Sports

London, Oct 19 (IANS) India opening batter KL Rahul figures on top in Kevin Pietersen's list of players who will excel in the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia, with the former England cricketer predicting the 30-year-old will score tons of runs, though he doesn't think India will win the global event.

Rahul has been in sublime form, with the batter making 62 against Afghanistan in India's last Super Four match of Asia Cup 2022. He has smashed three fifties in five bilateral matches against Australia and South Africa at home.

Rahul has continued his good showing since India landed in Australia in early October, making a patient 74 in the second practice match against Western Australia XI in Perth and followed it up with 57 in a warm-up match against Australia at The Gabba, Brisbane.

In his column for betway.com, Pietersen expressed confidence Rahul will be a class apart with the bat. "I love him. I think he is the No. 1 batter in the world at the moment. He is absolutely fantastic. With the ball bouncing, swinging and seaming, I think he plays in a very authentic way and is correct enough to rack up the runs," opined Pietersen.

Pietersen though predicted England will win the title after their title run in the 2021 edition was cut short in the semifinal by New Zealand.

"This England white-ball team is absolutely spectacular. They really are. They're fabulous to watch, they've got all bases covered, and I think they go in as favourites. It was a great victory in Pakistan (seven-match T20I series), a huge victory. And they've been very confident in the way they've played the warm-up games in Australia. It's been the perfect build-up," said Pietersen.

He also predicted England opener batter Alex Hales could emerge as the match winner.

"It's a dust-off between (Phil) Salt and Hales for that top (opener's) spot, and it's going be interesting to see who they pick. It'll be good if Hales does get the gig, purely based on the fact that he wins games. At the end of the day, it's up to the players to agree on what the process is and whether a guy fits in. The most important point around all of this nonsense with Hales is the fact that he wins games of cricket for England," said Pietersen.

Pietersen added that the "Stokes factor" would be huge in England's title bid.

"It's irrelevant when Ben Stokes last played this form of the game. He brings experience, aura, and a fear factor to this England side. When the opposition are doing all their matchday preparation, the man that will get talked about most is Stokes, because of what he can do, and what he has done in his career. He just brings that fear factor and that aura to the team.

"England are the favourites for me. They have strength in depth in all departments. They've got quality fast bowlers, a fantastic spinner in Adil Rashid, and their batting needs no introduction."

He added that South Africa are the dark horses in the tournament.

"The reason why I say South Africa could be the dark horse is because, with the weather conditions that are knocking around, that South African bowling attack -- Marco Jansen, Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada -- could do some real damage. I've seen what Rabada and Nortje have done in the IPL when they played together for a season, and you can be 20 for five or 30 for six very quickly. Their batters won't need to score that many runs to knock off those kind of totals."

--IANS

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Lucknow, Oct 17 (IANS) There were plenty of goals on the fifth day of the Khelo India Women's Hockey League (Under-16) Phase - 2 here on Monday as Sports Hostel Odisha, Sports Authority of India 'A', Pritam Siwach Sports Promotion Foundation, Sports Authority of India 'B', Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy and HAR Hockey Academy registered wins in their respective matches.

In the first game on Day 5, Sports Hostel Odisha were up against Smart Hockey Academy and defeated them 5-1. Smart Hockey Academy took the lead in the first minute with Navroop Kaur finding the back of the net, but Sports Hostel Odisha bounced back. Premsila Bage (15') equalized in the first quarter, after which Anima Oram (17'), captain Amisha Ekka (27', 28') and Priyanka Rout (44') helped Sports Hostel Odisha register the win.

The second game saw a few more goals with Sports Authority of India 'A' defeating Citizen Hockey XI 21-0. Kajal (7', 12', 36', 50', 53', 54') led the charge with six goals. Karuna Minz (16', 55', 56', 59') added four more while captain Tanuja Toppo (10', 15', 58') along with Binati Minz (25', 28', 49') also scored a hat-trick. Dipika Barwa (30', 39'), Sonali Ekka (8'), Jyoti (20') and Nisha Dadel (57') also found the back of the net as Sports Authority of India 'A' ran out comprehensive winners.

Game 3 saw Pritam Siwach Sports Promotion Foundation registering a 10-0 win against Bhai Behlo Hockey Academy. Priyanka (3') started off the scoring with Manjinder (8', 39') getting on the scoresheet too. Khushi (10', 48') added two more while Bhavya (42'), Riya (44'), captain Tamanna (51'), and Ravina (54', 58') also found the back of the net, Hockey India informed in a release on Monday.

