KKR banking on home advantage, says Kuldeep

Agencies
May 25, 2018

Kolkata, May 25: Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders will relish home advantage when it takes on a struggling Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 of the ongoing Indian Premier League, said the team's left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav.

KKR are lucky to play the two knock-out playoff matches at the Eden Gardens. The two-time champions ousted Rajasthan Royals last night here en route to their fourth win on the trot.

Next up is Sunrisers Hyderabad, who have lost four matches in a row -- the latest defeat coming against Chennai Super Kings in the Qualifier 1 in Mumbai -- and the visitors will have to quickly adjust to the conditions at Eden Gardens to stop KKR from entering their third IPL final.

"Obviously it will be difficult for them (Sunrisers) to come from Mumbai and play here. Mumbai wicket has true bounce whereas the Eden track aids spin. It's our home ground, so it's very easy for us to play here," Kuldeep, who returned with a tidy 1/18 from his four overs, said after KKR's win last night.

KKR, however, are not underestimating Sunrisers, whose performance has been on the wane after topping the table in the league stages.

"We are not looking at the results. It does not matter whether they lost four in a row or we won four. Winning our next match is the priority at the moment," Kuldeep said.

"It's knock-out stage. Every game is very important from here on. They are a very good side and we are up for a good contest."

Kuldeep provided the crucial breakthrough last night to dismiss Ajinkya Rahane for the second time in three matches this season as Rajasthan choked from being 109 for 1 in 14 overs to be restricted to 144 for 4 in pursuit of 170.

"He (Rahane) was batting very well. I just bowled a wrong one in a good area," the spinner said.

"It was very important to get that wicket as he was batting very well."

The collapse began right after the second strategic timeout and Kuldeep said they executed their plan perfectly in breaking Rahane's 82-run partnership with Sanju Samson, who hit a 50.

"They were going well and the discussion at the timeout was to break the partnership. We were looking for wickets. Later on PC bhai (Piyush Chawla) got Samson and took the game away from them," he said.

Kuldeep and Chawla stood up and delivered for KKR last night as Sunil Narine had a lean day.

"We were playing with three spinners and sometimes your best bowler goes through bad patches. Myself and PC had to stand up for him and we did well," Kuldeep said.

"I'm bowling just normal, focusing on basics and backing my strengths. In this format, if you try much you can go for runs."

Kuldeep also praised Andre Russell for his man-of-the-match performance. Russell hit an unbeaten 49 from 25 balls to prop up KRR's total.

"It was an extraordinary innings. He also bowled well at the death and deserved the award," he said about Russell, who gave away just 22 runs from his three overs.

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Agencies
March 26,2020

Karachi, Mar 26: Pakistan's centrally-contracted cricketers will contribute Rs 5 million to the national government's emergency fund to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani on Wednesday said apart from centrally-contracted players contributing Rs 5 million, the employees in the board, up to the senior manager level, will contribute their one day's salary.

Those employed as general managers or on higher posts will give two days' salary to the fund.

"The PCB will collect all these funds and deposit it to the government's coronavirus fund," he said.

Pakistan has recorded more than 1,000 positive cases of the deadly virus, which has claimed more than 19,000 lives all over the world.

"It is the history of the cricket board that we always stand by the government in difficult times," Mani said.

The PCB has already given its high performances centre in Karachi at the national stadium to be used by paramedical staff working at the special coronavirus hospital set up at the expo centre in the in the city.

Mani said though cricket has been disrupted by the virus outbreak but it was far more important for the nation to stand by the government and also take all precautionary steps during the pandemic.

Pakistan's centrally-contracted players are entitled to monthly salaries ranging from Rs 5 to 12 lakh besides match fee and other earnings.

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Agencies
January 6,2020

Washington D.C., Jan 6: 'The Irishman,' and 'Two Popes' were shut out from the winners list despite getting multiple nominations, the movies didn't win a single award at the Golden Globes Award held on Sunday (local time). Other movies in the list include 'Bombshell,' 'Dolemite Is My Name,' 'Harriet,' 'Jojo Rabbit,' 'Knives Out' and 'Little Women.'

