The Dehradun International Cricket Stadium was opened on Saturday, 26th May by the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Shri Trivendra Singh Rawat, after a senior delegation comprising experts from the International Cricket Council assessed the facility last week. Having evaluated all the facilities, the officials found the standards for player’s amenities, media and broadcast requirements in compliance to host all three formats of the international games and called it one of the best venues they have visited recently.
Located in the capital of Uttarakhand, the stadium is set against the backdrop of rolling hills and rivers and blends with the picturesque landscape of the state. A world-class facility for 25000 spectators, the intimate seating bowl provides uninterrupted views of the cricket field.
The design of the stadium reflects local architectural influences, recalling a proud past while serving as a bridge to a modern era. The stadium creates a 21st-century fan experience and a premier entertainment experience for sports, concert and convention-goers in the Uttarakhand capital.
The facility has state-of-the-art amenities including restaurants, retail, banquet halls and conference rooms to provide the spectators with an interactive viewing experience of the game. The stadium is equipped for complete evacuation in less than 8 minutes as per international security guidelines. The clubhouse complex with its allied facilities of guest rooms, restaurants, banquet halls, auditorium, bowling alley and indoor sports facility will make this the new destination in the city and region
Designed by Collage Design, the Dehradun International Cricket Stadium is India’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold standard sporting arena. Collage Design, one of India’s leading sports infrastructure consultants, previously worked on the development of all six stadiums and 26 training sites (Goa, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Navi Mumbai and New Delhi) for India’s first FIFA tournament, the FIFA U-17 World Cup, that took place in October last year.
Describing the efforts that went in to building this facility, Ramkumar Subramaniam, CEO and Founder of Collage Design said, “It’s a complex and challenging process involving multiple stakeholdersto conceptualize and develop modern sports facilities. It has been an immensely fulfilling journey with the state Government of Uttarakhand to realise their vision of creating a world class facility that would serve as a benchmark for other states to invest and promote sports.”
The stadium has been selected as the home ground for the Afghanistan Cricket team, and it will host a three-match T20I series between Afghanistan and Bangladesh on June 3rd, 5th and 7th, 2018.

On the eve of the high-octane Indian Premier League (IPL) final between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), the M.S Dhoni-led yellow brigade have been voted as the strong favourites by a sports fans survey to win their third title at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.

According to the survey conducted by Indian Sports Fan, an online largest sports fan community, CSK are the favourites to win the title while skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the most favourite player with the Wankhede as the most preferred stadium.

The fans survey highlighted Dhoni as the most revered player out of the top 12 players with 27.3 per cent votes followed by Virat Kohli with 22 per cent and SRH captain Kane Williamson with 20.11 per cent fan votes.

The survey further revealed that Mumbai’s iconic Wankhede Stadium as the most preferred stadium with 30 per cent votes followed by Kolkata’s Eden Gardens Stadium with 20.22 per cent votes, as compared to eight other stadiums.

The survey targeted 14,000 fans across 10 cities with 4,802 successful respondents.

In Archery, the Recurve Women’s team of Deepika Kumari, Promila Daimary and Ankita Bhagat will play for Bronze medal on Saturday (May 26) against the archers of Chinese Taipei.

On Friday, India opened its account at the second stage of the World Cup Stage II at Antalya in Turkey with a Silver and a Bronze medal in the Compound section.

The Women’s team of Jyothi Vennam, Muskan Kirar and Divya Dhayal settled for a Silver after losing to their Chinese Taipei opponents by three points.

Later, the third-seeded Mixed pair of Jyothi and Abhishek Verma won the Bronze medal play-off to bag the second medal for India.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

The Hero 2nd Division League final round returns to the field on Sunday

TRAU will hope to get something from a game against Real Kashmir

The Hero 2nd Division League final round returns to the field on Sunday (May 27). Hindustan FC will take on Ozone FC while TRAU will hope to get something from a game against Real Kashmir FC.

Hindustan FC edged past TRAU FC 1-0 to begin their campaign in the Hero 2nd Division League final round on Thursday (May 24) at the FSV Arena in Bengaluru.

Although TRAU went into their opening match of the competition as hot favourites but it was Hindustan FC who stunned them thanks to a second half stoppage time goal by substitute Tushar Chaudhary.

