Sports

New-look India blow away Bangladesh to take 1-0 lead

Published

1 year ago

2024/10/7

Priyan

Hardik Pandya took India home at the end [Cricinfo]

A young Indian side outgunned an experienced Bangladesh to start off the three-T20I series. Two debutants in their XI, only three men retained from the side that won the T20 World Cup earlier this year, but India were too good for Bangladesh, who wore the same look of the side from the World Cup.

From the moment they lost Litton Das to a slog in the first over, Bangladesh never really looked like they had the batting for the Gwalior pitch with slightly uneven bounce and an accurate Indian attack. After Arshdeep Singh’s early strikes, Mayanak Yadav started his international career with a maiden over before the returning Varun Chakravarthy scythed through the middle overs. Chasing a paltry 128, a dominant India got home with 49 balls to spare.Leader of the attack, fast approaching the top of wickets chart for India, Arshdeep started on the money with just enough swing to keep the young Parvez Hossain Emon, one of the few new players tried by Bangladesh, honest. Das then opened the face for a four first ball, which led to short third going back and a fielder on the leg side coming up. He looked to play the field second ball only to be defeated by the angle of it. In his second over, Arshdeep had Parvez, who had whipped Hardik Pandya for a six, playing on. Bangladesh 14 for 2 in 2.1 overs.

Already behind the game, the combination of Mayank and Varun, high pace and mystery spin, was hardly the ideal one to force the pace against. Bangladesh’s only hope was ring rust: this was the first time Mayank was playing any competitive cricket since his injury during the IPL, and Varun was coming back to the India XI after three years. Neither of them was rusty.

Varun created an opportunity second ball, but the other debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy lost the ball in the floodlights of the debuting stadium in Gwalior. Mayank bowled the last over of the powerplay, becoming the third man to start his India T20I career with a maiden. The other two are the current chairman of selectors, Ajit Agarkar, who has fast-tracked Mayank, and Arshdeep.

Soon the duo was rewarded with a wicket each. Towhid Hridoy, the beneficiary of the earlier drop, pulled Varun straight to long-on, and Mahmudullah spooned Mayank to deep point. They really didn’t have many options but to play these low-percentage shots as the runs were hardly coming.

Varun continued to be incomprehensible, doing Jaker Ali in on the inside edge and Rishad Hossain on the outside.

Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto was forced to play the anchor role, but even he fell to the introduction of the offspin of Washington Sundar, who denied him room and had him caught and bowled. Mehidy hasan Miraz prolonged the innings, but there was no impact to be had against the accuracy of Arshdeep, Pandya and Mayank at the death.

None of the last seven overs yielded double figures as the wickets kept falling. Arshdeep ended the innings with the off and middle stumps splayed with a pinpoint yorker. He is now India’s fifth most prolific T20I wicket taker with 86 scalps, hot on the heels of the leader Yuzvendra Chahal at 96.

The hosts were not going to be satisfied with just a win. They wanted a big win. Sanju Samson, with another shot at opening the innings in the absence of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, got off to a great start with two boundaries driven either side of the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Abhishek Sharma was less touch and more power as he took Taskin Ahmed down for a six and two fours in the second over. Almost as though he was on an adrenalin rush, he ran himself out looking for a non-existent single.

India, though, continued to leave Bangladesh helpless. Samson kept driving down the ground while Suryakumar Yadav manufactured shots behind the wicket. The result was India’s best powerplay against Bangladesh in T20Is: 71, which is just the fourth-highest they have conceded in powerplays. His dismissal in the final over of the powerplay didn’t slow India down although Samson will be disappointed he fell to a hoick the first ball of offspin he faced. Both of them scored quick 29s.

Pandya, 39 off 16, continued to have his way with Bangladesh, topping the chase with a no-look ramp over the keeper’s head.

