Kings XI keep their slender hopes alive

May 17, 2013

Kings_XI

Dharamsala, May 17: Kings XI Pu¬njab eked out a close seven-run win over Delhi Daredevils here on Thursday to keep alive their slim chances of qualifying for the play-offs of the Indian Premier League.

Kings XI first rode on David Miller and captain Adam Gilchrist’s whirlwind knocks to post a challenging 171 for four.

Miller scored an unbeaten 44 off just 24 balls towards the end, while Gilchrist made 42 off 26 balls upfront. Shaun Marsh also played a sedate 44-ball 45-run knock to help Kings XI’s cause.

Defending the total, Sandeep Sharma returned with figures of three for 23 to help Kings XI restrict Daredevils to 164 for seven. Chasing 172 for win, Delhi lost Unmukt Chand, Irfan Pathan and David Warner early with just 12 runs on the board.

While Chand was bowled by Praveen Kumar, Pathan and Warner were picked up by Sandeep in successive balls in the last two deliveries of the fourth over. Pathan edged a swinging delivery to Gilchrist behind the stumps and then a ball later Warner departed without opening his account, caught by Marsh in the slips.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardene (39) and Virender Sehwag (30) shared 49 runs off 40 balls for the fourth wicket before the latter edged one to Gilchrist off Parvinder Awana’s bowling.

Sehwag laced his 22-balls innings with six fours. Jayawardene and Ben Rohrer (49) then added quick 50 runs off 5.3 overs to keep Delhi’s hopes alive.

The ever-climbing asking rate finally took a toll on Jayawardene, who was caught by Manan Vohra to give Sandeep his third wicket of the day. He hit three fours and a six during his 42-ball knock.

But Rohrer kept Delhi in the hunt as, needing 41 off 12 balls, the left-hander picked up 19 runs of the penultimate over off Azhar Mahmood to bring dowm the equation to 22 off the final six deliveries.

But it was not to be as Rohrer was bowled by a quicker one by Piyush Chawla in the first ball of the last over.

New man in Morne Morkel (13) brought Delhi close with some lusty hitting but the visitors eventually fell short.

Earlier sent into bat, Gilchrist got Kings XI off to a blazing start racing the hosts to the 50-run mark in the sixth over.

Gilchrist sent the Delhi bowlers on a leather hunt from the word go. He was particularly severe on Ashish Nehra (2/38) as he clobbered the left-arm pacer to all parts of the ground to pick up 27 runs off the bowlers opening two overs.

Gilchrist was going great guns before perishing while going for one too many big shots, caught by Pathan off his own bowling in the eight over. Her hit five fours and two towering sixes.

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Agencies
January 23,2020

Aurangabad, Jan 23: An FIR has been registered against three people including former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin for allegedly duping a travel agent, Mohammad Shadab, of more than Rs 20 lakh.

However, Mohammad Azharuddin has refuted allegations and said: "I strongly rubbish the false FIR filed against me in Aurangabad. I am consulting my legal team and would be taking action as necessary."

Azharuddin's personal assistant Mujeeb lives in Augurangabad and has good relations with the travel agency of Shadab.

The travel agent alleged that Mujeeb asked him to book some flight tickets but did not pay the amount.

The police have booked the three under Section 406, 420 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

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News Network
May 3,2020

New Delhi, May 3: In a startling revelation, India speedster Mohammed Shami has claimed that he thought of committing suicide thrice while battling personal issues a few years ago, forcing his family to keep a watch over him at all times.

He said his family members feared he "might jump" from their 24th floor apartment.

Shami, one of India's leading bowlers in recent years, opened up on his personal and professional life during an Instagram chat with teammate and limited overs squads' vice-captain Rohit Sharma.

"I think if my family had not supported me back then I would have lost my cricket. I thought of committing suicide three times during that period due to severe stress and personal problems," Shami revealed during the session on Saturday.

Now one of the mainstays of Indian bowling attack across formats, the 29-year-old was struggling to focus on his cricket, then.

"I was not thinking about cricket at all. We were living on the 24th floor. They (family) were scared I might jump from the balcony. My brother supported me a lot.

"My 2-3 friends used to stay with me for 24 hours. My parents asked me to focus on cricket to recover from that phase and not think about anything else. I started training then and sweated it out a lot at an academy in Dehradun," Shami said.

In March 2018, Shami's wife Hasin Jahan had accused him of domestic violence and lodged a complaint with the police, following which the India player and his brother were booked under relevant sections.

The upheaval in his personal life forced his employer BCCI to withheld the player's central contracts for a while.

"Rehab was stressful as the same exercises are repeated every day. Then family problems started and I also suffered an accident. The accident happened 10-12 days ahead of the IPL and my personal problems were running high in the media," Shami told Rohit.

Shami said his family stood like a rock with him and the support helped him get back on his feet.

"Then my family explained that every problem has a solution no matter how big the problem. My brother supported me a lot."

Speaking about another painful period in his life after his injury in the 2015 World Cup, Shami said it took him almost 18 months to get back on the field.

"When I got injured in the 2015 World Cup, after that it took me 18 months to fully recover, that was the most painful moment in my life, it was a very stressful period.

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Agencies
August 4,2020

New Delhi, Aug 4: Former India women's team captain Anjum Chopra firmly believes that the BCCI has a plan for women's cricket but she wants the Board to communicate its ideas more specifically.

Speaking to news agency, Chopra, who is now a successful broadcaster, said the BCCI is thinking in earnest about the progress of women's cricket.

"It's not that the BCCI is not thinking about women's cricket. I only think they need to be more specific in communication about women's cricket," Chopra said.

"I firmly believe that they must be thinking about women's cricket but the communication all this while has been very specific to men's cricket."

The latest trigger for criticism of BCCI was India's withdrawal from a tour of England in September owing to logistical issues arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chopra concedes it was "not nice" but Indian players' participation in the women's IPL, in November, will still be useful preparation for next year's ODI World Cup.

"It is heartening to see women's cricket making headlines. They should have been a part of that England tour and it did not feel nice initially but the women's IPL, irrespective of the format, will be helpful for World Cup preparations. Any form of cricket is good preparation," Chopra said.

"Missing out on a tournament is not nice, but logistically there may have been issues. And you can't send an under-prepared team."

"If you see in isolation we may have missed out on an opportunity to play in England. The more the girls play the better it is, before playing a tournament of the stature of World Cup. The assurance from the president is a very good thing."

Chopra welcomed the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI's decision to hold the women's event in the UAE alongside the IPL, which will run from September 19 to November 10. The women's IPL will coincide with the business end of the men's league.

"I am definitely happy, it's always nice to be part of any cricket anywhere across the world.

"They should have been nearing the final stages of the preparation for the World Cup by now, but because of the pandemic things did not go as planned," she added.

Chopra had a successful international career spanning over 17 years, during which she represented India in a record six World Cups and became the first woman cricketer to appear in 100 One-day Internationals.

She also felt that the pandemic would not have much impact on the women's game that has gained momentum in recent times.

"...Cricket was on pause button...Once cricket resumes and players are back on the park, everything is going to get picked up. It might take some time to get started as everything starts from zero...

"The awareness the women's game has created, I hope it stays. They will just restart, not start after the pandemic."

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