Pallikal, Chinappa, Sandhu take Indian squash to new heights in 2014

December 16, 2014

Pallikal ChinappaDec 16: Indian squash never had it better than 2014 as a bagful of firsts, highlighted by a gold each in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, marked a highly successful year for the racquet sport.

While the big three -- Dipika Pallikal, Joshana Chinappa and Saurav Ghosal -- were always expected to do the bulk of the job, it was pleasing to see Harinder Pal Sandhu emerge from their shadows.

The 25-year-old from Mohali set up a memorable gold medal feat for India in the men's team event at the Incheon Asian Games by dismissing defending champion Mohd Azlan Iskandar in the opening singles. Ghosal then got past the experienced Ong Beng Hee, triggering wild victory celebrations.

The win also lessened Ghosal's pain of losing the singles gold medal clash from a commanding position. The men's team gold had capped off India's historic show at the Games, where it ended up winning medals in all four categories on offer. Kolkata-based Ghosal summed up his season.

"This year for me was all about Commonwealth and Asian Games. The huge disappointment in the Asian Games was not winning the individual gold medal. I was so very close and losing the final will always hurt," Ghosal said.

"However, I'm really happy I could bounce back from that disappointment and help India and my team win our first ever gold medal at the Asian Games. It is my biggest achievement to date and I will always cherish the moment we won," he recalled.

The women trio of Pallikal, Chinappa and Anaka Alankamony stood a step lower on the podium at Incheon but the silver showing was enough to achieve something that had not been done before.

Pallikal, the first from her country to break into the world top 10, added to her competition tally by edging teammate Chinappa in an intense quarterfinal for the bronze medal.

The after effects of the heated match in September still linger and it is learnt that the country's squash queens don't share the same rapport they shared during their triumphant campaign at the July-August Commonwealth Games.

Whatever the case may be, their stupendous feat in Glasgow will always be worth cherishing. Pallikal-Chinappa surprised fancied opponents on their way to earning India's first-ever medal in the Commonwealth Games, and that too a gold. Their scalps included the mighty Malaysian pair of Nicol David and Loe Wee Wern and top seeds Jenny Duncalf and Laura Massaro from England.

"It really was an incredible year. It panned out better than what I had thought at the start of the year. You always prepare differently in a CWG and Asian Games year and in the end, all the hard work and loss of time on the professional tour was worth it," world number 16 Pallikal said.

She and Chinappa are currently in Cairo for the World Open beginning on Wednesday.

"I played less tournaments this year because of the two multi-sporting events. So next season will be about playing more tournaments and getting back into the top-10," added Pallikal, who was training in Melbourne with coach Sarah Fitz-Gerald in the lead up to the World Open.

Ghosal and Chinappa too share a similar aim for the new year. Ghosal made headlines with a gold and silver in Incheon but his maiden semifinal appearance in the highly competitive men's singles field in Glasgow deserves more than a mere mention. He became the first Indian to reach the last four before losing to nemesis Peter Barker of England in the bronze play-off.

However, his performance on the pro circuit is one thing he would want to improve on.

"My PSA ranking has taken a bit of a hit this year and that is something I have to focus on in 2015. I lost some very close matches and it is a case of playing the big points slightly better. The aim for 2015 is to get back to winning ways on PSA and push forward," added Ghosal, who has slipped five places to be 23 in the latest rankings.

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April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: It was on April 2, 2011, when the Men in Blue went on to win their second 50-over World Cup title.

India won its first World Cup in 1983 and then had to wait for 28 years to again lift the title.
Going into the 2011 tournament, India went in as the clear favourites as the competition was to be played in the sub-continent.

Under MS Dhoni's leadership, India lost just one match in the competition against South Africa.
India had defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final to set up a summit clash with Sri Lanka.

In the finals, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first. Mahela Jayawardene top-scored for Sri Lanka as he struck a century to take the team's score to 274/6.

India in their chase got off to a bad start as the side lost Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag with just 31 runs on the board.

But Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni stepped up and stitched a match-winning 109-run partnership.

Gambhir perished after playing a knock of 97 runs, but in the end, Dhoni and Yuvraj took the team over the line by six wickets.

The winning six struck by Dhoni is still viewed as one of the most exciting moments in India's sporting history. 

As the winning six was hit, Ravi Shastri was doing commentary then, and he famously remarked, "Dhoni, finishes it off in style, India lifts the World Cup after 28 years".
As soon as the match-winning shot was hit, Tendulkar erupted with joy and had tears to see his dream finally being fulfilled.

Earlier this year, former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the 2011 World Cup win, titled 'Carried On the Shoulders Of A Nation', was voted the greatest Laureus Sporting Moment of the last twenty years.

The lap after the World Cup is still edged into everyone's hearts.

