Sports
Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan dazzle in series decider
Pakistan put up 280/9 in their 50 overs in the final ODI against New Zealand in Karachi. When they opted to bat in the series decider, Pakistan would have taken this score at the start of the innings but halfway through, they looked well-set to breach the 300-run mark. Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Rizwan put on a brisk 154-run stand for the third wicket but New Zealand stormed back after breaking that stand before Agha Salman provided the finishing touches with a 43-ball 45.
Pakistan didn’t make the greatest of starts as Lockie Ferguson struck in the second over of the innings to dismiss Shan Masood for a second-ball duck. Babar Azam took ten balls to open his account but Zaman at the other end looked in good touch right from the start. Kane Williamson’s decision to introduce spin as early as the seventh over of the game proved to be a masterstroke as Michael Bracwell got Babar stumped off his third delivery.
At 21/2, the hosts needed a partnership quite badly to stabilise the innings and they got one in the form of Zaman and Rizwan. The wicketkeeper-batter swept his third ball for a boundary whereas Zaman fetched two boundaries in a Mitchell Santner over. Post the first powerplay, the two batters were content in picking singles but Zaman broke the shackles with a couple of boundaries off Tim Southee. He brought up a fifty and looked in great nick as the duo raised 100 for the third wicket.
Once set, the boundaries started flowing again as Zaman took on Santner to smash him over deep midwicket for a six before Rizwan drove Southee through the covers to inch closer to a fifty. Rizwan then started finding the boundary at regular intervals as well, taking his strike rate past 100 before failing to read a googly from Ish Sodhi to give New Zealand a much-needed breakthrough. The visitors capitalised on the opening as Zaman was first run out immediately after getting to his century. After 40 overs, Pakistan were 206/4 but Henry Nicholls was involved in another run out, this time to see the back of Haris Sohail.
Salman managed to stand tall but saw the likes of Mohammad Nawaz and Usama Mir fall in quick succession without making an impact. While New Zealand kept a check on the rate, Salman came up with a few boundaries to guide the side past 275.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 280/9 in 50 overs (Fakhar Zaman 101, Mohammad Rizwan 77, Agha Salman 45; Tim Southee 3/56) vs New Zealand.
[Cricbuzz]
Why did David Miller refuse a single off the penultimate delivery with Delhi Capitals needing 2 off 2? It’ll be spoken of for a while, but not inside the Gujarat Titans change room. Because Prasidh Krishna bowled a nerveless slower bouncer off the final delivery that Miller missed, and Jos Buttler then nailed a direct hit with an underarm throw from behind the stumps to run out Kuldeep Yadav, clinching a dramatic first win for GT in IPL 2026.
Despite being adjudged run out on the field, Miller wasn’t in the mood to concede defeat, and reviewed the final ball for a possible wide. But when replays confirmed what he had perhaps known, he was crestfallen. Equally distraught in the dugout was K L Rahul, whose 52-ball 92 set the game up for DC but for one run.
It was GT’s first win of the tournament and the first loss for DC after starting the campaign with two wins in a row.
Thirty-six needed off 12. A bruised finger that didn’t make it easy for him to grip the bat had forced Miller to retire hurt with DC needing 81 off 42. But when Tristan Stubbs was run-out in the 17th over, Miller returned hoping to play second fiddle to Rahul. Instead, he was now expected to deliver a box-office hit with Rahul nicking behind off a full Mohammed Siraj delivery two balls later.
Miller nearly delivered what was expected, as he went 6, 4, 6 off Siraj, repeatedly peppering the short leg-side boundary. At the other end, Vipraj Nigam also ramped four off a short delivery to bring the equation down to a manageable 13 off the final over.
Prasidh was tasked to bowl the final over. His three overs prior to that had been walloped for 41; Rahul, his state mate, had climbed into him earlier in the night. But all that would’ve been forgiven if Prasidh delivered a gun final over. That GT could only have four fielders out due to a slow over rate added to his challenge. And he nearly succumbed.
Nigam made room and swung cleanly to hit the first ball to the long-off fence, but a rush of blood had him swipe the second delivery to Shubman Gill at mid-off. With DC now needing nine off four, Kuldeep gently deflected his first ball to deep third to leave the chase in Miller’s hands.
With the equation down to 8 off 3, Prasidh bowled a slot-ball that Miller walloped over long-off. But with two needed, Miller inexplicably refused a single to take it all upon himself to finish the deal. He couldn’t connect on the final ball, and Prasidh belted a roar. GT had pulled one from under DC’s rug in dramatic circumstances.
After scores of 1 and 0 in his first two games, Rahul announced himself with a 29-ball half-century that was as pleasing as they come for large parts. It was also one that didn’t have the baggage of him playing run-accumulator, like he has tended to in the past while opening the batting. This Rahul was fun, free and fearless and he helped DC overcome a few roadblocks along the way, like when they lost two wickets in two deliveries to Rashid Khan at the halfway mark.
Rahul was particularly menacing against the fast bowlers, and it began with a wristy flick that he sent way back over deep square off Kagiso Rabada. The early jitters out of the way – if he even had some inkling of them – he batted like a man possessed, fearlessly climbing into length balls from Prasidh over cover, and slapping disdainfully over point.
He is good, but where is the Rashid of old, they asked. Turns out he hadn’t gone anywhere. After he conceded just nine in his first two with DC rampant, he returned to dismiss Nitish Rana in his dramatic third over, the 10th of the innings. Having been given out lbw earlier, only for Rana to overturn the decision through DRS, he was out a few balls later when he miscued a googly to Sai Sudharsan at long-off. This was Rana’s third sub-20 score of the season.
This brought the in-form Sameer Rizvi to the middle, and he lasted all of one delivery as Rashid snuck through his inside-edge with a ripping googly to briefly elicit jitters in the DC camp. This is when Miller entered, before briefly exiting with seven overs left. But in the same over, when Rashid had Axar Patel slice one to Glenn Phillips running back from cover, GT started to have an opening.
On any other night, Rashid’s spell would have cracked open the game. The fact that DC were still in it despite these wickets was down to Rahul. It needed the skilful Siraj to dismiss him with DC needing 45 off three overs. By then, the pressure was telling.
That GT were eventually able to get over the line was down to their run cushion, made possible thanks to half-centuries from Jos Buttler, Gill and Washington Sundar. Buttler looked unshackled, hitting four sixes off his first 15 deliveries en route a bruising half-century, while Gill played himself in and then allayed fears of neck spasms during his takedown of Kuldeep with the slog sweep. Then Washington, promoted to No. 4, struck his maiden IPL fifty to shore up the innings.
Even so, GT managed just 49 off the last five. On another day, this may have proved to be costly. It didn’t on Wednesday, and for that, they have Rashid to thank.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 210 for 4 in 20 overs (Sai Sudarshan 12, Shubman Gill 70, Jos Buttler 52, Washington Sundar 55, Glenn Phillips 14*; Mukesh Kumar 2-55, Lungi Ngidi 1-24, Kuldeep Yadav 1-42 ) beat Delhi Capitals 209 for 8 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 41, KL Rahul 92, David Miller 41*, Vipraj Nigam 12; Mohammed Siraj 1-42, Rashid Khan 3-17, Prasidh Krishna 2-52) by one run
[Cricinfo]
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