Mumbai beat Delhi to lift Vijay Hazare Trophy for 3rd time

Agencies
October 21, 2018

Bengaluru, Oct 21: Aditya Tare struck a fluent half-century as a clinical Mumbai defeated Delhi by four wickets to win their third Vijay Hazare Trophy title at M Chinnaswamy stadium here on Saturday.

Mumbai last won the trophy way back in 2006-07 when they defeated Rajasthan. Opting to bowl after winning the toss, pacers, Shivam Dubey (3/29) and Dhawal Kulkarni (3/30) picked up three wickets apiece as Mumbai bowled out Delhi for a paltry 177 in 45.4 overs.

Later, Tare starred with the bat with an 89-ball 71 that included 13 boundaries and a six and in the company of crisis man Siddesh Lad (48) stitched 105 runs for the fifth wicket to seal the win for Mumbai with 15 overs to spare.

But Tare had his heart in his mouth in 19th over of the innings when he survived a caught behind decision. Repeated TV replays showed the ball had bounced before nestling into Delhi wicket-keeper Unmukt Chand’s gloves. Tare eventually fell prey to Manan Sharma, trapped plumb in front of the wicket in the 31st over but by then he had already taken Mumbai to sniffing distance of a win. Lad’s valiant 48 came off 68 deliveries with four boundaries and two sixes but he fell two short of his half century, caught by Dhruv Shorey off Lalit Yadav with Mumbai scoreboard reading 176 for six.

Lad also survived a run out appeal at the non-strikers end after the umpires could not come to a conclusive proof to suggest that the straight drive off Tare hit the boots of Subodh Bhati and ricocheted onto the stumps.

The benefit of doubt went in favour of the batsman.

Chasing 178, Mumbai lost in-form Prithvi Shaw for eight in third ball of the innings after he smashed two consecutive boundaries of Navdeep Saini.

Ajinkya Rahane (10), captain Shreyas Iyer (7) and Suryakumar Yadav (4) all departed cheaply to Saini and Kulwant Khejrolia, leaving Mumbai struggling at 40 for four in 7.4 overs.

Earlier, Delhi began their innings on a bad note with Mumbai pacers Kulkarni and Tushar Deshpande exploiting the moist conditions.

Deshpande (2/30), Dubey and Kulkarni picked up eight wickets between them to rattle Delhi’s batting line-up.

Captain Gautam Gambhir got out for one in second over off the innings. Soon Unmukt Chand (13) and Manan Sharma (5) also went cheaply. Delhi were reeling at 21 for three in six overs, but Nitish Rana (13) and Dhruv Shorey (31) tried to stabilise the innings for a brief period before the former was removed by Dubey, leaving Delhi precariously placed at 60 for four.

Shorey too did not last long as he was stumped by Tare off a brilliant Shams Mulani’s delivery. Thereafter, Pawan Negi (21), Subodh Bhati (25) and Himmat Singh (41) scored vital runs to take Delhi to 177.

But once Negi walked back to the pavilion retired hurt, Mumbai ran through Delhi’s tail in quick time.

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Agencies
July 20,2020

Vitoria, Jul 20: Lionel Messi won a record seventh top scoring title in the Spanish league after netting twice in Barcelona's 5-0 rout of Alav s in the final round.

Messi ended with 25 goals, four more than Karim Benzema, who did not score in Real Madrid's 2-2 draw at Legan s.

Messi is the first player to finish as the league's top scorer in seven different seasons. He reached the milestone despite missing games because of an injury early in the season. The Argentine's 25 goals came in 33 matches.

Messi was tied with Telmo Zarra with six scoring titles. He has also now equaled Hugo Sanchez's feat of four straight top-scorer trophies.

"Individual achievements are always secondary," Messi said on Sunday.

"I wished it could have come along with the league title."

This is also the third successive season that Messi finished with the most assists 21 in the league.

Ansu Fati, Luis Su rez and Nelson Semedo also scored Sunday for Barcelona, which had already secured second place behind Madrid.

Fati opened the scoring in the 24th minute, Messi added to the lead 10 minutes later and Su rez closed the first-half scoring in the 44th. Semedo got on the board in the 57th and Messi in the 75th to help Barcelona rebound from a 2-1 home loss to Osasuna.

"Today things were different," Messi said.

"The team showed better attitude and commitment. It was an important step forward for us ahead of what's left in the season."

Barcelona now turns its focus to its Aug. 8 home game against Napoli in the round of 16 of the Champions League. The first leg, played before the break, ended 1-1.

Barcelona coach Quique Seti n finished under pressure after the team relinquished a two-point lead over Madrid when the league resumed following the pandemic break. It was four points back before Madrid's match at Legan s.

Barcelona defender Cl ment Lenglet had to be substituted early in the second half because of an apparent muscle injury.

Alav s, sitting in 15th, had already done enough to stay up.

BAR A "B" TEAM

American winger Konrad de la Fuente scored twice as Barcelona's "B" team beat Valladolid B to keep alive its hopes of reaching the second division next season. The victory put Barcelona in the second round of the promotion playoffs.

The 19-year-old De la Fuente, who recently had his contract with Barcelona extended through the 2021-22 season, scored in each half.

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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
March 5,2020

New Delhi, Mar 5: Cricket's slow geographical expansion is turning out to be a blessing in disguise for the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) which looks set to beat the dreaded novel coronavirus threat and go ahead as scheduled.

At a time when the number of recorded deaths because of the deadly outbreak across the globe is touching 3500 with a plethora of international sporting events getting cancelled, the IPL seems to be in a parallel universe where "all is well".

And there are multiple practical reasons why the T20 extravaganza will be held as per schedule. A major reason is the small number of countries that play the game and an even smaller fraction of overseas players, who will compete in the world's richest cricket league starting March 29 in Mumbai.

Till Thursday, the reported number of positive COVID-19 cases in India stood at 29, including 16 Italian tourists. However, none of the overseas recruits of eight IPL franchises have expressed any apprehensions about travelling to India.

Just over 60 players from cricket nations such as Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and the Caribbean islands comprise the elite foreign brigade and the reported positive cases of coronavirus in all these countries is next to none.

"The IOC is saying Olympics in Tokyo will be held as per schedule. In comparison, IPL is a minuscule tournament. If Olympics can be held, there's no reason why IPL can't be held," a BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

STAR SPORTS FACTOR

The second and perhaps the biggest reason is broadcasters. Star Sports has bought the rights for Rs 16,347 crore (USD 2.55 billion) for a period of five years and their advertising revenues will take a huge hit if the tournament doesnt go ahead as planned. Former Delhi Daredevils CEO Hemant Dua explained the economics. "Look Star as well as BCCI has got everything insured. I don't know if there is any specific insurance cover for cancellation due to coronavirus but there is no chance of that happening if I read the situation properly," Dua told PTI.

GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES

The BCCI is also depending on the guidelines given by the government with regards to dealing with the health crisis.  "Every person availing international flights will be screened for coronavirus at the port of entry. That is the biggest health security measure. Obviously the BCCI will strictly adhere to any health advisory that government will issue," a Board official said.

But since there is an advisory that social gatherings are inadvisable at this point, won't it affect the league? "You will only come to know once the ticket sales start. If the stadiums are packed, that means people are coming but if stands are largely empty, then you can presume that people are wary.

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