Royal Challengers Bangalore outplay Rajasthan Royals

April 21, 2013

Royal_Challengers

Bangalore, Apr 21: Winning convincingly is something new to Royal Challengers Bangalore this year and Saturday was a start.

But faced with an easy chase of 118 in their 100th T20 match overall, the hosts nearly threatened another close finish before holding their nerve to seal a seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals with 2.1 overs to spare at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.

Chris Gayle (49 not out, 44b, 4x4, 1x6) led the way again on a night when skipper Virat Kohli failed probably for the first time with the bat this season and AB de Villiers defied logic by throwing his wicket away cheaply again.

However, Gayle and Saurabh Tiwary (25 not out, 29b, 2x4, 1x6) impressed to finish the job after Tillakaratne Dilshan (25, 22b, 5x4, 0x6) provided the acceleration early on in the innings.

Earlier, Royals played the role of good visitors, handing RCB the advantage with a performance that lacked bite.

Asked to bat first, Rahul Dravid's men collapsed from promising positions before surrendering at 117 all out as RCB's pace quartet of R Vinay Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Ravi Rampaul and RP Singh accounted for nine Royals wickets.

Shane Watson was the first to go as he attempted an uppish drive off Ravi Rampaul only to find Murali Kartik at mid-off in the third over.

With Dravid playing the holding role, Ajinkya Rahane carted Rampaul for a six in the fifth over. Trying too hard to force the issue, he then perished for 14, skying Jaydev Unadkat's slower one to a waiting Dilshan at point.

The script then seemed perfect for Bangalore boys Stuart Binny and Dravid as they set about stabilizing the Royals innings. Binny quickly turned aggressor with a flat six behind square-leg in Murali Kartik's first over.

The Karnataka lad raced to 33 off 19 balls before trying to pull a widish one from Man-of-the-Match Vinay Kumar, offering wicketkeeper Arun Karthik an easy catch in the 10th over.

Dravid then sought to increase the scoring rate himself with a couple of neatly-timed boundaries. However, he fell victim to Kartik's persistent pressure in the 14th over.

Trying to clear the long-on boundary, Dravid (35, 31b, 5x4, 0x6) mistimed a full toss which went straight to Rampaul. The skipper's wicket was a deep gash in Royals' flesh at the time and the bleeding just didn't stop thereafter.

Jadeja powers Super Kings to victory

Jadeja_powersKolkata, Apr 21: Chennai Super Kings made heavy weather of a small chase before Ravindra Jadeja's blitzkrieg powered the visitors to a four-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in a Pepsi Indian Premier League match here today.

Chasing a paltry 120, the Super Kings found themselves in a tight corner when they were reduced to 89 for six in the 17th over.

But Jadeja (36 off 14) meant business and used his long handle to great effect to wrap up the issue for CSK. He shared an unbeaten 35-run partnership with Dwayne Bravo (7) to guide CSK home.

Apart from Jadeja, Mike Hussey (40 off 51) played a sensible innings at the top to keep CSK in the hunt even thought wickets kept falling at the other end.

With CSK needing 27 runs from the last three overs, the Knight Riders brought in their trump card Sunil Narine in the 18th over, but Jadeja hit the bowler straight over his head for a huge six.

Jadeja got a huge reprieve when Yusuf Pathan dropped him at the square leg boundary as he continued his assault with three boundaries in Kallis' penultimate over that reduced the equation to two runs from the last over.

Jadeja was in no mood to relent even though the game was under their control. He pulled Pathan over midwicket boundary for another six to help the Super Kings wrap up the issue with five balls to spare.

Like Knight Riders, the Super Kings had a surprise up their sleeve when they sent Ravichandran Ashwin (11) to open the innings along with Hussey. But the move failed outrightly as the visitors had a sloppy start to their low chase.

Narine gave KKR breakthrough in the fifth over, dismissing Ashwin while Senanayake, who opened the proceedings with Balaji, ran through his four overs and gave the team their second wicket in the form of Murali Vijay (2).

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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
June 10,2020

New Delhi, Jun 10: Former India skipper Rahul Dravid has praised the batting of MS Dhoni during the backend of a match, saying that the wicket-keeper often played during the period as if the result did not really matter to him.

Dravid also said that in pressure-cooker situations, not worrying about consequences can help players bring out the best in themselves.

"You watch MS Dhoni play during the backend of a match when he was at his best, you always felt like that he is doing something really important to him but he is playing it like the result does not really matter to him," Dravid told Sanjay Manjrekar during a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I think you need to have that or you need to train for it. It is a skill that I never had. The consequences of any decision mattered to me. It would be interesting to ask MS Dhoni that is this something that has come naturally to him or did he work on this during his career," he added.

Dhoni made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in 2004, but he truly arrived in the series against Pakistan in 2005 when he scored 148 runs in the second ODI of the six-match series at Vishakapatnam.

He is the only captain to win all major ICC trophies (50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy). Under his leadership, India also managed to attain the number one ranking in Test cricket.

He first led an inexperienced Indian side to the T20 World Cup triumph in 2007. He then took over ODI captaincy, but he had to wait for leading the Test side as Anil Kumble was doing the duties in the longest format.

Over his career, Dhoni has been reowned for his finishing skills and he is often viewed as the best finisher that the game has ever seen.

In December 2014, Dhoni announced his retirement from the longest format of the game.

Then in 2017, Dhoni handed over the captaincy reins to Virat Kohli in the 50-over format.

Dhoni was slated to return to the cricket field on March 29 in the IPL's opening match between CSK and Mumbai Indians. However, the tournament has been suspended indefinitely as a precautionary measure against coronavirus.

Thirty-eight-year-old Dhoni has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni recently had to face criticism for his slow batting approach during India's matches.

Earlier this year, Dhoni did not find a place in the list of BCCI's centrally contracted players from October 2019 to September 2020.

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News Network
February 2,2020

Mount Maunganui, Feb 2: India registered a rare 5-0 whitewash against New Zealand after notching up a seven-run win in the fifth and final T20 International at Bay Oval here on Sunday.

Electing to bat, India posted 163 for three, riding on Rohit Sharma's 60 off 41 balls and a 33-ball 45 from K L Rahul.

The visitors then restricted the hosts to 156 for nine with Jasprit Bumrah claiming three wickets for 12 runs.

Chasing the target, the Black Caps were tottering at 17 for three in 3.2 overs.

Tim Seifert (50) and Ross Taylor (53) then added 99 runs for the fourth wicket as New Zealand recovered to 116.

Seifert clobbered a 30-ball 50 studded with five fours and three sixes, while Ross Taylor hit two sixes and five fours in his 47-ball 53-run innings.

However, once Seifert was dismissed in the 13th over, the hosts suffered a collapse, losing five wickets, including Taylor, for 25 runs to loss the plot in the end.

Brief Score:

India: 163 for 3 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 60; S Kuggeleijn 2/25)    

New Zealand: 156 for 9 in 20 overs (Ross Taylor 53, Tim Seifert 50; Jasprit Bumrah 3/12).

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