India rode brilliant half centuries from Lokesh Rahul and Suresh Raina, and an explosive cameo from Hardik Pandya to post a massive 213/4 against Ireland in the second and final T20 International here on Friday.

Coming back to the side after missing Wednesday’s opener, Rahul grabbed his chance with both hands, striking a quickfire 36-ball 70, comprising three fours and six sixes to set the tone with a 102-run second wicket stand with veteran Raina, who also made the most of his chance with a 45-ball 69, including five fours and three sixes.

Pandya (32 off 9 balls; 4×1, 6×4) then applied the finishing touches to the innings, milking 39 runs off the final two overs to push India’s total past the 200 run mark for the second consecutive time.

Already 1-0 up in the two-match T20I series, the visitors tested their bench, making four changes to the playing XI which also saw a change in the batting order.

Put into bat, India overcame the early loss of skipper Virat Kohli (9), thanks to a positive approach by the left-right combination of Raina and Rahul.

Kohli’s ploy of promoting himself to open the batting did not materialise as the right-hander once again fell to pacer Peter Chase’s short delivery, comfortably latched on by George Dockrell at deep square leg.

Kohli’s dismissal brought in Raina, who started off in vintage fashion welcoming medium pacer Stuart Thompson for two massive sixes before settling down as India raced off to 50 in just five overs.

Rahul, on the other hand took on the off-spinner Simi Singh, clobbering him for two sixes and a boundary before sending Boyd Rankin to the cleaners en-route his 26-ball half century even as India reached the 100-run mark midway through the innings.

With the visitors comfortably placed at 128/1, Rahul and Raina continued their dominance over the bowlers until veteran Kevin O’ Brien managed to break the partnership with the wicket of the right-hander off his very first ball.

One ball later, O’ Brien struck again with the wicket of new man Rohit Sharma for a duck which brought Manish Pandey (21 off 20; 4×1) to the middle.

The right-hander played a steady knock even as Raina continued his belligerence at the other end to bring up his fifth T20I half century before quickly falling prey to O’ Brien’s slower delivery in the 18th over.

The departure of Raina brought in the dangerous Pandya, who found the stage perfect to launch an all-out attack on the Irish bowlers, which saw India’s total swelling over the 200-run mark.

Brief Scores: India 213/4 (Lokesh Rahul 70, Suresh Raina 69, Hardik Pandya 32 not out; Kevin O Brien 3/40) vs Ireland.

India skipper Ajay Thakur led from the front to thrash South Korea 36-20 while a second string Iran outplayed Pakistan 40-21 in the semi-finals of the Kabaddi Masters at the Al Wasl Sports Club here on Friday.

For the first time in the tournament, India were put under pressure and it forced the coach Srinivas Reddy to come out with a different strategy. On the other hand, Iran, who came into this tournament without the services of some star players, displayed some attacking game to outplay Pakistan.

Iran will now face India in the summit clash on Saturday here.

In the second semi-final of the day, South Korea straightaway put pressure on the Indian defenders with some good raiding. After eight minutes, the scoreboard read 7-3 in favour of South Korea, thanks to their star raider Jang Kun Lee.

The Indian raiders and defenders tried hard to match the pace of the Koreans but failed which forced Indian coach to make substitute in the initial minutes, bringing in raider Monu Goyat.

And just when thing seemed lost in the middle for India, Thakur, after couple of empty raids, narrowed the point difference through a brilliant raid and then defender Mohit Chillar equalized with a great catch to make it 7-7 in the 11th minute.

The much-awaited moment came when Goyat touched one player to hand India a crucial lead, which India did not tasted in first 15 minutes of the game followed by Thakur making an all-out to make it 13-8.

The last five minutes of the first half game saw Goyat and Thakur taking some points to end the first half, taking seven points lead.

Never looked back moment came for India in the second half when young defender Girish Maruthi single-handedly grabbed Jang Kun Lee to break the backbone of the South Korea’s attack.

Thakur then forced his opponents to play with two players and then defenders inflicted an all-out in 24th minute to make scoreboard read 24-11.

