Nasheman

India's largest selling Urdu weekly, now also in English

You are here: Home / Archives for Cricket

Rahane, Nair star as Royals beat Daredevils by 14 runs

by

rahane-nair

Mumbai: Ajinkya Rahane (91 in 54 balls) and Karun Nair (61 from 38 balls) helped Rajasthan Royals (RR) register their sixth win of the season, beating Delhi Daredevils (DD) by 14 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 encounter at the Brabourne Stadium here on Sunday.

Riding on a 113-run partnership by Rahane and Nair for the second wicket, Royals posted a challenging 189/2 in 20 overs.

In reply, Daredevils were never close to matching the skills displayed by Royals and eventually ended their innings at 175/7 in 20 overs. Skipper J.P. Duminy was the top scorer for Daredevils with 56 runs off 39 balls.

With the defeat, Delhi suffered their fifth loss in the tournament.

Earlier losing the toss and put into bat, Rajasthan got off to a modest start, with openers Rahane and Shane Watson taking time to get settled in the middle.

But with couple of overs bowled, they took on the Daredevils bowling piling up team’s first fifty in just 6.2 overs.

But as skipper Watson was looking to get settled, a surprising delivery by Angelo Mathews got him caught by the wicketkeeper for 21 off 24 balls.

His wicket didn’t put the brakes on the scoring as Rahane took the reins from there on to strike the ball to all parts of the park.

Incoming batsman, Nair too held on quite easily to give good company to Rahane.

The duo took advantage of some poor fielding by the visitors to put 100 runs on the board in the 14th over.

Rahane struck nine fours and three sixes, whereas his partner Nair hit six boundaries and two sixes.

The duo brought up their 100-run partnership for the second wicket in just 63 balls.

With his splendid innings, Rahane replaced Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner in the IPL 2015 leading run scorers list with 430 runs.

Daredevils dropped three catches in the innings. Gurinder Sandhu and Saurabh Tiwary dropped Rahane and Nair respectively and later on Amit Mishra and Zaheer Khan collided and dropped Rahane.

For Delhi, Mathews was the pick of the bowlers, picking up one wicket and finishing with figures of 4-0-27-1 but other bowlers – Zaheer Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Amit Mishra, Gurwinder Sandhu – all leaked heavy runs.

Chasing a challenging score of 189, Delhi got off to a worst possible start with losing both the openers – Mayank Agarwal (11) and Shreyas Iyer (9) – within five overs.

Incoming batsman Yuvraj Singh too didn’t last long, scoring just 22 off 18 balls. Angelo Mathews (16) and Kedar Jadav (11) also departed in space of two overs.

This made it more difficult for Daredevils to chase the huge target. Skipper Duminy tried his best, but looking to up the scoring rate, was caught by Dhawal Kulkarni off the bowling of James Faulkner.

With the dismissal of Duminy it looked all over for Delhi as wickets fell in clusters.

For Rajasthan, James Faulkner was the pick of the bowlers picking up two wickets and finishing with figures of 4-0-22-2. Shane Watson finished with 4-1-25-1. Dhawal Kulkarni went for runs but picked up two wickets. Staurt Binny also picked two wickets in his two overs.

Brief Score: Rajasthan Royals 189/2 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 91 not out, Karun Nair 61; Angelo Mathews 1/27, Nathan Coulter-Nile 1/38) beat Delhi Daredevils 111/2 in 20 overs (JP Duminy 56; James Faulkner 2/22, Stuart Binny 2/27, Dhawal Kulkarni 2/43, Shane Watson 1/25)

(IANS)

Zaheer Khan returns with Virender Sehwag's scalp as Delhi Daredevils spank Kings XI Punjab

by

Zaheer_Khan

New Delhi: Zaheer Khan made an impressive comeback from a year-long hiatus complementing Nathan Coulter-Nile brilliantly as Delhi Daredevils spanked Kings XI Punjab by 9 wickets at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Friday.

Chasing a paltry target of 119, Daredevils romped home with 6.1 overs to spare as openers Mayank Agarwal (52 not out) and Shreyas Iyer (54) put on a comfortable 106-run partnership for the first wicket to seal the issue in style.

The home team could not have asked for a better performance from their bowlers in their last home match as they restricted Punjab to 118 for eight after winning the toss.

