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Stuttgart win, Hannover shock Hamburg in Bundesliga
Berlin: VFB Stuttgart recorded their third win of the season, thanks to a 2-0 victory over newly-promoted Darmstadt, while Hannover bounced back to grab a 2-1 win against Hamburger SV to close the 11th round in the German Bundesliga football league.
Stuttgart on Sunday climbed out of the relegation zone as they overcame Darmstadt by courtesy of an own goal of Gyoergy Garcis and Timo Werner’s late goal, as per reports.
Both sides neutralised their offensive actions in the first half thus goal scoring opportunities remained a rare occurrence. As a result both teams took a goalless draw into the break.
After the interval, Darmstadt worked out the first chance but Stuttgart goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton was on guard to deny Marcel Heller’s dangerous effort.
However, the opener was scored at the other end of the pitch as Darmstadt failed to clear a rebound that dropped off the bar, allowing Christian Genter to cross into the box where Darmstadt’s Garcis deflected the ball into his own goal in the 68th minute.
Darmstadt tried to respond and attacked frantically but neither Marcel Heller nor Aytac Sulu were able to make use of the promising chances.
Nevertheless, the good fortune seemed to be with the hosts as Werner caught Darmstadt flatfooted in the dying seconds of the game to make the game safe with the 2-0 score.
With the result, Stuttgart climb from 16th to 15th position whereas Darmstadt slumped to the 13th place after suffering the fourth loss of the season.
Elsewhere, wasteful Hamburg gave away a 1-0 lead to lose 1-2 due to Hannover’s two second-half goals.
Hamburg caught a bright start in front of 54,607 spectators as Michael Gregoritsch broke the deadlock with just six minutes into the game. The young striker capitalised on Nicolai Mueller’s strong build up play to tap home the square pass at the far post.
Hamburg had even the chance to double the lead with 27 minutes played but Marcelo Diaz’ free kick rattled only the woodwork.
As the match progressed Hannover gained a foothold into the game but yet they had to wait after the break to restore parity as Hiroshi Kiyotake converted a foul play penalty in the 59th minute.
Things changed from bad to worse for the hosts as Hannover grabbed the 2-1 winner thanks to Salif Sane, who headed home Kiyotake’s cross into the box between two Hamburg defenders eight minutes later.
The third win of the campaign move Hannover on the 14th place while Hamburg stay on the 10th position in the table.
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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.