Racist abuse halts England's 6-0 victory in Bulgaria

Agencies
October 15, 2019

Sofia, Oct 15: England manager Gareth Southgate said his side made a statement by deciding to complete a 6-0 Euro 2020 qualifying win over Bulgaria after the match was twice halted by racist chanting.

The visitors led 2-0 through early goals from Marcus Rashford and Ross Barkley when play was first stopped and an announcement made to supporters that the game could be suspended if offensive chanting continued.

Once restarted, England quickly made it 3-0 through Barkley before a second stoppage as Croatian referee Ivan Bebek held discussions with players and coaching staff from both sides.

Raheem Sterling then netted twice either side of half-time before Harry Kane rounded off the scoring to take England to the brink of qualification.

"We know it is an unacceptable situation," Southgate told British broadcaster ITV.

"I think we've managed to make two statements really by winning the game, but also we have raised the awareness of everybody to the situation.

"The game was stopped twice and I know for some people that won't be enough, but I think we were as a group on board with that process."

In a statement, The English Football Association said their players "were subjected to abhorrent racist chanting" and called on UEFA to investigate immediately.

Tyrone Mings was one of those targeted on his England debut. The Aston Villa defender believed that stopping the game did have the desired effect of reducing racist abuse in the second half.

"The correct steps that were taken definitely helped," said Mings.

"We made the decision at half-time to come out and play the game which we thought was the right decision. If anything else happened, we would have taken appropriate action."

A comprehensive victory was the perfect riposte for Southgate's men to their shock 2-1 defeat at the Czech Republic on Friday and opens up a three-point lead at the top of Group A.

However, the focus was again on the stands as another England match blighted by racism from opposition fans.

After several English players suffered racist abuse in a qualifier away to Montenegro in March, Southgate had prepared his side to follow UEFA's three-step protocol for reporting racist incidents that can lead to matches being abandoned.

A section of 5,000 seats at the Vasil Levski National Stadium was already closed for the game after racist incidents during games against Kosovo and the Czech Republic in June.

"I have to say the officials were onto everything very quickly," added Southgate.

"We reported everything immediately when we heard things, we had constant communication with the fourth official and the referee."

On the field, Southgate's decision to make five changes from the side beaten in Prague on Friday was fully vindicated.

Rashford was one of those recalled put his Manchester United woes behind him by smashing the opener into the roof of the net after just seven minutes before Barkley tapped home a second at the back post.

The first stage of UEFA's protocol followed as the game was temporarily stopped and a warning played over the loudspeaker in both Bulgarian and English that the match could be suspended after monkey chants were aimed at England players.

That warning was not heeded as after Barkley headed home Kane's cross, there was a second, longer stoppage in play.

A number of Bulgarian ultras were then ejected from the stadium. When play did got back underway there were six minutes of stoppage time added and the visitors used it to increase their advantage when Kane crossed for Sterling to this time apply an easy finish.

Southgate's men could have scored plenty more in the second-half against the dispirited hosts on a terrible night all round for Bulgarian football.

Sterling's second arrived midway through the second-half with Kane again the creator before the England captain finally got on the scoresheet himself five minutes from time.

England now need just a point from their final two qualifiers against Montenegro and Kosovo next month to seal their place at next year's Euros.

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News Network
July 24,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 24: Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who was earlier banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for breaching the Anti-Corruption Code, on Friday, said that people are bound to make mistakes and the important thing is that how well they make a comeback.

Shakib was banned from all forms of cricket on October 29 last year after he accepted the charges of breaching the ICC's Anti-Corruption Code. He will be able to resume international cricket from October 29, 2020.

"You have to be honest. You just can't lie to the people and pretend different things. Whatever happened has happened. People are bound to make mistakes. You are not 100%. The important thing is how well you can comeback from those mistakes. You can tell other people not to make those mistakes. Tell them the path so that they never take those paths," Shakib told Deep Dasgupta in a videocast hosted by ESPNcricinfo.

The 33-year-old all-rounder said he has seen many controversies ever since he was first made captain in 2009. He had trouble with the board chief, selectors and the media, mainly about selectorial decisions and not being made permanent captain between 2009 and 2010.
He believes those experiences have changed him as a person over time.

