Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza`s 41-match win streak ends at Qatar Open

Auckland, Jan 27: : K.L. Rahul made an unbeaten 57 Sunday to steer India to a seven-wicket win over New Zealand in the second Twenty20 international and to a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Rahul and Shreyas Iyer put on 86 for the third wicket as India cruised past New Zealand's total of 132-5 with 2.3 overs to spare. Shivam Dube (13 not out) hit a six from the bowling of Tim Southeein in the 18th over to lift India to 135-3.

Iyer made 58 not out and Rahul 56 as India beat New Zealand by six wickets with an over to spare in the first match of the series.

New Zealand made 203-5 batting first in that match but on Sunday, on the same pitch, it struggled to achieve any real momentum. During the second match the pitch played much slower and India bowled expertly to restrict New Zealand's total.

Martin Guptill made 33 in a 48-run opening partnership with Colin Munro and Tim Seifert made an unbeaten 33 at the end of the innings but New Zealand wasn't able to reach a total that could stretch India's deep batting lineup.

Rohit Sharma (8) and captain Virat Kohli (11) were out relatively cheaply but Rahul and Iyer (44) sped India towards a comprehensive victory.

Dube came to the crease shortly before the end and quickly brought the match to a conclusion.

"I think we backed up the first match with a very good performance today, especially with the ball," Kohli said. "We demanded that the bowlers stood up and took control of what we wanted to do out there.

"I think our line and length and the way we wanted to bowl on that wicket, sticking to one side of the wicket and being shorter was a very good feature of us as a team and helped us restrict a very good New Zealand team."

New Zealand's total was inadequate, even on a slower pitch, and India almost toyed with the home side as it made its way to a comfortable win.

New Zealand named the same team that lost the first match of the series and batted after winning the toss, just as it batted when it was outplayed in the first match of the series.

The match raised further questions about the coaching and captaincy of the New Zealand team after its humiliating test series loss in Australia last month. New Zealand showed again Sunday it hasn't the talent to compete with the best teams in the world.

"As a batting unit we probably needed another 15 or 20 to make that total more competitive," said New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. "But credit to the way the India side bowled, they're a class side in all departments and they put us under pressure throughout that middle period."

May 13: With the Olympics postponed due to the coronavirus, top Japanese fencer Ryo Miyake has swapped his metal mask and foil for a bike and backpack as a Tokyo UberEats deliveryman.

The 29-year-old, who won silver in the team foil at the 2012 London Olympics and was itching to compete in a home Games, says the job keeps him in shape physically and mentally -- and brings in much-needed cash.

"I started this for two reasons -- to save money for travelling (to future competitions) and to keep myself in physical shape," he told AFP.

"I see how much I am earning on the phone, but the number is not just money for me. It's a score to keep me going."

Japanese media have depicted Miyake as a poor amateur struggling to make ends meet but he himself asked for his three corporate sponsorships to be put on hold -- even if that means living off savings.

Like most of the world's top athletes, he is in limbo as the virus forces competitions to be cancelled and plays havoc with training schedules.

"I don't know when I can resume training or when the next tournament will take place. I don't even know if I can keep up my mental condition or motivation for another year," he said.

"No one knows how the qualification process will go. Pretending everything is OK for the competition is simply irresponsible."

In the meantime, he is happy criss-crossing the vast Japanese capital with bike and smartphone, joining a growing legion of Uber delivery staff in demand during the pandemic.

"When I get orders in the hilly Akasaka, Roppongi (downtown) district, it becomes good training," he smiles.

The unprecedented postponement of the Olympics hit Miyake hard, as he was enjoying a purple patch in his career.

After missing out on the Rio 2016 Olympics, Miyake came 13th in last year's World Fencing Championships -- the highest-ranked Japanese fencer at the competition.

The International Olympics Committee has set the new date for the Olympics on July 23, 2021.

But with no vaccine available for the coronavirus that has killed nearly 300,000 worldwide, even that hangs in the balance.

Miyake said the Japanese fencing team heard about the postponement the day after arriving in the United States for one of the final Olympic qualifying events.

With his diary suddenly free of training and competition, he said he spent the month of April agonising over what to do before hitting on the Uber idea.

"Sports and culture inevitably come second when people have to survive a crisis," he said.

