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IPL 2025: Prabhsimran 91, Arshdeep’s new-ball spell take Punjab Kings towards playoffs

Published

9 months ago

2025/05/5

Priyan

Arshdeep Singh derailed the LSG chase inside the powerplay [Cricinfo]

Punjab Kings (PBKS) are marching towards a spot in the playoffs, moving up to No. 2 on the table. They dispatched one of their main rivals Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) with a power-packed batting performance, scoring 236 for 5, and winning by 37 runs. Shreyas Iyer actually wanted to bowl at the toss. But he said he was “up for the competition”, and it seemed so was his team.

They hit 34 boundaries in the innings – 16 fours and 18 sixes – en route to their 11th total of 200-plus in the IPL. Only Mumbai Indians have more. Prabhsimran Singh was the architect of this chaos. He attacked nine of his first 15 deliveries, and in that time he could’ve been dismissed for 22 off 11 balls. But Nicholas Pooran put down a skier. When a similar ball came down just seconds later, Prabhsimran played the same shot and found the straight boundary. He’s an intent machine with a very short memory. He made his third fifty on the trot, having come into this season with only four fifty-plus scores in his IPL career.There was a small period when Prabhsimran stalled. He got to 45 off 24 balls. Then made only 8 from 11 balls. but made up for that hitting 38 off his last 13 deliveries.

The batters at the other end matched Prabhsimran’s fire. In fact, every time LSG took a wicket, the new partnership began with a boundary within two deliveries, leaving the visitors with no place to hide. Shreyas once again showed he’s a changed man. Until IPL 2024, he was striking at 125. Since then, he has been striking at 163. That has not come at the cost of his productivity. He averaged 32 before. Now it’s 44.

Shashnak Singh played the perfect cameo, 33* off 15 balls which included a six off Mayank Yadav that legit tried to scale up to one of the Dharamsala mountain tops.

Mayank went for 60 runs in his four overs, the joint-worst figures by an LSG bowler in IPL. Avesh Khan leaked 26 runs in the 19th over, which included three fours and two sixes. Digvesh Rathi went for 40-plus in only one of his first nine matches. In his last two, he has gone for 48 and 46. At a time when they need to be peaking, LSG were floundering. Their best hope was that their top order fired.

Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram and Pooran had made 63% of all their team’s runs coming into this game. Arshdeep Singh knocked two of them out in the third over, and returned for the last man standing. LSG were reduced to 38 for 3, their lowest powerplay score this season. Rishabh Pant fell for 18 off 17 balls, his ninth score below 25 in 11 innings. His dismissal was a spectacle. He swung so hard at the ball that he lost control of the bat, which flew out to midwicket while the catch was taken at deep cover.

There was more than half the innings left to play when ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster suggested that LSG’s chances of winning was down at 0.13%. Guess being 73 for 5 is bad chasing 237. The last specialist batting pair they had – Ayush Badoni (74 off 40 deliveries) and Abdul Samad – delayed the inevitable by putting on a partnership of 81 in 41 balls.

Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 236 for 5 in 20 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 91, Josh Inglish 30, Shreyas Iyer 45, Nehal Wadhera 16, Shashnak Singh 33*, Marcus Stoinis 15*; Akash Singh 2-30, Digvesh Rathi 2-46, Prince Yadav 1-43) beat Lucknow Super Giants 199 for 7 in 20 overs (Aiden Markram 13, Rishabh Pant 18, Ayush Badoni 74, David Miller 11, Abdul Samad 45, Avesh Khan 19*; Arshdeep Singh 3-16, Marco Jansen 1-31, Azmatullah Omarzai 2-33, Yuzvendra Chahal 1-50) by 37 runs

[Cricinfo]

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Canada bowl against pace-heavy South Africa

Published

4 hours ago

2026/02/9

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Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada will lead South Africa's pace attack (Cricinfo)

Canada captain Dilpreet Bajwa won the toss and asked South Africa to bat in their World Cup opener in Ahmedabad.

