Dubai Tennis Championships: Yuki Bhambri, Mahesh Bhupathi crash out

February 24, 2016

Dubai, Feb 24: Yuki Bhambri and Mahesh Bhupathi crashed out in the first round of their respective categories as the Indian challenge came to an end at the $2.2 million Dubai Tennis Championships on Tuesday. Yuki got off to a brilliant start by clinching the first set before losing 6-2, 6-7(2), 0-6 to Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic in the opening round of the men’s singles in an hour and 52 minutes. The Indo-Pak combination of Bhupathi and Aisam ul-Haq Qureshi meanwhile, were no match for the Italian team of Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi, going down 4-6, 2-6 in one hour and eight minutes.

Bhupathi

Despite his first round exit, Yuki will take home a lot of positives from his efforts at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre. The World No.107 gave a tough fight to an opponent who is ranked 56 places above him before eventually losing his early steam. This was his second loss in as many matches to the Czech after also going down last year in a Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie in New Delhi.

The 23-year-old Bhambri got off to a brilliant start with 80 percent of his first services landing correctly into the box in comparison with Rosol’s 52 percent. Significantly, Bhambri did not let his much higher ranked opponent earn even a single breakpoint while on the other hand converting two of the three chances he got to close the first set in only eight games.

The Indian was clearly the more dominant player in the first set, clinching 26 of the 41 points played. The six feet, five-inch Prague resident came out far more confident in the second set. Both players fought a hard battle with the rallies extending with each game. Both broke each other twice leading the set into the tie-break.

However, the 30-year-old Rosol’s experience came in handy as he raced away to a 5-0 lead in the tie-break. Though Bhambri won two points, it was a little too late as the Czech player closed the set in the next couple of minutes. Also, three doubles faults in the set did not help Bhambri’s ambitions.

The third set was the shortest of the match with wild card Bhambri losing all the steam he showed in the first two sets. Rosol needed the minimum of six games, which he got with three breaks of serve out of four chances, to seal the set and match in his favour.

Rosol was so dominant in the decider that he won 26 of the 35 points played. Though Bhambri also earned three breakpoint chances in the last set, the Indian wasted all to bring the singles participation of Indians at the event to an end.

Later in the day, the unseeded duo of Bhupathi and Qureshi produced an below par performance against third seeds Bolelli and Seppi.

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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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June 27,2020

Jun 27: India's Test batting mainstay Cheteshwar Pujara cannot describe in words the influence that Rahul Dravid has had on his life but says he will always remain grateful to him for teaching the importance of switching off from cricket.

Often compared to Dravid, who was considered the 'wall' of Indian cricket, Pujara said he is thankful to Dravid for teaching him how to keep personal and professional lives separate.

"He helped me understand the importance of switching off from cricket. I had the same thought, more or less, but when I spoke to him, it gave me a lot of clarity about it and I was sure of what I needed to do," he told ESPNcricinfo.

"I also saw in county cricket how they keep personal and professional lives separate. I value that advice a lot. Many people consider me to be focused. Yes, I am focused, But I also know when to switch off. There is life beyond cricket."

In his illustrious international career, Dravid amassed 13288 runs in 164 Tests and 10889 runs in 344 ODIs. He also captained India in 79 ODIs, winning 42 of them, which includes the world record of 14 successive wins while chasing.

"I cannot say in one line what Rahul bhai means to me. He has always been an inspiration, and will remain one," Pujara said.

His mental fortitude and batting technique is often compared to Dravid but Pujara said "despite my enchantment with him" he never tried to "copy him."

"There is a similarity in our games, but that's not because of my fascination with him. That came mainly through my experiences with Saurashtra, where I learned that scoring a hundred alone isn't enough, you have to carry your team," he said.

"That is how I learned responsibility - it is about helping my team to raise a big total, and for that I ought to attach importance to my wicket. I learned that from my junior cricket days with Saurashtra, which was a weaker team in domestic cricket."

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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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