A day after saying cricket gets forgotten in IPL, Dale Steyn apologises
New Delhi: South Africa pace great Dale Steyn on Wednesday apologised for his criticism of the Indian Premier League, saying he never intended to "degrade or insult" the world's biggest franchise-based T20 tournament.
The 37-year-old veteran fast bowler said his statement that cricket is sometimes forgotten amid all the money talk in the IPL was taken out of context in social media.
"IPL has been nothing short of amazing in my career, as well as other players too. My words were never intended to be degrading, insulting, or comparing of any leagues. Social media and words out of context can often do that," Steyn tweeted.
"My apologies if this has upset anyone."
Steyn's apology came after he claimed on the sidelines of the Pakistan Super League 6, where he is representing Quetta Gladiators, that money is given more importance than the game in the IPL.
Steyn had said that this was one of the reasons why he had not featured regularly in the event.
"I think when you go to the IPL, there are such big squads and so many big names and so much emphasis on maybe the amount of money players earn and everything like that, so sometimes, somewhere down the line, cricket gets forgotten," Steyn, who was part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad in the last IPL held in the UAE, had stated.
In January this year, Steyn announced that he is opting out of the IPL 2021 but will play other leagues around the world.
Steyn's decision led to RCB releasing him ahead of the auction.
Steyn played 95 IPL matches, picking up 97 wickets with a best of 3 for 8. But the South African's repeated injury breakdowns didn't help his cause and he featured in just 12 IPL matches in the last three seasons.
IPL has been nothing short of amazing in my career, as well as other players too.
— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) March 3, 2021
My words were never intended to be degrading, insulting, or comparing of any leagues.
Social media and words out of context can often do that.
My apologies if this has upset anyone.
Much love
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
