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PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth carry India's hopes at Denmark Open

Agencies
October 17, 2017

Odense, Oct 17: Title-contenders P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth would look to put behind the disappointment of an early exit from Japan Open and make a positive start to their campaign at the $750,000 Denmark Open Super Series Premier, which begins here on Tuesday.

Rio Olympics and World Championship silver medallist Sindhu has been in rampaging form this season as she has already bagged two titles at the India Open and Korea Open respectively.

After a gruelling week at Seoul last month, she couldn't sustain the intensity and suffered a second-round defeat against Japan's Nozomi Okuhara - an opponent she had some fierce battles recently - at the Japan Open at Tokyo.

The second seeded Indian, however, will be fresh after a three-week training and would look to make amends when she opens her campaign against World No. 10 China's Chen Yufei, a rival she had beaten in the World Championship in August.

Chinese seventh seed He Bingjiao is likely to stand in Sindhu's way to the semi-finals. The left-handed Chinese has a 5-4 record against Sindhu even though the Indian had beaten her at Korea Open.

Slowly finding her foot back after battling her way through a career-threatening injury last year, Saina Nehwal will be looking for her first super series win in 16 months. She had won the Australia Open last year in June, 2016 before a knee injury derailed her Rio Olympics dream.

The World No. 12 bagged a bronze at the World Championship but she lost to Carolina Marin at the Japan Open in the second round and the Indian will be itching for a revenge when she faces the fifth seeded Spaniard in the opening round here.

The duo are locked 4-4 in head-to-head count but the last time Saina had beaten Marin was at the 2015 Dubai World Superseries Finals. The Indian has lost twice in straight games to Marin in the last two meetings and she would need a determined effort to get across the newly-crowned Japan Open champion.

In men's singles, Srikanth starts as hot favourite after his three back-to-back final appearances out of which he won two titles at Indonesia and Australia.

The World No. 8 had two creditable quarterfinal finishes at Glasgow World Championship and Japan Open and he would be looking for another title after he opens his campaign against a qualifier.

If Srikanth can cross the first two rounds, a familiar foe in World Champion and local favourite Viktor Axelsen might be waiting for him at the quarters.

Among other Indians in fray, B Sai Praneeth and H S Prannoy have showed that they are no pushovers after their good run this season.

While Praneeth clinched his maiden Super Series title at Singapore beating Srikanth in the final, Prannoy bagged the US Open Grand Prix Gold title besides creating a flutter after dumping heavyweights Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and China's Chen Long in Indonesia Open.

Prannoy and Praneeth will look to put their best foot forward when they face Denmark's Emil Holst and Hans-Kristian Vittinghus respectively in the opening round.

Sameer Verma, who won the Syed Modi Grad Prix Gold, will take on a qualifier and is expected to clash with Axelsen in the second round.

Indian men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are also in the fray.

Women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will also look for a good outing, while Satwiksairaj and Ashwini, who reached the mixed doubles semifinals at Dutch Open Grand Prix last week, also will look to continue their good run.

Tomorrow, Commonwealth Games champion P Kashyap, who reached the finals at US Open, will open his campaign against Denmark's Victor Svendsen, while Subhankar Dey faces another local shuttler Kim Bruun in men's singles qualifiers.

In women's singles, Anura Prabhudesai will lock horns with Denmark's Irina Amalie Andersen.

In mixed doubles, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy will face Ireland's Sam Magee and Chloe Magee in the main draw on Tuesday.

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News Network
June 1,2020

Jun 1: Premier India pacer Jasprit Bumrah won't miss the hugs and high-fives as part of a wicket celebration but he will certainly miss applying saliva on the ball and feels an alternative should be provided to maintain the red cherry.

The ICC Cricket Committee, led by former India captain Anil Kumble, recommended a ban on using saliva on the ball as an interim measure to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Committee did not allow the use of artificial substances as a substitute move.

The new rule makes life tougher for the bowlers and Bumrah, like many former and current fast bowlers, feels there ought to be an alternative.

"I was not much of a hugger anyway and not a high-five person as well, so that doesn't trouble me a lot. The only thing that interests me is the saliva bit," said Bumrah in a chat with Ian Bishop and Shaun Pollock on ICC's video series 'Inside Out'.

"I don't know what guidelines we'll have to follow when we come back, but I feel there should be an alternative," he added.

Bumrah said not being able to use saliva makes the game more batsman-friendly.

"If the ball is not well maintained, it's difficult for the bowlers. The grounds are getting shorter and shorter, the wickets are becoming flattered and flatter.

"So we need something, some alternative for the bowlers to maintain the ball so that it can do something - maybe reverse in the end or conventional swing."

When former West Indian pacer Bishop pointed out that the conditions have been favorable to the fast bowlers over the last couple of years, Bumrah nodded in agreement.

"In Test match cricket, yes. That is why it's my favorite format because we have something over there. But in one-day cricket and T20 cricket… one-day cricket there are two new balls, so it hardly reverses at the end.

"We played in New Zealand, the ground (boundary) was 50 metres. So even if you are not looking to hit a six, it will go for six. In Test matches I have no problem, I'm very happy with the way things are going."

He finds it amusing that the batsmen keep complaining about the swinging ball.

