Tag Futebol

The two-member panel, which was formed to look into the involvement of the owners of two IPL franchises in corruption during the tournament, has found “no evidence of any wrongdoing” against Raj Kundra, the Rajasthan Royals team and India Cements

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jul-2013A two-member panel has found “no evidence of any wrongdoing” against Raj Kundra, co-owner of Rajasthan Royals, the Rajasthan Royals franchise, and India Cements, the owner of Chennai Super Kings. The panel, comprising former high-court judges, was formed to look into the involvement of the owners of two IPL franchises in corruption during the tournament.The BCCI working committee met in Kolkata on Sunday and Niranjan Shah, a BCCI vice-president, said that the report submitted by the two retired judges, T Jayaram Chouta and R Balasubramanian, will now be forwarded to the IPL governing council.”There is no evidence of any wrongdoing found by the judges against Raj Kundra, India Cements and Rajasthan Royals,” Shah said. “The report will now be forwarded to the IPL governing council which will take a final decision when it meets on August 2 in New Delhi.”Meanwhile, Joint commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Roy said, “The BCCI had written to us asking for the investigating officer to depose before the board. We wrote back a month ago, seeking clarification on the legal provisions of their request. But they have not replied.”The investigation into Gurunath Meiyappan, a top Super Kings official and BCCI president N Srinivasan’s son-in-law, India Cements, Kundra and Rajasthan Royals’ owner Jaipur IPL Pvt Ltd was sanctioned after Meiyappan was arrested by Mumbai Police and Kundra reportedly confessed to betting in IPL matches.When asked if India Cements – the company of which Srinivasan is managing director and vice-president – has been given a clean chit in the report, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the interim BCCI chief, said: “The final call will be taken in the IPL governing council meeting. The governing council will examine the report and accordingly will take a decision. The copy of the report will be made public in due course.”Dalmiya also said that Srinivasan, who stepped aside from his duties till the investigation was complete as it included the probing of his son-in-law, will decide who will chair the governing council’s meeting on August 2. The question arose because Rajiv Shukla had resigned as the IPL governing council’s chairman on June 1. However, Dalmiya said he had not accepted that resignation. “I have requested him to continue,” he said. “I have not accepted Shukla’s resignation.”He conceded that BCCI Anti-Corruption and Security Unit chief Ravi Sawani’s findings on the Rajasthan Royals players accused of spot-fixing was discussed on Sunday, but since one of the three players involved – Ajit Chandila – was still in police custody, he could not be spoken to and so the probe is as yet incomplete.”We will wait for some time and then proceed accordingly,” Dalmiya said. “Sawani is currently on leave because of his son’s marriage. Let him come back.”Regarding the controversy over MS Dhoni’s conflict of interest because of his involvement with player management company Rhiti Sports, Dalmiya said “nothing will be swept under the carpet”.”I had said nothing will be swept under the carpet, many were asking what happened to that,” he said. “We have changed our mode of working. The players will have to declare their interest in sports management companies.”
By Sharda UgraThe BCCI’s working committee meeting in Kolkata has turned an important step of “Operation Clean-Up” into something resembling “Operation Cover-Up”.BCCI vice-president Niranjan Shah said the two-member probe panel had found “no evidence of wrongdoing” against Raj Kundra, co-owner of Rajasthan Royals, and India Cements, the owner of Chennai Super Kings. Interim chief Jagmohan Dalmiya announced that the panel’s report would be formally tabled at another meeting five days later in Delhi.These facts spin out a series of questions.Does “no evidence of wrongdoing” erase the fact that Gurunath Meiyappan, who went from being “team principal” of Chennai Super Kings to an “enthusiast” and happens to be the son-in-law of BCCI president N Srinivasan, was arrested and questioned by Mumbai Police, and that Kundra was called in for questioning by Delhi Police?The arrest of a top-ranking team official and the questioning of a team owner about his association with bookmakers are not routine for any self-respecting sporting league. The damage caused to the IPL’s credibility by these events is as much of a “wrongdoing” as the arrest of and allegations against the three Rajasthan Royals players. Both Gurunath and Kundra were in positions of authority, with access to inside information.The next question that arises is with regards to the still-amorphous nature of the two-member probe panel that was set up to investigate the Rajasthan and Chennai honchos. To begin with, its appointment took place without a formal meeting of the IPL governing council. After the resignation of BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale, who was originally named on the panel, it was neither disbanded nor was there a third member chosen to replace him. It is not known whether either Gurunath or Kundra deposed before the panel and who else was questioned. Had help been sought from the Mumbai or Delhi Police, whose investigations had a two-month head-start over BCCI’s own probe panel? The bazaar says the panel did approach Mumbai Police, but were refused help. Mumbai Police says that it had asked the panel a question, but nobody replied. So, what were the panel’s questions and where did their answers come from?Two conclusions emerged from Kolkata: Rajasthan Royals will benefit from the fact that they share the dock with Chennai Super Kings, the IPL’s best-connected and most powerful team. If Super Kings owners are to be spared, regardless of the arrest of a key official, so will Royals’. Even though the Delhi Police chief said that Kundra had confessed to betting in the IPL. Secondly, the probe panel’s report is now in the hands of the BCCI’s one-man disciplinary committee, Arun Jaitley. The other two members are Srinivasan, whose company India Cements is under investigation, and Shah.The report will then pass on to the IPL’s governing council, which will meet on August 2 in Delhi, home turf for Jaitley and Rajiv Shukla, whose resignation as IPL chairman, Dalmiya said, has not been accepted.With the IPL’s standing eroded, the ground beneath the BCCI’s feet is merely becoming shifting sand.

