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Melbourne, Oct 16 (IANS) Former England captain Nasser Hussain opined that the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, starting from Sunday in Australia, will give fans chances to see hard-fought battles between 16 teams apart from some top-drawer performances in 45 matches to be held over the next 28 days.

"The ICC Men's T20 World Cup is a great tournament with the world's best talent on view. Not much separates the teams, and the tournament promises some hard-fought battles and top-drawer performances. I am sure I will enjoy commentating in Australia, which has some iconic venues and spectators who really love the game," said Hussain, who will be commentating in the tournament.

Eoin Morgan, the last captain to lift the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup trophy and retired from international cricket earlier this year, will be also a part of the panel alongside Australian trio of Adam Gilchrist, Shane Watson and Michael Clarke apart from Michael Atherton.

"This is one of cricket's most exciting tournaments and the players will be raring to go out there and show what they are capable of. It's going to be a very competitive event with teams adding new skills in a format evolving at a rapid pace. I'm looking forward to being a part of the action in my new role as a broadcaster," he said.

Former India coach and men's Cricket World Cup winner Ravi Shastri will be commentating in the tournament alongside T20 World Cup winners Carlos Brathwaite and Samuel Badree, ICC Hall of Famers Shaun Pollock and Sunil Gavaskar, and former South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn.

Other commentators include Ian Smith, Bazid Khan, Ian Bishop, Athar Ali Khan, Simon Doull, Russel Arnold, Danny Morrison, Mpumelelo Mbangwa, Dirk Nannes, Niall O'Brien and Preston Mommsen.

Gilchrist was understandably thrilled over the prospect of Australia hosting the Men's T20 World Cup for the first time after playing hosts to Women's T20 World Cup in 2020.

"We're really excited to have one of cricket's marquee events come to our shores in Australia. The spotlight will be on some wonderful venues, and it's a great opportunity for fans to come out and support their favourite teams. I'm really looking forward to being a part of the commentary team."

The panel also has former women's cricketers like England's Isa Guha, a Women's Cricket World Cup and T20 World Cup winner apart from Australia's Mel Jones, herself a Women's Cricket World Cup winner.

"It's time for another Men's T20 World Cup and it's one that Australian fans are keenly awaiting. The conditions on offer here will make for some entertaining cricket and I'm expecting to see a lot of closely fought contests."

"Memories of the women's team famously winning at the MCG in 2020 are still fresh in my mind. The chance of the men's team replicating that, and going back-to-back themselves, has the whole country buzzing," she said.


--IANS

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New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) 'Mismatched' actor Taaruk Raina recently opened up about reprising his role as Anmol Malhotra in season 2. The series is based on Sandhya Menon's 2017 novel 'When Dimple Met Rishi' and was adapted by Gazal Dhaliwal and directed by Akarsh Khurana and Nipun Dharmadhikari.

On talking about reprising his role, he told IANS: "It's been a dream out and out, all this time I was just waiting to get back to it and when the day came, I was just ready. To get back into the skin just felt like muscle memory, so familiar, it felt like home. It's been a wild ride playing Anmol, all the ups and downs and the physicality of it."

Season 1 featured actors like Prajakta Koli, Rohit Saraf, Rannvijay Singha and Vidya Malvade in prominent roles. Taaruk also shared how his character has evolved in season 2.

"I think there's a lot more depth when it comes to my character this season, we dwell into the details of the reasons behind his trauma and the behaviour that results from it. There's also a human element this season to Anmol which wasn't there last season," he added.

When asked about the most challenging aspect of bringing this personality to screen, he shared that the toughest part was playing a differently abled character.

"I think the physical disability is definitely the most challenging part of it, to do it right and be able to do justice to it as it's a very sensitive space," he said.

The soundtrack for 'Mismatched' has been composed by Jasleen Royal, Samar Grewal, Anurag Saikia, Prateek Kuhad, Shashwat Singh, Taaruk Raina, Deepa Unnikrishnan, Abhijay Negi and Hiphop Bhaiya.

