Sports

New Delhi, March 24 (IANS) With Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 set to begin on March 31, former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has joined the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) camp where he decided to roll his arms during the franchise's training session.

Fans were amazed to see the wicket-keeper batter bowling and wondered whether the CSK captain might have a surprise in store for fans in the upcoming IPL edition.

CSK shared a video of Dhoni on social media titled "The Multiverse of Mahi," which sees the skipper having some fun while batting and bowling in the nets.

Dhoni is among the few players to have played more than 100 IPL matches. Despite playing 234 matches to date in his IPL career, Dhoni has never bowled an over in an IPL match.

With the 2023 edition likely to be Dhoni's last in the IPL, the yellow brigade will look to get back to high standards after a forgetful 2022 season, where they finished ninth in the table just ahead of Mumbai Indians.

The Dhoni-led side will open their campaign against defending champions Gujarat Giants in the curtain-raiser on March 31 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

--IANS

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By Niharika Raina
Ahmedabad, March 23 (IANS) Vikram Solanki, the director of cricket of Gujarat Titans franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL), believes that the impact player rule, set to be introduced from the upcoming season, will be bringing an interesting dynamic to the cash rich league.



For the upcoming IPL season starting from March 31, teams have to name five substitutes apart from the playing eleven after the toss is conducted. A captain can pick one of the four substitutes as impact player at any juncture and can bring him at the start of the innings or at the end of an over or when a wicket falls.

"It's going to be an interesting change to the dynamics. It will bring for some tactical decisions to be made. But essentially the way we are looking at it at the moment, especially naming your eleven or bigger squad of 15 after the toss, that has a slightly different bearing as well."

But initially we are starting to have discussions about it and I repeat, it will bring an interesting dynamic to the IPL this year. We have had discussions about it and it will be interesting to see how the teams go about it," said Solanki while replying to a question from IANS in the pre-season virtual interaction.

Titans will enter IPL 2023 as defending champions after having won the title in their very first outing as a team last year, and will begin their campaign against Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium on March 31.

Central to that stunning run to the trophy was the leadership skills as well as all-round performance shown by Hardik Pandya, with Solanki expressing confidence that the fast-bowling all-rounder will keep the side together, especially after having captained India in 11 T20Is as well as in one ODI.

"I don't think Hardik was new to the leadership role. I maintain that we viewed Hardik as a leader from the time he joined the team last year because he had the experience of winning four IPL titles with Mumbai Indians and played some leadership role there. It was very apparent from how he conducted himself," said Solanki.

"Hardik took to that leadership role almost seamlessly. We are looking forward to him joining the team, as he led us tremendously well last year. We don't know if there will be a change in his leadership since he has captained India. I am confident Hardik will be the same as he was last year and he will keep the whole team involved," he added.

Apart from Hardik, in-form Shubman Gill also holds the key for Titans' getting a good start with the bat. Gill had amassed 483 runs in 16 matches for the Titans' in IPL 2022 at an average of 34.5. He comes into IPL 2023 on the back of scoring centuries for India in Tests, ODIs and T20Is in this year. Solanki threw light on how Gill can be a leader for the future.

"Shubman Gill has been a leader in his own right for the simple fact that he takes on a lot of responsibility. Shubman adopted a leadership role last year by his conduct, the professional attitude ahead of every game."

"Do I think Shubman will be a leader in the future? Yes, absolutely. But no decision has been made on it. He is very mature and a considerate young man who has an abundant amount of talent, but he's also got a very smart cricket brain."

Asked about the pressure of going into the competition as defending champions, Solanki remarked the Titans' are aware of putting in hard yards more than ever to fend off the challenge from other teams.

"All teams go about working hard as possibly as they can and trying to put in place strategies and taking decisions for the betterment of their team. It is just that the decisions we took and things we did were successful last year. That's not a guarantee that it will be the case this year."

Everybody in their endeavour tries to possibly be the best team that they can be. I am confident that every team sets out to win every match and place themselves in the qualification arena to win the competition," said Titans's director of cricket.

