Sports

Dubai, Oct 1 (IANS) The International Cricket Council (ICC) has named charismatic India middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav among five shortlisted players who it feels will shine during the T20 World Cup in Australia beginning on October 16.

Suryakumar has been a revelation for India this year, with the 32-year-old right-hand batter emerging as arguably the most vital player in Rohit Sharma's side for the showpiece event Down Under.

While Yadav had a forgettable T20 World Cup in the UAE last year, getting just four appearances and managing 42 runs from his three knocks, he has turned a corner this year, emerging as the No.2 T20I batter in the world on the latest ICC rankings.

With his string of fine scores in 2022, he has become the highest run-scorer for India in a calendar year in T20Is. During the opening T20I against South Africa at Thiruvananthapuram on September 28, Suryakumar smashed another unbeaten half-century (50 off 33 balls) as India defeated the visitors by eight wickets with 20 balls to spare in a low-scoring game.

Suryakumar, with 732 runs, an average of 40.66 and a strike rate of 180.29 this year went past Shikhar Dhawan's 689 runs in 2018.

Besides the Indian batter, the ICC also shortlisted Australian opener David Warner, Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga, England skipper Jos Buttler and Pakistan opener Mohammad Rizwan among its five players who could hog the limelight in the T20 World Cup.

In Warner's case, only Pakistan skipper Babar Azam had scored more runs than the Australian in the 2021 World Cup in the UAE. With the benefit of playing on his home turf, Warner could emerge as the star of the tournament. The batting stalwart hit three half centuries at last year's tournament and his 289 runs at an strike rate of almost 150 was among the best for the leading players.

Wanindu Hasaranga has shown his ability to save his best performances for the big occasion and he could Sri Lanka dominate in Australia. Hasaranga claimed the most wickets (16) in the 2021 edition of the tournament and backed up that performance by finishing Sri Lanka's victorious Asia Cup campaign recently as the Player of the Tournament.

--IANS

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Jodhpur, Sep 30 (IANS) Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has played a lot of T20 cricket in the state of Rajasthan. He knows a thing or two about the ground conditions in the state's cricket stadiums and is well-acclimated with the weather.

Therefore, he felt an immediate connection with the state's atmosphere when he landed in Jodhpur on Friday to play the Legends League Cricket.

The Aussie legend will be donning the jersey of Bhilwara Kings in the tournament and said that the state of Rajasthan is like his second home. "I am back home. I have so many incredible memories of playing in the state. I felt that connection again when I landed in Jodhpur today. The fans of the state love me and I am always humbled by their support. I am looking forward to playing here," Watson said in a press conference here on Friday.

The conference was also attended by former New Zealand captain Ross Taylor, former India pacer S. Sreesanth, Ireland great Kevin O'Brien and Raman Raheja, Co-Founder and CEO of Legends League Cricket.

Watson said the competition is high among the four teams and he will try to push the boundaries. With two matches left, all four teams -- Gujarat Giants, Bhilwara Kings, India Capitals and Manipal Tigers -- are in contention to clinch the playoffs berth.

"I am following the tournament. It's great to be here. I am well prepared. I know all the guys have been pushing their bodies to the limit. That's the commitment we always had towards the game. So it's not surprising to me. There's nothing like whether you have retired or not. You are always trying to push the boundaries when you are playing the game. With everyone giving their best, I will also try to push the boundaries," the 41-year-old said.

Watson's assessment of the tournament is indeed true. The game has seen tremendous competitive spirit among the cricketers. From Mohammed Kaif and Muttiah Muralidharan taking brilliant catches in the field to pacers Fidel Edwards and Tino Best peppering the batters with bouncers, the cricketers have refused to yield an inch without a fight.

Taylor agreed with Watson too. "Competitiveness kicks in when you cross the rope. I am really happy with the way the legends have played the game. We have shown a lot of spirit and I am looking forward to playing the matches with more vigour," he said.

--IANS

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Sydney, Sep 30 (IANS) Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood believes bigger boundaries and quicker pitches in Australia will play into the hands' of hosts ahead of their Men's T20 World Cup title defence starting from October 16.

Hazlewood, one of the key reasons of Australia winning the silverware for the first time in 2021, will again be the vital cog in the wheel when the Aaron Finch-led side will open their campaign against New Zealand in a re-match of last year's final on October 22 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

Before that, Australia have two T20Is against two-time champions, the West Indies and three T20Is against 2010 winners England apart from one practice match against India, to whom they recently lost 2-1 in a recent week-long tour, on October 17 at The Gabba.

"It was a great test to see where we're at (on series against India). A number of guys got to bowl the end against probably the best hitters in the game on the fattest wickets and smallest boundaries."

"There's always stuff to work on - what fields you want at certain times, what balls you're bowling, how you're sequencing it. "But there's no (better) practice than that and we will be better off for the run."

"T20 in Australia is probably better for the bowlers in a lot of regards. The fields are bigger, wickets might have a bit more pace … you can use those big boundaries to your advantage," Hazlewood was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au on sidelines of NRMA Insurance being new Men's Test series naming sponsors.

Hazlewood further spoke about the intense competition in the Men's T20 World Cup, where they almost lost to South Africa in the opening match and came back to win the trophy after an eight-wicket thrashing by England.

"We were very close to losing against South Africa the first game (in the UAE last year). It's very cut-throat and it probably adds to the excitement from ball one that it's game on and there's no warm ups. There's probably an extra level intensity for the tournament."

Hazlewood signed off by saying that apart from the Men's T20 World Cup, he's aiming to get back to the Test side. Last year, Hazlewood played just one Test in the Ashes due to injury and played just one Test on tour of Pakistan in March this year.

"I'm actually really looking forward to the red-ball stuff coming up. I haven't played a great deal the last few years, which has been a little bit disappointing. But I'm really looking forward to the Test summer."


--IANS
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Cuttack, Sep 30 (IANS) Hamilton Masakadza's blazing bat, with able support from fellow Zimbabwean Solomon Mire (28) and New Zealander Ross Taylor (29), helped the India Capitals inflict a seven-wicket defeat on the Manipal Tigers in the 10th game of the Legends League Cricket (LLC) on Thursday.

Masakadza's explosive knock of 68 not out off 39 balls (seven fours and four sixes) was crucial as the Capitals chased down a 162-run target with 16 balls to spare. That innings from the 39-year-old overshadowed the effort of Jesse Ryder and Mohammad Kaif from the rival team earlier in the match.

Ryder and Kaif played like they never went away from competitive cricket as they shared a 126-run partnership to help the Tigers post 161/5. While the left-handed Ryder made 76 off 56 balls with five fours and an equal number of sixes, Kaif's contribution of 67 off 48 balls was no less important. Kaif hit nine boundaries and a six.

The win at the Barabati Stadium took Gautam Gambhir's India Capitals to the sole top position in the League standings with 7 points, while Harbhajan Singh's Tigers kept languishing at the bottom of the table with just 3 points.

It was Gambhir who won the toss and elected to bowl first. Ryder opened the Tigers' innings along with Tatenda Taibu. The New Zealander looked comfortable during his stay at the crease, but the same could not be said about the former Zimbabwe captain.

Former Australia speedster Mitchell Johnson ended Taibu's stay at the crease in the first ball of the fifth over. That was when Kaif joined Ryder in the middle.

The next 13-odd overs saw the Capitals try their best, but the pair of Ryder and Kaif remained unconquered.

The Tigers did not get too many runs in the Powerplay Overs - 46/1 - and thereafter Ryder and Kaif concentrated on building their confidence at the crease. They did not get too many big shots, but perhaps that was their ploy - to preserve their wickets before launching the offensive in the last few overs.

Till the 15th over, it seemed as if the Capitals bowlers had done a fine job by keeping a tight leash on the Tigers, who could make only 117/1after 15 overs of play.

But Ryder and Kaif upped the scoring rate a bit in the last five overs, before both of them were dismissed in the 19th over bowled by Englishman Liam Plunkett.

However, the Tigers failed to make use of the final over of their innings, scoring just 4 runs and losing two wickets to medium pacer Rajat Bhatia.

From Cuttack. the action now moves to the Barkatullah Stadium in Jodhpur, where the Gujarat Giants will take on the Bhilwara Kings on Friday.

--IANS
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Mexico City Sep 30 (IANS) Veteran defender Dani Alves has moved to ease fears that a knee injury could dash his hopes of going to the FIFA World Cup with Brazil.

Alves was ruled out of Pumas' last match of the Mexican Liga MX regular season against Juarez on Saturday after suffering suspected ligament damage while training.

"Dani Alves will not be (available) due to an injury to the medial collateral ligament of his right knee, which is still under evaluation by the club's medical team," Pumas said in a statement on Thursday.

Alves, who joined Pumas in July after parting ways with Spanish giants Barcelona, responded with a social media post in which he denied the problem was serious, reports Xinhua.

"My friend Diogo (De Oliveira) kicked me in training and as a precaution I didn't travel (with the squad)," the 39-year-old said on Twitter.

The right-back has previously made public his desire to be a part of Brazil's squad for the World Cup - to be played in Qatar from November 20 to December 18 - after missing the last edition in Russia because of a knee injury.

--IANS
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Chengdu (China), Sep 29 (IANS) The Indian men's team comprising Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Manush Shah, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar and Sanil Shetty landed in a tough Group 2 along with second-seed Germany, European giants France, Kazakhstan and the Group Stage draw for the 2022 ITTF World Team Table Championship starting here on Friday.

The team coached by national coach S Raman and missing veteran player and 2022 Commonwealth Games double gold medallist Achanta Sharath Kamal, will be hoping to make it to the knockout stage from the five-team group. The 32 teams in the fray have been divided into seven groups with Groups 5, 6 and 7 having four teams each while Groups 1 to 4 have five each.

In the women's section, the Indian team comprising Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Seeth Tennison, Diya Parag Chitale and Swastika Ghosh has been placed in Group 5 along with Germany, Egypt and the Czech Republic in the event which will be held from September 30-October 9.

The 28 women's teams in the fray have been divided into six groups with Groups 1-4 having five teams each while Groups 5 and 6 have four each, as per the draw held on Thursday.

Defending champions in both sections, China occupy the top-seeded positions in both events. With an abundance of experience, China starts as clear favourites. Seasoned players such as Ma Long and Fan Zhendong form the backbone of the men's team. For the women, Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu are no strangers to the biggest stage of all.

Notably, in the groups, there is a sense of history, with a return to the era of Ping Pong Diplomacy. It is just over 50 years ago since a Chinese team landed in Detroit. In both the men's and women's events China is drawn in the same group as the United States, the ITTF said on its website.

Among other top teams, Japan are in Group 3 with Hong Kong China, Romania, Iran and Hungary.

In men's section, the Indian team coached by S Raman will start its campaign against Uzbekistan while in the women's section, the women's team will open proceedings against Germany. Both matches will be played on October 1.

For the Swaythling Cup in the men's section, teams will play in a round-robin format in the group stage with the top two from the seven groups and the two best third-placed teams qualifying for the 16-team knockout rounds.

In the women's competition for the Corbillon Cup, the top two teams from six groups after the round-robin competition and four best-placed third-placed teams will qualify for the knockout rounds.

The knockout stage starts on October 5. The women's and men's finals will take place on October 8 and October 9 respectively.

--IANS

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Cuttack, Sep 27 (IANS) Gujarat Giants had stalwarts Virender Sehwag and Chris Gayle in their batting arsenal, yet Bhilwara Kings outshone them with a royal batting display in the 9th game of the Legends League Cricket (LLC) at the Barabati Stadium on Tuesday.

A collective effort with the bat saw the Kings tear apart the Giants' bowling attack to post 222/4. Then their bowlers backed up the batters' effort by keeping a tight leash on the Giants' powerful batting line-up. The Giants were all out for 165 to give the Kings a 57-run victory.

With this win, the Kings, who lost narrowly to Manipal Tigers on Monday, now have five points, the same as the Giants and India Capitals.

The tough chase never took off for the Giants as they kept losing key wickets. The in-form Kevin O'Brien was out in the second over, which saw captain Sehwag join 'Universe Boss' Gayle at the crease.

Playing his first game of the League, Gayle could not really unleash his monstrous hits and was out for 15.

Sehwag started to find his form and hit three fours and a six but was out for 27 off 20 balls. Thereafter, none of the Giants' batters managed to get a foothold in the middle. Yashpal Singh, coming in at No.9, finished with a flourish, making 57 of 29 balls, but that was not enough for his team.

Former India speedster S. Sreesanth turned the clock back, picking up 3/36, while off-break bowler Jesal Karia (2/22) and Caribbean pacer Fidel Edwards (2/30) too were successful with the ball.

Earlier, Giants' skipper Sehwag won the toss and opted to field, but thereafter almost nothing went right for his team as fours and sixes rained from the Kings' bats.

Kings' openers William Porterfield and Morne van Wyk went on the offensive from the word go as they plundered a mind-blowing 76 without loss from the six Powerplay overs. Nothing seemed to work for the Giants bowlers as the Kings raced to 100 in the ninth over.

Irishman Porterfield was the first to get out, but only after he had played a whirlwind knock of 64 off 33 balls with 10 boundaries and two sixes. South African Van Wyk (50 off 28 balls) was out soon after. Then, Kings captain Irfan Pathan, who promoted himself up the order, clobbered three sixes and a four to make a 23-ball 34.

Following Irfan's dismissal, brother Yusuf Pathan took over, smashing the first two balls he faced for two huge maximums. Karia too played an important knock of 43 off 29 balls. The Kings took 24 runs from the last over of their innings.

Brief scores: Bhilwara Kings 222/4 in 20 overs (M van Wyk 50, William Porterfield 64, Irfan Pathan 34, Jesal Karia 43). Gujarat Giants (Virendra Sehwag 27, S. Sreesanth 3/36). Bhilwara Kings won by 57 runs.

--IANS

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Chennai, Sep 27 (IANS) Chennai Super Kings batter Ruturaj Gaikwad on Tuesday revealed that skipper M.S Dhoni advised him to be in the moment and enjoy the game when the Pune-born cricketer was making his debut in the Indian Premier League.

At the IPL 2019 Player Auction, CSK bought Gaikwad for Rs 20 lakh. After a sensational 2021 edition of the league, where he scored 635 runs in 16 matches, the batter was retained by the franchise ahead of the 2022 edition of the league for Rs 6 crore.

"When I made my debut, he (M.S Dhoni) was very clear. He said to enjoy the game. Representing this franchise is a huge achievement, a lot of great players have been part of this dressing room, and a lot of greats have been involved with this franchise. So, I think he just said that 'you just need to be in that moment and enjoy' it," said Gaikwad, during his interaction with students at the Super Kings Academy, here.

The 25-year-old, who won the Orange Cap in IPL 2021, has been CSK's most consistent opener in the last few seasons. However, he also saw failures during his early time with the franchise.

"I really need to be thankful and grateful that I was in a really good team which has a very good environment. Also, having M.S Dhoni around me helped a lot as well. In that process, I never felt that I was having a setback.

"If I look back now, yes, I had failures to start off with, but the management, the team and the coach made me feel (good). I would give a lot of credit to the whole CSK team, the captain and coach," he said.

As per the right-handed batter, every cricketer sees failures in their careers but it's important to stay positive.

"It is really important to stay positive and believe in yourself because you will have done a lot of hard work throughout and you will have failures in cricket. It will not happen that every day you will score runs. You will have failures. I think you really need to stay positive," said Gaikwad.

