ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 kicks off with 60-second challenge

Agencies
May 30, 2019

May 30: Cricket World Cup often termed as the `Olympics of Cricket` was kicked off on Wednesday with a unique 60-second challenge at the Mall opposite Buckingham Palace in London.

The opening ceremony was hosted by former England cricketer Andrew Flintoff and cricket presenters Shibani Dandekar and Paddy McGuinness.

Both Eoin Morgan (England skipper) and Virat Kohli (Indian skipper) were present at the event.

"We can`t wait to start. Tomorrow`s obviously a very exciting day. Incredibly proud to be where we`re at. Hope to be good hosts," Morgan said at the opening ceremony.

"Lovely to be here. Such a huge fan base here. That`s a thing of pressure and a thing of pride as well. We`ll look to utilise the crowd advantage," Kohli added.

Before the commencement of the 60-second challenge, English singer John Newman sang `Feel the love` at the opening ceremony. In the 60-second challenge, a competition was held between various teams as each side was represented by two guest figures.

The team with the highest score in sixty seconds would win the challenge. Former Australian batsman David Boon was the umpire for this little game.

Former Indian skipper Anil Kumble and Bollywood actor Farhan Akhtar represented India at the event. The event also involved legends such as Viv Richards, Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee, and Kevin Pietersen, among others.

Afghanistan started off the challenge and they scored 52 in one minute. Next, former Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene came out to represent Sri Lanka and the team scored 43.

West Indies were represented by legend Viv Richards and Olympic athlete Yohan Blake and they scored 47 in one minute. Abdur Razzaq featured in Bangladesh`s team. They scored just 22.

Pakistan scored 38 and they were represented by Malala Yousafzai. They were followed by Australia. Brett Lee represented the Aussies and they were able to muster the highest score of the 60-second challenge when they scored 69 runs.

New Zealand was able to score only 32. The South African team had Jacques Kallis and footballer Steven Pienaar. They scored 48 runs

India represented by Anil Kumble and Farhan Akhtar registered the lowest score of 19 among all teams.

The English team then came out to bat and it featured Kevin Pietersen. They scored 74 in one minute and they ended up winning the challenge.

After the challenge, the World Cup trophy was showcased. It was escorted to the stage by former World Cup-winning captain Michael Clarke and former English off-spinner Graeme Swann.

"There are five to six teams that can win this World Cup. England definitely are the favourites for this tournament as they have been some good quality cricket," Clarke said at the opening ceremony.

In the end, the theme song of the World Cup "Stand By" was performed by the singer LORYN and Rudimental.

The first match of the World Cup will be played between the hosts England and South Africa on May 30 at the Oval.

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News Network
January 8,2020

Indore, Jan 8: Skipper Virat Kohli struck an unbeaten 30 as India beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the second Twenty20 international in Indore on Tuesday.

The hosts rode a 71-run opening stand between KL Rahul, who hit 45, and Shikhar Dhawan, who made 32, to chase down their target of 143 in 17.3 overs and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series after the first match was rained off.

Leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga took the wickets of the Indian openers but Shreyas Iyer, who scored 34 before falling to paceman Lahiru Kumara, and Kohli, who hit the winning six, got the team home.

The third match is on Friday in Pune.

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News Network
March 9,2020

Kolkata, Mar 9: A diabetic man died in the isolation ward of a hospital in West Bengal's Murshidabad on Sunday, a day after he was admitted there with suspected symptoms of coronavirus following his return from Saudi Arabia.

According to doctors, he was admitted to the hospital with fever, cough and cold.

Though test results of his blood and swab samples for novel coronavirus were awaited, it can be said that he died probably of diabetes, Director of Health Services Ajay Chakraborty told PTI.

"The man was highly diabetic and was on insulin. He returned home from Saudi Arabia and had no money to take insulin for the last three to four days.

"He was also suffering from fever, cough and cold. He was admitted to the isolation ward of the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital yesterday and died today," the health services director said.

"We are waiting for the results of medical tests. The possibility of his death due to novel coronavirus infection is remote," he said.

However, precautions will be taken during the last rites of the victim according to the directives set by the central and state governments for patients who die of the virus, another senior official said.

"Family members will not be allowed to touch the body since the man had been suffering from cough and breathlessness. Those performing his last rites will be given protective gear, masks and gloves. Though test results are yet to be known, we do not want to take any chance," he said.

Meanwhile, the state health department has issued a directive to all private medical facilities to create a system for assessing all patients at admission allowing early recognition of possible COVID-19 infection and immediate isolation of patients with suspected novel coronavirus infection in an area separate from other patients.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Milan, Mar 28: Juventus star Paulo Dybala revealed how he "struggled to breathe" after contracting coronavirus which has killed over 9,000 people in Italy.

The Argentine international announced last Saturday he was one of three Juventus players to catch the virus along with Daniele Rugani and Blaise Matuidi, who both had no symptoms.

"I feel better now after some strong symptoms," the 26-year-old Dybala told JTV channel.

"A couple of days ago I was not well, I felt heavy and after five minutes of movement I had to stop because I was struggling to breathe.

"Now I can move and walk to start trying to train, because when I tried in the past few days I started to shake too much.

"I gasped for air and as a result I couldn't do anything, after five minutes I was already very tired, I felt the body heavy and my muscles hurt.

"Now I'm fine. My fiancee Oriana (Sabatini) has also overcome the symptoms."

Dybala has scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, including in league leader's Juventus's last game against Inter Milan before Serie A and all sport in Italy was suspended.

"The goal against Inter was the greatest emotion, (Aaron) Ramsey provided the perfect assist - it's a pity that there was no public," added Dybala.

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