"I think [it's] combination of both [controversy following him, and vice versa]. I got the responsibility so early in my career, I was bound to make mistakes. I was captain when I was 21. I made a lot of mistakes, and there are so many things that people think about me. Now I realise that it was my fault in some areas, and in some I was misunderstood. But I get it completely. It is part and parcel in the subcontinent," Hasan said.

"Of course I will try to minimise [my mistakes] as much as I can, but by the time I got married, and now I have two kids, I understand the game and life better. It has made me a calmer person than I was in my twenties. I have changed quite a lot. People won't see me doing a lot of mistakes now. My two daughters changed my life completely," he added.

Shakib is likely return to international cricket during Bangladesh's proposed Test series against Sri Lanka in October. 

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News Network
January 2,2020

New Delhi, Jan 2: Thrilled after getting to know about Hardik Pandya and Natasa Stankovic's engagement, skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday called it a "pleasant surprise".

Extending his best wishes to the newly-engaged couple, Kohli posted a comment on Pandya's Instagram post which read, "Congratulations H. What a pleasant surprise. Wish you guys great times ahead. God bless".

On the first day of the New Year 2020, Pandya announced his engagement with Serbian actor Natasa Stankovic.

The cricketer took to Instagram to share the photo with the actor and captioned the post: "Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged".

The couple got engaged in Dubai and were seen taking a ferry ride along with close friends.

On the work front, Stankovic was last seen in a song from the Bollywood movie The Body starring Emraan Hashmi and Rishi Kapoor. She had also made it to the finals of the TV show Nach Baliye with her ex-boyfriend Aly Goni.

Stankovic first became a household name after appearing as a contestant on famous reality show Bigg Boss 8.

In 2019, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had confirmed that Pandya had had lower-back surgery in London.

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News Network
February 12,2020

Mount Maunganui, Feb 12: India captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday berated his bowlers for their mediocre performance as he tried to explain the team's first ODI series whitewash in over three decades, saying that the visitors lacked composure all through.

The five-wicket defeat here meant that India lost the series 0-3 to an injury-plagued New Zealand that had been deflated by a 0-5 whitewash of its own in the T20 format just last week. It was India's first whitewash in 31 years in an ODI series in which all matches have been played.

"The games were not as bad as the scoreline suggests. It boils down to those chances that we didn't grab. I don't think it was not enough to win games in international cricket," Kohli said in the post-match presentation.

"With the ball, we were not able to make breakthroughs, we were not at all good on the field. We haven't played so badly but when you don't grab those chances, you don't deserve to win," he added.

"Batsmen coming back from tough situations was a positive sign for us, but the way we fielded and bowled, the composure wasn't enough to win games," he asserted.

The ineffectiveness of Indian bowlers can be gauged from the fact that the team's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah finished the series without a wicket and the attack couldn't dismiss the complete rival line-up even once.

Kohli lauded New Zealand for bouncing back after the T20 hammering.

"New Zealand played with lot more intensity. We didn't deserve to win because we did not show enough composure," he said.

The batting mainstay is looking forward to the Test series, which begins on February 21, to make amends for the disappointment.

"I think because of the Test Championship, every match has that more importance. We have a really balanced Test team and we feel we can win the series here, but we need to step on to the park with the right kind of mindset," he said.

His opposite number Kane Williamson, who missed the first two games due to injury, was lavish in his praise for the home team's grit.

"An outstanding performance, very clinical. India put us under pressure, but the way the guys fought back with the ball and kept them to a par total. The cricket in the second half was outstanding to see," he said referring to the side's effortless chase of a 297-run target.

"We know how good they (India) are at all formats but for us the clarity about the roles the guys had was the most important thing. Outstanding effort against a brilliant India side," he added.

Player of the Match Henry Nicholls, who scored 80 on Tuesday, said his team benefitted from good batting starts during the series.

"To come back and win 3-0 after the T20Is is nice. The way (Martin) Guptill played today allowed us to get ahead. We got a 100-run stand, but we were fortunate enough to get good starts this series," he said.

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