Category: Cricket

Delhi Capitals (DC) will need a strong mindset when they play Qualifier 2 on Sunday, having suffered a 57-run thrashing at the hands of the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the first Qualifier, said captain Shreyas Iyer.

“I don’t want to speak negatively about the team, but going forward it’s important to come with a strong mindset. It’s never too late, and we’ll see to it that we come back strongly,” said Iyer after the match.

Chasing a target of 201, DC were reduced 0/3 by Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult in the first two overs of their innings and could not recover from the early blows.

DC looked capable of restricting MI to a par score in the middle overs before Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya smashed more than 70 runs in the last five overs.

“I think we were on top when we got two quick wickets, and they were 102-4. We could have capitalised more at that time, and gotten two more wickets — maybe we could’ve chased around 170, but it’s part and parcel of the game. Every night can’t be yours,” said Iyer.

“We keep talking about the opportunities that we get and it’s important to have a good mindset. It’s not easy to be in the bubble and follow the same routine, but the practice we have done over the last few days, I’m really happy with the boys and their preparations.”

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Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma said that their performance against Delhi Capitals (DC) on Thursday in the first Qualifier of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was probably their best so far. Their 57-run win helped seal passage to a second consecutive IPL final.

“I guess this was our best so far. The way we came out with the intent. The way de Kock and Surya batted after we lost a wicket in the second over, the way we closed out, and then the clinical bowling. We never had any target in mind because we are a different team, and we want to play in a different way,” said Rohit at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya’s late charge helped MI score 200/5 in their 20 overs after which DC were torn apart by Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult to be restricted to 143/8.

“In T20 we always talk about momentum. We never want the momentum to shift towards the opposition. Ishan has been in great form so we wanted him to be positive. So the message was clear to him in the timeout. Please don’t be afraid to put the pressure back. Back your instinct,” he said.

Boult and Bumrah are two different kinds of bowlers and have done well to adapt to the way MI want them to play, said Rohit.

Boult had to leave the field after his first two overs but the MI captain said that the New Zealand pacer should recover in time for the final.

“I have not seen Trent yet but he looks okay. It is a big game coming up but we just wanted him to be okay for the next game. He looks okay. I am sure he will be on the park on the 10th. When you have bowlers like Bumrah, it makes your life easy. And Bumrah and Boult are in top form. When they play for different countries and franchises, they have different plans. Hats off to them for buying into our plans and executing them so well,” he said.

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Virat Kohli on Thursday turned 32 and social media was flooded with birthday wishes for the Team India skipper.

Kohli, who made his international debut in 2008, has so far represented India in 86 Tests, 248 ODIs and 82 T20Is, scoring 7240, 11867 and 2794 runs, respectively. In ICC ODI rankings for batsmen, the Indian skipper holds the numero uno spot. In Tests, he is ranked second while in T20Is he is placed at the ninth spot.

“2011 World Cup-winner, 21,901 runs, 70 centuries in international cricket, most Test wins as Indian captain, leading run-getter in T20Is (Men’s). Wishing Team India captain Virat Kohli a very happy birthday,” BCCI wrote on its official Twitter handle.

“To someone that has set the bar in fitness standards and work ethics at an all-time high and achieved greatness at such a young age. Wishing you a very happy birthday. God bless Virat Kohli,” tweeted Team India head coach Ravi Shastri.

Suresh Raina tweeted: “Happy birthday Virat Kohli. Best wishes & lots of success ahead.”

“21,901 international runs, 70 centuries 56.15 average, ICC World Cup 2011 and Champions Trophy 2013 winner Top, No.1 batsman on the ICC ODI Rankings. Happy birthday to the extraordinary Virat Kohli,” tweeted the official handle of ICC while putting out some stats.

On Wednesday, Kohli found a mention in ICC’s throwback video-tweet wherein the then U-19 captain can be seen giving his introduction in the U-19 World Cup in 2008. He described himself as a “right-arm quick bowler”, something which went viral on social media.

“Many more happy returns of the day Virat Kohli. May you find ever more joy, success and love,” said VVS Laxman while extending birthday wishes for the India captain.

“I wish you a very happy birthday. May you have many more years of success and happiness ahead!” said Mohammad Shami.

“Happy Birthday Virat Kohli! To all the amazing times we’ve had together this year, & here’s to many more! Wishing you a wonderful birthday…lots of love and good-wishes!” said Wriddhiman Saha.

Kohli is currently leading Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 13th IPL edition where his team has managed to reach the playoffs. RCB will be facing SunRisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator on Friday.

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Star Indian batsmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have maintained their top two positions in the latest ICC ODI rankings for batters which got updated on Wednesday following the conclusion of three-match series between Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile Pakistan all-rounder Imad Wasim has gained three spots to reach 49th position even as captain Babar Azam has bridged the gap a little with the Indian pair. Babar’s 221 runs, which include a knock of 125 in the third match on Tuesday evening, see him gain eight points though he remains in third position.

