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World Cup set to see first-time winner as England beat Australia by 8 wickets

Agencies
July 12, 2019

Birmingham, Jul 12: With England thrashing Australia by 8 wickets in the second semifinal at the Edgbaston Cricket Stadium on Thursday to set up a summit clash with New Zealand, the World Cup is all set to see a frist time winner at the Lord's on Sunday.

Jason Roy once again laid the foundation for what was a clinical chase by England. While Roy hit a magnificent 65-ball 85 to set the ball rolling, skipper Eoin Morgan (45*) and Joe Root (49*) took the team home with eight wickets to spare.

Neither the hosts, nor New Zealand have laid their hands on the coveted trophy so far.

Chasing Australia's total of 223, the Englishmen got off to a cautious start, picking up 50 off the first 10 overs. But what followed was absolute carnage as the next 6 overs leaked 66 runs as Roy and Jonny Bairstow (34) ensured that the platform was set for the middle-order to come in and walk the team home. The packed crowd had every reason to cheer as they saw the home team dominate the show from start to finish.

Roy was absolutely ruthless in his approach as he attacked the bowlers both off the front and back foot. Drives, pulls, flicks and cuts were all there on display as the Australian bowlers looked clueless in front of the England opener.

Australia did strike twice to send back Bairstow (leg before off Mitchell Starc) and Roy (caught by Alex Carey down the leg side off Pat Cummins), but it was a little too late in the day as the duo of Root and Morgan ensured that there were no further hiccups.

Earlier, after a string of low scores, former Australia skipper Steve Smith rose to the occasion and hit a gritty 85 to take Australia to 223 after the English bowlers created mayhem in the first four overs to reduce the Aussies to 14/3 in slightly overcast conditions.

Bringing in all the experience of the 117 ODIs he had played before this game, Smith put his head down and kept waiting for the bad balls to make hay till an effort to run a quick single saw him being run out in the 48th over.

Australia also lost Mitchell Starc (29) off the very next ball to again lose the plot towards the end. Chris Woakes was the wrecker-in-chief as he finished with figures of 3/20 from 8 overs.

Australia got off to a disastrous start as they lost skipper Aaron Finch (0) in the second over of the innings. Having managed to evade his issues with the incoming delivery so far in the tournament, Finch was done in by a beauty from Jofra Archer. The Aussies did take a review, but it was a waste.

Woakes then handed Australia a twin blow as he first sent back the in-form David Warner for 9, caught by Jonny Bairstow behind the wicket, and then dismissed Peter Handscomb (4) with an incoming delivery as the gap between his bat and pad saw the stumps get rattled.

With the score reading a dismal 14/3, Alex Carey joined Smith in the middle and the wicketkeeper-batsman was immediately welcomed by a ferocious bouncer by Archer that hit him on the chin. A bloodied chin notwithstanding, Carey was ready to battle it out for his team.

The two put their heads down and started stitching a partnership as the Australians slowly crawled back into the game. But just when it looked like the duo will run away with the game, Adil Rashid struck, getting Carey (49) to sweep one straight down James Vince's throat. The 103-run partnership was broken against the run of play.

Rashid then dismissed Marcus Stoinis for a duck as he failed to read another googly and was trapped leg before. Glenn Maxwell (22) was the next man in and looked in good flow before an Archer delivery saw him loop one back to Eoin Morgan at cover. Rashid then returned to send back Pat Cummins, caught beautifully at first slip by Root for 6, with another googly.

With the score on 175/7 after 40 overs, it was all about aggression with an eye on the wickets column for the Australian duo of Smith and Mitchell Starc. In the end, Australia picked up 47 runs in the last nine overs before being dismissed in the 49th over.

Brief Scores: Australia: 223 in 50 overs (Steve Smith 85; Chris Woakes 3/20, Adil Rashid 3/54); England: 226/2 in 32.1 overs (Jason Roy 85, Joe Root 49*, Eoin Morgan 45*)

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Agencies
August 6,2020

New Delhi, Aug 6: The BCCI on Thursday suspended the IPL title sponsorship deal with Chinese mobile phone company Vivo for the event's upcoming edition amid heightened tensions in Sino-India diplomatic ties.

The BCCI sent out a one-line statement, without giving details, saying that Vivo would not be associated with the IPL this year. "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Vivo released its own statement saying that the two entities "have mutually decided to pause their partnership for the 2020 season".

Vivo won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for a reported sum of Rs 2,190 crore, approximately Rs 440 crore per annum.

The two parties are now working out a plan in which Vivo might come back for a fresh three-year period starting 2021 on revised terms.

