Seeking a quick solution to longtime homelessness

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Uday Saharan: New Captain Cool And Chip Off Old Block

During the U-19 Challenger tournament last year, India skipper Uday Saharan wasn't scoring runs and father Sanjeev was getting anxious as the national selection committee was about to pick the squad for junior Asia Cup. "I wasn't in best frame of mind as Uday wasn't scoring runs, but he would tell me, 'papa, don't worry, runs will come'. That's Uday for you. I am not saying because he is my son but at 19, he can remain uncluttered," Sanjeev, beaming with joy after his son led India to their fifth consecutive U-19 World Cup final, told PTI.

For the uninitiated, Uday plays national level cricket from Punjab but he hails from Shri Ganganagar district in Rajasthan.

"During matches, he travels from Shri Ganganagar to Bathinda which is a two-hour train journey. He is doing second year B.Com from Bathinda University. It was a friend of my mine, who suggested that Uday be shifted to Fazilka in Punjab for cricket," the father informed.

Fazilka is also Shubman Gill's village.

With one hundred and three fifties in six World Cup games so far, Punjab batter Uday is currently the highest run-getter in this edition, and his batting style resembles the 1980s and 90s' top-order accumulators.

He scores his runs at a strike rate of early 70s, something that he will need to address at senior level. As of now, it is serving the purpose.

"Uday tells me that papa jab single, double pe baat ban jaayegi toh chakka maarne ki kya zaroorat? Chakka maarna hoga toh woh bhi maar lunga (why try for sixes when I can get the job done by taking ones and twos. When the need arises, I will hit sixes too," said Sanjeev, who is an Ayurvedic doctor and a BCCI Level 1 accredited coach.

For him, technique is sacrosanct and he gave an insight into how Uday learnt to play copybook, conventional cricket.

"During my playing days, I represented my district in Rajasthan CA's biggest tournament Colvin Shield. I was known as 'Gavaskar' in my local circuit as bowlers couldn't breach my defence.

"I have taught Uday the value of technique. And as for IPL game, when he was 16, he scored 108 off 60 balls in a local district match, hitting Arshdeep Singh for sixes," the father said.

How was the mood in the Saharan household on Tuesday night when Uday was in the midst of a tense chase.

"Kya hi bolun. Uday ki didi, meri badi beti toh mandir wale ghar se nikli nahi. Woh toh roney lag gaayi thi. Meri patni ka bhateeje ki shaadi thi lekin woh bhi pura match mandir mein baithi rahi. Hum Pallu Devi maa ko bahot mante hai (My elder daughter and wife prayed the whole time and didn't step out of the temple at home. My wife didn't attend the wedding reception of a relative)." So how does it feel when he sees himself as father of an India team captain? "I don't have words to express that feeling. It is special. I had seen his leadership skills since he was young. When I would take him to the academy and teach him a drill, he would take a lead and teach other trainees. He has always been a responsible boy." What will be his advice to his son before the final? "Nothing bas cup lekey aa jaayein (Just bring home the cup)."

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Prominent New York Developer Arrested on Charges Tied to Vast Fraud Scheme

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Dhas, Saharan 50s Give India 2-Wicket Win Over SA, Place In U19 WC Final

Fuelled by splendid fifties by Sachin Dhas and captain Uday Saharan, defending champions India battled past South Africa by two wickets to storm into the final, their fifth consecutive of the ICC Under-19 World Cup on Tuesday. Dhas (96, 95 balls, 11x4, 1x6) and Saharan (81, 124, 6x4), who were India's guiding forces in the last match against Nepal with a hundred each, garnered 171 runs for the fifth wicket as India hunted down the target of 245 with just 7 balls to spare. India will face either Australia or Pakistan in the summit clash to be played at this venue on Sunday, searching for their sixth trophy in the marquee event. But the beginning of India's chase resembled a debris yard, losing four wickets for just 32 runs in the 12th over.

The South African new-ball bowler Kwena Maphaka jolted India in the first ball of their innings, dismissing Adarsh Singh with a nasty climbing delivery that the batter had no choice other than snicking to wicket-keeper Lhuan-dre Pretorious.

His partner Tristan Luus soon joined the fun with the wickets of Musheer Khan, Arshin Kulkarni and Priyanshu Moliya as all three India batters were indecisive outside the off-stump while hanging their bats to dry.

But the Indians found their saviours in Dhas and Saharan, who dished out innings of vastly contrasting nature and tempo.

Dhas was aggressive despite the situation his team was in, but Saharan was happy to keep his end going.

Dhas' knock was a treatise on playing cross-batted shots as he cracked a six, pulled fours besides those well-placed nudges through the vacant spots on the on-side.

Saharan, on the other hand, was more traditional but was not entirely hesitant to bring out an exquisite drive or rasping cut whenever an opportunity was there for him to do so.

Dhas reached his fifty in 47 balls, fittingly, with a pull off pacer Riley Norton and Saharan reached his half-century in 88 balls with a cover drive off off-spinner Juan James.

In the process, Saharan also became the highest run-getter in this World Cup with 389 runs.

But these two youngsters showed immense maturity not to squander the start they got; piling runs to keep the pressure squarely on the hosts.

A second hundred in this event was there for his taking, but Maphaka, the tournament's highest wicket-taker so far, deceived him with a slower ball that Dhas just managed to scoop to David Teeger at covers.

But the breakthrough came a wee bit late as India hung on to squeeze past the line notwithstanding the run out of Saharan when the scores were level.

Earlier, bowlers played a significant part in shaping India's victory, limiting 2014 champions South Africa to 244 for 7 on a pitch that offered them considerable assistance.

SA found fight through wicketkeeper batter Lhuan-dre Pretorious (76, 102 balls) and Richard Seletswane (64, 100 balls) after early blows, but those efforts were not enough to rattle the visitors.

