Spinners rule roost as India nail England

September 24, 2012

spin_rule_the_match

Three days can be too long in cricket and England realised it the hard way.

Only on Friday, England were brimming with pride and confidence after annihilating Afghanistan by 116 runs. On the other hand, India had come in for all-round criticism, and justifiably so, for their scratchy win against their Asian greenhorns.

England appeared ready to teach India a lesson or two in T20 cricket, but it was instead MS Dhoni and company who handed a crushing 90-run defeat to the defending champions in their final Group ‘A’ match here at the packed R Premadasa Stadium on Sunday night.


After posting a competitive 170/4 on the back of knocks from Rohit Sharma (55 n.o., 33b, 5x4, 1x6), Virat Kohli (40, 32b, 6x4) and Gautam Gambhir (45, 38b, 5x4), Indian spinners played havoc with the clueless English batsmen to bowl them out for a paltry 80 in 14.4 overs to qualify for the Super Eight stage as group toppers.

Harbhajan Singh (4-12), returning to the squad after being in the wilderness for over 12 months, bamboozled the Englishmen with his bag of tricks in his parsimonious four overs.

With an equally impressive Piyush Chawla, again playing his first international since the match against the Netherlands in March 2011 in the World Cup, claiming 2-13 with his assortment of googlies and leg-breaks, England looked like the Afghanistan of Friday.

Two slips, a short-leg and a silly point are a rare sight in T20 cricket where captains would prefer to dot the boundary line with fielders. But such was the effect of Indian spinners that Dhoni was forced to pack his close-in cordon in anticipation of wickets that fell like nine-pins.

Redemption

It was a sort of redemption for man of the match Harbhajan, who last played his match against England in the Nottingham Test last year before being ignored for his patchy form. Irfan Pathan (2-17), too, played his hand in India’s victory, dismissing opener Alex Hales and the dangerous Luke Wright cheaply. It was also a vindication of five-bowler strategy adopted by India, who until this match were reluctant to play with a batsman less. India, meanwhile, rested Zaheer Khan and R Ashwin along with Virender Sehwag.

Barring the six-over Power Play period and the final five overs, Indian innings chugged along a trifle slow in the middle overs.


After losing make-shift opener Irfan, who stepped in for Sehwag, early in the innings, Kohli provided the momentum with some crunching drives. With Gambhir picking up the odd boundary, India raced to 52 during field restrictions. It was as good a start as India would have hoped for after being asked to bat first by England who included an extra seamer in Tim Bresnan dropping Samit Patel.

On hindsight England might be regretting their decision to play with just one spinner -- Graeme Swann.

The way Indian spinners left the English batsmen befuddled and the manner in which the England off-spinner kept the Indian batsmen quiet, the left-arm spin of Patel may have come in handy. Swann, introduced immediately after the Power Play, bowled with great control and precision as Kohli and Gambhir failed to force the pace against the wily bowler.

Kohli perished, trying to send Swann out of the park. A tired-looking Gambhir was unable to make much headway though the knock would have done a world of good to his confidence. In an effort to get some quick runs, Gambhir holed out in the deep that heralded the best phase for the Indian innings.

Rohit took an erratic English attack apart as India collected 57 runs in the last five overs. The frenetic pace of run-making also forced the English fielders into silly errors that helped India post a good total which eventually proved quite daunting.

Score Board

INDIA
Gambhir c Kieswetter b Finn 45
(38b, 5x4)
Irfan b Finn 8
(8b, 1x4)
Kohli c Bairstow b Swann 40
(32b, 6x4)
Rohit (not out) 55
(33b, 5x4, 1x6)
Dhoni c Hales b Dernbach 9
(8b, 1x4)
Raina (not out) 1
(1b)
Extras (B-1, LB-3, W-8) 12
Total (for 4 wkts, 20 overs) 170

Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Irfan), 2-81 (Kohli), 3-119 (Gambhir), 4-166 (Dhoni).
Bowling: Finn 4-0-33-2 (w-3), Dernbach 4-0-45-1 (w-3), Broad 4-0-36-0, Bresnan 4-0-35-0 (w-1), Swann 4-0-17-1 (w-1).

Runs during Power Play: 1-6 overs: 52/1.

ENGLAND

Kieswetter c Kohli b Chawla 35
(25b, 4x4, 2x6)
Hales b Irfan 0
(2b)
Wright lbw Irfan 6
(4b, 1x6)
Morgan b Harbhajan 2
(6b)
Bairstow b Chawla 1
(8b)
Buttler b Harbhajan 11
(12b, 1x4)
Bresnan c Gambhir b Harbhajan 1
(8b)
Broad c Gambhir b Dinda 3
(3b)
Swann st Dhoni b Harbhajan 0
(3b)
Finn (not out) 8
(10b, 1x4)
Dernbach (run out) 12
(7b, 2x4)
Extras (W-1) 1
Total (all out, 14.4 overs) 80

Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Hales), 2-18 (Wright), 3-39 (Morgan), 4-42 (Bairstow), 5-51 (Kieswetter), 6-54 (Bresnan), 7-60 (Buttler), 8-60 (Swann), 9-60 (Broad).

Bowling: Irfan 3-0-17-2 (w-1), Balaji 1-0-10-0, Dinda 2-0-26-1, Harbhajan 4-2-12-4, Chawla 4-1-13-2, Yuvraj 0.4-0-2-0.

Runs during Power Play: 1-6 overs: 39/3.



