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Kidambi Srikanth's title defence ends, P V Sindhu wins at Indonesia Open

Agencies
July 5, 2018

Jakarta, Jul 5: Defending champion Kidambi Srikanth's campaign ended with a narrow opening-round loss but Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu eked out a thrilling win to progress to the women's singles pre-quarterfinals of the USD 1,250,000 Indonesia Open BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament here today.

Former World No 1 Srikanth suffered his second successive loss to in-form Japanese Kento Momota, ranked 11th, in two weeks. The Indian lost 21-12 14-21 15-21 in the opening match that lasted exactly an hour at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno.

Momota had ended Srikanth's campaign at Malaysia Open last week and even though the Indian failed to avenge the loss, it was a far superior performance by the 25-year-old fourth seed.

Overall, it was Srikanth's seventh loss to the former world no 2 Momota, who has been in impressive form since coming back from a one-year ban due to illegal gambling.

However, Sindhu brought some smiles back in the Indian camp after seeing off Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-15 19-21 21-13, setting up a clash with Japan's Aya Ohori on the eve of her 23rd birthday tomorrow.

Earlier, young Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka went down 12-21 10-21 to Denmark's Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt.

The men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy stretched the world no 2 Chinese pair of Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan to three games before surrendering 21-15 15-21 17-21 to the third seeded combo.

In mixed doubles, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy lost 12-21 14-21 to fourth seeded pair of Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong of China.

In the women's singles match, Sindhu was asked some serious questions by the 20-year-old Pornpawee, as she grabbed a slender 11-10 lead at the first interval.

The Indian seemed to struggle with her timing initially but two cross court smash and a misjudgement at backline by her opponent helped Sindhu to lead 14-13.

Sindhu showed great defence and seemed to have stepped up her pace as she soon moved to 19-14 and brought up five game point chances after attacking her opponent's back hand. A disguised shot ended the opening game in Sindhu's favour.

Sindhu seemed to struggle with the length of her strokes as she hit long and short to allow Pornpawee control the second game early on. The Thai girl moved to a 7-2 lead but Sindhu recovered well to first claw back at 10-10 with six straight points and then entered the interval with a one-point advantage when the Thai hit the net.

Pornpawee turned the table by making it 15-13 before moving to 19-16 when Sindhu found the net. But the Thai blew the advantage as the Indian gained three straight points, including a good-looking smash, to claw back at 19-19.

A superb rally ensued next, which left Sindhu sprawled on the court as it was game point advantage for Pornpawee. The Indian then hit the net and the Thai shuttler was back in the contest.

The duo split the initial 10 points in the decider before Sindhu managed to open up a 8-5 lead. The Indian held a four-point advantage after he unleashed a straight smash to enter the breather.

Sindhu continued to use her experience to outwit the Thai shuttler and won a net duel to make it 18-11. Two wide shots and it was the eight match points for Sindhu. Pornpawee saved one before Sindhu unleashed another smash to seal the contest.

Earlier, Srikanth, who was beaten in straight games by Momota in Kuala Lumpur last week, came out with all guns blazing and moved to a 19-10 lead and then grabbed 10 game points with a smash. Momota saved two game points before hitting the net as Srikanth earned the bragging rights.

In the second game, Momota moved to a 3-0 lead early on before a patient Srikanth clawed back at 5-5 with a superb stroke at the net. Despite some stiff resistance from the Indian, the left-handed Japanese managed to enter the break with a slender 11-9 lead after producing a powerful smash on his opponent's backhand.

A few mistimed strokes from Srikanth and the game slipped away as he lagged 11-17 before Momota held seven game points and roared back into the contest when Srikanth again found the net.

In the decider, Momota produced some razor-sharp returns to move to a 8-5 lead. A brilliant adjustment at the net gave Momota another point as he moved to a 11-6 lead.

After the breather, Srikanth cut down the deficit to 10-12 and then 14-16. But Momota was unstoppable as he soon grabbed five match points and converted it without further ado.

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News Network
January 15,2020

Jan 15: Australia openers David Warner and Aaron Finch both struck superb centuries to complement their bowlers’ inspired display as the touring side handed out a 10-wicket thrashing to India in the opening one-day international in Mumbai.

India, world-ranked No 2 in ODIs, suffered a middle-order collapse on their way to being bundled out for 255 in the final over of their innings after Australia captain Finch won the toss and opted to field in the first of the three-match series.

Warner and Finch then smashed the Indian bowlers to all corners of the ground, picking up boundaries seemingly at will to chase down the target with 74 balls to spare at the Wankhede Stadium.

Left-handed Warner successfully used the decision review system twice to overturn the umpire’s decision on his way to his 18th ODI century, hitting three sixes and 17 fours in his unbeaten knock of 128, from 112 balls. Finch completed his 16th century in the format, his unbeaten innings 110 from 114 features two sixes and 13 fours.

Earlier, Australia’s left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who made his ODI debut in India 10 years ago, picked up three wickets to set up Australia’s victory. He struck the first blow with the new ball when he sent back Rohit Sharma for 10.

India managed to recover from that early loss through a second-wicket stand of 121 between opener Shikhar Dhawan, who top-scored for the hosts with 74, and KL Rahul. However left-arm spinner Ashton Agar broke the stand by dismissing Rahul for 47 before Agar caught Dhawan off Pat Cummins in the next over.

The hosts were hoping for a solid innings from captain Virat Kohli, who batted a position lower than his usual No 3 spot to accommodate Rahul, to get them out of trouble. However, he lasted only 14 balls, hitting leg-spinner Adam Zampa for a six before offering a return catch to the bowler on the very next delivery to be out for 16.

Starc then returned to the attack, removing Shreyas Iyer cheaply as India lost four wickets for 30 runs to be reduced to 164 for five. Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja then fell just short of a half-century partnership, before the remaining four wickets falling for 42 runs, with Cummins and fast bowler Kane Richardson picking up two wickets apiece for Australia.

To compound India’s woes, wicketkeeper Pant suffered a concussion after being hit on his helmet by a short-pitched delivery from Cummins. The Indian cricket board said Pant, who did not come out to keep wicket and was replaced behind the stumps by Rahul, was under observation. The two sides will meet in Rajkot for the second ODI on Friday.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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News Network
February 5,2020

Aukland, Feb 5: Striker Navneet Kaur scored a brace to guide the Indian women's hockey team to a convincing 3-0 win over New Zealand in the last game of its five-match tour here on Wednesday.

Navneet found the net in the 45th and 58th minutes, while Sharmila scored a field goal in the 54th minute as India drew curtains on the New Zealand tour on a bright note.

After a goalless opening two quarters, Navneet finally broke the deadlock for India in the 45th minute.

Sharmila then doubled the lead when she struck a powerful shot past the New Zealand goalkeeper in the 54th minute. Navneet found the net again just two minutes from the final hooter with a beautiful field strike.

India began the tour by thrashing New Zealand Development squad 4-0 before suffering close 1-2 and 0-1 defeats to the home senior team.

In penultimate game of the tour, skipper Rani's lone strike handed India a 1-0 win over Great Britain.

"...I am happy we produced three goals against New Zealand in the last match. This tour gave us a good insight about where we need to improve and one of the things is to create faster play than we do now," said India's chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne.

Commenting on his side's performance during the tour, Marijne said, "Sometimes we tend to keep the ball too long on the stick and then we create pressure. We need to avoid that by passing faster.

"On the defence side, we need to be a bit more calmer and need to improve our tackling. We will have a four week camp after a short break when we return home and we will be working on these points."

The Indian team will return home on February 7.

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