Connect with us

Sports

Cricket World Cup Warm-up: Australia Edge Pakistan As India Go 3,400km For World Cup Washout

Published

on



Australia edged out Pakistan by 14 runs in a high-scoring World Cup warm-up on Tuesday as India travelled 3,400km from one corner of the country to another only to be defeated by torrential rain. In Hyderabad, Australia made 351-7 from their 50 overs with Glenn Maxwell particularly ruthless on Pakistan’s bowlers. Maxwell cracked 77 off 71 balls with four boundaries and six sixes. Cameron Green was undefeated on 50, David Warner clubbed three sixes in his 48 while Josh Inglis also made 48. Marnus Labuschagne, a late call-up by the five-time World Cup winners, contributed 40.

Pakistan leg-spinner Usama Mir impressed with 2-31 as he dismissed Warner and Mitchell Marsh after the openers had put on 83 for the first wicket.

Mir’s leg-spinning partner Shadab Khan was expensive with his one wicket costing 69 runs.

In reply, Pakistan, who lost by five wickets to New Zealand in their opening warm-up, were dismissed for 337 in the 48th over.

Captain Babar Azam hit a fluent, unbeaten 90 off 59 balls with 11 boundaries and two sixes and shared a 144-run partnership with Iftikhar Ahmed who made 83 off 85 deliveries.

Mohammad Nawaz contributed 50 but Pakistan fell just short.

At Guwahati, Kusal Mendis scored a breathtaking 158 as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 294 by Afghanistan before slipping to a six-wicket defeat in a rain-hit match.

Mendis, captain for the day with Dasun Shanaka sitting out the final warm-up, made his runs off only 87 balls.

He hit 19 fours and nine sixes as Afghanistan struggled to apply the brakes with only former skipper Mohammad Nabi enjoying sustained success with 4-44.

Rahmanullah century

Afghanistan were sitting comfortably on 118-1 in the 21st over in reply when rain stopped play.

They were then set an adjusted target of 257 off 42 overs and cruised home with 23 balls to spare.

Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz smashed 119 from 92 balls with eight fours and nine sixes, sharing a 212-run second wicket partnership with Rahmat Shah.

Rahmat’s 93 was made off 82 balls and featured 10 fours and three sixes.

Meanwhile, India’s superstar cricketers endured a 3,400km (2,170 miles) cross-country journey to play a warm-up only for the match to be abandoned without a ball being bowled.

India were to face the Netherlands in Thiruvananthapuram, on the southern tip of India, but they were left kicking their heels in the rain.

On Saturday, their scheduled game against defending champions England up in the north-eastern city of Guwahati was also washed out.

In total, the wet weather forced three warm-up matches to be abandoned while four others were rain-affected, leaving teams and players frustrated ahead of Thursday’s World Cup start.

However, the weather forecast for the rest of the week in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Dharamsala — venues for first three days of the tournament — is optimistic with sunshine instead of showers.

England will play New Zealand in the tournament opener at the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

Pakistan clash with the Netherlands in Hyderabad on Friday, while Afghanistan and Bangladesh play in Dharamsala on Saturday.

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

Topics mentioned in this article



Source link

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sports

“Definitely Not” Trends On Social Media As Fans Fear They’ve Seen Last Of MS Dhoni

Published

on

By






The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) knocked out Chennai Super Kings (CSK) from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, securing a 27-run victory in their final game of the league campaign on Saturday. The result put RCB in the playoffs while CSK were forced to return home after missing out on a spot in the top 4 on the basis of Net Run Rate. While RCB fans were elated to see their team go through to the next round, a sense of sorrow crept inside millions of cricket fans, fearing they’ve seen the last of MS Dhoni as a player in the T20 league.

As the talks of Dhoni’s potential retirement gathered momentum on social media, “Definitely Not” started to trend on X (formerly Twitter), with former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan leading the talk.

Dhoni hasn’t yet clarified his stance on future, deciding to remain mum on the big decision. After CSK won the IPL 2023 title, the former India wicket-keeper batter had said that he plans to continue for at least one more year for his fans.

“Looking for an answer? Circumstantially if you see, this is the best time to announce my retirement. But the amount of love and affection I have been shown wherever I have been this year, the easy thing would be for me to say “Thank you very much”, but the tough thing for me is to work hard for another 9 months and come back and play at least 1 more season of IPL. A lot depends on the body, I have 6-7 months to decide. It will be more like a gift from my side, it’s not easy for me but that’s a gift. The way they’ve shown their love and affection, I think that’s something I need to do for them,” Dhoni had said after CSK won IPL 2023 final last year.

Ahead of the match between RCB and CSK, Faf du Plessis had quashed talks around Dhoni’s retirement, saying such things have bee speculated over the last 6 years.

