Sorry Sri Lanka, West Indies are going to win this

October 6, 2012

gayle_oct_6

He was wearing his cricket spikes and walking on tiles as he made his way to the press conference. He lost his balance but quickly corrected it and then grinned sheepishly. It was his only slip of the day and unfortunately for Australia, before that he had managed to guide West Indies into the final on the back of a powerful display that left the men from Down Under feeling helpless.


The confidence displayed by the West Indies has been astonishing.


Usually, they come into major tournaments these days as a talented, mercurial outfit that finds a way to lose when you least expect it. And when they collapse, it’s like a pack of cards.


But this time round, the arrival of Chris Gayle has given them a man they can trust in; a man who the opposition fears; a man who’ll break into a jig whenever he can. He smashes sixes with terrifying calm and the rest of the team follows suit. Against Australia for example, they had 14 sixes and just 13 fours.


Now the thing about the six is that there is no way to stop it after it leaves the bat. The fielders morph into onlookers and even if you have played dot-balls, one shot allows you to rapidly climb back into the match. In 14 balls against Australia, the West Indies scored 84 runs. For the rest of the time, they were just cruising.


Australia skipper George Bailey couldn’t stop giving an embarrassed sort of smile in the post-match press conference. He had been beaten fair and square by one man.


“Chris Gayle can do that to you. I thought we bowled well early on but you just need to take wickets. He didn’t have to force his hand at all. He could bat at the absolute tempo he wanted. And when he did go, as he does, he went beautifully,” said Bailey.


In fact, Bailey believes, perhaps rightly so, that the left-hander alone stands between Sri Lanka and winning a world title at home.


“If they can get Chris Gayle out for under 20 runs, I think they will win. If they don’t, I think the West Indies are too strong,” said Bailey. “Sri Lanka are a pretty well balanced side. It will be interesting to see. I think you can get 160 against the West Indies with their bowling attack. I am sitting on the fence a little bit there.”


So how will Gayle respond to the pressure? Probably by doing the Gangnam.


“I saw the video a couple of months ago,” said Gayle. “When it came out, there was a lot of talk about it. That’s how I got into it. It depends on what sort of mood I’m in. It’s a good dance to be honest. I enjoy it. Everybody does.”


Not so sure, Sri Lanka will enjoy it if West Indies power their way to what will go down as a famous win.


“It’s going to be a thriller against world-class players but it’s going to be good fun. We’re enjoying it, but at the same time we want to win the final. We struggled to reach this far. Some in the media might have had us as favourites but we did struggle. Now there’s just one more hurdle and there’s no pressure on us.”



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News Network
February 5,2020

Aukland, Feb 5: Striker Navneet Kaur scored a brace to guide the Indian women's hockey team to a convincing 3-0 win over New Zealand in the last game of its five-match tour here on Wednesday.

Navneet found the net in the 45th and 58th minutes, while Sharmila scored a field goal in the 54th minute as India drew curtains on the New Zealand tour on a bright note.

After a goalless opening two quarters, Navneet finally broke the deadlock for India in the 45th minute.

Sharmila then doubled the lead when she struck a powerful shot past the New Zealand goalkeeper in the 54th minute. Navneet found the net again just two minutes from the final hooter with a beautiful field strike.

India began the tour by thrashing New Zealand Development squad 4-0 before suffering close 1-2 and 0-1 defeats to the home senior team.

In penultimate game of the tour, skipper Rani's lone strike handed India a 1-0 win over Great Britain.

"...I am happy we produced three goals against New Zealand in the last match. This tour gave us a good insight about where we need to improve and one of the things is to create faster play than we do now," said India's chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne.

Commenting on his side's performance during the tour, Marijne said, "Sometimes we tend to keep the ball too long on the stick and then we create pressure. We need to avoid that by passing faster.

"On the defence side, we need to be a bit more calmer and need to improve our tackling. We will have a four week camp after a short break when we return home and we will be working on these points."

The Indian team will return home on February 7.

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News Network
January 29,2020

Hamilton, Jan 29: India defeated New Zealand in the third T20 International via Super Over to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series here on Wednesday.

India posted a competitive 179 for five at Seddon Park after being sent into bat. Opener Rohit Sharma top scored for India with a 65-run knock while skipper Virat Kohli contributed 38 runs in team's total.

Later, skipper Kane Williamson smashed a 48-ball 95 but New Zealand faltered in the final over to take the match into the Super Over.

Needing nine runs of the last over, New Zealand lost Williamson and Ross Taylor to finish at 179 for six and tie the match.

In the Super Over, New Zealand scored 17, a target which India overwhelmed in the final ball with Rohit smashing Tim Southee for two consecutive sixes.

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News Network
January 30,2020

Hamilton, Jan 30: Caught unaware about the Super Over scenario, Rohit Sharma took five minutes to “find” his abdomen guard after the third T20 International against New Zealand had ended in a tie on Wednesday.

The India vice-captain said the team had almost given up with New Zealand going great guns at one point.

“Everything was packed. All my stuff was inside my bag. I had to get it out. It literally took me five minutes to find my abdomen guard because I didn’t know where it was,” Rohit said.

“I mean we never thought it would go to the Super Over, the way they were batting at one point. It looked like they could easily win the game,” he added.

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