Karnataka completes hattrick, wins Vijay Hazare Trophy

March 16, 2014

vinay_kumarKolkata, Mar 16: Karnataka completed a historic treble at domestic level by emerging champions in the Vijay Hazare Trophy with a four-wicket win over Railways in yet another low-scoring affair at Eden Gardens here today.

Chasing 158, the Ranji and Irani Trophy champions had a jittery start after they lost five wickets in 26 runs to be 47/5 in the 12th over but sensible batting by youngsters Karun Nair (53 not out) and Lokesh Rahul (38) set up the chase with a 66-run partnership.

After Rahul's fall, 22-year-old Nair, who made the first-class debut this season, showed the right temperament as his unbeaten half-century, third in List A, saw the team through with seven overs to spare.

Despite the small total to defend, the Railways pacer duo of Anureet Singh and Krishna Kant Upadhyay did not give up their hope as they ripped apart the Karnataka top order bowling in tandem for 14 overs.

R Vinay Kumar promoted him to the crucial No 3, a move that faltered badly with Upadhyay (7-2-27-3) and Anureet (7-1-28-2) blazing all guns.

Having impressed behind the stumps, Lokesh Rahul was solid with his batting technique as well. The 21-year-old revived their chase with Karun Nair giving a fine company.

Rahul also had luck on his side as he survived a close lbw appeal before getting a reprieve on 23. The duo put on the match-turning 66-run partnership for the sixth wicket.

Chanderpal Saini broke the partnership but Nair stood tall as he along with Kunal Kapoor (24 not out) took Karnataka to an unprecedented hattrick of titles in domestic cricket.

Earlier, No. 8 batsman Rongsen Jonathan topscored for Railways as his gritty 46 from 57 balls (3x4) helped them recover from being 83/7 to 157 all out in 47.4 overs after they were asked to bat on the Eden green top.

It was a pathetic display from the Railways top and middle-order batsmen until Jonathan's positive intent put them past 150.

First, he stitched a crucial 38-run eighth wicket stand from 60 balls with Amit Mishra, while with Anureet he added a brisk 34 from 35 balls to give the much-needed push to their total.

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News Network
January 17,2020

Jan 17: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza cruised into the women's doubles final of the Hobart International with her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok here on Friday.

Sania and Kichenok sailed past the Slovenian-Czech pair of Tamara Zidansek and Marie Bouzkova 7-6 (3) 6-2 in the semifinal contest that lasted one hour and 24 minutes.

The fifth-seeded Indo-Ukrainian combination will lock horns with second seeds Shuai Peng and Shuai Zhang of China. The Chinese pair got a walkover after Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens and Alison Van Uytvanck conceded the other semifinal match because of injury.

While Sania and Kichenok had to fight hard in the opening set, the second set was a cakewalk for the combination.

The first set was a tough contest between the two pairs, bringing the tie-breaker into the equation after it was level at 6-6.

In the tie-breaker, Sania and Kichenok upped their game by a few notches to outsmart their opponents and take the lead.

The second set was a no-contest as Saina and Kichenok broke their opponents thrice -- in the second, sixth and eighth game -- to easily pocket the set and a place in the summit clash.

Saina and Kichenok got 11 break chances out of which they converted four, while their opponents utilised two out of the five break chances that came their way.

The 33-year-old Sania is returning to the WTA circuit after two years. During her time away from the game, she battled injury breakdowns before taking a formal break in April 2018 to give birth to her son Izhaan. She is married to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.

Before the ongoing event, Sania last played at China Open in October 2017.

A trailblazer in Indian tennis, Sania is a former world No.1 in doubles and has six Grand Slam titles to her credit.

She retired from the singles competition in 2013 after becoming the most successful Indian woman tennis player.

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News Network
April 27,2020

Lahore, Apr 27: Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal has been banned from all forms of cricket for three years for failing to report spot-fixing offers, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced Monday.

Umar, who turns 30 next month, pleaded guilty to not reporting the fixing offers which led to his provisional suspension on February 20 this year.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

New Delhi, Aug 6: The BCCI on Thursday suspended the IPL title sponsorship deal with Chinese mobile phone company Vivo for the event's upcoming edition amid heightened tensions in Sino-India diplomatic ties.

The BCCI sent out a one-line statement, without giving details, saying that Vivo would not be associated with the IPL this year. "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Vivo released its own statement saying that the two entities "have mutually decided to pause their partnership for the 2020 season".

Vivo won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for a reported sum of Rs 2,190 crore, approximately Rs 440 crore per annum.

The two parties are now working out a plan in which Vivo might come back for a fresh three-year period starting 2021 on revised terms.

However, a top BCCI official offered a different view. "Here we are talking about diplomatic tensions and you expect that after November, when IPL ends and before the next IPL starts in April 2021, there would be no anti-China sentiment? Are we serious?" a veteran BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

The anti-China sentiment in the country peaked after the violent face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh. India lost 20 soldiers in the clash, while China also acknowledged unspecified casualties.

The stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) caused outrage across India with several calls for boycotts of Chinese companies and products.

The BCCI is now likely to float a tender for new IPL title sponsors as mandated by its constitution. The glitzy T20 league starts on Sept. 19 in the UAE, forced out of India due to the rising COVID-19 cases.

The new development is in stark contrast to what came out of Sunday's IPL's Governing Council meeting, where it was decided that Vivo, along with all the other sponsors, will remain on board.

This was after the BCCI had announced in June that all sponsorship deals pertaining to IPL will be reviewed in the aftermath of the clash in the Galwan Valley.

However, after Sunday's meeting, there was a huge backlash on social media about the BCCI holding on to Vivo.

Both parties then began thrashing out an amicable separation plan, at least for this season.

However, the end of this deal could spell losses for the franchises as they get a substantial share from the sponsorship pool. Half of the annual Vivo sponsorship money is distributed equally among eight franchises, which comes to Rs 27.5 crore.

"As of now, it will be very difficult for the BCCI to match the sponsorship amount at such short notice. Therefore, both BCCI and the franchises should be prepared to lose out on some money -- BCCI more but each franchise from Vivo's exit will potentially lose 15 crore," the official said.

"This year will be difficult for everyone but the show must go on," the official said.

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