International
Women’s World Cup: Dean, Knight lead England to 4-wicket win over India
On the back of Charlie Dean’s career-best figures of four for 23 and captain Heather Knight’s unbeaten 53, England ended their winless run in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup with a four-wicket victory over India at Bay Oval on Wednesday.
After bowling out India for a paltry 134 in 36.2 overs, England chased down the target with 112 balls remaining.
The pursuit of 135 began on a shaky note as Meghna Singh and Jhulan Goswami struck in quick succession in the first three overs. Danni Wyatt pushed hard but found Sneh Rana diving full-length to her right at slip while Tammy Beaumont was trapped lbw in pad first on forward defence, giving Goswami her 250th wicket in ODIs.
Knight and her deputy Nat Sciver joined forces to get England’s innings back on track. While Knight got off the mark with a drive through cover point off Meghna, Sciver hammered Goswami for two boundaries and was lucky in the bails not falling off despite ball hitting the stumps.
Sciver then welcomed Rajeshwari Gayakwad by taking nine runs off her first over, including two boundaries via sweep. The duo indulged in risk-free play and got boundaries with precision to keep England on course of chasing the target.
The 65-run partnership for the third wicket ended as Sciver was foxed by a short ball from Pooja Vastrakar and leading edge on pull flew to mid-on.
Knight, sedate till then, began to dispatch anything full to the boundary rope with drive, steer and reverse-sweep through the off-side. Amy Jones hit a delightful six down the ground off Gayakwad but two balls later, the right-hander tried to repeat the loft but was caught by a backtracking Harmanpreet, who timed her jump to perfection.
After timing an extra cover drive for four off Meghna, Knight brought her 23rd ODI fifty in 66 balls. She was ably supported by Sophia Dunkley, who fetched three boundaries in her first 14 balls with a fierce upper-cut over point being the standout shot.
Dunkley’s cameo ended as she nicked behind to ‘keeper Richa Ghosh off Meghna for a low, dipping catch.
One brought two for India as Meghna bounced out Katherine Brunt with Ghosh taking the catch off top-edge.
Sophie Ecclestone finished off the chase with a pulled four through deep mid-wicket off Meghna, giving England their first two points in the tournament.
Earlier, pushed into batting first, India never got going as Anya Shrubsole, followed by Dean and a tight fielding display by the defending champions never let them get any breathing space.
Shrubsole provided the first breakthrough as Yastika Bhatia pushed away from her body to a full inswinger and saw the ball take an inner edge to stumps. Bhatia thus became Shrubsole’s 100th wicket in the format.
Smriti Mandhana picked boundaries off a free-flowing drive and a quick short-arm jab. But England, with plan to bowl fuller lines, succeeded in making inroads into India’s batting order.
Mithali Raj’s lean run continued as she sliced straight to cover-point, giving Shrubsole her second wicket in power-play.
The pressure of dot balls preventing Deepti Sharma to get off the mark resulted in her running for a non-existent single by driving straight to mid-off.
But Kate Cross, at mid-off, inflicted a direct hit, catching Sharma short of crease for a ten-ball duck. Mandhana and Harmanpreet restored normalcy for India with a 33-run partnership off 50 balls for fourth wicket.
But Dean’s entry in the 17th over changed the situation as the off-spinner got rid of Harmanpreet and Rana in a double wicket maiden over.
While Harmanpreet tried playing for the turn from a flighted delivery outside off-stump, the ball held its line and took an outer edge to Jones. Rana’s promotion backfired as she went for an expansive drive, only to nick the ball behind to Jones.
Mandhana tried to hold one end for India but she missed a sweep off Ecclestone and was trapped lbw in front of off-stump. Dean soon picked up her third wicket as Vastrakar missed the sweep completely and was trapped plumb lbw after surviving a same call before in the over.
Richa Ghosh hit delightful boundaries on front foot and back foot against Dean, Ecclestone and Cross. She got support from Goswami, who made good use of the long handle in hammering Dean and Cross for boundaries.
Just as the 37-run partnership looked set to go big, Ghosh was run-out by Sciver’s direct hit from mid-wicket despite making a good dive as replays showed her bat was centimeters above in air when the bails were disturbed.
Goswami sliced straight to backward point off Cross and Dean ended India’s misery by clean bowling Meghna to take four wickets.