Playing in his last mega 50-over tournament, it was the last chance for Tendulkar to lift the coveted trophy.

Before the 2011 World Cup, Tendulkar had played five tournaments (1992,1996,1999,2003 and 2007), and he fell short every time.

The closest he came to winning the trophy was in 2003 as India made the finals under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly.

But the Men in Blue fell short in the finals against Australia.

Then in 2007, the biggest setback was in store for the legend has India bowed out of the tournament in the group stages.

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February 19,2020

Feb 19: India captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday dropped enough hints to indicate that seniormost pacer Ishant Sharma and young opener Prithvi Shaw will be in the playing XI for the first Test against New Zealand in Wellington. If India's net session on Wednesday is taken into consideration, Wriddhiman Saha is starting as the wicketkeeper ahead of Rishabh Pant for the series opener beginning on Friday. Hanuma Vihari, the team's designated No 6 batsman for away Tests, will be the fifth bowling option with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ishant being three specialist pacers.

Ravichandran Ashwin is in the mix for the lone specialist spinner's spot though Ravindra Jadeja's all-round skills can't be ignored either.

Ishant, who was out for three weeks with an ankle injury sustained during a Ranji Trophy game, bowled full tilt at the nets and even earned appreciation for troubling batsmen with his pace and bounce.

"He (Ishant) looked pretty normal and pretty similar to what he was bowling before the ankle injury. He is hitting good areas again and he has played (Test cricket) in New Zealand couple of times, so his experience will be useful to us. It was really good to see him bowling with pace and in good areas," Kohli said during his media interaction.

The skipper also said in as many words that the team wouldn't like to change Shaw's natural stroke-play which was a good enough hint that Shubman Gill will have to warm the benches for now.

"Prithvi is a talented player and he has his own game and we want him to follow his instincts and play the way he does. Look, these guys have no baggage and are not desperate to perform in any manner," the skipper said.

The skipper wants Shaw to take a leaf out of Mayank Agarwal's performance in Australia back in 2018-19 when he hit back to back half-centuries in Melbourne and Sydney.

"They don't have any nerves to do well overseas. Like a clear head with which Mayank played in Australia, Prithvi can do the same in New Zealand.

"A bunch of guys playing with fearlessness, something that can motivate the whole team, gives us start that the team wants and not get intimidated by the opposition in any way."

The skipper downplayed India's below-par show in the three-match ODI series, especially that of Agarwal.

"Prithvi, I think you can call him relatively inexperienced and Mayank, I wouldn't call him that inexperienced because he has scored a lot of runs last year. So he understands what his game is like in Test cricket.

"I think sometimes in white ball cricket we try to do too much but once you come into red ball cricket, you fall into that disciplined mode of batting, which obviously suits him much more at this stage."

While he didn't give an answer on the Saha-Pant debate, the burly Delhi keeper had precious little to do at the main nets and was seen spending more time doing his keeping drills and only got an opportunity to bat when the first team completed its routines.

New Zealand are likely to go with an all-pace attack but the Indian captain wants to stick to his team's strengths which is play with one spinner in the four-pronged bowling attack.

"If it had been a Johannesburg pitch, I could have said it's a possibility (to play four pacers) but our team has that skill that we can bowl out other teams with only three fast bowlers," he sounded confident.

"But you need one world class skillful spinner, who can take wickets on any pitch. We won't copy the home team. We would rather figure out what is the most lethal combination, which gives us balance," he added.

"As a bowling group it's better than the one that came to NZ last time and that is why we have got so many teams all out in last two and half years. We would like to repeat that here also," Kohli added.

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February 2,2020

Mount Maunganui, Feb 2: India registered a rare 5-0 whitewash against New Zealand after notching up a seven-run win in the fifth and final T20 International at Bay Oval here on Sunday.

Electing to bat, India posted 163 for three, riding on Rohit Sharma's 60 off 41 balls and a 33-ball 45 from K L Rahul.

The visitors then restricted the hosts to 156 for nine with Jasprit Bumrah claiming three wickets for 12 runs.

Chasing the target, the Black Caps were tottering at 17 for three in 3.2 overs.

Tim Seifert (50) and Ross Taylor (53) then added 99 runs for the fourth wicket as New Zealand recovered to 116.

Seifert clobbered a 30-ball 50 studded with five fours and three sixes, while Ross Taylor hit two sixes and five fours in his 47-ball 53-run innings.

However, once Seifert was dismissed in the 13th over, the hosts suffered a collapse, losing five wickets, including Taylor, for 25 runs to loss the plot in the end.

Brief Score:

India: 163 for 3 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 60; S Kuggeleijn 2/25)    

New Zealand: 156 for 9 in 20 overs (Ross Taylor 53, Tim Seifert 50; Jasprit Bumrah 3/12).

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