A bola vai rolar nesta quarta-feira para diversas finais espalhadas pelo Brasil. São os casos da Copa Verde, do Campeonato Maranhense e do Campeonato Rondoniense. Confira abaixo tudo sobre onde assistir, horário e boas histórias sobre as decisões.
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VILA NOVA X PAYSANDU 🗓️ Data e horário: quarta-feira, 29 de maio de 2024, às 20h (de Brasília); 📍 Local: Olímpico Pedro Ludovico, em Goiânia (GO); 📺 Onde assistir: não terá transmissão pela TV ou serviços de streaming definidos, ao menos por enquanto. A exibição da partida deverá ser de responsabilidade dos clubes envolvidos na decisão.
O torcedor do Paysandu já comprou faixas de campeão da Copa Verde. Só um milagre tira esse título do Papão, tendo em vista que a equipe goleou por 6 a 0 na primeira partida da final.
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Com o hat-trick, no primeiro jogo da final, o atacante Nicolas alcançou a marca de cinco gols na Copa Verde. Porém, os dados do centroavante do Papão não param por aí. Por exemplo: o jogador é o vice-artilheiro do Brasil, atrás somente de Pedro, do Flamengo, que tem 20 gols em jogos.
Nicolas tem 17 gols em 26 jogos e supera atacantes renomados como Júnior Santos, Germán Cano, Gabigol, Vegetti, Tiquinho Soares e Endrick.
SAMPAIO CORRÊA X MARANHÃO 🗓️ Data e horário: quarta-feira, 29 de maio de 2024, às 19h30 (de Brasília); 📍 Local: Castelão, São Luís (MA); 📺 Onde assistir: TV Sampaio.
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Sampaio Corrêa e Maranhão se enfrentam pelo primeiro jogo da final do Campeonato Maranhense após as finais serem alvo de polêmica. Na ocasião, o MAC eliminou o Tuntum, que perdeu pontos por entrar em campo com um jogador irregular.
O Maranhão chegou a empatar num primeiro jogo da final do Campeonato Maranhense com o Sampaio Corrêa. No entanto, o Superior Tribunal de Justiça Desportiva (STJD) anulou a final, contra a Bolívia Querida, e a semifinal, contra o Tuntum. Com isso, o Moto Club se tornou um dos semifinalistas, mas também acabou sendo eliminado pelo MAC.
BARCELONA X PORTO VELHO 🗓️ Data e horário: quarta-feira, 29 de maio de 2024, às 16h30 (de Brasília); 📍 Local: Estádio Aluízio Ferreira, Porto Velho (RO); 📺 Onde assistir: sem informações sobre a transmissão.
O atrativo desta para esta final do Campeonato Rondoniense também fica por conta do poder ofensivo do Porto Velho. Luan Vianna e Marco Goiano lideram a artilharia da competição. Ambos possuem sete gols cada.
Como coach Cesc Fabregas believes that Argentine midfielder Nico Paz should not be restricted, describing him as an incredible talent. The former Barcelona and Arsenal midfielder compared Paz to a magician on the pitch, saying he can pull a trick out of his hat at any moment, which is why he should never be “caged”.
Paz's entry into Serie A and his explosion
Paz has quickly become one of Serie A’s brightest young stars since joining from Real Madrid in 2024 for a fee of €6 million (£5.2m/$6.9m). In his debut campaign, he delivered eight goals and six assists, earning the award for the league’s best young player. His impact has only grown stronger this season, where he has already contributed four goals and four assists, showing remarkable consistency and maturity for his age.
A major reason for his rise has been his seamless fit in Fabregas’ system. Fabregas has given him the freedom to dictate the tempo, find pockets of space, and drive the team forward, allowing Paz’s intelligence and technical quality to shine. The coach has even placed him in the “Lionel Messi category” in terms of how opponents react, noting that rival teams do everything they can to stop him from receiving the ball. Paz is now beginning to show that he can be a worthy successor to Messi in the national team as their primary creative force.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesFabregas' praise for Paz
In an interview with , Como coach Fabregas praised Paz, saying the young midfielder does incredible things on the pitch, saying: “Nico does incredible things. He is a footballer capable of pulling a trick out of his hat at any moment.”
