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North Zone vs South Zone ends in draw with Towhid Hridoy scoring his maiden double-century

Mohammad Isam22-Dec-2021Nayeem Hasan triggered Central Zone‘s fourth innings collapse and helped East Zone post a 10-run win in the Bangladesh Cricket League. The offspinner took 6 for 48 as Central Zone, who were cruising on 145 for 1 at one stage, were bowled out for 189 in chase of 199.Nayeem starred with the bat as well, chipping in with 68 in East Zone’s second innings to help the team post a modest total.With the ball, Nayeem broke the 120-run second wicket stand between Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Mithun on the fourth morning. It triggered the collapse, with Central Zone losing their last nine wickets for 43 runs.That apart, left-arm spinner Tanvir Islam took three wickets.It was a tight contest from the first day. East Zone, who were bowled out for 245 in the first innings, managed to take a lead of 18 runs. Left-arm quick Abu Hider took his third five-wicket haul for Central Zone before Asaduzzaman Payel and Tanvir scalped three each to restrict Central Zone to 227 in their first innings.However, Central Zone hit back by bowling out East Zone for 180 in the second innings. East Zone slipped to 51 for 6 before Nayeem and Pritom Hasan struck fifties, adding 103 runs for the seventh wicket. Wicketkeeper Pritom struck six fours and a six in his quickfire 54.It was the first first-class match at the Shere Bangla National Stadium since the pandemic.The other match, between North Zone and South Zone, ended in a draw at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.Batting first, Naeem Islam’s 28th first-class century helped North Zone to 385 all out after both openers Tanzid Hasan and Parvez Hossain got out for ducks. Naeem, who made 137 off 342 balls with 15 fours and a six, put together two huge stands to get North Zone out of trouble. He added 90 runs for the fourth wicket with Marshall Ayub, who made 47, and shared a 160-run fifth wicket stand with Mahidul Islam, who scored 76.Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed took six wickets for South Zone. struck 217, his maiden double-hundred, hitting 16 fours and four sixes in his 387-ball innings. Amite Hasan made 131, his fourth first-class ton, and added 258 runs for the third wicket with Towhid.Sunzamul Islam and Mohammad Sharifullah took four wickets each, both having bowled more than 60 overs each.North Zone made 62 for 1 in the remaining 26 overs on the final day as the match ended in a draw.

Experienced middle-order batsman from Jamaica secures another chance in the Test arena

