SA vs Pak: Akmal, Gul star in Pakistan's thrilling win over South Africa

September 28, 2012

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Colombo, September 28: A fiery cameo by Umar Gul and sensible show by Umar Akmal helped Pakistan snatch victory from the jaws of defeat of South Africa in the Super Eight clash of the World Twenty 20 in Colombo on Friday.

Chasing 134, Pakistan were struggling at 76/7 in 14.3 overs, before Gul executed a brilliant turnaround with his big hits.

Dale Steyn who earlier dismissed Imran Nazir, scalped Arafat.

JP Duminy gave Pakistan sixth blow by dismissing Shahid Afridi just after Jacques Kallis send back a struggling Shoaib Malik. Malik scored just 12 after facing 26 deliveries.

Earlier, Robin Peterson dismissed skipper Mohammad Hafeez (15) and Nasir Jamshed (0) in quick succession after Dale Steyn got rid off Imran Nazir (14) to reduce Pakistan to 31/3.

Steyn got opener Nazir caught by de Villiers near boundary line while both Hafeez and Jamshed was stumped out.

Kamran Akmal was the fourth batsman to fall at the score of 37 in the seventh over. Akmal was bowled out by Johan Botha.

At the score of 63, Kallis got Malik caught by Dale Steyn in the 12th over. Before addition of any run on the board, Duminy scalped Afridi to leave Pakistan reeling.

A brilliant performance by Pakistan's spin quartet helped them restrict South Africa to a mediocre 133 for six in their Group 2 Super Eights match at the ICC World Twenty20 on Friday.

South African captain AB de Villiers' decision to bat first backfired badly on a slow Premadasa track that saw Pakistan's opening bowler Umar Gul being brought into the attack in the 18th over of the innings.

Skipper Mohammad Hafeez had impressive figures of two for 23 while Saeed Ajmal gave only 26 runs in his four overs while taking the wicket of Richard Levi. Left-armer Raza Hasan and legspinner Shahid Afridi too were economical.

Seamer Yasir Arafat also used variations to good effect taking two for 25 in the process.

Jean-Paul Duminy, with an useful 48 off 38 balls, was the only South African batsman who was able to play a responsible innings. He struck two sixes and two fours. His 44-run partnership for the fifth wicket with skipper De Villiers, who contributed 25, helped South Africa reach a total which had some respectability.

After Hashim Amla was dropped by Kamran Akmal off left-arm spinner Raza's bowling, the world's premier batsman couldn't cash in on the opportunity as he offered a catch to Shoaib Malik in covers after Arafat had bowled a slower delivery. Amla made only six.

The dangerous Levi was the next man out after scoring only eight off nine deliveries when he went for an ugly reverse sweep to get bowled round his legs.

The slowness of the pitch increased the woes for the Proteas who found it increasingly difficult to hit the big shots. Even young Raza was difficult to get away as he gave only 12 runs in his three overs, including a maiden.


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Agencies
May 9,2020

Tokyo, May 9: As the world continues to grapple with coronavirus pandemic, the organisers of Tokyo Game Show have cancelled 2020 showpiece event.

TGS 2020 was slated to be played from September 24 to September 27 at the Makuhari Messe convention center. However, there now talks going on for holding an online event instead.

According to the Verge, this is the first time that TGS has ever been cancelled since it started in 1996.

TGS 2020 gained more attention because of its status as the last major trade show before the launch of the upcoming next-gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

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News Network
May 14,2020

New Delhi, May 14: Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an unconventional and unique leader, whose biggest strength is his incredible gut feeling, says his Chennai Super Kings teammate Faf du Plessis.

The former South Africa skipper has spent considerable time with Dhoni after joining the Indian Premier League (IPL) side in 2011 and has been an integral part of its successful journey.

"He reads the others player really well and he uses that to make instinctive decisions on the field. He's got an incredible gut feeling on the game and I think that's his biggest strength," du Plessis said in a Facebook live session with Bangladesh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal.

The 35-year-old said Dhoni changed his perception of how a captain should be.

"It was amazing for me to see how different M S was as a captain. I used to think a captain must speak all the time in team meetings etc but M S was completely different.

"He doesn't believe a lot in team meetings. He's a very instinctive captain he's got such a good cricket brain that he relies on it to make the right decisions on the field," du Plessis said of former India skipper.

Dhoni last played for India in World Cup semifinal last year and was expected to be back to playing competitive cricket at now-postponed IPL.

Calling Dhoni the best finisher he has played with, Du Plessis said no one can emulate what the dasher from Ranchi can do with the bat.

"He's extremely calm. I haven't played with someone who is a better finisher than him. It's just remarkable to watch him from the side of the field."

"If someone else tries to do it like him they won't be able to. He's just so unique like he times the ball so late he's got an incredible calmness. He knows his game and he picks a bowler and goes for it."

Du Plessis said that playing for CSK alongside Dhoni and under the guidance head coach Stephen Fleming has taught him a lot about leadership.

"I'm lucky to have started my journey there at CSK because I have really learned a lot from a leadership point of view. I tried to learn as much as possible from Dhoni and Stephen Fleming because both are great captains."

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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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