Suryakumar Yadav

New Delhi: Suryakumar Yadav was on Monday named as India captain for the upcoming five-match T20I series against Australia, which begins from November 23 at Visakhapatnam.

Opener Ruturaj Gaikwad has been named as vice-captain for the series against the newly-crowned ODI champions, as the hosts only picked three players from the recent World Cup squad Prasidh Krishna, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar himself.

However, Shreyas Iyer will join the squad for the last two T20Is in Raipur and Bengaluru and he will take over the role of vice-captain from Gaikwad.

India squad:

Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dubey, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.

Yashaswini Panwar of India scored an upset win to enter the final round of qualifying in the Bowring Institute ITF Women’s World Tour being played at the Bowring Institute tennis courts. In the first round of qualifying played here on Sunday, the 22-year-old who resides in Karnataka, demolished the third seed Demi Tran of the Netherlands in straight sets 7-5, 6-2.

In another upset victory, Vanshita Pathania overcame seventh seed Priyanshi Bhandari in three sets 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 in a match that lasted a little over two hours. As many as three matches out of 16 remained unfinished owing to bad light.

The rest of the fancied players in the top eight bracket advanced without much ado. Top seed Sandeepti Singh Rao brushed past Sai Janvi 6-0, 6-1 while second seed Sravya Shivani Chilakalapud overcame a fighting Priyanka Rodricks 6-1, 7-5;

Results

1-Sandeepti Singh Rao bt Sai Janvi 6-0, 6-1: Vanshita Pathania bt 7-Priyanshi Bhandari 6-3, 4-6, 10-8; Sonal Patil bt Laalitya Kalluri  4-6, 6-4, 10-8; 5-Soha Sadiq bt Shefali Arora 6-2, 6-3; Sejal Gopal Bhutada bt Mihika Yadav 3-6, 6-2, 11-9; Yashaswini Panwar bt 3-Demi Tran (Ned) 7-5, 6-2; Arthi Muniyan bt Vanshika Choudhary 6-0, 6-3; Pooja Ingale  bt Nithesa Selvaraj (Aus) 6-0, 6-1; Vidhyalakshmi S  bt Apurva Vemuri 6-0, 6-0; Nidhitra Rajmohan bt Sanjitha Ramesh 6-4, 6-2; 2-Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi bt Priyanka Rodricks 6-1, 7-5; 8-Paavanii Paathak bt Kashish Bhatia 6-2, 2-6, 10-4; Abhilasha Bista (Nep) bt Avishka Gupta 3-6, 7-5, 10-6.

Former India captain Kapil Dev

Ahmedabad: Former India captain Kapil Dev on Sunday claimed that he was not invited to the World Cup final between the hosts and Australia here.

Kapil, who led India to their maiden ODI World Cup title in 1983, said he wanted to travel for the game with the rest of his teammates.

“I wasn’t invited there. They didn’t call me so I did not go. As simple as that. I wanted the whole ’83 team to be there with me but I guess due to the fact that it’s such a big event and people are so busy handling responsibilities, sometimes they forget,” Kapil

Among other former India captains who were present at the Narendra Modi Stadium were Sourav Ganguly, who was invited in the capacity of a former BCCI president. Inviting past presidents and officials is a BCCI norm.

The other celebrities who were in attendance for the high profile game were actors Shahrukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh. Badminton great Prakash Padukone was also seen sitting in the stands.

Ahmedabad: A pro-Palestine fan breached a tight security cordon to enter the field of play in a desperate attempt to hug Virat Kohli during the World Cup final between India against Australia here on Sunday.

The incident happened before the first drinks break.

The security personnel apprehended the man, who was identified as Wayne Johnson, an Australian of Chinese-Filipino origin.

He was arrested and taken to Chand Kheda Police station.

Political sloganeering is an offence at cricket games but with Johnson being a foreign national, it is not yet known what kind of action will be taken against him.

Johnson wore a face mask with design of a Palestine flag and a T-shirt with slogans on both sides.

On the front of the t-shirt, ‘stop bombing Palestine’ was written and on the back, Save Palestine’ .

His sudden intrusion caught everyone unaware but the security was quick to apprehend him.

The ICC doesn’t allow any political sloganeering during its event and any such act is also not allowed in India.

Israel and Palestine Hamas group have been engaged in a war since October 7, when the latter attacked a music festival in Kibbutz Re’

AHMEDABAD: Australia won the Cricket World Cup for a record-extending sixth time Sunday, ending India’s dominant run in its home tournament with a six-wicket victory in a low-scoring final on the back of Travis Head’s 137.

A heavily pro-Indian crowd inside the 132,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium was silenced as Head combined with Marnus Labuschagne (58 not out ) in a 192-run partnership to chase down the target of 241.

Australia was wobbling on 47-3 after seven overs but Head and Labuschagne dug in to help their country regain its status as the king of one-day international cricket, adding to its 50-over world titles in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2015.

India won all 10 of its matches before the final and was seeking a third title in its fourth appearance in a title match that brought a country of 1.4 billion people to a virtual standstill. Virat Kohli (54) and Lokesh Rahul (66) made half-centuries in India’s 240 all-out on a slow pitch.

Mumbai: In a historic moment during the ICC ODI World Cup Semifinal against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium, Mohammed Shami became the first Indian bowler to achieve the remarkable feat of bagging 50 wickets in ODI World Cups. Shami reached this milestone by dismissing Kane Williamson, securing his third wicket in the match.

