Azlan Shah Cup: India ride on Sunil strike to down Pakistan

June 1, 2012

Azlan

SV Sunil struck in the dying moments as India downed Pakistan 2-1 in a pulsating encounter at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh on Thursday.

But the win may have come a little too late as India ended their campaign with nine points from six games. Two other teams — Argentina (nine points from five matches) and Great Britain (eight points from five) — stand a better chance of making the final against New Zealand, who reached the title round on Thursday with a 4-1 rout of Malaysia.

The Black Sticks are on 12 points with a match to go against Korea on Saturday. Friday is a rest day.

Striker Sunil, who has returned a mixed bag of late, dived to guide the ball into the goal in the 69th minute after Sardar Singh created the opening with a superb pass.

Sandeep Singh scored India's first goal in the 30th minute off a penalty corner but Pakistan found parity when Sohail Abbas returned the compliment with a firm shot in the 59th minute.

Chief coach Michael Nobbs said he had focused on a few extra training sessions to sharpen the players' finishing skills which paid dividends in the game against Pakistan.

"We have been playing well and not finishing. We made more of an effort to rectify this by some extra training sessions which helped," he told TOI.

"It was a typical hard-fought match against Pakistan, the first half we were dominant and were unlucky not to have scored more.


The second half mostly belonged to Pakistan. They had a few shots on goal but goalkeeper Bharat Chetri and the defense were solid and we held them to solitary goal," the Aussie said.

"Our attacks in the second half were fewer but had more potency and we earned more shots and penalty corners. Some brilliant play by Birendra Lakra and Sardar and a wonderful diving goal by Sunil sealed the victory for us. We deserved the victory," he added.

The Indians get a two-day break before the classification matches and final on Sunday.

Results: India 2 (Sandeep Singh 31st, SV Sunil 69th) bt Pakistan 1 (Sohail Abbas 61st). Great Britain 1 (Jonty Clarke 50) bt South Korea 1 (Yoon Sung Hoon 22nd). New Zealand 4 (Ryan Archibald 5, Shea McAleese 16, Nick Wilson 33, Shay Neal 61) bt Malaysia 1 (Hafifi Hafiz Hanafi 45).



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News Network
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday extended wishes to the "most prolific batsman of all time" Sachin Tendulkar on his 47th birthday.

ICC took to Twitter and wrote: "Happy birthday to Sachin Tendulkar, the most prolific batsman of all time! To celebrate, we will give you the opportunity to vote for his top ODI innings in a bracket challenge! Stay tuned to join the celebrations."

The Maharashtra-born player had an illustrious career in the game, creating several records.
Tendulkar made his debut in Test cricket on November 15, 1989. In the same year on December 18, he played his first ODI match.

The legendary cricketer has the most number of runs in the longest format of the game, amassing 15,921 runs. Along the way, Tendulkar scored 51 Test centuries, most by any player.

Things are no different in ODI cricket as Tendulkar atop the list of most runs in this format as well. He has accumulated 18,426 runs in ODI which includes 49 tons.

Tendulkar represented the country in six World Cups during his career that lasted for 24 years. He was the part of the 2011 World Cup-winning squad.

This year, Master Blaster decided not to celebrate his birthday due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the country.

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News Network
June 6,2020

Mumbai, Jun 6: Reminiscing about his 'special knock' of 208 runs from 153 balls, Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma revealed why his wife Ritika had got emotional after he smashed his third double century in ODIs.

Rohit narrated the incident during his appearance in Episode 2 of the 'Open nets with Mayank'.

The batsman, who was accompanied by Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank on the show, said his wife thought that he had twisted his hand while diving for the 196th run during the innings.

"As you can see my wife got emotional there, this day was special as it was my anniversary. Probably the best gift I could give it to her while I am on the field, it was quite emotional though," said Rohit during the candid chat.

"When I came from the ground, I just asked her why did you (Ritika) cry? So she told me that she thought I (Rohit) twisted my hand when I dived for my 196th run and that was a little worrying factor for her, she got little emotional of because of that I guess," Rohit added.

In the match, the 32-year-old scored 208 runs with 13 fours and 12 sixes against Sri Lanka at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.

This enabled India to post a score of 392/4 in the allotted fifty overs.

India then went on to win the match by 141 runs.

"To be honest I was going pretty slow, I never thought I will get to a double hundred but once you cross 125, I feel it gets easier for you because bowlers are under pressure. Unless you make a mistake I don't think you can get out," said Rohit.

Rohit has scored two double hundreds against Sri Lanka and one against Australia in ODIs. The right-handed batsman is the only cricketer to make three double hundreds in ODI history.

Rohit, Shikhar, and Mayank would have been in action for Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, and Kings XI Punjab respectively, had the Indian Premier League (IPL) commenced from March 29. However, the tournament was suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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News Network
July 6,2020

New Delhi, Jul 6: India's cricket chief Sourav Ganguly says improved fitness standards and a change in culture have led to the country developing one of the world's best pace attacks.

Spearheads Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah are part of a battery of five formidable quick bowlers that have helped change India's traditional reliance on spin bowling.

"You know culture has changed in India that we can be good fast bowlers," Ganguly said in a chat hosted on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Twitter feed.

"Fitness regimes, fitness standards not only just among fast bowlers but also among the batters, that has changed enormously. That has made everyone understand and believe that we are fit, we are strong and we can also bowl fast like the others did."

The West Indies dominated world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s led by a fearsome pace attack that included all-time greats such as Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner.

Recently Indian quicks have risen to the top in world cricket with Shami, Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in a deadly arsenal.

"The West Indies in my generation were naturally strong," the former India captain said.

"We Indians were never such naturally strong... but we worked hard to get strong. But I think it is the change in culture as well that is very important."

Shami last month claimed that the current Indian pace attack may be the best in Test history.

"You and everyone else in the world will agree to this -- that no team has ever had five fast bowlers together as a package," said Shami.

"Not just now, in the history of cricket, this might be the best fast-bowling unit in the world."

Shami took 13 wickets during India's 3-0 home Test sweep over South Africa last year, while Bumrah has claimed 68 scalps in 14 Tests since his debut.

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