Champions Trophy 2017: Sri Lanka are happy to enter the tournament as underdogs," says Angelo Mathews

May 26, 2017

London, May 26: Sri Lanka will embrace the 'underdog' tag at the ICC Champions Trophy in England, according to skipper Angelo Mathews.Mathews

A joint-winner in 2002, Sri Lanka has only reached the semi-final stage once since, getting to the last four in the 2013 edition, also in England.

In a pool also featuring India, Pakistan and South Africa, Mathews admits his team is being seen as an outsider to lift the trophy but is confident Sri Lanka has the firepower to make a run at the title.

He said: "All the teams are quite even, I think in the past few months we have had a few lapses here and there. Nobody will give us a chance, to be really honest, but we are happy to enter the tournament as underdogs.

"We are confident, we have prepared extremely well. In Sri Lanka and England for the past few days, it's been really good. Hopefully, we can play tomorrow's practice game (against Australia), and get a good practice out of it.

"All the teams are quite even but it's on the given day, the guys who make less mistakes will win. It can be England, it can be us, it can be anyone.

"Everyone has got a chance, no one can write anyone off and I'm sure it will be a very exciting tournament."

Still only 29, Mathews is one of the veteran leaders on the Sri Lanka team and was part of the side that beat England 3-2 in a one-day international series back in 2014.

While the batting line-up has a very different look to it in this tournament, Mathews is confident that Sri Lanka can use that experience to its advantage.

He added: "We are a team where we stick to our basics. We've played pretty well in England, especially in 2014, so we will try to take a leaf out of it.

"We are a pretty young, inexperienced team, but a few of us have played in England. Anyone can change a game at any given stage. We have got the talent, the skill in the team, it's just that we have to go out there and express ourselves," he said.

The 'x-factor' for Sri Lanka could be Lasith Malinga, who is included in the squad and is in line for a first one-day appearance since 2015.

Now almost exclusively playing in Twenty20 cricket, Malinga enters the tournament fully fit according to his skipper, who is optimistic the 33-year-old fast bowler can shine in the longer format.

Mathews said: "(Malinga) is fully fit. We look forward to utilising him in the matches. He is very keen, he got here a few days back. He's very keen to get on the park. He hasn't played 50-over games in the recent past but he has played a lot of games in the IPL which is very intense.

"He's been doing a lot of training as well. He is confident, we are confident as well. We all know he is a match winner, he has proven himself over the past many years. He can win us a game single-handedly, so we are looking forward to it."

Sri Lanka will kick off its campaign against South Africa before the two matches against its sub-continental rivals.

And despite a surprise loss to Scotland in a warm-up game, quickly avenged two days later, Mathews believes his side will be ready for English conditions.

He added: "It was just a practice game for us, we rested a few players. In an ideal scenario, we would have bowled first but I wanted our batters to bat in those conditions when the wicket is fresh.

"The result didn't matter to us, even in the second game when we thrashed them, we just wanted to go out there and acclimatise, get used to the conditions and the wickets and the pace and spend some time in the middle.

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News Network
January 2,2020

New Delhi, Jan 2: On the first day of the New Year 2020, Hardik Pandya announced his engagement with Serbian actor Natasa Stankovic.

The cricketer took to Instagram to share a photo with the actor and captioned the post: "Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged".

The 26-year-old shared three pictures and a short clip on the social media platform. In one photo, Stankovic can be seen flaunting her ring.

The couple got engaged in Dubai and were seen taking a ferry ride along with close friends.

On work front, Stankovic was last seen in a song from Bollywood movie The Body starring Emraan Hashmi and Rishi Kapoor. She had also made it to the finals of the TV show Nach Baliye with her ex-boyfriend Aly Goni.

Stankovic first became a household name after appearing as a contestant on famous reality show 'Bigg Boss 8'.

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News Network
April 9,2020

New Delhi, Apr 9: The legendary Kapil Dev on Thursday slammed Shoaib Akhtar's idea of a made-for-television three-match ODI series between India and Pakistan to raise funds for the Covid19 pandemic, saying "India doesn't need the money" and it is not worth risking lives for a cricket match.

Speaking to news agency, Akhtar on Wednesday proposed a closed-door series to jointly raise funds to fight the deadly virus both in India and Pakistan. Dev said the proposal is not feasible.

"He is entitled to his opinion but we don't need to raise the money. We have enough. For us, what is important right now is how our authorities work together to deal with this crisis. I am still seeing a lot of blame game on television from the politicians and that needs to stop," Dev said.

"Anyway, the BCCI has donated a hefty amount (Rs 51 crore) for the cause and is in a position to donate much more if the need arises. It doesn't need to raise funds.

"The situation is unlikely to get normal anytime soon and organising a cricket game means putting our cricketers at risk which we don't need to," said the World Cup-winning former captain.

Dev said cricket should not even matter for at least the next six months.

"It is just not worth the risk. And how much money can you make from three games? In my view, you can't even think of cricket for the next five to six months," he said.

Dev said the focus, at the moment, should only be on saving lives and taking care of the poor who are struggling to make ends meet in a lockdown situation.

"Cricket will resume when things get normal. The game can't be bigger than the country. The pressing issue is to look after the poor, the hospital workers, the police and all other people who are on the frontline of this war," said the 61-year-old.

As an Indian, Dev feels proud that his country is in a position help other nations including the United States.

President Donald Trump has thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for helping the United States with the supply of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug being touted as a potential cure for Covid19 patients.

"Helping others is in our culture and I feel proud about that. We should not seek credit after helping others. We should strive to become a nation which gives more and more rather than taking from others," he said.

Like everyone else, Dev is at home and practising social distancing.

Asked how he views the current situation, he said: "Nelson Mandela stayed in a tiny cell for 27 years. Compared to that, we are in a privileged position (that we just have to stay at home for sometime)."

"There is nothing bigger than life at the moment and that is what we need to save."

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Agencies
February 4,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 4: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena guided India to a comfortable ten wickets win over Pakistan in the ICC U19 World Cup semifinal at Senwes Park on Tuesday and progressed to the final of the tournament.

Chasing 173, Indian openers Jaiswal and Saxena played cautiously and stitched an unbeaten partnership of 176 runs.

The duo built the highest opening partnership of the tournament's history. Jaiswal, the left-handed batsman, scored his maiden century of the tournament as he amassed unbeaten 105 runs studded with eight fours and four sixes.

Saxena scored 59* off 99 balls including six fours. India chased down the total in 35.2 overs. This is the first time in the history of the U19 World Cup that a team won a knockout match by ten wickets.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.

Opener Haider Ali and skipper Rohail Nazir's half-centuries guided the side to a respectable total of 172. Ali played a knock of 56 runs while Nazir accumulated 62 runs including six boundaries.

Pakistan did not have a good start as they lost Mohammad Hurair (4) in the second over. Fahad Munir, came to bat at number three, failed to score a single run and was departed by Ravi Bishnoi on a duck in ninth over.

Apart from Ali and Nazir, Mohammad Haris was the only batsman to score runs in double digits. He played an innings of 21 runs off 15 balls. Indian bowlers showed a spirited performance as they bowled out arch-rival in 43.1 overs.

Pacers Karthik Tyagi and Sushant Mishra bagged two and three wickets respectively. Spinner Ravi Bishnoi clinched two scalps and conceded 46 runs in his ten overs.

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