[Nasheman news] Mohali Australia rode a powerful batting effort to defeat India by four wickets in the fourth On-Day International (ODI) and level the five-match series at 2-2, here on Sunday.

Chasing a formidable target of 359 runs, Peter Handscomb’s maiden ODI century and half-centuries from Usman Khawaja and Ashton Turner took the visitors past the line with 13 balls to spare.

The Australians chase was off to a rocky start as Aaron Finch was bowled by Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumnar in the very first over. 

Jasprit Bumrah dealt another blow when he sent back Shaun Marsh in the fourth over with an excellent fuller length delivery that uprooted the off-stump.

However, that was destined to be the only bit of celebration for the Indian players. The capacity crowd at the IS Bindra Stadium witnessed laying of the foundation for a successful chase by Khawaja and Handscomb with a 192-run stand in 178 balls.

Handscomb scored 117 runs off 105 deliveries, hitting eight boundaries and three sixes along the way. Khawaja’s 91 runs came off 99 balls and included seven hits to the fence.

Bumrah finally broke the partnership when Khawaja tried to pull a short pitched delivery just outside the off-stump only to see Kuldeep Yadav latch on to the top edge at fine leg.

Although the hosts claimed a couple of more wickets over the next eight overs, Turner smashed a quickfire half-century lower down the order to turn the match decisively in Australia’s favour.

The all-rounder remained unbeaten on a breezy 84 with five boundaries and six hits into the stands studding his 43-ball stay at the crease.

Bumrah was the only Indian bowler who could trouble the Australian batsmen with figures of 3/63 in his 8.5 overs.

Earlier, India rode scintillating knocks from openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan to post a mammoth 358/9.

Both Dhawan (143 off 115) and Rohit (95 off 92) were in brilliant touch right from the start and also recorded the highest opening stand (193) for India against Australia. The duo hammered every visiting bowler before Rohit fell, five short of his hundred.

But Dhawan maintained his aggressiveness, taking every bowler to cleaners.

The Indian openers started cautiously before they accelerated the innings to race away to 55 runs in just 9.2 overs. The duo seemed brutal as most bowlers were hammered to every part of the park and lifted the team to 100 runs in 17.2 overs.

Continuing their sensible and destructive play, the duo took India near the 200-run mark before pacer Jhye Richardson came with a big breakthrough. He sent back a well-settled Rohit in the 31st over.

Rohit’s knock contained seven boundaries and two sixes.

Dhawan, however, continued attacking the Aussies as India crossed the 250-run mark in next six overs. Pat Cummins gave his side some respite as he bowled out Dhawan in the 38th over.

India lost skipper Virat Kohli (7 off 6) with the scorecard reading 266/3.

In the last 10 overs, stumper Rishabh Pant (36 off 24), Lokesh Rahul (26 off 31) and Vijay Shankar (26 off 15) made some valuable contributions before the lower order fell like a pack of cards. But by that time India was able to post a mammoth target.

For Australia, Cummins bagged five wickets, leaking 70 runs, while Richardson scalped three for 85 runs.

Brief scores: 

Australia: 359/6 in 47.5 overs (Peter Handscomb 117, Usman Khawaja 91, Ashton Turner 84 not out; Jasprit Bumrah 3/63) beat India: 358/9 (Shikhar Dhawan 143, Rohit Sharma 95; Pat Cummins 5/70) by four wickets.

B

[Nasheman news] Gangtok Unfazed by recent desertions from his fledgling party, football icon-turned-politician Bhaichung Bhutia exudes confidence that the Hamro Sikkim Party (HSP) would give a “new” and “clean” government if voted to power in the Himalayan state.

While not ruling out the option of future alliances, the HSP Working President and former India football captain says that as of now, his party would contest the upcoming elections alone to the sole Lok Sabha seat and all the 32 Assembly seats in the state.

In a freewheeling interview with IANS, Bhutia spoke on his party’s agenda, and attacked the state’s Pawan Chamling government on issues like corruption, while criticising some headline welfare policies unveiled by the regime.

Bhutia said the HSP was the answer to Sikkim people’s craving for a party with credibility.

“We are going to give a new Sikkim and clean Sikkim. We are a young party and we have got credible people. This is what the people of Sikkim want,” he said.

