Royals’ Gowtham’s late blitzkrieg makes it a dark night for Mumbai Indians

Agencies
April 23, 2018

Jaipur, Apr 23: Krishnappa Gowtham produced a blinder of a knock after Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes smartly negotiated a slow track as Rajasthan Royals pulled off a nail-biting three-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match, here tonight.

The pitch was not conducive for stroke-making but Samson (52) and Stokes (40 off 27) added 72 runs for the third wicket to push their side close to the finish line and the hosts eventually crossed it with two balls to spare.Gowtham conjured up an unbeaten 11-ball 33-run knock under pressure, hitting two sixes and four fours to seal a thrilling win for his side.

It was not a big target on board as the hosts chased 168 but the wicket had slowed down considerably and required a lot of patience to score runs.Samson was in control of his innings but Jasprit Bumrah (2/28) dismissed him and Jos Buttler in successive balls in the 17th over to raise his side's hopes. When Samson got out, Royals required 43 runs from 22 balls.

It became 28 from 12 after Gowtham found a six and a four off Mustafizur Rehman. The Karnataka batsman in company of Jofra Archer found scored 18 runs from Bumrah's next over and needed 10 from the last for a thrilling win.

Hardik Pandya was given the ball and removed Archer in the first ball but Gowtham steered the next ball for a four in the third-man region and finished off the match in the fourth ball with a gigantic six.Royals lost Rahul Tripathi (9) and captain Ajinkya Rahane (14) inside Powerplay overs and were going at about seven runs an over. Samson and Stokes kept the scoreboard ticking, keeping the required run-rate under control.

It was only third win for the Royals in six matches while Mumbai Indians suffered fourth defeat in five matches.Suryakumar Yadav (72) and young Ishan Kishan (58) hit measured half-centuries in a 129-run partnership for the second wicket but Mumbai Indians frittered away a good platform to settle for a modest 167 for seven.

The partnership broke when Kishan, who led India in the Under-19 World Cup in 2016, lost his wicket while trying an adventurous shot off Dhawan Kulkarni (2/32). From there, the visitors lost track as they lost three wickets in a space of eight balls.

Caribbean paceman Jofra Archer (3/22) was impressive on his IPL debut, troubling the Mumbai batsmen with good pace. He got rid of Pandya brothers -- Krunal (7) and Hardik (4) -- and Mitchell McClenaghan (0) in the penultimate over, denying the visitors a flourishing finish. The 23-year-old conceded just 23 runs in his four-over quota.

Earlier, the stage was set for a perfect finish for Mumbai Indians but after Kishan went back to the dug out, Yadav was dismissed by Unadkat and captain Rohit Sharma ran himself out after misjudging a run.Kishan's innings came off 42 balls with four fours and three shots over the fence while Yadav faced 47 balls and hit nine boundaries including three sixes.Kieron Pollard could manage only an unbeaten 21 off 20 balls as Mumbai Indians scored only 32 runs in the last five overs and lost five wickets.

The Royals bowlers were initially successful in keeping the Mumbai batsmen silent, not allowing them to open their arms. Kishan hit Kulkarni for a monstrous six before Yadav sent one soaring off his legs in the fifth over.Kulkarni was meted out this treatment after he had sent Caribbean batsman Lewis (0) in the fourth ball of the innings. Still, the visitors did not have much runs on the board after Powerplay over with scorecard reading 43 for one.

Yadav and Kishan kept finding odd boundaries to maintain a healthy run-rate and more importantly they had wickets in hand to go for a kill towards the end. The duo found runs on all sides of the ground and the steady partnership meant that run-rate improved gradually.

However, once the partnership ended, Mumbai Indians' innings fell apart.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
August 3,2020

Silverstone, Aug 2: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on Sunday won his seventh British Grand Prix title after a dramatic last-lap at the Silverstone Circuit.

Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were at the first and second spot respectively until tyre drama struck.

Second-placed man Bottas was the first to suffer as his tyre deflated on lap 50, resulting in 11th place finish. Hamilton also suffered a similar issue before the final few seconds of the race.