"Is the Olympics really needed in the first place? Then what do I live for if not for the sport? That is what I kept thinking."

However, the new and temporary career delivering food in Tokyo has given the fencer a new drive to succeed.

"The most immediate objective for me is to be able to start training smoothly" once the emergency is lifted, he said.

"I need to be ready physically and financially for the moment. That is my biggest mission now."

But not all athletes may cope mentally with surviving another "nerve-wracking" pre-Olympic year, he said.

"It's like finally getting to the end of a 42-kilometre marathon and then being told you have to keep going."

As a child, Miyake practised his attacks on every wall of his house -- and he said his passion for the sport was what was driving him now.

"I love fencing. I want to be able to travel for matches and compete in the Olympics. That is the only reason I am doing this."

Hamilton, Jan 27: In awe of Jasprit Bumrah, New Zealand wicketkeeper Tim Seifert says the Indian speedster's subtle variations have been difficult to pick in the ongoing T20 series and his side needs to a learn a thing or two about adapting from the visitors.

India beat New Zealand by seven wickets in the second T20 International in Auckland on Sunday to grab a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Bumrah returned with figures of 1-21 from his four overs as Indian skipper Virat Kohli changed his bowling plans from the first game.

"Even in the first game, Bumrah bowled slower balls that were going wider. Normally, death bowlers get into straighter lines, plus yorkers and mix it with chest height. He kind of changes things a lot and is tougher to play," Seifert said.

"...the ball was holding a lot more which made it tougher. So sometimes as a batsman you have to move away from the stumps and see if they bowl straight. I was backing myself to do something different instead of just standing there at the wicket," said the stumper, who remained unbeaten on 33 off 26 balls.

"It was tricky and the ball was holding a little bit. When Kane (Williamson) got out in the over against Yuzvendra Chahal, we knew it was the over to push because they had Bumrah coming back," he added.

He said New Zealand batsmen need to take a cue from their Indian counterparts on how to adapt to different conditions quickly.

"...Indian batsmen showed how to get under the ball and time it. They showed it a couple of times that and on the slower wickets you just have to keep it like that. Once you lose your shape, you are not in position," he said.

"Try to get them (bowlers) off line or off balance, try to get into that position to hit good balls. That's T20 cricket as well. Sometimes it's going 100 per cent but some times you have to take a breath and re-assess. Indian batters did that well."

Seifert believes New Zealand bowlers did reasonably well in the two games but they have been outplayed by the Indian batsmen.

"To be honest, in the first game they were 110-1 and they had wickets in hand. We didn't bowl too badly in that first game. In the second game, we only got 130 and it is tough to bowl at Eden Park (with that total)," he said.

"170 was the target in mind but once you get 130 on the board, that was going to be very hard at Eden Park against a team that is very strong and playing really well. But our spinners were outstanding. Good balls have gone to boundary.

He said coming into the T20 series on the back of a lost Test rubber in Australia also didn't help New Zealand's cause in the first two games.

"Boys are coming off a Test series (in Australia) and a lot of them haven't played T20 cricket for a while," he said.

"But for some like me, I have had the Super Smash for the last two months, so I have played a lot of T20 cricket. They have two games under their belt now so hopefully they will have a better understanding."

Asked if New Zealand would want to play on India's strength of chasing, Seifert replied, "Even in ODI cricket, India have chased down big totals but I think on that wicket it was going to get slower and slower.

"But with that small target on Eden Park, something special has to happen with top six (for a collapse). One batsman got fifty and the other was batting very well. We needed top five-six in the first 10 overs," he said.

The Black Caps are still confident of bouncing back in the series.

The third T20 will be played here on Wednesday before back-to-back matches in Wellington and Mt Maunganui. Seifert said they would like to replicate the 2019 tour of India, where New Zealand came out 2-1 victorious in the three-match series.

"We have lost the first two games but we haven't played badly. We definitely haven't played our best though while India has played very well. If we lose the series on Wednesday, it is not the end of the world. But if we can turn things around, and win, we will take things from there," he said.

"We won the series 2-1 last time, so we have to treat it like a three match series again. But we have to treat it like the first two are must-win games."

"We are not playing our best at the moment. There are 20-odd games before the World Cup, and that tournament is the pinnacle, so we will get there (in preparation),” he signed off.