India face Olympic champion Argentina in semi-final

Agencies
December 8, 2017

Bhubaneswar, Dec 8: "Unpredictability" has been haunting Indian men's hockey team for quite some time now but that very factor might just act in their favour when the hosts take on Olympic champions and world no.1 Argentina in the semi-finals of the Hockey World League Final, on Friday.

For any team in world hockey, predicting India's performance is next to impossible. 'Inconsistent' is the perfect word to sum up India. If one day the Indians are brilliant, the very next day they might give a lacklustre performance.

The same topsy-turvy curve is continuing at the ongoing HWL Final also. After a not-so-impressive pool campaign, India not only stunned world no.3 Belgium but all and sundry at the stadium with their spirited show in the quarterfinals.

And this unpredictably about India is something that is troubling the Argentines ahead of Friday's last-four duel. "India are a tough team to beat. You can't predict how they will come out in a game and that was visible against Belgium yesterday. They beat the most impressive team of the tournament," Argentina's drag-flick specialist Gonzalo Peillat said after the Los Leones beat England 3-2 in their quarterfinal match at the Kalinga Stadium today.

"India are good in counter-attack. So, we have to be very careful," he added. Argentina, who finished third in Pool A with just one point, scored through field strikes from Lucas Villa (21st minute) and skipper Mattias Paredes (29th), and a penalty stroke conversion by Juan Gillardi (34th) to eke out their first win of the tournament.

For England, David Condon (29th) and Adam Dixon (60th) found the net but that was not enough to make it to the semis. Argentina might be the reigning Olympic champions and world's numero uno team at present, but the Indians have better head-to-head record against them.

India and Argentina have so far played 46 games against each other, out of which India have won 26, lost 16 and four ended in a tie. In fact, India were the only team that defeated Argentina to their way to gold medal triumph in 2016 Olympics. In Rio, the Indians defeated the Los Leones 2-1 in the pool stages.

The Indians witnessed a woeful pool campaign here. After an impressive 1-1 draw against Australia in their tournament opener, the hosts went from bad to worse, losing 2-3 and 0-2 against England and Germany, respectively.

But the much-talked about all-play-quarterfinal format came to India's rescue and the hosts dished out their best hockey when it mattered the most and ended Olympic silver medallists Belgium's winning run.

The Indians played attacking, fast-paced hockey and ticked all boxes against Belgium, stunning them 3-2 in the shoot-out after both were locked at 3-3 at the end of the regulation time.

If their pool campaign was lucklustre, the Indians displayed much-improved show in all departments of the game last night. But it is not as if India didn't create chances in the pool matches, but they lacked in finishing. Even though they fared better against Belgium, the Indian strikers, especially SV Sunil and Mandeep Singh, still need to do plenty of work in their finishing skills.

Sunil, in particular, missed two golden opportunities against Belgium and he would be cursing himself for letting the chances slip. The Indian midfield led by talismanic Manpreet Singh had a good tournament so far, as it held the team together.

The defence too fared well if not better. But the backline at times fumbled under pressure and conceded some soft goals and gave away easy penalty corners. They cannot afford to commit the same mistakes against an attacking Argentine side, who would be eagerly waiting to pounce on the errors.

Statistically, the Indians had more ball possession and better chances in all their matches so far but stats hardly have significance if the results don't turn up in favour. India's chief coach Sjoerd Marijne said his wards will have to dish out a similar performance as against Belgium if not better, if they hope to tame Argentina tomorrow.

"(Against Belgium) our defending was better. We created chances and scored off our penalty corners. Against Germany  (in pool match) we had same shots at goal and more penalty corners, also against England and Australia.

But if you don't score, things look bad. "We knew we have to score. We got four penalty corners against Belgium and scored. When we had the ball we were calmer," Marijne said on the eve of their semi-final.

"We have improved in structured defending. We left small spaces in defence and made it difficult for teams to enter our circle," he added. However, it remains to be seen how the Indians handle the big match pressure against Argentina, which too had a relatively poor pool campaign before they registered their first win here in the quarterfinal today, just like India did. Having finished third in the last edition of the tournament in 2015 in Raipur, the Indians also have a chance to go one step up with a win tomorrow.

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News Network
February 29,2020

Feb 29: India were all out for 242 in their first innings following a stunning battling collapse, triggered by paceman Kyle Jamieson on the opening day of the second cricket Test against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval, here on Saturday.

