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Berlin, Hannover suffer setbacks in Bundesliga
Berlin: Relegation-threatened Freiburg earned a 2-0 victory over uninspired Berlin while newly promoted Paderborn came from behind to shock Hannover 2-1 at the close of the 21st round of the German Bundesliga.
Berlin lost the home debut of their new coach Pal Dardai as Freiburg scored two goals, courtesy Felix Klaus and Maximilian Philipp, to push Berlin onto the penultimate position of the table Sunday, as per reports.
The hosts staged a weak performance as they failed to work out goal scoring opportunities against deep defending Freiburg, who focused on fast breaks.
Freiburg’s strategy turned out to be successful as they utilised their first chance to break the deadlock. Karim Guede passed into the goal area where Klaus tapped in at the near post with 14 minutes into the game.
Berlin failed to have clear cut goal scoring chance in the second half as well allowing clinical Freiburg to kill the game with the 2-0 lead when Philipp headed home a corner from six metres in the 52nd minute.
With the result, Berlin recorded their 12th loss of the season to slump to 17th place while Freiburg jump from 17th to 16th position.
Elsewhere, newly promoted Paderborn snatched a 2-1 comeback win against Hannover on the road.
Both sides were unable to break the deadlock in the first half. Things changed after the restart as Hannover opened the scoring following a set-piece.
Joselu flicked on Lars Stindl’s free kick to Marcelo, who poked home from very close with all the time and space in the 66th minute.
Paderborn remained unimpressed and restored parity only six minutes later as substitute Srdjan Lakic headed home the equaliser.
The visitors turned the tide and stunned Hannover when Alban Meha unleashed a free-kick from 25 metres to beat goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler in the 79th minute.
Hannover pressed frenetically to level the scores but all their efforts remained fruitless.
Paderborn climb from 15th to 12th position while Hannover stay in 10th place of the standings.
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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.