Cheteshwar Pujara is as important to Test team as Virat Kohli: Sourav Ganguly

Agencies
March 22, 2018

Virat Kohli may be the most valuable Indian cricketer at the moment but former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday said Cheteshwar Pujara is also equally good and is someone who goes "unnoticed".

"Along with Virat Kohli in this team Pujara's record is as good as anybody. He's from that old school of cricket where he will grind you, and win you matches but he goes unnoticed," Ganguly said, heaping praise on the Test specialist.

Ganguly was addressing a gathering during the Kolkata book launch of his memoir A Century Is Not Enough which was attended by Pujara.

“The best team had the best number three. When India played at its best the best number three was (Rahul) Dravid. When India played at its best away, it's Pujara at number three," Ganguly said.

"They actually take the shine off the new ball, allow the stroke makers to make batting easier. He (Pujara) is as important to this Test team as Virat Kohli. But sometimes he goes unnoticed. Look at his Test records, after 57 Tests, he has 14 hundreds."

Ignored for the upcoming IPL, Pujara will use the free period to hone his skills at Yorkshire for a second county stint.

"I still prefer to play in the old school, spend a lot of time at the crease, read situation and then start scoring runs," Pujara said.

"Once you assess the conditions, you know what the bowlers are up to and you are in a different zone. I don't need to worry about playing shots it comes naturally."

Pujara, however, said recently he's trying out playing lofted shots to meet the demands of the limited overs cricket when he turns up for his home state Saurashtra in domestic season.

"Obviously not for Tests, but when I practised for T20 matches, I practised reverse sweeps. If you need to get better at something, you need to start playing the shots," he said.

"To get myself better in one-dayers and T20s, I also started playing lofted shots. Before five-six years, I never used to play any lofted shots. I've been working in that in the nets, when it comes off they (teammates) are very happy about it."

The programme was also attended by Ganguly's former teammates Harbhajan Singh and VVS Laxman, the two famous architects of the 2001 Test victory at Eden Gardens.

"This book would never happened if it was not for the 2001 Test and the Pakistan series (2003-04)."

VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid combined for a 376-run stand at the Eden Gardens, paving way for an unlikely Indian win in the epic Test.

After following-on, India batted long enough in the second innings to declare for 657/7, setting Australia a target of 384.

Ganguly revealed that it was a note from his father from the gallery upstairs that had prompted him to declare the innings.

"I got a chit from my dad who wrote 'what's happening, why you're not declaring? Everybody is screaming at the top of their head'," he said.

Hat-trick man Harbhajan bagged six wickets in the second innings to return with a match haul of 13 wickets to hand India a 171-run win.

Crediting Ganguly for all he achieved, Harbhajan said: "If Dada was not my captain, I would not have been here. Bowler banaya jata hai. Bowler banane ke liye cpatin chahiye, jigrewala. (You need a big-hearted captain to make a bowler)."

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 9: BWF World Championships defending champion PV Sindhu on Thursday cruised to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters after winning a second-round match.

The 24-year-old had the upper hand in the clash and thrashed Japan's Aya Ohori in straight games 21-10, 21-15 that lasted for 34-minute. The world number six will now play in her quarterfinal match on January 10.

Earlier in the day, Saina Nehwal defeated South Korea's An Se Young 25-23, 21-12 in 38 minutes. The first game saw back and forth action between both shuttlers. In the end, Nehwal kept her cool to win the match.

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old had outclassed Belgium's Lianne Tan 21-15, 21-17 to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.

Shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the tournament after losing their matches to Japan's Kento Momota and Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei respectively. 

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Headingley, Jan 25: England have become the first team in the world to score 500,000 runs in Test cricket. They achieved the feat during the ongoing fourth and final Test against South Africa being played at The Wanderers.

On Friday - the opening day of the Test match -- England captain Joe Root's single through the covers took the Three Lions to a landmark 500,000 run-mark in the longest format of the game. They achieved the feat in their 1022nd Test match.

Australia comes second in the list, with 432,706 runs in 830 Tests. India, meanwhile, are third, with 273,518 runs in 540 Tests, followed by West Indies (270,441 runs in 545 Tests).

In the third Test played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, England had become the first team to play 500 Test matches on foreign soil. Australia are the second team to play the most away Test with 404 matches they have played so far.

India have played 268 Tests on foreign soil in which they have won 51, lost 113 and 104 have ended in a draw.

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News Network
January 10,2020

Srinagar, Jan 10: Real Kashmir FC made a strong comeback in the second half to play out a 1-1 draw against former champions Punjab FC in their home I-League match here on Friday.

The 'Snow Leopards' equalised in the 62nd minute through Gnohere Krizo in front of a partisan crowd of 8,500 spectators after Makan Chothe had given Punjab FC the lead in the 21st minute at the TRC ground.

After Thursday's draw, Punjab FC is placed third on the table with 10 points from seven games. Real Kashmir FC remained at eighth with six points from five matches. This was Real Kashmir's third home match on the trot.

The match was a story of two halves as the first belonged to the visitors who enjoyed a 62 per cent possession of the ball, whereas the second belonged to the home side.

Both the teams were looking to gain an early advantage and Punjab FC took the lead after 21 minutes.

Confusion inside the Real Kashmir box because of a long ball from Punjab opened up an opportunity for Chothe and he made no mistake as he smashed the ball at the back of the net.

As the fans cheered on, Real Kashmir created a flurry of chances, but none of the home side players could find the back of the net. Punjab was able to hold on to their slender lead heading into the tunnel.

The second half resumed with Real Kashmir pressing high up the field and pressurising Punjab.

In the 56th minute, Real Kashmir playmaker Kallum Higginbotham cut through two defenders on the left side of the box and the ball fell to Mason Robertson, whose shot was too weak to trouble the Punjab goalkeeper.

Soon after, it was Danish Farooq who tried a curler from a distance but his shot did not have enough bend to trouble the Punjab goalkeeper. The home team's effort finally paid off in the 62nd minute.

A miscalculated header by Danilo Augusto fell at the feet of Gnohere Krizo, who was one-on-one with the keeper. He made no mistake in striking the ball into the opponent's goal to score the equaliser.

Real Kashmir was in their groove now, and Kallum came in from the right with a beautiful low cross across the face of the goal but Mason could not get a touch as the chance went begging.

The duo of Kallum and Mason were proving difficult for Punjab to deal with. In the 82nd minute, a beautiful long ball by Kallum found the head of a towering Mason, but the effort went just over the crossbar.

Within a few moments, Punjab again had another nervous moment as Chesterpoul Lyngdoh's cross from the right side hit the arm of Thoiba Singh but the referee turned down an appeal for penalty.

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