कंचन उजाला लखनऊ। होमगार्ड मुख्यालय में प्रशिक्षु महिला होमगार्डों के साथ बैरक में एक बीओ का डांस करते वीडियो मंगलवार को वायरल हो गया। वीडियो वायरल होते ही विभाग एक बार फिर चर्चा में आ गया। बताया जा रहा है कि जिस समय बैरक में महिला होमागर्डों के घेरे में बीओ डांस कर रहे थे उस समय मुख्यालय के एक कक्ष में प्रमुख सचिव होमगार्ड, मातहतों के साथ समीक्षा बैठक कर रहे थे।

किया डांस बाद में जोड़े हाथ

ट्रैक सूट पहनकर महिला होमगार्ड के साथ डांस कर रहे बीओ का नाम गेंदे लाल वर्मा बताया जा रहा है। बैरक में डांस के बाद उन्होंने महिला होमगार्ड के हाथ जोड़े और फिर जाते दिखाई दिए। महिला होमगार्ड भी उनके साथ डांस कर रही हैं। इस दौरान किसी ने डांस का वीडियो बना लिया और उसे इंटरनेट मीडिया पर वायरल कर दिया।

कार चलाने का प्रशिक्षण ले रहीं महिला होमगार्ड

शासन के आदेश पर मुख्यालय में करीब 120 महिला होमगार्ड को कार चलाने का प्रशिक्षण दिया जा रहा है। शासन की मंशा है कि प्रशिक्षण के बाद इन महिला होमगार्ड की तैनाती 1090, पिंक बूथ और यूपी 112 की महिला पुलिस अधिकारियों के साथ की जाएगी। इस कारण इन्हें प्रशिक्षण दिया जा रहा है।

जिम्मा बोले डांस किया तो इसमें कोई हर्ज नहीं

डीआइजी होमगार्ड मुख्यालय रणजीत सिंह ने बताया कि महिला होमगार्ड दिन भर कार चलाने का प्रशिक्षण ले रही हैं। उन्होंने बीओ के साथ डांस किया तो इसमें कोई हर्ज नहीं है। डांस में किसी प्रकार की अभद्रता अथवा फूहड़ता नहीं है। सामान्य रूप से वह मनोरंजन कर रही हैं।

लखनऊ। चिनहट के मटियारी फ्लाईओवर पर शुक्रवार रात चलती कार में अचानक आग लग गई। गाड़ी चला रहे सुनील मोहन ने धुआं उठते देख गाड़ी रोकते हुए पुलिस और दमकल को हादसे के बारे में बताया। मदद मिलने से पहले ही कार धूं-धूं कर जलने लगी। दमकल कर्मियों ने किसी तरह से आग बुझाई। इस दौरान फ्लाईओवर पर कार में आग लगने से ट्रैफिक भी प्रभावित हुआ।

भारत की ओर से टिकटॉक, लाइकी और यूसी ब्राउजर जैसे 59 चीनी ऐप पर बैन लगाने के बाद अब ब्रिटेन ने भी चीन को तगड़ा झटका देते हुए 5G नेटवर्क से चीनी कंपनी हुआवेई पर प्रतिबंध लगा दिया है. कंपनी ने इस फैसले को निराशाजनक बताया है.

समाचार एजेंसी रॉयटर्स को मीडिया सचिव ओलिवर डाउडेन ने मंगलवार को बताया कि ब्रिटिश प्रधानमंत्री बोरिस जॉनसन की सरकार ने 2027 तक दूरसंचार कंपनियों को अपने उपकरण हटाने का आदेश देकर ब्रिटेन के 5जी नेटवर्क से हुआवेई पर प्रतिबंध लगाने का ऐलान कर दिया.

ध्यानचंद पुरस्कार से सम्मानित पूर्व फुटबॉलर सैयद शाहिद हकीम कोविड-19 जांच में पॉजिटिव आए हैं. वह इस समय हैदराबाद स्थित क्वारंटीन सेंटर में हैं. भारत की 1960 रोम ओलंपिक टीम का हिस्सा रहे 81 साल के हकीम ने बुधवार को इसकी पुष्टि की. उन्होंने पीटीआई से कहा, ‘हां, मैं छह दिन पहले कोविड-19 की जांच में पॉजिटिव आया और इस समय मैं हैदराबाद में एक होटल में हूं, जिसे राज्य सरकार ने पृथकवास केंद्र में तब्दील किया हुआ है.’

हकीम ने कहा, ‘पिछले दो दिनों से मैं अपने स्वास्थ्य में थोड़ा सुधार देख रहा हूं और उम्मीद करता हूं कि जल्द ही जांच में नेगेटिव आऊं और कुछ दिनों में घर वापस चला जाऊं.’ वह कर्नाटक के गुलबर्गा के दौरे के बाद बीमार पड़ गए.

ध्यानचंद पुरस्कार से सम्मानित पूर्व फुटबॉलर सैयद शाहिद हकीम कोविड-19 जांच में पॉजिटिव आए हैं. वह इस समय हैदराबाद स्थित क्वारंटीन सेंटर में हैं. भारत की 1960 रोम ओलंपिक टीम का हिस्सा रहे 81 साल के हकीम ने बुधवार को इसकी पुष्टि की. उन्होंने पीटीआई से कहा, ‘हां, मैं छह दिन पहले कोविड-19 की जांच में पॉजिटिव आया और इस समय मैं हैदराबाद में एक होटल में हूं, जिसे राज्य सरकार ने पृथकवास केंद्र में तब्दील किया हुआ है.’

हकीम ने कहा, ‘पिछले दो दिनों से मैं अपने स्वास्थ्य में थोड़ा सुधार देख रहा हूं और उम्मीद करता हूं कि जल्द ही जांच में नेगेटिव आऊं और कुछ दिनों में घर वापस चला जाऊं.’ वह कर्नाटक के गुलबर्गा के दौरे के बाद बीमार पड़ गए.

New Delhi: Sportswear giant Nike said it had withdrawn its supply of boots to Iranian footballers ahead of the World Cup because of new US sanctions.

“US sanctions mean that as a US company, Nike cannot supply shoes to players in the Iranian national team at this time,” the company said in a statement published by ESPN.

“Sanctions applicable to Nike have been in place for many years and are enforceable by law.”

The background of the decision is that last month, President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

He vowed to re-impose economic sanctions that were waived when the deal was signed in 2015.

Nike’s decision has frustrated Iranian players, with head coach Carlos Queiroz asking FIFA to “help” his players.

Queiroz, who has formerly coached Portugal and Real Madrid, said: “Players get used to their sports equipment, and it’s not right to change them a week before such important matches.

“We are only managers and footballers, and should not get involved in such matters. But we are asking FIFA to help us with this.”

The incident also sparked outrage on social media, with several Iranians starting a campaign to boycott Nike products.

“When Iran refuses to play against Israel it is political interference in sports, but when Nike refuses to supply boots to Iranian players due to sanctions, Fifa doesn’t say a word,” said a user on Twitter.

In a widely-shared video, an Iranian man, who described himself as a dentist, threw a pair of Nike shoes in a bin, saying the company’s decision was “an insult to my people and all football lovers”.

However, some Iranians came to Nike’s defence, saying as a private US company, it had no other choice.

“Nike is a private company and its only objective is to satisfy its shareholders. It is normal that it is withdrawing its supply of boots to Iran for fear of economic penalties,” tweeted one user.

With little time to react, Iran’s players have taken several steps to make sure they are equipped to play.

While some have asked non-Iranian players on their club teams to loan them boots, others have had friends acquire them or have simply gone out and bought their own footwear at stores.

However, this is not the only inconvenience hampering Iran’s World Cup preparations.

Iran’s football federation suspended relations with its Greek counterpart last month after a friendly match between the two was cancelled amid tensions between Greece and Turkey. A second warm-up against Kosovo was also cancelled.

Iran’s first match is on Friday against Morocco.

Indian chess star Soumya Swaminthan has withdrawn herself from a tournament in Iran, opposing the country’s rule which makes it mandatory for female athletes to wear a headscarf.

Swaminathan took to Facebook to share her decision with the fans. She released a strongly-worded statement saying,

“I am very sorry to state that I have asked to be excused from the Indian Women’s team for the forthcoming Asian Nations Cup ( Asian Team ) Chess Championship 2018, to be held at Iran from 26 July – 4 Aug 2018, as I do not wish to be forced to wear a Headscarf or Burkha. I find the Iranian law of compulsory Headscarf to be in direct violation of my basic Human Rights including my right to freedom of expression, and right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. It seems that under the present circumstances, the only way for me to protect my rights is not to go to Iran.”

She added that there is no place for ‘enforceable religious dress code’ in sports and said that despite many compromises a sportspersons make, some things can’t be compromised.

“I am very disappointed to see that player’s rights and welfare are given such less importance while allotting and/or organising official championships. I understand the organisers expecting us to wear our National Team Dress or Formals or Sporting attire for our games during official championships, but surely there is no place for an enforceable religious dress code in Sports.

“It is a huge honour for me to represent India everytime I am selected in the National Team and I deeply regret that I will be unable to participate in such an important championship. While we sportspersons are willing to make several adjustments for the sake of our sport, always giving it top priority in our life, some things simply cannot be compromised.”

In 2016, shooter Heena Sidhu too had refused to participate in the Asian Airgun Shooting Championship’ held in Iran over the same reason.

New Delhi: 18-year-old Prithvi Shaw set the Indian Premier League alight by slamming his maiden fifty (62 off 44 deliveries) which helped Delhi Daredevils win their second match of the season in style against Kolkata Knight Riders, on Friday.

High on confidence after the ICC U-19 World Cup, Shaw seemed determined to score a whole lot of runs against KKR as Delhi were looking to save their season. Shaw, who completed his half century of 38 balls not only had the likes of Mitchell Johnson running for cover, but also set the platform for captain Shreyas Iyer’s swashbuckling knock. Delhi scored 219 batting first, while KKR could only manage 164 and were handed a heavy defeat.

As far as the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) is concerned, Chris Gayle hasn’t just announced his presence. He’s screamed it from the rooftops, and made himself as visible as the neon signs on Times Square. His three outings for Kings XI Punjab have seen scores of 63, 104 not out and 62 not out. Those 229 runs have included an incredible 21 sixes, six of them off Rashid Khan, who has befuddled batsmen across leagues for more than a year now.

His fitness issues may mean that Gayle continues to be used as an impact player, but every run he makes will mean further scrutiny of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s decision not to retain him, or put in a bid for him at the auction. Such hindsight is hardly fair though. There had been nothing in the runes to suggest that such a turnaround was likely.