"Every team sets out to do that; we were just the same and the decisions we took helped us to navigate our way to the championship. We know that we will have to work very hard to get into the positions we want to be in this year and are aware that the rest of the teams are doing exactly that as well," he added.

--IANS

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New Delhi, March 23 (IANS) Legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar has asked Rohit Sharma & Co. to not forget the kind of loss they faced at the hands of Australian in the third and final ODI of the series in Chennai on Wednesday, saying that they could again meet the five-time champions in the ODI World Cup, to be held later in the year at home.

Chasing 270 on a slow and tricky pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, where stroke-play wasn't easy, India were bundled out for 248 in 49.1 overs, losing the series 1-2. The match also meant that India lost a bilateral ODI series for the first time since 2019.

Co-incidentally, Australia were the last team to beat India in a bilateral ODI series back in 2019, winning the five-game series 3-2.

"It was the pressure created. They were not getting singles. The boundaries had dried up and they weren't even getting singles. When that happens then you try and play something that you are not used to."

That is something they will have to look at. But of course, now the IPL starts. This shouldn't be forgotten. India sometimes makes the mistake of forgetting this, but this one shouldn't be because, in the World Cup, we may face Australia again," Gavaskar told Star Sports after the end of the match.

India had a 65-run opening partnership, followed by Virat Kohli and KL Rahul putting on 69 runs for the fourth wicket. But after the duo followed by Suryakumar Yadav, who was out for a first-ball duck for the third time in the series fell in quick succession, India were put under pressure and could never recover from the setbacks.

Gavaskar pointed out that India unable to get a big partnership also cost them hugely in the ODI series decider defeat in Chennai.

"When you are chasing a score of 270 or nearly 300, you need a partnership of about 90 or 100 and that will take you close. But that didn't happen," he said.

"Yes, there were a couple of partnerships, one between Rahul and Kohli, but then you wanted another similar or bigger stand. Fielding from Australia was outstanding. Their bowling was very good. It was tight, stump to stump, but their fielding was very good. That was the difference," he concluded.

India will next play three ODIs at home against Australia again in September, before the ODI World Cup in October-November.

--IANS

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Basel (Switzerland), March 23 (IANS) Indian badminton players PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy advanced to the second round of Swiss Open 2023 but compatriot Lakshya Sen crashed out in the opening round of the tournament, here.

Double Olympic medallist Sindhu, the reigning champion, defeated Switzerland's Jenjira Stadelmann 21-9, 21-16 in a 32-minute affair on Wednesday night. She will play Indonesia's Putri Kusuma Wardani next.

On the other hand, former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the next round with a hard-fought 21-16, 15-21, 21-18 win over China's Weng Hong Yang and set up a second round clash against Cheuk Yiu Lee.

In another men's singles match, fifth-seeded HS Prannoy beat China's Shi Yu Qi with a 21-17, 19-21, 21-17 win in a closely-fought tie which lasted for an hour.

Another Indian player, Mithun Manjunath registered a 21-8, 21-17 win over Joran Kweekel of the Netherlands to advance to the men's singles pre-quarterfinals. He will face Chia Hao Lee of Chinese Taipei next.

However, Commonwealth Games 2022 men's champion Lakshya made a first round exit after losing 18-21, 11-21 to Hong Kong's Cheuk Yiu Lee, ranked 19th.

Meanwhile, Malvika Bansod lost 14-21, 15-21 to Korea's Kim Ga Eun while Aakarshi Kashyap was handed a 21-15, 21-17 defeat by Germany's Yvonne Li in the women's singles events.

Kiran George, however, lost his men's singles tie to bow out.

In the women's doubles, the Indian pair of N Sikki Reddy and Arathi Sara Sunil crashed out in the opening round, losing 12-21, 14-21 against Japan's Sayaka Hobara and Yui Suizu. Reddy also lost her mixed doubles match, partnering Rohan Kapoor.

On the other hand, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, India's top pair in men's doubles, defeated the Malaysian pair of Xin Yuan Boon and Tien Ci Wong 21-15, 21-18 to stay in the hunt for a medal.

--IANS

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Chennai, March 23 (IANS) India captain Rohit Sharma stated that the workload management of players during IPL 2023 is upto the franchises now, though he also admitted about being unsure of it despite the team management giving some indications to all ten franchises in the competition.

