Asia Cup Hockey: India beat Pakistan 3-1 to top Pool A

Agencies
October 16, 2017

Dhaka, Oct 16: Favourites India continued their winning momentum defeating arch-rivals Pakistan 3-1 in a pool encounter of the 10th men's Asia Cup hockey tournament, on Sunday.

After the two easy wins against Japan (5-1) and hosts Bangladesh (7-0), as expected India had a relatively tough outing against Pakistan but managed to maintain their all-win record.

India controlled the proceedings for the better part of the match, barring the final quarter when Pakistan, trailing 0-3, came hard on the Indian defence in search of goals.

But at the end of the day, the Indians came out superior and continued their recent domination over Pakistan, that includes back-to-back victories in the Hockey World League Semi-Final in London earlier this year.

Chinglesnsana Singh (17th minute), Ramandeep Singh (44th) and Harmanpreet Singh (45th) scored the goals for India, while Pakistan lone strike came from the stick of Ali Shan in the 49th minute.

By virtue of this win, India finished on top of Pool A with nine points from three games while Pakistan secured the second spot with four points.

Both India and Pakistan have managed to secure their place in the round-robin Super 4 stage of the tournament.

Even though Japan defeated hosts Bangladesh 3-1 earlier in the day, the victory was not enough for them to enter the Super 4 stage as they lost out to Pakistan on goal difference.

Contrary to the win, Pakistan had the first real scoring chance when they earned their first penalty corner but they wasted it.

The Indians came out hard in the second quarter and took the lead in the 17th minute through Chinglesnsana, who slammed home after receiving a fine pass from Akashdeep Singh, who was operating in the wide right.

Three minutes later, Gurjant Singh's reverse hit from the right flank was just off target.

After wasting another penalty corner, Pakistan were denied by young India goalkeeper Suraj Karkera, who saved Mohammed Attiq's shot from close range as India went into the breather leading by a goal.

India replaced Karkera with Akash Chikte in the goal at the halfway mark and the young custodian came up with a superb save in the 40th minute to deny Pakistan.

India secured their first penalty corner soon but Varun Kumar's grounded flick was wide off the target.

Soon Gurjant had a great chance to consolidate India's lead but his push, after a fine one-two with Akashdeep was saved by the Pakistani goalkeeper.

After Pakistan wasted their third penalty corner, Ramandeep doubled India's lead in the 44th minute with a neat deflection off Harmanpreet Singh's fantastic cross from the middle of the pitch.

India extended their lead in the very next minute from their second penalty corner through Harmanpreet.

Pakistan, who looked more purposeful in the fourth and final quarter, reduced the margin in the 49th minute through Shan's field strike.

Chikte once again came to India's rescue soon, when he denied Pakistan with a fine save from their fourth penalty corner.

Thereafter, India pressed hard and earned as many as three penalty corners in succession but wasted all.

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News Network
March 12,2020

Miami, Mar 12: The NBA has suspended its season "until further notice" after a Utah Jazz player tested positive Wednesday for the coronavirus, a move that came only hours after the majority of the league's owners were leaning toward playing games without fans in arenas.

Now there will be no games at all, at least for the time being. A person with knowledge of the situation said the Jazz player who tested positive was center Rudy Gobert. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the league nor the team confirmed the test.

"The NBA is suspending game play following the conclusion of tonight's schedule of games until further notice,'' the league said in a statement sent shortly after 9:30 p.m. EDT. "The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic.''

The test result, the NBA said, was reported shortly before the scheduled tip-off time for the Utah at Oklahoma City game on Wednesday night was called off. Players were on the floor for warmups and tip-off was moments away when they were told to return to their locker rooms. About 30 minutes later, fans were told the game was postponed ``due to unforeseen circumstances."

Shutdown for two weeks?

Those circumstances were the league's worst-case scenario for now -- a player testing positive. A second person who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity said the league expects the shutdown to last a minimum of two weeks, but cautioned that time-frame is very fluid.

"It's a very serious time right now," Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "I think the league moved appropriately and prudently and we'll all just have to monitor the situation and see where it goes from here."

The Jazz released a statement saying a player -- they did not identify Gobert -- tested negative earlier Wednesday for flu, strep throat and an upper respiratory infection. That player's symptoms diminished as the day went along, but the decision was made to test for COVID-19 anyway. That test came back with a preliminary positive result.

"The individual is currently in the care of health officials in Oklahoma City," the Jazz said, adding that updates would come as appropriate.

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News Network
April 4,2020

New Delhi, April 4: India skipper Virat Kohli has said that the 2014 Test series against England was the lowest point of his career.

He made the revelation during a candid Instagram Live session with former England batsman Kevin Pietersen.

To date, the 2014 Test series in England remains one of the worst Test series for Kohli as he averaged just 13.40 from 10 ten innings with his highest score being 39.

"I felt like as a batsman, you know you are going to get out in the morning as soon as you wake up. That was the time I felt like that there is no chance I am getting runs. And still to get out of bed and just get dressed for the game and to go out there and go through that, knowing that you will fail, was something that ate me up," Kohli told Pietersen.

However, just four years later, Kohli made a triumphant return to England as he scored a century in the opening Test of the 2018 series and finished as the highest run-getter in the series.

Kohli told Pietersen that the performance in 2014 came because he was just thinking about his own batting.

"2014 series happened, for all the younger guys listening, because I was too focused on doing well from a personal point of view. I wanted to get runs. I could never think of what does the team want me to do in this situation," Kohli said.

"I just got too engulfed with England tour - if I perform here, Test cricket, in my mind I am going to feel established and all that crap on the outside, which is not important at all," he added.
During the chat, Kohli talked about his favourite format in cricket and he also revealed the main reason for turning into a vegan.

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Agencies
February 7,2020

New Delhi, Feb 7: It was on February 7, 1999, that Anil Kumble became just the second bowler in the history of cricket to take all ten wickets in an innings of a Test match.

He achieved the feat against Pakistan at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, now known as Arun Jaitley cricket stadium in Delhi during the second Test of the two-match series.

India had set Pakistan a target of 420 runs in the match and the visitors got off to a steady start as openers Shahid Afridi and Saeed Anwar put on 101 runs for the first wicket.

It was then Kumble who came into the attack and wreaked havoc on the Pakistani batting line-up.

The spinner, also known as 'Jumbo' first dismissed Afridi (41) in the 25th over. After the right-handed batter's dismissal, India kept on taking wickets through Kumble and Pakistan was reduced to 128/6 in no time.

Kumble then kept on taking wickets at regular intervals and he got his tenth scalp in the 61st over after dismissing Wasim Akram.

This effort enabled India to register a win by 212 runs, and Kumble became the second bowler after England's Jim Laker to take all ten wickets in a single Test inning.

Kumble finished with the bowling figures of 10-74 from 26.3 overs.

Kumble announced his retirement from international cricket in 2008 and finished with 619 wickets in the longest format of the game.

He has the third-highest number of wickets in Tests, only behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Australia's Shane Warne (708).

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