You have to go back to 2015 for Gayle’s last great IPL season. Then, in addition to scores of 96 (56 balls), 62 not out (40) and 117 (57), he also delivered a stunning 10-ball 35 as Bangalore eased past a tough Duckworth-Lewis target. The following year, he began the campaign with scores of 1, 0, 7, 5 and 6. Had it been any other player, that would have been that.

But such was the regard that Virat Kohli and the team management had for him that they gave him more chances. Scores of 49 (31) and 73 (32) were followed by a devastating 38-ball 76 in the final. It was his exit that tilted the scales in Hyderabad’s favour.

But for a 38-ball 77 in Rajkot, there was almost nothing to savour in 2017, when his 200 runs came at a pedestrian strike-rate of 122.69. And it wasn’t only in the IPL that he struggled. In 14 innings across the first two seasons of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), he made just 263 runs at a strike-rate of 127.05.

The Big Bash League had drawn a line under his participation after 2016, for non-cricketing reasons, and despite the runs he plundered in the Caribbean and in Bangladesh, his struggles in India and the Middle East – which hosted the PSL – suggested that his days as a big-tournament player were behind him.

That Gayle has now found a sixth or seven wind is testament to his ability to reinvent himself in a format that he has mastered like no one else. That shouldn’t, however, be used as a stick to beat his former team with, not when all the numbers were stacked against the idea of retaining him.

Where Bangalore really blundered was in not keeping faith in KL Rahul. He may have missed the 2017 season because of the shoulder injury he picked up in the Test series against Australia, but his displays in 2016 had been integral to RCB’s charge to the final. He didn’t just make 397 runs at an excellent strike-rate (146.49), he was remarkably consistent, making 38 or more in seven of his 12 innings.

Only the Bangalore team management could tell you in which parallel universe Sarfaraz Khan is a better batting option than Rahul. Sarfaraz has started the season with scores of 6, 0 and 5. Rahul’s lowest scores in six knocks for Punjab is 18.

The performances of Rahul and Karun Nair with Punjab and Krishnappa Gowtham and Shreyas Gopal with Rajasthan have caused considerable heartburn in Bangalore, where the squad has no local presence to speak of. Of course, for practical purposes, it could be argued that Kohli, in his 11th season with RCB, and AB de Villiers, into his eighth, are as local as the IPL gets, in the same way that Gautam Gambhir was once one of Kolkata’s favourite sons.

But when you see names like Sarfaraz, Pawan Negi and Murugan Ashwin in the squad, it does make you wonder why players with a far greater knowledge of the Bangalore conditions weren’t considered a priority at the auction. Bangalore continue to place a premium on overseas talent, while the teams that have won the competition invest far more wisely in the best Indian talent, both of the established and upcoming variety.

Gayle’s renaissance may cause a few rueful smiles in the Bangalore camp, but it’s the failure to retain Rahul that could have greater long-term ramifications. No matter where they end up this season, that recruitment strategy certainly needs a second look. And then some.

New Delhi: Former Royal Challengers Bangalore players have been in sublime form in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), while at the same time, Virat Kohli and his boys are once again struggling at the bottom half of the table, in the early stages of the tournament.

While on one hand, stars like KL Rahul, Chris Gayle and Shane Watson have been tearing the bowlers apart for their respective teams in the cash-rich league, RCB’s new recruits haven’t been able perform at their optimum levels as they have once again started ever so slow in the league.

RCB opted to retain the likes of Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers and Sarfaraz Khan ahead of the auction, and while the choice of picking the first two was a no-brainer, same thing certainly cannot be said about the youngster Sarfaraz, who has scored just 11 runs in three innings so far.

Kings XI Punjab’s Rahul and Gayle have been one of the top batsmen in the league and are scoring runs for fun. While Chennai Super Kings’ Shane Watson showed in their last match against Rajasthan Royals that he is still a force to be reckoned with in the shortest format of the game.

KL Rahul – M:4, R: 153, HS: 51, SR: 171.9

Rahul started off the campaign with a stunning onslaught against Delhi Daredevils in Mohali and went up to notch the fastest IPL fifty as well. Rahul has been instrumental is providing his team with ideal starts and has scores of 51, 47, 37 and 18 in four match, thus far.

Chris Gayle – M:2, R: 167, HS: 104*, SR: 167.0

After being snubbed early on in the auction, KXIP took a punt with Chris Gayle, acquiring his services for his base price of Rs 2 Cr, and boy the decision to do so has paid dividends for the team. Gayle had a point to prove and in just two matches, he seemed to have done that by slamming a fifty and a century.

Shane Watson – M:4, R: 175, HS: 106, SR: 176.7, W: 6, ECON: 7.3

All-rounder Shane Watson too has shown that despite not playing international cricket, he still has a lot to offer in the IPL. With the help of his 51-ball ton against Royals, Watson has become one of the leading run-getters in the league, while with 6 wickets in his kitty already, Watson is amongst the top wicket-takers as well.

To make matters worse of RCB, their batting line-up hasn’t fired on all cylinders, despite having so many big names, and they have had to rely on skipper Kohli to provide respectability to the score after losing wickets in a heap in almost every game that they have played so far.

Apart from their match against KXIP, where the likes of De Villiers and Quinton de Kock fired them to their only win of the tournament so far, their batting have been found wanting on most occassion. Mandeep Singh has also shone in bits and pieces but overall, it hasn’t been a magnificent campaign for him either. Brendon McCullum failed on couple of occasions after scoring 43 in the first match and was dropped from side while his replacement Corey Anderson was dismissed for a duck in the first match that he played.

Kohli and his boys will look to make amends in their next game against Delhi Daredevils but even if they do so, RCB fans will still be left pondering of stars like Rahul, Gayle and Watson had turned up in their colors once again this season.

A little number crunching reveals we may be looking at the tipping point in Indian sports.

The Commonwealth Games 2018 has been historic for India in more than one sense: India landed its 500th medal at the event, had a fine run in the Games with 66 medals — mostly gold, and finished third in the medals tally.

India’s performance at the 21st edition of the CWG games pretty much establishes what Commonwealth Delhi had signalled: the hitherto lifeless sporting culture in the country may be coming to life. A little number-crunching ignites hope that sports in India may have better days ahead.

The numbers of hope:
#1. India won 7 out of its 10 CWG medals in the last five editions

In its eight-decade-old association with the Commonwealth Games India has won 504 medals. Seventy percent of these medals were claimed in the last five editions. Also, India’s medal haul has been on a broadly upward trend.

#2. Going for the gold
The second high point of India’s performance at the Games has been the high number of golds. While India bettered its overall performance at Glasgow by two medals, its gold tally improved by 11. That’s a massive 60 per cent!

A comparison of India’s performance in shooting, wrestling and weightlifting– three sports Indian athletes have historically excelled at– in the last two CWGs show that the efforts have gone beyond only securing a medal. The quest is for the medal: Gold. Clearly, Indian athletes are pushing the envelope and striving to put the finishing touches required to excel in the international events.

#3. Majority of India’s medals still come from few sports
Eight of every 10 medals won by India at Gold Coast were won by the games Indian sportspersons have historically excelled at. A quarter of all medals came from shooting. The success rate of the Indian contingent for shooting was quite impressive too with 16 medals coming from India’s 27 entries in the sport. That’s a success rate of almost 60 percent.

While it may be seen as India’s failure to diversify its portfolio of medal-winning sports, it also indicates that India are emerging as champion in these fields. Something that is worth celebrating. Given India’s performance in Badminton, TT etc. it can be safely said that in days to come other sports may see a rise in medals too.

#4. Women change the game
Traditionally men have dominated sports in India. Emergence of few star female players in the last few years has signalled a major shift in this sphere. GC 2018 saw some stupendous performance by female athletes: 50 per cent of all golds won by India were brought in by women players. Their medal victories were also quite diversified indicating emergence of great female athletes across categories.

Naysayers might point to India’s abysmal record at the Olympics and other international events, but medal victories at CWG reveal that Indian players are consistently upping their performance. What else can the tipping point in Indian sports look like?

Day 10: India add eight gold medals to the kitty, courtesy MC Mary Kom, Gaurav Solanki, Sanjeev Rajput, Neeraj Chopra, Sumit Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Manika Batra and Vikas Krishan. All these players take the gold medal count to 25. Boxers Manish Kaushik and Amit Phangal bag silver too. Now India’s medal tally has swelled to 59.

The Indian hockey teams, men’s and women’s, had an ordinary show in their bronze medal matches against England. The men lost 1-2, and the women lost 0-6. While Manika Batra sealed a place in final of women’s singles table tennis defeating world no 4 Tianwei Peng. In badminton, Kidambi Srikanth, Saina Nehwal have made it to the finals. The doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy won the bronze medal match against Australian pair 21-19, 21-19.

Gold Coast: Saina Nehwal’s aggression and intensity quite literally wilted PV Sindhu as she picked up the women’s singles Commonwealth Games gold medal with exhilarating triumph in the final here on Sunday. Saina, who led the head-to-head count 3-1 before Sunday’s match, won 21-18 23-21 in the high-pressure match that lasted an hour.

The triumph marked a remarkable end to her CWG campaign this edition. She was the pillar of India’s gold-winning campaign in the team championship earlier, playing every one of the singles matches due to Sindhu’s injury.

In a match that started on equal footing, Saina managed to dominate, bringing a rarely seen aggression to the court. The brute force of Sindhu’s smashes was something that Saina found hard to deal with. On the other hand, Sindhu found it tough to adjust to the delicate placement of strokes of Saina, who took the pace off the shuttle by attacking the net.

The strategy worked quite well for the London Olympics bronze-medallist and she raced to a 9-4 lead. As the gap widened, Saina’s command on the baseline also improved. The two contrasting styles of the two shuttlers made for an exhilarating contest.

What also stood out was Saina’s sharper instincts to leave the returns that landed out. Sindhu struggled to control the power she put on her shots, losing at least four points for pushing the shuttle outside and trailed 6-11 at the lemon break.

Sindhu came back strongly after the break and narrowed the gap a bit but the drift-factor affected her stroke-play way more than Saina, who also seemed the more pumped up of the two, grunting quite a bit after every point won.

Saina’s court coverage was also the more impressive of the two. A telling image of the opening game was when Sindhu was brought to her knees trying to return a smash that didn’t really have any power in it but was just placed perfectly on the left corner.

Sindhu found her bearings after Saina had taken a 20-14 lead and closed it 18-20 but Saina brought her own brute force to fore with a smash targeting Sindhu’s body which was simply unreturnable. Saina claimed the opening game 21-18 in 23 minutes.

The second game followed a similar tangent and despite having the more tired set of legs, Saina was a delight with her trademark angled smashes. But to Sindhu’s credit, she too exhibited a better command on her smashes and improved considerably court-coverage to take a 9-7 lead, which she widened to 13-8 after the break.

