India crush Pakistan by 8 wickets to stay in semis hunt

September 30, 2012

indiapak

New Delhi, September 30: Virat Kohli scored a fine 78 to guide India to a convincing eight-wicket win over Pakistan in the Super Eight game and keep their semifinals hope alive in the Twenty20 World Cup at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday.

India attained 129-run target in just 17 overs with Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh unbeaten on 78 and 19 respectively.

Kohli and Yuvraj put on an unbeaten 54-run stand for the third wicket to comfortably guide India home.

Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli stitched a crucial 74-run partnership for the second wicket to lay the foundation for Indian victory.

Kohli's fine half-century came off in 41 balls. Kohli slammed 8 boundaries and 2 sixes during his winning knock.

Sehwag, who scored a 24-ball 29, was sent back to hut by Shahid Afridi after the Delhi dasher tried to loft Afridi's slower ball over the ropes but it was eventually caught by Umar Gul at long off.

India lost Gautam Gambhir early as he played a lose shot straight back to the bowler Raza Hasan who made no mistake in taking a simple catch to rid India of its opener.

Earlier, Indian bowlers fired in unison as they restricted Pakistan to 128. Pakistan's innings were bundled up in 19.4 overs after L Balaji dismissed Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal in successive deliveries.

Pakistan got a terrible start as they lost Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Nasir Jamshed and Kamran Akmal inside 50 runs against India after opting to bat.

Ravichandran Ashwin too joined the party as he struck twice to dent Pakistan's brief recovery.

Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal added crucial 47 runs for the sixth wicket to give some respite to Pakistan after early jolts.

Ashwin first got rid of the perilous Shoaib Malik, who played a decent cameo of 28 runs with the help of 3 boundaries. Malik was caught at midwicket by Rohit Sharma while trying to drive.

Soon after dismissing Malik, Ashwin claimed his second wicket in the form of Umar Akmal after the right-hander was brilliantly caught deep in the field by Suresh Raina.

Virat Kohli got rid of skipper Mohammad Hafeez as Pakistan lost half of their side at the score of 59 in 9.5 overs.

Yuvraj Singh's double strike gave denting blows to Pakistan after getting early blows from the seamers.

Yuvraj first dismissed Nasir Jamshed behind the wicket and then picked up his second wicket in the form of Kamran Akmal, who in an effort to strike a slightly offside pitched ball through covers could only find the gloves of MS Dhoni.

Paceman Lakshmipathy Balaji gave India second breakthrough in the form of dangerous Shahid Afridi.

Seamer Irfan Pathan gave India crucial early breakthrough as he dismissed dangerous Pakistani opener Imran Nazir in their Super Eight game.

Pakistan skipper Mohammad Hafeez won the toss and decided to bat first against arch-rivals India.

Dashing opener Virender Sehwag returned to the playing XI after missing last two matches against England and Australia.

Seamer Lakshmipathy Balaji also made his way back in to the team. Piyush Chawla and Harbhajan Singh were left out for today's match.

On the other hand Pakistan have retained the same playing XI which beat South Africa in their first Super Eight game.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Ravichandran Ashwin, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh.

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez (captain), Imran Nazir, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat, Raza Hasan, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has said that wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni is the biggest superstar in cricket and is one of the easiest guys to interact with.

Bravo was doing an Instagram live chat with former Zimbabwe pacer Pommie Mbangwa and it was then that the all-rounder was asked to talk about his stint with Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

"I think a lot of credit for CSK's success has to be given to Dhoni and Fleming, obviously the owners, they trust both Fleming and Dhoni, so there is no outside interference when it comes to decision making, both are very big students of the game, players love MS and it's an environment and franchise that allows you to be you," Bravo told Mbangwa during the chat.

"MS Dhoni is the biggest superstar in cricket and in our team. He was one of the easiest people to interact with, outside of the cricket field, he is like playing video games, his door is open at all times, whenever you talk about the biggest superstar and then you think a person like Dhoni is the most humble of them all. CSK is a special team and we have the most loyal fans," he added.

Bravo has been with the CSK since 2011. He has played a total of 104 matches for the franchise, picking up 121 wickets.

The all-rounder has also managed to win the Purple Cap (most wickets in IPL) two times (2013 and 2015).

CSK has won the IPL thrice (2010, 2011 and 2018) and all the titles have come under the leadership of MS Dhoni.

Thirty-eight-year-old Dhoni has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni had to face criticism for his slow batting approach during India's matches in the high-profile game.

This year, Dhoni did not find a place for himself in the BCCI's centrally contracted players list.

The board had released the list of central contract list of players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020.

Dhoni is the only captain to win all major ICC trophies (50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy).

Under his leadership, India also managed to attain the number one ranking in Test cricket.

He would have been leading the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) if the Indian Premier League (IPL) had commenced from March 29.

However, the tournament has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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News Network
March 29,2020

New Delhi, Mar 29: Former Indian batsman Wasim Jaffer on Sunday picked his all-time IPL team and appointed wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni as its captain.

Jaffer's team's feature opener Rohit Sharma, current Indian skipper Virat Kohli, all-rounder Hardik Pandya, spinner R Ashwin, and pacer Jasprit Bumrah as seven domestic players.
While the foreign players spot have been occupied by West Indies' swashbuckling batsman Chris Gayle, all-rounder Andre Russell, Afghanistan's spinner Rashid Khan, and Sri Lanka's veteran pacer Lasith Malinga.
Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been picked as 12th man by Jaffer.

Earlier this month, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to postpone the IPL to April 15, 2020, as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 outbreak.
The board also assured that it will work in unison with the Sports Ministry and will adhere to the guidelines issued.

The 13th edition of IPL was scheduled to commence from March 29. 

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