Gayle dazzles in Kings XI victory

Agencies
April 16, 2018

Chris Gayle showed that he was not yet a spent force as he smashed his second fastest fifty in the IPL to help Kings XI Punjab defeat Chennai Super Kings by four runs in a thrilling game here on Sunday night.

The 38-year-old Jamaican, who twice went unsold at the auction and was later picked up by the Punjab franchise for a base price of Rs 2 crore, played a trademark innings toying with the opposition attack. Playing his first game of the season, he hammered 63 off 33 balls and raced to his half-century off 22 balls. His fastest fifty had come off 17 balls, against Pune in 2013. His knock was studded with four sixes and seven boundaries.

Riding on Gayle’s knock, Kings XI posted 197 for seven. CSK, with captain MS Dhoni leading the way, made a strong chase. Dhoni hammered an unbeaten 79 off just 44 balls but even he couldn’t take CSK past the line. Ambati Rayudu was the other CSK batsmen to offer some challenge, hitting 49 but the target proved too stiff in the end. CSK ended at 193 for five.

Earlier, Gayle weaved a 96-run opening partnership alongside the in-form K L Rahul (37 off 22), setting up the platform for a big score. Mayank Agarwal (30 off 19) and Karun Nair (29 off 17) too chipped in with useful contributions. For CSK, Shardul Thakur and Imran Tahir picked up two scalps each while Harbhajan Singh, Shane Watson and Dwayne Bravo got a wicket each. Harbhajan Singh gave Chennai the first breakthrough when Rahul was caught by Dwayne Bravo, but by then KXIP were comfortably placed and reached 100 in just 8.4 overs. Two overs later Gayle too departed, handing over a simple catch to Imran Tahir at short fine leg off Shane Watson’s bowling. Tahir then dealt a double blow but KXIP eventually reached a strong total.

Scoreboard

KINGS XI PUNJAB: Rahul c Bravo b Harbhajan 37; Gayle c Tahir b Watson 63; Agarwal c Ravindra Jadeja b Tahir 30; Yuvraj c Dhoni b Thakur 20; Finch lbw Tahir 0; Karun c Ravindra Jadeja b Bravo 29; Ashwin c Dhoni b Thakur 14; Tye (not out) 3; Sran (not out) 0; Extras: (W-1) 1. Total (for seven wickets, in 20 overs) 197.

Fall of wickets: 1-96, 2-127, 3-149, 4-149, 5-157, 6-190, 7-195.

Bowling: Chahar 3-0-37-0, Harbhajan 4-0-41-1, Thakur 3-0-33-2, Tahir 4-0-34-2, Watson 2-0-15-1, Bravo 4-0-37-1.

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS:  Watson c Barinder b Mohit 11; Vijay c Barinder b Tye 12; Rayudu (run out) 49; Billings lbw Ashwin 9; Dhoni (not out) 79; Jadeja c Ashwin b Tye 19; Bravo (not out) 1; Extras (LB-2, W-11) 13. Total (for five wickets, in 20 overs) 193.

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-39, 3-56, 4-113, 5-163.

Bowling: Sran 4-0-37-0; Mohit 4-0-47-1; Tye 4-0-47-2; Mujeeb Ur Rahman 3-0-18-0; Ashwin 4-0-32-1;Yuvraj 1-0-10-0.

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
January 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 19: Opening batsman Rohit Sharma on Sunday became the third-fastest batsman to register 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

He achieved the feat in the ongoing third ODI against Australia here at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Only Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have achieved the feat faster than Rohit.

Sharma brought up the milestone in the first over of the Indian innings as he clipped Mitchell Starc away for a single.

With this, the right-handed batsman has become just the sixth Indian to achieve the milestone.

Apart from Sharma, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar have more than 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

Overall, 20 batsmen have more than 9,000 ODI runs to their name.

In the match between India and Australia, the former won the toss and elected to bat first.

Steve Smith played a knock of 131 runs to propel Australia to 286/9 in the allotted fifty overs.

 

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
January 30,2020

Hamilton, Jan 30: Caught unaware about the Super Over scenario, Rohit Sharma took five minutes to “find” his abdomen guard after the third T20 International against New Zealand had ended in a tie on Wednesday.

The India vice-captain said the team had almost given up with New Zealand going great guns at one point.

“Everything was packed. All my stuff was inside my bag. I had to get it out. It literally took me five minutes to find my abdomen guard because I didn’t know where it was,” Rohit said.

“I mean we never thought it would go to the Super Over, the way they were batting at one point. It looked like they could easily win the game,” he added.

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
March 3,2020

Mumbai, Mar 3: India on Tuesday retained their number one spot and captain Virat Kohli remained static at second in the ICC rankings despite a dismal Test series against New Zealand.

India have 116 rating points, six more than New Zealand with third-placed Australia accumulating 108 points. The 0-2 result against New Zealand was India's first series loss in the World Test Championship.

Kohli remains in second position in the batting rankings despite a forgettable Test series in which he made 38 runs in four innings, the ICC said in a statement.

New Zealand opener Tom Blundell and his Indian counterpart Prithvi Shaw and debutant paceman Kyle Jamieson were among the biggest movers in the rankings, released on Tuesday.

Blundell had a successful series against India, scoring 117 runs in four innings, with one half-century, which put him among the top two run-scorers in the series.

The performance meant he was rewarded with a jump of 27 places to No. 46. Shaw, who returned for his first series since his Test debut against West Indies in 2018, and made a punchy 54 in the first innings of the Christchurch Test, rose 17 places to No.76.

Australia's Steve Smith retained his top spot, holding a 25-point advantage over Kohli. Smith's apprentice Marnus Labuschagne jumped one spot to round off the top three, taking the place of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes and India opener Mayank Agarwal moved a spot each and swapped places to break into and fall out of the top 10 respectively.

Among bowlers, Tim Southee's Player of the Series winning performance against India took him into the top five, with a jump of two places to No.4, while Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult returned to the top 10, gaining four places each to occupy the seventh and ninth positions respectively.

But the biggest gainer was Jamieson, who rose from No. 80 to 43.

There was only one change in the top ten among all-rounders, with Southee dropping a spot to No.10 and team-mate Neil Wagner falling out of the top 10 with a drop of four spots.

As with the bowling rankings, Jamieson, who frustrated India with handy lower order runs, gained big on the all-rounders' table, rising 26 places to No. 22.

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.