Brief Scores: India 134 all out in 36.2 overs (Smriti Mandhana 35, Richa Ghosh 33; Charlie Dean 4/23, Anya Shrubsole 2/20) lost to England 136/6 in 31.2 overs (Heather Knight 53 not out, Nat Sciver 45; Meghna Singh 3/26, Jhulan Goswami 1/21) by four wickets
International
CT 2025: India to take on Pakistan on Feb 23, likely to play in Colombo or Dubai: Sources
New Delhi, Dec 19: The much-awaited clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2025 will be played on February 23 with Colombo and Dubai front-runners to play host for India’s matches in the tournament being played in hybrid format. The development comes after the ICC Board said that “India and Pakistan matches hosted by either country at ICC Events during the 2024-2027 rights cycle will be played at a neutral venue.”
“India will take on Pakistan at a neutral venue on February 23, 2025. ICC looking at Colombo and Dubai to host their matches.”
The Champions Trophy is scheduled to be played in February and March 2025. Meanwhile, ICC said the schedule for the marquee tournament will be confirmed in the coming days.
Pakistan are the defending champions of the tournament, having defeated India by 180 runs in the final at The Oval in 2017. Both teams last played against each other in the T20 World Cup in New York earlier this year which India won by six runs and went on to claim their second silverware in the format.
Due to the strained political relations between the two neighbouring countries, India and Pakistan only play each other in international events including World Cups and Asia Cup. The last bilateral series between India and Pakistan was held in 2012-13 when the latter toured India for the five-match white-ball series.
International
It’s OFFICIAL! All India vs Pakistan Matches At ICC Events To Be Played At Neutral Venue Till 2027
India and Pakistan matches hosted by either country at ICC Events during the 2024-2027 rights cycle will be played at a neutral venue, the ICC Board confirmed on Thursday, 19 December. The schedule for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is set to be confirmed soon, with Pakistan aiming to defend the title they won in 2017.
The eight-team event will feature Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, and South Africa, alongside hosts Pakistan.
This will apply to the upcoming ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 (hosted by Pakistan), set to be played in February and March 2025, as well as the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 (hosted by India) and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 (hosted by India and Sri Lanka).
It was also announced that the PCB has been awarded hosting rights of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2028, where neutral venue arrangements will also apply. Cricket Australia is set to host one of the senior ICC women’s events during the period 2029 to 2031.
International
‘Our dream is getting fulfilled’: Coach Sumit Bhatia elated to see Kho Kho going global
New Delhi, Dec 16: Coach Sumit Bhatia is all pumped up for the first edition of the Kho Kho World Cup scheduled to take place from January 13-19, 2025. Bhatia, who holds a distinct record of being the only head coach to have won the Asian Championship twice, believes that this historical step is an indication of the realisation of the dream to take the sport to the international level and help it gain global recognition.
Having been honoured with the best coach award by the Delhi government, Bhatia has been a part of various Indian teams’ success, including the 2016 and 2023 Asian Kho Kho Championship victories, and has trained players like Nasreen Shaikh and Sarika Sudhakar Kale. Both of them have been Arjuna Awardees.
Nasreen, who is also a part of the World Cup camp, is the only player who has played in two Asian Championships and won the gold. The coach-student duo is now gearing up for the global event.
Sharing how the journey of Kho Kho World Cup’s inception, the coach said, “We organised an international camp here before COVID happened, in 2020. Coaches and players from 16 countries came here and we gave them training. Now they will be coming here for the World Cup but this campaign started in that camp”.
He further said, “Around 30-35 countries were willing to play the tournament but we picked the best 20 teams for both men and women. Some countries have single teams while some have double teams but a total of 24 countries will be participating in the tournament. It was our dream to take Kho Kho to the international level and now we can see that our dream is getting fulfilled.”
He also lauded the launch of the Ultimate Kho Kho League and shared how the franchise-based model has helped the players and coaches gain recognition, while also bringing forward grassroot talent.
“When the Ultimate Kho Kho league started, I also joined Telegu Yodhas as their head coach and we also played the final. Players have gotten exposure through the league and it’s not just financial. Earlier we used to hesitate while admitting being a Kho Kho coach but today our players introduce us as their coach,” said Bhatia.
He added, “The league got so much coverage that wherever we go, the players are approached for autographs. So the platform of the league started a new world for both coaches and players and now not just India but the entire world knows us. Earlier we used to tell people about our game but now they know what is Kho Kho and Ultimate Kho Kho league and are also waiting for the third season.”
Bhatia also discussed the impact of sports science on Kho Kho and lauded the newly introduced technology and said, “We have benefitted a lot from it. Sometimes we don’t understand why a player is not performing well. But with the introduction of sports science, we now know about the details of the problem.
“For example, a player might be facing issues with his left leg while sitting and so, it gives us an opportunity to work on that weakness… Sports science has helped us in identifying the accuracy and weakness of a player. So it’s very beneficial for us.”
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