Sreshth Shah12-Jul-2020Who is Jermaine Blackwood?A 28-year-old middle-order batsman from Jamaica, Blackwood is a natural stroke maker, having played more than 100 first-class games in his career.He was the leading run-scorer in the 2013-14 domestic first-class season in West Indies, and on the back of that form, Blackwood made his Test debut in June 2014, during the home Test series against New Zealand, where he made 63 on debut.A regular in the side until the tour of Zimbabwe in October 2017, he made nine fifties and a hundred (against England, in 2015) but fell off the radar thereafter, having scored just 15 runs in his last five innings in that period, and been dropped by the side.Strong performances in the domestic first-class system kept Blackwood within touching distance of the West Indies first XI, but barring a brief appearance as a concussion substitute against India in 2019, he did not make the team until the first Test against England in Southampton.How did Blackwood make the cut for the first Test?Before the pandemic curtailed the 2020 first-class season in West Indies after eight matches, right-handed batsman Blackwood was the tournament’s highest run scorer, pummelling 768 runs in 15 innings for Jamaica, which included a double hundred against Leeward Islands in the tournament’s last match.Roger Harper, West Indies’ chairman of selectors said ahead of the tour that Blackwood marked a return to the side “on the sheer weight” of his first-class performances. Harper had also praised Blackwood’s “patience and consistency” in 2020.But Blackwood might not have featured in the series at all, had it not been for the decision made by Shimron Hetmyer and Darren Bravo to not tour England. That meant Blackwood made the 14-man squad for the Test series as a middle-order replacement for the players who did not travel. That said, Blackwood made only 62 runs in four innings during the tourists’ intra-squad warm-up games, and might have been the man left out if West Indies had opted to play a specialist spinner in Rahkeem Cornwall.What special relationship does Blackwood share with England?Blackwood’s only Test century came in 2015 when England were touring the Caribbean, and over 41% of his Test runs have come against them.Including his match-winning 95 in the fourth innings at Southampton, Blackwood has made three fifties and a hundred against England. His average of 55 against England is the best among all current West Indies players and stands behind only Lawrence Rowe, George Headley, Viv Richards, Brian Lara and Garry Sobers.His unbeaten 112 at North Sound in 2015 earned West Indies victory and his 85 in the third Test at Bridgetown set things up for the hosts before he hit the winning runs in the fourth innings.When West Indies toured England in 2017, Blackwood’s 79 at Birmingham was the lone contribution of note as West Indies slumped to defeat in the first Test after Alastair Cook pumped 243 in the first innings. After that, he made crucial contributions of 49 and 41 in the Headingley Test that followed, which West Indies won on the back of twin centuries from Shai Hope.And with an opportunity presented in 2020, Blackwood delivered again with a fourth-innings 95 to help West Indies navigate out of a tricky chase and help them take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.What’s changed in Blackwood’s game?Blackwood entered the Test series believing he had something to prove. Ahead of the series, he said that his new batting mantra was to “bat as long as possible” as he wished to change the “wrong impressions” people had of him.”It’s been two-and-a-half years that I’ve been out of the Test team,” Blackwood had said during the intra-squad warm-up game West Indies played before the first Test. “This opportunity has come out and I have to grab it with both hands. I have something to go out there and prove against all the best bowlers in the world, I want to score runs against them.”Before the squad flew out to England, Blackwood had stated what changes he had made to his game. “Right now, it’s a more determined Jermaine Blackwood and a more focused Jermaine Blackwood,” he said. “Being dropped helped me to go back and work on my game and my mental space, and to come back strong. It wasn’t anything too much to do with the technical aspect of batting, just some little tweaks. But the mental side, I had to change a bit. I did a lot of reading just to help my mental space going forward. That’s really helped me.”After the intra-squad game, he said: “It’s about patience for me, spending lots of time in the middle. That doesn’t say if I get a bad ball I won’t put it to the boundary. I don’t change too much of my shot selection. It’s just staying a bit more patient, batting a lot of deliveries – trying to bat for a whole day, or a day-and-a-half.”Blackwood did that magnificently against a hostile pace attack led by Jofra Archer on the final day of the Southampton Test. Despite falling just five runs short of a second Test hundred, his 95 was the first page of a new chapter in Blackwood’s Test career as West Indies took the series lead.

Durham coach says Bancroft showed ‘mental toughness, skill and attitude to excel’ upon return to first-class cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Mar-2019Cameron Bancroft will captain Durham as he continues his comeback from a ban for his part in the Newlands ball-tampering scandal close to a year ago.Bancroft, who was suspended for nine months over his role in the affair against South Africa in Cape Town, which saw Steven Smith and David Warner banned for one year, agreed in July to join Durham as their overseas signing for 2019. Bancroft’s ban ended in December, while March 29 marks the end of the international bans for Smith and Warner, who are both preparing to play in the IPL.Bancroft replaces Paul Collingwood as captain of Durham’s County Championship and Royal London Cup sides following Collingwood’s retirement at the end of the 2018 season.Durham coach James Franklin believed Bancroft’s international and franchise experience with Perth Scorchers in the BBL would be an asset.”We’re delighted to have Cameron with us for the season and we’re confident he has the attributes to lead this exciting young Durham dressing room,” Franklin said. “He has invaluable experience at the top level and has enjoyed a successful spell in England before, during his time with Gloucestershire (in 2016-17).”He’s proven since returning to first-class cricket over the last few months that he has the mental toughness, skill and attitude to excel at the highest level and I’m sure he will relish the challenge we have at Durham this season.”The 26-year-old Bancroft scored an unbeaten 138 during his first-class return with Western Australia last month. He has played eight Test matches scoring 402 runs at an average of 39.92 and opening the batting against England in the 2017 Ashes.Bancroft will join Durham for their second County Championship fixture against Sussex on April 11, missing the season opener at Derbyshire from April 5 reportedly because Western Australia want him to attend their post-season awards. Alex Lees will captain the side in his absence.

