India beat Pakistan by 10 runs in third ODI

January 6, 2013

india

New Delhi, Jan 6: A spirited India clinched a sensational 10-run victory in a low-scoring thriller to avoid a series whitewash and restore some pride in the third and final cricket one-dayer against arch-rivals Pakistan here today.

The Indians were first bundled out for a paltry 167 in 43.4 overs but relied on a brilliant bowling display under pressure to stop the visitors at 157 in a nerve-wracking day-night contest, held in extremely chilly and windy conditions.

Fortunes fluctuated from one team to the other till the very end before the hosts finally brought some cheer for their fans with the dramatic victory, which reduced their margin of defeat to 1-2 in the three-match series.

It was another poor batting display by the Indians who never really got going as the Pakistani pacers Mohammad Irfan and Junaid Khan caused early damages before Saeed Ajmal joined the party with a career-best effort of five for 24.

But the host bowlers made amends in the end to fashion the win.

The Pakistanis, chasing the small target, were in a spot of bother as pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar rocked the innings with the early dismissals of Kamran Akmal and Younis Khan, but the visitors recovered through a gritty partnership between captain Misbah-ul Haq (39) and Nasir Jamshed (34), who were the top contributors for Pakistan.

However, the Pakistan innings collapsed again, giving the hosts an opportunity to come back into the game.

A nearly fully-packed holiday crowd, defying the chilly winds which blew right through the day, turned up at the Feroze Shah Kotla and were lucky enough to see a change in India's sliding fortunes.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (36), Suresh Raina (31) and Ravindra Jadeja (27) got the starts but could not translate those into big knocks, though the heavy wintry conditions made batting a little difficult.

Ishant Sharma, after making a hash of a run out attempt, dismissed Mohammad Hafeez to bring about India's triumph, triggering scenes of wild celebrations in the stands.

The win also meant that India avoided a series whitewash on home soil which would have been their first in 29 years.

The Pakistani innings began on a disastrous note as opener Kamran (0) and the experienced Younis (6) fell cheaply with paceman Bhuvneshwar claiming both the wickets to reduce the visitors to 14 for two by the seventh over.

While Akmal was trapped leg before with an incoming delivery, Younis was bowled by another inswinger as he attempted a loose drive.

But Jamshed, who has been in tremendous form with two back-to-back century, and captain Misbah played cautiously to steady the innings though both of them survived some anxious moments.

With the conditions assisting the quick bowlers, Dhoni chose to use Bhuvneshwar for ten unchanged overs and the young Uttar Pradesh seamer bowled his heart out, but could not add to his tally of two wickets.

The pair put on 47 runs before off-spinner R Ashwin provided the breakthrough for the hosts in his very first over by evicting the in-form Jamshed.

Jamshed paid the price for trying to play a pre-meditated sweep shot to a flighted ball on the off and middle stump and umpire Billy Bowden had no hestitation in adjudging him leg before. His knock of 34 came off 64 balls and had five fours.

Misbah departed soon after with Ashwin doing the damage while Shoaib Malik (5) fell to Ishant Sharma, who trapped him leg before. Ravindra Jadeja then accounted for Umar Akmal (25) with Dhoni stumping him.

From a comfortable 113 for three, Pakistan suddenly slumped to 125 for six to add some drama to the proceedings and raise hopes of a dramatic Indian victory.

Mohammad Hafeez, who came down the order, was dropped by Rahane off Ashwin, a costly lapse which prevented India from tightening their grip on the match.

A horrendous decision by Indian umpire Sudhir Asnani, who turned down a confident lbw shout by Ashwin, also did not help India.

Earlier, India's top-order collapsed yet again in the face of some fiery bowling by the Pakistani pacers -- Junaid and Irfan -- who troubled the hosts in helpful conditions.

Pakistan bowled as a unit -- the fast bowlers provided the start and the spinners carried on with the good work.

India owed their partial recovery to the partnership between skipper Dhoni and Raina. They joined forces when the team was stuttering at 63 for four and their 48-run stand for the fifth wicket repaired the flagging innings to some extent.

Ajmal broke the stand by trapping Raina and then scalped Ashwin in the next ball, which brought Jadeja to the crease.

Dhoni dispatched Hafeez for a six over mid-wicket boundary before being dropped by the same bowler in his follow-through later on. Dhoni smashed one hard, which Hafeez tried to latch on to but only ended up hurting his left hand. Dhoni was batting on 29 at the time.

The Indian captain could not cash in on the chance and was out to Gul when he went for a cut only to find Umar Akmal at point. His 55-ball knock featured four boundaries, including three sixes.

With Dhoni's dismissal, India's hopes of a recovery were crushed even as Jadeja came up with a useful cameo of 27 with the help of two sixes.

Junaid and Irfan tested the Indians with some short and fast deliveries and succeeded in subduing the hosts' top- order. The Kotla wicket had some juice and the Pakistani duo made full use of the conditions to keep the Indians under check.

India left out struggling opener Virender Sehwag and brought in Ajinkya Rahane in the hope that they would provide a good start, which has eluded the hosts right through the series.

Rahane (4) was never comfortable and fell prey to the seven-foot tall Irfan when he edged one to keeper Kamran Akmal.

Barring a few shots, Gautam Gambhir's (15) stay was also uncomfortable before he gifted away his wicket by guiding a widish delivery off Irfan straight to point.

