Latest News
Rushil Ugarkar holds his nerve to give MI New York second MLC title in last-over finish
It went down to the last over: 12 to get from six balls for either MI New York or Washington Freedom to win their MLC title. Rushil Ugarkar, a 22-year-old USA medium pacer who has never played international cricket, had the ball. Across him, Glenn Maxwell, to start with, and Glenn Phillips. Two white-ball superstars. But all Ugarkar conceded was six. And he sent back Maxwell with a slower offcutter, allowed Phillips strike for just one ball, and won MINY the title when everything was stacked against him.
Till that over started, the momentum was very much with Freedom and it was chiefly down to Phillips. At the end of the 17th over, in which Trent Boult had conceded just seven runs to Phillips and Maxwell, and Phillips was 25 from 27, the asking rate was upwards of 13 an over. But Phillips targeted Tristan Luus and Boult in back-to-back overs. He took Luus for two sixes in the 17-run 18th over, and Boult for one more in the next, which went for 12, making it a potentially gripping last over. But he got to face just one ball from Ugarkar, who bowled a set of six cutters to spark the celebrations in the MINY camp.
The chase started with Boult picking up two wickets in the first over of the innings to dent Freedom. However, to be fair, despite opener Rachin Ravindra scoring 70 from 41 balls after early jitters and Jack Edwards chipping in with 33 from 22, the Freedom innings didn’t seem to find the next gear they needed till Phillips got going. Maxwell, not for the first time this tournament – he largely struggled apart from when he scored 106* in a win over Texas Super Kings back on June 17 – couldn’t get the scoreboard moving at the rate required. And three MINY bowlers, including Ugarkar, went at eight an over or fewer, with Tajinder Singh’s three overs costing just 18 runs.
Ravindra, another player who had a lean run in MLC 2025 – he had crossed 18 just once before this game, when he scored 32 against Seattle Orcas – did raise his game for the big occasion, standing firm even as wickets fell around him at the start, and hitting two sixes and eight fours in his 170.73-strike-rate knock. The partnership with Edwards was worth 84 in 45 balls, and gave Freedom a platform to launch from. But the next partnership, with Phillips, was of 46 runs, and took 42 balls. Perhaps where the game was lost.
In the first half, after Freedom captain Maxwell opted to field, MINY had the best possible start, with Quinton de Kock and Monank Patel – who finished as the top rungetter in the tournament – adding 72 runs in just 44 balls.
De Kock was the aggressor in that stand, as he was in the third-wicket stand of 56 off 35 balls with Nicholas Pooran, where he scored 32 in 18 balls to Pooran’s 17-ball 21.
De Kock’s innings ended on 77 from 46 balls, and though there wasn’t much after he fell in the 17th over – one of Lockie Ferguson’s three wickets – apart from Kunwarjeet Singh’s unbeaten 22 from 13 balls, MINY were better placed heading into the break. And they stayed there despite the best efforts from Ravindra and Phillips, and they have Ugarkar to thank for it.
Brief scores:
MI New York 180 for 7 in 20 overs (Monak Patel 28, Quinton De Kock 77, Tajinder Singh 14, Nicholas Pooran 21, Kunwarjeet Singh 22*; Saurabh Netvalkar 1-31, Glenn Maxwell 1-46, Jack Edwards 1-38, Lockie Ferguson 3-21, Ian Holland 1-14) beat Washington Freedom 175 for 5 in 20 overs (Rachin Ravindra 70, Jack Edwards 33, Glenn Phillips 48*, Glenn Maxwell 15; , Rushi Ugarkar 2-32, Trent Boult 2-32, Nosthush Kenjige 1-30) by five runs
[Cricinfo]
Latest News
India’s Sri Lanka Test tour set to begin in Galle on August 15
Latest News
US strikes Iran in response to downing of military helicopter
The US says it has carried out a series of strikes on Iranian military and surveillance sites in response to the downing of an American helicopter in the Gulf.
Air defence systems, ground control stations and radar sites were targeted near the Strait of Hormuz, the US military Central Command (Centcom) said.
In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched strikes on 21 targets at US bases in the region, one in Bahrain and the other in Jordan, while Kuwait’s army said it was also intercepting an attack.
The US has described its strikes as “a proportional response” for the Apache helicopter downing on Monday, while the IRGC described the attacks as “vicious”.