Taaruk, who has also composed, written, and sung for the series, briefed about his experience of composing music: I first played the song 'Kho Gaye' to our director Akarsh on a guitar at 4 a.m. on one of our off days, and he just told me 'I want you to do this song for the show' and I was just so so excited."

"I wrote this song from an incredibly personal and emotional space, as I was going through something similar in my life at the time too, and it just fit when I started writing with Dimple and Rishi in mind. I got together with my friend and music producer Himonshu Parikh to arrange and produce the song and it just came to life. I hope everyone connects with it," he said.

When asked what is closer to him, acting or music, he said: "It's extremely hard to choose, but I'd choose music only because I get to do it less than acting, and I'd love to do more if given the chance."

He continued: "I've been singing since I was 6 years old, my dad has been a massive influence on me as he used to be a musician as well, I used to sing in a band in school and college and then I started making and writing my own songs."

'Mismatched 2' is streaming on Netflix.

--IANS
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Melbourne, Oct 15 (IANS) South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma believes "it's not all doom and gloom" for his side coming into the ICC T20 World Cup after losing both the T20I and ODI series to India and then immediately flying to Australia for the showpiece event.

Like India, who have lost pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and Deepak Chahar to injuries, the Proteas too have been hit by a spate of injuries with right-arm quick Dwaine Pretorius and middle-order batter Rassie van der Dussen ruled out of the competition.

Pretorius was ruled out due to a fracture sustained to his left thumb during the recent T20I series against India, while Van der Dussen was ruled out with a left index finger injury which needed surgery last month. Tall left-arm fast bowler Marco Jansen has been named as replacement for Pretorius during the T20 World Cup.

Bavuma conceded it was disappointing to lose Pretorius to injury a couple of weeks before the World Cup but added Jansen, with his height and left-arm action, would cover up the loss.

"Yeah, Marco (Jansen) is obviously a big addition for us. He obviously comes in with extra bit of pace. He's a left-arm option as well that gives a bit more variety in our bowling attack. He comes at quite a steep length, as well. Excited to see Marco in the squad, he's been champing at the bit looking for his opportunity, so I guess we're excited to see how much value he can add within the team," said Bavuma, who himself didn't have a great series in India.

He added the squad was in good spirits despite "not having the best of series" in India.

"To be honest, I think the guys are in good spirits. We've obviously just come from India where we didn't have the best of series, but I think there's still a lot of confidence that we can take throughout our season and the performances that we've put together as a team.

"So, I mean, I think it's not all doom and gloom for us. We're excited. We're looking forward to this tournament and how far we can go. Probably not a lot of expectation around us as a team again. So I guess for us we'll be flying under the radar every day, doing the best that we can and preparing as well as we can for all the games and enjoy the journey, as well," added Bavuma.

--IANS

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Christchurch, Oct 15 (IANS) Middle-order batter Soumya Sarkar and left-arm pace bowler Shoriful Islam have been included in Bangladesh's 15-member squad ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia following their success in the recently-concluded Tri-series here.

The duo replaces Sabbir Rahman and Mohammad Saifuddin. Shoriful was the joint-highest wicket-taker in the series in UAE and would add more left-arm pace options for Bangladesh, while Sarkar adds an all-rounder bowling option and top-order batting strength.

Both Shoriful and Sarkar were initially named in the reserves for the T20 World Cup. However, Saifuddin and Sabbir failed to show form in the UAE series and in New Zealand in the Tri-series, forcing the team to make changes to the squad.

Bangladesh bowling coach Allan Donald had hinted at possible changes to the squad a few days back.

"I think there might be a chance that the squad could be changed and that is probably why they brought two extra guys, we have that time, don't we? We have a few more days to sort that out before we depart for Australia," Donald was quoted as saying by ICC.

"(Sridharan) Sriram is looking at a lot of combinations where he feels he needs to be accurate, have one more last look and see what he needs to do and find the right people to go and do their job. So it's never an easy thing.

"Trust me, as a coach sitting up there you are never sure what is the right combination."

