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Knight Riders crush Royals to take top position

Agencies
April 19, 2018

Apr 19: Kolkata Knight Riders delivered a professional performance to beat Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets here on Wednesday, putting their IPL campaign back on track with back-to-back victories.

The highly-rated KKR spinners restricted Royals to 160 for eight before opener Robin Uthappa (48 off 36 balls), Nitish Rana (35 n.o. off 27 ) and captain Dinesh Karthik (42 n.o. off 23) did the job with the bat as the visitors cruised to victory in 18.5 overs.

It was a second emphatic performance in a row for KKR, who now have three wins from five games. Royals have lost two games out of the four they have played.

The away team was always in control of the chase despite losing Chris Lynn in the first over. Uthappa put up a show that is expected of him, entertaining the crowd with a blazing knock that comprised six fours and two sixes.

Captain Karthik then batted responsibly alongside Rana, taking KKR home comfortably.

Earlier Royals, put in to bat, were not able to build on the start provided by captain Ajinkya Rahane (36 off 19) and D’Arcy Short (44 off 43) after the openers shared a 54-run stand off 41 balls.

The trio of Piyush Chawla (1/18), Kuldeep Yadav (1/23) and part-timer Rana (2/11) conceded 52 runs in 10 overs, sharing four wickets amongst themselves.

KKR’s lead-spinner Sunil Narine had an off-day as the West Indian went wicketless and leaked 48 runs in four overs. Pacer Tom Curran (2/19) chipped in with a couple of wickets towards the end.

The highlight of Rahane’s knock was hitting Narine for four consecutive boundaries in his opening over.

His innings ended when Karthik effected a brilliant run-out after collecting the ball from in front of the stumps.

Rahane’s opening partner Short ended up with his highest score in the tournament so far but it was not one of his fluent knocks. The Australian, used to playing on bouncy pitches back home, later said he is still getting used to the low bounce in his maiden IPL stint.

The in-form Sanju Samson (7) getting out cheaply also hurt the home team which could never got a move-on with wickets falling at regular intervals.

Kolkata began with the spin from both sides and Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav kept things tights, conceding nine runs in the first three overs.

Rahane welcomed Narine in the next over with four hits to the fence as the over went for 18 runs.

The following over from pacer Shivam Mavi too produced 13 runs, giving the innings a much-needed impetus.

However, Royals did not get a big enough partnership thereafter as KKR spinners continued to control the innings.

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News Network
June 23,2020

Karachi, Jun 23: Pakistan cricketers Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf and rookie Haider Ali on Monday tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

"The Pakistan Cricket Board has confirmed three players - Haider Ali, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan - have tested positive for Covid-19," said the PCB in a statement.

"The players had shown no symptoms until they were tested in Rawalpindi on Sunday ahead of the Pakistan men's national cricket team's tour to England."

The infected players will go into self-isolation.

"The PCB medical panel is in contact with the three who have been advised to immediately go into self-isolation," the statement said.

Earlier this month, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was tested positive for the deadly virus.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Kingston, Jun 10: "Enough is enough", said West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo as he opened up on the raging issue of racism and called for "respect and equality" for black people, who have faced discrimination for years.

Bravo joined the likes of his former captain Darren Sammy and Chris Gayle in denouncing racism in the wake of African-American George Floyd's killing at the hands of a white police officer in the USA.

"It's sad to see what's going on around the world. As a black man, we know the history of what black people have been through. We never ask for revenge, we ask for equality and respect. That's it," Bravo told former Zimbabwe cricketer Pommie Mbangwa in an Instagram live chat on Tuesday.

"We give respect to others. Why is it that we are facing this over and over? Now enough is enough. We just want equality. We don't want revenge, war.

"We just want respect. We share love and appreciate people for who they are. That's what is most important."

The 36-year-old, who has played 40 Tests, 164 ODIs and 71 T20Is for West Indies, said he wants the world to know that they are powerful and beautiful people and gave the example of greats such as Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan.

"I just want our brothers and sisters to know that we are powerful and beautiful. And at the end of the day, you look at some of the greats of the world, whether it is Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan we have had leaders who paved the way for us," he said.

Two-time T20 World Cup-winning captain Sammy had earlier alleged that a racist nickname was used to address him during his IPL stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad and demanded an apology.

Sammy said he was called 'Kalu' while he was in India. 'Kalu' is a derogatory word to describe black people.

Gayle, who too plays in the IPL, took to Twitter to back Sammy, saying that racism does exist in cricket.

"It's never too late to fight for the right cause or what you've experienced over the years! So much more to your story, @darensammy88. Like I said, it's in the game!!," Gayle tweeted.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: "Want to know what makes him tick," said Australian pacer Kane Richardson will talking about playing alongside Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

The IPL 2020 will be played in the UAE from September 19-November 10 and the tournament will run for 53 days.

In the players' auction which was conducted in December 2019, RCB managed to bag key players like Richardson, Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, Joshua Philippe, and Isuru Udana.

In an interaction with news agency, Richardson talked about playing alongside Kohli and the learning curve which is in store for him by being in the same squad as Proteas great Dale Steyn.
"Huge. These guys (Virat, AB de Villiers) are the absolute legends of the game. Anything I can learn from them will be a bonus, that's for sure.

I am really looking forward to playing with Virat, there are few more competitive players in the world. I am really looking forward to seeing what makes him tick," Richardson said.

The 29-year-old pacer also said that he would want to learn from Steyn as to how to be consistent in all formats of the game over a long period of time.

"There are loads I can learn from Dale. He has been amongst the best at the highest level for so long. His control and ability to swing the ball without losing his pace is really impressive. 

I look forward to getting in his ear about how he performs so consistently over a long period, in all forms," said Richardson who has 39 ODI wickets to his credit.

Richardson has so far played 14 games in his IPL career so far and has picked up 18 wickets. The bowler played for Pune Warriors India in 2013, Rajasthan Royals in 2014, and RCB in 2016.

For this year's IPL, RCB has also bagged Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch, and Richardson thinks having a familiar face in the camp would help him to settle better in the franchise.

"Finchey is an awesome player and a fantastic leader. I am sure it will help to have two Aussies in the side along with Josh who is playing his first tournament after a massive summer in the BBL. We are all professionals, I'm sure it won't take long for us to gel as a side," Richardson said.

However, before the IPL starts, Australia is expected to tour England for a limited-overs series, comprising of three ODIs and as many T20Is.

The side was last seen in action in March this year as they played one ODI against New Zealand in Sydney. After the first match, the remaining two ODIs were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Talking about the series against England, Kane replied: "We will be fresh, that's one thing, while the England players have been in a bubble for some time now. As long as we get enough practice in before and possibly some centre wicket it should not be an issue."

"They are World Cup holders and the number one ranked side for a very good reason. It will be a tough series also given they will have played a fair bit of cricket together by then. We know we need to work hard on our one-day game which will be a priority over the next period," he added.

The pacer also talked about how the lockdown was like for him, and Richardson feels that everyone would come back strong as a result of this break.

"The break from playing has been refreshing, to be honest. We have come back strong and are well into pre-season training with our states. As a bowler, our loads are not at their peak but we are working towards getting ready for a tour of the UK in a few weeks," Richardson said.

The Australian quick has so far played 25 ODIs and 18 T20Is, managing to take 39 and 19 wickets respectively.

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