Brief scores:
India 132 for 3 in 11.5 overs (Hardik Pandya 39, Suryakumar Yadav 29, Sanju Samson 29; Mehidy Hasan Miraz 1-07) beat Bangladesh 127 in 19.5 overs (Najmul Hossain Shanto 27, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 35*; Arshdeep Singh 3-14, Hardik Pandya 1-26, Varun Chakrawarthy 3-31, Mayank Yadav 1-21, Washington Sundar 1-12)by seven wickets

[Cricinfo]

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Sethmika stars as Sri Lanka under 19s crush Nepal by 8 wickets

Published

1 hour ago

2025/12/13

Priyan

A five wicket haul by Sethmika Seneviratne helped Sri Lanka under 19s register an 8 wicket win over Nepal in their Under 19 Asia Cup opener in Dubai today (13).

Brief scores

Sri Lanka Under 19 84/2 in 14.5 overs (Dimantha Mahavithana 39*, Kavija Gamage 24*) beat Nepal Under 19s 82/10 in 28.5 overs (Cibrin Shesthra 18; Sethmika Seneviratne 5-25) by eight wickets

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Vaibhav Suryavanshi slams 95-ball 171 in Under-19 Asia Cup opener

Published

23 hours ago

2025/12/12

Priyan

Vaibhav Suryavanshi hit nine fours and 14 sixes in his innings [Cricinfo]

Vaibhav Suryavanshi slammed a blistering 95 ball 171 in the Under 19 Asia Cup opener against UAE on Friday. He fell just six short of Ambati Rayudu’s long-standing India record in youth one-dayers – the 177 against England in Taunton back in 2002.

Suryavanshi, yet to turn 15, hit nine fours and 14 sixes during his innings, before being bowled attempting a paddle in the 33rd over of India’s innings. They eventually finished with 433 for 6 after being put in to bat.

Last month, Suryavanshi had smashed a 42-ball 144 – the joint third fastest century by an Indian in men’s T20s – against UAE at the Rising Stars Asia Cup in Doha. He had got to his century off 32 deliveries that day, in the process recording the joint-sixth-fastest century in all men’s T20s.

Suryavanshi – a certainty to feature in next month’s Under19 World Cup in Namibia and Zimbabwe – also recently slammed an unbeaten 61 ball 108 at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy to become the youngest century-maker in the tournament’s history.

He had a breakthrough year in 2025, when he became the youngest to slam an IPL century, for Rajasthan Royals [101 off 38 balls] against Gujarat Titans. Having made history just a few months earlier – by becoming the youngest pick in an IPL auction at 13 – Suryavanshi featured in seven games in the 2025 edition, all as an opener. He made 252 runs at a strike rate of 206.55.

After IPL 2025, he was part of the India Under-19 squads that toured England and Australia. He smashed a 78 ball century in the first four-day fixture in Brisbane, and finished as the second-highest run-getter of the multi-day series against Australia Under-19s, scoring 133 runs in three innings as India won 2-0.

Prior to that, he had amassed 335runs at a strike rate of 174.01 in the one-dayers against England Under-19s.

[Cricinfo]

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Quinton de Kock’s 90 powers South Africa to massive win

Published

24 hours ago

2025/12/12

Priyan

Quinton de Kock's 90 from 46 deliveries helped South Africa to a 200-plus total [BCCI]

If India defied losing the toss and getting the worst of the conditions, theoretically, in Cuttack, South Africa did the same in New Chandigarh to come roaring back into the T20I series, which is now locked 1-1 with three matches to go.

India captain Suryakumar Yadav noted at the toss that the outfield was already dewy when the players were going through their pre-match warm-ups. It was a no-brainer to chase. But Quinton de Kock put India under pressure with a 46-ball 90 studded with seven sixes, and Donovan Fererrira finished brilliantly with an unbeaten 16-ball 30, taking South Africa to an imposing total of 213 for 4.

Imposing, but not dew-proof; certainly not given how India’s bowlers had struggled with the conditions and bowled 15 wides — including seven in one Arshdeep Singh over — and 13 full-tosses.

But the dew never got a chance to test South Africa, as their new-ball bowlers made the best possible use of early movement to take three wickets in the first four overs. These included the Test-match-style dismissals of both India openers.

