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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2018 (PAGE 10) DAILY EXCELSIOR, JAMMU Superb India clinch first ever series in South Africa New Zealand beat England Fed Cup performance very PORT ELIZABETH, Feb 13: after a rare off-day to polish off ing death overs was once again boundaries. by 12 runs in T20 tri-series encouraging: Sania Mirza the lower-order in a jiffy. exposed as he managed only 13 India raced off the blocks as WELLINGTON, Feb 13: "Obviously it was a very NEW DELHI, Feb 13: Indian team led by an inspira- One can't ignore Hardik off 17 balls and the dot balls that the opening duo put on 48 in just important win for us in the con- tional Virat Kohli today scripted Pandya's contribution as his all- he played only increased pressure 7.2 overs. Dhawan was looking New Zealand ended their text of this series," Williamson Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza feels Ankita Raina's performance in history by winning its first ever ropund skill sets came into good on lower order. It was good for many more, but Rabada three-match losing streak with a said. the recent Fed Cup was encouraging but the team must progress to the series across formats on the effect getting 2 for 30 with seam- Bhuvneshwar Kumar's 19 off 20 tied him up with some short stuff. 12-run victory over England in a "It was in some ways a must next level. South African soil as they ers and then a run-out with a balls that took India past 270-run In response, the left-hander only tri-nations Twenty20 cricket win just to get slightly ahead of "We have always come back empty-handed. We see great progress crushed South Africa by 73 runs direct throw off in-form Hashim mark. managed to hole out straight to international today, inspired by an the third-placed team at the in young talent but never make the next jump. That is something we thereby taking an unassailable 4- Amla (71), which decisively The highlight of the Indian deep square leg. innings of 72 from captain Kane moment which is a very strong are totally missing," said Sania here today. 1 lead in the five-match ODI swung the match in India's innings was Rohit's century -- Rohit though had found his Williamson. England team. Ankita was the standout performer for India in the Fed Cup, notch- series. favour. which is his 17th overall and touch with a pulled six off Williamson posted his eighth "They made us work really ing up victories over higher-ranked opponents even though the team No Indian men's side since its For Kohli, this is a significant 15th as an opener. He is now Rabada in the sixth over. He was T20 half century but his first in 10 hard, we had to play very good lost the opportunity to progress after successive defeats. The country, first tour in South Africa back in milestone in his three and half third behind Sachin Tendulkar joined in the middle by Virat innings since January last year to cricket which we were fortunate however, managed to stay in the Asia/Oceania Group 1 with a 2-0 win 1992, have ever won a series years at the helm as this is also (45 out of 49) and Sourav Kohli (36 off 54 balls, 2 fours), guide New Zealand to 196-5 as enough to do today." over Chinese Taipei in the relegation play-off. across any format. They did win his first series win against a top Ganguly (19 out of 22) with who played an uncharacteristic they batted first after winning the With late support from Mark "It is very encouraging to see Ankita have those couple of wins a one-off T20 match in 2006 -- nation on their soil. number of centuries as opener. innings belying his rich form. toss. England were held to 184-9 Chapman (20) and Tim Seifert against the top 100 players. Even though they came out on the losing their first ever shortest format but While this wasn't the best After being criticised for his The skipper got off to a slug- in reply. (14 not out) -- both on debut -- end of the tie, you still have to take the small positive out," she added. it was a single match event. South African team on the field poor show in the series till date gish start and was never at ease in Williamson shared an 82-run Williamson ensured New Asked who has the potential to be the next Sania, the 31-year-old The team under Kohli but coming back after losing the and a pitiable average of 11.45 in rotating the strike, something he second wicket partnership with Zealand matched its highest score said she should not be the benchmark for upcoming talent. achieved which neither among Test series takes some heart 12 ODIs (in SA) with a highest is very adept at. The runs just did- Martin Guptill (65) which laid the at the Wellington Regional "I have been asked about who is the next Sania for many many Mohammed Azharuddin, Sachin which the 'Men in Blue' showed. score of only 23, Rohit finally n't flow easily on what was turn- foundation for the innings and Stadium and set England a diffi- years and I have always said why next Sania? We should try to aim Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, The two wrist spinners once played an innings of substance ing out to be a slower track than with his strike rate of 156.5 -- 72 cult chase on a piebald, drop-in better than Sania. Why just me?" Rahul Dravid or Mahendra Singh again proved to be a revelation as that had 11 boundaries and four anticipated. from 65 balls -- put an end to pitch which had confounded both Sania, whose doubles ranking has dipped to 14th due to the ongo- Dhioni could achieve -- win a full none save Amla could read them sixes. He was shaky at times but Surprisingly enough, Rohit rumblings that he might be out of captains. ing injury lay-off, feels persistence is the key to success and the young fledged series in the Rainbow properly from their wrists. the customary elegance was there was in better touch at the other place in the shortest format. The pitch, which had a huge generation must keep working hard. Nation. Earlier, Rohit ended his pro- to be seen as he stepped out to hit end as he hit another three sixes New Zealand won for the first bald spot caused by the loss of Winner of six Grand Slam titles, Sania, has been out of action After a series of low scores, longed bad patch with a fine hun- Kagiso Rabada over long on for a off Lungi Ngidi (4-51), JP time in three matches after consec- grass growth during a record hot since October 2017 due to an injury in her right knee but is hopeful of Rohit Sharma came good when it dred as India scored a respectable six. Duminy (0-29) and Tabraiz utive Twenty20 losses to Pakistan summer in Wellington, played a French Open comeback. ultimately mattered as he scored 274 for 7 after being put into bat. Looking to overcome his Shamsi (0-48). prior to the tri-series, then to much better than expected and "I don't really have a time frame (for recovery) right now, I cannot 115 in India's respectable total of Despite Rohit's 115 off 126 poor run of form then, Rohit Rohit then took the responsi- Australia in their first match in the rewarded bold strokeplay, espe- put a date to it. Every day is a battle for me. But French Open is in 274 for 7 on a sluggish St balls and first on South African started off slowly against Morne bility of anchoring the innings on trans-Tasman series. England have cially from batsmen who hit May end, hopefully I will be back by then," she said. Georege's Park wicket. soil, India failed to consolidate Morkel (0/44 in 10 overs) and himself after Kohli's run-out and now lost their last three games under the bounce. Asked about the return of stalwarts like Serena Williams and South Africa did put up a during the final 10 overs as they Kagiso Rabada (1/58 in 9 overs), put on 60 runs with Shreyas Iyer after back-to-back losses to "It was important we assessed Maria Sharapova to the circuit, Sania said women's tennis has unbe- fight before wrist spinners scored only 55 runs after being with the former bowling out two (30) for the fourth wicket. In Australia who have already quali- the wicket, we didn't know how it lievable depth. Kuldeep Yadav (4/57 in 10 overs) comfortably placed at 219 for 4. maiden overs. In-form Shikhar doing so, they took India past 200 fied for the tri-series final. would play and it certainly played “Women's tennis has never been anybody's monopoly besides and Yuzvendra Chahal (2/43 in Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Dhawan however stroked his in the 36th over while he reached New Zealand play Australia a lot better than it looked," Serena. Apart from her, it was always sort of anyone. It was only when 9.2 overs) found their bearings inability to push the run-rate dur- way to 34 off 23 balls, with eight his milestone off 107 balls.

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