All posts tagged: pluck

Batting goes to shambles as India lose by one run against Irish pluck

Batting goes to shambles as India lose by one run against Irish pluck

5 min readJun 28, 2026 11:17 PM IST Having gone 16 consecutive series without losing, which included laying hands on two T20 World Cups in 2024 and 2026, India’s proud run came to a grinding halt at Belfast against Ireland. If the defeat in the first T20I on Friday came as a shock, on Sunday Ireland held their nerve when Harshit Rana threatened a heist as they won by one run to take the series 2-0. Prior to Friday, India hadn’t lost any match to Ireland. In three days they have lost two and a series. And it is another ignominious feat for head coach Gautam Gambhir, who has seen a few lows in his stint so far. Next up lies England on Wednesday and to recover the lost face, India may well have to turn to 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. For the second outing in a row, the established India batting unit failed to chase a target that was within their reach. Troubling them again was Jai Moondra, the left-arm seamer who is waiting to …

Behind Tanya Hemanth’s main-round fix: Making in-game adjustments and beginner’s pluck | Badminton News

Behind Tanya Hemanth’s main-round fix: Making in-game adjustments and beginner’s pluck | Badminton News

Tanya Hemanth, the 21-year-old shuttler from Bangalore, needed beginner’s pluck to secure a main-draw spot for herself at badminton’s iconic Istora Senayan for the Indonesia Masters Super 500. This included getting her first-few lessons in taming the notorious A/C drift, that strikes you like a gust in bigger playing arenas, while learning to control the shuttle. Nothing quite prepares first-seasoners for their foray into the world of elite badminton. The World No 58 defeated Taiwanese Tung Ciou-Tong, 16-21, 21-17, 21-15 in 60 minutes, but she was realistic in saying, the full-blast of “proper badminton” in the 32-player draw, will hit her, when she starts against sixth seed and former World Champion, Ratchanok Intanon. “Today’s win was good for my confidence, but my opponent was my same level. We were both not used to the drift. The pace of the rallies wasn’t extreme. Tomorrow against Ratchanok it will be a proper, differently-paced game,” Tanya would say, of an opponent she’s played once before last March. She joins four other Indian women, including PV Sindhu, in the …