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India win U-19 World Cup

August 26, 2012

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Townsville (Australia), August 26: Unmukt Chand led from the front with a magnificent hundred as India Under-19 lifted their third World Cup title after beating formidable defending champions Australia by six wickets in the final on Sunday.

Courtesy a magnificent unbeaten 111 by Unmukt and his unbroken partnership of 130 runs with wicketkeeper Smit Patel, India overhauled a competitive target of 226 on a bouncy strip with 14 balls to spare.

It was one of the best centuries one could have witnessed at the junior-level as Unmukt hit seven fours and as many as six sixes during his 130-ball knock.

He completed his century with a six over extra-cover off Alex Gregory but the celebrations were muted. The skipper knew that the job was only half done.

Once Smit, who hit an effective 62, slog-swept off-spinner Ashton Turner towards deep mid-wicket for a four a number of Indian supporters rushed to the ground along to celebrate with the team.

Though four wickets were lost in the chase, it never looked like an uphill task for the Indians, who were subdued in the middle overs but accelerated towards the end to get to the target with ease.

After Prashant Chopra was out chasing a delivery down leg-side of Mark Steketee without troubling the scorers, Unmukt and in-form batsman Baba Aparajith (33) took the attack to the opposition.

The duo added 73 runs for the second-wicket playing the Aussie pace trio of Steketee, Joel Paris and Gurinder Sandhu with ease.

Unmukt was phenomenal in the closing stages hitting a couple of glorious sixes off Sandhu’s bowling.

The first was over long-off while second looked even more spectacular as he presented a full face of the bat with a nice follow through.

Aparajith on the other hand hit a nice hook shot off Paris and some lovely cover drives that pierced the field.

However, Sandhu had the last laugh when he forced Aparajith to drive on the up and was brilliantly caught by Ashton Turner at short-cover.

The Tamil Nadu all-rounder scored 33 off 38 balls with five hits to the fence. Hanuma Vihari (4) and Vijay Zol (1) didn’t score much but some damage was done by the number of deliveries that were consumed in the process.

Zol’s discomfort against the moving deliveries also frustrated Unmukt who didn’t get much of the strike. The Indian captain finally completed his half-century in 68 deliveries.

Zol’s agony ended as he edged one off Paris to wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson. At 97 for four, Smit Patel joined Unmukt and the circumstances were difficult. The boundaries dried up and so did the singles.

It was Smit, who hit fine straight drives as India got their first boundary after 44 deliveries.

Slowly, the two resurrected the innings with singles and twos. There were the occasional boundaries but only a few compared to the flurry of fours that Unmukt and Aparajith hit in first 15 overs.

Earlier, India frittered away the early advantage, as defending champions Australia recovered from a shaky start to post a competitive 225 for 8.

Electing to field after winning the toss Indians had the Aussies on the mat at 38 for 4 before host skipper William Bosisto (87 not out) rebuilt the innings with the help of some notable contributions down the order from Tavis Head (37) and Ashton Turner. Sandeep Sharma (4-54) was the most successful bowler.

This is India’s third title after having won in 2000 and 2008.

Twitter abuzz with congratulatory message for India U-19 squad

India’s under-19 cricket team was swamped with congratulatory messages from politicians, cricketers and corporate bosses on twitterati for lifting its third U-19 World Cup title after a gap of four years.

From senior cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh to Union Sports Minister Ajay Maken, corporates Anand Mahindra and Vijay Mallya — all came together on Twitter to congratulate the Indian colts on their remarkable achievement.

While the junior Indian team did a Usain Bolt by striking his trademark ‘To The World’ pose after lifting the coveted trophy, players and other celebrities used social networking sites to express their joy after the visitors beat formidable defending champions Australia by six wickets at Tony Ireland Stadium.

“Champions champions champions. Well done India U—19 boys for bringing another world cup home. Very proud of u all. So happy. God bless u all,” tweeted India off—spinner Harbhajan Singh.

Yuvraj Singh wrote: “Proud of the colts!! Congratulations to the u—19 boys for winning the world cup! well played captain @UnmuktChand.”

Sports Minister Maken posted: “Congratulations”

India middle-batsman Manoj Tiwary was all praise for the Indian team.

“Thank you India U19 Team for making us proud by winning the World Cup trophy. And great inning by @UnmuktChand9 and well played Smit Patel.”

Indian Premier League Commissioner, Rajeev Shukla, extending his best wishes for Team India, wrote: “Congratulate Indian U19 team 4 a spectacular performance 2 lift the World Cup. Australian team deserves praise 4 putting up a good show too.

Former IPL chairman Lalit Modi also joined in to congratulate the Indian team.

“Congrats to the Indian Under 19 Boys for bringing home the Cup. These Boys are our Future,” he posted.

West Indies opener Chris Gayle wrote: “Great news. India won the U19 world cup. India beat Australia in world cup Final Congrats team India.”

UB Group chairman and owner of Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL team, Vijay Mallya tweeted: “Congrats Team India. Under 19 World Cup Champions. Good inspiration for the senior national team in the forthcoming World Cup.”

Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group also praised the team for its performance.

“This is what is so infectious about India:the FUTURE is always better&brighter.Congratulations to the Under—19 World Cup Cricket team..!” Mahindra wrote.

Beijing Games gold—medallist shooter, Abhinav Bindra congratulated the team, saying it was great to watch the match.

“Well done Unmukt Chand! Great to watch. Congrats to the team!”, he wrote on his Twitter page.