After that, Sports Authority of India 'B' won 6-0 against Salute Hockey Academy in the fourth game of the day. Lalpeksangi (3', 9', 20', 56') scored four goals, while captain Mutum Priya Devi (12') and Sisliya Sandi Purti (49') added two more to round off the win.

Game 5 saw the Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy defeat the Sports Authority of Gujarat 12-1. For Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy, Tanvi (3', 13', 36', 41', 48') led the charge, scoring five goals, while Kajal Pundir (56', 58', 59') netted a hat-trick.

Sujata Jayant (17', 50'), captain Krishna Sharma (37'), and Jainab Hasan (60') also found the back of the net for Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy. The Sports Authority of Gujarat side got on the scoresheet through Kodarvi Twinkle Anilbhai (47').

In the final game of the day, the HAR Hockey Academy won by a scoreline of 13-0 against the Anantapur Hockey Academy. For HAR Hockey Academy, captain Shashi Khasha (7', 20', 45', 48', 49', 54', 56', 59') was in great form and scored 8 goals for her side. Seema (12', 13') added a brace while Diksha (33'), Aditi (35') and Mahima Rajliwal (36') were also on the scoresheet.

--IANS

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Kuwait City (Kuwait), Oct 17 (IANS) India have scripted history in the Asian Youth Athletics Championships 2022, topping the medals table with 24 medals (six gold, 11 silver and seven bronze) and the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) president Adille Sumariwalla said the federation is focussed on providing world-class coaching to junior athletes so that they go on and excel at the senior level.

Amit Chaudhary (boys' 1500m), Akash Yadav (boys' shot put), Ashakiran Barla (girls' 800m), and Atul (boys' discus throw) won gold medals in individual events while India came first in girls' and boys' medley relay races -- making it six gold medals in all.

India finished first with 24 medals whiles the Chinese Taipei team was second with six gold, one silver, and two bronze medals.

Lakshadweep's Mubssina Mohammed won two silver medals -- in girls' long jump and in girls' heptathlon -- missing out on a gold in the latter as she finished just seven points behind Alina Chistyakova of Kazakhstan, who had 4737 points.

Madhya Pradesh's Ekta Dey, who shifted to steeplechase from 1500m very recently on the advice of her coaches, won a silver medal in the Girls' 2000m steeplechase on Sunday.

With this performance, India, who have finished second in the 2019 edition held in Hong Kong, became the second-most successful nation in the Asian Youth Athletics Championship behind China. Around 400 athletes and staff from 30 Asian Countries competed in 40 events -- 20 for boys and 20 for girls -- at the Al Kuwait Kaifan Stadium in Kuwait City.

Ashakiran Barla of Jharkhand -- who did not have electricity in her house when she started participating in athletics, but now have it as officials reacted to her success in athletics -- was the lone Indian girl to win a gold medal in 800m.

"It was a great experience for me as I have learned a lot during the camp which was held before the Asian Championship. I had lost my father a few years back and our family survives on whatever my mother earns through farming. I just want to do my best and help her," said Ashakiran.

Sumariwalla said they have already set in motion a plan to provide foreign expert coaching to the junior and youth athletes and are in negotiations with some coaches.

Sumariwalla said the reason for this shift in approach is that when young athletes come to the senior level, they come with small mistakes in technique and it takes a lot of effort to unlearn them.

"We are now focusing on the junior athletes as our next step. We are trying to bring foreign coaches at this stage otherwise, many times when these coaches go to the top level, the coaches have to make them unlearn many things in their technique," he added.

"Negotiations are going on with some coaches but not many are ready to stay in India for the entire year. They want to come on short stints of a few months, but we are trying to get the best possible coaching," said Sumariwalla during an virtual interaction on Monday.

He said as they did for senior athletes around 10 years back, they have identified javelin throw, race walks and middle and long-distance running as focus areas for junior and youth athletes.

The other Indian athletes that won medals in the Asian Youth Athletics Championships are Isha Jadhav (silver, Girls' 400m), Arjun (silver, Boys' javelin throw), Sabita Toppo (silver, Girls' 100m hurdles), Mohammad Aman (silver, Boys' hammer throw), Deepika (silver, Girls' javelin throw), Sunita Devi (silver, Girls' 3000m), Servan K C (silver, Boys' discus throw), Vanshika Ghanghas (silver, Girls' pole vault) and Ekta Dey (silver, Girls' 2000m steeplechase).

