Tri-series: Sri Lanka beat West Indies by 39 runs (D/L)

July 9, 2013

Sri_LankaPort Of Spain, Jul 9: Sri Lanka weathered a middle-order revival by the West Indies and held on for a 39-run victory on the Duckworth/Lewis Scoring Method in a rain-affected fifth match of the Tri-Nation Series at Queen's Park Oval on Monday.

Kumar Sangakkara crafted a superb, unbeaten 90 to lift the visitors to a competitive 219 for eight in a match forced into the reserve day because of the elements and reduced to 41 overs-per-side.

Half-centuries by Darren Bravo (70) and Lendl Simmons (67) then threatened to take the home team to a revised target of 230 before a sense of haste in the midst of light rain and the cooler heads of the Sri Lankans saw the West Indies restricted to 190 for nine in reply.

While the result pushes Sri Lanka to the top of the standings ahead of the Caribbean side by virtue of a better net run-rate, a victory for India over Angelo Mathews' team in the final preliminary match on Tuesday will result in the calculators again being deployed to determine the qualifiers for Thursday's final.

Sangakkara claimed the Man-of-the-Match award for his excellent innings, but Mathews also made vital contributions with bat and ball in ensuring his side avenged the six-wicket defeat suffered at the hands of the West Indies in the opening match of the tournament in Kingston ten days earlier.

His 30 off 27 balls gave the innings important impetus towards the end and figures of four for 29, including the vital scalp of Chris Gayle at the start of the West Indies chase, proved critical in completing victory.

Gayle's demise triggered a slide with the West Indies reduced to 31 for four and seemingly out of contention.

However, Bravo found a solid partner in Lendl Simmons, the man drafted into the team as a replacement for suspended regular captain Dwayne Bravo.

After a pedestrian start, the pair accelerated impressively and were lifting the West Indies to within reach of the target when a loss of concentration tilted the balance decisively.

Conscious they were still behind on the D/L Method and concerned that rain was about to return, the pair lost their focus and when Simmons sliced a catch to deep cover off Shaminda Eranga, the second collapse of the innings was in motion.

Five wickets fell for 23 runs, leaving the last pair of Kemar Roach and Tino Best to ensure that, while defeat could not be avoided, they at least prevented the Sri Lankans claiming another bonus point.

Earlier, Roach was the most successful of the West Indies bowlers with four for 27 amid Sri Lanka's late batting surge, an effort masterminded by the experienced Sangakkara.

Staying focused on the task at hand, firstly with overnight partner Lahiru Thirimanne and playing with his trademark fluency, Sangakkara stepped up a gear, displaying a sense of adventure and taking considerably more risks in capitalising on wayward and indisciplined West Indies bowling.

A total of 31 extras contributed generously towards the Sri Lankan effort, a tally that included 24 wides and three no-balls.

Sangakkara's 95-ball knock, his 76th half-century in one-day international cricket, included one six and six fours but was defined more by trademark timing, placement and a sensible appreciation of the circumstances than the hell-for-leather hitting usually associated with the final stages of a limited-over match.

Unfortunately for the West Indies, Bravo and Simmons, as well as they played, failed to follow suit.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: Batting great Rahul Dravid has attributed Chennai Super Kings' consistent run in the IPL to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's instincts, game-smarts and the incredible amount of work that goes behind the scenes.

N Srinivasan, the former BCCI president and head of India Cements, which owns the CSK franchise, agreed that Dhoni is a man of instinct who doesn't believe in attending team meetings and going over data.

Both were speaking at a webinar organised by the Great Lakes Institute of Management.

"If you look at the success CSK has had, they've got really good access to data and they've got really good access to people behind the scenes and they've run cricket teams at the junior level," Dravid said at the webinar according to ESPNcricinfo.

The former India captain added, "They understand talent and they've obviously got a good scouting process in place. But, what they also have is a captain who really understands instincts.

"So, I mean, look, I know Dhoni quite well and I hope he hasn't changed, but I know Dhoni is probably not one to look at reams of data and statistics."

The Super Kings have won the lucrative tournament three times -- one less than Mumbai Indians -- and reached the knockouts in each of the 10 seasons they have been a part of.

