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Women’s World Cup: Smriti, Harmanpreet hammer centuries in India’s 155-run thrashing of West Indies

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Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur hammered centuries as India emerged triumphant over the West Indies by a huge margin of 155 runs in the third match of their campaign at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup at Seddon Park on Saturday.

While Smriti hit 123 runs in 119 balls, Harmanpreet slammed 109 in 107 balls apart from the 184-run partnership, rescuing India from 78/3.

The refreshing batting performance, led by Smriti and Harmanpreet helped India reach 317/8, their highest score in World Cups, including of the ongoing edition.

In reply, West Indies raced to 100 for no loss in just 12 overs, thanks to Deandra Dottin’s 62. But once she fell, the rest of the batting order couldn’t stand up to the scoreboard pressure and crumbled to 162 all out.

The 155-run win, coming 48 hours after a 62-run loss to New Zealand at the same venue, now puts India on top of the points table and gives their NRR a huge boost in the race to semifinals.

Mithali Raj’s decision to bat first on a used pitch was validated early on by Yastika Bhatia’s 21-ball 31. After getting her first boundary with an outside edge flying over slip, Yastika pulled Chinelle Henry thrice in the arc from deep mid-wicket to backward square leg.

Yastika continued to pull as Shamilia Connell was taken for fours through leg-side. Yastika’s knock came to an end when she chipped a cutter from Shakera Selman back to the bowler. Mithali’s promotion to three didn’t go well as she closed her bat face too early and chipped straight to mid-on off Hayley.

Deepti Sharma fell to Anisa Mohammed while trying to slog sweep and Hayley at first slip took a one-handed stunner to her right at slip. On the other hand, Smriti took her time before driving Shamilia through cover and lofting Hayley Matthews over mid-off. Harmanpreet began by using her feet against Anisa for two boundaries through off-side and began to rotate the strike with Smriti starting to get her groove.

The duo ran exceptionally between the wickets while rotating the strike and scoring delightful boundaries in between. Smriti brought up her fifty with a boundary clipped between mid-wicket and mid-on.

Harmanpreet brought out her sweep against Stafanie Taylor’s off-spin while Smriti thumped Shakera for a grand six down the ground. Harmanpreet then reached her fifty with a loft over long-off for four.

As Smriti and Harmanpreet’s partnership began to grow, West Indies began to fumble in the field. Misfields, dropped chances and missed run-outs began to creep in as Smriti got some luck on her side in nervous 90s. Smriti then reached her century with a pull through square leg off Hayley. Hayley came under further attack from Smriti as she slammed a hat-trick of boundaries.

Though Smriti found deep mid-wicket on the pull off Shamilia, Harmanpreet hit Dottin for a four and six and reached her century with a single through long-on. Harmanpreet fell in the 49th over as the outside edge on the paddle went to the ‘keeper. Pooja Vastrakar, Richa Ghosh and Jhulan Goswami fell in quick succession but India had crossed the 300-mark by then.

In reply, Deandra began by cracking two fours through cover and over slip off Meghna Singh. Jhulan Goswami teased her on the off-stump line but Deandra replied with successive boundaries over mid-wicket and extra cover.

From the other end, Hayley started with a drive in the gap between backward point and over off Meghna. Hayley then smacked a wayward Jhulan for a hat-trick of fours before Deandra hit two more fours in a row to take 21 runs off the over.

Hayley was given a reprieve at 23 when she was dropped by substitute fielder Taniya Bhatia. But Deandra continued to plunder boundaries, including a six over long-on off Deepti to reach her fifty in just 35 balls. Pooja and Rajeshwari Gayakwad were brought in but were unable to stop the boundary flow. Hayley’s drive off backfoot through cover brought the century of West Indies in just 12 overs.

From there, West Indies began to implode as Sneh Rana drew a top-edge from the slog-sweep of Deandra and was safely caught by short fine leg. A sustained pressure of dot balls resulted in Kycia Knight trying to pull Meghna but found fine leg. In her next over, Meghna got the big wicket of Stafanie, who nicked a shaping away delivery to keeper.

Sneh got one to turn and bounce away from Hayley, who looked to cut but edged behind to keeper. Pooja, returning for her second spell, got Shemaine Campbelle to slice straight to backward point. In the next over, Rajeshwari trapped Chinelle plumb lbw and effected the run-out of Aaliyah.

With Anisa flicking to a tumbling short mid-wicket, Jhulan grabbed her 40th scalp in World Cups and also became the leading wicket-taker in history of the tournament. Chedean Nation fell to a run-out from Deepti and Sneh finished off the match with a caught and bowled dismissal of Shamilia.

Brief Scores: India 317/8 in 50 overs (Smriti Mandhana 123, Harmanpreet Kaur 109; Anisa Mohammed 2/59, Aaliyah Alleyne 1/26) beat West Indies 162 all out in 40.3 overs (Deandra Dottin 62, Hayley Matthews 43; Sneh Rana 3/22, Meghna Singh 2/27) by 155 runs.

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CT 2025: India to take on Pakistan on Feb 23, likely to play in Colombo or Dubai: Sources

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1 day ago

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December 19, 2024

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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.

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International

It’s OFFICIAL! All India vs Pakistan Matches At ICC Events To Be Played At Neutral Venue Till 2027

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December 19, 2024

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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.

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‘Our dream is getting fulfilled’: Coach Sumit Bhatia elated to see Kho Kho going global

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4 days ago

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December 16, 2024

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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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