South Africa enjoyed the type of day teams dream of which ended with England staggering on 102 for 4 after being overwhelmed by the insatiable hunger of two batsmen

The Report by Andrew McGlashan22-Jul-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMorne Morkel added to a wonderful day for South Africa by removing Kevin Pietersen•Getty Images

South Africa enjoyed the type of day teams dream of which ended with England staggering on 102 for 4 after being overwhelmed by the insatiable hunger of two batsmen. Hashim Amla scored the country’s first triple century in Tests, building an overwhelming stand of 377 with Jacques Kallis, as South Africa amassed a lead of 252. The visitors then made major inroads into a dispirited England side who lurched to the close with a huge task ahead to leave The Oval with the series level.The first two sessions of the day were filled with Amla and Kallis earning themselves a place in the record books. Mostly those honours belonged to Amla who, after overtaking AB de Villiers’ 278 as South Africa’s highest innings, reached his triple century with a drive which brushed the fingers of a leaping fielder at cover. He barely put a foot wrong and looked as though he could have gone past Brian Lara’s 400 if the opportunity had presented itself.However, South Africa had a Test match to win. Graeme Smith surprised most people at the ground when he declared at tea, rather than giving England’s footsore bowlers and fielders another half an hour of drip-drip agony. Smith, though, knew his team were in an impregnable position and it was a show of attacking intent from the captain.Apart from a period on the first day, Smith has had a wonderful Test both with the bat and in the field, and his decision soon brought rich rewards. By the close Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara were clinging on, still facing a deficit of 150. An escape here would match anything achieved at Cardiff or Cape Town.With the eighth ball of the innings Vernon Philander – who again shared the new ball with Morne Morkel – found Alastair Cook’s outside edge with ball that nipped away to bring the first wicket of the day. By the 11th over, South Africa had as many wickets as England managed in 188 when Jonathan Trott, for the second time in the match, nibbled outside off stump when he could have left the ball. That gave Dale Steyn his first wicket after he had been brought into the attack much sooner than in the first innings.Kevin Pietersen’s brief stay in the middle was not one of his finest moments. A feature of how South Africa batted was that they were willing to give periods of time to the bowlers, but Pietersen wanted to impose himself from the start. When that method comes off it thrills; when it does not it will invite criticism.Pietersen played two well-timed pulls, one in front and one behind square, but also top-edged another over the keeper. He was then dropped at slip by Kallis when he flapped at a short delivery from Morkel and in his next over Pietersen managed to miss what was basically a straight ball as he was caught on the crease.The early breakthroughs made life much less pressurised for Imran Tahir and he proceeded to work over Andrew Strauss with a classy over from round the wicket. He located the footmarks to make one delivery spit and also skidded one past the outside edge. Then, in a flashback to England’s problems in UAE, Strauss was drawn into sweeping a wide delivery and the resulting top edge looped to square leg. Strauss had turned in disgust before the catch had been taken. This was not the first time an England captain had been humbled by a Smith-led team.This was the same pitch that, a few hours earlier, had produced a scoreboard that read 637 for 2. Amla and Kallis firstly ensured they played themselves in as Smith and Amla had done 24 hours previously. The first hour brought just 36 runs, but each demoralising over England spent in the field meant it was less likely they would be able to quell the onslaught once South Africa decided to switch gear. The second half of the session saw 75 runs added and a further 123 came between lunch and tea even without it feeling the batsmen went quite into top gear.Amla’s innings was a display of unyielding concentration and determination, yet he rarely lost his graceful touch until he became a little tense in the 290s. His driving continued to be the stand-out feature of the innings and even when England packed the off side he would calmly and carefully pierce the gaps with regularity.Kallis, who began the day on 80, batted at his own pace and reached his hundred from 227 deliveries with a glide to third man and immediately pointed to his eye, a clear reference to his team-mate, and close friend, Mark Boucher who was forced to retire early in the tour. The incident shook Kallis badly, but like many of the greatest sportsman he has channelled his emotions to the benefit of his team.It was also, notably, his first Test hundred in England since Old Trafford in 1998. This will be his final Test tour to the country and he appears determined to at least go some way to narrowing the gap between his record here and everywhere else. His partnership with Amla, to follow the 259 for the second wicket, was the highest third-wicket stand against England by anyone and meant it was the first time they had conceded two 250-run stands in the same innings.It was a sobering experience for the England attack. When James Anderson managed to swing a delivery with the third new ball past Amla’s edge the crowd gave him a warm round of applause. Early in the afternoon session all England’s frontline bowers went past their centuries, Stuart Broad completing the set when he was driven for three boundaries by Kallis who took the lead in upping the scoring rate while Amla focussed on his triple hundred.Broad had been off-colour throughout the innings and operated at no more than medium pace on the fourth day. Although that could partly be put down to conditions, England’s policy of a four-man attack means they cannot afford to carry any of their quicks especially with Graeme Swann proving ineffective as he sent down 52 wicketless overs, the most he had bowled in a Test innings. Since the start of the second day’s play they have looked anything but the world’s No. 1 team.

