England push India to brink

November 26, 2012

monty

Kevin Pietersen and Monty Panesar are entirely contrasting individuals, but they joined forces to put England on the verge of a famous victory on Sunday.

On the third day, both England and India have walked into the Wankhede stadium with equal chances of taking command over the second Test. After Kevin Pietersen (186) and Alastair Cook (122) had provided steam to the visitors’ march, Indian spinners hit back to restrict them to 413, also limiting their lead to 86.

The match still was on equal footing, but what followed in the last session was quite mindboggling. Indian top and middle order imploded in spectacular style against Panesar, who took five wickets to complete a wonderful 10-for in this Test, and Graeme Swann to return to their rooms with uneasy minds at 117 for seven.

The home side now leads by just 31 runs, and India will be hoping to rattle a few more runs through a solid-looking Gautam Gambhir (53 batting), and the tailenders. The images of defending a modest 106 against Australia at this venue in 2004 could be the ones offering crumbs of solace to them at the moment.

The reason for India slipping into this deadly, marshy situation is quite simple. Their much-vaunted line-up couldn’t find right solutions against England spinners, particularly Panesar, who bowled at a good pace to exploit the bite of the surface.

Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and R Ashwin were Panesar’s five victims of the day, and barring Ashwin the other four worthies fell to classic left-arm spin bowling. Sehwag, Yuvraj and Dhoni paid the price of playing forward and feeling for the ball, while Tendulkar, who might have played his last Test innings in front of the home crowd, was trapped in front while trying to fend the ball off the back foot. It was a brilliant effort from a bowler who precisely knew what should be done to take advantage of a helpful surface.

But there was neither conviction nor confidence in the way Indian batsmen, touted as the finest set of players of turning ball, faced the English spinners. One batsman – Gambhir – showed them how the tweakers could be negated on a tough track, but there wasn’t much company for him on the day.

From a personal point of view, Gambhir has every reason to feel satisfied with his effort after a prolonged barren spell, and the knock also might have brushed away cobwebs of self-doubts from his mind.

But Gambhir was not the only batsman who eliminated a few demons of doubts from the mind. In the morning session Pietersen played one of the most memorable Test innings to hand England the advantage, though of slender nature at that moment.

Reintegrated into the England squad, Pietersen’s old failing against left-arm spin returned to haunt him, getting castled twice by Pragyan Ojha at Motera. However, Pietersen, overnight 62, blossomed in the company of his skipper Cook, who showed a Zen-monk-like patience to reach his 22nd Test hundred. It was the first instance that a skipper scored four hundreds in as many Tests.

But Pietersen was even more brilliant. The first session of the day was crucial for both India and England, the former in need to take early wickets and the latter in need to preserve them. Instead of getting baulked by the circumstances, Pietersen dictated the proceedings with archetypal arrogance. The Surrey right-hander amassed 36 runs in the first 30 minutes, and he never let the momentum slip away from him or England.

Pietersen reached his 22nd Test hundred with a reverse sweep of Harbhajan Singh, and the dismissal of Cook, caught behind by Dhoni off Ashwin, only spurred Pietersen to shoulder more responsibility.

He fell 14 runs short of what would have been a fantastic double hundred, and the importance of his innings was evident in the way the England late order collapsed against Indian spinners; Matt Prior’s run out triggering the procession.

That was not even remotely close the one Indians managed later in the day. Now, it will require a blunder of colossal proportions from England’s part for India to save this game. But, there’s no sign of such slip-up from them. At least for now!


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News Network
May 11,2020

Karachi, May 11: Pakistan might play more Test matches during their tour of England if it goes ahead as scheduled in July after the West Indies pulled out of an assignment there in June owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Pakistan Cricket Board and the England and Wales Cricket Board officials are due to have a video conference on May 18 to discuss how they should proceed with the tour given the situation because of the pandemic.

"At present we have to play three Tests and three T20 internationals but the number of Tests could be increased and the tour could start a bit early in July," a PCB source said.

The source said that the ECB could offer to organise a four or five Test series against Pakistan if the West Indies tour didn’t go ahead.

Issues that are likely to be discussed in the May 18 meet are a quarantine period for Pakistani players when they arrive in England in July and limiting the venues for the matches and playing before empty stadiums.

PCB CEO Wasim Khan confirmed the video conference but said so far, the ECB has not spoken to them on increasing the number of matches on the tour which is scheduled between July and September.

"Things will be clear after the meeting but whatever decision we take we will consult our captains and head coaches before giving any confirmation," Khan said.

The PCB has so far kept mum on the chances of the series taking place in England because of the COVID-19 situation.

But with the British government due to announce measures to ease the lockdown in the country, it appears Pakistan could be touring on schedule.

Some former players have, however, asked the PCB to tread on the side of caution.

