1. Home
  2. Sports
  3. England wins a thriller, levels series

England wins a thriller, levels series

December 23, 2012

EnglandwinsMumbai, December 23: Eoin Morgan smashed a stunning six off the final delivery bowled by Ashoke Dinda as England registered a six-wicket win to level the Twenty20 series and dashed India’s hopes of taking the No. 1 ranking in this format for the first time.

Needing nine off the last over, Dinda conceded just three singles off the first three. Jos Buttler managed a two from the fourth ball before Mahendra Singh Dhoni missed a chance to run out Morgan off the next delivery. The England captain, calm and composed despite his side needing three off the final delivery, lofted Dinda into the stands to signal victory.

Earlier, chasing a stiff target of 178, the England openers laid a solid foundation with an 80-run partnership. Michael Lumb was in aggressive form, hitting 50 off just 34 balls with six fours and two sixes. At the other end, Alex Hales, dropped by Parvinder Awana, who had a forgettable game both as a bowler and as a fielder, cashed in on the mistake to score 42 (33b, 4x4, 1x6).

Only Yuvraj Singh provided some hope for India, bowling a teasing line and finishing with three wickets. He pulled India back into the match, the way he did in the first game at Pune. The left-armer dismissed Lumb, Luke Wright and Hales as England lost its way in the middle.

However, Dhoni’s decision to employ Awana and Dinda in the closing stages proved costly as the two leaked runs aplenty.

Sedate start

After a sedate start, India posted a formidable 177 on the board. The runs flowed in the last quarter of the twenty overs after Rohit Sharma had lost his middle stump to off-spinner James Tredwell.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni joined left-hander Suresh Raina — the pair had steered the host to a convincing win in the first match at Pune two days back — in the middle. Dhoni and Raina turned the tide, hammering three fours and as many sixes off Stuart Meaker and Jade Dernbach in the 17th and 18th overs.

The duo put on a breezy 60-run stand in less than half an hour and lifted the team from 108 for five to 168.

There was evidence of extra bounce and hints of swing in the early overs. Indian openers Gautam Gambhir and Ajinkya Rahane struggled to force the ball, after being put in by England captain Eoin Morgan.

Gambhir looked a far cry from an experienced batsman ready to quell a challenging situation and laboured to make 17 off 27 balls in eight minutes short of an hour. Rahane stepped out, made room and slashed into the hands of debutant Joe Root at third man.

England dropped left-arm spinner Danny Briggs and took the field with four seamers and off-spinner in Tredwell, but medium pacer Luke Wright turned out to be the weak link as Kohli took heavy toll of him for twenty runs, which also was the last of the power-play.

Dhoni and Raina played wonderfully well, blasting three fours and as many sixes off Meaker and Dernbach.

Scoreboard

India: G. Gambhir c Bresnan b Wright 17 (27b, 1x4), A. Rahane c Root b Dernbach 3 (5b), V. Kohli lbw b Meaker 38 (20b, 7x4), Yuvraj c Root b Wright 4 (5b), Rohit b Tredwell 24 (19b, 1x6, 1x4), S. Raina (not out) 35 (24b, 3x4, 1x6), M.S. Dhoni c Patel b Bresnan 38 (18b, 3x4, 2x6), R. Ashwin c Lumb b Dernbach 1 (3b), P. Chawla (run out) 0 (1b); Extras (b-2, lb-4, nb-2, w-9): 17; Total (for eight wkts. in 20 overs): 177.

Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Rahane), 2-64 (Kohli), 3-71 (Yuvraj), 4-88 (Gambhir), 5-108 (Rohit), 6-168 (Dhoni), 7-171 (Ashwin), 8-177 (Chawla).

England bowling: Bresnan 4-0-27-1, Dernbach 4-0-37-2, Meaker 4-0-42-1, Wright 4-0-38-2, Tredwell 4-0-27-1.

England: M. Lumb st. Dhoni b Yuvraj 50 (34b, 6x4, 2x6), A. Hales c Dinda b Yuvraj 42 (33b, 4x4, 1x6), L. Wright lbw b Yuvraj 5 (10b), E. Morgan (not out) 49 (26b, 5x4, 2x6), S. Patel c Gambhir b Dinda 9 (10b, 1x4), J. Buttler (not out) 15 (7b, 1x4, 1x6); Extras (b-1, lb-8, w-2): 11; Total (for four wkts. in 20 overs): 181.

Fall of wickets: 1-80 (Lumb), 2-94 (Wright), 3-123 (Hales), 4-149 (Patel).

India bowling: Dinda 4-0-44-1, Awana 4-0-42-0, Ashwin 4-0-38-0, Chawla 4-0-31-0, Yuvraj 4-0-17-3.

Man-of-the-match: E. Morgan.

Man-of-the-series: Yuvraj.



Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 17,2020

Jan 17: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza cruised into the women's doubles final of the Hobart International with her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok here on Friday.

Sania and Kichenok sailed past the Slovenian-Czech pair of Tamara Zidansek and Marie Bouzkova 7-6 (3) 6-2 in the semifinal contest that lasted one hour and 24 minutes.

The fifth-seeded Indo-Ukrainian combination will lock horns with second seeds Shuai Peng and Shuai Zhang of China. The Chinese pair got a walkover after Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens and Alison Van Uytvanck conceded the other semifinal match because of injury.

