India vs West Indies: Virat Kohli badly wanted a century, says Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Agencies
August 12, 2019

Port Of Spain, Aug 12: Virat Kohli brought up his 42nd ODI ton in brilliant fashion while guiding India to a win against West Indies and pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar said the Indian skipper was eager to end his 11-innings century drought.

On Sunday, Kohli, who is coming off a relatively quiet World Cup, scored 120 off 125 balls to help India to 279 for 7 before Bhuvneshwar starred with the ball to hand the visitors a 59-win in the rain curtailed match.

Kohli's last hundred had come against Australia in March. Since then the Indian skipper has been among the runs, scoring five half centuries, but has failed to reach a ton.

After scoring the century, Kohli celebrated in a characteristically passionate manner.

"From Virat's expression you could see that he badly wanted to score a hundred not because he was out form but because he was getting out in the 70's and 80's and he's always known for scoring big runs," Bhuvneshwar said at the post match conference.

"The wicket wasn't easy, when Virat came back to the dressing room he said after the ball gets old it's not easy to score runs," he added.

Like Kohli, Bhuvneshwar also played a decisive role in India's victory. The 29-year-old snared four wickets for 31 runs.

"When I came to bowl I was just thinking I have to bowl economically, get more dot balls. I feel getting wickets is a byproduct of bowling tightly. I wasn't thinking much about the result because we knew if we get one or two wickets we will be back in the game."

West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals but looked well within sight of the target with Nicholas Pooran (42) and Rostan Chase (18) in the middle. However, Bhuvneshwar changed the complexion of the game in a matter of an over.

In the 35th over he first dismissed Pooran and then leapt to pull off a stunning catch to see the back of Chase.

"I just caught it. I wasn't expecting it. Pooran's wicket was the main wicket for us because we all know how he plays and he can change the game. So his wicket was the key for us. Roston Chase also the moment he came he started taking singles. So those two wickets were crucial for us."

Now the Indian pace spearhead has set his sight on a precious away series win. India lead the three-match ODI series 1-0.

"We are up in the series we want to win the series. whenever you are playing away from home you just want to win the series," Bhuvneshwar said.

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News Network
March 3,2020

Sydney, Mar 3: Former Australia pacer Brett Lee foresees a "different" looking India making their maiden T20 Women's World Cup final and attributed their rise to the emergence of star players like 16-year-old Shafali Verma.

Besides opener Shafali, experienced leg-spinner Poonam Yadav has been the other match-winner for India in the competition. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side topped the group stage with four wins in as many games and play their semifinal here on Thursday.

"They've never reached the final but this is a different India team from the one they’ve seen before. They've combined match-winners in Shafali Verma and Poonam Yadav with consistent players with both bat and ball," Lee was quoted as saying by ICC.

"We've always known they have some of the best players in the world but now Harmanpreet Kaur has a team around her that can support the big players, and fill in the gaps when they have an off day."

Only a special effort from their opponents can stop India from reaching their maiden final, feels Lee.

They'll go into the semi-finals full of confidence and it will take an excellent team to stop them from reaching the Final."

Talking more about Shafali, who has got 47, 46, 39, and 29 so far, Lee backed the teen sensation to make a bigger score in the semifinal.

"Shafali Verma has been excellent at the top of the order, she’s brought a fearless energy to India’s batting and been brilliant to watch.

"You feel she can go even bigger as well – she hasn't reached 50 yet, which is both exciting for those watching and worrying for the bowlers.

"We saw from the opener against Australia just how good India can be, and it’s no surprise they’ve continued that form to top Group A," he added.

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News Network
June 6,2020

New Delhi, Jun 6: Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding has come out in support of MS Dhoni, saying that the wicket-keeper batsman indeed wanted to win the match against England in the 2019 World Cup.

India's performance in the World Cup match against England last year has once again become a matter of debate as all-rounder Ben Stokes in his book titled 'On Fire' questioned the intent of the Indian side.

Stokes also said that Dhoni's intent was questionable as he did not go for big shots when India still had a chance to win the match.

However, Holding said that nowadays people tend to write anything in their books.

"Well, people will write anything in books these days, because people are a lot more free with their opinions and when they are writing books, they need to be making headlines at times," Holding said on his official YouTube channel.

"But, to be honest, a lot of people watching that game perhaps wouldn't have arrived to the same conclusion that Ben Stokes arrived at that India were not trying to win," he added.

Holding did say that it seemed like that India did not have the same intensity as they would have had if the match was a do-or-die match.

"It was not the game that India had to win, but I don't think anyone can say that was a team tactic to lose the game. I watched that game and it appeared to me as if India weren't putting up their 100 per cent, but I realised it was not the case when the expression on MS Dhoni's face told me that he desperately wanted to win, so I do not think it was a team decision to not try to win," the former Windies pacer said.

"But I don't think they went with the same intensity of wanting to win the game, say, if it was a do-or-die situation. If it was, we would have seen a different game," he added.

On his official YouTube channel, Holding also said that no team goes in with a set pattern in terms of chasing targets.

In the round-robin stage match against England in Birmingham, India failed to chase down the massive target of 338 and fell short by 31 runs.

That was the only game that India lost in the premier tournament last year before the semifinal loss against the Kiwis.

India's chasing approach, in particular of wicket-keeper batsman Dhoni, was criticised by many, including the fans at home.

As soon as Stokes mentioned Dhoni's lack of intent in his book 'On Fire', Pakistan fans started saying that India deliberately lost the match to knock out their neighbours.

However, Stokes clarified that he never said India lost deliberately and some people were twisting his words.

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News Network
January 9,2020

Kuala Lampur, Jan 9: Saina Nehwal and reigning world champion P V Sindhu produced dominating performances to progress to the women's singles quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament here on Thursday.

Sixth seed Sindhu notched up a commanding 21-10 21-15 victory over Japan's Aya Ohori in a pre-quarterfinal match lasting just 34 minutes. It was Sindhu's ninth successive win over Ohori.

The 24-year-old Indian, who won the World Championships in Basel last year, will take on world number 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarterfinals after the Chinese Taipei shuttler got the better of South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun 21-18 16-21 21-10.

Saina, who had won the Indonesia Masters last year before going through a rough patch, dispatched eight seed An Se Young of South Korea 25-23 21-12 after a thrilling 39-minute contest to make the last eight.

This is Saina's first win over the South Korean, who got the better of the Indian in the quarterfinals of the French Open last year.

The two-time Commonwealth Games champion will next take on Olympic champion Carolina Marin.

Saina had defeated Lianne Tan of Belgium 21-15 21-17 in the opening round on Wednesday.

In the men's singles, India's challenge ended after both Sameer Verma and HS Prannoy crashed out in the second round.

While Verma lost to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia 19-21 20-22, Prannoy was shown the door by top seed Kento Momota of Japan 14-21 16-21.

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