Shoriful played three of the four matches in the tri-series in New Zealand while Sarkar was also involved in two of them.

Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Nurul Hasan, Afif Hossain, Ebadot Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Litton Das, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shoriful Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Musaddek Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Yasir Ali Chowdhury.

Stand-by players: Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mohammad Saifuddin.

--IANS

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Bhubaneswar, Oct 14 (IANS) The Indian U-17 Women's Team went down to fellow debutants Morocco 0-3 in their second match of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar on Friday, October 14, 2022. All the goals came in the second session.

The game started with Morocco making the initial attacks, while India slowly made some efforts to grow into the game. The first serious attempt at the goal came in the second minute when Morocco's Samya Masnaoui made a rather tame effort, which was cleared by the Indian defence.

Masnaoui tried a curler in the next minute but it went directly at goalkeeper Melody Keisham, who gathered it comfortably.

The first major attempt from the hosts came in the seventh minute when a faulty pass from the Moroccan backline was collected by Nitu, but her cross was blocked off for a corner.

Two minutes later, Nitu was fouled and Neha took the free kick only to find her fine cross go abegging as none among the Indian attackers could avail the opportunity. The best attempt of the half came in the 18th minute when the Indian custodian Keisham failed to gather the ball cleanly but Yasmine Zouhir's shot hit the crossbar.

Despite facing some pressure, the Indian girls did a good job in the middle and managed to keep their opponents at bay in the first half. The Morocco girls were certainly more physical than the hosts and Hajar Said received a yellow card in the 22nd minute for a high boot offence on Naketa. India's Shilky Hemam also entered the referee's book as she committed a foul in the 40th minute.

Naketa, however, did a brilliant job when her goalline save denied Morocco from taking the lead at the stroke of halftime. Four minutes into the second half, India conceded a penalty as Naketa handled the ball and it was calmly converted by Doha El Madani. Four minutes later, Anita Kumari tried a header but it was cleared by the Moroccan defence.

Nine minutes later India conceded the second goal when Keisham fumbled with a cross by Masnaoui and it was converted by Zouhir. Keisham, however, redeemed herself in the 65th minute as she made a fine save to deny Morocco another goal.

The referee showed Masnaoui a yellow card in the 70th minute for a foul and the resultant free-kick taken by Naketa went wide. India finally made a shot on target as Anita was set up on goal by the substitute Lynda but her attempt was saved by Wissal Titah with some fine goalkeeping.

Morocco scored the third and final goal through Djennah Cherif's emphatic finish in the final minutes of the game. The game ended with Keisham making another great save in the final minute. India, who lost their first group league match against the United States, will now meet Brazil on Monday, 17th October 2022.

INDIA XI: Melody Keisham (GK), Naketa, Shilky Devi (Shailja 65'), Astam Oraon (C), Babina Lisham, Neha (Lynda Kom 65'), Kajol Dsouza (Sudha Tirkey 46'), Anita Kumari, Shubhangi Singh, Nitu Linda (Rejiya 76'), Kajal.

--IANS

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Bengaluru, Oct 14 (IANS) U Mumba registered their second straight victory after defeating Tamil Thalaivas 39-32 in the vivo Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 at the Shree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here on Friday.

Raiders Guman Singh, Ashish and Jai Bhagwan amassed 30 points between them to hand the Mumbai side a scintillating victory.

Narender chipped in with a few raids as Tamil Thalaivas took the lead at 6-4 in the 7th minute. Guman Singh led the charge for U Mumba through some fantastic raids, but the Thalaivas kept inching ahead. In the 13th minute, the defense unit stepped up for the Tamil Nadu side and further widened their lead at 10-7.

Moments later, Narender pulled off another brilliant raid to reduce U Mumba to three players on the mat. But, soon after, Jai Bhagwan effected a multi-point raid to help the Mumbai side level the scores at 12-12. However, the Thalaivas managed to keep their noses in front at 16-15 at the end of the first half.

