1. Home
  2. Sarfraz leads Pakistan to Champions Trophy semi-final

Sarfraz leads Pakistan to Champions Trophy semi-final

Agencies
June 13, 2017

Cardiff, Jun 13: Pakistan marched into the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy after recording a dramatic three-wicket victory against Sri Lanka here at Sophia Gardens on Monday.

Sarfraz

The fast bowlers set up the win before fifties from rookie opener Fakhar Zaman and skipper Sarfraz Ahmed sealed it. But above all, it was a horrible fielding display from Sri Lanka that allowed Pakistan to set a date with title-favourites England in the last-four on Wednesday (tomorrow).

With a place in the semi-finals at stake, there were many twists and turns in the match. Sri Lanka squandered a chance of posting a big total as they slipped from 160-3 in 30 overs to 167-7. Then Pakistan allowed them to inch to a somewhat respectable 236.

Later, Pakistan seemed cruising towards a comfortable win as they raced to 92-1 in just over 11 overs on the back of a blazing 50 off just 36 balls from Fakhar Zaman. But they slumped to 162-7 before Sarfraz and Mohammad Amir resurrected the chase with an unbeaten 75-run partnership for the eighth wicket to take them past the finish line.

Sarfraz, Pakistan’s hero with an unbeaten 61 off 79 balls, lived dangerously but was given a series of reprieves by the Sri Lankan fielders. They could have ran him out, caught him out but kept wasting the chances. Sri Lanka’s worst moment in the game came in the 39th over when Thisara Perera dropped a dolly after Sarfraz had hit a Lasith Malinga delivery straight into the hands of the all-rounder at mid-on.

In the end, it weren’t Pakistan who won the match. It were Sri Lanka who lost it. The winning shot came from Sarfraz as he hit Malinga to the third-man boundary and then celebrated as if Pakistan had won the Champions Trophy. It was certainly was a big moment for Sarfraz, who is captaining Pakistan for the first time in an ICC event. “I can’t believe it,” Sarfraz said. “Dropped catches are part of the game. Allah helped us and that’s why Pakistan won today,” he added.

Earlier, Amir woke up from his slumber with a fiery spell that put Pakistan on top at the end of the first innings. Having gone wicketless in his team’s first two games of the event, Amir scalped the dangerous duo of Niroshan Dickwell (73) and Angelo Mathews (39) in quick succession as the rest of Pakistan’s pace attack also sizzled to dismiss Sri Lanka for 236 in 49.2 overs in what was a virtual quarter-final of the eight-nation spectacle. Junaid Khan (3-40) and Hasan Ali (3-43) had better figures than Amir (2-53) but it was the left-armer’s twin strike that squeezed the life out of Sri Lanka’s innings.

The Sri Lankans, who took the field in Cardiff after a sensational win against defending champions India at The Oval, were undone by some superb swing bowling by Pakistan’s pace quartet that included debutant Faheem Ashraf (2-37). Apart from Dickwella who hit 73 from 86 balls and Mathews, no Sri Lankan batsmen could offer any worthwhile resistance. Pakistan opted to bowl on a fresh wicket that had a tinge of green. They chose uncapped Fahim over leggie Shadab and didn’t regret the move.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 236, 49.2 overs (N Dickwella 73; Junaid Khan 3-40, Hasan Ali 3-43)

Pakistan 237-7, 44.5 overs (Sarfraz Ahmed 61 no, Fakhar Zaman 50; N Pradeep 3-60)

Result: Pakistan won by three wickets.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • 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
April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: It was on April 2, 2011, when the Men in Blue went on to win their second 50-over World Cup title.

India won its first World Cup in 1983 and then had to wait for 28 years to again lift the title.
Going into the 2011 tournament, India went in as the clear favourites as the competition was to be played in the sub-continent.

Under MS Dhoni's leadership, India lost just one match in the competition against South Africa.
India had defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final to set up a summit clash with Sri Lanka.

In the finals, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first. Mahela Jayawardene top-scored for Sri Lanka as he struck a century to take the team's score to 274/6.

India in their chase got off to a bad start as the side lost Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag with just 31 runs on the board.

But Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni stepped up and stitched a match-winning 109-run partnership.

Gambhir perished after playing a knock of 97 runs, but in the end, Dhoni and Yuvraj took the team over the line by six wickets.

The winning six struck by Dhoni is still viewed as one of the most exciting moments in India's sporting history. 

