Pro Kabaddi: Gujarat edge past Bengaluru; Puneri Paltan outclass Bengal Warriors

Agencies
August 16, 2017

Ahmedabad, Aug 16: With Pro Kabaddi League(PKL) entering the inter-zone match phase, Zone A team Puneri Paltan outclassed Zone B side Bengal Warriors 34-17  to maintain their second position in the group standings.

Puneri Paltan combined well to pull off an all-round performance with key performances from defenders Sandeep Narwal (7 points) and Girish Ernak (4 points) along with raider GB More (6 points) to help their side win by a massive 17-point margin.

Bengal Warriors failed to work well as a unit in either half. Raider Maninder Singh (6 points) and defender Ran Singh (7 points) were their key performers.

Maninder Singh gave Bengal Warriors a bright start by clinching points from consecutive raids. Maninder along with Ran Singh took most of the load for the Warriors in the first half with star raider Jang Kun Lee on in his usual fiery form.

Puneri Paltans were straight forced to go for a do or die raid after their skipper Deepak Hooda failed to clinch points from his initial raids.

But Soon Sandeep Narwal began to dominate the opposition, helping his side impose an all-out on the Warriors and take a 12-5 lead with less than six minutes to go in the first half.

The team worked well together as a cohesive unit to help the Pune outfit take a 17-10 lead at half-time.

The second half began with consecutive empty raids for both the sides.

Later, Bengal broke the deadlock to cut short their deficit with a fine tackle point. However, Pune began to dominate as the Warriors failed to clinch too many points through their raids.

Ran Singh and Maninder showed some hope for the Warriors through their defence and attack respectively in the second half helping their side narrow the deficit.

But, Pune dominated the play and handed Bengal their second all-out with 15 minutes to play. There was no looking back for the Pune outfit after this point.

In the second match of the day, Zone A team Gujarat Fortunegiants made a stunning comeback to defeat Bengaluru Bulls 27-24 to register their fourth victory on a trot in the league.

Raider Sachin Tanwar (4 points) and defender Parvesh Bhainswal (4 points) helped Gujarat's surge from lagging behind in the first-half to register a win by a narrow margin to stay on top of their group standings.

A valiant effort from Bengaluru captain Rohit Kumar (7 points) and defender Kuldeep Singh (5 points) went in vain in a closely-fought match.

After couple of empty raids from both sides, Gujarat broke the deadlock with a successful tackle to get the scoreboard ticking.

The home side looked to gain momentum in the match after getting an all-out. Raiders Sachin and Rohit Gulia pulled off consecutive successful raids to help their side narrow the point gap after lagging behind in the early minutes of the match.

Bengaluru also opened their score tally with a successful tackle. The away side took the initial 4-2 lead, thanks to successful tackles from Rohit Kumar and fellow raider Ashish Kumar.

Rohit continued to display his fine show on the opposition mat to add vital points to his team's tally and maintain the lead.

The Bengaluru outfit also pulled off some fine tackles to all-out the home side taking a 11-3 lead with less than nine minutes to play in the first-half.

Thanks to an all-round effort, Bengaluru maintained a 14-9 lead at the half-time.

The second-half began with Gulia clinching a point for Gujarat Fortunegiants. Later, defenders Fazel Atrachali, Parvesh Bhainswal and Abozar Mighani combined in unison to give their side important tackle points which helped the team narrow the point gap to 18-20 with nine minutes to play.

Substitute Mahendra Rajput and Sachin later played an important role clinching back to back successful raid points in the match giving their side a slender 24-21 lead with less than five minutes to play, which later helped the side clinch the match.

The Bengaluru outfit added to their tally with a successful tackle, which was followed by a successful raid from Rohit which earned the team two points.

Later, substitute Gurvinder Singh kept Bengaluru in the match through his successful raids but failed to rescue his side from losing all on his own.

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News Network
July 22,2020

Derbyshire, Jul 22: Ahead of the upcoming Test series against England, Pakistan pacer Sohail Khan has credited bowling coach Waqar Younis for teaching him how to swing the ball late.

On the third day of the practice match between Azhar Ali's Team Green and Babar Azam's Team White, the 36-year-old Khan returned figures of five for 50 in 20.1 overs which saw the former fold for 181 in the first innings before they staged a comeback on the final day to win the match by six wickets.

Prior to the practice match, Sohail had a conversation with bowling coach Waqar Younis on the art of late swing. The pacer shared how the presence of the bowling legend in the support staff helped him gear up for the four-day match.

"The conditions in England are swing conducive so every fast bowler gets the ball to move. I asked Waqar bhai to teach me how to swing the ball late. It took him only two minutes to explain it to me. It is because of his tips that I took five wickets in the first innings," Khan said in a release issued by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

"I am eager to learn from Waqar Bhai. I follow him wherever he goes and speak to him about the art of bowling as he has an abundance of knowledge to share. A few days back I was struggling with something while bowling, I thought of reaching out to him and even before I spoke to him about it, he said he knew what I wanted to talk to him about and he explained it to me in a minute," he added.

During Pakistan's tour of England in 2016, Sohail played a crucial role in helping Pakistan secure a 2-2 Test series draw by returning two five-wicket hauls in as many matches.

In total, he picked up 13 wickets at 25 apiece and finished as the third-best wicket-taker.

