Sport
‘Baby Malinga’ leads Chennai to big IPL win over Mumbai
Sri Lanka's Matheesha Pathirana led an inspired pace attack to help Chennai Super Kings hammer Mumbai Indians by six wickets in a clash of IPL heavyweights on Saturday.
Pathirana, who is called "Baby Malinga" for his slinging action similar to former Sri Lankan pace ace Lasith Malinga, returned figures of 3-15 to limit five-time winners Mumbai to 139-8 in Chennai, AFP reported.
New Zealand opener Devon Conway made 44 as M.S. Dhoni's Chennai -- four-time IPL champions -- romped home with 14 balls to spare.
Dhoni praised Pathirana, saying, "People who don't have any clean action, batsmen have a difficult time picking it. But his consistency, pace makes him special."
Dhoni advised the youngster to stay away from Test cricket and concentrate on playing "only ICC tournaments with ODIs".
The left-handed Conway put on a strong opening stand of 46 with Ruturaj Gaikwad and moved second in the batting chart with 458 runs behind Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis (466).
The 41-year-old Dhoni hit the winning run at Chennai's M.A. Chidambaram Stadium as fans, who are coming in numbers to cheer the superstar cricketer in what is expected to be his last IPL season as player, went wild.
Shivam Dube hit an unbeaten 26 off 18 balls as Chennai jumped a spot to second behind table-toppers Gujarat Titans in the 10-team table.
Chennai's bowlers set up victory after they rattled the Mumbai top-order including the key wickets of Cameron Green, out for six after opening the batting, and skipper Rohit Sharma, dismissed for a second successive duck after coming at number three.
The opening pace duo of Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande reduced Mumbai to 14-3 inside three overs before Nehal Wadhera (64) and Suryakumar Yadav (26) attempted to rebuild in their stand of 55.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja sent back Suryakumar and the 20-year-old Pathirana, who has played one T20 for Sri Lanka, bowled Wadhera with a yorker -- his main weapon -- to take the steam out of the Mumbai batting.
Pathirana with a unique celebration of his hands in front of his chest and eyes in meditation said, "I'm a die-hard fan of Cristiano Ronaldo and have modeled my celebration after him."
Wickets kept tumbling as the dangerous Tim David fell for two off Deshpande and Pathirana got South African batsman Tristan Stubbs for 20.
Sport
Ariana News to broadcast IPL auction live and exclusively in Afghanistan
The highly anticipated TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) Player Auction will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday November 24 and Monday November 25 - an event that will be broadcast to Afghanistan’s cricket fans live and exclusively by Ariana Television and Radio Network (ATN).
The two-day event will be broadcast live and exclusively on Ariana News.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this year. It will be the second time that the IPL mega auction is held outside India after last year's event in Dubai.
This year's mega auction will have 1,574 players registered, of which 574 names will go under the hammer.
Of those 574, a total of 366 players will be Indian and 208 will be foreign cricketers.
A number of big names will be in fray, with as many as 81 players choosing to register themselves under the highest base price bracket of Rs 2 crore ($237,000).
Afghan players
Eighteen Afghan players have been shortlisted for the IPL mega auction.
Two hundred and four (204) slots will be up for grabs with 70 available slots for overseas players.
Full list of Afghan players shortlisted for the auction:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Noor Ahmad
Waqar Salamkheil
Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar
Mujeeb-ur-Rahman
Azmatullah Omarzai
Naveen-ul-haq
Zahir Khan Pakten
Sediqullah Atal
Mohammad Nabi
Gulbadin Naib
Fazalhaq Farooqi
Najibullah Zadran
Ibrahim Zadran
Qais Ahmad
Karim Janat
Faridoon Dawoodzai
Nangyal Kharote
For cricket fans across the country, the IPL mega auction broadcast will be on Sunday and Monday from 1.30pm Kabul time on Ariana News. For more information and updated stories be sure to watch this space and follow us on social media.
Sport
Pakistan trumps Afghanistan by only 13 runs in U19 Tri-Series One Day match
Chasing 245 to win, Afghanistan lost their opening batter Mahboob Khan in the first over but recovered as Uzairullah Niazai and Faisal Shinozada secured a 104-run partnership for the second wicket
Afghanistan’s U-19 cricket team went down to Pakistan by only 13 runs on Wednesday in their third tri-nation series One Day match at the ICC Academy in Dubai.
This was Pakistan’s first win over Afghanistan in the ongoing tournament after the Afghans defeated their opponents by 100 runs at the same venue on Friday.
Chasing 245 to win, Afghanistan lost their opening batter Mahboob Khan in the first over but recovered as Uzairullah Niazai and Faisal Shinozada secured a 104-run partnership for the second wicket.
After Faisal’s departure, Uzairullah soon followed with Afghanistan at 142 for three in 26.5 overs.
Afghanistan were bundled out for 231 in 46.4 overs.
Earlier, after opting to bat first, Pakistan’s opening pair Shahzaib Khan and Usman Khan provided a solid 129-run stand to Pakistan.
Left-handed Usman, who scored a century against Afghanistan in the previous match, scored an 88-ball 77, which included eight fours.
Shahzaib meanwhile top-scored for the side with 78 off 101 balls, hitting seven boundaries.
For Afghanistan, Abdul Aziz Khan and Khatir Khan Stanikzai bagged three wickets apiece, while Naseer Khan Maroofkhil snapped two wickets.
Pakistan will take on the hosts UAE U19 in their last group match on Friday, 22 November.
In a post on X, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said late Wednesday: “Not the result we would have wanted but Afghanistan Future Stars will look to bounce back in the next match.”
Afghanistan will take on UAE U19 on Sunday, November 24.
Sport
Afghanistan beat UAE by 169 runs in U19 tri-series
Afghanistan under-19 cricket team defeated the United Arab Emirates under-19 team by 169 runs in their second match of the tri-nation series in Dubai on Monday.
Batting first after winning the toss, Afghans posted 359-5 as they played all the mandated 50 overs in the ICC Academy in Dubai.
Faisal Khan scored 156 runs while captain Mehboob Khan made 141.
In reply, UAE made 190 before they were all out in the 45.4 overs.
It is Afghanistan U19's second consecutive win in the two matches they have played so far in the tri-series.
Afghanistan U19 defeated Pakistan by 100 runs in their first match.
Afghanistan U19 will meet Pakistan U19 again on Wednesday.
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