2nd T20I: India women lose to New Zealand by 4 wickets, trail series 2-0

Agencies
February 8, 2019

Feb 8: A shoddy batting performance by the middle-order saw India women lose a nail-biting second T20 International against New Zealand by four wickets and concede the three-match series on Friday.

India women had earlier lost the first Twenty20 International by 23 runs in Wellington.

Needing a win to keep the series alive, India women posted a modest total of 135 for 6, despite being well poised at 72 for 2 after the first 10 overs.

Chasing a modest target, New Zealand made heavy weather of the chase before scampering home off the last ball of the match losing only six wickets.

"I think we should give credit to our bowlers, it wasn't a good total but still they fought for us. We were 20 runs short, they played better cricket than us. We just need to learn from our mistakes and play better," India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said after the match.

Jemimah Rodrigues slammed a 53-ball 72 that included six boundaries and one six, but India scored only 63 runs in the last 10 overs to end up 20 runs short, which became their undoing.

The White Ferns lost two quick wickets -- opener Sophie Devine (19) and Caitlin Gurrey (4) by the seventh over, having scored 40 runs.

However, Suzie Bates (62) and Amy Satterthwaite (23) joined hands, with the duo stitching a 61-run partnership for the third wicket to get New Zealand women back on track.

Left-arm orthodox bowler Radha Yadav (2/23) and medium pacer Arundhati Reddy (2/22) bowled well in the middle overs to take the match down to the wire.

Reddy, in fact, brought India women back into the match with twin blows in the 18th over -- first dismissing a set Bates and then accounting for Anna Peterson for a first ball duck to bring India back into the contest.

New Zealand needed nine runs off the last over and Katey Martin smacked Mansi Joshi for a boundary off the first ball to bring down the equation down to five runs off five balls.

Joshi, however, got her revenge by dismissing Martin off the next delivery.

However, it was not to be India's day as some sloppy fielding and sensible batting by Hannah Rowe and Leigh Kasperek took New Zealand home.

"We probably should have done that a lot easier than what we did. But I am happy. Feels like it's been a while since we won a series," New Zealand captain Amy Satherwaite said.

Earlier, Jemimah Rodrigues, with in-form opener Smriti Mandhana (36 off 27), added 63 runs for the second-wicket to set the stage for the total after the visitors lost opener Priya Punia (4) early.

Invited to bat, India women struggled to put up partnerships with the third-wicket partnership between Mandhana and Rodrigues saving the visitors's from humilation.

When Mandhana and Rodrigues were at the crease, India women were going great guns as the duo played fearlessly to put together 71 runs in 9.1 overs, before the visitors lost Mandhana.

Mandhana's dismissal brought in Harmanpreet but the skipper didn't last long and perished after scoring only five runs.

Rodrigues, though, carried on and registered the fifth T20I fifty of her career, but didn't get enough support from the other end to take India past the 150-run mark.

Rodrigues got out in the penultimate over while trying to go for big shots, stumped by wicket-keeper Katey Martin off leg-spinner Amelia Kerr.

Besides Rodrigues and Mandhana, it was a struggle throughout for others, as no batswomen could even manage double digit scores.

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Agencies
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Sanjiv Chawla, a key accused in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje in 2000, was extradited from the UK on Thursday, Delhi Police said.

The 50-year-old British national, accompanied by a crime branch team from London, reached IGI Airport this morning, a senior officer said.

He is likely to be taken to the crime branch office for questioning, he added.

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News Network
March 10,2020

New Delhi, Mar 10: Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom (51kg) and world number one Amit Panghal (52kg) were among three Indian boxers who secured Olympic berths by advancing to semifinals of the Asian Qualifiers here on Monday, taking the total number of the country's Tokyo-bound pugilists to eight.

Second-seeded Mary Kom notched up a comfortable 5-0 win over Philippines' Irish Magno in her quarterfinal bout for a ticket to her second Olympic Games. She won a bronze in the 2012 London Olympics when women's boxing was first introduced at the showpiece.

The 37-year-old will square off against China's Yuan Chang in the semifinals. Chang is a former Youth Olympics champion.

