Mumbai look to seal playoff berth

May 12, 2012

kolkata_vs_mumbai

Kolkata, May 12: Thirty-eight days and 57 games into IPL 5, Kolkata and Mumbai finally get to spar with each other for the first time this season.

For a change, it's Kolkata who have their noses in front. In fact, they even have one foot in the play-offs, thanks to a bouquet of six straight victories. Mumbai are within sniffing distance as well, and their priority at the Eden Gardens on Saturday will be to log two points and 'lock' their knockout berth.

Defeat will, however, not straightaway affect their chances of progressing to the last-four stage -- they have three more matches to play after this -- but will almost certainly hurt their ambition of finishing among the top two.

Led by the feisty Gautam Gambhir, Kolkata will be determined not to take the foot off the pedal as they look to strengthen their chances of qualifying as the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the round-robin league. Going by the way they have been playing over the past one month, it will take a brave man to bet against Kolkata.

The last game they lost was on April 15 that too by 2 runs to Mohali. Since then, they have blown away teams like Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi. Mumbai are the last 'target' en route to establishing their ascendancy over the big guns.

It's no secret that Kolkata owe their red-hot streak to their prolific captain Gambhir (457 runs, 5 fifties, 146.94 strike rate) and a frugal bowling attack, spearheaded by Sunil Narine. The 23-year-old Trinidadian spinner is third on the wicket-takers' list with 15 scalps so far, but much more significant is his economy rate -- 5.30 runs conceded per over, which is unheard of for a spinner in this format of the game.

Not many have read his 'mystery' ball so far, and it will be interesting to see how the maestro copes with it.

The likes of Brett Lee, Jacques Kallis (the bowler) and Rajat Bhatia have been doing a fair job too, as a result of which no more than just two teams have managed 150-plus scores against them.

Little wonder then that Kolkata's economy rate (7.01 runs per over) is best in the tournament. The Mumbai batsmen have blown hot and cold this season, but their attack ranks a close second, thanks to the brilliance of Lasith Malinga (20 wickets, economy rate 5.32).

Skipper Harbhajan, despite averaging one wicket in two games, has not been easy to score off, while Keiron Pollard and Munaf Patel have the knack of breaking promising partnerships.


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Agencies
February 7,2020

New Delhi, Feb 7: It was on February 7, 1999, that Anil Kumble became just the second bowler in the history of cricket to take all ten wickets in an innings of a Test match.

He achieved the feat against Pakistan at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, now known as Arun Jaitley cricket stadium in Delhi during the second Test of the two-match series.

India had set Pakistan a target of 420 runs in the match and the visitors got off to a steady start as openers Shahid Afridi and Saeed Anwar put on 101 runs for the first wicket.

It was then Kumble who came into the attack and wreaked havoc on the Pakistani batting line-up.

The spinner, also known as 'Jumbo' first dismissed Afridi (41) in the 25th over. After the right-handed batter's dismissal, India kept on taking wickets through Kumble and Pakistan was reduced to 128/6 in no time.

Kumble then kept on taking wickets at regular intervals and he got his tenth scalp in the 61st over after dismissing Wasim Akram.

This effort enabled India to register a win by 212 runs, and Kumble became the second bowler after England's Jim Laker to take all ten wickets in a single Test inning.

Kumble finished with the bowling figures of 10-74 from 26.3 overs.

Kumble announced his retirement from international cricket in 2008 and finished with 619 wickets in the longest format of the game.

He has the third-highest number of wickets in Tests, only behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Australia's Shane Warne (708).

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News Network
June 3,2020

New Delhi, Jun 3: Shuttler HS Prannoy has hit out at the Badminton Association of India (BAI) and has questioned the selection criteria for the Arjuna Award.

The shuttler has said that the players who have won nothing have been recommended, while the players who have medals to their credit have been snubbed.

His remarks come as BAI recommended doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and men's singles player Sameer Verma for the Arjuna Award on Tuesday.

"Same old story. Guy who has Medals in CWG and Asian Championships not even recommended by Association. And guy who was not there on any of these major events recommended #waah #thiscountryisajoke," Prannoy tweeted.

Prannoy had been left out from the list last year as well and the shuttler had slammed the criteria then as well.

"If you ever want your name in the awards list, make sure you have people who will get your name to the list. Performance is least considered in our country. Sad state of our county but can't help it. Let go and just play until you can," Prannoy had tweeted last year.

Prannoy had won the mixed team gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and he also has a men's singles bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Championships.

On Tuesday, the BAI has also recommended the renowned National Institute of Sports (NIS)-certified coaches, S. Murlidharan and Bhaskar Babu for the Dronacharya Award.

Murlidharan has been working relentlessly for the growth and development of the sport in Kerala, besides being an able administrator.

He has coached the likes of Vimal Kumar, Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas amongst many other renowned former players.

He has also been a recipient of the Meritorious Service Award given by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in 1996.

For the Dhyanchand Award, BAI has recommended the names of Pradeep Gandhe and Manjusha Kanwar.

Gandhe is a two-time Asian Games bronze medallist while Manjusha is a South Asian Games silver medallist.

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News Network
March 31,2020

New Delhi, Mar 31: Australia batsman David Warner on Tuesday decided to shave off his head to show support towards all those people who are working relentlessly on the frontline in the battle against coronavirus.

After shaving off his head, Warner also challenged his Australian team-mate Steve Smith and India skipper Virat Kohli to do the same.

Warner, shared a time-lapse video on Instagram, of him shaving his head, and captioned the post as: "Been nominated to shave my head in support of those working on the frontline #Covid-19 here is a time-lapse. I think my debut was the last time I recall I've done this. Like it or not".

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australia's death toll stands at 19, as per the Sydney Morning Herald.

As of 8 am today, 4460 people across Australia have tested positive for COVID-19.

The World Health Organisation had termed coronavirus as a 'pandemic' on March 11.

Earlier in the day, Australia Test skipper Tim Paine also confirmed that the side's tour of Bangladesh is unlikely due to the virus spread.
"You don't have to be Einstein to realise (the Bangladesh tour) is probably unlikely to go ahead, particularly in June. Whether it's cancelled or pushed back, we're not quite sure at the moment," cricket.com.au quoted Paine as saying.

Currently, Australia has 296 points in the WTC from 10 matches, while India has 360 points from nine matches.

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