(Photo: IANS)

Pune: Rising Pune Supergiant will have an opportunity to get back to the winning ways when the Steve Smith-led franchise takes on Delhi Daredevils (DD) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 match here on Tuesday.

Pune had a mixed start to their current IPL campaign, handsomely winning their opener against Mumbai Indians before going down to Kings XI Punjab in their second match.

Delhi, on the other hand, will have their task cut out after having narrowly lost their maiden tie against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 15 runs.

The Daredevils lacked the spark in their batting having failed to chase 158 against RCB, with youngster Rishabh Pant emerging the lone bright spot for the side, scoring 57 runs, two days after losing his father.

The top order comprising the domestic trio of Aditya Tare, Karun Nair and Sanju Samson fumbled while opener Sam Billings failed to provide the fiery start expected from him.

All-rounders Carlos Brathwaite and Chris Morris, too flunked with the willow, when the team needed them the most.

Pune however, will have to be cautious dealing with the Daredevils’ bowling, which is spoilt for choice in the pace department.

Led by the experienced Zaheer Khan, Daredevils bowlers were right on their money against RCB. Both Zaheer (2/31), Morris (3/21) and Pat Cummins (1/29) were impressive with the new ball, while domestic season’s highest wicket taker, left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (1/13) shone in the middle overs.

With South African quick Kasigo Rabada and Mohammed Shami warming the bench, the side looks a formidable unit against any opposition.

On the other hand, the hosts will bank on their batting prowess to take them home. With the likes of in-form skipper Steve Smith, Ajinkya Rahane, Ben Stokes, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Manoj Tiwary in their ranks, batting is considered the strongest aspect for the Pune side.

Rahane, Smith and Stokes have been amongst the runs in the first two matches but they will be worried about the form of opener Mayank Agarwal and Dhoni in particular.

The home side’s bowlers, meanwhile, will still be licking their wounds after the onslaught from the Kings XI duo of Glenn Maxwell and David Miller.

While Pune can boast of South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir’s brilliance in the middle overs, their main headache will be the opening and the death overs with the likes of Ashoke Dinda, Daniel Christian and Stokes (the costliest buy of this year’s IPL), being hammered all over the park.

Teams:

Rising Pune Supergiant: Steve Smith (Captain), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (WK), Ajinkya Rahane, Ben Stokes, Faf du Plessis, Usman Khawaja, Manoj Tiwary, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Sharma, Baba Aparajith, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Chahar, Daniel Christian, Ashok Dinda, Lockie Ferguson, Jaskaran Singh, Saurabh Kumar, Milind Tandon, Jaydev Unadkat, Adam Zampa.

Delhi Daredevils: Zaheer Khan (Captain), Mohammad Shami, Shahbaz Nadeem, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant (WK), CV Milind, Khaleel Ahmed, Pratyush Singh, Murugan Ashwin, Aditya Tare, Shashank Singh, Ankit Bawne, Navdeep Saini, Corey Anderson, Angelo Mathews, Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada, Chris Morris, Carlos Brathwaite, Sam Billings, Ben Hilfenhaus.

(IANS)

Hyderabad: Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad made a perfect start to their Indian Premier League campaign crushing a depleted Royal Challengers Banaglore by 35 runs in the opening encounter, here Wednesday night.

Veteran Yuvraj Singh’s blazing blade (62 off 27 balls) and unheralded Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan Arman (2/36 in 4 overs)’s crucial breakthroughs enabled Sunrisers to outwit a Virat Kohli-less RCB in all departments.

A challenging target of 208 was achievable on a placid track but RCB could only manage 172 in 19.4 overs losing wickets at regular intervals. This was the first time after 23 IPL matches that RCB were all-out.

RCB’s top four — Chris Gayle (32), Mandeep Singh (24), Travis Head (30) and Kedar Jadhav (31) were all set before getting out. Kedar’s dismissal was the turning point as RCB were never in the match after that.