For Zimbabwe, Brendan Taylor and Sean Williams have advanced among batters after slamming fine centuries in the series. Taylor has progressed nine slots to 42nd position after scoring 204 runs including a knock of 112 in the first match. Williams has advanced 12 places to 46th position with 197 runs including an unbeaten 118 in the final match.

In the list of bowlers, New Zealand pace spearhead Trent Boult remains at the top spot, followed by India’s Jasprit Bumrah. Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has achieved a career-best 16th position in the Rankings after a notable performance in the series with the hosts won 2-1.

Shaheen has gained eight places to move into the top 20 for the first time in his career with a match-winning haul of 5/49 in the opening ODI of the series in Rawalpindi.

Wahab Riaz, also a left-arm fast bowler like Shaheen, is another one to gain in the latest rankings update. He has moved up six places to 60th position, grabbing five wickets in two matches, including a haul of 4/41 in the second match of the series.

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Openers David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha on Tuesday took SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) to an emphatic 10-wicket win over Mumbai Indians (MI) and took their team to a third-place finish on the Indian Premier League (IPL) points table.

Captain Warner (85 runs off 58 balls) and Saha’s (58 not out off 45) 151-run opening partnership helped their team chase down a target of 150 without losing a wicket. MI scored 149 for eight wkts in 20 overs and SRH made 151 without loss in 17.1 overs.

Warner scored the winning four off the first ball of the 18th over. It was his 10th four of the innings in which he also hit one six. Saha hit seven fours and one six.

Saha provided the acceleration in the first three overs, racing to 21 off 13 balls after which Warner caught up with him. The pair went neck and neck, before Warner pushed up after the 12th over. This is the first time since 2011 that MI have fallen to a 10-wicket loss.

Earlier, Kieron Pollard’s late charge helped MI reach close to the 150-run mark after Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma and Shahbaz Nadeem starved the batsmen of runs in the middle overs. MI scored 51 runs in the last five overs, most of them courtesy Pollard, who scored 41 off 25 balls. He hit two fours and four sixes in his innings before falling to his West Indies teammate Jason Holder.

Holder put up yet another influential performance with the ball for SRH in the ‘death’ overs, dismissing Nathan Coulter-Nile as well and conceding just 25 runs in his four overs.

Brief scores: MI 149/8 wkts in 20 overs (Kieron Pollard 41, Suryakumar Yadav 36; Sandeep Sharma 3/34) lost to SRH 151/0 wkt in 17.1 overs (David Warner 85 not out, Wriddhiman Saha 58 not out; Dhawal Kulkarni 0/22) by 10 wkts

Also Read: Tendulkar urges making batsman’s helmet mandatory

Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday called on the authorities to make the use of helmet mandatory for batsmen at professional level.

The Indian batting maestro, who rarely batted without helmet during his playing days, tweeted a video of an incident from an October 24 Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Kings XI Punjab and SunRisers Hyderabad.

During the game, Vijay Shankar was hit on the face by a throw from KXIP fielder Nicholas Pooran while the SRH batsman was reaching the crease to complete a run.

“The game has become faster but is it getting safer? Recently we witnessed an incident which could’ve been nasty. Be it a spinner or pacer, wearing a HELMET should be MANDATORY for batsmen at professional levels,” said Tendulkar alongwith the video.

He then tagged Team India head coach Ravi Shastri in another tweet and said, “This also reminded me of the time when you got hit after top-edging a full toss bowled by Mr Gavaskar during an exhibition game. That could’ve been a grave injury too but thankfully wasn’t!”

In recent times, there have been demands to use helmets with extra protection like neck guard after Australian batsman Phil Hughes died in a Sheffield Shield game in November, 2014. The batsman was hit below the helmet on the left upper side of his neck by a delivery from Sean Abbott.

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Delhi Capitals (DC) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by six wickets in their last league match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to enter the playoffs with a second-place finish on the points table. RCB, too, qualified for the playoffs by virtue of stretching DC to the 19th over and maintaining their net run rate above Kolkata Knight Riders.

RCB’s final spot on the points table will, however, be decided after Tuesday’s match between SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Mumbai Indians (MI). If SRH, who are on 12 points, win, RCB will finish fourth but if MI win, they will finish third and KKR will finish fourth.

As for DC, Monday’s win guarantees them two shots at entering the final, the first of which will be on Thursday against Mumbai Indians in the Qualifier 1.

Shikhar Dhawan (54 off 41 balls) and Ajinkya Rahane (60 off 46) helped DC scale the 152-run target set by RCB. They added 88 runs for the second wicket to keep DC on track after Prithvi Shaw suffered yet another failure, getting bowled by Mohammed Siraj early in the innings for nine.

RCB spin attack, comprising Shahbaz Ahmed (2/26), Washington Sundar (1/24) and Yuzvendra Chahal (0-29), ensured that DC were stretched beyond 17.3 overs to be ahead of KKR’s net run rate.

Earlier, after DC won the toss and elected to bowl, South African fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje shared five wickets to help them restrict RCB to 152/7 wickets in 20 overs.

