Nasheman News : India rode on opener Smriti Mandhana’s fourth ODI ton and a disciplined bowling effort from the spin twins of Ekta Bisht and Poonam Yadav to outclass New Zealand by 9 wickets in the first ICC Women’s Championship One-day International at the McLean Park here on Thursday.

Smriti, the 2018 ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year, continued from where she left last year, as she belted a 104-ball 105, comprising nine fours and three sixes, and was engaged in a 190-run opening stand with teenager Jemimah Rodrigues (81 not out) to power the visitors home with 17 overs to spare.

Earlier, opting to field, the women-in-blue rode on inspirational bowling from the spin trio of Ekta, Poonam and Deepti Sharma to bowl out New Zealand for 192, despite Suzie Bates (36) and Sophie Devine (28) putting on 61 for the opening wicket.

The home skipper Amy Satterthwaite scored a fluent 31 while Amelia Kerr (28) and Hannah Rowe (25) failed to convert their start to bigger scores.

The Indian spinners took eight wickets between them, with Ekta (3/32) and Poonam (3/42) taking three wickets each, while Deepti ended with an economical 2/27.

Thursday’s win was another fine show of dominance by the Indians and a perfect start under their new coach W.V. Raman.

Brief Scores: New Zealand 192 (Suzie Bates 36, Amy Satterthwaite 31; Ekta Bisht 3/32, Poonam Yadav 3/42) lose to India 193/1 (Smriti Mandhana 105, Jemimah Rodrigues 81 not out) by 9 wickets.

Nashaeman News : Mohammed Shami on Wednesday added another feather to his cap becoming the fastest Indian medium pacer to complete 100 wickets in one-day internationals (ODIs).

In the ongoing first ODI against New Zealand here, Shami sent back Kiwi opener Martin Guptill to the stands in the very first over achieving the feat.

Earlier, the Indian record was held by left-arm medium pacer Irfan Pathan, who had picked his 100th wicket from 59 games. Shami achieved it in 56.

Zaheer Khan (65), Ajit Agarkar (67) and Javagal Srinath (68) complete the top five fastest bowlers from India who have fastest 100 wickets record.

Overall, Shami is now tied with New Zealand pacer Trent Boult as the sixth fastest to 100 wickets landmark in terms of matches played. 

Afghanistan sensational leg-spinner Rashid Khan tops the chart, reaching the milestone in just 44 ODIs. He is followed by Mitchell Starc (52), Saqlain Mushtaq (53), Shane Bond (54) and Brett Lee (55).

Nasheman News :A brilliant all-round effort helped India thrash New Zealand by eight wickets via the Duckworth-Lewis (D/L) method in the first One Day International match at the McLean Park here on Wednesday.

Asked to field first, the Indian bowlers were right on the money as they restricted the hosts to a paltry score and then Indian batters displayed a clinical performance to hand India a 1-0 lead in the five match series.

Chasing 157, Indian openers Rohit Sharma (11) and Shikhar Dhawan (75 not out) started on a positive note, forging a crucial 41-runs partnership before Rohit was dismissed by Doug Bracewell in the 10th over. He was caught by Martin Guptil in the slips.

Just after the fall of Rohit’s wicket, sun stopped the play for around 30 minutes. The sun rays were directly getting into the players eyes which prompted the umpires to suspend the proceedings.

The break saw the match officials reduce the match by one over and the new target for India was revised to 156 from 49 overs.

After the restart, skipper Virat Kohli (45) joined Dhawan in the middle and the duo hammered the New Zealand bowlers all round the park. In the process, Dhawan reached the landmark of 5000 ODI runs and became the second fastest Indian to reach the milestone. 

It seemed like the Delhi duo will remain unbeaten and complete the match with ease but in the 29th over, Kohli was sent packing by Lockie Ferguson when scoreboard was reading 132. He was caught behind by Tom Latham.

New batsman Ambati Rayudu (13 not out) and Dhawan then joined hands and completed the proceeding with 85 balls remaining.

For New Zealand, Ferguson and Bracewell took one wicket each.

