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DC Rolls Over GT, Secures Win with Ease

The big victory at Ahmedabad sees DC jump from ninth to sixth place in points table and leapfrog GT in the process…reports Asian Lite News

Ishant Sharma took two crucial scalps in power-play while Mukesh Kumar shined with 3-14 to lead an impressive bowling show for Delhi Capitals to bowl out Gujarat Titans’ for just 89 and set up their six-wicket win at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday.

On a black-soil pitch which was used for the first time in this season, the ball kept low, came slow on the batters and gripped a bit for spinners. All of this was ideal for DC bowlers to bowl economical spells and keep GT on a very tight leash. Barring Kuldeep Yadav, all bowlers were amongst the wickets, with Mukesh clinching his best-ever bowling figures in the IPL.

DC were also very sharp in their fielding, with captain Rishabh Pant, who giggled at the toss before electing to bowl first, using his bowlers very well and taking two catches plus as many effective stumpings in quick fashion. In reply, cameos from Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel and Shai Hope made short work of the chase to wrap it up in 8.5 overs.

The big victory at Ahmedabad sees DC jump from ninth to sixth place in points table and leapfrog GT in the process. GT being bundled out for 89 is now their lowest ever total since entering the IPL fold in 2022. Their previous lowest total in the IPL was 125, which co-incidentally also came against DC in Ahmedabad last year.

Ishant landed the first blow by getting Shubman Gill, who hit two crisp fours earlier, to drive straight to cover. Wriddhiman Saha tried to hoick across the line against Mukesh, but chopped on to uproot his middle-stump.

GT plunged into more trouble as Sai Sudharsan, who punched and creamed the drive off Khaleel Ahmed for back-to-back boundaries, was run-out by a brilliant direct hit from Sumit Kumar running in from short mid-wicket at the non-striker’s end despite making a desperate dive.

In the same over, David Miller got a slight inside-edge off Ishant and Pant dived full stretch to his left for taking a low catch, followed by getting the decision changed successfully on review. A maiden over from Khaleel followed as GT ended the power-play at 30/4.

It became 47/5 soon as Abhinav Manohar tried to push at an outside off-stump delivery from Tristan Stubbs and Pant, with a child-like smile, was quick to dislodge the bails for completing the stumping.

A ball later, impact player Shahrukh Khan stepped down the pitch to pull off Stubbs, but missed it and Pant, despite not gathering it cleanly, completed the stumping as the ball bounced off his gloves to hit the stumps.

Rahul Tewatia went for the slog-sweep against Axar Patel, but the ball turned in to trap the batter lbw. With umpire’s call showing the ball clipping side of leg-stump, Tewatia had to depart as GT continued to slide.

Mohit Sharma tried to break free, but holed out in the deep off Khaleel. Rashid Khan, who hit a four before the half-way mark, hit the first six of the innings by launching Kuldeep over extra cover for six. But in a bid to slash a short ball from Mukesh, Rashid gave a faint outside edge behind to Pant. A ball later, Mukesh castled Noor Ahmad to end GT’s innings in 17.3 overs.

Chasing a paltry 90, Fraser-McGurk got going from the word go by lofting Sandeep Warrier for six and four, before slashing twice off Spencer Johnson for the same result. His short yet cracking knock ended at 20 off 10 balls after flicking to mid-wicket off Johnson.

Warrier got his first scalp in the third over with a well-directed bouncer which Prithvi Shaw ballooned to short third man. Porel was delightful in punching, and pulling for a four and two sixes before being castled by Warrier.

Hope nailed his flicks, and flat-bat shots to pick three quick boundaries, before reverse-sweeping to backward point off Rashid. Pant continued his impressive time by flat-batting a drive off Noor Ahmed for four, before dancing down the pitch to clear long-off for six.

Sumit thumped Noor for a brace of fours, second of which came off a bottom-edge, which also turned out to be the winning runs for DC to complete the chase in 53 legal deliveries and see their net run-rate rise from -0.975 to -0.074.

Brief Scores: Gujarat Titans 89 in 17.3 overs (Rashid Khan 31; Mukesh Kumar 3-14, Ishant Sharma 2-8) lost to Delhi Capitals 92/4 in 8.5 overs (Jake Fraser-McGurk 20; Sandeep Warrier 2-40) by six wickets

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KKR Go Ruthless on DC

It’s the first time that KKR have started an IPL season with three consecutive wins, setting themselves as potential title contenders…reports Asian Lite News

Last week, one didn’t think of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s record highest score of 277 being upstaged in IPL 2024. But Kolkata Knight Riders had other plans by unleashing a six-hitting carnage in Visakhapatnam, though they settled for 272, the second-highest score in the history of the competition.

