India beat Zimbabwe by seven wickets

July 29, 2013

India_beat_Zimbabwe

Harare, Jul 29: A disciplined India notched up a convincing seven-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the third One-day International to secure an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series here today.

Amit Mishra scalped four wickets and skipper Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 88-ball 68 to emerge as star performers for India as they guided the visitors to their third straight victory in the series.

Mishra led a disciplined show by the bowlers as they dismissed Zimbabwe for a paltry 183 in just 46 overs after Kohli won the toss and decided to bowl.

The visitors overhauled the target in 35.3 overs, riding on Kohli's fifty and useful contributions from Shikhar Dhawan (35), Ambati Rayudu (33) and Suresh Raina (28 not out).

Kohli, who had scored a match-winning 115 in the first ODI, once again led from the front as he starred in three useful partnerships.

He added 40 with Dhawan for the second wicket, before forging a 64-run stand with Rayudu for the third wicket, while it was the unbeaten 56-run partnership off 32 balls with Raina which finally took India home.

Chasing 184 to win, openers Rohit Sharma (14) and Shikhar Dhawan (35) made a watchful start as pacers Brian Vitori and Michael Chinouya bowled in tandem.

Sharma's poor run with the bat in this series continued as he was the first batsman to be sent back to the pavilion when he fall to debutante Chinouya.

Sharma chased a widish length delivery from the pacer only to edge it wicketkeeper Brendan Taylor. The Mumbaikar had scored two fours in his 21 balls.

Dhawan, however, didn't allow Sharma's wicket to affect the run flow as he blasted Vitori over square leg for a four and then pulled him for another boundary in the same area in the seventh over.

First down batsman Virat Kohli took one over to get a feel of the wicket and then brought up his first boundary in the ninth over when he whipped Tendai Chatara across the deep backward square leg fence.

Dhawan then cut one across the cover in the same over to pick up easy runs. The left-handed batsman welcomed Prosper Utseya with a four through the leg side in the 12th over.

His stay was cut short by Chatara in the 15th over when trying to hit a length delivery off the front foot, Dhawan ended up hitting it straight to Sibanda at shortish cover.

Runs dried up after that as Kohli and new man Ambati Rayudu (33) tried to steady the ship, picking up ones and twos. In the 22nd over, Rayudu picked up a much-needed boundary when his thick edge off Utseya went flying past slip.

In the next over, Elton Chigumbura was introduced into the attack and Rayudu and Kohli hit him for two fours.

After the end of 29 overs, India took their batting powerplay but Rayudu lost his wicket when he chipped a pitched up delivery from Vitori straight to the bowler. His 54-ball innings had two fours.

In the 32nd over, Kohli sent Chinouya sailing over deep square leg for a boundary, while new man Suresh Raina too cleared the midwicket boundary in the next over.

Kohli brought up his fifty in the 34th over with a brilliant drive off the front foot, which bisected the mid off and extra cover before clearing the fence.

Three balls later, the India skipper danced down the wicket and smashed Chinouya over wide long off for the first six of Indian innings.

In the next over, Kohli and Raina picked up a couple of fours as India inched towards the win. It was Raina, who blasted a four off Chatara to bring up the final runs.

Earlier, Mishra took four for 47 to help India dismiss Zimbabwe for 183. Mohammed Shami (2/25), Jaydev Unadkat (1/24), Ravindra Jadeja (39) and R Vinay Kumar (1/32) were the other successful bowlers for India.

Sean Williams top-scored for Zimbabwe with 45 off 53 balls. Leading 2-0 in the five-match series, Kohli's decision to bowl was vindicated as his pacers struck twice in the first two overs at the Harare Sports Club.

While R Vinay Kumar accounted for Vusi Sibanda even before the hosts could open their account, Shami sent back the other-wise reliable Sikander Raza when he had the opener caught behind by Dinesh Karthik.

Hamilton Masakadza (38) and skipper Brendan Taylor (23) added 65 runs for the third wicket to stabilise the innings before Jaydev Unadkat struck with the scoreboard reading 67 for three in the 16th over.

The Zimbabwean captain, who stood his ground after Shami leapt to his left from mid-off to pull off a catch, walked back after the third umpire upheld the on-field umpires' decision. Taylor hit three fours during his 44-ball knock.

Taylor's dismissal was the beginning of slide as Zimbabwe lost three more wickets quickly, with leg-spinner Mishra taking two of them off successive balls.

Coming in to bowl his first over of the match, Mishra tasted success immediately as Masakadza, trying to cut a short of length delivery, edged it to the keeper as the hosts lost their top four batsmen within the first 20 overs. The batsman struck five fours off 53 balls.

Malcolm Waller was out next ball as Mishra had the batsman trapped in front for a golden duck with a googly, leaving the Zimbabweans reeling at 80 for five in the 20th over.

Ravindra Jadeja made it 89 for six as the slow left-arm spinner hit Elton Chigumbura on the pads with one that might have missed the leg stump because of the angle. Williams then added 36 runs for the seventh wicket with Prosper Utseya (10), before the latter was snared by Shami.

Jadeja's flat throw from the square leg did Williams in as the batsman fell short short of the crease at the striker's end after battling it out for 79 minutes. Williams hit two fours and a six during his fighting knock. The Zimbabwe tail wagged before the innings came to an end.

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News Network
May 8,2020

Karachi, May 8: A cricket museum based in India has bought a bat auctioned by Pakistan Test captain Azhar Ali to raise funds for the needy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Azhar had put two of his precious belongings -- the bat he used to score 302 runs against the West Indies in a Test in 2016 and the jersey he wore during the 2017 Champions Trophy final win over India -- on an online auction to raise funds for the people affected by the deadly disease.

Both the bat and jersey were signed by members of the Pakistan team.

Azhar announced on social media that he had kept a base price of one million each for the bat and jersey and they had sold for 2.2 million.

He confirmed that Blades of Glory Cricket Museum based in Pune bought the bat by making a winning offer of Rs. 1 million for the bat.

Azhar said that the auction of the shirt also generated a lot of interest and Kash Villani, a Pakistani based in California, came up with the highest bid of Rs. 1.1 million for the shirt before the conclusion of the auction.

Another Pakistani based in New Jersey, Jamal Khan also donated Rs. 100,000 for the cause.

"I put two of my closest belongings on auction with base price of 1 million PKR each to support people suffering due to ongoing crisis. Auction starts now and will close on 11:59 PM 05 May, 2020," Azhar had tweeted.

Ali became the first international player to score a test triple century in Day/Night Test when he scored an unbeaten 302 against the West Indies team in UAE in 2016.

"The shirt is from 2017 Champions Trophy which we won, it has the signature of all the players which were present in the squad," Ali said in a video posted on Twitter.

"Both these things are close to my heart but if it can be used in the difficult times for the benefit of the people I will more than happy."

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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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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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