Scotching speculation that the HSP was holding talks with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and some regional parties to take on Chamling’s Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), that has been in power since 1994, Bhutia said: “We are going it alone in this election. One or two parties, if they believe in our ideology, we are ready to take them (in). But at the moment, we are going with 32 candidates for the Assembly and one for the Lok Sabha.”

On two HSP founding members and working presidents – R.B. Subba and K.N. Uprety – crossing over to the SDF, Bhutia said his party’s credibility would be stronger and better without them.

“It is not at all a major challenge… After they left, the party’s credibility has gone up. Now when we say ‘clean, corruption free Sikkim’, people believe us.”

Bhutia stressed on development being the sole agenda of the party, also taking potshots at the Chamling government.

“We’ll go completely on development. Because Sikkim, in 25 years, in terms of development, has been lacking,” he said promising good roads, improvement in the health sector, 24-hour electricity and drinking water to “almost al the villages” if his party is chosen by the people.

Calling Sikkim “the most corrupt state politically” in the country, the 42-year-old Bhutia alleged graft in the hydro projects.

“Sikkim is the most corrupt state… It is highly corrupted politically,” he said.

Bhutia was also not impressed with the state government’s “success” in organic farming, alleging it was only done for the Chamling’s “marketing purposes”.

Incidentally, Chamling received the prestigious Future Policy Gold Award at the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation headquarters in Rome last October for turning Sikkim into a “100 per cent organic state”.

While supporting the concept of organic farming, Bhutia quoted the state government’s data saying organic agricultural land has gone down 50 per cent in the current regime.

“We have 20 lakh tourists visiting Sikkim and your food production has gone down 65 per cent. There is huge gap between just declaring it, and then actually realising it. He (Chamling) needs to increase agricultural land which has gone down by 50 per cent.”

Bhutia said his party would ensure sustainable development by taking good care of farmers through measures like minimum guaranteed price and subsidies.

Bhutia also took a dig at the ‘One family, one job’ scheme announced by Chamling, saying the youth were “disappointed” at being given jobs for only 89 days.

“Don’t make people of Sikkim (look like) beggars. Today’s youth of Sikkim are educated and qualified and you are giving them jobs of ‘safai karmacharis’ (sweepers) and village guards.

“And when you are giving jobs, give secured jobs and not just for 89 days.”

While launching the scheme in January, Chamling said budget allocations have been made for 89 days in the current financial year for paying emoluments to the new recruits, and fresh provisions would be made in the next financial year.

This is Bhutia’s second innings in politics. He earlier contested the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2016 Assembly elections in West Bengal as a Trinamool Congress candidate – but bit the dust on both occasions.

“I don’t live or work in Bengal, so just being a star and being up there doesn’t work. So from Bengal it was more from top, getting nominated as candidate. In Sikkim, this is my own party. In politics if you can’t be with your people and help them, then I don’t think it makes any sense to do politics,” he added.

[Nasheman news] Ranchi  India skipper Virat Kohli’s (123 off 95) gritty century went in vain as India suffered a 32-run defeat against Australia in the third contest of the five-match rubber at the JSCA stadium here on Friday.

Despite this loss, India still maintain a 2-1 lead in the series.

Brief Scores: Australia 313/5 (Usman Khawaja 104, Aaron Finch 93; Kuldeep Yadav 3/64) beat India 281 all out (Virat Kohli 123, Vijay Shankar 32; Pat Cummins 3/37) by 32 runs.

Nasheman News : Indian stars Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth entered the quarter-finals of the women’s and men’s singles categories respectively at the All England Championship badminton tournament here on Thursday.

Saina defeated Line Højmark Kjærsfeldt of Denmark in a hard fought second round encounter.

Saina was off to a rough start but fought back from a game down before prevailing 8-21, 21-16, 21-13 in 51 minutes.

Srikanth also faced a tough fight before defeating Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in an exciting three-game contest.

The seventh seeded Indian won 21-17, 11-21, 21-12 in 58 minutes against the reigning Asian Games champion.

B. Sai Praneeth, the other Indian in the men’s singles competition, was not so lucky. He crashed out following a straight games loss to NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong in the second round.

Praneeth was no match for his opponent, going down 21-12, 21-17 in just 35 minutes.

