3rd ODI: Faulkner, Voges snatch victory from India; Dhoni's valiance goes in vain

October 19, 2013
New Delhi, Oct 19: A quick-fire half century by James Faulkner in death overs and gritty knock by Adam Voges helped Australia chase down 304-run target and snatch victory from India in the nail biting third ODI at PCA stadium in Mohali on Saturday.

india_vs_aus

Faulkner, who came to bat with Australia six down at 213, soon turned the tide in favour of the visitors and slammed an unbeaten 64 off 29 balls to secure a sensational victory. He hit two boundaries and six dazzling sixes during his fearless knock.

He was adjudged man of the match for his brave effort.

It was Australia's highest ODI run chase on the Indian soil.

Voges, on the other hand, remained not out after scoring 76.

After a fighting fourth wicket stand, that rescued the visitors from 88/3, Australia lost skipper George bailey, Glenn Maxwell and Brad Haddin in quick succession and were reduced to 213/6.

Voges shared 83-run stand with George Bailey (43) before the skipper was trapped leg before by Vinay Kumar in the 37th over.

Shikhar Dhawan's brilliant throw then got Glenn Maxwell (3) run out, reducing the visitors to 174/5.

Bailey and Adam Voges helped Australia recover from early blows and took the score past 150 in 33 overs.

After a solid 68-run opening stand, Australia lost both openers Phillip Hughes, Aaron Finch and Shane Watson in quick succession to get reduced to 88/3 in 19.1 overs.

Vinay Kumar gave India first breakthrough in the 13th over by getting Phillip Hughes (22) caught behind after a good first-wicket stand.

Pacer Ishant Sharma then struck in the 17th over to send back Australian opener Aaron Finch after his gritty knock of 38, giving Australia second blow.

Finch (38 off 44 balls) was trapped leg before wickets by Ishant at the score of 82.

Ravindra Jadeja then joined the party by dismissing Shane Watson. Watson was trapped leg before after scoring 11.

Earlier, skipper MS Dhoni led from the front by smashing an unbeaten 139 as India recovered from a poor start to score a huge total.

Dhoni rescued India after early jitters as he played a responsible and sensible innings that came off just 121 balls, including 12 fours and five sixes.

The skipper also shared two significant partnerships -- putting on a solid 72-run stand for the fifth wicket with Virat Kohli (68) before joining hands with Ravichandran Ashwin (28) to put up 76 runs for the seventh wicket.

For Australia, Mitchell Johnson was the pick of the bowlers with figures of four for 46.

Put in to bat, India did not make an ideal start as openers Rohit Sharma (11) and Shikhar Dhawan (8), both of whom were instrumental in setting up a great platform for the team's massive 360 run chase in the previous game, today fell cheaply.

With India two down for 37, the onus was on Suresh Raina and Kohli to bail the hosts out of trouble.

But in the 13th over, Johnson struck back to see off Raina caught at the slip by Shane Watson before dismissing comeback man Yuvraj Singh off his very next delivery for a first-ball duck.

It was heartbreak for the fans of local hero Yuvraj, who edged an away going delivery to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.

Raina and Yuvraj's dismissals in consecutive balls led to the run flow drying up.

Both Kohli and Dhoni also adopted a cautious approach as the duo confined themselves to scoring just in singles and twos. There was no boundary or a six hit for as many as eight overs.

Kohli broke the shackles in the 24th over and slowly but steadily completed his half-century to help the team rebuild.

Although Kohli and Dhoni failed to accelerate the scoring rate, they kept the scoreboard ticking before Glenn Maxwell returned the latter for a patient 68 off 73 balls, laced with nine fours.

Johnson then left the hosts reeling at 154 for six with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja's wicket.

With the top and middle-order back in the pavilion, Dhoni showed a lot of character as he played with responsibility. He waited patiently for the loose deliveries to go for the fours and sixes.

Dhoni, mostly picked on James Faulkner and Watson. He began an over of Faulkner with two consecutive fours and then topped it up with a boundary and a six in Watson's over to release the pressure.

In the able company of Ashwin, he took India beyond the 200-run mark.

He tried to keep the strike so that the lower order had to face lesser number of balls. And almost single-handedly guided the team to a 300-plus total in the end.

Dhoni stole 21 runs in the last over, which was bowled by Faulkner.

