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Argentina beat Italy in international friendly
Manchester (England), March 24 (IANS) Argentina looked out-of-sorts without superstar Lionel Messi for much of their pre-World Cup friendly here against Italy, but midfielders Ever Banega and Manuel Lanzini scored second-half goals to lift them to a 2-0 victory.
Although Argentina is regarded as a contender at this summer’s World Cup in Russia and Italy is in rebuilding mode after failing to qualify for football’s showcase event for the first time in 60 years, both teams seemed equally lacking in ideas and structure and overly dependent on their star players to rescue them during Friday night’s game, reports EFE news agency.
Even so, the South Americans still had enough punch to threaten the opposing goal, with veteran net minder Gianluigi Buffon making saves on shots in the first half by Nicolas Otamendi, Nicolas Tagliafico and Gonzalo Higuain to keep the game scoreless at the intermission.
–IANS
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.