Sania, Hingis pocket title

March 23, 2015

Indian Wells, Mar23: Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza have completed a dream first tournament together, beating Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-4 to win the BNP Paribas Open women’s doubles title.

The No 1 seeds, Hingis (Switzerland) and Mirza (India) didn’t lose more than four games in any set all fortnight. After cruising through the first set, they fell behind 2-4 in the second to No 2 seeds Makarova and Vesnina. But they flipped the script from there with four straight games to end it 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday.

Sania HingisHingis has won 11 Grand Slams in the team discipline (nine in women’s and two in mixed) while Sania has claimed three Grand Slams (all in mixed) — and their doubles partnership was eagerly awaited in the tennis circuit. “This is something we were hoping for,” Hingis said after the win.

“She hits a big forehand, especially on the right side, and I can move and finish off the point. She prepares, I finish. That’s pretty cool to me,” she added.

Hingis expressed her satisfaction at the performance of the pair in the tournament. “I’m very happy we made this move. Obviously, we had partners we played well with, like me last year with Flavia, and changing was a big move. I’m very happy it worked out, because you never know what to expect. Winning the tournament in our premier, it’s new energy, and hopefully we can keep it up,” Hingis said.

Mirza echoed Hingis’ sentiments but admitted that she didn’t expect to win in such a dominating fashion. “On paper, obviously we are supposed to be a good team, but it doesn’t always turn out that way when you step on the court,” Sania said. “So, we’re really happy we weren’t just able to win, but win in such dominating fashion, not losing a set and being down just two times in the whole two weeks.”

Sania was asked what makes them such a good team in terms of strategy on the doubles court. “She’s one of the best people who can complement the way I play,” the Indian said. She’s got probably some of the best hands in the world at the net. For me, I need that. I need someone who can finish the balls off where I set them up. And that’s really it. Like I said, on paper everything looks great, but you still have to go out there. Names don’t do anything. You have to go out and win.”

In the men’s singles, world number one Novak Djokovic crushed Britain's Andy Murray 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday to set up a mouth-watering final against number two Roger Federer.

Federer defeated Canada's Milos Raonic 7-5, 6-4 to reach his 40th ATP Masters 1000 final and earn a repeat of last year's epic final where he lost to Djokovic in three sets.

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June 6,2020

Mumbai, Jun 6: Reminiscing about his 'special knock' of 208 runs from 153 balls, Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma revealed why his wife Ritika had got emotional after he smashed his third double century in ODIs.

Rohit narrated the incident during his appearance in Episode 2 of the 'Open nets with Mayank'.

The batsman, who was accompanied by Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank on the show, said his wife thought that he had twisted his hand while diving for the 196th run during the innings.

"As you can see my wife got emotional there, this day was special as it was my anniversary. Probably the best gift I could give it to her while I am on the field, it was quite emotional though," said Rohit during the candid chat.

"When I came from the ground, I just asked her why did you (Ritika) cry? So she told me that she thought I (Rohit) twisted my hand when I dived for my 196th run and that was a little worrying factor for her, she got little emotional of because of that I guess," Rohit added.

In the match, the 32-year-old scored 208 runs with 13 fours and 12 sixes against Sri Lanka at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.

This enabled India to post a score of 392/4 in the allotted fifty overs.

India then went on to win the match by 141 runs.

"To be honest I was going pretty slow, I never thought I will get to a double hundred but once you cross 125, I feel it gets easier for you because bowlers are under pressure. Unless you make a mistake I don't think you can get out," said Rohit.

Rohit has scored two double hundreds against Sri Lanka and one against Australia in ODIs. The right-handed batsman is the only cricketer to make three double hundreds in ODI history.

Rohit, Shikhar, and Mayank would have been in action for Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, and Kings XI Punjab respectively, had the Indian Premier League (IPL) commenced from March 29. However, the tournament was suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 9: Bangladesh clinched their maiden ICC U-19 World Cup title after beating favourites India by three wickets in the summit clash here on Sunday.

Set a revised target of 170 after a brief rain interruption, Bangladesh won the match with 23 balls to spare.

Sent in to bat, India's batting wilted under pressure as a superb Bangladesh bowling attack shot the defending champions out for a paltry 177 in 47.2 overs.

Yasashvi Jaiswal (88 off 121 balls) was once again a standout performer but not for once did he look like dominating the Bangladesh bowling unit whose new ball bowlers Shoriful Islam (2/31 in 10 overs) and Tanzim Hasan Shakib (2/28 in 8.2 overs) literally stifled the Indians for runs.

The third seamer Avishek Das (3/40 in 9 overs) was the most successful bowler in terms of figures but it was Shoriful's first spell with channelised aggression that put the Indians on the back-foot from the onset.

After a short rain break towards the end, the target was revised to 170 from 46 runs but Bangladesh reached 170 for 7 in 42.1 overs to win the match.

Opener Parvez Hossain Emon top-scored for Bangladesh with a 79-ball 47 while captain and wicketkeeper Akbar Ali was not out on 43 from 77 deliveries.

For the India U-19 side, Ravi Bishnoi was the most successful bowler with figures of 4/30 while Sushant Mishra had 2/25.

India thus missed out on a record fifth title in their seventh final appearance.

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May 2,2020

Melbourne, May 2: After becoming the number one side in Test cricket, Australia's head coach Justin Langer has said that his team has won back the respect of the country.

Australia dethroned India from the top spot in Tests and now the Men in Blue are in the third place.

Langer came in as the coach of Australia after the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and it took him some time to get the side back to winning ways.

Ever since the return of David Warner and Steve Smith, Australia went on to become a commendable side and the results reflect that.

"We have got lots of work to do to become the team we want to be. But over the last couple of years, not only have we performed well on the field, we have performed well off it. We have earned some respect back from other teams around the world but also from Australia," Langer said in an official statement.

"When we started on this journey, there had been a lot of talk about Australia wanting to be No. 1 in the world in all three forms of the game.

We took a different approach. Not once did we talk about being No. 1 ranked in the world. We wanted to be No.1 in our values and process. That is what I am most proud of," he added.

In the latest ICC rankings update, that rates all matches played since May 2019 at 100 per cent and those of the previous two years at 50 per cent, Australia (116) have taken over from India as the top-ranked side in the ICC men's Test team rankings with New Zealand (115) remaining in second place.

India is now third with 114 points. With only two points separating them, this is the second closest the top three teams have been since the Test rankings were launched in 2003.

The closest for the top three teams were in January 2016, when India had led Australia and South Africa by a single point.

Australia has also moved to the top spot in the T20I rankings for the first time in the format.

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