Zol, Samson star as India beat Pakistan to lift U-19 Asia Cup

January 5, 2014

Samson_starMumbai, Jan 5: The World champions of junior cricket have roared at the perfect time. With less than two months to go before they begin defending their Under-19 World Cup crown, India made an emphatic statement by winning the Asia Cup in Sharjah on Sunday, beating arch-rivals Pakistan by 40 runs in a thrilling final.

Put into bat, the Indian colts made 314 for four, with skipper Vijay Zol and Sanju Samson - two of the hottest young talents in India presently - smashing hundreds after India enjoyed a 65-run stand in just 6.4 overs, largely due to opener Ankush Bains, who smashed 47 (34b, 7x4, 1x6). Both made exactly 100.

While Zol's effort took him 120 balls, and included seven fours and a couple of sixes, Samson's knock came off merely 87 balls (8x4, 4x6). Both added 180 for the third wicket to ensure India finished with a massive total. Pakistan, in reply, were restricted to 287 for eight, as Kamran Gulam (102 not out) and skipper Sami Aslam's (87) efforts went in vain. For India, left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav took three for 72.

It is a triumph that should stand India in good stead for the forthcoming World Cup which will be held in UAE too.

"Ankush gave us a fabulous start and then both Samson and Zol, whose roles were critical, batted brilliantly before losing concentration on getting their hundreds. We should have got 360-odd but still got a reasonable total. We then bowled and fielded well to defend our score successfully against a very good Pakistan side. Even beating Sri Lanka in the semis wasn't easy. It was an excellent all-round performance by the boys and an ideal exposure to the conditions that will be prevalent during the World Cup. Both the teams enjoyed tremendous crowd support and the atmosphere of the final was electric. It was a joy to win this tournament with this lovely bunch," an elated Bharat Arun, coach of the India U-19 team, told TOI moments after the victory.

It was redemption time for the colts too. In the last Asia Cup, back in July 2012, India had to share the trophy with Pakistan after the final finished in a tie. In this edition, India had already lost to the Green Brigade once in the league stage - on December 31 - by two wickets.

"Pakistan won that game by a whisker. Before the final, our boys were fired up in the team meeting. I'm glad we pulled off a comfortable win in a tough match," Arun said, revealing an interesting fact - this team has as many as seven left-handers!

While the coach understandably chose to praise all his wards, he conceded that Maharashtra's Zol and Kerala's Samson were 'special boys.' "Both are technically sound. They don't play rash strokes. They have tremendous power and the gift of timing which enables them to clear boundaries comfortably. They have the experience of the IPL and the Ranji behind them now. They are in for a bigger league," Arun gushed.

Amongst the bowlers, he singled out Kuldeep Yadav and medium-pacers Deepak Hooda and pacer Avesh Khan for special praise.

"Yadav is a real talent. He has great attitude and he is a wicket-taking bowler. He can bowl well under pressure and batsmen would find it tough to hit him out of the attack."

Arun revealed that his wards were "too tired right now to celebrate". "They will turn out for their Ranji sides after returning. We will then have a camp for the World Cup before launching into the campaign."

Brief scores: India Under-19 314 for 8 (Zol 100, Samson 100) beat Pakistan Under-19 274 for 9 (Ghulam 102, Aslam 87*) by 40 runs.

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Agencies
February 25,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 25: India opening batsman KL Rahul will be available for Karnataka's Ranji Trophy semi-final clash against Bengal at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on February 29.

Rahul had asked to be rested from Karnataka's quarter-final match but is now available for the climactic stages of the Ranji Trophy. 

Karnataka had already been strengthened by the addition of Manish Pandey for the quarter-finals, with both Pandey and Rahul having returned from New Zealand after India completed the limited-overs leg of their tour, ESPNcricinfo reported.

Last year's finalists Saurashtra will take on Gujarat in the other semi-final at Rajkot. The other prominent players who will be part of the last four include Parthiv Patel (Gujarat), Jaydev Unadkat (Saurashtra) and Manoj Tiwary (Bengal).

Gujarat, Bengal, Karnataka, and Saurashtra had finished on top of the combined Groups A and B table, and all four progressed to the semi-finals after dominating their respective quarter-final matches.

Rahul has been phenomenal with the bat in the limited-overs series against Australia and New Zealand. He scored one century and four fifty-plus scores in his last ten innings in ODIs and T20Is combined

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Agencies
January 16,2020

New Delhi, Jan 16: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday condoled the demise of India's super cricket fan, 87-year-old Charulata Patel.