The India international was looking dangerous during his 16-ball stay and was run-out when Ben Cutting’s direct throw from the deep found him short by a metre.

On a belter where pacers became easy prey for the batsmen, Sunrisers skipper David Warner rotated his spinners well trying to take the pace off the deliveries.

Young Rashid, who created history by being the first Afghan to play an IPL match got Mandeep with a fuller delivery that didn’t turn.

The batsman trying to cut got an inside edge onto the stumps. The celebration was atypical Shahid Afridi just like his style of fastish leg-breaks. Rashid also got Travis Head when the batsmen tried to play a slog sweep.

But Deepak Hooda got the most important wicket when he got Gayle trying to hit him over long-off for a second six only to be caught by Warner. Th wickets fell at regular intervals and there was no pressure on Sunrisers as they coasted to victory. Ashish Nehra (2/42) also gota couple of wickets to reach a personal milestone of 100 IPL victims.

Earlier, a vintage Yuvraj hammered RCB bowlers to submission as Sunrisers Hyderabad posted a commendable 207 for 4 put into bat by Shane Watson.

On a batting beauty, Yuvraj smashed the RCB bowlers to cleaners after Srinath Aravind dropped a dolly at deep square leg boundary. Yuvraj was on 26 then and the let-off allowed him to score his fastest IPL half-century off 23 balls.

Moises Henriques’ 52 off 37 balls also went a long way in contributing to Sunrisers’ total. The Yuvraj-Henriques pair added 58 runs runs in only 4.5 overs after Shikhar Dhawan (40) was involved in a 74-run stand for the second wicket.

Yuvraj’s innings had seven fours and three sixes while Henriques’ innings had three fours and two sixes.

Skipper David Warner started with a couple of boundaries and huge six over long-on off left-arm seamer Aniket Chaudhary but was gone when his slash was taken by a leaping Mandeep Singh at backward point.

Dhawan banged rival skipper Shane Watson for four boundaries in the final Powerplay over to set the tone.

Henriques at the other end chanced his arms to hit a six over long-on off Travis Head. Once Dhawan was caught in the deep off Stuart Binny’s delivery, Yuvraj came in and started taking on the bowlers.

Rajasthan’s Chaudhary, who has been with the India camp came in for special treatment including a lofted extra cover drive for a six apart fom two fours in a single over.

Aravind, who dropped him bowled a back of the hand slower that was dispatched into mid-wicket stands.

A widish delivery from Chaudhary was slashed past point to reach his half-century.

IPL’s million dollar boy Tymal Mills was flicked past short fine leg and once again picked the slower delivery into the deep square leg stands before becoming his first victim.

India’s T2- specialist Yuzvendra Chahal (1/22 in 4 overs) held his own without conceding a single boundary while Mills 1/31 in 4 overs bowled the maximum (11) dot balls.

(PTI)

New Delhi: Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu produced a superlative performance beating reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain 21-19 21-16 to win her maiden India Open Super Series title, here on Sunday.

In front of a partisan home crowd at the Sirifort Sports Complex, the third seeded Indian dominated the match from the start to win the summit clash in 46 minutes.

The win also narrowed down Sindhu’s head-to-head record against the Spaniard to 4-5. Sindhu had last defeated Marin in the BWF Super Series in Dubai last year.

Earlier, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark clinched the men’s singles title beating Chinese Taipei’s Tien Chen Chou in straight games.

Third seed Axelsen took just 36 minutes to edge past Chou 21-13 21-10 to claim his maiden India Open title at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.

In a much-anticipated match of the evening, a replay of Rio Olympics title showdown, the star Indian shuttler came out with a purpose and looked determined for a revenge.

On the day, Sindhu was far better than Marin controlling the proceedings with ease.

Marin was guilty of committing plenty of unforced errors with Sindhu’s deft drops and powerful cross-court smashes also keeping the Spaniard at bay.

In both the games, it was Sindhu who took the initiative and set the tempo with early leads.

In the opening game Sindhu raced to a 6-1 lead before Marin slowly and steadily clawed her way back into the affair.

