PL 5: Kolkata earn a shot at the title, beat Delhi by 18 runs

May 23, 2012
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Pune: When Delhi Daredevils took on Kolkata Knight Riders in the Qualifier in Pune, the difference in the teams' mindset was evident. Delhi stuck to their pace-heavy plan, while Kolkata picked three frontline spinners. And that did make a difference.

Kolkata's batsmen scored heavily off the Delhi pacers to set things up nicely for their bowlers. In the end, they won by 18 runs to enter the final for the first time.

Kolkata won the toss and batted first, but couldn't really get their scoring rate up despite Gautam Gambhir, the captain, throwing his bat at everything. Gambhir hit three fours and two sixes, but just as he looked like he was on cue for another big innings, Venugopala Rao ran him out with a direct hit.


Gambhir scored his 32 at a strike rate of 200, but his opening partner Brendon McCullum and Jacques Kallis failed to come close to matching that. Irfan Pathan bowled his quota for 20 runs and Pawan Negi, the left-arm spinner, bowled his for just 18 to stifle the batsmen. If anything, the Kolkata innings took flight only once the two battle-hardened overseas batsmen fell.


Yusuf Pathan had largely been quiet throughout IPL V, while Laxmi Ratan Shukla was in and out of the playing XI. On the evening though, the duo were exceptional. When they started out, Kolkata's run rate was 6.62. When the two were done smashing the Delhi pacers around, the run rate had gone up to 8.10. From a seemingly hopeless situation, Kolkata had reached a healthy 162 for four.

But no target is big enough if either of the Delhi openers - Virender Sehwag and David Warner - gets going. Kolkata managed to send both back early though. Warner fell first, to a howler from umpire Billy Doctrove, given out caught behind off his pad. Sehwag fell soon after when he edged Lakshmipathy Balaji to McCullum. Delhi were two down for 24. What followed though was a strong fightback from Mahela Jayawardene and Naman Ojha as they stayed abreast of the asking rate. Once the two fell though, things fell apart.

Sunil Narine was expected to be the difference between the two sides if things got too close, but both Kallis and Iqbal Abdullah bowled brilliant spells to make things simple for Kolkata. Kallis returned figures of two for 24 and Abdullah one for 25 as Delhi lost wickets regularly towards the end. Delhi will now wait for the winner of the game between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians for a second chance to reach the final.



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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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News Network
June 29,2020

Jun 29: The West Indies cricketers will sport a 'Black Lives Matter' logo on the collars of their shirts during the upcoming three-Test series against England to protest against racism in sports.

Skipper Jason Holder, who has voiced his support to the cause that has once again come to the forefront after the killing of American George Floyd, said in a statement on Sunday: "We believe we have a duty to show solidarity and also to help raise awareness."

The ICC-approved logo, designed by Alisha Hosannah, will be the one which featured in the shirts of all 20 Premier League football clubs since the sport's resumption earlier this month.

"This is a pivotal moment in history for sports, for the game of cricket and for the West Indies cricket team," Holder was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

"We have come to England to retain the Wisden Trophy but we are very conscious of happenings around the world and the fight for justice and equality. "As a group of young men, we know of the rich and diverse history of West Indies cricket and we know we are guardians of the great game for a generation to come."

Holder, who wants racism to be treated at par with doping and corruption, said they arrived at the decision to wear the logo after much thought.

"We did not take our decision lightly. We know what it is for people to make judgments because of the colour of our skin, so we know what it feels like, this goes beyond the boundary. There must be equality and there must be unity. Until we get that as people, we cannot stop," he said.

"We have to find some way to have equal rights and people must not be viewed differently because of the colour of their skin or ethnic background."

The West Indies players are likely to wear the shirts for the first time in this week's four-day warm-up match at Emirates Old Trafford, starting on Monday.

The opening Test of the series, which will mark the resumption of international cricket after the coronavirus-forced hiatus, will get underway at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on July 8.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Gibraltar, Jan 28: Young Indian Grand Master R Praggnanandhaa pulled off a huge upset, beating former world champion Veselin Topalov in the sixth round of the 18th Gibraltar chess festival to record his fifth straight win here.

The 14-year-old Chennai lad needed just 33 moves to put it across the Bulgarian. He had started with a loss against compatriot P V Nandhidhaa but since then he has been on a winning spree.

Praggnanandhaa, who recently won the world under-18 title, said: "It was very tough to prepare against him."

He is in second spot on five points with six other players and will take on Chinese GM Wang Hao in the seventh round.

Seventeen-year-old Russian GM Andrey Esipenko jumped to sole lead with 5.5 points with a win over Georgia's Ivan Cheparinov

The Russian player would be unpaired in the seventh round as he decided to take a bye.

A bunch of players including Indians — B Adhiban, K Sasikiran, Shardul Gagare, Karthikeyan Murali, SL Narayanan — are in joint third place with 4.5 points.

Adhiban beat Gabriel Flom, while D Gukesh, the world's second youngest Grand Master ever, defeated Martin Percivaldi to move to four points.

Also winning were Karthikeyan Murali against Qi B Chen and Gagare over France's Maxime Lagarde.

Top-seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's moderate run continued as he was held to a draw by GM Aryan Chopra.

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