Earlier, India rode chinaman Kuldeep Yadav and pacer Mohammed Shami’s exceptional bowling effort to restrict New Zealand to a paltry 157 runs.

While Kuldeep’s figures were 4/39, Shami was also phenomenal with the leather, scalping three Kiwi wickets conceding just 19 runs from his six overs. 

Yuzvendra Chahal and Kedar Jadhav picked two and one wicket, respectively.

Other than New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson (64), no other batsmen put up a fight against the disciplined Indian attack.

Opting to bat, the hosts had the worst possible start as Shami struck early sending back both the openers — Martin Guptill (5) and Colin Munro (8), cheaply.

Newcomers Williamson and Ross Taylor (24) then tried to rescue their side from the early damage, taking New Zealand past the 50-run mark in 13.3 overs. 

However, Taylor’s stay was cut short by Chahal in the 15th over with the hosts at 52/3.

With the addition of just 24 runs in the Kiwi scorecard, Chahal struck again to dismiss incoming batsman Tom Latham (11). Jadhav and Shami then joined the party as they sent back Henry Nicholls (12) and Mitchell Santner (14), leaving the hosts reeling at 133/6.

Williamson, however, continued to show resistance and kept one end safe, but lacked support from the other end. 

While trying to clear the fence in the 34th over off a Kuldeep delivery, the Kiwi skipper misread the ball and offered a simple catch to Vijay Shankar at long-on.

Kuldeep then put the final nail in the coffin, picking the tailenders — Doug Bracewell (7), Lockie Ferguson (0) and Trent Boult (1) in quick succession to wrap up the host in just 38 overs.

Brief scores: 

New Zealand 157 all out (Kane Williamson 64, Ross Taylor 24; Kuldeep Yadav 4/39) vs India 156/2 (Shikhar Dhawan 75 not out, Virat Kohli 45; Doug Bracewell 1/23)

[Nasheman news] NapierIndia rode chinaman Kuldeep Yadav and pacer Mohammed Shami’s exceptional bowling effort on Wednesday to restrict New Zealand to a paltry 157 runs in the first of the five-match ODI rubber at the McLean Park here.

While Kuldeep’s figures were 4/39, Shami was also phenomenal with the leather, scalping three Kiwi wickets conceding just 19 runs from his six overs. 

Yuzvendra Chahal and Kedar Jadhav picked two and one wicket, respectively.

Other than New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson (64), no other batsmen put up a fight against the disciplined Indian attack.

Opting to bat, the hosts had the worst possible start as Shami struck early sending back both the openers — Martin Guptill (5) and Colin Munro (8), cheaply.

Newcomers Williamson and Ross Taylor (24) then tried to rescue their side from the early damage, taking New Zealand past the 50-run mark in 13.3 overs. 

However, Taylor’s stay was cut short by Chahal in the 15th over with the hosts at 52/3.

With the addition of just 24 runs in the Kiwi scorecard, Chahal struck again to dismiss incoming batsman Tom Latham (11). Jadhav and Shami then joined the party as they sent back Henry Nicholls (12) and Mitchell Santner (14), leaving the hosts reeling at 133/6.

Williamson, however, continued to show resistance and kept one end safe, but lacked support from the other end. 

While trying to clear the fence in the 34th over off a Kuldeep delivery, the Kiwi skipper misread the ball and offered a simple catch to Vijay Shankar at long-on.

Kuldeep then put the final nail in the coffin, picking the tailenders — Doug Bracewell (7), Lockie Ferguson (0) and Trent Boult (1) in quick succession to wrap up the host in just 38 overs.

Brief score: New Zealand 157 all out (Kane Williamson 64, Ross Taylor 24; Kuldeep Yadav 4/39) vs India

[Nasheman news] BarcelonaFC Barcelona head coach Ernesto Valverde has praised the experience and character of the club’s newest player, former Ghana international Kevin-Prince Boateng, terming him a “strong player”.

The 31-year-old forward joined Barça on a six-month loan deal from Italy’s Sassuolo for one million euros ($1.13 million), with an option that Barcelona make the move permanent for 8 million euros in the summer of 2019, reports Efe news.