The bronze medals were won by Kuldeep Kumar (Boys' pole vault), Siddarth Chaudhary (Boys' shot put), Nikita Kumari (Girls' discus throw), Anushka Kumbah (Girls' 400m), Murad Sirman (Boys' 400m hurdles) and Divyasri (Girls' triple jump).

The 2022 Asian Youth Athletics Championships, which encompassed the fourth edition of the Asian U18 Athletics Championship, was the fourth edition of the biennial, continental athletics competition for Asian athletes aged 15 to 17.

--IANS

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Gurugram, Oct 17 (IANS) Aditi Ashok, whose name brings about a sense of excitement among Indian golf fans, is back on 'home' turf in India for the Hero Women's Indian Open after a gap that got extended due to the pandemic.

The 24-year-old Bengaluru golfer wrote a new chapter in Indian women's golf by becoming the first woman from the country to win on the Ladies European Tour (LET) by bagging the Women's Indian Open title in 2016.

She progressed quickly from there, adding two more LET wins in 2016 and 2017 and earning a card on the toughest Tour in the world, the LPGA in the United States.

Yet, it was the LET was where Aditi captured the global imagination for the first time. Little wonder then her record on the LET is incredible.

In 57 starts on the LET, Aditi has had three wins and 18 Top-10s. That is almost 38 percent, which means she finished in Top-10 at least once every three starts -- a supreme effort by any standard.

Last year at the Tokyo Olympics, she had the whole country on the edge of their seat early in the morning as she came agonizingly close to getting onto the podium. Despite a masterclass in putting that had the golfing fraternity agog, she did not land a medal as the World No.1 Nelly Korda won the gold while local Japanese star Mone Inami edged out former World No.1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand to the silver. Ko settled for bronze and Aditi was fourth and the rest of the who's who of women's golf was some distance behind.

She may not have won an Olympic medal, but Aditi single-handedly put the game of golf into the mind space of Indian sports fans which even had Prime Minister Narendra Modi applauding her achievement.

Aditi, who played the Hero Women's Indian Open regularly since her debut in 2011, turned in superb performances between 2011 and 2015 in her five appearances as an amateur. She made the cut four times, finished in Top-10 once, twice in Top-15 and missed the cut only once.

In fact, Aditi had won a pro event on the domestic Hero Women's Golf Tour, while still being an amateur. She carried on from there when she turned pro in 2016. The year 2016 was her rookie year and even though a few Indian girls had finished in Top-10 in the previous editions, nobody had actually lifted that incredible silverware.

Aditi set that record straight, by winning it at the DLF Golf and Country Club, which is where she will be playing again this week as the tournament gets underway on October 20.

There were understandable celebrations all around. They had not even abated for her and in the very next start at the Qatar Ladies Open, she again lifted the trophy. A third LET Trophy came her way in 2017 when she won the FBM Ladies Open in Abu Dhabi.

In 2017, she returned for the HWIO, but was Tied for 13th and then she became a regular on the LPGA. Playing in the US, she was unable to make it to India in 2018 and 2019 and then Covid robbed the Indian sports fans of a chance of seeing her in action. This year as the National Open returns to action, so does Aditi Ashok who has always expressed great pride in wearing Indian colours, playing in India and interacting with youngsters in the country.

Aditi will in all probability have the largest gallery and she will be looking forward to giving them another enthralling experience.

--IANS

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Hobart, Oct 17 (IANS) In the aftermath of their shock 42-run loss to Scotland in their Group B match at round one of ICC Men's T20 World Cup, West Indies head coach Phil Simmons lashed out at his side, saying his batters need to "wake up" and "start being as professional as they can" while batting.

Chasing 161 at Bellerive Oval, West Indies were woeful with the bat and never had any rhythm or momentum at all. They were also confused over either hitting boundaries or rotating the strike as Mark Watt (3/12) and off-spinner Michael Leask (2/14) shared five wickets between themselves and bowled 27 dot balls.

Such was the shambolic batting performance from the two-time T20 World Cup winners that they lost seven wickets in 26 runs from overs 6 to 13, starting from 53/1 in 5.4 overs, to lose the match by 42 runs and put a serious dent in their chances of qualification for Super 12 stage.