It was all steeply uphill from 32 for 3, and India never really challenged the visitors, with Tilak Varma’s 34-ball 62 standing out for its fluency and enterprise on a difficult night for his team. South Africa bowled India out with five balls still remaining, with Ottneill Baartman hastening their end with three wickets in the 19th over.

This pitch wasn’t a complete featherbed, with the ball occasionally stopping on the batters and making them mistime shots. Two members of South Africa’s top three, Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram, scored 37 off 36 balls between them.

The other member, however, was in an entirely different mood, taking full toll of anything remotely too short, too full, or especially too straight. De Kock kept clearing the ropes whenever he had half a chance, particularly with his pulls and pick-up shots square and behind square on the leg side.

This put India’s bowlers under tremendous pressure. They couldn’t attack de Kock’s stumps, because that ran the risk of being whisked over the leg side, and they couldn’t afford to give him width either. This pressure led India to attempt yorkers and wide yorkers frequently, and the pressure combined with the dew to produce errors in the form of wides and full-tosses.

Arshdeep suffered the most from this, sending down seven wides in the 11th over — all to de Kock – and nine in all.

Jitesh Sharma’s alert run-out of de Kock — who wandered out of his crease instinctively after bottom-edging the ball towards the keeper — in the 16th over, followed by Axar Patel’s dismissal of Dewald Brevis in the 17th threatened to stall South Africa at a critical stage of their innings. But Ferreira and David Miller made sure they cleared 200 by a good margin, putting on an unbroken 53 off 23 balls for the fifth wicket.

The highlight of the partnership was an 18-run final over during which Ferreira hit Jasprit Bumrah for two sixes: a full-toss drilled straight, and a good short ball that followed the batter’s premeditated movement pulled authoritatively over the leg side.

In all, Bumrah conceded four sixes, the most he has gone for in a T20I.

Given all the dew around, it was imperative that South Africa made the new ball count. They did that emphatically. Ngidi set things in motion with a first-over jaffa to Shubman Gill, squaring him up in defence with one that straightened from a good length and having him caught at slip. Jansen followed up in the next over with the mirror-image dismissal of Abhishek Sharma; angling in, straightening, squaring up the batter and catching the outside edge.

Abhishek’s wicket was particularly crucial, since he’d already hit two sixes, in just eight balls.

Suryakumar followed the openers to the dressing room in the fourth over, sending a thin edge to the keeper — confirmed after South Africa reviewed the not-out decision — while looking to steer Jansen behind point.

India never threatened to make a match of it, particularly with Axar Patel — promoted to No. 3 — and Hardik Pandya struggling for fluency, scoring 41 off 44 balls between them.

But there was one bright spot for the home team in the form of Tilak, who looked in excellent rhythm right from the time he walked in, and combined that with his awareness of the field to find the boundary frequently even while his partners got stuck. Against Ferreira’s 110kph offspin rockets, for example, he made room to use the pace and steer him behind point, off the stumps. Then, against George Linde’s left-arm spin, he collapsed his back knee smartly to reverse-sweep over backward point for six. A slog-swept six off an Ngidi slower ball took him to a 27-ball half-century in the 14th over.

Jitesh, who came in at No. 7, also made good use of the V behind the wicket, scoring 27 off 17, but the result was already certain by the time he walked in, with India needing 96 off 34 balls at that point.

Brief scores:
South Africa 213 for 4 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 90, Aiden Markram 29, Dewald Brevis 14, Donovan Ferreira 30*, David Millerr 20*; Varun Chakrawarthy 2-29, Axar Patel 1-27 ) beat India 162 in 19.1 overs (Abhishek Sharma 17, Axar Patel 21, Tilak Varma 62, Hardik Pandya 20, Jitesh Sharma 27; Ottneil Baartman 4-24, Marco Jansen 2-25, Lungi Ngidi 2-26, Sipamla 2-46) by 51 runs

[Cricinfo]