Chennai slump to second loss in CLT20

October 17, 2012

chennai_slump

Chennai Super Kings' chances for a semifinal berth in the Champions League Twenty20 suffered a blow as they slumped to their second consecutive defeat in the tournament with a six-wicket loss at the hands of Highveld Lions here today.

After being sent into bat, Chennai posted a challenging 158 for six with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni top-scoring with 34 but the Lions chased down the target with three balls to spare in a thrilling Group B match that went down the wire at the Newlands.


Opener Gulam Bodi smashed a 46-ball 64 to play a big role in the Lions' win. The local side now are in a very good position to make it to the semifinals having beaten defending champions Mumbai Indians in their opening match on October 14.

Chennai, who had lost to Sydney Sixers in their opening match on October 14, squandered a sensational start in their defence of 158.

Pacer Doug Bollinger (2/18)got two quick wickets early on to reduce the Lions to eight runs for two in the third over but Chennai allowed the local side to wriggle out of the tight spot and then to eventually win the match.

Chennai will now have to win both their remaining matches to have any chance of making it to the semifinals.

Bodi and Neil McKenzie (32) shared a 93-run stand for the third wicket from 9.5 overs to turn the tide in favour of the Lions.

The Lions needed 51 from the last five overs and 20 from the last two overs and they did it in style by reaching 159 for four with three balls to spare.

For Chennai, Ravichandran Ashwin and Albie Morkel took a wicket each, besides the two wickets by Bollinger for 18 runs.

Chennai made a sensational start in their defence of 158 with Bollinger removing Lions captain Alviro PetersEn with the first ball of the innings in an LBW decision.


Two overs later, Bollinger induced an edge to Quinton de Kock (5) for Dhoni to take an easy catch behind the wicket.

The two early wickets pegged the Lions back and they were just 18 for two after the fifth over and 59 for two at the halfway stage.

But Bodi and McKenzie steadied the run chase after the initial jolt and then took their side to a position from where they could launch for a win.

Bodi was the dominant partner as he played most of the shots, including the two sixes off Albie Morkel in the ninth over. He reached his half century in 38 balls with a six off Faf du Plessis in the 12th over which yielded 14 runs.

Bodi was not afraid of taking on a quality spinner like Ravichandran Ashwin as he smashed a four and a six in the 13th over as the Lions had to come up with some big overs in view of the soaring asking rate.

Dhoni brought back Morkel, who was hit for two sixes in the ninth over by Bodi, and the change in bowling did the trick as the fast bowler gave the much-needed breakthrough.

Morkel removed Bodi with an angled delivery which the batsman wanted to hoist but it took the edge of his bat for Dhoni to complete an easy catch behind the wickets.

Bodi faced 46 balls for his 64 which he made with the help of five fours and four sixes. His dismissal ended the 93-run stand from 9.5 overs for the third wicket with Neil McKenzie.

Lions needed 51 runs from the last five overs and nine from the last over. Jean Symes, who remained not out on 39, hit two fours to end the match in style.

Earlier, Dhoni top-scored with a 26-ball 34 as Chennai Super Kings posted a challenging 158 for six.

Dhoni, who promoted himself to number four, hit two fours and as many sixes in his knock after coming at the halfway stage of the innings after his side was sent into bat at the Newlands in the Group B match.

Chennai lost wickets at regular intervals and looked like they would settle below 150 but the 50-run stand from 4.2 overs between Dhoni and S Badrinath (27 not out) for the sixth wicket saw them go past that mark.

The last two overs yielded 27 runs, with the penultimate bowled by Dirk Nannes, producing 19 and that saw Chennai reach a challenging total.

Badrinath was the second highest scorer while all the other batsmen, except for Albie Morkel (4), contributed in the 20s.

For the Lions, Aaron Phangiso grabbed two wickets for 17 runs from his quota of four overs while Sohail Tanveer, Nannes, Chris Morris and Zander de Bruyn took a wicket each.

The Chennai openers Faf du Plessis (25) and Murali Vijay (22) began on a confident note with the former launching Nannes for a huge six in the second over and then gave the treatment to Tanveer with three fours from the next over.