For the full house, mostly packed with the diaspora, it was a brilliant Sunday outing as the top two women of Indian badminton slugged it out, displaying an array of strokes.

Sindhu led 19-16 at one stage but a 64-stroke rally to narrow it to 18-19 brought Saina right back and she equalised at 19-19. However, Sindhu edged ahead for a 20-19 lead and a game point.

The see-saw battle continued when Sindhu hit one out to give Saina the equalising point yet again.

This time, it was Saina who got the championship point when Sindhu struck a return out. The lady, who looked the hungrier of the two all through, was surprisingly late in picking one up as Sindhu made it 21-21.

But Saina was back in lead with a cross-court smash that Sindhu just could not reach. Serving for the gold, Saina forced a wide stroke from Sindhu and then let out a scream to celebrate the triumph.

Gold Coast: Indian paddler Manika Batra clinched a gold medal in the women’s singles category at the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Saturday.

Manika outplayed Mengyu Yu of Singapore 4-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-2, 11-7) to clinch the gold medal. This is India’s first ever gold in the women’s singles event at the CWG

Manika started off on a bad note as she was trailing 1-6 in the first game. But soon found her rhythm and made it 5-7 because of some errors on the backhand from her opponent.

The Indian player continued the same pace throughout the game and despite leading in the early stages of the game, Menyu lost the first game 7-11.

In the second game, Manika maintained a slender 4-3 lead through some quality backhand smashes and also returned her shots perfectly. Towards the end of the game, Manika raced away with couple of points and bagged the game.

In the third game, World No. 58 Manika was in complete control and dominated the game. The Indian player raced to a 4-1 lead, by forehand smashes and then never looked back.

Mengyu failed to return Manika’s top spin returns.

The fourth set saw Mengyu making a small comeback, counter-attacking Manika to close down the lead but at the end the Indian paddler proved superior and clinched the gold medal match with ease.

Gold Coast, Apr 14 – Indian athlete Neeraj Chopra on Saturday bagged the yellow metal in Javelin after throwing the seasonal best at 86.7 metres here.

It also made 20-year-old Neeraj the third Indian man and fourth overall to bag an individual athletics gold medal, after Milkha Singh in 1958, Krishna Poonia in 2010 and Vikas Gowda in 2014.

After a throw of 85.50m with his first attempt, Chopra led from the front . His second throw was a foul, but that first throw kept him in the lead, ahead of Grenada’s Andreson Peters, who was in the silver medal position with a best throw of 82.20m after two attempts.

Then Neeraj threw his season’s best, previously at 85.94m, of 86.47m in his fourth attempt, the throw falling 0.01m short of his personal best of 86.48m.

Australian athlete Hamish Peacock finished second while Grenada’s Anderson Peters stood third.

Gold Coast, Apr 14 – Indian boxers on Saturday showed their might in the 2018 Commonwealth Games’ Boxing event here as Padma Bhushan Mary Kom and Gaurav Solanki won gold for the nation, while Amit and Manish Kaushik settled for silver after losing closely-contested bouts.

Legendary Mary Kom beat Kristina O’Hara on a unanimous points decision in 45 to 48 kg category. This is the Indian boxer’s first medal at Commonwealth Games and probably the last as she is expected to retire after this tournament.

In the 52 kg category, Gaurav won gold medal on his debut 4-1 as he beat Irvine in a phenomenal bout.
In the final men’s 46-49kg boxing, Amit goes down against England’s Galal Yafai but secured silver after a closely contested bout.

The five judges were split 3:1 in their decision, with one of them ruling it as a tie.
Manish settled for silver after a closely contested final against home favourite Harry Garside, who won with a 3:2 split decision in his favour.

Gold Coast, Apr 14 – India’s Manika Batra keeping her momentum of winning gold medal continued at the 21st Commonwealth Games as she won the yellow metal in women’s singles event here on Saturday.
Manika has emerged as the first Indian to bag a singles gold at the Commonwealth Games.

In the finals Manika in a one sided game she thrashed Singapore’s Yu Mengyu, 11-7, 11-6, 11-2, 11-7.

Earlier, on Friday Manika had won gold in the women’s team event, and also bagged silver in women’s doubles with her partner Mouma

Anushka Sharma was in attendance cheering on for her husband Virat Kohli as the Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Kings XI Punjab to register their first victory in the eleventh season of the IPL.

The actress was animated throughout the match and cheered for Kohli.

This is not the first time that Anushka has been at the stadium for RCB’s match in Bangalore. She has been a regular visitor in the stands whenever Bangalore play a home game. Even when India plays a home game, Anushka manages to attend a match and cheer for the Indian team.

AB De Villiers and Umesh Yadav were the stars of the day for Royal Challengers Bangalore as they beat Kings XI Punjab by four wickets to register their first win of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season at the Chinnaswamy Swamy Stadium in Bangalore on Friday.

With this victory, Bangalore have opened their account as far as the IPL points table is concerned while as for Punjab, this was their first defeat of the season.

Chasing a modest target of 156, RCB got off to the worst start possible as Axar Patel removed opener Brendon McCullum on the second ball of the innings itself. Virat Kohli came out to bat early and he put on a good partnership with Quinton de Kock to steady the Bangalore ship. The duo started hitting boundaries from the word go to take the attack to the Punjab bowlers.

But the 17-year old Afghanistan star Mujeeb Ur Rahman had other ideas as he rattled the middle stumps of Kohli when he was batting on 21.

Kohli’s wicket brought AB De Villiers at the crease and the two South Africans started the rebuilding job for the home side. The duo stitched together a fifty-run partnership to take Bangalore closer to the 100-run mark and at this point Bangalore were cruising in the match.

Gold Coast (Australia): Defending champions Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa outplayed England’s Laura Massaro and Sarah-Jane Perry to storm into the final of women’s doubles squash at the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Saturday.

Dipika and Joshna prevailed in straight games 2-0 (11-10, 11-5) to seal their place in the final.

There was no match to the Indians in the second game, dominating the one-sided contest and picking it in mere 10 minutes.

The Indian duo will face New Zealand’s Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy in the final on Sunday.

Joelle and Amanda beat Australians Rachael Grinham and Donna Urquhart 2-0 (11-9, 11-5) in the other semi-final.

Gold Coast, Apr 13 – Indian shooters continued to sparkle at the Commonwealth Games 2018, here, clinching two gold medals and one silver on Friday.

Tejaswini shattered the Commonwealth Games record and bagged her maiden yellow metal in women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions while Anjum Modugil settled for silver in the same event.

Fifteen-year-old shooter Anish Bhanwala won gold in the men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol. Anish not only registered a total score of 30, a new Games record, but also became India’s youngest ever gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games.

Gold Coast, Australia, Apr 12 – Two-time Olympic medallist and veteran Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar defeated South Africa’s Johannes Botha to clinch gold in men’s wrestling 74kg category here at the ongoing Commonwealth games on Thursday.

This was India’s 29th medal at the ongoing Commonwealth games. India now has 14 gold, six silver and nine bronze.

The two-time Olympic medallist had bagged gold medal in the freestyle 66kg in 2010 Commonwealth games in New Delhi.

It took just 80 seconds for Sushil to bag the medal for the country as he maintained a supreme right from the start to ensure that there was no slip-up without even allowing his South African opponent to launch a fight back. The Indian wrestler outclassed Botha in the first round 10-0 and was awarded the victory on his technical superiority over his opponent.

Earlier, Rahul Aware defeated Canada’s Steven Takahashi in the 57kg freestyle final to clinch Gold.
Women wrestlers Babita Kumari claimed Silver and Kiran took Bronze in their respective categories.
The 2014 Glasgow Games gold medallist, Babita lost in the final 2-5 to Canada’s Diana Weicker to finish second in the 53kg.

Kiran won Broze by defeating Katouskia Paridhaven of Mauritius in the women’s Freestyle 76kg category.

Gold Coast: Defending champions Dipikal Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa advanced to the women’s doubles quarterfinals at the Commonwealth Games here on Wednesday.

Chinappa and Pallikal outclassed Malta’s Dianne Kellas and Colette Sultana winning the tie in straight games 11-5 11-6.

However, the duo used its experience to wrap up the match in style, winning the third game 11-8 in 10 minutes.

Pallikal and Chinappa topped the group by wining all three games.

“When you’re playing doubles, the middle play is something you want to attack most often. But again you have to get your basics right first to do that,” said Chinappa referring to their style of play.

In the mixed doubles draw, Chinappa and Harinder Pal Sandhu sailed past the Scottish pair of Lisa Aitken and Kevin Moran 11-10 11-8.

In the men’s doubles, the 11th seeded duo of Vikram Malhotra and Ramit Tandon caused an upset beating the higher seeded Welsh pairing of Peter Creed and Joel Makin 11-7 8-11 11-10.

Asked about the comeback in the third game Malhotra said, I think we made the biggest mistake that someone can do in sport. We thought we crossed the finish line before we did. It got out of hand within a matter of minutes”.

On Day 8, India’s wrestlers have made a good start with the legendary Sushil Kumar, Babita Phogat and Rahul Aware all ensuring that the wrestling contingent will not return empty handed from the 2018 CWG. Alongside, India’s paddlers and squash team are also in action.

Day 7 round-up:India dominated the range and the ring as Shreyasi Singh’s double trap gold shored up the medal tally while the entire men’s Indian boxing contingent made the semifinals to be assured of podium finishes in an unprecedented performance on day 7 of the 21st Commonwealth Games, here on Wednesday.

On the overall medal tally, India held on the third position with 12 gold, four silver and eight bronze medals for a total of 24 so far. This number is expected to jump substantially once the wrestlers begin their campaign tomorrow and the boxing medals are finalised in the next two days.

The Belmont Shooting Centre in Brisbane continued to be a happy hunting ground for Indian shooters and for a fourth successive day the country had a medal to celebrate. Shreyasi, a silver-medallist from the 2014 edition, beat Australia’s Emma Cox in a shoot-off to improve the colour of her medal from the last time.

“This is the highest medal of my career, right up there. It is also very special because shooting is not going to be a part of the Commonwealth Games in 2022,” said the 26-year-old.

“It would be the one to cherish for a very long time,” she added.

There were a couple of bronze-medallists as well in Om Mitharval (50m pistol) and Ankur Mittal (men’s double trap). And some disappointment too as 10m air pistol gold-medallist Jitu Rai signed off 8th in the 50m pistol final.

From the range to the Oxenford Studios and it only got better for India. All eight of the male Indian boxers entered the semifinals, while the redoubtable M C Mary Kom (48kg) entered the final.

“It was difficult in the sense that this girl would just not come to me. I had to be careful because she was perhaps waiting for me to let my guard down,” Mary Kom said of her defensive opponent, Anusha Dilrukshi Koddithuwakku of Sri Lanka.