IPL 2023 starts from March 31 and will end on May 28. For the Indian players, including Rohit himself, they will have very little turnaround time as the World Test Championship final against Australia begins from June 7 at The Oval in London.

"I mean, it's all up to the franchises now. The franchises own them (players) now, so we've given some indications or some kind of borderline kind of a thing to the teams. But at the end of the day, it's up to the franchise and, most importantly, it's the players, they have to take care of their own body."

They (players) are all adults. So, they have to look after their body and just if they feel that it's getting a little too much, they can always talk about it and have a break in one or two games. I doubt (if) that will happen but," said Rohit in the post-match press conference after India lost the third ODI to Australia by 21 runs in Chennai, losing the series 1-2.

Rohit also conceded that he was worried by India's injury list, which has seen multiple players breaking down last year. Some of them like Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Rishabh Pant and more recently, Shreyas Iyer, are on long road to recoveries from their respective injuries, thus putting them in a race against time to be fit and available for ODI World Cup, to be held in India in October-November.

"Look, it is concerning because we are missing the players who are actually playing eleven players; they regularly play in the playing eleven. But honestly, everyone's trying their best to get everyone on the path, we've been focusing a lot on management of the players, which is why you keep seeing we have to rest certain players at certain point in time," the Indian captain said.

From our side, we can do our best in handling them. But I am not a specialist in telling why recurring injuries are happening. Our medical team is definitely looking into all of this and come the World Cup, we will have our best 15 players ready.

Obviously when you play so much cricket injuries are bound to happen. So not looking too much into it. What's available to you, what's in your hand, you can control that, and we are just trying to control all of that," he added.

Iyer was pulled out mid-way from India's fourth Test against Australia at Ahmedabad due to recurrence of a lower back injury. He was subsequently ruled out of ODIs against Australia and is now a huge doubt for participating in IPL 2023, where he captains Kolkata Knight Riders.

"Players are frustrated as well. They want to play and they don't want to miss out. So, I mean it is a little sad, but at the end of the day, you cannot really do too much. I can see, and I can vouch for it, that the people working behind the scenes are working really hard with all these layers and freakish injuries can happen at any point in time, like Shreyas (Iyer) was the best example," said Rohit.

"He was sitting the whole day and he just went to take a knock. And you know the injury happened to him. There's nothing you could do about it, and I mean, the only thing we can keep in mind is managing players and giving them enough breaks. And I think from our side we're doing that," he concluded.  

--IANS

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Chennai, March 22 (IANS) Fast-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya and left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav pick three wickets each as India bowled out Australia for 269 in 49 overs in the ODI series decider at M A Chidambaram Stadium, here on Wednesday.

Electing to bat first, Australia seemed to have read the conditions well by maximising the powerplay. But despite getting into double figures barring Steve Smith falling for a two-ball duck, none of the batters could make a big score.

A majority of their batters lost their wickets on a slow pitch where shot-making wasn't easy, especially of aerial shots. Hardik kept banging his deliveries to pick 3/44 while Kuldeep got sharp turn to take 3/56. The duo were supported by Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel taking two wickets each, while Ravindra Jadeja bowled tight lines while conceding only 34 runs in his ten uninterrupted overs.

After Travis Head drove Mohammed Shami down the ground for four in the opening over, Marsh began to dominate the Indian bowlers. He was quick to pick lengths from Mohammed Siraj and flicked him through mid-wicket with perfection for two boundaries.

After whipping Shami over the same region for six, Marsh again drove off Siraj twice on both sides of the 'v' for boundaries. Shami came under attack again when Head whipped for six, while Marsh clipped for four through the leg-side.

When Axar Patel overpitched on the first ball of eighth over, Head lofted down the ground for six, followed by Marsh bringing up Australia's fifty with a four thumped through extra cover. Head looked in great touch, pulling and upper-cutting off Siraj for two fours.

But on the fifth ball of 11th over, Head was caught at deep third man off Hardik after Shubman Gill dropped him at deep square leg just two balls before. In his next over, he extracted a drive from Steve Smith and the outside edge went behind to KL Rahul.

