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
April 27,2020

Mumbai, Apr 27: The pressure to replace iconic Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps was "immense" due to high expectations from fans says K L Rahul, who has been doing the wicket-keeping duty for India in the limited overs format for some time now.

Dhoni quit Test cricket in 2014 and has not played for India in the limited overs format since last year's ODI World Cup in England.

Rahul kept the wickets in the limited overs series against Australia in January this year and also during the team's tour to New Zealand.

"I was nervous when I was doing it for India because of the crowd pressure. If you fumble, people feel that you cannot replace MS Dhoni. The pressure of replacing a legendary wicket-keeper like MSD was immense as it involved people accepting someone else behind the stumps," Rahul told Star Sports on its show 'Cricket Connected'.

Rahul, who has played 32 ODIs and 42 T20Is, said keeping the wickets is not alien to him since he dons the gloves during the Indian Premier League (IPL) and also when he plays for his Ranji side Karnataka.

"People who follow cricket know that I haven't been away from wicket-keeping for too long as I donned the gloves in the IPL and every time I played for Karnataka," the 28-year-old said.

"I am always in touch with wicket-keeping but am also somebody who is more than willing to take up the role if the team needs me to," he stressed.

Dhoni's career is a matter of intense speculation. Many former players feel that it won't be easy for Dhoni to make it to the national squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in Australia. 

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Bollywood celebrities have taken it to their social media platforms to express their excitement and shared their thoughts.

Taking to Twitter handle, senior Bollywood actor Anupam Kher extended his best wishes to his legion of followers for the Ram Janmabhoomi Pujan.

While 'Masti' actor Riteish Deshmukh, on the micro-blogging site tweeted multiple hashtag 'Jai Shree Ram' to mark the historic day.

'Queen' actor, Kangana Ranaut's official Twitter handle team wrote: "What could not happen in 500 years happened this year.... this is not picture of the day but the moment of many centuries #JaiShreeRam #RamMandirAyodhya"

Actor Kirron Kher, legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, filmmaker Ashok Pandit and others also marked the day and expressed their excitement.

Earlier, evergreen star Hema Malini, through an audio recording congratulated the devotees of Lord Ram on the occasion.

The Mathura MP expressed her excitement on the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the much-awaited Ram Temple.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the special Bhoomi Poojan at Ayodhya ahead of the foundation stone laying ceremony.

He also released a commemorative postage stamp on 'Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir'. Earlier, Prime Minister Modi had offered prayers at the Hanuman Garhi Temple in Ayodhya.

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News Network
May 7,2020

Melbourne, May 7: Australia opener Joe Burns is eyeing the Tests against India should they take place later this year, to stabilise his stop-start international career, saying "you want to play in and do well in" in this kind of series.

India is scheduled to play four Tests in Australia in December-January, a series which is currently in doubt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed over 2.5 lakh lives across the world.

"They are obviously world class team. I think the two teams going at each other will be very exciting to watch and players playing against each other as well," Burns told reporters in a video conference on Thursday.

"You look at the world ranking, they were number one and now we have got to number one, so I know that series will be anticipated by everyone and as a player this is a sort of series you want to play in and do well in."

With the coronavirus also threatening the T20 World Cup, Cricket Australia is under financial stress and has gone on a cost-cutting drive, which included standing down 80 per cent of its staff at 20 per cent salary.

There are also speculations that the Sheffield Shield for 2020-21 would be curtailed to cut costs.

Burns, however, hoped it won't be tinkered with.

"I love the fact we have a really strong first-class system. The 10 games, where you play everyone twice," Burns, who was struck down by a fatigue illness after an indifferent season, said.

"It leads to world-class players coming into Test teams. You don't want to see that get changed.

"Obviously it is unique circumstances at the moment and There's a lot of things to work through ... the players' association is consulted on those things."

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