Pankaj Advani-led India pip Pakistan to win Snooker Team World Cup

Agencies
March 3, 2018

Doha, Mar 3: The Indian combine of Pankaj Advani and Manan Chandra staged a remarkable recovery to pip Pakistan in the final of the inaugural IBSF Snooker Team World Cup. After being 0-2 down in the best-of-five final played on Saturday night, India found themselves in a deeper hole at 0-30 down in the third frame.

Thanks to a well-crafted 39 break from Chandra and a classy clearance of the final colours by Advani, the Indian hopes were kept alive.

In the fourth frame, even though Advani found himself in a spot of bother when trailing 1-20 against Babar Masih, he took charge of the proceedings and displayed his mastery once again by clearing the table with a 69 break.

This made India draw parity with Pakistan and it all boiled down to the final frame to determine the first winners of the inaugural event.

Chandra and Muhammad Asif found themselves in a seesaw frame but it was the Indian who changed gears and did most of the scoring with every given opportunity. Eventually, Chandra only needed the green to be in the safe zone leaving his opponent requiring snookers. But with a long pot on the brown, the humbled Pakistani conceded the frame and match.

The Indians made a shaky start in the final with Masih scoring a convincing 73-24 win over Chandra in the opener. Asif then went on to steal the second frame from Advani and win it on the black ball 61-56.

With the Indian team 0-2 down, it had to dig deep and win every frame thereafter.

The third frame was a doubles match in which both Indians played out of their skin to stay alive in the final, winning it 72-47.

“After it became 2-0 in the favour of Pakistan, we knew our chances of winning were slim and had our task cut out. After winning the doubles frame we saw a glimmer of hope and knew now it was up to us to dig deep and individually win both our singles matches to pull off a Houdini,” said Advani.

“Manan played exceptional snooker especially in the crucial deciders of the semifinal and final, when it mattered most. I’m really happy for him to win his first world title,” added Advani, who increased his tally of world titles to a staggering 19.

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News Network
July 21,2020

Jul 21: The tickets sold for the now-postponed ICC T20 World Cup will remain valid if Australia hosts the edition in 2021 instead of India.

In case the event is shifted to 2022, all ticket-holders will be entitled to a full refund, the ICC stated on its website on Monday night after postponing the mega-event this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The tournament was to be held in October-November but will now be conducted later because of the pandemic.

The ICC has not yet announced which country will host which edition as there are operational issues that both the Indian and Australian cricket Boards need to sort out.

The world body had opened ticket booking through its ticketing partners and a significant number was already sold.

"Ticket holders are welcome to retain their tickets, noting, if Australia hosts in 2021, tickets will remain valid for fans who have already bought and will be automatically updated to reflect the new dates.

"If Australia hosts in 2022, for tickets already bought a full refund will be processed automatically," ICC stated in a series of FAQs.

Fans can retain their tickets until a date is confirmed for the event.

Refund requests can be made until December 15 and they will be processed within 30 days after an online submission.

The hospitality package will also remain valid for the 2021 fixtures.

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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
May 14,2020

May 14: Veteran South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis has proposed a two-week isolation period for players before and after the T20 World Cup as a way to stage the event as per schedule later this year.

Like other sports, cricketing action too has come to a complete halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fate of the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October-November is shrouded in uncertainty.

Talking to Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, du Plessis said travel was going to be an issue despite Australia being less affected by the deadly contagion.

"I am not sure... reading that travelling is going to be an issue for lot of countries and they are talking about December or January. Even if Australia is not affected like other countries, to get people from Bangladesh, South Africa or India where there is more danger, obviously it's a health risk to them," du Plessis said.

"But you can go in before the tournament (for) two weeks isolation and then play the tournament and afterwards two weeks isolation," said the former captain.

Several countries across the globe, including South Africa, Australia and India, have travel restrictions in place and the veteran Proteas batsman joked travelling by boat is not an option.

"But I don't know when South Africa will open their travel ban because we can't go there like old days on boats," du Plessis said.

In March, South Africa's ODI series against India was called off after the first match in view of the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 44 lakh people worldwide while causing close to 3 lakh deaths.

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