KKR in IPL play-offs after five-wicket win over SRH

Agencies
May 20, 2018

Hyderabad, May 20: Kolkata Knight Riders made the play-offs of the Indian Premier League with a five-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad here on Saturday.

Opting to bat, hosts SRH were restricted to 172 for nine after a flying start at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

Playing in their crucial final league game, KKR held their nerves to chase down a target of 173 with two balls to spare.

If young medium pacer Prasidh Krishna’s three wickets in the last over was the highlight of KKR’s rally with the ball, openers Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine’s scintillating start, scoring 52 runs in 3.4 overs, headlined the two-time winners’ response with the bat.

While Lynn struck a brisk 55 off 43 balls with three sixes and four boundaries, Narine smashed 29 in just 10 to set up KKR’s chase.

Robin Uthappa, who got a life early in his innings, contributed 45 off 34 balls, as the visitors became the third team to qualify for the play-offs after Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers.

There were fours and sixes galore, especially from the willows of Lynn, Narine and Uthappa, as the visiting bowlers struggled to pose any serious challenge to KKR’s batsmen. Though they lost both Lynn and Uthappa when they were going great guns, KKR were never really troubled following that smashing start.

Losing Lynn’s wicket pegged back KKR for a while. They required 52 in the last six overs but a six each by skipper Karthik and Uthappa brought the equation down to 26 off 24 balls. Uthappa and Andre Russell got out with the job yet to be done, but Karthik was there to see his team through.

Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan top-scored for the hosts with 50 off 39 balls, while Kane Williamson blazed away to 36 in just 17, hitting three sixes.

But KKR, who needed a win in their last league game to make the play-offs on their own, staged a fightback as SRH managed just 45 runs in the last 7.1 overs.

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Agencies
June 8,2020

New Delhi, Jun 8: Indian pacer S Sreesanth has slammed England all-rounder Ben Stokes for questioning MS Dhoni's intent during a World Cup match, saying that the former captain will end Stokes' career.

Stokes in his book titled 'On Fire' had questioned Dhoni's intent during India's 31-run defeat at the hands of England in the premier tournament last year.

"For Ben Stokes, I will only say that you should pray that Dhoni does not play against you in the future. Dhoni does not forget things easily," Sreesanth said during a Live session on Helo.

"I wish Stokes all the best for whenever he faces Dhoni again, be it IPL or an England vs India match. You must be earning in millions now, Dhoni Bhai will end your career. Dhoni will strike the ball everywhere and he (Stokes) can never dismiss Dhoni. Before he (Stokes) opens his mouth, he should make sure to wear a helmet," he added.

Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding had also come out in support of Dhoni and said that the wicket-keeper batsman wanted to win the match against England.

"Well, people will write anything in books these days, because people are a lot more free with their opinions and when they are writing books, they need to be making headlines at times," Holding had said on his official YouTube channel.

"...It was not the game that India had to win, but I don't think anyone can say that was a team tactic to lose the game. I watched that game and it appeared to me as if India weren't putting up their 100 percent, but I realised it was not the case when the expression on MS Dhoni's face told me that he desperately wanted to win, so I do not think it was a team decision to not try to win," he had added.

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Agencies
March 26,2020

Karachi, Mar 26: Pakistan's centrally-contracted cricketers will contribute Rs 5 million to the national government's emergency fund to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani on Wednesday said apart from centrally-contracted players contributing Rs 5 million, the employees in the board, up to the senior manager level, will contribute their one day's salary.

Those employed as general managers or on higher posts will give two days' salary to the fund.

"The PCB will collect all these funds and deposit it to the government's coronavirus fund," he said.

Pakistan has recorded more than 1,000 positive cases of the deadly virus, which has claimed more than 19,000 lives all over the world.

"It is the history of the cricket board that we always stand by the government in difficult times," Mani said.

The PCB has already given its high performances centre in Karachi at the national stadium to be used by paramedical staff working at the special coronavirus hospital set up at the expo centre in the in the city.

Mani said though cricket has been disrupted by the virus outbreak but it was far more important for the nation to stand by the government and also take all precautionary steps during the pandemic.

Pakistan's centrally-contracted players are entitled to monthly salaries ranging from Rs 5 to 12 lakh besides match fee and other earnings.

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News Network
February 18,2020

New Delhi, Feb 18: Skipper Virat Kohli has become the first Indian to reach the 50M followers mark on social media platform Instagram. Kohli, who is breaking cricketing records with each passing match, has a great social media following.

The 31-year old has so far made 930 posts on the platform and his social media posts continue to enthrall fans worldwide. Overall, Instagram's official account has the most number of followers and it is followed by Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 200M followers.

In terms of Indians with most number of followers, Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra is on the second spot with 49.9 followers while Deepika Padukone is on the third place with 44.1 followers.

Last year, Kohli had become the most successful Indian Test captain, surpassing Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Currently, Kohli is in action against New Zealand and his side would take on the hosts in the two-match Test series, slated to commence from February 21.

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