Sehwag's ton leads Punjab into final as Raina's blitzkrieg goes in vain

May 31, 2014

May 31: For 37 minutes, each and every Kings XI Punjab player, official, owner and fan had his or her heart in the mouth.

Chasing a mammoth target of 227, Suresh Raina batted like a man possessed, and virtually every ball he touched raced to the boundary or over it.

In 25 balls, he whacked 87 runs, helping Chennai Super Kings score 100 for two in six overs.

Sehwag RunsThe neutral Mumbai crowd was up on its feet, basking in the awesomeness of Raina's knock and Virender Sehwag's preceding ton.

None of the Kings XI pacers – Mitchell Johnson, Sandeep Sharma and Parvinder Awana – was spared as Raina pulled, flicked and lofted his way to 12 boundaries and six sixes.

Thanks to his assault, Chennai scored 9, 18, 9, 20, 11 and 33 in the first six overs.

But off the first ball after the Powerplay, Punjab captain George Bailey took matters into his own hands.

A slight bit of hesitation from Brendon McCullum and Raina allowed him enough time to pick up the ball in his left hand at cover, swivel, change hands and throw down the stumps with a direct hit at the striker's end.

A diving Raina couldn't make it.

Punjab were back in the hunt. And they stayed there by exerting even further pressure through their fielding.

The pressure paid off as none of Chennai's four overseas batsmen could support Raina's knock. In the end, the task was too big even for the amazing finishing talents of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

He tried his luck, was even bowled off a no-ball by Johnson, but couldn't pull it off. Punjab won by 24 runs to make their first IPL final, and set up a rematch with Kolkata Knight Riders who beat them in the first Qualifier on Wednesday.

Of course, the pressure of a mountain of runs also contributed to Chennai's downfall, and for that, Punjab had to thank Virender Sehwag.

The legend rolled back the years to hit just the second century of this IPL, and put up crucial partnerships with Manan Vohra (110 for the first wicket), and David Miller (63 for the third wicket).

Glenn Maxwell failed to set the Wankhede Stadium alight, hitting just one six in an intriguing minibattle with Ashwin but falling to a top-spinner off the very next ball. Till Sehwag was dismissed off the first ball of the penultimate over, Punjab were looking invincible.

The fact that they scored just 15 off the last 11 deliveries could've hurt them on the flattest of tracks at this small ground.

But thanks to Bailey and that run-out of Raina, they were able to hold on and stay in the hunt for their maiden IPL title.

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News Network
June 30,2020

Malabar, Jun 30: I-League club Gokulam Kerala's former assistant manager Muhammad Alloush on Monday died due to COVID-19. He was 44.

Alloush, who was with the football club in its inaugural season, was working as technical director at Egyptian club Tanta SC at the time of his demise.

Alloush's mother had also succumbed due to the deadly virus earlier.

"We're deeply saddened by the death of our former assistant manager Muhammad Alloush, aged 44, after contracting Covid_19. The thoughts of everybody at Gokulam Kerala Football Club are with Alloush's family and friends at this sad time. Rest in peace, Alloush," Gokulam Kerala FC tweeted.

Meanwhile, with a spike of 18,522 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, India's coronavirus count stands at 5,66,840, said the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry, 418 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in the last 24 hours. The number of deaths in the country now stands at 16,893.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

London, Jan 11: Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the World Cup 2011 win has been nominated in Laureas's list for the most inspiring sporting event in the last twenty years.

The moment featuring Tendulkar has been described as "Carried on the shoulders by a nation".

On his sixth attempt at the World Cup and with India not having won the competition since 1983, Tendulkar finally became a part of the team that lifted the coveted trophy. Carried on the shoulders of the Indian team, he made a lap of honour, shedding tears of joy after the victory was sealed in his home city.

The 2011 World Cup was also the first time, in which a host nation ended up winning the trophy.

Apart from Tendulkar, England's Andrew Flintoff is the only other cricketer to feature in the list. In 2005, England managed to defeat Australia in an Ashes Test, but Flintoff chose to first shake hands with Brett Lee rather than celebrate with his side.

Matthias Steiner (weightlifting), Natalie du Toit (swimming), Sky Brown (skateboarding), Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee (triathlon), Xia Boyu (mountaineering) have been nominated in the list.

Female tennis stars also feature in the list for coming up with an equal play, equal pay campaign. After pressure from Venus Williams and others, Wimbledon announced that female tennis players would receive prize money equal to the men's.

German international footballer Miroslav Klose was playing for Lazio in Italy's Serie A in 2012 against Napoli when he rose for a ball in the early moments of the game.

The ball came spiraling off his hand and skirted into the back of the net and a goal was awarded. While most players would carry on as if nothing had happened, Klose was honest with the referee and admitted that he handled the ball.

As a result, he also finds a place on the list.

The Laureus Sporting Moment Award celebrates the moments where the sport has unified people in the most extraordinary way.

This campaign has shortlisted 20 sporting stories from the last 20 years that have left their mark on the world.

The winner will be decided on the basis of public voting. It has already started, and the final date to cast the vote is February 16.

Finally, the result will be declared on February 17.
With three knock-out rounds, the top-20 moments will be whittled down to ten then five, with the top-five moments going head-to-head.

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News Network
February 18,2020

Feb 18: Spinner Poonam Yadav claimed three wickets as India geared up for the ICC women's T20 World Cup with a thrilling two-run win over the West Indies in a low-scoring warm-up match in Brisbane on Tuesday. Electing to bat, India posted a lowly 107/8 in their stipulated 20 overs before returning to restrict the West Indies to 105/7. Chasing 108 to win, West Indies were comfortably placed at 57 for one in 13 overs when Deepti Sharma struck, cleaning up opener Lee-Ann Kirby (42) to trigger a collapse. Soon skipper Stafanie Taylor (16), Chedean Nation (0) and Deandra Dottin (1) were back in the hut as West Indies slipped to 67 for five in the 17th over.

Hayley Matthews (25) and Chinelle Henry (17) blasted three fours and a six in the 19th over to leave them with 11 to get off the last six balls.

Henry blasted Poonam for a four but the Indian dismissed Matthews in the fourth ball.

West Indies needed three runs off the last ball but Henry was caught by Veda Krishnamurthy.

Earlier, India's top-three failed to fire as they were reduced to 17 for three in 3.1 overs.

Opener Smriti Mandhana (4) lasted just six balls, while Jemimah Rodrigues (0) failed to open her account.

Young Shafali Verma blasted a couple of fours before being caught by Britney Cooper off Shamilia Connell (2/20).

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (11), too, didn't stay long, while Krishnamurthy was cleaned up by Afy Fletcher (1/26), as India slumped to 52 for five in 11.2 overs.

Deepti Sharma made a 32-ball 21 before becoming a victim of Anisa Mohammed (2/16), while Pooja Vastrakar (13) was removed by Aaliyah Alleyne (1/9).

Stafanie taylor then got rid of Taniya Bhatia for 10. Shikha Pandey finally smashed a 16-ball 24 to give some respectability to the total.

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