Hardik had his third wicket in three overs when Marsh looked to drive a length ball outside off-stump, but inside edged to the stumps. David Warner, batting at number four for the first time in ODIs, tried to loft Kuldeep over deep mid-wicket, but the ball turned and took the leading edge to long-off in the 25th over.

Four overs later, Labuschagne too fell to Kuldeep when he never got close to pitch of the ball and holed out to long-off. Carey and Stoinis were proactive in their sixth-wicket stand, where the duo relied a lot on strike rotation and used a lot of reverse sweeps as well as slamming boundaries over long-on.

Axar broke the partnership in the 37th over when Stoinis went for a loft, but the bat turned on impact and took the inner edge to long-on. Two overs later, Carey looked to defend against a leg-break from Kuldeep which was pitched around leg-stump. But the ball spun away sharply to hit the top of off-stump, leaving everyone bewildered.

With Australia's batting going deep, Abbott pulled Hardik for four, before unfurling a superb reverse sweep off Kuldeep to pick another boundary. After slamming Axar over long-on for a big six, Ashton Agar joined the party by smacking another maximum over the same region.

But Patel ended the joyride on last ball of the 45th over by castling Abbott, who was shaping up for a swipe across the line. Agar departed in the next over by pulling a Siraj bouncer straight to deep mid-wicket. Adam Zampa and Mitchell Starc hit a boundary each, before Siraj had the latter caught at deep square-leg to end Australia's innings in 49 overs.

Brief Scores: Australia 269 all out in 49 overs (Mitchell Marsh 47, Alex Carey 38; Hardik Pandya 3/44, Kuldeep Yadav 3/56) against India

--IANS
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Bhopal, March 22 (IANS) Sarabjot Singh gave India a dream start at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol, demolishing Ruslan Lunev of Azerbaijan 16-0 in the gold medal match of the men's 10m Air Pistol here on Wednesday.

Sarbjot's compatriot Varun Tomar won bronze in the event on the opening day. This was the 19-year-old's second medal this year at the ISSF World Cup, having won the bronze in Cairo earlier this year, his first-ever senior World Cup medal.

Sarabjot, however, was the toast of the day, dishing out a dominating performance in his very first senior World Cup final, held at the newly inaugurated Finals Hall at the MP Shooting Academy range.

It was a pillar-to-post finish for the 21-year-old pistol shooter, as he first topped the 60-shot qualification round among the 24 medals with a score of 585.

In the 25-shot top eight ranking round, he topped again with a score of 253.2 before going on to register probably the first-ever blank-out of an opponent in an ISSF World Cup stage gold medal match.

To put the icing on the cake, he shot a perfect 10.9 for his final shot to win his first-ever ISSF World Cup medal in some style.

While Sarabjot was among the top three throughout the course of the ranking round, compatriot Varun Tomar had a blow-hot blow-cold final and even as at one stage it looked like it would be an all-India gold medal match, but he finished with a score of 250.3 to settle for the bronze.

Sumit Raman, the third Indian in the field, shot 577 to finish 10th among medal contenders.

In the women's 10m air pistol event, Divya Thadigol Subbaraju finished fifth with a total score of 197.1, after finishing third in the qualifications with 579.

Two other Indians in the fray, Rhythm Sangwan and Manu Bhaker, shot scores of 572 and 568 in qualification to finish 10th and 12th among medal contenders respectively.

Esha Singh and Yashaswini Singh Deswal, competing under RPO in the qualifications shot 576 and 574 respectively.

After losing out on a medal in the men's event, Chinese women shooters have made the job done, Li Xue defeated two-time world championship medallist Doreen Veenekamp of Germany 17-5 in the gold medal match.

Qian Wei ensured that they picked up two of the three medals on offer by finishing the ranking round in third place with a score of 250.2.

China and hosts India ended competition day one with an identical medal tally of one gold and a bronze.

--IANS
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Mumbai, March 17 (IANS) Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh took to the social media site Twitter to share that he had gone to meet wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who is currently on road to recovery after suffering multiple injuries in a horrific car accident last year.

