Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 26 (ANI): As Vinay Kumar R announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, former India skipper Anil Kumble congratulated the pacer, saying that he can look back on his career with pride.
“Well done Vinay on a fantastic career. Your contribution to Karnataka cricket and India is praiseworthy. Congratulations, you can look back with pride. Best wishes for the future,” Kumble tweeted.
While announcing his retirement, Vinay Kumar had tweeted: “Today “Davangere Express” after running for 25 years and passing so many stations of cricketing life, has finally arrived at a station called “retirement”.
“With a lot of mixed emotions, I Vinay Kumar R hereby announce my retirement from international and first-class cricket. It is not an easy decision to make, however, there comes a time in every sportsperson’s life where one has to call it a day.”
Vinay Kumar played for India in all three formats of the game. In his career, he played 1 Test, 31 ODIs, and 9 T20Is for the country, managing to take 49 wickets across all formats of the game.
His best figures in his international career came in the ODI format where he returned with the figures of 4/30 against England in Delhi in 2011.
Vinay Kumar played for Kolkata Knight Riders, Kochi Tuskers Kerela in the Indian Premier League. He also led Karnataka to two consecutive Ranji Trophy titles in 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.
In November 2018, he had played his 100th match in the Ranji Trophy. In 2019, he had moved from Karnataka to Puducherry, ahead of the Ranji Trophy season. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], February 26 (ANI): Progressing from the initial idea of hosting the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in one city, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is exploring the option of playing the league across four to five cities. While the logistical part will need further discussion, the idea has been floated and is being discussed by the senior officials of the board.
Speaking to ANI, a BCCI official in the know of developments said the idea has indeed been discussed and while it is still early days, the 14th edition of the league could well be played in more than one city if things go as per plan.
“We are exploring the possibility of conducting the IPL at more venues than originally planned. The intent is to take it to more fans as the situation is moving towards normalcy. The feasibility of the bio-secure bubble and logistics will of course be crucial to determine the venues finally. It is a fluid situation and the health of the participants is our primary concern,” the official said.
Some of the cities that have been discussed are Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad among others.
While the tournament is still some time away, franchises too are open to the idea of having the league in more than one city as that will help to stay flexible with an eye on the COVID-19 situation.
“See, there is still some time left for the league to get underway, but we are more than keen to play the league across a few cities. The worry with hosting it in one city is that the COVID-19 situation is constantly changing. So, if by chance one of the cities picked sees a situation where it gets difficult to host the games, another city can go ahead and logistically it will be easier for the board and the franchises,” an IPL franchise official said.
While the BCCI is keen to take the most successful domestic league to as many fans as possible, the board is also clear that the bio-bubble restrictions will be made keeping the safety of the players in mind as was the case when the tournament was moved to UAE in 2020.
“With multiple cities, obviously there will be individual bubbles. While we want fans from different cities to enjoy the games, safety of the players and those involved in the league will be a priority,” the BCCI official said. (ANI)

Leicester [UK], February 26 (ANI): Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel offered an honest assessment of his team’s performance after suffering a shock exit from the Europa League and said his side was not “as aggressive as we needed to be” during the match against Slavia Prague.
The first-leg match between Leicester City and Slavia Prague had ended in a goalless draw. However, Lukas Provod and Abdallah Sima scored one goal each in the second leg on Friday to send the Czech outfit into the Round of 16.
“[It is] very disappointing. I don’t think we can have too many complaints. I think we have to be brutally honest with ourselves, look over two legs, the better team won, which is a shame. They did a very good job today. We started the game well,” Schmeichel told LCFC TV.
“They upped the intensity on their pressing which caused us some problems with retaining the ball, and [in the] second half, they just went for it. We were probably not quite as aggressive as we needed to be, which is very disappointing,” he added.
Slavia Prague scored both goals in the second half as the first half of the game witnessed a good competition between the two teams.
Schmeichel also admitted that the players are currently hurt and it is too early to see any positives from the game. “I think it’s too early right now to see any positives. It hurts right now, it stings and it will do for a while,” he said.
Leicester City will now take on Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday. (ANI)

