Miller delivers a killer blow

May 7, 2013

David_MillerMohali, May 7: Royal Challengers Bangalore stared in shock and disbelief. Anyone who saw David Miller bat on Monday night would have. Challengers had put up a dominant performance and were cruising before the South African left-hander produced the innings of his life, a 38-ball 101, as the Kings XI Punjab pulled off a memorable six-wicket victory at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium.

Few would have given a chance to the Kings XI who at one stage were reeling at 64-4 while chasing an imposing 190/3 set by the Challengers. But Miller (101, 38 balls, 8x4, 7x6), who had been consistently showing signs of exploding, sprang to life as Kings XI

raced away with a stunning victory right under the Challenger’s nose.

Miller’s knock was the third fastest hundred in IPL and his partnership with R Sathish, the highest for the fifth wicket for Kings XI, brought 82 runs in their last four overs.

After a pedestrian fare by their bowlers, Kings XI desperately needed their ace batsmen to rise to the occasion. But both Shaun Marsh and Mandeep Singh were back in the dugout with mere 25 runs on the board and Kings XI were quick to find themselves on a sticky wicket.

But Miller slough Kings XI off from the stupor with some sensational heaves and got the capacity crowd grooving in delight. Like a man possessed, he batted with amazing authority and urgency to scatter the field. Kings XI, who were nowhere close to reaching the target at one stage, closed the gaps in a flurry through a tornado in the shape of Miller.

His blitzkrieg triggered panic in Challengers’ rank and captain Virat Kohli was at his wits’ end. To add insult to injury, it was Kohli who dropped Miller at 41 and the left-hander celebrated it by mowing RP Singh for 26 runs in the next over with a six and three boundaries in a row.

Miller’s innings paled the entertaining knocks of Chris Gayle (61) and Cheteshwar Pujara (51) after Challengers were put in to bat.

It never takes Gayle long to break the shackles and Michael Nasser was made to feel the music with two successive sixes in the fifth over. The Jamaican makes stroke-making look so effortless that it belies the power behind it.

His effervescence seemed to rub off on a quiet Pujara too and he responded by cracking three back-to-back hits to the fence off Manpreet Gony (2-41) in the next over. It opened the floodgates and the two set out to pulverize the Kings XI attack. Runs came at a fast clip; Gayle taking the aerial route at will and Pujara attacking with flair and timing the ball brilliantly.

Gony halted their march. He knocked off Gayle’s middle stump when the latter attempted a pull but missed the line to spark frenzied celebrations. Pujara, who was looking good after completing his half-century, perished shortly while going for a slog.

The reliable middle order pairing of Virat Kolhi and AB de Villiers (38 not out) was separated by Parvinder Awana when the former mistimed a pull off a short ball and Shaun Marsh held on to the catch while running backwards from mid-wicket.

De Villiers in company of Moises Henriques (16 not out) brought Challengers back on track and they accelerated superbly towards the end to take 21 runs off last over.

It was a competitive total, one that Challengers could have felt confident of defending. But it was Miller’s night. He reached his century in style with a six, that also brought the winnings runs, and single-handedly shorn the Challengers of yet another away victory.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE: Cheteswar Pujara b Gony 51 (48b, 8x4), Chris Gayle b Gony 61 (33b, 6x4, 3x6), Virat Kohli c Marsh b Awana 14 (14b, 1x4), AB de Villiers 38 n.o. (19b, 4x6 2x4), MC Henriques 16 n.o. (7b, 2x4, 1x6). Extras (LB-5, W-4, NB-1) 10. Total (for 3 wkts; 20 overs) 190.

Fall of wickets: 1-102 (Gayle), 2-133 (Pujara), 3-144 (Kohli).

Bowling: Praveen Kumar 4-0-28-0 (2w), Parvinder Awana 4-0-28-1 (1w), Manpreet Gony 4-0-41-2, Michael Neser 4-0-62-0 (1nb), Piyush Chawla 4-0-26-0 (1w).

Runs during Powerplay: 0-6: 58/0

KINGS XI PUNJAB: Mandeep Singh c Arun Karthik b Vinay Kumar 16 (12b, 3x4), Shaun Marsh c de Villiers b Rampaul 6 (7b, 1x4), Gurkeerat Singh lbw Kartik 20 (20b 3x4), David Hussey c Henriques b Kartik 13 (14b, 1x4), David Miller 101 n.o. 38 (8x4, 7x6), R Sathish 27 n.o. 18 (2x4 1x6). Extras (B-4, LB-2, W-4, NB-1) 11. Total (for 4 wkts; 18 overs) 194.

Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Marsh), 2-25 (Mandeep Singh), 3-51 (Gurkeerat Singh), 4-64 (Hussey).

Bowling: Ravi Rampaul 4-0-27-1, RP Singh 3-0-38-0 (1w), Moises Henriques 3-0-29-0 (1w), R Vinay Kumar 4-0-48-1 (1nb), Murali Kartik 3-0-24-2 (1w), Chris Gayle 1-0-22-0 (1w).

Runs during Powerplay: 0-6: 41/2.

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News Network
July 24,2020

Dubai, Jul 24: The eagerly-awaited Indian Premier League will start on September 19 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the final slated on November 8, IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel told PTI on Friday.

While the event's Governing Council will meet next week to chalk out the final details and approve the schedule, it is understood that the BCCI has informally intimated the franchises about the plan.

"The GC will meet shortly but we have finalised the schedule. It will run from September 19 to November 8. We expect the government approval to come through. It is a full 51-day IPL," Patel confirmed the development after PTI reported the dates on Thursday.

The IPL has been made possible by the ICC's decision to postpone the October-November T20 World Cup in Australia owing to the COVID-19 pandemic due to which the host country expressed its inability to conduct the event.