"If the West Indies have decided to postpone their series in June because of safety reasons and because of the situation then the PCB should also be very careful before taking up any offer from the ECB," a former captain said.

The West Indies Cricket Board said its players have to be convinced of their safety for it to commit to the assignment, which "is not possible in June."

"...we will continue our discussions with the ECB and other Internationals Boards on trying to find new dates," it said in a recent press release.

"We will only travel to England to play the series if our players can be assured that it is safe to do so," it added.

Pakistan is also scheduled to play an ODI series against Ireland while in UK but that series could be rescheduled and also be held in England.

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Agencies
April 14,2020

Tokyo, Apr 14: Tokyo organizers said Tuesday they have no B Plan in the event the Olympics need to be postponed again because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Masa Takaya, the spokesman for the Tokyo Olympics, said organizers are proceeding under the assumption the Olympics will open on July 23, 2021. The Paralympics follow on Aug. 24.

Those dates were set last month by the International Olympic Committee and Japanese officials after the coronavirus pandemic made it clear the Olympics could not be held as scheduled this summer.

We are working toward the new goal, Takaya said, speaking in English on a teleconference call with journalists.

We don't have a B Plan. The severity of the pandemic and the death toll has raised questions if it will even be feasible to hold the Olympics in just over 15 months. Several Japanese journalists raised the question on the call.

All I can tell you today is that the new games' dates for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games have been just set up, Takaya said.

In that respect, Tokyo 2020 and all concerned parties now are doing their very best effort to deliver the games next year." IOC President Thomas Bach was asked about the possibility of a postponement in an interview published in the German newspaper Die Welt on Sunday.

He did not answer the question directly, but said later that Japanese organizers and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated they could not manage a postponement beyond next summer at the lastest.

The Olympics draw 11,000 athletes and 4,400 Paralympic athletes and large support staffs from 206 national Olympic committees.

There are also questions about frozen travel, rebooking hotels, cramming fans into stadiums and arenas, securing venues, and the massive costs of rescheduling, which is estimated in Japan at 2 billion- 6 billion.

Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto addressed the issue in a news conference on Friday. He is likely to be asked about it again on Thursday when local organizers and the IOC hold a teleconferene with media in Japan.

The other major question is the cost of the delay; how much will it be, and who pays? Bach said in the Sunday interview that the IOC would incur several hundred million dollars in added costs. Under the so-called Host City Agreement, Japan is liable for the vast majority of the expenses.

This is impossible to say for now, Takaya, the spokesman said.

It is not very easy to estimate the exact amount of the games' additional costs, which have been impacted by the postponement."

Tokyo says it's spending 12.6 billion to organize the Olympics. But a Japanese government audit published last year says the costs are twice that much. Of the total spending, 5.6 billion in private money. The rest is from Japanese governments.

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News Network
March 16,2020

Mar 16: With COVID-19 outbreak killing over 5,400 people globally, former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar has lashed out at those responsible for making the coronavirus infect humans and blamed China solely for the outbreak.

"I don't understand why you have to eat things like bats, drink their blood and urine and spread some virus across the globe...I'm talking about the Chinese people. They have put the world at stake. I really don't understand how you can eat bats, dogs, and cats. I'm really angry," Akhtar said in a video posted on his Youtube channel.

"The whole world is at risk now. The tourism industry has been hit, the economy is badly affected and the whole world is going towards a lockdown.

"I'm not against the people of China but I'm against the law of animals. I understand this may be your culture but this is not benefitting you now, it is killing humanity. I'm not saying you boycott the Chinese but there has to be some law. You cannot go on and eat anything and everything," he added.

Coronavirus, which originated in China's Wuhan city, has so far spread to more than 100 countries, infecting over 1,30,000 people.

In Pakistan, the number of positive cases reached 28 on Saturday.

Many sporting events, including the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Pakistan Super League (PSL), have been affected by the disease which has now been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

While the IPL 2020, which was originally scheduled to start from March 29, has been postponed till April 15, the playoff stage of PSL has been curtailed and will be played behind closed doors.

"The biggest reason for anger is PSL...Cricket returned to Pakistan after so many years, the PSL was happening in our country for the first time now even that is at risk. The foreign players are leaving, it will take place behind closed doors," said Akhtar.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases across India has crossed 80 while two people have lost their lives due to the deadly disease. But Akhtar did not have the information and added: "God forbid the virus doesn't reach India. There are around 130 crore people there. I've been in touch with my friends in India and wishing them well."

In PSL, there will be no playoffs and the top four teams will now play semi-finals and then the final on March 17 and 18. The final was originally scheduled to be held on March 22.

"I've also heard that IPL has been postponed till April 15. The hotel industries, travel industries, broadcasters everything will incur losses because of this," he said.

The former Pakistan pacer also called on the world authorities to come out with a new animal protection law so that such diseases don't resurface in the future.

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