Mumbai Indians thrash KKR, move to second in points table

May 8, 2013

Mumbai

Mumbai, May 8: Mumbai Indians kept their enviable all-win record at home intact as they outclassed Kolkata Knight Riders by 65 runs here today to virtually eliminate the defending champions' hopes of making the Indian Premier League play-offs.

Mumbai rode on their best opening stand of the season –- 93 runs -- provided by Sachin Tendulkar (48) and Dwayne Smith (47) and a quick-fire unbeaten 34 by Dinesh Karthik to rattle up 170 for six at the Wankhede Stadium.

The hosts then bowled out the visitors for 105 in 18.2 overs to emerge convincing winners and shoot to the second position on the league table with 16 points behind leaders Chennai Super Kings (18), whom they had beaten comprehensively on Sunday.

Only Manvinder Bisla (17) and Jacques Kallis (24) got the starts for the Knight Riders without flourishing fully among the top five batsmen after the dismissal of captain Gautam Gambhir for a duck.

Spinners Harbhajan Singh (3) and Pragyan Ojha (2) were the main wicket takers along with Mitchell Johnson (2) and Lasith Malinga (2) while Abu Nechim Ahmed too got a wicket.

It was Mumbai's sixth straight home win of the season and 8th overall.

The comprehensive defeat, their tenth in 12 games against Mumbai in the tournament's history, was also the Kinght Riders' 8th loss of the season and they are virtually out of contention for a berth in the four-team play-offs.

Knight Riders began the stiff run-chase disastrously when they lost their captain Gautam Gambhir for a second-ball duck in the first over from Mitchell Johnson.

Bisla and Kallis took the score to 38 at the end of the sixth over of power play, but then the former – dropped on 0 – was stumped while trying to give a charge to left-arm spinner Ojha who also removed Yusuf Pathan cheaply.

And when Kallis was out to Harbhajan for 24, it left the Knight Riders in a very difficult position at 58 for 4 just at the half way stage of their innings.

In-form batsman Eoin Morgan also fell cheaply in the 13th over to virtually end their hopes.

Harbhajan later dismissed Debabrata Das and Rajat Bhatia to finish with fine figures of 3 for 27.

Earlier, Mumbai Indians got off to their best start but then lost their way before finishing with a good flourish to post a challenging score.

Sachin Tendulkar used the field restrictions in the initial overs in his attractive 28-ball innings before he and Smith departed in quick succession.

Thereafter only Dinesh Karthik, who smacked 34 in 18 balls with 2 sixes and 3 fours, prospered while Mumbai lost wickets at regular intervals before adding 26 runs.

Tendulkar struck Ryan McLaren for five fours in the 4th over which included drives to the off and two successive pull shots, after he had spanked the same bowler for successive straight-driven boundaries in his first over.

But Smith struggled to put bat to the ball against L Balaji who started off with a maiden over to the West Indian in his excellent first spell of 3 overs for 7 runs.

The stand was nipped by Bhatia – coming on for Jacques Kallis – who deceived and clean bowled Tendulkar with a slower ball when he was well posed to score his first half century of the tournament. The batsman tried to paddle sweep and missed.

In the next over, his opening partner Smith too departed, caught at long on off Abdulla, to bring together captain Rohit Sharma (16) and Karthik.

The third wicket duo added 31 runs before the hosts lost four wickets for the addition of 14 runs before Karthik and Mitchell Johnson (10 not out) added 26 runs in the last nine balls.

Mclaren picked up two wickets in one over but was smashed around for 60 runs while the Knight Riders' best bowler Balaji was not given his full quota in a strange decision by captain Gambhir.

MUMBAI INDIANS: Dwayne Smith c McLaren b Abdulla 47, Sachin Tendulkar b Bhatia 48, Dinesh Kaarthick (not out) 34, Rohit Sharma c Morgan b McLaren 16, Kieron Pollard c Narine b McLaren 4, Ambati Rayudu (run out) 0, Harbhajan Singh (run out) 0, Mitchell Johnson (not out) 10. Extras (LB-1, W-10) 11. Total (for 6 wkts, 20 overs) 170.