Hobart’s Tim Paine hopes Perth Scorchers will be burdened by the expectations of a sell-out crowd of more than 50,000 spectators for their Big Bash League semi-final

Daniel Brettig in Perth31-Jan-2018Bolstered by his experience of Perth Stadium’s first official cricket fixture between Australia and England on Sunday, Tim Paine is hoping that Perth Scorchers will be burdened by the expectations of a sell-out crowd of more than 50,000 spectators when the Big Bash League’s most vaunted team takes on Hobart Hurricanes in the first semi-final.Paine was the last man out for Australia as the hosts were overwhelmed by Tom Curran’s late burst of reverse swing, and said the Hurricanes were more than happy to enter the knockout match with few expectations of success beyond their own dressing room, having scraped into the finals and then lost D’Arcy Short to Australian Twenty20 duty. They also dropped the out-of-sorts Tymal Mills from their squad for the semi-final, replacing him with the youthful paceman Riley Meredith.The Scorchers, meanwhile, have been strengthened by the returns of Shaun and Mitchell Marsh, the latter another participant in Sunday’s ODI, and are heavily favoured to brush Hobart aside and advance to a home tournament final for the fifth time in seven editions of the competition – they also qualified for a home final in 2015 but it was held in neutral Canberra due to the looming 50-over World Cup. Paine said that the Hurricanes’ coach Adam Griffith, formerly Justin Langer’s assistant for the Scorchers and Western Australia, was looking to build a similarly tight unit across state and BBL competitions in a one-team town.”We totally expect it, we’ve been the underdogs in many games this year and come out on top, so it’s nice to come over here and fly under the radar a bit,” Paine said. “Perth are an exceptional side, you’ve got to respect what they’ve done in the last five or six years, but we certainly come here with no fear. Hopefully the expectation, new stadium and bigger crowd weighs on the Scorchers. Throughout the whole tournament you see if any team plays well they can beat anyone, so I know the two teams had a really close game at the WACA not too long ago so I think they’re both pretty even.”I know that with Adam Griffith coming from Perth and Western Australia it’s something the Hurricanes are certainly looking to emulate, what the Perth Scorchers have got. There’s no doubt that they’ve had some huge success, you’d be foolish not to look at what they’re doing and trying to use that as an advantage. We’ve got the opportunity to have something fairly similar so I’m sure we’ll be looking at every possibility over the next couple of years.”Clearly he’s got some insights into the way they play as a team and the strengths and weaknesses of individual players, so having him on board this year that hopefully can be really telling in the next 24 hours.”A general view of Perth Stadium on its first day of international cricket•Associated Press

Paine said the stadium’s pitch and fast outfield offered the possibility for plenty of runs to be scored, particularly with its football-oriented dimensions offering short straight boundaries to power hitters. “I didn’t think it was too dissimilar to what we’ve seen at the WACA the last couple of years,” Paine said, adding that he was likely to open in Short’s stead.”They’ve done a fantastic job to get it up and keep the characteristics of the WACA, with a bit of pace and bounce, it was nice. If you look at the squads I think both sides might go with a fair bit of pace, which is normally the case in Perth, small straight boundaries as well so it’s a difficult place to bowl spin in T20 cricket when you don’t get a lot of turn. So not sure what both sides will go with but there’s a fair chance you’ll see a fair bit of pace.”Mitchell Marsh, meanwhile, said while the Scorchers had turned over more than 20 players this season, they benefited greatly from keeping a consistent squad core together over much of the past seven years, principally a generation that has also included Ashton Agar, Ashton Turner, Cameron Bancroft and Hilton Cartwright. “I think that’s something we pride ourselves on, wanting to play for the Perth Scorchers and sticking around,” Marsh said. “We’ve had a core group of us, mainly the likes of Ashton Agar, Ashton Turner, Cam Bancroft, Hilton Cartwright, become senior players in this outfit and we’ve all been here since the start of the Big Bash.”I think that’s been a really pleasing thing for us and it’ll be really nice to show that progression with hopefully a win tomorrow and another win on Sunday. We’ve started to create our own history here as the Perth Scorchers, and right now our record is unrivalled in the Big Bash, and hopefully it can stay that way for a long time.”

