Die Serie » the match, he was batting well. Thats how he bat

Leeds head coach Steve Evans felt he was protected by club president Massimo Cellinos decision to order him not to speak to the media on Monday night. Cellino left the Amex Stadium at half-time during Leeds 4-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion and afterwards banned his manager from giving a post-match press conference.Assistant Paul Raynor was interviewed by Sky Sports but Evans was told not to make any comments. The manager, under whom Leeds are currently 18th in the Sky Bet Championship, supports that decision and felt it was done to protect him. Leeds United manager Steve Evans (right) with his assistant Paul Raynor (left) When I learnt the reasons later that night and the following day then I wholly accept them, Evans said. People know Im a very emotional character.I had a responsibility to address (the performance) with the playing staff, but I can understand the reasons given. We all learned from the other night.I think people, senior to me at this football club, protected me and I respect that. I wasnt given a clear instruction as bold as that but there was a preference and I want it leave it at that. There was a preference and I respect that. When you get a request from your boss you dont ignore it. When you get a request from your boss you dont ignore it. The following day when I asked the reasons, you can either understand them or not and I understood them. Steve Evans The following day when I asked the reasons, you can either understand them or not, and I understood them.Evans apologised for his sides display, which leaves them nine points above the relegation zone.For 25 minutes in the first half the performance was unacceptable and the first thing I must do is apologise to every Leeds United supporter, who not only made the long journey down to the south coast but also to those at home watching it live on television, he said.Speculation has mounted over Evans future at the club - he is the sixth head coach in less than two years under Cellino - but the former Rotherham boss remains confident he will still be at Elland Road in the summer. Leeds president Massimo Cellino left the clubs 4-0 defeat to Brighton at half-time When asked if he felt he was close to getting the sack on Monday night, Evans said: I never lie in fear of my job because I work too hard at it and people have to make decisions whether they want you or you dont.I think Ive let myself speak about matters that are not in my remit and the one thing Ive learned is that I dont need to be a PR vehicle for Leeds United, who are big and bold enough to speak at the highest level when they need to. Raynor was very disappointed with United’s performance in their 4-0 defeat to Brighton Its a fair point. Ive allowed myself to discuss matters that dont involve us getting the points in the next game.I was down for a day or two but Im thankful to my bosses at this club who were on the phone to me as early as Monday evening coming back with reassuring words and supportive words and I thank them. 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Julian Draxler Jersey . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. Martin Guptill walked out to bat with a simple brief: take down the bowling while you still can. It might not appear radically different to how he has batted all series, but the conditions made such an approach necessary. New Zealand had finally won a toss on the tour and batting first was a no-brainer on a pitch that had very little bounce and would become slower.Up to this point, Guptills only contribution with the bat was a half-century in Indore after the Test series was decided. Here was a chance to make a difference while the series was still alive. But, he had to do it while the ball still came on to the bat; there was little scope for playing himself in and then launching into attack.And so, Guptill approached it as a glutton would an all-you-can-eat buffet near closing time. He was edgy at the crease and twice jumped out to Umesh Yadav in the first over, but eventually played out a maiden. He found his release in the next over, as he smacked Dhawal Kulkarni over the infield for a brace of boundaries. When Kulkarni pitched it short, he belted out a ferocious cut.The loft over the infield was his first-choice weapon, and the cut and flick his failsafe when the bowlers compensated with a short ball. He and Tom Latham put on 96 runs in 15.3 overs, creating a buffer for the fallow spell in the middle overs. Guptill said hitting over the top was central to his limited-overs batting in the last year and a half. I enjoy hitting the ball over the top when I can. So I just tried to make use of the ball when it was hard and I got away with it today.Unlike Guptill, his opposite number Ajinkya Rahane hasnt struggled for form. Rahane was the second-highest run-getter in the Test series, but then his place in the ODI side has never been a given. There was pressure on him coming into this game after he failed to convert starts in Dharamsala and Delhi before falling cheaply in Mohali. Rahane now had two shots at best to show why he deserved to keep his spot before Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul returned from injury.But, Rahanes ODI game is seen to be at odds with sluggish pitches like the one in Ranchi. At times over the past two years, MS Dhoni has expressed his belief that Rahane needs pace in the pitch to score, and that he struggles to rotate the strike on sluggish surfaces. This was then a crucial innings from the point of view of Rahane career - a big score would not only help India clinch the series but also prove hhe could wing his limited-overs game to succeed on slow surfaces.ddddddddddddIn a departure from the first three ODIs, Rahane took first strike. He played his usual go-to shots - the back-foot punch and the straight drive - but the real sign of intent came through a dandy upper cut off Trent Boult to hit the first six of the match. Rahane, however, didnt deviate from his natural game. There were gorgeous boundaries hit, but the familiar problems persisted. Often, Rahane, standing on middle and off stump, missed quite a few balls angling into his legs - he was eventually dismissed by one such delivery - thus missing run-scoring opportunities.With a dot-ball percentage of more than 50, it could be argued his strike-rotation was once again suspect. However, a measure of the difficulty in rotating strike on this pitch could be seen in the 22 dots played out by Virat Kohli off the 51 balls he faced. Even after Kohlis dismissal, Rahane consolidated things along with Dhoni before falling to a good delivery just when he was looking to attack. Dhoni, though, felt Rahane had done an adequate job.At that point in time I think partnerships were needed more than anything else, Dhoni said after the match. According to the requirement of the match, he was batting well. Thats how he bats and I dont think there was anything wrong.This wasnt too dissimilar to how Guptills innings shaped up. After racing to 43 off 34 balls at the end of the first Powerplay, he gritted out it till the 26th over to finish with 72 off 84. When the spinners were bowling, the ball hardly came on to the bat, but Guptill hung around, with a little bit of help from Amit Mishras fielding. Before this match, he hadnt lasted for more than 21 balls this series.While Guptill didnt look at the innings as a redemptive effort, its value wasnt lost on him. It wasnt as fluent as I would have liked, but Ill take 72 any day of the week, he said. Once the ball became a bit softer the scoring became a lot tougher and you had to grind it out a wee bit. I was happy to get through that little period.Both Rahane and Guptill set up strong bases for their respective sides - it will be fair to assume they have also earned themselves some breathing space - but it was only the latters team-mates that saw through the effort to its logical conclusion. ' ' '