India beat Aussie in T20 for blind opener

December 3, 2012
india

Bangalore, December 3: They are visually impaired, but don't have a problem in 'seeing' or hearing the ball to hit it for a boundary or loft it for a six or running singles or twos between the wickets.

In a dramatic opening match of the T20 World Cup for blind Sunday, India beat Australia by 215 runs in the 20-over format at the Central College grounds in the city centre here.

In other three matches played during the day, Pakistan beat England by 167 runs; Sri Lanka defeated South Africa by seven wickets and Nepal beat Bangladesh by nine wickets.

Nine countries -- Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Nepal, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies -- are playing in the 12-day tournament that will have two semi-finals Dec 12 and a final Dec 13 after 39 matches over the next 10 days.

Though the rules of the game are the same as in the regular matches professional cricketers play, the pitch length is 50 yards instead of 70 and the 150 gm white ball is made of plastic mould with bearings inside for making rattling noise when flung towards the batsman.

"The players are classified into three categories - totally blind as B1, partially blind as B2 and with partial vision B2. Each team of 11 members comprises four blind, three partially blind and four with partial vision. The wicketkeeper is a B3 player," tournament organizer Kishore Joseph told IANS here.

Interestingly, for every run scored by the blind, one more is added. As a result, a hit to the boundary will be counted as eight and a sixer 12.

The Indian team got off to a flying start, scoring a mammoth 341 runs for two wickets and restricting the Aussies to 126 runs for eight wickets in the stipulated 20 overs.


Indian batter Prakash Jayaramaiha, who is partially blind (B2), whacked a stroke-filled 173 in 76 balls with 33 fours and two mighty sixers. He was ably assisted by vice-captain Ajay Kumar Reddy (B3) with 52 from 26 balls and Ketan Patel (B1) scoring 50 out of 22 balls.

Jayaramaiah, who was declared man of the match, and Reddy also set a record 206-run opening partnership.

Setting a massive 342-run target, Indian team rattled the Aussies with five sensational run-outs and a stumping, reposing confidence of its coach Patrick in their fielding abilities.

"Direct throws from the outfield right onto the stumps set a lesson for their regular and more popular counterparts. Subash Bhoya, who is B1, (fully blind) rattled the timber with his pincer sharp throws," Joseph said.

The Aussies, down under, failed to put up even a decent fight against the tight bowling by Ganesh Bushara (B3) with his clever change of pace and captain Shekar Naik (B3) of Karnataka, who effected three run-outs.

Earlier, legendary wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani called the toss for the opening tie and said he was looking forward to the Indian team lifting the cup.


India next play England Tuesday.


In the other match, England opted to field after winning toss, allowing Pakistan to capitalise on batting first.

Pakistan, like India in the opening tie, hit a whopping 329 runs losing a solitary wicket, while England the target (330) too still to chase and could score 163 runs for seven wickets in 20 overs.

Pakistan's man of the match Nissar Ali (B2) smashed 153 off 65 balls, hitting 26 fours and two sixers over the grounds. The opening partnership yielded 216 runs.

The tournament is sponsored by the country's premier state-run State Bank of India (SBI) and organised by Samarthanam Trust for the disabled, a non-government organization.




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News Network
May 14,2020

May 14: Veteran South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis has proposed a two-week isolation period for players before and after the T20 World Cup as a way to stage the event as per schedule later this year.

Like other sports, cricketing action too has come to a complete halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fate of the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October-November is shrouded in uncertainty.

Talking to Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, du Plessis said travel was going to be an issue despite Australia being less affected by the deadly contagion.

"I am not sure... reading that travelling is going to be an issue for lot of countries and they are talking about December or January. Even if Australia is not affected like other countries, to get people from Bangladesh, South Africa or India where there is more danger, obviously it's a health risk to them," du Plessis said.

"But you can go in before the tournament (for) two weeks isolation and then play the tournament and afterwards two weeks isolation," said the former captain.

Several countries across the globe, including South Africa, Australia and India, have travel restrictions in place and the veteran Proteas batsman joked travelling by boat is not an option.

"But I don't know when South Africa will open their travel ban because we can't go there like old days on boats," du Plessis said.

