India suffer 0-3 thrashing against Iran in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers

September 9, 2015

Bangalore, Sep 9: India on Tuesday slumped to their third successive loss in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers as they suffered a 0-3 thrashing at the hands of mighty Iran in a group match.

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Lacking in international exposure and vastly inferior in technique as compared to their more fancied rivals, the Indians put up a gritty fight in the first half but broke down later by conceding two quick goals in the early part of the second session in the Group D match at Kanteerava Stadium.

The good work from the central defenders Arnab Mondal and Sandesh Jhingan ensured that India trailed just 0-1 at half time but the Asian heavyweights, the highest ranked team in the continent, pumped in two goals in the space of four minutes to kill the game at that stage itself.

Sardar Azmoun (29th), Andranik (47th) and Mehdi Taromi (51st) were the goal scorers as Iran broke the Indian defence gradually as the game progressed. The visiting side, coached by Portuguese Carlos Queiroz, could have scored more had they utilised the chances that came their way.

On the other hand, the Indians did not have even a clear look at the Iran goal as the visitors completely dominated the match. The Indians could string together very few threatening moves and they had to desperately defend their citadel for most part of the match.

To be fair to the Indians, who are ranked 155th in the FIFA charts as against the visiting side's 40th, maintained the shape in defence to deny the Iranians' incessant attack for a large part of the match.

With the loss on Tuesday, India are yet to open their account in the qualifying round. They have lost to Oman and Guam in their earlier matches. Iran, on the other hand, jumped to the top of the group with seven points from three matches.

India next play Turkmenistan in an away match on October 8.

India coach Stephen Constantine made two changes to the side that drew goalless against Nepal. Goalkeeper Subrata Paul was surprisingly made to warm the bench in favour of Gurpreet Singh Sandhu while Arnab Mondal was named for Francis Fernandes.

The home side lined up in a 4-3-3 formation with captain Sunil Chhetri leading the attack alongside Jeje Lalpekhlua and Robin Singh while Jhingan and Mondal helmed the defence. Jhingan and Mondal had excellent games but the other two in defence -- Pritam Kotal and Narayan Das -- were off colour.

Iran made repeated forays from the left side through Vahid Amiry. It was his cross that created confusion in Indian defence and Mondal's clearance went just inches away from being an own goal.

Iran's continued pressure paid off at the half hour mark when striker Azmoun, known as Iranian Messi, placed his header perfectly in the far corner from Teymourian's free-kick to give the away side the lead.

A few minutes later Eugeneson Lyngdoh's attempted bicycle kick was blocked by an Iranian defender.

Iran continued from where they left off and within minutes of the restart doubled their lead. Dejagah's high shot towards the far post was completely misread by both Narayan and Gurpreet who thought the ball had crossed the goal-line.

This allowed Taremi to head it back into play for his captain Teymourian to drill the ball into the right corner with Gurpreet caught flat footed.

The home side's defence that put up a gritty fight in the first half looked out of sorts as the Iranians made it a one-sided match with their pace and power.

Mehdi Taremi then inflicted more misery on Constantine's men as he made it 3-0 in the 51st minute after some sloppy defending from India once more.

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News Network
June 6,2020

New Delhi, Jun 6: Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding has come out in support of MS Dhoni, saying that the wicket-keeper batsman indeed wanted to win the match against England in the 2019 World Cup.

India's performance in the World Cup match against England last year has once again become a matter of debate as all-rounder Ben Stokes in his book titled 'On Fire' questioned the intent of the Indian side.

Stokes also said that Dhoni's intent was questionable as he did not go for big shots when India still had a chance to win the match.

However, Holding said that nowadays people tend to write anything in their books.

"Well, people will write anything in books these days, because people are a lot more free with their opinions and when they are writing books, they need to be making headlines at times," Holding said on his official YouTube channel.

"But, to be honest, a lot of people watching that game perhaps wouldn't have arrived to the same conclusion that Ben Stokes arrived at that India were not trying to win," he added.

Holding did say that it seemed like that India did not have the same intensity as they would have had if the match was a do-or-die match.

"It was not the game that India had to win, but I don't think anyone can say that was a team tactic to lose the game. I watched that game and it appeared to me as if India weren't putting up their 100 per cent, but I realised it was not the case when the expression on MS Dhoni's face told me that he desperately wanted to win, so I do not think it was a team decision to not try to win," the former Windies pacer said.

"But I don't think they went with the same intensity of wanting to win the game, say, if it was a do-or-die situation. If it was, we would have seen a different game," he added.

On his official YouTube channel, Holding also said that no team goes in with a set pattern in terms of chasing targets.

In the round-robin stage match against England in Birmingham, India failed to chase down the massive target of 338 and fell short by 31 runs.

That was the only game that India lost in the premier tournament last year before the semifinal loss against the Kiwis.

India's chasing approach, in particular of wicket-keeper batsman Dhoni, was criticised by many, including the fans at home.

As soon as Stokes mentioned Dhoni's lack of intent in his book 'On Fire', Pakistan fans started saying that India deliberately lost the match to knock out their neighbours.

However, Stokes clarified that he never said India lost deliberately and some people were twisting his words.

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Agencies
March 1,2020

New Delhi, Mar 1: Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif on Sunday heaped praise on Ravindra Jadeja after the all-rounder took a spectacular catch on the second day of the Christchurch Test against New Zealand.

Jadeja grabbed a one-handed stunner at deep square leg in the 72nd over to dismiss Neil Wagner, who had to depart after scoring 21 runs.

"Sir Jadeja for a reason! Jadeja Airlines, flying high! Terrific stuff," Kaif tweeted.

In the match, Jadeja also impressed with the ball. The left-handed bowler took two wickets while giving away 22 runs.

On day two, India bundled out New Zealand on 235 runs in the second Test. However, in their second innings, Indian batsmen again struggled to tackle the New Zealand pacers and lost six wickets with a lead of just 97 runs.

India went to stumps at 90/6, with Trent Boult doing the majority of the damage with three wickets.

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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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