Irani Cup: RoI on top despite Sachin ton

February 9, 2013

Tendulkar

Mumbai, Feb 9: Sachin Tendulkar tuned up brilliantly for the upcoming Test series against Australia by hitting a record equalling 81st first-class century but couldn’t prevent Mumbai from conceding the first-innings lead to Rest of India on the third day of the Irani Cup match here on Friday.

Tendulkar looked in fantastic touch as he hit a sparkling unbeaten knock of 140 off 197 balls as he touched Sunil Gavaskar’s Indian record of 81 first-class hundreds. In the process, the 39-year-old also completed 25,000 runs in first-class cricket.

However, Tendulkar ran out of partners as Mumbai were all out for 409 thereby conceding a sizeable first innings lead of 117 runs. In the second essay, Rest of India were 27 for one at stumps which enhanced their lead to 144 runs and they have nine wickets in hand.

Nightwatchman S Sreesanth batting on seven is giving company to Murali Vijay, who is undefeated on 18. Opener Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed for a duck.

The day belonged to Tendulkar, who sent a strong message to the Australian team about his intent, as he struck 18 boundaries and two sixes during his five-hour and 43 minutes of stay at the crease. He played some shots around the wicket and none of the Rest of India bowlers barring S Sreesanth, who dug a few short ones, could ask any probing questions.

Having arrived at the crease in the second over of the day, Tendulkar was hardly troubled by the Rest of India bowlers and his most productive partnership was with Ankeet Chavan (49) that yielded 103 runs for the seventh wicket.

Tendulkar also added 73 runs with the talented Ajinkya Rahane, who missed out on a deserving century as he was trapped leg before by Harbhajan Singh. The senior offie was the most successful bowler for the Rest grabbing three for 64 from 21 overs as he also dismissed Rohit Sharma for a duck.

Tendulkar treated the good turn-out at the Wankhede Stadium to some good batting. Watchful in the beginning against the swinging ball and the short-pitched stuff dished out by Sreesanth, Tendulkar opened out later with a string of exquisite drives, mostly through the off-side cordon and straight, for fours to reach the landmark 100 in 139 balls with 12 fours and a six each off spinners Harbhajan and Pragyan Ojha.

It was also Tendulkar’s second ton in the Irani Cup game. His earlier one, made in 1989 for Mumbai against the Rest of India, clinched him a place in Krish Srikkanth-led squad for his maiden tour to Pakistan.

Starting with a splendid front-foot extra cover drive off Pandey to the second ball he faced, Tendulkar looked absolutely in command till the end of the innings.

Tendulkar and Rahane were cruising along merrily before Harbhajan broke their fourth wicket stand by trapping the latter leg-before when the batsman tried to sweep. Replays suggested that the ball hit the bat first but umpire Subrat Das had upheld the appeal.

The biggest culprit for Mumbai was Rohit Sharma, who tried an ill-advised heave over mid-wicket and left without scoring in 12 balls and 21 minutes. Captain Abhishek Nayar couldn’t translate his Ranji Trophy form as he edged one from Abhimanyu Mithun to slip cordon.

While Harbhajan dismissed Rahane and Rohit in quick succession to strengthen his claim for off-spinner’s slot, left-arm spinner Pargyan Ojha, who is certainty, was unimpressive as he went over 100 runs for his two wickets.

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News Network
July 21,2020

Jul 21: The tickets sold for the now-postponed ICC T20 World Cup will remain valid if Australia hosts the edition in 2021 instead of India.

In case the event is shifted to 2022, all ticket-holders will be entitled to a full refund, the ICC stated on its website on Monday night after postponing the mega-event this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The tournament was to be held in October-November but will now be conducted later because of the pandemic.

The ICC has not yet announced which country will host which edition as there are operational issues that both the Indian and Australian cricket Boards need to sort out.

The world body had opened ticket booking through its ticketing partners and a significant number was already sold.

