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French Open: Blockbuster in store today

June 5, 2016

Paris, Jun 5: Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray meet in a seventh Grand Slam final on Sunday with the clock ticking on their French Open title aspirations.

frenchWorld number one Djokovic, the winner of 11 majors, is bidding for a first French Open to become just the eighth man to complete the career Grand Slam.

Victory on Sunday would also give him the ‘Novak Slam’ as he already holds the Wimbledon, US and Australian Open titles.

But the 29-year-old has lost all three finals he has made in Paris.
Murray, also 29 and a rival of Djokovic since their junior days, has previously fallen three times at the semifinal stages.

The last British man to win in Paris was Fred Perry in 1935 while Bunny Austin was the last finalist from his country in 1937.

“It’s obviously a very big match for both of us. Novak trying to win the career slam and me trying to win my first French Open,” said Murray, aware that even Roger Federer needed 11 visits to Paris to win his first and only French Open.

When Federer finally broke through — and completed the career Grand Slam in 2009 — he was already 27.

“Neither of us know how many more chances we’ll have to win here. It took obviously Roger a long time to win this one.”

Djokovic was runner-up to nine-time winner Rafael Nadal in 2012 and 2014 and was stunned by big-hitting Stan Wawrinka 12 months ago.

He will be playing in his 20th Grand Slam final and seventh against Murray having won four times against the Scot in Australia but losing at the US Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2013.

‘High priority’

If he does finally break his drought in Paris, he will be the second oldest to complete the career Slam after Andre Agassi who managed the feat in Paris in 1999.

“I put myself in a position in which I wanted to be in of course ever since last year’s final,” said Djokovic, who has already set one impressive benchmark in Paris by reaching the USD 100 million prize money mark. “It’s always high on the priority list when I start a season thinking about Roland Garros.”

Djokovic has dropped just one set at the French Open this year and he shrugged off having to play four days in succession by blitzing young Austrian Dominic Thiem 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in Friday’s semifinal.

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News Network
June 25,2020

Jun 25: After asserting that the 2011 World Cup final was "sold" by "certain parties" in Sri Lanka to India, the island nation's former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has now called his claim a "suspicion" that he wants investigated.

The Lankan government has ordered an enquiry into the matter and a special Police investigation unit recorded Aluthgamage's statement on Wednesday. He told the team that he was only suspicious of fixing.

"I want my suspicion investigated," Aluthgamage told reporters.

"I gave to the Police, a copy of the complaint I lodged with the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 30 October 2011 regarding the said allegation as then Sports Minister," he said.

Aluthgamage has alleged that his country "sold" the game to India, a claim that was ridiculed by former captains Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who demanded evidence from him.

Set a target of 275, India clinched the trophy thanks to the brilliance of Gautam Gambhir (97) and then skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (91).

"Today I am telling you that we sold the 2011 world cup, I said this when I was the sports minister," Aluthgamage, who was the sports minister at the time, had stated.

Sangakkara, the captain of Sri Lanka at that time, asked him to produce evidence for an anti-corruption probe.

"He needs to take his 'evidence' to the ICC and the Anti corruption and Security Unit so the claims can be investigated thoroughly," he tweeted.

Jayawardene, also a former captain who scored a hundred in that game, ridiculed the charge.

"Is the elections around the corner...like the circus has started...names and evidence?" he asked in a tweet.

Aluthgamage said that in his opinion no players were involved in fixing the result, "but certain parties were."

Both Aluthgamage and the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa were among the invitees at the final played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Following his allegations, Aravinda de Silva, the former great who was the then chairman of selectors, has urged the BCCI to conduct its own investigation.

De Silva has said he is willing to travel to India to take part in such an investigation despite the current COVID-19 threat.

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Agencies
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Sanjiv Chawla, a key accused in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje in 2000, was extradited from the UK on Thursday, Delhi Police said.

The 50-year-old British national, accompanied by a crime branch team from London, reached IGI Airport this morning, a senior officer said.

He is likely to be taken to the crime branch office for questioning, he added.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: Batting great Rahul Dravid has attributed Chennai Super Kings' consistent run in the IPL to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's instincts, game-smarts and the incredible amount of work that goes behind the scenes.

N Srinivasan, the former BCCI president and head of India Cements, which owns the CSK franchise, agreed that Dhoni is a man of instinct who doesn't believe in attending team meetings and going over data.

Both were speaking at a webinar organised by the Great Lakes Institute of Management.

"If you look at the success CSK has had, they've got really good access to data and they've got really good access to people behind the scenes and they've run cricket teams at the junior level," Dravid said at the webinar according to ESPNcricinfo.

The former India captain added, "They understand talent and they've obviously got a good scouting process in place. But, what they also have is a captain who really understands instincts.

"So, I mean, look, I know Dhoni quite well and I hope he hasn't changed, but I know Dhoni is probably not one to look at reams of data and statistics."

The Super Kings have won the lucrative tournament three times -- one less than Mumbai Indians -- and reached the knockouts in each of the 10 seasons they have been a part of.

Srinivasan also spoke about how Dhoni's instinct and judgement contributed to his team's success at a time when a lot of emphases is placed on data.

"We're awash with data just now. To give you an example, there are bowling coaches and in a T20 game, they play videos of every batsman whom they're going to come against and they see how he got out, what's his strength, what's his weakness etc.

"So, MS Dhoni doesn't attend this, he's a pure instinct man. The bowling coach, (head coach Stephen) Fleming will be there and everybody will be there, everyone is giving opinions, (but) he'll get up and go.

"In the context of instinct, he feels that okay he can assess a batsman or player on the field, that's his judgement. On the other hand, there is so much of data that is available to help a person also analyse. It's a very difficult line to draw (between data and instinct)."

Srinivasan also recalled how Dhoni once refused to take "one outstanding player" suggested by the franchise boss as that could have broken the team's cohesion.

"There was one outstanding player that we suggested to MS, he said: 'no sir, he will spoil the team'. The cohesion within the team is important and see in America, franchise-based sport has been there for such a long time," he said.

"In India, we're just starting and we're new to it. But we at India Cements have had a lot of experience running teams at junior levels."

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