Local boy Virat Kohli (7) made a promising start with a boundary off Irfan, which got the spectators off their seats.

But he was soon scalped by Junaid in the slip cordon.

With both the pacers bowling in tandem, Misbah let the two bowl an extended seven-over spell each.

After 14 overs, India were reeling at 43 for three and the crowd had only five boundaries to enjoy.

Two of those five shots came from the blade of flamboyant left-hander Yuvraj Singh at the start of his innings. The introduction of Umar Gul gave India their best over as the paceman was spanked for 18 runs.

India's joy, though, was short-lived as off-spinner Mohammed Hafeez castled Yuvraj with a faster one that spun from the middle before taking the bails off.

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News Network
March 4,2020

Sydney, Mar 4: Teenage Indian batting sensation Shafali Verma on Wednesday rose to the top spot in the ICC women's T20 International rankings, riding on her stellar run at the ongoing World Cup here.

The 16-year-old Verma takes over from New Zealand's Suzie Bates, who had been the top batter since October 2018 after wresting the spot from West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor.

However, Smriti Mandhana has slipped a couple of rungs to sixth in the latest list.

Verma and England spinner Sophie Ecclestone will go into the semifinals of the event as the top ranked batter and bowler respectively. India will take on England on Thursday.

Verma's explosive batting at the top of the order saw her score 161 runs in four innings, including knocks of 47 and 46 against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. It helped her become only the second India batter after Mithali Raj to top the women's T20I batting rankings, according to an ICC statement.

Ecclestone, who took eight wickets in four matches including a best of three for seven against the West Indies, is the first England bowler to be number one since Anya Shrubsole in April 2016 and the first England spinner at the top since Danni Hazell in August 2015.

Among the Indian bowlers, Poonam Yadav is up four places to eighth after a good run in World Cup.

Some valiant performances from Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu have seen her move from 18th to 14th spot for batters.

England's Nat Sciver is again in the top 10 and captain Heather Knight in the top 15 for the first time.

South Africa opener Laura Wolvaardt has advanced 23 places to 44th, while Pakistan's Aliya Riaz has gained 24 places and is 48th while New Zealand's Maddy Green is in the top 100 after advancing 28 slots.

In the bowlers' list, leg-spinners Amelia Kerr of New Zealand (up two places to fourth) and Australia's George Wareham (up nine places to 10th) have made significant gains in the latest rankings update.

Other bowlers to advance include new-ball bowler Diana Baig of Pakistan (up 34 places to 13th), Shashikala Siriwardena of Sri Lanka (up seven places to 14th), Anya Shrubsole of England (up five places to 17th), Dane van Niekerk of South Africa (up 12 places to joint-22nd) and Shikha Pandey of India (up 23 places to joint-22nd).

New Zealand captain Sophie Devine is now the sole number one all-rounder after coming into the tournament as a joint number one along with Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry.

India's Deepti Sharma has advanced nine places to seventh, the first time that she is among the top 10 in the all-rounders' list after also moving up to 53rd among batters.

Australia remain at the top of the T20I team rankings with 290 points and England in second position with 278.

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News Network
June 25,2020

Jun 25: After asserting that the 2011 World Cup final was "sold" by "certain parties" in Sri Lanka to India, the island nation's former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has now called his claim a "suspicion" that he wants investigated.

The Lankan government has ordered an enquiry into the matter and a special Police investigation unit recorded Aluthgamage's statement on Wednesday. He told the team that he was only suspicious of fixing.

"I want my suspicion investigated," Aluthgamage told reporters.

"I gave to the Police, a copy of the complaint I lodged with the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 30 October 2011 regarding the said allegation as then Sports Minister," he said.

Aluthgamage has alleged that his country "sold" the game to India, a claim that was ridiculed by former captains Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who demanded evidence from him.

Set a target of 275, India clinched the trophy thanks to the brilliance of Gautam Gambhir (97) and then skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (91).

"Today I am telling you that we sold the 2011 world cup, I said this when I was the sports minister," Aluthgamage, who was the sports minister at the time, had stated.

Sangakkara, the captain of Sri Lanka at that time, asked him to produce evidence for an anti-corruption probe.

"He needs to take his 'evidence' to the ICC and the Anti corruption and Security Unit so the claims can be investigated thoroughly," he tweeted.

Jayawardene, also a former captain who scored a hundred in that game, ridiculed the charge.

"Is the elections around the corner...like the circus has started...names and evidence?" he asked in a tweet.

Aluthgamage said that in his opinion no players were involved in fixing the result, "but certain parties were."

Both Aluthgamage and the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa were among the invitees at the final played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Following his allegations, Aravinda de Silva, the former great who was the then chairman of selectors, has urged the BCCI to conduct its own investigation.

De Silva has said he is willing to travel to India to take part in such an investigation despite the current COVID-19 threat.

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News Network
June 23,2020

Karachi, Jun 23: Pakistan cricketers Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf and rookie Haider Ali on Monday tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

"The Pakistan Cricket Board has confirmed three players - Haider Ali, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan - have tested positive for Covid-19," said the PCB in a statement.

"The players had shown no symptoms until they were tested in Rawalpindi on Sunday ahead of the Pakistan men's national cricket team's tour to England."

The infected players will go into self-isolation.

"The PCB medical panel is in contact with the three who have been advised to immediately go into self-isolation," the statement said.

Earlier this month, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was tested positive for the deadly virus.

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