Delhi Capitals look to prove a point in eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad

Agencies
May 8, 2019

May 8: The road to the final has become difficult but the Delhi Capitals have the means to drive their way through the obstacles, starting with the IPL eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Re-branded before the start of the 12th season of the Indian Premier League, Delhi Capitals have been one of the top sides in this edition, playing cricket never seen before from them.

It is a bit harsh on the Delhi Capitals that they are playing the do-or-die game despite securing 18 points after nine wins and five losses from 14 matches.

Despite winning three matches more than Hyderabad, severely weakened by the departure of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow for their World Cup national camps, DC find themselves in the same boat as SRH and a defeat will knock them out of the league.

The big loss to Chennai Super Kings hurt them a lot.

For a while before that drubbing, DC battled for the top spot with three-time winners Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians before finishing third at the end of league engagements.

Delhi Capitals have never reached the IPL final, never made the top-two, and ventured into the top-four for the first time since 2012.

Considering the results and consistency, it seemed DC's search for that elusive winning combination has finally ended, which brought the smiles back on the faces of fans after years of disappointment.

There have been the failures too. After a dominant start against Mumbai, Delhi went down to CSK, suffered one of their worst collapses ever against Kings XI Punjab and lost a home game to SRH.

Things turned around after the SRH game and Delhi emerged as one of the best teams on the road this season.

Picked in the trading window, India opener Shikhar Dhawan lived up to the expectations of the team management and franchise, scoring over 450 runs.

Along with the young Prithvi Shaw, the experienced Dhawan formed a fine opening combination and scored briskly in the powerplay overs.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer (over 400 runs) showed immense maturity while leading the side and also played some substantial knocks.

Ignored from the World Cup squad at the expense of Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant has proved his worth in the side with his handy cameos at crucial junctures.

Delhi were also helped by the presence of two of cricket's greatest brains Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly.

They will miss the services of pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada but DC have enough firepower in bowling to surprise SRH, who became the first team in IPL history to qualify for the playoffs with 12 points.

While the duo of Warner and Bairstow played a pivotal role in SRH's performances and dominated the powerplay better than other teams, the likes of Manish Pandey stepped in after they left to be with their respective national teams.

In bowling, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneswar Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed have done just enough to help Sunrisers Hyderabad keep things.

In Kane Williamson, SRH have a dependable captain and he will expect a little more from his New Zealand team-mate, Martin Guptill.

It will be another opportunity for Vijay Shankar to make a mark before flying to the United Kingdom for the World Cup.

Teams (likely XI):

Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Rishabh Pant, Colin Ingram, Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Trent Boult

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Wriddhiman Saha, Martin Guptill, Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson (capt), Vijay Shankar, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, K Khaleel Ahmed.

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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.

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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.

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Agencies
March 6,2020

Mumbai, Mar 6: Former India batsman Virender Sehwag expressed excitement over the upcoming Road Safety World Series and said he is looking forward to playing with Sachin Tendulkar again.

"I am very excited about this tournament because I will get another chance to play with Sachin. We have played many international matches together and there was a gap and then we played an All-Star match and now again getting a chance. I am looking forward to playing with Tendulkar," Sehwag told media persons.

In the opening match of the Road Safety World Series, India Legends will play against West Indies Legends on March 7. The main aim of the Series is to create awareness about road safety and change people's mindset towards their behaviour on the roads.

Sehwag hailed the initiative of Road Safety World Series and said: "I think it is a very good initiative by the government that they are working towards creating awareness regarding road safety. Awareness regarding road safety is important for everyone."

Road Safety World Series, a five-nation T20 cricket tournament, will showcase some of the biggest names in cricket from India, Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and South Africa.

Players who will feature in this series include Tendulkar, Sehwag, Brian Lara, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brett Lee, Brad Hodge, Jonty Rhodes, Muttiah Muralitharan, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Ajantha Mendis and many more. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar is the Commissioner of the Series.

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