Sport
IPL: Russell propels KKR to a thrilling 4-run win
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Punjab Kings started off TATA IPL 2024 on a winning note as they edged Delhi Capitals by four wickets in Match 2 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on Saturday.
This was the first of two matches played Saturday.
The second match of the day, saw Kolkata Knight Riders edge Sunrisers Hyderabad in a thrilling four-run win.
Heinrich Klaasen of Sunrisers Hyderabad very nearly stole victory away from Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Saturday, but the 22-year-old Harshit Rana successfully defended 12 off the final over to take KKR over the line in a last-ball thriller.
With momentum on their side, Sunrisers had a dream start to the 20th over when Klaasen pulled Harshit for six over square leg. But the seamer followed it up with two singles, two wickets and one dot in the next five balls to seal the deal, ESPNcricinfo reported.
Earlier, it was Sunil Narine’s 1 for 19 in four overs on a batting-friendly surface – the spell included zero boundaries – which kept Sunrisers quiet through the middle overs.
His economy of 4.75 was a complete outlier on a surface where bowlers, whether experienced or not, went for a lot.
KKR also had Andre Russell, Phil Salt and Ramandeep Singh to thank for their first-innings score of 208. From 51 for 4, the hosts rebuilt courtesy Salt’s 40-ball 54 on KKR debut and a 17-ball 35 from Ramandeep.
Russell put the finishing touches to the KKR innings by smacking seven sixes in his 25-ball, unbeaten 64.
Meanwhile, the early match of the day saw Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone spoiling Rishabh Pant’s comeback as Punjab Kings started their IPL 2024 campaign with a four-wicket win at their new home ground in Mullanpur.
After being sent in, Delhi Capitals were 137 for 7 in the 18th over when they decided to bring in Abishek Porel as the Impact Player. Porel smashed 32 off just ten balls to lift them to 174 for 9.
But that also meant Capitals were going to be a bowler light during the chase. Ishant Sharma’s injury – he hurt his ankle after bowling just two overs – set them back further.
Playing his first competitive game in 15 months, after a road accident, the Mullanpur crowd welcomed Pant with a standing ovation. Despite looking a bit rusty, he was given a life on 4 when Harshal lost the ball in the sun at deep midwicket and ended up gifting a four.
As if to rub it in, Pant then drove Harshal for his second boundary. Two balls later, though, Harshal bowled a slower bouncer; Pant failed to spot it and ended up popping it to backward point. His first outing with bat on comeback ended on 18 off 13 balls.
How to watch
This year’s IPL is now well underway and thanks to Ariana Television Network (ATN), fans across the country need not miss a game as all matches will be broadcast live on Ariana Television and streamed live on www.arianatelevision.com.
Once again, two matches will be played Sunday, March 24.
The first of the day, Match 4, starts at 2.3pm Kabul time when Rajasthan Royals take on Lucknow Super Giants.
The second match of the day, Match 5, starts at 6.30pm when Mumbai Indians come up against Gujarat Titans.
Make sure to watch this space for schedule updates and news on the event.
Sport
Rickelton’s century helps S.Africa to big win over Afghanistan
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South Africa opener Ryan Rickelton scored a maiden One-Day International century with a fluent 103 as his side eased to a 107-run win over Afghanistan in their opening Champions Trophy Group B fixture at the National Stadium in Karachi on Friday.
South Africa won the toss and elected to bat, amassing 315 for six in their 50 overs on a wicket with pace and bounce that was more akin to their home conditions on the Highveld than a sub-continent style pitch.
Afghanistan’s Rahmat Shah scored a fighting 90 but South Africa’s seamers stifled the run-rate and picked up regular wickets as their opponents battled to stay in the contest and fell well short as they were bowled out for 208 in 43.3 overs.
Australia and England clash in the second Group B fixture in Lahore on Saturday.
“I was a bit edgy, but to contribute to the team and set us up for a winning performance, I am chuffed with that,” Rickelton said at the post-match presentation.
“The wicket played alright, the bounce was a bit inconsistent and you had to work out how to adapt to score your runs.
“We could have pushed harder at certain stages of our innings, but everyone chipped in to make sure we had competitive total.”
South Africa’s innings was anchored by the left-hander, whose 103 came from 106 deliveries, but there were valuable contributions all the way through.
INNINGS BOOST
Captain Temba Bavuma scored 58 as he put on 129 with Rickelton for the second wicket before Rassie van der Dussen pitched in with a useful 52 and Aiden Markram was unbeaten on 52 from 36 deliveries to give the innings a boost at the end.
In contrast to South Africa, Afghanistan battled to find a way to stem the flow of runs, with 40-year-old off-spinner Mohammad Nabi the pick of their bowlers with 2-51 from 10 overs.
Afghanistan’s lone resistance came from middle-order batter Shah, who took the attack to the bowlers but ran out of partners as nobody around him could build an innings.
Kagiso Rabada finished with 3-36 in 8.3 overs and was well supported by Wiaan Mulder, who took 2-36 in his nine overs.
“The batting was not good enough today,” Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi said. “The pitch was helping them in the second innings.
“We did well in the bowling but not so good in the first 20 overs (of Afghanistan’s batting innings). The toss was important, it was not a typical Karachi pitch.”
South Africa will next play Australia in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, while Afghanistan meet England in Lahore the following day in what is already a must-win game for them with the top two in the four-team group advancing to the semi-finals.
Cricket fans across the country can watch all Champions Trophy matches live on Ariana Television.