After the first six points, it was a closely fought encounter between the two of the world’s best shuttlers.

Sindhu went into the break with a slim 11-9 lead.

The intense fight continued thereafter and at one stage both the shuttlers were locked at 16-16 when Marin won a brilliant rally with a cross court drop shot.

For the first time in the game, Marin took a slim 19-18 lead over Sindhu but the Indian came back strongly to deny her opponent any breathing space with a smash that was followed by a drop shot at net to even the scores t 19-19.

The Indian reached game point when Marin found the net and she wrapped it up in no time with a body smash.

In the second game, Sindhu continued in the same vein to race to a 4-0 lead.

Just like the opening game, Marin quietly clawed her way back into the game to reduce the margin to 6-7.

But Sindhu Sunday was just way above her rival as he managed to hold on to her lead to go into the breather leading 11-9 and then did just enough to keep her dominance.

Much to the expectation of the crowd, Sindhu reached the game and match point at 20-15 when Marin committed another unforced error.

The Spaniard managed to save one match point but Sindhu sealed it on the very next point when Marin found the net again.

In other title clashes of the day, seventh seeded Japanese duo of Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto stunned third seeded compatriots Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao 16-21 21-19 21-10 to lift the women’s doubles title.

Top seeds Siwei Zheng and Qingchen Chen of China defeated countrymen and second seeds Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong 22-24 21-14 21-17 to claim the mixed doubles title.

The men’s doubles crown was annexed by fourth seeded Indonesian pair of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, who beat sixth seeds compatriots Ricky Karandasuwardi and Angga Pratama 21-11 21-15 in a contest that lasted exactly half-an-hour.

(PTI)

New Delhi: Indian shuttlers enjoyed a successful outing at the India Open 2017 badminton tournament here on Wednesday with most of them sailing through to the second round.

Sameer Verma created one of the biggest upsets of the day when he stunned World No. 5 Son Wan Ho of South Korea 21-17, 21-10.

He found his rhythm early in the first game and did not let the Korean play the attacking strokes that he is known for.

Sameer has now set up a relatively easy clash against Hong Kong’s unseeded player Hu Yun in the second round.

“I am just taking one game at a time, and do not want to be complacent about facing an unseeded opponent. I am just looking forward to tomorrow’s match,” an ecstatic Sameer said after the win.

B. Sai Praneeth, who played against Kento Nishimoto of Japan, had to fight it out for three gruelling games before coming out on top.

The 23-yr-old Indian was surprised by the range of strokes that his opponent had, and had to slow down the pace of the game to unsettle Nishimoto.

“Kento is a tricky opponent. He is a really good player and I had to play my best game to win the match. That’s how difficult it is to win a Super series game,” Praneeth said.

It was however, a routine affair for Kidmabi Srikanth who got the better of his Chinese opponent Jun Peng Zhao 21-19, 21-16 in straight games.

Incidentally, Peng had beaten Srikanth in the opening round of this year’s All England Superseries Premier.

Srikanth is expected to face a tough battle in the next round as he will take on top seeded Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.

In the women’s section, all eyes were on Saina, who is on a comeback spree after a knee injury that she suffered after the Olympics.

The Hyderabadi made short work of Taiwan’s Chia Hsin Lee to clinch a 21-10, 21-17 verdict.

With victory in sight right towards the end of the second game, Saina conceded seven soft points, otherwise the margin of win would have been more convincing.

Saina displayed some calculated movements on the court which proved to be too good for the Taiwan girl.

Another Hyderabad girl P.V. Sindhu brushed aside fellow Indian Arundhati Pantawane 21-17, 21-6.

The third seeded Sindhu proved to be too good for her opponent and did not give her any opening as soon as the second game started.

Earlier in the day, world no. 53 Rituparna Das got the better of Taiwan’s Mei Hui Chiang, and won 19-21, 21-15, 21-19. She will run into top seed Carolina Marin of Spain in the second round.

(IANS)