Dhoni backs struggling Yuvraj for SA tour

November 26, 2013

Dhoni_backs_YuvrajVisakhapatnam, Nov 26: Yuvraj Singh is struggling a wee bit and seems to be a pale shadow of his older self. The southpaw has not been among runs in the ODI series against Australia and the West Indies and that has cast doubts about his ability to hold a place in the Indian team for long. However, skipper MS Dhoni feels that it's only a matter of time before the strapping batsman hits form. Dhoni spoke about a few issues after the second ODI on Sunday night.

Yuvraj's lack of form

Yuvi is not having a really good time out in the middle but it happens to any player. He has struggled a bit in the couple of games but we want him to get back to form. He is a very aggressive batsman who can be really destructive when in form. He is a very experienced player and the stats show that he is a match-winner. We want him to get some runs under his belt and regain his confidence so that the pressure is off his back.

The No.4 puzzle

We are trying different combinations to see which works better. Yuvi has got a lot of his runs batting at No. 4, but he has been a bit off key. In the Australian series, he was not getting too much time to settle down. If you look at the stats, he was getting out quite early. Hence, we thought of sending him at No.4 in this series. Raina has done well at No.5 and he is always an option for the No.4 spot.

Not using Yuvi the bowler

If we need him to bowl, we will definitely use him. We need to see what works for the team on a given day. We used Raina today as we felt he had a better chance against the left-handers in the West Indian team. We have a left-arm spinner in Jadeja and Yuvi is always there as a back-up option.

Losing momentum

Yes we lost a bit of momentum as a couple of wickets fell but we made up for it at the end. Their best bowler Sunil Narine was bowling at that time and we wanted to make sure that we don't give him any wickets. We not only succeeded in it but also put up 288 which is a very competitive score. In a day game, it would have been like chasing 400 on this wicket.

Looking ahead to Kanpur

It's a day game and there will be no dew factor. But we need to take positives from each game. In this game, I feel the bowlers did a extremely remarkable job in taking the game to the last over.

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Agencies
May 9,2020

Tokyo, May 9: As the world continues to grapple with coronavirus pandemic, the organisers of Tokyo Game Show have cancelled 2020 showpiece event.

TGS 2020 was slated to be played from September 24 to September 27 at the Makuhari Messe convention center. However, there now talks going on for holding an online event instead.

According to the Verge, this is the first time that TGS has ever been cancelled since it started in 1996.

TGS 2020 gained more attention because of its status as the last major trade show before the launch of the upcoming next-gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

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February 5,2020

Hamilton, Feb 5: Talented Shreyas Iyer hit his maiden century while KL Rahul and skipper Virat Kohli carried on their fine form as India dished out a clinical batting effort to post 347 for four against New Zealand in the first ODI here on Wednesday.

Iyer showed why he is considered as the next big thing in Indian cricket, scoring 103 off 107 balls, his first ODI ton. Besides, Rahul continued his purple patch, smashing unbeaten 88 off 64 balls while Kohli made 51 off 63 deliveries.

Iyer's knock was laced with 11 fours and a six and together with Rahul shared 136 runs for the fourth wicket as India scored 96 runs in the last 10 overs after being sent into bat.

This was after Tom Blundell featured his maiden ODI for the Black Caps, while India gave debuts to two openers -- Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal.

It was the fourth such instance in Indian history with Rahul-Karun Nair being the last such pair in 2016 against Zimbabwe.

Shaw and Agarwal got the innings off to quick start, adding 50 off 48 balls for the opening stand.

But both Shaw and Agarwal fell in the space of five balls as India were reduced to 54 for 2.

Shaw was the first to go, nicking behind a Colin de Grandhomme (1/41) delivery, while Agarwal was caught at point by Blundell off Southee (2/85).

It brought Kohli and Iyer together, and they dominated the middle overs with a 102-run stand for the third wicket. They manoeuvred the field well and kept the scorecard ticking as India crossed 150 in the 28th over.

Kohli fell against the run of play as a wrong one from Ish Sodhi (1/27) got through his defence to clip the leg stump.

Rahul though didn't let the innings lose any momentum as he smacked six sixes along with three fours.

But the day belonged to Iyer, who, despite a scratchy start, had crossed 50 off 66 balls. Once he passed the 50-run mark, the stylish right-hander batted fluently to notch up his first century in 16 ODIs.

The centurion fell shortly afterwards, caught off Southee even as Rahul took control.

He reached his half-century off 41 balls as India eased past 300 in the 47th over.

Rahul's carnage meant that New Zealand conceded 191 runs in the last 20 overs. Kedar Jadhav remained unbeaten on 26 off 15 balls, stitching 55 off 27 balls with Rahul.

Brief Scores:

India: 347 for 4 in 50 overs (Shreyas Iyer 103, KL Rahul 88 not out, Virat Kohli 51; Tim Southee 2/85).

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January 9,2020

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 9: BWF World Championships defending champion PV Sindhu on Thursday cruised to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters after winning a second-round match.

The 24-year-old had the upper hand in the clash and thrashed Japan's Aya Ohori in straight games 21-10, 21-15 that lasted for 34-minute. The world number six will now play in her quarterfinal match on January 10.

Earlier in the day, Saina Nehwal defeated South Korea's An Se Young 25-23, 21-12 in 38 minutes. The first game saw back and forth action between both shuttlers. In the end, Nehwal kept her cool to win the match.

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old had outclassed Belgium's Lianne Tan 21-15, 21-17 to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.

Shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the tournament after losing their matches to Japan's Kento Momota and Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei respectively. 

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