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News Network
January 10,2020

New Delhi, Jan 10: Injured Assam archer Shivangini Gohain underwent a critical surgery at the AIIMS. Dr. Deepak Gupta, professor of Pediatric neurosurgery at AIIMS, revealed about the delicate nature of the procedure and said there was no room for error.

"It was touching vertebral artery which supplies blood to the brain stem. The arrow was 0.5 cm in front of the spinal cord and the child could have become quadriplegic if someone tried to pull it out," Gupta said.

According to doctors, the arrow accidentally went inside the body damaging the shoulder bone, part of the neck, spinal cord and left lung.

Dr Gupta said, "Now the patient is fine. We had planned the surgery in a very unique way. Last whole night, our team was doing the planning and plotting to conduct this complex surgery. About 15 cm part of the arrow was inside the body which has entered through shoulder bone and affected neck, spinal cord and left lung".

"We started the surgery in the morning at 6 am which lasted for three and a half hours. We have successfully removed the arrow. The patient is stable now and shifted to ICU for observation," he added

Shivangini Gohain, the 12-year-old Assam archer who was impaled by an arrow shot accidentally at the SAI centre in Dibrugarh, was training unsupervised and the mishap was a result of negligence by the local coach and officials, the state's archery association has said.

The child was training at the Dakha Devi Rasiwasia College at Chabua, which serves as an extension centre under the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Regional Centre in Guwahati when the incident took place on Wednesday.

She was airlifted to Delhi on Thursday night and admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre. Pulin Das, a joint secretary of Assam Archery Association and executive member of the state Olympic association said the injury to the school girl from the Deodhai village, which is 3km from Chabua, happened as the trainees were practising without any coach and other officials.

“There is a SAI contractual coach Marcy and he has left for the Khelo India Games in Guwahati. He didn't instruct the trainees to stop the camp for some time nor did the college principal, who acted as administrator of the extension centre, looked after the practice,” Das said on Friday.

The extension centre has 11 trainees, six boys and five girls, and they were training under SAI contractual coach A C Marcy from Nagaland, who is in Guwahati for the Khelo India Youth Games.

“The training ground itself is in very bad shape, it was not even a dedicated ground for archery training, some play football, cricket and other sports on that ground. But the worst part is that the SAI coach did not give instructions to stop the camp for a while and the archers were training without any supervision,” he added Das said Gohain was struck by an arrow shot by boys doing practice for compound event. The arrow remained stuck for more more than a day before she was airlifted to New Delhi on Thursday night.

“There was nobody to look after the archers, they were training on their own though their parents were outside the ground. An arrow shot by a boy trainee who was doing compound event practice hit her on the shoulder,” the official said.

Gohain's father Brinchi Gohain was outside the practice area and with no official of the college and SAI coming for help, she was taken to Assam Medical College in Dibrugarh, 33km from Chabua.

“She could reach the AMC in Dribugarh only on Thursday morning. There, the doctors told her parents to take her to a more reputed hospital like AIIMS in Delhi. With help from people close to the local Member of Parliament and Assam CM himself, she was taken by air ambulance to Delhi.

“I was told that she had a very tough time as the arrow remained stuck for more than a day. She is a strong-willed girl and she fought. Her father must be a daily wage labourer and he was distraught also.”

The SAI said that it will bear all the expenses of her treatment. The Assam Archery Association has contributed Rs 20,000 towards her treatment.

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News Network
June 13,2020

Melbourne, Jun 13: Former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist and current opener David Warner have expressed gratitude to two Indian students for helping people in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gilchrist thanked Sharon Varghese, an Indian student who did her Bachelors in Nursing from the University of Wollongong.

Varghese has been was working on the frontline along with other health care workers to look after the residents of aged-care during the global health crisis.

"She gave up her time to work as an aged-care worker throughout that time. Sharon, I want to say congratulations on the selfless act and for wanting to thank people in Australia because you have enjoyed three and a half years living here. And that’s wonderful to hear," Gilchrist said in a video message.

"Just want to let you know, all of Australia, all of India and more importantly, your family will be so very proud of your efforts."

In another short video, Warner thanked Queensland-based Indian student, Shreyas Sheth.

"Namaste. I am here to say thank you to Shreyas Sheth who is doing selfless work to help others during the COVID crisis. Shreyas is doing his Masters in Computer Science at the University of Queensland and he has been part of University’s outreach program, preparing and delivering food packets to students in need right now," Warner said in the video.

"So I just want to say ‘good on ya’. I am sure your mum and dad and India are proud of you. Keep up the great work."

The videos were shared by Austrade India official twitter account, which have hit almost 10 thousand views in last one week.

Apart from the two cricketers, another Social Media Influencer Amy Aela also sent her thank you note to Liya, an Indian student from Griffith university for her work in providing mental health support to communities in Australia during the pandemic.

"Liya I just want to thank you...we definately need more people like you...just remember that Australia is so so proud of you, India is proud of you..please keep up the good work," Aela said.

Former Australian footballer Craig Foster also sent his thank you message to another Indian origin nurse Arushi from Deakin University. More than 100,000 Indian students are studying in Australia, currently making them one of the biggest cohorts of international students in the country.

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Agencies
May 9,2020

Tokyo, May 9: As the world continues to grapple with coronavirus pandemic, the organisers of Tokyo Game Show have cancelled 2020 showpiece event.

TGS 2020 was slated to be played from September 24 to September 27 at the Makuhari Messe convention center. However, there now talks going on for holding an online event instead.

According to the Verge, this is the first time that TGS has ever been cancelled since it started in 1996.

TGS 2020 gained more attention because of its status as the last major trade show before the launch of the upcoming next-gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

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