Dhoni's World Cup-winning bat on display

March 22, 2015

New Delhi, March 22: Days before India play Australia in a World Cup semi-final at Sydney, the iconic bat of Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni with which he hit the winning six in the 2011 World Cup final has been put on display at Bengali Market here.dhoni bat

The bat entered the Guinness World Records and the Limca Book of Records after it was sold for 100,000 pounds on July 18, 2011. The current market value of the willow is estimated at Rs.1 crore.

The bat was bought by Amit Bhagchandka, chief executive officer (CEO) of R.K. Global, a financial broking firm. Dhoni then autographed the bat.

A Dhoni fan, Bhagchandka told reporters: "The bat may be in possession of R.K. Global but it will forever remain Dhoni's property. We consider ourselves the custodian of his legacy."

"Winning the 2011 World Cup was very overwhelming. From childhood we had only seen pictures of Kapil Dev lifting the (1983) trophy. Dhoni gave us a chance to witness history in the making."

Asked whether he would buy the captain's bat again if India wins the 2015 edition, Bhagchandka said: "Yes, I would buy it without any doubt. Let's hope we return as winners. This time we have 11 Super Heroes representing India."

The Delhi-based entrepreneur plans to go to Australia to support the team in the World Cup semi-final and, if India progress, in the final too.

Bhagchandka is all praise for the wicket keeper-batsman. "Dhoni is a very humble person and his down-to-earth persona makes everyone love him." The man should know. Since he bought the Dhoni bat, the Indian skipper has become a friend.

Bhagchandka is confident that India will beat Australia in the semis and take on South Africa in the final. South Africa will battle New Zealand in the first semi-final at Auckland on Tuesday. Defending champions India play Australia two days later.

In the 2011 Cup final, Dhoni smashed the ball for a six over long on off Sri Lankan pacer Nuwan Kulasekara to win the mega event for India after 28 long years.

Kapil Dev had raised India's maiden Cup aloft at Lord's Cricket Ground in 1983. Since he joined Team India in 2004, the Ranchi-based Dhoni has emerged one of the world's most successful cricket captains.

He is the only captain who has won all the three major ICC events: World Cup, Champions Trophy and World T20. Dhoni is also the only player to be awarded the ICC ODI Player of the Year -- in 2008 and 2009.

Honoured with Padma Shri, Dhoni has thus far played 261 ODI matches, scoring 8,434 runs with nine centuries and 57 half-centuries. He has caught behind the wicket 244 catches and has stumped 85 batsmen.

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News Network
February 5,2020

Aukland, Feb 5: Striker Navneet Kaur scored a brace to guide the Indian women's hockey team to a convincing 3-0 win over New Zealand in the last game of its five-match tour here on Wednesday.

Navneet found the net in the 45th and 58th minutes, while Sharmila scored a field goal in the 54th minute as India drew curtains on the New Zealand tour on a bright note.

After a goalless opening two quarters, Navneet finally broke the deadlock for India in the 45th minute.

Sharmila then doubled the lead when she struck a powerful shot past the New Zealand goalkeeper in the 54th minute. Navneet found the net again just two minutes from the final hooter with a beautiful field strike.

India began the tour by thrashing New Zealand Development squad 4-0 before suffering close 1-2 and 0-1 defeats to the home senior team.

In penultimate game of the tour, skipper Rani's lone strike handed India a 1-0 win over Great Britain.

"...I am happy we produced three goals against New Zealand in the last match. This tour gave us a good insight about where we need to improve and one of the things is to create faster play than we do now," said India's chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne.

Commenting on his side's performance during the tour, Marijne said, "Sometimes we tend to keep the ball too long on the stick and then we create pressure. We need to avoid that by passing faster.

"On the defence side, we need to be a bit more calmer and need to improve our tackling. We will have a four week camp after a short break when we return home and we will be working on these points."

The Indian team will return home on February 7.

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News Network
February 14,2020

Hamilton, Feb 14: Batting first, India finished at 263 for nine on the opening day of the three-day warm-up game against New Zealand XI here on Friday.

Hanuma Vihari made 101 off 182 balls before retiring, while Cheteshwar Pujara scored 93.

Besides, Ajinkya Rahane (18) was the only other Indian batsmen to register double digit score.

The likes of Prithvi Shaw (0), Mayank Agarwal (1) and Shubman Gill (0) failed to cash in on the opportunity.

Scott Kuggeleijn (3/40) and Ish Sodhi (3/72) shared six wickets between them for New Zealand.

Brief Scores:

India: 263 for 9 in 78.5 overs (Hanuma Vihari 101, Cheteshwar Pujara 93; Scott Kuggeleijn 3/40, Ish Sodhi 3/72).

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Agencies
March 3,2020

Mumbai, Mar 3: India on Tuesday retained their number one spot and captain Virat Kohli remained static at second in the ICC rankings despite a dismal Test series against New Zealand.

India have 116 rating points, six more than New Zealand with third-placed Australia accumulating 108 points. The 0-2 result against New Zealand was India's first series loss in the World Test Championship.

Kohli remains in second position in the batting rankings despite a forgettable Test series in which he made 38 runs in four innings, the ICC said in a statement.

New Zealand opener Tom Blundell and his Indian counterpart Prithvi Shaw and debutant paceman Kyle Jamieson were among the biggest movers in the rankings, released on Tuesday.

Blundell had a successful series against India, scoring 117 runs in four innings, with one half-century, which put him among the top two run-scorers in the series.

The performance meant he was rewarded with a jump of 27 places to No. 46. Shaw, who returned for his first series since his Test debut against West Indies in 2018, and made a punchy 54 in the first innings of the Christchurch Test, rose 17 places to No.76.

Australia's Steve Smith retained his top spot, holding a 25-point advantage over Kohli. Smith's apprentice Marnus Labuschagne jumped one spot to round off the top three, taking the place of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes and India opener Mayank Agarwal moved a spot each and swapped places to break into and fall out of the top 10 respectively.

Among bowlers, Tim Southee's Player of the Series winning performance against India took him into the top five, with a jump of two places to No.4, while Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult returned to the top 10, gaining four places each to occupy the seventh and ninth positions respectively.

But the biggest gainer was Jamieson, who rose from No. 80 to 43.

There was only one change in the top ten among all-rounders, with Southee dropping a spot to No.10 and team-mate Neil Wagner falling out of the top 10 with a drop of four spots.

As with the bowling rankings, Jamieson, who frustrated India with handy lower order runs, gained big on the all-rounders' table, rising 26 places to No. 22.

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