Sri Lanka sweeps Pakistan 3-0 in Twenty20 series

Agencies
October 10, 2019

Lahore, Oct 10: A second-string Sri Lanka team whitewashed top-ranked Pakistan 3-0 by registering 13-run victory in the third and final Twenty20 on Wednesday.

Needing 54 runs off the last five overs with eight wickets in hand, Pakistan again stumbled in its run-chase for the third successive time in the series and was restricted to 134-6.

Sri Lanka won the first match by 64 runs and then beat Pakistan by 35 runs before Pakistan failed yet again on Wednesday night in front of packed 27,000 fans at the Gaddafi Stadium.

Leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga claimed three wickets in two overs to finish with 3-21 and also grabbed a well-judged catch at long-on boundary to dismiss dangerman Imad Wasim as Pakistan batting crumbled in the last five overs. Earlier, after winning the toss and electing to bat first, Sri Lanka scored 147-7 despite resting five players who had featured in the two earlier victories.

"Unity was the secret (of success)," Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka said after he led his team on a victory lap around the Gaddafi Stadium. "We wanted to thank the people of Pakistan, they supported us, not just the Pakistan (team). All the players were bonded and that was the key to our success."

The series sweep by a young Sri Lanka team was made even more impressive by the fact that it toured Pakistan without several key players, who pulled out due to security concerns.

Debutant Oshanda Fernando, one of the five changes Sri Lanka made, held the innings together with a gritty unbeaten 78 off 48 balls as Mohammad Amir was the only bowler to show some resilience by claiming 3-27.

Fernando dominated a 76-run stand with Shanaka, whose contribution was only 12 but the partnership pulled Sri Lanka out of trouble from 4-58.

In the absence of rested frontline seamers Isuru Udana and Nuwan Pradeep, Sri Lanka seamers Kasun Rajitha (1-17) and Lahiru Kumara bowled with disciplined line and length and never allowed Pakistan batsmen to go for big hitting.

Haris Sohail, playing his first match of the series, made 52 off 50 balls and Babar Azam scored 27 before Hasaranga turned the tables in his team's favor by having Sohail stumped off the first ball in the 16th over.

"We were subdued, we didn't express ourselves throughout this series," conceded Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was yet again clean bowled by Hasaranga. "We need to work a lot in all three fronts, especially fielding. We can't beat any team if we drop catches like that in the middle overs."

Sarfaraz himself dropped a simple catch of Sadeera Samarawickrama and also missed down the leg side stumping of Shanaka when the Sri Lanka captain had scored just 1.

Shadab Khan missed a skier which could have ended Bhanuka Rajapaksa on 1 in Amir's second over, while the Pakistan fielders also missed out several run out chances.

But Fernando, who hit eight fours and three sixes, gave Sri Lanka enough runs to defend as he kept putting Pakistan bowlers under pressure. The left-hander was especially ruthless against left-arm seamer Usman Shinwari, who gave away 43 runs off his four overs without a wicket while leg-spinner Shadab also leaked 32 runs off his four wicketless overs.

Sri Lanka lost the preceding one-day series 2-0 but completed an upset in the Twenty20s by clean sweeping a three-match series for the first time.

It is the first time since Sri Lanka's team bus was attacked in Lahore in 2009 that a foreign team conducted a two-week tour of Pakistan. Major teams have avoided the country since the ambush that killed eight people and injured several players.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Sydney, Jan 6: Nathan Lyon captured five for 50 and 10 match wickets as Australia crushed New Zealand by 279 runs on Monday, capping a golden domestic summer as they swept the three-Test series.

The off-spinner led the powerful Australian bowling attack to dismiss the Kiwis for 136 and seal another heavy win over the Black Caps after similar victories in Perth and Melbourne.

Australia have been unbeatable this season, winning all five Tests at home -- two against Pakistan and three against New Zealand -- after retaining the Ashes by drawing the series 2-2 in England.

"It's been a great summer for the Australian Test side," Lyon said.

"It's pretty special to be part of it, we have been impressive, pretty clinical, the batters have done well and given us bowlers plenty of time."

Australia declared their second innings at 217 for two with David Warner scoring an unbeaten century, leaving the Black Caps with a revised 416-run target in the fourth innings on a wearing Sydney Cricket Ground pitch.

