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Virat wants to be
master of
all trades
Proteas show the door to Zimbabwe
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Sehwag is an impact player, says Jayasuriya
Messi saves Barcelona
Sindhu breaks into top 20
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Virat wants to be
master of
all trades
Colombo, September 20 Dravid rarely endorses a young player’s potential so publicly. But then, Kohli as a young talent stand out. Dravid earned the sobriquet of “The Wall” for his mighty batting efforts in difficult situations in Test cricket. Kohli is doing the same in the shorter versions of the game, often ensuring that a mini-crisis doesn’t become a crisis.
“It’s a bigger role now compared to about year ago now. It’s a big challenge for all the young players to live up to the expectations of the seniors who have inspired us,” Kohli told this writer. “It’s a sort of transition period for us and we all need to take more responsibility. We need to show greater temperament and maturity.” India’s first match of the ICC T20 World Cup against Afghanistan added to his stature, which has increased appreciably with his prolific run-scoring in recent times. His recent form in each format of the game shows that this young man is going through a purple patch. Kohli has scored three fifties in his last six innings in T20Is, a record five hundreds and one fifty in his last nine ODIs, and two hundreds and three 50s in his last Test innings. Most of these knocks have helped India win games. “I am not surprised by his success in recent months. He has been a special talent. He works very hard on his batting and on his fitness,” Daniel Vettori, Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore captain, said. “He always wants to learn and is desperate to add value to his team. He is a special player. He has worked exceptionally hard.” On being reminded about Dravid’s praise, Kohli is visibly delighted. “Dravid’s praise means the world to me. Coming from someone like Rahul bhai, this is a great honour for me. Obviously, it urges me to work harder,” says the Delhi player. Kohli bats at No. 3 in ODIs and T20Is but so far has batted below No. 4 in Tests. However, he says he’s comfortable in batting at any slot for the team. For him, runs are more important than a particular batting order. “In order to become a fine cricketer, I need to go through all kinds of situations. I love the challenge of scoring runs in different conditions and positions,” asserts Kohli. The 23-year-old’s current batting average in ODIs is 51.81. Kohli has proved himself a world-class player in this format but he yearns for the same success in the longest format of the game. He believes that his ODI display will help his Test cricket as well. “Obviously 13 ODI hundreds help your Test cricket. Of course Test hundreds are more satisfying,” he said. Just before the Test series against New Zealand, Kohli had told this correspondent in Bangalore that he wouldn’t mind sacrificing 10 seasons of the IPL and million-dollar contracts in order to play 100 Tests. Perhaps this genuine love for Test cricket has not gone unnoticed by iconic teammates like Dravid. The writer is a journalist with CNN-IBN-7 First hurdle cleared
India beat Afghanistan by 23 runs in their first T20 World Cup encounter Afghanistan: 136 all out in 19.3 overs (Nabi 31, Sadiq 26, Mangal 22, Ashwin 2/20, Yuvraj 3/19 Pathan 1/29). |
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Proteas show the door to Zimbabwe Colombo, September 20 Zimbabwe crashed out of the event after slumping to their second defeat in the tournament having lost to hosts Sri Lanka by 82 runs in the tournament opener. As expected, both Sri Lanka and South Africa, who face each other in their last group match here on Saturday, have progressed to the Super Eight stages from the pool.Opening their campaign in tournament, South Africa first restricted Zimbabwe to 93 for eight after inviting the opposition to bat and then piled up the runs without breaking a sweat.Richard Levi smashed his way to a 44-ball unbeaten 50 while Hashim Amla remained not out on 32 from 33 balls as South Africa chased down the target with 44 balls to spare. With South Africa just needing six to win, Zimbabwe squandered the only chance of picking up a wicket the got in the match when Vusi Sibanda dropped Amla at point of Kyle Jarvis. Earlier, Jacques Kallis stole the show with four wickets as a pace inspired South Africa restricted minnows Zimbabwe to the paltry total. Kallis utilised the lively pitch at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium to perfection and scalped four wickets for 15 runs to rock the Zimbabwe innings. He was ably supported by Morne Morkel (2/16) and Dale Steyn (1/9), who produced a lethal opening spell to dismantle the Zimbabweans. — PTI
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Sachin has cricket left in him: Lara
New Delhi, September 20 “I know he has already exited from the Twenty20 version of the game, I am not sure if he is still playing the 50 over game but may be another year or two in the Test cricket left in him ... May be still define himself at the top of scoring the most runs in both the Test and One Day Internationals," Lara said. The former West Indies captain, who started his international career a year after his Indian contemporary, said that Tendulkar has been phenomenal and would be missed by the cricket world whenever he decides to hang his boots. “I think he (Tendulkar) has done a wonderful job. Somebody who started playing cricket, I am not sure whether he was 15 or 16, and he is still there. So he started may be a year or two before myself and has gone on to play five years after I have done", he said. “I think he is approaching 25 years of international cricket, that is something all Indians should be proud of, not just Sachin," the veteran of 131 Test matches said. Lara, who has 11,953 Test runs to his credit including a record unbeaten 400 against England, added that Tendulkar is way apart in class and ability. "We know he had a few injuries and to be able to play that length of time and stay at the top of the pile in runs, in just class and sheer ability, I think he has done a tremendous job and world cricket is gonna miss someone like that when he leaves," he said. The 43-year-old Lara, who has often