Alongside a picture of him with Rishabh, Yuvraj tweeted, "On to baby steps!!! This champion is going to rise again (soon). Was good catching up and having a laugh. What a guy positive and funny always!! More power to you."

On Wednesday, Pant shared a video on his social media accounts, where he was seen making slow walking steps in a swimming pool with the help of a walking stick in his left hand as a part of his recovery process.

"Grateful for small things, big things, And everything in between," wrote Pant in the post on his social media accounts. The BCCI commented on Twitter, 'More power to you champ'.

On December 30, 2022, around 5:30 am, Pant, 25, miraculously survived when his Mercedes car collided with a divider and caught fire on the Delhi-Dehradun highway while on the way to his hometown Roorkee. The horrific car accident happened between Manglaur and Narsan in the Haridwar district in the state of Uttarakhand.

Pant was initially taken to Saksham Hospital Multispecialty and Trauma Centre, before being admitted to Max Hospital, Dehradun. The first medical update from the BCCI hours after the accident on December 30 said apart from a right knee ligament tear, Pant suffered two cuts on his forehead, and has also hurt his right wrist, ankle, and toe apart from abrasion injuries on his back.

On January 4, the BCCI announced Pant would be shifted to Mumbai via an air ambulance for surgery and further treatment and would be under the direct supervision of Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, the head of the Centre for Sports Medicine, and Director of Arthroscopy & Shoulder Service, at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Andheri West, Mumbai.

In January, Pant shared through social media that his surgery was successful. On February 10, Pant tweeted a picture of himself walking with the help of crutches, his right leg in a bandage with a caption reading, "One step forward, One step stronger, One step better".

Pant, who made his international cricket debut in February 2017, was last seen in action when India sealed a 2-0 Test series victory over Bangladesh in December 2022.

In the second Test match which ended on December 25, he hit a match-winning 93 in the first innings at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. As of now, the BCCI has not given any specific timeframe for Pant's return to competitive cricket.

--IANS

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New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) Star boxer Nikhat Zareen kickstarted the defence of her title and India's challenge on an impressive note at the IBA Women's World Boxing Championships with a dominating victory while Sakshi Chaudhary, Nupur Sheoran and Preeti also made winning starts on the opening day of the competition on Thursday.

Nikhat, the 26-year-old exuberant boxer from Telangana who clinched the 52kg gold in the last edition in Istanbul, took just over four minutes to outclass Anakhanim Ismayilova with the Referee Stops Contest (RSC) verdict in the 50kg opening round contest at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex here.

The pugilist from Azerbaijan looked clueless against Nikhat's lopsided bout. The Indian will take on top-seeded Roumaysa Boualam of Algeria in the second round.

NIkhat's dominating triumph, in the first bout of the day, provided a befitting start to the prestigious event, which is being hosted by the Boxing Federation of India for the record third time in the country.

Extending the hosts' domination on the opening day, 2021 Asian Championships bronze medallists Sakshi and Nupur also registered emphatic wins with an identical 5-0 margin in their respective matches.

Sakshi dominated Colombian Maria Jose Martinez with supreme technical ability in the 52kg Round-of-32. Nupur (+81kg), on the other hand, proved too strong for Abiola Jackman of Guyana in the Round-of-16 bout. Sakshi will now face Kazakhstan's Urakbayeva Zhazira in the next round whereas debutant Nupur will be up against tough Lazzat Kungeibayeva of Kazakhstan, the 2016 World Champion, in the quarterfinals.

Later, Preeti's RSC win over Hungary's Hanna Lakotar in the 54kg opening round ensured an unbeaten record for hosts on Day 1 of the tournament. She will be up against the last edition's silver medallist Lacramioara Perijoc of Romania in the second round.

Meanwhile, French boxer Lkhadiri Wassila caused a major upset of the day in the 50kg category when she sent the 2018 Asian Games gold medallist Chang Yuan of China packing with a 5-2 win in a thrilling bout after the review.

The ongoing event is witnessing the participation of 324 boxers, including several Olympic medallists, from 65 countries fighting for titles in the 12 weight categories.