With this achievement, Mohammed Shami joins the elite ranks of bowlers who have claimed 50 or more wickets in World Cup tournaments. The distinguished list includes cricket legends such as Glenn McGrath (71 wickets), Muttiah Muralitharan (68 wickets), Mitchell Starc (59 wickets), Lasith Malinga (56 wickets), Wasim Akram (55 wickets), and Trent Boult (53 wickets). Shami’s accomplishment highlights his significant contribution to India’s bowling prowess on the global stage.

Notably, Mohammed Shami also secured the title of the fastest bowler to reach the 50-wicket mark in ODI World Cups both in terms of innings and fewest balls taken to claim 50 wickets. He achieved this milestone in just 17 innings, surpassing the records of other prominent bowlers. Mitchell Starc took 19 innings, Lasith Malinga took 25 innings, and Trent Boult achieved the feat in 28 innings.

In terms of balls taken to 50th dismissal, Shami reached the landmark in 795 balls followed by Mitchell Starc (941 balls), Lasith Malinga (1187 balls), Glenn McGrath (1540 balls), Trent Boult (1543 balls).

Mumbai: Virat Kohli’s world record 50th ODI hundred and a scintillating century by Shreyas Iyer powered India into the final of the World Cup with a 70-run victory over New Zealand in their last-four clash here on Wednesday.

Rohit Sharma’s (47 off 29 balls) pyrotechnics, tons by Kohli (117 off 113) and Iyer (105 off 70), and a fluent 66-ball 80 by Shubman Gill, who retired hurt due to cramps, propelled India to an imposing 397 for four after the skipper won a good toss.

New Zealand were stopped at 327 in 48.5 overs as Mohammed Shami finished with incredible figures of 7/57.

The highlight of the New Zealand innings was a 181-run partnership between Kane williamson (69) and Daryl Mitchell (134).

Earlier Rohit, as is his wont, went after the bowling straightaway, and almost killed the contest in the first hour of play at the Wankhede Stadium, his dazzling array of stokes leaving the Kiwis bruised and battered.

Going for one too many, Rohit fell for a 29-ball 47 but Gill took over from there and continued to torment the Kiwis with his repertoire of strokes.

After Gill was forced to go back, Kohli and Iyer carried on the good work to set New Zealand an improbable target. Gill, though, came back and remained not out on 80 off 66 balls.

During the course of his innings, Kohli also became the first batter in the history of the game to score 50 ODI centuries, going past his idol Sachin Tendulkar.

Brief Scores:

India: 397/4 in 50 overs (Virat Kohli 117, Shreyas Iyer 105, 80 not out).

New Zealand: 327 all out in 48.5 overs (Daryl Mitchell 134, Kane Williamson 69; Mohammed Shami 7/57).

BENGALURU: On Sunday morning, the Garden City decked itself up for the Festival of Lights, Deepavali. As a pleasant early winter sun started making its presence felt, a vast majority of them, with their shiny new clothes, filled Queens Road and Cubbon Road as they began walking towards the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Even if the World Cup’s final league match was devoid of any jeopardy — the hosts had already rubber-stamped their entry into the last four winning eight out of eight — they didn’t want to let slip the momentum they had built over the last five weeks. So, as expected, they named an unchanged side.
As soon as Rohit Sharma won the toss, he had no hesitation in batting first on a strip with lots of runs.

The total was always going to be a mountain to climb for the Netherlands and they were bowled out for 250 to give the hosts a ninth straight World Cup win. Only once before have they managed this feat but that came across two WCs (2011 and 2015). As has been the case in several games, the bowlers shared the wickets. Even if Mohammed Shami had a rare off night in terms of taking wickets, the four other frontline bowlers picked two wickets each. Virat Kohli, who bowled three overs much to the delight of the crowd, and Rohit Sharma (not a misprint), picked one each as the hosts protected their pacers with the semifinal fixture on Wednesday. Even Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav rolled their arms over before the skipper picked the final wicket of the night.       

If Rohit (61, 8×4, 2×6), Shubman Gill (51 3×4, 4×6) and Kohli (51 5×4, 1×6) came up with the five-course degustation menu, Iyer and Rahul’s back-end domination meant the collective efforts of the batting group had resulted in a winning combination. The already well-set pair put the foot down at the death and ended up scoring 126 runs across the last 10 overs.

The continued efficiency of India’s middle-order will stand them in good stead when the business end of the event begins next week with the first of the two semifinals. The hosts had a perennial question mark over their Nos. 4 and 5 at the last World Cup. That sort of indecisiveness cost them against New Zealand in the semifinal of the last edition in 2019. There’s no such issue this time out as the team has a settled look to it.

Coach Rahul Dravid had called it ‘exceptional’ on Saturday. “Our middle-order has been truly exceptional in this tournament,” he had said. “I can look back at this whole campaign… one knock here, two knocks there. A Shreyas innings, a Rahul knock, Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) innings in Dharamsala. You can look at a lot of these small, small things, and actually that’s what really gives you those wins at the end of the day. So, it’s a combination of things.”  

On Monday, the players will leave for Mumbai. Standing between them and the final is New Zealand. If the batting unit can find their mojo again — they have been on song throughout the tournament — there is no reason to suggest they won’t be in the final on November 19.

Brief scores: India 410/4 in 50 overs (Rohit Sharma 61, Shubman Gill 51, Virat Kohli 51, Shreyas Iyer 128*, KL Rahul 102,    Netherlands  250/9 in 50 overs Max ODowd 30, Colin Ackermann 35, SKYbrand Engelbrecht 45).