Dhawan strikes 97, Delhi Capitals beat KKR by 7 wickets

Agencies
April 13, 2019

Kolkata, Apr 13: Shikhar Dhawan found form with a 63-ball 97 and powered Delhi Capitals to a seven-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL here Friday, leaving two legends at the visiting dugout beaming.

Chasing 179, Colin Ingram launched one down the ground to finish the game in style and deny Dhawan what would have been his maiden hundred in this format.

Coach Ricky Ponting was the first to stand up and applaud the big six from Ingram, and advisor Sourav Ganguly had a smile on his face.

Two days ahead of the Indian team selection for the World Cup, Dhawan, who survived a review on 11, decorated his knock with 11 boundaries and two sixes, as Delhi registered only their second IPL win at the Eden Gardens.

Delhi climbed to fourth spot with eight points from seven matches, while this was KKR's second straight defeat after losing to Chennai Super Kings in their last match. They now have eight points from seven games.

Rishabh Pant (46 off 31 balls) played a perfect second fiddle to Dhawan, curbing his rash shots and showed immense maturity in a 105-run partnership from 69 balls, which virtually killed the contest.

Pant, however, fell short of his half-century as he failed to clear the rope against Nitish Rana.

Going through a lean patch since his sedate 47-ball 51 against Chennai Super Kings on March 26, Dhawan was seen going through an extensive drill under Ganguly, who gave him useful tips.

Prithvi Shaw (14) gave Delhi an explosive start, hammering two sixes off New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson, but he could not make it big while skipper Shreyas Iyer departed inside the powerplay.

There was a mountain to climb with 122 required from 14.2 overs when Pant joined Dhawan in the middle. But the duo got the job done with consummate ease.

Earlier, Andre Russell blazed away to a 21-ball 45 after Shubman Gill's brisk half-century, powering Kolkata Knight Riders to a challenging total.

This was Russell's sixth successive 40-plus score, his four sixes and three boundaries coming after youngster Gill stroked 65 off 39 balls, helping the hosts recover from Ishant Sharma's wicket-maiden first over.

The Jamaican, who was cleaned up by Kagiso Rabada with a toe-crushing yorker in their Super Over defeat in the first leg, also exacted a sweet revenge smashing the South African for two sixes in an over that yielded 16 runs.

Chris Morris removed Russell in the penultimate over when he was caught in the deep by Rabada.

Sent into bat, from batting at No. 6 in their last match against Chennai Super Kings, Gill was promoted to open the innings and the 19-year-old responded with a fine knock, his second IPL fifty, and first this season.

Gill smashed seven fours and two sixes, both against spinner Axar Patel, and along with Robin Uthappa (28), added 63 runs after a horror start.

Ishant knocked out the off-stump of Joe Denly with a fantastic inswinger, the Englishman lasting just one ball on his IPL debut.

Delhi could not have asked for a better start with Ishant starting the proceedings with a wicket-maiden.

But KKR did well to bring themselves out of the rut with Uthappa and Gill counter-attacking with a flurry of boundaries.

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News Network
April 5,2020

New Delhi, April 5: England batsman James Vince lashed out at people for not taking proper measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and said people are going out as if "everything is normal".

"Just seen the pictures of people out and about today as if everything is normal. What selfish people, surely by now they've realised this is serious. Well done to everyone who's doing their bit and staying in," Vince tweeted.

On March 13, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Europe was now the 'epicentre' of the disease.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in the UK has exceeded 4,313 with at least 708 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the largest one-day rise since the start of the outbreak as confirmed by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The total number of cases in the UK as on Saturday is 41,903, a rise of 3,735 cases in the last 24 hours.

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News Network
February 17,2020

Hamilton, Feb 17: Mayank Agarwal found form on his birthday and Rishabh Pant mixed caution with his customary aggression as India’s warm-up fixture against New Zealand XI ended in a draw here on Sunday.

The match was called off an hour after lunch with India reaching 252 for four just 48 overs into their second innings.

Agarwal, who had gone through a wretched period since the second Test against Bangladesh, retired on 81 off 99 balls with 10 fours and three sixes to his name.

To the relief of the Indian team management, Pant played in his customary manner to reach 70 off 65 balls, but also showed discretion when the opposition bowlers were in the midst of a good spell. There were four sixes -- two each off leg-spinner Ish Sodhi and off-spinner Henry Cooper.

While Sodhi was hit down the ground, Cooper was dispatched over extra cover on a couple of occasions. He didn’t curb his aggression, though, there were times when he was ready defend the spinners and also leave some of the deliveries.

Even though Pant is considered a better batsman than Wriddhiman Saha, the innings might have come too late in the day considering that the latter is a better keeper and possibly a more responsible batsman in pressure situations.

The biggest positive to have emerged from the New Zealand second innings is Agarwal’s poor run coming to an end. The Seddon Park track easing out was definitely a factor but Agarwal’s footwork was more assured as he played some glorious on-drives and pull-shots off fast bowlers.

Before this game, Agarwal had played 10 competitive games including first-class, ODIs and List A matches and couldn’t cross the 40-run mark in 11 completed innings. He even bagged a pair against New Zealand A in an unofficial Test match.

Once he had got his form back, he didn’t come out to bat after lunch giving Saha an opportunity to score an unbeaten 30, his runs coming mostly against non-regular bowlers.

The Agarwal-Pant pair added 100 runs in 14.3 overs and it also helped that part-timers like Cooper was introduced into the action.

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News Network
January 10,2020

Karachi, Jan 10: Former Pakistan batsman and current U-19 head coach Ejaz Ahmed feels that his side can beat defending champions and arch-rivals India in the forthcoming ICC Youth World Cup beginning in South Africa on January 17.

"India has a very good cricket system and it is organized but I know that we have more passion than them when we play against each other and that is how we also beat them in the semi-finals of the recent Asian Emerging Nations Cup," Ejaz said.

Ejaz, who has played 60 Test and 250 ODIs, was head coach of the Pakistan Emerging side which beat India before eventually winning the title in Bangladesh last year.

"Even in the past, we beat India because of our greater passion and this time also I know the passion of our players will prevail over them although they have a very strong outfit," he added.

The 51-year-old Ejaz, however, said at the end of the day it would be all about how a team plays on that particular day.

"It is the same in the World Cup it does not matter which team is number one or defending champions what will matter is how a team plays on a given day. I personally feel our team is well balanced," he said.

Ejaz did not believe that India would get advantage of having played a four-nation tournament with South Africa, New Zealand and Zimbabwe in South Africa before the World Cup.

"Our players have also trained hard in Lahore and we have played around 11 matches. We will also reach South Africa nine days before the World Cup and we have some practice games and I think our preparations are also very good for the tournament," he said.

The former batsman also said the absence of fast bowler Naseem Shah will not impact much on the team's performance. Naseem was withdrawn from the Pakistan U-19 squad after he played for the senior team in three Test matches against Australia and Sri Lanka.

"Look there was no controversy at all. The way we now see things is that you can't expect a MBA to go and take BA exams. That is how we look at Naseem Shah, he has made the grade for Pakistan and now he should be performing for the senior team," said the head coach.

"We have a couple of exciting young talent in the ranks. I expect Rohail and Haider to play for the senior team in two to three year's time, they are that good."

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