07 It’s about battles on the field. It’s about do-or-die situations. It’s about just one goal. It’s about victory. In short, it’s about playing fair. Howzzat? Well, that’s SIMPLY SPORTS! L iton Das is pleased with his team’s performance in the World Cup and the way it held its own against heavy- weights such as India and Aus- tralia in unfamiliar conditions. Blowing hot and cold, Bangladesh ended their WC en- gagements with a 94-run loss against Pakistan at Lord’s. They suffered five losses, while win- ning three against South Africa, West Indies and Afghanistan. Mashrafe Mortaza’s men also tested each of the four semi- finalists — India, Australia, New Zealand and England. “This has not been a bad tournament, there were a lot of close games, there are lots of positives we can take. We’ve come to different conditions and proven that we can win match- es, that we can play against the top opposition,” said Liton. Liton had a perfect start to the tournament when he blasted an unbeaten 94 during his side’s 7-wicket win over West Indies but he couldn’t replicate that form in the following matches. “I didn’t live up to my expectations, I scored a few 20s or 30s but if I had got that up to 50 or 60 if not more, that could have made a big dif- ference to the team,” he said. PTI F ormer captain Dan- iel Vettori feels three consecutive losses for New Zealand in the on- going World Cup will not have much effect on Kane Williamson’s men going into the semifinals. New Zealand, who started off their tourna- ment campaign on a bril- liant note by winning five of their first six matches (one being washed out), seemed to fall apart as they lost their last three games and ended the group stage at 11 points. It will be courtesy of their higher net run-rate that they have almost quali- fied for the semis. “From a New Zealand perspective, it is not ide- al to have lost three in a row, even if they are still pretty much assured of a semi-final place,” Vettori wrote in as column. “Despite the three straight losses, I don’t think it will affect the team too much, particu- larly knowing some of the guys well. “They have six or sev- en individuals who can win a game for them, and that is a pretty exciting way to think about it,” he added. IANS Three straight losses won’t affect NZ too much: Vettori Photo: TOI “We beat South Africa and West Indies here (in England) in condi- tions that are not easy for us, we ran Australia, India and New Zealand close, and that’s a big positive. It shows that we can play all around the world and we should take a lot of confidence from that,” said Bangladesh’s Liton Das. Photo: AFP Happy with team’s WC showing: Liton STILL HAVE FEW MORE GAMES LEFT: GAYLE Unlike four years ago, when West Indian batsman Chris Gayle hit a double century against Zimbabwe, this was not a productive World Cup for Gayle and the West Indies, who won just two games. “It’s a brilliant privilege and honour to represent West Indies in five World Cups (2003 to 2019),” Gayle said after the match against Afghanistan, which was West Indies’ last match in the 2019 WC. “I still have a few more games left as well, so we'll see what hap- pens,” Gayle, who previously that he would quit ODIs after the WC, although he later prevaricated, said. AGENCIES Photo: AFP SHAHEEN ENTERS RECORD BOOKS ‘KIWIS HAVE TO PERFORM COLLECTIVELY’ Photo: AFP Pakistan speedstar Shaheen Afridi entered the record books with a six-wicket haul against Bangladesh in the World Cup at the Lord’s. Afridi became the youngest ever bowler at 19 years and 90 days to claim a five- wicket haul in the WC when his six for 35 helped Pak dismiss Bangladesh for 221 and notch up a 94-run win in their last outing. AGENCIES “There are some individuals who obviously aren’t get- ting the runs and wickets that they want to. As long as we as a team can per- form collectively well then that’s our best chance of going further in the tourna- ment,” New Zealand coach Gary Stead said of his team’s chances in the 2019 World Cup. REUTERS T eenager Ikram Alikhil has set his sights on be- coming Afghanistan’s greatest-ever player after breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the highest score by an 18-year-old at a World Cup. His 86 against the West In- dies at Headingley saw him move ahead of Tendulkar’s best of 84, which came 27 years ago. “I’m very proud to have broken the record of a legend like Tendulkar. It makes me very happy,” he said. Ikram’s knock came in a los- ing cause as Afghanistan fell to a 23-run defeat and go home af- ter nine losses. “I’m very happy that I scored 86 runs, which was the top score for Afghanistan (at this WC),” he said. “No one had crossed that mark in the nine games but I’m disap- pointed at the same time be- cause I thought I could score a hundred... I want to work very hard at my game and become the best-ever player produced by Afghanistan.” AFP Q.1) What is the full form of the T20 League