Pretorious and Seletswane milked 72 runs for the third wicket but they took nearly 22 overs for that.

The South African top-order just could not get going against India pacers Naman Tiwari (1/52) and Raj Limbani (3/60) who found appreciable pace, bounce and carry from the Willowmoore track.

Even when Seletswane and Pretorious were reconstructing the SA innings, they failed to score at a brisk pace, as the run-rate for a large part remained under four.

Left-arm spinners Saumey Pandey and Musheer Khan (2/43) along with off-spinner Priyanshu Moliya shackled the host batters' progress in this phase, bowling a tidy line and length.

Pretorious, who tried to bring in some momentum hammering Moliya for a six over mid-wicket, departed just as the alliance began to blossom.

The left-hander, who made his third successive fifty in this event, wanted to cart Musheer over mid-wicket but a leaping Murugan Abhishek held on to a stunner to end his stay.

Seletswane also could not build on the platform as he soon fell to Tiwari, as his hoick ended in the hands of a running-in Moliya in the deep.

James (24 off 19 balls) and Luus (23 off 12 balls) helped South Africa amass 81 runs off the last 10 overs but that was not enough to stop the Indians.

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King Charles Is Diagnosed With Cancer

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Sumit Nagal's Progress Depends On Fitness And Quickness: Anand Amritraj

Rising Indian tennis star Sumit Nagal's progress and entry into the top 100 would depend on his fitness and speed, feels Indian tennis legend Anand Amritraj. Nagal made headlines last month after making it to the main draw of the Australian Open singles before getting knocked out in the second round. "Sumit Nagal's progress depends on his fitness and quickness because he cannot overpower too many people. He has to outlast them and construct the points," Anand told PTI on the sidelines of a Davis Cup celebration event at the Madras Cricket Club here on Monday.

Currently ranked 121 in the ATP singles ranking, Anand backed Nagal to make it to the top-100 in the upcoming six months, besides expecting him to be a regular face in the Grand Slams.

"He is very close to making it to the top-100 in the next six months, which will earn him regular chances into the Grand Slams." Speaking about his game, Anand praised Nagal's ground strokes, his forehand and backhand, but advised him to work on his serve.

"He was a reserve in my Davis Cup team as the captain in 2018. A very nice boy with a very good ground stroke, much line Somdev (Devvarman).

" He doesn't have a huge serve, but he is very quick and is solid off both forehand and backhand, which makes him a smaller version of Somdev. We need to wait and see how far he can get with that game type.

"I will keep a close eye on him on how much he is improving. His serve needs to get bigger, and he needs one finishing shot - the forehand probably," he added.

"Nagal, Ramkumar, Sasikumar have potential to make it to top-100" 

Besides Nagal, Anand also backed two more Indian players from the Tamil Nadu -- Ramkumar Ramanathan and Mukund Sasikumar -- to make it to the top 100 in the coming months.

While he lauded Ramkumar's serve, he feels that the 29-year-old needs to work on his forehand and backhand.

"I will tell the same thing about Ramkumar. His serve is big anyway. He needs to improve his first serve percentage and also work on that forehand to put the ball away, besides being more consistent off the backhand." "Mukund Sasikumar is also very talented. No reason why he cannot be a top-100 player. All three boys have the potential to make it to the top-100. Even if the two of them make it to that level, it would be great for Indian tennis," he signed off.

Ramkumar and Sasikumar, along with the 26-year-old Nagal, are currently participating in the Chennai Open ATP Challenger.

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PSG Tightlipped Over Kylian Mbappe Switch To Real Madrid

With just five months remaining on his contract at Paris Saint-Germain Kylian Mbappe's much vaunted move to Real Madrid continues to dominate French football news. The transfer window closed last week with Mbappe insisting he is yet to decide where he will play after this current deal with PSG concludes at the end of June, when he becomes a free agent. On Saturday both ESPN and the 'Parisien' daily newspaper reported, without naming their source, that the superstar striker would leave France and join the world's biggest club Real Madrid. A source at the French club told AFP on Sunday, however, there had been no change in the longstanding deadlock.

He has "not informed the club of any decision", said the source, despite there being an agreement that the PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi will be first to know when his decision is made.

Madrid said they had no comment to make when asked about the Mbappe links by AFP on Sunday.

Mbappe last spoke on the issue in cryptic terms in early January.

"I haven't made my decision, I haven't made my choice. But we have an agreement with the president (Al-Khelaifi) which means that all parties are protected," the 25-year-old told French television.

The France captain who is expected to head the Olympic team at the 2024 Paris Games added he would inform Al-Khelaifi first and announce the news himself once any decision had been made.

PSG coach Luis Enrique, a former Real player, said Thursday, ahead of a game where Mbappe scored his 20th league goal of the season, that the player had revealed nothing to him personally.

What does appear certain is that Mbappe has signed no deal as yet but is, in fact, locked in negotiations with Madrid over the size of his salary, an issue where the Qatar-backed PSG could easily match Real.

Mbappe is paid some 70 million euros (75.6 million dollars) a year already and as a free agent will be able to negotiate a blockbuster signing on fee on top of any salary increase.

PSG themselves appear to be pulling out all the stops to cling on to Mbappe's sublime skills after allowing Lionel Messi and Neymar to leave the capital.

Neither Messi nor Neymar have been missed as new arrivals such as Randal Kolo Muani and Marco Asnesio have struck up an understanding with Mbappe.

If the 2018 World Cup winner and 2022 World Cup top scorer does join Madrid in July, he would join English sensation the 20-year-old Jude Bellingham and Brazilian strikers Rodrygo and Vinicius, one of whom would have to make way for the Frenchman.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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