"I think the only way you can look at it is -- disappointed. I think our batting, at least today, definitely was a bit unprofessional. And we need to wake up and start being as professional as we can be when we are batting. The bowlers seem to be working hard and putting us in good positions, but the batters continue to falter," said Simmons in the post-match press conference.

Simmons was unable to put into words why West Indies' batting collapses were becoming a frequent sight in T20Is and were extremely critical of soft dismissals in Monday's match. "I don't know. We haven't started the inquest in the dressing room yet. Let them calm down a little bit first or let myself calm down a little bit first before I go into the dressing room!"

"But I think it's just too many soft dismissals. I think as batsmen you have to pay a lot more attention to your wicket. Every time we play we are up there with the run rate. It doesn't matter who we are playing against, but we keep losing wickets and soft wickets. So I think that I've been trying to remedy it for the last couple of months. Doesn't seem like it's there yet."

In their innings, West Indies lost major batters who were in pursuit of getting the big hits over the longer boundaries straight down the ground and were unable to get the majority of their boundaries through the small dimensions square of the wicket. It took a 33-ball 38 from Jason Holder to save the West Indies from being out for a double-digit score.

Asked if West Indies batters could have been better in batting strategy, Simmons replied in the affirmative. "You summed it up there. You don't need me to answer it. And that's exactly it. You've got to sum up the situation and play to the situation of the game. I don't think we did that at all times today."

There is very less time for the West Indies to regroup as they return to the venue for Monday's match on Wednesday, up against Zimbabwe, in a must-win affair.

"We need to beat Zimbabwe first. We think about everything else. We need to beat Zimbabwe. I think that's the first step as we go along. When we get back here at this time on Wednesday, then we may be thinking a lot different about all those things you spoke about," added Simmons.

Simmons signed off by praising Scotland for making a giant improvement with the 42-run win over his team on Monday.

"I think they've all improved. We keep saying the level of cricket you give them, they're going to improve. I think they're getting a lot more cricket at that level now. So, you see the improvement. So, they're all improving."

--IANS

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Hobart, Oct 17 (IANS) All-rounder Sikandar Raza continued his glorious run in 2022 with a fantastic 82 off 48 balls, propelling Zimbabwe to a competitive 174/7 against Ireland in a Group B first round match of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup at the Bellerive Oval on Monday.

Raza's knock of 82, laced with five fours and as many sixes at a strike-rate of 170.83, is Zimbabwe's joint-fifth highest score in T20Is, and also taking them to their highest score in their history of T20 World Cup participation, where no other batter crossed 22.

Ireland had an early breakthrough as Joshua Little got the glove edge of Regis Chakabva carrying to the keeper on just the second ball of the innings. Five overs later, Little again struck when Wesley Madhevere hooked a short ball to deep backward square leg.

One brought two for Ireland as off-spinner Simi Singh got Craig Ervine stumped easily in the final over of powerplay. From a spot of bother, Raza took over and unleashed a flurry of boundaries. He was brutal against the spinners and was at his aggressive best from the word go.

Raza was feasting on Ireland's short-ball attack, constantly scything through the leg-side region for his boundaries, including all of his five sixes hit majorly between deep backward square leg and deep mid-wicket.

He got into his position quickly and then went confidently hit through the short square boundary to get Zimbabwe past 170, before his wonderful knock was brought to an end when Mark Adair cleaned him up on the final ball of the innings.

He got good support from Milton Shumba's 14-ball 16 and Luke Jongwe hitting three fours in his unbeaten 20 off 10 balls, at a strike-rate of 200. For Ireland, Little was excellent in his spell of 3/24 while Adair and Singh had figures of 2/39 and 2/31 respectively.

Brief Scores: Zimbabwe 174/7 in 20 overs (Sikandar Raza 82; Joshua Little 3/24, Simi Singh 2/31) against Ireland


--IANS
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Kuwait City (Kuwait), Oct 16 (IANS) India's campaign in the AFC U-20 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2023 Qualifiers suffered a jolt when they went down to Australia 1-4 at the Ali Sabah Al-Salem Stadium, here on Sunday.

This was India's second consecutive defeat in the four-team group as they were beaten 2-4 by Iraq in the earlier game.

