India beat Pakistan by one wicket to reach Under-19 World Cup semifinals

August 20, 2012

ind_pak

Townsville, August 20: India's tail-enders held their nerves in the tense dying moments to edge out archrivals Pakistan by one wicket in a low-scoring thriller to cruise into the semifinals of the Under-19 World Cup on Monday.

After dismissing Pakistan for a paltry 136, India made rough weather of a small target as they were reduced to 127/9 in 41 overs after being in a comfortable 124/6 at one stage.

It was a nerve-wrecking final 25 minutes as Mumbai lad Harmeet Singh and number 11 Sandeep Sharma from Punjab held their nerves to eke out a narrow one-wicket win with two overs to spare at the Tony Ireland Stadium.

The two tail-enders played out seven overs to score the remaining 10 runs as the Pakistanis applied pressure with their fielders closing in.

The victory came when Harmeet pulled Mohammad Nawaz towards the square-leg boundary to score two runs and take India to the victory target.

The victory shot triggered off scenes of wild celebration in the Indian camp as his teammates rushed onto the field to hug him.

India will now take on New Zealand in their semifinal on August 23. New Zealand beat West Indies by three wickets in the other quarterfinal match.

It must have personally been satisfying for both Sandeep and Harmeet who are dubbed as 'U-19 veterans' in their team as they were playing their second colts World Cup having been a part of the team in 2010 as well. India had then lost to Pakistan.

Credit should also be given to Baba Aparajith (51, 97 balls, 3x4) as his composed batting after initial jitters steadied the ship.

India were tottering at 8/3 within the first five overs of their chase but Aprajith along with Vijay Zol (36) added a crucial 66 runs for the fourth wicket to ensure India's passage into the last four stage.

This was also a sweet revenge for Unmukt Chand and co as Pakistan had convincingly beaten India in the previous two meetings of the under-19 edition in 2006 and 2010.

In conditions conducive for both seam and swing bowling, Pakistan left arm pacer Zia-ul-Haq troubled the Indian top-order with his brisk pace as he repeatedly got the ball to angle away from the right handers.

India's batting mainstay Chand paid for his impetuosity as he flashed hard at a Zia delivery only to be caught brilliantly in their deep third-man region by Ehsan Adil.

In the very next over, right-arm medium pacer Adil got one to shape away from the opener Prashant Chopra (4) as he nicked it to wicketkeeper Salman Afridi.

Hanuma Vihari (0) followed the suit as he edged one to the second slip of Zia's bowling.

At 8/3, Zol and Aparajith joined hands to carry out a repair job. They first concentrated on taking singles and two's and hit the occasional boundary in between.

Zol fell at the score of 74 while attempting a non-existent run as he failed to make to the crease on time.

Akshdeep Nath didn't stay for long as India were again in a spot of bother at 84/5.

Aprajith who played a good pull shot and couple of elegant looking cover drives then scored a few quick runs along with wicketkeeper batsman Smit Patel, the duo on two occasions running four runs even as the ball failed to cross the rope.

Aparajith finally completed his 50 pushing for a single but was soon out as he offered a catch in the covers.

His dismissal, however, triggered a slump as three wickets in quick succession before Sharma and Harmeet guided them home.

Earlier, Sandeep (3/24) and Ravikant Singh (3/43) continued their good show in the tournament as they left Pakistan reeling at 98/8 before Ehsan Adil's lusty hitting saw Pakistan reach 136.

The delivery of the match was bowled by young Bengal pacer Ravikant who dismissed left-handed Saad Ali. The delivery just pitched outside the off stump and moved in a shade to clip the off bail as the gap between bat and pad was minimal.





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News Network
February 11,2020

Melbourne, Feb 11: Opener David Warner received Allan Border Medal, while all-rounder Ellyse Perry bagged Belinda Clarke medal in the 2020 Australian Cricket Awards on Monday.

Warner secured his third (2016, 2017, 2019) Allan Border Medal and Perry a trio of Belinda Clarke Awards (2016, 2018, 2019) as voted by their peers, umpires and the media across all forms and every game of international cricket in 2019.

Warner dominated the ICC World Cup with 647 runs including a highest score of 166 at an average of 71.88, including three centuries. He then rebounded from a challenging Ashes series to dominate at home in the T20I series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the Test series against Pakistan - which included his memorable innings of 335 not out in Adelaide - and the Test series against New Zealand.

Warner (194) outpolled Ashes hero Steve Smith by a single vote for the Allan Border Medal with paceman Pat Cummins, the ICC International Cricketer of the Year, third in the polling with 185 votes.

Perry enjoyed an incredible year with both bat and ball, starting with dominant Ashes performances which included an innings of 116 in the Test in Taunton and 11 wickets in the three ODIs.

