Sport

Johnson Charles sets stadium ablaze by cracking 93 to ensure win for Sharjah Warriors

Published

10 months ago

January 23, 2024

The muscular West Indies opener, Johnson Charles, virtually carried his team on his shoulders with a 71 runs partnership in 51 balls for the fourth wicket with Lewis Gregory (16), and a 29-run stand with UAE’s Basil Hameed for the fifth wicket.

Displaying his power-hitting skills, Charles hit six sixers and eight boundaries.

Though Charles got out when Warriors needed 27 runs off 23 balls, Hameed, through an unbeaten 24, and Daniel Sams (16 not out), propelled their team to victory with seven balls to spare.

Capitals’ medium pacer Dushmantha Chameera picked four out of the five wickets that fell for 28 runs, but his efforts went in vain.

Capitals were put into bat, but they posted a fighting total of 170 for 7 in 20 overs.

Sam Billings top scored with 52 runs off 32 balls with four sixes and one boundary while Sikandar Raza hit 48 runs off 23 balls with three boundaries and three sixes.

Together they put on 81 runs for the fourth wicket off 44 balls after their team got off to a slow start scoring just 38 runs in the powerplay.

Skipper and opener David Warner played a sedate knock of 20 off 27 balls while Rahmaullah Gurbaz, fresh from this match winning knock of 81 against MI Emirates, got out for only 15 runs.

Jake Fraser-McGurk could muster only 14 runs. Daniel Sams picked three wickets for 28, which included the wickets of Gurbaz, Warner and Raza. He was well backed by Chris Woakes (2 for 21) and Mahesh Theekshana (2 for 32).

Theekshana, who had also bagged four wickets in his first match against Gulf Giants, received the white belt for being the leading wicket-taker of the tournament so far.

In pursuit of their target of 171 runs, Warriors brought in opener Martin Guptill as the super- sub in place of Dilshan Madushanka, but he got run out for 2.

Skipper and opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore then edged Dushmantha Chameera to wicketkeeper Gurbaz for 3.

Charles began with a six off Chameera and then went on to hit Jason Holder for a six and a boundary to wipe away the effect of the early dismissals.

Niroshan Dickwella, who put on 25 runs in 12 balls with Charles, got out to Chameera for 7. By the end of the powerplay, Charles ensured that Warriors was strongly placed at 60 for 3 by scoring 42 off those runs. He raced to his half century in 26 balls.

Lewis Gregory provided good support to Charles who kept scoring freely. In the last ten overs, Warriors needed 79 runs. Chameera picked his third wicket clean bowling Gregory in the 13th over for 16. He also went on to take the wicket of Charles forcing him to top edge to wicketkeeper Gurbaz when he was seven runs short of his century. Hameed and Sams then carried their team to the target.

Commenting on his knock, the hero of the day and player of the match as well as the current green belt holder for high run-getter, Charles said: “This pitch was very good, bit more bounce, which meant a lot more leeway. Just had to make the most of the powerplay, which we did. I just want to keep it going. As we age, we get better, like fine wine, so I want to get better. Very important to get good starts in the powerplay, you get on top of the opposition.”

Commenting on his team’s defeat, Warner remarked: “Toss is a key component to this ground. Lots of dew here. We left a few runs out there, myself included. They bowled really well to me in the powerplay. It's always tough when you bat first here. We bowled way too many bad balls to Johnson.”

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Sport

Ariana News to broadcast IPL auction live and exclusively in Afghanistan

Published

15 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Ariana News

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

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ariana News

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

Published

4 days ago

November 18, 2024

Ariana News

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.