Mithali Raj says Padma Shri came as a pleasant surprise

January 27, 2015

Mithali Padma

New Delhi, Jan 27: Surprised at being selected for the Padma Shri, Indian women's cricket team captain Mithali Raj says she was not expecting the prestigious honour with some men's team superstars also in the race.

"Honestly when I was pitted against Virat Kohli, I gave up because when you compare us with men's cricket then we think that we may not get it. So I was not expecting it, but it came as a pleasant surprise," Mithali said from her Hyderabad home.

A veteran of 153 ODIs, 10 Tests and 47 T20 internationals since making her debut in 1999, Mithali, 32, believes that the Padma Shri will certainly help the cause of Indian women's cricket.

"It (the national awards) is a nice way of appreciating your efforts. Because at a time when I started playing cricket, there was no awareness for women's cricket. People were not even knowing that women's cricket existed. And from that phase to today where people would want to follow women's cricket, I think we have come a long way," Mithali said.

"These awards will really prop up the young girls and players to take up the sport and do much better. With this award probably people will be following women's cricket keenly and will take a note of the international calender of women," she added.

Asked about her view on the recent trend of sportspersons demanding their due from the concerned authorities, Mithali said that 'to each his own'.

"There are some people who feel that they deserve a particular award or recognition, but I don't fall in that category. I am very laidback and I take it as it comes. So it's fine with me. I have got it and am very happy about it," she said.

The veteran batswoman also talked about Indian men's performance before the upcoming World Cup and said that the batsmen can play cover up for the weak bowling.

"Well maybe, bowling is a concern for Team India but I believe that they will make it up with their strong batting. We have a very good batting line-up, it's just a matter of the core coming into form and I am sure that the batting will definitely cover up for the bowling," Mithali said.

"You can't really say whose going to be the favourite because we have seen a lot of ups and downs in the World Cup. I am rooting for India because I definitely want them to do well in the showpiece event," she added.

Devoid of match practice, the women's team did manage to beat England in their one-off Test outing after eight long years in August 2014 and Mithali hopes for more such opportunities in the near future.

"I am sure with the new format of the ICC, we will get to play more matches. So, that way we will have more news coming in from women's cricket. Earlier there were hardly any international series for people to follow or for us to be in news more often. But from now with more regular international series and matches, things will start rolling for women's cricket," Mithali, who made her Test debut against England in Lucknow in 2002, said.

Commenting on drawing a balance between recognition and play, Mithali was clear that playing more cricket has always been up on her wish list.

"I am looking forward to more cricket. That's always what I wanted. We have a few series coming up and most importantly the 2017 World Cup. I am hoping by then I would be able to make up half of the damage what was done in the 2013 edition. Quite a miserable one and I would like to make up for it and I am looking forward to that," she said.

The ever-humble Jodhpur-born player did not forget to credit her parents for all her achievements and also the recent honour that she cherishes.

"I am also very happy for my parents who have sacrificed so much for me. It is for them that I am very happy," she concluded.

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News Network
May 24,2020

Melbourne, May 24: Former Australia captain Mark Taylor does not foresee the T20 World Cup scheduled in October-November going ahead and wants the ICC to take a decision during its Board meeting this week.

Taylor also feels that if IPL takes place during the window the T20 World Cup was to be held, the Australian players are likely to be cleared by their Board to take part in the cash-rich league in India.

The ICC Board meets on May 28 to discuss a host of issues related to COVID-19 pandemic, including a revamped schedule and the fate of the men's T20 World Cup in Australia.

For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here

"My feeling is the World T20 won't go ahead in Australia in October as planned. Is it going to be viable to have a world tournament in October or November? The answer to that is probably no," Taylor, also a former Cricket Australia (CA) director, was quoted as saying by 'Nine Network'.

"It would probably be good (if a decision is made this week). Because then everyone can start planning and we can stop sitting here and saying 'well ifs, buts or maybes'."

CA chief executive Kevin Roberts has said that a call on the fate of the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held from October 18 to November 15, may potentially not come until August.

Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths

But players and administrators around the world are keen for some certainty and many have predicted that the 16-team event will soon be postponed.

There are reports that the BCCI is eyeing the October window for the IPL though officially it maintained, that it will not consider new dates of the cash-rich league until the T20 World Cup's fate is decided.

Taylor said the CA wants to keep BCCI happy so the Australia players are likely to be cleared for the IPL if it happens in October.

