3rd ODI: Faulkner, Voges snatch victory from India; Dhoni's valiance goes in vain

October 19, 2013
New Delhi, Oct 19: A quick-fire half century by James Faulkner in death overs and gritty knock by Adam Voges helped Australia chase down 304-run target and snatch victory from India in the nail biting third ODI at PCA stadium in Mohali on Saturday.

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Faulkner, who came to bat with Australia six down at 213, soon turned the tide in favour of the visitors and slammed an unbeaten 64 off 29 balls to secure a sensational victory. He hit two boundaries and six dazzling sixes during his fearless knock.

He was adjudged man of the match for his brave effort.

It was Australia's highest ODI run chase on the Indian soil.

Voges, on the other hand, remained not out after scoring 76.

After a fighting fourth wicket stand, that rescued the visitors from 88/3, Australia lost skipper George bailey, Glenn Maxwell and Brad Haddin in quick succession and were reduced to 213/6.

Voges shared 83-run stand with George Bailey (43) before the skipper was trapped leg before by Vinay Kumar in the 37th over.

Shikhar Dhawan's brilliant throw then got Glenn Maxwell (3) run out, reducing the visitors to 174/5.

Bailey and Adam Voges helped Australia recover from early blows and took the score past 150 in 33 overs.

After a solid 68-run opening stand, Australia lost both openers Phillip Hughes, Aaron Finch and Shane Watson in quick succession to get reduced to 88/3 in 19.1 overs.

Vinay Kumar gave India first breakthrough in the 13th over by getting Phillip Hughes (22) caught behind after a good first-wicket stand.

Pacer Ishant Sharma then struck in the 17th over to send back Australian opener Aaron Finch after his gritty knock of 38, giving Australia second blow.

Finch (38 off 44 balls) was trapped leg before wickets by Ishant at the score of 82.

Ravindra Jadeja then joined the party by dismissing Shane Watson. Watson was trapped leg before after scoring 11.

Earlier, skipper MS Dhoni led from the front by smashing an unbeaten 139 as India recovered from a poor start to score a huge total.

Dhoni rescued India after early jitters as he played a responsible and sensible innings that came off just 121 balls, including 12 fours and five sixes.

The skipper also shared two significant partnerships -- putting on a solid 72-run stand for the fifth wicket with Virat Kohli (68) before joining hands with Ravichandran Ashwin (28) to put up 76 runs for the seventh wicket.

For Australia, Mitchell Johnson was the pick of the bowlers with figures of four for 46.

Put in to bat, India did not make an ideal start as openers Rohit Sharma (11) and Shikhar Dhawan (8), both of whom were instrumental in setting up a great platform for the team's massive 360 run chase in the previous game, today fell cheaply.

With India two down for 37, the onus was on Suresh Raina and Kohli to bail the hosts out of trouble.

But in the 13th over, Johnson struck back to see off Raina caught at the slip by Shane Watson before dismissing comeback man Yuvraj Singh off his very next delivery for a first-ball duck.

It was heartbreak for the fans of local hero Yuvraj, who edged an away going delivery to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.

Raina and Yuvraj's dismissals in consecutive balls led to the run flow drying up.

Both Kohli and Dhoni also adopted a cautious approach as the duo confined themselves to scoring just in singles and twos. There was no boundary or a six hit for as many as eight overs.

Kohli broke the shackles in the 24th over and slowly but steadily completed his half-century to help the team rebuild.

Although Kohli and Dhoni failed to accelerate the scoring rate, they kept the scoreboard ticking before Glenn Maxwell returned the latter for a patient 68 off 73 balls, laced with nine fours.

Johnson then left the hosts reeling at 154 for six with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja's wicket.

With the top and middle-order back in the pavilion, Dhoni showed a lot of character as he played with responsibility. He waited patiently for the loose deliveries to go for the fours and sixes.

Dhoni, mostly picked on James Faulkner and Watson. He began an over of Faulkner with two consecutive fours and then topped it up with a boundary and a six in Watson's over to release the pressure.