Gaurav Solanki (52kg), Vikas Krishan (75kg) and Manish Kaushik (60kg) joined Manoj Kumar (69kg), Satish kumar (+91kg), Amit Panghal (49kg), Naman Tanwar (91kg) and Mohammed Husammuddin (56kg) in the semis, making for a very happy Indian boxing contingent, shepherded by Swedish coach Santiago Nieva.

There was good news from the hockey arena as well with India beating England in their final pool B clash to set up a semifinal with New Zealand. The spark that had been missing so far from their campaign was rediscovered to an extent and coach Sjoerd Marijne said he could finally recognize his team again.

On the badminton court, the stars of the mixed team’s gold medal winning campaign began their singles run and with easy opponents in opening rounds and the likes of P V Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth hardly took less than 20 minutes each to move into the pre-quarters.

Most of the table tennis and squash players made their way into pre-quarters of their respective individual and doubles events. In squash, the spotlight is on defending gold medallists Joshna Chinnappa and Dipika Pallikal, who won their opening match today.

There was disappointment in the athletics arena where high jump hope Tejaswin Shankar ended up sixth after fouling all his attempts at 2.27m even though his personal best stands at 2.28m.

It’s the first time I am experiencing something like this. I still have a lot of big competitions coming up this year. The biggest positive is that I could hold my nerve against these big competitors. I realised they are people like me, they are not gods, Shankar said later.

Also finishing sixth was Hima Das, but in the 400m women’s race. She could, however, take solace from the fact that she achieved a personal best of 51.32sec.

Gold Coast: Young Mehuli Ghosh settled for the silver medal after forcing a shoot-off in the women’s 10m air rifle event with a perfect final shot of 10.9 while Apurvi Chandela secured bronze in the Commonwealth Games on Monday.

The 17-year Ghosh shot an excellent 10.9 to take the finals into a shoot-ff with Singapore’s Martina Lindsay Veloso, the eventual gold medallist with a games record score of 247.2.

Chandela had earlier smashed her own Commonwealth Games qualifying record from four years back by scoring 423.2.

Chandela’s sequence of scores over four series in the qualifying read a very impressive 105.7 105.2 106.1 106.2. While Ghosh was fifth in the qualifying with 413.7 following scores of 104.3 103.7 102.2 and 103.5 over four series.

However, Ghosh, a bronze medallist in her maiden ISSF World Cup outing in Mexico last month, produced a better performance to topple her more experienced compatriot.

Trained by Olympian Joydeep Karmakar, Ghosh showed her fighting abilities all through but fell short by just .4 in the end.

Gold Coast: Jitu Rai broke the games record to claim the gold medal by some distance in men’s 10m air pistol, underlining why he is rated as one of India’s premier shooters, while Om Prakash Mitharval bagged bronze in the Commonwealth Games on Monday.

World Championship silver medallist Rai shot 235.1 to comfortably finish top of the podium.

Mitharval, who had established a new qualification games record with 584, eventually finished with the bronze medal after aggregating 214.3 in the eight-man finals at the Belmont Shooting Centre.

Australia’s Kerry Bell secured the silver medal with 233.5, having managed to topple Mitharval from the second position.

In the finals, Jitu started on a strong note and led with 100.4 at the end of stage 1, while Mitharval was third with 98.1.

In stage 2 elimination, Rai started with 10.3 and 10.3 to lead the pecking order, even as his compatriot moved up and displaced Bell at second place with two 10.1s.

Rai continued to surge ahead with a 10.2 but an 8.4 disturbed his momentum somewhat, as the next shot fetched him 9.2.

Meanwhile, Mitharval closed the gap as Rai had just 8.8 in the 18th shot to Mitharval’s 10.0.

Last month, the young Indian shooter had combined with Manu Bhaker to claim the mixed team air pistol gold in the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico.

And he displayed that form today too, en route to creating a new qualification record. He competed well the finals too, but came up short against a rampaging Rai, a winner of multiple gold medallist in top global events.

Mitharval slipped even as Rai managed another 10.0 and maintained the lead throughout to emerge triumphant.

Such was Rai’s lead that scores of two 9.2 in the last two attempts did not matter in the end. That Kerry managed a low 8.6 in his final shot also did not help his cause and the gap only widened.

In the qualifying, Mitharval equalled the Commonwealth Games record of 584 on his way to qualifying for the final.

Mitharval had a series of 96 96 98 99 96 99, while Jitu’s sequence read a strong 98 to start with followed by 92 94 96 95 95.

In the finals though, the show belonged to Rai, a CWG gold medallist in 50m air pistol event four years ago in Glasgow and the 2016 World Cup Finals’ ‘Champion of Champions’.

In 2017, Jitu won four gold medals and a bronze at ISSF events and two bronze medals at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships.

Gold Coast: Indian weightlifter Pardeep Singh (105kg) came agonisingly close to a gold but eventually settled for a silver after a close contest with Samoa’s Sanele Mao in the Commonwealth Games here today.

Singh, the reigning Commonwealth Championships gold-medallist, lifted a total of 352kg (152kg+200kg) to claim the second spot after an exciting showdown with Mao, which had the packed arena on its feet.

The 23-year-old went for 211kg lift, which would have been a new Commonwealth and Games record in clean and jerk, but could not pull it off in his final attempt.

“I have lifted a personal best of 215kg in the past but maybe it wasn’t my day,” said the Games debutant, who was happy with a podium finish but a shade disappointed with the colour of his medal.

Mao also dropped his final attempt of 211kg but had managed to lift 206kg in his second chance. He finished with a total of 360kg (154kg+206kg). The bronze went to England Owen Boxall (351kg (152kg+199kg).

“Whatever happens is god’s wish. It was meant to be a silver for me, so I ended up with that,” he added.

His second attempt at 209kg was declared invalid by the jury despite getting the judges’ nod. The jury felt his elbow had pressed out, making it a no lift.

“I don’t know why it was declared invalid. As I said, perhaps it was meant to be a silver for me. Whatever happens, happens for a reason,” the hint of disappointment in his tone hard to miss.

Prodded a bit about his initiation into the sport, Singh revealed that he started lifting bars at the age of 13.

“If you ask me about motivation, there was none, I was just pushed into it by my family. Probably because my uncle was into it,” he said.

Indian weightlifters have so far claimed five gold, two silver and an equal number of bronze medals in the competition so far.

Mumbai: Chennai Super Kings snatched victory from the jaws of defeat as they edged defending champions Mumbai Indians by just one wicket in the first match of the eleventh season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), on Saturday. West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo was the star of the day while Kedar Jadhav became the hero of the last over as CSK got their campaign off to a thrilling start.

Chasing a decent target, Chennai openers Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson gave the team an ideal start as they started to hit boundaries from the word go. Rayudu was the aggressor of the two right-handers, as he was particularly destructive on the off-side.

Hardik Pandya was introduced in the fourth of the innings and he did the trick by getting rid of Watson for 16 to break the opening partnership. Suresh Raina became Hardik’s second scalp of the day as he gave away a simple catch to Krunal at mid-on for 4.

Debutant Mayank Markande was introduced into the attack by Rohit and the decision to do so worked wonders for the Blue Brigade as the wrist-spinner simply tore the CSK line-up. First, he trapped Rayudu plumb in front of the wicket for 22 and then, he got the prized wicket of MS Dhoni for 5.

Reeling at 51/4, Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja started the rebuilding job and tried to put on a good partnership for the fifth wicket. However, the 24-run stand was ended by Mustafizur Rahman who scalped his first wicket by getting rid of Jadeja as Chennai lost half their side at this point.

Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh and Mark Wood all followed suit in quick successions as Mumbai looked like finishing the match early. However, Bravo had other ideas as he completely changed the complexion of the match single-handedly.

Bravo first took the attack to McClenaghan and slammed two sixes and one boundary in the 18th over of the innings. Bumrah was the next bowler to be taken apart by Bravo as he hit three massive sixes in the penultimate over and also complete his fifty in stunning style.

However, on the last ball off the over, Bumrah got the wicket of Bravo and Chennai needed 7 runs off the last Mustafizur over. Jadhav — who had to head back into the hut after sustaining a hamstring injury earlier in the innings — returned to bat in the last over.

Jadhav slammed one six and one four on the fourth and the fifth balls respectively as Chennai completed a thrilling one-wicket win the IPL XI opener.

Earlier, after put to bat first, Mumbai posted a fighting total of 165/4 in their designated 20 overs, courtesy of a late blitz from the Pandya brothers.

But it was Chennai who drew first blood in the innings when Deepak Chahar got rid of the dangerous Evin Lewis early on in the innings. Chahar trapped the West Indies LBW for a duck in just the third over of the innings.

Skipper Rohit Sharma tried to up the ante from one end as he hit a four and six. But his innings was cut short by Watson, who got rid of the Mumbai captain for just 15 after the right-hander skied the ball up in the air and Rayudu took an easy catch at point.

Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav then issued a stunning fightback and put on a good partnership for the fourth wicket. The duo dealt in boundaries and took the attack to the Mumbai bowlers. Kishan and Suryakumar put on 78-run stand to take Mumbai’s score closer to the 100-run mark.

But just as the duo were looking settled, Watson removed Suryakumar (43) to bring CSK right back into the contest. Kishan (40) was the next to depart as he was dismissed by Tahir.

The Pandya brothers then took centrestage and the duo started to hit the CSK bowlers at will. Krunal was the most destructive of the duo as he finished the innings with 41 off just 22 deliveries. Meanwhile, Hardik could muster 22 off 20 deliveries.

The duo put on an unbeaten 52-run partnership to break the take hosts’ score past the 150-run mark and their partnership included seven boundaries and two massive sixes as well.

Gold Coast: Defender Gurjit Kaur struck twice as the Indian women’s hockey team brought its Commonwealth Games campaign back on track with a 4-1 thrashing of Malaysia in its second pool A match.

Kaur’s two penalty corner conversions (6th and 39th minutes), out of the three chances she got, along with skipper Rani Pampal and Lalremsiami’s field goals in the 56th and 59th minute respectively helped India post a comprehensive victory and recover from the shock of their opening 2-3 loss to lower-ranked Wales.

Gold Coast: Teenager Deepak Lather became the youngest Indian weightlifter to claim a Commonwealth Games medal, clinching a bronze in the men’s 69kg category.

The 18-year-old from Haryana lifted a total of 295kg (136kg+159kg) to finish third after his nearest rival, Vaipava Loane, fouled his last two lifts to end with a total of 292kg.

Earlier, Mirabai Chanu (48kg) and sanjita Chanu (53kg) won gold medals in the women’s competition and P Gururaja claimed a silver in the men’s 56kg category.

The Indian weightlifters have so far claimed four medals in the event.

Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won the first gold medal for India in the 21st Commonwealth games in style, as she broke the games record en route to her medal.

She was competing in the 48 kg event and broke the record in the snatch category, lifting 86 kg in her third attempt. Second placed Amanda Braddock managed 76 kgs.

She then lifted more than double her body weight (103kg, 107kg and 110kg) in three successful attempts to claim the clean and jerk as well as the overall Games record.

The showing helped her better the silver she had won in the 2014 Glasgow CWG.

The Indian ended with a score of 196kg (86kg+110kg), earning a massive applause from the fans at the Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre.

The 23-year-old’s previous best was a total lift of 194kg (snatch 85kg and 109kg in clean and jerk) achieved in the World Championships a few months ago.

Her nearest but still a very distant rival, Amanda Braddock of Canada failed to complete a single lift in the clean and jerk after managing a best of 76kg in snatch.

Earlier, P Gururaja claimed a silver medal in the men’s 56kg event to open India’s medal account in the quadrennial extravaganza.

Gold Coast: India thrashed Sri Lanka 3-0 in the women’s team table tennis group match on the first day of competitions in the Commonwealth Games.

Manika Batra hardly broke a sweat in her 11-3 11-5 11-3 victory over Erandi Warusawithana in the first singles before Sutirtha Mukherjee made it 2-0 up for India with an easy 11-5 11-8 11-4 win against Ishara Manikku Badu.

New Delhi: After a two-year hiatus, two-time champions Chennai Super Kings are back for the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the team from down south will once again look to leave a lasting impression on the fans, something which they did so wonderfully well before their caravan was stopped ever so abruptly. Over the years, under the leadership of MS Dhoni, CSK have been one of the most consistent teams in the league as they won the competition twice, finished as runners-up four times and reached the semis twice in the first eight years of the competition.

The yellow outfit from Chennai will look to take inspiration from their past and get back to doing what they do best – enthrall the cricket fans of the country with some eye-catching display in the field. Cricketnext takes a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the CSK team and also predict where they would finish in this year’s IPL.

STRENGTHS

Core of the Squad

The reason why Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings have been so successful over the years in the league is that they have the core of the team intact year after year. The teams simply make minor changes around their main players in the auction and they are good to go. The likes of Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf Du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo are well aware of one another’s strengths and weaknesses and their experience of playing together at the highest level will definitely come in handy for the young stars in the team.

Batting Depth

CSK have a pleothra of batting talents and that could help them fire into the latter stages of the tournament. Chennai have got as many as eight batsmen in their ranks who have scored at least 1000 runs in the league and that speaks in itself what kind of batting prowess they possess. Raina (4540), Dhoni (3560), Watson (2622), Vijay (2511), Rayudu (2416) all have score buckeload of runs in the competition and they also bring along with tons of experience that will give the likes of Kedar Jadhav and Sam Billings ample time to bed in show what they can do in the shortest format of the game.

Spinners

Over the years, spinners have caused problems a plenty for the batsmen in IPL as the tweakers are a bit hard to hit on slow Indian wickets as compared to the pacers and this is that department in which CSK are filled up to the brim. They have an off-spinner in Harbhajan Singh, who is the third highest-wicket taker in the history of the league; they have successful leg-spinners like Karn Sharma and Imran Tahir also in their ranks and not to forget all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who remains one of the best as far a bowling is concerned. They have more than sufficient artillery to keep experimenting and confusing the opposition with the sheer quantity and quality of spinners that they have in their side.

WEAKNESSES

Experience-Inexperience Paradox

While Chennai’s strength lies in the number of experienced stars, their weakness lies with the number of inexperienced stars that they bought in the auction — this is the kind of paradox that CSK find themselves stuck in. Out of 24 players that they have on their roster, CSK have nine players who haven’t played a single game in the IPL prior to this season. Also, 11 players in their squad are above 30 in a format which is known to aid the young guns (at least on the field). The onus will be on Dhoni to bridge the gap between the youngsters and seniors and get them to perform at their optimum levels.

Lack of Pace

While on one hand, CSK have plenty of options in the spin department, but on the other, they lack serious firepower as far as pace bowling is concerned. The likes of Lungi Ngidi and Mark Wood have been good on the international stage, however, both remain unknown quantities in the league as they are yet to take their maiden bow. Only Shardul Thakur and Dwayne Bravo have considerable experience of playing in the IPL but they just can’t do it alone against the best batsmen in the world that CSK will cross path against, week in and week out.

TRUMP CARD

After 10 trophy-laden seasons with Mumbai Indians, Harbhajan Singh will be eager to show the defending champions what they are missing kind of a player they opted to let go. Bhajji has been one of the most successful bowlers in the history of the league and in terms of wickets, he sits pretty at the number three spot in the all-time list. In 136 matches, the spinner has scalped 127 wickets and he is only behind former teammate Lasith Malinga (154) and Amit Mishra (134) in the list, therefore his wicket-taking ability certainly makes him CSK’s X-factor player.

Also, his economy rate of under seven is one of the best in the competition. Not just that, the India spinner is more than capable of bludgeoning the ball out of the park as well and he also has a fifty to his name in league. Great with the ball and handy with the bat, just the kind of player a captain wants to have in the side to balance the playing XI.

PREDICTION

If Dhoni manages to get the young stars to gel with the experienced ones and the senior batsmen fire on all cylinders, expect CSK to once again finish in the top-half of the league. But as far as winning the title is concerned, on paper, they aren’t as balanced as they were known to be previously.

SYDNEY – The Australian cricket team lost a major sponsor and a host of large companies tore up branding deals with individual players on Thursday as the fallout of a ball-tampering scandal tore into the financial core of the country’s favourite pastime.

Fund manager Magellan Financial Group Ltd binned a three-year team naming rights deal, which was only seven months old, while sports apparel giant ASICS Corp and Commonwealth Bank of Australia joined other firms in dropping players caught in the scandal which has shaken cricket.

The quick financial fallout to the ball-tampering last Saturday in South Africa, 11,000 km (6,835 miles) away, shows the eagerness of the corporate sector to distance itself from scandal at a time when the internet and social media can keep public criticism alive seemingly indefinitely.

“A conspiracy by the leadership of the Australian men’s test cricket team which broke the rules with a clear intention to gain an unfair advantage during the third test in South Africa goes to the heart of integrity,” said Magellan CEO Hamish Douglass in the statement.

New Delhi: Australia skipper Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner have been banned from playing cricket for the country for 12 months for ball-tampering, on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Cameron Bancroft has been suspended for nine months by the Australian cricket body. This sanction means that Smith and Warner will be able to return just in time for the ICC World Cup 2019 but the duo will miss the India series at home, which is scheduled to be played in November this year.

Both Smith and Warner had already stepped down as captains of their respective Indian Premier League (IPL) teams and after this latest sanction by Cricket Australia, the BCCI have sprung into action and banned the disgraced duo from the cash-rich league altogether.

Speaking to CNN News 18, BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary said: “I am not aware of the punishment as dissed out by Cricket Australia but if they (Warner and Smith) are banned by their own cricket body then they won’t take part in the IPL.”

Meanwhile, IPL commissioner Rajiv Shukla also said that the Aussie duo won’t be allowed to take part in the league and the SRH and RR will get a chance to replace the two banned players.

“The franchises will get replacements for the players as they (David Warner and Steve Smith) will not be allowed to play this year,” Rajiv Shukla told media-persons.

Cricketnext had broken this story first as earlier, a senior BCCI official had said that all speculations mean nothing if the CA bans them for even two months as any player banned by his host body cannot be a part of the IPL.

“To be honest, I don’t understand what all the cry is about. If the CA goes ahead and bans them, there is no way that the IPL franchises can accommodate them, just like Andre Russell had to skip the IPL after he was caught violating doping clauses. If CA says that they have decided to ban the two players, that is where it all ends for them as far as IPL 11 is concerned. The IPL GC actually has no role,” the official had said.

Earlier, Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland had announced that the troika of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft will be sent back home on Wednesday and Matthew Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell and Joe Burns had been named as replacements for them for the final Test against South Africa. The sanction against the trio was announced based on preliminary investigations. Sutherland, who had flown into Johannesburg to get to the bottom of the scandal, said at a packed news conference.

“Prior knowledge of the plan in question was with Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft only. No one knew about the plan other than these three. Darren Lehmann the coach was not in the know how and will continue as the coach of the team. All three players will be sent back to Australia on Wednesday and their replacements will come in within 24 hours,” Sutherland stated.

“Darren Lehmann has not resigned or offered to step down as the coach of the team, and will continue in the capacity of coach with the team.”

Sutherland, who began his press briefing in Johannesburg with heartfelt apologies to the Australian and South African cricketing fraternity and the rest of the world has promised that after Cricket Australia’s probe is completed ‘significant sanctions’ will be announced within the next 24 hours. Sutherland, on his part has promised a thorough probe into the scandal before further decisions are announced.

On behalf of Cricket Australia, I want to apologise to all Australians that these events have taken place, especially to all the kids.” He added: “I want to also apologise to Cricket South Africa and South African fans that this issue has overshadowed what should have been a great series.”

“In view of the broader reputational and integrity issues involved, the sanctions that will be contemplated are significant. The process must be balanced therefore thorough to ensure that all relevant issues have been examined.”

Smith has already been suspended for one Test and docked his entire match fee by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for his role in the affair.

New Delhi: In the wake of the infamous ball tampering scandal, tainted Australian cricketer David Warner has stepped down as the skipper of IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad. The decision has come after Steve Smith, Cameron Bancroft and Warner had garnered widespread criticism for hatching a plan to alter the condition of the ball during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town. Earlier Steve Smith too had stepped down from the position of Rajasthan Royals’ captain.

SRH CEO K Shanmugam took to Twitter and made the announcement. He wrote, “In light of recent events, David Warner has stepped down as captain of SunRisers Hyderabad. The new captain of the Team will be announced shortly.” – K.Shanmugam, CEO, SunRisers Hyderabad.”

The sanction against the trio was announced based on preliminary investigations. Sutherland, who had flown into Johannesburg to get to the bottom of the scandal, said at a packed news conference.

“Prior knowledge of the plan in question was with Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft only. No one knew about the plan other than these three. Darren Lehmann the coach was not in the know how and will continue as the coach of the team. All three players will be sent back to Australia on Wednesday and their replacements will come in within 24 hours,” Sutherland stated.

“Darren Lehmann has not resigned or offered to step down as the coach of the team, and will continue in the capacity of coach with the team.”

Sutherland, who began his press briefing in Johannesburg with heartfelt apologies to the Australian and South African cricketing fraternity and the rest of the world has promised that after Cricket Australia’s probe is completed ‘significant sanctions’ will be announced within the next 24 hours. Sutherland, on his part has promised a thorough probe into the scandal before further decisions are announced.