Coming into bowl in a competitive match after 363 days, Zaheer removed Virender Sehwag (1) off the second ball and Manan Vohra (1) in his very next over as he finished with figures of 2/17 from four overs. After Zaheer blew the top two away, Coulter-Nile caused a lot of damage in the middle and lower order with figures of 4/20 in four overs as it deservingly earned him man-of-the match award.

There was not much KXIP could have done after putting on board such a total and Delhi easily crossed the finishing line without much fuss.

(Agencies)

Batsmen's over-aggression cost us game: Stephen Fleming

by

kkr

Kolkata: Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming conceded that his batsmen were “too aggressive” and that eventually led his side to go down to defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday.

“It was high octane stuff…but it was too fast. We just lost too much resources, the run rate was great, the execution was exhilarating at times, but we just lost wickets when we would have liked to be just two wickets down for 70 runs at the end of powerplay,” Fleming said at the post match press conference.

“Today, we got it a little bit wrong by going too hard and then we had to scrap very hard to get a competitive total. The way we were going we could have ended getting up 350,” said the former New Zealand captain admitting his batsmen were “in a hurry”.

“Obviously we want to be positive and aggressive, but we certainly need to measure up. We have taken enough risks and just need to pull back our hits a little bit. That balance is something that we are always in search for,” he said.

Incidentally, skipper M.S. Dhoni dubbed the batting effort a “conservative effort” asserting his boys need to be a bit more aggressive.

“Looking at where we are in the table, I think it’s important we try to be a bit more aggressive, see what we can explore and how we can play,” Dhoni said after his side lost the game by seven wickets, but retained their pole position at the point table with 12 points from eight games.

Fleming also refused to read much into Dhoni’s bating form who has managed just 175 runs in eight games so far.

“He is okay… obviously you always want M.S. to do well in every game. Today it was unusual to see him get out so early under pressure like that,” said Fleming on the skipper who managed to score just one run in the match before being castled by leggie Piyush Chawla.

“He (Dhoni) is fine, he is practicing hard, training well. We are fine, the tournament is going at such breakneck speed that you don’t have time to over analyse, so we will just concentrate on the next match,” added Fleming.

(IANS)

IPL: AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan lift RCB to 200

by

Sarfaraz Khan

Bengaluru: A half-century by old faithful AB de Villiers, followed by a cameo by 17-year old fresh face from Mumbai Sarfaraz Khan, carried Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to 200 for seven against Rajasthan Royals in an Indian Premier League match here on Wednesday.

The efforts of South African ace de Villiers (57, 45b, 9×4, 1×6) and Khan (45 not out, 21b, 6×4, 1×6) made up for the early exits of in-form openers Chris Gayle (10) and skipper Virat Kohli (1) as Rajasthan Royals bowlers wilted under pressure, leaking 70 runs in the last five overs.

Barring Kiwi paceman Tim Southee (2 for 32), the rest of visiting bowlers appeared quite pedestrian with leg-spinner Pravin Tambe slammed for 39 runs in his three overs and left-arm seamer James Faulkner going for 26 in two.

The RCB innings was off to a sensational start with Southee dismissing openers Chris Gayle (10) and Kohli (1) in the space of eight deliveries to leave the hosts teetering on 19 for two in the third over.

Gayle blasted a four and a six off Southee who, however, sent back the big Jamaican, playing across and holing out to Hooda at mid-wicket, all this action in the first four deliveries of the match.

Southee, in his next over, inducted a nick from Kohli who was caught behind.

The early reverses did not stop de Villiers from blasting away with Mandeep Singh following suit.

So much so, Faulkner went for 14 in his first over and Tambe leaked 15 as RCB batsmen raised a gallop.

Mandeep and de Villiers put on 74 runs for the third wicket in quick time. However, Rajasthan bounced back with Stuart Binny trapping Mandeep plumb in front and then de Villiers run out attempting a sharp single as RCB slid to 124 for four in the 14th over.

Thereafter, Karthik and Khan maintain the momentum before the former was run out following a misunderstanding.

However, Khan continued his merry way, carting Tambe for 18 in the 18th over as the leg-spinner conceded 39 runs in his three overs for a disappointing performance.

(IANS)

CSK pull off thrilling 2 run win over Knights

by

CSK-IPL

Chennai: A scintillating bowling performance backed up by some terrific fielding enabled Chennai Super Kings successfully defend a below par total as they pulled off a thrilling two-run win against Kolkata Knight Riders here on Tuesday.

Replying to 134/6 posted by the Super Kings, the Knights finished at 132/9 before packed crowd at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.