While Sania and Kichenok had to fight hard in the opening set, the second set was a cakewalk for the combination.

The first set was a tough contest between the two pairs, bringing the tie-breaker into the equation after it was level at 6-6.

In the tie-breaker, Sania and Kichenok upped their game by a few notches to outsmart their opponents and take the lead.

The second set was a no-contest as Saina and Kichenok broke their opponents thrice -- in the second, sixth and eighth game -- to easily pocket the set and a place in the summit clash.

Saina and Kichenok got 11 break chances out of which they converted four, while their opponents utilised two out of the five break chances that came their way.

The 33-year-old Sania is returning to the WTA circuit after two years. During her time away from the game, she battled injury breakdowns before taking a formal break in April 2018 to give birth to her son Izhaan. She is married to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.

Before the ongoing event, Sania last played at China Open in October 2017.

A trailblazer in Indian tennis, Sania is a former world No.1 in doubles and has six Grand Slam titles to her credit.

She retired from the singles competition in 2013 after becoming the most successful Indian woman tennis player.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
August 7,2020

Islamabad, Aug 7: Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, known for his blistering deliveries on the cricket field, recently baffled many with a deadly off-field bouncer by claiming he is willing to eat grass if it enabled an increase in budget for his country's Army!

"If Allah ever gives me the authority, I will eat grass myself but I will increase the budget of the army," said Akhtar in an interview with ARY News.

The 'Rawalpindi Express', considered the fastest bowler in history said he does not understand why the civilian sector cannot work in collaboration with the Armed forces.

"I will ask my army chief to sit with me and make decisions. If the budget is 20 per cent, I will make it 60 per cent. If we insult each other, the loss is ours only," the once feared fast-bowler said.

Akthar had also claimed to ARY News interview that he was willing to take a bullet for his country and had turned down a county stint just because he wanted to fight the 1999 Kargil War.

Ties between India and Pakistan have been strained in the recent months over several issues, the latest being Pakistan's attempt to broach in the UNSC the issue of Kashmir on the first anniversary of the India's move to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and to split the erstwhile state into two union territories .

Pakistan also has not been in a good financial position and under prime minister Imran Khan, himself an all rounder cricketer, has added nearly USD 22 billion, that is 35 per cent to the nation's international debt pile in the last two years, according to an Asia Times report in July.

While Pakistan recently received USD 1.39 billion from the IMF to cushion the economic shocks caused due to COVID-19 outbreak, Akthar had a few months ago proposed that a joint cricket match be played between India and Pakistan to raise funds to fight the coronavirus. The suggestion that was put down by cricketers in India.

Meanwhile the 'Pindi boy' whose deadly pace and bounce was once dreaded by batsmen had recently taken to Twitter to deny former India cricketer Virender Sehwag's claim of sledging him.

Sehwag along with other Indian crickerters such as Harbhajan Singh and even Rahul Dravid had been at the receiving end of Akthar's sledging and antics during their playing days.

"Yes, totally self made story by him. Mujhe yeh bol k bach k jana kidhar tha us nay," Akthar tweeted to a report in which Sehwag claimed that he had sledged the 'Rawalpindi Express' by telling him that Sachin Tendulkar was his father.

During an awards ceremony Sehwag had recounted that fed up with Akthar's sledging and retaliated by telling him to say the same things to Tendulkar, who smashed the 'Pindi boy' for a six. Sehwag quipped that he told Akthar then that "Baap baap hota hai".

In the recent ARY interview, asked about the allegation made against him by former India cricketer Virendra Sehwag that he makes pro-India comments for greater following on social media channels, Akhtar said, "I cannot talk on the basis of hate." 

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 29,2020

New Delhi, Jan 29: Badminton champion Saina Nehwal joined the ruling BJP today and is likely to campaign for the party ahead of the February 8 Delhi election.

"I have won medals for the country. I am a very hardworking and I love hardworking persons. I can see Prime Minister Narendra Modi does so much for the country, I want to do something for the country with him," the shuttler said, wearing the BJP scarf.

"I draw a lot of inspiration from Narendra sir".

Haryana-born Saina Nehwal, 29, is a major acquisition for the party in the middle of the Delhi poll campaign; she is one of the most popular sportspersons in India with a huge fan following and brand value. She is preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

A former world number 1, she has been honoured with the country's top sporting awards like the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award. She was also awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2016.

The Badminton player has won over 24 international titles. In the London Olympics, she won a bronze. She was world number two in 2009 and number one in 2015.

With her tweets praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Saina Nehwal was widely seen to lean towards the BJP.

One of her tweets became controversial when it was found to be identical to several others in praise of a PM Modi speech last year. Saina was trolled on Twitter with screenshots of the identical tweets. She was also among the sportswomen who put up identical tweets on Diwali thanking PM Modi for his initiative to empower women, with the hashtag #bharatkilaxmi.

The BJP roped in many famous personalities last year, including cricketer Gautam Gambhir, who was elected MP from Delhi in the national election, and wrestler Babita Phogat. Just before the Haryana assembly polls, the party roped in wrestler Sushil Kumar, Babita Phogat and former Hockey team captain Sandeep Singh. Sandeep Singh won the election and was appointed minister.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.