Be proud of India's record: Duncan Fletcher

January 17, 2015

Duncan Fletcher

Melbourne, Jan 17: His team may have just four members from the 2011 World Cup-winning side but Indian head coach Duncan Fletcher yesterday insisted the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-captained team has the experience of playing in big tournaments.

India excluded veterans Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan from their World Cup 2015 squad, relying on a fresh-looking squad to retain the title won at home in 2011.

“This is a very important point. We do want experience. Now, we have played three ICC tournaments in the last three years — the ICC World T20, 2012 and 2014, and the Champions Trophy 2013. And people will be surprised to see that we have only lost two games in all,” Fletcher was quoted as saying by bcci.tv.

“That is quite a record to be proud of. And the team in all those tournaments was more or less the same. So, these boys do have the experience when it comes to the big tournaments and they do know how to win them,” he said.

‘We can win World Cup’

“What makes this team special is that over the last few years they have faced all kinds of situations in limited overs cricket and have shown they are capable of coming out successfully from all of them.

“That’s why I say that we have a good chance to win this World Cup.” Playing in Australia just prior to the mega event would give the reigning champions some much-needed time to acclimatise to the conditions. “Playing the tri-series just before the World Cup is a great idea for us in getting used to how the white ball behaves here,” he said.

Fletcher meanwhile has defended the Indian bowlers, saying that the thrashing they got from the Australia during the four-match Test series was due to inexperience of some of them. “I agree that there is a lot of work to do with the bowlers and they must realise their responsibilities at the Test level. But I also think the Indian pacers get a lot of unwarranted flak,” Fletcher said.

“For these bowlers it’s just a matter of gaining experience of bowling in these conditions,” he added.

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News Network
February 2,2020

Mount Maunganui, Feb 2: India registered a rare 5-0 whitewash against New Zealand after notching up a seven-run win in the fifth and final T20 International at Bay Oval here on Sunday.

Electing to bat, India posted 163 for three, riding on Rohit Sharma's 60 off 41 balls and a 33-ball 45 from K L Rahul.

The visitors then restricted the hosts to 156 for nine with Jasprit Bumrah claiming three wickets for 12 runs.

Chasing the target, the Black Caps were tottering at 17 for three in 3.2 overs.

Tim Seifert (50) and Ross Taylor (53) then added 99 runs for the fourth wicket as New Zealand recovered to 116.

Seifert clobbered a 30-ball 50 studded with five fours and three sixes, while Ross Taylor hit two sixes and five fours in his 47-ball 53-run innings.

However, once Seifert was dismissed in the 13th over, the hosts suffered a collapse, losing five wickets, including Taylor, for 25 runs to loss the plot in the end.

Brief Score:

India: 163 for 3 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 60; S Kuggeleijn 2/25)    

New Zealand: 156 for 9 in 20 overs (Ross Taylor 53, Tim Seifert 50; Jasprit Bumrah 3/12).

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News Network
February 18,2020

New Delhi, Feb 18: Skipper Virat Kohli has become the first Indian to reach the 50M followers mark on social media platform Instagram. Kohli, who is breaking cricketing records with each passing match, has a great social media following.

The 31-year old has so far made 930 posts on the platform and his social media posts continue to enthrall fans worldwide. Overall, Instagram's official account has the most number of followers and it is followed by Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 200M followers.

In terms of Indians with most number of followers, Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra is on the second spot with 49.9 followers while Deepika Padukone is on the third place with 44.1 followers.

Last year, Kohli had become the most successful Indian Test captain, surpassing Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Currently, Kohli is in action against New Zealand and his side would take on the hosts in the two-match Test series, slated to commence from February 21.

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News Network
January 17,2020

Jan 17: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza cruised into the women's doubles final of the Hobart International with her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok here on Friday.

Sania and Kichenok sailed past the Slovenian-Czech pair of Tamara Zidansek and Marie Bouzkova 7-6 (3) 6-2 in the semifinal contest that lasted one hour and 24 minutes.

The fifth-seeded Indo-Ukrainian combination will lock horns with second seeds Shuai Peng and Shuai Zhang of China. The Chinese pair got a walkover after Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens and Alison Van Uytvanck conceded the other semifinal match because of injury.

While Sania and Kichenok had to fight hard in the opening set, the second set was a cakewalk for the combination.

The first set was a tough contest between the two pairs, bringing the tie-breaker into the equation after it was level at 6-6.

In the tie-breaker, Sania and Kichenok upped their game by a few notches to outsmart their opponents and take the lead.

The second set was a no-contest as Saina and Kichenok broke their opponents thrice -- in the second, sixth and eighth game -- to easily pocket the set and a place in the summit clash.

Saina and Kichenok got 11 break chances out of which they converted four, while their opponents utilised two out of the five break chances that came their way.

The 33-year-old Sania is returning to the WTA circuit after two years. During her time away from the game, she battled injury breakdowns before taking a formal break in April 2018 to give birth to her son Izhaan. She is married to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.

Before the ongoing event, Sania last played at China Open in October 2017.

A trailblazer in Indian tennis, Sania is a former world No.1 in doubles and has six Grand Slam titles to her credit.

She retired from the singles competition in 2013 after becoming the most successful Indian woman tennis player.

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