India’s bowlers required just 38.1 overs to wrap up a 246-run victory on the final day of the second Test in Visakhapatnam

The Report by Andrew Miller21-Nov-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:36

Ganguly: Jayant’s temperament was spot on

India’s bowlers required just 38.1 overs to wrap up a 246-run victory on the final day of the second Test in Visakhapatnam, as England’s resolve – fatally weakened by the loss of two wickets late on the fourth evening – was finally cracked with nothing but pride left to play for. The damage had been done in a frantic morning session in which they slumped from 87 for 2 to 142 for 7, and the tail succumbed meekly after lunch, with only Jonny Bairstow showing any real resistance with 34 not out.The margin of victory perhaps overstated the gulf between the sides – the key difference, in every sense, was India’s captain and Man of the Match Virat Kohli, whose aggregate of 248 runs single-handedly accounted for the deficit in England’s balance. But, having fought so hard for so long, especially in the second half of the contest, the speed of their final-day demise was dispiriting for England, with the third Test in Mohali looming large next week.Contrary to all pre-match predictions, the pitch still wasn’t spinning dramatically by the final day, but it was skidding through at a hustling pace to match India’s turbo-charged over-rate – they bowled 33.4 in the morning session, including an extraordinary ten in the first half-hour alone as Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin tied England in knots at a rate of knots.The devastating dismissal of Alastair Cook, in the last over of the fourth day, had left England fearing the worst when play resumed, and there was an inevitability about the identity of the first victim of the morning. Ben Duckett’s rich strokeplay and inventive attitude will doubtless serve him well as his England career progresses, but in this situation – and particularly against his nemesis, Ashwin – those attributes had roughly the same value as an INR 500 note.Sure enough, having withstood 15 deliveries without opening his account, Duckett dropped to one knee in a bid to hit his way out of a corner, but succeeded only in gloving a sweep onto his thigh pad and into the gloves of the wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha. As he trooped disconsolately off the pitch, Duckett might as well have walked straight onto the England bench. His record against Ashwin alone in this series made grim reading – 40 balls, 15 runs, three wickets. He’ll be back, but perhaps not in Mohali next week.Jayant Yadav clipped Ben Stokes’ off stump with a beauty•AFP

Moeen Ali was the next to go, his technique against the spinners looking solid right up until the moment Jadeja got one to grip in the rough outside off, and accelerate onto his inside edge for Kohli to complete a lobbed catch at leg gully. From 75 for 0 after 50 overs, England were now in freefall at 101 for 4 after 74 – the flip-side of their siege mentality being that India were now camping as many as five close catchers under every new batsman’s nose.Such close attention didn’t bother Ben Stokes at first. He had been so solid in defence in the first innings, and continued his tried-and-trusted methods in a 33-ball stay. But, when India turned to the second new ball – and in the process, gave Jadeja’s fingers a rest after 25 overs on the trot had left him with the outstanding figures of 34-14-35-2 – the lankier offspin of Jayant Yadav conjured the ball of the match.A faster, flatter offbreak from around the wicket drifted as Stokes played back, then spat past his edge to clip the outside of his off stump. Stokes nodded his appreciation as the bowler hurtled past in celebration, and when Root was nailed by Mohammed Shami nine balls later, the teams might as well have shaken hands there and then.Root had once again been England’s most accomplished technician on the day. But, having survived an early reprieve when Kohli spilled a sharp chance at leg slip, he was pinned on the crease by a zippy nipbacker from Shami and sent on his way for 25 from 107 balls.There was time for one more breakthrough before lunch, as Adil Rashid top-edged an attempted ramp over the slips, to give Shami his second wicket of the innings, and the denouement came in a resigned procession after the resumption.Zafar Ansari completed a match every bit as ignominious as Duckett’s when Ashwin skidded a flat offbreak into his off stump for a duck, before Jayant produced a carbon copy of England’s demise in the first innings, trapping Stuart Broad and James Anderson with consecutive lbws. Anderson completed his comeback Test with a king pair, remarkably the first by an England batsman for 110 years.That wasn’t the sort of history that Cook’s men had targeted at the start of the tour, but with three matches to come and some clear signs of life amid the ruins of today’s effort, there will be chances to atone in the coming weeks. But a few correct calls at the toss would be a start.

Rohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Stuart Binny have been released by the Indian team management, and will turn up for their respective Ranji Trophy sides in the round starting on November 7

Sidharth Monga05-Nov-2015The Indian team management have released Rohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Stuart Binny to play for their state sides in the next round of Ranji Trophy matches, beginning on November 7. KL Rahul and Ishant Sharma, who are also not part of India’s XI in the Mohali Test, will however continue to be with the team and will be joined by Mandeep Singh and Gurkeerat Singh Mann as Punjab, their state side, has no Ranji Trophy engagements at the moment.While Rohit and Bhuvneshwar will face up against each other at the Wankhede Stadium, Binny will join Karnataka in their home game against Odisha in Mysore. All the players will be given a day off for Diwali on November 11 following the conclusion of the Ranji Trophy round, before they link up with the national squad in Bangalore ahead of the second Test on November 14.This is a modern move by Indian standards. While teams the world over release players from the squad not playing the Test, fielding local players as substitutes, should the need arise, India have been dead set against the idea in recent years. This gives players actual match time in the middle, and benefits their Ranji teams at the same time.If Rohit, for example, dropped in a five-batsmen set-up, has to stake his claim for a spot in the next Test, he can now do so with runs for Mumbai against Uttar Pradesh, whose seam attack has been taking wickets. Bhuvneshwar’s addition will only further bolster their attack in their marquee Group B clash.One of the major reasons for being against this policy was that the team invests a lot in the fielding of the whole squad, and that they are not sure of the quality of the fielders the local association would provide.”In the past we have tried, but the problem is that you need a good fielder in the extra players who are playing,” MS Dhoni had said in 2013, when asked about the issue of adding players from the local association to give the reserves an opportunity to play for their state sides. “The other problem is that the association may say why you are releasing this player or not that player. I think most players want to play, but at the same time we’ll see what’s best for our team. We definitely want a fantastic fielder in the extras so that if some player is off the ground, we need that extraordinary fielder.”In this case, though, the team is lucky that Punjab are not playing a match in the next round of Ranji Trophy that starts on the third day of the ongoing Test. In addition, Gurkeerat was part of the ODI squad.This is not yet a policy, but the team is not averse to the idea of flying in substitutes from other state teams should they not be as lucky as this time during the next Test.

Days after he kicked up a storm on Twitter, Sreesanth brought about another, on the field, in a state known for its colourful storms

The Report by Sidharth Monga14-Apr-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Sreesanth was the perfect storm for Rajasthan Royals•BCCI

Days after he kicked up a storm on Twitter, Sreesanth brought about another, on the field, in a state known for its colourful storms. This storm was of the more desirable variety for everyone involved, except of course the opposition, Kings XI Punjab, who failed to play out their 20 overs for the second game in a row. For the second game in a row, David Hussey top-scored with 41, and for the second time in a row his side was beaten comprehensively.After the Sreesanth storm – two wickets in his first over and a maiden to follow – there were persistent showers all around. James Faulkner, Siddharth Trivedi and Kevon Cooper got two each, snubbing every little rising from Kings XI. Their second wickets gave Cooper the purple cap and Trivedi lead over Shane Warne as the most successful Rajasthan Royals bowler. All this meant a below-par total to chase, which Royals did with ease.A bowlers’ captain, Rahul Dravid has stacked his side up with seamers and has played his home games on green tracks this season. This game was no different, and he won the toss too. A surprise was in the offing as the non-turning tall offspinner Ajit Chandila bowled the first over, but the game was damaged irrevocably in the second.Sreesanth bowled fast and accurate, and there was enough movement around for him to become dangerous. Adam Gilchrist drove in front of his body and failed to keep the ball down, offering mid-off an easy catch. Off the last ball of that over, the talented Punjab batsman Mandeep Singh was done in by movement away and edged a cut to third man.Arguably, Sreesanth’s second over was better than the first, when he swung the ball away consistently, and the pressure resulted in a risky single, and a direct hit from James Faulkner at the only stump visible to him. After that maiden, Kings XI were 10 for 3 after four overs, and sides don’t come back from that in Twenty20s. Well, except in World Cup finals.And there was no Marlon Samuels around. Hussey tried his best, though, cutting and running hard, but he was desperately lonely in the fight. Trivedi came and immediately began to bowl short of a length and just outside off. The pitch provided him enough seam movement to make it seem monstrous in Twenty20. Gurkeerat Singh went first. R Sathish followed to a similar delivery from Faulkner. The big wicket came soon enough for Royals when Hussey failed to keep a slower one down, and Dravid took it on second attempt at mid-off. Kings XI were 75 for 6 in the 13th.There was an odd swing from Azhar Mahmood and Praveen Kumar, but 124 was going to hardly test Royals. That total lost any such testing ambitions when the returning Shane Watson came and thumped the ball all around to score 32 off 19. That innings left Royals enough cushion for Ajinkya Rahane to absorb the middle-overs blows and take the team to a comfortable win with an equally important 34 off 42.

