Karnataka eye double at Irani Cup

March 16, 2015

Bengaluru, March 16: Less than a week after retaining the Ranji Trophy, Karnataka will be back in action in the five-day Irani Cup game against Rest of India beginning here on Tuesday, looking to round off the season with a grand double just as they did a year ago.Karnataka Ranji winners

Undoubtedly, Karnataka have been the best of the teams in the country with a fine blend of youth and experience with just about every player chipping in at vital moments.

Boasting of balance in terms of batsmen and bowlers, Karnataka, ably led by Vinay Kumar, one of the heroes of last year's Irani Cup triumph with a 10-wicket haul, will be starting out as hot favourites to win the honours for the fifth time in six outings.

Such has been the strength of Karnataka that they are unlikely to miss their star batsman Lokesh Rahul if he opts out of the match owing to a hamstring injury that he suffered in the Ranji Trophy final against Tamil Nadu last week in Mumbai.

As for Rest of India, led by Bengal batsman Manoj Tiwary, who has not had best of seasons, it will be a tough task to get past Karnataka who are high on confidence and brimming with talent.

Rest of India appear strong in bowling with the likes of experienced left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, pacemen Shardul Thakur, who had an excellent Ranji season for Mumbai while finishing as joint wicket-taker with Vinay Kumar with a haul of 48, and Jharkhand's Varun Aaron, who missed much of the domestic season due to national duty.

The national selectors have not gone strictly by statistics in picking the Rest of India squad, preferring to try out new faces rather than those who were given a chance in the past.

In the event, it is a matter of conjecture as to how the team whose players are getting together will perform against a side that has been together through the season.

The home team's major concern through the season was their inconsistent middle-order that has never clicked as a unit though Karun Nair emulated Rahul by scoring a triple century against Tamil Nadu in the final.

Karnataka's bowling has been the high point with seamers Vinay Kumar (48), Sreenath (42) and Abhimanyu Mithun (39) besides young leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal (28) doing the bulk of damage.

Thus, Rest of India, who were beaten by an innings and 222 runs last year, after being dismissed for 201 and 183 while Karnataka made 606, face an uphill task to stop the Ranji champions who are on a roll.

Squads:

Rest of India: Manoj Tiwary (Bengal, captain), Unmukt Chand (Delhi), Jiwanjot Singh (Punjab), Paras Dogra (Himachal), Kedar Jadhav (Maharashtra), Naman Ojha (Madhya Pradesh), Rishi Dhawan (Himachal), Jayant Yadav (Haryana), Pragyan Ojha (Hyderabad), Shardul Thakur (Mumbai), Varun Aaron (Jharkhand), Rush Kalaria (Gujarat), Aparajith Baba (Tamil Nadu), Jalaj Saxena (Madhya Pradesh), Vijay Shankar (Tamil Nadu).

Karnataka: Vinay Kumar (captain), Robin Uthappa, Samarth R., Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Shreyas Gopal, Shishir Bhavane, Abhishek Reddy, Udit Patel, Abhimanyu Mithun, Arvind Sreenath, Sharath H.S., Suchith J., Avinash K.C., Mayank Agarwal and Gautam C.M.

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Agencies
August 4,2020

New Delhi, Aug 4: Former India women's team captain Anjum Chopra firmly believes that the BCCI has a plan for women's cricket but she wants the Board to communicate its ideas more specifically.

Speaking to news agency, Chopra, who is now a successful broadcaster, said the BCCI is thinking in earnest about the progress of women's cricket.

"It's not that the BCCI is not thinking about women's cricket. I only think they need to be more specific in communication about women's cricket," Chopra said.

"I firmly believe that they must be thinking about women's cricket but the communication all this while has been very specific to men's cricket."

The latest trigger for criticism of BCCI was India's withdrawal from a tour of England in September owing to logistical issues arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chopra concedes it was "not nice" but Indian players' participation in the women's IPL, in November, will still be useful preparation for next year's ODI World Cup.

"It is heartening to see women's cricket making headlines. They should have been a part of that England tour and it did not feel nice initially but the women's IPL, irrespective of the format, will be helpful for World Cup preparations. Any form of cricket is good preparation," Chopra said.

