India lose 2-8 against New Zealand in women's hockey

May 16, 2017

Pukekohe, May 16: Indian women's hockey team suffered an embarrasing 2-8 defeat against hosts New Zealand in the second of the five-match series here today.

ZealandExperienced striker Stacey Michelsen (21st, 30th, 42nd) struck thrice, while Samantha Harrison (3rd), Kirsten Pearce (52nd), Madison Doar (56th), Samantha Harrison (56th) and Stephanie Dickins (60th) also sounded the board.

For India, Lilima Minz (40th minute) and Anupa Barla (49th) were the goal-scorers.

India began with positive intent but New Zealand put India on the backfoot with an early 1-0 lead when Samantha Harrison scored a 3rd minute field goal.

India couldn't clear the ball through the right wing and Samantha beautifully converted the pass into a goal from close range. A chance to equalize went begging in the 6th minute when striker Rani could not get a touch on the ball to deflect it into the post from a long-range assist.

In-form keeper Savita made a couple of saves to deny New Zealand from increasing the lead while AnupaBarla's shot was also saved by the Kiwi keeper Grace O'Hanlon in the 12th minute.

While the Black Sticks women dominated, holding their structure and looked like scoring more while keeping the Indians at bay. Though India played with high intensity, it was not enough to match New Zealand's accuracy.

After entering the second quarter with a 1-0 lead, the hosts held most of the possession and ended up scoring a brilliant field goal in the 21st minute on the counter through Stacey Michelsen.

India earned a PC in the 24th minute but it was promptly denied by keeper Sally Rutherford. New Zealand kept the pressure on India and created more chances but Savita made several saves to keep India in the game.

However, good pressing from hosts along with their ability to be patient and move the ball to drag the defenders out meant that New Zealand scored their third goal through Stacey in the 30th minute and take a comfortable 3-0 lead.

India made amends in the third quarter when they earned two PCs. Though the first went amiss, Lilima Minz managed to get a deflection to finally win India a goal in the 40th minute.

Though Stacey scored her third goal of the match in the 42nd minute, India showed grit to score their second goal in the 49th minute through Anupa Barla. This helped India narrow the gap to 4-2.

But just when India looked like they could come back into the game, their defence collapsed in the final quarter with New Zealand taking complete advantage by scoring as many as four goals in the last eight minutes of the match.

New Zealand increased their pace and attack to convert goals through Kirsten Pearce (52nd), Madison Doar (56th), Samantha Harrison (56th) and Stephanie Dickins (60th) to end the match on a high note.The two teams will play the third match on May 17.

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News Network
July 14,2020

New Delhi, Jul 14: Indian bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who features in the list of A category players released by BCCI, has revealed his first-ever paycheck.

Bhuvneshwar was participating in a question and answer session on Twitter where he gave his take on fans' queries.

The 30-year-old bowler was asked about his first paycheck by a fan and Bhuvneshwar responded by saying, "It was for Rs 3000. I shopped and still managed to saved some."

During the question and answer session Bhuvneshwar picked Barcelona striker Lionel Messi over Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The right-arm bowler also revealed that football and badminton are his favourite sports other than cricket.

Earlier this year, Bhuvneshwar was named in the list A category of players. BCCI had released the list of centrally contracted players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020. Annually, A category players get Rs 5 crore.

The right-arm bowler would have been in action for Sunrisers Hyderabad if the Indian Premier League (IPL) had commenced from March 29. However, the tournament was postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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News Network
June 13,2020

Islamabad, Jun 13: Pakistan cricket team’s former captain Shahid Afridi, who has tested positive for coronavirus,  appears to have contracted the virus during his recent visit to Muzaffarabad city of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) where Pakistan has been sending its corona positive patients.

The former Pakistan cricketer was seen attending gatherings in Muzaffarabad last month without wearing a mask and not maintaining social distancing. He spewed venom against India during his rallies. 

Afridi visited PoK to also express his solidarity with the people there who have been left to fend for themselves in combating COVID-19 as Pakistan has refused to provide any COVID fighting equipment like PPE kits and ventilators to the area’s handful of hospitals. 

In fact, Pakistan has been using the PoK as a “dumping ground” for COVID-19 affected persons from all across the country as authorities want to keep Punjab province free of corona positive persons. 

The locals held massive protests against Pakistan for setting up quarantine centres and shifting patients from parts of Pakistan to PoK. 

People are immensely suffering in Pakistan occupied Kashmir due to spread of coronavirus as the region lacks proper medical facilities and has a handful of COVID-19 testing labs. There is also lack of expert medical staff to conduct COVID-19 tests. 

A large number of people here are presumed asymptomatic and they are fast spreading the virus because of lack of medical care. 

Pakistan has reported over 1,25,000 coronavirus cases and 2,463 casualties. In Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the COVID-19 cases have increased to 534, whereas in Gilgit-Baltistan 1,030 have been  reported. 

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News Network
January 30,2020

Hamilton, Jan 30: Caught unaware about the Super Over scenario, Rohit Sharma took five minutes to “find” his abdomen guard after the third T20 International against New Zealand had ended in a tie on Wednesday.

The India vice-captain said the team had almost given up with New Zealand going great guns at one point.

“Everything was packed. All my stuff was inside my bag. I had to get it out. It literally took me five minutes to find my abdomen guard because I didn’t know where it was,” Rohit said.

“I mean we never thought it would go to the Super Over, the way they were batting at one point. It looked like they could easily win the game,” he added.

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