Sunil Narine (85), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (54), Andre Russell (41) and Rinku Singh (26) produced blistering fireworks to set the base for KKR’s 106-run win over Delhi Capitals at Visakhapatnam on Wednesday evening. Captain Rishabh Pant and Tristan Stubbs scored entertaining fifties for DC in an but-obvious uphill chase of 273.

Pant continued to build up on his positive return to competitive cricket by hitting five sixes and four boundaries in a 25-ball 55, while Stubbs hit eight boundaries in his 32-ball 54 to help the hosts’ save some blushes, before being 166 all out in 17.2 overs.

Effective bowling from KKR, starting from Mitchell Starc and Vaibhav Arora in power-play to Andre Russell, Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine, ensured that the visitors’ are now at top place on the points table. It’s also the first time that KKR have started an IPL season with three consecutive wins, setting themselves as potential title contenders.

On a placid pitch, KKR produced two hours of sensational carnage by hitting 22 fours and 18 sixes, with DC bowlers minus Kuldeep Yadav and Mukesh Kumar bearing the brunt of ruthless big-hitting. Narine was quick in creating room and lofting with ease to collect runs for fun in what is now his highest T20 score ever coming off just 39 balls.

Young Raghuvanshi, a member of India’s 2022 U19 World Cup winning campaign, impressed with his wrist work and the ability take on DC’s bowlers by mixing innovation with copybook strokeplay to get his maiden IPL fifty. Russell and Rinku brought out their usual fireworks at the end to add more intensity to KKR’s stunning batting onslaught.

Electing to bat first, KKR got going with Phil Salt taking two fours off Ishant Sharma in the second over. Narine got into the act by slashing Khaleel Ahmed through the off-side for a boundary, before Salt joined in with two driven fours to take 15 runs off the third over.

Boundaries continued to flow for Narine as he smacked two sixes off Ishant – a length ball was lofted over mid-off and a short delivery pulled over deep square leg. He then guided the pacer through backward point for a boundary, carved drive over long-off for six and ended the over with a thick edge going for four to bring up KKR’s fifty at the end of fourth over.

Anrich Nortje made an immediate impact when Salt was caught at mid-off in the fifth over, but young Raghuvanshi pulled and punched off him to get two quick boundaries. Narine, who was lucky to survive on 24 when Rishabh Pant failed to take a review on a faint edge, hit Rasikh Salam for three fours and a six to complete a 21-ball fifty as KKR ended power-play at 88/1, going past 85/0 they made against RCB last week.

Post power-play, there was no respite for DC as Narine and Raghuvanshi continued to take runs aplenty against the bowlers. Narine nonchalantly hammered Axar Patel for two sixes, while Raghuvanshi was impressive in using wrists and fast bat-swing to smash boundaries, with a reverse-hit off Rasikh going over third man for six being the standout.

Narine moved to 80s with a flat-batted six over long-off against Nortje, also bringing up his 100-run stand with Raghuvanshi. But Mitchell Marsh took him out with a bouncer in the 13th over, which Narine looked to pull, but a faint nick went behind to Pant.

Raghuvanshi got his maiden IPL fifty off just 25 balls, but fell two balls later when he tried to ramp off Nortje and was caught at deep third man. Russell feasted on hit-me deliveries from Nortje and Salam to hit two fours and as many sixes before the second time-out.

Post interval, Russell smashed two sixes and a four, while captain Shreyas Iyer hammered two maximums, before getting a top-edge on a short ball from Khaleel to mid-on. Things went from bad to worse for DC as over-rate penalty was imposed for last two overs, allowing them to have only four fielders outside the 30-yard circle.

Rinku had some fun by using his strong bottom hand to smash Nortje for three sixes and a four, before toe-ending a slog to mid-on. Ishant produced a magical moment by having Russell floored with a menacing 144kmph inswinging yorker and had Ramandeep Singh caught at extra cover to keep KKR five short of breaking SRH’s record of 277.

The move of bringing Arora as an Impact Player paid off as he removed Prithvi Shaw, who was caught by mid-on taking an excellent low catch. Starc picked his first wicket of the season as Marsh nailed the square-drive, but hit straight to cover-point.

Arora was great in extracting movement off the pitch and was rewarded with his second wicket when Abishek Porel top-edged a pull to short fine leg. Starc also had his second scalp when David Warner chopped on to his stumps, leaving DC at 33/4.

