India suffer 8-wicket loss to Australia in ICC Women's WC

Agencies
July 13, 2017

Bristol, Jul 13: India's semifinal hopes suffered a major jolt after Australia notched up a comfortable eight- wicket win, riding on a superb show by their top-order batswomen in the ICC Women's World Cup here today.

Put into bat, opener Punam Raut's fighting century and a 69 from record-breaking skipper Mithali Raj enabled India to post a decent 226 for seven in their sixth group league encounter.

However, Australia overhauled the target with 29 balls to spare, scoring 227 for two, courtesy some fantastic batting display by skipper Meg Lanning (76 not out) and Ellyse Perry (60 not out).

Beth Mooney (45) and Nicole Bolton (36) laid the foundation with a 62-run opening partnership in 15.4 overs.

Once they were dismissed, Lanning and Perry completed the task with consummate ease.

After this loss, India are now placed at the fourth spot with eight points. Mithali's team will have to win its next and final league match against New Zealand to make the knockout stage.

Mooney and Bolton made a watchful start to their innings as Indian pacers Jhulan Goswami and Deepti Sharma bowled maiden overs first up.

Mooney opened the scoring for Australia with a four at the midwicket area and Bolton followed with successive boundaries in the next over off Sharma.

The opening duo continued to play cautiously to take Australia to 34 for no loss in 10 overs.

Left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht was introduced into the attack and Bolton exploded with three back-to-back fours.

Mooney and Bolton helped Australia score 57 in the first 15 overs before the latter was sent packing by Poonam Yadav in the next over when she was caught behind after getting a bottom edge.

Mooney then blasted a couple of fours off Sharma in the next over, while new batswoman Meg Lanning too joined the party with a clean strike over Yadav's head and then hitting one over mid-off as Australia reached 82 for one.

The duo brought up the hundred in the 23rd over, but Mooney was run-out with Deepti producing a brilliant fielding at short extra-cover, as Australia slipped to 103-2.

Perry then joined Lanning and the duo resurrected the innings by taking the ones and twos and occasional boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking. The duo brought up the 150 when Perry bisected the deep mid-wicket and long-on with a boundary in the 32nd over.

In the first ball of the 35th over, Lanning picked up a single off Goswami to complete her fifty. The duo continued to rotate the strike and crossed the 200-mark in the 41st over.

Perry, who completed her 22nd ODI fifty, cracked a straight drive off Goswami to bring up the winning runs.

Earlier, Raut (106, 136 balls) and Mithali (69, 114 balls) added 157 runs for the second wicket but they consumed more than 37 overs in the process.

The highlight of the Indian innings was Mithali surpassing former England captain Charlotte Edwards' aggregate of 5992 runs to become the highest run-getter in the history of women's ODI.

En route her 49th ODI half-century, she also became the first batswoman to reach the individual milestone of 6000 runs.

Pint-sized Punam, who hit 11 boundaries, played confidently against the spinners -- off-spinner Ashleigh Gardner (1/48 in 10 overs) and leg-spinner Kirsten Beans (0/43 in 9 overs).

Mithali, however, was very slow off the blocks even though her innings had four boundaries and a six.

She simply couldn't find the gaps as the dot balls kept on piling. The only time she tried chancing her arms was when she lofted Beans for a six to complete 6000 runs.

Once Mithali was out, Harmanpreet Kaur (23, 22 balls) tried to get to move on but after she was dismissed, the Indians couldn't accelerate in the final overs.

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News Network
April 28,2020

Chennai, Apr 28: Former Karnataka batsman J Arun Kumar was on Tuesday appointed coach of the USA cricket team and listed earning a Test status, by his own admission a "far-fetched" thought at the moment, among his long-term goals.

Jak, as he is known in the cricketing circles, has worked with the Karnataka team for several years and as batting coach with IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab.

"... Following an exhaustive recruitment process, former first class Ranji Trophy and IPL player and coach, J Arun Kumar, had been identified as the preferred candidate for the next men's head coach," USA Cricket chief executive Iain Higgins said on its website.

The CEO added, "He travelled to the USA to meet support staff, selectors and players at a talent camp in Houston and to continue those discussions with us.

"I'm delighted to say that we have subsequently reached agreement with Jak that he will take up the role and be permanently based in the United States as and when his working visa has been obtained."

Arun Kumar was also in charge of a fledgling Puducherry team before quitting in February owing to differences with the association officials.

The COVID-19 pandemic has however prevented a prompt departure for the United States.

"Of course, the COVID-19 crisis has now presented some challenges around the scope of the role in the short/medium term, but we look forward to completing all of the arrangements and to welcoming him more formally in due course," Higgins said.

Arun kumar, who scored over 7,200 runs in first-class cricket and over 3,000 runs in List 'A' games, had guided Karnataka to a treble for two successive seasons -- Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and Irani Cup -- in 2013-14 and 2014-15.

