Nair heroics power Rajasthan

May 4, 2014

Nair_heroicsNew Delhi, May 4: Young Karun Nair cracked a brilliant unbeaten half-century to guide Rajasthan Royals to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Delhi Daredevils in their IPL-7 match at the Ferozshah Kotla stadium here on Saturday.

Nair anchored the Rajasthan’s run-chase with 50-ball 73-run innings which was laced with eight boundaries and two sixes. The 22-year-old added 51 runs off 43 balls for the second wicket with Sanju Samson (34) as Royals overhauled the 153-run winning target with nine balls to spare.

Earlier, opener Quinton de Kock blasted 43 off 33 balls at the top, while JP Duminy provided the late charge with a 31-ball 39 to power Delhi Daredevils to a competitive 152-5 in their stipulated 20 overs after Rajasthan skipper Shane Watson won the toss and elected to field.

Defending 152, Wayne Parnell dismissed Ajinkya Rahane (12) early in the innings with Murali Vijay pulling off a sensational catch at cover. But the early setback didn’t affect Rajasthan’s runchase as other opener Nair and Sanju Samson (34) stitched together 51 runs off 43 balls for the second wicket.

But their promising partnership was cut short by spinner Shabhaz Nadeem off the last ball of the 10th over when he deceived Samson with a tossed up delivery and wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik did a good job behind the wicket to reduce Rajasthan to 71 for two in 10 overs. Samson hit two boundaries and a couple of sixees in his 28-ball innings.

Rajat Bhatia then joined Nair and the duo picked up sixes off Unadkat and Rahul Sharma over extra cover and long on respectively as Rajasthan crossed the 100-mark in the 13th over.

Bhatia was dismissed by Mohammed Shami in the 15th over. But it didn’t have any affect as Watson (16) and Nair then finished the job with an unbeaten 41-run partnership off only 21 balls.

For Delhi, Parnell, Nadeem and Shami took one wicket each.

Earlier, Watson used six different bowlers in the powerplay and it was James Faulkner who drew the first blood, dismissing opener Murali Vijay (13) off a back of the length delivery which was pouched by the skipper at mid-off.

Young Quinton de Kock (42) did most of the scoring in the powerplay, blasting three fours and a six over the leg side boundary as Delhi reached 46-1 in six overs. His 33-ball innings was studded with five fours and one sixes.

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News Network
July 14,2020

New Delhi, Jul 14: Indian bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who features in the list of A category players released by BCCI, has revealed his first-ever paycheck.

Bhuvneshwar was participating in a question and answer session on Twitter where he gave his take on fans' queries.

The 30-year-old bowler was asked about his first paycheck by a fan and Bhuvneshwar responded by saying, "It was for Rs 3000. I shopped and still managed to saved some."

During the question and answer session Bhuvneshwar picked Barcelona striker Lionel Messi over Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The right-arm bowler also revealed that football and badminton are his favourite sports other than cricket.

Earlier this year, Bhuvneshwar was named in the list A category of players. BCCI had released the list of centrally contracted players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020. Annually, A category players get Rs 5 crore.

The right-arm bowler would have been in action for Sunrisers Hyderabad if the Indian Premier League (IPL) had commenced from March 29. However, the tournament was postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the Women's IPL or the Challenger series, as it is better known, is "very much on", ending speculation about the parent body not having a plan for Harmanpreet Kaur and her team.

The men's IPL will be held between September 19 and November 8 or 10 (final date yet to be locked in) in the UAE due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in India. The women's IPL will also be fit in to the schedule, according to the BCCI chief.

"I can confirm to you that the women's IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also," Ganguly told PTI ahead of the IPL Governing Council meeting later on Sunday.

The BCCI president, who is awaiting a Supreme Court verdict on waiver of the cooling-off period to continue in the position, did not divulge details but another senior official privy to the development said that women's Challenger will be held during the last phase of IPL like last year.

"The women's Challenger series is likely to be held between November 1-10 and there could be a camp before that," the source said.

The former India captain also said that the centrally contracted women players will have a camp which has been delayed due to the prevailing situation in the country.

"We couldn't have exposed any of our cricketers -- be it male or female to health risk. It would have been dangerous," Ganguly said.

"The NCA also remained shut because of Covid-19. But we have a plan in place and we will have a camp for women, I can tell you that," he added.

The BCCI's cricket operations team is chalking up a schedule where Indian women are likely to have two full-fledged white-ball series against South Africa and the West Indies before playing the ODI World Cup in New Zealand. 

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March 7,2020

Melbourne, Mar 7: He will be supporting Australia for sure but former pacer Brett Lee feels an Indian victory in Sunday's T20 Word Cup final could be a "start of a major breakthrough" for the women's game in the cricket-mad country.

India and Australia will lock horns in what is expected to be a blockbuster title clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

"As an Australian, I'd love nothing more than for (Meg) Lanning's team to do the job. But if India were to win the World Cup for the first time, victory would do so much for women's cricket in a country that already adores the sport," Lee wrote in an ICC column.

"This could be the start of a major breakthrough, particularly with the amount of talent that is coming through."

The former speedster said Australia will have to look for ways to counter the in-form 16-year-old Shafali Verma.

"In Shafali Verma, India boast one of the most talented players in the world and you feel that for Australia to win the game, dismissing her will likely be their first job.

"I've been so impressed with the opener - it's staggering to believe she's only 16 with the confidence she has in her own ability and the way she strikes the ball so cleanly.

"She's such good fun to watch and I'm not sure the women's game has seen anyone like her for such a long time."

Shafali has been the star of the tournament, having amassed 161 runs at a strike rate of 161, consistently providing India solid starts, and that was not lost on Lee.

"To be the world's best T20 batter already shows just how far she has progressed in such a short space of time and the experience in this tournament will hold her in good stead for years to come.

"Even with the way she's played in Australia and her fearless brand of cricket, you still get the feeling she has more to come as well."

He reckoned Shafali may have another big score awaiting her.

"She's got a big score in her locker and there's probably no better place to do that than the MCG. Shafali is already a record breaker but if she can steer her side to their first Women's T20 World Cup title at just 16, then the sky really is the limit for her career."

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