Like in the match against Iraq two days back, on Sunday too, India were beaten but were certainly not disgraced even if the scoreline pointed towards a rout.

Trailing by two first half goals, India displayed lots of spirit in the second, and pulled one back through skipper Gurkirat Singh, whose sudden long ranger in the 63rd minute caught the Australia goalkeeper Jack Warshawsky on the wrong foot before hitting the post and going in.

It wasn't the only time when Shanmugam Venkatesh's boys had the Australia defence in trouble. In fact, on more than one occasion the Indians came close to bringing down the rival goal, but poor marksmanship and bad luck denied India at least a couple of goals that could have made the story of the day a little different.

After reducing the margin through Gurkirat, India had a golden chance to restore parity in the 76th minute. The Indian captain was once again in the thick of things as he rounded off the advancing Aussie goalkeeper to send the ball across an empty goal.

Taison ran in from the other side to flick it, but it was blocked off the line at the nick of time, much to the relief of the Australian bench. The post denied India another golden opportunity early in the second half when Himanshu Jangra cut inside in great style only to find his shot coming back after hitting the nearest upright on the left side.

In the first half, Australia took the lead in the 12th minute when Garang Koul received the ball just inside the Indian box and smashed it in after going past defender Amandeep. The Indians actually faltered in the midfield as Alex Bandolato was allowed to take the ball in the middle without a proper challenge and he made most of it by sending a perfect through to the right.

The more frustrating bit for the Indians was the way the second goal came against them in the 32nd minute. Joseph Forde sent a cross from the right and defender Bikash Yumnam, while trying to clear the ball, came up with a header that landed inside the Indian net.

India conceded two more goals in the last five minutes of the match when they were trying to throw in everything into the attack.While in the 86th minute Adrian Segecic struck spectacularly from a volley that beat Indian custodian Syed Zahid Bukhari all ends up, the final nail was driven in by Max Caputo during injury time.


--IANS
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Bengaluru, Oct 16 (IANS) The Puneri Paltan showed determination right from the word go and eventually defeated U Mumba 30-28 to register their first victory of the Pro Kabaddi League season 9 at the Shree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, here on Sunday.

Raiders Aslam Inamdar and Mohit Goyat scored 14 points together, while Captain Fazel Atrachali notched 4 points to help Puneri Paltan win.

Aslam Inamdar chipped in with a couple of raids as Puneri Paltan took the lead at 5-4 in the 6th minute. Soon after, Mohit Goyat pulled off a multi-point raid and reduced U Mumba to three players on the mat.

However, Guman Singh and Jai Bhagwan effected raids and helped their side stay in the game at 7-7. Guman continued to showcase top form as the Mumbai side led at 9-7 in the 11th minute.

The Puneri defenders then fought back and regained the lead at 10-9. Thereafter, both sides traded points until Puneri managed to keep their noses in front at 14-13 at the end of the first half.

Inamdar pulled off a fantastic raid in the opening minutes of the second half as Puneri widened their lead at 16-13. Moments later, Goyat effected a raid which reduced the U Mumba side to two players on the mat.

The Mumbai side were on the verge of getting ALL OUT, but Heidarali Ekrami carried out a brilliant raid to level the scores at 20-20 in the 31st minute. However, Aslam Inamdar tackled Rinku and Surinder Singh soon after, to help his side inflict an ALL OUT.

Defenders Sanket Sawant and Sombir also stepped up their game as Puneri took a massive lead at 27-20. Jai Bhagwan and Guman Singh fought hard for U Mumba in the last few minutes, but Puneri managed to hold on to their lead and eventually walked off the mat as winners.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) The Indian Premier League (IPL) has asked the ten franchises to submit their list of retained players by November 15 with the upcoming mini-auction likely to be held in the third week of December.

Unlike the mega auction last year, when two new franchises were added and the old teams could retain a maximum of four players, there is no such cap for the mini-auction ahead of IPL 2023.

During the upcoming mini-auction, the teams will get extra Rs 5 crore, in addition to the money left over from the previous auction, to spend which will make the overall auction purse Rs 95 crore, an ESPNcricinfo report said.

Notably, Punjab Kings had the largest purse left - Rs 3.45 crore - after last year's auction, while Lucknow Super Giants had exhausted their entire purse. Chennai Super Kings had Rs 2.95 crore remaining, followed by Royal Challengers Bangalore (Rs 1.55 crore), Rajasthan Royals (Rs 0.95 crore) and Kolkata Knight Riders (Rs 0.45 crore).