been rated at par with the Indian maestro, hailed Tendulkar as a thorough gentleman and someone the world cricket would be proud of. “I think he has done a tremendous job and I have only praise for someone like that.” “I have played with him on a few occasions and played against him, I think he has been a gentleman and the one world cricket should be proud of," Lara said. He also appreciated Mahendra Singh Dhoni`s skills as a leader and insisted that the Indian skipper should be allowed to decide his future. “In last four-five years he has done remarkable job as Indian captain. I know questions are being asked of him but only he knows when he has to go. No captain wants to be sacked. So we should allow him to decide his future," said Lara, who has 299 ODI`s to his credit. Asked about the ongoing World T20 in Sri Lanka and whom he thought as the favourite to win the championship, Lara said, "Who else other than the three big boys of Asia.""Pakistan is a terrific team. I saw the match they beat India in practice. Sri lanka is very dangerous team and also India. Any one of them on a given day is good," he pointed. Lara, however, mentioned that the West Indies were also "worthy favourites" if they played as a unit. "West Indies is a very good team, but they are good in pieces. They have best batsman, best bowlers and best all-rounders, but they need to perform collectively. As a group they are really dangerous and we are worthy favourites,” he said. Lara also approved of the shortest format of the game saying the sport needs it right now. “T20 is a very interesting format. Cricket needs it right now. We have seen so many exciting players in this format. I would also love to play it, but now I`m enjoying as a spectator," the left-handed batsman insisted. Lara. — PTI
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Sehwag is an impact player, says Jayasuriya
Colombo, September 20 “I find it difficult to understand why people criticise a match-winner like Sehwag. He is an impact player. Sehwag will not score 80 or 100 everyday but whenever he scores at least 70 at the top of the order, be rest assured that India will win matches more often than not," Jayasuriya said in an exclusive interview here. Sehwag is just a couple of weeks shy of his 34th birthday, but Jayasuriya doesn't agree that age is catching up with the 'Nawab of Najafgarh', whose game depends a lot on hand-eye co-ordination. “I still don't know why a few failures always raise this question of age being a factor. A couple of failures don't suddenly make you old. If one is fit and motivated, age is not a factor," the 43-year-old former Sri Lanka captain stated. As the discussion veered towards Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy, Jayasuriya, a veteran of 110 Tests and 445 ODIs, felt he should "learn from his mistakes". “Captaincy is always a learning process. Just because Dhoni has lost eight Test matches doesn't make him a bad captain overnight. "Yes, there has been criticism about his captaincy. I believe everyone makes mistakes and learns from them. Dhoni should also take the criticism in his stride and try to improve. If you know exactly where you went wrong, it helps you in improving your game," said Jayasuriya. The Indian team's bowling has been under the scanner and Jayasuriya said that in the T20 format "one bowler would always go for some runs but one needs to ensure that all bowlers don't get hit simultaneously.” — PTI
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Barcelona, September 20 Ronaldo, hoping to end Messi's three-year run as World Player of the Year, thrilled the Bernabeu when he snatched a 90th-minute winner in Real Madrid's 3-2 victory over Manchester City in Group D on Tuesday. Messi not only netted Barca's 71st-minute equaliser against the unfancied Russians at the Nou Camp, but also grabbed the winner with a rare header 10 minutes from time. The Argentina international has been top scorer in Europe's elite club competition the past four seasons and his latest double took his Champions League goal tally to 53 in 69 appearances while Ronaldo has 39 in 81 matches. “We deserved to win but it was a really tough game," Messi told Spanish television. “It's not easy when they defend so deep and you can't find the spaces," added the 25-year-old, who has now scored 109 goals in his last 100 official matches for Barca. “They were comfortable defending in their penalty area and they have very strong and quick forwards and can break quickly. “Things got complicated but we kept pressing and we managed to turn it around,” he said. — Reuters
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New Delhi. September 20 The Indian challenge ended at the Japan Super Series following the defeats of shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and Ajay Jayaram in pre-quarterfinals. Sindhu fought for 52 minutes before suffering a 21-10 12-21 18-21 loss to fourth seed Yeon Ju Bae. Jayaram also failed to breach the defence of Wei Feng Chong and lost 16-21 16-21 to the Malaysian in a 35-minute battle. The 17-year-old Hyderabadi, who stunned the world after beating London Olympics gold medallist Li Xuerui in the quarterfinals of the China Masters, surged four places to achieve the 20th place in the BWF ranking announced on Thursday. However, for Sindhu, the good news came on a day when she lost her pre-quarterfinal match to fourth seed Yeon Ju Bae of Korea 21-10 12-21 18-21 in Japan Open in Tokyo. In men’s singles, Olympic quarterfinalist Parupalli Kashyap slipped one rung down to be placed at the 20th spot, while Ajay Jayaram jumped six places to the 23rd place. Sourabh Verma also zoomed eight places to rise to 31st spot. — PTI
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Colombo, September 20
Colombo, September 20
Virender Sehwag's prolonged form slump has become a cause of concern but the struggling opener on Thursday received the backing of another swashbuckler Sanath
Jayasuriya, who said India needed an "impact player" like him to win matches. “I find it difficult to understand why people criticise a match-winner like
Sehwag. He is an impact player. Sehwag will not score 80 or 100 everyday but whenever he scores at least 70 at the top of the order, be rest assured that India will win matches more often than not," Jayasuriya said in an exclusive interview here.
Barcelona, September 20
