India beat Britain 3-1 to bag bronze in Azlan Shah Cup

June 3, 2012

hockey


Ipoh (Malaysia), Jun 3: Five-time champions India came from behind to stun Great Britain 3-1 and clinch the bronze medal in the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament here today.

India dominated the match, but squandered several scoring opportunities to concede the lead to pre-tournament favourites Great Britian before staging a spirited comeback in the second session.

Shivendra Singh (42nd minute), Sandeep Singh (52nd) and Tushar Khandekar (69th) scored for India after Ashley Jackson (35th) put Great Britain ahead at the stroke of half time.

India had earlier lost 2-3 to Great Britain, world's fourth ranked side, in their round robin league encounter, but Michael Nobbs' boys played a composed game.

India's domination began in the first minute when they made the first foray into the rival circle from the left flank through Sarvanjit Singh who sent a through pass for Shivendra, but the Indian striker failed to utilise the chance as he ran into a crowd of British defenders.

In the seventh minute, Shivendra was slow in having a crack at the goal from close range after S V Sunil pushed in from the right.

India were soon awarded their first penalty corner when Rupinder Pal Singh was obstructed on top of the circle by Dan Fox, but the opportunity was wasted as Danish Mujtaba could not stop the push.

Shivendra again had a good look at the goal in the 15th minute when he had only the goalkeeper to beat, but his shot lacked power and was easily palmed away.

Four minutes later S K Uthappa was unable to deflect in a diagonal ball from Shivendra.

After a series of misses, the Indians were guilty of conceding the lead to Great Britain in the final minute of the opening half when Jackson converted the European team's first penalty corner with a rising flick into the net.

Soon after the change of ends, Great Britain forced another penalty corner, but this time Jackson's shot was deflected out by the Indian defenders.

India finally managed to draw partity in the 42nd minute when Shivendra pushed in a square-pass from Uthappa, who set up the goal with an impressive run from the right.

Continuing to dominate, India forced their second penalty corner 10 minutes later, and this time Sandeep scored with a fierce drag flick high into the goal for a 2-1 lead.

The Indian strikers created two more scoring opportunities, but failed to shoot past British goalkeeper James Fair.

Traling 1-2, Great Britain made a desperate move and pulled its custodian Fair out of the field in the 68th minute to add another player in search of the equaliser.

The move backfired as it created the opening for India's third goal in the penultimate minute.

Sandeep sent an ariel ball to an unmarked Khandekar inside the rival circle, which the latter just had to get control of the ball and push into an open goal, and he duly accomplished the task to seal India's victory.

Earlier, South Korea secured the fifth position when they defeated hosts Malaysia 3-2 in the fifth-sixth position playoff match.

Hyun Hye-Sung (1st minute), Jang Jong-Hyun (42nd) and You Hyo-Sik (50th) scored for South Korea, while Hafifi Hafiz (17th) and Faisal Saari (63rd) shot on target for the home team.

For the first time in the history of the tournament, Pakistan finished at the bottom of the table in the seventh position.




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News Network
March 23,2020

Colombo, Mar 23: Sri Lankan batting great Kumar Sangakkara has said he is currently in self-quarantine, following his government's guidelines for those recently returning from Europe, which has now become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authorities are concerned over people returning from the most-affected COVID-19 countries in Europe not registering with the police and practising isolation.

"I have no symptoms or anything like that, but I'm following government guidelines," Sangakkara told News First.

"I arrived from London over a week ago and the first thing was there was a news bulletin saying that anyone who had travelled from within March 1 to 15 should register themselves with the police and undergo self-quarantine. I registered myself with the police."

The former captain said this even as the government confirmed there have been at least three cases of recent returnees attempting to hide the novel coronavirus symptoms from authorities.

Both Sangakkara and his former teammate Mahela Jayawardene have been active on social media, urging Sri Lankans to avoid panic and to exercise proper social distancing, as the country went into curfew on Friday evening.

Sri Lanka has so far reported more than 80 active COVID-19 positive cases in the country.

Across the world, the number of infected has crossed three lakh besides a death toll of more than 14,000 people.

Meanwhile, former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie has also gone into a two-week isolation after returning from the United Kingdom.