Patel said that the Standard Operating Procedure to combat the COVID-19 threat is being prepared and the BCCI will formally write to the Emirates Cricket Board.

"We are making the SOP and it will be ready in a few days. To allow crowd or not depends on the UAE government. Anyway social distancing has to be maintained. We have left it for their government to decide on that. Will also be writing to the UAE board formally," Patel said.

There are three grounds available in the UAE -- Dubai International Stadium, Sheikh Zayed Stadium (Abu Dhabi) and the Sharjah ground.

It is learnt that the BCCI will be renting the grounds of the ICC Academy for training of the teams.

The ICC Academy has two full-sized cricket grounds along with 38 turf pitches, 6 indoor pitches, a 5700 square foot outdoor conditioning area along with physiotherapy and medicine centre.

As per the current health protocol in Dubai, there is no need to be in quarantine if people are carrying a negative COVID-19 test report, but if they are not, they will have to undergo a test.

While there was speculation that the IPL will start from September 26, the BCCI decided to advance it by a week in order to ensure that the Indian team's tour of Australia is not jeopardised.

"The Indian team will have a mandatory quarantine of 14 days as per the Australian government rules. A delay would have sent the plans haywire," a BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

"The best part is that 51 days is not at all a curtailed period and broadcasters will be happy with full seven-week window," he added.

While the original schedule had five double-headers, Patel said the new one will feature around 12 double-headers which means two matches each on both Saturdays and Sundays.

The Indians are set to play a four-match Test series against Australia starting December 3 in Brisbane after the IPL.

It is expected that with each and every team needing at least a month's time to train, the IPL franchises will be leaving base by August 20 which gives them exactly four weeks time to prepare.

The cash-rich event was originally scheduled to start at the end of March but the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions that were put in place to contain the virus, led to an indefinite postponement.

However, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had always maintained that the event will be held some time this year.

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News Network
May 11,2020

Mumbai, May 11: The French Open, which was postponed to September from May due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, could be held without fans, the organisers of the claycourt Grand Slam have said.

Roland Garros had been scheduled for May 24 to June 7 before the French tennis federation (FFT) pushed it back to Sept. 20-Oct 4 in a bid to save the tournament from falling victim to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week the FFT said all tickets purchased for this year's French Open would be cancelled and reimbursed instead of being transferred.

"Organising it without fans would allow a part of the economy to keep turning, (like) television rights and partnerships. It's not to be overlooked," FFT President Bernard Giudicelli told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.

"We're not ruling any option out."

The tennis season was suspended in early March due to the pandemic and the hiatus will continue at least until mid-July with many countries in lockdown.

Wimbledon has been cancelled while the status of the U.S. Open, scheduled to take place in late August, is still unclear.

COVID-19 Pandemic Tracker: 15 countries with the highest number of coronavirus cases, deaths

The FFT was widely criticised when they announced in mid-March that the French Open would be switched, with players bemoaning a lack of communication as the new dates clashed with the hardcourt season.

Organisers said last week they had been in talks with the sport's governing bodies to fine tune the calendar amid media reports that the Grand Slam tournament would be delayed further by a week and start on Sept. 27.

The delayed start would give players a two-week window between the end of the U.S. Open, played on the hardcourts of New York, and the Paris tournament.

"The 20th or the 27th, that does not change much," Giudicelli said.

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News Network
March 2,2020

Mar 2: Indian captain Virat Kohli was left frustrated and deflated as New Zealand won the second Test inside three days in Christchurch on Monday to sweep the series.

India started the day at 90 for six and were all out for 124, before New Zealand chased down the required 132 to win for the loss of three wickets in 36 overs.

It ended a disappointing tour for India and Kohli as New Zealand, who won the first Test by 10 wickets early on day four, wrapped up the series with ease.

New Zealand are now unbeaten in their last 13 home Tests, winning nine of them, and in the past decade their record as hosts is played 39, won 20, drawn 13 and lost five.

In the latest series, on traditional New Zealand green wickets, India managed scores of 165, 191, 242 and 124, reflecting the low contributions from Kohli of 2, 19, 3 and 14.

Kohli came to New Zealand as the world's top Test batsman and oozing charm as he described New Zealand as the “nice guys” of cricket.

But during the series he lost his top ranking to Australian Steve Smith and when Kane Williamson went for three in the first innings of the second Test the pressure showed when he gave the New Zealand skipper a very animated send-off.

There was further evidence of frustration when he was caught on camera yelling an obscenity at a group of New Zealand supporters on Sunday.

The end came quickly for India on day three as Tim Southee and Trent Boult tormented the batsmen with their variety of inswing and outswing deliveries targeting both sides of the stumps.

Hanuma Vihari was the first to fall, in Southee's second over, when he turned a legside delivery too fine and was caught by BJ Watling diving to his left.

Five balls later and with no addition to the score, India's other overnight batsman Rishabh Pant was caught behind off a Boult delivery that swung away.

Mohammed Shami was caught for five by Tom Blundell at deep mid-wicket and Jasprit Bumrah was run out when trying to give the strike to Ravindra Jadeja, who was unbeaten on 16.

Boult and Southee signed for most of the dismissals with Boult taking four for 28 and Southee three for 36. The swing pair accounted for 25 of the 40 Indian wickets in the series.

There was enough seam and swing available for India to keep the New Zealand batsmen guessing but Bumrah and Umesh Yadav were unable to apply consistent pressure and Mohammed Shami was troubled by a sore shoulder.

New Zealand coasted through a century opening stand by Tom Latham and Blundell before losing three quick wickets.

Latham notched his 18th half-century and second of the Test before he was caught behind off Yadav for 52, Kane Williamson had a short stay for five, and Blundell went for 55.

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