Fabregas also highlighted Paz’s versatility and unpredictable nature, explaining that his ability to attempt and execute crazy ideas makes him difficult to contain. For this reason, Fabregas believes Paz should not be restricted this season, adding: “He does crazy things that are unpredictable, which is why he should not be caged.”
Inter's interest in Paz and Madrid's buy back clause
Inter are preparing to make a major statement in the upcoming transfer window by submitting a €58 million (£49m/$63m) bid for Paz. The club view the young midfielder as a long-term partner for Lautaro Martinez and believe his creativity and versatility would strengthen their attack for years to come. However, Inter face a significant obstacle in Madrid. The Spanish giants hold a buy back clause on Paz, reportedly valued at €8 million in 2025, €9 million in 2026 and €10 million in 2027. This contractual leverage gives Madrid the power to either block the move or bring the player back at a fraction of Inter’s proposed offer, complicating the Nerazzurri’s ambitious pursuit.
Como President Mirwan Suwarso addressed Paz's transfer situation, explaining that Real Madrid are fully entitled to re-sign him based on the terms agreed in the original deal. He made it clear that the club respects the arrangement and that the player's future remains his own choice. Suwarso said: “I couldn’t care less. It’s a situation we agreed on from the beginning. Real Madrid are allowed to buy him back whenever they want. It’s up to Nico to decide what he wants to do with his future. We are very happy to have him. We like to build a home for him in Como. He chose to stay this season, and we take it day by day. We see how it goes. Does he go back to Madrid next season? Madrid have every right to do that. Will he stay with us? It’s up to him whether he wants it or not.”
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Getty ImagesPaz’s Central Role in Como’s Success This Season
Paz has been central to Como’s impressive campaign, with the club currently sitting seventh and pushing for European qualification. His performances have directly contributed to key results, including a memorable win over Juventus and a hard-fought draw against defending champions Napoli. With Paz in strong form, Fabregas will aim to shape his system around maximising the midfielder’s impact, ensuring he remains the driving force behind Como’s pursuit of a historic finish.
Bangladesh are a good opposition for the ever-improving wristspinner to play against, especially in Kanpur
Alagappan Muthu26-Sep-20241:22
Should Kuldeep Yadav be playing more Tests?
A Player-of-the-Match award usually comes with a trophy, some money and maybe a bit of a headache about what to do with the giant novelty cheque. They never fit in the luggage to carry back home.Kuldeep Yadav has been given this honour twice in his Test career so far. And each time, he couldn’t find a place in the India XI for the next game. Since when did they start smuggling pink slips into these things?In Chattogram 2022, which was his first Test in 22 months, Kuldeep ran through Bangladesh’s middle order in the first innings to set up a comfortable victory for India. He finished with 8 for 113 in that game but in the next one, in Mirpur, a week later, his place was taken by Jaydev Unadkat.”Ideally, like in IPL, if Test cricket also had the Impact Player rule, I would have definitely loved to bring in Kuldeep in the second innings,” stand-in captain KL Rahul said at the time.Related
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In Dharamsala 2024, he was the difference India were looking for against an England side who, when in doubt, often tried to whack it out. Kuldeep took a five-for in R Ashwin’s 100th Test match. It almost seemed like a sign. For years, he had been that kid who kept hearing he wasn’t tall enough to go on this ride – because Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja kept raising that bar sky high – but now, he was up there with them. Ashwin even insisted that he take the match ball.Then came Chennai, a pitch made for fast bowling and once again Kuldeep had to make way. It was a gross