Dwayne Smith’s well-measured innings helps Chennai Super Kings to beat Mumbai Indians in IPL 2014

May 11, 2014

CSK_winMumbai, May 11: In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014 game played between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings at Mumbai, the match had its fair share of spills and thrills, before Chennai won it by four wickets. It was MS Dhoni, who provided the finishing touches by smashing a sixoff Kieron Pollard in the last over of the game. The track that was holding up a little bit made sure that Chennai’s batsmen struggled to up the ante, while chasing down a modest target of 158 on the board. Mumbai’s key bowler, Lasith Malinga‘s burst right at the end made it interesting, but they perhaps were 15-20 runs short of a winning total. It was their first win against Mumbai on their homes turf.

Even Dwayne Smith, who has been in prime form in IPL 7 struggled to find the boundary with ease. Those red-lightning shots were surely missing from his bat early on in his innings. He finally smashed the experienced, Harbhajan Singh for a six with a hoick across the line. Chennai also were not helped by two decisions going against them and that too it went against their key players, Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina.

Once Smith thwacked a towering six off Harbhajan though, Chennai’s batsmen opened up their shoulders with some big hits. Faf du Plessis took advantage of Corey Andersen’s medium pace bowling by smashing him for a six. Smith followed it up by hammering Praveen Kumar for a six with another agricultural hoick across the line. Smith then reached his fifty in 49 balls. His slowest fifty in this year’s IPL, before getting out to P Kumar’s bowling caught by Lendl Simmons at deep mid-wicket.

For Mumbai, Harbhajan bowled well during the middle overs of the game, and two close decisions didn’t go his way during the 13th over of the game. He to some extent used the track that was helping him to his advantage. Malinga then, snared the wicket of MS Dhoni with a slow yorker. He could have got Ravindra Jadeja’s wicket too, but the umpire turned down an lbw appeal perhaps citing that there was an inside edge. Other bowlers tried their best.

Earlier, Mumbai, despite losing a single wicket during the first 10 overs of the innings stuttered a bit. Chennai’s spinners, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin bowled tight overs to keep the opposition ranks on tenterhooks. Even the seamers in their line-up bowled with good control. Among the seamers, Mohit Sharma was the best bowler on view. It eventually led to the dismissal of the opener, Lendl Simmons, who was caught by Faf du Plessis on the boundary line off the bowling of Ashwin for a well-measured innings of 38. It finally meant that Mumbai could get 157 for the loss of six wickets in their allotted 20 overs and that too on their home turf.

Actually, Chennai’s spinners went through their overs very quickly and that didn’t help Mumbai’s cause, as their batsmen didn’t have much time to settle down at the crease and up the ante against parsimonious bowlers. Even someone like Rohit Sharma known for playing shots wasn’t able to get things going. Kieron Pollard too lost the plot and got out early.It was left to Ambati Rayudu to play fine strokes to at least take them to a fighting total on the board. Corey Anderson chipped in with a few hefty blows right at the end.

Chennai’s fielding though, was a bit of a letdown. Samuel Badree dropped a catch off Ambati Rayudu at deep third man and there were also mis-fields. du Plessis though, made up for it with a fine piece of fielding at long-off to prevent a six. However, they would have been happy with their bowling effort.

Brief scores:

Mumbai Indians 157 for 6 in 20 overs (Lendl Simmons 38, Ambati Rayudu 59; Ravichandran Ashwin 3 for 30, Mohit Sharma 1 for 26) lost to Chennai Super Kings 160 for 6 in 19.3 overs (Dwayne Smith 57, Faf du Plessis 31; Lasith Malinga 2 for 15, Praveen Kumar 2 for 31) by 4 wickets.

Man of the Match: Dwayne Smith

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News Network
February 29,2020

Melbourne, Feb 29: India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on Saturday said the team management has given Shafali Verma the freedom to play her natural game, which has set the Women's T20 World Cup ablaze.

The 16-year-old announced her emergence on the global stage by becoming the second highest run getter in the ongoing tournament. She has so far scored 161 runs, hitting 18 fours and nine sixes in four matches at an astounding strike rate of 161.

On Saturday, Shafali hit a 34-ball 47 to steer India to a seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka after spinner Radha Yadav produced a career-best 4/23.