Former Indian spinner Murali Kartik wrote: “Well done the Under—19 lads..congrats.”

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said the young cricketers have done the country proud.

“Our cricketers have done us proud yet again.

Congratulations to the young players for winning the ICC Under—19 Cricket World Cup“.

Former India opener Aakash Chopra was also full of praise for the youngsters. “The rewards of diligent and thorough preparation over the last 2 years. Well done BCCI. Well done young Team India”.


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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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News Network
January 31,2020

New Delhi, Jan 31: Indian women's team captain Rani Rampal on Thursday became the first-ever hockey player to win the prestigious 'World Games Athlete of the Year' award.

The World Games announced the winner on Thursday after 20 days of polling by sports fans world-wide.

"Indian hockey superstar Rani is The World Games Athlete of the Year 2019! Huge congratulations!," the World Games said in a statement.

"With an impressive number of votes, 199,477, Rani is the clear winner of the Athlete of the Year race, where sports fans all over the world have voted for their favourite during 20 days of polling in January. All in all, over 705,610 votes were cast during the poll," it added.

Last year, India won the FIH Series Finals, and Rani was named Player of the Tournament. Under Rani's leadership, the Indian women's team qualified for just the third Olympic Games in its history.

"I dedicate this award to the entire hockey fraternity, my team and my country. This success has only become possible with the love and support from hockey lovers, fans, my team, coaches, Hockey India, my government, friends from Bollywood, fellow sportspersons and my countrymen who have continuously voted for me," said Rani, who was recently named among the Padma Shri awardees.

"Special thanks to FIH for nominating me for this prestigious award. Thank you to The World Games Federation for this recognition," she added.

Rani further said after a successful 2019, she is now looking forward to achieving greater heights with the national team in 2020, which also happens to be an Olympic year.

"It is my privilege and honour to win this award. It is always nice when your country recognises your effort. It is even better when the international sports community recognises it. Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me," she said.

"2019 was a great year for our team because we qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. As a team we want to make 2020 a great year!"

Rani, who has been a member of the national team since she was a 15-years-old, currently has more than 240 caps for India.

"Rani is an inspirational athlete, and a role model for many in India. It was amazing to see the support the Indians, even as high up as Mr Rijiju, the Minister of State, Youth Affairs and Sports, gave to her in this vote together with the Hockey fans all around the world. This is what sport is about: uniting people from different backgrounds and different countries," said International World Games Association President Jose Perurena.

The International Hockey Federation also congratulated Rani on being named for the award.

"Congratulations @imranirampal for becoming the first ever Hockey athlete to win the prestigious @TheWorldGames Athlete of the Year award!" the FIH, who nominated Rani for the award, said in its twitter handle.

"On behalf of FIH and the global hockey community, I would like to extend our warmest congratulations to Rani for having been voted The World Games Athlete of the Year 2019. This is an acknowledgement of her outstanding performances - together with her team-mates - and her dedication to hockey and her leadership," FIH CEO Thierry Weil said.

"This prestigious Award is also a great recognition for hockey globally. Furthermore, we are working hard for and looking forward to having Hockey 5s as a demonstration sport at The World Games 2021."

Congratulating Rani, Hockey India President Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad said, "This is a very proud moment for all of us. She is the first Indian athlete to win this award and through her achievements Rani has been able to draw a lot of attention towards women's hockey. Many people are aware of the team's recent accomplishments and I am confident this team is capable of winning larger goals and I wish Rani and the team best of luck this Olympic Year."

There were initially 25 nominees, male and female nominated by their respective sports federations, which was later reduced to 10 in the final round of public voting.

The FIH has recommended Rani's name for her outstanding performances and her ability to lead by example.

Karate star Stanislav Horuna of Ukraine was second behind Rani with over 92,000 votes and Canadian powerlifting world champion Rhaea Stinn was third.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 will be played on November 20, the sources within the BCCI confirmed on Sunday.

The IPL's governing council met earlier today, and it has also been decided that the evening matches will start at 7:30 pm, half an hour earlier than usual.

Jay Shah, the secretary of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and Arun Dhumal, treasurer of BCCI did not attend the IPL's governing council meeting.

"The tournament will run for 51 days, usually the IPL should go on for 49 days as per the constitution, however in the meeting it has been decided that we will go to Supreme Court for conducting the IPL in 51 days," sources within the BCCI said.

"As the tournament is running for 51 days, we will get the chance to play fewer doubleheaders, there would be just 10 double headers, evening matches will start at 7:30 and the afternoon matches will start at 3:30. 

The matches will be played across three venues at Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah as travelling here by road is easier and bio-secure environment can be maintained," he added.

The IPL's governing council also confirmed that Women's IPL will also go on and four teams would be participating in it.

"When it comes to women's IPL, there would be four teams and the matches would be played at the time of playoffs for men's IPL," the source said.

The source within the BCCI also said that the governing council would be meeting again to discuss the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for all the franchises that need to be followed in the IPL.

The governing council meeting discussed the quarantine measures along with the standard operating procedures (SOP), bio bubble training facilities, stay and travel of the players.

Issues related to the broadcaster, shifting, and scheduling of the tournament, and DXB app to be downloaded for players and other officials were also discussed as well.

A few days earlier, the IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel had confirmed that the 13th edition of the mega event will commence on September 19 in the UAE.

This year's IPL was slated to commence from March 29 but the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) had also confirmed receiving the official Letter of Intent from the BCCI to host the 2020 edition of the IPL.

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