Delhi Capitals beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by two wickets to set up Qualifier 2 vs Chennai Super Kings

Agencies
May 9, 2019

May 9: Young Keemo Paul gave the final touches to a Rishabh Pant blitzkrieg as Delhi Capitals defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by two wickets in a nerve-wracking IPL Eliminator on Wednesday.

Chasing a target of 163, Delhi Capitals, who had lost the way after a blazing start, were brought to the cusp of victory by young Pant, who smashed 49 off 21 balls with five sixes as West Indies' Paul finished it off the penultimate ball of the innings with a boundary off Khaleel Ahmed.

Pant, who resurrected the innings from a precarious 111 for 5 couldn't have chosen a better venue than the chairman of selectors MSK Prasad's home ground to drive home a point on his much-debated World Cup exclusion.

It was a sense of deja vu for Paul, who had similarly hit winning runs in the U-19 World Cup final in 2016 when Khaleel was the bowler in the final over.

Delhi Capitals now face Chennai Super Kings in the second Qualifier in their bid to make it to the maiden IPL final against Mumbai Indians.

Needing 34 from three overs, Pant showed brilliant game awareness to target Sunrisers' weakest link Basil Thampi, smashing him for 21 runs in the 18th over as he brought the game on even keel.

A six off Bhuvneshwar Kumar brought the equation down to five runs before Pant in his bid to finish the game holed out with five required from seven balls.

When the chase started, Prithvi Shaw (56 off 38 balls) was in his element in the fifth over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar when he first played a flowing cover drive, followed by a ramp shot for six over third man and a lofted boundary over mid-off to put Sunrisers on the backfoot.

Sensing that Prithvi has taken the lead, senior partner Shikhar Dhawan (17) after collecting three boundaries started playing the second fiddle with 55 coming off the Powerplay overs.

One of the most regal shots played by Prithvi Shaw was a six over long-on when he gave off-spinner Deepak Hooda the charge.

In the same over, Wriddhiman Saha effected a smart stumping down the leg-side to see the end of Dhawan even as Prithvi completed his 50 off 31 balls.

However, just like the Sunrisers, Delhi also lost momentum at the start of the back-10 with Khaleel's extra pace and bounce accounting for Prithvi and skipper Shreyas Iyer (8). Prithvi's innings had six fours and two sixes.

It was Rashid Khan (2/15 in 4 overs), who then removed Colin Munro (14) and Axar Patel (0) to peg back Delhi at 111 for 5.

Pant, who teed off with a six off Mohammed Nabi, hit him for a second six as 42 runs were required off the last four overs when Pant changed the match.

Earlier, the Delhi Capitals bowlers pulled the plug in the middle overs, restricting Sunrisers Hyderabad to a par score of 162 for 8 on a good batting surface after opting to field.

Keemo Paul (3/32 in 4 overs) was ably supported by Amit Mishra (1/16 in 4 overs), Ishant Sharma (2/34 in 4 overs) and Axar Patel (0/30 in 4 overs) as the quartet bowled 40 dot balls between them.

Ishant got rid of Wriddhiman Saha (8), who offered a simple catch to Shreyas Iyer at mid-off.

Martin Guptill (36, 19 balls) hit three sixes including two off his countrymate Trent Boult to set the pace in the Powerplay overs which yielded 54 runs.

Credit to the Delhi bowlers as the next 14 overs produced only 108 runs.

As Guptill was in an attacking mood, it gave the normally flamboyant Manish Pandey (30, 36 balls) an opportunity to play around before the spinners came in operation.

Axar and Mishra choked the run-flow and Guptill was accounted for trying to slog sweep the leg-spinner. His innings had four sixes apart from a boundary.

Sunrisers suddenly lost momentum in those middle overs as Pandey and Kane Williamson (27 off 26 balls) added only 34 runs in seven overs before the Karnataka batsman was dismissed by a Keemo Paul slower delivery. Pandey was dismissed by Sherfane Rutherford at the long-on boundary making it 90 for 3 for the Sunrisers.

Ishant coming in his second spell bowled the perfect inswinging yorker to send back Williamson.

Vijay Shankar (25 off 11 balls) and Mohammed Nabi (20 off 13 balls) added 36 runs in 2.4 overs to beef up the total but Paul kept things tight in the end.

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Agencies
June 7,2020

New Delhi, Jun 7: Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria on Sunday said that Sourav Ganguly would be fit to lead the International Cricket Council (ICC), and added there is no reason for respective cricket boards to not support Ganguly if he wants to hold the post.

In an interaction with media, the former spinner said Ganguly has all the qualities of leading the ICC as he has been a reputed cricketer and knows what a player goes through in his life.

