India hammer England by 35 runs in Women's World Cup open

Agencies
June 25, 2017

Derby, Jun 25: India women's cricket team launched their campaign at the ICC Women's World Cup with a comfortable 35-run win over England, riding on superb batting display by the top-order, here today.

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Put into bat, Smriti Mandhana struck a sizzling 90 off 72 balls in a dominating batting display as India posted an imposing 281 for three after being asked to bat.

Mandhana forged a 144-run opening wicket stand with Poonam Raut (86 off 134) before skipper Mithali Raj (71 not out) completed an unprecedented seventh consecutive half century in ODIs.

India then returned to dismiss England for 246 with 15 balls to spare to make a resounding start to their World Cup campaign at the County Ground here.

It is India's first win over England in five years as they had all lost all six previous matches to the hosts.

Chasing 282 to win, England failed to build partnership with middle-order batswoman Fran Wilson (81 off 102) emerging as the highest scorer. Her run out proved turning point of the game since England looked crusing when she was at the crease.

Off-spinner Deepti Sharma took three wickets for 47 runs.

Tammy Beaumont (14) and Sarah Taylor (22) gave England a decent start adding 33 in 8 overs but Shikha Pandey removed the openers and Deepti Sharma dismissed Natalie Sciver (18) as England slipped to 67 for 3 in the 18th over.

Heather Knight (46) and Wilson took the team across the 100-mark. But Knight was back into the hut in the 32nd over after being run out by Harmanpreet Kaur.

Three overs later, Danielle Wyatt was caught and bowled by Sharma as England lost half their side.

Wilson then in company of Katherine Brunt (24) tried to keep them in the hunt as the duo added 62 runs but both of them were run outs to dash England's hopes.

Earlier, Indian openers Mandhana and Raut batted for 26.5 overs. While Raut was solid at the other end, Mandhana was out to attack from the word go.

The southpaw's onslaught began when she smashed Katherine Brunt for four consecutive boundaries in the fourth over.

Mandhana was a last-minute inclusion to the squad after she recovered from an Anterior Crucial Ligament (ACL) injury she suffered during the Women's Big Bash in January.

The 20-year-old during her whirlwind effort showed what she was worth the selection.

She can hit not only the fours at will but also the big hits. Mandhana mostly stayed on the back foot in her free flowing knock. Her first six came as she sat back on backfoot to hammer it over wide long-on.

She was majorly responsible for giving India a flying start as the team reached 59 in 10 overs.

However, things slowed down in the next 10 overs with India reaching 97 for no loss in 20 overs. If it was not for that period, India could have easily crossed the 300-run mark.

Mandhana was dismissed in the 27th over, missing out on a well deserved century. Her innings comprised 11 fours and two sixes.

Captain Raj then joined Raut in the middle and carried on

With her rich vein of form to take India to a competitive total.

Raj smashed eight fours in her 73-ball knock before getting out off the last ball of the innings.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Silverstone, Aug 2: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on Sunday won his seventh British Grand Prix title after a dramatic last-lap at the Silverstone Circuit.

Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were at the first and second spot respectively until tyre drama struck.

Second-placed man Bottas was the first to suffer as his tyre deflated on lap 50, resulting in 11th place finish. Hamilton also suffered a similar issue before the final few seconds of the race.

However, with Max Verstappen having opted to pit a few laps from the end to try and claim the fastest lap, Hamilton had enough time in hand to just cross the line first, five seconds ahead of Verstappen and the third-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz had been set to finish fourth, but his own last lap tyre issue saw him eventually come home P13, allowing Renault's Daniel Ricciardo to claim fourth, following a late pass on the sister McLaren of Lando Norris.

Renault's Esteban Ocon finished sixth, having enjoyed a race-long battle with Lance Stroll's Racing Point, with Pierre Gasly having enjoyed a fine race to finish seventh for AlphaTauri.

Alex Albon finished eighth for Red Bull, having recovered from a lap 1 tussle with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen that saw him fall to last, while Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10, Vettel holding off a late charge form the recovering Mercedes of Bottas.

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News Network
April 14,2020

Melbourne, Apr 14: As all sporting action across the world has come to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australian bowlers are pondering as to how Indian skipper Virat Kohli might play in front of no spectators.

India and Australia are scheduled to play a four-match Test series later this year, and it is being speculated that the series might end up taking place without any crowds due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Australian spinner Nathan Lyon on Tuesday said that it would be interesting to see how Kohli goes about it if he does not get a chance to get the audience behind him.

"He is probably good enough to adapt to any scenario. But I was talking to Mitch Starc the other day and we actually said that if we are playing with no crowd, it'll be quite amazing to see Virat trying to rev up the empty seats," cricket.com.au quoted Lyon as saying.

"It is going to be a little bit different, but Virat is a superstar. He will be able to adapt to any climate that we are able to play in," he added.
During the 2018-19 series, India managed to defeat Australia in Australia for the first time in a Test series.

Australia, at that time were without the services of David Warner and Steve Smith. However, the series later this year promises to be a mouth-watering prospect.

"I am excited about the prospect of India coming out to Australia, it's up there with the biggest series alongside the Ashes. They are an absolute powerhouse of the cricket world, and to have those guys out here is going to be fantastic. Playing in front of crowds or no crowds is out of our control, we have got to follow the advice of all the amazing medical people around the world," Lyon said.

"I have not thought about no crowds or massive crowds, it is just about the opportunity of playing against India again. They had the wood over us last time they came over here but we are a much stronger Australian cricket side at the moment, and I am just unbelievably excited about playing them here at home," he added.

Lyon was slated to represent Hampshire in County Championship this year, however, his stint was called off last week due to COVID-19.
He is Australia's third-highest wicket-taker in the longest format of the game as he has total of 390 wickets in Test cricket.

Lyon was last seen in action in the Big Bash League for Sydney Sixers.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 9: BWF World Championships defending champion PV Sindhu on Thursday cruised to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters after winning a second-round match.

The 24-year-old had the upper hand in the clash and thrashed Japan's Aya Ohori in straight games 21-10, 21-15 that lasted for 34-minute. The world number six will now play in her quarterfinal match on January 10.

Earlier in the day, Saina Nehwal defeated South Korea's An Se Young 25-23, 21-12 in 38 minutes. The first game saw back and forth action between both shuttlers. In the end, Nehwal kept her cool to win the match.

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old had outclassed Belgium's Lianne Tan 21-15, 21-17 to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.

Shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the tournament after losing their matches to Japan's Kento Momota and Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei respectively. 

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