Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis win WTA Finals, 9th title of the year

November 1, 2015

Singapore, Nov 1: The world number one women’s doubles team of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis beat Spain’s Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro in the title clash of the WTA Finals in Singapore on Sunday to claim their ninth title of the year.

Martina

The top seeds beat the eighth seeds 6-0, 6-3 in an hour and seven minutes on the hard courts of the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The win was Mirza’s second doubles title at the WTA?Finals, having won the tournament last year with Zimbabwe’s Cara Black.

The WTA Finals is an annual event played by the top eight singles and doubles teams of the year who are divided into two round-robin groups -- red and white. The top two of each group progress to the semi-finals and the winners to the finals.

The Indo-Swiss pairing dropped serve only once through the match and broke their opponents five times to wrap up a comprehensive victory.

Mirza and Hingis are now unbeaten in 22 matches, stretching back six tournaments. In fact, since their last defeat -- to Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan in Cincinnati -- they have dropped just two sets.

Muguruza and Suarez Navarro -- late replacements in the draw after Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova’s withdrawal -- were completely outplayed in the match.

In the second game, Mirza unleashed a ferocious forehand to break Muguruza. The second set was more competitive, but the top seeds did not let go of their supremacy and wrapped up after little over an hour on court.

“I feel like it was a perfect day,” Hingis said. “Sania just played out of her mind - she was everywhere today, getting everything back and playing incredible tennis.”

This triumph is especially huge for the Swiss as the trophy was her 50th WTA doubles title, a milestone only 15 players have reached.

For Mirza and Hingis, the match was their 10th final together, ever since they teamed up in March this year. Apart from the Wimbledon and US?Open Grand Slams, they won Masters 1000 titles at Indian Wells and Miami, followed by the Family Circe Cup in Charleston. The pair also slept the Asian swing, winning titles in Guangzhou, Wuhan and Beijing. The only final Mirza and Hingis lost was at the Rome Masters, losing to Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France.

The Indo-Swiss duo will end the year as the world number one doubles team, having sealed the year-end ranking by making the finals.

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Agencies
March 1,2020

New Delhi, Mar 1: Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif on Sunday heaped praise on Ravindra Jadeja after the all-rounder took a spectacular catch on the second day of the Christchurch Test against New Zealand.

Jadeja grabbed a one-handed stunner at deep square leg in the 72nd over to dismiss Neil Wagner, who had to depart after scoring 21 runs.

"Sir Jadeja for a reason! Jadeja Airlines, flying high! Terrific stuff," Kaif tweeted.

In the match, Jadeja also impressed with the ball. The left-handed bowler took two wickets while giving away 22 runs.

On day two, India bundled out New Zealand on 235 runs in the second Test. However, in their second innings, Indian batsmen again struggled to tackle the New Zealand pacers and lost six wickets with a lead of just 97 runs.

India went to stumps at 90/6, with Trent Boult doing the majority of the damage with three wickets.

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News Network
January 9,2020

Mumbai, Jan 9: Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels that the Men in Blue have the edge over Australia in terms of talent and confidence ahead of the two teams' three-match ODI series starting January 14 in Mumbai.

"In the past that wasn't the case because they were doing really well. We were trying to match that level. I feel that Indian cricket is a notch ahead in terms of talent, in terms of cricket and in terms of confidence," Star Sports expert Irfan Pathan said. "The only thing that will make it equal is the kind of pitches we are going to play in Australia because we do not have experience playing on those hard and bouncy pitches," said Pathan, who recently called time on his international career.

Recounting his favourite memory of playing against Australia, Irfan said, "It all started in Australia for me. The most memorable moment was getting my first wicket and helping India win a Test match in Australia after 21 years. Winning the Test in Perth and being named the Man of the Match is also a favourite memory for me."

Australia have already announced their team for the three-match ODI series with India. The team will be led by Aaron Finch. The other members of the team are Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Kane Richardson, D'Arcy Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Turner, David Warner, and Adam Zampa.

India are yet to announce their team but in all probability, it will be led by Virat Kohli who has been in phenomenal form over the last few years. All three ODIs are day and night affair. While the first match of the series is on January 14 in Mumbai, the second will be played at Rajkot on January 17 followed by the January 19 clash in Bengaluru.

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News Network
May 21,2020

Mumbai, May 21: Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has chosen legendary Sachin Tendulkar over current skipper Virat Kohli as a better batsman in the ODI format, considering the changed rules of the game and the Mumbaikar's longevity of career.

Tendulkar, who retired in 2013, played 463 ODIs and amassed 18, 426 runs with 49 hundreds at an average of 44.83.

Kohli, on the other hand, has played 248 ODIs and scored 11, 867 runs with 43 tons at an average of 59.33.

"Sachin Tendulkar, because probably with one white ball and four fielders inside the circle, not five fielders outside, it will be Sachin Tendulkar for me," Gambhir said on Star Sports show 'Cricket Connected'.

Nowadays, a one-day innings is played with two white balls and with three powerplays.

In the first power play (overs 1-10), two fielders are allowed beyond the 30-yard circle, while in the second powerplay (overs 10-40) four fielders are allowed. In the last powerplay (overs 40-50), five fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle.

Gambhir, who was the star performer in 2011 ODI World Cup final which India won, feels that the change in rules has helped batsmen.

"It's difficult because Virat Kohli has done phenomenally well but I think the rules have changed as well, which has helped a lot of new batters," elaborated Gambhir, who played 58 Tests and 147 ODIs.

"The new generation, with 2 new balls, no reverse swing, nothing for the finger spin, five fielders inside for the 50 overs, probably that makes batting much easier.

He said he would also go with Tendulkar, considering his longevity and flow of the ODI cricket format at that time.

"Probably I’ll go with Sachin Tendulkar if we see the longevity and flow of the one-day cricket format.

"Look at how Sachin Tendulkar has played, different rules, that time 230 to 240, was a winning total," Gambhir signed off. 

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