In March, South Africa's ODI series against India was called off after the first match in view of the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 44 lakh people worldwide while causing close to 3 lakh deaths.

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News Network
April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: It was on April 2, 2011, when the Men in Blue went on to win their second 50-over World Cup title.

India won its first World Cup in 1983 and then had to wait for 28 years to again lift the title.
Going into the 2011 tournament, India went in as the clear favourites as the competition was to be played in the sub-continent.

Under MS Dhoni's leadership, India lost just one match in the competition against South Africa.
India had defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final to set up a summit clash with Sri Lanka.

In the finals, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first. Mahela Jayawardene top-scored for Sri Lanka as he struck a century to take the team's score to 274/6.

India in their chase got off to a bad start as the side lost Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag with just 31 runs on the board.

But Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni stepped up and stitched a match-winning 109-run partnership.

Gambhir perished after playing a knock of 97 runs, but in the end, Dhoni and Yuvraj took the team over the line by six wickets.

The winning six struck by Dhoni is still viewed as one of the most exciting moments in India's sporting history. 

As the winning six was hit, Ravi Shastri was doing commentary then, and he famously remarked, "Dhoni, finishes it off in style, India lifts the World Cup after 28 years".
As soon as the match-winning shot was hit, Tendulkar erupted with joy and had tears to see his dream finally being fulfilled.

Earlier this year, former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the 2011 World Cup win, titled 'Carried On the Shoulders Of A Nation', was voted the greatest Laureus Sporting Moment of the last twenty years.

The lap after the World Cup is still edged into everyone's hearts.

Playing in his last mega 50-over tournament, it was the last chance for Tendulkar to lift the coveted trophy.

Before the 2011 World Cup, Tendulkar had played five tournaments (1992,1996,1999,2003 and 2007), and he fell short every time.

The closest he came to winning the trophy was in 2003 as India made the finals under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly.

But the Men in Blue fell short in the finals against Australia.

Then in 2007, the biggest setback was in store for the legend has India bowed out of the tournament in the group stages.

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News Network
June 18,2020

New Delhi, Jun 18: Premier Indian off-spinner R Ashwin has described Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a "massive influence" on his career, revealing that at the beginning of his IPL stint, he was driven by an intense desire to get the former captain's attention.

Ashwin got his contract with CSK, one of the most successful IPL sides, in 2008 and said the stint with CSK shaped his career.

"IPL and CSK is a stage that everyone wants. For me it was more about recognition. MSD did not know who Ashwin is, (Matthew) Hayden and (Muttiah) Muralithan did not know who Ashwin is. The first thing that came to my mind was that 'I will show these people that Ashwin is here'," Ashwin told Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation'.

"I don't know it was being foolish or arrogance but that was how I was made. Nobody was giving me a chance that Ashwin will play alongside Muralitharan or ahead of Muralitharan. I thought, I will get there ahead of him one day," he added.

Ashwin said Dhoni, who led CSK, had "massive influence" on him and the only way to impress him was by troubling him in the nets.

"I got the eye of Hayden, Jacob Oram, and Stephen Fleming while bowling to them at the nets. They were finding it difficult to face me in the first year (2008) but I had not caught the eye of MSD," he said.

"I never had massive interactions with him. It was going to the nets and getting MSD...he was hitting Muralitharan out of the park and I thought, if I bowl better than him, I met get to play ahead of Murali.

" I got his attention when I got him during a Challenger trophy and celebrated like a crazy kid," he recalled.

After that, Ashwin said during CSK's match against Victoria Bushrangers in the now defunct Champions League, he volunteered to bowl the Super Over and Dhoni gave him the ball without hesitation.

Ashwin did not fare well and ended up conceding 23 runs. The off-spinner said when Dhoni walked past him after the match, he only said that, "you should have bowled the carrom ball."

"MS always maintained that you are exceptionally skilful and you should keep doing what you do."

Ashwin has been very successful against the left-handers as 189 of his 365 wickets are of southpaws. Ashwin credited his engineering background and advice from Duncan Fletcher for the success.

"He made a statement that changed cricket. He said it's all about geometry and left it at that. Understanding angles (engineering background) has given me edge over others," he said.

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