India vs England 2014: Bhuvneshwar, Shami batting heroics take India to a strong position

July 11, 2014

Shami batting

Nottingham, Jul 11: Last wicket pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami produced a stunning rearguard century partnership as India recovered from a dramatic middle-order collapse to post a commendable 457 in their first innings on the second day of the opening cricket Test against England, here on Thursday.

Bhuvneshwar (58) and Shami (51 not out) turned out to the unlikely batting heroes for India as they pulled the team out of trouble with a defined 111-run partnership to frustrate the hosts, who had the visitors reeling at 346 for nine at one stage with fours wickets falling for just two runs in a span of 20 balls.

At stumps, England were 43 for one with Shami (1/15) removing an out-of-form rival skipper Alastair Cook for five. The hosts still trail India by 414 runs with three full days play left in the match.

Sam Robson (20 not out off 48 balls, 2 fours) and Gary Ballance (15 not out off 46 balls, 1 four) were at the crease when stumps were drawn. The duo added 34 unbeaten runs for the second wicket.

But the day belonged to India`s tailenders -- Bhuvneshwar and Shami -- who struck their maiden Test fifties respectively en route to their century partnership, which incidentally is India`s second highest stand for the last wicket.

Earlier, opener Murali Vijay struck a fine 146-run knock while skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni made 82 to take India forward.

India captain Dhoni deployed all his five primary bowlers - Bhuvneshwar (0/12), Shami, Ishant Sharma (0/12), Ravindra Jadeja (0/3) and Stuart Binny (0/1) -? in short bursts in the 17 overs they managed in the day.

Earlier, Bhuvneshwar reached his maiden Test fifty immediately after tea in 133 balls, in the 157th over of the innings.

Shami was not to be left behind as he smashed James Anderson for a six over the long-off boundary in the last ball of the same over to bring up his own maiden Test fifty off 73 balls.

With his pacers tiring out and devoid of any ideas, Cook brought back Moeen into the attack in the 161st over and the move worked as Bhuvneshwar was holed out to Joe Root as mid-on while going for a big shot to drew curtains to the stunning last-wicket partnership.

Bhuvneshwar scored his runs off 149 balls with the help of five fours, while Shami remained unbeaten on 51 off 81 balls during which he hit six boundaries and one six.

England`s bowling figures didn`t make for a happy reading. Anderson (3/123) was their best bowler, while Stuart Broad (2/53) and Ben Stokes (2/81) bowled their hearts out. Liam Plunkett (1/88) and Ali (1/97) were the other wicket-takers while Joe Root (0/6) bowled just the one over in the innings.

The only time England enjoyed some dominance in the day was in the post-lunch session when they rocked the Indian middle-order by picking four quick wickets.

The session began with Dhoni batting on 81 and Ravindra Jadeja on 24 with India eyeing to cross the 400-run mark.

But India suffered a jolt immediately after lunch as Jadeja was caught behind, trying to cut Stokes away. He scored 25 runs off 24 balls with the help of two fours and as many sixes.

Two overs later, England struck twice as Dhoni set off for a suicidal run and threw away his wicket and a possible century. The Indian captain could only add one more run to his score and was found short of his crease by Anderson`s direct throw from mid-off. He scored 82 runs after facing 152 balls, which included seven fours.

Three balls later, debutant Stuart Binny (1) was dismissed by Stokes as India lost three wickets in just 14 balls for the addition of one run.

If that was not enough, Broad then cleaned up Ishant Sharma (1) as India slumped to slumping 346 for nine from from 344 for six in the blink of an eye.

But then came in Bhuvneshwar and Shami and showed great resilience to keep India in the hunt for 400-plus score.

They frustrated the English bowlers for an hour until tea, bringing up their 50-run partnership in the 140th over of the innings.

In the morning session, thanks to Vijay's 146 and Dhoni, India were placed comfortably at 342 for five in 118 overs) at lunch.

Along with Dhoni, Vijay survived a testing morning spell from Broad and Anderson. They were aided by English wicket-keeper Matt Prior who dropping a simple catch off Dhoni in only the third over of the day.

The duo persisted and brought up their 100-run partnership in the 11th over of the day and the 101st of the innings. Vijay then slowly progressed towards his 150-run mark but when he was just one scoring shot away, he was trapped LBW by Anderson in his second spell of the morning.

