Category: Sports

The ICC World Cup 2019 has reached its business end with teams fighting for the four semi-final spots. With Australia already confirmed for semi-finals after their resounding win over hosts England on Tuesday, three more spots remain available. As many as 6 teams have a realistic chance of grabbing the three available spots by finishing in the top four of after group stage of World Cup 2019.

Australia (12 points in 7 matches)

Remaining matches: 1) Against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 2,

2) Against South Africa at Old Trafford on July 6

Already in the semis after beating England by 64 runs at Lord’s on Tuesday, defending champions Australia will eye a top spot by beating New Zealand and South Africa in their remaining two matches of the World Cup. The top-ranked side at the end of the group stages will face the 4th ranked side in the semi-final.

New Zealand (11 points in 6 matches)

Remaining matches: 1) Against Pakistan at Edgbaston on June 26

2) Against Australia at Lord’s on June 29

3) Against England at the Riverside Ground on July 3

Still unbeaten in the tournament, New Zealand have a high chance of making it to the semis. They need just one win in their remaining three matches of the World Cup and like Australia, they too will be eyeing the top spot by winning at least two of their remaining three against Pakistan, Australia and England.

India (9 points in 5 matches)

Remaining matches: 1) Against West Indies at Old Trafford on June 27

2) Against England at Edgbaston on June 30

3) Against Bangladesh at Edgbaston on July 2

4) Against Sri Lanka at Headingley on July 6

Another undefeated team India too look set for a top four finish. The only thing that could go against Virat Kohli’s men is the schedule. Having played the least among all 10 teams so far, India have a hard task of playing foru matches in 10 days before the semi-finals. India will confirm their place in the semis if they manage to win at least 2 of those.

England (8 points in 7 matches)

Remaining matches: 1) Against India at Edgbaston on June 30

2) Against New Zealand at the Riverside Ground on July 3

After losing their last two matches against Sri Lanka and Australia, hosts England found themselves in a tricky scenario. They need to win their next tough games against India and New Zealand to get through to the semis. And if they don’t they will have to hope that Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan don’t win more than one of their remaining matches. Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will fancy their chances if England loses at least one of their next two games.

Bangladesh (7 points in 7 matches)

Remaining matches: 1) Against India at Edgbaston on July 2

2) Against Pakistan at Lord’s on July 5

3 wins from 7 matches and they have to face India and Pakistan. If they win all their matches, they will finish with 11 points and can still qualify if:

Sri Lanka (6 points in 6 matches)

Remaining matches: 1) Against South Africa at the Riverside Ground on June 28

2) Against West Indies at the Riverside Ground on July 1

3) Against India at Headingley on July 6

Sri Lanka will have to play 3 more matches and they will be against South Africa, West Indies and India. These matches won’t be easy, but they have the possibility of finishing with 12 points if they win all the three matches. However, if they end on 10 points, they will have to sit and wait and hope England lose all their remaining matches, Bangladesh do not win more than two and Pakistan lose at least one.

They will be eliminated, if they do not win any of their matches.

Pakistan (5 points in 6 matches)

Remaining matches: 1) Against New Zealand at Edgbaston on June 26

2) Against Afghanistan at Headingley on June 29

3) Against Bangladesh at Lord’s on July 5

Their campaign is very similar to 1992. They won against South Africa which means that are now with 5 points from 6 matches. They now face New Zealand, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. If they win all the three matches, they will end with 11 points and then hope England do not win more than one and Bangladesh and Sri Lanka lose at least one match.

West Indies (3 points in 6 matches)

Remaining matches: 1) Against India at Old Trafford on June 27

2) Against Sri Lanka at the Riverside Ground on July 1

3) Against Afghanistan at Headlingley on July 4

Three points from six games and have three more matches against India, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

Well, even if they win all their remaining matches, they will still hope England lose all their matches and, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka win not more than one each and Pakistan lose at least two.

Former champions Saina Nehwal, Parupalli Kashyap and Sourabh Verma advanced to the semifinals of the 83rd Yonex-Sunrise Senior Badminton Nationals here Friday.

Defending champion Saina hardly broke a sweat to get the better of former India number one Neha Pandit of Mumbai 21-10 21-10 in a lop-sided quarterfinal contest.

The two-time Commonwealth Games champion will face 22-year-old Nagpur qualifier Vaishnavi Bhale, who was part of India’s Uber Cup squad last year, later in the evening.

Kashyap, a 2012 winner, prevailed 21-18 21-16 over Bodhit Joshi, who had reahed the finals of Iceland International last year. The former world no 6 from Hyderabad will face Lakshya Sen in the semifinals later in the day.