Pant began to find his groove by flicking Starc for six, before bringing out a nice pick-up shot over deep square leg and pulling in the same region off Russell. Stubbs began with back-to-back fours off Arora and welcomed Chakaravarthy with a brace of sixes over mid-wicket and mid-on to bring up the fifty of the fifth-wicket stand with Pant.

Though spinners put brakes on DC’s scoring, Pant went berserk with his shot selection, power and usage of pace by taking 28 runs off part-timer Venkatesh Iyer. He brought out the trademark hook and pick-up shots for sixes, while flicking, slicing, whipping and slashing for four boundaries, including bringing up his fifty in 23 balls.

But Chakravarthy got the better of Pant when he mistimed his slog-sweep and gave a catch to cover, followed by the spinner taking out Axar Patel on the very next ball. Stubbs hit two sixes and a four to get his fifty, before being dismissed by Chakaravarthy. From there, Narine, Arora and Russell took the remaining three wickets each to seal a massive victory for KKR.

Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 272/7 in 20 overs (Sunil Narine 85, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 54; Anrich Nortje 3-59, Ishant Sharma 2-43) beat Delhi Capitals 166 in 17.2 overs (Rishabh Pant 55, Tristan Stubbs 54, Vaibhav Arora 3-27, Varun Chakaravarthy 3-33) by 106 runs

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CSK beat DC by 91 runs as Devon shines with third fifty in a row

Chasing a huge target, Delhi lost the wicket of K.S. Bharat (8) in the 2nd over of the innings. However, his opening partner David Warner dealt in boundaries and sixes to keep the run rate intact…reports Asian Lite News

An excellent half-century from Devon Conway (87 off 49) followed by a brilliant bowling effort by Moeen Ali (3/13) led Chennai Super Kings to a convincing 91-run win over Delhi Capitals in the 55th match of the IPL 2022 at the Dr. D.Y. Patil Stadium, here on Sunday.

This was CSK’s fourth win in the ongoing IPL season and they moved to the 8th spot, going above KKR on net run rate. The win also kept CSK alive for playoff contention, even though their road to the final four remains dependent on a huge slice of luck.

Conway’s brilliant innings powered Chennai Super Kings to 208/6 in 20 overs. Apart from Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad (41 off 33) and Shivam Dube (32 off 19) also made vital contributions with the bat for CSK. Lower down the order, M.S. Dhoni (21 off 8) and Moeen Ali (9 off 4) gave the finishing touches to Chennai’s innings.

Chasing a huge target, Delhi lost the wicket of K.S. Bharat (8) in the 2nd over of the innings. However, his opening partner David Warner dealt in boundaries and sixes to keep the run rate intact.

With runs flowing from Warner’s bat, CSK skipper Dhoni brought Maheesh Theekshana and the spinner dismissed the Australian for 19, with the opener being struck on his back thigh after missing a reverse pull. But, Rishabh Pant scored three fours in the same over while Simarjeet was hit for a six by Marsh and a four by Pant as DC ended the powerplay with 59 on the board.

However, Moeen Ali turned the tide for CSK. Marsh was Moeen’s first wicket as the Australian miscued a slog to long-on and in his next over Pant chopped his delivery onto the stumps while Ripal Patel holed out to deep midwicket as DC slipped to 81 for 5 at the end of the 10th over.

It soon became 85 for 7 as Mukesh bowled Axar Patel, who attempted to play a drive while DC’s final hope — Rovman Powell — was caught behind in the same over. From there on, CSK took firm control of the game. Shardul and Kuldeep Yadav batted for 27 deliveries together but they could only manage 14 in their partnership.

Barring a few attractive shots from Thakur when it was too late, there was nothing more from Delhi in the batting in the last few overs. Dwayne Bravo picked the wickets of Thakur and Khaleel as Delhi were bowled out for 117 in 17.4 overs, losing by a huge margin of 91 runs. Moeen Ali (3/13) was the star performer with the ball for CSK while Dwayne Bravo (2/24), Mukesh Choudhary (2/22), Simarjeet Singh (2/27), and Maheesh Theekshana (1/29) also picked crucial wickets.

Earlier, put in to bat, openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway gave CSK a flying start. The duo took their time to settle down and were watchful for the first four overs as Chennai were 29/0. However, in the next two overs, they freed their arms. Between them, Conway was the more aggressive and he took Delhi bowlers to the cleaners and took CSK to 57 in the powerplay.