He played his trademark helicopter shot to the delight of the packed PCA stadium crowd before hitting another six over the long off and a four to end the over.

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News Network
February 19,2020

New Delhi, Feb 19: An Indian wrestler whose family story was immortalised by Bollywood is hoping to create a blockbuster of her own by becoming her country's first world champion in the high-octane sport of mixed martial arts.

Ritu Phogat, who initially followed her father and two elder sisters into wrestling, is now charting a new path after making an explosive MMA debut in November.

Phogat's father Mahavir, and her sisters Geeta and Babita were the subject of 2016 movie "Dangal", telling the story of the wrestling coach who raised his daughters to become Commonwealth champions.

But Ritu, 25, is forging a different career. After winning her first MMA fight in less than three minutes, she will face China's Wu Chiao Chen at this month's ONE Championship fight night in Singapore, which will be held behind closed doors because of the coronavirus.

The youngest Phogat daughter is trading an attempt at an Olympic medal to tackle MMA, but she said she was attracted by the lure of making history in her new sport.

"I got a chance to train with the best in Singapore and there was no looking back," she told AFP during a promotional event in New Delhi.

"There was the 2020 Olympic Games but I thought that I would do well in mixed martial arts. I have come with an aim of becoming the first girl from India to become a world champion in mixed martial art."

The nimble but strongly built Phogat said wrestlers were a good fit for the fast-growing contact sport, which is yet to take off in India.

"Top seven champions in mixed martial arts are wrestlers, so I believe that wrestlers have an edge in this sport with their ability to take down the opponent," she said.

"It is all a matter of skill. You just have to practise hard. I think MMA is not much different from wrestling in terms of preparation.

"One has to take risks to do something new and as an athlete I am ready to embrace every challenge."

She added: "Without the support of my father and sisters I would not have been where I am. My father always taught me to be far-sighted, hard-working and with strong resolve. Three traits will take you a long way."

Phogat won 48kg gold at the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship and followed it up with a silver in the under-23 world championships the next year.

"She used to watch a lot MMA and one day told me that I will win a gold in this game. So we all backed her and the result is there for everyone to see," he said.

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News Network
April 5,2020

New Delhi, April 5: England batsman James Vince lashed out at people for not taking proper measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and said people are going out as if "everything is normal".

"Just seen the pictures of people out and about today as if everything is normal. What selfish people, surely by now they've realised this is serious. Well done to everyone who's doing their bit and staying in," Vince tweeted.

On March 13, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Europe was now the 'epicentre' of the disease.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in the UK has exceeded 4,313 with at least 708 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the largest one-day rise since the start of the outbreak as confirmed by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The total number of cases in the UK as on Saturday is 41,903, a rise of 3,735 cases in the last 24 hours.

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News Network
April 15,2020

New Delhi, Apr 15: Indian cricket team head coach Ravi Shastri on Wednesday urged people to beat coronavirus by staying at home and by maintaining social distancing. He termed the virus 'mother of all World Cups' and asked people to combat this disease together and win the World Cup of humanity.

Taking to Twitter, Shastri shared a video post where he cited cricket examples to aware people about the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic. "As I would know, sports teaches you life lessons that can be applied to just about anything you want to pursue in rest of your life.

Today the COVID-19 has put us in a situation where we got our backs to the wall. To combat this coronavirus is like chasing a World Cup where you give your everything in trying to win it. What's staring you at the face is no ordinary World Cup. This is the mother of all World Cups where not just eleven are playing but 1.4 billion are in the playing arena and competing. Guys we can win this. For that, we have to observe the basics. You have got your Prime Minister leading from the front ahead of the curve like other countries have farmed out," Shastri said.

"You have to obey the orders that come from the top: be it centre, state or the frontline workers who are risking their lives. Two orders that stand out: staying home and maintaining social distancing. It is not easy but to win the game you got to go through the pain to break the chain and see the gain. Come on, guys! let's do it together. Let us get out there in a bruit force of 1.4 billion and beat this corona and get your hands on the World Cup of humanity. Let's do it," he added.

With 1,076 new COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's tally of coronavirus cases has risen to 11,439, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.

Out of the total tally, 9,756 cases are active while 1,306 patients have been cured/discharged and migrated. With 38 new deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the death toll rises to 377.

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