After that, Korea tried to make a come back when they force India to play with only three players Chillar, Maruthi and Thakur. But Thakur’s experience helped India to maintain their lead and also sent back Jang to almost seal the match.

With less than five minutes of game remaining, India played calmly and did not allowed South Korea to take points in numbers and in the last, wrapped up the issue comfortably.

Croatia midfielder Ivan Rakitic believes Brazil talisman Neymar is on the verge of recapturing his best form after an inauspicious start to the World Cup in Russia.

Neymar has scored just once in Brazil’s first three matches: a stoppage-time strike in a 2-0 win over Costa Rica, reports Xinhua news agency.

The 26-year-old missed three months with a fractured bone in his foot before the tournament and Rakitic believes his former Barcelona teammate is improving every day.

“He is among the best in the world and he is getting better during this tournament,” Rakitic told a press conference.

“You can tell he is thinking less and less about the injury and I am sure we are all going to enjoy his football during this tournament.” In addition to his lacklustre form, Neymar has been accused by sections of Brazil’s media of “playing for himself” and of seeking attention by crying on the pitch after the match against Costa Rica.

Rakitic defended Neymar and said the Paris Saint-Germain forward should not change the way he plays to please critics. “Neymar is among my favourite players in the world,” he said.

“I would always want to have him in my team. He has a special way of playing which doesn’t necessarily suit everybody, but that’s him. That’s his style and he is enjoying playing football, so he takes a lot of risks.”

Croatia will meet Denmark in the round of 16 on Sunday after topping Group D with three wins from as many matches. Victory against the Danes would set up a potential quarterfinal against Spain, who Rakitic rates as the World Cup favourites.

“To be honest, I see Spain above everyone else,” he said.

“I think they are the main favourites of this tournament. It’s tough, they had three difficult games in the group, (but) the confidence they are playing with is one level above everyone else.

“I know them very well, I wish them all the best. But hopefully the quarter-finals will be enough for them. Then they are a little bit tired and can use some rest, especially if they are playing against Croatia,” he added.

The ongoing FIFA World Cup in Russia has demonstrated that the gap between the top football nations and those in the middle tier has reduced while the improvement by Asian countries has been considerable.

The traditional powers like Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, France, Portugal and England have struggled against teams generally regarded as way down the pecking order of world football.

All the Asian and African teams have been extremely well organised in defence and midfield, which has made them difficult to score against. But almost all of them have struggled with the final pass in the attacking third.

South Korea wrote yet another glorious chapter in the history of Asian football by scripting a stunning 2-0 win over Germany, which sent the defending champions crashing out of the World Cup.

The Koreans had started their campaign poorly, losing 0-1 to Sweden. The tight knit Korean defence and midfield gave a good account of themselves although they struggled with the aerial balls against the tall, physically strong Swedes.

But the well-organised Sweden defence coupled with the Europeans’ physical advantage proved too much for them. The Koreans also resorted to frequent use of long balls, which was not exactly the best strategy to use against Sweden.

South Korea continued to struggle in the next match, going down 1-2 to Mexico. Until that point, the Koreans were the most underwhelming among the Asian teams, along with Saudi Arabia.

But they were a completely changed unit in the contest against Germany. While the Korean defenders held the highly rated German forwards at bay, Kim Young-gwon and Son Heung-min scored in second half stoppage time to complete a memorable win.

South Korea were not the only underdog team to stun higher rated opponents. Switzerland punished struggling Brazil by holding the five-time world champions to a 1-1 draw.

Brazil’s traditional rivals Argentina were held to an identical scoreline by tiny but impressive Iceland in their campaign opener. They were subsequently thrashed 0-3 by Croatia, which left them needing a win over Nigeria in their last group match.

The two-time World Cup winners almost suffered a fate similar to Germany when Victor Moses’ second half penalty conversion saw the Africans equalise at 1-1.

The Nigerian forwardline had seemed somewhat blunt in their first two matches, but for two brilliant individual goals by striker Ahmed Musa which handed them a 2-0 win over Iceland.

They decided to adopt an aggressive strategy against Argentina, leaving occasional spaces in their defence which Lionel Messi exploited when he brilliantly controlled an Ever Banega cross to put the South Americans ahead.

