No end to Sachin Tendulkar's learning curve

August 22, 2012

sachin


Hyderabad, August 22: Watching the Indian team nets two days before the start of the first Test against New Zealand, it's apparent why Sachin Tendulkar has weathered 23 long years of pressure and still continues to deliver for his team: His focus and dedication is second to none.

While some other legends of the game — and his contemporaries — have come and gone, the Little Master seems to have the energy and drive to carry on even at the age of 39.

One of the reasons Sachin has continued to succeed while most others have faded away is his eagerness to keep learning. Despite having scored 100 international centuries and amassing 15,470 Test and 18,426 ODI runs, he continues to be one of the finest pupils of the game.

On Tuesday, Tendulkar chose to continue his education under the watchful eyes of coach Duncan Fletcher.

Sachin took to the nets with rookie Cheteshwar Pujara after openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag had had a 30-minute hit. Sachin faced up to the likes of Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan and looked quite comfortable in the middle.

There were, however, a few misses and false strokes, which didn't evade Fletcher's hawk eye. As soon as it was Pujara's turn to bat, Sachin walked over to Fletcher and the duo were involved in an animated talk, with Fletcher seeming to point out some flaws. The 'little student' then got back to the nets when his turn came again and tried to iron out the flaws all over again.

After every couple of minutes, he would return to Fletcher and chat some more. The whole process went on for a little over half an hour. There were times when Pujara would indicate that it was time for Sachin to come over and bat, but the Mumbaikar was so engrossed in his talk with Fletcher that every time he would tell Pujara to continue knocking.

After finishing his batting session, Sachin he didn't remove his pads. While most others gleefully returned to the comfort of the dressing room, he was out in the middle, talking again to Fletcher and often finetuning his strokes.

The other batsman who seemed very intent on his batting was southpaw Gambhir. After finishing his nets against the medium-pacers, he went to the spinners' net and spent a considerable amount of time.

After that, he took the help of a support staff and tried to hone his technique against short-pitched deliveries.

Ishant, who is coming off an injury layoff, continued to impress as he went full steam against the top-order batsmen. Zaheer Khan, who didn't bowl on Monday, was back in the thick of things. Umesh Yadav too was pretty lethal as he made life difficult for the batsmen.

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Agencies
April 12,2020

London, Apr 12: Former Formula 1 legendary driver Stirling Moss died at the age of 90 on Sunday.

"All at F1 send our heartfelt condolences to Lady Susie and Sir Stirling's family and friends," Formula 1 said in a statement.

Often referred to as the greatest driver never to win the world championship, Moss contested 66 Grands Prix from 1951 to 1961, driving for the likes of Vanwall, Maserati and Mercedes, where he famously formed a contented and ruthlessly effective partnership with lead driver Juan Manuel Fangio.

In his 10-year-long stint at the tracks, Moss took 16 wins, some of which rank among the truly iconic drives in the sport's history - his 1961 victories in Monaco and Germany in particular often held up as all-time classics.

Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia on public roads for Mercedes at an average speed of close to 100mph, while he also competed in rallies and land-speed attempts.

Following an enforced retirement from racing (barring a brief comeback in saloon cars in the 1980s) after a major crash at Goodwood in 1962, Moss maintained a presence in Formula 1 as both a sports correspondent and an interested observer, before retiring from public life in January of 2018.

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News Network
February 21,2020

New Delhi, Feb 21: Vinesh Phogat yet again fell to Japanese nemesis Mayu Muakida to go out of the gold medal race but Sakshi Malik will fight for the title after winning her semifinal bout at the Asian Wrestling Championship, here on Friday.

Vinesh had lost twice to Mukaida in 2019 – at World Championship and Asian Championships —and the trend continued as the gritty Indian yet again struggled to break the strong defence of the Japanese.

In a tough opening round, Vinesh tried single leg attacks a number of times but every time Mukaida blocked her move and eventually got the upper body lock to subdue the home favourite.

In her last two meetings, Vinesh had not scored a single point against the 2019 world silver medallist. She managed a takedown this time before eventually losing 2-6.

The hard-working Vinesh will now fight for bronze against Vietnam's Thi Ly Kieu but even a medal won't suffice to lift her mood as she and the fans have high expectations from her.

Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, who has been struggling of late, lost her opening round 1-2 to Naomi Ruike from Japan but later overcame two weak opponents to eventually reach the final of the non-Olympic 65kg category.

She could hardly attack Naomi but outplayed Korea's Ohyoung Ha in the next round, winning by technical superiority.

In her semifinal against Uzbekistan's Nabira Esenbaeva, Sakshi led 5-0 but her rival pulled off consecutive two-point moves to make it 5-4.

Sakshi has been losing in closing stages of late but this time she managed to hold on to her narrow lead, surviving anxious last two seconds.

Also in medal contention are India's brightest youngsters Sonam Malik (62kg) and Anshu Malik (57kg).

Sonam, who had defeated Sakshi in the trials, showed good tactical mind in her resounding win against Korea's Hanbit Lee and also in the 2-5 defeat against world bronze medallist Yukako Kawai.

She pulled off a superb point-scoring move from a disadvantageous position and resisted the 2018 U-23 world champion Yukako in a good fashion.

She will now fight for bronze against Aisuluu Tynbekova.

Anshu Malik opened up her campaign against Kyrgyzstan's Nuraida Anarkulova, winning by technical superiority but was outplayed by reigning world champion from Japan Riskao Kawai.

She will have to beat Sevara Eshmuratova from Uzbekistan to grab a bronze.

In the non-olympic 72kg, Gursharanpreet Kaur is in bronze medal contention. She beat Uzbekistan's Svetlana Oknazarova but lost to Kazakhstan's Zhamila Bakberzenova.

She still made it to the semifinal in which she lost to Japan's Mei Shindo.

She is now up against Mongloia's Tsevegmed Enkhbayar.

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News Network
May 28,2020

New Delhi, May 28: India is not at risk of losing hosting rights for next year's Twenty20 World Cup despite its cricket board's failure to secure a tax exemption for the event, a key BCCI official has told Reuters.

Tax exemptions for International Cricket Council (ICC) events are listed as a requirement in host agreements and the BCCI was supposed to confirm they had secured one by May 18.

ESPNcricinfo, citing correspondence between the two bodies, has reported that the ICC has threatened to shift the tournament away from India over the issue.

However, BCCI treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal told Reuters that would not happen and that negotiations were continuing.

"There is no risk to the tournament," he said by telephone.

"That is a work in progress. We are discussing it with the ICC and we'll resolve it."

The BCCI encountered a similar problem when it hosted the event in 2016 when the government refused to provide a tax exemption, and there has been no change in New Delhi's stance despite the board's appeals.

Failure to secure that exemption in 2016 saw the ICC withhold an equivalent sum from India's share of revenue from the governing body's grants and it appears to be taking an even harder line this time around.

"There are certain timelines within the agreements that we collectively work towards to ensure we can deliver successful world class events and continue to invest in the sport of cricket," an ICC spokesperson told Reuters.

"In addition to this the ICC Board agreed clear timelines for the resolution of the tax issues which we are guided by."

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