World Twenty20 warm-up: India beat Sri Lanka by 26 runs

September 15, 2012
Warmup_winColombo, September 15: Irfan Pathan scalped five wickets as India warmed up for the World Twenty20 with a comfortable 26-run victory over hosts Sri Lanka in their first practice match on Saturday.

 

India scored 146/5, riding on captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's unbeaten 55 and then Pathan took centre stage with an impressive 5/25 to skittle out the Islanders for 120 in 19.3 overs at the P Sara Oval.

 

Continuing his fine run, Pathan ripped through the Lankan top order before coming back to dismiss the lower middle order in the end.

 

The Baroda speedster was ably supported by comeback man Lakshmipathy Balaji, who claimed 3/28.

 

Set a victory target of 147, Sri Lanka received an early jolt as Pathan castled opener Dilshan Munaweera on the last ball of the first over.

 

The 27-year-old then dismissed Tillakaratne Dilshan with the last ball of his second over to leave the hosts reeling at 15 for two from the first three overs.

 

Kumar Sangakkara (32) combined with Angelo Mathews (16) to resurrect the Lankan innings but with Balaji getting better off the later, the target seemed to be a distant one for the hosts.

 

Sangakkara, in company of Lahiru Thirimanne, slowly but steadily took the Lankan total past 70 runs, punishing anything lose dished out by the bowlers.

 

Their partnership was, however cut short as Harbhajan Singh, dawning the Indian colours after a gap of over an year, bowled Sangakkara out in the 12th over to put India in a driver's seat.

 

Thirimanne (24) was the next man to go, giving Zaheer Khan his only wicket of the match.

 

Pathan then came back to haunt the Sri Lankan batsmen as he dismissed Thisara Perara and skipper Mahela Jayawardene of successive deliveries before cleaning off Jeevan Mendis on the last ball of his spell to close the doors on the hosts.

 

Balaji completed the formalities as India walked away with an easy victory.

 

Earlier, electing to bat, India were in a precarious situation at four for 51 before Dhoni andRohit Sharma (37) stitched a 78-run partnership for the fifth wicket to lend some respectability to the Indian total.

 

The visitors did not have an auspicious beginning as Gautam Gambhir was forced to leave the field as early as in the first over after being hit on the right wrist by a Lasith Malinga delivery.

 

Virender Sehwag (12) and Suresh Raina (12) played with caution but their vigil did not last long as Nuwan Kulasekara got Raina caught by Dilshan Munaweera in the fifth over.

 

Sehwag followed the suit a ball later playing one straight to Mathews.

 

With in-form Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh also taking a long walk back to the pavillion by the end of ninth over, it was left to Rohit and Dhoni to do the damage control.

 

Both the batsmen looked comfortable at the crease sending the Lankans on a leather hunt. Dhoni in particular was very severe on anything lose as he clobbered his way to an unbeaten half-century with the help of three sixes and four fours.

 

Rohit once again showed his liking for the shorter format of the game as he struck four hits to the fence and one over it to help India cross the 100-run mark.

 

India will take on Pakistan in their next warm-up game on Monday before meetingAfghanistan on September 19 in their tournament opener.



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Agencies
June 4,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 4: Indian men's hockey team defender Harmanpreet Singh is delighted and honoured to be nominated for the Arjuna Award by Hockey India.

The Indian women's hockey team captain Rani Rampal has been nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award while her compatriots Vandana Katariya, Monika and Harmanpreet Singh have been nominated for the Arjuna Award.

"I was extremely delighted to hear the news. It's an honour to be nominated for the Arjuna Award and I am sure the nomination will motivate me to perform even better in the upcoming years. All of us have received tremendous support from Hockey India over the years and I was extremely happy to know that Rani has been nominated for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and Vandana Katariya and Monika have been nominated for the Arjuna Award. They have put up some brilliant performances in the recent past and I would like to extend my congratulations to them," Harmanpreet said.

The 24-year-old dragflick sensation stepped up his role in the team and shouldered the responsibility of vice-captain with aplomb. As a defender-dragflicker, he was instrumental in the team's winning performance in the FIH Series Finals in Odisha. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Test Event, he captained the team to victory in the absence of Manpreet Singh who was rested for the tournament.

