Marauding Mumbai face consistent Chennai in IPL eliminator

May 27, 2014

Mumbai, May 27: After scripting an incredible finish in their last game to earn a place at the play-offs, defending champions Mumbai Indians will now be up against two-time title holders Chennai Super Kings in the IPL eliminator here tomorrow.mumbai chennai

The resurgent MI, who sealed a berth at the play-offs by virtue of a better net run rate after producing an improbable runchase against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday, would be eager to continue in the same vein but they face a daunting task against a formidable side at the Brabourne Stadium.

Kiwi batsman Corey Anderson conjured up an astonishing 44-ball 95 under tremendous pressure to single-handedly power Mumbai Indians to the IPL play-offs as the hosts rattled Rajasthan Royals by five wickets in a high-scoring thriller.

Requiring to chase down a 190-run target within 15 overs, Mumbai Indians overhauled the target in just 14.4 overs.

The last edition's winners have certainly come a long way, following the first phase in the UAE where the Rohit Sharma-led team tasted five defeats in a row.

Mumbai seems to have put behind its opening woes, with a successful combination of former Australian player Michael Hussey and West Indian Lendl Simmons, who has scored the only century so far.

Ambati Rayudu and skipper Rohit Sharma have been in good touch and the middle-order is a force to reckon with powered by the hard-hitting Anderson and West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard.

Mumbai's bowling attack looks weak in the absence of Lasith Malinga, who is representing Sri Lanka in the series against England. Praveen Kumar, who was a replacement to Zaheer Khan sustained an ankle injury and it is unclear whether the Uttar Pradesh pacer will feature in the crucial tie against Chennai Super Kings.

The addition of young Karnataka leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal has added teeth to the bowling department with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh being in his elements.

Chennai, on the other hand, snapped their three-match losing streak with a comfortable eight-win win against the Royal Challengers on Saturday.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men won both the league ties against Mumbai this year and they would be eager to pull the rug from under their feet for one more time to get another shot at the title.

Chennai possess a good batting line-up which includes the lethal opening pair of West Indian Dwayne Smith and New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum.

Smith has amassed 501 runs so far this season, while McCullum has scored 380 runs.

South African Faf du Plessis returned to form in the last game after a string of low scores and the inclusion of David Hussey has strengthened the batting attack.

Mohit Sharma has been the pick of the bowlers for the Southern side with 18 scalps, while all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has picked up 16 wickets.

Teams (from):

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Corey Anderson, Jasprit Bumrah, Marchant de Lange, Ben Dunk, Chidhambaram Gautam, Shreyas Gopal, Harbhajan Singh, Josh Hazlewood, Michael Hussey, Praveen Kumar, Sushant Marathe, Pragyan Ojha, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Krishmar Santokie, Lendl Simmons, Pawan Suyal, Aditya Tare, Apoorv Wankhade.

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c), Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina, David Hussey, Ravindra Jadeja, Mithun Manhas, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishwar Pandey, Mohit Sharma, Samuel Badree, Faf du Plessis, John Hastings, Matt Henry, Ben Hilfenhaus, Ashish Nehra, Baba Aparajith, Pawan Negi, Ronit More and Vijay Shankar.

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News Network
April 5,2020

New Delhi, April 5: England batsman James Vince lashed out at people for not taking proper measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and said people are going out as if "everything is normal".

"Just seen the pictures of people out and about today as if everything is normal. What selfish people, surely by now they've realised this is serious. Well done to everyone who's doing their bit and staying in," Vince tweeted.

On March 13, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Europe was now the 'epicentre' of the disease.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in the UK has exceeded 4,313 with at least 708 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the largest one-day rise since the start of the outbreak as confirmed by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The total number of cases in the UK as on Saturday is 41,903, a rise of 3,735 cases in the last 24 hours.

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News Network
April 14,2020

Melbourne, Apr 14: As all sporting action across the world has come to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australian bowlers are pondering as to how Indian skipper Virat Kohli might play in front of no spectators.

India and Australia are scheduled to play a four-match Test series later this year, and it is being speculated that the series might end up taking place without any crowds due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Australian spinner Nathan Lyon on Tuesday said that it would be interesting to see how Kohli goes about it if he does not get a chance to get the audience behind him.

"He is probably good enough to adapt to any scenario. But I was talking to Mitch Starc the other day and we actually said that if we are playing with no crowd, it'll be quite amazing to see Virat trying to rev up the empty seats," cricket.com.au quoted Lyon as saying.

"It is going to be a little bit different, but Virat is a superstar. He will be able to adapt to any climate that we are able to play in," he added.
During the 2018-19 series, India managed to defeat Australia in Australia for the first time in a Test series.

Australia, at that time were without the services of David Warner and Steve Smith. However, the series later this year promises to be a mouth-watering prospect.

"I am excited about the prospect of India coming out to Australia, it's up there with the biggest series alongside the Ashes. They are an absolute powerhouse of the cricket world, and to have those guys out here is going to be fantastic. Playing in front of crowds or no crowds is out of our control, we have got to follow the advice of all the amazing medical people around the world," Lyon said.

"I have not thought about no crowds or massive crowds, it is just about the opportunity of playing against India again. They had the wood over us last time they came over here but we are a much stronger Australian cricket side at the moment, and I am just unbelievably excited about playing them here at home," he added.

Lyon was slated to represent Hampshire in County Championship this year, however, his stint was called off last week due to COVID-19.
He is Australia's third-highest wicket-taker in the longest format of the game as he has total of 390 wickets in Test cricket.

Lyon was last seen in action in the Big Bash League for Sydney Sixers.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 9: BWF World Championships defending champion PV Sindhu on Thursday cruised to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters after winning a second-round match.

The 24-year-old had the upper hand in the clash and thrashed Japan's Aya Ohori in straight games 21-10, 21-15 that lasted for 34-minute. The world number six will now play in her quarterfinal match on January 10.

Earlier in the day, Saina Nehwal defeated South Korea's An Se Young 25-23, 21-12 in 38 minutes. The first game saw back and forth action between both shuttlers. In the end, Nehwal kept her cool to win the match.

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old had outclassed Belgium's Lianne Tan 21-15, 21-17 to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.

Shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the tournament after losing their matches to Japan's Kento Momota and Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei respectively. 

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