Even after the powerplay, Conway continued his aggressive approach and played some glorious shots, especially against Delhi Capitals’ best bowler — Kuldeep Yadav, racing to his third-successive half-century in IPL 2022 in just 27 deliveries. Gaikwad also complimented the Kiwi batter well from the other end as Chennai reached the three-figure mark in 10 overs.

It was Anrich Nortje, who dismissed Ruturaj (41 off 33) to break the 110-run opening stand and give some respite to Delhi. Shivam Dube, who came to bat next, wasn’t able to find his timing and played a few dot deliveries, which slowed down CSK’s run rate a little.

However, once Dube found his rhythm, he smashed a few big sixes to up the run rate while Conway was playing second fiddle during those overs. With only four overs to go, Conway tried to up the ante but he couldn’t find the timing and edged the ball for Rishabh Pant behind the wickets. The wicket brought Ambati Rayudu to the crease and he struggled for the most part of his innings. Rayudu’s struggle also put pressure on Shivam Dube, who tried to hit a Mitchell Marsh delivery for a six but found Warner at the boundary line.

With 17 balls to go, skipper Dhoni walked in to bat and hit Marsh for a six and boundary to give a push to CSK’s innings. Moeen (9) and Uthappa (0), who came to bat after Rayudu’s (5) wicket, fell in quick succession in the last over of the innings but Dhoni’s cameo took CSK to 208.

Anrich Nortje (3/42), Khaleel Ahmed (2/28), and Mitchell Marsh (1/34) were the wicket-takers for Delhi.

Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings 208/6 in 20 overs (Devon Conway 87, Ruturaj Gaikwad 41; Anrich Nortje 3/42, Khaleel Ahmed 2/28) lost to Delhi Capitals 117 all out in 17.4 overs (Mitchell Marsh 25, Rishabh Pant 21; Moeen Ali 3/13) by 91 runs.

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Kuldeep as standout player makes DC victory on KKR by 4 wickets

KKR could reach a modest total thanks mainly to Nitish Rana (57), who shared a 62-run partnership off 35 balls with Rinku Singh…reports Asian Lite News

xxxx After the super bowling by Kuldeep Yadav (4/14) and Mustafizur Rahman (3/18), David Warner and Rovman Powell played remarkable knocks to help Delhi Capitals beat Kolkata Knight Riders by four wickets in Match 41 of the IPL 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday.

Kuldeep looked at his brilliant best against his old franchise and bowled like he had something to prove. He tossed up the ball, mixed the wrong’un and sliders well, and varied the pace.

He and Mustafizur overshadowed a fine rearguard half-century by Nitish Rana (57 off 34) as Kolkata Knight Riders were restricted to 146/9 in 20 overs after Delhi won the toss and elected to bowl.

In reply, Delhi Capitals reached 150/6 in 19 overs thanks to vital knocks by Warner, Lalit Yadav (22) Axar Patel (24) and Powell (33 not out) as they scored their fourth win in 8 matches.

Chasing a modest target, Rishabh Pant’s side got off to a worst-possible start as opener Prithvi Shaw was out for a first-ball duck in the first over, caught and bowled by Umesh Yadav. Mitchell Marsh, too, departed soon, out for 13 runs off seven balls before becoming Harshit Rana’s first IPL victim and Delhi were reduced to 17/2.

David Warner (42) and Lalit Yadav (22) raised 65 runs for the third wicket before the Aussie was out, trying to negotiate a difficult bouncer on the middle by Umesh Yadav and holing out to Sunil Narine just two yards inside the rope. Though the other batters were struggling, Warner looked in control, hitting Tim Southee to two boundaries in the 4th over and two boundaries off successive deliveries by Nitish Rana in the ninth over.

Delhi lost their way a bit after that as Lalit Yadav and skipper Pant fell in quick succession but Axar Patel kept them in the hunt as he blasted a 17-ball 24 to take them to 36 off 30 deliveries at one stage. Patel was run-out at a crucial juncture, caught short going for a second run as Shreyas Iyer made a brilliant throw running in from the boundary.

But Rovman Powell saw them through in the end, hitting a 16-ball 33 to help them record their fourth win and move to sixth position with eight points. KKR remained in the eighth position with six points from nine matches.

Delhi had to chase a modest target thanks to Kuldeep Yadav, who looked at his brilliant best against his old franchise and bowled like he had something to prove. He sent back KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer (42), Baba Indrajith (6), Sunil Narine (0) and Andre Russell (0) to finish with 4/14. It was a pity that he did not get to bowl his fourth over or could have completed a fifer.

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