“Kevin-Prince Boateng is a player who has experience, knows the league and the role he will develop,” Valverde said at a press conference on Tuesday night.

“We hope he helps us, he is a strong player,” Valverde added.

Barça’s coach stressed that Boateng knows La Liga well, as he played as a forward for Las Palmas during the 2016-17 season.

Valverde said he would include the Berlin-born player of Ghanaian ancestry in Wednesday’s match against Sevilla in the Copa del Rey quarterfinal.

“He can play now,” Valverde said, “because he played (with Sassuolo) the whole game against Inter (in Serie A) on Saturday; one of the reasons why he is here is because he is active.”

[Nasheman news] Buenos AiresResidents of the small agricultural town in northeastern Argentina where footballer Emiliano Sala grew up gathered for prayers after learning that he was one of two people aboard an aircraft that went missing over the English Channel.

Daniel Ribero, president of local football club San Martin de Progreso, where Sala played as boy, told EFE that the day held “a lot of uncertainty” for residents of Progreso.

“We went from a moment of euphoria when he signed with Cardiff City to this totally unexpected situation. We are trying to process it,” he said on Tuesday, reports Efe news.

The single-turbine PA 46 Malibu aircraft carrying Sala from Nantes, France, to Cardiff, Wales, disappeared from radar screens at 8.23pm Monday some 24km (15mi) north of the island of Guernsey, police in the British crown dependency said.

Cardiff City, who play in the Premier League, signed the 28-year-old striker from Ligue 1 side FC Nantes for a club-record 15 million pounds ($19.4 million).

The plane, belonging to Cardiff City’s owner, was on its way back to the Welsh capital after Sala’s quick trip to Nantes to bid farewell to his former teammates.

Ribero described Sala as a humble and low-key person and recalled seeing the player when he returned to Progreso in 2017 for the 100th anniversary of San Martin and again last year for a barbecue during the 2018 World Cup.

Sala joined San Martin as a 6-year-old and remained with the club until he was 15, when he went to France and began the professional career that brought him to Nantes.

“In 100 years of the club’s history, he is the first player from San Martin de Progreso to go so far,” Ribero said.

Hundreds of Progreso residents spontaneously gathered to pray for Sala after hearing the news Tuesday morning, among them was Rita Rinaldi, one of Sala’s teachers at the local school.

Dravid said that while they need to educate cricketers, they could not take responsibility for every individual player’s actions.

After Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul’s episode on celebrity chat show Koffee With Karan stirred controversy earlier this month, several people pointed out the difference between Hardik’s crass comments on women and people like Rahul Dravid, who have long been known as one of the gentlemanly cricketers.

The former Indian captain and current head coach of the Under-19 and A teams has recently called Hardik Pandya’s sexist and racist comments on the show a ‘mistake’ and said that while they need to educate cricketers, they could not take responsibility for every individual player’s actions.

Rahul told Sportstar that it was not as though players did not make mistakes in the past and won’t make mistakes in the future as well. “But let’s not overreact please,” he said.

He added that players come from different teams and should be made aware about their roles and responsibilities. “Issues will always be there and we have to educate and guide then. They should be told they can’t abuse the system,” Rahul said.

Rahul said that they had been having “lectures” for the Under-19 players before the previous two World Cups and even brought in psychologists. “We had workshops on building roles of responsibility. These lectures are also part of the National Cricket Academy already,” he said.

However, Rahul said that during his playing days, no one gave him a “lecture” and he learnt by watching and observing his seniors in Karnataka. He also said that the best learning process happens in the dressing room with seniors – though the culture of “locker room talk” among boys and men has come under the scanner of late for the casual sexism and misogyny that are part of those conversations.

Reiterating that we must not overreact, Rahul said that people forget that such incidents have happened in the past as well; though they get highlighted more now. That being said, Rahul agreed there was a need to continue mentoring players because the challenges they face on the field are different and they must fulfil their responsibilities as international cricketers.

“It can’t be everything was great earlier and everything is bad today,” he said.

Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul had appeared on the show Koffee With Karan, hosted by Bollywood director-producer Karan Johar. Hardik made several problematic comments about women and appropriating black culture. Post the backlash, he posted an apology on Twitter saying that he got carried away on the show and did not intend to hurt anyone.

The BCCI’s Committee of Administrators (CoA) is now contemplating a behavioural counselling programme for Indian cricketers. The body had also suspended the cricketers, who were called back from playing in the ODI series against Australia and are likely to be barred from the ODI series against New Zealand as well. Their fate will now be decided by a Supreme Court appointed ombudsman. 

Agencies

Nasheman News :  India skipper Virat Kohli was on Tuesday named captain of both the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Test and ODI Teams of the Year following his remarkable show in 2018 both as batsman and skipper.

According to an ICC statement, pacer Jasprit Bumrah is the other Indian to make it to both the sides while stumper Rishabh Pant is the third Indian to find a place in the Test Team of the Year.

Besides Kohli and Bumrah, opener Rohit Sharma and chinaman Kuldeep Yadav are the other Indians to be named in the ICC ODI Team of the Year.

The awards, which honour performances during a calendar year, saw Kohli walk into both sides which were selected by the ICC Voting Academy comprising former players, members of the media and broadcasters.

Kohli’s 1,322 runs at an average of 55.08 with five centuries in 13 Tests and 1,202 runs at an astounding average of 133.55 with six hundreds in 14 ODIs saw him selected to both sides by every voting member of the Academy with the majority of them also opting to name him at the helm of each.

Kohli also ended 2018 as the top-ranked Test and ODI batsman in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings while his side finished the year as the top-ranked side in Tests and number two behind England in ODIs.

Reacting to the news, an elated Kohli said: “It has been an amazing year. I was able to play in a manner that I would not have imagined. If the intention is right and you keep working hard, the results are there in front of your own eyes.

“The intent has always been to help your team at any cost, that is when these performances come by and you are pushing yourself to the limit, which you otherwise will not be able to. That is something I experienced in 2018 a lot,” he added.

Meanwhile, besides the three Indians — Kohli, Bumrah and Pant — New Zealand also has three players in the Test squad — captain Kane Williamson, Henry Nicholls and opener Tom Latham.

Five other nations make up the remainder of the Test team — Dimuth Karunaratne (Sri Lanka), Jason Holder (Windies), top-ranked Kagiso Rabada (South Africa), Nathan Lyon (Australia) and Mohammad Abbas (Pakistan).

Similarly in the ODI team, besides the four Indians, England also have four players — Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes.

Bangladesh’s Mustafizur Rahman, top-ranked Rashid Khan (Afghanistan) and Ross Taylor (New Zealand) complete the ICC ODI XI.

Nasheman News : Defending champions Punjab Royals defeated Delhi Sultans 4-3 in a Pro Wrestling League match here on Sunday, thanks to the brilliant performance of Bajrang Punia.

Bajrang Punia didn’t let the home fans down winning the decider against Andrey Kviatkovski of Delhi Sultans 9-0 in a closely fought 65 kg encounter between the two world championships participants. 

After the reversal of fortunes in the last encounter against Mumbai Maharathi, this was a much-needed win for the defending champions. 

In the sixth bout, Rio Olympics bronze medallist Delhi’s Sakshi Malik didn’t break much sweat while defeating 2018 national championships silver medallist Punjab’s Anita 11-0 and push the tie to the decider. This was a much improved performance by Sakshi than the one she had against Navjot Kaur of UP Dangal in the last match.

Earlier, the 2017-18 World Military Championships gold medallist Russian Khetik Tsabalov of Delhi Sultans won the first bout of the evening against the Asian Championships bronze medallist Punjab Royals’ Vinod Kumar 14-0 after the referee awarded the bout to the former mid-way through the second round due to technical superiority. Khetik was leading 10-0 at the break.

Punjab Royals’ 2018 European Championships bronze medallist Cynthia Vescan withstood a tough challenge from the 2018 European U23 Championships gold medallist Delhi Sultans’ Anastasia Shustova to win the bout 2-1 and restore parity for the defending champions.

