Sri Lanka thrash India by six wickets to clinch World T20 trophy

April 6, 2014
Mirpur, Apr 8: Sri Lanka rode on a brilliant show by their bowlers and an outstanding knock by Kumar Sangakkara to thrash India by six wickets and clinch their maiden ICC World T20 title at the Shere Bangla National stadium.

Lankan_beat_india

Sangakkara slammed an unbeaten 52 to chase down 131-run target with 13 balls to spare.

Earlier, Virat Kohli continued his stupendous form with a classy 77 but India managed a below-par total as Sri Lanka bowled brilliantly in the death overs.

Kohli struck his fourth half century of the tournament with yet another superb effort but Lankan bowlers applied brakes on a struggling Yuvraj Singh which certainly hampered the scoring rate to a large extent.

Kohli struck five fours and four sixes in his 58-ball knock as Yuvraj turned out to be a complete disaster as he looked completely out of sorts which even frustrated the in-form batsman at the other end. The last four overs produced only 19 runs due to Yuvraj's failure to get big hits.

While Kohli peppered all parts of the field with his blazing blade, Yuvraj found it difficult to even pick up Sachithra Senanayeke's 'doosra' and Lasith Malinga's blockhole deliveries. His struggle became so apparent that even Kohli's anger was palpable at the other end as the hero of 2007 triumph consumed delivery after delivery.

Rangana Herath (1/23) and Angelo Mathews (1/25) gave away only 48 runs in the eight overs as it became a Kohli versus Sri Lanka duel. Even Nuwan Kulasekara (1/29) had a decent day in office despite 16 coming off his one over.

When Yuvraj was finally out for 11 off 21 balls as he holed out in the deep, the loudest cheer came from the Indian fans, who were relieved to see him back in the dug-out.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni came in with only 11 deliveries left and found it difficult to accelerate the pace of scoring as Malinga and Kulasekara bowled the yorkers.

Ajinkya Rahane (3) looked completely shaky during his eight-ball stay at the crease. Angelo Mathews pitched it on length and the opener played it early trying to pull it and was played on.

Kohli entered the crease twirling his bat as Vivian Richards used to do during his playing days.

He clipped Kulasekara's inswinging half volley through the deep mid-wicket region for a boundary. Rohit got his first boundary when Senanayeke couldn't pitch the carrom ball properly as he pulled it towards square leg for a one bounce four.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

New Delhi, Jan 16: Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Thursday dropped from the BCCI's list of centrally contracted players, raising fresh doubts on the future of the former India captain who has not played since the World Cup semifinal loss to New Zealand last year.

The BCCI announced the central contracts for the period of October 2019 to September 2020. Dhoni was in the A category, which fetches a player Rs 5 crore, until last year.

Skipper Virat Kohli, his deputy Rohit Sharma and top pacer Jasprit Bumrah were retained in the highest A+ bracket of Rs 7 crore.

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News Network
March 13,2020

Mar 13: The start of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the world's most lucrative cricket competition, has been postponed from March 29 until April 15 over the coronavirus, the Indian cricket board said Friday.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to suspend IPL 2020 till 15th April 2020, as a precautionary measure against the ongoing Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation," the BCCI said in a statement.

The two-month Twenty20 competition is estimated to generate more than $11 billion for the Indian economy and involves cricket's top international stars.

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News Network
June 11,2020

New Delhi, Jun 11: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has indicated that this year's IPL could be conducted in empty stadiums, insisting that all possible options are being explored to ensure that the suspended event does take place despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter to all the affiliated units sent late on Wednesday after the ICC Board meeting, Ganguly seemed confident of an IPL this year despite its current status of being indefinitely suspended because of the raging pandemic, which has claimed more than 8,000 lives in India.

"The BCCI is working on all possible options to ensure that we are able to stage IPL this year, even if it means playing the tournament in empty stadiums," Ganguly wrote.

"The fans, franchises, players, broadcasters, sponsors and all other stakeholders are keenly looking forward to the possibility of IPL being hosted this year.

"Recently, a lot of players both from India and other countries, participating in the IPL have shown keenness on being part of this year's IPL. We are optimistic and the BCCI will shortly decide on the future course of action on this," the former India captain said.

It is widely speculated that the IPL is eyeing the October event if the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in Australia at that time is postponed. The ICC has deferred a decision on the World Cup's fate until next month.

Ganguly also said that the BCCI is working on the domestic schedule while exploring various formats which would make tournaments like Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Vijay Hazare "competitive and feasible".

"Moving ahead, the BCCI is in process of planning the domestic competitions for the next cricketing season. We are working on various options and formats in our endeavour to ensure that various domestic tournaments are held, they stay competitive and participation feasible," said the former India captain.

"The BCCI will come up with more details in next couple of weeks," he added.

He also informed that BCCI is preparing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for resumption of cricket in all state units to ensure medical safety of those involved.

The president also informed that the BCCI has made "all efforts to release funds/grants to its various members."

"Associations which have made proper submission of their accounts and funds utilization certificates have already received their grants," he said.

The other units will also receive their grants once they submit relevant documents, the president assured while informing that vendors have also been paid.

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