Both Saina and Kashyap had played their pre-quarterfinal match on Thursday night at the newly-laid wooden court at the TRP indoor stadium after refusing to play at the Assam Badminton Academy courts due to “uneven” surface.

Earlier, former World No 30 Sourabh, who had clinched Super 100 titles at Russia Open and Dutch Open last year, eked out a hard-fought 21-11 21-23 21-18 triumph over B Sai Praneeth.

Sourabh grabbed seven straight points from 14-17 down in the decider against former Singapore Open champion Sai Praneeth in the quarterfinals.

The 26-year-old Sourabh, a two-time former champion, will meet qualifier Kaushal Dharmamer of Mumbai later in the evening.

Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu had notched up two clincal wins on Thursday and will play the other women’s singles semifinal against local sensation Ashmita Chaliha later in the day.

Former Pakistan captain Moin Khan believes the present national team has the firepower to break its World Cup jinx against India and register the country’s maiden win over the neighbours in the upcoming ICC 50-over mega-event in the UK.

In six times in the World Cup so far, Pakistan have never defeated India.

And India and Pakistan will meet again in the World Cup at Old Trafford on June 16.

“This present team is very capable of recording a first win over India in a World Cup because there is talent, there is depth and variety and Sarfaraz Ahmed has now gelled the squad well,” Moin said on GTV News channel on Tuesday night.

But Moin, who featured in many famous matches against India and was a member of the 1992 and 1999 World Cup teams, said this time he is confident of Pakistan win.

“I say this because our boys beat them (India) in the Champions Trophy two years back and I just feel that in English conditions in June we have better bowlers,” he said.

Moin feels India and England would be the teams to beat in the World Cup.

“This should be a very interesting World Cup and I am backing Pakistan to beat India. Our boys are in good spirits and it is good they will go into the competition after having played ODI matches against South Africa, Australia and England,” he said.

He also supported the move to have three weeks training camp in England before the World Cup, saying this would help the players in acclimatising comfortably to the English conditions.

“Pakistan has been one team which has done well in England in the last many years and in May-June the weather can be unpredictable and there is moisture in the pitches,” said Moin.

The former Pakistan manager and chief selector also supported the return of Sarfaraz as captain for the World Cup.

“I don’t know why all this fuss was made about the captaincy after the ban imposed on him for a incident blown out of proportion to my mind. I have seen Sarfaraz lead the team and I know since he was a junior and I have captained and coached him and I can tell you there is no better person to lead the Pakistan team than him now,” Moin said.

Former captain Wasim Akram on Tuesday slammed Pakistan Cricket Board’s decision to call back Sarfaraz Ahmed from South Africa after he was handed a four-match ban for breaching the ICC’s Anti-Racism Code.

Wasim said Sarfaraz should have avoided making the comments that he did in the third One-day International in Durban but it was wrong to speculate about his future in the Pakistan team.

“It was a wrong decision to call him back from South Africa when he could have played in the final T20 on February 6,” said Akram.

“What Sarfaraz did was wrong but it is also a fact that more than anyone else, Pakistanis around the world hyped up his comments and created an issue,” said the fast bowling great.

The former skipper, who is also on the PCB’s cricket committee, was clear that Sarfaraz should remain the national team’s captain.

“There is no need to change the captain before the World Cup. We need a long term captain not a short term one. Shoaib Malik is leading the team now and is doing a fine job but even he has said he will retire from ODis after the World Cup,” he said.

Wasim said the only reason he was backing Sarfaraz was because he was a fighter and had led the side with courage in all formats.

“He is still learning and will get better as he matures and gains more experience. It would be wrong to remove him as captain.”

During the third ODI, Sarfaraz was caught on the stumps microphone as saying after Andile Phehlukwayo played a risky shot: “Hey black [man], where is your mother sitting? What prayer did you get her to say for you today? (Abay kaalay, teri ammi aaj kahan baitheen hain? Kya parhwa ke aya hai aaj tu?)”.

The PCB has expressed its utter disappointment with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to ban Sarfaraz for four matches, noting that he had apologised immediately for his remarks to the South African team and even met with Phehlukwayo and expressed his regrets to him.

Indian trio of P V Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth eased into Indonesia Masters’ quarterfinal with straight-game victories over their respective opponents on Thursday.

Second seed Sindhu defeated local favourite Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 23-21, 21-7 in 37 minutes to make the last-eight stage of her season-opener.

The 23-year-old from Hyderabad, who had won Silver medals at the Commonwealth Games, World Championship and Asian Games before clinching the World Tour Final title last year, is expected to take on Spain’s Carolina Marin next.

London Bronze medallist Saina too stormed into the last eight with a 21-17, 21-15 win over Indonesia’s Fitriani Fitriani, her fifth overall.

