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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.

Kuldeep, Varun give Pakistan back-ten nightmare again

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Sep-2025Nine wickets for 33 runs. Pakistan collapsed from a position of strength in the Asia Cup final. They had no business being bowled out for 146 when they were 113 for 1 with 44 balls left in the innings. Sahibzada Farhan had hit a half-century. Kuldeep Yadav went for 23 in two overs. India were feeling the pressure, missing the services of Hardik Pandya who was out with a quad niggle.But an inexplicable rush of wickets – there was (at least) one every over between the 13th and the 18th, including three in Kuldeep’s final over as he ended his day with a big broad smile – brought a quick and untimely end to their efforts of stringing the perfect game together in the Asia Cup final.Jasprit Bumrah, who was moved to have a few words with the Pakistan batters after they came at him during his first spell, wrapped things up and even included a riposte. He brought down Haris Rauf’s off stump and celebrated it by miming something going down, much like Rauf himself was doing on the boundary last Sunday, seemingly referring to the military conflict between the two countries earlier this year.Varun Chakravarthy was the pick of India’s bowlers. He bowled the high-pressure overs – one in the powerplay, one after Kuldeep was put under pressure, where he picked up Farhan for 57, and later when the collapse was in full flow, he dismissed Fakhar Zaman for 46 as well. Those two were the only Pakistan batters able to score more than 15 runs

Capitals skipper says he took his time but always believed he could change the game

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Mar-2024After a short cameo in his first game back after a life-threatening car accident in December 2022 and a laboured 28 in his second, Rishabh Pant blazed a 32-ball 51 as Delhi Capitals brought up their first win of the season against Chennai Super Kings.He was 23 off 23 at one point, but hit his next eight balls for 28 runs before slicing a skier to long-off.”See, as a cricketer I don’t think about [feeling like being back], but at the same time I have to give my 100% each and every day,” Pant said at the post-match presentation ceremony. “So what I did was I took my time initially because I haven’t played much cricket in the last one-and-a-half to two years so I thought I have to give myself enough time.”At the same time I kept believing that I could change the match at the end.”Then he was asked how long he had waited to be back on the field.”One-and-a-half years,” Pant said. “Because every day I love to be on the field and this is something I have depended my life on.”Yes, that one-and-a-half years was a wait but at the same time you’ve got to keep doing what you can as a cricketer and keep learning from it.”Pant said he never worried about not being able to play cricket again.”I think I always had self-belief that whatever happens in life, I need to be back on the ground,” he said. “That was the thought process and I never thought about anything else.”Prithvi Shaw played some attractive shots up top•BCCI

‘Shaw put himself on the line all the way’

Opener Prithvi Shaw made his first appearance of the season, after being overlooked for Capitals’ first two games. He marked it with a 27-ball 43 that included two sixes and four fours.”I think definitely he has been working hard from last two weeks and he put himself on the line all the way,” Pant said about Shaw. “And we thought that it’s time to give him a chance and he flourished today.”Pant was also all praise for a “clinical” bowling display.Khaleel Ahmed gave Capitals the perfect start with the ball, removing Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rachin Ravindra in his first spell of three overs and giving away just nine runs.That set the tone for an impressive bowling show that meant that even after MS Dhoni clobbered Anrich Nortje for 20 runs in the final over, Capitals won by as many runs.”I think bowlers have been very clinical today. Yes, we talked about we can all learn from our mistakes and I can say that we have learned,” Pant said.A 68-run stand between Ajinkya Rahane and Daryl Mitchell threatened to swing the momentum CSK’s way, but Axar Patel took a sharp return catch to break the stand in the 11th over. Mukesh Kumar was introduced in the 14th and he derailed the chase with back-to-back wickets of Rahane and Sameer Rizvi.Mukesh finished with three wickets, and he could have had a fourth but Khaleel shelled a chance to give Dhoni a reprieve off his second ball.”I think it will depend on match to match, but at the same time if Mukesh can bowl at the death it’s very nice,” Pant said about Mukesh’s role in the team. “The good thing about today is that he got injured but he still came back to the field and bowled that superb over.”

