Williamson stars as NZ survive Brathwaite scare

Agencies
June 23, 2019

Manchester, Jun 23: Kane Williamson's latest World Cup batting masterclass proved just enough to trump a stunning century from Carlos Brathwaite as New Zealand beat the West Indies by five runs in a World Cup thriller on Saturday.

The West Indies were all but defeated at 164 for seven, chasing 292 to win after Black Caps skipper Williamson led a recovery from 7-2 with a career-best 148 to take New Zealand to 291-8.

Brathwaite's remarkable hundred nearly saw the West Indies to an incredible success at Old Trafford.

But with six needed from seven balls, Brathwaite launched Jimmy Neesham for what he hoped would be the winning hit, only for Trent Boult to take a superbly judged catch just inside the long-on boundary.

Brathwaite sank to his knees in despair after falling for 101 off just 82 balls, including five sixes and nine fours, having dominated a last-wicket stand of 41 in which he scored all the runs.

Victory saw New Zealand return to the top of the table and all but secure their place in the semi-finals as a heart-breaking defeat left the West Indies on the verge of elimination.

"The West Indies are incredibly dangerous, even down their order. Credit to them, but credit to our side for getting a competitive total," Williamson said.

"It's a great game of cricket, good to be on the winning side. It's been a great learning curve for us." West Indies skipper Jason Holder added: "A tough game at the end. I'm proud of the guys, especially Carlos Brathwaite.

"Getting so close I guess it does make it tougher to take, but when you look throughout the entire game, there were one or two areas where we fell down."

Veteran opener Chris Gayle threatened to make New Zealand pay dearly for dropping him three times during a typically blistering 87 off just 84 balls including eight fours and six sixes that delighted a near-capacity crowd.

But he eventually holed out during a collapse that saw five wickets lost for 22 runs in 28 balls.

Stand-in opener Hope, batting up front after Evin Lewis was unable to partner Gayle after being off the field injured for most of New Zealand's innings, played on to Boult for just one -- the first wicket of an excellent 4-30 in 10 overs for the pace bowler Gayle was first dropped on 15 when Boult floored a desperately difficult chance off Matt Henry as the ball dropped over his shoulder.

Gayle responded by hitting paceman Henry's next two balls for six.

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News Network
June 13,2020

Islamabad, Jun 13: Pakistan cricket team’s former captain Shahid Afridi, who has tested positive for coronavirus,  appears to have contracted the virus during his recent visit to Muzaffarabad city of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) where Pakistan has been sending its corona positive patients.

The former Pakistan cricketer was seen attending gatherings in Muzaffarabad last month without wearing a mask and not maintaining social distancing. He spewed venom against India during his rallies. 

Afridi visited PoK to also express his solidarity with the people there who have been left to fend for themselves in combating COVID-19 as Pakistan has refused to provide any COVID fighting equipment like PPE kits and ventilators to the area’s handful of hospitals. 

In fact, Pakistan has been using the PoK as a “dumping ground” for COVID-19 affected persons from all across the country as authorities want to keep Punjab province free of corona positive persons. 

The locals held massive protests against Pakistan for setting up quarantine centres and shifting patients from parts of Pakistan to PoK. 

People are immensely suffering in Pakistan occupied Kashmir due to spread of coronavirus as the region lacks proper medical facilities and has a handful of COVID-19 testing labs. There is also lack of expert medical staff to conduct COVID-19 tests. 

A large number of people here are presumed asymptomatic and they are fast spreading the virus because of lack of medical care. 

Pakistan has reported over 1,25,000 coronavirus cases and 2,463 casualties. In Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the COVID-19 cases have increased to 534, whereas in Gilgit-Baltistan 1,030 have been  reported. 

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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
July 14,2020

New Delhi, Jul 14: Indian bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who features in the list of A category players released by BCCI, has revealed his first-ever paycheck.

Bhuvneshwar was participating in a question and answer session on Twitter where he gave his take on fans' queries.

The 30-year-old bowler was asked about his first paycheck by a fan and Bhuvneshwar responded by saying, "It was for Rs 3000. I shopped and still managed to saved some."

During the question and answer session Bhuvneshwar picked Barcelona striker Lionel Messi over Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The right-arm bowler also revealed that football and badminton are his favourite sports other than cricket.

Earlier this year, Bhuvneshwar was named in the list A category of players. BCCI had released the list of centrally contracted players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020. Annually, A category players get Rs 5 crore.

The right-arm bowler would have been in action for Sunrisers Hyderabad if the Indian Premier League (IPL) had commenced from March 29. However, the tournament was postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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