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Mumbai Indians defeat Kolkata Knight Riders by nine wickets to finish on top of points table

Agencies
May 6, 2019

May 6: Rohit Sharma struck an unbeaten 55 to lead the Mumbai Indians to an easy 9-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders, which gave them the pole position in the IPL table and also ensured a lucky fourth-place finish for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, on Sunday.

Rohit stitched two crucial partnerships, first a 49-run stand with Quinton de Kock for the opening wicket and then another 88 run unbeaten partnership for the second wicket with Suryakumar Yadav (46 not) as MI chased down the target of 134 with 3.5 overs to spare.

The MI captain carried his bat through the innings, hitting eight fours off 48 deliveries while Yadav consumed 27 balls for his unbeaten 46.

MI ended the league phase with 18 points from 14 matches -- the same as Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals -- but they secured the top spot by virtue of a better run rate. MI ended at a net run rate of 0.421 as against 0.131 and 0.044 of CSK and DC respectively.

MI's win meant that the KKR are knocked out of the tournament with Sunrisers making it to the playoffs at their expense on a better net run rate.

KKR and SRH ended the league phase on 12 points each but the Hyderabad-based side sneaked to the playoffs with a net run rate of 0.577 against 0.028 of the Kolkata side.

MI and Chennai Super Kings play against each other in Chennai in the Qualifier 1 on Tuesday while Delhi Capitals -- who finished third -- take on SRH in the Eliminator at Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

The Qualifier 2 -- between the losing teams of Qualifier 1 and Eliminator -- will also be played at Visakhapatnam on Friday.

Chasing 134 for a win, MI made a good start with 46 runs scored from the powerplay without losing any wicket.

De Kock (30) was dismissed off the first delivery after the powerplay with wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik completing a brilliant running catch off the bowling of Prasidh Krishna.

That was the only success KKR had as Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav took MI home in 16.1 overs. Yadav hit a towering six to end the match.

Earlier, Andre Russell failed to deliver when it mattered the most as Kolkata Knight Riders scored a sub-par 133 for 7 in their 'do-or-die' game.

KKR's top run-scorer of this IPL, Russell (510 from 13 innings) was dismissed for a first ball duck as the visiting side frittered away a good start to post a modest total after being sent in to bat.

Openers Chris Lynn (41 off 29 balls) and Shubman Gill (9 off 16 balls) registered a partnership of 49 runs in 6.1 overs but KKR suffered a middle-order collapse as the Mumbai bowlers made a splendid comeback.

It was left to Robin Uthappa (40 off 47 balls) and Nitish Rana (26 off 13 balls) to stitch a 47-run stand for the fifth wicket to take KKR past the 120-run mark.

Lasith Malinga (3/35), Hardik Pandya (2/20) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/31) were the main wicket-takers for the home side.

Lynn and Gill started slowly before they started playing their big shots. Lynn hammered veteran Malinga for a four and a six in the fourth over as KKR scored 13 runs off the over.

There was no stopping Lynn as he struck two towering sixes off leg-spinner Rahul Chahar in the sixth over as KKR finished the Powerplay at 49/0.

However, Hardik brought the home side back into the match by dismissing both the openers in quick succession. While he trapped Gill in front of the wicket in the seventh over, he sent back a dangerous Lynn in the ninth over, caught by Quinton De Kock, as Kolkata slumped to 56/2.

KKR struggled to score at a steady pace with a score of 61/2 after 11 overs. McClenaghan further bowled a maiden over as Robin Uthappa struggled to score.

In the 13th over, Malinga struck with a double blow by dismissing skipper Dinesh Karthik (3 off 9 balls) and in-form Russell (0 off 1 ball), who gloved to keeper Quinton de Kock.

KKR were reduced to 73/4 then and they never recovered from there.

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News Network
January 9,2020

Mumbai, Jan 9: Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels that the Men in Blue have the edge over Australia in terms of talent and confidence ahead of the two teams' three-match ODI series starting January 14 in Mumbai.

"In the past that wasn't the case because they were doing really well. We were trying to match that level. I feel that Indian cricket is a notch ahead in terms of talent, in terms of cricket and in terms of confidence," Star Sports expert Irfan Pathan said. "The only thing that will make it equal is the kind of pitches we are going to play in Australia because we do not have experience playing on those hard and bouncy pitches," said Pathan, who recently called time on his international career.

Recounting his favourite memory of playing against Australia, Irfan said, "It all started in Australia for me. The most memorable moment was getting my first wicket and helping India win a Test match in Australia after 21 years. Winning the Test in Perth and being named the Man of the Match is also a favourite memory for me."

Australia have already announced their team for the three-match ODI series with India. The team will be led by Aaron Finch. The other members of the team are Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Kane Richardson, D'Arcy Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Turner, David Warner, and Adam Zampa.

India are yet to announce their team but in all probability, it will be led by Virat Kohli who has been in phenomenal form over the last few years. All three ODIs are day and night affair. While the first match of the series is on January 14 in Mumbai, the second will be played at Rajkot on January 17 followed by the January 19 clash in Bengaluru.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

New Delhi, Jan 16: Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Thursday dropped from the BCCI's list of centrally contracted players, raising fresh doubts on the future of the former India captain who has not played since the World Cup semifinal loss to New Zealand last year.

The BCCI announced the central contracts for the period of October 2019 to September 2020. Dhoni was in the A category, which fetches a player Rs 5 crore, until last year.

Skipper Virat Kohli, his deputy Rohit Sharma and top pacer Jasprit Bumrah were retained in the highest A+ bracket of Rs 7 crore.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

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

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

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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