India were steady at 194 for five at tea but lost wickets in quick succession after the play resumed. Jamieson returned figures of 14-3-45-5.

Hanuma Vihari top-scored for India with his combative 55 while Prithvi Shaw (54) and Cheteshwar Pujara (54) hit contrasting half-centuries.

Virat Kohli's (3) poor run continued while his deputy Ajikya Rahane (7) also fell cheaply.

India lost last five wickets for 48 runs, of which 26 were contributed by last-wicket pair of Mohammed Shami (16) and Jasprit Bumrah (10).

Brief Scores:

India 1st innings: 242 all out in 63 overs. (H Vihari 55, P Shaw 54, C Pujara 54 batting; Kyle Jamieson 5/45, Tim Southee 2/38, ).

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Agencies
April 12,2020

London, Apr 12: Former Formula 1 legendary driver Stirling Moss died at the age of 90 on Sunday.

"All at F1 send our heartfelt condolences to Lady Susie and Sir Stirling's family and friends," Formula 1 said in a statement.

Often referred to as the greatest driver never to win the world championship, Moss contested 66 Grands Prix from 1951 to 1961, driving for the likes of Vanwall, Maserati and Mercedes, where he famously formed a contented and ruthlessly effective partnership with lead driver Juan Manuel Fangio.

In his 10-year-long stint at the tracks, Moss took 16 wins, some of which rank among the truly iconic drives in the sport's history - his 1961 victories in Monaco and Germany in particular often held up as all-time classics.

Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia on public roads for Mercedes at an average speed of close to 100mph, while he also competed in rallies and land-speed attempts.

Following an enforced retirement from racing (barring a brief comeback in saloon cars in the 1980s) after a major crash at Goodwood in 1962, Moss maintained a presence in Formula 1 as both a sports correspondent and an interested observer, before retiring from public life in January of 2018.

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Agencies
July 21,2020

New Delhi, Jul 21: With the T20 World Cup's postponement clearing the decks for a full-fledged IPL, the glitzy event's Governing Council will meet in a week or 10 days' time to plan its next course of action, eyeing UAE as the host this year.

An IPL between September and early November has been made possible by the ICC's decision on Monday to postpone the T20 World Cup in Australia, scheduled for October-November, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The IPL GC will meet within a week or 10 days and all decisions (including final schedule) will be taken there. As of now, the plan is to have a full fledged IPL comprising 60 games and most likely in the UAE," Patel told PTI.

Asked about the main challenges in conducting the event in current scenario, Patel added: "Just the operational side of it. Whether you do it here or outside, it doesn't matter (with no crowds)."

The franchisees had already been working on their plans for the IPL even before the ICC announcement.

With majority of the Indian players not having access to grounds amid the pandemic, teams will need at least three to four weeks to get them match ready.

Foreign players will fly in directly to the UAE from their respective countries.

"Our players will need at least three to four weeks of training, if not more. We will finalise all our plans once the BCCI announces the dates. It looks like the IPL will be in the UAE and we are ready for that," a team owner told PTI.

Since India tour Australia for a four-Test series right after the IPL, training of the Test players is also an important issue.

Test specialists like Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari, who are not part of the IPL, are likely to train for the eagerly-awaited series in a bio-secure environment at the newly-renovated Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad during the time of the IPL.

A few fringe players are expected to join them at Motera along with the Indian team's support staff, which is free during the IPL.

Work from home has become the norm amid the pandemic, therefore, there is a possibility that IPL commentary will happen from the comfort of the living room, a safer and cost effective-option considering the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, who is 71, are involved.

The viewership is expected to be a record one with people craving for live cricket, something KXIP co-owner Ness Wadia has said.

However, it remains to be seen how much the broadcasters and teams are able to attract from the sponsors in the current financial climate.

More moot points and questions ahead of the IPL GC meeting:

1) More double headers expected (original schedule had only five double headers).

2) BCCI will need to provide a Standard Operating Procedure to IPL teams even though they will have their own SOPs in place.

3) Will the BCCI compensate teams for not being able to generate gate money this year?

4) Will there be virtual commentary from Star Sports? It was seen in the recent 3TC event in South Africa with the likes of Aakash Chopra, Deep Dasgupta and Irfan Pathan commentating from home.

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