Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Suresh Raina ton helps UP thump Bengal; Jharkhand on the brink of exit

Agencies
January 23, 2018

Jan 23: Suresh Raina roared back to form with an unbeaten century in Uttar Pradesh's 75-run win even as Bengal and Jharkhand stood on the brink of exit at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament on Monday.

Delhi and Punjab, on the other hand, posted second successive wins in their respective Super League group matches to brighten their hopes of making the final.

Without a half-century for more than 10 innings across formats, Raina cracked a 49-ball century en route to an unbeaten 126 (59b; 13x4, 7x6) to become the second Indian after Virat Kohli to score 7000 runs in the Twenty20 format. He is the ninth player to scale 'Mount 7000' runs in the Twenty20 format.

This was also Raina's fourth T20 century and second highest individual score by an Indian in T20s as he missed Murali Vijay's record 127 by just one run here. Raina's century helped Uttar Pradesh pile up 235 for 3 after the UP skipper opted to bat.

In reply, Bengal folded for 160 in 16.1 overs with India chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav returning with 4 for 26. It was a second successive defeat for Bengal at Eden Gardens as they virutally crashed out of the group B race for final.

Raina found a fine ally in Akshdeep Nath, who smashed 80 off 43 balls including seven fours and four sixes as they stitched a 163-run partnership for the third wicket to open their campaign with a bang. Later, Delhi shone bright under lights as Dhruv Shorey (74 from 56 balls; 8x4, 2x6) laid the foundation for an intense two-wicket win over Baroda.

It was No 8 Pradeep Sangwan's unbeaten 23 from 12 balls (3x4, 1x6) which helped Delhi to romp home with five balls to spare. Put in, Baroda rode on Kedhar Devdhar's 77 to post a modest 140/8 and in reply Delhi were 66/5 midway into their chase with their star duo of Gautam Gambhir (7) and Rishabh Pant (0) getting out cheaply. But Shorey kept them in the fight before Sangwan finished the chase.

In a group A match at the Jadavpur University second campus ground in Saltlake, the stylish Yuvraj Singh struck a 34-ball 40 to help Punjab beat Mumbai by three wickets for their second successive win. Chasing a challenging 199, Punjab were 72 for two when the out-of-favour India left-hander took control of the match with opener Manan Vohra (42 from 31 balls; 3x4s, 2x6s).

Yuvraj's knock was studded with two fours and two sixes and it also inspired Gurkeerat Singh to bring out his best with a quickfire 18-ball 43 (6x4s, 2x6s), as they chased down the target with four balls to spare. Punjab, who pipped Karnataka in the Super Over yesterday, now have two wins in Group A while Jharkhand are virtually ousted after suffering a loss against Rajasthan.

Aditya Garhwal (43 and 2/15) dished out an all-round show as Rajasthan chased down 158 with five balls to spare earlier in the day. Mumbai's butterfingered fielders helped Punjab as Yuvraj was dropped twice -- on 8 and 32 -- the second being a sitter grassed by Shreyas Iyer at long-off. Yuvraj smashed two clean sixes, the first a flash over deep cover region and then he hit Parikshit Valsangkar straight down the ground.

After Vohra was dismissed by Shivam Dubey (3/27), Yuvraj found an able ally in Gurkeerat, who grew in confidence and punished the Mumbai bowling, helping the team race to 100 in 57 balls. Gurkeerat broke free with an incredible reverse sweep off Dubey before unleashing his fury against Akash Prakar with two sixes and three fours in the 14th over.

After Gurkeerat and Yuvraj's departure, Sharad Lumba held his nerve to complete the chase with an unbeaten 21 from 10 balls, which included two sixes and a boundary. Yuvraj was trapped LBW by Dubey in the 18th over but Lumba kept the scoreboard ticking and hit a huge six over fine leg to bring the equation down to 13 runs from last two overs. Earlier, Shreyas Iyer hit an unbeaten 79 off 44 balls with eight boundaries and four sixes to lift Mumbai to 198-4.

Opener Akhil Herwadkar (42 off 36 balls) gave Iyer a fine support as the duo put together 73 runs for the second wicket.

Brief Scores:

At Eden Gardens:

Uttar Pradesh 235/3; 20 overs (Suresh Raina 126 not out, Akashdeep Nath 80) beat Bengal 160; 16.1 overs (Shreevats Goswami 57; Kuldeep Yadav 4/26) by 75 runs.

Baroda 140/8; 20 overs (Kedar Devdhar 77; Subodh Bhati 4/20) lost to Delhi 143/8; 19.1 overs (Dhruv Shorey 74, Pradeep Sangwan 23 not out; Meriwala 4/24) by two wickets.

At Jadavpur University second campus ground:

Mumbai 198/4; 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 79, Akhil Herwadkar 42) lost to Punjab 199/7; 19.2 overs (Gurkeerat Mann 43, Manan Vohra 42, Yuvraj Singh 40; Shivam Dubey 3/27) by three wickets.

