Pakistan continues World Cup surge with thrilling win over Afghanistan

Agencies
June 30, 2019

London, Jun 30: In a game that ebbed and flowed to the hilt, Imad Wasim showed nerves of steel with an unbeaten 49 off 54 balls as Pakistan kept their semifinal hopes alive with a three-wicket victory over Afghanistan in a thrilling World Cup clash here on Saturday.

After restricting the already knocked out Afghanistan to 227/9, Pakistan made heavy weather of the target by losing wickets at regular intervals.

In the last five overs, Pakistan needed 46 runs with four wickets in hand. But skipper Gulbadin Naib missed a trick by bringing himself to bowl instead of persisting with spin which is their strength.

Gulbadin gifted Imad a full toss that went for four. In the next ball, Imad hit the ball in the air but Asghar Afghan lost it in the sky to let go of the chance.

The next two balls were hit for consecutive fours as the Afghanistan skipper leaked 18 runs to bring down the equation to 28 runs off 24 balls.

Gulbadin made amends in the field by effecting the run out of Shadab Khan (11) in the 47th over, but Wahab Riaz hit an unbeaten 9-ball 15 to bring the equation down to six runs off the final over with Imad on strike. 

The ice-cool Wales-born all-rounder kept things simple and with two balls to go, smacked Gulbadin for a four to win it for his country. It was the fifth four he hit in his stellar innings. 

With nine points from eight matches, Pakistan pipped England in the points table to the fourth place. Hosts England will take on India on Sunday. Pakistan have one game left, against Bangladesh on July 5.

Pakistan were off to a stuttering start as Fakhar Zaman (0) was trapped in front by Mujeeb Ur Rahman (2/34) in the second ball of the innings.

Imam-Ul-Haq (36; 51b, 4x4) and Babar Azam (45, 51b, 4x5) then added 72 runs for the second wicket before Mohammad Nabi (2/23) had Imam stumped as the batsman needlessly charged down the track.

Babar was clean-bowled by Nabi soon after and with Mohammad Hafeez (19) also not hanging around for long, Pakistan were reduced to 121/4 before Rashid Khan castled the in-form Haris Sohail (27).

In the 37th over, umpire Paul Wilson turned down an LBW appeal by Rashid though replays showed it to be very close. But with both sides having no reviews left, it could not go upstairs as Afghanistan kept turning the screws on their more fancied rivals.

Skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed (18) was run out and from then on Imad held fort at one end, also keeping pace with the asking rate as Pakistan emerged victorious in the end.

Earlier, Shaheen Shah Afridi snared four wickets as Pakistan restricted Afghanistan to 227/9.

Afridi, who returned match-winning figures of 3/28 against New Zealand in the last match, conceded 47 runs in 10 overs and bagged four wickets to never let Afghanistan take the charge as Imad Wasim (2/48) and Wahab Riaz (2/29) also came good with the ball. 

For the Afghans who won the toss and elected to bat first, Asghar Afghan and Najibullah Zadran top-scored with identical scores of 42.

While Asghar blazed his way off 35 balls, his innings laced with three fours and and two sixes, Zadran took 54 deliveries hitting six fours.

Opener Rahmat Shah (35; 43b, 4x5) also looked good before he was caught by Babar Azam at short cover off Wasim.

Afghanistan were 27/2 before Rahmat and Ikram Alikhil (24) tried to steady the ship.

But after Rahmat's dismissal, things fell apart although Asghar and Alikhil shared a 64-run stand for the fourth wicket.

While Asghar was caslted by Shadab Khan, Alikhil could not takcle the pressure of dot balls before finally holing out to long on where Mohammed Hafeez took an easy catch off Wasim.

Zadran and Mohammed Nabi then stitched together a crucial 42-run partnership for the sixth wicket before Riaz got Nabi's back and Zadran dragged a Afridi delivery on to his stumps.

The Afghans could not manage to score much in the last five overs but still managed to put up their highest score in the tournament batting first.

Brief scores: Afghanistan 227/9 in 50 overs (Asghar Afghan 42, Najibullah Zadran 42, Shaheen Shah Afridi 4/47) vs Pakistan 230/7 in 49.2 overs Imad Wasim 49 not out, Babar Azam 45; Mohammad Nabi 2/23, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2/34)

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Agencies
August 6,2020

New Delhi, Aug 6: The BCCI on Thursday suspended the IPL title sponsorship deal with Chinese mobile phone company Vivo for the event's upcoming edition amid heightened tensions in Sino-India diplomatic ties.

The BCCI sent out a one-line statement, without giving details, saying that Vivo would not be associated with the IPL this year. "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Vivo released its own statement saying that the two entities "have mutually decided to pause their partnership for the 2020 season".

Vivo won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for a reported sum of Rs 2,190 crore, approximately Rs 440 crore per annum.

The two parties are now working out a plan in which Vivo might come back for a fresh three-year period starting 2021 on revised terms.