MS Dhoni has said that he would have loved to have had those extra overs that were lost to bad light, but his team weren’t too disappointed that they couldn’t force a result

Sriram Veera at the Kensington Oval03-Jul-2011India needed three West Indian wickets in about 11 overs when bad light forced the Barbados Test to be abandoned. The loss of Darren Bravo and Darren Sammy in quick succession, gave India the advantage at that late stage, but they couldn’t press on because of the conditions. MS Dhoni has said that he would have loved to have had those extra overs, but his team weren’t too disappointed that they couldn’t force a result. “We are not disappointed, because it [the draw] happened due to things that are beyond our control, like rain and bad light,” he said. “We wanted to bowl around 80 overs, but unfortunately we were not able to do so. But we tried our best, so there’s no reason to be frustrated.”The game could have meandered towards a dull draw if Dhoni hadn’t declared in the morning. He is not known for generous third-innings declarations: his previous declarations have set oppositions targets of 516, 403 and 617. So why did he choose to declare today at that stage? “It is a difficult target to achieve, if you are batting for around 80 overs to get around 280 runs,” Dhoni said. “The outfield was also very slow, so we thought that was a good enough target and that’s why we declared.”You will not know how much rain you going to get during the course of the game, so we thought 80 overs are enough to bowl the opposition out. We started with an attacking field straightway, and that’s why they got a few boundaries initially. That’s why we thought of 280 and didn’t declare at 240, so that we can have close-in fielders for those extra five-six overs.”West Indies lost three quick wickets at the start, before they rallied through a 54-run partnership between Darren Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and then a 69-run stand between Bravo and Carlton Baugh. At one stage, West Indies needed 100 runs from 18.3 overs when rain intervened. Was Dhoni worried then? “It was pretty balanced then. They were five down, and we needed just two more wickets. We got them towards the end, and from that point it would have been difficult for them to get 70-80 runs. So the declaration was a right decision.”Dhoni had words of praise for Ishant Sharma who made that declaration look really good with a four-wicket haul. “Right from IPL, Ishant has been bowling well. If you look at his performance in the IPL, he was doing everything right – like the seam position – and he has been pitching the ball in the right areas, that’s why he’s able to get pace and bounce. The time he spent with Zaheer Khan has been very useful for him, because Zaheer has shared his experience with him.”On a day where India pushed hard for a series victory, some youngsters learnt that they were dropped from the squad that will begin to tour England later this month. That couldn’t have been easy situation to handle for the captain, in the middle of a Test… “That’s a difficult one, because we need to interact with the players to see what’s happening with them and make sure they are not bogged down,” Dhoni said. “Selection is really not in their hands. But they [those who are dropped] need to take positives out of a series or match, and go back and work on their game.”