"Definitely, it is an honour for me to return to the side. I had taken two fifers here against England in 2016 and now in the practice match, I have started off with five wickets so I am feeling very good. We had been at our homes for the past four months due to coronavirus so starting off on a high feels nice," Khan said.

Prior to Sohail's five wickets, 17-year-old Naseem Shah made a big impact when he took five wickets for Team Green. The strength of Pakistan's pace attack was further established as Mohammad Abbas and Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up three wickets each providing valuable support to Naseem and Sohail respectively.
Naseem and Shaheen finished the match with six and four wickets respectively.

Shedding light on the youngsters' performances, Sohail said: "It gives me immense pleasure to see Naseem Shah. He bowls consistently at 150kph. Just like him, Shaheen Shah Afridi is another good bowler. I like both of them."

"It gave me great happiness to see Naseem pick five wickets in the first innings. He is in rhythm and is looking great. What is astonishing is that he is playing in these conditions for the first time but still he is doing so well. Shaheen has also been phenomenal," he added.

Pakistan and England are slated to play three Tests and as many T20Is against each other. The first Test will be played at Manchester from August 5.

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News Network
April 8,2020

New Delhi, Apr 8: Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar on Wednesday proposed a three-match ODI series against arch-rivals India to raise funds for the fight against the Covid19 pandemic in both the countries.

The two nations have not played a full-series since 2007 due to the terrorist attacks on India by Pakistan-based outfits and the resultant diplomatic tension. They only play each other in ICC events and Asia Cup.

"In this time of crisis, I want to propose a three-match series in which for the first time, the people of neither country would be upset at the outcome of the games," Akhtar told PTI from Islamabad.

"If Virat (Kohli) scores a hundred, we will be happy, if Babar Azam scores a hundred, you will be happy. Both teams will be winners irrespective of whatever happens on the field," he said.

"You are bound to get massive viewership for the games. For the first time, both countries will play for each other. And whatever funds are generated through this can be donated equally to the government of India and Pakistan to fight this pandemic," added the 44-year-old.

No idea of logistics

With both countries in a lockdown amid the fast-spreading pandemic, the games can only be organised when things improve. However, Akhtar feels the sooner they are held, the better it would be but could not tell how the logistics of such an initiative would be worked out.

"Everyone is sitting at home at the moment, so there will be a massive following for the games. May be not now, when things start improving, the games could be organised at a neutral location like Dubai. Chartered flights could be arranged and the matches could he held.

"The whole world will tune into it, so much money can be raised to deal with this crisis. In difficult times, the character of the nation comes forward."

Start of a new era?

"It could even lead to resumption of bilateral cricketing ties and relations of both countries improve diplomatically. You never know," said the 'Rawalpindi Express'.

In these extraordinary times, Akhtar feels both countries should help each other. "We can only propose the matches. The rest is up to the authorities (to decide)."

India cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh were recently trolled for asking their social media followers to donate to Shahid Afridi's charity foundation which is doing its bit in Pakistan's fight against the deadly virus.

"It was inhuman to criticise them. It is not about countries or religion at the moment, it is about humanity," he opined.

India memories

Akhtar has spent a lot of time in India as a commentator. He fondly recalled his days in Mumbai during the World T20 in 2016, the last time he came to India for work.

"I am forever grateful about the love I have received from the people of India. For the first time I am revealing this, whatever I used to earn from India, I made a significant amount there, thirty percent of it, I used to distribute among the low income staff who used to work with me in the TV," he remembered.

Akhtar used to visit the city's slum areas with his face covered to hand out financial help to elder women there.

"From drivers, runners to my security guys. I took care of a lot of people. I was like if am earning from this country, I have to help my colleagues also.

"I also remember visiting slums of Dharavi and Sion in the wee hours to meet people I worked with," added Akhtar.

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News Network
July 12,2020

New Delhi, Jul 12: Former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to do away with 'umpire's call' whenever a team opts for a review regarding a leg-before wicket (LBW) decision.

The Master Blaster has also said that a batsman should be given out if the ball is hitting the stumps.

Whether more than 50 per cent of the ball is hitting the stumps or not should not be matter, he further stated.

"What per cent of the ball hits the stumps doesn't matter, if DRS shows us that the ball is hitting the stumps, it should be given out, regardless of the on-field call," Tendulkar tweeted.

With this tweet, the former India batsman also shared a video, in which he has a discussion with Brian Lara regarding the working of DRS.
"One thing I don't agree with, with the ICC, is the DRS they have been using for quite some time. It is the LBW decision where more than 50 per cent of the ball must be hitting the stumps for the on-field decision to be overturned," Tendulkar said in the video.

"The only reason they (the batsman or the bowler) have gone upstairs is that they are unhappy with the on-field decision, so when the decision goes to the third umpire, let the technology take over, just like in tennis, it's either in or out, there's nothing in between," he added.

This call for doing away with umpire's call has been recommended by many former players.
Whenever a verdict pops up as 'umpire's call, the decision of the on-field umpire is not changed, but the teams do not lose their review as well.

ICC recently introduced some changes to the game of cricket, and they gave all teams liberty of extra review as non-neutral umpires will be employed in Test matches due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, all teams will now have three reviews in every innings of a Test match. 

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