The game started at a furious pace with TRAU‚ as expected‚ pressing high to nullify Hindustan FC’s effort to rapidly circulate the ball. It was a fascinating tactical battle although‚ at times‚ a little predictable.

Resultantly, there was a lot of possession turn over and not enough in the way of scoring chances.

The first real opportunity came after 17 minutes when Hindustan FC goalkeeper Mithun Samonto made a save of Princewill Emeka‚ who had done well to turn the defense and put himself into a shooting position. But the Nigerian forward failed to get any real power behind his shot.

On the half-hour mark‚ Emeka hit a wild effort from a tight angle well off target and eight minutes later winger Malemnganba Meitei rose unchallenged to head a free kick narrowly wide.

Hindustan FC’s only chance in the first-half fell to Khusant Chauhan in between the TRAU defenders but his first touch let him down and the opportunity slipped by because of poor technique.

Just before the half-time, Emeka again caused some panic in the Hindustan FC box, but his crosses were wasted by Reisangmei Vashum and Angousana Luwang as the two teams went into the break deadlocked at 0-0.

TRAU continued to dictate matters at the start of the second-half with Vashum shooting narrowly wide of the target five minutes into the session.

Hidustan FC, though, were not to be outdone and came close to scoring in the 57th minute when Nikhil Gehlot broke through on goal, but he was superbly denied in a one-on-one with TRAU goalkeeper Tajuddin.

Hindustan FC’s attacking kingpin Kushant Chauhan also had a tough afternoon, in being closely marked and was not able to unleash his usual high-quality supply to the front men.

Towards the end, TRAU showed more endeavour in attack but they were unable to breach a Hindustan FC defense expertly marshalled by Amestrong Alexandre and skipper Pushpender Kundu.

TRAU dominated as the game drew to a close, but an inspired substitution from Hindustan FC coach Vikrant Sharma sealed the victory, as Tushar Chaudhary kept his cool and nudged home the winner with less than four minutes to play.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

In IPL Cricket, two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second Qualifier in Kolkata on Friday (May 25).

The match will begin at 7 p.m. The winners will face Chennai Super Kings in the IPL summit clash in Mumbai on Sunday (May 27).

Kolkata and Hyderabad have faced each other 14 times so far. The Sunrisers have won five of those games While the Knight Riders have triumphed on nine occasions.

Earlier, In Eliminator match on Wednesday, Kolkata Knight Riders beat Rajasthan Royals by 25 runs to set up Qualifier-II clash with the Sunrisers.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Stressing that they needed one of the top four batsmen to stay at the crease till the end, skipper Ajinkya Rahane said with so many wickets in hand, Rajasthan Royals should have won against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Eliminator here.

Chasing 170 for a place in the Qualifier 2, the Royals on Wednesday were 87/1 after 10 overs with Rahane and Sanju Samson looking good for a match-winning partnership.

But then they–particularly Rahane–got stuck against spin and left their weak middle order with too much to do, eventually losing by 25 runs as they managed 144/4 in 20 overs.

While Samson (50 off 38) was removed by Piyush Chawla, chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav got rid of Rahane (46 off 41).

“We thought 170 was chaseable. We needed partnerships and we got those partnerships initially with (Rahul) Tripathi and then me and Sanju Samson. We needed one batsman to bat throughout those 19-20 overs and we did not do that,” Rahane told reporters at the post-match press conference.

“Unfortunately Sanju got out in the 17th over and that was the reason I felt…when you are chasing 170 in a pressure game you need one batsman from top 4 to bat through the innings,” Rahane added.

Rahane said Andre Russell–who hit an unbeaten 25-ball 49 to propel KKR to 169/7 after a disastrous start–played fearless cricket.

“We had the self-belief I felt. Initially, the way we started with the ball. Our fast bowlers, the spinners…getting those 4-5 initial wickets was crucial,” said Rahane.

“But credit goes to (Andre) Russell..the way he batted, played fearless cricket. But again we started off really well. First six overs, we were 50/1 then after second timeout (14th over), we needed seven overs and 60 odd runs. When you have eight to nine wickets in hand you generally end up getting those runs,” Rahane added.

Dinesk Karthik (52) and Shubman Gill (28) stemmed rot for the purple brigade after they were reduced to 51/4 at one stage.

