Brilliant Virat Kohli Leads Visitors To 3-1 Series Win

Agencies
July 7, 2017

Kingston, Jul 7: Skipper Virat Kohli led from the front with a fluent century as India on Thursday wrapped up the five-match series 3-1 with a convincing eight wicket win over West Indies. Asked to bowl, comeback man Mohammed Shami bagged four wickets as an under-fire India produced a disciplined bowling effort to restrict West Indies to a modest 205 for nine.

kohli

Playing only his second ODI after a long injury lay-off, Shami picked up four wickets giving 48 runs from his 10 overs to pull West Indies back.

Besides Shami, Umesh Yadav gave him ample support from the other end and returned with impressive figures of three for 53.

For West Indies, Shai Hope top-scored with a patient 51 off 98 balls during which he hit just five boundaries, while his brother Kyle made 46 off 50 deliveries with nine fours to his credit.

Later chasing the total, India hardly faced any trouble as Kohli (111 not out) and ever-consistent Ajinkya Rahane (39 off 51) shared 79 runs for the second wicket in 17.5 overs to set the platform for the comfortable win.

Thursday's match was a test of character for Kohli and his men after the unexpected 11 run loss against the hosts in the low-scoring fourth ODI in Antigua.

But Kohli meant business as he anchored India's chase with his 28th ODI century that came off 115 balls balls and was studded with 12 fours and two sixes

Besides the early dismissal of Shikhar Dhawan, the Indians were in complete control of the chase.

In the pursuit of the target, India lost Dhawan in the last delivery of the opening over, caught by Evin Lewis off Alzarri Joseph.

But thereafter, it was Kohli and Rahane's show as the duo dominated the proceedings with consummate ease.

While ever-consistent Rahane played the second fiddle, Kohli played with aggression from the onset.

But Rahane was unlucky to miss out on his fifth consecutive half-century of the series as he was dismissed Devendra Bishoo adjudged LBW in the 19th over. He struck five boundaries during his knock.

But Kohli played a chanceless knock and dictated the terms. He showed his class and brought up his 28th ODI century, a record 18th while chasing, with a boundary of Kesrick Williams.

Together with Dinesh Karthik (50 off 52 balls), Kohli stitched unbeaten 122 runs for the third wicket to take India home with 79 balls to spare.

Earlier opting to bat, West Indies made a decent start before the hosts lost their first wicket in the ninth over when Lewis (9) was caught by India skipper Kohli off the Hardik Pandya's (1/27) second delivery of the innings.

Hope brothers, Kyle and Shai then shared 37 runs off 45 balls for the second wicket before Umesh struck twin blows in consecutive balls to peg West Indies back.

Kyle, who was looking good, struck Umesh for two consecutive boundaries in the 16th over but in search of one too many he perished, picking out Dhawan at midwicket while trying to attempt for an ambitious pull.

Umesh then had Roston Chase LBW for a duck with a full and straight delivery in the next ball. The batsman went for the review but to no avail with West Indies slumping to 76 for three by the end of the 16th over.

Shai and Jason Mohammed (16) then stitched 39 for the fourth wicket before Kedar Jadhav (1/13) struck with his golden arm, dismissing the latter with a straight forward return catch.

Young Shai held one end up and and played with caution to notch up his second half-century of the series in the 38th over.

Together with skipper Jason Holder, Shai added 48 runs for the fifth wicket to keep West Indies' innings afloat.

While Shai played with caution, Holder was aggressive from the onset and piled up his 36 runs off just 34 balls with the help of four boundaries and one six.

But an irresponsible shot led to Holder's dismissal as he was holed out to Dhawan at long-on to hand Shami his first wicket.

An over later Shami struck again when he dismissed Shai with the set batsman attempting an ambitious shot and Ajinkya Rahane did the rest by latching on to an outstanding running catch at midwicket.

Shami again struck in his next over removing Ashley Nurse, who chipped one straight to Kuldeep Yadav at short midwicket.

