Nidahas Trophy 2018: Fortunate to have skills of bowling in powerplay, says Sundar

Agencies
March 15, 2018

Colombo, Mar 15: Washington Sundar has been phenomenal in the powerplay during the ongoing Nidahas Trophy Tri-series and the young-off spinner said he is fortunate to have the skill set to bowl during this crucial period of the game.

The 18-year-old lanky spinner has come of age in this tournament and is the most penetrative bowler on display with seven wickets to his kitty, including three against Bangladesh on Wednesday.

Besides, Sundar is the most economical bowler in the tournament with an impressive economy rate of 5.87 runs an over -- surprisingly 11 of his 16 overs have been bowled in the powerplay.

While Sundar admitted that it is a challenge for a spinner to bowl in the powerplay, but the key to success is to face those challenges and overcome them.

"It is definitely a challenging thing but that is what you play cricket for. When you get an opportunity to represent your country you need to face those challenges. When you win those challenges you get a lot of satisfaction," he said.

"I have to admit that I am very fortunate I have got this skill. It's more of reading the batsman's mind, especially in the powerplays because every six balls, they will be looking to hit you out. So it's important to read the mind.

"I myself being a batsman to an extent I can at least suspect what he is thinking or where he is going to hit me," Sundar said at the post-match press conference last night after India beat Bangladesh by 17 runs to seal their place in Sunday's final.

Asked about the mantra behind his success while bowling in the powerplay periods, Sundar said: "I play a lot of league games back home. Couple of years back, we played a tournament. I used to bowl two in the powerplay and two in the death overs which was difficult. These things helped me to get better as a cricketer."

Sundar accounted for the wickets of Tamim Iqbal (27), Liton Das (7) and Soumya Sarkar (1) to wreck Bangladesh's top order. Besides, Yuzvendra Chahal also shone bright with the ball with figures of 4-0-21-1 as the two Indian spinners made merry.

"It's a very good feeling when you bowl under 6 everyday," Sundar said.

"It was very important for me and Chahal to bowl well. Our 8 overs were very important. Mine and Chahal's four overs were very crucial and both us bowled well.

"It is not an easy wicket to defend any kind of totals. You saw them (Bangladesh) chasing down 215 odd runs. So we had our plans," he added.

World cricket might be moving fast towards wristspinners, especially in white-ball cricket, but Sundar feels off-spinners have always been effective in all forms of the game.

"If you see over the years off-spinners have always been effective in all formats. It's an important skill, as good as wrist spin. It's all about reading the wicket, having good skills, it's all about improving everyday. It's important to keep working hard no matter what skill you have," he said.

Sundar feels India will win the Nidahas Trophy if they play to their potential on Sunday.

"If we could play to our potential, if we could play to our strength, if we could have another good day definitely we will win the tournament," he signed off.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan deeply regrets his "silly mistake" of not reporting a corrupt approach by an Indian bookie to the ICC, leading to his one year suspension from the game.

Shakib was banned for two years, one year of it suspended, for failing to report corrupt approaches during an IPL edition by an alleged Indian bookie named Deepak Aggarwal.

"I took the approaches too casually When I met the anti-corruption guy and told them and they knew everything. Gave them all the evidence and they knew everything that happened," Shakib told Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation'.

"To be honest, that's the only reason I was banned for a year, otherwise I'd have been banned for five or 10 years," he added on the ICC's investigation.

The 33-year-old, who was in brilliant form before the ban, amassing 606 runs in the 2019 World Cup in the UK, said he regrets how he went about the situation.

"But I think that was a silly mistake I made. Because with my experience and the amount of international matches I've played and the amount of ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct classes I took, I shouldn't have made that decision, to be honest."

Lesson learnt, Shakib's advice to all young criceters is to never take any such message lightly.

"I regret that. No one should take such messages or calls (from bookies) lightly or leave it away. We must inform the ICC ACSU guy to be on the safe side and that's the lesson I learnt, and I think I learnt a big lesson," he added.

The all-rounder, whose ban ends on October 29, said he became a bit arrogant and never felt he was doing anything wrong by not reporting the bookie's approach immediately.

"Because you do most things right in your life, you tend to get arrogant with some decisions. You may not realise but you're doing wrong by the books. It never came to my mind that I am doing something wrong

"It was just a feeling of 'okay, what's going to happen, leave it' and I continued with my life. But that's the mistake I made. And that happens," Shakib said.

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Agencies
January 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 19: Opening batsman Rohit Sharma on Sunday became the third-fastest batsman to register 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

He achieved the feat in the ongoing third ODI against Australia here at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Only Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have achieved the feat faster than Rohit.

Sharma brought up the milestone in the first over of the Indian innings as he clipped Mitchell Starc away for a single.

With this, the right-handed batsman has become just the sixth Indian to achieve the milestone.

Apart from Sharma, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar have more than 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

Overall, 20 batsmen have more than 9,000 ODI runs to their name.

In the match between India and Australia, the former won the toss and elected to bat first.

Steve Smith played a knock of 131 runs to propel Australia to 286/9 in the allotted fifty overs.

 

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News Network
January 30,2020

Jan 30: Three days after Los Angeles basketball great Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others perished in a helicopter crash, his wife, Vanessa, broke her silence with an Instagram message saying she was “completely devastated” by their loss.

The social media text was posted alongside a recent family photo of Kobe and Vanessa Bryant with all four of their daughters - Gianna, who died with her father, along with the couple’s eldest, Natalia, 17, 3-year-old Bianka, and the youngest, Capri, born in June 2019.

Kobe Bryant and the couple’s second daughter, knicknamed Gigi, died on Sunday when the helicopter they were flying in en route to the Mamba Sports Academy for a girl’s basketball tournament crashed in foggy weather on a hillside northwest of Los Angeles.

Gianna Bryant was a member of the Mamba team due to compete that day. Her father, who retired from the National Basketball Association in 2016 after 20 years with the Los Angeles Lakers, was the coach of his daughter’s team. ]

The pilot and six more passengers were also killed - two other 13-year-old girls involved in the tournament, three of their parents and another coach. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

The death of Bryant, 41, an 18-time NBA all-star, five-time Lakers champion and one of the world’s most admired sports figures, unleashed an outpouring of grief and tributes from fans, fellow athletes and politicians around the globe.

“My girls and I want to thank the millions of people who’ve shown support and love during this horrific time,” Vanessa Bryant, 37, a former model, wrote on her Instagram account.

“We are completely devastated by the sudden loss of my adoring husband, Kobe — the amazing father of our children; and my beautiful, sweet Gianna — a loving, thoughtful, and wonderful daughter, and amazing sister to Natalia, Bianka, and Capri,” she added.

The message goes on to say: “We are also devastated for the families who lost their loved ones on Sunday, and we share in their grief intimately. There aren’t enough words to describe our pain right now.

“I take comfort in knowing that Kobe and Gigi both knew that they were so deeply loved. We were so incredibly blessed to have them in our lives. I wish they were here with us forever. They were our beautiful blessings taken from us too soon.”

She directed anyone wishing to “further Kobe and Gianna’s legacy in youth sports” to visit the site MambaSports Foundation.org.

There has been no word yet on funeral arrangements.

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