There hasn’t been much wrong with Matt Prior’s batting on this tour, it’s just that his best work hasn’t been required yet

Brydon Coverdale at the MCG12-Dec-2010There hasn’t been much wrong with Matt Prior’s batting on this tour, it’s just that his best work hasn’t been required yet. Alastair Cook is in the form of his life, Andrew Strauss is leading by example, Kevin Pietersen was a matchwinner in Adelaide, Jonathan Trott loves batting against Australia and Ian Bell is in career-best touch. Paul Collingwood is the only one in the top six yet to fire.And so, the man at No. 7 has been almost irrelevant. He hadn’t made a half-century on the trip until the tour match against Victoria – he hadn’t had to. And while this outing doesn’t count towards the Ashes, England are desperate to go through the trip without losing a match, and Prior’s unbeaten 102 ensured that record stay intact as a rainy draw was secured against a local attack that proved more threatening than could have been expected.”It was just nice to get in the middle and have an opportunity to bat for a while, try and build an innings and get through a tricky patch as well,” Prior said. “For me personally, it was perfect preparation for next week. I was delighted to get the hundred but more important was the time in the middle and getting back into the rhythm of building an innings.”If we carry on playing the brand of cricket we have been, there’s certainly no reason why we can’t go through the tour unbeaten. You go on any tour, you want to be unbeaten, whether it be an Ashes tour or anywhere else. If we could manage to do that, it would be a fantastic feat, but it’s something we’re certainly targeting.”That approach meant that a game that featured three declarations, as the captains tried to create a result, was reduced to a dull draw after England’s top order faltered to be 4 for 55 shortly before lunch. The promotion of Tim Bresnan ahead of Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell notwithstanding, England weren’t about to throw away their winning touch.”Going in to lunch we were adamant we weren’t losing this game,” Prior said. “Winning is a habit and it’s a habit that you want to protect. If we had have lost today, I think we would have been very disappointed people. You can’t take for granted being on a good run and you have to sometimes dig in and make sure you continue that run.”One of the main aims England took in to the match was to establish which of their backup fast bowlers will replace the injured Stuart Broad for the third Test in Perth, but Bresnan, Chris Tremlett and Ajmal Shahzad took only one wicket between them. Tremlett remains the favourite to join the Test side, but Prior said it was not fair to compare their work on a slow drop-in pitch at the MCG to the quicker, bouncier surface they would be confronted with at the WACA.”This was not an easy wicket to get the batsman out,” he said. “I don’t think any bowler was going to charge in and take a whole load. All three of them bowled beautifully, held up ends, didn’t let the batters score at a rate, and all did a very good job on a wicket that wasn’t helpful at all. They’ve all put their hands up.”So has Prior, who batted at No. 4 to give him time at the crease. Should Australia’s bowlers find the magic solution to running through England’s top order, they’ll be met by the sight of an in-form No. 7 striding to the wicket, and their work will be far from done.

Head coach admits team “exposed” in record defeat, despite having already sealed series

Firdose Moonda07-Sep-2025South Africa’s coach Shukri Conrad labelled his team’s record 342-run defeat to England in the third ODI “embarrassing” while captain Temba Bavuma said the performance “doesn’t do us justice” after their recent ODI success. South Africa have beaten both Australia and England 2-1 in series over the last month.Their loss in the third match in England, which was a dead rubber, came after a comprehensive win in game one and a nail-biting triumph in game two. That secured a first series in England since 1998. But the magnitude of the defeat in Southampton, which comes after a 276-run loss against Australia – also in a series that was already won – asks questions of how quickly and dramatically South Africa switch off, especially when the result does not matter.”Any excuse is better than none. We were definitely off today. And against a top side like England, when you’re not on top of your game, you do get exposed,” Conrad said at the post-match conference. “A similar thing happened in Australia, where after going 2-0 up, it was a complete aberration. They got in excess of 400 as well. But if we were going to be poor at something, we’d rather be poor at games that aren’t clutch games. We’re not making light of today’s defeat. That was slightly embarrassing.”Related

• Concern for South Africa as Bavuma suffers calf strain

• Jofra Archer: 'There was an ooh or an aah every single over'