In the able company of Ashwin, he took India beyond the 200-run mark.

He tried to keep the strike so that the lower order had to face lesser number of balls. And almost single-handedly guided the team to a 300-plus total in the end.

Dhoni stole 21 runs in the last over, which was bowled by Faulkner.

He played his trademark helicopter shot to the delight of the packed PCA stadium crowd before hitting another six over the long off and a four to end the over.

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News Network
May 5,2020

May 5: Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar says he is interested in becoming India's bowling coach if there is an offer, asserting that he is capable of grooming "more aggressive, fast and talkative" pacers.

Akhtar expressed his willingness in an interview on social networking app 'Helo'.

Asked if he would like to be associated with the Indian bowling unit in future, he responded in the positive. India's current bowling is Bharat Arun.

"I will definitely. My job is to spread knowledge. What I have learned is knowledge and I will spread it," Akhtar said.

One of the fastest bowlers to have played the game, he added, "I will produce more aggressive, fast and more talkative bowlers than the current ones who will tell-off the batsmen in a way that you will enjoy a lot."

He said he has always wanted to share his knowledge among budding cricketers and that he is looking to produce more aggressive bowlers.

He also added that he would like to "coach" IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, for whom he has played in the cash-rich T20 league's inaugural edition.

The former pacer also spoke about his early interactions with Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar in the 1998 series.

"I had seen him but didn't know how big a name he was in India. In Chennai, I got to know that he was known as a god in India.

"Mind you, he is a very good friend of mine. In 1998, when I bowled as fast as I could, Indian public celebrated with me. I have a big fan following in India," Akhtar said.

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News Network
April 19,2020

Zurich, Apr 19: Former Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia was among the 50 footballers to take part in the FIFA's initiative to pay tribute to 'humanity's heroes' amid the coronavirus pandemic.

FIFA, in its statement, expressed gratitude towards all the healthcare workers and other professionals who are giving their all to ensure society continues to function in the face of the coronavirus.

"To all of these heroic people: football thanks you, football remembers you and football supports you," FIFA said in a statement.

FIFA shared a video on their official Twitter handle where footballers from present and past came been seen applauding the frontline workers.

The 50 fotballer were Bhutia, Holger Badstuber, David Beckham, Lucy Bronze, Gianluigi Buffon, Cafu, Fabio Cannavaro, Iker Casillas, Deyna Castellanos, Giorgio Chiellini, Charlyn Corral, El Hadji Diouf, Youri Djorkaeff, Han Duan, Magdalena Eriksson, Samuel Eto'o, Pernille Harder, Javier Hernandez, Luis Hernandez, Kaka, Harry Kane, Carli Lloyd, Harry Maguire, Diego Maradona, Marta, Vivianne Miedema, Ajara Nchout, Michael Owen, Mesut Ozil, Norma Palafox, Pavel Pardo, Park Jisung, Pele, Gerard Pique, Alexia Putellas, Sergio Ramos, Nicole Reigner, Wendie Renard, Roberto Carlos, James Rodriguez, Ronaldo, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Virginia Torrecilla, Yaya Toure, Marco van Basten, Danielle van de Donk, Ivan Vicelich, Arturo Vidal, Javier Zanetti and Zinedine Zidane.
"As footballers, we are used to receiving applause, but this time, we have the opportunity to show our appreciation for the many people who are risking their lives to protect ours," FIFA.com quoted Beckham as saying.

"You are humanity's heroes and we want to show that all of football supports you and everything that you do to defend all of us," he added.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

New Delhi, Jan 16: Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Thursday dropped from the BCCI's list of centrally contracted players, raising fresh doubts on the future of the former India captain who has not played since the World Cup semifinal loss to New Zealand last year.

The BCCI announced the central contracts for the period of October 2019 to September 2020. Dhoni was in the A category, which fetches a player Rs 5 crore, until last year.

Skipper Virat Kohli, his deputy Rohit Sharma and top pacer Jasprit Bumrah were retained in the highest A+ bracket of Rs 7 crore.

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