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Best finisher does it
again
MS Dhoni smashing a six in the last over of the match. — AFP |
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Dhoni saved his best for the last over
India colts triumph Down Under
Top foreign coach need of hour: Sardar
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Best finisher does it
again
Port of spain, July 12 “At times in these low scoring matches, you need to play boring cricket. It doesn’t matter whether you win in the 48th or 49th over,” Dhoni said at the post-match media conference having got his team past the finishing line with two balls to spare. The skipper admitted that since it was the final, he took the risk of playing despite not having fully recovered from his hamstring injury. “Sometimes you don’t really wait to be 100 hundred percent fit. The problem with hammy (hamstring) injury is that there is a chance of re-occurrence. Since it was the final and we have two months off after this, I thought about taking the risk,” he said. He was all praise for young Virat Kohli’s leadership skills. “Virat did a tremendous job with a young side. Now he will be leading the team to Zimbabwe where it will be a good exposure for the new set of bowlers who are not as experienced as the current crop. If they do well, our bench strength will only increase,” the skipper pointed out. The witty side of the skipper came to the fore when asked about him scolding Ishant Sharma for misjudging a single and risking getting run-out in the process. “The problem with tall fast bowlers is that there is a lot of distance between the brain and the receptors,” Dhoni answered in a tongue-in-cheek manner. The skipper was all praise for the tail-enders, who despite not scoring too many runs consumed a lot of deliveries. “Credit to Bhuvi as he played at least 6-10 deliveries from Malinga which meant that the next two batsmen didn’t have to face too many deliveries from Malinga. It was an interesting match where, frankly, speaking we were not in a good position. I wanted the tail-enders to stay as long as possible which would have given me a chance.” Rohit Sharma has evolved in the role of an opener and the skipper is extremely happy with the talented Mumbaikar’s performance. “Rohit has been brilliant and looked very confident from the start. It’s always good to see him score runs. It helps the middle-order when he scores but some of the shot selections weren’t great.”— PTI Dhoni, The iceman 100.09 * That's what Dhoni averages in successful chases — the highest ever by anyone who had scored more than 1000 runs. 89.63 * Is his strike rate while anchoring India to victory. In the 72 successful chases he has been part of, he has batted 54 times, staying unbeaten 33 times while logging 2102 runs. Dhoni has a great temperament and, by far, he's the best finisher I have ever seen. He just doesn't get flustered at any stage of the game
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Dilip Vengsarkar He’s has done it over and over again for us, so we were all positive, it wasn't any surprise.
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3 of MSD’s best endgames
91* vs Lanka, WC final: As India chased 275, Dhoni came in at 114/3 in 22nd over. Added 109 with Gambhir and an unbeaten 54 with Yuvraj. Won India the title with a six in the 49th over. 183* vs Lanka, 2005: Tendulkar fell early as India chased 299 to win. Dhoni, coming in at No. 3, blasted 183 off 145 balls. India won by six wickets, with almost four overs to spare. 44* vs Australia 2012: After Oz made 269, India needed 92 from the last 16 overs, and 13 off the last over. Dhoni hit McKay for a six and ran five off the next two balls. |
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Dhoni saved his best for the last over
Port of Spain, July 12 The Indians first bundled out Sri Lanka for 201 and then overcame some anxious moments before Dhoni (45 off 52 balls) took the team home with just two balls to spare in a dramatic title clash here. Needing 15 from the last over in their chase of 202, Dhoni, returning to the team after recuperating from a hamstring injury, smashed Shaminda Eranga for two sixes and a boundary in just four balls to finish off the game in style at the Queen's Park Oval. As the captain slammed Eranga over extra cover for the winning shot, the Indian crowd erupted in joy and the jubilant players ran down the pitch to flank the man of the moment, who remained unbeaten. Coming in at the fall of Suresh Raina's wicket with India in a spot of bother at 145 for five in the 35th over, Dhoni added important runs with the lower order and in the process hit five fours and two sixes. Dhoni was calculative and waited till the end before launching that one final assault which left the Lankans shell-shocked as the islanders had fancied their chances after Rangana Herath's four-wicket burst. While Dhoni played the match-winning knock, Rohit, who hit five fours and a six, top-scored for India with 58 off 89 balls. Raina contributed 32 off 27 balls. — PTI
Scoreboard India |
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India colts triumph Down Under
