Jacques Kallis, Manvinder Bisla star in Kolkata's win over Punjab

April 27, 2013

Manvinder_BislaKolkata, Apr 27: Those who say Twenty20 is a young man's game should learn a thing or two from Jacques Kallis.

The 37-year-old South African all-rounder, who twisted his knee in the last match against Mumbai Indians and was uncertain for Friday's game, not only recovered in time but also made significant contributions in all aspects of the match to bring Kolkata Knight Riders back to winning ways.

KKR beat Kings XI Punjab by six wickets at the Eden Gardens on Friday evening. The hosts, who had suffered three consecutive defeats before this game, badly needed this win to bring their campaign back on track and Kallis showed how to do that.

He drew first blood for them when he had in-form KXIP opener Mandeep Singh caught by Eoin Morgan at short mid-wicket after Adam Gilchrist won the toss and decided to bat first. Kallis finally emerged as the side's most successful bowler, coming out with magical figures of 2-14 in his four overs.

Chasing 150 for victory, KKR suffered an early jolt when Azhar Mahmood castled skipper Gautam Gambhir and had Yusuf Pathan caught behind off successive deliveries in the second over of the innings.

It was Kallis again who came to the team's rescue. In the company of Manvinder Bisla, who had replaced injured Manoj Tiwary, he steadied the ship as the duo build up a 66-run third-wicket stand in 9.1 overs.

Kallis used all his experience to apply himself on the slow Eden track, mixing cautious with aggression. By the time he was dismissed trying to play one delicately past the wicketkeeper only to be taken by Gilchrist, KKR were well on their way. Kallis fell for a well-made 37 off 33 balls.

The platform was then well utilised by in-form Eoin Morgan and Bisla to take the side home. The duo shared a 72-run third-wicket stand before Morgan fell for a fluent 42 (25b, 3x4, 4x6) just two runs before victory. Bisla remained unbeaten on 50 (43 b, 3x4, 3x6).

Earlier, an out-of-form Gilchrist got a run-a-ball 27 while opening with Mandeep. But it was sad to see Gilchrist, once feared all over the cricketing world for his explosive strokeplay, finding it difficult to time his strokes or even rotate the strike.

He preferred to play second fiddle to Mandeep who led the initial charge for the visitors. Gilchrist tried to accelerate after Mandeep's departure but holed out to Morgan at deep mid-wicket boundary off Rajat Bhatia.

His departure saw Manan Vora breaking loose. The youngster hit Balaji for a huge six but perished to the very next delivery while going for another big one.

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News Network
June 2,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 2: Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal has said that he was ashamed on seeing the training regime of Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

Iqbal said that the incident happened two-three years back as he thought to himself that why he cannot do the same even when he is the same age as Kohli.

"I must say this, it is not because I am talking to an Indian commentator, India is our neighbour so whatever things they do, it affects Bangladesh as well. We follow what is happening in India, when India changed its approach towards fitness, it impacted Bangladesh the most," Iqbal told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I have no shame in admitting this, when I saw Virat Kohli running around two-three years ago, I was ashamed of myself, I thought this is a guy who is probably my age, but he is training so much and I have not doing even half of it. We have a great example in our team as well, Mushfiqur Rahim manages himself well regarding fitness," he added.

During his initial days of international cricket, Kohli was fond of chicken which he has admitted several times during media interaction.

But in 2013, the 31-year-old batsman intentionally shifted his focus to fitness, diet, and training.

Now he has become punctual about his diet which has given him a different character on and off the field.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have also kept on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar managed to call time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings.

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News Network
February 9,2020

New Delhi, Feb 9: The Indian Fed Cup team will travel to Dubai for this year's competition as the ITF has named the desert city as the new venue for the matches, to be held from March 3 to 7.

The ITF named the new venue after moving out the matches from then Chinese city of Dongguan due to Coronoavirus threat. The Asia/Oceania Group I matches were originally scheduled to be played from February 4-8.

"The event will be held in the week following the ATP Dubai tournament at the same venue, and will see six nations China P.R., Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Korea Rep. and Uzbekistan - compete for a place in the Fed Cup Play-offs in April," an ITF release said.

The six teams will vie for two spots in Fed Cup Play-offs.

"Being in Dubai makes no difference. But the dates give enough time to Sania for her recovery. Doubles is an important point. Ankita is playing well. The other team members will also get some tournament to play under their belt," India's Fed Cup captain Vishal Uppal told news agency.

Sania's participation was under doubt due to a calf injury she aggravated during the Australian Open, where she pulled out of the mixed doubles before retiring mid-way into her women's doubles opening round match.

"I think we have a good chance but we will have to be at our best and fight hard for every point, every game, every set, every match," Uppal added.

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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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