Earlier on Wednesday night, Saina Nehwal defeated Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland to advance to the second round of the women’s singles category.

Saina registered a 21-17, 21-18 straight sets victory against the Scotland player on Wednesday night. The match lasted 35 minutes.

[Nasheman news] Ranchi Mahendra Singh Dhoni, probably playing for the final time at his home ground, will be the cynosure of all eyes when India take on Australia in the third ODI, aiming to take an unassailable 3-0 lead here on Friday.

Dhoni, who along with wife Sakshi, hosted the Indian team for dinner on Wednesday evening, has been the toast of the state ever since he made his ODI debut way back in 2004.

The 37-year old former India captain, who has led the country to two World Cups, will be playing his fourth ODI at the JSCA International Stadium.

In the last three ties, India have won one, lost one and rain washed the third match. 

Dhoni has batted only twice in Ranchi in which he has scored 10 not out (vs England on October 23 of 2013) and 11 (vs New Zealand on October 26 of 2016). In terms of wicket-keeping on his home turf, Dhoni has three catches and a stumping in Ranchi.

What will keep Dhoni’s supporters going is the fact that in his recent form. Dhoni has already collected 301 runs from just eight matches at a staggering average of 100.33 in the ongoing season ahead of the World Cup.

Dhoni also recently joined the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid in an elite list of Indian batsmen to have scored over 13,000 runs in List A cricket.

Besides the emotional sub-plot, Team India will be looking to fix their top-order as they prepare for the World Cup starting in June in the UK.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan has been in terrible form, managing only two fifties in the last 15 ODIs, and the dashing southpaw will look to get his act together.

There is the option of replacing Dhawan with in-form KL Rahul, but the team management is unlikely to tinker with the playing XI as they look to get the combinations right.

Rahul, though, could play in place of Ambati Rayudu who hasn’t been very convincing in the two ODIs.

Vice-captain Rohit Sharma also would look to score a big one after not getting many in the last game. 

Skipper Virat Kohli brought up his 40th hundred but would want more contribution from the top. On Friday, Kohli could bat at No.4 with Rahul given an opportunity to show what he has got at No.3.

India’s two victories — by six wickets and eight runs — weren’t exactly convincing but pulling off close matches under pressure will certainly add to the confidence.

The bowling has been nothing short of spectacular in both the games for the hosts.

The visitors were not only stifled but kept in check with totals of below 250. In the second ODI, Kedar Jadhav and Vijay Shankar performed their combined role of a fifth bowler to perfection.

Shankar’s final over could go a long way in securing his place in the World Cup squad with the Tamil Nadu all-rounder taking two wickets and guiding India to the win. 

Talking about the visitors, it was their match to win in the last game and the lack of character shown would worry the team management. The Aussies did well to restrict India to 250 and were on course for most parts of the match. Marcus Stoinis held one end up with a defiant half century but ran out of partners as Jasprit Bumrah showed why he is considered the best in the business.

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rishabh Pant.

Australia: Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Jhye Richardson, Adam Zampa, Andrew Tye, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Alex Carey, Nathan Lyon, Jason Behrendorff.

Nasheman News : The Indian women’s football team ended their run at the Turkish Women’s Cup with a narrow defeat at the hands of Kazakhstan, here on Tuesday.

As a result, India ended the tournament in sixth place after a victory in the group stage against Turkmenistan and losses at the hands of Romania and Uzbekistan.

The first 45 minutes failed to produce any goals, with India enjoying the lion’s share of the chances. The Indian forwards created a flurry of chances in the first 25 minutes — with Sanju, Dangmei Grace and Indumathi all coming close to scoring the opener but were denied by the Kazakh defence.

In the 33rd minute, the Indian eves put the ball in the back of the net, only for the referee to rule out the effort for offside. Kazakhstan threatened the Indian goal in the first half on a couple of occasions, most notably in the 45th minute, but Indian custodian Aditi Chauhan was up to the task and saved a shot from a close-range free-kick.

The second half saw coach Maymol Rocky’s charges come out fired up as they hunted for the go-ahead goal. Dalima Chhibber came close in the 58th minute with a shot from distance and just three minutes later, Ratanbala Devi’s header looked destined for goal but was cleared by the Kazakh defence off the line.