For CSK, West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo was the pick of the bowlers as he returned figures of 3 for 22 to walk away with the man of the match award. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bagged 2 for 5, as the hosts climbed atop the table with six wins from seven matches, while the Knights remained third managing just three wins from seven games.

Chasers KKR were off on a canter even after losing skipper Gautam Gambhir (0) as opener Robin Uthappa started belting the CSK bowlers away.

Uthappa especially got stuck onto Mohit Sharma’s first over, hammering the pacer for three consecutive boundaries. Earlier, he had wipped Ishwar Pandey of his pads for a six.

When all looked rosy for the men in purple at 52/1 at the end of five overs, Uthappa fell prey to Ashwin’s first ball, as he swept straight to Brendon McCullum inside the circle.

The innings stuttered thereafter as Manish Pandey (15) lofted one straight to Dwayne Bravo at deep-midwicket, with Ashwin picking up his second victim.

The Knights added just 18 runs between the sixth and the tenth over to be at 70/3 at the half-way stage.

The hunt hardly was back on track as Suryakumar Yadav (16) perished at long-off trying to pull a short delivery. Dwayne Bravo took a blinder to get rid of the Indian batsman.

Bravo once again took the spotlight with the leather in the 16th over as Yusuf Pathan (13) dragged one on his stump.

Even the hard-hitting Andre Russell (4) was sent back to the dug-out after a miscommunication between him and Ryan ten Doeschate led to the Caribbean being run out with the score reading 100/6 in 16.5 overs.

Pat Cummins (0), and Piyush Chawla soon returned. as Bravo gave away just four runs in the 18th over.

After a drought of boundaries for 12 overs, the penultimate over produced 13 runs for the Knights, but it was all too late as the home side pulled off the edge-of-the-seat encounter.

Earlier, The Super Kings got off to a bit of a flyer courtesy their hard-hitting openers again. Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith stitched together a 42 run partnership in 4.3 overs.

The Knights finally got the break-through when McCullum (19) failed to pick a Piyush Chawla googly and was adjudged leg before.

The innings stuttered after the jolt, as both Smith (25) and number three Suresh Raina(17) quickly followed the New Zealander into the dugout.

After being 48/1 from five overs, CSK managed to get to 73/3 at the halfway stage.

South African du Plessis and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (3) looked to consolidate, but Russell struck again as he induced the Indian to glove one to the keeper off a fiery bouncer.

Darren Bravo (5) too lasted only a few balls, but Ravindra Jadeja and du Plessis took the total past the 100-run mark in the 16th over. With the latter top scoring with an unbeaten 29 from 29 balls.

Australian pacer Pat Cummins then bowled a tight 18th over which yielded just 6 runs, Hogg followed it up with another crafty over cleaning Jadeja (15) up and giving away just three runs.

Chawla and Russell got two wickets each, while veteran 44-year-old Chinaman bowler Brad Hogg picked up another.

(IANS)

Our top-order failed again: George Bailey

by

george-bailey

Mohali: Kings XI Punjab skipper George Bailey rued a dismal batting performance from his side as they lost their home Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad by 20 runs at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium here on Monday.

Chasing a target of 151, the Kings never really got into the game as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals, and finished as losers inspite of a valiant effort from wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha, who top scored with 42 from 33 balls.

“It was our batting, the top order again (that failed). I’ll take responsibility again and we needed partnerships going but could not. It was a gettable target but top order couldn’t do it,” Bailey said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

The skipper, who got a solid 22 before falling prey to his country man Moises Henriques, is,however, content with the efforts of the pacers in the side saying they are bowling well at the death.

He also added the team is trying their best to make a turnaround and is hopeful of a comeback.

“The bowling was good to restrict them to 150. We are just trying to get a combination that works. I think no team are trying any harder than last year and we are not trying any lesser. Sandeep (Sharma) and Anureet (Singh) have been performing for us at the start as well as the death which is good to see,” he said.

(IANS)

RCB demolish Delhi Daredevils at Kotla

by

RCB-IPL

by Arun Gopalakrishnan

New Delhi: Royal Challengers Bangalore’s bowlers won their team a match for the second game in a row after they dismissed the Delhi Daredevils for a paltry total at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. After winning the toss and opting to bowl first, RCB’s bowlers were relentless right through the innings and dismissed the hosts for 95 – the lowest total of Pepsi IPL 2015. The opening pair then knocked off the runs comfortably, taking the team home with 57 balls to spare. The 10-wicket win – as commanding as they come – propelled RCB to fourth in the points table.

