Women's T20 Challenge: Jemimah Rodrigues' unbeaten 77 helps Supernovas beat Velocity and enter final

Agencies
May 10, 2019

May 10: Teenager Jemimah Rodrigues struck an unbeaten 77 to help Supernovas beat Velocity by 12 runs and enter the final of the Women's T20 Challenge on Thursday.

The two sides will again face each other in the summit clash on Saturday as the third team, Trailblazers, who also secured the same two points as Velocity and Supernova, finished third on the basis of net run rate.

Sent into bat in their must-win match, the Supernovas scored 142 for 3, thanks to 18-year-old Rodrigues' 48-ball 77 not out and then restricted Velocity to 130 for 3 to win the final round-robin league match of the tournament.

After Thursday's result, all the three teams ended on two points each after one win by each side but Velocity and Supernovas ended with plus 0.25 and plus 0.045 net runs rates respectively while the Trailblazers secured minus 0.305.

Trailblazers had beaten Supernovas by 2 runs in the opening match on Monday while Velocity had defeated Trailblazers by three wickets on Wednesday.

Chasing 143 for a win, Velocity lost early wickets with the openers Hayley Matthews (11) and Shafali Verma (2) being dismissed cheaply to be reduced to 21 for 2 in the fourth over.

One-down Englishwoman Danielle Wyatt threatened to take the game away from Supernovas with a 33-ball 43 but she was out in the 12th over after a 56-run stand with captain Mithali Raj who remained 40 not out off 42 balls.

Raj shared a partnership of 53 runs with Veda Krishnamurthy (30 not out) for the unbeaten fourth wicket but the duo could not chase down the target. The total was, however, enough for Velocity to make it to the final.

By the 19th over, the duo knew that their team would be through to the final despite a loss.

For Supernovas, leg-spinner Poonam Yadav was the most impressive bowler with one wicket at the expense of 13 runs from her four overs.

Earlier, Rodrigues struck 10 fours and a six from 48 balls in her aggressive unbeaten innings after the Supernovas were sent in to bat in their must-win match.

Coming out to bat in the fifth over after the dismissal of opener Priya Punia (16) when the team's score was 29 for 1, Rodrigues was involved in two substantial partnerships as she anchored the Supernova innings admirably well.

She first had a 55-run stand with Sri Lankan Chamari Atapattu (31) for the second wicket before stitching another partnership of 50 runs with Sophie Devine (9) of New Zealand for the third wicket.

Rodrigues, a member of the semifinalist Indian side in the 2018 Women's T20 World Cup, was most severe against pacewoman Komal Zanzad (0/29) who was hit for four boundaries.

Rodrigues hit the only six of her unbeaten knock off the bowling of Jahanara Alam (0/34) in the 18th over.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur also remained not out on 1 from five deliveries.

The Supernovas, however, failed to accelerate in the second half of their innings after they were 63 for 1 at the end of 10 overs. They added just 33 in the last five overs.

For Velocity, New Zealander Amelia Kerr took two wickets for 21 runs from her leg-spin while pacewoman Shikha Pandey got one.

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Agencies
February 12,2020

Mumbai, Feb 12: Former Indian greats Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin have been left disappointed by the behaviour of the Under-19 team after the World Cup final where they were involved in an altercation with their Bangladeshi counterparts.

After Bangladesh won the final beating India by three wickets (via DLS) at the Senwes Park on Sunday, the players of the two teams were seen engaging in an exchange of words and even some pushing and shoving on the field.

"I would like to see the board (BCCI) take some strict action against the players to set an example. Cricket is not about abusing the opponent. I am sure there is enough reason for these youngsters to be dealt with firmly by BCCI," Kapil was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

"I welcome aggression, nothing wrong in it. But it has to be controlled aggression. You can't cross the line of decency in the name of being competitive. I would say it was unacceptable that youngsters put up such an obnoxious display on the cricket field," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has sanctioned five players, including three from Bangladesh -- Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan --and two from India --Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi for the scuffle.

Azharuddin also reiterated what Kapil said, insisting that players need to be disciplined.

"I would take action against the errant Under 19 players, but I also want to know what role has the support staff played in educating these youngsters. Act now before it is too late. The players have to be disciplined," Azharuddin said.

Earlier, Bishan Singh Bedi has lashed out at the Priyam Garg-led team, saying their behaviour was disgusting and disgraceful.

"You bat, bowl and field badly�happens, but there's no excuse for behaving badly. The behaviour was disgusting and most disgraceful. The innocence of that age was not visible at all," Bedi told Mid Day.

Bedi, who represented India in 67 Tests and 10 ODIs, said the behaviour of the Bangladesh cricketers is not our problem.

"Look, what Bangladesh do is their problem, what our boys do is our problem. You could see that there was abusive language used," he said.

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Agencies
March 10,2020

Mumbai, Mar 10: The addition of two new members, including the chairman, in the national selection committee, has not changed the panel's stance on M S Dhoni, who will "have to perform" in the upcoming IPL to be considered for T20 World Cup selection, a top BCCI official told PTI.

The Sunil Joshi-led selection panel met for the first time in Ahmedabad on Sunday to pick a rather "straightforward" squad for the three ODIs against South Africa beginning in Dharamsala on March 12.

Fit-again Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan made their way back into the side.

Joshi's predecessor MSK Prasad had made it clear that the team has moved on from Dhoni and he has to first play to be considered for selection.

Dhoni, who has not played since the World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand in July, will be making his highly-awaited comeback in the IPL beginning March 29.

"It was a pretty straightforward selection meeting and since Dhoni was obviously not in the reckoning this time (for South Africa series), there was no formal talk about his future," a BCCI source told PTI.

"He will be back in the reckoning only if he has a good IPL. And why only him, there are so many senior and young players who will play in the IPL. If they do well, they are ought to be considered too. So, you could see some surprise inclusions," he said.

The T20 World Cup will be played in Australia in October-November and the games India play after the IPL leading up to the mega event will also be a factor in the final squad selection.

"But the performance in the IPL could be the clincher," the source added.

Head coach Ravi Shastri too has hinted that Dhoni could be back after a good IPL but his future remains a subject of intense speculation as he has not played a game in more than seven months.

With his heir apparent Rishabh Pant not setting the world on fire and K L Rahul being groomed into a full-time wicketkeeper-batsman, Dhoni's comeback cannot be ruled out.

His countless fans will finally get to see him in action when he leads Chennai Super Kings against defending champions Mumbai Indians in the IPL opener at Wankhede Stadium on March 29.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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