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Kohli, Rahane power India to commanding position against WI

Agencies
August 25, 2019

North Sound, Aug 25: Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane's half centuries strengthened India's position in the first Test against West Indies, the two performing their leadership duties with aplomb here.

After a career-defining 81 in the first innings, vice-captain Rahane remained unbeaten on 53 while skipper Kohli was batting on 51, as India reached 185 for three at stumps on the third day of their opening World Championship Test on Saturday.

The visitors enjoyed an overall lead of 260 runs with seven wickets in hand and two full days play remaining.

Dropped on 17 by John Campbell off Kemar Roach's bowling, Rahane made full use of the life to register his career's 18th half-century.

Rahane and Kohli's unbroken fourth-wicket stand yielded 104 runs in 41.4 overs.

India lost three wickets after lunch before Rahane and Kohli joined hands and the duo played without taking any risk to keep the visitors ahead.

Off-spinner Roston Chase was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts, taking two wickets for 69 runs.

Opener Mayank Agarwal (16) was the first wicket to fall for India in the second innings, controversially trapped in front by Chase in the 14th over. Although TV replays showed the ball was missing the leg stump, the batsman didn't go for a review.

After Agarwal's departure, K L Rahul (38) and Chesteshwar Pujara (25) added 43 runs for the second wicket to take India forward.

Rahul, however, gave away his wicket, bowled by Chase. He went across his stumps while going for a sweep, only to expose all the three stumps and the West Indian spinner succeeded as the batsman failed to connect the ball.

An over later, Roach went through Pujara's defence to reduce India to 81 for three.

India had earlier taken a healthy 75-run first-innings lead, which had swelled to 89 by lunch.

The visitors bowled out West Indies for 222 in 74.2 overs in their first innings in reply to their 297 all out, with Ishant Sharma returning figures of 5 for 43.

Besides Ishant, Mohammed Shami (2/48) and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja (2/64) scalped two wickets apiece.

For West Indies, Chase top-scored with 48 while skipper Jason Holder played a fighting 39-run knock, as the hosts failed to build up partnerships.

At the opening break of the third day, India were 14 for no loss in their second innings.

Earlier, resuming at overnight 189 for eight, Holder and Miguel Cummins ground it out for 103 balls, forging a 41-run partnership for the ninth wicket to take West Indies closer to the Indian total.

Holder made 39 off 65 balls with the help of five boundaries and even though Cummins could not open his account, he lasted 45 balls to frustrate the Indian bowlers. India needed 85 balls in the opening session to dislodge the duo.

The partnership was finally broken when Holder edged a Mohammed Shami delivery to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant in the 74th over.

Left-arm spinner Jadeja drew the curtains on West Indies innings when he cleaned up Cummins an over later.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the Women's IPL or the Challenger series, as it is better known, is "very much on", ending speculation about the parent body not having a plan for Harmanpreet Kaur and her team.

The men's IPL will be held between September 19 and November 8 or 10 (final date yet to be locked in) in the UAE due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in India. The women's IPL will also be fit in to the schedule, according to the BCCI chief.

"I can confirm to you that the women's IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also," Ganguly told PTI ahead of the IPL Governing Council meeting later on Sunday.

The BCCI president, who is awaiting a Supreme Court verdict on waiver of the cooling-off period to continue in the position, did not divulge details but another senior official privy to the development said that women's Challenger will be held during the last phase of IPL like last year.

"The women's Challenger series is likely to be held between November 1-10 and there could be a camp before that," the source said.

The former India captain also said that the centrally contracted women players will have a camp which has been delayed due to the prevailing situation in the country.

"We couldn't have exposed any of our cricketers -- be it male or female to health risk. It would have been dangerous," Ganguly said.

"The NCA also remained shut because of Covid-19. But we have a plan in place and we will have a camp for women, I can tell you that," he added.

The BCCI's cricket operations team is chalking up a schedule where Indian women are likely to have two full-fledged white-ball series against South Africa and the West Indies before playing the ODI World Cup in New Zealand. 

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News Network
January 6,2020

Jan 6: Former India opener Kris Srikkanth on Sunday said he would prefer K L Rahul over Shikhar Dhawan in the T20 World Cup later this year.

Former India opener Kris Srikkanth on Sunday said he would prefer K L Rahul over Shikhar Dhawan in the T20 World Cup later this year.

Dhawan is returning to international cricket after a long gap. During the senior left-handed batsman's absence, Rahul has emerged as one of the top contenders for the opener's slot in limited-overs cricket.

"Runs against SL (Sri Lanka) don't count. If I was chairman of selectors, I won't pick Dhawan in the T20 WC squad. There is no competition between him and Rahul. Only one winner," Srikkanth said on Star Sports.

Before the series, the 34-year-old Dhawan said that he is looking forward to a "new start" in a new year and wants to win the World Cup for India.

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News Network
March 6,2020

Melbourne, Mar 6: Experienced middle-order batter Veda Krishnamurthy believes that "destiny" is in favour of first-time finalist India to win their maiden ICC Women's T20 World Cup title provided they get a grip on their nerves in the summit clash against Australia on Sunday.

India will have a psychological advantage going into the final as they had stunned the defending champions by 17 runs in the tournament opener.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India reached the final on the basis of their unbeaten record in the tournament after their semifinal against England was washed out on Thursday.

Krishnamurthy, who was a part of the Indian team that finished runner-up to England in the 2017 Women's ODI World Cup, knows the pain of missing out on a world title.

"It's all about destiny, and I'm a big believer in destiny. I feel like this is the way it was meant to be. There is a joke going around that this World Cup is made in such a way that it's helping us, starting from the wickets to everything else," she was quoted as saying by the tournament's official website.

"Being in the final is just reward for the way we played in the group stages. There was an advantage to having won all our games with the weather not in our hands."

The team's first target of reaching the final having achieved, the 27-year-old player said the Indians now need to hold their nerves and remain focussed leading up to the big day on Sunday.

"We said the first aim was to get to the final and take it from there. We've crossed the first stage. We need to make sure we hold our nerves and we do what we need to do on the final day," she said.

India's recent rivalry with Australia has taken fascinating twists and turns, with Kaur's outfit chasing down 173 in their recent tri-series, then getting home by 17 runs in the T20 World Cup opener.

But all is not hunky-dory for Krishnamurthy on the personal front. Considered a great finisher, she has recovered from a series of single-digit scores in the tri-series to score 20 from 11 balls in a finishing role against Bangladesh.

Having amassed just 35 runs from four matches in the tournament so far, the Karnataka batter knows her role in the team.

"As an individual, the role given to me is very consistent in the last year. They've put the effort in the last year to keep me there and I've been supported by every individual, not just one or two. The entire team, with all the support staff, have shown faith in me," she said.

"I know coming into the World Cup, I would play a crucial role to finish the innings well, which I felt I was unable to do in the last World Cup in the West Indies," she added.

Krishnamurthy said specific roles have been set for every player of the squad and they all are trying to contribute as much as they can to help the team achieve its goal.

"I was very motivated to do my role and I've been working on that. It's not just me, all 15 players involved know what their role is," she said.

"I'm happy we're all putting in efforts and executing our role properly. Even if it's a smallish contribution of saving a couple of runs, it's all panned out really well."

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