India vs Sri Lanka, 3rd T20I: Hosts eye clean sweep, No. 2 rank

Agencies
December 24, 2017

Mumbai, Dec 24: With the series already in their pocket, India will look to give some of the bench players a chance but there will be no let-up in the intensity as they eye a complete whitewash against Sri Lanka in the third and final T20I here on Sunday, which will also push the hosts up to No. 2 in the ICC Rankings for T20Is.

For the islanders, it has been a forgetful year and the two recent defeats against India have just added to their misery.

While the hosts thrashed Sri Lanka by 93 runs in the first match at Cuttack, they outclassed them by 88 runs in Indore to seal the series. The visitors also lost the ODIs 1-2 and drew a blank in the Test series before that.

On the other hand, India have been cruising across all formats and would surely look to end a successful year with another thumping win ahead of a tough tour of South Africa where they play three Tests, six ODIs and three T20s.

The constant one-sided results may not be an ideal preparation for India for the coming tour, but the positive thing is that in absence of seniors, including inspirational captain Virat Kohli, the youngsters have taken responsibility and delivered in the T20Is and ODIs.

Stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma, who equalled David Miller's record of the fastest ever T20 century during his 43-ball 118 in Indore, is in peak form and he would love to continue his good run at his home ground.

Be it KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey or the experienced campaigner Mahendra Singh Dhoni, all have chipped in when needed and coach Ravi Shastri would expect them to fire again on Sunday.

India promoted Dhoni up the order on Friday and the former captain justified the team's decision by scoring at a brisk pace. The same can be expected in Mumbai if the openers give a flying start.

This Indian batting line-up can destroy any bowling attack and Sri Lanka's toothless bowlers just provide them more opportunity to be devastating and ruthless. The credit for preparing good bench strength should be given to the Indian Premier League and the robust domestic circuit.

Wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, who starred last night too, have cemented their place by picking up regular wickets after their international debuts. The selectors would be seeing how Saurashtra pacer Jaydev Unadkat performs, as he can be an important cog in the scheme of things after veteran pacer Ashish Nehra called it a day.

Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have already cemented their place in the team and a good game for them will boost their confidence ahead of a gruelling tour. But having won the series, the team management may decide to play some young guns like Basil Thampi, Washington Sundar and Deepak Hooda.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka have been dealt a severe blow with Angelo Mathews ruled out due to a hamstring injury. In his absence, senior pros like Upul Tharanga will have to take responsibility and deliver. Kusal Perera's 37-ball 77 in the second T20I gave a huge boost to the team and he would look for another good innings.

Their bowlers too have failed to put up a spirited show and skipper Thisara Perera would like his men to at least give a fight and reverse the trend. All bowlers, including Nuwan Pradeep, Mathews and Thisara himself, have leaked plenty of runs and they need to pull up their socks to stop the Indian Juggernaut and come up with something special.

Overall, the Wankhede wicket has favoured the batsmen in the past but scores as high as 190 have been chased in T20 games here. Considering the form of Indian batsmen, spectators can see another run-feast.

An added incentive for India, if they win 3-0, will be No. 2 position in the ICC T20I Rankings.

India are at 119 points and a win will give them another point to equal West Indies and New Zealand at 120 on second position in the table. Pakistan lead the rankings with 124 points.

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Agencies
February 20,2020

New Delhi, Feb 20: Grappler Divya Kakran on Thursday became the second Indian woman to win a gold medal at the ongoing Asian Wrestling Championship.

Divya, a bronze medallist at Asian Games 2018, earned her first gold by winning all her four bouts against Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Uzbekistan and Japan.

Her final bout against Naruha Matsuyuki of Japan was the closest one but she managed to outclass her opponent 6-4 to seal her name on the gold medal. The 68 kg category was played in round-robin format as only five wrestlers were in the fray.

India is likely to add some more medals to its tally when Nirmala Devi, Pinki, and Sarita go out to grapple for the yellow metal in their respective weight categories.

Three-time Commonwealth championship gold medallist, Nirmala Devi (50 kg) first defeated Munkhnar Byambasuren of Mongolia in the quarterfinals by 6-4 to reach the semis.

In the semi-finals, Nirmala got the better of Dauletbike Yakhshimuratova of Uzbekistan by 10-0 and will play against 2018 Under-23 World Champion Miho Igarashi of Japan for the gold medal.

