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China Open
CLT20 semifinals |
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MI, T&T high on confidence
Play spin like Dhoni: Kirsten
India respond well, draw on the cards
Afghanistan take a big leap, seal World Cup spot
Aprajith, Pandey put South on top
Kawalpreet sets pool on fire
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Sania on a roll, storms into final
Sania and Zimbabwe’s Cara, who came into the tournament after winning the Tokyo event, swept aside the challenge of formidable Italians 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 12 minutes. Sania has been doing well consistently despite not getting a long-term partner. She began the season with Bethanie-Mattek Sands but when the American preferred to focus more in singles, Sania had to look for partners. After playing half the season with Bethanie-Mattek, Sania has teamed up with four different partners — America's Liezel Huber, Italy’s Flavia Pennetta, China’s Jie Zheng and now Cara. She reached the U.S. Open semis and won New Haven event with Zheng and triumphed at Tokyo Open with Cara. She won Dubai and Brisbane events with Bethanie-Mattek. Now she has opportunity to win her fifth title of the season. In today’s match, converting three of the four break chances in the second set sealed the deal for Sania and Cara. They now face winners of the second semifinal between the pairs of China’s Su-Wei Hsieh and Shuai Peng and Vera Dushevina of Russia and Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain. Bopanna in final too Tokyo: India's Rohan Bopanna and France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin have reached the final of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships by beating Philippines' Treat Conrad Huey and England’s Dominic Inglot 6-4, 7-6. There were three breaks of serve in the first set but none in the second where the Indo-French pair stuck to their task and won in the tiebreaker. The first set took 29 minutes and the second 47 minutes to complete. Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin are seeded fourth in the tournament. — PTI Nadal survives Fognini scare Beijing, October 4 Meanwhile, Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 6-1 6-4 in the quarterfinals. —PTI
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Royals rumble, CSK tumble
Makes it to the final after beating Super Kings by 14 runs
Jaipur, October 4 Rajasthan posted a competitive 159 for eight, courtesy a 56-ball 70-run innings by opener Rahane, after they were sent into bat by Chennai skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The hosts then rode on a sensational spell of spin bowling by Tambe (3/10) to restrict the Super Kings to 145 for eight and register their 13th victory on a row at the Sawai Mansingh stadium here. R Ashwin blasted a quickfire 28-ball 46, studded with three fours and as many sixes, to give some hope to the Chennai side in the last stages of the match but it was not enough in the end. Defending 159, Rajasthan were athletic on the field while Chennai looked sloppy in their running between the wickets and it cost them their first two wickets. A terrible mix-up between Michael Hussey (9) and Murali Vijay (14) ended with the opener losing his wicket in the 3rd over, while two overs later, Vijay too run himself out with Kevon Cooper hitting the stumps directly. However, Suresh Raina, who came as first down, clobbered the last two deliveries off Cooper for boundaries to ease the pressure as Chennai reached 41 for two in 6 overs. Spinner Pravin Tambe and pacer Rahul Shukla then wrecked havoc on the Chennai batsmen with the former scalping the wickets of S Badrinath (8) and Dwayne Bravo (3) and the latter removing the dangerous Mahendra Singh Dhoni (3) cheaply. Wickets kept falling like nine pins as Watson then induced an edged off Ravindra Jadeja which landed on the safe hands of wicketkeeper Dishant Yagnik. Tambe then got rid off Raina, with Chennai looking down the barrel at 72 for seven in 12.3 overs. However, a 43-ball 73-run partnership between Ashwin and Chris Morris (26) for the eight wicket kept Chennai in the hunt till the last over. Needing 23 runs in the last over, Ashwin blasted the first ball for a six but bowler James Faulkner made a quick recovery to restrict them comfortably in the end. — PTI Brief scores: RR: 159 for 8 in 20 overs (Rahane70, Bravo 3/26). CSK: 145 for 8 in 20 overs (R Ashwin 46; P Tambe 3/10).
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MI, T&T high on confidence
Tribune News Service Overcast sky, drizzle and light rain kept Mumbai Indians indoors on the eve of the crucial match against T and T, but the former champions are full of assurance after their convincing win against Scorchers, despite the failure of Sachin Tendulkar, yet again. Dwayne Smith and captain Rohit Sharma, with their batting fireworks, ensured that MI remained in contention for the championship crown, which they had first won in 2011, under Harbhajan Singh’s captaincy. But MI’s win over Perth Scorchers was not blemish-less, as sloppy fielding and missed stumping chances, almost did them in. But West Indies’ team Trinidad and Tobao would be a different kettle of fish, as they too are high on confidence after slaying M.S.Dhoni’s almost unbeatable Chennai Super Kings by a whopping eight wickets. And they would definitely try to replicate that win against MI, too. They bowled, fielded and batted with remarkable confidence to beat CSK, though the Chennai team did not really push for a win, as perhaps, they did not want to top Group B. But that premise still does not take the credit away from T and T’s win, particularly the manner in which Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis put the Chennai bowling to sword to hoist a 79-run stand, which took the game away from CSK. |
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New Delhi, October 4 “Watch MS Dhoni's batting carefully. How he gets behind the ball when he plays spinners. Apart from stepping out for hitting sixes, he always takes spinners on the backfoot. He always gets low while defending or attacking on backfoot. There are many good players of spin bowling in India but he is one of premier players,” Kirsten told the school cricketers while showing Dhoni's stance and technique. “Batting is a side-on game and will always remain that. You have to remain side-on in order to hit the balls on both sides of the wicket. At the end of the day, if you are batting, you have to score runs. You have to develop a technique. No point hitting a glorious cover drive or a wristy flick and then get out,” were some of the words of wisdom from Kirsten. The interaction was organised by Delhi Daredevils. —PTI