However, a top BCCI official offered a different view. "Here we are talking about diplomatic tensions and you expect that after November, when IPL ends and before the next IPL starts in April 2021, there would be no anti-China sentiment? Are we serious?" a veteran BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

The anti-China sentiment in the country peaked after the violent face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh. India lost 20 soldiers in the clash, while China also acknowledged unspecified casualties.

The stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) caused outrage across India with several calls for boycotts of Chinese companies and products.

The BCCI is now likely to float a tender for new IPL title sponsors as mandated by its constitution. The glitzy T20 league starts on Sept. 19 in the UAE, forced out of India due to the rising COVID-19 cases.

The new development is in stark contrast to what came out of Sunday's IPL's Governing Council meeting, where it was decided that Vivo, along with all the other sponsors, will remain on board.

This was after the BCCI had announced in June that all sponsorship deals pertaining to IPL will be reviewed in the aftermath of the clash in the Galwan Valley.

However, after Sunday's meeting, there was a huge backlash on social media about the BCCI holding on to Vivo.

Both parties then began thrashing out an amicable separation plan, at least for this season.

However, the end of this deal could spell losses for the franchises as they get a substantial share from the sponsorship pool. Half of the annual Vivo sponsorship money is distributed equally among eight franchises, which comes to Rs 27.5 crore.

"As of now, it will be very difficult for the BCCI to match the sponsorship amount at such short notice. Therefore, both BCCI and the franchises should be prepared to lose out on some money -- BCCI more but each franchise from Vivo's exit will potentially lose 15 crore," the official said.

"This year will be difficult for everyone but the show must go on," the official said.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Milan, Mar 28: Juventus star Paulo Dybala revealed how he "struggled to breathe" after contracting coronavirus which has killed over 9,000 people in Italy.

The Argentine international announced last Saturday he was one of three Juventus players to catch the virus along with Daniele Rugani and Blaise Matuidi, who both had no symptoms.

"I feel better now after some strong symptoms," the 26-year-old Dybala told JTV channel.

"A couple of days ago I was not well, I felt heavy and after five minutes of movement I had to stop because I was struggling to breathe.

"Now I can move and walk to start trying to train, because when I tried in the past few days I started to shake too much.

"I gasped for air and as a result I couldn't do anything, after five minutes I was already very tired, I felt the body heavy and my muscles hurt.

"Now I'm fine. My fiancee Oriana (Sabatini) has also overcome the symptoms."

Dybala has scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, including in league leader's Juventus's last game against Inter Milan before Serie A and all sport in Italy was suspended.

"The goal against Inter was the greatest emotion, (Aaron) Ramsey provided the perfect assist - it's a pity that there was no public," added Dybala.

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News Network
January 27,2020

Auckland, Jan 27: : K.L. Rahul made an unbeaten 57 Sunday to steer India to a seven-wicket win over New Zealand in the second Twenty20 international and to a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Rahul and Shreyas Iyer put on 86 for the third wicket as India cruised past New Zealand's total of 132-5 with 2.3 overs to spare. Shivam Dube (13 not out) hit a six from the bowling of Tim Southeein in the 18th over to lift India to 135-3.

Iyer made 58 not out and Rahul 56 as India beat New Zealand by six wickets with an over to spare in the first match of the series.

New Zealand made 203-5 batting first in that match but on Sunday, on the same pitch, it struggled to achieve any real momentum. During the second match the pitch played much slower and India bowled expertly to restrict New Zealand's total.

Martin Guptill made 33 in a 48-run opening partnership with Colin Munro and Tim Seifert made an unbeaten 33 at the end of the innings but New Zealand wasn't able to reach a total that could stretch India's deep batting lineup.

Rohit Sharma (8) and captain Virat Kohli (11) were out relatively cheaply but Rahul and Iyer (44) sped India towards a comprehensive victory.

Dube came to the crease shortly before the end and quickly brought the match to a conclusion.

"I think we backed up the first match with a very good performance today, especially with the ball," Kohli said. "We demanded that the bowlers stood up and took control of what we wanted to do out there.

"I think our line and length and the way we wanted to bowl on that wicket, sticking to one side of the wicket and being shorter was a very good feature of us as a team and helped us restrict a very good New Zealand team."

New Zealand's total was inadequate, even on a slower pitch, and India almost toyed with the home side as it made its way to a comfortable win.

New Zealand named the same team that lost the first match of the series and batted after winning the toss, just as it batted when it was outplayed in the first match of the series.

The match raised further questions about the coaching and captaincy of the New Zealand team after its humiliating test series loss in Australia last month. New Zealand showed again Sunday it hasn't the talent to compete with the best teams in the world.

"As a batting unit we probably needed another 15 or 20 to make that total more competitive," said New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. "But credit to the way the India side bowled, they're a class side in all departments and they put us under pressure throughout that middle period."

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