"Shafali is someone who loves to play big shots, and we don't want to stop her. She should continue doing the same and she should continue enjoying her game," Harmanpreet said after the match.

India entered the semifinals with an all-win record as they led Group A with eight points from four games and the captain insisted it is important to continue the winning momentum.

"It's really important to keep the momentum when you are winning games. You really work hard, so you can't afford to lose that momentum. You can't bowl same pace and lengths on these wickets, so you need to keep rotating the bowlers."

"Today I tried to be positive and got a few boundaries. In the upcoming games I'll try to give my best," Harmanpreet said.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Atapattu rued the reprieves given by her side to Shafali in the form of two dropped catches.

"I think that score was not enough, we lost couple of chances, specially Shafali, it was hard to stop her," she said.

"Yeah, I got a good start but unfortunately got out in the 10th, would have wanted to stay in there till the 16th or the 17th over. I hope we can beat Bangladesh in our last game," she added.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Jeddah, Jan 9: Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde criticised the new Supercopa format and said that "football has become a business and as a business it looks for income".

"The bottom line is football has become a business and as a business it looks for income. That's the reason we are all here," Goal.com quoted Valverde as saying ahead of Barca's semi-final against Atletico.

"It's a completely different format to what we're used to. It was always the first title and the opener of the season and to me, that seemed fine," he added.

The Supercopa was traditionally a two-legged affair played between the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Rey at the beginning of the season, but following last term's one-off meeting between Barca and Sevilla in Tangier, Morocco, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) went ahead with a full revamp.

Instead of just two teams being involved, the Supercopa has been expanded to also include the runners-up from La Liga and the Copa - meaning Barca and Valencia are joined by Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. It is also set to be hosted in Saudi Arabia for the next three editions.

"It's been changed and let's see, it will be judged once it has happened. It's interesting, with four good teams, but from a sporting point of view, I'm not sure," Valverde said.

"We must bear in mind that the football we are involved in is an industry, sources of income are sought and in the same way that there are special connotations in this country, there are also in Morocco, where we played last year," he added.

Barcelona will face Atletico Madrid in the semifinal of the Supercopa at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah on January 10.

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News Network
March 5,2020

Mar 5: India reached a maiden women's Twenty20 World Cup final Thursday after their last four clash against England was washed out, sparking calls for the International Cricket Council to include reserve days in future events.

Harmanpreet Kaur's unbeaten side were due to face the 2009 champions at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but the rain began pouring early in the day with barely any let-up.

With a minimum 10 overs per side needed for a result and no break in the weather, the umpires called it off without a ball being bowled.

Normally, five overs per side are needed to constitute a Twenty20 match, but the rules are different for ICC tournaments.

Four-time champions Australia are scheduled to take on South Africa later in the second semi-final, with that match also under threat.

With no reserve day, the highest-ranked teams from the two groups move into the final if play is not possible

That would pit India against South Africa at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, where organisers are hoping to attract 90,000 plus fans, denying Australia a chance to defend their crown.

A reserve day is allowed for the final and the lack of one for the semis has been criticised by some players, with England captain Heather Knight among those calling for change.

"If both semi-finals are lost it would be a sad time for the tournament," she told reporters ahead of the match. "It's obviously going to be a shame if it does happen and I'm sure there will be a lot of pressure on the ICC to change that."

Cricket Australia chief Kevin Roberts said he sought clarification from the ICC about adding a reserve day with the Sydney weather looking ominous, but the request was denied.

"We've asked the question and it's not part of the playing conditions and we respect that," he told Melbourne's SEN radio.

"It gives you cause to reflect and think about how you might improve things in the future, but going into a tournament with a given set of playing conditions and rules, I don't think it's time to tinker with the rules."

It is not the way India would have wanted to make the final, but they are deserving of being there having gone through the group phase as the only unbeaten team.

After opening their campaign by upsetting Australia, they beat Bangladesh, New Zealand and then Sri Lanka.

While the entire team played well, teenage batting prodigy Shafali Verma excelled, which saw her elevated to the top of the ICC T20 batting rankings this week aged just 16.

She is only the second Indian after Mithali Raj to reach number one, pushing New Zealand veteran Suzie Bates down to second.

Ranked four in the world, India had made three semi-finals before this year and lost every time, including against England at the last World Cup.

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