Sport

Rahane blitz helps Chennai floor Mumbai in IPL

Published

2 years ago

April 9, 2023

Ajinkya Rahane hit the fastest fifty of the IPL season in 19 balls as Chennai Super Kings hammered Mumbai Indians by seven wickets on Saturday.

In another show of destructive batting, England's Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal powered Rajasthan Royals to the top of the table with a 57-run demolition of Delhi Capitals.

David Warner's Delhi slumped to their third loss of the season despite the captain top-scoring with 65 and becoming the first overseas player to go past 6,000 IPL runs.

But Rahane stood out as the day's best performer with his 27-ball 61 on debut for Chennai, guiding them to their target of 158 with 11 balls to spare at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, AFP reported.

"Me and Jinks (Ajinkya) spoke at the start of the season and I told him to play to his strengths, use your ability to manipulate the fields," said CSK captain M.S. Dhoni.

"I told him to go and enjoy, don't take stress and we'll back you."

Coming in after the fall of Devon Conway for a duck, Rahane tore into the Mumbai attack, which was without Jofra Archer after the England pace bowler was rested due to discomfort in his elbow.

Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma said Archer, who returned to the team in the previous match after missing last season, not playing was "just a precaution".

Rohit said the five-time champions need to be more "brave" in their upcoming matches.

Chennai's England stars Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali missed out due to injuries and South Africans Dwaine Pretorius and Sisanda Magala made the team.

Ravindra Jadeja made an impression with his left-arm spin as he took the key wickets of Ishan Kishan (32), Cameron Green, out for 12 after an excellent caught and bowled, and Tilak Varma (22) to keep Mumbai to 157-8.

Jadeja, who was named man of the match, was ably supported by New Zealand left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner, who returned figures of 2-28.

Tim David's late cameo of 31 boosted Mumbai's total but was still not enough to challenge the Chennai batting.

Rahane, who was signed by Chennai for his base price of $61,094 in the December auction, smashed seven fours and three sixes.

Opener Ruturaj Gaikwad made an unbeaten 40 to move to the top of the batting charts with 189 runs this season as he jumped over Buttler (152) and Warner (158).

First match of the day

In the first match of the day in Guwahati, last year's runners-up Rajasthan posted 199-4 after an attacking 98-run opening stand between the left-handed Jaiswal (60) and Buttler (79).

Jaiswal struck five boundaries in the first over and Buttler soon took charge and, despite a middle-order stutter, took on the bowlers before Shimron Hetmyer hit an unbeaten 39.

New Zealand's left-arm quick Trent Boult led the bowling charge with a double-wicket maiden to help restrict Delhi to 142-9 as Rajasthan bounced back from their previous loss.

"We are a long way off right now," Delhi coach Ricky Ponting said.

"I can't put my finger on why? We need to do a bit more soul searching as a group. We have to think about the players we are putting on the ground because what we have done so far hasn't worked."

Rajasthan, who won the first edition of the IPL in 2008 under late Australian great Shane Warne, have won two of their three matches.

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Sport

Ariana News to broadcast IPL auction live and exclusively in Afghanistan

Published

1 day 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.