Following Moses’ equaliser, Argentine fans spent the rest of the match with rising anxiety before Marcus Rojo scored the winning goal right at the end.

Meanwhile in Group B, both Spain and Portugal were given a hard time by Iran and Morocco. The group had started in explosive fashion when Cristiano Ronaldo smashed a hat-trick to help Portugal to hold Spain at 3-3.

In their next match, Portugal were given a tough fight by a spirited Morocco. A fourth minute goal by Ronaldo was the only difference between the two teams as Morocco dominated the second half.

Right winger Noureddine Amrabat was at the heart of most Morocco attacks, causing all sorts of problems for the Portugal defence. But the lack of a quality centre-forward hurt Morocco as Portugal clinched a narrow win.

Iran were also impressive against Spain and only a lucky goal by striker Diego Costa gave the Europeans a 1-0 victory. But for the rest of the match, the 2010 champions struggled to breakdown the stubborn Iranian defence.

Even Tunisia almost snatched a point from England. The north Africans gave England a tough time. The English line-up, studded with Premier League stars, was effectively blunted by the Tunisia defence.

The Tunisian midfield also did well, consistently winning the 50-50 balls and doing well when in possession. However, they fell short in the final third due to the poor quality of the final pass.

Despite their shortcomings upfront, Tunisia seemed good enough to come away with a point. It was the silly conceding of a corner in second half injury time and some poor marking of England’s star striker Harry Kane at the far post that kept them from what would have been a well-deserved draw.

Japan’s teamwork and collective discipline has been the most impressive among the Asian nations. They became the first Asian nation to defeat South American opposition at a World Cup when they shocked star-studded Colombia 2-1 in their first group match.

However, despite all the improvements and promising performances, the rest of the world still has a long way to go before they can hope to match the superpowers from Europe and South AMerica.

This year, Japan is the only team from Asia and Africa combined to qualify for the second round. The fact that no A frican teams managed to survive the group stage is something of a shock. This is the second time in the history of the tournament that no African team will feature in the round of 16. The first time was way back in 1986, which was the first edition to feature the round of 16.

For Asia, this is something of an improvement from 2014, when all the teams from the world’s largest and most populous continent finished at the bottom of their respective groups, with a combined total of three points.

All this is far removed from the heady performances of the 2002 World Cup, when South Korea became the first Asian team to reach the semi-finals — slaying giants like Italy and Spain along the way — while Senegal became the second from Africa to enter the quarter-finals since Cameroon in 1990.

This is despite the fact that South Korea and Japan have some of the best infrastructure while only a few countries can match the financial ability of the petro-dollar rich Gulf countries.

One of the ways in which Asian nations are trying to bridge the gap is by bringing in coaches from Europe and South America.

The domestic leagues of Japan and China have attracted some top talent, veteran FC Barcelona star Andres Iniesta, who recently joined Vissel Kobe, being the latest.

However, merely bringing in star players of signing big name coaches for the top level clubs are not enough. Unless coaching standards at the school or village levels improve, Asian players will struggle to match the technical and tactical ability of their European and South American counterparts.

With Qatar hosting the World Cup in 2022 and FIFA set to increase Asia’s quota at the game’s showpiece event to eight in 2026, better days are in store for Asian football.

Until then, lets hope Japan continues to fly high in Russia.

Seasoned Indian shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth stormed into the $700,000 Malaysia Open semi-finals after registering straight game victories in their respective women’s and men’s quarter-final matches in Bukit Jalil here on Friday.

Rio Olympics silver medallist Sindhu overcame a stiff challenge before taming reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin 22-20, 21-19 in a fiercely-fought 53-minute quarter-final clash while Srikanth hardly broke into sweat while beating France’s Brice Leverdez 21-18, 21-14.

Fourth seed Srikanth, who won a silver medal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, dumped world no 22 Leverdez 21-18 21-14 in a 39-minute clash at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil, a suburb in Kuala Lumpur.

The Indian had also beaten the French in three games at the All England Championship this year.

