India complete clean sweep of Sri Lanka in Twenty20

Agencies
December 25, 2017

Mumbai, Dec 25: It was far from a dominating batting effort after young bowlers' inspiring show but India managed to inflict a 3-0 series whitewash on Sri Lanka with a tense five-wicket win in the third Twenty20, here at the Wankhede stadium on Sunday.

Sri Lankan hopes to end the miserable tour on a high were raised when India struggled in a 136-run chase but eventually the hosts crossed the finish line with four balls to spare. Sri Lanka will go home with just one ODI win from this tour while India would head to South Africa with convincing victories in all three formats.

Supremely confident Indian bowlers came out firing with Jaydev Unadkat (2/15) being outstanding even as the Lankans appeared to be in dilemma as if to attack or stay patient. In a hurry to collect runs, they ended up playing poor shots on good balls, resulting in tame dismissals and put on board a modest 135 for seven.

India lost in-form openers -- captain Rohit Sharma (27) and KL Rahul (4) -- early and that affected their run-rate badly as Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey found the going tough against a fired-up Lankan attack. No boundary was scored for more than six overs at one stage with scoreboard moving at snail's pace.

Shreyas broke the shackles with a long-off six off Dasun Shanka but was soon run out in an unfortunate manner after scoring 30 off 32 balls. Hardik Pandya (4) came ahead of MS Dhoni this time but did not last long and was caught behind off Shanka, whom Pandey had smashed for two consecutive fours in the same over.

Paceman Dushmanta Chameera cleaned up Pandey (32 off 29 balls) with a faster delivery that crashed through the gates of the batsman, bringing Dhoni at the crease. India then required 28 from 23 balls. Boundaries were still hard to come but Dinesh Karthik (18 not out) tilted the match in India's favour by hitting a massive six off Nuwan Pradeep's full toss in the last ball of the 19th over. Needing three from the last over, Dhoni (16 not out) got a couple from first ball and flicked the next one from Thisara Perera to the mid-wicket boundary to finish the game.

Earlier, Asela Gunaratne was the only batsman, who applied himself well and played a slow but crucial 36-run knock that took Sri Lanka past the 100-run mark. Unadkat, who generated a lot of pace in his first spell, was the most outstanding Indian bowler.

Debutant Washington Sundar (1/22) and Unadkat removed the top three batsmen in space of 11 balls to rattle the visitors. The 18-year-old Sundar maintained a tight line and length, and caught dangerous Kusal Perera (4) off his own bowling after Unadkat got rid of Niroshan Dickwella (1). The Saurashtra paceman added wicket of Upul Tharanga (11) to his tally as the Lankan opener was guilty of playing a reckless shot considering the situation.

Sundar erred slightly in his length, allowing Gunaratne to pull the ball away towards mid-wicket for a much-needed boundary. In a three-over spell, Sundar conceded 18 runs while Unadkat gave away only seven runs in his impressive two-over spell as Sri Lanka managed 37 runs in the Powerplay. Sadeera Samarawickrama (21) also did not last long and was dismissed by Pandya, who had struck him on the helmet before having him caught by Karthik.

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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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News Network
May 15,2020

New Delhi, May 15: Former England skipper David Gower feels Sourav Ganguly has the right "political skills" to lead the ICC one day and he has already displayed that as BCCI president, which is a "far tougher job".

The elegant left-hander is very impressed with Ganguly's leadership abilities and believes that he has what it takes to head the global body in the future.

"One thing I have learnt over the years is that if you are going to run BCCI, you need to be many, many things. Having a reputation like he (Ganguly) has is a very good start, but you need to be a very deft politician.

"You need to have control of a million different things," Gower said ahead of "Q20", a unique chat show for the fans presented by 'GloFans'.

Gower reckons being president of the BCCI is the toughest job imaginable in world cricket.

"And of course, you need to be responsible for a game that is followed by, I mean, should we say a billion people here in India," he said.

"We all know about the immense following for cricket in India. So it is indeed a wonderful thing to behold. Sourav has the toughest task imaginable in charge of BCCI, but so far I would say the signs are very good.

"He has listened, given his own opinion and has pulled strings gently," he said.

Political skills are a must in administration and that's where Gower finds his fellow left-hander ticking all the boxes.

"He is a very, very good man and has those political skills. He has the right attitude and can keep things together and will do good job. And if you do a good job as BCCI chief in the future, who knows?

"But I would actually say the more important job, to be honest, is running BCCI. Being head of ICC is an honour, there is a lot that can be done by ICC, but actually look at the rankings, look at where the power is heading up. BCCI is definitely the bigger job," he said.

On the cricketing front, Gower believes World Test Championship has given the format much-needed context.

"The idea of this World Test Championship has come about for one very simple reason that people are worried about the survival of Tests. Back in the seventies, eighties, I don't think we needed context to be fair.

"Test cricket was very much more obviously the most important format and if there was anything to be judged by, it was the performances in Test matches both as an individual and as a team.

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News Network
June 29,2020

Jun 29: The West Indies cricketers will sport a 'Black Lives Matter' logo on the collars of their shirts during the upcoming three-Test series against England to protest against racism in sports.

Skipper Jason Holder, who has voiced his support to the cause that has once again come to the forefront after the killing of American George Floyd, said in a statement on Sunday: "We believe we have a duty to show solidarity and also to help raise awareness."

The ICC-approved logo, designed by Alisha Hosannah, will be the one which featured in the shirts of all 20 Premier League football clubs since the sport's resumption earlier this month.

"This is a pivotal moment in history for sports, for the game of cricket and for the West Indies cricket team," Holder was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

"We have come to England to retain the Wisden Trophy but we are very conscious of happenings around the world and the fight for justice and equality. "As a group of young men, we know of the rich and diverse history of West Indies cricket and we know we are guardians of the great game for a generation to come."

Holder, who wants racism to be treated at par with doping and corruption, said they arrived at the decision to wear the logo after much thought.

"We did not take our decision lightly. We know what it is for people to make judgments because of the colour of our skin, so we know what it feels like, this goes beyond the boundary. There must be equality and there must be unity. Until we get that as people, we cannot stop," he said.

"We have to find some way to have equal rights and people must not be viewed differently because of the colour of their skin or ethnic background."

The West Indies players are likely to wear the shirts for the first time in this week's four-day warm-up match at Emirates Old Trafford, starting on Monday.

The opening Test of the series, which will mark the resumption of international cricket after the coronavirus-forced hiatus, will get underway at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on July 8.

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