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Messi to miss Nigeria friendly: Argentine coach

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Moscow, Nov 11 (IANS) Lionel Messi will be in the line-up for this weekend’s friendly here with Russia, but not for the November 14 home match with Nigeria, Argentine national coach Jorge Sampaoli has said.

The Russia-Argentina contest on Saturday will be the inaugural event at Moscow’s renovated Luzhniki Stadium, one of the venues for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, reports Efe.

“It’s more my issue than his. I proposed this. Maybe Leo wanted to play that (Nigeria) match too. Never in his history with the national team has Leo proposed to skip a match,” Sampaoli told a press conference at Luzhniki.

The coach said that because he had no “power to tell the club (FC Barcelona)” how many minutes Messi should play, he would not hesitate to rest his superstar in international matches when he thought it was warranted.

Messi “has absolutely nothing to prove,” Sampaoli said, acknowledging that coaching “the best player in the world” and the sport’s global ambassador is a “big responsibility.”

–IANS
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia

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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.

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