South Africa have opted for a pace-heavy attack. Keshav Maharaj slots in as their only spinner, alongside the speedy quartet of Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi. Tristan Stubbs also begins the tournament at the No. 6 spot – a position Jason Smith had occupied in their last T20I, while Stubbs had slid down to No. 7. Smith is in the World Cup squad but did not find a spot in South Africa’s starting eleven.

South Africa’s pace is expected to get the most out of a characteristically flat Ahmedabad black-soil pitch. But first, their batters will have a hit in a game they begin as overwhelming favourites against Canada, who are their second World Cup.

Canada’s new captain, Bajwa, will lead the side at a global tournament for the first time. He also slots in at the top of the order, alongside Yuvraj Samra, and their batting power will be key to their hopes of causing a massive upset.

Canada have lost both their warm-up games – to Italy and Nepal – but should their batters come off on a friendly pitch, South Africa will look to have the added insurance of a few more runs in the bank before dew takes over when Canada begin their chase at night.

South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram (capt), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi

Canada: Dilpreet Bajwa (capt), Yuvraj Samra, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva, Harsh Thaker, Saad Bin Zafar, Jaskaran Singh, Dilon Heyliger, Kaleem Sana, Ansh Patel

(Cricinfo)

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Hong Kong court jails media tycoon and British citizen Jimmy Lai for 20 years

Published

6 hours ago

2026/02/9

Priyan

(Pic BBC)

A Hong Kong court jailed pro democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai for 20 years on Monday after he was found guilty of national security offences last December

This is the harshest sentence under the controversial national security law, which China says is necessary for the city’s stability

Lai, who is a British citizen, was one of the loudest critics of Beijing, often wielding his pro-democracy paper, Apple Daily, as a tool of protest

Six former executives of the paper were also jailed on Monday – from six years and nine months to 10 years

Hailed a hero by the pro-democracy movement, Lai is seen as a traitor by Beijing. He has always denied the charges against him

The UK calls for the Chinese government to release Lai, saying it will “rapidly engage further” with Beijing. But Hong Kong’s chief executive welcomes the sentence, saying Lai used “used Apple Daily to poison the minds of citizens”.

Lai’s son, Sebastien, tells the BBC his father’s punishment is “basically a death sentence”.

(BBC)

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Muzarabani returns as Zimbabwe opt to bowl against Oman

Published

8 hours ago

2026/02/9

Priyan

Sikandar Raza and Jatinder Singh at the toss (Cricinfo)

Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza decided to field first against Oman in the men’s T20 World Cup match at the SSC in Colombo. Both teams were pleased to arrive in Sri Lanka early to get themselves attuned to the conditions.

Zimbabwe have Blessing Muzarabani back in the squad after he missed the tri-series in Pakistan in November.

Oman, meanwhile, include 44-year-old Aaamir Kaleem the oldest player in the tournament – after he came into the side in place of Hasnain Shah, who was injured after the squad was named.

Zimbabwe return to the tournament after missing out on the previous edition in West Indies and the United States of America. They had made it to the Super 12s of the 2022 T20 World Cup but failed to progress through the qualifiers for the 2024 tournament. They completed qualification alongside Namibia; Brian Bennett was the tournament’s top run-scorer, while Brad Evans and Richard Ngarava were among the leading wicket-takers.

Zimbabwe are bolstered by the return of Graeme Cremer, whose November 2025 comeback marked the longest gap between T20I appearances.

Oman are one of three qualifiers from the Asia-Pacific region, alongside Nepal and the UAE. They have previously appeared in the 2016, 2021, and 2024 editions of the T20 World Cup.

Oman: Jatinder Singh (capt), Aamir Kaleem, Hammad Mirza, Wasim Ali, Karan Sonavale, Jiten Ramanandi, Vinayak Shukla (wk), Sufyan Mehmood, Nadeem Khan, Shah Faisal, Shakeel Ahmad

Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Dion Myers, Brendan Taylor (wk), Sikandar Raza (capt), Ryan Burl, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Wellington Masakadza, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani