Sports

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--IANS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--IANS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--IANS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--IANS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

--IANS
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By Niharika Raina
Geelong, Oct 16 (IANS) A year ago, everything was different for Namibia. They were in Abu Dhabi and were preparing for their maiden Men's T20 World Cup appearance, in the first round against Sri Lanka on October 18. Batting first, they never got the rhythm they needed, reduced to being 80/6 and were bowled out for 96 as Sri Lanka cruised to a seven-wicket win.



Cut to now, and two days before what happened a year ago in Abu Dhabi, Namibia were batting first against the same opposition in the first round of 2022 Men's T20 World Cup at Geelong, Australia. At 93/6 in 14.2 overs, one feared the script of 2021 clash was on the verge of being repeated in 2022.

But it didn't happen as Jan Frylinck (44) and JJ Smit (31 not out) shared a 70-run stand for the seventh wicket to take Namibia to a competitive 163/7 in 20 overs, including 68 runs coming off the last five overs. The bowlers then mixed up their lengths and pace well on a two-paced pitch to bowl out Sri Lanka for 108 in 19 overs for a historic 55-run win over a major cricketing nation.

In the post-match press conference, Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus was quick to point out how much things changed for his side in a year.

"If you look at last year's game compared to this, it's basically tables that have been turned. It's a period of 12 months really; it's not just the areas that played on before us. It's basically we tried a solid preparation and hard work you put in for a 12-month period as opposed to just the 20 overs and we just have to execute on the 20 overs we had to bat."

After that heavy opening loss to Sri Lanka in the 2021 T20 World Cup, Namibia regrouped quickly to defeat Netherlands and Ireland to enter the Super 12 stage in their first-ever participation in the global event for the shortest format of the game.

In Super 12, they beat Scotland, but lost to bigger teams like Afghanistan, New Zealand, Pakistan and India. After their run in the T20 World Cup, Namibia won 2-1 over Uganda in April and beat Zimbabwe 3-2 in a five-match series in May.

Four of their players underwent training at the academy of Pakistan Super League (PSL) champions Lahore Qalandars, while the club itself came to Namibia to play in a T20 tri-series which also included domestic South Africa side Lions. In the T20 World Cup warm-up matches, Namibia won by 11 runs over Ireland, and Sunday's victory over Sri Lanka showed how much they had grown as a T20I side in the last 12 months.

"I had this sort of childish belief last year before that game, and I think this year it was more something of we've played at the level and we can now mentally relate to that level. We can now physically and skillfully relate to that level. We've played India, Pakistan, all these teams before."

"We've seen it, we've tasted it, and because we've closed that gap by becoming one step closer to them and getting the physical feel for what it's like, I think that's really what gave us the belief this time around that well, this is a cricket game, and I think if we execute better on the day, we stand a good chance," added Erasmus.

Erasmus revealed that while reading tabloids in the morning, he saw that they gave Namibia only 11% chance of defeating Sri Lanka in the tournament opener, telling them of the little chance they had of defeating the reigning Asia Cup winners.

"After reading that, it sort of gives you just that underdog feel again, and having that underdog feel backed with a bit of real belief, not the childish behind the scenes one but the real belief that you've played at the level, I think that that's what happened today, I guess."

"We just went on to the field on an equal footing to the Sri Lankan side. As I said, if more opportunities like these arise for associate nations, they've shown over the years that they do close the gap and get to the level, and they're good actually quite quickly. I guess that's a call for more of these games for us."

So, what was the difference between the Namibia side which faced Sri Lanka in 2022, as compared to 2021? Erasmus put it down to the experiences of their heart-warming run in the 2021 T20 World Cup, including work put in to adapt to the bounce in Australian conditions.

"The type of experience that we gained from there really showed and sort of gave us a great idea and a clear idea of what type of skill we need to be able to compete on this oval. For one, the speed on the ball is more. The quality of the skills and the percentage of execution that guys are playing at is higher."

"Basically, in training we sort of looked at that. We did a lot of work on playing the short ball, did a lot of skill work on playing different options, and I guess that showed. We got some powerplay boundaries today which were scored behind square on the leg side, on the off side. We looked much more comfortable in playing the mystery spin and the great googly off (Wanindu) Hasaranga toward the middle, and towards the later end, this wicket probably didn't suit bowling into the wicket that much."

"So that kind of suited our type of skill, which is maybe just bludgeoning the ball a bit harder, and that showed with JJ Smit getting a few over the ropes and Jan Frylinck always plays those very smart innings, also squaring behind square and running wide in front of square."

"Those are the types of skills we've had to sort of put together over the last 12 months, but still, our strengths remain our strengths, and I think we sort of stuck to that more today rather than the newish skills, if we can call it that, that we've gained over the last 12 months."

Erasmus stated that though Namibia will celebrate their Sunday's win to the fullest, they need to get back to World Cup mode quickly, with just a day's gap before coming back to Geelong on Tuesday to face the Netherlands.

"It's going to take a massive mental reset from our point because you can get carried away with celebrations and historic events like this happening. Everyone, rightly so, is very glad at winning at this nation, Sri Lankan side, for the first time ever and on the world stage in the opening game. A massive event in our lives, and as such it should be celebrated."

"The recovery periods being so quick between these games, we kind of have to put the celebrations up for a little bit, because it's a new start to the tournament, and two or three games in we really want to get our eye on qualifying for the Super 12s, which is really the main goal from here on in."

In life and cricket, a lot can change in a year. Just ask Namibia, now more experienced than they were in 2021 and reminding the world in 2022 of what they are capable of: more spectacular wins.

--IANS
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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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