Srinivasan also spoke about how Dhoni's instinct and judgement contributed to his team's success at a time when a lot of emphases is placed on data.

"We're awash with data just now. To give you an example, there are bowling coaches and in a T20 game, they play videos of every batsman whom they're going to come against and they see how he got out, what's his strength, what's his weakness etc.

"So, MS Dhoni doesn't attend this, he's a pure instinct man. The bowling coach, (head coach Stephen) Fleming will be there and everybody will be there, everyone is giving opinions, (but) he'll get up and go.

"In the context of instinct, he feels that okay he can assess a batsman or player on the field, that's his judgement. On the other hand, there is so much of data that is available to help a person also analyse. It's a very difficult line to draw (between data and instinct)."

Srinivasan also recalled how Dhoni once refused to take "one outstanding player" suggested by the franchise boss as that could have broken the team's cohesion.

"There was one outstanding player that we suggested to MS, he said: 'no sir, he will spoil the team'. The cohesion within the team is important and see in America, franchise-based sport has been there for such a long time," he said.

"In India, we're just starting and we're new to it. But we at India Cements have had a lot of experience running teams at junior levels."

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 9: BWF World Championships defending champion PV Sindhu on Thursday cruised to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters after winning a second-round match.

The 24-year-old had the upper hand in the clash and thrashed Japan's Aya Ohori in straight games 21-10, 21-15 that lasted for 34-minute. The world number six will now play in her quarterfinal match on January 10.

Earlier in the day, Saina Nehwal defeated South Korea's An Se Young 25-23, 21-12 in 38 minutes. The first game saw back and forth action between both shuttlers. In the end, Nehwal kept her cool to win the match.

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old had outclassed Belgium's Lianne Tan 21-15, 21-17 to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.

Shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the tournament after losing their matches to Japan's Kento Momota and Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei respectively. 

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: Five centrally contracted Indian cricketers including Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul have been issued notices by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for failing to disclose their whereabouts as the BCCI cited "password glitch" as the reason for delay.

The other players to have received the notice include women stars Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma, who are among the five cricketers in the 110 strong National Registered Testing Pool (NRTP). Speaking to PTI, NADA DG Navin Agarwal confirmed that BCCI has sent an official explanation for their five NRTP players' failure to submit whereabouts.

"There are two ways to fill up the whereabouts form in the ADAMS (Anti Doping Administration & Management Systems) software. Either athlete does it himself or association fills it up on his or her behalf," Agarwal said. "Now athletes in some discipline aren't educated enough or do not have access to internet and find themselves unable to handle the whereabouts clause of the ADAMS or upload the filled up

"They use assistance of their concerned federations. So federations have accepted responsibility of uploading their whereabouts," Agarwal said.

He said cricketers too at times find it tough to complete the process on their own. "Similarly in cricket also, although these people are well qualified and they can do it, perhaps they don't have the time for whatever reasons, so the federation concerned, the BCCI has taken upon itself the responsibility of uploading their whereabouts." So why didnt BCCI upload the the three-month whereabouts this time?

"Well they have given an explanation which appears to be reasonable but a decision will be taken. They have said that there has been a glitch with regards to password in ADAMS. Now they have said that issue has been resolved," Agarwal added. NADA DG added that "BCCI's explanation will be discussed as to whether it will be counted as one of three filing failures or not. It will be decided on the explanation given and how they (BCCI) proceed from here."

While country has been under lockdown, the rule to submit three months of whereabouts is mandatory. Three such failures to disclose leads to one Anti Doping Rule Violation (ADRV), which could lead up to two years of suspension upon hearing.

While BCCI has "officially gagged" its employees from talking to the media, it couldn't be ascertained that why as normal a glitch as a password error took days to resolve. A BCCI veteran, who has been privy to cricket operations, asked why the five cricketers were not told to upload the form themselves.

"This was lockdown period where they are not living out of suitcases. Some of the names have also engaged in multiple instagram chats and podcasts which their agents are managing," he said.

"If cricket operations team were having a glitch in fixing password, well the five cricketers could have been asked to do so and they would have done it individually with some guidance. "Probably NADA would be lenient this time but if it becomes an official warning, then who's responsible," he added.

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