ESPNcricinfo previews the Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of the fifth IPL season

Kanishkaa Balachandran02-Apr-2012

Big picture

If one had to fix the ‘chokers’ tag to an IPL team, it would have to be on Royal Challengers Bangalore. They’ve reached two IPL finals and a Champions League final, finishing runners-up in all three. Faltering at the biggest stage has become a habit for a team very capable of winning titles consistently. They’ve got balance, big hitters, stars and a penetrative bowling attack. The squad also has a mixture of youth and experience.The team has come a long way from the ‘Test team’ of 2008. Chris Gayle leads a power-packed top order, followed by Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers and India’s latest sensation, Virat Kohli. Gayle was retained this year for an official amount of US$550,000, while the two big purchases were Vinay Kumar (US$1 million) and Muttiah Muralitharan (US$ 220,000). Andrew McDonald, the Victoria allrounder, was bought from Delhi Daredevils during the transfer window. Zaheer Khan, if fit, will be a valuable asset to the bowling.Royal Challengers began with a win last year but lost the next three. The fifth was abandoned, but they made the next seven games their own. In one of those games, against Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Gayle smashed 37 off one over, the hapless bowler being Prasanth Parameswaran. Gayle made Bangalore the team to watch, and it was his hitting that led them to the top of the points table. However, they lost the first qualifying final, meaning they had to win their second qualifier against Mumbai Indians to meet Chennai again in the final. In the end, they were no match for Chennai, who batted them out of the game and dismissed Gayle for a duck.

Key players

Chris Gayle – The ‘hired gun’ from West Indies, probably most sought-after Twenty20 player, has committed himself to the full season. He has been busy, though, sorting out his differences with the WICB. He’s expected to be fit from the groin niggle that he had sustained during the Bangladesh Premier League.Virat Kohli – No target is beyond reach for Kohli, who’s proving to be a sensation during chases. He is clearly the best thing to come out of the rubble of Australia 2011-12. He’s in the form of his life, emerging as one of the most dangerous limited-overs batsmen in the world in the last year and a half. Along with Gayle, Kohli would form a destructive pair.

Big names in

Vinay Kumar – The India fast bowler was bought back by his native Bangalore for a million dollars, one of the biggest buys at the auction. He became a changed bowler during the limited-over games in Australia, running in hard and cranking up his pace. Kumar needs to work more on his death bowling though.Muttiah Muralitharan – Like Gayle, the former Sri Lanka offspinner is another Twenty20 player available for hire the world over. He was bought for US$220,000 from the defunct Kochi Tuskers Kerala. Captain Daniel Vettori couldn’t have asked for a better spin partner.

Below the radar

Vijay Zol – The 17-year-old smashed a remarkable unbeaten 451 for Maharashtra Under-19s against Assam Under-19s in Nasik last year. His knock even caught Virender Sehwag’s attention. He has since played only one match for the Maharashtra senior side, but his lack of experience at the highest level didn’t stop Bangalore from signing up an unknown.KP Appanna – The left-arm spinner could be Bangalore’s first-choice spinner if Murali doesn’t play. He was Karnataka’s leading wicket-taker in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 tournament with ten wickets.

Availability

Dilshan is expected to miss the opening game, due to the second Test between Sri Lanka and England. The rest of the squad is free from international commitments.

Sachin Tendulkar, the controller, and Ambati Rayudu, the enforcer, made short work of the below-par target to give Mumbai their second successive win of the tournament

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera12-Apr-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSachin Tendulkar ended unbeaten for the second time in two innings•AFP

