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Playing in New Zealand will be tough challenge: Manpreet
New Delhi: Midfielder Manpreet Singh, who has made a comeback in the Indian hockey team following an injury, said that playing in New Zealand will be a tough challenge for them.
India will tour New Zealand from October 2 to 11 to play the Black Sticks in a four-match bilateral Test series. The series will be preceded by two practice games against New Zealand A.
“We have prepared a lot for the upcoming New Zealand tour and are pretty excited about the tournament. The coach is also making us work a lot harder during our preparations, helping to improve on penalty corner conversions and our defence,” said Manpreet, who plays as a centre-half.
“We are working on rectifying our mistakes as we would not want to repeat them in the upcoming tournament. Playing on the opponent’s home ground will be a tough challenge for us but we are confident of a positive result.”
India will play their first match against New Zealand A on October 2 in Auckland.
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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.