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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]
Four persons including a Budhist monk died and 32 others were injured when two SLTB buses collided head on at Weerawila at arond 12 noon today (18).
Three of the deceased were women. 22 of the injured were admitted to the Hambanthota Hospital while 10 others have been admitted to the Debarawewa hospital.
Families have gathered outside a drug treatment centre in the Afghan capital, Kabul, looking for their loved ones after it was hit in a Pakistan air strike, which Taliban authorities said killed 408 people.
The attack on Kabul’s Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital took place at about 9pm local time (16:30 GMT) on Monday.
[Aljazeera]
African football’s governing body has stripped Senegal of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title they won in a chaotic final two months ago and declared Morocco the champions.
In a stunning decision, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said on Tuesday that its appeals board ruled that Senegal is “declared to have forfeited” the match, a 1-0 victory. The result, it said, was now “being officially recorded as 3-0” in favour of host nation Morocco.
At the January 18 final in Rabat, Senegal’s players walked off the pitch, led by coach Pape Thiaw, in protest against a penalty awarded late in regulation time to Morocco.
When play resumed after a delay of about 15 minutes, Morocco forward Brahim Diaz’s penalty was saved. In extra time, Pape Gueye scored the decisive goal that saw Senegal become champions of Africa for the second time.
The heated final also saw supporters trying to storm the field, players scuffling on the sidelines, reporters from the two countries fighting in media areas, and a bizarre sequence in which Moroccan ball boys tried to seize a towel being used by Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy – in an apparent bid to distract him and help their team win the continental title.
At a disciplinary hearing in January, CAF imposed fines of more than $1m as well as bans for Senegal and Morocco players and officials, but it had left the result untouched.
The case could go to a further appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
[Aljazeera]
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Cabinet nod to amend Central Cultural Fund Act No. 57 of 1980
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