• Stats – England record the biggest win in men's ODIs

• Bethell, Root tons, Archer four-for see England hand out record thrashing

Both defeats – South Africa’s two heaviest in ODIs – have come when they have fielded first and were accompanied by lack of discipline and dropped catches. Against Australia, South Africa bowled 15 wides and put down Alex Carey, who went on to finish the innings strongly. Against England, they bowled 19 wides and dropped two catches including Jamie Smith on 23 and Jacob Bethell on 44. Bavuma said at the post-match presentation that bowling that many extras was “far from ideal, not good enough” and said it “could be complacency”, while Conrad believed a wayward bowling performance impacted the rest of their skillset.”The bowling affects the fielding and the other way around, but nine out of ten times, Matthew Breetzke is taking that catch [off Smith, who offered a chance off a leading edge in the covers],” Conraid said. “We’re not going to read too much into that, but it’s a difficult one because when that edge is not there and something doesn’t go your way and the harder you try, it’s just not there. I’m not offering it as an excuse because it’s not supposed to be like that, but the fielding wasn’t at the usual high standard that we set. All in all, yeah, it was an embarrassing performance in the field.”Among South Africa’s bowling lows were Nandre Burger’s 0 for 95, which was the most expensive in their history, and Codi Yusuf’s 0 or 80, the worst by a South African debutant. Some of that may be down to inexperience especially in the absence of pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada, who has not played an ODI in either Australia or England as he recovers from ankle inflammation.Conrad confirmed Rabada could have been “really pushed and forced through today” but South Africa decided they “didn’t want to take any risks with him” ahead of the T20Is next week. “The T20 is the priority for us. When we earned the right to give him another rest, we definitely exercised that because with the T20 World Cup looming, we want to make sure that we get a good take on that. We’ve obviously got two massive Test series [against Pakistan and India] coming up.”Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, who was rested, and Marco Jansen, who has not played since the World Test Championship final where he broke his thumb, will all be back for the T20Is. A new concern is Bavuma, who could not bat after hurting his calf – but as he is not part of the T20Is, he will be assessed on his return to South Africa. Bavuma’s injury was among the reasons South Africa’s batting stumbled to their second lowest total in ODIs – 72 – as they went in pursuit of a target of 415 for which Bavuma said there is “no real formula”.In the end, they were blown away by a searing opening spell from Jofrra Archer, who took 3 for 1 in his first three overs and finished with 4 for 18. Archer’s first wicket was Aiden Markram, who nicked off against a short, wide ball and sent the rest of the line-up into freefall.”Aiden lost his wicket to a pretty innocuous delivery, and that probably summed up the day,” Conrad said. “And then from there, before you know it, you’re four down. Obviously, the disruption of Temba not being able to bat, that played a part as well but it is very difficult to explain. If you’re not on top of your game, if the edge is not there, then you’re going to get exposed.”Bashful as they were in this match, Bavuma also highlighted South Africa’s achievements over the last month after beating both Australia and England with a game to spare. “There are lots of positives in the series, coming to England away with a fairly inexperienced side and we wouldn’t want today’s performance to diminish that,” he said. “There are shining moments so we’ll try to highlight those. They can’t be wiped away by one performance.”

SA’s Test bowling coach also cautioned the team to “pay attention” to the no-balls

Firdose Moonda05-Jan-2025South Africa have no choice but to “keep attacking” Pakistan as they go in search of the eight wickets required (as Saim Ayub will play no further part in the Test) to win the series and sweep the home summer. With a 208-run advantage, Pakistan following-on and two days left to play, South Africa will throw everything at the batters, even if it means conceding heavily, as they did on the third evening.Shan Masood and Babar Azam put on the highest first-wicket partnership by a Pakistani duo against South Africa and scored at a rate of 4.42 to the over and there were times when it looked like they were too many boundary balls on offer. Masood hit 14 fours and Babar 10, with South Africa bowling both sides of the wicket and often erring on the fuller side but that is all part of how they hoped to induce a false shot on flat track albeit that they only managed one wicket in Pakistan’s second innings.With 15 minutes left to go in the day, Babar was tempted by a full, wide ball from Marco Jansen and edged to gully. South Africa are hoping for more of the same on day four. “You have to be attacking. We can’t defend because of the position we are in,” Piet Botha, South Africa’s Test bowling coach, said after the third day’s play. “We have to keep slips and a gully in and have to use our bounce, even though it (the pitch) is not quick. Once the batters are set, it seems to be quite easy to rotate. So you can go defensive, but we’re not in that situation. We have to attack.”Related