Manisha came on for Anju in the 64th minute and tested the keeper almost immediately with a powerful shot. The Indian side continued to commit players forward as the match headed towards the end, but the opening goal still remained elusive. Sanju, Roja Devi and Grace all recorded efforts on goal that, however, did not find the back of the net.

With the game scoreless after regulation time, players headed for the dreaded penalty shootout. Ashalata Devi put India into a 1-0 lead as her Kazakh counterpart skied her shot. Dalima then stepped up to convert her effort before Manisha saw hers saved by the rival keeper as the score got locked at 2-2.

Grace scored from India’s fourth attempt, but Sanju missed her subsequent effort as the Kazakh side converted its last two shots, thus handing the Indian side a narrow 4-3 defeat in the shootout.

Nasheman News : A brilliant century by skipper Virat Kohli and a disciplined bowling effort saw India defeat Australia by eight runs in the second One-Day International (ODI), here on Tuesday. India now have a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Chasing a target of 251 runs, the visitors were dismissed for 242 runs in 49.3 overs.

Asked to bat first, the hosts were bowled out for 250 runs in 48.2 overs. Despite Kohli’s century and a disciplined innings from Vijay Shankar, most Indian batsmen failed to rise to the occasion.

Coming in to bat after Rohit Sharma was dismissed in the very first over, Kohli batted almost till the end, scoring 116 runs off 120 balls with 10 boundaries studding his patient innings.

Vijay scored 46 off 41 deliveries before being run out.

Put in to bat, India lost their first wicket in the opening over when opener Rohit Sharma (0) was sent packing by pacer Pat Cummins.

The fall of Rohit’s wicket brought Kohli. He along with Shikhar Dhawan (21) played sensibly but just when it seemed good, Dhawan was adjudged leg before wicket off part-time spinner Glenn Maxwell in the ninth over with scoreboard reading 38 runs.

New batsman Ambati Rayudu (18) also failed this time and was dismissed in the 17th over by experienced spinner Nathon Lyon.

Kohli and Vijay then joined hands and forged a crucial 81-run partnership to stabilise the innings.

The duo hammered the Australian bowlers all around the park before Vijay was run out by Adam Zampa in the 29th over. Vijay played 41 balls and slammed five boundaries and one six.

The middle order, comprising Kedar Jadhav (11), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (0) and Ravindra Jadeja (21), failed. But Kohli completed his century before getting out in the 48th over by Cummins. 

Tail-enders Kuldeep Yadav (3), Mohammad Shami (2 not out) and Jasprit Bumrah (0) could not add much to the score.

For Australia, Pat Cummins took four wickets while Adam Zampa took two.

The Australian chase was off to a promising start with Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja putting together an 83-run opening partnership.

The visitors, however, lost their way after that as they lost wickets at regular intervals.

Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav was the most successful among the Indian bowlers with figures of 3/54 in his 10 overs. Shankar and Jarprit Bumrah claimed two wickets each.

Brief scores: 

India: 250/10 (Virat Kohli 116; Adam Zampa 2/62) beat Australia: 242 in 49.3 overs (Peter Handscomb 48, Marcus Stoinis 52; Kuldeep Yadav 3/54, Jasprit Bumrah 2/29)

Nasheman News :  India defeated Australia by eight runs in the second ODI, here on Tuesday.

Chasing a target of 251 runs, the visitors were dismissed for 242 runs in 49.3 overs.

India now have a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Brief scores: 

India: 250/10 (Virat Kohli 116; Adam Zampa 2/62) beat Australia: 242 in 49.3 overs (Peter Handscomb 48, Marcus Stoinis 52; Kuldeep Yadav 3/54, Jasprit Bumrah 2/29)

Nasheman News : Consistency has been their forte, but former champions Kolkata Knight Riders will aim for nothing less than a third title when they renew acquaintances in the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

KKR are two-time champions, having won the coveted trophy in 2012 and 2014. However, for the past three campaigns they have crashed out at the playoff stage and failed to reach the summit clash.

Dinesh Karthik took over from Gautam Gambhir as the captain last season and it was no secret that the stumper-batsman had big shoes to fill from ball one.

Gambhir not only led KKR to both the titles, but is their all-time leading run getter with 4217 to his name at an average of 31.

