With Powar on way out, Indian women's team hopes for controversy-free future

Agencies
November 30, 2018

New Delhi, Nov 30: The feud between senior India woman cricketer Mithali Raj and Ramesh Powar is heading towards an end without any intervention from the administrators with the coach's three-month interim tenure ending Friday.

With the conclusion of Powar's term, fresh applications will be invited by the BCCI for the job and in all likelihood, the former India spinner will not be considered even if he applies.

"His contract is coming to an end today and there is little chance that he will be brought back," a top BCCI official told PTI.

The Indian women's team has had its fair share of controversies and the latest one was triggered after Mithali was dropped from the playing XI for the World T20 semifinal which the side lost to England by eight wickets.

Mithali alleged that Powar was "out to destroy her" while the coach countered her by questioning the "conduct" of the team's seniormost player, saying that she threatened to retire on being denied the opening slot and threw tantrums.

Powar was appointed in August after Tushar Arothe quit following differences with the senior players over training methods. 

After Powar's departure, it remains to be seen how T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur and ODI captain Mithali bury their differences.

It will be a massive mental challenge for the 35-year-old to put the past behind.

India's next assignment is the tour of New Zealand in January and under a new coach, the team would hope to steer clear of more controversy.

"It will be interesting to see how Harman and Mithali get along after whatever happened in the West Indies. It is imperative that they get along well for the team's sake. Otherwise, there will only be more issues in the dressing room," said another BCCI official.

Harman has not yet spoken on the Powar-Mithali face-off but had defended the team management's decision of dropping Mithali for the all-important semifinal despite her senior teammate scoring fifties in the previous two innings.

Mithali has already expressed her desire to sort out the differences with the T20 captain.

"I am of the opinion that Harman and I are senior players and our issues, if any, should be sorted out by the two of us by sitting across the table.

"As India's 50-over captain, I value Harman as one of our best players and will always want to ensure that the two of us perform our best for India," Mithali had written in a detailed explanation to BCCI when the controversy first broke out.

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News Network
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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Agencies
May 9,2020

Tokyo, May 9: As the world continues to grapple with coronavirus pandemic, the organisers of Tokyo Game Show have cancelled 2020 showpiece event.

TGS 2020 was slated to be played from September 24 to September 27 at the Makuhari Messe convention center. However, there now talks going on for holding an online event instead.

According to the Verge, this is the first time that TGS has ever been cancelled since it started in 1996.

TGS 2020 gained more attention because of its status as the last major trade show before the launch of the upcoming next-gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

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News Network
June 2,2020

Jun 2: Former West Indies captain Daren Sammy has spoken strongly against the killing if George Floyd in USA, and has now urged the ICC & all the other boards in the world to come together and fight the evil.

In a series of tweets Sammy wrote how the blacks have been suffering for a long time.

“For too long black people have suffered. I’m all the way in St Lucia and I’m frustrated If you see me as a teammate then you see #GeorgeFloyd Can you be part of the change by showing your support. #BlackLivesMatter,” Sammy wrote.

He also wrote, “@ICC and all the other boards are you guys not seeing what’s happening to ppl like me? Are you not gonna speak against the social injustice against my kind. This is not only about America. This happens everyday #BlackLivesMatter now is not the time to be silent. I wanna hear u.”

“Right now if the cricket world not standing against the injustice against people of color after seeing that last video of that foot down the next of my brother you are also part of the problem.”

Earlier, West Indies star batsman Chris Gayle has said racism exists in cricket too, saying he gets the 'end of the stick' even within teams.

"Black lives matter just like any other life. Black people matter, p***k all racist people, stop taking black people for fools, even our own black people wise the p***k up and stop bringing down your own! I have travelled the globe and experience racial remarks towards me because I am black, believe me, the list goes on," Gayle wrote in his Instagram story.

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