error in foresight on his part. He should’ve known all those years ago, when he switched from fast bowling to wristspin, that the 2024 home season would begin in conditions borrowed from Headingley or something.Now India are in Kanpur, his home ground. A black soil pitch awaits, which usually tends to be batting friendly and eventually starts to take a bit of turn. Kuldeep makes a lot of sense in these conditions, because as a wristspinner he is able to turn the ball both ways and keep the batter guessing. That is part of the reason why Ravi Shastri, when he was India coach, proclaimed that they had found a new No. 1 overseas spinner after Kuldeep took a five-for in Sydney. (Guess what happened when India announced their playing XI in the next match in North Sound?)Kuldeep Yadav last played a Test in Dharamsala in March this year•Getty ImagesThere are two ways to deal with a less-than-ideal pitch as a bowler. One, be as disciplined as possible. Deny the opposition easy runs. And if you manage to do that long enough, you might just be able to buy a mistake. The other is what Kuldeep specialises in, his wristspin is capable of rising above the need for any help from the pitch. It is perhaps this belief that made India try him out at Lord’s in 2018, but that backfired. He was slow through the air back then and in Test cricket, where there was no need for the batter to manufacture runs, England were able to camp on the back foot and punish him with ease.Kuldeep has worn these setbacks well, in that he has never given up the one thing that makes him special, giving the batter precious little indication about which way his balls will turn. At a point, when he was being clapped at for being too slow through the air, he clapped back saying nobody was telling him how to be quicker without compromising on his other skills. Even when he was left out, and called out, he was clear in his mind that he wouldn’t change anything unless he was sure it would add to the bowler he already was.That belief can also be seen in how he rarely shrinks when a batter tries to take the attack to him; he still tosses it up. Like when he bowled to Ben Duckett in Dharamsala and had him caught off the leading edge while sweeping. There was no change in length; no thought of flattening it. He just shifted his line wider and made it riskier for the batter to play the shot with which he seemed to want to build his innings.Bangladesh are a good opposition for Kuldeep to play against. They do not have any real history of wristspin bowlers, let alone facing them on a regular basis. Kanpur is a good place for Kuldeep to play in. He’s never had the opportunity to represent India here in the past. Only time will tell though if India are also thinking this way because they have to consider a lot more than just the romance of a hometown boy getting his day in the sun.
علّق الإعلامي أحمد شوبير على تعادل منتخب مصر الثاني أمام منتخب الإمارات في الجولة الثانية من مرحلة المجموعات ببطولة كأس العرب 2025، مؤكدًا أنه غير راضٍ عن أداء المنتخب رغم الخروج بنقطة التعادل.
وقال شوبير في تصريحاته الإذاعية: “يا جماعة، لماذا نشعر بالخوف بهذا الشكل؟ ما معنى ضبط الأداء الدفاعي؟ لا يوجد شيء بهذا المعنى في كرة القدم بصراحة”.
وتابع: “كابتن حلمي طولان يعرف قيمته عندي، لكن وجود عمرو السولية ومحمد النني وغنام في وسط الملعب أمر صعب، بل صعب جدًا، ومع ذلك، تبرير الأمر بضبط الأداء الدفاعي لا أعتقد أنه كان تفكيرًا صحيحًا من الكابتن حلمي، عندما تواجه الفريق الذي أمامك، يجب أن تظهر له أنك داخل بعقلية هجومية شرسة”.
وواصل: “أعجبني كثيرًا تصريح الكابتن علي ماهر عندما قال إن دوره هو جعل الهجوم أكثر شراسة، وهذا بالفعل ما حدث، والدليل أن سيراميكا كليوباترا يتصدر الدوري العام، الشراسة مهمة جدًا جدًا، وأن تبدأ المباراة مهاجمًا من اللحظة الأولى إذا كنت تريد الفوز”.
طالع أيضًا | حلمي طولان: لن أتحدث حتى لا يقال “إني بتحجج”.. وقادرون على التأهل في كأس العرب
وأضاف: “هناك من يقول إن الدفاع الجيد يؤدي إلى الفوز، وأنا لا أعترض، لكن يجب أن يبدأ الدفاع من رأس الحربة بشكل جيد، وفي الوقت نفسه يجب أن يكون هناك توازن هجومي دفاعي، هذا أمر بالغ الأهمية، نعم، يجب أن ندافع بشكل جيد، لكن كيف ندافع دون أن نهاجم؟ ما معنى الدفاع دون هجوم؟ هل يعقل أن يُختبر حارس مرمانا بينما لا يُختبر حارس الفريق المنافس؟”.
