India's World Cup dream over with 1-2 defeat against Netherlands

Agencies
December 14, 2018

Bhubaneswar, Dec 14: India let history slip out of its hands with a heartbreaking quarterfinal defeat against the Netherlands in the men's hockey World Cup, a result which left the young players of the team crying on the pitch.

A well-oiled Indian unit had raised the hopes of making the semifinals for the first time since 1975 but the Dutch side broke a million hearts by coming from behind to knock out the hosts 2-1 in the last-eight clash.

Young players such as Dilpreet Singh left the pitch with tears in their eyes.

India took the lead in the 12th minute through Akashdeep Singh before Thierry Brinkman drew parity for Netherlands five seconds before the end of the first quarter.

After a hard-fought third quarter, Netherlands scored the winner in the 50th minute when Mink van der Weerden converted a penalty corner.

The defeat ended India's long cherished dream of lifting the trophy only for the second time after its lone triumph in 1975 at Kuala Lumpur.

It was a momentous occasion for India to rewrite history books after 43 years as they had never qualified for the semi-finals of the World Cup after 1975.

The Netherlands played like true warriors and didn't give an inch to the Indians after the change of ends.

The Dutch had the first shot at the goal in the 11th minute but Jeroen Hertzberger reverse hit went just wide of the Indian goal.

India's first real scoring opportunity came in the 12th minute when they were awarded a penalty corner and the hosts did not let go the chance as Akashdeep scored from a rebound after Harmanpreet Singh's initial flick was saved by German goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak.

Kothajit Singh produced a stellar performance for India at the back as he denied the Dutch on a number of occasions with timely interceptions.

But at the stroke of the first quarter, Netherlands drew level when Brinkman got the faintest of deflection to beat Indian custodian PR Sreejesh from a long ball from outside the cirle.

Five minutes from the first half, India came tantalisingly close from restoring their lead by Nilkanata shot wide from a rebound after Akashdeep's deflection was kept away by Blaak in front of the German goal.

Four minutes into the second half, Akshdeep had a golden chance to restore India's lead but his reverse hit from a long ball of Harmanpreet Singh sailed over the Dutch goal.

Soon Netherlands secured two back-to-back penalty corners but the Indians defended stoutly to thwart the danger.

In the 48th minute, Simranjeet Singh's fine stick work in the right flank went in vain as Akashdeep failed to reach his pass with only the Dutch goalie to beat.

The Dutch came out with a plan in the fourth quarter and didn't give India any leeway into their citadel.

The Indians found it difficult to build up attacks as the Dutch concentrated on tight men marking.

Ten minutes from the final hooter Netherlands secured their fourth penalty corner and Van der Weerden found the back of the net past Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who had an ordinary tournament as per his standard.

Desperate for the equaliser, the Indians threw up numbers upfront and it bore fruit when Chinglensana Singh earned their second penalty corner but Dutch goalkeeper Blaak made double save to deny Harmanpreet.

In search of a match-saving goal, India withdraw goalkeeper Sreejesh for an extra player but the move didn't pay any dividend.

Two minutes from time, Netherlands secured another penalty corner but the Indian defence, without a goalkeeper, did well to keep Netherlands at bay.

The hosts failed to get the equaliser as the packed stadium backed the Men in Blue till the very last second only to return home disappointed.

Netherlands will take on two-time defending champion Australia while Belgium will take on England on Saturday.

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News Network
February 19,2020

Feb 19: India captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday dropped enough hints to indicate that seniormost pacer Ishant Sharma and young opener Prithvi Shaw will be in the playing XI for the first Test against New Zealand in Wellington. If India's net session on Wednesday is taken into consideration, Wriddhiman Saha is starting as the wicketkeeper ahead of Rishabh Pant for the series opener beginning on Friday. Hanuma Vihari, the team's designated No 6 batsman for away Tests, will be the fifth bowling option with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ishant being three specialist pacers.

Ravichandran Ashwin is in the mix for the lone specialist spinner's spot though Ravindra Jadeja's all-round skills can't be ignored either.

Ishant, who was out for three weeks with an ankle injury sustained during a Ranji Trophy game, bowled full tilt at the nets and even earned appreciation for troubling batsmen with his pace and bounce.

"He (Ishant) looked pretty normal and pretty similar to what he was bowling before the ankle injury. He is hitting good areas again and he has played (Test cricket) in New Zealand couple of times, so his experience will be useful to us. It was really good to see him bowling with pace and in good areas," Kohli said during his media interaction.

