Heena Sharma Blog

England pacer Jofra Archer said reassuring words from teammate Ben Stokes helped him to keep his calm in the Super Over of the World Cup final against New Zealand at the iconic Lord's here. Hosts England lifted their maiden World Cup trophy on Sunday night by defeating New Zealand in the Super Over in the heart-stopping final. After posting 15 runs in the Super Over, the responsibility to defend the score fell on Archer and the pacer admitted that calming words from teammates, especially Stokes, made a big difference. "I actually went to Morgs (Eoin Morgan) first, I had an idea I was going to do it (bowl the Super Over) but I wanted to double check that he wanted me to do it. "I think it was going fine until the six, and then (Ben) Stokes told me even before the over: Win or lose, today does not define you. Everyone believes in you," said Archer, who finished with 20 wickets in the World Cup after making his international debut only in May. Jimmy Nees

England wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler said New Zealand did not deserve to lose the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup final at Lord's on Sunday night. Buttler credited New Zealand for putting up a fantastic game. He further said the Kiwis did not deserve to lose. "No team deserved to lose. Credit to New Zealand for a fantastic game. They will be gutted, they did not deserve to lose. It is really hard to sort of sum up," Buttler said. The World Cup final witnessed a first-ever super-over in which England came out triumphant as they had scored more boundaries in the match to lift their maiden 50-over title on July 14. Both the 50-overs match and the super-over action ended up in a tie. In the super-over, England scored 15 runs and they were able to restrict New Zealand to 15 runs. While in the 50-over spell, both England and New Zealand registered scores of 241. When asked what was going on in his mind as the super-over got tied, Buttler said the match was

After the rain interruption on Tuesday, the forecast for Wednesday doesn't look too good either, as there are chances of showers in patches even as India and New Zealand look to resume their battle in the first semi-final of the 2019 World Cup at Old Trafford. But it is advantage India if play is indeed washed off again on the reserve day. As per the rain rules of the International Cricket Council for the semi-finals and final, if there is no result on the scheduled match day, play will continue on the reserve day, using the same start time and hours of play as the scheduled match day. The reserve day will be a continuation not a restart. Any advantage earned on the scheduled day will be carried through to the reserve day. A tied match will use a super over to determine the winner. If after the scheduled day and reserve day the semi-final match has still not reached a result, the higher placed team from the league stage will progress to the final. On Tuesday, it was a c

India skipper Virat Kohli calls Kane Williamson special and the New Zealand skipper says his Indian counterpart is a superstar. In the modern era of cut throat competition where every inch counts, the mutual admiration that Kohli and Williamson share is indeed a lesson for youngsters looking to play the gentlemans game. Speaking on the eve of the first semi-final of the 2019 World Cup , Kohli was the first one to point out how he always saw talent in Williamson. In fact, even as scribes asked him about playing against Williamson in the U19 World Cup in 2008, the India skipper went back to the 2007 U19 Test match he played against New Zealand to recollect his first memory of the Kiwi skipper. "It's not even 2008, I remember in 2007, we went to New Zealand and we were playing an U19 Test match and he played a shot off one of our fast bowlers, who was quick, off the back foot and I remember standing in slips and telling guys standing with me, "I have never seen an

The first semi-final of the World Cup ICC 2019 gets underway tomorrow with India taking on New Zealand at Old Trafford. Virat Kohli–led Indian team finished at the top of the league table with 15 points to their credit, followed by Australia (14), England (12) and New Zealand (11). If the bet rates are anything to go by, India is likely to continue with its winning streak and eventually win the ICC World Cup 2019. Leading online betting websites such as Ladbrokes and Betway place the Indian team on top at the end of the tournament. The Indian cricket team has won the tournament twice – first in 1983 under Kapil Dev's captaincy and then in 2011, beating Sri Lanka on home soil. They came last in the Super Six stage in the 1999 Cricket World Cup and have been knocked out four times in the Group stage (1975, 1979, 1992 and 2007). For the current tournament, Ladbrokes pegs the odds of an outright win by India at 13/8, followed by England (15/8), Australia (11/4) and New Zeal

Ignored for the ongoing World Cup, Indian middle-order batsman Ambati Rayudu has decided to retire from all forms of cricket, a BCCI official has revealed. The 33-year-old Andhra batsman was in the official standbys list for the big event in UK but was ignored despite injury to all-rounder Vijay Shankar. Opener Mayank Agrawal was brought in on the India cricket team management's insistence. The player is yet to make a formal announcement but a Board official told PTI that he has communicated his decision to the BCCI. "He has told the Board," the official said. Rayudu played 55 ODIs for India, scoring 1694 runs at an average of 47.05. The player, who could never break into the Test team, was in the spotlight before the World Cup. Declared the preferred No.4 batsman by captain Virat Kohli not many months ago, Rayudu was ignored for Shankar in India's final squad for the big event. Chairman of selectors MSK Prasad had justified the move by saying that S