• Babar, Masood fight for Pakistan after South Africa enforce follow-on

• Stats: Masood and Babar raise the follow-on bar for openers

• Ayub ruled out of Cape Town Test after suffering ankle injury

But Botha cautioned that they also have to be more careful with their disciplines, which went awry on Sunday afternoon, and were magnified by the number of no-balls. In total, South Africa have bowled 23 in this match and ten of those in the second innings. Only one, a Kagiso Rabada ball that hit Masood on the knee roll looked like a wicket-taking ball but South Africa do not want to take the chance that there may be more, and the bowler has overstepped.”It’s disappointing,” Botha said. “It’s something that creeps into the game every now and then. We probably started a little bit with that problem in Bangladesh and sorted it out. Now it’s crept back in.”But Botha is only partially correct. Across two Tests in Bangladesh, South Africa bowled 25 no-balls but they then delivered 28 against Sri Lanka and ten at SuperSport Park. Including this Test, that equates to 86 no-balls in six matches. Of those Rabada had bowled 44, and Wiaan Mulder 11. Botha had an explanation for at least one of those. “With Wiaan, what we’re really trying to do is to get him to run in a little bit harder because he wants to be a bowler that has a fourth seamer in attack and be a little bit quicker,” he said. “One of the aspects we worked on is for him to run in a little bit harder and that brought its own issues. We worked on it this morning a bit, and it seemed to work for a while. For others it may be different on different days.”A variety of other reasons were spitballed to explain the rest. “Sometimes it’s the ground, sometimes it’s the wind, sometimes it’s fatigue, sometimes it’s the slope,” Botha said. “But it’s obviously something we have to pay attention to again and make sure we fix it.”And that will be his second message to the attack in the morning: stay patient. “We have a very good couple of Tests where we’ve knocked teams over but these things we always talk about: discipline and patience,” Botha said. “Once you get frustrated or start searching a bit too much like we might have done in the second innings, you’re going at fours and fives (runs an over). That’s what you don’t want to do. Let’s go back to try and see if we can go at threes and a false shot will come,”South Africa have bowled out teams on all but four occasions in this World Test Championship cycle which includes a rain-affected draw and the two matches they sent a second-string side to New Zealand in. So with a frontline attack, they back their ability to dismiss oppositions no matter what the situation.In this case, they understand that by enforcing the follow-on, they gave Pakistan some of the best batting conditions of the match but after bowling them out for 194 and with a 421-run lead, felt there was enough cushioning to put them again. The surface has yet to show any real signs of deterioration but it is taking a turn and historically tends to become more difficult from the fourth day. “There were a couple of slow motion videos with the dust and you expect day four and five to be the days where the spinner comes into play. Already a couple have turned and also bounced,” Botha said. “The signs are there that after lunch tomorrow, Kesh[av] Maharaj will come more and more into the game.”Maharaj has already found the turn that Pakistan’s part-time spinner Salman Agha did not but even if he doesn’t, South Africa are willing to bide their time. “We talk about it all the time because you expect these days. That’s Test cricket,” Botha said.

KKR handed Capitals a thrashing to make it three wins in three and go to the top of the table with a massive net run rate boost

Sidharth Monga03-Apr-20242:21

Moody: ‘Raghuvanshi’s hands, bat path similar to Gill’

Last Wednesday at the IPL, Sunrisers Hyderabad set the record for the highest IPL score: 277. What should have been a once-in-a-decade effort was very nearly taken down by a marauding Kolkata Knight Riders batting unit tonight in Visakhapatnam. Sunil Narine plundered his personal best in T20s – 85 off 39 – almost home-grown Angkrish Raghuvanshi matched him with 54 off 27, and Andre Russell added the finishing touches with 41 off 19.A searing yorker from Ishant Sharma to get Russell in the last over prevented the record being broken, but the 272 KKR put up was more than enough to register a comfortable win – by 106 runs – and join Rajasthan Royals with three wins from three matches at the top of the table. In taking four wickets in the powerplay, two each for Vaibhav Arora and Mitchell Starc, KKR ticked another box in a season in which they have presented themselves as serious title contenders.

Pant fined for slow over-rate again

Rishabh Pant, the Capitals captain, has been fined after his team maintained a slow over-rate against KKR in their 106-run loss in Visakhapatnam. As it was Capitals’ second offence of the season – in just four matches – Pant was fined INR 24 lakh, while the rest of the members of the playing XII, were each fined either INR 6 lakh or 25% of their respective match fees, whichever is lower.