India won the ODI series with a game to spare at Eden Gardens

Andrew Fidel Fernando12-Jan-2023Sri Lanka got to 102 for 1 in the 17th over, then threw their innings away in a collapse that cost them six wickets for 50 runs. The lower order pushed them up to 215 all out – the last wicket falling in the 40th over. But it was never going to be enough.And though Sri Lanka’s bowlers made India’s batters work, reducing them to 86 for 4 at one stage, India’s run rate was too healthy, and their batting resources too rich. Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul put on a 75-run stand for the fifth wicket, breaking the back of the chase. Then Rahul pushed on to 64 not out off 103 balls.It had been India’s bowlers, though, who defined this match. Kuldeep Yadav triggered Sri Lanka’s collapse by taking Kusal Mendis’ wicket, before picking up Charith Asalanka and Dasun Shanaka to finish with 3 for 51 from his 10 overs. Mohammed Siraj, who had been excellent with the new ball, took 3 for 30, picking up a couple of late wickets. Umran Malik snuffed out two promising lower-order innings as well.The only Sri Lanka batter who made a half-century was debutant Nuwanidu Fernando, who was batting out of position as an opener (he usually bats in the middle order in domestic cricket). The great indictment on Sri Lanka’s batters in this game, perhaps, is that all but three of the XI got to double figures, suggesting the Eden Gardens pitch was decent enough. But a major collapse occurred nonetheless.The innings’ nosedive was forged more of Sri Lanka’s incompetence in this format than India’s particular excellence. Mendis had batted nicely for his run-a-ball 34, but got hit on the back leg by a Kuldeep googly at the end of the 17th over, having misread the modest turn. Dhananjaya de Silva let an Axar Patel arm ball slide between bat and pad; Asalanka sent a leading edge back to Kuldeep, the bowler; Shanaka got too far inside the line and let Kuldeep spin one into his pads and then leg stump; later, the bowling allrounders (Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage and Chamika Karunaratne) were all caught by Axar at backward point, two of them off Malik.Kuldeep Yadav celebrates after bowling Dasun Shanaka out•BCCI

The lowest third of the innings had at least added some value before departing, however. Hasaranga made 21 off 17, Karunaratne 17 off 25, and Wellalage played perhaps the most responsible innings of the three, despite being the most junior, producing 32 off 34. It was thanks to them that Sri Lanka breached 200.Through Nuwanidu’s fifty, though, Sri Lanka had at least one positive. He was cautious against the new ball, leaving often, and defending plenty, though he rarely seemed anxious even when he faced 10 scoreless deliveries to start, then had got to only 6 off the first 20. He was strong behind square, finding most of his runs, and four of his six boundaries, thereIndia’s chase was not particularly clinical, and there were times at which Sri Lanka had a chance to pull off an unlikely defence of a modest score. Shubman Gill raced to 21 off 11 balls, hitting five fours, four of those through cover or extra cover. But then he pulled Kumara straight to short midwicket and was out. Rohit Sharma had been dismissed before that, nicking off to Chamika Karunaratne.And when Virat Kohli was bowled off an inside edge (Kumara the bowler), and Shreyas Iyer was trapped in front by Kasun Rajitha, it seemed like Sri Lanka had a shot.But Hardik and Rahul doused what small fires had been lit. Theirs was a leisurely, risk-free stand, playing out Sri Lanka’s spinners, picking the singles and twos into space. The required rate was hardly relevant.Hardik was dismissed with 55 still required, but Rahul ensured he remained at the crease to guide the chase home. Three of his six boundaries came behind square, and the other three in the arc between mid-off and cover, but it was the defensive strokes and the singles square of the wicket that defined his innings. He forged a partnership with Axar, then took the chase home in Kuldeep’s company.Now, 2-0 up, India have sealed the series.

Although Netherlands are unable to catch a flight out, it is understood the players have communicated they are not in the right mental state to play

Firdose Moonda27-Nov-2021The second and third ODIs between South Africa and Netherlands have been postponed after concerns around a new Coronavirus variant, Omicron. The first match in the series, which forms part of the World Cup Super League, was washed out on Friday, leaving the teams sharing five points each. That keeps Netherlands in last place on the points table, and South Africa in ninth, outside the automatic qualification zone.Although Netherlands will be in South Africa for the duration of the series because they are unable to catch a flight out, ESPNcricinfo understands that the players have communicated they are not in the right mental state to play. On Friday, their coach Ryan Campbell tweeted that the team played with “unbelievable pressure hanging over their heads,” after travel restrictions began to affect the southern African region.