"#TeamIndia's Superfan Charulata Patel Ji will always remain in our hearts and her passion for the game will keep motivating us. May her soul rest in peace," BCCI tweeted.

Patel had made herself a household name after turning up for India's matches during the 2019 World Cup.

She went on to storm social media after she was seen cheering for the Men in Blue during their World Cup clash against Bangladesh.

After the match, the entire Indian side went to meet Patel and both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were seen meeting the octogenarian fan.

"I am a very religious person and have so much trust in God. So, when I pray, it comes true and I am saying that India is going to get the World Cup, definitely," Patel had told ANI during the World Cup.

The 87-year old had caught everyone's eyes when she was ardently cheering for the Indian team when they were batting.

Patel had also stated that she was there in the stadium when India lifted their first World Cup, back in 1983, under the leadership of former cricket Kapil Dev.

"I have been there. When they won the World Cup, I was so proud, I started dancing. And today also, I told my granddaughter that when India is going to defeat Bangladesh, I am going to dance," she had said.

"I have been watching cricket for decades. When I was in Africa, I used to watch it, then I came to this country in 1975. Here I had work because of which I did not get time to watch but I used to watch it on TV. But nowadays as I am not working, so I have the interest and I am very lucky that I get a chance to watch cricket," she added. 

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News Network
January 10,2020

New Delhi, Jan 10: Injured Assam archer Shivangini Gohain underwent a critical surgery at the AIIMS. Dr. Deepak Gupta, professor of Pediatric neurosurgery at AIIMS, revealed about the delicate nature of the procedure and said there was no room for error.

"It was touching vertebral artery which supplies blood to the brain stem. The arrow was 0.5 cm in front of the spinal cord and the child could have become quadriplegic if someone tried to pull it out," Gupta said.

According to doctors, the arrow accidentally went inside the body damaging the shoulder bone, part of the neck, spinal cord and left lung.

Dr Gupta said, "Now the patient is fine. We had planned the surgery in a very unique way. Last whole night, our team was doing the planning and plotting to conduct this complex surgery. About 15 cm part of the arrow was inside the body which has entered through shoulder bone and affected neck, spinal cord and left lung".

"We started the surgery in the morning at 6 am which lasted for three and a half hours. We have successfully removed the arrow. The patient is stable now and shifted to ICU for observation," he added

Shivangini Gohain, the 12-year-old Assam archer who was impaled by an arrow shot accidentally at the SAI centre in Dibrugarh, was training unsupervised and the mishap was a result of negligence by the local coach and officials, the state's archery association has said.

The child was training at the Dakha Devi Rasiwasia College at Chabua, which serves as an extension centre under the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Regional Centre in Guwahati when the incident took place on Wednesday.

She was airlifted to Delhi on Thursday night and admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre. Pulin Das, a joint secretary of Assam Archery Association and executive member of the state Olympic association said the injury to the school girl from the Deodhai village, which is 3km from Chabua, happened as the trainees were practising without any coach and other officials.

“There is a SAI contractual coach Marcy and he has left for the Khelo India Games in Guwahati. He didn't instruct the trainees to stop the camp for some time nor did the college principal, who acted as administrator of the extension centre, looked after the practice,” Das said on Friday.

The extension centre has 11 trainees, six boys and five girls, and they were training under SAI contractual coach A C Marcy from Nagaland, who is in Guwahati for the Khelo India Youth Games.

“The training ground itself is in very bad shape, it was not even a dedicated ground for archery training, some play football, cricket and other sports on that ground. But the worst part is that the SAI coach did not give instructions to stop the camp for a while and the archers were training without any supervision,” he added Das said Gohain was struck by an arrow shot by boys doing practice for compound event. The arrow remained stuck for more more than a day before she was airlifted to New Delhi on Thursday night.

“There was nobody to look after the archers, they were training on their own though their parents were outside the ground. An arrow shot by a boy trainee who was doing compound event practice hit her on the shoulder,” the official said.

Gohain's father Brinchi Gohain was outside the practice area and with no official of the college and SAI coming for help, she was taken to Assam Medical College in Dibrugarh, 33km from Chabua.

“She could reach the AMC in Dribugarh only on Thursday morning. There, the doctors told her parents to take her to a more reputed hospital like AIIMS in Delhi. With help from people close to the local Member of Parliament and Assam CM himself, she was taken by air ambulance to Delhi.

“I was told that she had a very tough time as the arrow remained stuck for more than a day. She is a strong-willed girl and she fought. Her father must be a daily wage labourer and he was distraught also.”

The SAI said that it will bear all the expenses of her treatment. The Assam Archery Association has contributed Rs 20,000 towards her treatment.

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