Former cricketers came down heavily on Mahendra Singh Dhoni for his "baffling innings" during India's maiden defeat in the ongoing World Cup to England but the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman continued to get the backing of skipper Virat Kohli. Set a target of 338 by England, India could manage 306/5 in their 50 overs with Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav remaining unbeaten on 42 (31 balls) and 12 (13 balls) respectively. Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, who was doing commentary during the match, questioned the batting approach. "I don't have an explanation for that...I can't explain these singles. It's also the length and the bounce that has deceived the Indian batsmen. You can't be chasing 338 and still have five wickets in the end," Ganguly said "It's about mindset and the way you look at the game. The message had to be clear: no matter where it comes and no matter where the ball lands you have to find the boundary," he adde

India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah feels Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a "top-rated" knock in the World Cup clash against the West Indies and did the right thing by taking his time in the middle. Dhoni's rate of scoring has been a topic of debate in the ongoing showpiece. On Thursday, the former skipper scored 56 off 61 balls, exploding in the last over, to help India post a winning 268-run total on the board against the Caribbeans. "The innings that he played is the kind which is very under-rated. Sometimes you might feel that he is batting slow but sometimes it is important that he takes time, which he did," Bumrah said on 'bcci.tv'. "He absorbs the pressure and takes the game deep. It was top-rated innings and got us to 268, which was a good total on this pitch. He knew there were pinch-hitters coming later so he could take his time. Youngsters can learn a lot from this knock," he added. Speaking of his own performance, th

Pakistan's head coach Mickey Arthur has claimed that his team's defeat to arch-rivals India had left him so shattered that he wanted to "commit suicide". Pakistan were incredibly hurt by the scathing reactions from the media, fans and former cricketers after their 89-run loss to India in Manchester on June 16. "Last Sunday I wanted to commit suicide," Arthur was quoted as saying in the media here. "But it was, you know, it's only one performance. It happens so quick. You lose a game; you lose another game; it's a World Cup; media scrutiny; public expectation, and then you almost go into sort of survival mode. We've all been there," he added. Pakistan won their next game against South Africa to keep a slim chance of entering the semifinals alive. If Pakistan win all their remaining three games and the results of other teams go in their favour, they can still make the cut. The 1992 winners face table-toppers New Zealand,

After suffering a shock defeat against Sri Lanka, England cricket team will look to get back on winning track and take one step closer towards the semi-finals when they face arch-rivals Australia cricket team in their crucial ICC World Cup 2019 game at the iconic Lord's on Tuesday. With four wins from six games, England are currently at the fourth spot in the ICC World Cup 2019 Points table. The hosts, who came into the tournament as overwhelming favourites, are in a bit of a tight situation as they need to win at least two of their remaining three games to enter the last four. However, it would not be an easy task for them, especially considering they have to face India and New Zealand after their Australia game. England's record against all the three teams is not great as they have not been able to register a single World Cup win against Australia, India and New Zealand in the last 27 years. Thus, the pressure will surely be on Eoin Morgan and team to come out wit

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 has seen 315 million viewers tuning to the Star India network from across the country. According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data, television viewership for the tournament has been 182.7 million average impressions. While reach refers to the number of people who have seen the tournament for at least a minute, impressions refer to the number of people watching the tournament or a particular match at any given point during its telecast. Star India, the official broadcaster of all International Cricket Council (ICC) events in the country, is showing the matches across its sports network. Article Source -> Business Standard

The 1992 cricket World Cup reserves a special place in the living memory of the cricket fan. The coloured jerseys, the white balls, and the day-night matches are remembered for their then novelty; you can still find fans holding on to memorabilia from that tournament as if an ethereal truth about cricket was woven into them. When the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced a return to the 1992 format for the 2019 edition— each team was to play everyone else in the round-robin stage —fears about a ten-team World Cup were mitigated by nostalgia for a time when everything seemed just right. But like many fond memories from younger days, even the 1992 World Cup is tarnished now. Nostalgia, it turns out, can deceive one badly. As the 2019 competition makes the case for it to be called the most boring World Cup ever, the myth about the essentially good format is busted. There is nothing inherently great about a long phase where each team faces off against the others. In fact, i

In match 26 of ICC cricket world cup 2019 (CWC), Bangladesh cricket team will be brimming with confidence after an emphatic win over West Indies cricket team, when they face the defending champions Australia at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Thursday. On Monday, Bangladesh came up with a commanding and formidable performance in their game against the Windies as they comfortably chased down 322-run target in Taunton. Shakib al Hasan (124*) and Liton Das (94*) played brilliant knocks as the Bangla Tigers made mockery of the Windies' total and crossed the line with more than 50 balls to spare. Bangladesh not an underdogs With wins against South Africa and Windies, Bangladesh have declared that they are no more underdogs and, now, they would aim to make a place in the semifinals. Mashrafe Mortaza's men have been excellent so far, but it would be really interesting to see if they can live up to the challenge of competing against the five-time champions. Australia Team new

