Sports

New Delhi, Oct 8 (IANS) Former India Test cricketer Bobby Narasimha Rao lavished praise on Global Power Cricket League (GPCL) T20, saying it can be a nursery for major tournaments like IPL.

Several marquee international cricketers from different parts of the world are featuring in the inaugural edition of the GPCL T20. And the tournament has also managed to attract netizens, as the league is trending on social media as well.

Speaking with IANS, Bobby Narasimha Rao, who is a commentator in the GPCL T20, said, "the quality of cricket has surprised me with some former Test cricketers like Ian Bell and Narsingh Deonarine and few budding youngsters from different countries."

"They have executed high level skills in all three departments of the game. The tournament is at a very exciting stage. The organising capabilities and facilities are second to none," he added.

Bobby Narasimha Rao, who represented India in 4 Tests, also believes that the GPCL is developing a new breed of stars and it should become a regular feature.

"Also, GPCL can be a nursery for global T20 tournaments such as IPL with the level of abundant talent shown by foreign first-class players and young cricketers."

The league has ensured that each team has Indian diaspora youth participation along with other players of that particular country.

India, Australia, England, USA, Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, and Sri Lanka are competing with each other for the coveted trophy.

So far, Indian Sapphires and English Reds have qualified for the semi-final from Pool A whereas Australian Golds and South African Emeralds have made it from Pool B.

Both the semifinals will take place in Yamuna Sports Complex Cricket Ground on October 8 here. The final is on October 9.

--IANS

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Perth, Oct 8 (IANS) England white-ball skipper Jos Buttler has said he is 100 per cent fit for three-match T20I series against Australia beginning here on October 9, which will serve as warm-up for the ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled to commence on October 16.

Buttler missed the seven-match T20I series in Pakistan recently as he was recovering from a calf injury with allrounder Moeen Ali leading the side to a 4-3 victory in the fixture.

However, ahead of the matches against Australia, Buttler said he had recovered fully from a calf injury that had been troubling him since mid-August.

"I'm back to 100 per cent," Buttler was quoted as saying by Sky Sports on Saturday after England flew into Australia following the series in Pakistan.

"Had a good time in Pakistan rehabbing, probably could have played earlier, but with the World Cup around the corner, it was the right thing to do (miss all seven T20I matches)," added Buttler.

Buttler also sounded positive about his two top-order batters -- Alex Hales and Phil Salt -- who were both tried as openers in the series against Pakistan and ended up impressing the selectors. The captain's return to the side means either of Hales or Salt will fill the second opener's slot, with regular opener Jason Roy being dropped due to a string of poor scores.

"We have great options at the top of the order with guys in really good form in Pakistan," Buttler said. "They're both (Salt and Hales) excellent options. Whoever I partner with will have a great go at it."

Buttler, however, indicated all-rounder Liam Livingstone could miss the World Cup Super-12 opener against Afghanistan on October 22 as he is "a little way off at the minute". "Hopefully he'll get back to full fitness before the start of the World Cup," added Buttler. Livingstone had suffered an ankle injury in The Hundred and missed the series in Pakistan.

--IANS

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Panchkula, Oct 7 (IANS) Chandigarh golfer Yuvraj Singh Sandhu continued his hot streak by securing his fourth win of the season at the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship 2022 here on Friday.

Yuvraj (68-68-65-68) carded 4-under 68 in round four to finish on top with an overall score of 19-under 269 to bag his seventh professional title.

Yuvraj took home the winner's cheque worth Rs. 7,50,000 to move up from third to second position in the PGTI Order of Merit.

Ajeetesh Sandhu (70-68-67-65), another Chandigarh golfer, managed to maintain his lead in the PGTI's money list after he carded the day's best round of 65 to finish joint runner-up at 18-under 270 along with Bangladesh golfer Jamal Hossain (65-68-71-66), who shot a 66 on Friday.

Sri Lankan N. Thangaraja (68) finished fourth with a score of 16-under 272 while overnight leader Badal Hossain (73) of Bangladesh finished fifth at 15-under 273.

Yuvraj Singh Sandhu who started the day in the second position, one shot off the lead, was steady with two birdies and all pars till the turn that helped him emerge as a leader. The 25-year-old Yuvraj picked up the pace with birdies on the 11th and 12th before dropping a shot on the 13th even as Ajeetesh Sandhu made a charge to move in within one shot of the lead after 14 holes.

"It feels amazing to win the trophy, the conditions were perfect and the home support was the icing on the cake. I was consistent through the week and that was the only way to brave your way to the top on this course, and I am glad my strategy worked," said Yuvraj Singh Sandhu post his win.