Rahane revealed he had asked Samson during the second strategic timeout in the 14th over to play till the end while he would look to up the ante.

Rahane fell to Kuldeep in the first ball after the break when they still required 61 off 36 balls. Two overs later, Samson departed.

“I think our plan was to go deep. I just told Sanju after second timeout that I will play some positive shots and if you are still there, you bat deep,” said Rahane.

“Credit goes to KKR bowlers. Especially the way they bowled the last 4-5 overs. If you see, last 36 balls we got 30 odd runs. So when opponents bowl like that, credit goes to them. We need to learn for next season. We batted well in patches and were not that good enough throughout the season,” he added.

Asked the reason for sending Heinrich Klaasen and Stuart Binny ahead of K Gowtham who can score at a brisk pace, Rahane said, “If you see Klaasen is a very good batsman. He did well in the last game and it is difficult when you don’t get those runs and try and think what if Gowtham was sent to bat.”

“But we backed Klaasen. He tried his best. KKR spinners were really good. With our batting line-up, we wanted to go deep and if Klaasen can come, they have 7-8 overs left, that was a perfect opportunity for him. Unfortunately, we didn’t cross the line,” he said.

“I don’t think the strategy was wrong there. Gowtham’s batting position..he batted well at No.6 and 7…credit goes to KKR bowlers,” Rahane added.

A fighting unbeaten half-century under pressure from Faf du Plessis helped Chennai Super Kings edge past Sunrisers Hyderabad by two wickets in the first qualifier here on Tuesday to enter the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Needing 140 runs to win, Chennai made heavy weather of what should have been a comfortable chase before crossing the line with five balls to spare.

Chennai have reached the final seven times in the nine seasons they have competed in the IPL. They had missed out on the previous two seasons as they were banned following the spot fixing and betting scandal.

Du Plessis batted through the innings to remain not out on 67 runs, with five hits to the fence and four sixes studding his 42-ball knock. The opener kept on playing sensibly throughout even as no other batman clicked at the other end.

For Hyderabad, spinner Rashid Khan, Siddarth Kaul and Sandeep Sharma scalped two wickets each.

Hyderabad will now face the winner of the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals in the Qualifier 2 on May 25 in Kolkata.

Chasing a modest total, Chennai lost their first wicket on the fifth ball of the first over. Wicket-keeper Shreevats Goswami took a brilliant catch to dismiss opener Shane Watson (0) off pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

In-form Suresh Raina was playing beautifully, hitting four well-timed boundaries on his way to 22 off 13 balls. But he was bowled by pacer Kaul in the fourth over when he shuffled across and exposed his leg-stump.

Off the very next ball, Ambati Rayudu (0) was also clean bowled by Kaul. Rayudu’s dismissal was largely due to poor shot selection as he misjudged a slow yorker only to see the ball crash into the base of middle and off-stump.

Unperturbed by the fall of wickets, du Plessis kept on playing sensibly. New batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni (9), then joined in the middle and the duo rotated the strike perfectly.

But just when the duo started timing the ball well, leg-spinner Rashid Khan delivered one that turned the wrong way to dismiss Dhoni.

With Chennai struggling at 39/4 after eight overs, all eyes were on the lower-middle order But it failed as Dwayne Bravo (7), Ravindra Jadeja (3) and Deepak Chahar (10) went back to the pavilion in quick succession.

Du Plesis, on the other hand, started unleashing his shots and hammered few sixes but lack of support from other batters

Harbhajan Singh could only manage two runs off nine balls before being run out. With Chennai in deep trouble, Shardul Thakur gave some much needed impetus to the run rate with three boundaries off the five balls he faced.

Thakur, who remained unbeaten on 15 runs, played sensibly and gave the strike to du Plesis.

With Chennai needing six runs off the last over, du Plessis brought up the victory in style over the umpire’s head off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s bowling.

Earlier, lower-order batsman Carlos Brathwaite’s unbeaten 43-run knock and some useful contributions from skipper Kane Williamson and Yusuf Pathan helped Sunrisers Hyderabad post a modest total of 139/7 in their allotted 20 overs.

Put in to bat, Hyderabad started the proceeding on a poor note, losing opener Shikhar Dhawan (0) on the first ball.