Young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant was Wednesday brought in as cover for the injured Shikhar Dhawan in India's World Cup squad. Pant, whose omission from the original squad became a topic of heated debates given his stupendous form in the past one year, will reach here Wednesday. His arrival will be a day before India's game against New Zealand and he won't be considered a replacement till the time the team management takes a final call on Dhawan's availability for the rest of the tournament. "Rishabh Pant is being flown in from India as cover at the request of the team management," a senior BCCI official currently in England told PTI. The 21-year-old is one of the most exciting players to have emerged in Indian cricket. He impressed with Test hundreds during the tours of England and Australia earlier and was in fine form during the IPL last month. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard

The Delhi High Court has restrained over 60 websites and some radio channels from broadcasting the 2019 cricket World Cup matches. The direction by Justice J R Midha came on the plea of Channel 2 Group Corporation which claimed the copyright for the audio coverage of the entire sporting event, from May 30 to July 14. The court also issued notice to the websites and radio channels, internet and telecom service providers and the Centre seeking their replies before the next date of hearing on September 4. In its recent interim order, the judge directed search engines like Google and internet/telecom service providers like Airtel and Vodafone to take down, delete or block access to links to the infringing websites where the audio coverage of the cricket world cup could be unauthorisedly made available to the public. The court was of the view that an ex parte order "was warranted" in favour of the plaintiff -- Channel 2 Group -- in view of the facts and circumstances

In today’s match of ICC cricket World Cup 2019 (CWC), Pakistan cricket team led by Sarfaraz Ahmed will look to carry the winning momentum, when they take on the Sri Lankan cricket team at County Ground, Bristol. Both the teams, who were outplayed in their opening games, won their second games and made sure their fans don't lose hope. However, the odds are in favour of Pakistan, who have won all seven World Cup matches against the island nation dating back to the inaugural World Cup in 1975. On the eve of the match, Dimuth Karunaratne insisted that Sri Lanka can end their wretched World Cup record against Pakistan on Friday. Pakistan vs Sri Lanka world cup match will start at 3:00 pm IST. The match will be broadcast live on Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1, Star Sports 2 HD, Star Sports 2 in English Commentary and on Star Sports Hindi HD, in Hindi Commentary. You can also live stream Pak vs SL cricket match on the Hotstar app and the Hotstar website. The latest they can sta

The opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2019 between home team England and South Africa recorded a reach of 114 million viewers on the Star network, making it the highest opening world cup game. Reach is the number of people who watched the match for at least one minute during its telecast. Star India said the reach of the opening world cup game is 2.2 times of the opening game of the most recently played ICC tournament — the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, between England and Bangladesh. The viewership for the ICC CWC 2019 opening match is 101 million impressions. Impressions is the unit of viewership measurement that tells the number of people who tuned in to the match at any given point of its telecast. The ten-team tournament being played in a single-round robin format from May 30 to July 14 is broadcast across various channels on the Star India network, and on Hotstar, the broadcaster’s video streaming platform. Commenting on the opening numbers, a Star Sports sp

The first ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 match for the India cricket team will be momentous for skipper Virat Kohli for a number of reasons. Though this is his third World Cup as a player, the India vs South Africa match, to be played at Hampshire Bowl on Wednesday (June 5) will be the first World Cup game for Kohli as India’s captain. Backed by an able in-form team, Kohli will be carrying the weight of more than a billion fellow Indians’ hopes. Meanwhile South Africa will miss Dale Steyn in their playing 11 as he has been ruled out of the ICC CWC 2019. The Ageas Bowl pitch in Southampton is expected to be flat and South African batsmen's weakness against the slow bowlers would allow Indian team management to pick both Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in India playing 11. This World Cup will test Kohli not only as a batsman but his leadership skills will also be under intense scrutiny. In many ways, this tournament will define his legacy as a leader. Sachin Tendulkar, Vire

South Africa's pace spearhead Dale Steyn was Tuesday ruled out of the World Cup after failing to recover from a shoulder injury, a development that could hasten his international retirement. South Africa have named left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks as his replacement after approval from the Event Technical committee. The 35-year-old Steyn had sustained a second shoulder injury during the IPL where he played a couple of games for Royal Challengers Bangalore. "The ICC has confirmed that the Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019 has approved Beuran Hendricks as a replacement player for Dale Steyn in the South Africa squad for the remainder of the tournament," a media release stated. "Bowler Steyn has suffered a second shoulder injury which has not responded to treatment and has ruled him out of bowling for the foreseeable future. His replacement Hendricks is a left-arm fast bowler," it further stated. While Steyn had d

Pakistan and West Indies, two most unpredictable sides, will take on each other in their first cricket World Cup match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Friday. Much to Sarfaraz Ahmed-led Pakistan's relief, frontline paceman Mohammad Amir has been declared fit and he is likely to feature in Pakistan's playing 11. Jason Holder-led West Indies made the intentions clear right from their warm-up fixture against New Zealand where the Caribbeans scored a massive 421 runs on the other hand Pakistan were stunned by Afghanistan in their warm up match and their second, against Bangladesh, was washed out without a ball bowled. Pakistan, who have lost their last 10 ODIs including a 5-0 whitewash by Australia and 4-0 thumping by England, didn't have the most ideal preparation for the showpiece event. Pakistan have only won three times in 10 World Cup matches against the two-time world champions, including a thumping 150-run loss at Christchurch in 2015. Plenty of cloud cover