Sensational Afridi clinches thriller for Pakistan, India lose by a wicket

March 2, 2014

afridiMirpur, Mar 2: India paid the price for costly blunders at crucial junctures to suffer a nerve-racking one-wicket defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Pakistan, who rode on Shahid Afridi’s brilliant cameo to virtually assure themselves a berth in the final of the Asia Cup here on Sunday.

In a tense encounter where fortunes fluctuated from one team to other till very end saw Afridi the turn the game decisively in Pakistan’s favour by hitting successive sixes in Ravichandran Ashwin’s last over -- final over of the match too -- to overhaul India’s modest total of 245.

Afridi, who has been very inconsistent with the bat, hit the first six over deep extra cover and the next over long on as he scored 34 not out in only 18 balls with two fours and three sixes.

Dinesh Karthik’s woeful work behind the stumps again cost India dearly as he missed the easiest of stumpings when Ashwin fired one down leg side with Sohaib Maqsood (38), then batting on 21 coming out of charge. Karthik failed to gather the ball and missed the stumping with Pakistan on 167 for four.

Mohammed Hafeez (75) and Maqsood added 87 runs for the fifth wicket and after IPL’s new million dollar man Karthik fluffed his lines, they added another 37 runs which proved to be important in the context of the game.

From 200 for four, Pakistan slumped to 203 for six but then winners had couple of profitable couple of overs -- 45th and 46th when Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar went for 13 runs each.

Hafeez for his all-round show (two for 34 and 75) rightly got the man of the match award. Hafeez’s innings had three fours and two nicely hit sixes including a pulled one off Mohammed Shami’s bowling.

With this defeat, India’s chances of making it to the final are all but dashed while a Pakistan versus Sri Lanka summit clash looks imminent.

For India, leg-spinner Amit Mishra (2/28 in 10 overs) bowled a brilliant spell getting into the playing XI after a long time while Ashwin was also pretty good even though it all got spoiled in the end due to those two sixes hit by Afridi.

It can now be safely concluded that Karthik has blown away a golden opportunity he had got in Dhoni’s absence with two absolutely shoddy performances behind the wickets. In the last game, he missed Kumar Sangakkara’s stumping chance and it cost India the match.

On?Sunday, Maqsood’s missed stumping helped Pakistan score extra 30 runs and who knows a wicket at the stage would have helped India.

Earlier, Ravindra Jadeja (52) hit a timely unbeaten half-century as India recovered from a mid-innings collapse to post a modest 245 for eight in 50 overs. Opener Rohit Sharma (56), who finally found his touch after a lean patch, and Ambati Rayudu (58) also did their bit but none of the batsman could make it big. However, India had at least something on board to fight for. Rayudu scored 58 from 62 balls, while Jadeja was unbeaten on 52 from 42 balls (4x4, 2x6).

Experienced spinner Saeed Ajmal (3/40) bowled nicely in the death overs to remove three batsmen while debutant pacer Mohammad Talha (2/22) and off-spinner Mohammed Hafeez (2/38) took two wickets apiece.

Jadeja made full use of his reprieve on 12 when Hafeez dropped a sitter to post his ninth century.

It was Hafeez, who trapped Dhawan to give Pakistan their first breakthrough but India had the match in control with Sharma and Kohli in the middle.

Rohit’s approach was different from what he looked after a poor outing in South Africa and New Zealand. He pulled Gul over square leg to break free and he showed no mercy against pacer Junaid Khan, punching the left arm pacer for consecutive six and four.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Milan, Mar 28: Juventus star Paulo Dybala revealed how he "struggled to breathe" after contracting coronavirus which has killed over 9,000 people in Italy.

The Argentine international announced last Saturday he was one of three Juventus players to catch the virus along with Daniele Rugani and Blaise Matuidi, who both had no symptoms.

"I feel better now after some strong symptoms," the 26-year-old Dybala told JTV channel.

"A couple of days ago I was not well, I felt heavy and after five minutes of movement I had to stop because I was struggling to breathe.

"Now I can move and walk to start trying to train, because when I tried in the past few days I started to shake too much.

"I gasped for air and as a result I couldn't do anything, after five minutes I was already very tired, I felt the body heavy and my muscles hurt.

"Now I'm fine. My fiancee Oriana (Sabatini) has also overcome the symptoms."

Dybala has scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, including in league leader's Juventus's last game against Inter Milan before Serie A and all sport in Italy was suspended.

"The goal against Inter was the greatest emotion, (Aaron) Ramsey provided the perfect assist - it's a pity that there was no public," added Dybala.

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News Network
June 3,2020

Colorado, Jun 3: Formula One boss Chase Carey has said that races will go ahead even if a driver tests positive for coronavirus.

His remarks come as organisers revealed a revised 2020 calendar and the schedule for the first eight races was put in the public domain.

"An individual having been found with a positive infection will not lead to a cancellation of a race. We encourage teams to have procedures in place so if an individual has to be put in quarantine, we have the ability to quarantine them at a hotel and to replace that individual," the official website of Formula One quoted Carey as saying.