Narine, Raghuvanshi hammer Capitals

Khaleel Ahmed and Ishant Sharma set Capitals’ win in the previous match in Vizag with swing early on. Here, though, probably because of Narine’s presence, both of them started slightly short of a length. The one ball that Khaleel pitched up swung to beat Narine.It seems ridiculous now but Narine took six balls to get off the mark. Capitals had managed to keep Narine quiet, but had they missed the small window of swing to try to get him out? Another chance would arrive soon to a short-of-a-length delivery, but neither Ishant Sharma nor Rishabh Pant heard the edge. No appeal, no review.Narine and Phil Salt had got down to work by then, but Capitals could still have got Narine for 24 off 13 had they listened to Mitchell Marsh and reviewed. Then again, reviews were not the only thing they were getting wrong. They kept offering Narine room, when they went short they didn’t get it high enough, and the ball had stopped swinging by now.Sunil Narine smacked seven fours and as many sixes in his 39-ball innings•AFP/Getty Images

Anrich Nortje got rid of Salt in the fifth over, but Raghuvanshi, trained from the age of 11 by KKR’s own Abhishek Nayar, walked out and laced fours off the first two balls he faced. Mukesh Kumar is not express, but his injury has left DC with even less of a pace threat. Narine jumped on Rasikh Salam’s medium-pace in the last over of the powerplay, hitting him for three fours and a six to bring up his half-century in just 21 balls. Their 88 for 1 in the powerplay was the highest by any team so far at IPL 2024.The end of the powerplay brought DC relief only for one over, bowled by Sumit Kumar, but Narine ended any threats of variations in the attack by hitting two sixes off Axar Patel, who wouldn’t bowl again. Raghuvanshi matched him with a reverse-pull over short third for a six. Their 135 for 1 was the third-highest 10-over score in the IPL – all three have come this season.

Wickets fail to slow KKR down

Eventually it was the short ball from Marsh that got the better of Narine, but it wasn’t just one short ball. He kept bowling short and wide outside off with changes of pace. Narine still ended with a boundary every two-and-a-half balls, and the wicket came too late anyway. The 13th over was the right point of entry for Russell, and he punished the samey attack. Capitals didn’t go back to spin despite right-hand batters at the wicket, and Nortje was the only one who presented the batters with an inbuilt challenge.Andre Russell and Rinku Singh smashed 32 runs off 11 balls for the fifth wicket•AFP/Getty Images

Russell was too good for the rest, and when Nortje started the 19th over with one fewer fielder on the fence because of a poor over-rate, Rinku Singh got stuck into him, taking 25 off the over.Ishant then produced a beauty that drew an applause from Russell himself and prevented Capitals from ending up on the wrong side of the record.

Arora announces himself

One of the two tall domestic fast bowlers in the KKR stable, Arora came on as the Impact Player and found inswing immediately. It wasn’t just swing, though. He mixed it up with accurate bouncers. Prithvi Shaw fell to the inswinger before Abhishek Porel top-edged a bouncer.Vaibhav Arora took 3 for 27 in KKR’s clinical win•BCCI

At the other end, Starc took care of his Australia team-mates, Marsh caught trying to square-drive and Warner playing on immediately after slogging him for a six. These were his first wickets this IPL after his eight overs in the first two matches had gone for 100 runs.At 33 for 4 in the fifth over, even batting for net run rate would need heavy hitting and risks. For a while Pant and Tristan Stubbs managed to score quickly. Pant was especially pleasing as he continues his return from a life-threatening accident, but their fifties were never going to be enough to deny KKR a third consecutive win – the first time they have started a season with three wins in three in their history.

Farooqi took a three-wicket haul to damage Ireland’s chase

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2024
Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s 121 off 117 balls beat Harry Tector’s 138 off 147 balls as Afghanistan sealed their fifth successive win against Ireland in ODI cricket, in Sharjah.Gurbaz scored his sixth ODI hundred – the joint most by an Afghanistan player – to set Afghanistan up for a tall total. He had added 150 for the opening stand with Ibrahim Zadran, who had contributed 60.Captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (50*) also made a half-century to give his team some late impetus. Gurbaz hit eight fours and six sixes before he was bowled by Theo van Woerkom in the 39th over. Gurbaz had been particularly severe on both van Woerkom and George Dockrell, taking the left-arm spinners for 54 off 35 balls.Rahmat Shah then then fell soon after to Craig Young, but Afghanistan managed to breach 300, for just the ninth time in ODIs.Left-arm quick Fazalhaq Farooqi then produced a double-strike to get rid of Andy Balbirnie and Curtis Campher. Captain Paul Stirling had also departed early to leave Ireland three down in the powerplay.Tector and wicketkeeper-batter Lorcan Tucker then steadied the innings and lifted Ireland with a 173-run partnership for the fourth wicket. While Tector hit his fifth ODI hundred, Tucker was stopped on 85 by Farooqi in the 39th over of the chase. That dismissal sparked another collapse as Ireland lost 4 for 42.Tector then fell in the final over as Afghanistan wrapped up a 35-run victory to go 1-0 up in the three-match ODI series.

