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Pune FC maintain hot form in King’s Cup

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Pune FC

Thimpu: Pune FC finished their King’s Cup group engagements in style, winning 2-0 against Bangladesh’s Abahani Limited at the Changlimithang Stadium here Tuesday, to collect a maximum 12 points from four matches.

Pune had already qualified for the semi-finals from Group B after collecting nine points from the first three matches played.

Pune rode on late goals from Lalrempuia Fanai (86th minute) and Luciano Sabrosa (90th) to overcome the Dhaka-based side for the fourth consecutive win, ahead of Manang Marshyangdi Club (MMC), Nepal (7 pts), Abahani Ltd (4 pts), Ugyen Academy, Bhutan (3 pts) and Assam State Electricity Board (0 pts).

Abahani dominating the early exchanges and Pune FC were forced to soak up pressure. But Pune slowly began to dominate possession but were unable to penetrate the Abahani defence.

Pune’s first decent goal attempt rattled the cross bar when Eric Brown’s ferocious shotb beat the Abahani goalkeeper but, unluckily, came back into play in the 29th minute.

It was goalless at halftime and Pune coach Karim Bencherifa brought on attacker Prakash Thorat and winger Snehashis Chakraborty to bolster his team’s offensive play.

But it didn’t bring about the desired result as the match seemed to be heading to a draw, when scored twice in succession.

Lalrempuia beautifully curled in a free-kick to give Pune the lead in the 86th minute and three minutes later they doubled the lead, Luciano Sabrosa converting a penalty.

Pune FC will now face the runner-up of Group-A in the second semifinal Sunday.

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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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