"Whenever you play, I've heard the batsmen - not in our team, everywhere - complaining the ball is swinging. But the ball is supposed to swing! The ball is supposed to do something! We are not here just to give throwdowns, isn't it? (laughter)

"This is what I tell batsmen all the time. In one-day cricket, when did the ball reverse last, I don't know. Nowadays the new ball doesn't swing a lot as well. So whenever I see batsmen say the ball is swinging or seaming and that is why I got out - the ball is supposed to do that.

"Because it doesn't happen so much in the other formats, it's a new thing for the batsmen when the ball is swinging or seaming," said the 26-year-old.

The Ahmedabad-born pacer finds himself in an unusual position as he has not bowled for over two months due to the lockdown imposed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

When India will play next is not clear yet and Bumrah said he is not sure about how his body will hold up when he returns to action.

"I really don't know how your body reacts when you don't bowl for two months, three months. I'm trying to keep up with training so that as soon as the grounds open up, the body is in decent shape.

"I've been training almost six days a week but I've not bowled for a long period of time so I don't know how the body will react when I bowl the first ball.

"I'm looking at it as a way to renew your own body. We'll never get such a break again, so even if you have a small niggle here and there, you can be a refreshed person when you come back. You can prolong your career," he said.

Bumrah has risen rapidly in international cricket despite experts having reservations about his longevity due to his unorthodox action.

The gritty fast bowler sees similarities in his career graph to Swedish football star Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

"Our personalities are different. But the story I could relate to is that not many people thought he would make it big. There was a similar case with me growing up as well.

"Wherever I went, it was the general feedback from people that 'this guy would not do anything, he would not be a top-rated bowler, he won't be able to play for a long period of time with this kind of action'.

"So, having the self-belief is important and the only validation that is required is your own validation. I saw that in his (Ibrahimovic's) story, so that's the thing I could relate to," added Bumrah.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

New Delhi, Aug 6: The BCCI on Thursday suspended the IPL title sponsorship deal with Chinese mobile phone company Vivo for the event's upcoming edition amid heightened tensions in Sino-India diplomatic ties.

The BCCI sent out a one-line statement, without giving details, saying that Vivo would not be associated with the IPL this year. "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Vivo released its own statement saying that the two entities "have mutually decided to pause their partnership for the 2020 season".

Vivo won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for a reported sum of Rs 2,190 crore, approximately Rs 440 crore per annum.

The two parties are now working out a plan in which Vivo might come back for a fresh three-year period starting 2021 on revised terms.

However, a top BCCI official offered a different view. "Here we are talking about diplomatic tensions and you expect that after November, when IPL ends and before the next IPL starts in April 2021, there would be no anti-China sentiment? Are we serious?" a veteran BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

The anti-China sentiment in the country peaked after the violent face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh. India lost 20 soldiers in the clash, while China also acknowledged unspecified casualties.

The stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) caused outrage across India with several calls for boycotts of Chinese companies and products.

The BCCI is now likely to float a tender for new IPL title sponsors as mandated by its constitution. The glitzy T20 league starts on Sept. 19 in the UAE, forced out of India due to the rising COVID-19 cases.

The new development is in stark contrast to what came out of Sunday's IPL's Governing Council meeting, where it was decided that Vivo, along with all the other sponsors, will remain on board.

This was after the BCCI had announced in June that all sponsorship deals pertaining to IPL will be reviewed in the aftermath of the clash in the Galwan Valley.

However, after Sunday's meeting, there was a huge backlash on social media about the BCCI holding on to Vivo.

Both parties then began thrashing out an amicable separation plan, at least for this season.

However, the end of this deal could spell losses for the franchises as they get a substantial share from the sponsorship pool. Half of the annual Vivo sponsorship money is distributed equally among eight franchises, which comes to Rs 27.5 crore.

"As of now, it will be very difficult for the BCCI to match the sponsorship amount at such short notice. Therefore, both BCCI and the franchises should be prepared to lose out on some money -- BCCI more but each franchise from Vivo's exit will potentially lose 15 crore," the official said.

"This year will be difficult for everyone but the show must go on," the official said.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the Women's IPL or the Challenger series, as it is better known, is "very much on", ending speculation about the parent body not having a plan for Harmanpreet Kaur and her team.

The men's IPL will be held between September 19 and November 8 or 10 (final date yet to be locked in) in the UAE due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in India. The women's IPL will also be fit in to the schedule, according to the BCCI chief.

"I can confirm to you that the women's IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also," Ganguly told PTI ahead of the IPL Governing Council meeting later on Sunday.

The BCCI president, who is awaiting a Supreme Court verdict on waiver of the cooling-off period to continue in the position, did not divulge details but another senior official privy to the development said that women's Challenger will be held during the last phase of IPL like last year.

"The women's Challenger series is likely to be held between November 1-10 and there could be a camp before that," the source said.

The former India captain also said that the centrally contracted women players will have a camp which has been delayed due to the prevailing situation in the country.

"We couldn't have exposed any of our cricketers -- be it male or female to health risk. It would have been dangerous," Ganguly said.

"The NCA also remained shut because of Covid-19. But we have a plan in place and we will have a camp for women, I can tell you that," he added.

The BCCI's cricket operations team is chalking up a schedule where Indian women are likely to have two full-fledged white-ball series against South Africa and the West Indies before playing the ODI World Cup in New Zealand. 

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