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India respond well, draw on the cards Shimoga, October 4 Before Kaul's rearguard unbeaten knock of 64 off 172 balls, Vasudevan Jagadeesh (86) and Abhishek Nayar (89) were involved in a 99-run partnership for the fourth wicket, as India A were all out for 359 in their first innings. Having gained slender lead, the West Indies A were in a pretty comfortable position at stumps with openers Kraigg Brathwaite and Kieran Powell batting on 18 and 9, respectively. In reply to the West Indies’ 406, India's innings ended just after tea with Kaul remaining unbeaten. Mohammad Shami was the last man out, caught behind by Chadwick Walton off medium pacer Assad Fudadin for a handy 15 runs. The wicketkeeper-batsman fought hard to stay in the middle as he saw wickets tumbling at the other end. The youngster came in when India were struggling at 245 for five. Kaul struck four boundaries and a six and faced 148 balls during his dogged innings. The West Indies attack was decent but could not capitalise, giving opportunity to the Indian tail-enders to stick around a defiant Kaul and reduce the lead. Cummins bagged three for 58 and two wickets each were shared by Veerasammy Permaul, Nikita Miller and Assad Fudadin after they conceded 88, 77 runs and 23 runs, respectively. Deonaraine took one wicket for 66 runs. Even as the match seemed to be heading towards a draw, there is still enough interest left as Kirk Edwards and Powell, who have been picked for India and West Indies series, would like to be among runs before they get ready for the big challenge in November. — PTI Brief Scores: West Indies A 406 and 28 for 0 (Brathwaite 18no, Powell 9no); India A 359 (Nayar 89, Jagadeesh 86, Kaul 64, Cummins 3-58)
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Afghanistan take a big leap, seal World Cup spot
Sharjah, October 4 Deciding to field first after winning the toss, Afghanistan dismissed Kenya for 93 in 43.3 overs and then achieved the target in 20.5 overs with seven wickets to spare. The victory meant Afghanistan finished on 19 points — five behind champion Ireland, which qualified for ICC’s flagship event to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2015. The architects of Afghanistan’s victory were left-arm spinner Hamza Hotak, captain Mohammad Nabi and Hashmatullah Shaidi. Hotak finished as the pick of bowlers with figures of 10-1-19-3, while Nabi scored 46 not out and Shaidi 13 not out. The pair of Nabi and Shaidi put on 62 for the fourth wicket, after Shem Ngoche had taken two wickets in five balls to reduce Afghanistan to 34 for three. By virtue of finishing second in the World Cricket League Championship, Afghanistan has earned a place in Pool A that includes co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, as well as Bangladesh, England, Sri Lanka and Qualifier 3. Afghanistan will play its opening match in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 against Bangladesh at Manuka Oval, Canberra, on February 18 while its other matches will be against Sri Lanka (February 22, Dunedin), Qualifier 3 (February 26, Dunedin), Australia (March 4, Perth), New Zealand (March 8, Napier) and England (March 13, Sydney). It has been a remarkable journey for Afghanistan which was playing in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 5 in 2008. In 2010, it qualified for the ICC World Twenty20 West Indies 2010 by winning the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2010. It then finished second to Ireland in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2012, to qualify for the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012. — PTI Brief scores: Kenya: 93 all out in 43.3 overs (Morris Ouma 39; Hamza Hotak 3/19); Afghanistan 96 for 3 in 20.5 overs (Mohammad Nabi 46 no)
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Aprajith, Pandey put South on top
Chennai, October 4 Aprajith (212) and Pandey (213) added 330 runs in 84.1 overs for the fourth and sixth wicket. This unusual stat was the result of Pandey suffering a groin injury, forcing him to retire hurt during the 19th over this morning. When Pandey walked back to the pavillion for medical examination and treatment, South were 242 for 3. At close, Malolan Rangarajan (26) and captain Vinay Kumar (19) were at the crease. Resuming at the overnight score of 213 for three, the determined duo kept their cool to make a mark for themselves. West Zone skipper Wasim Jaffer tried every possible bowling combination without any success. Brief scores: South Zone 553 for 7 (Pandey 213, Aparajith 212) — PTI
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Kawalpreet sets pool on fire
Bathinda, October 4 The 20-year-old bagged gold (4:51.59m) in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Apart from the team event, Kawalpreet won the 400m freestyle, 200m backstroke, 200m freestyle, 200m individual medley and 100m backstroke. Ludhiana’s another trump card was Shubhkarman Dhaliwal who bagged a bronze in the 200m backstroke, a silver in 200m free style, another silver in the 200m individuals medley and a bronze in 100m backstroke. In the 400m freestyle, Ishpreet Kaur won the silver medal and in 100m breast stroke Mani Mehtab Dhaliwal won silver. In other track and field events, Jalandhar team proved its mettle. Harkirat Kaur won gold in discus throw (37.67m), while in 400m hurdles Anju Rani bagged gold (1:03.92m) and Bhupinder Kaur won silver (1:04.52m). In long jump, Avneet Kaur settled for a bronze with a jump of 5.19m. In the 200m track event, Jalandhar’s Kirandeep Kaur clocked 25.38sec to win the gold, while Amandeep Kaur won bronze in 26.18sec. The team also clinched the gold in the 4x100m relay event. Although the team beat Amritsar in the table tennis semifinals and Ferozepur in the quarterfinals, it had to settle for silver after losing to Ropar 3-1. In Kabaddi quarterfinals, Jalandhar drubbed SBS Nagar by 23 points and in volleyball quarterfinal matches, the team defeated Moga 25-17, 25-16, 25-15. It also crushed Hoshiarpur 8-1 in the quarterfinals of kho kho.
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Beijing, October 4
Beijing, October 4