واستكمل: “هناك الكثير مما يمكن قوله عن المنتخب الثاني، لكن الأهم أن أمامنا مباراة يجب أن نفوز بها، وحتى إذا تعادلنا بشرط تعادل المنافسين، قد نتأهل، لكن ما كنت أحب أبدًا أن نكون في المركز الثاني بعد مباراتين بنقطتين فقط، كنت أتمنى أن نكون قد حققنا الفوز، وأن نكون أكثر استعدادًا للمراحل المقبلة”.
وأردف: “حتى لو تأهلنا – وهذا ما نتمناه جميعًا – سيكون الأمر صعبًا، لأنك ستواجه منتخبات قوية مثل السعودية والعراق، وهي منتخبات تمتلك قوة كبيرة في كرة القدم، إلا إذا أكرمنا الله بقرعة أسهل”.
واختتم: “الجزائر فازت على البحرين بخمسة أهداف، والجزائر والمغرب مثلنا يشاركان بالمنتخب الثاني، بينما تونس ذهبت بالمنتخب الأول، بشكل عام، أنا لست سعيدًا، ولست مرتاحًا، لدي شعور بعدم الارتياح، لكن في النهاية، يجب أن نستمر في دعم المنتخب كما اتفقنا، لأن الدعم في وسط البطولة أمر مهم للغاية”.
Longtime Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw is officially hanging up his glove as the team announced on Thursday that the 11-time All-Star and three-time Cy Young winner will retire after the 2025 season.
Kershaw will make his final regular season start on Friday, Sept. 19 when the Dodgers host the Giants at home.
The 37-year-old spent his entire career in Los Angeles since 2008 when the Dodgers first called him up. The Dodgers gave Kershaw a one-year deal back in February to ensure that he would remain with the only club he's ever known. And, now that it was his final season, it was even more fitting for him to be with the Dodgers.
Kershaw's 18th season has definitely been memorable. He made history by joining the elite 3,000 strikeout club, something only 20 pitchers in total have done. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred named Kershaw a "Legend Pick" at this year's All-Star Game, too. Through 20 appearances before his final start on Friday, Kershaw posted a 3.53 ERA with 71 strikeouts and 40 earned runs on him over 102 innings pitched.
The ace started his season on the 60-day IL after he missed most of the Dodgers' 2024 World Series campaign due to left knee and left toe injuries—both of which required surgery. He returned in mid-May and has remained healthy.
It's possible Friday won't be Kershaw's final MLB start, as the Dodgers are expected to clinch a playoff spot for the 13th season in a row. In Kershaw's 18 seasons, 14 of those saw the Dodgers competing in the postseason. He helped lead the Dodgers to their 2020 World Series championship title.
India batter Smriti Mandhana has reclaimed the top spot in the ICC rankings for women’s ODI batters following her half-century in the first ODI against Australia on Sunday.Mandhana’s 63-ball 58 helped her overtake England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt at the top of the charts. Australia’s Beth Mooney also rose three places to fifth, while Annabel Sutherland and Phoebe Litchfield are joint 25th after their half-centuries.Australia chased down their 282-run target in New Chandigarh with eight wickets and 35 balls to spare. The teams play the second of three ODIs on Wednesday.This is the fourth time Mandhana has achieved the No. 1 ranking for ODI batters. She did it first in January 2019 and most recently in July before Sciver-Brunt overtook her. Harmanpreet Kaur (12th) and Jemimah Rodrigues (15th) are the other India batters in the top 20.In the bowling rankings, Australia’s Kim Garth and Alana King achieved their career-best rankings of fourth and fifth. India offspinner Sneh Rana, who took 1 for 51 moved up five places to 16th.England spinner Sophie Ecclestone continues to lead the ODI bowling rankings with Deepti Sharma at No. 7 being the only Indian in the top ten.
