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Botswana tie Tunisia 0-0 in AFCON qualifier
Gaborone (Botswana): Botswana secured their first point in the (AFCON) qualifiers when they played to a 0-0 draw against Tunisia here.
The southern Africans entered the match Friday without a single point after losing all of their four opening matches in group G of the qualifiers, reports Xinhua.
Coach Peter Butler stuck to his pre-match sentiments when he went all out on attack against the Tunisians.
Highly-rated youngster Segolame Boy started alongside veteran striker Jerome Ramatlhakwana and captain Joel Mogorosi in attack.
Botswana, also called the ‘Zebras’, created a good number of goal scoring opportunities in the opening 20 minutes of the game forcing the visiting goalkeeper to make some good saves to deny them.
Tunisia, on the other hand, were cautious as they tried to catch their opponents on counter attack. They, however, started pushing forward towards the end of the first half, testing Botswana goalkeeper Kabelo Dambe on a number of occasions.
Dambe made two fine saves from Tunisian striker Benyoussef Fakhreddine right on halftime to keep the home side in contention.
The second half saw play swing from one end to another as both sides tried to break the deadlock. It was not to be as the match ended without a goal.
Botswana are still bottom of group G with a single point while Tunisia remain top with 11 points.
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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.