On behalf of Cricket Australia, I want to apologise to all Australians that these events have taken place, especially to all the kids.” He added: “I want to also apologise to Cricket South Africa and South African fans that this issue has overshadowed what should have been a great series.”

“In view of the broader reputational and integrity issues involved, the sanctions that will be contemplated are significant. The process must be balanced therefore thorough to ensure that all relevant issues have been examined.”

Smith has already been suspended for one Test and docked his entire match fee by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for his role in the affair.

Sutherland further added that the Australian team, who are still to play one Test match at Johannesburg where they can save the series by winning the contest, will be led by Tim Paine.

“Matthew Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell and Joe Burns are the three replacements for the squad till the end of the tour and they will join the squad within the next 24 hours,” Sutherland told reporters present at the briefing.

Sutherland, who accepted that this is a rather dark day in the history of Australian cricket, added that the integrity officer of Cricket Australia Iain Roy feels that this is nothing more than an isolated incident. The CEO though, acknowledged that it does not set the best example and that it is very important to rectify that.

“Winning is important but it cannot be done at the cost of the rules.”

“The spirit of cricket is extremely important and it is the duty of every player to uphold the spirit of the game.”

“The response from the public is not terribly surprising. It’s a reminder of how important the game is to Australian fans,” he signed off.

Mumbai: Apples and oranges is how the cricket world stands divided today, in the backdrop of the ball-tampering scandal that played out at the Newlands, Cape Town, on Saturday.

The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) shocking decision to allot Australia captain Steve Smith a one-match ban and dock 100% of his match fees has raised a clamour that refuses to die down despite the pandemonium Down Under that Smith could soon receive a much heavier punishment from his own board.

“Pathetic penalties for CHEATING,” tweeted former England captain Michael Vaughan, the ‘C’ word in capital and his call for a stronger reprimand has only been one among scores of similar such cries emanating from across the world.

Added to the act of tampering what has angered the cricket fraternity is the ICC’s inability to been seen as a body ready to take unprecedented steps in the need of the hour. The incident is being seen as a ‘cover-up’ and not a ‘crime’.

A captain conniving with a group of individuals in the team management, and in turn asking a young cricketer to rub sandpaper on the ball isn’t an act that needs to be punished through the ICC’s very questionable demerit points system. It’s an act of blatant cheating caught live on camera. “It’s worse than a young cricketer overstepping the crease to bowl no-balls and being caught live on camera. There’s no evidence any of his teammates having lured the cricketer into it. In this case, half the team was behind Bancroft,” says an ICC member board executive.

Aamir was banned for five years. It was a case of cheating the game. That’s what Australia did too. Yet, Smith has been handed a one-match ban.

“Amazed at the ICC response to the Aussie ball-tampering. Why did the ICC CEO have to raise the charge?,” says senior BCCI executive Ratnakar Shetty, who has been associated with the game’s administration for more than two decades. “The umpires are supposed to raise the charge and match referee takes action as per rules after enquiry. Can we have the match referee’s findings?” he tweeted.

And there lies a mystery ICC hasn’t answered yet. ICC’s statement – announcing Smith’s ban among other things – says: “Cameron Bancroft admitted he breached Article 2.2.9 of ICC Code of Conduct which relates to “changing the condition of the ball in breach of clause 41.3.” and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Andy Pycroft”.

However, there is no mention whatsoever if Pycroft, or field umpires Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth, found anything else wrong about the incident. “Smith’s admission of the act took place in the press conference after the day’s play. So, match officials couldn’t have known about it,” says an individual wellversed with ICC’s functioning. For long, the ICC has maintained that it is the match-officials in charge of the game. Then, is a media briefing not the match referee’s jurisdiction? “I’ll have to find out more about it,” says the individual.

Kagiso Rabada misses two matches for shoulder contact with a batsman in the heat of the moment while Shakib-al Hasan gets fined 25% of his match fee and a demerit point for calling his players out of the field in protest, and then is held responsible for smashing a glass door inside the dressing room. If that was already a debate all along, now a cricketer gets caught live on camera rubbing sandpaper on the ball and walks away with 75% of his match fee.

The question is, does the ICC have a specific system in place to counter breach of code and conduct? “Today I tamper with the ball and collect three demerit points. And two years later, the offences that have added up make for a one-match ban. Does it make sense? In football, if I wrongly tackle a player inside the box, I get sent out. In tennis, if I holler at the umpire, I get called. It’s simple. They’re not given points and judged in the next two years,” says an ex-cricketer.

There are questions and ICC seems to have made no attempt yet to give out answers.

K.ShriniwasRao@timesgroup.com

The investigation pertaining to the ball tampering scandal kicked off on Monday as some of the players and support staff were interviewed by Cricket Australia officials. According to cricket.com.au, CA Head of Integrity Iain Roy was given the responsibility of carrying out the investigation at the team hotel.

Before the proceedings started, the players talked to Australian Cricketers’ Association chief executive Alister Nicholson.

The Aussie team is due to play the final Test against South Africa in Johannesburg that starts on Friday.

On Monday, In its attempt to carry out a thorough probe into the ball-tampering scandal involving skipper Steve Smith and batsman Cameron Bancroft, Cricket Australia sent Chief Executive James Sutherland to South Africa in order to assist with the ongoing internal investigation.

In a press release issued on Monday, CA informed that the findings of the investigation will be known by Wednesday. The move of Sutherland going to South Africa indicates that CA is planning harsher penalties on its players. Steve Smith, after the incident has already been banned for one Test, while Bancroft has been fined 75 per cent of his match fees by the International Cricket Council.

The incident that led to the charges being laid took place during South Africa’s innings on Saturday afternoon in Cape Town when Bancroft was seen on television holding a foreign object while rubbing the ball, before hiding the object in his pocket, then inside his trousers.

As soon as the incident was shown on the big screen, the player was questioned in the presence of his captain by the two on-field umpires.

The matter has escalated to a level where Australian Prime Minister had to intervene. Malcolm Turnbull reacted to this scandal and had some rather harsh words questioning Smith and co.

“We all work up this morning shocked and bitterly disappointed by the news from South Africa. It seemed completely beyond belief that the Australian cricket team had been involved in cheating.”

“After all, our cricketers are role models and cricket is synonymous with fair play. How can our team be engaged in cheating like this? It beggars belief.”

“It’s wrong, and I look forward to Cricket Australia taking decisive action soon.”

New Delhi: Finally some relief for India cricketer Mohammed Shami as the Board of Control for India (BCCI) has decided to offer him Grade ‘B’ annual retainership contract, according to a release issued by the Indian cricket board on Thursday.

“The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) had requested Mr Neeraj Kumar, former Police Commissioner of Delhi and Head of BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit, to investigate the allegations against Mohd. Shami insofar as they pertain to the provisions of the BCCI Anti-Corruption Code,” the BCCI release said.

“Mr Neeraj Kumar has submitted his confidential report to the CoA. Based on the conclusions in the said report, the CoA is of the view that no further actions/ proceedings under the BCCI anti-corruption code are warranted in the matter,” it added.

Shami has been kept in Grade B, which means that he will be earning Rs 3 Cr per annum according to the new BCCI pay structure. The BCCI had introduced a new grade system altogether – Grade A+ : Rs 7 Cr, Grade A: Rs 5 Cr, Grade B: Rs 3 Cr, Grade C: Rs 1 Cr. Also, there was no Grade A+ in the list earlier, while Grade A players used to get Rs 2 Cr and Grade B and C cricketers received Rs 1 Cr and Rs 50 Lakh respectively.

Earlier, speaking to Cricketnext, a senior official of the board informed that the Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) had written an e-mail letter to ACSU head Neeraj Kumar to investigate the matter and respond with findings in a week’s time.

The letter, which is in possession of Cricketnext, states – “The Committee of Administrators is concerned only with such portion of the said audio recording in which the person who it is claimed is Md. Shami is heard saying another person by the name of “Mohammad Bhai” had sent money to Md. Shami through a Pakistani lady by the name of “Alisba”.

“Please investigate the above assertions/ allegations under the BCCI Anti-Corruption Code and submit a report to the Committee of Administrators with your findings as to whether there is any basis to proceed further in terms thereof. The investigation should cover (i) the identity and antecedents of “Mohammad Bhai” and “Alisba”; (ii) whether any money was in fact sent by the said Mohammad Bhai through the said Alisba to Md. Shami; and (iii) if yes, the purpose for which the said money was received by Md. Shami.”

On March 8, Hasin had also alleged that Shami could be involved in match-fixing after making allegations that he had accepted money from a Pakistani woman.

“He accepted money from a Pakistani girl named Alisbah in Dubai. He agreed to accept it on the insistence of England-based Mohammed Bhai. I have proof. This could be linked to match fixing,” she had said.

Meanwhile, the cricketer rubbished all the allegations made by Hasin and said, “I always stood beside her and I don’t know why she is behaving like this now. I still believe that the issue could be resolved through talks.”

On match-fixing charges he had said, “I will prefer to die than involved in such anti-national act.”

New Delhi: The BCCI has decided that the six captains of IPL franchises barring Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, won’t need to attend the opening ceremony scheduled on April 7.

Cricketnext had earlier reported about how it looks highly unlikely that the team captains will attend the opening ceremony.

Till last year, the convention was to have an opening ceremony a day before the first match, which captains would attend and sign the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ pledge.

This year it was decided at the IPL Governing meeting that opening ceremony would be held in Mumbai on April 7 before the first match between MI and CSK.

However the goof up happened because senior IPL officials didn’t do their homework on the logistical aspect of four other franchises who have matches next day.

On April 8, there is a double header with Delhi Daredevils taking on Kings XI Punjab in Mohali at 4 pm while RCB will meet KKR in Kolkata at 8 pm.

“IPL team should have done their homework. They are calling Gautam Gambhir and Ravichandran Ashwin a day before an afternoon match. That’s absolute lack of homework,” a senior BCCI official told PTI.

“Sample this. If Ashwin and Gambhir would have attended the opening ceremony, they could only boarded a 9pm flight from Mumbai to Delhi as there are no late evening flights from Mumbai to Chandigarh.

“Now from Delhi, they can’t take a flight to Chandigarh on Sunday morning because the airport would remain close. So either they travel by car during the night, which is a dangerous proposition or in the morning of the match to play at 4 pm. The less said, better it is,” the senior official fumed.

Even Virat Kohli (RCB) and Dinesh Karthik (KKR) would have had to travel a day before the match although they have an evening game (8pm) to play.

When contacted, acting president CK Khanna said:”We are aware that there are some logistical issues that have cropped up. It will be sorted at the earliest. I think captains will be called a day earlier and their portion will be shot and shown during the opening ceremony.”