But the Kiwis buckled under the pressure of Australia's superior bowling attack with Mitchell Starc taking three for 25 to support the wiles of spinner Lyon.

"They were clinical in all areas and after the first match they put us under pressure session after session," said skipper Kane Williamson, who missed the Test with a virus.

New Zealand were reeling early at 27-4 and never recovered after Starc and Lyon took two wickets each in the middle session to put the skids under the tourists.

Starc removed both openers, Tom Latham and Tom Blundell, in the first five overs. Blundell fell to a stunning catch by a diving Lyon at point for two and stand-in skipper Latham lost a review for leg before wicket.

Jeet Raval was out in a review to the faintest of edges on 'Snicko' in Lyon's first over for 12.

First-innings top-scorer Glenn Phillips went for a duck after technology detected a faint outside edge to wicketkeeper Paine off Lyon.

Taylor's Kiwi record

Ross Taylor became the leading all-time Kiwi batsman, going past Stephen Fleming (7,172) before he was bowled by Pat Cummins for 22 to take his Test aggregate to 7,174.

Big-hitting Colin de Grandhomme smacked Lyon for six to bring up his fifty but went next ball hoicking to Joe Burns at deep mid-wicket for 52.

Todd Astle was out to a superb diving catch by James Pattinson in the outfield for 17.

Starc yorked William Somerville's middle stump for seven and BJ Watling was the last to fall, caught at backward square leg by Pat Cummins for 19.

Earlier, Warner completed his 24th Test century and remained unbeaten when skipper Paine declared upon the dismissal of Marnus Labuschagne.

"You know you're capable of doing so," Warner said, when asked about how he had bounced back from his disastrous Ashes campaign in England last year.

"I was in the nets hitting the ball well and had the skipper backing me. To be able to play with freedom helped me. It's all paying off."

Labuschagne, who was dropped on four in a regulation caught-and-bowled chance by leg-spinner Astle, was caught at long on off Matt Henry for 59 -- his seventh score over 50 in eight innings this domestic summer.

Labuschagne finished the home five-Test season with a stunning aggregate of 896 runs, made up of his 215 in the first innings, three other centuries and three half-centuries in eight innings.

There was drama late in the Australian innings when Warner was given an official warning by umpire Aleem Dar for running down the middle of the pitch in scampering a single.

It resulted in five penalty runs being added to New Zealand's first innings total meaning their target was revised down from 421 to 416.

The Test was played against the backdrop of one of Australia's most devastating bushfire seasons with at least 24 people losing their lives in blazes raging across the country, including on the outskirts of Sydney.

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News Network
January 8,2020

Indore, Jan 8: Former opener Gautam Gambhir is mighty impressed with the way K.L. Rahul batted during India's comfortable seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the second T20I and said it amazes him why the right-handed batsman can't play the same way in Tests. On Tuesday, Rahul top-scored with a 32-ball 45 as India chased down the meagre target of 143 with utmost ease at the Holkar Stadium.

"Rahul is in unbelievable form. It amazes me every time I see Rahul bat that why didn't he play the same way in Test cricket," Gambhir told the host broadcasters. "It's not about only white-ball cricket; it is about Test cricket too. He just got into a shell too much. With the kind of quality he posses, he is someone who can get you a 50-ball 100 in Test cricket as well. The kind of shots he has is superb," he added.

Shikhar Dhawan, who is making a return to the team after an injury lay-off, also contributed with a "rusty" 30-ball 32. Both Dhawan and Rahul are virtually playing for the second opener's slot for the World T20, with Rohit Sharma set to be one.

And Gambhir feels going by the current form, Rahul should be opening the batting alongside Rohit in Australia. "You can't compare IPL to international cricket. When you're playing for Delhi Capitals, you know there's no one waiting for the opportunity, but when you're playing for the country and you know there's someone who's actually can replace you, there'll always be pressure. And today it was shown who's in better form," Gambhir said.

The cricketer-turned-politician, however, exuded confidence that Dhawan will bounce back strongly in the next game. "Shikhar Dhawan looked rusty but it's a good thing that he got some runs under his belt. It will help him when he walks out to bat in the next game. Had he got out early, the pressure would have been more," he said.

India will play Sri Lanka in the final T20I in Pune on Friday before taking on Australia in a three-match ODI series beginning January 14 in Mumbai.

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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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