US President Donald Trump had earlier accused Iran of shooting down the helicopter and said the US “must, of necessity” respond. The two crew members survived and were rescued by an American sea drone.
According to US officials, Iran used a drone to launch the attack on the helicopter. But it is not clear whether the Iranian drone had deliberately attacked, an unnamed US official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner. The semi-official Mehr News Agency reported that Iran had not claimed responsibility for the downed aircraft.
Trump said the helicopter had been patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping channel that was effectively closed days after the US and Israel launched its first strikes on Iran in late February.
On Wednesday, the IRGC said US strikes had damaged a telecommunications tower and two water tanks, and added the US had targeted the cities of Jask and Sirik, and Qeshm – an island in the Gulf.
US officials are yet to comment on reports of attacks on its bases and it is unclear if there has been any damage. Jordan’s military said it had shot down five missiles fired from Iran.
Earlier, an air raid alert was issued in Bahrain, according to local authorities who said Iranian attacks had been repelled.

Iran’s foreign minister issued a threat to the US in the aftermath of the renewed US attacks, saying the country “will leave no attack or threat unanswered”.
“Despite its defeats on the battlefield, the US opted to test our determination,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.
He added: “Leave our region if you want to be safe.”
In Washington, US House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was in the room with Trump when he decided that US attacks on Iran should resume.
“We lament that it became necessary,” said the top Republican in Congress, adding that “we’re going to have to take care of this business”.
Araghchi said on Tuesday that foreign forces near Iran’s territory were at “constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents or potentially being caught in crossfire”.
“To reduce risk, best solution is for them [foreign forces] to leave,” the Iranian leader said in a post on X.
Minutes before Trump’s comments on the downed American Apache helicopter on Tuesday, Iran’s top negotiator in peace talks with Washington, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, took to social media to signal retaliation.
“We prefer the language of diplomacy, but we speak other languages far more fluently. Break your commitments, and we’ll switch to what we speak best.”
“You ride the horse you saddled!,” he wrote.
It remains to be seen what impact the exchange of fire will have on the negotiations between the US and Iran.
But Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqai told reporters on Wednesday that the US was “damaging this diplomatic process through the contradictory messages it sends, its repeated shifts in positions and demands, and, worst of all, through repeated violations of the ceasefire”.
He said Iran needed to re-assess the situation, adding that any diplomatic process required a minimum of stability.
The flare-up between the US and Iran comes after Israeli forces carried out strikes across southern Lebanon on Tuesday.
Tehran had warned that Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon would trigger another wave of retaliatory strikes.
Israel and Iran halted attacks on each other after exchanging fire over the weekend for the first time since April’s truce.
Trump publicly told both countries to “immediately stop ‘shooting'” because they were jeopardising negotiations between Washington and Tehran on a deal to end the regional war.
He said on social media platform Truth Social that Israel and Iran are looking to do “an immediate ceasefire” but peace is “subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way”.
On Tuesday he also told journalists: “We’re in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal,” adding that it could take “two or three days” and the Strait of Hormuz would open immediately after.
[Aljazeera]
Latest News
Rana and Mosaddek star as Bangladesh end 21-year wait with crushing win
Nahid Rana and Mosaddek Hossain combined brilliantly to secure Bangladesh a huge win against Australia in the first ODI in Dhaka. The 86-run victory, which eventually came via DLS due to a thunderstorm, was only the second time that Bangladesh have defeated Australia in this format; their previous win was in June 2005, known as the Cardiff Miracle. However, this win 21 years later was far from an upset as Bangladesh continued their impressive home form by completely dominating proceedings.
Mosaddek celebrated his return to the team after four years with an all-round showing that included an unbeaten career-best 86 and two wickets. Rana, who had taken three five-wicket hauls in the last three months, claimed 4 for 41 in a fiery performance where he was clocked at over 150kph.
Australia had a forgettable day at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. They dropped four catches and looked unlike themselves in the field. Then they couldn’t withstand Rana’s speed on a pitch that produced mostly even bounce and a bit of pace. Cameron Green ended unbeaten with 52 but the game had long since gone.
Taskin Ahmed’s peach of a delivery that moved slightly off the wicket castled Matt Short off the first ball of the Australia chase. Short became only the fifth opener to get out first ball in an ODI innings against Bangladesh, and the first in 17 years. It meant Australia had registered three consecutive scoreless opening stands.
