India secured a convincing 40-run victory in the first one-day international against New Zealand yesterday, as Virat Kohli scored 105.
India’s total of 276 looked enough and New Zealand were out of contention at 169 for 8 after 36 overs, before a quick ninth-wicket partnership of 67 between Nathan McCullum and Kyle Mills offered them a glimmer of hope, but McCullum’s dismissal in the 45th over allowed India to finish as the easy winners in gloomy conditions at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati.
Kohli’s century was the highlight of the game, with the right-handed No. 3 scoring 100 off 100 balls, before falling to Andy McKay, New Zealand’s most effective bowler, caught by Jamie How in the 43rd over.
McKay pinned India back with four wickets for 62 runs as the hosts’ stand-in captain Gautam Gambhir scored 38, while Murali Vijay and Yusuf Pathan both chipped in with 29.
India’s regular captain M.S. Dhoni was rested along with other top stars such as Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh for the start of the five-match series.
New Zealand’s regular captain Daniel Vettori was also missing because of a stiff back following the three-game Test series between the teams, which India won 1-0 with victory in Nagpur.
Ross Taylor took over Vettori’s post and top scored with 66 as his side struggled to keep up with the required run rate of 5.66 an over.
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the
RSS