"Today I felt it was stressful, especially on the back nine. I felt I was literally under the gun over the last four holes. After the bogey on the 13th, I still had a two-shot lead. I was quite calm and knew that I needed to put it on the fairway off the tee and I did just that. I got a few wrong slopes on 17 and 18 but somehow just managed to make it," he said.

--IANS

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Perth, Oct 7 (IANS) A day after arriving in Australia, the Indian team commenced its preparation for the Men's T20 World Cup with their first training session at the WACA Stadium in Perth on Friday.

The Rohit Sharma-led side landed in Australia after departing from Mumbai in the early hours of Thursday without their 15th player in the squad as the replacement for injured pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is yet to be announced.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared a photo of Indian players and support staff looking to begin their training session with the sun shining at its brightest. "Hello and welcome to WACA. #TeamIndia are here for their first training session," wrote the BCCI on their social media accounts.

During their week-long stay in Perth to acclimatise to the Australian conditions, India will play two practice matches against Western Australia XI on October 10 and 13. They will then move towards Brisbane where they will play two warm-up matches against defending champions Australia on October 17 and last year's runners-up New Zealand on October 19.

After the end of the T20I series against South Africa at home, which India won 2-1, head coach Rahul Dravid had explained that the team being based in Perth for a week will help them in adapting to the pace and bounce offered by the pitches in Australia, especially with nearly half of the side not having played a T20 game in the country before.

"We will get an opportunity to spend a few days and sessions in Perth and then have a couple of matches there. Australia is quite unique in terms of the pace and bounce on those wickets and a lot of our players have not played a lot of T20 cricket in Australia."

"The idea was to give ourselves a chance to practice a little bit more, get acclimatised (to the conditions) and get some game time into practice. Having been to Australia before (in his playing days), it takes some time to get used to that pace and bounce and hopefully, once we practice, we would be able to have discussions around the sessions, strategies and tactics of how we need to play."

India, the inaugural Men's T20 World Cup winners in 2007, are in Group 2 of the Super 12 stage at T20 World Cup, alongside Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa and two qualifying sides from the first round of the tournament.

They will open their T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 23 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), followed by matches on October 27 (against the first qualifier side at SCG), October 30 (against South Africa at Perth Stadium), November 2 (against Bangladesh at Adelaide Oval) and November 6 (against second qualifier side at MCG).

--IANS

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Rajkot, Oct 7 (IANS) Maharashtra's Medhali Redkar on Friday won a gold medal in the women's 1M Springboard Diving competition at the 36th National Games Aquatics Competitions here.

The 24-year-old won the gold medal with a total of 171.50 points, finishing ahead of statemate Hrutika Shriram. The gold was a big success for Medhali, the gymnast-turned-diver, who switched sports in 2015, as she had finished fifth in the National Championships in Guwahati recently.

When Medhali Redkar hit the proverbial wall in her gymnastics career, her coaches suggested that she try her hand at diving as both sports require similar core strength and acrobatic abilities.

Unsure of whether it was the right choice or not, Medhali Redkar banked on her belief of not rejecting any new idea without trying it out first and took the plunge.

Seven years later, the 24-year-old from Mumbai ended state-mate Hrutika Shriram's stranglehold on the gold medals by clinching the yellow metal in the 1M Springboard contest here on Friday.

"I had made the team in only one event, and since it was the last event, the fatigue of waiting was setting in. But I worked on that with my psychologist and came close to my best-ever (performance) to win the medal," said Medhali.

Incidentally, Medhali had bagged a bronze medal in the 3M Springboard event at the just-concluded Senior Nationals in Guwahati and had finished fifth in the 1M Springboard event.

"I had complete confidence in my abilities. Yes, there was some anxiety in my mind going into the competition. But I worked on focusing only on my routine today," add Medhali Redkar, who is also a practising physiotherapist.

The 24-year-old, who had won multiple national-level medals in gymnastics, has been successfully balancing her academics and sports over the years and said it was easy for her as she was driven to excel in both.

"I never wanted to restrict myself just to academics or sports. It means I need to work extra hard and my social life and friendships suffer. But I am happy with the way things are," said Medhali Redkar, who spends about three hours on diving practice and also works with a local sports clinic as her day job.

Speaking about her transition from gymnastics to diving, Medhali said she initially used to practice both sports when she joined coach Tushar Gitaye in the Prabodhankar Thackeray Swimming Pool back in 2015.

"Though gymnastics and diving need similar abilities, the techniques are quite different. In diving, you go head first in the water while in gymnastics you have to land on your feet.

"I wasn't getting the right feel initially. But in the school nationals that same year, I finished fourth or fifth but was very happy with the way I executed my dives and decided that I could do this for a career," she said.

