Virender
Sehwag, Kings XI Punjab's director of cricket operations, was unimpressed by
the performance of their overseas players in the knockout game against Rising
Pune Supergiant on Sunday. Kings XI careened to 32 for 5 in the Powerplay, with
all four Overseas Stars of Martin Guptill, Eoin Morgan, Shaun Marsh and the
captain Glenn Maxwell having fallen. They were eventually bowled out for their
lowest total in the IPL - 73 - and were knocked out of the tournament. "I'm
very disappointed," Sehwag said in the post-match press conference.
"I can say that none of the foreign players took responsibility and at
least played 12 to 15 overs. Their role was at least one of the top four should
bat for 12 to 15 overs, but none of the batsmen took the responsibility. "I
think they were complaining that the wicket was a bit slow but when you play
international cricket so much, you should get used to playing on difficult or
good wickets.
Mumbai
Indians are in familiar territory - playing a qualifier, that too at Wankhede
Stadium. They have made it past the league stages in seven out of 10 seasons
now and have won both their previous playoffs at this venue. Winning here for
them might sound as easy as sweating in the Mumbai humidity. What do they have
to worry about now? It's their form against Rising Pune Supergiant, who have
qualified for the playoffs for the first time, in their last season. Rising
Pune had the better of their neighbours in both the previous matches this
season - they first won by seven wickets at home and then handed Mumbai their
first loss while chasing this season, that too at their fortress Wankhede. But then they are depleted now ! – still today’s
match should be interesting.
The crowds
would be in their vocal best - Australian tearaway fast bowler, Pat Cummins had this to say about IPL : “It is the crowds
that make the IPL. Its unlike anywhere else in the world. I played for Kolkata
and packed out Eden Gardens. If you win there will be hundreds of people
running after the bus. Its just crazy.” Commenting on the support for the teams
Pat said, “Some of the local Indian guys are like gods over there, a hundred
thousand people chanting their name, crying with excitement, its pretty
surreal”
Can you recognize
this performer instantly ? Asian
Wrestling Championship 2017 has just concluded.
It was held at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium, Indira Gandhi Arena, New
Delhi.
Bajrang Punia ended
India’s gold medal drought on the penultimate day of the Asian Wrestling
Championship, taming South Korea’s Seunghui Lee 6-2 in the men’s 65kg freestyle
category. Bajrang, who has been mentored
by Olympic bronze-medallist Yogeshwar Dutt, made a dramatic comeback in the
second round of the contest to win the title. After trailing by two points in
the opening three minutes, the Indian was more aggressive in the second round,
unleashing counterattacks to which his rival had no response. Bajrang’s
strategy paid off as he enhanced the lead from 3-2 to 5-2 when the bout was
five minutes old.
India ended its successful
campaign at the Asian Wrestling Championships with a silver medal as Sumit went
down to Yadollah Mohammadkazem Mohebi of Iran in men's 125kg freestyle gold
medal bout on the final day of the competition, on Sunday. The Indian wrestlers finished with
10 medals, including a gold, five silver and four bronze, bettering their tally
of nine medals in the last edition of the Asian Championship at Bangkok,
Thailand.
Now read this
report from the New Indian Express, Chennai edition of 15th May
2017. The turnout at the Asian Wrestling
Championship speaks a lot about interest of Indian viewers. When so many are
fighting to do their country proud, the topic of discussion among most
spectators was the IPL.
On Sunday, Delhi Daredevils
and Royal Challengers Bangalore — two teams already eliminated from the
tournament — attracted much more spectators than wrestlers at the Indira Gandhi
Indoor Stadium. Sumit won the men’s freestyle heavyweight silver to help India
bag ten medals and better their haul of nine from the previous edition of the
event in Bangkok. Nobody noticed. Wrestling, a sport that has brought Olympic
medals, continues to be neglected. While so many are willing to pay thousands
on tickets for an IPL game, the wrestling championship, where entry was free,
took place in front of empty stands.
Among the few who turned
up, the ones making more noise were foreigners. Countries like Iran and
Kyrgyzstan had more support, with fans waving flags throughout. Stepping out,
one could hear the cheers resonating from the Feroz Shah Kotla. Wrestling
Federation of India secretary general VN Prasood felt it was an exception.
“Crowds were less this time. But when Sushil (Kumar) and Yogeswar (Dutt) were
having trials before the Rio Olympics, the stadium was full. During the Pro
Wrestling League too, we had crowd troubles. Police had to use lathis to
control people. Glamour quotient is a big deal,” Prasood told Express.
Here too, Olympians Sakshi
Malik and VineshPhogat were present. But even their star value was not enough.
“Now, we have a really talented batch coming up. But we need to get more people
to come and support these players. The sport will grow more, as support from
people will motivate the athletes more than anything,” opined Satpal Singh,
noted coach and gold medallist at the 1982 Asian Games. In a city like New
Delhi, people prefer sports that are more glamorous. But that is not the case
in villages. People love wrestling in the small towns of neighbouring Haryana
and other places. There is also more passion there, according to Prasood.
“With many international
wrestlers coming in, such tournaments can only be held at venues that can
provide the necessary facilities. Criteria like distance from the airport and
good hotels for international athletes can only be given if such tournaments
are conducted in a city. But we have a lot of hope for the upcoming nationals.
I’m sure this won’t be the case that time,” concluded Prasood.
Somehow makes a sad reading
!
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
16th May 2017.
No comments:
Post a Comment