Sachin Tendulkar, the controller, and Ambati Rayudu, the enforcer, made short work of the below-par target set by Bangalore to give Mumbai their second successive win of the tournament. However, it was with the bat that Bangalore lost the game tonight. It was a strange innings as Bangalore were in consolidation mode for most of the time after they slipped to 19 for 2 and then meandered away to 140.There was no such hesitation shown by Mumbai in the chase. Every time Bangalore tried a new bowler, Tendulkar and Rayudu lashed out. When Abhimanyu Mithun was introduced in the sixth over, Tendulkar showcased his gorgeous straight drive, and Rayudu swatted a bouncer before creaming him through wide mid-off. When Tillakaratne Dilshan came on in the tenth over, Tendulkar deployed the slog sweep and the conventional sweep to collect more boundaries. When Asad Pathan was brought in the 12th over, Rayudu crash-pulled the first delivery to midwicket and when Virat Kohli returned for a second spell, in the 13th over, Tendulkar smote him to the straight boundary.Mumbai’s batsmen reserved their best for Zaheer Khan, whose awful night mirrored Bangalore’s in many ways. Davy Jacobs flat-batted the fourth ball of the chase for a stunning six over long-on, and sandwiched fours through the covers and long-off with a lovely whipped six in Zaheer’s next over. When Zaheer returned for a second spell, Rayudu cut him to the point boundary, slammed a full toss to midwicket and lofted him through long-on.In comparison, Bangalore’s approach was completely lacking in intent. Tillakaratne Dilshan hit a half-century but it felt like an imposter was wearing his jersey. AB de Villiers made 38 but never looked like he would hurt the opposition. “It’s a difficult track to bat; there is spongy bounce and AB (de Villiers) and I thought 140 would be a good score,” Dilshan said at the end of the innings. He couldn’t have been more wrong, at least tonight.The ball didn’t appear to stop on the batsmen, there wasn’t any alarming turn but they struggled to get going. Mumbai’s night was set up by Lasith Malinga with a brute of a first ball. It was full, it was pacy and it curved away devilishly late, past a stunned Mayank Agarwal and knocked out off stump. Next, Malinga pinged Virat Kohli on the boot with another screaming yorker, but it was not given out. Kohli fell soon after, top-edging his trademark on-side heave to the keeper. It was the beginning of the crawl.Dilshan tried to punch his way out of trouble but rarely found the timing or the gaps. de Villiers also played within himself and the pair started concentrating on singles. de Villiers fell in the 17th over, top-edging a slog against Pollard and that paved the way for Saurabh Tiwary to free his arms. He flat-batted Malinga over extra cover and heaved Harbhajan Singh to cow corner. Dilshan woke up in the last over to slap Malinga for six over midwicket as Mumbai finished on a mini-high but the target proved grossly insufficient.

Sourav Ganguly was satisfied with his batting form after giving the Eden Gardens crowd plenty to cheer with a vintage display

Cricinfo staff02-Apr-2010Sourav Ganguly, the Kolkata Knight Riders captain, hasn’t had the smoothest of tournaments, but was satisfied with his batting form after giving the Eden Gardens crowd plenty to cheer with a vintage display against Deccan Chargers. His 54-ball 88 powered Kolkata to a victory that kept them firmly in the middle of a pack of five mid-table teams separated by just two points.”It was a good wicket, the ball came on well,” he said, “I’ve been batting well for the last four-five games – 30s, 30s, 50s – it was good that I carried on today.”The win lifts Kolkata to eight points, and comes on the back of a stretch of five matches with only one success. “We started off well but then dropped a bit, we were in a spot where we needed to get some wins, the tournament’s still wide open but it was good to get a win.”Kolkata’s total turned into a formidable one thanks to the onslaught in the final four overs, which yielded 56 runs. The most expensive of those was the 21-run over from Pragyan Ojha, when Ganguly showcased his dominance over left-arm spinners by cracking three sixes.Unlike his Kolkata counterpart, Deccan Chargers captain, Adam Gilchrist, had a game to forget as captain, wicketkeeper and batsman. “Tactically we just took a gamble with one extra over to Ojha,” Gilchrist said. “Well, Sourav was in and he obviously got in three sixes, [one of those] 50-50 decisions that didn’t quite go our way.”Gilchrist also fluffed chances to stump Ganguly and David Hussey, before rounding off a poor game by being dismissed for 9 in the third over. He slammed Ajit Agarkar’s first two deliveries for and miscued to midwicket off the fourth, after Herschelle Gibbs had blasted 20 runs in the initial two overs. “I was a bit irresponsible starting that way, Herschelle was flying, and it was probably a mistake on my own behalf there.”With three defeats in a row, Deccan are now just one place off the bottom of the table, but Gilchrist took heart from the manner in which Rajasthan Royals rebounded after starting the tournament with three consecutive defeats.