Karthik, to his credit, led from the front in his debut season, amassing 498 runs and finishing as the team’s highest scorer. But the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 last season.

“We have realised what we lacked last year and we have added resources accordingly. Thus, we are a more well-rounded team this year,” Karthik, 33, had said during a promotional event at Eden Gardens a few days back.

KKR shelled out Rs 5 crore for the services of West Indies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite and a further Rs 1.6 crore for New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson. 

They are additions to an already stacked side that has the likes of Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Karthik and Kuldeep Yadav.

The city-based team also boasts of the best young talents on their roster. Shubman Gill will be the one to watch out for as the hugely talented top-order batsman not only impressed last term but also made his international debut for India during the one-day international series against New Zealand.

Talking of experience, KKR will look to vice-captain Robin Uthappa for inspiration. A veteran of 165 IPL matches, Uthappa is a seasoned hand in the shortest format of the game, having amassed over 4000 runs at a commendable strike rate of 131.84. 

Needless to say, India’s top-draw chinaman bowler Kuldeep will also be an important cog in KKR’s wheel. He was a key player during India’s recent tours of Australia and New Zealand and the Knight Riders can bank on his heroics when the going gets tough.

Among the foreign recruits, Lynn is one of the best power hitters in the game and was the second-highest run-getter for KKR last term as he amassed 491 runs from his 16 innings.

Andre Russell, buoyed by the call-up to the West Indies team, is always an explosive option with bat and ball. He contributed 316 runs at a phenomenal strike rate of 184.79 and chipped in with 13 wickets.

Russell’s international teammate, Sunil Narine, has been KKR’s strike bowler for a long time. He grabbed 17 wickets from his 16 matches that came with a fantastic economy rate of 7.65. On top of it, Narine retains his ability to strike big at the top of the order.

Talking about the big new recruits, Ferguson is one to look out for. The Kiwi bowler has express pace and has troubled the Indian batsmen with accurate bowling during their recent tour of New Zealand. Ferguson will be playing only his second IPL season – having turned out for Rising Pune Supergiants in 2017 – and will want to justify the Rs 1.6 crore fee KKR shelled out for his services.

Overall, KKR have a good mix of established hands and young guns and should mount a serious title challenge.

KKR will start their campaign at home against Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 24

Squad: Dinesh Karthik (captain and wk), Robin Uthappa (vice-captain), Chris Lynn, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shubman Gill, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Rinku Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Carlos Brathwaite, Lockie Ferguson, Anrich Nortje, Nikhil Naik, Harry Gurney, Prithvi Raj Yarra, Joe Denly, Shrikant Mundhe

[Nasheman news] Mumbai  The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the recent ICC quarterly meeting was told by the world body to get tax exemption for conducting future global events like the 2021 T20 World Cup and 2023 ODI World Cup. If BCCI fails to get the exemption, it will have to bear the tax liability in hosting the showpiece events. But the move has not gone down well with certain sections within the board.

Speaking to IANS, a senior BCCI official said that the ICC was free to move the tournament out of India if it felt that was the way forward as matters related to tax needed the government’s approval and external pressure would not help.

“We will abide by what the Tax Department and the Ministry decides on this. We would love for the World Cup to take place here, but if the ICC wants to play hard ball, they must be ready for everything. 

“If they want to take the ICC tournament out of India, it’s fine. Let BCCI then take the revenue out of the ICC and see who loses more. 

“Those in-charge of administration are trying to take policy decisions without jurisdiction to do so. The ICC will find it difficult to hold the BCCI to those decisions since a lot of these decisions do not have the approval of the board,” the official pointed.

Another BCCI official added that while the ICC claims to have an inclusive approach, it looks at every possible opportunity to hurt India’s interest.

“It was found earlier that the ICC had a different contract with different member boards. For example, Cricket Australia was only required to make best endeavours to get tax exemption while the BCCI was required to ensure tax exemption. 

“See, this is a result of a situation where the present BCCI is found wanting. The CoA bigwig wants to show that he is in control of things and whenever that happens, the democratic functioning of an organisation is the first casualty.

“There is no way that the BCCI should agree to this. The ICC cannot on the one hand say that they aim to have an inclusive approach and on the other hand look at every possible opportunity to hurt India’s interest,” the official signed off.