Chennai Super Kings pull off last-ball thriller, defeat Rajasthan Royals by four wickets

Agencies
April 12, 2019

Apr 12: Chennai Super Kings pulled off a last-ball thriller to defeat Rajasthan Royals by four wickets at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Thursday.

With the win, MS Dhoni has added another feather to his illustrious career, becoming the first captain to register 100 wins in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Chasing a target of 152, Dhawal Kulkarni dismissed Shane Watson for a duck in the very first over to ensure a quality start.

In the next over, a direct-hit at the non-striker`s end by Jofra Archer resulted in run-machine Suresh Raina (4) walking back.

Ambati Rayudu witnessed the dismissal of Faf du Plessis (7) and Kedar Jadhav (1) in quick succession before finding support in captain MS Dhoni, with whom he built a 95-run stand to inch closer towards victory.

However, Rajasthan tilted the momentum when Ben Stokes dismissed Rayudu (57), who tried to swat the ball with Shreyas Gopal holding on to the ball at square leg.

With eight required off four balls, MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja in the middle almost took Chennai home but Stokes nailed the perfect yorker at the right time dismissing Dhoni for 58.

Just when Rajasthan thought they would seal the match, Stokes bowled a no-ball to Mitchell Santner, bringing in an angry Dhoni to argue with the umpires, who revoked it.

With three required off the last ball, Santner finished off the game in style, smashing a six off Stokes.

Earlier, put in to bat, a late flourish helped Rajasthan recover from a loss of wickets in the middle overs to post a competitive target of 151.

Openers Ajinkya Rahane and Jos Buttler could have settled in the powerplay had Chennai skipper Dhoni not appealed for an lbw decision off Deepak Chahar a few nanoseconds before the DRS countdown ended.

Dhoni`s cheeky decision worked in favour of the visitors, forcing Rahane to walk back for 14. In the very next over, Shardul Thakur dismissed Buttler (23), leaving Rajasthan struggling at 47/2.

The Chennai bowlers spun a web around Rajasthan, taking wickets at regular intervals, including the big fish Steve Smith (15), who became Jadeja`s 100th victim in the league.

Rajasthan at 78/5 clawed back midway through the innings as Ben Stokes and the 17-year-old debutant Riyan Parag added a crucial 25 runs to cross the 100-run mark. However, Thakur dismissed Parag caught behind for 16, while Chahar cleaned up Stokes for 28.

The hosts fought back in the death overs scoring 18 runs off Shardul Thakur's final over. Rajasthan will next face Mumbai Indians on April 13, whereas Chennai will play against Kolkata Knight Riders on April 14.

Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings 155/6 (MS Dhoni 58, AT Rayudu 57, BA Stokes 2-39) beat Rajasthan Royals 151/7 (BA Stokes 28, RA Jadeja 2-20, DL Chahar 2-33, SN Thakur 2-44) by four wickets.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
July 31,2020

Hampshire, Jul 31: David Willey's maiden five-wicket haul guided England to a six-wicket victory over Ireland in the first ODI here on Friday.

With this win, the hosts have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.

Chasing a small target of 173 runs, England got off to a bad start as opener Jonny Bairstow was given LBW in the third over, bowled by Andy McBrine. Jason Roy was then joined by James Vince and the duo added 22 runs on the board before the former was dismissed.

Craig Young then got hold of Vince, who was caught behind after scoring 25 runs. Sam Billings and Tom Banton then took the charge of the chase but the latter too was caught behind which ended his 11-run innings.

Banton's dismissal brought skipper Eoin Morgan on the field. Billings and Morgan played stunning innings and kept scoring boundaries. Morgan struck a scintillating six on the last bowl of the 28th over to take England over the line. Morgan scored 36 runs while Billings played a knock of 67 runs.

Earlier, after being asked to bat first, Ireland witnessed a poor start as Paul Stirling was dismissed in the very first over of the innings, bowled by Willey. Andy Balbirnie then joined Gareth Delany but Willey struck again in his next over, removing Balbirnie.