Gillespie, who is the head coach at Sussex, had been in Cape Town with the team for a pre-season tour, which was cut short as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

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Agencies
February 5,2020

Hamilton, Feb 5: Ross Taylor and Tom Latham played knocks of 109 and 69, respectively, as New Zealand defeated India by four wickets in the first ODI of the three-match series here at the Seddon Park on Wednesday.

Chasing 348, New Zealand got off to a steady start as openers Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls put on 85 runs for the first wicket, however, India finally got the breakthrough in the 16th over as Shardul Thakur dismissed Guptill (32).

Tom Blundell and Nicholls then put on 24 runs for the second wicket, but their vigil came to an end in the 20th over as Kuldeep Yadav had Blundell (9) stumped at the hands of wicket-keeper KL Rahul, reducing Kiwis to 109/2.

Nicholls then retrieved the innings for the hosts as he found support in Ross Taylor. The duo mixed caution with aggression to stitch together a partnership of 62 runs. But with their back against the wall, skipper Kohli lifted the side up as he ran out Nicholls (78) in the 29th over, reducing New Zealand to 171/3.

Skipper Tom Latham, came out to bat next, and he increased the tempo of the Kiwi innings. He took a special liking to Kuldeep and kept on sweeping him to pick easy boundaries on the legside.

Taylor and Latham put on a stand of 138 runs to take Kiwis closer to victory. But with 39 runs away from the target, Kuldeep dismissed Latham (69) to revive India's hopes of making a comeback.

Mohammed Shami removed Jimmy Neesham (9) in the 46th over while Colin de Grandhomme (1) was sent packing via a run-out to send cat among the pigeons in the Kiwi camp. In the end, Mitchell Santner and Taylor took the hosts over the line by four wickets and with 11 balls to spare.

Earlier, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul's knocks of 103 and 88, respectively, helped India post 347/4 in the allotted twenty overs.

After being put in to bat, India got off to a quickfire start as openers Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal put on 50 runs. Colin de Grandhomme finally provided the breakthrough to the Kiwis as he sent Shaw (20) back to the pavilion in the eighth over.

Agarwal (32) was also dismissed soon after by Tim Southee and the Men in Blue were reduced to 54/2 in the ninth over.

Skipper Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer then retrieved the innings for the visitors as the duo put on 102 runs for the third wicket. Kohli brought up his 58th half-century in the 28th over.

Ish Sodhi got the crucial breakthrough of Kohli (51) in the 29th over as he clean bowled him to reduce India to 156/3. However, Iyer continued to march on and brought up his maiden ODI century in the 43rd over.

KL Rahul, who came in to bat at number five provided the much-needed impetus to the innings. He along with Iyer put on a stand of 136 runs for the fourth wicket.

Iyer (103) was finally sent back to the pavilion by Southee in the 46th over, reducing India to 292/4.

In the final overs, Rahul and Kedar Jadhav hammered the Kiwi players to take India's score past the 340-run mark. Jadhav remained unbeaten on 26.

Brief Scores: New Zealand 348/6 (Ross Taylor 109*, Henry Nicholls 78, Kuldeep Yadav 2-84) defeat India 347/4 (Shreyas Iyer 103, KL Rahul 88*, Tim Southee 2-85) by four wickets.

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News Network
February 2,2020

Mount Maunganui, Feb 2: India registered a rare 5-0 whitewash against New Zealand after notching up a seven-run win in the fifth and final T20 International at Bay Oval here on Sunday.

Electing to bat, India posted 163 for three, riding on Rohit Sharma's 60 off 41 balls and a 33-ball 45 from K L Rahul.

The visitors then restricted the hosts to 156 for nine with Jasprit Bumrah claiming three wickets for 12 runs.

Chasing the target, the Black Caps were tottering at 17 for three in 3.2 overs.

Tim Seifert (50) and Ross Taylor (53) then added 99 runs for the fourth wicket as New Zealand recovered to 116.

Seifert clobbered a 30-ball 50 studded with five fours and three sixes, while Ross Taylor hit two sixes and five fours in his 47-ball 53-run innings.

However, once Seifert was dismissed in the 13th over, the hosts suffered a collapse, losing five wickets, including Taylor, for 25 runs to loss the plot in the end.

Brief Score:

India: 163 for 3 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 60; S Kuggeleijn 2/25)    

New Zealand: 156 for 9 in 20 overs (Ross Taylor 53, Tim Seifert 50; Jasprit Bumrah 3/12).

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