Jharkhand 157/5; 20 overs (Virat Singh 43, Ishan Kishan 39; Aditya Garhwal 2/15, Chahar 2/35) lost to Rajasthan 158/6; 19.1 overs (Aditya Garhwal 43, Salman Khan 34, Deepak Chahar 20 not out; Varun Aaron 2/24, Jaskaran Singh 2/42) by four wickets.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Headingley, Jan 25: England have become the first team in the world to score 500,000 runs in Test cricket. They achieved the feat during the ongoing fourth and final Test against South Africa being played at The Wanderers.

On Friday - the opening day of the Test match -- England captain Joe Root's single through the covers took the Three Lions to a landmark 500,000 run-mark in the longest format of the game. They achieved the feat in their 1022nd Test match.

Australia comes second in the list, with 432,706 runs in 830 Tests. India, meanwhile, are third, with 273,518 runs in 540 Tests, followed by West Indies (270,441 runs in 545 Tests).

In the third Test played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, England had become the first team to play 500 Test matches on foreign soil. Australia are the second team to play the most away Test with 404 matches they have played so far.

India have played 268 Tests on foreign soil in which they have won 51, lost 113 and 104 have ended in a draw.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

Dubai, Jan 11: India opener KL Rahul has retained the sixth position while skipper Virat Kohli and left-hander Shikhar Dhawan have advanced one place each in the latest ICC Men's T20I player rankings after the conclusion of the series against Sri Lanka.

India won the T20I series 2-0 with one match getting washed out. Rahul, the highest-ranked Indian batsman, has gained 26 points and is now at the sixth spot with 760 rating points.

Rahul is just six points behind Australia's Glenn Maxwell after scores of 45 and 54 in his two innings against Sri Lanka.

Kohli, top-ranked in Tests and ODIs, is in the ninth position while Dhawan is on 15th. Manish Pandey has advanced four places and is ranked at the 70th.

India's fast bowlers have made notable gains in the first T20I update of the year and would be encouraged as they prepare for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia.

Player of the series Navdeep Saini has rocketed from 146 places to 98th while Shardul Thakur has re-entered in 92nd position after both finished with five wickets in the series. Jaspreet Bumrah has gained eight places to reach the 39th position.

For Sri Lanka, Dhananjaya de Silva has gained 72 places to reach 115th among batsmen after aggregating 74 runs while spinner Lakshan Sandakan has moved up 10 places to reach 29th position after grabbing three wickets in the series.

In the ICC Men's team rankings, India have gained two points but remain at fifth position with 260 points, while Sri Lanka have lost two points and now have 236 points and are at the eighth spot.

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News Network
February 21,2020

New Delhi, Feb 21: Vinesh Phogat yet again fell to Japanese nemesis Mayu Muakida to go out of the gold medal race but Sakshi Malik will fight for the title after winning her semifinal bout at the Asian Wrestling Championship, here on Friday.

Vinesh had lost twice to Mukaida in 2019 – at World Championship and Asian Championships —and the trend continued as the gritty Indian yet again struggled to break the strong defence of the Japanese.

In a tough opening round, Vinesh tried single leg attacks a number of times but every time Mukaida blocked her move and eventually got the upper body lock to subdue the home favourite.

In her last two meetings, Vinesh had not scored a single point against the 2019 world silver medallist. She managed a takedown this time before eventually losing 2-6.

The hard-working Vinesh will now fight for bronze against Vietnam's Thi Ly Kieu but even a medal won't suffice to lift her mood as she and the fans have high expectations from her.

Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, who has been struggling of late, lost her opening round 1-2 to Naomi Ruike from Japan but later overcame two weak opponents to eventually reach the final of the non-Olympic 65kg category.

She could hardly attack Naomi but outplayed Korea's Ohyoung Ha in the next round, winning by technical superiority.

In her semifinal against Uzbekistan's Nabira Esenbaeva, Sakshi led 5-0 but her rival pulled off consecutive two-point moves to make it 5-4.

Sakshi has been losing in closing stages of late but this time she managed to hold on to her narrow lead, surviving anxious last two seconds.

Also in medal contention are India's brightest youngsters Sonam Malik (62kg) and Anshu Malik (57kg).

Sonam, who had defeated Sakshi in the trials, showed good tactical mind in her resounding win against Korea's Hanbit Lee and also in the 2-5 defeat against world bronze medallist Yukako Kawai.

She pulled off a superb point-scoring move from a disadvantageous position and resisted the 2018 U-23 world champion Yukako in a good fashion.

She will now fight for bronze against Aisuluu Tynbekova.

Anshu Malik opened up her campaign against Kyrgyzstan's Nuraida Anarkulova, winning by technical superiority but was outplayed by reigning world champion from Japan Riskao Kawai.

She will have to beat Sevara Eshmuratova from Uzbekistan to grab a bronze.

In the non-olympic 72kg, Gursharanpreet Kaur is in bronze medal contention. She beat Uzbekistan's Svetlana Oknazarova but lost to Kazakhstan's Zhamila Bakberzenova.

She still made it to the semifinal in which she lost to Japan's Mei Shindo.

She is now up against Mongloia's Tsevegmed Enkhbayar.

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