Eighth seed Srikanth recorded a clinical 21-14, 21-9 win over Japan’s Asian Games Bronze medallist Kenta Nishimoto.

Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals at Malaysia Masters last week, will face either Indonesia’s Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie or  reigning All England champion Shi Yuqi.

However, men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy went down fighting 14-21, 21-17, 10-21 to fifth seeded Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark.

Sindhu, who had to pull out all stops against former Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the opening match, faced stiff competition in the extended opening game against Tunjung.

However, she completely dominated the second to wrap up the match in 37 minutes and extend her unbeaten record against Tunjung to 5-0.

Srikanth, who had lost to the Japanese in their last meeting but held a 3-1 overall edge, quickly erased a 2-5 deficit early on and never looked back after grabbing a 11-8 lead at the break in the opening game.

The Indian dominated the second game with an initial 6-0 lead which he swelled to 18-8 after the break to eventually wrap up lop-sided contest in half an hour.

That Virat Kohli is destined to be among the pantheons of all-time greats is an oft-repeated assertion but for former Australia captain Michael Clarke, the India skipper is already the “greatest ODI batsman to have ever played the game”.

Kohli, the world’s No 1 Test and ODI batsman, led India through a historic tour of Australia, during which the team won the Test and ODI rubbers and drew the T20 International series.

Kohli’s India was the first team ever not to lose any series Down Under and along the way, he continued to add to his rapidly-rising count of international hundreds.

“To me, Virat Kohli is the greatest batsman to have ever played one-day cricket. I have no doubts after seeing what he has achieved for India,” Clarke, himself a former World Cup-winning captain, said.

Kohli has already scored 10,385 runs in 219 ODIs with an astounding average of 59 plus, including 39 hundreds.

An unabashed Kohli fan, Clarke said that the 30-year-old Indian’s passion is unmatchable.

“You have to respect Virat’s passion to win games for his country. Yes, he has aggression but no one can question his commitment, how much he has achieved. He is the greatest in ODIs,” Clarke said.

While Kohli’s craft continues to evoke awe, his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s current form has the cricketing world divided.

Dhoni’s style of batsmanship in ODIs, no longer as aggressive as it used to be, has been a matter of concern but for Clarke, the 37-year-old former India captain should be left alone to play his game.

“MS knows how to react to any given situation. He has played 300 plus ODIs so he knows how to go about his job,” Clarke said.

But would Dhoni have been as effective as he was in the third ODI against Australia if the target would have been 330 instead of 230?

“I think he would have played differently. It was 230 and he had a particular strategy and it would have been different if the target would have been bigger,” he said.

“Look at his approach in the second game in Adelaide and the third game in Melbourne. It was different,” Clarke said.

Asked what should be Dhoni’s batting position in the World Cup, Clarke said, “Any position 4, 5 or 6. He is good enough to bat at any position and I believe Virat will use him accordingly.”

Clarke, however, made it clear that the currently suspended Hardik Pandya would play an important role for India going into the World Cup in England.

“A talented player like Hardik is very necessary for the balance of the side. He can win games alone with his batting and I am confident he will be in that World Cup squad,” Clarke sounded confident.

Asked if India are favourites to win the World Cup, Clarke said, “Certainly one of the favourites with the kind of bowling talent India have at the moment. The batting was always strong and they also have wonderful young spinners.

What has impressed Clarke is the fact that India doesn’t have any “apparent weakness in the bowling department”.

“Jasprit Bumrah is a skillful bowler who is improving every day. He continues to get better with his seam, swing, and pace. He is the best death bowler in ODI cricket at the moment,” said Clarke.

However, the cricket analyst in him also feels that England will be a very difficult team to beat at home.

“England is a very good ODI side and will be hard to beat at home. Also, I would like Australia to be in the mix. Australia will get better when the frontline pacers including Nathan Coulter Nile come back,” explained Clarke.

The jury is still out on whether Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s much acclaimed finishing powers are on the wane or not but former Australia captain Ian Chappell still considers the World Cup winning former skipper as the “best finisher” in 50-over format.

Dhoni was recently awarded the Man of the series for his match-winning knocks which helped India win their maiden ODI series in Australia.

Chappell saluted the former India skipper’s nerve and longevity.

“Nobody has Dhoni’s nerve for finishing off victories. Many times I’ve thought, “He’s left it too late this time”, only to be amazed as he produced a couple of powerful shots to bring India a nail-biting victory,” Chappell wrote in his column in ESPNcricinfo.

“His outward calm is no illusion since his tactical adeptness in these situations is proof his brain continues to work perfectly.” Drawing a comparison with Michael Bevan, who is considered to be one of the greatest finisher of the game, Chappell said Dhoni has surpassed the former Australian number six.