However, with Max Verstappen having opted to pit a few laps from the end to try and claim the fastest lap, Hamilton had enough time in hand to just cross the line first, five seconds ahead of Verstappen and the third-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz had been set to finish fourth, but his own last lap tyre issue saw him eventually come home P13, allowing Renault's Daniel Ricciardo to claim fourth, following a late pass on the sister McLaren of Lando Norris.

Renault's Esteban Ocon finished sixth, having enjoyed a race-long battle with Lance Stroll's Racing Point, with Pierre Gasly having enjoyed a fine race to finish seventh for AlphaTauri.

Alex Albon finished eighth for Red Bull, having recovered from a lap 1 tussle with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen that saw him fall to last, while Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10, Vettel holding off a late charge form the recovering Mercedes of Bottas.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 22,2020

Derbyshire, Jul 22: Ahead of the upcoming Test series against England, Pakistan pacer Sohail Khan has credited bowling coach Waqar Younis for teaching him how to swing the ball late.

On the third day of the practice match between Azhar Ali's Team Green and Babar Azam's Team White, the 36-year-old Khan returned figures of five for 50 in 20.1 overs which saw the former fold for 181 in the first innings before they staged a comeback on the final day to win the match by six wickets.

Prior to the practice match, Sohail had a conversation with bowling coach Waqar Younis on the art of late swing. The pacer shared how the presence of the bowling legend in the support staff helped him gear up for the four-day match.

"The conditions in England are swing conducive so every fast bowler gets the ball to move. I asked Waqar bhai to teach me how to swing the ball late. It took him only two minutes to explain it to me. It is because of his tips that I took five wickets in the first innings," Khan said in a release issued by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

"I am eager to learn from Waqar Bhai. I follow him wherever he goes and speak to him about the art of bowling as he has an abundance of knowledge to share. A few days back I was struggling with something while bowling, I thought of reaching out to him and even before I spoke to him about it, he said he knew what I wanted to talk to him about and he explained it to me in a minute," he added.

During Pakistan's tour of England in 2016, Sohail played a crucial role in helping Pakistan secure a 2-2 Test series draw by returning two five-wicket hauls in as many matches.

In total, he picked up 13 wickets at 25 apiece and finished as the third-best wicket-taker.

"Definitely, it is an honour for me to return to the side. I had taken two fifers here against England in 2016 and now in the practice match, I have started off with five wickets so I am feeling very good. We had been at our homes for the past four months due to coronavirus so starting off on a high feels nice," Khan said.

Prior to Sohail's five wickets, 17-year-old Naseem Shah made a big impact when he took five wickets for Team Green. The strength of Pakistan's pace attack was further established as Mohammad Abbas and Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up three wickets each providing valuable support to Naseem and Sohail respectively.
Naseem and Shaheen finished the match with six and four wickets respectively.

Shedding light on the youngsters' performances, Sohail said: "It gives me immense pleasure to see Naseem Shah. He bowls consistently at 150kph. Just like him, Shaheen Shah Afridi is another good bowler. I like both of them."

"It gave me great happiness to see Naseem pick five wickets in the first innings. He is in rhythm and is looking great. What is astonishing is that he is playing in these conditions for the first time but still he is doing so well. Shaheen has also been phenomenal," he added.

Pakistan and England are slated to play three Tests and as many T20Is against each other. The first Test will be played at Manchester from August 5.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 18,2020

New Delhi, Feb 18: Skipper Virat Kohli has become the first Indian to reach the 50M followers mark on social media platform Instagram. Kohli, who is breaking cricketing records with each passing match, has a great social media following.

The 31-year old has so far made 930 posts on the platform and his social media posts continue to enthrall fans worldwide. Overall, Instagram's official account has the most number of followers and it is followed by Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 200M followers.

In terms of Indians with most number of followers, Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra is on the second spot with 49.9 followers while Deepika Padukone is on the third place with 44.1 followers.

Last year, Kohli had become the most successful Indian Test captain, surpassing Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Currently, Kohli is in action against New Zealand and his side would take on the hosts in the two-match Test series, slated to commence from February 21.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.