The team want to get accustomed to conditions at a venue where they play two big games
ESPNcricinfo staff23-Aug-20253:47
Chopra: India would want to go a step further in the home World Cup
India Women will launch their World Cup preparation with a skill-based week-long conditioning camp in Visakhapatnam starting August 25.The venue for the camp is strategic, given only Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Sneh Rana among the squad members have the experience of having played at the ACA-VDCA Stadium previously, in 2014.India are slated to play two big matches in Visakhapatnam: against South Africa (October 9) and Australia (October 12).India’s lack of experience at certain venues, like Visakhapatnam, Guwahati and Indore, has been a big talking point in the lead-up to their campaign.Navi Mumbai’s inclusion as Bengaluru’s replacement is seen as a welcome step, given the players’ familiarity with the venue, having played there regularly over the past three-four years in front of packed houses, both in international cricket as well in the Women’s Premier League.Originally scheduled to take place entirely in Bengaluru, the training sessions had to be relocated after the Karnataka State Cricket Association failed to secure police clearance for hosting matches at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.All members of the World Cup squad, along with the reserves and the India A team selected for warm-up fixtures, are expected to participate.The camp will culminate with two intra-squad day-night practice matches, before the team flies out to New Chandigarh for the ODI series against Australia starting September 16.After the Australia series, the Indian team will arrive in Bengaluru to play two World Cup warm-ups, against England (September 25) and New Zealand (September 27) before flying out to Guwahati for their opening fixture against Sri Lanka on September 30.
DETROIT — One game. One pitcher. One legacy. As if using a geodetic coordinate system, the American League division series between the Tigers and Mariners has arrived at a pinpoint of a place. Game 5 Friday in Seattle is about Tarik Skubal.
The Tigers ace has made his case over the past two and a half years that he is the best pitcher on the planet. Great. But it’s not enough.
Now, for the second time in 363 days, he will have the ball in his hands in a winner-take-all game. The last time was a bust.
Given a 1–0 lead in the fifth inning against Cleveland in Game 5 of the 2024 ALDS, Skubal coughed up the game in a horrific six-batter sequence: single, strikeout, single, single, hit by pitch, grand slam. Five runs. Lead and game gone in 18 pitches. Drive home safely.
His teammates rustled up a mulligan for him with a syzygy of a rally in ALDS Game 4 against the Mariners Wednesday. Just when the Tigers appeared dead, looking at a 3–0 deficit and staring at the last 15 outs of their season, they came together as weirdly and powerfully as an alignment of celestial bodies. Out of nowhere, they ran off nine unanswered runs to win, 9–3.
Skubal could join sudden death legends
Game 5 is a career-defining game for Skubal, given his loss last season and that his team is 0–3 this year when he faces Seattle. It’s no longer about “pitching well” or “keeping my team in the game.” It’s about going all Jack Morris on Seattle. On the night Morris’s Twins won Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, Morris, the Game 7 starter, walked into the interview room and announced, “In the immortal words of the late, great Marvin Gaye, let’s get it on!” The following night, Morris put the team on his back, throwing 10 shutout innings while refusing to come out of the game.
It was an all-time double elimination pitching performance by a future Hall of Famer. In more recent years, pitching greats who have risen to greater heights in sudden death games include Justin Verlander (2012 and '13 ALDS), Madison Bumgarner ('14 NLWC and World Series, '16 NLWC) and Gerrit Cole ('19 ALDS). This is Skubal’s moment.
Skubal has allowed eight runs in 33 2/3 postseason innings for a sparkling 2.14 ERA—but he allowed five of those runs in the game that sent the Tigers home last year. / David Richard-Imagn Images
Skubal played the preamble to his statement game much differently than did Morris. He walked into the interview room after Game 4 and swatted away a question about personal redemption as if it were an annoying fly.
“I'll let you guys create the narrative,” Skubal said. “I'm just going to do what I do best, and that's play baseball and create pitches. The game is still the game. I'll let you guys write the stories and do your jobs, but you're not going to get anything from me.”