New Delhi: The controversy surrounding Mohammad Shami on Monday took another turn as Pakistani woman Alishba admitted meeting him in Dubai but refuted any monetary dealings with the India pacer as claimed by his wife.

Alishba’s name surfaced in the controversy after Shami’s wife Hasin Jahan alleged that he could have a relationship with the Pakistani woman.

“Yes, I met him. I am a frequent flyer to Dubai because my sister stays in Sharjah. As a person, I really like Shami. As any fan that has idolised a celebrity, they always dream of meeting their idol. I had the desire to meet him (Shami) like any other fan would want to, which I don’t think is a big deal,” Alishba told ‘ABP’ news.

Shami had been booked under various non-bailable, including attempt to murder, and bailable sections after his wife lodged a complaint of domestic violence and infidelity against him.

Hasin then hinted that her husband may have cheated India following his alleged relationship with girlfriends from Pakistan and Dubai, which had prompted the Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai to ask BCCI’s anti-corruption body to submit a report in a week’s time.

Hasin had said in the same news channel, “Alishba is a Pakistani citizen and Shami claimed that she gave him money. I have never been told by Shami for what purpose that money was given. I don’t know but if he can fraud me he can fraud the country too.”

Alishba claimed she and Shami are just friends.

“I am one of his followers, which is how I became Shami’s friend. Just like he has lakhs of followers, I am one among those normal fans. I have sent him messages,” she said.

She has also denied knowing UK-based Mohammad bhai or entering a hotel — as alleged by Hasin — with Shami.

“No, I directly went to my sister’s house. However, I visited the hotel next morning at around 9 am and had a breakfast with him,” she said.

“I personally don’t know Mohammed Bhai and have nothing to do with him and there was no involvement of money transaction between us. The person who does not even lie to anyone, how he can be disloyal to his country,” Alishba said.

Earlier in the day, Hasin gave a confidential statement to a magistrate at Kolkata’s Alipore court in connection to the charges she brought against the cricketer.

After she emerged from the court, Hasin went to the residence of chief minister Mamata Banerjee to submit a written plea to meet her.

Virat Kohli might have asked the BCCI for a break at the tail end of India’s long season, but the captain is not missing any of the action even if it is from the sidelines in the comforts of his home. And he surely enjoys a good sporting performance.

Virat Kohli who will next be seen in action during the upcoming Indian Premier League as captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, took to social media to congratulate the Indian team and specially the hero of the Nidahas Trophy 2018’s final Dinesh Karthik.

Kohli tweeted, “What a game of cricket last night, Complete team performance! Big up boys!!! Well done DK.”

In a rather thrilling finale, Dinesh Karthik hit a six off the final ball as India defeated Bangladesh by 4 wickets to win the Nidahas Trophy.

Rohit Sharma scored a fine 56 but India made a mess of what looked like a simple chase when the skipper was batting.

Vijay Shankar who was promoted up the order ahead of Dinesh Karthik struggled to get any sort of timing, ending unbeaten on 17 off 19 balls.

Karthik walked into bat when Bangladesh were on top and India needed a special effort from the experienced batsman. He certainly delivered, scoring 29 off just 8 balls which included three sixes and two boundaries.

Set a target of 167 for victory, India lost in-form Shikhar Dhawan (10) and Suresh Raina (0) early in the chase.

But Rohit and KL Rahul then got together to stitch a 51-run partnership, looking fluent and finding boundaries at ease.

Rohit was at his best, clearing the rope at will and also finding the middle off the bat. Bangladesh got back into the game after both these batsmen were dismissed in quick succession.

Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar failed to find that big over which would settle the game, allowing Bangladesh to fight back.

India needed 35 off the final 3 overs, when Mustafizur bowled arguably the over of the tournament. He conceded just 1 run and picked the wicket of Manish Pandey.

However, Karthik walked in to change the game completely. 5 were required off the final ball, and Soumya Sarkar was the unlucky bowler who conceded a maximum off the final delivery.

Earlier, put into bat, Sabbir Rahman scored a fine 77 to help Bangladesh reach 166/8 in their allotted 20 overs.

The total looked below par as the Indian spinners led by Yuzvendra Chahal strangulated the Bangladeshi batsmen.

Tamim Iqbal was dismissed early in the piece, with Shardul Thakur pulling off a sensational catch on the boundary line. Experienced Mushfiqur (9) and Shakib (7) couldn’t contribute much either.

Sabbir played a lone hand, supported by cameos from Mahmudullah (21) and Mehidy Hassan (19).

Chahal picked up 3/18 in his 4 overs while Washington Sundar – who was also named the man-of-the-series – ended with figures of 1/20. Unadkat too picked up 2 wickets, giving away 33 runs.

Vijay Shankar had a day to forget as he conceded 48 runs off his 4 overs.

Birmingham: Olympic silver medallist shuttler P V Sindhu produced a top-notched performance to eke out a thrilling three-game victory over 2016 champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan to progress to her maiden semifinal at the USD 1000,000 All England Championship.

The quarterfinal clash lived up to its billing as Sindhu and Okuhara strained every sinew to dish out yet another nail-biting contest at the Arena Birmingham.

It boiled down to finding the right balance of aggression and patience and Sindhu ensured that she had the last laugh as she outwitted Okuhara 20-22 21-18 21-18 in a battle that lasted an hour and 24 minutes here.

With this victory, Sindhu registered her fifth win over the Nagano-born World No. 6 Japanese, who robbed her of a World Championship gold at Glasgow after a 110 minute marathon battle which went down in history as one of the greatest.

Seventh seeded Okuhara used long tosses and clears and cross court drops to make Sindhu run around the court. Sindhu was equally up to the task and the result was that the duo split the initial eight points.

Sindhu gained a 6-4 lead briefly after an unsuccessful referral by Okuhara. However, a bad judgement at the baseline by Sindhu saw the score levelled. The Indian again grabbed the slender two point lead when her opponent hit wide twice.

But a couple of body smashes helped Okuhara to claw back at 8-8. After a few more nail-biting rallies, Sindhu sent one to the net to give a slender 11-10 lead to Okuhara at the first break.

Okuhara showed immaculate defence to maintain her one point advantage at 12-11 when she pushed one at the back after Sindhu responded with a barrage of smashes. A towering smash and soft drop near the court gave Sindhu the lead, which swelled after Okuhara served at the net and sent one wide.

However, it was even stevens once again when a stretched Sindhu sent one to net and Okuhara then unleashed a smash on the Indians forehand.

The duo moved neck and neck from 16-16 to 19-19. Okuhara then sent one over the back line to hand over a game point to Sindhu, whose return got buried at the net after breaking the strings of her racquet as it was 20-20.

Sindhu then lost two successive challenges after her and Okuhara’s shots went wide as the Japanese earned the bragging rights.

There was absolutely no let up in intensity after the change of sides as the duo engaged in a battle of attrition again. Sindhu managed a 3-1 lead initially but Okuhara once again clawed her way back after bulldozing the Indian with a barrage of body smashes and then went on to lead with a cross court return.

Okuhara made it 6-4 before Sindhu drew parity after the Japanese hit the net twice. The Indian unleashed an explosive cross court smash to grab the lead. Okuhara then left one at the back line but Sindhu served long next.

Sindhu had a 9-7 lead but she was called for delaying the match by the chair umpire and next she lost two points as the score got locked again. A flat return on the forecourt and then a return at the back from close to the net gave Sindhu a 11-9 lead at the breather.

However, the marginal lead evaporated instantly after the interval as Okuhara used her drops to good use.

Okuhara erred with her net strokes twice and then sent one out as Sindhu enjoyed a three point lead for the first time at 14-11, which she extended to 16-13. The Japanese constructed the rallies superbly and sealed it with a smash to again erase the deficit and grabbed a two point lead when Sindhu erred at the net twice.

Okuhara missed the line next and then one went to net as it was 18-18 again. Okuhara missed the line twice again to hand over game points to Sindhu, who grabbed it this time when the Japanese miscued her stroke.

In the decider, Okuhara looked to assert her supremacy early on as she moved to 4-1 lead. A thunderous smash followed from the Indian who produced another smashing return to narrow the gap to 4-5. Sindhu then drew parity at 6-6 when Okuhara found the net.

A deft block by Sindhu took her to 8-6 but the Indian sent a low lift to net and then went wide as it was 8-8. An unsuccessful challenge by Okuhara gave another point to Sindhu who blew it again. At the break, Okuhara held a one point lead after Sindhu went wide again.

After the breather, Okuhara extended her lead to 14-11. A reverse slice gave Sindhu a point but she committed two unforced errors as Okuhara jumped to 16-12.

Sindhu then closed out the net and sent Okuhara to the corners with her acute returns to reel off four points to level par. She went long next before unleashing another powerful smash to grab the lead. But she was handed a yellow card for slow play. She fought back with a reverse slice to move to 18-17 but a desperate return ended at the net.

The Indian dominated the net next and then sent one to the back line to grab two match points and then sealed the contest with another precise on-the-line return, much to the delight of the Indian fans.

New Delhi: Stand-in-skipper Rohit Sharma returned to form in scintillating style as he slammed a majestic 61-ball 89 during the fifth T20I of the Nidahas Trophy tri-series against Bangladesh at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday.

Rohit’s innings helped India win the contest by 17 runs and the ‘Men in Blue’ also sealed a place in the final of the competition. The swashbuckling batsman was awarded the man of the man for his brilliant innings as well.

During the course of his innings, Rohit blasted five boundaries and five huge sixes to surpass Yuvraj Singh in the list of most sixes hit by an Indian in the shortest format of the game. Earlier, Yuvi held this particular record with 74 maximums to his name but Rohit now leads the list with 75 in his kitty.

Rohit Sharma: 75
Yuvraj Singh: 74
Suresh Raina: 54
MS Dhoni: 46
Virat Kohli: 43

However, overall, Rohit stands at eight position in the list of batsmen to have scored most numbers of sixes in the world. Windies hard-hitter Chirs Gayle and Kiwi opener Martin Guptill unsurprisingly lead the list with a whopping 103 sixes to their respective names.

Chris Gayle: 103
Martin Guptil: 103
Brendon McCullum: 91
Shane Watson: 83
David Warner: 79
Colin Munro: 78
Eoin Morgan: 76
Rohit Sharma: 75

Rohit’s scintillating innings against Bangladesh will certainly ease some of the pressure on him after a string of low-scoring performances in the Island Nation. Before this clash, in three matches, Rohit had scores of 0, 17 and 11. But now, with yet another fifty in the shortest format of the game, Rohit may have hit form just a right form. Rohit’s 89 helped India enter the final and if manages to take his form into the title clash, lifting the trophy will become a relatively easy task for the ‘Men in Blue’.