Medhali is aware that diving isn't one of the more popular sports in the country but is hoping that things will change in the near future. "When I started gymnastics, it was still an obscure sport. It was only after Dipa Karmakar reached the Olympics that everyone started knowing about it.

"Hopefully, diving will also soon get there. I will be happy to contribute to its success with my performances," she added.


--IANS
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Surat, Oct 7 (IANS) B Sai Praneeth, who won the men's badminton title in the 36th National Games here on Thursday, wants to break into the top 25 again in the world rankings.

After consistently beating some of the big names in the game since 2017, he topped it off by winning the Singapore Super Series crown 2017 and a World Championship bronze medal in 2019.

It looked like he would go on to conquer the world, step by step. But then the Covid Pandemic broke. Lockdowns were imposed around the world, including in India.

Everything came to a standstill, including Sai Praneeth's career.

"My career was on a high since 2017. I was on top of my game and was brimming with confidence too," he said, shortly after giving Telangana their third gold in the shuttle sport.

"But unfortunately, the lockdowns were imposed. It proved to be a huge disaster for me," he added.

"My training came to a halt. I used to go to the stadium but I wouldn't have any sparring partners. I was in a confused state of mind too. I didn't know if I should train or play safe. I ended up sitting at home," he disclosed, explaining the dip in his rankings.

Not only did Sai Praneeth lose momentum, his confidence also took a jolt. A couple of injuries also didn't help.

"I could not plan or train properly for the Tokyo Olympics. After that, because of a sudden overload of training, I picked up injuries too," he revealed.

The 30-year-old highly talented player feels he is back in his groove now. It must have helped that he upset Kerala's HS Prannoy, currently leading the World Tour Rankings, in the Team Championship Finals.

In the Men's Singles finals, he downed Karnataka's Mithun Manjunath for the title.

"It is all about self-belief and confidence. The win over Prannoy in the National Games will be a big boost for me going forward," he conceded.

Sai Praneeth, however, dismisses the talk that he is on his way out, declaring that he still has 2-3 years of badminton left in him. "My priority is to get back into the Top-25 in the world as early as possible. I have to work on my fitness so that I can play several tournaments.

"My family is a big help and that motivates me to play again. When I see my son, I feel relieved and happy," he said.


--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS) Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir on Friday will be taking up a broader role in the RPSG group-owned Super Giants' franchises, as their Global Mentor.

Gambhir, who was the team mentor for Lucknow Super Giants reaching the playoffs in their debut season of IPL this year, will also be the mentor of Durban Super Giants franchise in the inaugural edition of SA20 league in South Africa set to start from January 10 next year.

Explaining about Gambhir's elevation as the Global Mentor for Lucknow and Durban franchises in the IPL and SA20 leagues, the official statement from the RPSG Group said with him being one of the sharpest cricketing minds going around in the world, they feel he can not only add value in Indian conditions but across the cricketing map as well.

"In my ideology of a team sport designations don't play much role. At best they are there to facilitate a process to make a team win. As a Global mentor of Super Giants I look forward to some added responsibility. My intensity and passion to win have just got International wings," said Gambhir after his appointment to the role of Global Mentor.

Gambhir, the former left-handed batter, was a member of India's Men's T20 World Cup winning squad in 2007 and ODI World Cup winning squad in 2011, playing critical knocks in the finals of both tournaments. As a captain, he led Kolkata Knight Riders to IPL victories in 2012 and 2014.

"It will be a proud moment to see the Super Giants family leave a global imprint. I thank Super Giants family for showing that faith in me. Guess it's time for some more sleepless nights," he added.

Gambhir played 58 Tests and made 4154 runs, amassing 5238 runs in 147 ODIs and scoring 932 runs 37 T20Is for India. He featured in the IPL since its inception in 2008 till 2018 in which he represented the Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals) and Kolkata Knight Riders in 154 matches, scoring 4217 runs at an average of 31.01, including 36 half-centuries.

He played for Delhi from 2008-10 in the IPL and then played for Kolkata from 2011-17. After being released by Kolkata, Gambhir returned to Delhi in 2018 season, but stepped down from the leadership duties mid-way and handed over the captaincy to Shreyas Iyer.

The RPSG Group, who previously ran the Rising Pune Supergiant team in 2016 and 2017 editions of the IPL, had bought the rights of Lucknow Super Giants for a whopping Rs 7090 crore in October 2021.


--IANS
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Lucknow, Oct 6 (IANS) David Miller and Heinrich Klassen slammed unbeaten fifties to power South Africa to 249/4 against India in a rain-hit first ODI which has been reduced to 40-over per side at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Thursday.

