Kohli’s century guides India to 5-0 clean sweep against Sri Lanka

November 17, 2014

Kohlis centuryRanchi, Nov 17: Virat Kohli’s sensational unbeaten 139 guided India to a 5-0 series clean sweep against Sri Lanka with a three-wicket win in the fifth One-Day International (ODI) between India and England at Ranchi on Sunday. Kohli and Angelo Mathews dominated proceedings, as both men scored tons — a maiden ODI century for Mathews, and the 21st for Kohli — to become the only two men to cross 1,000 ODI runs in 2014.

India started off on a terrible note, as openers Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma were cleaned up by Mathews to leave India reeling at 14 for two. Ambati Rayudu and Virat Kohli then came together for what proved to be a tremendous partnership of 136 runs. Rayudu scored his fifth ODI half-century while Kohli went on to make his 21st hundred in ODIs.

However, Ajantha Mendis ran amok in the middle overs, knocking over Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Stuart Binny, and Ravichandran Ashwin in quick succession. In Akshar Patel, Kohli found a steady partner, and together they scored off the remaining runs in clinical fashion. Kohli remained unbeaten at the end, and even paid tribute to hometown hero MS Dhoni when he played a semi-helicopter shot for six in the penultimate over of the match off Mendis.

Sri Lanka got off to a poor start despite a severely depleted Indian new-ball attack. Dhawal Kulkarni and Stuart Binny opened the bowling, and between them got rid of both openers by the sixth over. Kulkarni induced a false shot from debutant Niroshan Dickwella and Ambati Rayudu dove forward to take a good catch. Binny then cleaned up a dangerous-looking Tillakaratne Dilshan for a 24-ball 35 with a slower in-cutter.

Dinesh Chandimal and Mahela Jayawardene then combined for a strange 28-run stand; it was strange because most of those runs came from the serene blade of Jayawardene, but Chandimal scratched around like a cat on a hot tin roof to crawl to five off 31 balls. Jayawrdene was soon dismissed as well, edging Ravichandran Ashwin to Ajinkya Rahane at slip.

At 85 for four, Sri Lanka were in serious trouble of meandering away to an early close, but then had the leading run-scorers in ODIs this year in the middle: Angelo Mathews. With Lahiru Thirimanne for company, Mathews took his time accumulating runs in the ones and twos, and hitting the occasional boundary. The duo put on a superb 128-run stand for the fifth wicket. Thirimanne was out soon after getting his half-century, but Mathews just kept going. He tore into the spinners, first hitting part-time off-spinner Ambati Rayudu for two sixes and a boundary and then dishing out the same treatment to Karn Sharma. Mathews got his maiden ODI ton in the 47th over, taking 138 games to reach the landmark. He wasn’t done though; Akshar Patel was slammed for three more sixes in the ante-penultimate over of the innings.

Thisara Perera was out towards the end, but Mathews just kept going; Ashwin was hoisted over midwicket and then down over long-off in the 49th over. In the end, Mathews’ superb ton was but a footnote in another script written by Kohli.

Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. Dickwella made his debut at the expense of Kusal Perera, while Kedar Jadhav made his debut for India, coming in for Suresh Raina. Umesh Yadav too was replaced by Ravichandran Ashwin. India have already won the series 4-0.

Scoreboard

SRI LANKA:

N Dickwella c Rayudu b Kulkarni 4

T Dilshan b Binny 35

D Chandimal c K Sharma b A Patel 5

M Jayawardene c Rahane b Ashwin 32

A Mathews not out 139

L Thirimanne c Rayudu b Ashwin 52

T Perera c Jadhav b A Patel 6

S Prasanna c A Patel b Kulkarni 0

A Mendis c K Sharma b Kulkarni 0

EXTRAS: (b4, lb2, w7) 13

TOTAL: (8 wkts, 50 overs) 286

FOW: 1-32, 2-45, 3-73, 4-85, 5-213, 6-258, 7-285, 8-286

BOWLING: D Kulkarni 8-0-57-3, S Binny 8-1-28-1, A Patel 10-0-45-2, R Ashwin 10-1-56-2, K Sharma 10-0-61-0, A Rayudu 4-0-33-0

INDIA:

A Rahane b Mathews 2

R Sharma b Mathews 9

A Rayudu run out 59

V Kohli not out 139

R Uthappa c Mathews b Mendis 19

K Jadhav b Mendis 20

S Binny st Chandimal b Mendis 12

R Ashwin lbw b Mendis 0

A Patel not out 17

EXTRAS: (b4, w7) 11

TOTAL: (7 wkts; 48.4 overs) 288

FOW: 1-6, 2-14, 3-150, 4-180, 5-215, 6-231, 7-231

BOWLING: Mathews 7-1-33-2, Gamage 4-0-25-0, Eranga 7-0-45-0, Prasanna 10-0-42-0, Perera 3-0-20-0, Mendis-9.4-0-73-4, Dilshan 8-0-46-0