According to The Hollywood Reporter, 'The Irishman' may have gone into the 2020 Golden Globes with the second-highest number of film nominations, tied with 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' with five nods, but Martin Scorsese's highly anticipated mob epic for Netflix was completely shut out at the award ceremony.

Netflix landed the most film nominations of any company with 17 mentions, but it won only one award which is the best-supporting actress for 'Marriage Story's' Laura Dern. Netflix's nominated films 'Dolemite Is My Name' and 'The Two Popes' was tied with 'Joker' with four mentions each and failed to grab any awards.

'Dolemite Is My Name' star Eddie Murphy was expected by a number of pundits to win for best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy.

'Bombshell', 'Harriet',' Frozen 2', 'Jojo Rabbit', 'Knives Out', 'The Lion King', 'Little Women' and 'Pain and Glory' are among the other films that received multiple nominations but didn't win a single award.

On the TV side, Netflix's 'Unbelievable' tied in the race to most small-screen nominations with 'Chernobyl' and 'The Crown' with four nominations, and 'The Crown' won only one award, for star Olivia Colman.

The three-time nominees 'Barry', 'Big Little Lies', 'The Kominsky Method' and 'The Morning Show' also didn't grab any award. 'Catch-22', 'Killing Eve', 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' and 'The Politician' who were two-time nominees that were also iced out.

'Hustlers' star Jennifer Lopez failed to take home the best-supporting actress award as she was predicted to win the award by a number of pundits. Billy porter also failed to make history with the best drama actor win for his role on 'Pose,' if he would've won the award, he reportedly would have been the first openly gay African-American to win that award.

'Chernobyl' won two of its four nominations. Despite that, star Jared Harris didn't win the best actor in a limited series Globe which was predicted by many prognosticators. The award was bagged by Russell Crowe for his portrayal of Roger Ailes in 'The Loudest Voice.' But the star was absent from the ceremony.

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News Network
February 21,2020

Sydney, Feb 21: Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav bowled a magical spell in her comeback game to steer India to a comfortable 17-run win over defending champions Australia in the opening match of the Women's T20 World Cup on Friday.

Put in to bat, India struggled to a below par 132 before Poonam (4/19 in 4 overs) foxed the Aussies with her googlies, turning the match decisively into her team's favour.

Australia, who have won the competition four times in six editions, were all out for 115 in 19.5 overs

"A bowler like Poonam is someone who leads from the front. We were expecting a great comeback from her. Our team is looking nice, earlier we depended on two-three players," India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said after the match.

Poonam, who missed the preceding tri-series due to a hand injury, also got good support from other bowlers including pacer Shikha Pandey.

The 28-year-old from Agra was on a hat-trick but narrowly missed out as wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia dropped a difficult chance.

The tournament-opener saw a record 13,000 plus attendance with a sizeable chunk supporting India.

India next play against Bangladesh in Perth on February 24.

"It was great for me to come back from injury and perform like this. It was the third time that I was on a hat-trick but satisfied that I was able to do the job for the team," said Poonam at the post-match presentation.

Australia were off to a good start to their chase with opener Alyssa Healy making a 35-ball 51, laced with six boundaries and a six.

However, Indian spinners led by Poonam triggered a collapse as Australia suddenly slipped to 82 for six.

Poonam (4/19) snapped four wickets, two in successive deliveries in the 12th over, to break the back of Australia's chase.

Ashleigh Gardner (34 off 36) tried her bit but didn't get any support from the other end.

Earlier, India squandered a flying start to end up with a below-par total.

Sixteen-year-old Shafali Verma took India to 40 for no loss in four overs with a typically aggressive 29 off 15 balls but her fall derailed the innings as the other batters disappointed.

Deepti Sharma made a composed 46-ball 49 in the second half of the innings but the firepower that India needed in the death overs was badly missing.

India were cruising initially with Shafali taking the opposition to the cleaners, hitting five fours and a six.

However, left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen (2/24) snapped two quick wickets, Smriti Mandhana (10 off 11) and Harmanpreet (2 off 5) to reduce India to 47 for three.

Deepti then shared 53 runs with Jemimah Rodrigues (26 off 33) to bring up the 100 in the 16th over.

For Australia, Ellyse Perry (1/15) and Delissa Kimmince (1/24) were the other wicket-takers.

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