Heena Sharma Blog

  India on Monday brought back 146 of its nationals in four different flights from Qatar's capital Doha, days after they were evacuated from Afghanistan by NATO and American aircraft in view of the deteriorating security situation in the war-torn country. People familiar with the development said the Indians were flown back to Delhi as part of India's mission to evacuate its citizens and Afghan partners from Kabul following its takeover by the Taliban over a week back, they said. It was the second batch of Indians to be brought back from Doha after their evacuation from Kabul. A total of 135 Indians were flown back to Delhi from Doha in a special flight on Sunday. Out of the second batch of Indians who returned home from Doha, 104 people were brought back in a Vistara flight, 30 by a Qatar Airways flight and 11 of them returned by an Indigo flight. One person returned by an Air India flight, they said. India on Sunday brought back 392 people including two Afghan l...

Bangladesh's Shakib al Hasan, number one ODI all-rounder, has achieved a rare feat by becoming the only second player to score a 50 and take a five-wicket haul in a World Cup match. On Monday, Shakib continued with his golden run in the ongoing tournament as he first scored 51 off 69 balls -- which included four boundaries -- to help Bangladesh post a competitive total of 262/7 against Afghanistan at the Rose Bowl Cricket Stadium in Southampton. He then went on take five wickets for 29 in his 10 overs to help the Bangla Tigers register a 62-run win and bolster their chances of making it to the semi-finals. During Monday's match, the left-hander also became the first Bangladeshi batsman to score 1,000 runs in World Cups. Shakib, who already has two hundreds to his name in the competition, also became the 19th player overall to achieve the feat. So far, the 32-year-old has amassed 476 runs in six matches of the ongoing showpiece event and also has 10 wickets to his ...

India have dropped three places to fifth in the expanded men's Twenty20 International team rankings while Pakistan have consolidated their top position, according to the latest list issued by the ICC. The ICC Friday unveiled an expanded T20I team rankings table with 80 teams who will now be able to gauge their progress in a format, recognised by the world body as the vehicle for the growth of the game. Pakistan, ICC T20 World Cup champions in 2009, are now on 286 points while the next four teams are within two points of each other -- South Africa (262), England (261), Australia (261) and India (260). South Africa and India have swapped positions two and five in the expanded table, whose launch coincides with the annual rankings update in which series results from 2015-16 are removed and outcomes from 2016-17 and 2017-18 are weighted at 50 per cent. In other significant changes, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka have moved up one place each to seventh and eighth positions, re...