CPL? A. Champions Premier League B. Caribbean Premier League C. Continental Premier League D. Cricket Premier League Q.2) With which sport is Rashanpreet Kaur associat- ed? A. Table tennis B. Squash C. Basketball D. Hockey Q.3) Name the Indian who lost to Milos Raonic at the 2019 Wimbledon. A. Prajnesh Gunneswaran B. Leander Paes C. Rohan Bopanna D. Yuki Bhambri Q.4) Martijn Drijver is a well-known Dutch coach. He is into which sport? A. Football B. Tennis C. Boxing D. Hockey Q.5) Name the sports personality in the picture. A. Bhaichung Bhutia B. Pritam Kotal C. Nishu Kumar D. Sunil Chhetri ANSWERS 1. B. Caribbean Premier League, 2. D. Hockey, 3. A. Prajnesh Gunneswaran, 4. D. Hockey, 5. C. Nishu Kumar Ikram aims high after breaking Tendulkar record Liton Das Daniel Vettori ☛ Pakistan batsman Shoaib Malik confirmed his retirement from one- day cricket without making a farewell appearance in his side’s win over Bangladesh. Malik had admitted last year that he intended to quit one-day cricket after the World Cup and he followed through with that plan after Pakistan's 94-run win at Lord's. ☛ The 37-year-old will continue to play the Twenty20 format. “I am retir- ing from one-day cricket,” said Malik, who was dropped after a disappointing WC featuring two ducks in 3 matches. Malik appeared in 287 ODIs and scored 7,534 runs with nine hundreds. AFP Pak’s Malik confirms ODI retirement after WC exit Photo: Action Images via Reuters Shoaib Malik Photo: GETTY IMAGES Imam, Mustafizur make it to Lord’s Honours Boards I mam-ul-Haq and Mustafizur Rahman made it to the Limited-Overs Ho- nours Boards at the Lord’s dur- ing the World Cup match be- tween Pakistan and Bangladesh. Imam scored run-a-ball century, including seven boundaries, to power Pakistan to 315 for the loss of nine wick- ets. While Mustafizur took a five-wicket haul in his 10 overs quota. The Bangladesh pacer dismissed Imam, Haris Sohail, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Amir. The Home of Cricket, Lord’s Cricket Ground con- gratulated both Imam and Mustafizur for their brilliant performance with the bat and ball, respectively. ANI I t’s going to be India versus New Zealand in the first semifinal of the ICC World Cup on Tuesday, with hosts England taking on five- time defending champions Australia in the other on Thursday. The 45-game group stage ended with the match between Australia and South Africa. Australia, India, England and New Zealand knew prior to Saturday’s final group matches that they would be in the top four and that all that was to be decided was the end of group standings. India's seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka at Headingley ensured that they ended on a winning note and leapfrogged Australia after their 10-run defeat by South Africa. India’s win and Australia’s defeat meant that the 2011 winners topped the group and face fourth place New Zealand at Old Trafford. It will be an intriguing match-up as these two sides have not played each oth- er at this World Cup. Their game at Trent Bridge on June 13 was abandoned without a ball bowled. India finished the group stage with just one defeat – to Eng- land – to finish on 15 points from their nine match- es. While after a good start to this World Cup, New Zealand lost three games – to Pakistan, Australia and England – and ended on 11 points from their nine games. Rohit Sharma is In- dia’s dangerman with the bat with 647 runs in the group stage while Black Caps captain Kane Williamson has 481 runs. Australia's defeat in their fi- nal game means they slipped down to second at the end of the group stages and set up a meeting with England. Aaron Finch's men beat Eng- land by 64 runs at Lord's at the end of June. Captain Finch (507) and David Warner (634) have been Australia’s stars with the bat while Joe Root (500) and Bairstow (462) are England's leading run scorers. With the ball, Mitchell Starc has 26 wickets at this World Cup, while England's Jofra Archer has 17. PTI J asprit Bumrah, who has as much modesty in him as his extraordinary bowling skills, attrib- utes India’s run to the World Cup semi-finals to team effort. “I don’t take praise or criticism se- riously,” said the pace spearhead after centuries from Rohit Sharma and K L Rahul helped India to a seven- wicket victory over Sri Lanka in their last group stage World Cup game on Saturday. “The only focus for me is on my preparation, my execution and what I can do for the team.” Bumrah was keen to share the plaudits with the rest of the at- tack, even though he was the un- doubted star of the bowling show during the win. The 25-year-old from Ahmedabad joined New Zealand's Lockie Ferguson, Pak- istan’s Mohammad Amir and Eng- land’s Jofra Archer in third place with 17 wickets in the showpiece after claiming 3/37 from his 10 overs at Headingley. “Everybody’s taking a lot of re- sponsibility so that's very good,” said Bumrah. “When you have extra responsi- bility, then