India breeze into ICC World T20 2014 semi-finals with 8-wicket win over Bangladesh

March 29, 2014

Dhaka, Mar 29: India qualified for the semi-finals of the ICC World T20 2014 with an eight-wicket win over Bangladesh at Dhaka on March 28. Half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli breezed India to the victory in 18.3 overs. MS Dhoni smashed the winning runs with a trademark six down the ground. India were chasing a 139-run target in the Group 2 Super 10 match in the T20 World Cup.

India_BangladeshMS Dhoni‘s men needed only a win to qualify for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup after West Indies had beaten Australia earlier in the day. India were hardly troubled in their run-chase by a below-average Bangladesh side.

The first two overs of India’s run-chase only yielded three runs each. The first delivery of the third over was a short delivery from Al-Amin Hossain. Rohit pulled it away for a six over deep square-leg. There was hardly any power behind the shot, still it sailed way into the stands. Dhawan was then bowled by Al-Amin. He came down the track and inside-edged a full delivery onto the stumps in the third over.

Al-Amin bowled a full and wide delivery and Kohli played a brilliant lofted cover-drive and got a six in the fifth over. He actually went down on one knee and got underneath the delivery. Al-Amin was then called harshly for a front-foot no-ball. Rohit hit the free-hit high in the air and was caught at mid-on.

Rohit came down the track to Shakib Al Hasan and hit one over wide mid-on for a four. Next ball, he came forward again and drove one on the up towards deep cover and got consecutive fours. Mashrafe Mortaza came into the attack in the seventh over. He bowled a straight back of a length delivery and Rohit guided it wide of the short third-man fielder and got another four.

In the ninth over, Bangladesh missed a glorious chance to dismiss Rohit. He hit one high in the air off Ziaur Rahman. Two fielders converged at deep mid-wicket and the catch was dropped. Rohit then pulled a short delivery in the air for a four towards deep mid-wicket.

Mushfiqur Rahim threw the ball to Sohag Gazi to bowl his off-spin in the 10th over. Kohli came down the track and whipped one through mid-wicket for a four. Sohag then offered width and Kohli went back and punched the ball wide of the cover fielder and got another four. Kohli got into the 40s with a four towards third-man. Ziaur bowled one outside off-stump and Kohli opened the face of the bat to guide the delivery.

Kohli pulled one from Mahmudullah towards long-leg and got two runs. That was the 100 for India in the 14th over. Rohit then reached his seventh half-century on the last ball of the 14th over with a single. Rohit cut a short and wide delivery from Al-Amin for a four behind point for a four. Kohli soon got to his half-century with a single towards cover.

Bangladesh did get a breakthrough as Rohit flashed at a low full-toss from Mortaza. The ball was caught by Nasir Hossain at point. Rohit had to depart for 56 off 44 deliveries with five fours and one six. That also ended a 100-run partnership between Rohit and Kohli for the second wicket.

Dhoni walked out into bat. He hit a length delivery from Al-Amin high in the air towards long-off. The ball just bounced short of the boundary line and went for a four. He then pulled a wide delivery for a six over wide long-on. Dhoni then hit the wining runs with a six down the ground in the 19th over.

Virat Kohli (left) and Rohit Sharma each scored half-centuries for India. They shared a 100-run partnership for the second wicket © Getty Images

Earlier, India captain Dhoni had won the toss and elected to bowl first. India went in with an unchanged side that beat Pakistan and West Indies in the group. A win for India would see them qualify for the semi-finals. Bangladesh’s innings never saw any real momentum as they kept losing wickets at the wrong time.

They eventually posted a total of 138 for seven in their 20 overs. Anamul Haque top-scored with 44 and Mahmudullah was unbeaten on 33 for Bangladesh. Amit Mishra took three wickets and Ravichandran Ashwin took two. Both the spinners were at one time on a hat-trick. Neither could complete the milestone.

The total did not look enough to halt India and it proved true in the end. Although nine deliveries were remaining, it was far more easy for India. Ashwin was the Man of the Match for his two wickets for 15 runs.

Brief scores:

Bangladesh 138 for 7 in 20 overs (Anamul Haque 44, Mushfiqur Rahim 24, Mahmudullah 33*; Ravichandran Ashwin 2 for 15, Amit Mishra 3 for 26) lost to India 141 for 2 in 18.3 overs (Rohit Sharma 56, Virat Kohli 57*, MS Dhoni 22*) by 8 wickets.

Man of the Match: Ravichandran Ashwin

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News Network
April 8,2020

London, Apr 8: England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler has raised more than 65,000 pound (USD 80,000) to help fight the coronavirus by auctioning off his World Cup final shirt.

Buttler's shirt, which he wore when completing the last-ball run-out that saw England beat New Zealand at Lord's last year, was sold to raise money for specialist heart and lung centres provided by the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals in London.

Buttler, who earlier in the showpiece match had hit a fifty and batted in the Super Over, put his long-sleeve keeping jersey up for sale on eBay a week ago.

By the time the auction closed on Tuesday, the shirt had attracted 82 bids with the winner paying 65,100 pound.

Buttler, speaking on Monday, said: "It's a very special shirt but I think it takes on extra meaning with it being able to hopefully go to the emergency cause.

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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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Agencies
June 23,2020

Belgrade, June 23: Novak Djokovic tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday after taking part in a tennis exhibition series he organized in Serbia and Croatia.

The top-ranked Serb is the fourth player to test positive for the virus after first playing in Belgrade and then again last weekend in Zadar, Croatia.

His wife also tested positive. “The moment we arrived in Belgrade we went to be tested. My result is positive, just as Jelena's, while the results of our children are negative," Djokovic said in a statement.

Djokovic has been criticized for organizing the tournament and bringing in players from other countries amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Viktor Troicki said Tuesday that he and his pregnant wife have both been diagnosed with the virus, while Grigor Dimitrov, a three-time Grand Slam semifinalist from Bulgaria, said Sunday he tested positive.

Borna Coric played Dimitrov on Saturday in Zadar and said Monday he has also tested positive. There were no social distancing measures observed at the matches in either country and Djokovic and other players were seen hugging each other and partying in night clubs and restaurants after the matches.

 “Everything we did in the past month, we did with a pure heart and sincere intentions,” Djokovic said.

“Our tournament meant to unite and share a message of solidarity and compassion throughout the region.” Djokovic, who has previously said he was against taking a vaccine for the virus even if it became mandatory to travel, was the face behind the Adria Tour, a series of exhibition events that started in the Serbian capital and then moved to Zadar.

He left Croatia after the final was canceled and was tested in Belgrade. The statement said Djokovic was showing no symptoms.

Despite the positive test, Djokovic defended the exhibition series. “It was all born with a philanthropic idea, to direct all raised funds towards people in need and it warmed my heart to see how everybody strongly responded to this,” Djokovic said.

"We organized the tournament at the moment when the virus has weakened, believing that the conditions for hosting the Tour had been met. “Unfortunately, this virus is still present, and it is a new reality that we are still learning to cope and live with.”

Djokovic said he will remain in self-isolation for 14 days and also apologized to anyone who became infected as a result of the series. Organizers of the Adria Tour said the third stage of the event, scheduled to held next week in Bosnia, has been cancelled.

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