned up being No.5, 6 or 7 will be the big contention going into the Pakistan game.

If Dhoni comes in at No.7, he will have to face a skilful Mohammed Aamir at the death along with a skiddy Usman Khan and talented Hasan Ali.

Possibly, Kedar Jadhav or Manish Pandey at No.5 and Hardik Pandya with his big hitting abilities at No.7 could prove to be ideal foil for the former India captain, if he decides to come at No 6.

The middle-order that has been an issue for India for quite some time now and need to be sorted going into the World Cup next year.

It is expected that KL Rahul will bat at No 3 but the incoming deliveries from Aamir or Hasan could be a problem like it has been in England.

The BCCI has already hired a left-arm throwdown specialist from Sri Lanka to ensure that the Indian have no trouble tackling Pakistan's battery of left-armers. Also, they have Khaleel Ahmed in the team to give the batsmen much-needed practice.

However, on flat decks with little movement from white kookaburra, the Indian batsmen can play their customary 'hitting on the rise' game with minimal footwork.

The Hong Kong encounter will be a match simulater for the likes of Dhawan, Rahul and Pandya, who will have to adjust to the different length and pace of the track.

The Bumrah-Bhuvneshwar combination will be back in action along with the Kuldeep-Chahal combination, which has been a steady set-up for past one year.

For Pakistan, the two Indian wrist-spinners will be unknown entities as they were not in the team that lost to Sarfraz Khan's men in the Champions Trophy final in England.

Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam are the two batting mainstays while Imam ul Haq (Inzamam ul Haq's nephew) has been pretty consistent so far.

The oldest player in the line up, all-rounder Shoaib Malik, has tremendous experience of batting in the middle overs on low slow decks of the sub-continent.

The Hong Kong game will also be ideal warm-up for Bhuvneshwar, who has been out due to back injury.

He recently came back to competitive cricket for India A against South Africa A.

The tickets for the Indo-Pak clash has been steeply priced with the hospitality seats costing USD 1600 (INR 1.15 lakh approx).

The stadium is expected to be packed to capacity on Wednesday but one can expect a sizeable Indian population on Tuesday itself during the Hong Kong game.

Squads

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shardul Thakur, Dinesh Karthik, Khaleel Ahmed.

Hong Kong: Anshuman Rath (captain), Aizaz Khan, Babar Hayat, Cameron McAulson, Christopher Carter, Ehsan Khan, Ehsan Nawaz, Arshad Mohammed, Kinchit Shah, Nadeem Ahmed, Raag Kapur, Scott McKehnie, Tanvir Ahmed, Tanvir Afzal, Waqas Khan, Aftab Hussain.

Match starts 5 pm (IST).

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News Network
June 19,2020

Jun 19: The BCCI is open to reviewing its sponsorship policy for the next cycle but has no plans to end its association with current IPL title sponsor Vivo as the money coming in from the Chinese company is helping India's cause and not the other way round, board treasurer Arun Dhumal said on Friday. Anti-China sentiments are running high in India following the border clash between the two countries at Galwan valley earlier this week. The first skirmish at the India-China border in more than four decades left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead. Since then, calls have been made to boycott Chinese products.

But Dhumal said Chinese companies sponsoring an Indian event like the IPL only serve his country's interests.

The BCCI gets Rs 440 crore annually from Vivo and the five-year deal ends in 2022.

"When you talk emotionally, you tend to leave the rationale behind. We have to understand the difference between supporting a Chinese company for a Chinese cause or taking help from Chinese company to support India's cause," Dhumal said.

"When we are allowing Chinese companies to sell their products in India, whatever money they are taking from Indian consumer, they are paying part of it to the BCCI (as brand promotion) and the board is paying 42 per cent tax on that money to the Indian government. So, that is supporting India's cause and not China's," he argued.

Oppo, a mobile phone brand like Vivo, was sponsoring the Indian cricket team until September last year when Bengaluru-based educational technology Byju's start-up replaced the Chinese company.

Dhumal said he is all for reducing dependence on Chinese products but as long as its companies are allowed to do business in India, there is no harm in them sponsoring an Indian brand like the IPL.

"If they are not supporting the IPL, they are likely to take that money back to China. If that money is retained here, we should be happy about it. We are supporting our government with that money (by paying taxes on it)."

"If I am giving a contract to a Chinese company to build a cricket stadium, then I am helping the Chinese economy. GCA built the world's largest cricket stadium at Motera and that contract was given to an Indian company (L&T)," he said.