The 25-year-old Srikanth will take on former world no 2 and 2015 world championship bronze medallist Kento Momota of Japan in the race to the final of the world tour super 750 tournament on Saturday.

Later in the day, the clash between third seed Sindhu and former world No.1 Carolina witnessed a close contest in the first game, that saw both shuttlers going neck and neck before the Indian kept her nerve to pocket it.

The second game too went about in similar fashion, with the Spaniard making a quick recovery but somehow failed to get the momentum going against the lanky Hyderabadi.

This was Sindhu’s fifth win over the former World Champion in 11 meetings and third in the last four.

The 22-year-old Indian will next take on top seed and World No.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, who has a remarkable 8-3 advantage in career meetings and has beaten the Indian in their last four matches.

The last time Sindhu won against the Chinese Taipei girl was at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Both England and Belgium head coaches said after their clash in the third round group match that they wanted to win, but not at any cost.

The game in the Kaliningrad Stadium on Thursday evening ended with Belgium winning 1-0. That result means the Red Devils topped Group G and will face Japan in the knockout stage, while England will take on Colombia, reports Xinhua news agency.

It had been speculated before the game that both teams may have wanted to avoid finishing top of the group, as the winner may face tricky ties against the likes of Brazil, France, Portugal or Argentina.

However, Belgium coach Roberto Martinez played down the notion that his team would have been happier to lose. “I don’t think in the World Cup you can be successful by trying to hope to get an easy path,” the 44-year-old said.

“What you should try is to create a group, with everyone desperate to contribute and perform for each other,” he added.

However, Martinez noted that his team was clear from the outset that “winning at all costs is not an option”, explaining his decision to make nine changes to Belgium’s starting lineup.

“We have to spread the responsibility in the group. We have to see who is ready. We have to see how well some players are recovering from injury,” he said.

The Spaniard said he was satisfied with his team’s performance. “The young players showed they are ready to contribute,” he said, reserving special praise for Youri Tielemans, 21, and 23-year-old Adnan Januzaj.

“Maybe we are a little bit slow in finding the route we need to penetrate. But I think that is normal when you make nine changes,” he added.

Gareth Southgate, coach of England, seemed to share Martinez’s safety-first approach. “We would have potentially risked players that we didn’t have to risk,” he said, adding that it would have been foolish to play top goalscorer Harry Kane and risk him being injured.

“The game was a really good test for us. We knew that the level of the game was going to be high, even with both teams making changes. Belgium had controlled possession. We found it difficult to press,” he said.

“But in terms of effectiveness and chances, we were probably fairly even. We had a couple of good chances and counterattacks. So I think we will learn a lot from the game. Tactically, it is a good game for us to review,” he added.

In response to a question from Xinhua, Southgate described his team as young, enthusiastic, energetic, and improving. “We are showing signs of being an exciting football team. Even tonight was a brilliant experience for people like Trent [Alexander-Arnold] and Ruben [Loftus-Cheek] to play in World Cup matches. They are 19, 21, but they both showed they were trying to make things happen,” he said.

“Belgium are [ranked] third in the world for a reason, because they have played together for a long time, and they had extremely experienced players even in the game tonight. So we still have some work to do, but we are pretty realistic about where we are,” the England coach noted.

Discussing the match against Colombia next week, Southgate said it would be a fantastic challenge, but a game that England were capable of winning.

Japan chief coach Akira Nishino admitted he had instructed his footballers to accept a 0-1 defeat to Poland in the closing minutes of their final Group H match of the FIFA World Cup here on Thursday.

Although Japan lost to a 59th-minute goal scored by Jan Bednarek and were ‘out’ of the tournament for around 16 minutes, news of Yerry Mina’s 74th-minute goal for Colombia against Senegal which saw Japan into the last 16 on fair play rules clearly filtered through. And the closing minutes saw both sides happy to pass the ball among themselves with no real efforts to win possession or to launch any attacks, reports Xinhua news agency.

“It was a tough decision to make as there was always a chance that Senegal would score, but I chose for us to stay put and to keep the status quo and make sure nothing happened on our pitch. I decided I’d rely on the result of the other game,” said Nishino in his post-game press conference.