TV replays, however, suggested that the ball might have travelled over the stumps, but the umpire thought otherwise. He faced 361 balls during his superb innings and batted for nearly eight hours, hitting 25 fours and one six.

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News Network
January 31,2020

New Delhi, Jan 31: Indian women's team captain Rani Rampal on Thursday became the first-ever hockey player to win the prestigious 'World Games Athlete of the Year' award.

The World Games announced the winner on Thursday after 20 days of polling by sports fans world-wide.

"Indian hockey superstar Rani is The World Games Athlete of the Year 2019! Huge congratulations!," the World Games said in a statement.

"With an impressive number of votes, 199,477, Rani is the clear winner of the Athlete of the Year race, where sports fans all over the world have voted for their favourite during 20 days of polling in January. All in all, over 705,610 votes were cast during the poll," it added.

Last year, India won the FIH Series Finals, and Rani was named Player of the Tournament. Under Rani's leadership, the Indian women's team qualified for just the third Olympic Games in its history.

"I dedicate this award to the entire hockey fraternity, my team and my country. This success has only become possible with the love and support from hockey lovers, fans, my team, coaches, Hockey India, my government, friends from Bollywood, fellow sportspersons and my countrymen who have continuously voted for me," said Rani, who was recently named among the Padma Shri awardees.

"Special thanks to FIH for nominating me for this prestigious award. Thank you to The World Games Federation for this recognition," she added.

Rani further said after a successful 2019, she is now looking forward to achieving greater heights with the national team in 2020, which also happens to be an Olympic year.

"It is my privilege and honour to win this award. It is always nice when your country recognises your effort. It is even better when the international sports community recognises it. Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me," she said.

"2019 was a great year for our team because we qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. As a team we want to make 2020 a great year!"

Rani, who has been a member of the national team since she was a 15-years-old, currently has more than 240 caps for India.

"Rani is an inspirational athlete, and a role model for many in India. It was amazing to see the support the Indians, even as high up as Mr Rijiju, the Minister of State, Youth Affairs and Sports, gave to her in this vote together with the Hockey fans all around the world. This is what sport is about: uniting people from different backgrounds and different countries," said International World Games Association President Jose Perurena.

The International Hockey Federation also congratulated Rani on being named for the award.

"Congratulations @imranirampal for becoming the first ever Hockey athlete to win the prestigious @TheWorldGames Athlete of the Year award!" the FIH, who nominated Rani for the award, said in its twitter handle.

"On behalf of FIH and the global hockey community, I would like to extend our warmest congratulations to Rani for having been voted The World Games Athlete of the Year 2019. This is an acknowledgement of her outstanding performances - together with her team-mates - and her dedication to hockey and her leadership," FIH CEO Thierry Weil said.

"This prestigious Award is also a great recognition for hockey globally. Furthermore, we are working hard for and looking forward to having Hockey 5s as a demonstration sport at The World Games 2021."

Congratulating Rani, Hockey India President Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad said, "This is a very proud moment for all of us. She is the first Indian athlete to win this award and through her achievements Rani has been able to draw a lot of attention towards women's hockey. Many people are aware of the team's recent accomplishments and I am confident this team is capable of winning larger goals and I wish Rani and the team best of luck this Olympic Year."

There were initially 25 nominees, male and female nominated by their respective sports federations, which was later reduced to 10 in the final round of public voting.

The FIH has recommended Rani's name for her outstanding performances and her ability to lead by example.

Karate star Stanislav Horuna of Ukraine was second behind Rani with over 92,000 votes and Canadian powerlifting world champion Rhaea Stinn was third.

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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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Agencies
August 1,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 1: Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are aiming to set up their preparatory camp for the 13th edition of the tournament from early August.

This year's IPL was slated to commence from March 29 but the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Recently, the IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel had confirmed that the 13th edition of the mega event will commence on September 19 in the UAE.

As per a report in ESPNcricinfo, CSK players have been asked to report to Chennai first, following which they will leave for Dubai via a charter flight only after approval from the Indian government.

The IPL Governing Council will meet on August 2 to finalise the schedule and other key arrangements for the tournament. Also, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) around securing eight teams for 51 days across three venues will be formally established in that meeting.

CSK, who has the oldest squad in the IPL, are looking for a month's preparation before ahead of the tournament.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the side was the first team to start their training camp in March. Senior players like Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu had begun training their training in December 2019.

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