Delany then played furiously and smashed three consecutive boundaries to Saqib Mahmood in the fourth over. However, the fall of wickets did not stop as England took three wickets in quick succession. Mahmood bowled Harry Tector while Delany and Lorcan Tucker were sent back to the pavilion by Willey.

Kevin O'Brien and Curtis Campher then took the charge and played cautiously, taking their struggling side over the 50-run mark. Adil Rashid got hold of O'Brien (22) in the 22nd over before Simranjit Singh was run out in the same over.

Andy McBrine was the next batsman and he played brilliantly along with Campher, who went on to complete his half-century. Both formed a 66-run partnership before McBrine (40) was dismissed by Tom Curran.

Campher remained unbeaten on 59 but failed to find a partner as England bundled out Ireland on 172 runs.

The second ODI between both teams will be played on Saturday.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
May 9,2020

Tokyo, May 9: As the world continues to grapple with coronavirus pandemic, the organisers of Tokyo Game Show have cancelled 2020 showpiece event.

TGS 2020 was slated to be played from September 24 to September 27 at the Makuhari Messe convention center. However, there now talks going on for holding an online event instead.

According to the Verge, this is the first time that TGS has ever been cancelled since it started in 1996.

TGS 2020 gained more attention because of its status as the last major trade show before the launch of the upcoming next-gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 25,2020

Karachi, May 25: Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq believes Babar Azam is destined to be a world-class player and is very close to being in the same league as India skipper Virat Kohli and Australia's Steve Smith.

"I don't like comparisons but Babar is currently very close to being in the same class as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith or Joe Root," Misbah said in an interview to Youtube channel, Cricket Baaz.

"He believes in the work ethic that if you want to better Kohli you have to work harder than him at your skills, fitness and game awareness."

The 25-year-old, who was named captain of the Pakistan T20 team ahead of the Australia series in October last year, was recently handed the reins of ODI team as well.

"Making him the T20 captain was a tester. We wanted to see how he will respond to this challenge. All of us agree that he has done a very good job and his biggest plus is that being among the worlds top players he leads by example," Misbah said.

"If you are a performer like Babar then it becomes easier for you to motivate the rest of the team and get things done.

"Even when I was made captain in 2010 my performances were here and there and I was in and out. But captaincy changed my game and mindset and I became a more hard-working and motivated cricketer."

Misbah said Babar always challenges himself and would get better as a captain with experience.

"He is in a zone of his own. He just doesn't want to be in the team. He just doesn't want to play for money. He wants to be the top performer for Pakistan. He is always pitting himself against other top batsmen like Kohli or Smith," he said.

"He loves challenges in the nets and on the field. He has really matured as a player and in time he will get better as a captain with experience."

Babar was the leading run-scorer of the T20I series against Australia last year. He also scored 210 runs, which included a hundred, at 52.50 in the Test series against the same opponents.

In the two-Test home series against Sri Lanka, Babar ended the series with 262 runs with an average of exactly 262.

Misbah feels Babar had changed as a batsman when he got runs in the Tests in Australia.

"Before that he was getting runs in tests but not consistently. In Australia and in the following tests against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh he changed," he said.

Talking about his experience as a head coach, Misbah said: "Having captained, it has helped me a lot. As captain I had to manage everything and also having played under top coaches ... I have seen closely their work ethics and how they managed things.

"It is a learning process. Having remained captain it is a big advantage for coaching because you know the players and their mood swings. You know which player will respond in a given situation,which player is feeling pressure in a scenario.

Misbah said it is not easy juggling between different roles.

"Most important thing as a coach is mentally and psychologically how you handle a group of players," the former skipper said.

"Sometimes captain and coach is different as you have to take tough decisions. Being chief selector makes it it a bit difficult but I had experience of creating and managing teams, I have been building teams since 2003. Till now it is going well."

Misbah feels in Pakistan cricket there were different parameters for judging foreign and local coaches.

"I don't know why it is like this why do we have different eye for locals and foreigners. Maybe we feel they have something special. It looks like every decision by a foreign coach is right. In contrast we tend to be very critical of local coaches no matter what decision they take," he said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.