“Where Bevan finished matches with fours, Dhoni does so with sixes. The one area — running between wickets — where you’d expect the fleet-footed Bevan to have an advantage is debatable, because even at age 37, Dhoni is among the quickest in the game,” he wrote.

“Even allowing for improved bats and the advantage of playing T20 cricket, statistically Dhoni is superior to Bevan. There can be no argument — Dhoni is the best ODI finisher.”

Of late, Dhoni has often been criticised for his slow innings but the former India skipper silenced the doubters when he unleashed a massive six at Adelaide to seal the third ODI and the series 2-1.

“His trademark lofted on-drive comfortably cleared one of the longer Adelaide Oval boundaries to settle the issue in that particular finishing effort,” Chappell wrote.

“It was a clear reminder that any thought that his power might be waning was only wishful thinking on the part of opponents. That he achieved the feat in stifling heat only added to the lustre of his performance.”

Regarding the ‘best ODI batsman’ debate, Chappell feels Virat Kohli will surpass legends like Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and AB de Villiers and end his career as the ‘Sir Donald Bradman of ODI batsmen’.

“Kohli reminds me of Richards in his approach to ODI batting; he eschews fancy shots and relies on a wide range of traditional strokes … As the only one of this quartet still playing ODIs, Kohli already heads some important statistical categories,” he wrote.

“If he were to continue at his current rate — an unlikely outcome as he ages — he would pass Tendulkar’s aggregate with more than one hundred innings to spare and nearly 20 centuries in advance of the Little Master.

“If he even came close to achieving these amazing feats, there could be no argument: Kohli would be the Sir Donald Bradman of ODI batsmen.”

Australian coach Justin Langer paid tribute to Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a superstar and an all-time great of the game after the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman produced a master class run-chase in India’s ODI series clinching win.

Langer was amazed by Dhoni’s fitness at the age of 37 and said that playing against him has been a rich learning experience for his young side.

“He (Dhoni) is 37 years old. His running between the wickets is elite, and his fitness is elite. For him to run between the wickets for three days in a row, it was 40 degrees the other day, and play like that, he is a superstar of the game and that’s what Australians should be aspiring to be — superstars of the game,” Langer said at the post-match press conference.

“MS Dhoni, like Virat Kohli, like Cheteshwar Pujara in the Test series, they give us really great role models. MS Dhoni, his record, everything speaks for itself as a captain, batsman, wicketkeeper. He is literally an all-time great of the game and it has been, as hard as it is to lose, a privilege to play against those guys.”

Dhoni was dropped twice — when on 0 and 74 — and Langer said that cost his side the match. He also said that Dhoni gave his young side a batting tutorial on how to go about in such a run chase.

“You drop MS Dhoni a couple of times and you don’t win. You don’t give great players chances. We did that tonight. We get down the 49th over and MS is there again. It was a great lesson for our squad. We talk about match winners, getting the job done — he showed us again. It is a great tutorial for our batters,” he added.

“If M S Dhoni can come out and run between wickets like that after keeping wickets for 50 overs, that is the level the whole world should be aspiring to. I would be amazed if they (Australian players) don’t learn from playing against those guys. For a young squad, there is no better lesson and learning to rub shoulders with great players. I’m glad we have had the experience,” he said.

Dhoni copped a lot of criticism from all quarters for his slow strike-rate at the start of the series, but has sounded back with three half-centuries in three matches to be adjudged Man of the Series.

Saina Nehwal’s impressive run at the Malaysia Masters came to an end following her straight-game loss to reigning Olympic and world champion Carolina Marin of Spain in the women’s singles semifinals, here Saturday.

The 28-year-old Indian, who had won the title in 2017 and was a runners-up in the 2011 edition, went down 16-21 13-21 to fourth seed Marin in a 40-minute match to bring an end to India’s campaign at the first World Tour Super 500 tournament of the season.

Tied 5-5 ahead of the clash, Saina had made a good start to the match leading 5-2 at the start but an aggressive Marin reeled off seven straight points to turn the tables before grabbing a 11-9 lead at the break.

The Spaniard extended it to 13-9 before Saina clawed back at 14-14. However, Marin produced a determined effort to reach the game points after gathering six points on the trot.

She easily sealed the first game in 20 minutes with a measured return at the Indian’s fore court.

In the second game, Marin was more dominant as she surged to a 6-1 lead early on and kept her stranglehold at the interval with a 11-6 advantage.

Saina tried to make a comeback but Marin was always a step ahead. The Spaniard slowly created a huge gap which the Indian failed to bridge.

Marin eventually grabbed eight match points with a cross court smash. Saina saved one with a deep corner smash which Marin failed to connect but the left-handed shuttler produced a straight return next to seal the issue in her favour.