Commenting on his own innings, which was long due, considering his slump in Sri Lanka, Rohit said after the end of the match: “The pitch wasn’t the usual wicket, and the ball was gripping. It wasn’t easy to hit on the up as well, so I decided to take some time getting set.”

“I knew the new batsmen would find it tough. (Suresh) Raina’s been in terrific form too, so hope he does well in the final too,” he added.

Birmingham: Star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal on Wednesday made a first-round exit from the All England Championship after a straight-game defeat against World No. 1 and defending champion Tai Tzu-Ying, here.

Saina, who had reached the finals in the 2015 edition, couldn’t match up to the precision and athleticism of Tai Tzu, going down 14-21 18-21.

It was Saina’s eighth successive loss to the Taiwanese wizard in five years.

After failing to keep pace with Tai Tzu in the opening game, the 27-year-old Indian blew a 16-11 advantage in the second game to bow out of the USD 1,000,000 world Super 1000 tournament.

Saina, who had lost to Tai Tzu in the finals of the Indonesia Masters early this year, showed a lot of grit to keep herself in the rallies but the Taiwanese was simply phenomenal and displayed her mastery of strokes in the 38-minute clash to once again outwit the Indian.

Saina took some time to get in the groove as her first serve sailed over to the back of the court. Tai Tzu didn’t waste time and jumped to a 3-1 lead before moving to a 6-2 advantage when the Indian failed to connect a low backhand return.

Tai Tzu committed a couple of unforced errors but Saina also made a judgement error on the sidelines and also couldn’t reach for a return at the forecourt as the Taiwanese lead 9-4.

The Indian, however, grabbed three consecutive points after Tai Tzu erred with a cross court flick and netted the smash. Saina managed to level 10-10 with a precise cross court return from the back of the court but Tai Tzu went into the break with a slender one- point lead.

The duo moved together till 14-14 after the breather before Tai Tzu showed her repertoire of shots even as Saina struggled with her control. Once she again went wide on a return on serve, Tai Tzu had six game points and she grabbed it with another accurate return on the Indian’s back hand.

In the second game, Saina showed better control as she opened up a 3-1 lead and soon made it 10-7 with Tai suffering a mid-game slump with unforced errors. Saina then unleashed a brutal smash to enter the break with three point advantage.

With the Taiwanese sending the shuttle to the net on four occasions on the trot, Saina managed to lead 16-11. But Tai Tzu once again fought back, riding on her accurate stroke play as she made the Indian run across the court with her acute angled returns.

Saina also found the net and sent one long as Tai Tzu narrowed the gap to 15-16 before drawing parity at 17-17 with another razor-sharp cross court return from the back court.

A brilliant block on the move and then a tight net play took the Taiwanese to 20-18 and she shut the door on the Indian after Saina went long again.

New Delhi: It was a game that India need to win to book a comfortable place in the final of the Nidahas Trophy. And skipper Rohit Sharma led from the front as he hit 89 to help India post 176/3 in their 20 overs. Coming in to bowl, young Washington Sundar stole the show as he finished with figures of 3/22 as India won the game by 17 runs to book their place in the final of the tri-nation series at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday.

Chasing 177 on a wicket that was holding up and taking slight turn was never going to be easy for Bangladesh, but former skipper Mushfiqur Rahim refused to give up without a fight and managed to hit an unbeaten 72 off just 55 balls to take Bangladesh to 159/6 in their 20 overs. In fact, while Washington was the star with the ball, Shardul Thakur deserves credit for bowling a 19th over where he gave away just 5 runs. With 33 needed off the last 2 and Mushfiqur still at the crease, a good over could have very much kept Bangladesh in the hunt.

But before that, the damage was done up early when Washington picked up three wickets in his first three overs. While he picked Liton Das (7) in his first over — Dinesh Karthik’s 50th stumping — Washington returned to clean up Soumya Sarkar for 1. But his biggest wicket came in the third over when he sent back the dangerous looking Tamim Iqbal for 27 off just 19 balls.

After that, it was all about catching up before Mushfiqur and Shabbir Ahmed put on 65 runs for the fifth wicket before Shardul got the important wicket of Shabbir (27) to derail the chase. Till then, the Bangla Tigers were very much in the game as scoring 57 off 24 balls — at the start of that over — was not a big deal considering how teams approach chases in T20s.

Earlier, Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bowl first. But finally India started well and Rohit and Shikhar put on their first 50-run stand of the series as even though Rohit was struggling to get a move on, Dhawan held fort and ensured that the run-rate was affected. While Dhawan attacked, Rohit was happy to stand ground and wait for his opportunity.

But with Rubel Hossain bowling the perfect yorker to dismiss Dhawan (35), Rohit shifted gears in the company of Suresh Raina. The two kept taking account of every bad ball and in between they ran the singles and doubles. But India lost Raina (47 off 30 balls) against the run of play at the start of the 20th over.

Rohit too ended up getting out of the last ball of the innings and that meant that India failed to cross the 18-run mark. While it looked a good total on a not so conducive wicket, credit must also be given to the Bangladesh bowlers for bowling a tight line and length right through the game. Rubel was the pick of the bowlers as he finished with figures of 2/27 from his four overs.

Colombo: Buoyant after registering a six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka, a confident Rohit Sharma-led India would aim to seal a final berth in the Nidahas Trophy Twenty20 tri-series when they face a tricky Bangladesh at the R Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday.

By no means would Bangladesh be pushovers in the shortest format of the game as well after their record 215-run chase against Sri Lanka and a win against India will bolster their chances of making it to Sunday’s final.

India lost to Sri Lanka unexpectedly in the tournament opener but came back strongly to beat both Bangladesh and the hosts consecutively.

A defeat may not be end of the road for India as it will then depend on the outcome of the final game between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The net run-rate will also be a factor.

India don’t have key players including regular captain Virat Kohli for this tri-series meant to give the younger crop a chance.

A few players such as Deepak Hooda, Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel are yet to play a game in the tournament but the likes of all-rounder Vijay Shankar — playing in place of Hardik Pandya — and paceman Shardul Thakur have done well.

Skipper Rohit Sharma has been out of form and the Mumbai batsman would like to hit the purple patch as soon as possible. Rohit’s sudden slump does not augur well for the team as well as his IPL franchise Mumbai Indians.

India have not got good starts in the tournament despite Shikhar Dhawan’s (153) blazing form as Rohit has been dismissed cheaply in all the matches.

Suresh Raina has got his 20s while Manish Pandey has remained steady in the middle-order. Dinesh Karthik’s 39 off 25 balls against Sri Lanka has ensured that Rishabh Pant will continue to warm the dug-out.

Coming to Bangladesh, in their first meeting India did well to restrict them to 139 but in their very next match, the likes of Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim hammered the Sri Lankan attack into submission chasing down the highest-ever target on Sri Lankan soil.

India’s bowling has seen IPL’s costliest domestic buy Jaydev Unadkat (Rs 11.5 crore) going for runs in all three matches.

Thakur has done well in the last two games while Vijay Shankar has also been steady with his variations.

In-form wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has been expensive in both games against Sri Lanka while off-spinner Washington Sundar has shone opening the bowling in the Powerplay overs in every game.

Squads: India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan (vice-captain), Lokesh Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Vijay Shankar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammad Siraj and Rishabh Pant.
Bangladesh: Mahmudullah (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicket-keeper), Sabbir Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Abu Hider, Abu Jayed, Ariful Haque, Nazmul Islam, Nurul Hasan, Mehidy Hasan, Liton Das.

Christchurch: Jonny Bairstow belted his second successive century as England completely outplayed New Zealand in a seven-wicket victory in their final one-day international at Hagley Oval on Saturday to clinch the five-match series 3-2.

Bairstow, who scored 138 in the fourth game in Dunedin, smashed a 58-ball century with eight boundaries and six sixes as he combined with Alex Hales (61) in a 155-run opening stand in perfect batting conditions.

The 28-year-old Bairstow hit his ninth boundary before he was bowled by Trent Boult for 104. Joe Root (23 not out) and Ben Stokes, who hit a six to win the game and finish 26 not out, guided England to 229 for three in 32.4 overs.

“It’s different from batting in the middle order but my job now is to score big hundreds and contribute match-winning scores,” said man-of-the-match Bairstow, who also took a brilliant, diving one-handed catch on the boundary.

“That’s what I’m trying to do but it’s still a work in progress.”

New Zealand had been dismissed for 223 after England never allowed the hosts to develop any momentum with the bat.

They slumped to 93 for six in the 27th over and only had the innings rescued by an 84-run partnership between Mitchell Santner (67) and Henry Nicholls (55).

England were helped by the absence of New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor, who was ruled out with a thigh injury that he aggravated when he scored an unbeaten 181 in the five-wicket win in the fourth game on Wednesday.

Eoin Morgan’s bowlers, however, also exploited what little help the conditions offered early on to ensure the hosts lost regular wickets from the first over.

Chris Woakes, who was named man-of-the-series for his 10 wickets at 20.30, and Mark Wood conceded a miserly 27 runs in the first 10 overs before spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, who finished with three for 42, ran through the middle order.

“Our bowlers really set the tone … and the execution was outstanding,” Morgan said. “We created opportunities by building pressure.”

Martin Guptill was the only batsman in the top five to provide any resistance with 47, before Nicholls and Santner ensured New Zealand had a total to bowl at but it was never going to be enough against the powerful England batting lineup.

“It was a really disappointing performance from our part,” New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said.

“We didn’t get a complete performance all series, but England were outstanding, a very good one-day unit, and deserved to win the series.”

South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada has landed himself into fresh trouble as according to reports, he has been charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for allegedly colliding with Steve Smith during the first day of the second Test against Australia on Friday.

On the last ball of the 52nd over of the Australian innings, Rabada managed to trap Smith LBW and after the on-field umpire game the Aussie skipper out, the South African pacer gave him a very passionate send-off.

Rabada looked straight into the eyes of Smith and screamed his heart out and as the right-hander was going towards non-striker end to speak with partner Shaun Marsh to review the decision, the South African pacer seemed to bump into him deliberately. Smith immediately looked back at Rabada instantaneously and didn’t seem to be happy with his antics.

If reports are to be believed, Rabada has been charged by the international cricket body and he could miss the rest of the series against Australia.

Earlier, during the ODI series against India, Rabada was was found guilty of a Level 1 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct for his send-off to Shikhar Dhawan, which took his demerit points tally to five. If a player’s demerit tally reaches eight points, he is suspended for two Tests and Rabada is just three points away from that.

When asked about the incidence after the end of first day’s play, fellow pacer Vernon Philander came to the aid of Rabada and said: “He’s a big part of this bowling line-up and let’s hope that’s not the case (punishment for Rabada) and we’ll have a four-pronged attack come Cape Town.”