Fall of wickets: 1-93, 2-99, 3-130, 4-134, 5-135, 6-144. Bowling: Lakshmipathy Balaji 3-1-7-0, Ryan McLaren 4-0-60-2, Sunil Narine 4-0-29-0, Jacques Kallis 3-0-21-0, Iqbal Abdulla 4-0-30-1, Rajat Bhatia 2-0-22-1.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: Manvinder Bisla st Kaarthick b Ojha 17, Gautam Gambhir b Johnson 0, Jacques Kallis c Ahmed b Harbhajan 24, Yusuf Pathan b Ojha 13, Eoin Morgan c Rohit b Ahmed 5, Debabrata Das c&b Harbhajan 23, Ryan McLaren (run out) 1, Rajat Bhatia c Malinga b Harbhajan 4, Iqbal Abdulla (not out) 6, Sunil Narine c Kaarthick b Johnson 3, Lakshmipathy Balaji b Malinga 0. Extras (LB-9) 9. Total (all out, 18.2 overs) 105.

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-38, 3-54, 4-58, 5-77, 6-89, 7-89, 8-97, 9-104.

Bowling: Mitchell Johnson 4-0-13-2, Abu Ahmed 3-0-18-1, Pragyan Ojha 4-0-23-2, Lasith Malinga 3.2-0-15-1, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-27-3.

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coastaldigest.com web desk
August 3,2020

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will not end its partnership with Chinese companies. Vivo, the Chinese smartphone maker, is the main sponsor of the new IPL season as well. Apart from Vivo, PayTM and Dream 11 will also be at the helm of the 13th edition of the IPL. The IPL governing council meeting on Sunday decided to retain the old sponsors.

As soon as the IPL GC announced the decision of retaining the sponsors, a huge number of fans took to Twitter to slam the board for the same. #BoycottIPL started trending as the users urged others to boycott the tournament for the Chinese connection.

Earlier, the demand for exclusion of Chinese companies from the IPL was strong in the wake of the India-China border dispute. But the BCCI cannot abruptly end its collaboration with them. Because of the signed contract itself. And in this age of declining economy, it is difficult to find new sponsors quickly.

The current BCCI contract with Vivo is for five years. Vivo has invested Rs 2,199 crore to become the main sponsor of the IPL. The contract was signed in 2017. However, the BCCI’s move is paving the way for new discussions as calls are mounting across the country to boycott Chinese companies.

The BCCI announced other important decisions besides retaining sponsors. The IPL will be held from September 19 to November 10. The Indian government has given permission to the BCCI to hold the IPL in the UAE. With this, all obstacles in the way of organizing the tournament were removed.

The IPL matches will be played at 7.30 pm Indian time (6 pm UAE time). Most matches are about one match a day. There are a total of ten ‘double headers’ (two matches a day) in the tournament. Franchisees are allowed to appoint as many replacements as they want in the new season in view of the new health situation. At the same time, the maximum number of players a franchise can accommodate is 24. The BCCI is also planning to host a women’s IPL tournament.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has slammed UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for not allowing recreational cricket to resume.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had described the cricket ball as a 'natural vector of disease' and ruled out recreational cricket's return in the country.

Hearing Johnson's argument, Vaughan tweeted: "Hand sanitiser in every players pocket. Use every time you touch the ball ... SIMPLE ... Recreational Cricket should just play from July 4th ... utter nonsense it's not being allowed back ... #Cricket."

Johnson was responding to a question from Conservative MP Greg Clark in the House of Commons, and it was then that Johnson said that it is too soon to lift current restrictions to allow the return of recreational cricket.

"The problem with cricket as everybody understands is that the ball is a natural vector of disease, potentially at any rate. We've been around it many times with our scientific friends," ESPNCricinfo had quoted Johnson as saying.

"At the moment, we're still working on ways to make cricket more COVID-secure but we can't change the guidance yet," he added.

Johnson had announced various relaxations on Tuesday, but the return of recreational cricket was not a part of them.

However, this statement given by Johnson will have no impact on the Test series between England and West Indies, scheduled to begin from July 8.

However, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has said that it is looking to resume recreational cricket in the country around July 4.

The board has also said that cricket is a low-risk sport as it is a non-contact sport.

"We believe that cricket is a non-contact sport, with very low risks of exposure, and that it can be played as safely as many other activities being currently permitted," the ECB said in an official statement.

"It is our strong desire to work with Government to see the return of recreational cricket on or around 4th July, as they continue to lift other restrictions more broadly across society," it added.

All international cricket has also been suspended since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, it is set to resume to from July 8 as England and West Indies will lock horns in the three-Test series.

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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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