How Sarfaraz Khan with his cheeky strokeplay is beginning to impress

May 1, 2015

May 1: It's not easy to impress Virat Kohli. And it isn't easy to outshine AB de Villiers. Sarfaraz Khan did both on Wednesday night in Bangalore, first sending the capacity crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium into raptures and then getting the captain, Kohli, to walk up and fold his hands in a light-hearted salute.

Sarfaraz Khan

At 17, Sarfaraz is the youngest to play in the IPL. Against Rajasthan Royals, he walked in when de Villiers was run out off the penultimate ball of the 14th over after scoring a 45-ball 57. Sarfaraz's charge began with an upper-cut four off James Faulkner in the 16th over.

Then a back of the bat reverse sweep - where the risk seemed to outweigh the reward - with a close infield fetched just one. Sarfaraz wasn't too thrilled; he smacked Faulkner's next to the third-man boundary. In the next over, two fours came off Shane Watson, the Rajasthan captain, both in the direction of third man - an outside edge and a cheeky ramp shot - leaving the experienced Australian looking a bit out of ideas.

Despite losing Dinesh Karthik to a run out, Sarfaraz extended his reign on the night. It was Pravin Tambe's turn to be the target of his Mumbai colleague's cheekiness next.

The first four was a sweep over fine-leg. The next one had him storming out and launching the 43-year-old leg-spinner over the long-off fence. Then came an inside-out drive that went past the long-off boundary in an over that fetched 18 runs.

Sarfaraz, by then, had caught the attention of both the dugouts. He had also captured the imagination of the crowd, which chanted 'Sarfar-raaz, Sar-far-raaz'. Even the Twitter world went gaga over the new star on the block - Sensational Sarfaraz, they called him. From VVS Laxman to Michael Vaughan to Tom Moody, everyone raved about the short and slightly plump right-hander's fearless approach. David Lloyd even urged English county teams to rope him in as soon as possible. "I've always advised hi ..

"He wasn't nervous that he would be facing some of the best international bowlers in the IPL. He has always batted that way." Branded the next big thing from the Bombay School of Batsmanship, comparisons weren't restricted to jus t Sachin Tendulkar, some even saw a bit of Javed Miandad and Aravinda de Silva in him.

The IPL is a perfect potpourri of hunger, passion and, possibly, stardom, and Sarfaraz certainly went from anonymity to prominence with his unbeaten 21-ball 45. It must have helped that B Arun, Sarfaraz's Under-19 coach and Bangalore's assistant coach, has never been short of valuable advice. "Bharat sir was a lower-order batsman himself, he was aware of Sarfaraz's talent and got him to bat at No. 6," pointed out Naushad.

"It is one of main reasons for Sarfaraz's aggressive style of batting, he knows his role well as a finisher." Maybe there was a reason the rain decided to interrupt the proceedings soon after Bangalore had amassed 200 for 7 against Rajasthan.

Maybe Sarfaraz deserved to keep the spotlight on him, without the Rajasthan batsmen taking away a share. He certainly got it.

Maybe Sarfaraz deserved to keep the spotlight on him, without the Rajasthan batsmen taking away a share. He certainly got it.

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News Network
June 3,2020

Colorado, Jun 3: Formula One boss Chase Carey has said that races will go ahead even if a driver tests positive for coronavirus.

His remarks come as organisers revealed a revised 2020 calendar and the schedule for the first eight races was put in the public domain.

"An individual having been found with a positive infection will not lead to a cancellation of a race. We encourage teams to have procedures in place so if an individual has to be put in quarantine, we have the ability to quarantine them at a hotel and to replace that individual," the official website of Formula One quoted Carey as saying.

"Some things we'd have to talk through and work through. The array of 'what ifs' are too wide to play out every one of them, but a team not being able to race would not cancel the race. I do not think I could sit here and lay out the consequences," he said.

Carey added the organisers will be having the necessary procedures in place so that the race does not get cancelled if a driver ends up testing positive for coronavirus.

"But we will have a procedure in place that finding infection will not lead to a cancellation. If a driver has an infection, teams have reserve drivers available," Carey said.

"We would not be going forward if we were not highly confident we have necessary procedures and expertise and capabilities to provide a safe environment and manage whatever issues arrive," he added.

The Formula One 2020 season will be beginning with the Austrian Grand Prix in July.

F1 currently expects the opening races to be closed events but hopes that fans will be able to attend again when it is safe to do so.

The season will kick off with the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring on July 5, followed a week later by a second race on the same track.

The Hungarian Grand Prix will follow a week after that, before a break. There will be then two back to back races at Silverstone, followed by the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

The Belgian Grand Prix will follow that, with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza a week later on September 6.

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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
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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