India need to execute their plans against Bangladesh: Glenn McGrath

June 9, 2015

Chennai, Jun 9: Australian pace great Glenn McGrath said that Indian team would need to execute their plans properly during their one-off Test match against Bangladesh starting in Fatullah on Wednesday.

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"There is only one test and they need to play like any other test. When you play in a test series you think about the next test. You do not think about the second or third test here," McGrath said.

"They (Indians) must have prepared themselves for the single test and they need to execute their plans. It is just another test match," said McGrath who is currently the coaching director of the MRF Pace Foundation here.

The Bangladesh tour, which also features three ODIs, will see Ravi Shastri once again donning the role of Team Director. The former India captain has said India doesn't need a head coach now and he might fill up the role if needed. Asked to define the role of a chief coach and a team director, McGrath said: "I do not know what Ravi is doing is different to what a team coach will do. I do not know what the job description is for Ravi. If he is not, then I do not know again."

Talking about the ongoing series of Australia and England against the West Indies and New Zealand respectively, he said: "I think the way the Australians are playing they can win 10-0. If England want to be competitive, they have to really lift themselves."

On his objectives for MRF Academy, McGrath said: "For me personally, we are only giving the facility for the spinners to use and they have their own spin coach here and he is working with them.

"Troy Cooley (Australia's National Cricket Centre head coach) has brought in fast bowlers for training at the Academy. In order to have few games here he has brought couple of batsmen and bowlers including spinners here. "I will work with the boys of the Academy and the junior fast bowlers from Australia and BCCI is sending couple of boys for training here till June 20. We still focus on the fast bowlers. I cannot teach on how to play against spin."

Asked about Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who was awarded Man of the Tournament in the 2015 World Cup, McGrath said: "He always had the potential and bowl at 150kmph, left armer and swings the ball. He is a one day player and knows the one day well very well. "He can bowl with new ball and take couple of wickets and come back with the older ball and bowl good yorkers that not many bowlers in world cricket can do, perhaps excepting Malinga and no one else. He bowls such good yorkers in one day games.

"Still, he can bowl well in test too. I think the confidence that he has got in one-dayers he has carried it to the tests too. World cups, one day games and T-20 games suit his type of bowlers."

Emphasizing on yorkers, McGrath said: "I do not think that the bowlers practice enough at the nets. If you are practicing to bowl yorkers at the nets, you need to bowl behind the line. If you are bowling no balls, you are practicing the wrong way. "Even if you are bowling good yorkers in the nets, you going over the front line and if you do not practice at the nets you cannot straightaway bowl your length in a competitive game," he added.

Heaping praise on the budding young bowlers at the MRF Academy, McGrath said: "I can bet that every one of the boys from MRF Academy is good. I had already mentioned Varon and Ishwar and hopefully they get more opportunities. "Ashwin Christ is coming up well. He always had the potential and now he has started thinking about himself as to what he could do in a game. That is what you want the bowlers to do. They have to think for themselves and set plans and execute them." On ICC rule of having one more fielder during powerplay and allowing one more bouncer, the 45-year-old said: "Probably if you got one more fielder when the power play is up, obviously then you can protect one portion of the field.

"Some batsmen look at the short ball as a scoring option. Again it depends on the bowler. He should know what fields that he requires. It is something that a bowler needs to show more perfection that can work in his favour," he added.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

London, Jan 11: Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the World Cup 2011 win has been nominated in Laureas's list for the most inspiring sporting event in the last twenty years.

The moment featuring Tendulkar has been described as "Carried on the shoulders by a nation".

On his sixth attempt at the World Cup and with India not having won the competition since 1983, Tendulkar finally became a part of the team that lifted the coveted trophy. Carried on the shoulders of the Indian team, he made a lap of honour, shedding tears of joy after the victory was sealed in his home city.

The 2011 World Cup was also the first time, in which a host nation ended up winning the trophy.

Apart from Tendulkar, England's Andrew Flintoff is the only other cricketer to feature in the list. In 2005, England managed to defeat Australia in an Ashes Test, but Flintoff chose to first shake hands with Brett Lee rather than celebrate with his side.

Matthias Steiner (weightlifting), Natalie du Toit (swimming), Sky Brown (skateboarding), Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee (triathlon), Xia Boyu (mountaineering) have been nominated in the list.

Female tennis stars also feature in the list for coming up with an equal play, equal pay campaign. After pressure from Venus Williams and others, Wimbledon announced that female tennis players would receive prize money equal to the men's.

German international footballer Miroslav Klose was playing for Lazio in Italy's Serie A in 2012 against Napoli when he rose for a ball in the early moments of the game.

The ball came spiraling off his hand and skirted into the back of the net and a goal was awarded. While most players would carry on as if nothing had happened, Klose was honest with the referee and admitted that he handled the ball.