As the winning six was hit, Ravi Shastri was doing commentary then, and he famously remarked, "Dhoni, finishes it off in style, India lifts the World Cup after 28 years".
As soon as the match-winning shot was hit, Tendulkar erupted with joy and had tears to see his dream finally being fulfilled.

Earlier this year, former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the 2011 World Cup win, titled 'Carried On the Shoulders Of A Nation', was voted the greatest Laureus Sporting Moment of the last twenty years.

The lap after the World Cup is still edged into everyone's hearts.

Playing in his last mega 50-over tournament, it was the last chance for Tendulkar to lift the coveted trophy.

Before the 2011 World Cup, Tendulkar had played five tournaments (1992,1996,1999,2003 and 2007), and he fell short every time.

The closest he came to winning the trophy was in 2003 as India made the finals under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly.

But the Men in Blue fell short in the finals against Australia.

Then in 2007, the biggest setback was in store for the legend has India bowed out of the tournament in the group stages.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • 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

New Delhi, Aug 2: The finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 will be played on November 20, the sources within the BCCI confirmed on Sunday.

The IPL's governing council met earlier today, and it has also been decided that the evening matches will start at 7:30 pm, half an hour earlier than usual.

Jay Shah, the secretary of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and Arun Dhumal, treasurer of BCCI did not attend the IPL's governing council meeting.

"The tournament will run for 51 days, usually the IPL should go on for 49 days as per the constitution, however in the meeting it has been decided that we will go to Supreme Court for conducting the IPL in 51 days," sources within the BCCI said.

"As the tournament is running for 51 days, we will get the chance to play fewer doubleheaders, there would be just 10 double headers, evening matches will start at 7:30 and the afternoon matches will start at 3:30. 

The matches will be played across three venues at Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah as travelling here by road is easier and bio-secure environment can be maintained," he added.

The IPL's governing council also confirmed that Women's IPL will also go on and four teams would be participating in it.

"When it comes to women's IPL, there would be four teams and the matches would be played at the time of playoffs for men's IPL," the source said.

The source within the BCCI also said that the governing council would be meeting again to discuss the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for all the franchises that need to be followed in the IPL.

The governing council meeting discussed the quarantine measures along with the standard operating procedures (SOP), bio bubble training facilities, stay and travel of the players.

Issues related to the broadcaster, shifting, and scheduling of the tournament, and DXB app to be downloaded for players and other officials were also discussed as well.

A few days earlier, the IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel had confirmed that the 13th edition of the mega event will commence on September 19 in the UAE.

This year's IPL was slated to commence from March 29 but the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) had also confirmed receiving the official Letter of Intent from the BCCI to host the 2020 edition of the IPL.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • 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
June 9,2020

Jun 9: Former West Indies skipper Darren Sammy has released a video, alleging racism within the SunRisers Hyderabad camp. Last week, Sammy had lost his cool after learning the meaning of the word "Kalu", which he alleged was directed at him during his Indian Premier League (IPL) stint with the SunRisers Hyderabad. The T20 World Cup-winning Windies skipper had said that he along with Sri Lanka player Thisara Perera were sometimes called that word when they played for SunRisers Hyderabad. However, Sammy did not specify as to who directed these slurs at him, but now the player has released a video, saying he will message all those who called him that word.

"I have played all over the world and I have been loved by many people, I have embraced all dressing rooms where I have played, so I was listening to Hasan Minhaj as to how some of the people in his culture describe black people," Sammy said in a video posted on his Instagram account.

"This does not apply to all people, so after I found out a meaning of a certain word, I had said I was angry on finding out the meaning and it was degrading, instantly I remembered when I played for SunRisers Hyderabad, I was being called exactly the same word which is degrading to us black people," he added.

Sammy said that at the time when he was being called with the word, he didn''t know the meaning, and his team-mates used to laugh every time after calling him by that name.

"I will be messaging those people, you guys know who you are, I must admit at that time when I was being called as that word I thought the word meant strong stallion or whatever it is, I did not know what it meant, every time I was called with that word, there was laughter at that moment, I thought teammates are laughing so it must be something funny," Sammy said.

"Now, I realise it was degrading, I will be texting you guys and I will ask you as to when you called me with that name, did you all mean it in any bad way or form? I have had great memories in all my dressing rooms, so all those who used to you call me with that word, think about it, let's have a conversation, if it was in a bad way then I would be really disappointed," he added.

The former Windies skipper has been a vocal supporter of the protests that are currently going on in the United States over the death of an African-American man named George Floyd.

Sammy had also made an appeal to the ICC and other cricket boards to support the fight against social injustice and racism.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • 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.