Guman Singh pulled off a multi-point raid in the opening minutes of the second half and soon after the U Mumba team inflicted an ALL OUT to take the lead at 20-17. Bhagwan effected two raid points in the 27th minute as the Thalaivas were reduced to three players on the mat.

Moments later, Ashish carried out a fabulous raid as U Mumba inflicted another ALL OUT and took a massive lead at 31-22. Raiders Ashish, Guman and Bhagwan kept picking up points and eventually closed out a comprehensive victory for U Mumba.

--IANS
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by Niharika Raina
New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) India are all set to open their ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 Super 12 campaign against Pakistan at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 23.



With lots of excitement around the high-stakes clash, former India cricketer Suresh Raina, a member of the 2011 ODI World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy triumphs, believes the Rohit Sharma-led side need to start the tournament well and the rest of the campaign will fall in place for them.

In an exclusive interview with IANS, Raina, named as the India brand ambassador for Booking.com, the official accommodation booking partner for the T20 World Cup, talks about the India-Pakistan clash, absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja affecting the Indian team, Bhuvneshwar Kumar's role as pace spearhead and how does Rishabh Pant fit in the playing eleven. Excerpts:

Q. On October 23, India will be facing Pakistan in their T20 World Cup campaign opener. What are your thoughts about this high-octane clash at the MCG?

A. You just need to enjoy the game, to be honest. That's what team India is going to do. The match will be in a very high-pressure manner. You just need to play 40 overs of good cricket as playing in Australia is a different condition altogether. India has the edge because they have played a lot of matches there.

Rohit, Virat, K.L (Rahul) and other bowlers have played lots of matches there and know how to use the conditions. So, this game will be very, very important for team India. If we win the first one, that will set the tone for us and then, all the other matches will be very, very good for us. India just need to start well and everything will fall in place.

Q. India are missing Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja in the T20 World Cup. According to you, how much will the Indian team be affected by these two players missing out on the showpiece event?

A. Though they got injured, we still have got their replacements. I know you can't replace them because, at the end of the day, you need to only think about the controllable things. Definitely, Shami comes in now and Axar Patel is also doing well. You need to have the right combination and which player you want to go with.

I would say the team is looking good now. They have gone to Australia very early, so they must be going through a lot of good processes and how to tackle the other teams. Sometimes it's good to go early and can assess the situation and learn about it.

We have Suryakumar Yadav, then Rohit Sharma is a very good leader, Virat is in very, very good form now and Hardik Pandya will be the key member of the Indian team. He will bowl a couple of good overs in power-play, then he has to bat really well.

Then you have Arshdeep Singh, (Ravichandran) Ashwin and (Yuzvendra) Chahal. The K.L Rahul-Rohit Sharma partnership will be crucial and you need to have that fearless intent to bat, then I think everything will fall into place.

Q. In Bumrah's absence, Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be the most experienced fast bowler in the Indian squad. As someone who has known him for many years, do you feel he can play the role of the pace spearhead and guide bowlers like Harshal Patel and Arshdeep Singh, who will be playing in Australian conditions for the first time?

A. Bhuvi is an experienced bowler. He has done really well. Sometimes you go for runs, but he still has that swing. He is still the go-to guy for the skipper because he always delivers when it mattered the most. When Virat scored a hundred, he also took five wickets against Afghanistan and bowled really well. He has that knuckleball, swing and he hits areas well.

Once you get that line and length, he knows how to execute those plans and he will do really well there because Australian conditions will give his knuckleball and variations help. Alongside Arshdeep and Harshal, Bhuvi will help them with his extra experience and will do really well for India.

Q. Rishabh Pant has been in and out of the T20I side in the last couple of matches for the Indian team. Also, he has batted either in the middle order or opened the batting. So, where do you see him fitting in India's T20I scheme of things in the T20 World Cup and in the future as well?

A. He's an important player. He has done it (made runs previously) in Australia. He's scored hundreds there and won the Gabba Test for us. He's an x-factor because if you see from 1-6, there's no leftie batter.

So, how they are going to use him, it's very important. He's a very good player and knows how to bat in pressure situations. Hopefully, the management must be thinking about how to bring him in. So, in one or two games, you could see him playing again.