Mustafizur Rahman trapped the struggling Marnus Labuschagne lbw with the second ball of the next over. Left-armer Mustafizur pitched it up to Labuschagne who played around the delivery. There was initial doubt about the review before captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz gave the signal and it was the right call.
Rana then bowled a perfect length to Australia captain Josh Inglis who edged to wicketkeeper Litton Das. Rana, who usually doesn’t react to his wickets too loudly, really went into a celebratory run, appearing to say something Inglis. He reacted to Rana’s outburst, before Mehidy escorted away his Australian counterpart. In the rest of the over, Rana bowled deliveries in excess of 146kph.
Mosaddek’s fine day continued when he removed Cooper Connolly in the 20th over with a delivery from around the wicket which slid into leg stump. Connolly, opening for just the second time in his ODI career, made 35 off 50 balls. Alex Carey was the next to go, nicking Rana to the keeper for 47 when he looked beaten for pace. In the 29th over, Rana bowled one delivery that reached 150kph.
Rana also removed debutant Liam Scott and Xavier Bartlett in the space of two overs. Scott fended a rising delivery to Tawhid Hridoy, who took a diving catch in front of him at gully, and Bartlett avoided getting hit when he gave a simple catch to Tanzid at square-leg off a 148kph delivery.
Meanwhile, Mosaddek had added his second when he trapped Matt Renshaw lbw for 2 with one which turned sharply to hit the back leg. Mosaddek capped off his brilliant day with a terrific catch running back from mid-off when Nathan Ellis top-edged Mustafizur.
After Bangladesh were sent in to bat, Mosaddek led the way in the latter part of the innings as he struck seven fours and three sixes in his unbeaten 86 off 70 balls. Mosaddek added 75 for the fifth wicket with Hridoy who contributed a sedate 31. The partnership revived the Bangladesh innings after they had slipped to 140 for 4.
Tanzid Hasan and Najmul Hossain Shanto had laid the platform with a 96-run stand for the second wicket after Bangladesh lost Saif Hassan in the second over. The left-handed duo kept the home side in the driver’s seat with regular boundaries throughout their stay. Shanto was initially the more aggressive of the pair, regularly coming down the track against the Australia seamers.
Tanzid played mostly from his crease, as he crashed the ball down the ground whenever it was pitched up. However, they were unable to push on, falling shortly after reaching their first milestones. Tanzid holed out to Bartlett at mid-on followed by Shanto chipping to long-off nine overs later. In between, Renshaw had taken a superb caught-and-bowled to remove Litton for 7.
Mosaddek and Hridoy batted positively while rotating the strike during their fifth-wicket stand, continuing their impressive form from the DPL. Mosaddek’s first boundary was a straight six off Adam Zampa although he was lucky, too, surviving dropped catches on 21, 38 and 73.
In between, he struck the ball hard down the ground. When he lost Hridoy and Mehidy in quick succession, Mosaddek didn’t panic, adding 65 with the lower order. Taskin supported him with a six and two fours while Mosaddek raced between the wickets whenever there was an opportunity to take a second run.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 284 for 8 in 50 overs (Tanzid Hasan 54, Najmul Hosain Shanto 67, Mosaddek Hossain 86*; Nathan Ellis 3-38, Liam Scott 2-57, Matt Renshaw 2-35) beat Australia 191 for 9 in 42.2 overs (Alex Carey 47, Cameron Green 52*; Mustafizur Rahman 2-24, Nahid Rana 4-41, Mosaddek Hossain 2-37) by 86 runs (DLS method)
[Cricinfo]
-
Latest News6 days agoKusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, bowlers put Sri Lanka 1-0 up
-
News7 days agoNew US tariffs proposed on 60 countries, including Sri Lanka
-
Features6 days agoPower crept into the Sangha and is now tearing it apart
-
Features6 days agoKondachchi wind farm and battery storage project to boost energy security, says Power Ministry Secretary
-
News3 days agoWomen’s T20 World Cup 2026 warm-up: Chamari Athapaththu’s 94 helps Sri Lanka beat Pakistan
-
Features6 days agoSaudi Arabia sets new benchmark in Hajj management as 1.7 million pilgrims complete sacred journey
-
News5 days agoAsst. Manager, security officer arrested over Rs 30 mn snatch at Horana PB branch
-
Editorial3 days agoProbe Sallay’s complaint