As a result, he also finds a place on the list.

The Laureus Sporting Moment Award celebrates the moments where the sport has unified people in the most extraordinary way.

This campaign has shortlisted 20 sporting stories from the last 20 years that have left their mark on the world.

The winner will be decided on the basis of public voting. It has already started, and the final date to cast the vote is February 16.

Finally, the result will be declared on February 17.
With three knock-out rounds, the top-20 moments will be whittled down to ten then five, with the top-five moments going head-to-head.

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News Network
January 27,2020

Auckland, Jan 27: : K.L. Rahul made an unbeaten 57 Sunday to steer India to a seven-wicket win over New Zealand in the second Twenty20 international and to a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Rahul and Shreyas Iyer put on 86 for the third wicket as India cruised past New Zealand's total of 132-5 with 2.3 overs to spare. Shivam Dube (13 not out) hit a six from the bowling of Tim Southeein in the 18th over to lift India to 135-3.

Iyer made 58 not out and Rahul 56 as India beat New Zealand by six wickets with an over to spare in the first match of the series.

New Zealand made 203-5 batting first in that match but on Sunday, on the same pitch, it struggled to achieve any real momentum. During the second match the pitch played much slower and India bowled expertly to restrict New Zealand's total.

Martin Guptill made 33 in a 48-run opening partnership with Colin Munro and Tim Seifert made an unbeaten 33 at the end of the innings but New Zealand wasn't able to reach a total that could stretch India's deep batting lineup.

Rohit Sharma (8) and captain Virat Kohli (11) were out relatively cheaply but Rahul and Iyer (44) sped India towards a comprehensive victory.

Dube came to the crease shortly before the end and quickly brought the match to a conclusion.

"I think we backed up the first match with a very good performance today, especially with the ball," Kohli said. "We demanded that the bowlers stood up and took control of what we wanted to do out there.

"I think our line and length and the way we wanted to bowl on that wicket, sticking to one side of the wicket and being shorter was a very good feature of us as a team and helped us restrict a very good New Zealand team."

New Zealand's total was inadequate, even on a slower pitch, and India almost toyed with the home side as it made its way to a comfortable win.

New Zealand named the same team that lost the first match of the series and batted after winning the toss, just as it batted when it was outplayed in the first match of the series.

The match raised further questions about the coaching and captaincy of the New Zealand team after its humiliating test series loss in Australia last month. New Zealand showed again Sunday it hasn't the talent to compete with the best teams in the world.

"As a batting unit we probably needed another 15 or 20 to make that total more competitive," said New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. "But credit to the way the India side bowled, they're a class side in all departments and they put us under pressure throughout that middle period."

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News Network
February 19,2020

New Delhi, Feb 19: An Indian wrestler whose family story was immortalised by Bollywood is hoping to create a blockbuster of her own by becoming her country's first world champion in the high-octane sport of mixed martial arts.

Ritu Phogat, who initially followed her father and two elder sisters into wrestling, is now charting a new path after making an explosive MMA debut in November.

Phogat's father Mahavir, and her sisters Geeta and Babita were the subject of 2016 movie "Dangal", telling the story of the wrestling coach who raised his daughters to become Commonwealth champions.

But Ritu, 25, is forging a different career. After winning her first MMA fight in less than three minutes, she will face China's Wu Chiao Chen at this month's ONE Championship fight night in Singapore, which will be held behind closed doors because of the coronavirus.

The youngest Phogat daughter is trading an attempt at an Olympic medal to tackle MMA, but she said she was attracted by the lure of making history in her new sport.

"I got a chance to train with the best in Singapore and there was no looking back," she told AFP during a promotional event in New Delhi.

"There was the 2020 Olympic Games but I thought that I would do well in mixed martial arts. I have come with an aim of becoming the first girl from India to become a world champion in mixed martial art."

The nimble but strongly built Phogat said wrestlers were a good fit for the fast-growing contact sport, which is yet to take off in India.

"Top seven champions in mixed martial arts are wrestlers, so I believe that wrestlers have an edge in this sport with their ability to take down the opponent," she said.

"It is all a matter of skill. You just have to practise hard. I think MMA is not much different from wrestling in terms of preparation.

"One has to take risks to do something new and as an athlete I am ready to embrace every challenge."

She added: "Without the support of my father and sisters I would not have been where I am. My father always taught me to be far-sighted, hard-working and with strong resolve. Three traits will take you a long way."

Phogat won 48kg gold at the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship and followed it up with a silver in the under-23 world championships the next year.

"She used to watch a lot MMA and one day told me that I will win a gold in this game. So we all backed her and the result is there for everyone to see," he said.

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