However, a top BCCI official offered a different view. "Here we are talking about diplomatic tensions and you expect that after November, when IPL ends and before the next IPL starts in April 2021, there would be no anti-China sentiment? Are we serious?" a veteran BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

The anti-China sentiment in the country peaked after the violent face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh. India lost 20 soldiers in the clash, while China also acknowledged unspecified casualties.

The stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) caused outrage across India with several calls for boycotts of Chinese companies and products.

The BCCI is now likely to float a tender for new IPL title sponsors as mandated by its constitution. The glitzy T20 league starts on Sept. 19 in the UAE, forced out of India due to the rising COVID-19 cases.

The new development is in stark contrast to what came out of Sunday's IPL's Governing Council meeting, where it was decided that Vivo, along with all the other sponsors, will remain on board.

This was after the BCCI had announced in June that all sponsorship deals pertaining to IPL will be reviewed in the aftermath of the clash in the Galwan Valley.

However, after Sunday's meeting, there was a huge backlash on social media about the BCCI holding on to Vivo.

Both parties then began thrashing out an amicable separation plan, at least for this season.

However, the end of this deal could spell losses for the franchises as they get a substantial share from the sponsorship pool. Half of the annual Vivo sponsorship money is distributed equally among eight franchises, which comes to Rs 27.5 crore.

"As of now, it will be very difficult for the BCCI to match the sponsorship amount at such short notice. Therefore, both BCCI and the franchises should be prepared to lose out on some money -- BCCI more but each franchise from Vivo's exit will potentially lose 15 crore," the official said.

"This year will be difficult for everyone but the show must go on," the official said.

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News Network
July 5,2020

Colombo, Jul 5: Sri Lanka batsman Kusal Mendis was on Sunday arrested for knocking down a pedestrian while driving, police said.

Mendis hit a 74-year-old man, killing him in the wee hours, in the Colombo suburb of Panadura.

He is to be produced before a magistrate later today, police said.

The 25-year-old wicket-keeper batsman has represented Sri Lanka in 44 Tests and 76 ODIs. Mendis was part of the national squad which had resumed training after the Covid-19 lockdown.

Sri Lanka's international assignments, including a tour by India, have been cancelled due to the pandemic.

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News Network
June 19,2020

Jun 19: The BCCI is open to reviewing its sponsorship policy for the next cycle but has no plans to end its association with current IPL title sponsor Vivo as the money coming in from the Chinese company is helping India's cause and not the other way round, board treasurer Arun Dhumal said on Friday. Anti-China sentiments are running high in India following the border clash between the two countries at Galwan valley earlier this week. The first skirmish at the India-China border in more than four decades left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead. Since then, calls have been made to boycott Chinese products.

But Dhumal said Chinese companies sponsoring an Indian event like the IPL only serve his country's interests.

The BCCI gets Rs 440 crore annually from Vivo and the five-year deal ends in 2022.

"When you talk emotionally, you tend to leave the rationale behind. We have to understand the difference between supporting a Chinese company for a Chinese cause or taking help from Chinese company to support India's cause," Dhumal said.

"When we are allowing Chinese companies to sell their products in India, whatever money they are taking from Indian consumer, they are paying part of it to the BCCI (as brand promotion) and the board is paying 42 per cent tax on that money to the Indian government. So, that is supporting India's cause and not China's," he argued.

Oppo, a mobile phone brand like Vivo, was sponsoring the Indian cricket team until September last year when Bengaluru-based educational technology Byju's start-up replaced the Chinese company.

Dhumal said he is all for reducing dependence on Chinese products but as long as its companies are allowed to do business in India, there is no harm in them sponsoring an Indian brand like the IPL.

"If they are not supporting the IPL, they are likely to take that money back to China. If that money is retained here, we should be happy about it. We are supporting our government with that money (by paying taxes on it)."

"If I am giving a contract to a Chinese company to build a cricket stadium, then I am helping the Chinese economy. GCA built the world's largest cricket stadium at Motera and that contract was given to an Indian company (L&T)," he said.

"Cricketing infrastructure worth thousands of crores was created across country and none of the contract was awarded to a Chinese company."

Dhumal went on to say the BCCI is spoilt for choice when it comes to attracting sponsors, whether Indian or Chinese or from any other nation.

"If that Chinese money is coming to support Indian cricket, we should be okay with it. I am all for banning Chinese products as an individual, we are there to support our government but by getting sponsorship from Chinese company, we are helping India's cause."

"We can get sponsorship money from non-Chinese companies also including Indian firms. We can support our players any way but the idea is when they are allowed to sell their products here, it is better that part of money comes back to the Indian economy."

"The BCCI is not giving money to the Chinese, it is attracting on the contrary. We should make decision based on rationale rather than emotion," he added.

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