you try even harder and your execution is good, so that’s a very good sign for us. “In most of our World Cup games we’ve only had five bowlers that are bowling and it’s been going like this throughout. Everybody's had a good run here. It's been a good campaign for us, everybody’s chipped in with wick- ets, and with the bat also, so it’s been a case of so far, so good.” Bumrah gave an equal- ly understated response when he was asked how it felt to be re- ceiving heaps of praise as the linch- pin of India’s attack in his first World Cup. “You see Hardik Pandya taking wickets, you see Mohammed Sha- mi taking wickets and I've also tak- en wickets, so that’s the positive for us going forward. “Everybody’s had a good run here. It's been a good campaign for us, everybody has chipped in with wickets and with the bat,” said Bumrah after becoming the sec- ond fastest Indian bowler to reach 100 wickets in one-day internation- als. PTI There’s a healthy competi- tion. It’s a good headache to have when everyone’s per- forming and everyone’s in good nick and that’s something you love to have going into a cru- cial game like next week’s semi-final. How Carlos Brathwaite overcame ‘remember the name’ pressure Carlos Brathwaite Virat Kohli T he best moment in your career can sometimes be your worst too. And that’s because it becomes an alba- tross hanging around your neck, with people expecting you to do it again and again, without realising that we are all just human at the end of the day! “Remember the name,” former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop had screamed on air after Carlos Brathwaite smashed four sixes off four balls from Ben Stokes to give the West Indies a fa- mous win in the 2016 World T20 final at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. It was the biggest moment of Braith- waite’s life. It was also something that troubled him so much he had to ultimately take psychological help to sort it out. “I’ve been working with Steve Sylvester (a psy- chologist)... about accepting the ‘remem- ber-the-name’ tag. I think I shied away from it a bit. And I almost thought it was a curse. So, this was about just accepting that what I did will be remembered for a long time. Now, I’m actually comfortable hearing it again..,” Brathwaite told TOI. Post his fighting hundred against New Zealand in Manchester, which is be- ing hailed as the best knock in a losing cause in this WC, Brathwaite should ac- tually find people remembering his name again. TNN P akistan coach Mickey Arthur urged the Inter- national CricketCouncil (ICC) to give head-to-head record a higher priority than net run rate after the team’s final game of the 2019 World Cup against Bangladesh. “I would have liked the ICC to consider head to head because tonight we would be in the semi-final. It is disap- pointing, and it just goes back to our first game (a heavy de- feat) against the West Indies,” Mickey Arthur said. “We had an opportunity to beat Australia and we didn’t take that. Those are the two nightmares I’m going to have,” he added. Pakistan went into the match against Bangladesh on Friday needing to win by a record margin in order to pip New Zealand to final semi-fi- nal spot on the basis of net run rate. Batting first, they ended their innings on 315/9 and needed to bowl out Bangladesh for seven in order to get to the top four. They eventually won the match by a comprehensive margin of 94 runs but that wasn’t enough for them to seal a spot in the semi-final. “What the system has done to us is that after one very poor game, you really bat- tle to recover again. So it’s a very disappointed dressing room, no congratulations go- ing on because we haven’t qualified. Congratulations to the four who have, I think they’ve played the best crick- et so far and may the best team win,” said Arthur. PTI Reconsider net run rate rule: Arthur to ICC I would have liked the ICC to consid- er head to head (head-to- head match record as a higher priority than net run rate) because tonight we would be in the semi- final. It is disappointing, and it just goes back to our first game (a heavy defeat) against the West Indies... What the system has done to us is that after one very poor game, you really battle to recover again. — Arthur Photo: AP Photo: AFP Photo: ANI Mickey Arthur Hosts England face Australia in the other It’s not too long ago that we played a series against them (New Zealand). We know what they are capable of, we know their strengths. We’ll be keeping an eye on that. We’ll just take it how it comes. — India's batting coach Sanjay Bangar The opposition has never mattered. We don’t focus on what the opposition brings to the table. If we don’t play well anyone can beat us and if we play well we can beat anyone. — Virat Kohli, captain Kane Williamson Photo: AFP BUMRAH : I don’t take praise or criticism seriously Photo: GETTY IMAGES Jasprit Bumrah It’s India against NZ in first semis