RCB clinch Super-Over thriller

April 17, 2013
Bangalore, Apr 17: Once Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers attained full flow, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s chase seemed destined for a smooth end. But it wasn’t to be.

superThe run out of de Villiers triggered a spectacular collapse with Royal Challengers losing five wickets for nine runs. The hosts slipped from a comfortable 129 for two to 152 for seven for the scores to be levelled with Delhi Daredevils after the regulation time, extending the match into the Super Over.

Royal Challengers had earlier suffered an agonising defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad a few days back at Uppal in the one-over eliminator, but this time they held their nerve to score a win to go on top of the points chart.

Earlier, the customary profligacy of Royal Challengers bowlers in the death overs helped Daredevils post a competitive total. The visitors rattled 58 runs in the last five overs, 30 in the last two overs, to post 152 for five, a total that seemed far from possible at one stage. It certainly gave RCB something to chase, and they appeared well on course till Daredevils made a late comeback into the match through a clutch of wickets in the final stages of the chase.

But De Villiers, who smoked two sixes off UmeshYadav, and Ravi Rampaul, who bowled cleverly, combined well to help RCB survive the Super Over test.

Before the match came to a tense finale, Chris Gayle’s two sixes early on gave the impression of a night of Caribbean party at the M Chinnaswamy stadium. But an aimless flay at a fuller delivery from Morne Morkel that ended in the hands of Yadav at third man snapped Gayle’s stay.

A near capacity crowd went into a mute mode, but they regained their voices once Kohli and de Villiers milked 103 runs for the entertaining third-wicket stand.

Uncanny similarity

There is no better sight on a cricket field than watching Kohli and de Villiers in their zone. There’s an uncanny similarity as well to their batting, especially in their off-side play. Both the batsmen fuse power, elegance and timing quite effortlessly, leaving the fielders mere companions of the ball on its way to the ropes.

De Villiers could be slightly more engaging to watch as the South African right-hander comes up with breathtaking innovative shots now and then. He showed his special skills when he sliced Ashish Nehra over backward point for a six on a bent knee – the shot a wonderful example of his ability to manufacture a stroke out of nowhere.

At the other end, Kohli, who made a superb fifty, didn’t rely too much on innovativeness on the night, but then he was hardly faced with the need to do anything garish.

The Delhi lad has an amazing array of strokes at his disposal, and even more amazing amount of time to play them. Yadav slipped in a scorching bouncer that caught Kohli in an awkward position, but still he managed to pull that away, giving no chance to the square leg fielder to block it.

But it wasn’t that the Daredevils were completely absent from the frame. Openers – David Warner and Virender Sehwag – spurred the Delhiites to 43 in little over five overs, playing a few crisp shots.

However, R Vinay Kumar managed to produce a moment of absolute magic while latching on to a full-blooded shot from Warner off his own bowling. Even the arrival of skipper Mahela Jayawardene didn’t provide the steam to their innings as Delhi meandered along like a dying river.

Scoreboard

DELHI DAREDEVILS: David Warner c&b Vinay 15 (13b, 3x4), Virender Sehwag c Kohli b McDonald 25 (23b, 4x4), Manpreet Juneja c Vinay b Unadkat 17 (16b, 2x4), Mahela Jayawardene (run out) 28 (31b, 2x4), Ben Roherer c Kohli b Unadkat 14 (14b, 2x4), Kedar Jadhav (not out) 29 (16b, 2x4, 1x6), Irfan Pathan (not out) 19 (8b, 2x4, 1x6). Extras (LB-1, NB-1, W-3) 5. Total (for 5 wkts, 20 overs) 152.

Fall of wickets: 1-43 (Warner), 2-43 (Sehwag), 3-73 (Juneja), 4-91 (Roherer), 5-122 (Jayawardene).

Bowling: Ravi Rampaul 4-1-28-0 (nb-1), RP Singh 4-0-48-0 (w-1), Jaydev Unadkat 4-0-24-2 (w-2), R Vinay Kumar 4-0-21-1, Andrew McDonald 2-0-17-1, Syed Mohammad 2-0-13-0.

Runs during Power Play: 1-6 overs: 43/1.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE: Chris Gayle c Yadav b Morkel 13 (9b, 2x6), KL Rahul c Jayawardene b Nehra 12 (12b, 24), Virat Kohli c Jayawardene b Yadav 65 (50b, 7x4, 1x6), AB de Villiers (run out) 39 (32b, 3x4, 1x6), Andrew McDonald c&b Nadeem 0 (2b), KB Arun Karthik (run out) 5 (5b), Syed Mohammad c Warner b Yadav 1 (2b), Vinay Kumar (not out) 1 (1b), Ravi Rampaul (not out) 12 (7b, 1x6). Extras (B-1, LB-1, W-2) 4. Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs) 152.

Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Rahul), 2-26 (Gayle), 3-129 (De Villiers), 4-129 (McDonald), 5-136 (Arun), 6-138 (Mohamamd), 7-138 (Kohli).

Bowling: Ashish Nehra 4-0-31-1 (w-1), Morne Morkel 4-0-32-1 (w-1), Irfan Pathan 4-0-39-0, Umesh Yadav 4-0-22-2, Shabaz Nadeem 4-0-26-1.

Power Play: 1-6: 48/2.

Super Over: Royal Challengers Bangalore: 15/0 (1, 1, 1, 0, 6, 6) bt Delhi Daredevils: 11/2 (w, 4, 0, 6, 1, w).