Pat Cummins, who was bought for a record amount of Rs 15.50 crore in last year's IPL auction, is among the Australians keen to take part in this year's competition.

"The Cricket Australia board will want to keep India happy. So they may want to let the players go to India if the IPL goes ahead," Taylor said.

"Because they want India to come here this summer and play, which will be our biggest summer in terms of dollars. That's the sort of discussion going on. No doubt."

Virat Kohli's team is scheduled to arrive in Australia for a Test tour starting November, which will go along way in addressing CA's financial woes triggered by teh COVID-19 pandemic.

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Agencies
January 6,2020

Washington D.C., Jan 6: 'The Irishman,' and 'Two Popes' were shut out from the winners list despite getting multiple nominations, the movies didn't win a single award at the Golden Globes Award held on Sunday (local time). Other movies in the list include 'Bombshell,' 'Dolemite Is My Name,' 'Harriet,' 'Jojo Rabbit,' 'Knives Out' and 'Little Women.'

According to The Hollywood Reporter, 'The Irishman' may have gone into the 2020 Golden Globes with the second-highest number of film nominations, tied with 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' with five nods, but Martin Scorsese's highly anticipated mob epic for Netflix was completely shut out at the award ceremony.

Netflix landed the most film nominations of any company with 17 mentions, but it won only one award which is the best-supporting actress for 'Marriage Story's' Laura Dern. Netflix's nominated films 'Dolemite Is My Name' and 'The Two Popes' was tied with 'Joker' with four mentions each and failed to grab any awards.

'Dolemite Is My Name' star Eddie Murphy was expected by a number of pundits to win for best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy.

'Bombshell', 'Harriet',' Frozen 2', 'Jojo Rabbit', 'Knives Out', 'The Lion King', 'Little Women' and 'Pain and Glory' are among the other films that received multiple nominations but didn't win a single award.

On the TV side, Netflix's 'Unbelievable' tied in the race to most small-screen nominations with 'Chernobyl' and 'The Crown' with four nominations, and 'The Crown' won only one award, for star Olivia Colman.

The three-time nominees 'Barry', 'Big Little Lies', 'The Kominsky Method' and 'The Morning Show' also didn't grab any award. 'Catch-22', 'Killing Eve', 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' and 'The Politician' who were two-time nominees that were also iced out.

'Hustlers' star Jennifer Lopez failed to take home the best-supporting actress award as she was predicted to win the award by a number of pundits. Billy porter also failed to make history with the best drama actor win for his role on 'Pose,' if he would've won the award, he reportedly would have been the first openly gay African-American to win that award.

'Chernobyl' won two of its four nominations. Despite that, star Jared Harris didn't win the best actor in a limited series Globe which was predicted by many prognosticators. The award was bagged by Russell Crowe for his portrayal of Roger Ailes in 'The Loudest Voice.' But the star was absent from the ceremony.

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News Network
March 19,2020

London, Mar 19: Talking about the break in cricketing activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa pacer Dale Steyn said that the disease seems to be to the only topic of conversation these days.

"I don't know how to describe it. Doesn't matter where you go, everyone is talking about it - whether it is on an airplane or you are just popping into a grocery store. It just seems like it is the only topic of conversation," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Steyn as saying.

"Yeah, it's so strange. Normally if I am on holiday I'll be planning a fishing trip or a surfing trip. At the moment I am just chilling at home," he added.

Steyn was last seen in action in the Pakistan Super League where he took two wickets in two matches.

When asked whether he has enough hand sanitizers, he replied: "We just decided that stockpiling is definitely not the way to go. It is not fair on everybody who needs that stuff. I went to the grocery store the other day and everyone had bought all the toilet paper. We have what we need, and when that runs out, that runs out, and we need to go and get some more".

"We didn't feel it was necessary to go and absolutely just, like, zombie our lives up. There's other people that live on a day-to-day basis. They are not going to get all of that stuff, so we thought it was best not to do that".

Steyn also had a message for the fans, "Stay healthy, wash your hands, look after yourself, don't be greedy. Right now they are saying old people are really struggling, so if in a position to help, rather help them than help yourself. Pretty simple, really."

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the ODI series between India-South Africa and Australia-New Zealand have been postponed.

The start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has also been postponed until April 15.

Cricket South Africa has suspended all forms of cricket for 60 days while Cricket Australia has advised all its employees to work from home.

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