Rio Olympics champion Estelle Mossely (60kg) of France is scheduled to begin her campaign on the second day of the tournament on Friday along with some other top boxers, including the five-time World Championships medallist Elif Guneri (75kg) of Turkey, reigning Asian Champion Oh Yeon-Ji (60kg) of South Korea, and former world champions Italy's Alessia Mesiano (60kg) and Lina Wang (81kg) of China.

Among Indians, Jaismine Lamboria (60kg), Shashi Chopra (63kg) and Shruti Yadav (70kg) will fight in the Round-of-32. The tournament has a massive prize pool of INR 20 crore.

--IANS

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Johannesburg, March 16 (IANS) South Africa's all-rounder Dane van Niekerk has announced her retirement from all forms of international cricket, ending a career that spanned more than 14 years.

Dane represented South Africa in 107 ODIs, 86 T20Is and a single Test match against India in 2014, with her last international appearance coming in 2021 before a broken ankle left her sidelined.

Her decision to retire from international cricket comes after her controversial non-selection in South Africa's squad for the Women's T20 World Cup in February. Dane failed to pass the fitness test by 18 seconds and was eventually left out of the squad.

In her absence, Sune Luus led the team to a runners-up finish, after losing to eventual six-time champions Australia in the final at Cape Town. Dane had hinted through an Instagram story on Saturday that she could be quitting international cricket.

"It is with great sadness that I announce my retirement from international cricket. It has been my greatest honour to lead and represent my country. I am incredibly blessed to have led the team through its transformative years. There is no doubt that the women's game is in an exciting space and looking forward to seeing this beautiful game that I love to grow."

"I look back on my career fondly and have made incredible memories and want to thank Cricket South Africa and all other stakeholders for your support. Often the journey can be lonely, painful, and emotional, but would not change it for anything. I'm grateful for what this game has given me," said Dane in her official statement.

Beginning her international career in March 2009, Dane scored 2175 runs in ODI cricket, with nine half-centuries and a career-best score of 102 against Sri Lanka, while amassing 1877 runs in T20Is, notching up 10 fifties.

With the ball, the leg-spinner bagged 138 wickets in ODIs, 65 scalps in T20Is and 1 in Tests, including recording-breaking figures of four for zero during the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2017 against the West Indies in Leicester, England.

Dane is one of only six female cricketers to claim more than 1000 runs, 50 wickets and 50 catches in the One-Day format, while also having the fourth-best bowling strike rate (5.0) recorded in the history of Women's ODI cricket.

"To all the players that I had the privilege to have shared the dressing room and competed with, I will hold on to the memories dearly. We are merely custodians of this sport; I hand it over knowing I have given it my everything and that women's cricket is in a better place than when I arrived."

"That must be the responsibility of the new group, to always make sure you are improving and making a difference. It is time for me to support the new leadership and wish them all the very best," she added.

Dane signs off as South Africa's most successful captain in ODIs, leading the team to victory in 29 of the 50 ODIs from 2016 to 2021. Under her in T20Is, South Africa won 15 of the 30 matches from 2014 to 2021.

"To my amazing family. Thank you for your incredible love and support. From the age of four, you have seen my potential and done everything and anything to help me exceed it. I will forever be grateful."

"My wife, Marizanne, you stood by my side since day one. Thank you for putting up with me and all that came with it, but yet, here you are. You are at the pinnacle of your career and it is my time to support you, the way you have supported me. I love you," she stated.

Dane was a part of South Africa's ODI World Cup squads in 2009, 2013 and 2017 and also featured in the T20 World Cups from 2009 to 2020. She is currently with the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad in the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League in India.

"I would like to take this opportunity to graciously thank Dané for all her years of service and contribution to not only the ground-breaking success of the Momentum Proteas over the last decade but to the overall growth and popularity of women's cricket in South Africa and around the world."

"Her world-class cricketing ability and exceptional leadership skills are irrefutable and will surely be missed by her teammates, coaches and all South African fans who have followed her journey over the last 14 years. We wish Dané all the very best ahead of the next chapter in her career," said Enoch Nkwe, CSA Director of Cricket.

--IANS

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