U Mumba edge Bengaluru Bulls to clinch Pro Kabaddi title

August 24, 2015

Mumbai, Aug 24: U Mumba overcame a fighting Bengaluru Bulls 36-30 in a thrilling summit clash to lift the second Star Sports Pro Kabaddi crown at a packed NSCI Stadium here tonight.

Pro Kabaddi

Starting the game as slight favourites, the Mumbai outfit had to stretch every sinew to get the better of their rivals from Bengaluru who fought tooth and nail but fell short at the end.

U Mumba came up with some magical play when the occasion demanded, especially in the closing stages of both sessions, to run out victors and take home the top prize of Rs one crore. The Bulls got Rs 50 lakh.

At half time U Mumba led 16-8 after a late surge from 7-all.

Earlier, in the 3rd-4th placing game, Telugu Titans from Hyderabad downed Patna Pirates 34-26, after leading 16-8 at half time, to finish third and get prize money of Rs 30 lakh.

Pirates got Rs 20 lakh.

In the final match, U Mumba were held in check by the Bulls' determined defence for the first 15 minutes of the opening half before they took control in both attack and tackling to take a 16-8 lead.

Such was the tackling skills exhibited by the Bulls, ably led by Dharmaraj Cheralathan, that at one stage Mumba's star attackers, captain Anup Kumar and second raider Shabeer Bapu, were both warming the bench together after being trapped in raids.

The scores ran neck-to-neck till 7-all when U Mumba hit a purple patch in both attack and defence, in which Vishal Mane and raid specialist Rishank Devadiga excelled.

During this period, U Mumba secured raid points from Anup and Bapu while packing off rival raiders -- captain Manjeet Chillar and Thakur -- before making the Bulls all out by taking care of last man left -- Deepak Dahiya -- to get three points at a stretch.

This period was ultimately the turning point in the game.

In the second half, Mumbai led 23-18 when Thakur came up with a super raid to secure five points, by packing off three rivals and making U Mumba all out.

Then the Bulls even led 24-23 when Mumba's captain Anup was trapped but the Mumbai outfit hit back strongly and regained the initiative with some excellent attack and solid defending to emerge deserving winners.

Shabeer Bapu led the Mumbai attack with ten points while Anup got six touch points and one for tackling. The surprise packet was Rishank Devadiga who played a good all-round game to get five points along with Mane who stole the show in defence.

For the Bulls, Manjeet Chillar was the stand out player with 11 points to his credit, including seven touch and two for tackling. Thakur got three touch points in one raid while Dharmaraj Cheralathan did well in defence to get four points.

Overall Mumbai trailed their rivals 17-18 in attack but made up for these with superior defence (14-10) and all-outs (4-2). They also got one bonus point.

Earlier, Telugu Titans beat Patna Pirates 34-26 to finish third.

Pirates got all out twice and also were 1-4 in the bonus point ratio. While Titans led their rivals 19-15 in raid points the only area where the Pirates excelled was in defense as they secured 10 tackle points as compared to the Titans' seven.

In attack, Titans were led by Rahul Chaudhari (10 raid points, including nine touch points) and K Prashant Rai with six points that included five touch points while all-rounder Deepak Hudda secured five points in offence and defense combined.

For the losers, captain Sandeep Narwal was outstanding with his all-round effort that fetched him 11 points, including eight in attack. He was given good support by defender Sunil Kumar who got six tackle points but most others disappointed.

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News Network
July 18,2020

Johannesburg, Jul 18: Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Saturday mourned the demise of former spinner Ismail 'Baboo' Ebrahim who died in Durban at the age of 73.

"Baboo was one of the outstanding South African spin bowlers of the 1960s and 1970s who would undoubtedly have played as many Test matches for his country as the 48 first-class games to which he was limited," CSA said in a statement.

In those matches, he took 179 wickets at an average of 21.33 with an economy rate of 2.12 including 8 five-wicket hauls and 2 ten-wicket hauls.

The left-arm spinner only had one opportunity on the international stage when he played for a SA Invitation XI against the International Wanderers at Kingsmead in 1976.

"At the age of 29, he was in his prime and took a match-winning 6/66 in the second innings, his victims including international captains, Greg Chappell of Australia and Mike Denness of England. It was a clear indication of what he could have achieved on grounds around the world at the highest level had he been given the opportunity. He was a master of flight and spin and had a good arm ball to back it up," the statement read.