Q. Also, where would you prefer to see Pant bat in T20Is? Will it be as an opener, one down, or in the middle order?

A. It depends on where his spot is coming from. It's all upon Rahul bhai and Rohit, how they want to use him in the eleven. You just need to have a leftie batsman as an x-factor. I hope they will do it.

--IANS

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By Avinash Kr Atish
New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) The Indian women's hockey team goalkeeper Savita Punia, who recently was named Goalkeeper of the Year 2021-22 by the international hockey federation (FIH), on Friday said her team needs to improve on its penalty corner (PC) conversion as well as defence before the Asian Games.



The 32-year-old Savita won 37.6 points in the final tally in the voting conducted for the FIH Hockey Stars Awards, comfortably beating Argentina's Belen Succi by over 10 points to win the honour for the second-straight year.

The goalkeeper took over the captaincy of the Indian hockey team from Rani Rampal and was instrumental in the team winning bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She starred in the penalty shootout victory over New Zealand in the bronze playoff to seal the first CWG medal in 16 years for the Indian women's hockey team.

Savita also helped the team finish third in the women's FIH Pro League 2021-22, pulling off 57 saves in the 14 games she played, in India's debut campaign.

In an interview with IANS at the sidelines of an awards distribution event in the national capital, the star hockey player spoke about the team's upcoming goal, love and support shown by fans, areas to work on and so on. Excerpts:

Q: In recent years, the love and support for hockey especially for women players have grown significantly. How do you see it?

A: The support, which we have got after the Tokyo Olympic Games is heartwarming. It has motivated our team to do well and bring more laurels for the country.

Q: The Indian women's hockey team produced courageous performances at the last Olympics and CWG 2022. According to you, what needs to be done to move one level ahead?

A: Improvement is a constant process, even the best teams in the world keep on working in a few areas. As a team, we also need to improve in certain areas. At the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022, we lacked a bit in the penalty corner attack as well as in defence. So, we need to finetune that before the Asian Games, where we need to be at our best to compete against the strong teams.

Q: What's the next goal of the team?

A: Our next goal is to win the gold at Asian Games, which will give us direct qualification for the Paris Olympics.

Q: You have been recently named Goalkeeper of the Year by FIH and the fans of Indian hockey fans have also given you a name -- "Great Wall of India". So, how do you feel about these things?

A: Obviously the awards, love and appreciation by fans always bring joy. But I feel, it also brings the responsibility on us to maintain our good performances and improve with each passing game.

Q: What is your message for the budding women hockey players?

A: The future of women's hockey is bright and young girls should set a yearly goal for themselves. They need to focus on gradual steps -- getting to national camps and then to the national team. Young girls need to have the belief that they can achieve whatever they want with their hard work.

--IANS

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Christchurch, Oct 14 (IANS) New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson lauded off-spin all-rounder Michael Bracewell and opening batter Finn Allen for playing "really valuable" roles within the T20I side ahead of Men's T20 World Cup starting in Australia.

Despite New Zealand losing the final of T20I tri-series to Pakistan by three wickets at the Hagley Oval on Friday, Bracewell and Allen have emerged as bright spots for the hosts.

Bracewell picked eight wickets in five matches at a miserly economy rate of 4.94 and took the Player of the Series award, adding more laurels to his rise as a utility player for New Zealand.

Allen, on the other hand, justified the call taken by the hosts to open the batting with him instead of Martin Guptill by giving explosive starts, seen from his strike-rate of 145 and also included 62 against Pakistan in the league stage.

"Both performed beautifully well and (they) played really valuable roles within the side. (They played) complementary roles too - Finn at the top is super aggressive and hits the ball really, really hard and looks to take it on, which has been great. And it complements Dev (Devon Conway) really well."

"Michael - Man of the Series - incredible effort, especially to not win the series as a team. He showed his contributions throughout these five-six games. He was really disciplined with his lengths and made life quite difficult on these sorts of pitches as well," said Williamson in the post-match press conference.