"I also think that it would be really helpful if Sourav Ganguly goes on to lead ICC, it will help cricket and the players as a reputed cricketer will hold such a big post, he has played professional cricket, he has led the Indian side and he has also held an administrative post in the Cricket Association of Bengal," Kaneria told media.

"It depends on all of the boards whether they want to support Ganguly or not, if other boards support Ganguly and PCB doesn't, then also Ganguly would have the maximum number of votes, as a cricketer Ganguly is fit to lead the ICC, he had led the Indian side so well and he has earned a name for himself, so I don't see any reason for boards not supporting Ganguly," he added.

Ganguly had become the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) last year, but speculation continued to rise over the former skipper heading the ICC.

"He is currently the president of the BCCI, he knows in and out of everything, he knows what players have to deal with and he is aware of what cricket needs, he knows what support needs to be given to associate nations, players would be able to put forward their point in front of Ganguly," Kaneria said.

In May this year, Cricket South Africa's (CSA) director of cricket Graeme Smith had backed Ganguly to lead the ICC looking at the current scenario.

"Now it is even more important to have someone in a role who can provide leadership who understands and can navigate the challenges in the game today. I think post-COVID with the things that are going to come our way, to have strong leadership is important. I feel that someone like Sourav Ganguly is best positioned for that at the moment," sport24.co.za had quoted Smith as saying.

"I know him well, I played against him a number of times and worked with him as an administrator and in television. I feel that he has got the credibility, the leadership skills, and is someone that can really take the game forward and I think that, more than anything, that is needed right now at an ICC level," he added.

ICC's elections are slated to be held in July this year and current chairperson Shashank Manohar has already clarified that he is not seeking a tenure extension.

Ganguly was exceptional in making India play its first day-night Test last year.

India had played its inaugural day-night Test against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens last year.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Kingston, Jun 10: "Enough is enough", said West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo as he opened up on the raging issue of racism and called for "respect and equality" for black people, who have faced discrimination for years.

Bravo joined the likes of his former captain Darren Sammy and Chris Gayle in denouncing racism in the wake of African-American George Floyd's killing at the hands of a white police officer in the USA.

"It's sad to see what's going on around the world. As a black man, we know the history of what black people have been through. We never ask for revenge, we ask for equality and respect. That's it," Bravo told former Zimbabwe cricketer Pommie Mbangwa in an Instagram live chat on Tuesday.

"We give respect to others. Why is it that we are facing this over and over? Now enough is enough. We just want equality. We don't want revenge, war.

"We just want respect. We share love and appreciate people for who they are. That's what is most important."

The 36-year-old, who has played 40 Tests, 164 ODIs and 71 T20Is for West Indies, said he wants the world to know that they are powerful and beautiful people and gave the example of greats such as Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan.

"I just want our brothers and sisters to know that we are powerful and beautiful. And at the end of the day, you look at some of the greats of the world, whether it is Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan we have had leaders who paved the way for us," he said.

Two-time T20 World Cup-winning captain Sammy had earlier alleged that a racist nickname was used to address him during his IPL stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad and demanded an apology.

Sammy said he was called 'Kalu' while he was in India. 'Kalu' is a derogatory word to describe black people.

Gayle, who too plays in the IPL, took to Twitter to back Sammy, saying that racism does exist in cricket.

"It's never too late to fight for the right cause or what you've experienced over the years! So much more to your story, @darensammy88. Like I said, it's in the game!!," Gayle tweeted.

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News Network
March 23,2020

Colombo, Mar 23: Sri Lankan batting great Kumar Sangakkara has said he is currently in self-quarantine, following his government's guidelines for those recently returning from Europe, which has now become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authorities are concerned over people returning from the most-affected COVID-19 countries in Europe not registering with the police and practising isolation.

"I have no symptoms or anything like that, but I'm following government guidelines," Sangakkara told News First.

"I arrived from London over a week ago and the first thing was there was a news bulletin saying that anyone who had travelled from within March 1 to 15 should register themselves with the police and undergo self-quarantine. I registered myself with the police."

The former captain said this even as the government confirmed there have been at least three cases of recent returnees attempting to hide the novel coronavirus symptoms from authorities.

Both Sangakkara and his former teammate Mahela Jayawardene have been active on social media, urging Sri Lankans to avoid panic and to exercise proper social distancing, as the country went into curfew on Friday evening.

Sri Lanka has so far reported more than 80 active COVID-19 positive cases in the country.

Across the world, the number of infected has crossed three lakh besides a death toll of more than 14,000 people.

Meanwhile, former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie has also gone into a two-week isolation after returning from the United Kingdom.

Gillespie, who is the head coach at Sussex, had been in Cape Town with the team for a pre-season tour, which was cut short as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

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