“I’m not too happy about this, but I told my players to do what I said,” explained Nishino, adding that “these things happen in a World Cup. This kind of football does exist and it’s the first time I have felt this way. It was a massive decision to make to get us out of the group stage,” he continued.

The Japanese coach said it had been a “very tough situation” but with qualification in the balance, he asked “what would have happened if we had conceded another goal?”

“My message on the pitch was to ‘stay put’ and the players listened to me, they were going to keep things as they were.

“It was slightly regrettable, but at that points I didn’t have any other plans,” he admitted, before insisting Japan had “earned” the place in the next round.

Belgium topped Group G after beating England 1-0 here on Thursday in a clash between teams who had already qualified for the FIFA World Cup pre-quarterfinals.

Adnan Januzaj’s 51st minute strike proved to be the difference between the teams who were playing their third and final Group G game.

With this win, Belgium took their points tally to nine, while England have six points as they finished top-two in this group to enter the second round.

In the next round, Belgium will meet Japan, while England will take on Colombia.

In Saransk, Tunisia defeated Panama 2-1 in the other game of the group to finish third with three points from three games. Tunisia and debutants Panama are eliminated from the tournament.

World No 3 Belgium stretched India till the final minutes of the match to split the points with a 1-1 draw at the men’s hockey Champions Trophy here on Thursday.

India made too many slip-ups in their defense that gave away five penalty corners in the last quarter, eventually messing up their 1-0 lead as Loick Luypert (59′) converted Belgium’s 10th attempt at a penalty corner to equalize. Harmanpreet Singh (10′) was India’s lone goal scorer that put Belgium on the back foot right at the start.

Sitting at the bottom of the pool table, Belgium were desperate for a win and they began with that very intent, playing aggressive and attacking hockey.

If not for an early save by India’s seasoned goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh off Cedric Charlier in the opening minute, Belgium would have well been ahead by a goal. But that didn’t dent Belgium’s pursuit as they continued to keep possession and even won the first penalty corner of the match after the ball hit Jarmanpreet Singh’s foot.

The chance was wasted though.

India, meanwhile, built on their momentum steadily but tactfully. The effort helped win a penalty corner. Though the first attempt by drag-flicker Harmanpreet resulted in another penalty corner being awarded, and the chance was capitalized by the 22-year-old when he powerfully flicked it past Belgium goalkeeper to take a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute.

India continued into the second quarter with the same intensity but the pressure in defending right resulted in an infringement conceding a second penalty corner.

But Sreejesh continued to be India’s strong wall of defence at the post denying Belgium an equaliser.

Both India and Belgium traded penalty corners in the following minutes, though neither made hay of the opportunities.

India had made 17 circle entries by the second of the second quarter with 11 shots on goals and five penalty corners as opposed to Belgium’s 10 circle entries with ten shots on goal and three penalty corners.

Belgium made an encouraging start to the third quarter, winning a penalty corner in the 33rd minute but the effort was well defended by India.

India gave away two more penalty corners this quarter but Surender Kumar and Sreejesh were up to task to keep India’s narrow lead intact.

Tom Boon’s attempt off Belgium’s 6th penalty corner was on target but for Sreejesh’s exceptional save.

A goal for India could have given India a breather in this quarter but it was not to be as umpire disallowed Mandeep’s goal.

Belgium were too quick to take off from the free hit before India could even think of a video referral.

Ahead only by a goal, the final quarter was tense as Belgium began yet again with two back-to-back penalty corners but India defended well to steer clear.

With a little over six minutes to go, S.V. Sunil called for a video referral asking for a foot of the Belgian defender which resulted in India being awarded their 6th penalty corner of the match.

But the penalty corner hit the umpire before Belgium could launch a counter attack, as they created their 9th penalty corner of the match. Sreejesh once again rescued India from an equaliser but the action continued as Belgium attacked with all guns firing and sloppy defending on India’s part gave away Belgium their 10th penalty corner of the match.

And this time, Luypert kept it low to flick it towards Sreejesh’s right for a perfect equaliser in the 59th minute.

Belgium pushing for a winner ended up with yet another penalty corner with just 32 seconds to go for the final hooter.