In the men’s 86 kg category, the 2016 European Championship bronze medallist Dato Magarisvili of Punjab Royals dismissed last year’s national champion Praveen of Delhi Sultans scoring an impressive 12-0 win on technical superiority under two minutes.

National champion Delhi Sultans’ Pinki defeated national runners-up Punjab Royals Anju in the 53 kg bout between two familiar foes. 

Pinki was coming to this bout riding on the wave of an upset win over world champion Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the previous round. But Anju gave Pinki a good run for her money before succumbing 4-9. Both teams were two wins apiece at this stage.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Korey Jarvis of Punjab Royals won the 125 kg bout against Delhi Sultans Satender Malik 7-2 despite the Indian holding the Canadian at bay for most part of the bout.

 Nasheman News : Sandro Rodriguez scored on either side of the half and Pedro Manzi helped himself score arguably the goal of the season and another to boot, as Chennai outclassed Aizawl FC 4-3 to take a step closer to the I-League crown at the Nehru stadium here.

Albert got a 37th minute equaliser for Aizawl after Sandro gave the hosts a lead in the 28th, and for a while till the quarter hour-mark of the second-half, the visitors looked in the ascendency before Manzi Magic struck a definitive blow to take the game away from Aizawl, despite a late rally by them.

The win takes them to 30 points with seven more games to go and an eight-point gap from their nearest rivals at this stage. Stanley Rozario, the new Aizawl coach, looked positive, to begin with Albert Zohmingmawia Vanlalduatsanga in place of Lalrosanga and Fanai, who had started the previous game.

For the hosts as well, Akbar Nawas was forced to leave out a suspended Roberto Eslava and played the versatile Jozef Kaplan in defence. Sri Ram was also replaced by Srinivasan Pandiyan, who came back from suspension.

Chennai took the lead in the 28th minute after a move created by Pravitto Raju on the right saw him try to set up a Nestor with a cut back in. The Spaniard displayed vision to leave it for Sandro backing up, who let go from distance and the ball caught Gurpreet’s palms before going into the Aizawl net.

About 10 minutes later, Alfred Jaryan muscled the ball away from Pandiyan in the centre of midfield and played a quick 1-2 with Kasagga and upon getting the ball back, released Albert who had made a darting run into the box from the right.

The talented youngster brought back by Stanley Rozario after not getting much game-time during Raikhan’s tenure earlier, coolly slotted the ball between Santana’s legs and into the Chennai net.

From then till the 60th minute of the game, Aizawl clearly looked the better team and threatened many a time to take the lead.

Ivorian Zikahi Dodoz was guilty of missing at least two gilt-edged opportunities to score. Chennai also had their fair share of misses and Romario was the main culprit missing a sitter in the 58th minute after misdirecting a volley earlier.

Then there was simply some Manzi Magic at the hour mark.

A ball cleared by Romario from the Chennai back line bounced in front of Pedro Manzi just inside the Aizawl half near the right touchline. The Spanish sniper took a touch forward, looked up, saw keeper Gurpreet off his line and fired from 40 yards out to lob the keeper and nestle the ball into the Aizawl net.

It was a goal worthy of taking him to the top of the 12th Hero I-League goal scorers’ list with his 12th of the campaign.

It was a goal feast from then on with Sandro getting his second of the game in the 69th, not for the first time in this year’s campaign, swinging in a brilliantly taken free-kick, to beat Gurpreet all ends up.

Nestor, who had a relatively quieter day, then got into the mix, playing in the perfectly weighted ball into the box for Manzi, who had initiated the move from the right. The striker chipped in calmly over the keeper for this 13th.

Then in injury time, Aizawl attempted an outrageous comeback with two more outstanding goals, ushering in a thrilling finish.

First, Isaac controlled a second ball off a corner, took a touch forward with his left foot to create space and curled it intelligently over Santana in the Chennai goal.

A minute later, Aizawl intercepted the ball in the midfield and Mapuia, played on inside the box, shrugged off his marker to unleash a right-footer past Santana. It was Mapuia’s third of the season and all his goals have been quality so far.