Nortje took three wickets for 33 while Rabada took two for 30 as RCB found the going tough.

Opener Devdutt Padikkal made 50 off 41 balls with five fours while AB de Villiers scored 35 off 21 deliveries.
Skipper Virat Kohli made 29 and shared a 57-run partnership for the second wicket with Padikkal.

Brief scores: RCB 152/7 wkts in 20 overs (D Padikkal 50, AB de Villiers 35, V Kohli 29, A Nortje 3/33, K Rabada 2/30) lost to DC 154/4 in 19 overs (A Rahane 60, S Dhawan 54, S Ahmed 2/26) by 6 wkts

Chris Gayle on Friday became the first batsman to get to 1,000 sixes in T20 cricket history when he smashed the seventh of his eight sixes during his belligerent 99 against Rajasthan Royals in an Indian Premier League match here.

“Oh 1,000 sixes! I do not know the record [of 1,000 sixes]. Still have to be hitting it well at the age of 41. Got to give thanks for that,” said Gayle when told about his milestone.

Gayle, 41, is way ahead of his nearest competitor, fellow West Indian and a Mumbai Indians’ player Kieron Pollard, who has hit 690 sixes in T20 format and is 311 adrift of Gayle’s 1,001.

The left-handed batsman, who was benched in the initial part of the tournament, has got starts in all the innings since his comeback to the XI. He had a highest score of 53 this season before Friday’s knock. This was his third 50-plus score in six matches in this IPL.

Gayle hit eight sixes and six fours, scoring 72 of his 99 in boundaries. In the remaining 27 runs he ran between the wickets, he also took a very cheeky couple once.

The Jamaican was disappointed when he was bowled for 99 by Jofra Archer in the last over and threw his bat away in disappointment. However, he regained his composure soon after and went on to shake hands with Archer, who too was born in the West Indies but now plays for England.

“Getting out on 99 is unfortunate. These things will happen but it was a good ball; still feeling good. To be honest, it is all about the mental aspect of my game and that is what keeps me going. I am enjoying the cricket the same way. I would love to have the IPL trophy under my belt,” Gayle said after his innings.

“The hard work and the dedication over the years have paid off. To the guys, who I promised to get a century, I missed out today but in my mind, it is a century.”

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England’s Eileen Whelan, the oldest living Test cricketer across genders, turned 109th on Friday.

Eileen, who played seven Tests for England between 1937 and 1949, either side of the World War II, was born in 1911 in London and played as a specialist bowler. In 2011, she became the first female cricketer to reach 100 years of age. She took 10 wickets from seven matches and aggregated 38 in 10 Test innings.

The International Cricket Council on Friday wished her on twitter, “Eileen Ash (nee Whelan) world’s oldest, who played seven Tests for England from 1937 to 1949, is the oldest living Test cricketer. She celebrates her 109th birthday today. When current England captain @Heatherknight55 met the legend in 2018, she was left enriched in yoga lessons and old cricket tales.”

The oldest living male cricketer at the moment is John Watkins of South Africa, who is 97 while the oldest living Indian Test cricketer is Dattajirao Gakekwad who turned 92 this week.

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Ravindra Jadeja slammed consecutive sixes off the last two balls of the match to take Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to a six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday.

Jadeja scored 30 off 11 balls and followed up Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 72 and Ambati Rayudu’s 38 to take CSK to their second consecutive win. Chasing KKR’s 172/5 wickets, CSK ended their innings on 178/4 wickets off 20 overs at the Dubai International Stadium.

The defeat keeps KKR in fifth place on 12 points with one game left to play. Their inferior net run rate puts them below Kings XI Punjab, with whom they share 12 points. The result also confirms league leaders Mumbai Indians’ qualification for the playoffs.

CSK got off to a 50-run opening partnership between Shane Watson and Gaikwad. This was followed by a 68-run stand between Gaikwad and Rayudu before KKR got back into the game. Spinner Sunil Narine kept the run rate in check after which Pat Cummins dismissed Rayudu.

Varun Chakravarthy then got the wicket of CSK captain MS Dhoni before Cummins struck again with the wicket of Gaikwad.

However, the penultimate over bowled by Lockie Ferguson went for 20 runs, with Jadeja hitting two fours and a six off a free hit. Jadeja then hit back to back sixes off the last two balls of the final over to take them to victory.

Earlier, Nitish Rana hit 10 fours and four sixes, three of which came on the trot in the 16th over, on his way to 87 off 61 balls as KKR scored 172/6 wickets in their 20 overs. He fell in the 18th over to Lungi Ngidi after which Karthik saw them through to the last over, with captain Eoin Morgan chipping with 15 off 12 balls.

Brief scores: KKR 172/5 wkts in 20 overs (Nitish Rana 87, Shubman Gill 26; Lungi Ngidi 2/34) lost to CSK 178/4 wkts in 20 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 72, Ambati Rayudu 38; Varun Chakravarthy 2/20) by 6 wkts