Dunedin [New Zealand], February 26 (ANI): Australian fast bowler Kane Richardson has voiced his support to skipper Aaron Finch, who has witnessed a slump in form during the recent outings in the shortest format of the game.
Finch scored a paltry 12 during Australia’s chase of a mammoth total on Thursday in the second T20I against New Zealand. The visiting skipper has been going through a lean patch and had scored one in the first T20I on Monday.
The Australian skipper has just scored 495 runs at an average of 17.06 in his last 29 T20 outings across the Indian Premier League (IPL), Big Bash League (BBL), and international cricket.
But Richardson is optimistic of Finch returning to form as he feels the Australian skipper is just one game away from unleashing his true potential.
“What he’s done before, he’s come out of these things. Everyone goes through this at some point. He’ll work it out. He’s a gun. I’m sure his mental strength will get him through this,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Richardson as saying.
“This kind of game, T20, it could be one shot he gets right that flows on. He hasn’t changed at all in terms of how he is around the group or on the field as captain. That’s a massive tick for him, to not let his own form come into how he is away from cricket or on the field trying to marshal us,” he added.
Richardson wishes to see his Melbourne Renegades teammate Finch ending the dearth of runs in the upcoming games against New Zealand.
“We just want to see him make some runs for himself, we all know how tough the game can be when you aren’t getting the output you want,” he said on Friday.
In the second T20I, Martin Guptill slammed a whirlwind 97 off just 50 balls to steer New Zealand to 219 runs in the allotted 20 overs against Australia.
In reply, Australia got off to a good start as the visitors smashed 33 runs from the first three overs. But the visitors’ chase was derailed in the middle overs courtesy of some quality bowling by the Kiwis before Stoinis and Daniel almost got Australia over the line
The third T20I between New Zealand and Australia is slated to be played on March 3. (ANI)

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 26 (ANI): Pacer Vinay Kumar on Friday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
“Today “Davangere Express” after running for 25 years and passing so many stations of cricketing life, has finally arrived to a station called “retirement”. With lot of mixed emotions, I Vinay Kumar R hereby announce my retirement from international and first class cricket. It is not an easy decision to make, however, there comes a time in every sportsperson’s life where one has to call it a day,” Vinay Kumar said in an official statement on Twitter.
The veteran pacer also said that he has been lucky enough to play alongside the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli in his career.
“My cricketing experience has been enriched by playing under the great minds of Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni, Virendra Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma to name the few. Also, I was blessed to have Sachin Tendulkar as a mentor in Mumbai Indians,” the pacer said.
“I have been fortunate enough to represent my country at the highest level and give it all I had to this beautiful game. My journey has been filled with many moments that I will cherish lifelong. I came to Bangalore from Davangere to pursue my dreams. I am very grateful to Karnataka State Cricket Association for giving me the opportunity to represent the state team. From here I went on to play for India and represented the nation in all the formats of the game,” he added.
Vinay Kumar played for India in all three formats of the game. In his career, he played 1 Test, 31 ODIs and 9 T20Is for the country, managing to take 49 wickets across all formats of the game.
His best figures in his international career came in the ODI format where he returned with the figures of 4/30 against England in Delhi in 2011.
Vinay Kumar played for Kolkata Knight Riders, Kochi Tuskers Kerela in the Indian Premier League. He also led Karnataka to two consecutive Ranji Trophy titles in 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.
In November 2018, he had played his 100th match in the Ranji Trophy. In 2019, he had moved from Karnataka to Puducherry, ahead of the Ranji Trophy season. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], February 26 (ANI): Indian boxer Deepak Kumar continued his sensational run at the 72nd Strandja Memorial Tournament as he stormed into the men’s 52kg semi-finals with a dominating 5-0 win against local boy Darislav Vasilev on the fourth day in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The Asian Championship silver medallist Deepak looked in complete control throughout the match. Deepak was swift in his movement inside the ring and his speedy footwork did not allow his Bulgarian opponent any chance to score.
With this win, Deepak became second Indian after Naveen Boora (69kg) to seal a spot in the semi-finals in the on-going tournament and also assured a second medal for the country.
Both the Indians will play Uzbekistan boxers in their respective last-4 clash on Friday night. While Deepak will face a strong challenge from Rio Olympic champion Shakhobidin Zoirov, Boora will be up against Asian Games gold medallist Bobo-Usmon Baturov.
Meanwhile, Indian women boxers Jyoti Gulia (51kg) and Bhagyabati Kachari (75kg) suffered 5-0 defeats in their quarter-final bouts.
Gulia lost to Romanian boxer Lacramioara Perijoc, Kachari also went down against the world championship bronze medallist Naomi Graham of USA. Manjeet Singh also lost his +91kg quarter-final bout against Armenia’s Gurgen Hovhannisyan. (ANI)