Other batsmen Goswami (12), Manish Pandey (8) and Shakib Al Hasan (12) also failed to deliver when needed the most. Brathwaite then came in the middle and played a quick-fire knock and took his team out of troubled waters. He played 29 balls and one boundary and slammed four sixes.

For Chennai, Dwayne Bravo scalped two wickets.

Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad: 139/7 in 20 overs (Carlos Brathwaite 43 not out; Dwayne Bravo 2/25) against Chennai Super Kings: 140/8 in 19.1 overs (Du Plesis 67; Rashid Khan 2/12)

As the 11th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) nears its climax, all eyes will be on the top two sides — Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) — locking horns in the first qualifier on Tuesday at the Wankhede Stadium here for a place in the May 27 final.

Both Chennai and Hyderabad finished the league stage on 18 points, but the Kane Williamson-led side got their neck ahead to the No.1 spot with a superior net run-rate and Tuesday’s winner will be guaranteed a place in the final at the same venue while the loser gets a second chance in the second qualifier in Kolkata on May 25.

Going in to the match, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led CSK hold a slight edge as they have got the better of their southern rivals twice in the league stage this season.

The yellow brigade have been on a roll since making their comeback to the IPL fold after serving a two-year-ban, and have rarely lost the momentum this season with the old guards and new sensations firing in unison.

In their final league game at their adopted home ground in Pune on Sunday, CSK rode on Suresh Raina’s gutsy half century to not only romp home by five wickets but also stop Kings XI Punjab from entering the play-offs.

On the other hand, the Sunrisers have been on a three-game losing run, having already sealed their play-off spot with a victory on May 10 against Delhi Daredevils.

Interestingly, it was the CSK who halted Sunrisers’ six-game winning streak with a comprehensive eight-wicket drubbing on May 13 in Pune.

Much of the credit for the Orange Army’s entry into the playoffs goes to the consistency of skipper Kane Williamson, who sits second in the leading run-getters’ list with 661 runs and the bowling unit leg by paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Afghan spinner Rashid Khan.

Besides Williamson, Shikhar Dhawan (437 runs) has lately come good with the bat but it is the middle order comprising Manish Pandey, Wriddhiman Saha, Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan, who needs to share the responsibility of building on the platform set up by the top order.

Sunrisers’ bowling this season have been extraordinary with Rashid and Shakib as well as the pace trio of Bhuvneshwar, Siddarth Kaul and Sandeep Sharma, combining well to defend paltry totals.

On Tuesday, Sunrisers will once again hope that their bowling will do the trick against an in-form Chennai top order comprising the likes of Ambati Rayudu, who has been their standout performer with 586 runs and had in fact taken the game away with a scintillating hundred when the two teams last met.

Rayudu’s opening partner Shane Watson has also been in top form, accumulating 438 runs from 13 matches, while Suresh Raina, skipper Dhoni and all-rounder Deepak Chahar have been the backbone of CSK’s middle order.

In the bowling front, the former two-time champions will bank on young South African Lungi Ngidi, who grabbed 4 for 10 to take the man of the match award on Sunday.

With Shardul Thakur, Chahar and Dwayne Bravo doing their bit on the pace bowling front, CSK will hope for veteran Harbhajan Singh leading the spin attack with left-armer Ravindra Jadeja in the middle overs.

The match timings for the play-offs have been advanced by one hour, which means the match will start at 7 p.m. Ahead of the clash, a women’s exhibition game will take place at 2 p.m. with top Indian and foreign players taking part in the contest at the Wankhede.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain & WK), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf Du Plessis, Harbhajan Singh, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayadu, Deepak Chahar, K.M. Asif, Kanish Seth, Lungi Ngidi, Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay, Sam Billings, Mark Wood, Kshtiz Sharma, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, N agadeesan, David Willy.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Siddharth Kaul, Deepak Hooda, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Shreevats Goswami (WK), Ricky Bhui, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan, Sachin Baby, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Tanmay Agarwal, Alex Hales, Carlos Brathwaite, Rashid Khan, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Nabi and Chris Jordan.

Resurgent Rajasthan Royals will look to defy odds and upset ‘home favourites’ Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Eliminator here at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.