Mitchell Starc struck first blood for the visitors in the first over when he dismissed Shreyas Iyer LBW. Varun Aaron conceded 21 runs in his first two overs as DD moved to 34 for one at the end of five overs. David Wiese, introduced into the attack in the sixth over, struck immediately when he had the DD skipper JP Duminy nicking one to the wicket-keeper.

Aaron returned to bowl the seventh over and struck two deadly blows by dismissing Yuvraj Singh and Angelo Mathews off consecutive deliveries. Yuvraj Singh chased a fairly wide delivery, bowled back of a length and at good pace, only for the ball to take the outside edge on the way to the keeper. Mathews was at the receiving end of a snorter; the Sri Lankan was taken by surprise at the pace and direction of the ball directed at him, was in no position to play the ball and ended up fending it to the man at short midwicket.

Opener Mayank Agarwal (27 from 34 balls) added 28 runs in the company of Kedar Jadhav, before his decision to step out against Iqbal Abdulla cost him his wicket; wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik effected the stumping with the batsman way out of the crease.

From 67 for 5 in 12.1 overs, DD collapsed to 95 all out, adding only 28 runs in the next 6.1 overs. Kedar Jadhav, who batted at six, would be top-scorer in the innings with 33. The Maharashtra batsman faced 29 balls and struck four boundaries before he holed out to Starc at midwicket. There were ten balls remaining in the allotted twenty overs when Domnic Joseph was run out by a throw from AB de Villiers.

The RCB bowlers had a field day, and barring the first two overs bowled by Varun Aaron, there was never a let up in the intensity. Starc finished as the most successful of the bowlers returning figures of three for 20, while Aaron and Wiese returned with two wickets each. Harshal Patel and Iqbal Abdulla, who bowled a maiden over too, picked up one wicket apiece.

RCB’s run-chase was a mere formality given the target they were faced with. Though the first over produced only four runs, Chris Gayle cut loose in the second over hitting Domnic Joseph for a six and two boundaries. The left-hander kept his foot on the accelerator right until the field restrictions were eased, by which time RCB had raced to 50 for no loss; Gayle had 43 runs from 27 balls at that stage, while Kohli had contributed six runs from nine balls.

Kohli joined the party when Amit Mishra was introduced into the attack in the seventh over; he hit the leg-spinner for consecutive boundaries – one inside-out shot that raced to the cover boundary, followed by a whip to the midwicket.

Gayle brought up his half-century with a slog-sweep off Imran Tahir in the eighth over and remained unbeaten on 62 (40 balls, 6 fours and 4 sixes) when Kohli struck a straight-drive to take his team past the finish line. The RCB captain remained unbeaten on 35.

Brief Scores

Delhi Daredevils 95 all out in 18.2 Overs (Kedar Jadhav 33, Mitchell Starc 3-20) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 99-0 in 10.3 Overs (Chris Gayle 62*, Virat Kohli 35*)

Man of the Match: Varun Aaron, for his spell of 2 for 24

West Indies v England: Kraigg Brathwaite makes ton for hosts

by

kraiggbrathwaite

by Stephan Shemilt, BBC Sport

England were frustrated by Kraigg Brathwaite’s composed century as West Indies had the better of the fourth day of the second Test in Grenada.

His 101 not out took the home side to 202-2, a lead of 37.

Earlier, England moved their overnight 373-6 to 464 all out, with Joe Root ending unbeaten on 182.

On a pitch that remains lifeless, a draw seems the most likely result, lengthening England’s wait for a first overseas win since 2012.

If a positive result on the final day is possible, then it is Alastair Cook’s men who are more likely to earn a 1-0 series lead.

However, the lack of opportunities created in the turgid afternoon and evening sessions suggest that an attack lacking variety will find it hard to take the eight wickets required quickly enough for a run-chase to be undertaken.

“We’ll chase anything, we just need enough time,” Root told BBC Sport. “We have to have a really good session with the ball in the morning.

“West Indies need need a lot of credit for the way they played tonight. They were under quite a bit of pressure with lead we had, but they have got themselves back in the game.

“We will have a scrap on our hands if we want to get a result.”

England will at least have the opportunity to bowl with a new ball and will hope to find the swing movement that made James Anderson dangerous before lunch, when Devon Smith failed to withdraw his bat from an outswinger and deflected the ball on to his stumps.

Thereafter, Brathwaite and Darren Bravo made England toil on a surface showing little pace or bounce and only slow turn.