Vijay, who played second fiddle so far, then struck an effortless six off Nannes to take Chennai score to 43 for no loss at the end of fifth over.

The breakthrough for the Lions was provided by Morris with Phangiso taking a stunning catch to get rid of du Plessis who consumed 20 balls for his 25.

Phangiso, who had dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in Lions' previous match, ran back from the point region, dived full-length and pouched the ball before thudding himself into the ground.



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News Network
May 15,2020

New Delhi, May 15: Former England skipper David Gower feels Sourav Ganguly has the right "political skills" to lead the ICC one day and he has already displayed that as BCCI president, which is a "far tougher job".

The elegant left-hander is very impressed with Ganguly's leadership abilities and believes that he has what it takes to head the global body in the future.

"One thing I have learnt over the years is that if you are going to run BCCI, you need to be many, many things. Having a reputation like he (Ganguly) has is a very good start, but you need to be a very deft politician.

"You need to have control of a million different things," Gower said ahead of "Q20", a unique chat show for the fans presented by 'GloFans'.

Gower reckons being president of the BCCI is the toughest job imaginable in world cricket.

"And of course, you need to be responsible for a game that is followed by, I mean, should we say a billion people here in India," he said.

"We all know about the immense following for cricket in India. So it is indeed a wonderful thing to behold. Sourav has the toughest task imaginable in charge of BCCI, but so far I would say the signs are very good.

"He has listened, given his own opinion and has pulled strings gently," he said.

Political skills are a must in administration and that's where Gower finds his fellow left-hander ticking all the boxes.

"He is a very, very good man and has those political skills. He has the right attitude and can keep things together and will do good job. And if you do a good job as BCCI chief in the future, who knows?

"But I would actually say the more important job, to be honest, is running BCCI. Being head of ICC is an honour, there is a lot that can be done by ICC, but actually look at the rankings, look at where the power is heading up. BCCI is definitely the bigger job," he said.

On the cricketing front, Gower believes World Test Championship has given the format much-needed context.

"The idea of this World Test Championship has come about for one very simple reason that people are worried about the survival of Tests. Back in the seventies, eighties, I don't think we needed context to be fair.

"Test cricket was very much more obviously the most important format and if there was anything to be judged by, it was the performances in Test matches both as an individual and as a team.

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News Network
June 9,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 9: Former India skipper Rahul Dravid has said that Virat Kohli understands that the real respect for him as a cricketer will come through success in the longest format of the game.

Dravid, popularly known as 'The Wall', also said that Test batsmanship has become exciting to watch now as batters play aggressive shots more often.

"I actually believe Test batsmanship has become more exciting than before, the aggressive element of Test batsmanship is going forward, players are playing shots and it is good to see, a good thing for India is Virat Kohli really values Test cricket, he understands that the real respect for him as a cricketer will come from his success in Test cricket," Dravid told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

He also said that defensive batting in cricket is not irrelevant, but added that players can have successful careers without having a good defensive technique.

"I don't think it is becoming irrelevant, maybe the value of defensive batting is not the same as it was a generation ago, it can never become irrelevant, I think you still need to defend your wicket if you want to score suns, I feel now you can survive without a good defensive technique in cricket," Dravid said.

"Today, you do not need to have a good Test career to have a successful career, look at the best players in the world today, a lot of them have a good defensive technique and they can play out difficult periods of the game," he added.

The 47-year-old Dravid also said that all young players want to represent their country in all three formats during their initial days, but eventually, they become realistic as time passes by.

"I would say in my interaction with the younger players, everyone's hero is someone who has succeeded in all formats of the game. I think all players start off wanting to play all formats, but then guys get a little realistic about their careers, superstars of the game will still want to play to all formats of the game," Dravid said.

Dravid is the only player in the history of cricket to be involved in two 300-plus ODI partnerships.

He played 164 Tests, 344 ODIs and one T20I for India. Dravid had announced his retirement from international cricket in March 2012.

He finished his career with 48 international centuries.

He has also coached the Indian junior sides (India U-19 and India A) and he is now the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

Dravid has also led the side during his playing days and under his leadership, the side had managed to register their first Test series win in England.

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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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