Clinical India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in Nidahas Trophy 2018

Agencies
March 13, 2018

Mar 13: A clinical India defeated Sri Lanka comprehensively by six wickets to continue their their winning run in the Nidahas Twenty20 Tri-Series, in Colombo on Monday.

Opting to bowl, young Shardul Thakur (4/27) registered his best T20 bowling figures as Sri Lanka lost their way in the middle overs after Kusal Mendis’ fifty to be restricted to 152 for nine.

The match was reduced to 19-overs-a-side affair after over an hour was lost due to rain.

Later chasing the modest target, India overcame early jitters riding on Manish Pandey’s unbeaten 42 and Dinesh Karthik’s 39 not out to overwhelm Sri Lanka’s total with nine balls to spare.

By virtue of this win, India has managed to avenge upon their five-wicket loss to Sri Lanka in the tournament opener.

But it was not easy as India witnessed a horrendous start to their chase, losing both the openers — skipper Rohit Sharma (11) and in-form Shikhar Dhawan (8) early.

Rohit’s lean patch with the bat continued as he once again perished early. After making a positive start with a six and four off Suranga Lakmal in the opening over, Rohit mistimed a shot straight to Kusal Mendis off Akila Dananjaya (2/19) in the next over.

To matters worse for India, Dananjaya struck again an over later, this time getting the big wicket of Dhawan who gave a simple catch to Thisara Perera at mid-on.

In came Suresh Raina (27) and made his intentions clear with a couple of fours and sixes to lift India.

But the left-hander looked in a hurry and in the process lost his wicket, chipping one straight to Thisara Perera at mid-off Nuwan Pradeep (1/30) as India slumped to 63 for three after seven overs.

KL Rahul (18), who came in place of Rishabh Pant, looked in good tough during his short stay before being dismissed in a strange manner. After surviving a close run out chance in the previous ball, Rahul got out hit wicket while trying to work a Jeevan Mendis delivery into the leg side.

But thereafter, Pandey and Karthik ensured there were no more hiccups as they stitched unbeaten 68 runs for the fifth wicket to guide India home comfortably.

Earlier sent into bat, Kusal Mendis once again shone bright for Sri Lanka scoring 55 off 38 balls with the help of three fours and as many sixes before Indian bowlers led by Thakur brought their side back into the game with wickets at regular intervals.

Thakur returned with impressive figures of 4/27, while young off-spinner Washinton Sundar (2/21) scalped two wickets as India made a strong fightback after leaking runs in the first 10 overs.

Vijay Shankar (1/30), Yuzvendra Chahal (1/34) and Jaydev Unadkat (1/33) also accounted for a wicket each.

But initially it looked Rohit Sharma’s decision to bowl first backfired as Sri Lanka got off to a flier scoring 24 runs off the first two overs.

Left-arm pacer Unadkat was taken to the cleaners as he gave away 15 runs in the first over.

But India pulled things back bit with two wickets in back-to-back overs.

Thakur gave India the breakthrough when he dismissed Danushka Gunathilaka (17) in the third over with Suresh Raina taking a stunning catch at midwicket.

Sundar then cleaned up in-form Kushal Perera (3) in the next over as the batsman went for an expansive reverse sweep.

But thereafter Kusal Mendis took the the Indians bowlers to task in Upul Tharanga’s (22) company as the duo added 62 runs for the third wicket to help Sri Lanka reach 94 for two after 10 overs.

Kusal Mendis continued his good form and did not spare a single Indian bowler while Tharanga preferred to play the second fiddle.

Kusal Mendis used the crease to great effect to hit most of his scoring shots on his favourite left side.

Shankar broke the dangerous-looking partnership when he bowled Tharanga in the 11th over.

But Shankar himself spoilt his good work, courtesy two bad deliveries which were clobbered over the boundary by Lankan stand-in skipper Thisara Perera (15).

In between, Kusal Mendis brought up his fourth fifty in five innings in just 31 balls.

But India pulled Sri Lanka back again with three more quick wickets in the form of Thisara Perera, Jeevan Mendis and set Kusal Mendis.

While the Lankan skipper perished in search of one too many big shots, caught by Chahal off Thakur, Sundar went through Jeevan Mendis’s defence with his guile.

The big blow for Sri Lanka came when Kusal Mendis departed next, giving away a soft catch to Rohit off Chahal.

Thakur then dimissed Dasun Shanaka (19) and Dushmantha Chameera in consecutive balls in the 19th over to stand in with a chance to claim a hat-trick which didn’t come.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Bollywood celebrities have taken it to their social media platforms to express their excitement and shared their thoughts.

Taking to Twitter handle, senior Bollywood actor Anupam Kher extended his best wishes to his legion of followers for the Ram Janmabhoomi Pujan.

While 'Masti' actor Riteish Deshmukh, on the micro-blogging site tweeted multiple hashtag 'Jai Shree Ram' to mark the historic day.

'Queen' actor, Kangana Ranaut's official Twitter handle team wrote: "What could not happen in 500 years happened this year.... this is not picture of the day but the moment of many centuries #JaiShreeRam #RamMandirAyodhya"

Actor Kirron Kher, legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, filmmaker Ashok Pandit and others also marked the day and expressed their excitement.

Earlier, evergreen star Hema Malini, through an audio recording congratulated the devotees of Lord Ram on the occasion.

The Mathura MP expressed her excitement on the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the much-awaited Ram Temple.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the special Bhoomi Poojan at Ayodhya ahead of the foundation stone laying ceremony.

He also released a commemorative postage stamp on 'Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir'. Earlier, Prime Minister Modi had offered prayers at the Hanuman Garhi Temple in Ayodhya.

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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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