His ability to perform at this level had become apparent much earlier when he went to watch the Australians at practice before their Test match against South Africa in 1970.

He persuaded the Australians to let him bowl to them and made an immediate impression, bowling experienced Test batsman Ian Redpath and impressing the likes of Ian Chappell and Ashley Mallett, the latter being Australia's leading spinner of the 1970s.

He had one season for Radcliffe in the Lancashire Central League when he took 62 wickets at 14.62 apiece.

Baboo finally got his chance to represent his country in Masters events in one of which he dismissed both Sir Vivian Richards and Gordon Greenidge.

"Baboo Ebrahim was one of the countless number of outstanding cricketers who was denied the opportunity to display his talents to the world and live his cricketing dreams," said CSA Acting Chief Executive, Dr Jacques Faul.

"On behalf of the CSA Family I extend our deepest sympathy to his family, friends and cricketing colleagues," he added. 

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Agencies
February 12,2020

Mumbai, Feb 12: Former Indian greats Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin have been left disappointed by the behaviour of the Under-19 team after the World Cup final where they were involved in an altercation with their Bangladeshi counterparts.

After Bangladesh won the final beating India by three wickets (via DLS) at the Senwes Park on Sunday, the players of the two teams were seen engaging in an exchange of words and even some pushing and shoving on the field.

"I would like to see the board (BCCI) take some strict action against the players to set an example. Cricket is not about abusing the opponent. I am sure there is enough reason for these youngsters to be dealt with firmly by BCCI," Kapil was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

"I welcome aggression, nothing wrong in it. But it has to be controlled aggression. You can't cross the line of decency in the name of being competitive. I would say it was unacceptable that youngsters put up such an obnoxious display on the cricket field," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has sanctioned five players, including three from Bangladesh -- Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan --and two from India --Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi for the scuffle.

Azharuddin also reiterated what Kapil said, insisting that players need to be disciplined.

"I would take action against the errant Under 19 players, but I also want to know what role has the support staff played in educating these youngsters. Act now before it is too late. The players have to be disciplined," Azharuddin said.

Earlier, Bishan Singh Bedi has lashed out at the Priyam Garg-led team, saying their behaviour was disgusting and disgraceful.

"You bat, bowl and field badly�happens, but there's no excuse for behaving badly. The behaviour was disgusting and most disgraceful. The innocence of that age was not visible at all," Bedi told Mid Day.

Bedi, who represented India in 67 Tests and 10 ODIs, said the behaviour of the Bangladesh cricketers is not our problem.

"Look, what Bangladesh do is their problem, what our boys do is our problem. You could see that there was abusive language used," he said.

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News Network
February 18,2020

Feb 18: Spinner Poonam Yadav claimed three wickets as India geared up for the ICC women's T20 World Cup with a thrilling two-run win over the West Indies in a low-scoring warm-up match in Brisbane on Tuesday. Electing to bat, India posted a lowly 107/8 in their stipulated 20 overs before returning to restrict the West Indies to 105/7. Chasing 108 to win, West Indies were comfortably placed at 57 for one in 13 overs when Deepti Sharma struck, cleaning up opener Lee-Ann Kirby (42) to trigger a collapse. Soon skipper Stafanie Taylor (16), Chedean Nation (0) and Deandra Dottin (1) were back in the hut as West Indies slipped to 67 for five in the 17th over.

Hayley Matthews (25) and Chinelle Henry (17) blasted three fours and a six in the 19th over to leave them with 11 to get off the last six balls.

Henry blasted Poonam for a four but the Indian dismissed Matthews in the fourth ball.

West Indies needed three runs off the last ball but Henry was caught by Veda Krishnamurthy.

Earlier, India's top-three failed to fire as they were reduced to 17 for three in 3.1 overs.

Opener Smriti Mandhana (4) lasted just six balls, while Jemimah Rodrigues (0) failed to open her account.

Young Shafali Verma blasted a couple of fours before being caught by Britney Cooper off Shamilia Connell (2/20).

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (11), too, didn't stay long, while Krishnamurthy was cleaned up by Afy Fletcher (1/26), as India slumped to 52 for five in 11.2 overs.

Deepti Sharma made a 32-ball 21 before becoming a victim of Anisa Mohammed (2/16), while Pooja Vastrakar (13) was removed by Aaliyah Alleyne (1/9).

Stafanie taylor then got rid of Taniya Bhatia for 10. Shikha Pandey finally smashed a 16-ball 24 to give some respectability to the total.

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