India beat Pakistan by 7 wickets in WT20 opener

March 21, 2014

Mirpur, Mar 21: Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina scored 36 off 32 balls and 35 off 28 balls respectively to defeat Pakistan in the first T20 World Cup match, in Mirpur on Friday.

India were in a spot of bother at 65 for three when Yuvraj was bowled by Bilawal Bhatti. Raina joined Kohli into the act and chased the target of 131 with 9 balls to spare.

Earlier, Indian spinners performed admirably to restrict Pakistan to a modest 130 for seven in the opening group league game of the ICC World Twenty20, in Mirpur on Friday.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s decision to field three specialist spinners — Amit Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin — and bowl first on a slowish track was vindicated as the trio gave away only 63 runs between them in the 12 overs and also removed three Pakistan batsmen, thereby putting brakes on their scoring rate.

Mishra (2/22), Jadeja (1/18) and Ashwin (0/23) all got a bit of help from the track which had a bit of bite and turn on offer.

While Ashwin bowled round the wicket to deny the batsmen any room to chance their arms, Jadeja bowled wicket to wicket with the odd delivery turning away from the right-hander.

Mishra too was bang on target with his flighted leg breaks and varied the length of his deliveries and pace through the air.

Dhoni rotated his bowlers brilliantly not letting the opposition batsmen to get away easily, frequently changing the ends.

For Pakistan, only Umar Akmal looked good during his 30-ball, 33-run knock but couldn’t go on to get a big score.

Kamran Akmal hit a couple boundaries — one each off Ashwin and medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/21) before his partner Ahmed Shehzad’s indiscretion brought about his downfall.

The call was Shehzad’s, who came halfway down the track only to retreat back as Akmal couldn’t make it back to his crease. Bhuvneshwar did well to pick up and throw down the stumps on his follow-through.

Skipper Mohammad Hafeez (15) never looked comfortable during his 22-ball stay at the wicket. He should have been gone for five had his mistimed pull off Mohammed Shami been taken by a diving Yuvraj Singh at deep square leg boundary.

But it did not cost India dearly as Hafeez gave Jadeja the charge only to mistime the shot and give a skier that was pounced well by Bhuvneshwar.

Shehzad (22 off 17 balls) did the initial hard work but Mishra out-thought him with a flighted delivery that turned away after pitching. It was a classical leg-break that drew the batsman forward and beat by flight as Dhoni gleefully whipped off the bails.

Umar Akmal played himself while Shoaib Malik (18) announced his arrival with a huge straight six off Mishra. The duo added 50 runs in seven overs but that certainly wasn’t enough.

Malik could have been out on 14 when he pulled an Ashwin carrom ball which Bhuvneshwar diving in-front failed to catch as the ball went past the boundary ropes.

But Mishra had his revenge when Malik was holed out at long-off boundary by Raina.

Umar also followed suit lofting Shami to Raina at long-off. Shahid Afridi’s (8) hit and miss game didn’t work today as he tried to sweep Bhuvneshwar but gave Raina, his third catch of the day in the deep.

While Sohaib Maqsood hit Shami for a six and four to score a quickfire 21 off 11 balls, it wasn’t enough for Pakistan to get to a decent score.

Brief Scores:

Pakistan: 130 for 7 in 20 overs (Umar Akmal 33; Amit Mishra 2/22

WT20

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News Network
March 31,2020

New Delhi, Mar 31: Australia batsman David Warner on Tuesday decided to shave off his head to show support towards all those people who are working relentlessly on the frontline in the battle against coronavirus.

After shaving off his head, Warner also challenged his Australian team-mate Steve Smith and India skipper Virat Kohli to do the same.

Warner, shared a time-lapse video on Instagram, of him shaving his head, and captioned the post as: "Been nominated to shave my head in support of those working on the frontline #Covid-19 here is a time-lapse. I think my debut was the last time I recall I've done this. Like it or not".

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australia's death toll stands at 19, as per the Sydney Morning Herald.

As of 8 am today, 4460 people across Australia have tested positive for COVID-19.

The World Health Organisation had termed coronavirus as a 'pandemic' on March 11.

Earlier in the day, Australia Test skipper Tim Paine also confirmed that the side's tour of Bangladesh is unlikely due to the virus spread.
"You don't have to be Einstein to realise (the Bangladesh tour) is probably unlikely to go ahead, particularly in June. Whether it's cancelled or pushed back, we're not quite sure at the moment," cricket.com.au quoted Paine as saying.

Currently, Australia has 296 points in the WTC from 10 matches, while India has 360 points from nine matches.

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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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Agencies
July 31,2020

Northamptonshire, Jul 31: Mexican Formula One driver Sergio Perez has tested positive for coronavirus, and as a result, he will miss the British Grand Prix.

The Racing Point driver was absent from the circuit on Thursday after self-isolating following what his team called an "inconclusive" test. Perez then re-tested later in the day and it returned positive.

Formula 1 is following a strict testing regime as part of the safety protocols put in place when racing resumed earlier this month, and this is the first time a driver has tested positive.

"Perez has entered self-quarantine in accordance with the instructions of the relevant public health authorities, and will continue to follow the procedure mandated by those authorities," Formula 1 and the FIA said in a statement.

"With the assistance of the local organiser of the British Grand Prix, local health authorities and the FIA COVID-19 delegate, a full track and trace initiative has been undertaken and all close contacts have been quarantined," the statement added.

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