Harmanpreet was also part of the Indian team that won the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers against Russia last year. Harmanpreet said that he has been able to perform for the team only because of the support he has received from his teammates.

"I am very happy with the way I have been contributing to the team in the last couple of years. However, I have been able to come up with the goods only because of the way my teammates have supported me. Hockey is a team sport and all of us ensure that we are contributing to the team's cause in some way or the other. If we score a goal, then it's not only the goal scorer, who takes the credit, but the entire team is credited for a particular effort," said the defender.

Harmanpreet added that booking a place in the Tokyo Olympic Games was the biggest achievement for the team in 2019.

"It was simply amazing to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in front of our home crowd last year. I will cherish the memory forever. The balance of our side was fantastic and everyone chipped in to make the tournament a memorable one. Now, we will give everything we can to come up with great results at the Olympics next year. It's our sole target at the moment and all of us are up for the challenge. Hopefully, we will become a much better side once we play our first match in Tokyo," he said.

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Agencies
May 31,2020

London, May 31: "Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli," replied umpire Ian Gould when he was asked to name the three best batsmen he loved watching when he was officiating as an umpire.

The former ICC elite umpire said that he was unlucky to not watch Ponting bat as much as he would have liked to.

"Jacques Kallis. I loved watching Jacques. He was a very, very fine player. Sachin. And probably Virat. I was unlucky in some respects. I didn't see the best of Ricky Ponting. He was an outstanding character, outstanding captain, such a proud Australian," ESPNCricinfo quoted Gould as saying.

"But his career was just starting to wane as I came on the scene. But he was incredibly helpful, so I'm disappointed I have to leave him out. Jacques Kallis, I could sit and watch all day, Virat, the same. And Sachin, if you want someone to bat for your life, he was the man," he added.

Gould had retired from the ICC's panel of elite umpires in 2019, after standing in more than 250 international matches over a 13-year career.

Over the years, comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have been growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli has 70 centuries across all formats.

While, Kallis played 166 Tests, 328 ODIs and 25 T20Is for South Africa and he is often viewed as the greatest all-rounder the game has seen.

Many pundits of the game find it hard to pick between him and Sir Garfield Sobers.

Across his career, Kallis scored 25,534 runs in his career and he also managed to take 577 wickets.

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News Network
March 29,2020

Sydney, Mar 29: Steve Smith's two-year leadership ban ended quietly Sunday, leaving him eligible again to captain Australia at a time of uncertainty over when international cricket will resume.

Smith was stripped of the captaincy and banned from leading Australia for two years over his involvement in the 2018 ball tampering scandal in South Africa. His sentence ended Sunday and he can again captain Australia if called upon.

Australian players were due this week to conclude a series of matches in New Zealand and, for some, to join the Indian Premier League. But it wasn't clear Sunday if the IPL will take place this year and when international matches will resume. Australia's scheduled mid-year tours to England and Bangladesh are in doubt.

Smith told Channel Nine television's Sports Sunday he is doing his best to stay mentally and physically fit, training in his home gym, going on 10 kilometer (6 mile) runs and practising the guitar.

"It's obviously not looking likely (the IPL will go ahead) at the moment," Smith said. "I think there might be some meetings over the next few days to discuss what the go is with it all.

"I'm just trying to stay physically and mentally fit and fresh and, if it goes ahead at some point, then great. And if not, there's plenty going on in the world at the moment. So just play it day by day."

It seems unlikely Smith will return to the captaincy when cricket resumes. Tim Paine is firmly established as Australia's test captain and at 35 is not immediately considering retirement. Aaron Finch has captained Australia successfully in white ball cricket.

The conclusion of Smith's ban ends the period of upheaval in Australian cricket that followed the ball tampering incident in the second test at Cape Town in 2018 when Cameron Bancroft, with the knowledge of Smith and his vice-captain David Warner, used sandpaper to change the condition of the ball.

Smith and Warner received one-year bans from international and most domestic cricket and Bancroft was banned for nine months. The scandal also resulted in the resignation of coach Darren Lehmann and the departure of Cricket Australia's chief executive, James Sutherland.

Warner remains under a career-long leadership ban.

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