Pinki (55 kg) started her day on a winning note against Shokhida Akhmedova of Uzbekistan by 12-4 in round 3 and lost to Kana Higashikawa of Japan to enter the semis where she defeated Marina Zuyeva of Kazakistan by a score of 6-0.

Pinki will play in the gold medal bout against Dulguun Bolormaa of Mongolia.

Sarita (59 kg) will now face Battsetseg Altantsetseg of Mongolia in the gold medal bout after winning against her opponents in the qualifiers, quarterfinals and semi-final by a score of 10-0, 11-0 and 10-3, respectively.

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News Network
March 27,2020

New Delhi, Mar 27: India skipper Virat Kohli on Friday made a heartfelt appeal to the citizens of the country, asking them to follow social distancing as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus pandemic.
He also went on to say that over the past few days, he has seen some people still taking to the streets, and added that if people still continue to venture out, then they are not being honest with the country.
Kohli released a small video clip on Twitter, making the public appeal and captioned the post as: "Please wake up to the reality and seriousness of the situation and take responsibility. The nation needs our support and honesty"
"Today, I am talking to you as a citizen of the country. Whatever I have seen over the past few days, I have seen people not following the lockdown, it has made me feel that some people are taking the battle against COVID-19 very lightly. I request you all to please follow social distancing, whatever the government is asking you to do, please follow it," Kohli said in the video released on Twitter.
"Think about what can happen to your family members because of your negligence. Our medical experts are fighting this battle day in and day out. If you are still going out to the streets, then I don't think you are being honest to your country," he added.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to impose a 21-day lockdown in the country as a precautionary measure against coronavirus.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases have risen to 724 in India (including 640 active cases, 66 cured or discharged people) and 17 deaths.
The World Health Organisation had termed the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic on March 11. 

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: "Want to know what makes him tick," said Australian pacer Kane Richardson will talking about playing alongside Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

The IPL 2020 will be played in the UAE from September 19-November 10 and the tournament will run for 53 days.

In the players' auction which was conducted in December 2019, RCB managed to bag key players like Richardson, Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, Joshua Philippe, and Isuru Udana.

In an interaction with news agency, Richardson talked about playing alongside Kohli and the learning curve which is in store for him by being in the same squad as Proteas great Dale Steyn.
"Huge. These guys (Virat, AB de Villiers) are the absolute legends of the game. Anything I can learn from them will be a bonus, that's for sure.

I am really looking forward to playing with Virat, there are few more competitive players in the world. I am really looking forward to seeing what makes him tick," Richardson said.

The 29-year-old pacer also said that he would want to learn from Steyn as to how to be consistent in all formats of the game over a long period of time.

"There are loads I can learn from Dale. He has been amongst the best at the highest level for so long. His control and ability to swing the ball without losing his pace is really impressive. 

I look forward to getting in his ear about how he performs so consistently over a long period, in all forms," said Richardson who has 39 ODI wickets to his credit.

Richardson has so far played 14 games in his IPL career so far and has picked up 18 wickets. The bowler played for Pune Warriors India in 2013, Rajasthan Royals in 2014, and RCB in 2016.

For this year's IPL, RCB has also bagged Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch, and Richardson thinks having a familiar face in the camp would help him to settle better in the franchise.

"Finchey is an awesome player and a fantastic leader. I am sure it will help to have two Aussies in the side along with Josh who is playing his first tournament after a massive summer in the BBL. We are all professionals, I'm sure it won't take long for us to gel as a side," Richardson said.

However, before the IPL starts, Australia is expected to tour England for a limited-overs series, comprising of three ODIs and as many T20Is.

The side was last seen in action in March this year as they played one ODI against New Zealand in Sydney. After the first match, the remaining two ODIs were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Talking about the series against England, Kane replied: "We will be fresh, that's one thing, while the England players have been in a bubble for some time now. As long as we get enough practice in before and possibly some centre wicket it should not be an issue."

"They are World Cup holders and the number one ranked side for a very good reason. It will be a tough series also given they will have played a fair bit of cricket together by then. We know we need to work hard on our one-day game which will be a priority over the next period," he added.

The pacer also talked about how the lockdown was like for him, and Richardson feels that everyone would come back strong as a result of this break.

"The break from playing has been refreshing, to be honest. We have come back strong and are well into pre-season training with our states. As a bowler, our loads are not at their peak but we are working towards getting ready for a tour of the UK in a few weeks," Richardson said.

The Australian quick has so far played 25 ODIs and 18 T20Is, managing to take 39 and 19 wickets respectively.

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