India beat Sri Lanka by 5 wickets

June 2, 2013

India_beat_Sri_Lanka

Birmingham, Jun 2: Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik smashed a century each as India warmed up their Champions Trophy campaign with a five-wicket thumping of Sri Lanka in their first practice game here today.

Kohli (144) teamed up with Dinesh Karthik (106 not out) to rescue India from a wobbly start with a 186-run stand for the fifth wicket in just 23.2 overs to chase down a huge target of 334 with one over to spare.

India were reduced to 62 for three in the 13th over and then to 110 for four in the 21st over before Kohli and Karthik resurrected the innings and sent the Sri Lankan bowlers for a leather hunt in the second part of their run chase.

Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews used nine bowlers in the 15-a-side warm-up game and all of them were punished by Kohli and Karthik.

Kohli, who was coming at the back of a strong performance in the recent Indian Premier League, struck 11 fours and three sixes in his 120-ball flawless innings.

Coming in the second over at the team score of five for one, Kohli was cautious at the start of his innings as the situation demanded but played some delightful strokes after he settled down.

Karthik was more than an able partner to Kohli. He gave more strike to Kohli during their partnership, but at the same time also did not let it go any chance of scoring boundaries. He ended the match in style with a four as India reach 337 for five in 49 overs.

Karthik's unbeaten 81-ball innings was studded with 12 fours and two sixes.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni also got some useful time at the middle as he remained not out on 18 from 17 balls, coming after Kohli's departure in the 44th over. Suresh Raina chipped in with a quick-fire 31-ball 34.

India play their second warm-up game against Australia on June 4 in Cardiff before opening their campaign in the main tournament against South Africa at the same venue two days later.

India were in trouble early on a batsmen-friendly pitch as opener Shikhar Dhawan (1) was run out cheaply in the second over as he failed to beat Lahiru Thirimanne's direct hit from mid on.

The other opener Murali Vijay could not contribute much as he was out for 18 from 30 balls in the 10th over, spooning a catch to short extra cover fielder Thirimanne of the bowling of pacer Shaminda Eranga.

Rohit Sharma (5), another player who shone with the bat in the IPL for champion side Mumbai Indians, could not spend much time and lost a chance to acclimatise on English conditions ahead of the main tournament, as he fell in the 13th over.

The recovery job for India, in fact, began with Raina who scored a quickfire 31-ball 34 which was laced with four fours before he was out in the 21st over.

At the fall of Raina, India needed 223 runs for a win at an asking rate approaching eight an over but Kohli and Karthik kept their cool.

Kohli, in particular, stamped his class with some beautiful shots all over the park. When he was out in the 44th over, India needed 38 runs from 37 balls for a win with five wickets in hand.

Earlier, young left-hander Kusal Perera and seasoned Tillekaratne Dilshan took the Indian bowling attack to the cleaners as Sri Lanka posted a mammoth 333 for three.

Dilshan smashed a 78-ball-84 (9x4, 1x6) while Perera hit 82 off 94 balls (7x4, 3x6) as they added 160 runs in 26 overs. The Indian bowlers were unable to dismiss the duo as both retired in order to allow other batsmen get a decent hit out in the middle.

Seamers Pathan (0/45), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/58), Ishant Sharma (1/41) weren't consistent with their length while spin trioka of Ravichandran Ashwin (0/45), Ravindra Jadeja (0/41) and Amit Mishra (1/53) also failed to make inroads.

With the ball nicely coming onto the bat and not much assistance from the pitch for bowlers, Perera and Dilshan hardly faced any difficulty in hitting through the line from the outset.

It started with a pulled boundary by left-hander Perera off Pathan's first over. The runs started flowing after that as Dilshan launched into Pathan, cover driving him for three boundaries in his second over. With no movement and dishing out military medium stuff, Pathan was smoked for 30 runs in his first spell.

Perera hit Pathan for a straight six and then got a couple of big ones off Ishant -- a pull and one over extra cover. With all 15 players being allowed to play as this match doesn't have ODI status, Mahendra Singh Dhoni used as many as seven bowlers.

Perera was the first to reach half century, in 48 balls, while the team's 100 came in the 16th over. Dilshan reached his 50 in the 21st over and it took the veteran opener 45 balls.

Once Perera retired with the score at 160, Mahela Jayawardene came in and chipped in with 30 (3x4). Dilshan retired at the score 195 while Jayawardene was the first batsman dismissed by Ishant.

Kumar Sangakkara (45, 7x4) and Dinesh Chandimal (46) also got much needed batting practice.

