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Pakistan on verge of final as BD play for pride

March 4, 2014

Bangladesh_CricketDhaka, Mar 4: Buoyed by their last-over win over arch-rivals India, a rejuvenated Pakistan side will look to seal a berth in the final as they lock horns with beleaguered hosts Bangladesh in their last round-robin Asia Cup match here today.

The top two teams qualify for the summit clash and Pakistan, having collected nine points from three appearances, will go into the match as favourites.

The momentum swung their way after Shahid Afridi’s enterprise laid India low at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium here on Sunday.

For the record, Pakistan had lost to Sri Lanka in the tournament opener, before getting their campaign back on track with successive wins over Afghanistan and the big one against India.

A win for Pakistan will only make things more difficult fort India, provided Sri Lanka lose both their remaining games against Afghanistan and Bangladesh, which seems highly unlikely.

India lost to Pakistan two days after their defeat to Sri Lanka. The Indians won their opener against Bangladesh, and their run-rate stands at -0.027 to Pakistan’s +0.438.

Reeling under two big defeats, including one against first-timers Afghanistan, Bangladesh would try and look to regain some lost glory against their famed opponents.

In one-day cricket, Bangladesh have upstaged Pakistan just once, that too way back in the 1999 World Cup in England.

And again, Bangladesh, who played the final of the last edition, would be looking to prove that the loss to Afghanistan was a mere aberration and the side has the potential to humble stiffer opponents.

Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim would be happy to see the return of all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who was banned for lewd gestures by the country’s cricket board.

As far as Pakistan are concerned, they will be on a high after the positive result against India.

Mohammad Hafeez was back amongst runs, and that is good news for Misbah-ul-Haq’s team going into the business end of the competition. He has also been making significant contributions with the ball.

Twice run-out in this tournament, Misbah would be hoping for a better luck and get some runs under his belt against the hapless host nation.

On the bowling front, paceman Umar Gul and ace off-spinner Saeed Ajmal would be leading the Pakistani attack. However, Pakistan would do well to guard against complacency.

But there are injury concerns for Pakistan in the shape of Sharjeel Khan and Mohammad Talha during the clash against India. Both would go fitness test before Tuesday’s fixture.

Teams (from):

BANGLADESH: Anamul Haque, Shamsur Rahman, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Naeem Islam, Ziaur Rahman, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Shafiul Islam, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Al-Amin Hossain.

PAKISTAN: Sharjeel Khan, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Anwar Ali, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Talha, Abdur Rehman, Fawad Alam.

Umpires: Johan Cloete (South Africa0 and Nigel Llong (England).

TV umpire: C.K. Nandan (India).

Match referee: Chris Broad (England).

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News Network
January 9,2020

Kuala Lampur, Jan 9: Saina Nehwal and reigning world champion P V Sindhu produced dominating performances to progress to the women's singles quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament here on Thursday.

Sixth seed Sindhu notched up a commanding 21-10 21-15 victory over Japan's Aya Ohori in a pre-quarterfinal match lasting just 34 minutes. It was Sindhu's ninth successive win over Ohori.

The 24-year-old Indian, who won the World Championships in Basel last year, will take on world number 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarterfinals after the Chinese Taipei shuttler got the better of South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun 21-18 16-21 21-10.

Saina, who had won the Indonesia Masters last year before going through a rough patch, dispatched eight seed An Se Young of South Korea 25-23 21-12 after a thrilling 39-minute contest to make the last eight.

This is Saina's first win over the South Korean, who got the better of the Indian in the quarterfinals of the French Open last year.

The two-time Commonwealth Games champion will next take on Olympic champion Carolina Marin.

Saina had defeated Lianne Tan of Belgium 21-15 21-17 in the opening round on Wednesday.

In the men's singles, India's challenge ended after both Sameer Verma and HS Prannoy crashed out in the second round.

While Verma lost to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia 19-21 20-22, Prannoy was shown the door by top seed Kento Momota of Japan 14-21 16-21.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Jeddah, Jan 9: Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde criticised the new Supercopa format and said that "football has become a business and as a business it looks for income".

"The bottom line is football has become a business and as a business it looks for income. That's the reason we are all here," Goal.com quoted Valverde as saying ahead of Barca's semi-final against Atletico.

"It's a completely different format to what we're used to. It was always the first title and the opener of the season and to me, that seemed fine," he added.

The Supercopa was traditionally a two-legged affair played between the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Rey at the beginning of the season, but following last term's one-off meeting between Barca and Sevilla in Tangier, Morocco, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) went ahead with a full revamp.

Instead of just two teams being involved, the Supercopa has been expanded to also include the runners-up from La Liga and the Copa - meaning Barca and Valencia are joined by Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. It is also set to be hosted in Saudi Arabia for the next three editions.

"It's been changed and let's see, it will be judged once it has happened. It's interesting, with four good teams, but from a sporting point of view, I'm not sure," Valverde said.

"We must bear in mind that the football we are involved in is an industry, sources of income are sought and in the same way that there are special connotations in this country, there are also in Morocco, where we played last year," he added.

Barcelona will face Atletico Madrid in the semifinal of the Supercopa at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah on January 10.

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coastaldigest.com web desk
August 3,2020

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will not end its partnership with Chinese companies. Vivo, the Chinese smartphone maker, is the main sponsor of the new IPL season as well. Apart from Vivo, PayTM and Dream 11 will also be at the helm of the 13th edition of the IPL. The IPL governing council meeting on Sunday decided to retain the old sponsors.

As soon as the IPL GC announced the decision of retaining the sponsors, a huge number of fans took to Twitter to slam the board for the same. #BoycottIPL started trending as the users urged others to boycott the tournament for the Chinese connection.

Earlier, the demand for exclusion of Chinese companies from the IPL was strong in the wake of the India-China border dispute. But the BCCI cannot abruptly end its collaboration with them. Because of the signed contract itself. And in this age of declining economy, it is difficult to find new sponsors quickly.

The current BCCI contract with Vivo is for five years. Vivo has invested Rs 2,199 crore to become the main sponsor of the IPL. The contract was signed in 2017. However, the BCCI’s move is paving the way for new discussions as calls are mounting across the country to boycott Chinese companies.

The BCCI announced other important decisions besides retaining sponsors. The IPL will be held from September 19 to November 10. The Indian government has given permission to the BCCI to hold the IPL in the UAE. With this, all obstacles in the way of organizing the tournament were removed.

The IPL matches will be played at 7.30 pm Indian time (6 pm UAE time). Most matches are about one match a day. There are a total of ten ‘double headers’ (two matches a day) in the tournament. Franchisees are allowed to appoint as many replacements as they want in the new season in view of the new health situation. At the same time, the maximum number of players a franchise can accommodate is 24. The BCCI is also planning to host a women’s IPL tournament.

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