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World billiards championship: Pankaj Advani pots his 11th world crown

October 25, 2014

Leeds, Oct 25: Pankaj Advani, added yet another jewel to his glowing crown, outplaying former champion Peter Gilchrist in the 150 up points format World billiards championship final and pocket his 11th world title, here on Friday.

Advani, 29, conquered the Singaporean cueist Gilchrist 6-2 in a high quality final of the shorter format of billiards. Advani had lost 3-2 to Gilchrist in the league stage.

PankajAdvaniGilchrist was off to a flying start in the final with a 145 unfinished that secured the first frame. Advani responded with a 127 in the second to even the score. Gilchrist surged ahead to 2-1 but that was the last frame he was to win in the final.

After the third frame, it was the Advani show. The next two frames saw the Indian score heavily with two unfinished breaks of 108 and 150 to go into the interval with a slender 3-2 lead.

On return from the mid-session break, Advani was in demolition mode and won the next 3 frames to lift his 11th world title.

Advani now is the holder of three different world titles in 2014 — the IBSF World 6-Red snooker title, the World Team billiards title and now the World billiards championship (point format).

“I’m on 11th heaven! I returned to India to focus on this very event and it has paid off. Gilchrist was the most dangerous competitor of the tournament and in a dream final I am happy with the way I performed,” said an elated Advani after the triumph.

Advani had outplayed compatriot Sourav Kothari 5-2 in one semifinal, while Gilchrist had edged out England’s Robert Hall 5-3 in the other.

The scores: Final: Pankaj Advani bt Peter Gilchrist (Sin) 6-2 [23-151(145unf), 151(127)-16, 116-150, 151(108unf)-104, 150(150unf)-0, 151(118)-58, 150-4, 150(77unf)-145(104)].

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: Batting great Rahul Dravid has attributed Chennai Super Kings' consistent run in the IPL to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's instincts, game-smarts and the incredible amount of work that goes behind the scenes.

N Srinivasan, the former BCCI president and head of India Cements, which owns the CSK franchise, agreed that Dhoni is a man of instinct who doesn't believe in attending team meetings and going over data.

Both were speaking at a webinar organised by the Great Lakes Institute of Management.

"If you look at the success CSK has had, they've got really good access to data and they've got really good access to people behind the scenes and they've run cricket teams at the junior level," Dravid said at the webinar according to ESPNcricinfo.

The former India captain added, "They understand talent and they've obviously got a good scouting process in place. But, what they also have is a captain who really understands instincts.

"So, I mean, look, I know Dhoni quite well and I hope he hasn't changed, but I know Dhoni is probably not one to look at reams of data and statistics."

The Super Kings have won the lucrative tournament three times -- one less than Mumbai Indians -- and reached the knockouts in each of the 10 seasons they have been a part of.

Srinivasan also spoke about how Dhoni's instinct and judgement contributed to his team's success at a time when a lot of emphases is placed on data.

"We're awash with data just now. To give you an example, there are bowling coaches and in a T20 game, they play videos of every batsman whom they're going to come against and they see how he got out, what's his strength, what's his weakness etc.

"So, MS Dhoni doesn't attend this, he's a pure instinct man. The bowling coach, (head coach Stephen) Fleming will be there and everybody will be there, everyone is giving opinions, (but) he'll get up and go.

"In the context of instinct, he feels that okay he can assess a batsman or player on the field, that's his judgement. On the other hand, there is so much of data that is available to help a person also analyse. It's a very difficult line to draw (between data and instinct)."

Srinivasan also recalled how Dhoni once refused to take "one outstanding player" suggested by the franchise boss as that could have broken the team's cohesion.

"There was one outstanding player that we suggested to MS, he said: 'no sir, he will spoil the team'. The cohesion within the team is important and see in America, franchise-based sport has been there for such a long time," he said.

"In India, we're just starting and we're new to it. But we at India Cements have had a lot of experience running teams at junior levels."

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Agencies
February 4,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 4: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena guided India to a comfortable ten wickets win over Pakistan in the ICC U19 World Cup semifinal at Senwes Park on Tuesday and progressed to the final of the tournament.

Chasing 173, Indian openers Jaiswal and Saxena played cautiously and stitched an unbeaten partnership of 176 runs.

The duo built the highest opening partnership of the tournament's history. Jaiswal, the left-handed batsman, scored his maiden century of the tournament as he amassed unbeaten 105 runs studded with eight fours and four sixes.

Saxena scored 59* off 99 balls including six fours. India chased down the total in 35.2 overs. This is the first time in the history of the U19 World Cup that a team won a knockout match by ten wickets.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.

Opener Haider Ali and skipper Rohail Nazir's half-centuries guided the side to a respectable total of 172. Ali played a knock of 56 runs while Nazir accumulated 62 runs including six boundaries.

Pakistan did not have a good start as they lost Mohammad Hurair (4) in the second over. Fahad Munir, came to bat at number three, failed to score a single run and was departed by Ravi Bishnoi on a duck in ninth over.

Apart from Ali and Nazir, Mohammad Haris was the only batsman to score runs in double digits. He played an innings of 21 runs off 15 balls. Indian bowlers showed a spirited performance as they bowled out arch-rival in 43.1 overs.

Pacers Karthik Tyagi and Sushant Mishra bagged two and three wickets respectively. Spinner Ravi Bishnoi clinched two scalps and conceded 46 runs in his ten overs.

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Agencies
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Sanjiv Chawla, a key accused in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje in 2000, was extradited from the UK on Thursday, Delhi Police said.

The 50-year-old British national, accompanied by a crime branch team from London, reached IGI Airport this morning, a senior officer said.

He is likely to be taken to the crime branch office for questioning, he added.

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