Chennai Super Kings demolish Delhi Daredevils

April 22, 2014

Kings_demolishAbu Dhabi, Apr 22: After their first loss against the Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings under the stewardship of the Indian skipper M S Dhoni wanted to win.

They wanted to win badly. And, Delhi Daredevils suffered as the formidable outfit batted, bowled and fielded brilliantly to massacre them by 93 runs, CSK’s biggest margin of victory in the Indian Premier League.

CSK’s batting line-up is the most ruthless among the teams in this tournament. Although Brendon McCullum lost his wicket early, everybody else in the top five chipped in. Suresh Raina, among the most reliable t20 batsmen in the Indian team, paced his knock really well to score 56 off 41 deliveries. Dwayne Smith (28) and Faf du Plessis (24) got starts, while Dhoni scored a superb 32 off 15 deliveries towards the end, an innings which will probably be best remembered for a booming straight drive against the bowling of speedster Jaidev Unadkat. Unadkat showed fantastic reflexes to get out of the ball’s way. Had he been fractionally slower, he might have been seriously injured.

CSK’s total of 177 for 7 was made possible largely due to the listless and wayward bowling of Mohammed Shami, who gave away 45 runs in his four overs. J P Duminy (0 for 26) who opened the bowling, Unadkat (3 for 32) and Jimmy Neesham (1 for 29) bowled well without being exceptional. Shahbaz Nadeem (1 for 29 in 3 overs) was expensive, and replacing him in the next match doesn’t appear to be beyond the realms of possibility.

DD’s response was a feeble one. The team was all out for 84, with only Jimmy Neesham (22) and skipper Dinesh Karthik managing to reach the 20s. CSK’s comprehensive win was helped by top class fielding, with not a single catch being spilled and Raina and du Plessis being particularly exceptional while holding on to the aerial balls that came their way. The inclusion of seamer Ben Hilfenhaus (1 for 9 in 2 overs) proved to be a worthy decision, and young Ishwar Pandey (2 for 23) who hit the deck and made the ball talk showed why he is being spoken of as a serious Indian prospect for sometime.

The solitary criticism of the CSK is why Dhoni isn’t coming up the batting order and giving himself more time before launching an assault on the bowlers. All said and done, however, the team won the match by a comprehensive margin. The facts of figures tell the story

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Headingley, Jan 25: England have become the first team in the world to score 500,000 runs in Test cricket. They achieved the feat during the ongoing fourth and final Test against South Africa being played at The Wanderers.

On Friday - the opening day of the Test match -- England captain Joe Root's single through the covers took the Three Lions to a landmark 500,000 run-mark in the longest format of the game. They achieved the feat in their 1022nd Test match.

Australia comes second in the list, with 432,706 runs in 830 Tests. India, meanwhile, are third, with 273,518 runs in 540 Tests, followed by West Indies (270,441 runs in 545 Tests).

In the third Test played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, England had become the first team to play 500 Test matches on foreign soil. Australia are the second team to play the most away Test with 404 matches they have played so far.

India have played 268 Tests on foreign soil in which they have won 51, lost 113 and 104 have ended in a draw.

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Agencies
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Sanjiv Chawla, a key accused in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje in 2000, was extradited from the UK on Thursday, Delhi Police said.

The 50-year-old British national, accompanied by a crime branch team from London, reached IGI Airport this morning, a senior officer said.

He is likely to be taken to the crime branch office for questioning, he added.

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February 23,2020

Madrid, Feb 23: Lionel Messi scored four goals and Barcelona reclaimed the top spot in the La Liga as Real Madrid suffered a surprise defeat by Levante last night, a week before the Clasico.

Madrid's nightmare afternoon was made worse by another injury to Eden Hazard, who was forced off in the second half of their 1-0 defeat in Valencia and is now doubtful to face Manchester City on Wednesday in the Champions League.

"It doesn't look good," said Real coach Zinedine Zidane afterwards.

Messi, meanwhile, ridiculed talk of a goal drought by scoring four against Eibar after four games without one, while emergency signing Martin Braithwaite made two assists off the bench, teeing up Messi and then Arthur Melo in injury-time.

Their 5-0 rout, coupled with Madrid's defeat, means Barca move back to the summit of La Liga, two points ahead of Zidane's side ahead of next Saturday's showdown at the Santiago Bernabeu.

It amounts to a considerable shift in momentum, with Barcelona away at Napoli in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 on Tuesday.

Madrid host City a day later and the plan had been for Hazard to regain form and fitness in what was only his second start since returning from three months out with a broken right foot.

But the Belgian sat in the dug-out with an ice pack around the same foot after going off and Zidane suggested it was a repeat injury after the match. "It can be weak where you've had an injury," he said.

For Madrid, playing catch-up again next weekend will be a particularly heavy psychological blow, especially given the series of off-field problems engulfing Barcelona in recent weeks.

Yet on the pitch, Messi showed no sign of distraction as the 32-year-old completed the second fastest of his now 36 league hat-tricks, after less than 40 minutes at Camp Nou.

"There's nothing left to do but stand up and applaud," Eibar wrote on Twitter afterwards.

"I won't wash my kit after hugging Messi," said Braithwaite.

Braithwaite's arrival from Leganes drew criticism after Barcelona capitalised on a curious La Liga rule that allows clubs to sign outside of the transfer window if they have lost a player to serious injury.

Brilliant Messi

Messi quickly got to work, scoring a brilliant first goal in the 14th minute after collecting the ball centrally, around 30 yards out. He had three Eibar defenders in front of him but found a way through, nutmegging Anaitz Arbilla before chipping delicately into the corner.

The second came in the 37th minute as Sergio Busquets found Arturo Vidal, who feathered a flick into Messi's path. Messi surged forward, past his stumbling opponents, and fired in.

His third, three minutes later, was the simplest of the trio and arrived only after he tried to play in Antoine Griezmann. His generosity was rewarded as a sloppy Griezmann touch meant the ball cannoned back to Messi, who apologetically poked in.

Coach Quique Setien was able to take Griezmann off with 18 minutes left and introduce Braithwaite for his debut. Braithwaite's first contribution was a skewed cross but things improved immeasurably from there, as two passes across goal gave Messi his fourth and Arthur his first.

Madrid were never in control of a chaotic contest against Levante but might have taken the lead if Hazard had done better with a long ball over the top from Marcelo, which he failed to control and then scuffed into the hands of Aitor Fernandez.

He limped off and Madrid lost their way, finally punished with 11 minutes left by a straight ball through to Morales. Luka Modric, exposed on the right side of Madrid's defence, was unable to recover and Morales caught Courtois by surprise by firing early past the goalkeeper and into the top corner.

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