For updates, fixtures and schedules be sure to follow Ariana Television and Ariana News’ digital platforms.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Sport
Bavuma wary of Afghanistan challenge in Champions Trophy
Bavuma said Afghanistan would draw confidence from that series going into their Group B encounter.
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South Africa captain Temba Bavuma warned his team they will need to be at their best against Afghanistan in their opening game of the Champions Trophy in Karachi on Friday.
It will be the first meeting between the countries since Afghanistan beat South Africa 2-1 in a one-day series in Sharjah last September.
Bavuma said Afghanistan would draw confidence from that series going into their Group B encounter.
“They are a highly competitive team,” said Bavuma as reported by AFP. “I think they’ve got a lot of experience within their team.
“Guys who have that international pedigree at least from a skill point of view and we have to bring out our A-game.”
“We played against them mid-to-late last year and they were victorious, so they won’t be short of any type of confidence coming into the game tomorrow but in terms of preparations we have ticked all the boxes,” he added.
South Africa will be at full strength with Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs and Rassie van der Dussen all available, having sat out the recent tri-series in Pakistan.
Despite losing to Pakistan and New Zealand in that series, Bavuma felt his team has prepared well.
“We understand, you know, the Champions Trophy is a little bit different, it’s almost like every game is a knockout type of thing and our mindset really is to make sure that we pitch up and play our best game of cricket,” said Bavuma.
“Hopefully we’re playing five games and not three games of cricket in this tournament. I think most importantly, we win the moments that matter.”
Australia and England are the other two teams in Group B, with Pakistan, India, New Zealand and Bangladesh in Group A.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals.
South Africa won the inaugural Champions Trophy — then named the ICC Knock-Out Trophy — in Bangladesh in 1998.
But they have since fallen short in major tournaments, often losing in the knock-out rounds, and earning the tag of “chokers”.
They lost in the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup in India in 2023 and were runners-up to India in last year’s T20 World Cup held in the United States and the West Indies.
Bavuma dismissed fears the long title drought would weigh on the minds of the players.
“There’s no negativity from the fact that we haven’t been able to be successful in other ICC events or editions,” said Bavuma.
“But there is a lot more positivity and confidence in terms of our ability or how far we can go within the tournament.”
Afghanistan will face South Africa in Karachi on Friday. The match will begin at 1:30 p.m.
Cricket fans across the country can watch all Champions Trophy matches live on Ariana Television.
For updates, fixtures and schedules be sure to follow Ariana Television and Ariana News’ digital platforms.
Sport
Gill and Shami help India edge past Bangladesh in Champions Trophy
Gill’s ton trumped Towhid Hridoy’s heroic 100 while battling cramps that helped Bangladesh, who were 35-5 at one stage, reach 228 before being all out with two deliveries left in their innings.
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India began their Champions Trophy campaign with a six-wicket victory against Bangladesh after opener Shubman Gill anchored their nervy chase with a classy hundred in the Group A contest on Thursday.
A victory target of 229 looked inadequate to test India’s vaunted batting but Rohit Sharma’s men faltered in their chase and owed their tense victory, even if it came with 21 balls to spare, largely to Gill’s unbeaten 101.
Gill’s ton trumped Towhid Hridoy’s heroic 100 while battling cramps that helped Bangladesh, who were 35-5 at one stage, reach 228 before being all out with two deliveries left in their innings.
Seamer Mohammed Shami claimed 5-53, signalling he was ready to lead India’s pace attack in the absence of the injured Jasprit Bumrah.
“We have been in that kind of situation many a time,” India captain Rohit Sharma said of their chase.
“There’s a lot of experience in that dressing room to handle that… KL (Rahul) and Gill at the end were quite composed.”
Najmul Hossain Shanto was left to regret his decision to bat as Bangladesh lost the top half of their batting half inside nine overs.
While India’s new ball pair of Shami and Harshit Rana (3-31) struck in their first overs, spinner Axar Patel nearly claimed a hat-trick.
The left-arm spinner removed Tanzid Hasan (25) and Mushfiqur Rahim – both caught behind – off successive deliveries.
Axar’s next delivery produced an edge from new man in Jaker Ali (68) but Rohit spilled a simple catch in the slip and was seen apologising to Axar for denying him a hat-trick.
Jaker also survived a missed stumping opportunity while Hardik Pandya dropped Hridoy to let Bangladesh off the hook.
The batters forged a 154-run stand but Hridoy developed cramps and was practically batting on one leg towards the end of his stellar hundred that included six fours and two sixes.
Rohit (41) and Gill got India off to a flying start adding 69 runs for the opening stand.
Rohit could not initially middle the ball but boundaries soon started to flow from his bat as he crossed 11,000 runs in ODIs.
Taskin Ahmed removed Rohit in the 10th over and suddenly the boundary flow stopped.
Virat Kohli (22) could not convert the start while Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel fell cheaply as Bangladesh fought back with their spinners.
Jaker dropped Rahul when the Indian was on nine and it proved a costly mistake as the batter went on to make 41 not out and sealing India’s victory with a six.
India next face defending champions Pakistan in a Sunday blockbuster in Dubai.
In the third match of Champions Trophy, Afghanistan will face South Africa in Karachi on Friday. The match will begin at 1:30 p.m.
Cricket fans across the country can watch all Champions Trophy matches live on Ariana Television.
For updates, fixtures and schedules be sure to follow Ariana Television and Ariana News’ digital platforms.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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