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AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com15 - 21 February 2020

Monty’s SpinMMoonnttyy PPaanneessaarr

Mixed fortunes fortop teams

England will start their T20 campaign againstSouth Africa this week. I expect England tofield a full-strength squad and win the series.England did experiment at the start of theODI series and I got the impression thatthere is a gap between the young playerscoming into the squad and the senior players.England at full strength is the best T20 teamin the world. If England don’t have their keyplayers then they are a weaker team com-pared to other nations.

India's strength lies in the fact that theycan replace their senior players withyoungsters. The result in New Zealand isn’tpleasing for the Indian cricket fans. Theseamer friendly conditions in New Zealandare challenging for Indian seam bowlers.Jusprit Bumrah isn’t effective on seamingconditions. Perhaps becoming the number 1bowler in the world hasn’t helped him to dealwith pressure. I think it is a mental issuemore than skill with Jusprit Bumrah. As asenior player, perhaps, he feels pressured todeliver better performances consistently.Only he will know how he feels and why hehasn’t been effective in New Zealand.

This is the same for England. When BenStokes isn’t playing at his best the Englandteam is not as menacing. It appears to methat when key players from India andEngland are rested or are not performing,both teams are not as strong. For any of theseteams to win T20 world cup they will needtheir key players to perform. The NewZealand team also seemed to have goodoptions. But all teams are good in their ownconditions. Based on that premise Australiashould win the T20 World Cup.

I always felt that when England play withtheir spin duo of Adil Rashid and Moeen Alithey look like a balanced bowling attack.Eoin Morgan has options in the middle oversto change the pace of the game and allow thespinners to change the momentum. In thelast game South Africa were in great positionuntil Quinton de Knock got out and it was aspinner who got him. So, spinners arevaluable to Eoin Morgan's team. If Englandare going to win the T20 World Cup inAustralia they will need both Adil Rashid andMoeen Ali bowling at their best. Jos Butlerand Ben stokes are absolutely key forEngland to succeed in 2020.

India hasn't had the best ODI outing inNew Zealand. They seem a better T20 teamwhere the youngsters seem to feelcomfortable to play fearlessly. They will beone of the favourites teams to win becausethey are able to introduce good young playerscoming into the squad. For me England isanother team to watch in the World Cup2020. So, cricket fans all over the world willbe watching with interest England'sforthcoming T20 series against South Africa.I expect easy series win for England.

You can follow Monty Panesar @MontyChannel

CChheerrrryyTTaallkk

Ghulam Alahi is the new Vice Presidentof West Ham United Women’s ClubAccountancy and auditingfirm Vision Consulting’sManaging Director GhulamAlahi recently became thenew Vice President of WestHam United Women’s Club.

“West Ham holds aspecial place in Ghulam’sheart, and he shares in ourvision of developing not onlya competitive West Hamteam, but also women’sfootball as a whole,” JackSullivan Managing Directorof West Ham UnitedWomen’s Club said.

"I believe that women'sfootball is going toexperience incredible growth.I was very impressed withJack as he is entrepreneurial,and he likes to see results.Jack is going to be seeing me alot going forward, and this

will allow us both to bounceideas off each other andachieve something special,”said Ghulam Alahi.

Being raised in EastLondon and establishingVision Consulting there arewhat contributed to hisdecision in becoming a Vice

President and partneringwith West Ham UnitedWomen’s Club.

Statistics from the annualsurvey 2018/2019 by theInclusive Board Ltd shows55% of BAME individualswould partake in sports ifthere was better accessibility

to information andopportunities.

Ghulam’s involvementhas many benefits as he willable to encourage individualsfrom a BAME background toparticipate, provide equalopportunities, betterrepresentation and bringabout inclusion. Ghulamaims to encourage youngpeople particularly from anAsian background to considera profession in football.

Vision Consulting is aboutique firm of charteredaccountants and registeredauditors. The firm haspreviously helped women indisability sports with thecharity Path to Success toprepare for the Tokyo 2020Olympics. Supporting othershas been a key aspect atVision Consulting.

Manipur's Bala Devi to play professionalfootball in ScotlandNgangom Bala Devi fromManipur’s Bishnupur districtwill be playing professionalfootball in Scotland. She hassigned an 18-month dealwith Scottish giants RangersFC that makes her the firstwomen footballer in India tohave a professional contractwith an overseas club.

This historic move wasfacilitated by Bengaluru FC,who have a partnership withRangers, and could becategorised as a marketingexercise. But few woulddebate against theperformances Bala Devi hasbeen putting over the lastfew years.

Bala Devi, born to afootball-playing father, tookto the field along with herelder brother. Soon, moregirls joined in and herhometown Irengbam got itsfirst-ever football team for

women. Bala Devi seems tohave made a habit ofbreaking into unchartedterritory since that age. Shehas scored 52 goals in 58appearances for the nationalteam and netted 38 times inher first two seasons of theIndian Women’s League.Even during her week-longtrial for the Rangers inGlasgow last November, shewas finding the net.

“I scored twice in one ofthe games we played amongthe players at Rangers duringmy trial,” Bala Devi said. The29-year-old was quietlyconfident of being offered acontract by the Scottish cluband the faith in herperformance she had put induring her week in Glasgowwas noticeable. “I had givenmy best, so I wasn’t nervous.The coach there told me thathe was pleased with thetechnical and tactical side of

my training and I onlyneeded to work a bit more onmy fitness. Overall it was agood week of training forme,” Bala said.

The experience gave Balaconfidence that Indianplayers could cut it at thatlevel, but also offered a doseof reality that plenty of workneeds to be done by theplayers. “The players arebetter than us physically andtechnically, but we are notfar behind. The aspect where

we need to work most is thetactical side of things. Indianplayers must develop thatunderstanding to play inEurope. However, I felt thatit is not beyond ourcapabilities and we can doit,” she said. Having playedfor the Indian national teamfor 14 years, Rangers seemslike a natural progression forher. It remains to be seen ifshe can continue her scoringtouch in a much biggerleague.

Bala Devi

A five-minute Sachin specialNever was an innings breakso anticipated in a game ofcricket. It lasted for five-oddminutes but for SachinTendulkar devotees, eventhat is good enough time iftheir ‘God’ is out there on the22 yards in a country wherehe is revered no less than hisown.

And those five minutes ofjust putting bat to balltowards raising funds for theBushfire charity cause will bearchived with as much care ashis hundred internationalhundreds.

With a dodgy shoulder,Tendulkar didn’t take part inthe charity game but playedan over from Australia’ssuperstar woman cricketerEllyse Perry during the break.

Perry had challengedTendulkar to face her for anover in a video message onsocial media which the Indianlegend had accepted. Used toseeing him either in spotlesswhites or the light blue (once

navy blue) India colours, thefans at the Junction Ovalground in Melbourne musthave been chuffed watchinghim come out in Australianyellow.

The helmet was yellow,

the pads weren’t ultra-lightand the bat sported a logodifferent to the onesTendulkar endorsed over hisprofessional career, but whocared for those five minutes.The first delivery by Perrywas tucked off his hips andthe fielder at short fine-leg letit go, much to herembarrassment, and thecrowd was happy. Herepeated the shot towardsdeep square leg and got acouple.

“It’s an incredible feelingto bowl to Tendulkar andwatch Brian Lara bat,” saidAustralia’s doubleinternational Perry, whowould play a key role in thetri-series final against India.Perry has also representedAustralia in football.