But Sreejesh survived this one to end the match with a 1-1 draw and keep India’s hopes alive for a place in the final with a must-win match against the hosts on Saturday.

Colombia qualified for the pre-quarterfinals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, riding on Yerry Mina’s second half winner to knock Senegal out in a crunch Group H encounter here on Thursday.

After a barren first half, Mina (74th minute) headed in a corner to send Colombian players and supporters into delirium as they needed nothing less than a victory to secure qualification.

Colombia finished on top of the group with six points, while Senegal finished level on four points with Japan, who lost 0-1 to already-eliminated Poland in the other group game played simultaneously.

Both Japan and Senegal had even goal differences and had scored four goals each, but Japan advanced as runners-up because they only picked up four yellow cards in the group stage, while Senegal had six.

This is the third time Colombia have reached the last 16. This time, it boiled down to their final group game in which chances were few and far between as both sides started cautiously keeping in mind the stakes of the game.

Colombia forward Radamel Falcao won a free kick in the 11th minute while Juan Quintero’s shot was saved by the Senegal goalkeeper.

Senegal were then denied a penalty in the 18th minute after a VAR review in the 17th minute.

Sadio Mane was brought down by Colombia defender Davinson Sanchez inside the box and Senegal was awarded a spot kick. Following the VAR check, the referee reversed his decision and cancelled the penalty for the Teranga Lions afterwards.

In the 31st minute, the South American side suffered a major jolt when James Rodriguez, 2014 edition’s top scorer, was taken out by coach Jose Peckerman in what looked like an injury.

In the second half, Colombia looked to up the ante but Senegal too put pressure and goalkeeper David Ospina was forced into some good saves to keep them at bay.

There were number of chances wasted at both ends too as time ticked on.

Then came Colombia’s moment of reckoning when Quintero’s corner was majestically met by Mina to bullet home a downward header and send their swathes of supporters into raptures.

Senegal tried hard to stage a comeback but their main man Mane looked off colour as they eventually failed to pull one back.

With Senegal’s exit, this will be the first time since the Round-of-16 came into being in 1986 that there will be no African teams represented.

Meanwhile in Volgograd, a Jan Bednarek strike in the 59th minute handed Poland a triumphant exit from the World Cup.

Poland have three points from three games and are in the fourth and final spot in the group.

Despite the importance of the game, Japan coach Akira Nishino made six changes to his starting 11 after repeating the same team for the first two matches, while Lukasz Fabianski and Kamil Grosicki were in the Polish side.

Grosicki’s pace almost created a chance for Robert Lewandowski in the 5th minute, but the striker’s touch let him down in the Japan penalty area, reported Xinhua news agency.

Japan took time to get into the game, but Shinji Okazaki headed wide in the 12th minute, Yoshinori Muto produced a smart save from Fabianski a minute later and Maya Yoshida also worked the keeper from the edge of the area.

Japan were leaving spaces in midfield and were almost punished in the 32nd minute when Grosicki’s header drew a good save from Eiji Kawashima in the Japan goal, although Japan responded quickly as Takashi Usami drew another stop from Fabianski.

There was a setback for the Japanese at the start of the second half when Okazaki had to be replaced by Yuya Osako after less than two minutes with what looked like a muscle problem.

However, Japan retained their attacking 4-4-2 formation with both wide midfielders pushing forward, almost allowing Grosicki and Lewandowski to combine in the 54th minute.

The game again settled into a pattern with Japan looking to attack, but never quite in control and were punished just before the hour when Jan Bednarek side-footed home a free kick from close range, getting the better of his Southampton teammate Yoshida in the process.

With Japan now needing a goal to qualify for the next round Takashi Inui replaced Usami, but they should have fallen two behind when Lewandowski fired another Grosicki ball over in the 74th minute and the Hull City winger almost forced Tomashi Makino to concede an own goal with another dangerous cross.

News of Colombia’s goal against Senegal clearly filtered through and with the result in the other Group H game meaning Japan would qualify through having fewer yellow cards than their rivals both sides appeared to draw a footballing truce for what was frankly an embarrassing last 10 minutes in which neither tried to score.