IPL 2014: Sunrisers Hyderabad’s victory over Rajasthan Royals provides opportunity for rest to catch up

May 9, 2014

Rajasthan_RoyalsAhmedabad, May 9: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) defied all odds to beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014 on May 8. Hyderabad produced a joke of a batting display against a good bowling. But somehow managed to comprehensively beat Rajasthan in the end. Shrikant Shankar writes Sunrisers’ victory provides the rest an opportunity to catch up with the leaders.

How Sunrisers Hyderabad managed to beat Rajasthan Royals by a convincing margin in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014 on May 8 is a complete mystery. First they produced an abject batting performance to post a lowly 134 for nine in their 20 overs at Ahmedabad. The score in itself does not suggest that their batting was woeful. Many teams can be bowled out quickly. Such is the nature of T20 cricket. But some of the shots played and the lackadaisical attitude shown by Amit Mishra, did not warrant Hyderabad to post a score any higher.

They looked dead and buried as Rajasthan looked to win their fifth match on the trot. That kind of momentum is hard to stop. Last season in the IPL, Hyderabad managed to just about win matches posting low totals. Hyderabad’s strength is their bowling attack. But that is a known fact. With Dale Steyn, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mishra and Karn Sharma, they will always slow down the opposition. They may have the odd off-days viz. Steyn’s unraveling against AB de Villiers. But on the whole, they have a good bowling line-up.

What that 32-run win did was to open up the IPL and hand the rest an opportunity to close the gap. Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings already have 12 points each. If Rajasthan would have won, they too would have got a dozen points. This has still kept a four-point gap between Rajasthan in third position in the IPL 7 Points Table and Kolkata Knight Riders in fifth place with six points. Despite the loss, Rajasthan have that cushion and will be looking up rather than down the table. But the rest will have got a glimmer of hope to catch up with the leaders.

There is a genuine possibility that Punjab, Chennai and Rajasthan fight for the top-three positions and the remaining five teams battle it out for fourth spot in the standings. This may not give the IPL 2014 the intensity of previous seasons where most of the top-four positions were not decided until the last day of the group phase. The teams at the top may not mind, but the fans and the neutrals would always want to see things go down to the wire. Teams like Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, who have genuine quality, will even think that both can get into the play-off spots displacing Rajasthan.

It is almost a given that Punjab and Chennai will finish in the play-offs. But Rajasthan don’t actually have it that easy. They are not playing at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Rajasthan are playing all their home matches at Ahmedabad. This loss shows that they can not only be beaten here, but also by a convincing margin. Last season, Rajasthan banked on their 100 per cent record in Jaipur, despite their away form being mediocre. This seasons technically, Rajasthan are not playing at home at all.

Another aspect that came out from the match was the slowly fading thought of putting the runs on the board formula. Rajasthan proved against Kolkata and then Hyderabad again on May 8 that if wickets are taken regularly in the second innings, the pressure rises increasingly on the chasing team. There is also a case that Rajasthan might have taken Hyderabad for granted and thought chasing down a 135-run target was just a formality. Either way, Hyderabad’s victory has just given the rest of the teams in IPL 2014 an opportunity to string a run of victories and increase the pressure on the ones at the top.

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Agencies
April 12,2020

London, Apr 12: Former Formula 1 legendary driver Stirling Moss died at the age of 90 on Sunday.

"All at F1 send our heartfelt condolences to Lady Susie and Sir Stirling's family and friends," Formula 1 said in a statement.

Often referred to as the greatest driver never to win the world championship, Moss contested 66 Grands Prix from 1951 to 1961, driving for the likes of Vanwall, Maserati and Mercedes, where he famously formed a contented and ruthlessly effective partnership with lead driver Juan Manuel Fangio.

In his 10-year-long stint at the tracks, Moss took 16 wins, some of which rank among the truly iconic drives in the sport's history - his 1961 victories in Monaco and Germany in particular often held up as all-time classics.

Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia on public roads for Mercedes at an average speed of close to 100mph, while he also competed in rallies and land-speed attempts.

Following an enforced retirement from racing (barring a brief comeback in saloon cars in the 1980s) after a major crash at Goodwood in 1962, Moss maintained a presence in Formula 1 as both a sports correspondent and an interested observer, before retiring from public life in January of 2018.

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News Network
February 12,2020

Mount Maunganui, Feb 12: India captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday berated his bowlers for their mediocre performance as he tried to explain the team's first ODI series whitewash in over three decades, saying that the visitors lacked composure all through.

The five-wicket defeat here meant that India lost the series 0-3 to an injury-plagued New Zealand that had been deflated by a 0-5 whitewash of its own in the T20 format just last week. It was India's first whitewash in 31 years in an ODI series in which all matches have been played.

"The games were not as bad as the scoreline suggests. It boils down to those chances that we didn't grab. I don't think it was not enough to win games in international cricket," Kohli said in the post-match presentation.

"With the ball, we were not able to make breakthroughs, we were not at all good on the field. We haven't played so badly but when you don't grab those chances, you don't deserve to win," he added.

"Batsmen coming back from tough situations was a positive sign for us, but the way we fielded and bowled, the composure wasn't enough to win games," he asserted.

The ineffectiveness of Indian bowlers can be gauged from the fact that the team's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah finished the series without a wicket and the attack couldn't dismiss the complete rival line-up even once.

Kohli lauded New Zealand for bouncing back after the T20 hammering.

"New Zealand played with lot more intensity. We didn't deserve to win because we did not show enough composure," he said.

The batting mainstay is looking forward to the Test series, which begins on February 21, to make amends for the disappointment.

"I think because of the Test Championship, every match has that more importance. We have a really balanced Test team and we feel we can win the series here, but we need to step on to the park with the right kind of mindset," he said.

His opposite number Kane Williamson, who missed the first two games due to injury, was lavish in his praise for the home team's grit.

"An outstanding performance, very clinical. India put us under pressure, but the way the guys fought back with the ball and kept them to a par total. The cricket in the second half was outstanding to see," he said referring to the side's effortless chase of a 297-run target.

"We know how good they (India) are at all formats but for us the clarity about the roles the guys had was the most important thing. Outstanding effort against a brilliant India side," he added.

Player of the Match Henry Nicholls, who scored 80 on Tuesday, said his team benefitted from good batting starts during the series.

"To come back and win 3-0 after the T20Is is nice. The way (Martin) Guptill played today allowed us to get ahead. We got a 100-run stand, but we were fortunate enough to get good starts this series," he said.

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News Network
May 14,2020

May 14: Veteran South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis has proposed a two-week isolation period for players before and after the T20 World Cup as a way to stage the event as per schedule later this year.

Like other sports, cricketing action too has come to a complete halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fate of the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October-November is shrouded in uncertainty.

Talking to Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, du Plessis said travel was going to be an issue despite Australia being less affected by the deadly contagion.

"I am not sure... reading that travelling is going to be an issue for lot of countries and they are talking about December or January. Even if Australia is not affected like other countries, to get people from Bangladesh, South Africa or India where there is more danger, obviously it's a health risk to them," du Plessis said.

"But you can go in before the tournament (for) two weeks isolation and then play the tournament and afterwards two weeks isolation," said the former captain.

Several countries across the globe, including South Africa, Australia and India, have travel restrictions in place and the veteran Proteas batsman joked travelling by boat is not an option.

"But I don't know when South Africa will open their travel ban because we can't go there like old days on boats," du Plessis said.

In March, South Africa's ODI series against India was called off after the first match in view of the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 44 lakh people worldwide while causing close to 3 lakh deaths.

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