CA unveil domestic summer schedule with A series locked in for August and September in Queensland while there will be six Shield rounds before the first Test against Pakistan

Alex Malcolm14-Jul-2023Australia A will host New Zealand A in two four-day games, including a day-night pink ball match, and three 50-over matches in Queensland in August and September as Cricket Australia unveiled its full domestic schedule for the 2023-24 summer.Australia A toured New Zealand in April for two four-day games, and a return series has been locked in for August and September in Brisbane and Mackay in Queensland. CA also announced there will be a Prime Minister’s XI four-day game against Pakistan at Manuka Oval in Canberra ahead of Australia’s first Test of the home summer against Pakistan in Perth on December 14. West Indies will also play a CA XI in a four-day tour game starting on January 10 at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide before the first Test of a two-Test series against Australia begins at Adelaide Oval on January 17.Related

• MCG and SCG to host standalone WBBL games for the first time

• Early start, early finish for the BBL might see overseas players stay longer

The Sheffield Shield season will run from October 3, 2023, until the final on March 21-25, 2024. There will be six Shield rounds before the first Test but the last of those six games begins on November 28 to accommodate the BBL starting earlier on December 7. That may mean that Australia’s multi-format players are likely to go without a red-ball game before the Pakistan Test series with the 50-over World Cup set to run from October 5 until November 19 in India. Australia are scheduled to then stay in India and play a five-match T20I series straight after the completion of the World Cup, prior to the home Test series against Pakistan.Players, support staff and management celebrate another Western Australia title•Getty Images

The Marsh Cup 50-over competition will remain as an eight-game tournament rather than a full 10-round home and away season with some matches also played at neutral venues. Two-time defending champions Western Australia will begin their tilt for a three-peat against Queensland at Allan Border Field on September 24. The majority of the Marsh Cup will be played prior to the BBL with each state playing their final two matches after the BBL has finished in late January. The Marsh Cup final will be played on February 25.The WNCL final will be played the day before on February 24. The women’s domestic season will begin on September 22 at Cricket New South Wales’ new facility, Cricket Central at Sydney Olympic Park. The venue will host WNCL, WBBL, and Marsh Cup matches this summer as well as its maiden first-class game with NSW to host Queensland in the opening round of the Sheffield Shield season. Adelaide Oval will also host a day-night WNCL match between South Australia and Victoria on January 29 as part of CA’s push to get more domestic women’s matches on the bigger international venues.There will also be a Governor General’s XI match against South Africa’s women’s team on January 24 at North Sydney Oval ahead of the women’s multiformat seven-match series against Australia starting on January 27.

“It’s the toughest call I’ve made as a cricketer,” the left hander said

AAP25-Feb-2022Usman Khawaja is leaving BBL franchise Sydney Thunder so he can be closer to his family in Brisbane next summer.Khawaja said seeking a release from his contract with the Thunder was the toughest decision of his cricket career. His wife Rachel is expecting their second child, due in April this year.The 35-year-old, who was contracted by the Thunder until the end of the next BBL season, said he wants to spend more time in the Queensland capital with his family next summer.”It’s the toughest call I’ve made as a cricketer because Sydney Thunder…mean so much to me,” Khawaja said in a statement on Friday. “However, it is for family reasons.”And while I’m leaving, people who know me realise a big part of my heart will always remain with Thunder. I don’t want people to think I’ve cut my ties…because I’ll always care about the club, the players, the entire organisation.”Khawaja’s statement didn’t specify if he wanted to continue his BBL career with the Brisbane Heat.Khawaja, an inaugural Sydney Thunder player, is the franchise’s leading run-scorer with 1818 runs at a strike rate of almost 130.Cricket NSW’s head of male cricket, Michael Klinger, said Thunder had tabled a long-term contract extension to Khawaja.”It’s disappointing … Sydney Thunder and Cricket NSW definitely wanted him to stay and we offered a highly competitive contract,” Klinger said in a statement. “However we appreciate Usman’s decision has been made for his family, and we respect and support that.”Khawaja returned to Australia’s Test team during the 4-0 Ashes series win against England and departs this weekend for a three-Test tour of Pakistan, the country of his birth.