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Agencies
April 12,2020

London, Apr 12: Former Formula 1 legendary driver Stirling Moss died at the age of 90 on Sunday.

"All at F1 send our heartfelt condolences to Lady Susie and Sir Stirling's family and friends," Formula 1 said in a statement.

Often referred to as the greatest driver never to win the world championship, Moss contested 66 Grands Prix from 1951 to 1961, driving for the likes of Vanwall, Maserati and Mercedes, where he famously formed a contented and ruthlessly effective partnership with lead driver Juan Manuel Fangio.

In his 10-year-long stint at the tracks, Moss took 16 wins, some of which rank among the truly iconic drives in the sport's history - his 1961 victories in Monaco and Germany in particular often held up as all-time classics.

Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia on public roads for Mercedes at an average speed of close to 100mph, while he also competed in rallies and land-speed attempts.

Following an enforced retirement from racing (barring a brief comeback in saloon cars in the 1980s) after a major crash at Goodwood in 1962, Moss maintained a presence in Formula 1 as both a sports correspondent and an interested observer, before retiring from public life in January of 2018.

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News Network
June 27,2020

Jun 27: India's Test batting mainstay Cheteshwar Pujara cannot describe in words the influence that Rahul Dravid has had on his life but says he will always remain grateful to him for teaching the importance of switching off from cricket.

Often compared to Dravid, who was considered the 'wall' of Indian cricket, Pujara said he is thankful to Dravid for teaching him how to keep personal and professional lives separate.

"He helped me understand the importance of switching off from cricket. I had the same thought, more or less, but when I spoke to him, it gave me a lot of clarity about it and I was sure of what I needed to do," he told ESPNcricinfo.

"I also saw in county cricket how they keep personal and professional lives separate. I value that advice a lot. Many people consider me to be focused. Yes, I am focused, But I also know when to switch off. There is life beyond cricket."

In his illustrious international career, Dravid amassed 13288 runs in 164 Tests and 10889 runs in 344 ODIs. He also captained India in 79 ODIs, winning 42 of them, which includes the world record of 14 successive wins while chasing.

"I cannot say in one line what Rahul bhai means to me. He has always been an inspiration, and will remain one," Pujara said.

His mental fortitude and batting technique is often compared to Dravid but Pujara said "despite my enchantment with him" he never tried to "copy him."

"There is a similarity in our games, but that's not because of my fascination with him. That came mainly through my experiences with Saurashtra, where I learned that scoring a hundred alone isn't enough, you have to carry your team," he said.

"That is how I learned responsibility - it is about helping my team to raise a big total, and for that I ought to attach importance to my wicket. I learned that from my junior cricket days with Saurashtra, which was a weaker team in domestic cricket."

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News Network
April 14,2020

Melbourne, Apr 14: As all sporting action across the world has come to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australian bowlers are pondering as to how Indian skipper Virat Kohli might play in front of no spectators.

India and Australia are scheduled to play a four-match Test series later this year, and it is being speculated that the series might end up taking place without any crowds due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Australian spinner Nathan Lyon on Tuesday said that it would be interesting to see how Kohli goes about it if he does not get a chance to get the audience behind him.

"He is probably good enough to adapt to any scenario. But I was talking to Mitch Starc the other day and we actually said that if we are playing with no crowd, it'll be quite amazing to see Virat trying to rev up the empty seats," cricket.com.au quoted Lyon as saying.

"It is going to be a little bit different, but Virat is a superstar. He will be able to adapt to any climate that we are able to play in," he added.
During the 2018-19 series, India managed to defeat Australia in Australia for the first time in a Test series.

Australia, at that time were without the services of David Warner and Steve Smith. However, the series later this year promises to be a mouth-watering prospect.

"I am excited about the prospect of India coming out to Australia, it's up there with the biggest series alongside the Ashes. They are an absolute powerhouse of the cricket world, and to have those guys out here is going to be fantastic. Playing in front of crowds or no crowds is out of our control, we have got to follow the advice of all the amazing medical people around the world," Lyon said.

"I have not thought about no crowds or massive crowds, it is just about the opportunity of playing against India again. They had the wood over us last time they came over here but we are a much stronger Australian cricket side at the moment, and I am just unbelievably excited about playing them here at home," he added.

Lyon was slated to represent Hampshire in County Championship this year, however, his stint was called off last week due to COVID-19.
He is Australia's third-highest wicket-taker in the longest format of the game as he has total of 390 wickets in Test cricket.

Lyon was last seen in action in the Big Bash League for Sydney Sixers.

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