Shami also accounted for Devendra Bishoo, caugh by Dhoni behind the stumps.

Rovman Powell (31 off 32 balls) played a good hand towards the end to get West Indies past the 200-run mark

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News Network
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: India's World Cup-winning former opener Gautam Gambhir performed the last rites of his deceased domestic help after her mortal remains could not be sent to her home in Odisha due to the coronavirus-forced national lockdown.

Gambhir, also a BJP Lok Sabha MP, posted a tribute on his Twitter page for his employee Saraswati Patra, who was working at his residence for the past six years.

"Taking care of my little one can never be domestic help. She was family. Performing her last rites was my duty," he tweeted.

"Always believed in dignity irrespective of caste, creed, religion or social status. Only way to create a better society. That's my idea of India! Om Shanti," said the 38-year-old Gambhir, who played 58 Tests for India between 2004 and 2016.

Media reports in Odisha said the 49-year-old Patra hailed from a village in Jajpur district.

She was admitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital a few days ago and was battling diabetes and high blood pressure for a long period. She breathed her last while undergoing treatment on April 21.

Union Minister of Petroleum and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan appreciated Gambhir.

"Taking care of Saraswati throughout the course of her illness, he also ensured her dignity in death by performing her last rites himself since her mortal remains could not be sent to her family back home in Odisha," Pradhan, who also belongs to Odisha, tweeted.

"His act of compassion will enliven the faith in humanity for millions of poor, who are working far from their home for livelihood and will garner respect from all folds of the society."

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News Network
May 30,2020

New Delhi, May 30: Former world chess champion Viswanathan Anand will be finally reaching India late on Saturday after being stuck in Germany for over three months due to the travel restrictions imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Yes.. Anand will be returning today," the chess maestro's wife Aruna told PTI on Saturday morning. Anand, who boarded an Air India flight (AI-120) from Frankfurt on Friday night will reach Bengaluru via Delhi.

He is expected to reach Bengaluru at 1.15 pm. The five-time world champion will undergo 14 days quarantine as per rules laid down by the Karnataka government.

"He will complete quarantine procedures and come to Chennai as per protocol," Aruna Anand said. The flights from Germany are only scheduled to land only in Delhi and Bengaluru.

The chess ace was in Germany to play in the Bundesliga chess league and was to return to India, but was forced to stay put after the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted sporting schedules across the globe, apart from restricting movement.

He was staying near Frankfurt and was doing online commentary for the Candidates tournament which was called off mid-way due to the pandemic and led the Indian team in the Online Nations Cup early this month.

Anand had been in touch with his family in Chennai on a regular basis via video calls and kept himself busy with chess-related work.

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Agencies
May 31,2020

London, May 31: "Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli," replied umpire Ian Gould when he was asked to name the three best batsmen he loved watching when he was officiating as an umpire.

The former ICC elite umpire said that he was unlucky to not watch Ponting bat as much as he would have liked to.

"Jacques Kallis. I loved watching Jacques. He was a very, very fine player. Sachin. And probably Virat. I was unlucky in some respects. I didn't see the best of Ricky Ponting. He was an outstanding character, outstanding captain, such a proud Australian," ESPNCricinfo quoted Gould as saying.

"But his career was just starting to wane as I came on the scene. But he was incredibly helpful, so I'm disappointed I have to leave him out. Jacques Kallis, I could sit and watch all day, Virat, the same. And Sachin, if you want someone to bat for your life, he was the man," he added.

Gould had retired from the ICC's panel of elite umpires in 2019, after standing in more than 250 international matches over a 13-year career.

Over the years, comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have been growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli has 70 centuries across all formats.

While, Kallis played 166 Tests, 328 ODIs and 25 T20Is for South Africa and he is often viewed as the greatest all-rounder the game has seen.

Many pundits of the game find it hard to pick between him and Sir Garfield Sobers.

Across his career, Kallis scored 25,534 runs in his career and he also managed to take 577 wickets.

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