KKR are the only team among the four knockout entrants to have got their matches in their own backyard. If they win the Eliminator, their Qualifier 2 will also be at the same venue on May 25.

Besides having the home advantage, KKR will also start as favourites against depleted Royals who made the playoffs by the skin of their teeth.

Sans the services of in-form England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler and fellow all-rounder Ben Stokes, Rajasthan got past Royal Challengers Bangalore in a must-win last league engagement to make it to the knockouts.

Chennai Super Kings’ five-wicket victory over Kings XI Punjab sealed Royals’ place in the playoffs while Mumbai Indians also lost to Delhi Daredevils. Both Punjab and Mumbai were in fray for the fourth playoff spot which went to Royals.

For KKR, a five-wicket triumph over Sunrisers Hyderabad ensured they finished third in the table.

KKR’s main weapons has been Karthik and Sunil Narine alongwith sizable contributions from the wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla and dashing Australian opener Chris Lynn.

Underlining that his match-winning innings in the Nidahas Trophy final was no flash in the pan, Karthik has led from the front.

The 33-year old stumper-batsman has been a terrific finisher for the KKR this season. Of his 438 runs this season, 412 were made in 13 innings at No. 5 or lower; only Kieron Pollard’s 419 in 17 innings in 2013 is higher.

Mystery spinner Narine has enhanced his credentials as an opener by becoming only the fourth player to score 300 plus runs and grab more than 15 wickets in an IPL season, after Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo and Jacques Kallis.

Apart from the pair, Lynn has struck form at the right time after enduring a subdued season by his standards.

Andre Russell is always a threat with bat and ball and in M. Prasidh Krishna — who returned career best figures of 4/30 against Hyderabad — KKR have found a tall pacer who hits the deck hard and bowls good length stuff.

Royals will once again miss Buttler who is on national duty after getting a Test call-up. Buttler has been their batting mainstay piling up 548 runs in 13 matches at 54.80.

Big-hitting South African wicketkeeper batsman Heinrich Klaasen showed his class in the last game, his 32 off 21 studded with some stunning shots. The Karnataka pair of Gowtham and Gopal impressed too.

While Gowtham smacked 14 off five balls in the last over and conceded just six runs in two overs of offspin, besides also dismissing Virat Kohli for 4 in the third over, Gopal finished with career-best figures of 4 for 16.

Just over a week back, the two sides met at the same venue with KKR getting the better of Royals by six wickets.

The Eden pitch, this time, would not be prepared the way KKR want it to as the Eliminator won’t be treated as a home game.

BCCI East Zone curator Ashish Bhowmick has been tasked to prepare the track and it is expected to have a fair bit of grass on it. Just two out of seven games — vs RCB on April 8 and CSK on May 3 — have been played on this pitch this IPL.

Squads:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Dinesh Karthik (Captain/Wicket-keeper), Robin Uthappa, Mitchell Johnson, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill, Ishank Jaggi, Nitish Rana, Vinay Kumar, Apoorv Wankhade, Rinku Singh, Shivam Mavi, Cameron Delport, Javon Searles, Tom Curran, Prasidh Krishna.

RR: Heinrich Klassen, Jaydev Unadkat, Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer, Krishnappa Gowtham, Ajinkya Rahane, Darcy Short, Rahul Tripathi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Ben Laughlin, Stuart Binny, Dushmantha Chameera, Anureet Singh, Aryaman Vikram Birla, Midhun S, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Jatin Saxena, Ankit Sharma, Mahipal Lomror.

World football players union FIFPro has asked FIFA to allow Peru captain Paolo Guerrero to play in the World Cup despite a doping ban.

Guerrero, who tested positive for cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine last October, had his six-month ban extended to 14 months last week following an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency, reports Xinhua news agency.

In a social media post, FIFPro said it hoped “for a breakthrough in the next 24-48 hours.”

Last Monday’s decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rules the 34-year-old Flamengo striker out of the World Cup in Russia, which starts on June 14.

Peru qualified for the tournament for the first time in 36 years by beating New Zealand in an inter-continental playoff last November.

Guerrero, who says he unwittingly consumed the substance in contaminated tea, has said his lawyers are “considering all options” to contest the CAS decision and clear his name.

FIFPro last week described the ruling as disproportionate and inconsistent with the facts presented during the case.