"Ticket holders are welcome to retain their tickets, noting, if Australia hosts in 2021, tickets will remain valid for fans who have already bought and will be automatically updated to reflect the new dates.

"If Australia hosts in 2022, for tickets already bought a full refund will be processed automatically," ICC stated in a series of FAQs.

Fans can retain their tickets until a date is confirmed for the event.

Refund requests can be made until December 15 and they will be processed within 30 days after an online submission.

The hospitality package will also remain valid for the 2021 fixtures.

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News Network
January 15,2020

Jan 15: Australia openers David Warner and Aaron Finch both struck superb centuries to complement their bowlers’ inspired display as the touring side handed out a 10-wicket thrashing to India in the opening one-day international in Mumbai.

India, world-ranked No 2 in ODIs, suffered a middle-order collapse on their way to being bundled out for 255 in the final over of their innings after Australia captain Finch won the toss and opted to field in the first of the three-match series.

Warner and Finch then smashed the Indian bowlers to all corners of the ground, picking up boundaries seemingly at will to chase down the target with 74 balls to spare at the Wankhede Stadium.

Left-handed Warner successfully used the decision review system twice to overturn the umpire’s decision on his way to his 18th ODI century, hitting three sixes and 17 fours in his unbeaten knock of 128, from 112 balls. Finch completed his 16th century in the format, his unbeaten innings 110 from 114 features two sixes and 13 fours.

Earlier, Australia’s left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who made his ODI debut in India 10 years ago, picked up three wickets to set up Australia’s victory. He struck the first blow with the new ball when he sent back Rohit Sharma for 10.

India managed to recover from that early loss through a second-wicket stand of 121 between opener Shikhar Dhawan, who top-scored for the hosts with 74, and KL Rahul. However left-arm spinner Ashton Agar broke the stand by dismissing Rahul for 47 before Agar caught Dhawan off Pat Cummins in the next over.

The hosts were hoping for a solid innings from captain Virat Kohli, who batted a position lower than his usual No 3 spot to accommodate Rahul, to get them out of trouble. However, he lasted only 14 balls, hitting leg-spinner Adam Zampa for a six before offering a return catch to the bowler on the very next delivery to be out for 16.

Starc then returned to the attack, removing Shreyas Iyer cheaply as India lost four wickets for 30 runs to be reduced to 164 for five. Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja then fell just short of a half-century partnership, before the remaining four wickets falling for 42 runs, with Cummins and fast bowler Kane Richardson picking up two wickets apiece for Australia.

To compound India’s woes, wicketkeeper Pant suffered a concussion after being hit on his helmet by a short-pitched delivery from Cummins. The Indian cricket board said Pant, who did not come out to keep wicket and was replaced behind the stumps by Rahul, was under observation. The two sides will meet in Rajkot for the second ODI on Friday.

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News Network
May 30,2020

New Delhi, May 30: Former world chess champion Viswanathan Anand will be finally reaching India late on Saturday after being stuck in Germany for over three months due to the travel restrictions imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Yes.. Anand will be returning today," the chess maestro's wife Aruna told PTI on Saturday morning. Anand, who boarded an Air India flight (AI-120) from Frankfurt on Friday night will reach Bengaluru via Delhi.

He is expected to reach Bengaluru at 1.15 pm. The five-time world champion will undergo 14 days quarantine as per rules laid down by the Karnataka government.

"He will complete quarantine procedures and come to Chennai as per protocol," Aruna Anand said. The flights from Germany are only scheduled to land only in Delhi and Bengaluru.

The chess ace was in Germany to play in the Bundesliga chess league and was to return to India, but was forced to stay put after the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted sporting schedules across the globe, apart from restricting movement.

He was staying near Frankfurt and was doing online commentary for the Candidates tournament which was called off mid-way due to the pandemic and led the Indian team in the Online Nations Cup early this month.

Anand had been in touch with his family in Chennai on a regular basis via video calls and kept himself busy with chess-related work.

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