They shared 142 for the second wicket, with Brathwaite overcoming some early uncertainty outside off stump to cut repeatedly and the more assured Bravo occasionally unfurling flamboyant drives.

In the face of West Indian patience, England were able to create nothing more than half-chances. Stuart Broad almost had Brathwaite glove to slip, while the otherwise disappointing off-spin of Moeen Ali saw Bravo flash past gully and and Brathwaite nearly lob to mid-wicket.

In the end, mid-way through the evening session, England’s perseverance with a plan of hanging the ball outside off stump paid off as Bravo edged Broad through to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.

Brathwaite remained, joined by Marlon Samuels, who received no obvious response to the saluting send-off he gave Ben Stokes on the third evening.

The right-handed opener was the recipient of a failed lbw review from the bowling of Chris Jordan, then completed his fourth Test century with another cut off Anderson.

That sealed an ideal day for West Indies, who chipped through the England batting in the morning session with plenty of help from the tourists.

The impressive leg-spin of Devendra Bishoo had Buttler stumped by some distance and Broad caught from a gloved sweep, either side of Jordan being run-out in a mix-up with Root.

That was the only mistake of an imperious Root knock, the 24-year-old becoming the second-youngest England player to reach 2,000 Test runs and only the ninth man to make four scores in excess of 150 before the age of 25.

Cutting the seamers and looking to hit straight or slog-sweep against Bishoo, he farmed the strike when partnered with last-man Anderson to add 33 for the 10th wicket.

He looked primed for a second Test double hundred, but was denied when Anderson was run-out in dozy fashion, failing to ground his bat, perhaps not expecting Jason Holder to gather a return from high above his head.

In frustration, Root hit the ground with his bat and threw his helmet when across the boundary edge, while the visitors were left short of a lead that would pressure West Indies.

Ultimately, though, it is wickets, rather than runs, that are the problem for England.

Bangladesh seal Pakistan whitewash in Mirpur

by

bangladesh

by BBC

Bangladesh thrashed Pakistan by eight wickets to complete a 3-0 one-day international series whitewash.

Chasing 251 for victory in Mirpur, the home side reached their target with more than 11 overs to spare thanks to an unbeaten century by Soumya Sarkar.

The Tigers had earlier bowled Pakistan out for 250, despite Azhar Ali’s 101.

Bangladesh, who reached the World Cup quarter-finals at the expense of England, have never before whitewashed an Asian Test-playing nation.

Pakistan 250 (49 overs): Azhar Ali 101, Shakib 2-34
Bangladesh 251-2 (39.3 overs): Sarkar 127, Junaid 2-67

RCB thrash Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets in IPL

by

RCB-IPL

Ahmedabad: An overall sturdy team performance from the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) helped them beat table-toppers Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Sardar Patel Stadium here on Friday.

Chasing a meagre target of 131, the Royal Challengers reached home with nine wickets in hand and 3.5 overs to spare with skipper Virat Kohli (62 not out) scoring an unbeaten half-century.

It was a steady chase from the visitors with Kohli hitting three sixes and one boundary in his 45-ball innings. He was well supported by big-hitting AB de Villiers (47 not out), who together put up an unbeaten 98-run stand for the second wicket.

Earlier, explosive left-handed opener Chris Gayle had scored 20 before he was caught behind in the fifth over.

Royals skipper Shane Watson was the only wicket-taking bowler, clinching the West Indian’s wicket as his bowlers were left with a small target to defend.

Earlier, a strict bowling performance from the Royals Challengers helped them restrict the Royals to only 130/9 from 20 overs.

Kohli opted to field and utilised his bowlers to the optimum. The bowlers, spinners and pacers alike, backed their captain with most of them picking up wickets at regular intervals, which never let any partnership going for the host team.

Left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc, who was named Player of the Tournament in the recently concluded 50-over World Cup, was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, giving away only 22 runs from his four overs.

Australian Starc was backed by medio Harshal Patel (2/23) and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (2/25), who picked up two wickets each, while slow left-arm orthodox bowler Iqbal Abdulla took 1/28.

No Royals batsman got going which resulted in the paltry total. Steven Smith (31), Watson (26) and all-rounder Stuart Binny (20) got starts but none were able to propel the run rate.

Opener Ajinkya Rahane and Karun Nair contributed with 18 and 16, respectively, before walking back to the pavilion.

(IANS)

KNOW US

GET INVOLVED

PROMOTE

Archives