Delhi Capitals beat Kings XI Punjab by five wickets

Agencies
April 21, 2019

Apr 21: Delhi Capitals avenged their shocking first-leg defeat with a five-wicket victory over Kings XI Punjab, brightening their prospects of making the playoffs of the Indian Premier League on Saturday.

Chasing 164 for a win, senior opener Shikhar Dhawan laid the foundation with a fluent 56 of 41 balls, while skipper Shreyas Iyer contributed an unbeaten 58 off 49 balls to complete the job with two balls to spare. Iyer hit five fours and a six.

In the first leg in Mohali, DC lost seven wickets for eight runs to gift KXIP victory after sitting pretty at 144 for three in the 17th over while chasing 168.

On Saturday, the home side were 141 for three at the end of the 17th over with 23 needed off 18 balls.

Colin Ingram found the fence twice in the next over to ease the nerves and push DC closer to the target.

Dhawan struck seven fours and a six before Ravichandran Ashwin ran from mid-on to the midwicket region to complete a fine catch while avoiding a collision with an onrushing Chris Gayle.

During his stay in the middle, Dhawan had some fun by dancing around the crease as Ashwin threatened to Mankad him.

This was DC's second win at home in five outings and sixth overall, occupying the third place in the standings. KXIP remained on fourth with 10 points.

Earlier, Chris Gayle smashed five gargantuan sixes into the stands before Delhi Capitals put the brakes and restricted Kings XI Punjab to 163 for seven.

Gayle top-scored with 69 off 37 balls, reaching his half-century in 25 balls and hitting six boundaries besides the towering sixes.

Coming back into the team, young leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane returned figures of 3/40, playing an influential role in helping DC rally after Gayle's blitzkrieg.

Considering the dew factor in mind, Delhi Capitals skipper Shreyas Iyer invited the visitors to bat first.

And the home side, seeking to end their run of woes at the Feroz Shah Kotla, enjoyed early success when Lamichhane tossed the ball up and had Lokesh Rahul stumped with one that turned sharply in the second over.

Ignored for the World Cup primarily because he is considered inferior to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps, Rishabh Pant did a fine job whipping the bails off in a flash, as Rahul walked back after welcoming Lamichhane with a six down the ground and a four.

Apart from managing two runs from the nine deliveries he faced, Mayank Agarwal watched the action unfold from the other end, as Gayle flayed the Delhi spinners.

The 'Universe Boss', entering the game with 421 runs from nine matches, started his onslaught by smashing Ishant Sharma's knuckle ball over long on for one of the biggest sixes the stadium has ever witnessed, the 101m maximum threatening to break the windows of The Willingdon Pavilion.

He toyed with Amit Sharma and smoked the experienced leg-spinner for three maximums, including two over the deep mid wicket region.

Before that, the big-hitting Jamaican, one of the biggest globetrotters in T20 leagues, cut, drove and swept Lamichhane for four boundaries in a single over.

It took a brilliant effort from Colin Ingram in the deep to bring to an end Gayle's stay in the middle.

After sweeping a Lamichhane delivery into the crowd, Gayle went for one too many, and Ingram lobbed the ball to Axar Patel before falling on the other side of the rope.

Returning to the playing XI, Lamichhane dismissed Sam Curran in the same 13th over in which he dismissed Gayle, to peg the visitors back.

Pacer Kagiso Rabad had 2/23 in four overs, while Axar Patel took 2/22 in three overs.

The Delhi openers started in right earnest but the young Prithvi Shaw, after showing promise, was run out after Dhawan changed his mind to leave his partner stranded at the non-striker's end.

As if to make amends, Dhawan scored two boundaries off Hardus Viljoen in the next two deliveries to take DC to 35 for one at the end of the fourth over.

Debutant left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar was welcomed with a six over long-on by Dhawan, and then, Shreyas Iyer fetched two fours by employing the cut shot as the over yielded 17 runs.

Captain Ravichandran Ashwin introduced himself into the attack and Dhawan was on the ball straightaway, pulling him for a boundary over mid-wicket.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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News Network
January 23,2020

Dhaka, Jan 23: Left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who is part of the Bangladesh squad traveling to Pakistan, posted a cryptic tweet before team's departure which raised a few eyebrows.

On Wednesday evening, Rahman took to Twitter to post a selfie along with his teammates before the team's departure and asked his followers to pray for them, writing: "Heading to Pakistan. Remember us in your prayers."

Bangladesh were earlier reluctant to travel to Pakistan. However, the officials of both the teams met in Dubai and it was after many deliberations, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) agreed to send their team for a cricket series.

Bangladesh will be playing three T20Is, two Tests and an ODI in Pakistan between January and April. The T20I series will be played from January 24-27 in Lahore, followed by the first Test from February 7 to 11.

Bangladesh will then return to Pakistan in April for the one-off ODI which will be played on April 3 and the second Test from April 5-9.

Senior players like Mushfiqur Rahim decided against traveling to Pakistan citing personal reasons. After that, five members of the Bangladesh coaching staff also pulled out of the tour.

Pakistan have also recalled the experienced duo of Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik, along with pacer Shaheen Afridi for the T20I series.

Squads:

Bangladesh: Mahmudullah (Captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Naim Sheikh, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Liton Kumer Das, MD Mithun, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Mahedi Hasan, Aminul Islam Biplob, Mustafizur Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Hasan Mahmud.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Ahsan Ali, Amad Butt, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Musa Khan, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Usman Qadir.

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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.

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