Every game, he said, presents him with an opportunity to compete at his best, no more in Game 5 than it did in the Mariners’ 3–2 win against him in Game 2.
“But the game stays the game, and that’s kind of what you’re going to hear me reiterate,” he said, “[that] is I just need to be focused on pitch by pitch and execute the game plan that we will create. So that’s all I’ve got for you.”
Skubal’s Seattle ties deepen stakes
Another delicious layer to this start is that in happens in Seattle, where a kid from Kingman, Ariz.—a small town in the northwest corner of the state better known for its turquoise lode and its kitschy status as the heart of Route 66 than as a baseball factory—took his 80-something mile per hour fastball to Seattle University, the only school to offer him a scholarship.
“Dad, I'm not going to school there,” he said to his father.
“No, you need to call them, son,” his father replied.
Said Skubal, “And I was like, ‘All right.’ I called them. I committed two weeks later. And the rest is history.”
When he pitched in Seattle in ALDS Game 2, he bought tickets for all 34 players of the Seattle University baseball team and talked to them about following their dreams.
“It’s not a fantasy,” he said. “You can actually accomplish what you put your mind to.”
No, this is not another game, not with what’s at stake and where it is. Skubal may treat it as such from his uber-competitive mind. How, he reasons, can I possibly care or try more than my very best? But the stakes are higher. The venue is more meaningful. The reputation on the line more epic.
“I think it means the world to him,” said pitching coach Chris Fetter. “Especially going back to a place where he went to school and that environment. Yeah, I think it's going to be pretty special. And you're going to see a competitive, fiery guy out there and that’s what we need. And he's going to compete his ass off.”
Said Detroit first baseman Spencer Torkelson, “I don’t have the words. My vocabulary doesn’t have the words to tell you how much this opportunity means to him. If you have one game to win, there’s nobody I’d rather have than Tarik. And if you asked most guys around baseball, not just in this clubhouse, you’d probably get the same answer.”
The Mariners are the only team to beat the Tigers three times this year in games Skubal has started. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Skubal made two mistakes in Game 2: two center-cut pitches to Jorge Polanco, who blasted both for home runs. It seems unfathomable that the Tigers could lose four games in one year to the same team with Skubal on the mound. But that is what is at stake.
“I think at the end of the day, he's going to be himself,” Fetter said. “You know, most of the time we're going to go to his strengths as opposed to trying to dissect it too much or overthinking too much. Yeah. Go out and be himself.
”And that’s where we talk about not trying to overthink. If you go execute, be yourself, at the end of the day we’re good.”
Skubal wound up at Seattle University only after other schools dropped interest in him after a poor showcase performance on a Saturday morning. They didn’t know that Skubal had played center in a football game Friday night and drove three hours to the Phoenix area the next morning to get on the mound and throw in front of coaches. His velocity dipped to an unappealing 84 mph.
Now Skubal throws a hundred. He has hit 100 mph 43 times this year. Every other lefthanded starter combined has done so eight times. His changeup is the single best pitch in baseball as determined by run value. There is nobody like him. That is not in dispute.
What is in the balance now is whether Skubal can deliver a season-saving, career-defining game. It should require Skubal pushing himself like never before.
Skubal has pitched in 142 major league games, including five in the postseason. Incredibly, he has never thrown more than 108 pitches in a game. His postseason high is 107, in wild-card Game 1 this year. In Game 2 of this series, Skubal threw 97 pitches over seven innings before indicating he was just about done. So, manager A.J. Hinch handed the ball to Kyle Finnegan for the eighth. The Mariners scored three batters later to win, 3–2.
In 1995, in Seattle, a lefthanded, soon-to-be Cy Young Award winner took the ball with his team facing elimination in his first postseason game. Randy Johnson of the Mariners threw 117 pitches over seven innings to beat the Yankees in ALDS Game 3. After one day of rest, he came out of the bullpen in Game 5 to throw three innings and another 44 pitches to win that game, too. It was legendary stuff. They still talk about it today.