On the other hand, defending champions Gujarat Titans were left with Rs 0.15 crore while three teams - Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals - had Rs 0.10 crore.

Despite franchises having smaller purses, mini-auctions have produced some of the most expensive buys in the past seasons and the likes of Ben Stokes along with his England team-mate Sam Curran and Australia all-rounder Cameron Green are some of the overseas players, who are expected to attract the biggest bids if they enter the auction this year.

Meanwhile, three teams - CSK, DC and LSG - bought only seven overseas players at the previous auction, so they could be on the lookout to fill up the last spot while other teams could release one or more of their overseas players to create vacancies and increase their purses.

A total of six franchises had brought in injury replacements -- Adam Milne replaced by Matheesha Pathirana (CSK), Tymal Mills replaced by Tristan Stubbs (MI), Nathan Coulter-Nile replaced by Corbin Bosch (RR), Mark Wood replaced by Andrew Tye (LSG), Alex Hales replaced by Aaron Finch (KKR) and Jason Roy replaced by Rahmanullah Gurbaz (GT) during IPL 2022.

All these teams will now have to decide whether to retain the replacement player or the original player, or both provided the player limit allows.


--IANS
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By Anjum Chopra
The Indian women's cricket team support is certainly on the rise. To go for a victory lap after winning the Asia Cup final in Sylhet, Bangladesh to show their appreciation to the crowd away from your home land is a pleasing sight. In fact, the picture was carried by many newspapers too while reporting the match.


While the growing support is a healthy sign; the constant growth of the team itself is a major driving force. Since June 2022, the Indian team has played an international series every month. It is a stark difference from the past years and that is why the growth can be measured and performances monitored better.

The Indian team travelled to Sri Lanka in June for a full white ball series tour (ODI and T20), 3 each. They played the commonwealth games in July-Aug in Birmingham where they finished as runners up to world champions Australia. Returned to the UK to play a full white ball series with England women, faring well there too. Went to Bangladesh soon after for the Asia Cup starting October where they became the champions.

It's these consistent good results that has assisted in the sport getting the required attention. It is no brainer that only champions make headlines and this consistency led by constant international matches being played by the women's team has assisted in garnering this support. It is just the start and, in all the hope, it will only grow more from here.

The players are the biggest catalyst in this now. It will be upon them to carry this ship to sail without compromising their own individual contribution.

So, who all have been the biggest gainers from this constant international match play. A few notable ones being:

1) Deepti Sharma- From being a regular member of the Indian team till early this year; was found resting in a few world cup games in New Zealand,2022. A return into the playing eleven after being given Captaincy of Velocity team in women's T20 challenge; has not looked back. A player of the series award in the Asia cup will provide the confidence of playing a bigger role in the India team.


2) Renuka Singh Thakur- A player whose progression I have seen from bowling for Himachal team in domestic cricket to being picked as an India probable in 2019 to now leading the pace attack for India. Still very new to international cricket but her consistency especially from bowling in English conditions to bowling on Bangladesh slow paced wickets has shown her ability. She will hold one end for India going forward.


3) Rajeshwari Gayakwad- Playing second fiddle to Radha Yadav (also a left arm spinner) especially in T20's has taken her opportunities well. A lot different skill wise to Radha; Gayakwad has provided the depth and variety to India's spin bowling department. The T20 outings would have helped her.

4) Jemimah Rodrigues - Missed making the cut to the world cup team to New Zealand and picked up an injury in England that kept her on the side-lines in the last few months; but she put everything aside to play crucial, match winning knocks in the Asia Cup. What made an impression was that her preparation and implementation was very much in sync for her. Plus, the hunger to succeed was very evident in her Strokeplay. All this augurs well for India.

There is a lot of cricket lined up in the near future too. Domestic cricket has begun and in a couple of months Australia is coming to India to play a series. Likely that India plays another series before they begin with the T20 world cup in February,2023 in South Africa. Time to iron out the flaws that creep into the game in domestic cricket before the arsenal is added for international matches.

The world is watching and more so India is following the women's team now more than before. Ladies; no time to rest on laurels.

(Anjum Chopra is a former captain of the Indian women's cricket team. The views expressed here are personal)

--IANS
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