In the tri-series, New Zealand missed Daryl Mitchell due to fractured hand while Mitchell Santner missed initial stage due to paternity leave apart from careful management of tearaway quicks Adam Milne and Lockie Ferguson.

Williamson felt it was vital for his team to play with certain adjustments at some stages of the tri-series as they missed above-mentioned players and hopes that learnings from it help them in the T20 World Cup.

"It's not really how we were looking at this (tri-series). We were looking at this tournament in isolation a little bit. Having said that clearly, there's a big tournament at the end of it, but trying to focus on what's in front of us and play the cricket that's in front of us. You can sometimes get carried away looking ahead and all these sorts of things; so, I thought that was good. There was some improvement throughout the series and some lessons."

"I think it's valuable as a team to get this sort of exposure and competition quickly before a tournament like that. Tournament sport - it's different and not playing similar teams day in and day out. It's thinking on our toes and adjusting as a side quickly with different venues and different oppositions."

Williamson signed off by saying he wasn't much concerned over New Zealand's catching despite dropping eight catches in the tri-series. "That (dropped chances) was definitely touched on (in team discussions). Not just the catches; it can happen, although it was a little bit out of character. As a side, it's something that we pride ourselves on, but that energy and intensity how we operate… we definitely saw an improvement today, which is important and hopefully we can continue that standard going ahead."

New Zealand will now travel to Brisbane to play warm-up matches against South Africa and India before opening their T20 World Cup Super 12 campaign against defending champions and hosts Australia in a re-match of 2021 final at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on October 22.


--IANS
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Hobart, Oct 14 (IANS) Ireland opener Paul Stirling has lauded the team management led by head coach Heinrich Malan for encouraging the players to take positive options of playing the game and in turn, inject confidence within them ahead of their opening match in the men's T20 World Cup on Monday.

After being unable to qualify for Super 12 stage in last year's T20 World Cup in the UAE, Ireland will be eyeing to qualify from the first round in a tough Group B alongside two-time champions West Indies, Scotland and Zimbabwe.

Ireland have played lots of matches at home against India, New Zealand, South Africa and Afghanistan, with a refreshing approach since Malan took over as head coach of the side earlier this year though they didn't get much results their way.

"Clarity of role is something important that Heinrich (Malan) has focused on, and to have a management team behind you that really encourages taking the positive option has certainly injected that confidence in the playing group," said Stirling after the side landed in Hobart on Friday.

Stirling, 32, made his international debut in 2008 against New Zealand in a one-day international, then made his T20I debut against Pakistan in 2009. He has 340 caps for Ireland, including having played 114 T20Is and scoring 3,011 runs to be the world's sixth-highest run-scorer in this format.

In the warm-up matches of the T20 World Cup, Ireland lost to Namibia by 11 runs at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground and saw their second warm-up match against Sri Lanka being abandoned due to rain.

"There's no doubt that we would've liked to have played a few more warm-up games, but the lads have had some very good sessions in the nets or indoors. We still have a couple of training sessions in Hobart between now and the first game to fine-tune a few skills, but we feel ready for Monday's first game against Zimbabwe," added Stirling.

With the Super 12 matches as well as the final of the T20 World Cup to be held in Melbourne, Stirling thinks Ireland will be motivated to do well in the first round to get a chance of playing a match in MCG later in the tournament.

"Playing at the MCG the other night was a great experience for the squad -- I haven't played there before myself, and it has just given that little bit extra motivation to the lads as they now want to get back there and play in front of a crowd at what is one of the world's iconic cricket grounds."

Hobart is a place which holds a very special place in Ireland's heart, courtesy a thrilling five-run win over Zimbabwe in a high-scoring Pool B match of 2015 Men's ODI World Cup.

"Hobart holds fond memories for those of us in the squad who played at the 2015 World Cup, the win against Zimbabwe has gone down in Irish cricket history as one of those legendary wins and I know it inspired many kids back home to take up the sport - which is one thing we want to achieve as a squad," concluded Stirling.

--IANS

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