--IANS

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London, Sep 27 (IANS) With there being a huge demand for cricket contests between India and Pakistan and in whichever format-- as was evident during their recent matchup in the 2022 Asia Cup in the UAE, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has offered to host Test matches between them as a neutral venue.

India and Pakistan last played bilateral one-day international series in 2012-13 and have not played a Test series since 2007.

Considering this situation, the ECB have offered to host India and Pakistan in a bilateral series, the UK Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday.

However, both the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have not shown much interest in the proposal and rejected it.

The Telegraph newspaper reported, "Martin Darlow, the deputy chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has held talks with the Pakistan Cricket Board during the current Twenty20 series and offered England's grounds as venues for ideally a three-match Test series in future."

The newspaper stated the reason for their offer was that "the matches would attract big crowds in the UK, which has a large ex-pat south Asian population."

However, the BCCI reportedly said possibility of such a series happening in near future is next to nil. It reported its stand that it is not in favour of playing bilateral series in neutral venues.

The PCB is also not keen on playing India at a neutral venue but thanked ECB for their offer.

"PCB is not keen on playing India at a neutral venue but is grateful for the ECB's offer, which shows the growing relationship between the two boards. It stated that with the big nations again starting to tour Pakistan, it will be a "retrograde step in their eyes" if they happen to play on a neutral venue," the Telegraph reported.

--IANS

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By B Shrikant
Hyderabad, Sep 25 (IANS) Being the senior-most player in the Indian squad and one with vast experience of leading the side, Virat Kohli knows he has to use his experience and guide the youngsters to help him take India to victory.



On Sunday, the former captain did just that, steading the innings after India lost in-form openers Rohit Sharma and K.L Rahul with only 30 runs on the board. Kohli took the backseat as Suryakumar Yadav went after the bowling, raising a century-partnership for the third wicket and then took over the mantle of scoring quick runs.

He figured in a 48-run partnership with Hardik Pandya to guide India to a six-wicket victory over Australia with a ball to spare in the 3rd T20I at the Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Stadium here, clinching the series 2-1.

Kohli said the situation demanded that he let Suryakumar take the driver's seat at that juncture.

"I looked at the dugout and both Rahul and Rohit asked me to continue batting. He (Suryakumar Yadav) has the game to bat in any conditions, he got a hundred in England, then batted well in Asia Cup. Here he is striking the ball as well as I have seen him in the last six months. It's just the array of shots and to play the shots at the right time is such a good skill to have, and he does that," Kohli told the official broadcaster after the match.

Kohli also decided to go after the dangerous Australian spinner Adam Zampa, who had claimed 3-16 in the 2nd match at Nagpur, and was bowling well and troubling the batters, which gave a lot of confidence to Suryakumar Yadav to play his shots at the other end.

"I have to utilise my experience and had to take down Zampa. I made up my mind to go after him. He is a quality bowler and tries to control my scoring. I knew he was attacking my stumps, so was outside the leg stump. I am making a conscious effort to strike those big ones through the middle overs," he said.

Kohli however, was not happy that India needed 11 runs from the final over in which Kohli was out to Daniel Sams after blasting a huge six off the first delivery. Hardik Pandya edged Sams to the boundary off the penultimate delivery to seal victory for India.

"The game shouldn't have gone for that long, and we should have had four or five runs to chase in the last over. It was important to maintain my composure and get one boundary which I was able to do (in the last over)," added Kohli.

The former India captain, 34, said he is enjoying batting since his comeback at the Asia Cup from a short break after playing non-stop for years. He said he is working hard at his batting and is happy with the way things are going.

"I have enjoyed batting ever since I came back at the Asia Cup. Today also I was an hour and half before the team. I am working hard on my process and happy with my contributions," said Kohli.

That would be music to the ears of India fans as a rejuvenated and happy Kohli will give India a big boost for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia next month.


--IANS
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