Kohli showers praise on Rahane as India wins second ODI against WI

Agencies
June 26, 2017

Port of Spain, Jun 26: As a century partnership for the opening wicket between Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan drove India to an astounding win of the Indian Cricket Team over West Indies in the second ODI here at the Queen's Park Oval on Sunday, skipper Virat Kohli showered praise on the former, citing he gives Team India the leverage of adding an extra bowler in the side.

kohli

"Rahane has been a part of the ODI set-up for a while and we all felt he had a great potential at the top of the order. He is always there as the third opening batsman. In this series, I think he has started taking a lot less pressure on himself and has begun enjoying his game more," Kohli said.

"There are very few people who can perform two roles for the team. He can open and he can play in the middle-order. So, I see him providing more balance to us as a side, like we can take an extra bowling option when he is there," he added.

Lauding Kuldeep Yadav whose bolwing spells ensured West Indies don't go beyond their score of 205/6, Kohli said, "I have faced him in the IPL. He's quite amazing with what he does with the bowl and especially on dry wickets like it was today, he becomes even more lethal. Credit to him for putting up such a performance."

Kohli further credited the determination of his team to have quite convincingly defeated West Indies on their home turf.

"For us as a team, it's about doing the things right that we can do right, execute our skills to the best of our potential and regardless of how the opposition reacts, we want to do our things right, stay committed on the field be it batting, bowling or fielding," he said.

With a massive 310 for five on the scorecard, India won by a margin of 105 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match ODI series. The 105-run margin gave the visitors their biggest win in the Caribbean.

The first match on Friday was abandoned due to rain.

The second ODI was also affected due to heavy rains and the match was reduced to 43 overs a side.

Dhawan and Rahane notched 114 for the first wicket in 18.2 overs, following the 132 they put on during the first match.

Rahane completed his third ODI century in the 34th over though he was dismissed soonafter.

Kuldeep Yadav took three wickets, Bhuvneshwar Kumar two and R. Ashwin one and the WI team score was relegated to 205/6 making India by a record margin.

Rahane was announced to be the Man of the Match for his brilliant knock of 103 off 104 balls.

Kohli, despite the ongoing controversy surrounding Anil Kumble's exit from the post of the Indian cricket team's head coach, added one more feather to his cap as he has become the second most followed Indian on Facebook with over 35 million followers to his name.

Commenting on the same, Kohli said, "This is all the result of what we do on field and if people like it, we automatically feel good about it."

Kohli is now just behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has 42.2 million Facebook followers.

He, however, is the most popular celebrity on Facebook in the country, surpassing Bollywood superstar Salman Khan by more than 6, 00,000 followers to surge to top of the list.

Besides, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper also has 16 million followers on Twitter and 14 million on Instagram to become the most famous cricketer of all times around the world.

Meanwhile, the third ODI between India and West Indies will be played on Friday, June 30 at Antigua's Sir Vivian Richards stadium.

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News Network
January 23,2020

Melbourne, Jan 23: Sania Mirza's return to her first Grand Slam after a two-year break was cut short on Thursday when the former world number one was forced to retire midway through her first round match in women's doubles at the Australian Open due to a calf injury.

India's Mirza, who won six Grand Slam doubles titles, took a break from the game after the China Open in October 2017 and gave birth to her son a year later.

The 33-year-old made a winning return to the WTA Tour at this month's Hobart International with Ukrainian Nadiia Kichenok, picking up her 42nd WTA doubles title and the first since winning the women's doubles in Brisbane in 2017.

Mirza said she strained her calf muscle in her right leg during the Hobart final.

"It just got worse in the match. It was bit of a bad strain, but I had a few days off," she told reporters. "So I obviously had to try to do whatever I could to try to get on the court.

"It felt okay when I went on the court, but it was tough to move right. I just felt like I'm gonna tear it or something pretty bad."

Mirza won her first Grand Slam in mixed doubles at the Australian Open in 2009 and also bagged the women's doubles in 2016.

Mirza always believed there was tennis left in her which inspired her comeback, she told Reuters on Sunday.

She had already pulled out of the Australian Open mixed doubles, where she was to partner compatriot Rohan Bopanna.

Mirza and Kichenok were trailing the Chinese pair of Xinyun Han and Lin Zhu 6-2 1-0 on Thursday when the Indian had to call it quits due to the injury.

"As a tennis player you want to compete, it is the Grand Slam. If it's any other tournament, you would probably take a call and be like 'I don't want to risk it'," she said.

Mirza, who is married to former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik, said she would take two weeks to recover and was hoping to play at next month's Dubai championships.

"When you play a professional sport, injuries are really part of it. And it's something that you have to accept," she said. "Sometimes the timing is really not ideal, it's tough that it happened in a Grand Slam, or just before a Grand Slam."

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News Network
May 11,2020

Mumbai, May 11: The French Open, which was postponed to September from May due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, could be held without fans, the organisers of the claycourt Grand Slam have said.

Roland Garros had been scheduled for May 24 to June 7 before the French tennis federation (FFT) pushed it back to Sept. 20-Oct 4 in a bid to save the tournament from falling victim to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week the FFT said all tickets purchased for this year's French Open would be cancelled and reimbursed instead of being transferred.

"Organising it without fans would allow a part of the economy to keep turning, (like) television rights and partnerships. It's not to be overlooked," FFT President Bernard Giudicelli told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.

"We're not ruling any option out."

The tennis season was suspended in early March due to the pandemic and the hiatus will continue at least until mid-July with many countries in lockdown.

Wimbledon has been cancelled while the status of the U.S. Open, scheduled to take place in late August, is still unclear.

COVID-19 Pandemic Tracker: 15 countries with the highest number of coronavirus cases, deaths

The FFT was widely criticised when they announced in mid-March that the French Open would be switched, with players bemoaning a lack of communication as the new dates clashed with the hardcourt season.

Organisers said last week they had been in talks with the sport's governing bodies to fine tune the calendar amid media reports that the Grand Slam tournament would be delayed further by a week and start on Sept. 27.

The delayed start would give players a two-week window between the end of the U.S. Open, played on the hardcourts of New York, and the Paris tournament.

"The 20th or the 27th, that does not change much," Giudicelli said.

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News Network
January 8,2020

Indore, Jan 8:  India skipper Virat Kohli has added yet another feather to his cap by becoming the fastest player to score 1,000 runs in T20I cricket as a captain. Kohli played an unbeaten knock of 30 during India''s seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the second T20I of the ongoing three-match series on Tuesday evening.

Kohli achieved the milestone of scoring 1,000 runs as captain in his 30th T20I inning. He is the second Indian and sixth overall after MS Dhoni to have achieved the feat. Dhoni had scored 1112 runs in 62 T20I games as captain.

Faf du Plessis (1273 runs from 40 games), Kane Williamson (1083 runs in 39 games), Eoin Morgan (1013 runs in 43 games) and Ireland''s William Porterfield (1002 runs in 56 games) are other captains on the list.

During India''s emphatic victory at the Holkar Stadium, Kohli also surpassed team-mate Rohit Sharma, who has been rested for the series, as the top run-getter in the T20Is. Kohli now has 2663 runs from 71 innings.

Both had finished 2019 as joint top-scorers in T20Is, with 2633 runs each.

India, already with an unassailable lead of 1-0 in the series, will now face Sri Lanka in the final T20I on Friday in Pune. The first match between the two teams was called off without a ball being bowled due to wet patches on the pitch in Guwahati last Sunday.

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