Darwin, July 12 Opting to bowl after winning the toss, the Indians bowled out Australia for a paltry 75 in 24.4 overs before overwhelming the target in 15.3 overs, losing just two wickets in the process. India never looked troubled in their run chase as they finished the series unbeaten. Indian captain Vijay Zol won Player of the Series award after a dominant performance with the bat. The Australian openers — Matthew Short (25) and Damien Mortimer (10) — put 36 runs on the board before the remaining side folded out after adding just 39 more to the total. Left-arm seamer Chama Milind triggered the Australian downfall by getting Short caught by Deepak Hooda at short midwicket. Milind struck again getting Ben McDermott (3) to flick one to square-leg. The Indian chase was never in any trouble except for the early loss Akhil Herwadkar (0). But opener Ankush Bains (40) and No.4 Sanju Samson (20) steered the side home with ease. The only other wicket to fall was of Zol, who departed after scoring 9 runs. — PTI
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Bell, Broad put England on top Nottingham, July 12
Ian Bell was 95 not out from 228 balls with 12 fours and his unbroken partnership of 108 with Stuart Broad has transformed the test at Trent Bridge. Broad made a controversial 47 not out from 122 balls, which included five fours but only after he was given not out despite clearly edging Ashton Agar to Michael Clarke at slip a decision Australia was unable to overturn having wasted its referrals. Mitchell Starc had Australia’s best bowling figures with 2-66. Bell’s discipline and Broad’s brinkmanship turned the contest back in England’s favor after Australia had been on top for the first two sessions.England began the third day on 80-2, and after two days of unrelenting drama the first hour was comparatively slow. Kevin Pietersen (64) brought up his 50 with a drive off Starc in the 50th over, and Cook whipped Agar through midwicket to bring up the century partnership in the 54th. But there were few chances until Pietersen dragged Pattinson onto his stumps on the final ball before the drinks break three overs later with 121 on the board. Cook reached his 50, from 164 balls, with a single from Agar, but the 19-year-old Australian removed him in the 60th with an off break that Clarke took high over his head to leave the total on 131-4. The dismissals slowed an already pedestrian run rate, best exemplified by Shane Watson bowling 34 balls before England managed a scoring shot against him. Australia used its final referral in the 69th over, claiming an lbw decision against Bairstow from a ball that was drifting considerably down leg side. — Agencies Scoreboard Australia first innings 280 Cook c Clarke b Agar 50 Root c Haddin b Starc 5 Trott lbw b Starc 0 Pietersen b Pattinson 64 Bell not out 95 Bairstow c Haddin b Agar 15 Prior c Cowan b Siddle 31 Broad not out 47 Extras: (b 1, nb 2) 8 Total: (6 wkts, 133 ovs) 326 Fall of wickets: 1-11 2-11 3-121 4-131 5-174 6-218 Bowling Pattinson 28-7-89-1 Starc 27-7-66-2 Agar 35-9-82-2 Siddle 28-10-63-1 Watson 15-11-11-0 'Hot Spot' apology to England for operator failure
The inventor of "Hot Spot" technology apologised to England over an error which caused the dismissal of Jonathan Trott. Trott was given not out when struck on the pad by a ball from Mitchell Starc on the second day, but the Australians referred the decision to the third umpire and it was overruled. “Here is the absolute truth from our perspective in regard to the Trott incident," Hot Spot inventor Warren Brennan said. "It was operator error. My operator did not trigger the system in order to cater for the Trott delivery."Brennan said the operator was still looking at the dismissal of Joe Root off Starc's previous delivery. — Reuters |
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Top foreign coach need of hour: Sardar
New Delhi, July 12 Hockey India (HI) has started its search for a foreign coach to replace Michael Nobbs, who was sacked last week for non-performance. Charlesworth, who had a brief coaching stint with the Indian team in 2008, had said that the country`s coaches were not good enough to meet the demands of modern hockey. India`s high performance director and Dutch legend Roelant Oltmans is currently in charge of the team while Olympic gold medallist Maharaj Krishan Kaushik has been named the national coach. Sardar welcomed the appointment of Kaushik but said the need of the hour is a reputed foreign coach. “Kaushik is one of the best Indian coaches we have and along with Oltmans, the team should go in the right direction. In the long run, I feel we need someone like Oltmans to take the team forward,” Sardar said ahead of the training camp for the Asia Cup next month. — PTI
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Cavendish wins stage 13 in sprint finish
Saint-Amand Montrond, France, July 12 Flat stages are normally relatively free of incident, but the 173-kilometre trek from Tours to Saint-Amand-Montrond was exciting and showed that even Froome’s formidable Sky team can be vulnerable. With about a third of the stage gone, the main pack was split into three and Alejandro Valverde dropped way out of overall contention after stopping to repair a puncture and losing a huge amount of time. Valverde was second overnight but that spot was overtaken by Dutchman Bauke Mollema, while Contador improved to third. — Agencies
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After guiding the team to an exciting tri-nation ODI series triumph, captain MS Dhoni made it clear that he is ready to play “boring cricket” while chasing low scores if it ensures a victory for his team.
“At times in these low scoring matches, you need to play boring cricket. It doesn’t matter whether you win in the 48th or 49th over,” Dhoni said at the post-match media conference having got his team past the finishing line with two balls to spare.
Results STAGE XIII