Earlier, world silver-medallist and top seed Panghal edged out familiar foe Carlo Paalam of Philippines in a 4-1 split verdict to be assured of his maiden Olympic appearance and a medal at the qualifiers.

In the last Indian bout of the day, world bronze-medallist Simranjit Kaur (60kg) upstaged second seed Namuun Monkhor of Mongolia 5-0 to secure her first Olympic place.

With this, the number of Indian boxers securing Olympic berths went up to eight after Satish Kumar (+91kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg) advanced to the semifinals on Sunday.

"I dedicate my Olympic quota to my uncle Raj Narayan, it's his birthday and he is someone who gives me a lot of courage," said Panghal after his bout.

World bronze-winner and Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Manish Kaushik, however, lost 2-3 to third seed Chinzorig Baatarsukh of Mongolia after an intense battle but is not out of contention for an Olympic berth just yet.

Kaushik has to win the box-off between losing quarterfinalists as the top six boxers will claim Tokyo tickets in the 63kg category. He will face Australia's Commonwealth Games champion Harrison Garside in the box-off. The two clashed in the CWG final in 2018 with Garside ending up on the winning side.

Panghal started India's winning run on Monday by managing to pull off a close win.

The 23-year-old, who is the reigning Asian Games and Asian Championships gold-medallist, had earlier beaten Paalam in the semifinals of the 2018 Asian Games and the quarterfinals of 2019 world championships, which were also split decisions.

"I followed the instructions given by my coaches. I ensured that he didn't get on top of me. I think I was pretty consistent in all three rounds," Panghal said.

Next up for Panghal is China's Jianguan Hu, who stunned world bronze-medallist and fourth seed Kazakh Saken Bibossinov 5-0.

"I have beaten him in the Asian Championships and I know how to get the better of him," Panghal said of his next opponent.

The Haryana lad didn't exactly look at his best during the bout but his trademark counter-attacking game fetched him the desired result against a rival, who is challenging him more with every fresh encounter.

Mary Kom, on the other hand, put out a near-perfect performance against the very spirited Magno. The Manipuri dictated the pace of the bout, drawing from her huge reservoir of experience to put Magno on the backfoot with a very effective counter-attacking strategy.

Simranjjit, also an Asian silver-medallist, will face third seed Shih-Yi Wu of Taiwan in the semifinals after a fine performance against Monkhor. Simranjit's right hand connected accurately all through.

Kaushik, who was up against an Asian Games silver-medallist, started well but lost steam in the face of relentless body shots by Baatarsukh, a two-time podium finisher at the Asian Championships.

Baatarsukh had lost to Kaushik in the second round of the world championships last year and he exacted revenge with an aggressive takedown of the Indian, especially in the final three minutes.

However, former junior world champion Sakshi Chaudhary (57kg) failed to secure an Olympic berth after going down to Korea's Im Aeji in the quarterfinals.

The 19-year-old Chaudhary lost 0-5 to Im, who is also a former world youth champion. Only the semifinalists are entitled to an Olympic berth in the women's 57kg category of the ongoing event.

Her next shot at Tokyo qualification would be the world qualifiers in May, provided she is selected for it.

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News Network
April 7,2020

London, Apr 7: Bowling coach Waqar Younis feels that it was the absence of pacers Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir which saw Pakistan getting whitewashed during Australia tour last year.

Amir and Riaz had quit the red-ball format ahead of the matches against Australia in 2019.

"Just before the Australia series, they ditched us and we had the only choice to pick youngsters.

We were the new management and decided to go on with taking in the younger lot and groom them. ESPNcricinfo quoted Younis as saying.

Pakistan was not able to win a single match in Australia as they got defeated both in T20Is and Test series.

"It's not like we have lost a lot, but yes they left us at the wrong time. But anyway, we don't have any grudge against them," Younis added.

"We cannot control players' choice on what they want to play, but then there should be a mechanism so we all are on board. "It's not like I am saying we could have won in Australia but we could have done better than what we have done," he opined.

Amir gave up the red ball format in July in order to manage his workload and extend his white-ball career for Pakistan as well as in T20 leagues around the world, while Riaz took an "indefinite break" from Test cricket in September last year.

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