MS Dhoni discusses batting promotion as CSK beat DD to top points table

Agencies
May 1, 2018

Pune, May 1: Shane Watson and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit belligerent half-centuries as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Delhi Daredevils (DD) by 13 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Monday.

Watson survived a close lbw television referral off Trent Boult's first ball to smash 78 off 40 balls, and Dhoni hit his third unbeaten half-century in the tournament, 51 off 22 balls, in Chennai's challenging total of 211-4.

Delhi was restricted to 198-5, always lagging behind the asking rate despite late half-centuries from Rishabh Pant (79) and Vijay Shankar (54 not out).

Chennai topped the table with six victories from eight matches. Delhi was at the bottom after losing their sixth match.

"It's very important for us to get off to a good start, not necessarily in terms of runs, but even a good partnership," Dhoni said. "I can promote myself and come out at No. 5. It's more fun when you go into the eighth and 10th overs and the bowler doesn't know when you will go for the big runs."

Watson and Faf du Plessis (33) gave Chennai a solid start of 102 runs off 65 balls against some wayward bowling by the Delhi seamers.

England's Liam Plunkett (0-52) and Boult (0-48) conceded 100 runs between them off just seven overs, after Delhi captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bowl first.

Watson hit seven sixes and four boundaries and was well on course for his second century of the season until he holed out in the deep in the 14th over.

Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu (41) then featured in a 79-run stand off just 36 balls against the leaky Plunkett and Boult.

Dhoni, who was dropped by Colin Munro on 31, went on to smash five sixes and two fours. Rayudu hit a six and five boundaries before he was run out off the penultimate ball of the innings.

Delhi stuttered to 74-4 in the ninth over of its run-chase that included the key wickets of skipper Iyer and Glenn Maxwell.

Fast bowler Lungi Ngidi (1-26) had an impressive IPL debut while another new pace bowler KM Asif (2-43) removed both openers Prithvi Shaw (9) and Munro (26) in his opening spell.

Pant and Shankar shared 88 runs in a fifth-wicket stand until Ngidi had Pant caught at deep cover in the 18th over. Shankar reduced the margin of defeat by hitting Dwayne Bravo (0-43) for three sixes in the 19th over.

"We got really close which is a positive we can take into the next match," Iyer said.

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News Network
April 27,2020

Lahore, Apr 27: Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal has been banned from all forms of cricket for three years for failing to report spot-fixing offers, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced Monday.

Umar, who turns 30 next month, pleaded guilty to not reporting the fixing offers which led to his provisional suspension on February 20 this year.

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News Network
July 1,2020

New Delhi, Jul 1: After being named as India's 'Most Valuable Player' in Test cricket in the 21st century, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on Wednesday said that he will always aim to give his best for the country.

His remark came as Jadeja achieved an MVP rating of 97.3 and as a result, he was also rated as the second most valuable player Test player worldwide, only second to Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan.

"Thank you Wisden India for naming me the 'Most Valuable Player'. I would like to thank all my teammates, coaches, fans, and well-wishers for your support as I aim to give my best for our country. Jai Hind," Jadeja tweeted.

Based on CricViz's market-leading analytics, each player in world cricket was awarded an 'MVP rating' by Wisden using a statistical model to rank their 'match impact' compared to their peers.

Jadeja has played in 49 Tests from 2012, managing to score 1,869 runs and has also picked up 213 wickets.

"It might come as a surprise to see Ravindra Jadeja, India's spin-bowling all-rounder, feature as India's number one. After all, he's not even always an automatic pick in their Test team. However, when he does play he is picked as a frontline bowler and has batted as high as No.6 - contributing to a very high match involvement," the official website of Wisden quoted CricViz's Freddie Wilde as saying.

"But Jadeja's position is based on more than simply volume: it's what he does when he's involved that really counts. The 31-year-old's bowling average of 24.62 is better than Shane Warne's and his batting average of 35.26 is better than Shane Watson's. His batting and bowling average differential of 10.62 runs is the second-best of any player this century to have scored more than 1,000 runs and taken 150 wickets. He is an all-rounder of the very highest quality," he added.

With the bat in hand, Jadeja has managed to score one century and 14 fifties in the longest format of the game.

He was last seen in action during India's two-Test series against New Zealand earlier this year.

He would have been in action for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL had the tournament commenced from March 29.

However, the IPL has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: "Want to know what makes him tick," said Australian pacer Kane Richardson will talking about playing alongside Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

The IPL 2020 will be played in the UAE from September 19-November 10 and the tournament will run for 53 days.

In the players' auction which was conducted in December 2019, RCB managed to bag key players like Richardson, Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, Joshua Philippe, and Isuru Udana.

In an interaction with news agency, Richardson talked about playing alongside Kohli and the learning curve which is in store for him by being in the same squad as Proteas great Dale Steyn.
"Huge. These guys (Virat, AB de Villiers) are the absolute legends of the game. Anything I can learn from them will be a bonus, that's for sure.

I am really looking forward to playing with Virat, there are few more competitive players in the world. I am really looking forward to seeing what makes him tick," Richardson said.

The 29-year-old pacer also said that he would want to learn from Steyn as to how to be consistent in all formats of the game over a long period of time.

"There are loads I can learn from Dale. He has been amongst the best at the highest level for so long. His control and ability to swing the ball without losing his pace is really impressive. 

I look forward to getting in his ear about how he performs so consistently over a long period, in all forms," said Richardson who has 39 ODI wickets to his credit.

Richardson has so far played 14 games in his IPL career so far and has picked up 18 wickets. The bowler played for Pune Warriors India in 2013, Rajasthan Royals in 2014, and RCB in 2016.

For this year's IPL, RCB has also bagged Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch, and Richardson thinks having a familiar face in the camp would help him to settle better in the franchise.

"Finchey is an awesome player and a fantastic leader. I am sure it will help to have two Aussies in the side along with Josh who is playing his first tournament after a massive summer in the BBL. We are all professionals, I'm sure it won't take long for us to gel as a side," Richardson said.

However, before the IPL starts, Australia is expected to tour England for a limited-overs series, comprising of three ODIs and as many T20Is.

The side was last seen in action in March this year as they played one ODI against New Zealand in Sydney. After the first match, the remaining two ODIs were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Talking about the series against England, Kane replied: "We will be fresh, that's one thing, while the England players have been in a bubble for some time now. As long as we get enough practice in before and possibly some centre wicket it should not be an issue."

"They are World Cup holders and the number one ranked side for a very good reason. It will be a tough series also given they will have played a fair bit of cricket together by then. We know we need to work hard on our one-day game which will be a priority over the next period," he added.

The pacer also talked about how the lockdown was like for him, and Richardson feels that everyone would come back strong as a result of this break.

"The break from playing has been refreshing, to be honest. We have come back strong and are well into pre-season training with our states. As a bowler, our loads are not at their peak but we are working towards getting ready for a tour of the UK in a few weeks," Richardson said.

The Australian quick has so far played 25 ODIs and 18 T20Is, managing to take 39 and 19 wickets respectively.

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