"Cricketing infrastructure worth thousands of crores was created across country and none of the contract was awarded to a Chinese company."

Dhumal went on to say the BCCI is spoilt for choice when it comes to attracting sponsors, whether Indian or Chinese or from any other nation.

"If that Chinese money is coming to support Indian cricket, we should be okay with it. I am all for banning Chinese products as an individual, we are there to support our government but by getting sponsorship from Chinese company, we are helping India's cause."

"We can get sponsorship money from non-Chinese companies also including Indian firms. We can support our players any way but the idea is when they are allowed to sell their products here, it is better that part of money comes back to the Indian economy."

"The BCCI is not giving money to the Chinese, it is attracting on the contrary. We should make decision based on rationale rather than emotion," he added.

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Agencies
August 7,2020

Islamabad, Aug 7: Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, known for his blistering deliveries on the cricket field, recently baffled many with a deadly off-field bouncer by claiming he is willing to eat grass if it enabled an increase in budget for his country's Army!

"If Allah ever gives me the authority, I will eat grass myself but I will increase the budget of the army," said Akhtar in an interview with ARY News.

The 'Rawalpindi Express', considered the fastest bowler in history said he does not understand why the civilian sector cannot work in collaboration with the Armed forces.

"I will ask my army chief to sit with me and make decisions. If the budget is 20 per cent, I will make it 60 per cent. If we insult each other, the loss is ours only," the once feared fast-bowler said.

Akthar had also claimed to ARY News interview that he was willing to take a bullet for his country and had turned down a county stint just because he wanted to fight the 1999 Kargil War.

Ties between India and Pakistan have been strained in the recent months over several issues, the latest being Pakistan's attempt to broach in the UNSC the issue of Kashmir on the first anniversary of the India's move to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and to split the erstwhile state into two union territories .

Pakistan also has not been in a good financial position and under prime minister Imran Khan, himself an all rounder cricketer, has added nearly USD 22 billion, that is 35 per cent to the nation's international debt pile in the last two years, according to an Asia Times report in July.

While Pakistan recently received USD 1.39 billion from the IMF to cushion the economic shocks caused due to COVID-19 outbreak, Akthar had a few months ago proposed that a joint cricket match be played between India and Pakistan to raise funds to fight the coronavirus. The suggestion that was put down by cricketers in India.

Meanwhile the 'Pindi boy' whose deadly pace and bounce was once dreaded by batsmen had recently taken to Twitter to deny former India cricketer Virender Sehwag's claim of sledging him.

Sehwag along with other Indian crickerters such as Harbhajan Singh and even Rahul Dravid had been at the receiving end of Akthar's sledging and antics during their playing days.

"Yes, totally self made story by him. Mujhe yeh bol k bach k jana kidhar tha us nay," Akthar tweeted to a report in which Sehwag claimed that he had sledged the 'Rawalpindi Express' by telling him that Sachin Tendulkar was his father.

During an awards ceremony Sehwag had recounted that fed up with Akthar's sledging and retaliated by telling him to say the same things to Tendulkar, who smashed the 'Pindi boy' for a six. Sehwag quipped that he told Akthar then that "Baap baap hota hai".

In the recent ARY interview, asked about the allegation made against him by former India cricketer Virendra Sehwag that he makes pro-India comments for greater following on social media channels, Akhtar said, "I cannot talk on the basis of hate." 

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News Network
March 28,2020

Milan, Mar 28: Juventus star Paulo Dybala revealed how he "struggled to breathe" after contracting coronavirus which has killed over 9,000 people in Italy.

The Argentine international announced last Saturday he was one of three Juventus players to catch the virus along with Daniele Rugani and Blaise Matuidi, who both had no symptoms.

"I feel better now after some strong symptoms," the 26-year-old Dybala told JTV channel.

"A couple of days ago I was not well, I felt heavy and after five minutes of movement I had to stop because I was struggling to breathe.

"Now I can move and walk to start trying to train, because when I tried in the past few days I started to shake too much.

"I gasped for air and as a result I couldn't do anything, after five minutes I was already very tired, I felt the body heavy and my muscles hurt.

"Now I'm fine. My fiancee Oriana (Sabatini) has also overcome the symptoms."

Dybala has scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, including in league leader's Juventus's last game against Inter Milan before Serie A and all sport in Italy was suspended.

"The goal against Inter was the greatest emotion, (Aaron) Ramsey provided the perfect assist - it's a pity that there was no public," added Dybala.

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