The skipper also said in as many words that the team wouldn't like to change Shaw's natural stroke-play which was a good enough hint that Shubman Gill will have to warm the benches for now.

"Prithvi is a talented player and he has his own game and we want him to follow his instincts and play the way he does. Look, these guys have no baggage and are not desperate to perform in any manner," the skipper said.

The skipper wants Shaw to take a leaf out of Mayank Agarwal's performance in Australia back in 2018-19 when he hit back to back half-centuries in Melbourne and Sydney.

"They don't have any nerves to do well overseas. Like a clear head with which Mayank played in Australia, Prithvi can do the same in New Zealand.

"A bunch of guys playing with fearlessness, something that can motivate the whole team, gives us start that the team wants and not get intimidated by the opposition in any way."

The skipper downplayed India's below-par show in the three-match ODI series, especially that of Agarwal.

"Prithvi, I think you can call him relatively inexperienced and Mayank, I wouldn't call him that inexperienced because he has scored a lot of runs last year. So he understands what his game is like in Test cricket.

"I think sometimes in white ball cricket we try to do too much but once you come into red ball cricket, you fall into that disciplined mode of batting, which obviously suits him much more at this stage."

While he didn't give an answer on the Saha-Pant debate, the burly Delhi keeper had precious little to do at the main nets and was seen spending more time doing his keeping drills and only got an opportunity to bat when the first team completed its routines.

New Zealand are likely to go with an all-pace attack but the Indian captain wants to stick to his team's strengths which is play with one spinner in the four-pronged bowling attack.

"If it had been a Johannesburg pitch, I could have said it's a possibility (to play four pacers) but our team has that skill that we can bowl out other teams with only three fast bowlers," he sounded confident.

"But you need one world class skillful spinner, who can take wickets on any pitch. We won't copy the home team. We would rather figure out what is the most lethal combination, which gives us balance," he added.

"As a bowling group it's better than the one that came to NZ last time and that is why we have got so many teams all out in last two and half years. We would like to repeat that here also," Kohli added.

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Agencies
June 8,2020

New Delhi, Jun 8: Indian pacer S Sreesanth has slammed England all-rounder Ben Stokes for questioning MS Dhoni's intent during a World Cup match, saying that the former captain will end Stokes' career.

Stokes in his book titled 'On Fire' had questioned Dhoni's intent during India's 31-run defeat at the hands of England in the premier tournament last year.

"For Ben Stokes, I will only say that you should pray that Dhoni does not play against you in the future. Dhoni does not forget things easily," Sreesanth said during a Live session on Helo.

"I wish Stokes all the best for whenever he faces Dhoni again, be it IPL or an England vs India match. You must be earning in millions now, Dhoni Bhai will end your career. Dhoni will strike the ball everywhere and he (Stokes) can never dismiss Dhoni. Before he (Stokes) opens his mouth, he should make sure to wear a helmet," he added.

Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding had also come out in support of Dhoni and said that the wicket-keeper batsman wanted to win the match against England.

"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 had said on his official YouTube channel.

"...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 percent, 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," he had added.

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News Network
July 26,2020

Chennai, Jul 26: Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand suffered his fifth straight defeat in the USD 150,000 Legends of Chess online tournament, going down 2-3 to Peter Leko of Hungry.

The former world champion got off to a good start and won the first game of the best-of-four contest. The next two games were drawn before Leko levelled by winning the fourth.

The Hungarian then claimed the Armageddon (a tie-breaker) to ensure Anand remain winless and at the bottom of the points table.

Anand, who is making his maiden appearance on the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour, had earlier lost to Peter Svidler, Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik and Anish Giri.

World no. 1 Carlsen bounced back strongly to avoid an upset, beating veteran Vasyl Ivanchuk 3-2 to stay on top.

Legends of Chess is a unique event where Carlsen, Liren, Nepomniachtchi and Giri, semifinalists at the Chessable Masters (part of the Magnus Carlsen Tour), received an automatic invite and are up against six legends aged 40-52, who have been at the top of world chess at various points in their career.

The tournament is part of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. The winner of this event will qualify for the USD 300,000 Grand Final scheduled from August 9 to 20.

Results of Round 5: Peter Leko beat Viswanathan Anand 3-2; Magnus Carlsen beat Vasyl Ivanchuk 3-2: Vladmir Kramnik beat Ding Liren 2.5-1.5; Anish Giri beat Boris Gelfand 2.5-1.5; Ian Nepominiachtchi beat Peter Svidler 3-1. 

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