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News Network
June 2,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 2: Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal has said that he was ashamed on seeing the training regime of Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

Iqbal said that the incident happened two-three years back as he thought to himself that why he cannot do the same even when he is the same age as Kohli.

"I must say this, it is not because I am talking to an Indian commentator, India is our neighbour so whatever things they do, it affects Bangladesh as well. We follow what is happening in India, when India changed its approach towards fitness, it impacted Bangladesh the most," Iqbal told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I have no shame in admitting this, when I saw Virat Kohli running around two-three years ago, I was ashamed of myself, I thought this is a guy who is probably my age, but he is training so much and I have not doing even half of it. We have a great example in our team as well, Mushfiqur Rahim manages himself well regarding fitness," he added.

During his initial days of international cricket, Kohli was fond of chicken which he has admitted several times during media interaction.

But in 2013, the 31-year-old batsman intentionally shifted his focus to fitness, diet, and training.

Now he has become punctual about his diet which has given him a different character on and off the field.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have also kept on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar managed to call time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings.

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Agencies
February 5,2020

Hamilton, Feb 5: Ross Taylor and Tom Latham played knocks of 109 and 69, respectively, as New Zealand defeated India by four wickets in the first ODI of the three-match series here at the Seddon Park on Wednesday.

Chasing 348, New Zealand got off to a steady start as openers Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls put on 85 runs for the first wicket, however, India finally got the breakthrough in the 16th over as Shardul Thakur dismissed Guptill (32).

Tom Blundell and Nicholls then put on 24 runs for the second wicket, but their vigil came to an end in the 20th over as Kuldeep Yadav had Blundell (9) stumped at the hands of wicket-keeper KL Rahul, reducing Kiwis to 109/2.

Nicholls then retrieved the innings for the hosts as he found support in Ross Taylor. The duo mixed caution with aggression to stitch together a partnership of 62 runs. But with their back against the wall, skipper Kohli lifted the side up as he ran out Nicholls (78) in the 29th over, reducing New Zealand to 171/3.

Skipper Tom Latham, came out to bat next, and he increased the tempo of the Kiwi innings. He took a special liking to Kuldeep and kept on sweeping him to pick easy boundaries on the legside.

Taylor and Latham put on a stand of 138 runs to take Kiwis closer to victory. But with 39 runs away from the target, Kuldeep dismissed Latham (69) to revive India's hopes of making a comeback.

Mohammed Shami removed Jimmy Neesham (9) in the 46th over while Colin de Grandhomme (1) was sent packing via a run-out to send cat among the pigeons in the Kiwi camp. In the end, Mitchell Santner and Taylor took the hosts over the line by four wickets and with 11 balls to spare.

Earlier, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul's knocks of 103 and 88, respectively, helped India post 347/4 in the allotted twenty overs.

After being put in to bat, India got off to a quickfire start as openers Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal put on 50 runs. Colin de Grandhomme finally provided the breakthrough to the Kiwis as he sent Shaw (20) back to the pavilion in the eighth over.

Agarwal (32) was also dismissed soon after by Tim Southee and the Men in Blue were reduced to 54/2 in the ninth over.

Skipper Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer then retrieved the innings for the visitors as the duo put on 102 runs for the third wicket. Kohli brought up his 58th half-century in the 28th over.

Ish Sodhi got the crucial breakthrough of Kohli (51) in the 29th over as he clean bowled him to reduce India to 156/3. However, Iyer continued to march on and brought up his maiden ODI century in the 43rd over.

KL Rahul, who came in to bat at number five provided the much-needed impetus to the innings. He along with Iyer put on a stand of 136 runs for the fourth wicket.

Iyer (103) was finally sent back to the pavilion by Southee in the 46th over, reducing India to 292/4.

In the final overs, Rahul and Kedar Jadhav hammered the Kiwi players to take India's score past the 340-run mark. Jadhav remained unbeaten on 26.

Brief Scores: New Zealand 348/6 (Ross Taylor 109*, Henry Nicholls 78, Kuldeep Yadav 2-84) defeat India 347/4 (Shreyas Iyer 103, KL Rahul 88*, Tim Southee 2-85) by four wickets.

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Agencies
August 1,2020

Colombo, Aug 1: Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has expressed his interest in playing the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), scheduled to start from August 28.

Pathan is among 70 foreign players to have shown interest in playing the LPL, ESPNcricinfo reported.

It is believed that Pathan has taken permission from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take part in the competition. 

BCCI doesn't allow active players to participate in other T20 leagues but Pathan announced his retirement in January this year.

Former swashbuckling all-rounder Yuvraj Singh also played in a foreign league last year. He played for Maratha Arabians in the T10 League in Abu Dhabi.

According to ESPNcricinfo, Pathan will now be put in a player draft unless one of the five franchises choose him to be a marquee player. The details of the draft, and the franchise owners, are yet to be finalised and announced. 

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is also waiting on some government clearances even as it decides on franchise owners. The five franchises will represent Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna.

On Monday, SLC Executive Committee granted approval for the tournament.

"The 23 match League will be played on the four international venues of R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, Rangiri Dambulu International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and Suriyawewa Mahinda Rajapakse International Cricket Stadium. Five teams named after the cities of Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna will participate in the League," SLC said in a statement on Monday.

Sri Lanka has controlled the spread of COVID-19 better than many other cricket-playing nations.

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