IPL 2019: Hardik stars as Mumbai Indians humble CSK by 37 runs

Agencies
April 4, 2019

Mumbai, Apr 4: Hardik Pandya was characteristically quirky as well as breathtaking and the highlight was the helicopter shot in front of its synonym, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, as Mumbai Indians humbled Chennai Super Kings by 37 runs in the IPL on Wednesday.

Invited to bat on a track that offered good bounce, Mumbai creamed 29 runs in final over with Hardik doing the bulk of scoring, his eight-ball 25-run blitzkrieg bringing the high-flying visitors to earth.

Struggling at 50 for three at one point, Mumbai raked in 45 runs in the last two overs to post 170 for five and then halted their rivals at 133 for eight to post their second win in four games. This was Super Kings’ maiden defeat and they remained on top of the table with six points.

MI were indebted to a fine knock of 59 in 43 balls by Suryakumar Yadav, who hit eight fours and a six while putting on a half-century stand with Krunal Pandya (42 in 32 balls).

Towards the end, Hardik and Kieron Pollard (17 in 7 balls) struck big to remain unbeaten and boosted the total, with the former striking three sixes and one four and the latter hitting twice over the ropes.

The title holders made a poor start in the run chase by losing their top three batsmen — Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina within the power play period, with just 33 on the board.

Watson and Raina were both caught square off the wicket by big West Indian Kieron Pollard, the bowlers to benefit being Lasith Malinga and Jason Behrendorff.

Raina was caught off a full-blooded slash by Pollard who took a spectacular one-handed leaping catch just inside the boundary line to send back the free-stroking left-hander for 16 in 15 balls.

Kedar Jadhav, who looked good in making 58 in 54 balls, with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (12), repaired the damage with a stand of 54. Hardik struck big by having Dhoni caught at square leg and then sent back Ravindra Jadeja, too, in the same over to reduce Chennai to 89 for five in the 15th over.

The dismissals of Jadhav, who struck 8 fours and a six, and Dwayne Bravo in quick succession ended the slim hopes of the visitors.

For MI, Malinga and Hardik bagged three wickets apiece while Behrendorff secured two. Earlier, MI had a slow start and also lost the wicket of Quinton de Kock in the third over with only eight runs on the board.

The arrival of Yadav to the crease increased the run rate as he played handsome drives in front of the wicket on both sides off Deepak Chahar, who he hit for three fours in one over, and Shardul Thakur, who gave away three boundaries in his second over.

Thanks to the stroke-filled start by Yadav, MI ended with 40 on the board at the end of power play, but then lost skipper Rohit Sharma off the first ball of the 8th over, caught behind off Ravindra Jadeja for 13.

Yuvraj Singh, too, flopped, caught just inside the boundary line to leave MI at 50 for three in the 9th over before Yadav and Krunal revived the sagging innings with their half-century stand.

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Agencies
January 5,2020

Mumbai, Jan 5: All-rounder Irfan Pathan on Saturday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, ending an injury-ridden career that prevented him from realising his true potential.

The 35-year-old's retirement was on expected lines, considering he last played a competitive game in February 2019 during the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy for Jammu and Kashmir.

He did not even put himself in the IPL auction pool, last month.

The left-arm seamer's bowling was like a breath of fresh air when he made his India debut against Australia at the Adelaide Oval in 2003.

He never had express pace but his natural ability to swing the ball into the right-handers got him instant success, also drawing comparisons with the great Kapil Dev.

It seemed India had found the all-rounder they were looking for since Kapil left the scene. Pathan, who last played for India in October 2012, featured in 29 Tests (1105 runs and 100 wickets), 120 ODIs (1544 runs and 173 wickets) and 24 T20 Internationals (172 runs and 28 wickets).

He was part of the victorious Indian team at the 2007 World Twenty20 and was the man-of-the-match in the final against Pakistan.

One of his best performances came on the tour of Pakistan in 2006 when he became the second Indian after Harbhajan Singh to take a Test hat-trick, removing Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yusuf during the Karachi game.

He also played a big role in India winning a Test match against Australia on a tough Perth wicket, which offered steep bounce.

Injuries and lack of form troubled him thereafter and his ability to swing the ball deteriorated.

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News Network
June 2,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 2: Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal has said that he was ashamed on seeing the training regime of Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

Iqbal said that the incident happened two-three years back as he thought to himself that why he cannot do the same even when he is the same age as Kohli.

"I must say this, it is not because I am talking to an Indian commentator, India is our neighbour so whatever things they do, it affects Bangladesh as well. We follow what is happening in India, when India changed its approach towards fitness, it impacted Bangladesh the most," Iqbal told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I have no shame in admitting this, when I saw Virat Kohli running around two-three years ago, I was ashamed of myself, I thought this is a guy who is probably my age, but he is training so much and I have not doing even half of it. We have a great example in our team as well, Mushfiqur Rahim manages himself well regarding fitness," he added.

During his initial days of international cricket, Kohli was fond of chicken which he has admitted several times during media interaction.

But in 2013, the 31-year-old batsman intentionally shifted his focus to fitness, diet, and training.

Now he has become punctual about his diet which has given him a different character on and off the field.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have also kept on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar managed to call time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 9: BWF World Championships defending champion PV Sindhu on Thursday cruised to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters after winning a second-round match.

The 24-year-old had the upper hand in the clash and thrashed Japan's Aya Ohori in straight games 21-10, 21-15 that lasted for 34-minute. The world number six will now play in her quarterfinal match on January 10.

Earlier in the day, Saina Nehwal defeated South Korea's An Se Young 25-23, 21-12 in 38 minutes. The first game saw back and forth action between both shuttlers. In the end, Nehwal kept her cool to win the match.

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old had outclassed Belgium's Lianne Tan 21-15, 21-17 to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.

Shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the tournament after losing their matches to Japan's Kento Momota and Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei respectively. 

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