Now, 30 years later in the same city, the best lefthander in the game has the ball in his hands for a winner-take-all game. To save the Tigers’ season and to lessen the pain of the last time he found himself at these coordinates, Skubal may have to give more than he’s ever given.
India went from 294 for 4 in the 43rd over to 330 all out, a total that proved inadequate
Vishal Dikshit12-Oct-20253:54
Review: Healy’s 142 was Australia’s bedrock
India’s famed top five finally came to the party at the Women’s World Cup 2025 to put on a staggering total of 330 but such was their lower-order collapse, the flatness of the pitch, and the might of the Australians that India fell “30 to 40 runs” short.It was the first time any team had scored over 300 while batting first against Australia but India believe they could have got much more after they were placed at 294 for 4 in 42.5 overs. As it happened, they lost the next six wickets for 36 runs to be bowled out with seven balls to spare. After their openers Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal scored half-centuries, India’s middle-order batters got off to starts but they and the lower order couldn’t cash in on the promise.”The way we started we thought if we could have added more 30-40 runs on the board, we missed runs in the last six-seven overs,” captain Harmanpreet Kaur said at the presentation. “We kept losing wickets and that really cost us because today’s pitch was totally different. We knew it was a good batting wicket, but those last six overs where we were not able to capitalise really cost us.Related
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“Today the first 40 overs were really good and in the last 10 we were not executing well. In matches these things are going to happen, we are not going to be 100% all the time but it’s very important how you come back.”Head coach Amol Muzumdar concurred with his captain that India had to finish better to get over the line. He pointed to the defeat to South Africa, where they couldn’t defend 251 despite being in a strong position, to highlight that the team have issues with the ball as well.Both Harmanpreet Kaur and Amol Muzumdar felt India did not finish well with the ball•Getty Images”Look, in my opinion, the finish is very important in a cricket game,” Muzumdar said at the press conference. “I always say, even in this dressing room, that yes, we need a good start, but we need a better finish. So, if you see the finish that we had in the South Africa game, as far as bowling is concerned in the last five overs, we ended up losing that game. And, even today, basically, if we would have got another 20 runs, maybe things would have been different. But, at the same time, it’s been a gradual progress for us. And there are a lot of learnings. I keep talking about positives and learnings. One of the things to learn is to finish well.”India have struggled to defend competitive totals in their last two games, losing both with seven and six balls remaining. They have played these games with only five bowlers in batting-friendly conditions. Their next match against England is in Indore, which tends to offer plenty of runs as well. Will India look to bolster their attack?”Obviously, after this game, we will have a look at it,” Muzumdar said. “I am sure the team management will have a proper discussion about this and then we will take a right call as we approach the next game. I am sure about that.”
“We’ll sit and discuss [about five bowlers] because this combination has given us a lot of success in the past,” she said. “Two bad games are not going to make a big difference for us. Going forward there are a lot of things we need to sort it out and hopefully we’ll come up with the best approach.”Harmanpreet Kaur on India’s five-bowler approach
Harmanpreet, however, did not sound too keen to change India’s combination which has five frontline batters, a wicketkeeper-batter, three allrounders and two frontline bowlers.”We’ll sit and discuss [about five bowlers] because this combination has given us a lot of success in the past,” she said. “Two bad games are not going to make a big difference for us. Going forward there are a lot of things we need to sort it out and hopefully we’ll come up with the best approach.”One of the other issues for India, compared to teams that have been doing better, is their consumption of dot balls. It was a much larger issue in their first three games of the World Cup before they addressed it against Australia where five of their top seven had strike rates in excess of 100.”Well, to be honest, after the previous game, we had an elongated discussion about how we are going to approach the batting innings,” Muzumdar said. “That was one of the things that was discussed about the dot-ball percentage. So far, in the last year-and-a-half, we have been playing very aggressive cricket. I thought today was a good display. Yes, the dot-ball percentage has come down. But, we will have a closer look at it, I don’t know what the percentage is (48% against Australia), but we would like to get it down.”