Sport
U.S. stun Pakistan in Super Over to seal famous win
The United States beat Pakistan in a Super Over in Dallas on Thursday to achieve one of the biggest upsets in Twenty20 World Cup history and secure their second win of the tournament.
Pakistan, the 2009 champions, recovered from a poor start to score 159-7 but the U.S. plundered 14 runs from their final over to finish on 159-3 and send the match to a Super Over, Reuters reported.
The tournament co-hosts made 18-1, helped by two wides from Pakistan, before restricting their opponents to 13-1 to seal a famous victory.
"It's a big achievement beating Pakistan and playing for the first time," U.S. captain and player of the match Monank Patel said.
"The way we played today I'm really proud of the boys and it was a complete team effort from ball one to the last ball."
Pakistan captain Babar Azam bemoaned his side's batting performance.
"We didn't capitalise with the bat and they took a lot of momentum. Credit to USA, they performed so well today. They were better than us in all aspects of the game," Babar said.
BLUE SKIES
The match began under blue skies on a sweltering day in Texas with Pakistan soon reeling at 30 for three against an attack including five bowlers born either on the Indian sub-continent or to parents from there.
Mohammad Rizwan (9), Usman Khan (3) and Fakhar Zaman (11) quickly perished and only Babar stood firm to reach 44 before he was caught off medium-pacer Jasdeep Singh.
Left-arm orthodox spinner Nosthush Kenjige, born in Alabama, dismissed Shadab Khan (40) and Azam Khan (0) off successive balls to finish with three for 30 from his four overs.
Tall left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi brought respectability to the scorecard by hitting two sixes and a four to finish on 23 not out.
Afridi took the new ball, conceding three boundaries in his first two overs as the U.S. batsmen went for their shots to reach 44 for one at the end of the powerplay.
South African-born Andries Gous, who scored 65 in his team's opening win over Canada, was quickly into his stride, driving Rauf through the covers for four.
Gous struck leg-spinner Shadab Khan, Pakistan’s most successful T20 bowler, for six and Patel hit consecutive boundaries off Iftikhar Ahmed and lofted Afridi for six to bring up his 50.
Gaus was bowled by Rauf for 35 and Patel caught behind off Mohammad Amir before Aaron Jones took over with an unbeaten 36.
The U.S. needed 15 runs off their final over to overhaul Pakistan’s 159 for seven with the powerful Jones at the crease facing experienced paceman Haris Rauf.
Jones struck the fourth ball over long-on for six but could squeeze only a single off the fifth to put Nitish Kumar on strike with five needed for victory and four to take the match to a Super Over.
Kumar was up to the challenge, however, stepping outside his leg stump and chipping a full toss over mid-off to the boundary.
Jones and Harmeet Singh collected 18 runs in the Super Over by running hard between the wickets and although Pakistan collected two boundaries, they needed six off the last ball to force another Super Over and could manage only a single.
Sport
Afghanistan clinches ODI series victory against Zimbabwe
Afghanistan's national cricket team triumphed over Zimbabwe by 8 wickets in the third and final One-Day International (ODI) to claim the series victory.
In a dominant bowling display, Afghanistan dismissed Zimbabwe for just 127 runs in 30.1 overs. The Afghan batsmen then chased down the target comfortably in 26.5 overs, losing only 2 wickets along the way.
The standout performer of the match was Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar, who took a remarkable 5 wickets, while Rashid Khan supported with 3 wickets. Azmatullah Omarzai and Farid Ahmad each claimed 1 wicket.
The first match of the series was abandoned due to rain, but Afghanistan bounced back strongly in the second match, securing a commanding 232-run victory.
This series win follows Afghanistan's earlier success in the T20I series against Zimbabwe, further cementing their dominance in international cricket.
Sport
Bangla Tigers lift Lanka T10 Super League title
Player of the match and player of the series was Titan’s skipper Dasun Shanaka.
Hambantota Bangla Tigers beat favorites Jaffna Titans by 26 runs in Thursday’s Lanka T10 Super League final at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy.
The Tigers produced a fine all-round performance to beat the Titans, who had won all their matches in the lead up to the final.
Player of the match and player of the series was Titan’s skipper Dasun Shanaka.
Hambantota Bangla Tigers, put into bat first, posted 133 for seven from their allotted 10 overs through some useful contributions from their top order batsmen.
The openers Mohammad Shahzad and Kusal Perera added 35 runs from 2.4 overs before they suffered a middle order collapse and reached 59 for three at the halfway stage of the innings.
However, skipper Dasun Shanaka and Shevon Daniel revived the innings with a fourth-wicket partnership of 44 runs in three overs.
Shanaka made 21 with two sixes and two boundaries while Daniel struck 26 with one six and three boundaries before Kennar Lewis and Dhananjaya Lakshan added the finishing touches.
Chasing 133 runs for victory, Jaffna Titans lost wickets at regular intervals and they eventually finished at 107 for six despite a fighting unbeaten half century from middle order batsman Tom Abell.
Richard Gleeson wrecked the Hambantota Bangla Tigers’ innings with excellent figures of three wickets for 21 while Shanaka captured two wickets for four runs.
Sport
Afghanistan crush Zimbabwe by 232 runs in second ODI
Afghanistan defeated Zimbabwe by 232 runs in the second ODI on Thursday to secure a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Sent to bat first by Zimbabwe who won the toss, Afghanistan posted 286-6 in Harare.
Sediqullah Atal scored 104, his first hundred in an international match. Abdul Malik followed with 84.
In reply, Zimbabwe scored 54 runs before being bowled out in the 17.5 overs.
Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar and Naweed Zadran took three wickets each. Fazlullah Farooqi picked up two wickets and Azmatullah Omarzai one.
This was the second match of the ODI series between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. The first was abandoned due to rain.
The third and final game of the series will be played on Saturday.
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