Jacques Kallis, Manvinder Bisla star in Kolkata's win over Punjab

April 27, 2013

Manvinder_BislaKolkata, Apr 27: Those who say Twenty20 is a young man's game should learn a thing or two from Jacques Kallis.

The 37-year-old South African all-rounder, who twisted his knee in the last match against Mumbai Indians and was uncertain for Friday's game, not only recovered in time but also made significant contributions in all aspects of the match to bring Kolkata Knight Riders back to winning ways.

KKR beat Kings XI Punjab by six wickets at the Eden Gardens on Friday evening. The hosts, who had suffered three consecutive defeats before this game, badly needed this win to bring their campaign back on track and Kallis showed how to do that.

He drew first blood for them when he had in-form KXIP opener Mandeep Singh caught by Eoin Morgan at short mid-wicket after Adam Gilchrist won the toss and decided to bat first. Kallis finally emerged as the side's most successful bowler, coming out with magical figures of 2-14 in his four overs.

Chasing 150 for victory, KKR suffered an early jolt when Azhar Mahmood castled skipper Gautam Gambhir and had Yusuf Pathan caught behind off successive deliveries in the second over of the innings.

It was Kallis again who came to the team's rescue. In the company of Manvinder Bisla, who had replaced injured Manoj Tiwary, he steadied the ship as the duo build up a 66-run third-wicket stand in 9.1 overs.

Kallis used all his experience to apply himself on the slow Eden track, mixing cautious with aggression. By the time he was dismissed trying to play one delicately past the wicketkeeper only to be taken by Gilchrist, KKR were well on their way. Kallis fell for a well-made 37 off 33 balls.

The platform was then well utilised by in-form Eoin Morgan and Bisla to take the side home. The duo shared a 72-run third-wicket stand before Morgan fell for a fluent 42 (25b, 3x4, 4x6) just two runs before victory. Bisla remained unbeaten on 50 (43 b, 3x4, 3x6).

Earlier, an out-of-form Gilchrist got a run-a-ball 27 while opening with Mandeep. But it was sad to see Gilchrist, once feared all over the cricketing world for his explosive strokeplay, finding it difficult to time his strokes or even rotate the strike.

He preferred to play second fiddle to Mandeep who led the initial charge for the visitors. Gilchrist tried to accelerate after Mandeep's departure but holed out to Morgan at deep mid-wicket boundary off Rajat Bhatia.

His departure saw Manan Vora breaking loose. The youngster hit Balaji for a huge six but perished to the very next delivery while going for another big one.

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News Network
June 2,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 2: Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal has said that he was ashamed on seeing the training regime of Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

Iqbal said that the incident happened two-three years back as he thought to himself that why he cannot do the same even when he is the same age as Kohli.

"I must say this, it is not because I am talking to an Indian commentator, India is our neighbour so whatever things they do, it affects Bangladesh as well. We follow what is happening in India, when India changed its approach towards fitness, it impacted Bangladesh the most," Iqbal told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I have no shame in admitting this, when I saw Virat Kohli running around two-three years ago, I was ashamed of myself, I thought this is a guy who is probably my age, but he is training so much and I have not doing even half of it. We have a great example in our team as well, Mushfiqur Rahim manages himself well regarding fitness," he added.

During his initial days of international cricket, Kohli was fond of chicken which he has admitted several times during media interaction.

But in 2013, the 31-year-old batsman intentionally shifted his focus to fitness, diet, and training.

Now he has become punctual about his diet which has given him a different character on and off the field.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have also kept on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar managed to call time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings.

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News Network
March 2,2020

Mar 2: Indian captain Virat Kohli was left frustrated and deflated as New Zealand won the second Test inside three days in Christchurch on Monday to sweep the series.

India started the day at 90 for six and were all out for 124, before New Zealand chased down the required 132 to win for the loss of three wickets in 36 overs.

It ended a disappointing tour for India and Kohli as New Zealand, who won the first Test by 10 wickets early on day four, wrapped up the series with ease.

New Zealand are now unbeaten in their last 13 home Tests, winning nine of them, and in the past decade their record as hosts is played 39, won 20, drawn 13 and lost five.

In the latest series, on traditional New Zealand green wickets, India managed scores of 165, 191, 242 and 124, reflecting the low contributions from Kohli of 2, 19, 3 and 14.

Kohli came to New Zealand as the world's top Test batsman and oozing charm as he described New Zealand as the “nice guys” of cricket.

But during the series he lost his top ranking to Australian Steve Smith and when Kane Williamson went for three in the first innings of the second Test the pressure showed when he gave the New Zealand skipper a very animated send-off.

There was further evidence of frustration when he was caught on camera yelling an obscenity at a group of New Zealand supporters on Sunday.

The end came quickly for India on day three as Tim Southee and Trent Boult tormented the batsmen with their variety of inswing and outswing deliveries targeting both sides of the stumps.

Hanuma Vihari was the first to fall, in Southee's second over, when he turned a legside delivery too fine and was caught by BJ Watling diving to his left.

Five balls later and with no addition to the score, India's other overnight batsman Rishabh Pant was caught behind off a Boult delivery that swung away.

Mohammed Shami was caught for five by Tom Blundell at deep mid-wicket and Jasprit Bumrah was run out when trying to give the strike to Ravindra Jadeja, who was unbeaten on 16.

Boult and Southee signed for most of the dismissals with Boult taking four for 28 and Southee three for 36. The swing pair accounted for 25 of the 40 Indian wickets in the series.

There was enough seam and swing available for India to keep the New Zealand batsmen guessing but Bumrah and Umesh Yadav were unable to apply consistent pressure and Mohammed Shami was troubled by a sore shoulder.

New Zealand coasted through a century opening stand by Tom Latham and Blundell before losing three quick wickets.

Latham notched his 18th half-century and second of the Test before he was caught behind off Yadav for 52, Kane Williamson had a short stay for five, and Blundell went for 55.

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News Network
July 5,2020

Colombo, Jul 5: Sri Lanka batsman Kusal Mendis was on Sunday arrested for knocking down a pedestrian while driving, police said.

Mendis hit a 74-year-old man, killing him in the wee hours, in the Colombo suburb of Panadura.

He is to be produced before a magistrate later today, police said.

The 25-year-old wicket-keeper batsman has represented Sri Lanka in 44 Tests and 76 ODIs. Mendis was part of the national squad which had resumed training after the Covid-19 lockdown.

Sri Lanka's international assignments, including a tour by India, have been cancelled due to the pandemic.

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