Her figures of 7-22 at Canterbury were the best ODI figures by an Australian woman's player. She backed that up against the West Indies by taking 3-17 in the opening ODI and then scoring 112 not out in Antigua before finishing the year with a solid series against Sri Lanka at home. Perry (161) was a comfortable winner of her third Belinda Clarke Award from Alyssa Healy (153) and Jess Jonassen (87) taking second and third place respectively in the voting.

Breakout batsman Marnus Labuschagne's superlative Test summer and Ashes series secured him the Male Test Player of the Year. Having replaced Steve Smith as a concussion substitute in the Lord's Test, Labuschagne went on to make 353 runs at 50.42 in the Ashes.

His outstanding form continued at home with a first-up 185 against Pakistan at the Gabba and a Test high 215 against New Zealand in Sydney. He scored 347 runs at an average of 173.5 against Pakistan and 549 runs at 91.5 against New Zealand. Limited overs captain Aaron Finch (38) capped a stellar year by being voted the Men's One-Day International Player of the Year ahead of Usman Khawaja (33) and Warner (24).

Finch's year included a massive series against Pakistan in the UAE with 451 runs at 112.75, including knocks of 116, 153 not out and 90. He then dominated the World Cup with 507 runs at 50.7, including 153 against Sri Lanka and 100 against England at Lords. Warner (19) continued his magical year in the T20I game to become the Men's T20 International Player of the Year from Glenn Maxwell (16). Kane Richardson and Steve Smith (8) tied for third.

Alyssa Healy claimed top honours as the women's One-Day International Player of the Year with 39 votes ahead of Perry (33) and Jonassen (19). Healy scored a double by also claiming the women's T20 Player of the Year with 18 votes, ahead of Jonassen and Meg Lanning who were tied on 15. It was the second consecutive year that Healy has won the women's ODI and T20 Awards.

West Australian veteran Shaun Marsh was voted Men's Domestic Player of the Year with 1322 runs at 52.88 in all forms of the game, including the highest score of 214, while breakout paceman Wes Agar was named the Bradman Young Cricketer for his 41 wickets at 22.62 in the year.

Molly Strano and Tayla Vlaeminck took the prized Women's Domestic Player of the Year and Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year awards respectively.

Strano took 28 wickets in 22 games while Vlaeminck's 19 wickets for the year reinforced her enormous potential.

Former Hobart Hurricane Corrine Hall was named Community Champion for her work as an Ambassador of the Kindness Factory, grassroots cricket, and upcoming book Victress, which features 35 iconic female athletes and their stories. Each portrait is accompanied by the athlete's story, with a particular focus on how kindness impacted their journey.

The awards for international cricket are based on votes from players, umpires and the media on a 3-2-1 basis from each match. For the domestic awards, the votes are collected from all players.

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Agencies
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Sanjiv Chawla, a key accused in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje in 2000, was extradited from the UK on Thursday, Delhi Police said.

The 50-year-old British national, accompanied by a crime branch team from London, reached IGI Airport this morning, a senior officer said.

He is likely to be taken to the crime branch office for questioning, he added.

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News Network
March 2,2020

Christchurch, Mar 2: India captain Virat Kohli on Monday said the under-fire Rishabh Pant has got a "lot of chances" but the team is not looking to try someone else in the youngster's place just yet as one player can't be singled out in a collective failure.

Pant has been under the scanner for the past one year because of his inconsistent run. His tally of 60 runs across four innings in the 0-2 Test series loss to New Zealand, which concluded here on Monday, has only amplified the debate whether it was prudent to leave out a keeper of Wriddhiman Saha's calibre and back Pant.

"...we have given him (Pant) a lot of chances in the home season as well starting from Australia. Then he was not playing for a bit. In turn he really worked hard on himself," Kohli came to Pant's defence after the series here.

"You need to figure out when is the right time to give someone else a chance. If you push people too early, they can lose confidence," he added.

"...collectively, we didn't perform. I don't believe in singling him out. We take the hit together as a group whether it's the batting group or as a team."

When asked if he believes Pant has taken his place in the side for granted, Kohli made it clear that the culture of this team doesn't encourage anyone to think along those lines.

"I don't see anyone taking his place for granted in this team. That's the culture we have set. People are told to take responsibilities and work hard. Whether it happens or not is a different thing. Then you can have a conversation with the players," he said.

"But no one has come here thinking I am going to play every game or I am indispensable," he added in no uncertain terms.

Kohli, just like head coach Ravi Shastri, made it clear that Pant can make a difference in overseas conditions and he won't like to deviate during future tours.

"The time that he didn't play, he really worked hard on his game. So we thought this is the right time because of his game and the way he plays because he can make a difference lower down the order.

"That was our planning behind it. We can't really fluctuate when it comes to what we planned," he added.

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