Pushed into batting first, South Africa were troubled by the movement for the Indian pacers caused by moisture of the pitch due to rain causing delay in proceedings for nearly two hours.

At 110/4 in 22.2 overs, South Africa were staring at a low total when Miller (75 not out off 63 balls) and Klassen (74 not out off 65 balls) shared a rollicking stand of 139 runs off 106 balls and took the attack to the Indian bowlers to bring the Proteas back in the match.

South Africa had a steady start with Janneman Malan being steady in power-play, punching through cover and pulling with great authority though India got some movement to beat him and Quinton de Kock couple of times.

Malan had luck on his side when Shubman Gill dropped his catch at second slip off Shardul Thakur. De Kock, on the other hand, got going with a brace of fours off debutant leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi. Thakur then gave India an important breakthrough in the 13th over when Malan's flick flew off the toe-end of the bat to mid-wicket.

Thakur came back to castle Temba Bavuma through the gate while Kuldeep Yadav got Aiden Markram out for a five-ball duck. The left-arm wrist-spinner got the ball to drift across Markram and then spun back in sharply, sneaking through the gap between bat and pad to rattle top of off-stump. De Kock's resistance ended when he was trapped lbw off Bishnoi while going for a reverse sweep.

When Miller came at the crease, Klassen had got going with three fours. Miller, who's improved game against spin has been an impressive story this year, took two fours in his first six balls before fabulously lofting Bishnoi over mid-off for six. The duo dealt in ones and twos before Klassen took boundaries off Bishnoi and Kuldeep while Miller hit Thakur for two fours.

After reaching their respective fifties in the 36th over, Klassen brought out the shot of the innings with a creamy loft over cover off Avesh Khan for six, followed by a cracking cut through backward point off Mohammed Siraj.

The duo were also helped by India's sloppiness in the field, with Siraj, Ruturaj Gaikwad dropping catches and Ishan Kishan mis-fielding at backward point to give away a four. Miller hit two sixes and a four in the last three overs while Klassen hit a four to give South Africa a respectable total.

Brief Scores: South Africa 249/4 in 40 overs (David Miller 75 not out, Heinrich Klaasen 74 not out, Shardul Thakur 2/35, Kuldeep Yadav 1/39) against India

--IANS
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Lucknow, Oct 6 (IANS) David Miller and Heinrich Klassen slammed unbeaten fifties to power South Africa to 249/4 against India in a rain-hit first ODI which has been reduced to 40-over per side at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Thursday.

Pushed into batting first, South Africa were troubled by the movement for the Indian pacers caused by moisture of the pitch due to rain causing delay in proceedings for nearly two hours.

At 110/4 in 22.2 overs, South Africa were staring at a low total when Miller (75 not out off 63 balls) and Klassen (74 not out off 65 balls) shared a rollicking stand of 139 runs off 106 balls and took the attack to the Indian bowlers to bring the Proteas back in the match.


Brief Scores: South Africa 249/4 in 40 overs (David Miller 75 not out, Heinrich Klaasen 74 not out, Shardul Thakur 2/35, Kuldeep Yadav 1/39) against India

--IANS
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Lucknow, Oct 6 (IANS) South Africa all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius on Thursday has been ruled out of the ODI series against India and the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia due to a fracture on his left thumb.

As per an official statement from Cricket South Africa (CSA), Pretorius sustained the injury during the third T20I against India at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore, where South Africa won by 49 runs.

"The nature of the injury requires surgical intervention and Dwaine will consult the Cricket South Africa designated hand surgeon on arrival in South Africa. Normal rehabilitation procedures will follow to ensure he speedily returns to playing cricket," explained Dr Shuaib Manjra, Chief Medical Officer.

Pretorius is the second major player from South Africa to miss the T20 World Cup starting later in the month in Australia, after middle-order batter Rassie van der Dussen was ruled out with a left index finger injury which needed surgery last month.

In place of Pretorius, left-arm pace all-rounder Marco Jansen has been added to the ODI squad and a further announcement on Pretorius' replacement for the T20 World Cup will be made in the coming days.

Jansen and fellow pace all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo along with left-arm spin all-rounder Bjorn Fortuin are the travelling reserves with South Africa for the T20 World Cup. The trio are in contention now to be promoted to the main squad as Pretorius' replacement.

In 2022, Pretorius has featured in eight T20Is for South Africa, taking 12 wickets at an average of 20.66 and importantly scoring quick runs with the bat from down the order, including a blazing cameo of 29 off just 13 balls as a number three batter against India in New Delhi in June.

After the tour to India ends, South Africa will travel to Australia for participating in T20 World Cup. They are in Group 2 of the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup, alongside Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and two yet to be known teams from round one.

--IANS
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