“People have been talking about MS Dhoni retiring for six years, so it doesn’t really change. The conversation is about what we do in our team,” Du Plessis said.

Topics mentioned in this article





Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Not MS Dhoni, This Ex-India Star Was First-Choice Captain For CSK In IPL 2008

Published

on

By


File photo of MS Dhoni.© BCCI




MS Dhoni is one of the greats of the Indian Premier League. Whenever the name of Dhoni is taken in the tournament, the franchise Chennai Super Kings also comes along with it quite often than not. This is because Dhoni has played for the side since the inception of the league in 2008. He has featured for CSK throughout IPL, barring the two seasons in 2016 and 2017 when the side was banned. During his long stint with the team, Dhoni also led the side to record-equalling five IPL titles. Be it from the CSK franchise or its fans, the player has earned immense love and respect.

However, former India opener Virender Sehwag has made an intriguing revelation. While speaking to Fever FM, he said that Dhoni was not the first-choice captain for the franchise. According to Sehwag, VB Chandrashekhar, who was man-in-charge to buy players for CSK ahead of the inaugural IPL season, had approached him.

“VB Chandrashekhar was selecting the players for CSK. He phone-called me and said, ‘We want you to play for CSK. Delhi Daredevils want you to be their icon. Don’t accept the offer’. I was like, fine, we will see,” said Sehwag.

“Finally, I received the offer from Delhi Daredevils to be their icon player and I accepted it. I didn’t go into the auction. If I were a part of the auction, CSK would’ve bought me and made me the captain of the side. But then, they bought MS Dhoni and made him the captain,” Sehwag said.

Sehwag joined Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and played six seasons for the side before moving to Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) ahead of IPL 2024. He played two editions of the new side and then hanged up his boots.

Topics mentioned in this article



Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Ruturaj Gaikwad Pinpoints Only Factor That Resulted In CSK’s Elimination From IPL 2024

Published

on

By






After his side’s 27-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said they couldn’t get over the line in the game at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Gaikwad displayed a sloppy performance against RCB on Saturday. He was dismissed for a golden duck on the first ball of the second inning by Glenn Maxwell. Speaking after the match, Gaikwad said the wicket in Bengaluru was good, and it was turning and gripping for the spinners.

He added that the team faced a lot of challenges in the first game. He further added that CSK missed Matheesha Pathirana and Mustafizur Rahman’s presence in the squad.

The CSK skipper said he is slightly disappointed after his side failed to make their place in the IPL 2024 play-offs.

“It was a good wicket. For spinners, it was turning and gripping a little bit. I was pretty happy with what the target was. To sum up the season, I’m pretty happy with seven games out of 14. Injuries, not having Conway as well–made a lot of difference. Challenges right from the first game. Pathirana got injured, and we missed Fizz as well. When you have injuries, it is difficult to balance the squad. I couldn’t get over the line, but these things can happen. For me, personal milestones don’t matter a lot. After all, the ultimate prize is to win. We couldn’t get it, so personally, I’m slightly disappointed as well,” Gaikwad was quoted by ESPNCricinfo as saying.

Coming to the match, CSK won the toss and opted to bat first. RCB put on a fine score of 218/5 on the board, with skipper Faf Du Plessis (54 in 39 balls, with three fours and three sixes), Virat Kohli (47 in 29 balls, with three fours and four sixes) putting on a 78-run partnership, setting a fine platform for Rajat Patidar (41 in 23 balls, with two fours and four sixes) and Cameron Green (38* in 17 balls, with three fours and three sixes) to put on a 71-run stand for the third wicket.

Cameos from Dinesh Karthik (14 in six balls, with a four and six) and Glenn Maxwell (16 in five balls, with two fours and a six) took RCB to a 200-run plus total.

RCB needed to restrict CSK below 201 runs to qualify for the playoffs and surpass their net-run-rate.

In the run chase of 219 runs and the task of scoring 201 runs at least to book the top four spot, CSK lost two wickets early and were reduced to 19/2. Rachin Ravindra (61 in 37 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and Ajinkya Rahane (33 in 22 balls, with three fours and a six) put up a 66-run stand to bring the side into the game.

RCB sunk CSK to 129/6, but a partnership between Ravindra Jadeja (42* in 22 balls, with three fours and three sixes) and MS Dhoni (25* in 13 balls, with three fours and a six) threatened to take the match away from RCB. However, Yash Dayal defended 11 runs in the final over, restricting CSK to just 191/7 in 20 overs.

RCB is in fourth place with seven wins and seven losses, with 14 points. CSK is in the fifth spot with seven wins and seven losses, but they have slid down to fifth due to a lower net-run rate.

Topics mentioned in this article



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2023 Dailycrunch. & Managed by Shade Marketing & PR Agency