"Some things we'd have to talk through and work through. The array of 'what ifs' are too wide to play out every one of them, but a team not being able to race would not cancel the race. I do not think I could sit here and lay out the consequences," he said.

Carey added the organisers will be having the necessary procedures in place so that the race does not get cancelled if a driver ends up testing positive for coronavirus.

"But we will have a procedure in place that finding infection will not lead to a cancellation. If a driver has an infection, teams have reserve drivers available," Carey said.

"We would not be going forward if we were not highly confident we have necessary procedures and expertise and capabilities to provide a safe environment and manage whatever issues arrive," he added.

The Formula One 2020 season will be beginning with the Austrian Grand Prix in July.

F1 currently expects the opening races to be closed events but hopes that fans will be able to attend again when it is safe to do so.

The season will kick off with the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring on July 5, followed a week later by a second race on the same track.

The Hungarian Grand Prix will follow a week after that, before a break. There will be then two back to back races at Silverstone, followed by the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

The Belgian Grand Prix will follow that, with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza a week later on September 6.

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Agencies
May 17,2020

Berlin, May 17: Top-flight football in Germany kicked off again on the weekend, becoming the first major sports league in the world to resume play, as parts of Europe took more tentative steps towards normality after the devastation unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic.

With the worldwide death toll past 310,000 and the global economy reeling from the vast damage caused by lockdowns, the reopenings in some of the hardest-hit countries provided much-needed relief from the pandemic.

The French returned to the beach and Italy announced a resumption of European tourism with outbreaks in Europe slowing, but the rising number of fatalities in the United States and Brazil were a grim reminder of the scale of the crisis, with more than 4.6 million infections reported globally.

With governments trying to reopen their economies while avoiding the second wave of infections that could necessitate more lockdowns, Germany's Bundesliga resumed its season on Saturday with games played in vacant, echoing stadiums.

League heavyweights Borussia Dortmund hosted rivals Schalke at the all-but-empty Signal Iduna Park -- which would usually be packed with more than 80,000 raucous fans.

"It's sad that matches are played in empty stadiums, but it's better than nothing," said 45-year-old Borussia Dortmund fan Marco Perz, beer in hand, as he prepared to watch the game on TV.

Dortmund's Erling Braut Haaland became the first player to score a goal after the two-month shutdown and celebrated by dancing alone -- away from his applauding teammates -- in keeping with the strict hygiene guidelines which allowed the league to resume.

The only noise was the cheering and clapping of players and coaches.

League champions Bayern Munich will play Union Berlin in the capital on Sunday, with the resumption in Germany seen as a test case as other top sports competitions try to find ways to resume play without increasing health risks.

"The whole world will be looking at Germany, to see how we get it done," said Bayern boss Hansi Flick.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy, however, said Saturday he needed more guarantees before the government can give the green light for the resumption of its top football league, which is struggling with logistical difficulties as clubs try to arrange training sessions and quarantine facilities.

With the Northern Hemisphere's summer approaching, authorities are moving to help tourism industries salvage something from the wreckage.

Italy, for a long stretch the world's worst-hit country, announced that European Union tourists would be allowed to visit from June 3 and a 14-day mandatory quarantine would be scrapped.

"We're facing a calculated risk in the knowledge that the contagion curve may rise again," Conte said during a televised address.

"We have to accept it otherwise we will never be able to start up again."

In France, the first weekend after the strictest measures were lifted saw many ventures out into the spring sunshine -- and hit the beach.

In the Riviera city of Nice, keen swimmers jumped into the surf at daybreak.

"We were impatient because we swim here all year round," said retiree Gilles, who declined to give his full name.

With the threat of a second wave of infections on their minds, authorities in many countries have asked people not to throng public spaces like beaches as they are made accessible again.

Officials in parts of England on Saturday warned people to stay away from newly reopened beauty spots and avoid overcrowding.

Germany also saw the latest in a growing wave of anti-lockdown protests in many parts of the world, with rallies in major cities bringing together conspiracy theorists, anti-vaccine activists and other extremists.

There were similar protests in France, Switzerland and Poland.

Since emerging in China late last year, the coronavirus has whipped up a catastrophic economic storm, which has left tens of millions unemployed in the United States and many are wondering when a recovery will be possible.

With more than 88,000 deaths and 1.47 million confirmed coronavirus cases, the United States is the worst-hit country on the planet, and the administration of President Donald Trump has faced intense criticism of the way it has handled the crisis.

Former president Barack Obama took a swipe at the response to the pandemic, telling graduates at a virtual commencement ceremony that many leaders today "aren't even pretending to be in charge" -- a remark widely regarded as a rare rebuke of his successor.

Trump is keen to reopen the US economy -- the world's largest -- despite warnings from experts that infections could flare up again if social distancing measures are eased too quickly.

Forty-eight of the 50 US states have now eased lockdown rules to some extent.

Much like Trump and his political allies, Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro is also keen to end lockdowns, which he claims have unnecessarily damaged the South American nation's economy over a disease he has dismissed as "a little flu".

But the virus has continued its deadly march in Brazil, where the death toll passed 15,000 on Saturday and it became the country with the fourth-largest coronavirus caseload with 230,000 infections.

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