TOSS: SRI LANKA

UMPIREs: B Oxenford, S Ravi

TV UMPIRE: Anil Chaudhary

MATCH REFEREE: David Boon

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News Network
June 10,2020

Jun 10: "It is never too late to fight for the right cause," said opening batsman Chris Gayle as he came out in support of former T20 World Cup-winning skipper Darren Sammy. The debate around racism in sport has kickstarted once again after former Windies T20 World Cup-winning skipper Darren Sammy alleged racism during his stint with SunRisers Hyderabad in the 2014 Indian Premier League. Taking note of Sammy's revelation, Gayle tweeted: "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".

Earlier, Gayle had also revealed that he too has been a victim of racism, and added that racism is something that has been bothering cricket as well.

On Tuesday, Sammy had released a video specifying that the racial slurs against him were used within the SunRisers camp.

"I have played all over the world and I have been loved by many people, I have embraced all dressing rooms where I have played, so I was listening to Hasan Minhaj as to how some of the people in his culture describe black people," Sammy said in a video posted on his Instagram account.

"This does not apply to all people, so after I found out a meaning of a certain word, I had said I was angry on finding out the meaning and it was degrading, instantly I remembered when I played for SunRisers Hyderabad, I was being called exactly the same word which is degrading to us black people," he added.

Sammy said that at the time when he was being called with the word, he didn't know the meaning, and his team-mates used to laugh every time after calling him by that name.

"I will be messaging those people, you guys know who you are, I must admit at that time when I was being called as that word I thought the word meant strong stallion or whatever it is, I did not know what it meant, every time I was called with that word, there was laughter at that moment, I thought teammates are laughing so it must be something funny," Sammy said.

The former Windies skipper has been a vocal supporter of the protests that are currently going on in the United States over the death of an African-American man named George Floyd.

Sammy had also made an appeal to the ICC and other cricket boards to support the fight against social injustice and racism.

Ever since the demise of Floyd, protests erupted from the demonstrations in cities from San Francisco to Boston.

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News Network
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday extended wishes to the "most prolific batsman of all time" Sachin Tendulkar on his 47th birthday.

ICC took to Twitter and wrote: "Happy birthday to Sachin Tendulkar, the most prolific batsman of all time! To celebrate, we will give you the opportunity to vote for his top ODI innings in a bracket challenge! Stay tuned to join the celebrations."

The Maharashtra-born player had an illustrious career in the game, creating several records.
Tendulkar made his debut in Test cricket on November 15, 1989. In the same year on December 18, he played his first ODI match.

The legendary cricketer has the most number of runs in the longest format of the game, amassing 15,921 runs. Along the way, Tendulkar scored 51 Test centuries, most by any player.

Things are no different in ODI cricket as Tendulkar atop the list of most runs in this format as well. He has accumulated 18,426 runs in ODI which includes 49 tons.

Tendulkar represented the country in six World Cups during his career that lasted for 24 years. He was the part of the 2011 World Cup-winning squad.

This year, Master Blaster decided not to celebrate his birthday due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the country.

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News Network
January 10,2020

Jan 10: Australian cricketer Shane Warne’s prized 'baggy green' cap raised more than A$1 million ($686,000) on Friday for bushfire relief efforts after the former leg-spinner donated it for auction.

Twenty-seven people have been killed and thousands made homeless in recent months as huge fires scorched through more than 25.5 million acres of land, an area the size of South Korea.

The baggy green is presented to Australian players when they make their Test debut and they receive just one for their entire career. The Aussie cricketer donated the cap to an online auction site on Monday. The auction closed at 10 a.m. on Friday (2300 GMT Thursday) with a final public bid of A$1,007,500.

"Unbelievable … so generous from everyone. Totally blown away," Warne said on Twitter shortly before the auction closed.

The auction attracted global interest and the price eclipsed the A$425,000 achieved by the late Don Bradman's baggy green when it was sold in 2003.

"We have been overwhelmed and it is a fantastic result," Marc Cheah, head of marketing for auctioneers Pickles, said.

"Other baggy greens have been auctioned and Don Bradman’s got $425,000 about 15 years ago, but the Don is the Don. He’s the greatest cricketer that ever lived," Cheah said in relation to the widely held recognition Bradman was the best batsman the game has produced.

"But Shane is also right up there and that drove a lot of traffic and momentum, while the cause is also very worthwhile."

Warne, 50, is one of many local and international athletes to support the fundraising for bushfire victims with several cricketers promising to donate a sum based on the number of sixes they hit in Australia’s Big Bash Twenty20 competition.

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