Delighted to get the role, the 45-year old said he has a vision for USA cricket, including making it a Test-playing nation.

"The first thing is based on my visa and when the coronavirus situation will end in the US, so it's all based on that. At what time my visa will be approved, that's when I will be heading there.

"There are long, mid and short-term goals and my vision obviously will be that the USA in the coming years will be one of the Test playing nations.

"It's a far-fledged goal, but yes, that's the vision and as of now the short term will be World Cup league.

"We will have to be the top side in that and then go to the next level," Arun Kumar told PTI in an interaction.

He further said the immediate aim is to get the team together after a bad run in Nepal.

"Priority is to get the team together, we had a bad run in Nepal, so obviously the team is on little down slide, so we will get up and the immediate short-term goal is to get in touch with players.

"This lockdown gives us time to actually know each other, although we are spread out in different parts of the country, and it is gives us time to connect better and work on certain mental and tactical aspects of the game," he added.

Arun Kumar had been in the US briefly some time ago and had met some officials, selectors and players at a camp in Houston.

"I met some officials, selectors and players at a talent camp in Houston and got an insight of what I can expect in the future and based on those we have designed a pathway for junior to senior cricket and women's cricket.

"It is a work in progress," he said.

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News Network
June 10,2020

New Delhi, Jun 10: Former India skipper Rahul Dravid has praised the batting of MS Dhoni during the backend of a match, saying that the wicket-keeper often played during the period as if the result did not really matter to him.

Dravid also said that in pressure-cooker situations, not worrying about consequences can help players bring out the best in themselves.

"You watch MS Dhoni play during the backend of a match when he was at his best, you always felt like that he is doing something really important to him but he is playing it like the result does not really matter to him," Dravid told Sanjay Manjrekar during a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I think you need to have that or you need to train for it. It is a skill that I never had. The consequences of any decision mattered to me. It would be interesting to ask MS Dhoni that is this something that has come naturally to him or did he work on this during his career," he added.

Dhoni made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in 2004, but he truly arrived in the series against Pakistan in 2005 when he scored 148 runs in the second ODI of the six-match series at Vishakapatnam.

He is the only captain to win all major ICC trophies (50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy). Under his leadership, India also managed to attain the number one ranking in Test cricket.

He first led an inexperienced Indian side to the T20 World Cup triumph in 2007. He then took over ODI captaincy, but he had to wait for leading the Test side as Anil Kumble was doing the duties in the longest format.

Over his career, Dhoni has been reowned for his finishing skills and he is often viewed as the best finisher that the game has ever seen.

In December 2014, Dhoni announced his retirement from the longest format of the game.

Then in 2017, Dhoni handed over the captaincy reins to Virat Kohli in the 50-over format.

Dhoni was slated to return to the cricket field on March 29 in the IPL's opening match between CSK and Mumbai Indians. However, the tournament has been suspended indefinitely as a precautionary measure against coronavirus.

Thirty-eight-year-old Dhoni has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni recently had to face criticism for his slow batting approach during India's matches.

Earlier this year, Dhoni did not find a place in the list of BCCI's centrally contracted players from October 2019 to September 2020.

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News Network
January 15,2020

Dubai, Jan 15: India skipper and batting mainstay Virat Kohli was on Wednesday named captain of the International Cricket Council's ODI and Test teams of the year, capping off a memorable season for the world No.1.

Apart from Kohli, there were four other Indians who were picked in the ICC's Test and ODI Teams of the Year.

While the Test team featured double-centurion Mayank Agarwal, opener Rohit Sharma, speedster Mohammed Shami and left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav found a place in the ODI side.

Kohli enjoyed a tremendous run in both the formats in 2019. The 31-year-old hit his seventh Test double hundred on the way to a career-best unbeaten 254 against South Africa in October last year.

It was a breakthrough year for opener Agarwal, who smashed two double tons, one century and went beyond the fifty-run mark twice. He hit a career-best score of 243 against Bangladesh in November.

Kuldeep, too, enjoyed a memorable year as he joined the golden list of bowlers with two hat-tricks. The chinaman claimed his second ODI hat-trick of his career against the West Indies last month.

In the absence of Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, Shami rose to the occasion making the best in the business hop, skip and jump with his pace, swing and bounce through the season. He scalped 42 wickets in 21 ODIs over the last 12 months.

The ICC's Teams of the Year 2019:

ODI Team of the Year (in batting order): Rohit Sharma, Shai Hope, Virat Kohli (captain), Babar Azam, Kane Williamson, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Mitchell Starc, Trent Boult, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav

Test Team of the Year (in batting order): Mayank Agarwal, Tom Latham, Marnus Labuschagne, Virat Kohli (captain), Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, BJ Watling (wicketkeeper), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Neil Wagner, Nathan Lyon.

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