"Missing out on a tournament is not nice, but logistically there may have been issues. And you can't send an under-prepared team."

"If you see in isolation we may have missed out on an opportunity to play in England. The more the girls play the better it is, before playing a tournament of the stature of World Cup. The assurance from the president is a very good thing."

Chopra welcomed the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI's decision to hold the women's event in the UAE alongside the IPL, which will run from September 19 to November 10. The women's IPL will coincide with the business end of the men's league.

"I am definitely happy, it's always nice to be part of any cricket anywhere across the world.

"They should have been nearing the final stages of the preparation for the World Cup by now, but because of the pandemic things did not go as planned," she added.

Chopra had a successful international career spanning over 17 years, during which she represented India in a record six World Cups and became the first woman cricketer to appear in 100 One-day Internationals.

She also felt that the pandemic would not have much impact on the women's game that has gained momentum in recent times.

"...Cricket was on pause button...Once cricket resumes and players are back on the park, everything is going to get picked up. It might take some time to get started as everything starts from zero...

"The awareness the women's game has created, I hope it stays. They will just restart, not start after the pandemic."

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News Network
May 9,2020

May 9: Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has donated an undisclosed amount to financially help 4,000 underprivileged people, including children from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools, amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tendulkar made the donation to the Hi5 Foundation, a non-profit organisation based out of Mumbai.

“Best wishes to team Hi5 for your efforts in supporting families of daily wage earners,” Tendulkar tweeted.

The organisation, through a tweet, thanked Tendulkar for doing his bit for the needy.

“Thanks @sachin_rt for proving once again that #sports encourages compassion! Your generous donation towards our #COVID19 fund enables us to financially aid 4000 underprivileged people, including children from @mybmc schools. Our budding sportspersons thank you, Little Master!”

The legendary batsman had earlier contributed Rs 25 lakh each to Prime Minister’s Relief Fund and Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the country’s fight against COVID-19. Tendulkar had earlier pledged to bear the cost of feeding 5,000 people for a month in a couple of areas in Mumbai.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

London, Jan 11: Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the World Cup 2011 win has been nominated in Laureas's list for the most inspiring sporting event in the last twenty years.

The moment featuring Tendulkar has been described as "Carried on the shoulders by a nation".

On his sixth attempt at the World Cup and with India not having won the competition since 1983, Tendulkar finally became a part of the team that lifted the coveted trophy. Carried on the shoulders of the Indian team, he made a lap of honour, shedding tears of joy after the victory was sealed in his home city.

The 2011 World Cup was also the first time, in which a host nation ended up winning the trophy.

Apart from Tendulkar, England's Andrew Flintoff is the only other cricketer to feature in the list. In 2005, England managed to defeat Australia in an Ashes Test, but Flintoff chose to first shake hands with Brett Lee rather than celebrate with his side.

Matthias Steiner (weightlifting), Natalie du Toit (swimming), Sky Brown (skateboarding), Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee (triathlon), Xia Boyu (mountaineering) have been nominated in the list.

Female tennis stars also feature in the list for coming up with an equal play, equal pay campaign. After pressure from Venus Williams and others, Wimbledon announced that female tennis players would receive prize money equal to the men's.

German international footballer Miroslav Klose was playing for Lazio in Italy's Serie A in 2012 against Napoli when he rose for a ball in the early moments of the game.

The ball came spiraling off his hand and skirted into the back of the net and a goal was awarded. While most players would carry on as if nothing had happened, Klose was honest with the referee and admitted that he handled the ball.

As a result, he also finds a place on the list.

The Laureus Sporting Moment Award celebrates the moments where the sport has unified people in the most extraordinary way.

This campaign has shortlisted 20 sporting stories from the last 20 years that have left their mark on the world.

The winner will be decided on the basis of public voting. It has already started, and the final date to cast the vote is February 16.

Finally, the result will be declared on February 17.
With three knock-out rounds, the top-20 moments will be whittled down to ten then five, with the top-five moments going head-to-head.

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