Sports

Shami spearheads massive win as India wrap up series

Published

3 years ago

2023/01/23

After a thrilling last-over finish in Hyderabad, India romped to an eight-wicket victory in Raipur on the back of an inspired performance from their quick bowlers to take the series 2-0 with one match to go. India’s domination started with a display of swing and seam with great accuracy to bowl New Zealand out for 108 in under 35 overs in an international debut for the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium. Two sharp return catches also helped matters.India chased it down in 20.1 overs after a 51 off 50 from captain Rohit Sharma, who struck seven fours and two sixes before Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan saw the hosts through. It was India’s seventh consecutive bilateral ODI series win at home.

Stifling Test-match style bowling from Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj caused the early damage, after India won the toss, to reduce New Zealand to 9 for 3. Hardik Pandya bowled three maidens and picked up 2 for 16 from six overs as New Zealand slipped to 15 for 5, with their top five falling in single digits, after 10.3 overs. Glenn Phillips stretched the score past 100 with the help of Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santner, but 108 was a total too low to trouble a team that had scored 349 and 390 in their last two games.

Shami was the first to strike when he followed a few outswingers with one that came in and bowled Finn Allen for a duck in the first over. His swing and Siraj’s wobble seam tied up the top order, and Siraj had Henry Nicholls edging one to first slip in the sixth over.Four balls after Nicholls’ fall, Shami grabbed a sharp return catch with his left hand off Daryl Mitchell to finish his first spell with 4-1-5-2 while Siraj’s read 4-1-4-1. Shardul Thakur and Hardik also got breakthroughs soon after being brought on and kept the pressure on the visitors.

Devon Conway eased some nerves by registering the first boundary of the innings in the ninth over but Hardik sent him back with another one-handed return catch in the following over. Thakur also struck when Tom Latham, who had left nearly half of his first 16 balls, chased a wide delivery and handed Gill his second catch at first slip.

Fifteen was the lowest score at which India have picked up five wickets in a men’s ODI and it was also New Zealand’s lowest score at five down.Phillips, Bracewell and Santner all bothered India but only briefly. Phillips started with back-to-back fours off Hardik – including a top-edge over the wicketkeeper – before Bracewell dispatched consecutive low full-tosses for fours off Shami in the 19th over. Shami immediately changed from around to over the wicket and banged in a bouncer that ended the stand of 41 when Bracewell nicked behind for 22.

From 56 for 6, Phillips and Santner put on a patient stand of 47, thanks to two lives Santner got off Kuldeep Yadav. The first came when Rohit couldn’t hold on to a tough chance while diving to his right at midwicket, and Kuldeep later put down an easier return chance despite getting both hands to the ball over his head.

Phillips scored at a good clip during his 36 with boundaries whenever he got loose deliveries from Thakur. Santner, too, chipped in with two fours off Kuldeep after the halfway mark of the innings, but he fell just after New Zealand crossed 100.

Hardik started the 31st over with a 112.8 kph slower ball which Santner chopped on off the inside edge, and New Zealand collapsed again. Two long-hops from Washington Sundar saw Phillips and Lockie Ferguson hole out to deep midwicket, and Kuldeep trapped Blair Tickner in front in his eighth over to wrap up the innings.

In the chase, Rohit and Gill started patiently as the new ball swung around. Soon though, Rohit turned aggressor, starting with a pull in the second over off Henry Shipley before also pulling Ferguson for six in the fifth over. Whenever the scoring would quieten for India, Rohit would either unleash another pull or manufacture room to dispatch the ball on the off side, including a stunning six over the covers off Tickner. Rohit also used the cut with perfect timing to collect boundaries as Gill waited more patiently for the loose balls to pick boundaries. Rohit also swept and reverse swept Santner to reach a 47-ball fifty but was trapped lbw when a Shipley delivery stayed low in front of off stump.Kohli was stumped off Santner for 11 after he struck Shipley for two fours and Kishan and Gill wrapped up the win by smashing three fours in the space of 11 balls. (cricinfo)

All News Advertisement

Latest News

Tom Banton 63* sets up nervy win for England

Published

5 hours ago

2026/02/14

Priyan

Tom Banton's half-century settled England's chase [Cricinfo]

It was another nervy affair against an associate nation. But England’s Super Eight hopes remain on course after a five-wicket victory over Scotland in Eden Gardens, moving them up to second in Group C of this T20 World Cup with a game to play.

Tom Banton’s unbeaten 63 off 41 deliveries – his fourth T20I fifty – ultimately quelled a testy chase of 153, which began with openers Phil Salt and Jos Buttler falling inside the first two overs to nibbling seamers Brandon McMullen and Brad Currie.

Banton’s arrival triggered a vital 66-run stand with Jacob Bethell, and he was similarly engaging with Sam Curran for their partnership of 46 which brought the runs required below the number of balls remaining. Having managed just 4 from nine deliveries across knocks against Nepal and West Indies, Banton, who struck four fours and three sixes, watched on as Will Jacks smashed Brad Wheal for a six down the ground and then pulled the quick behind square to seal victory with 10 balls to spare.

Much like Nepal in England’s opening victory, Scotland will rue missed opportunities with the bat. They were dictating terms midway through the 13th over, with skipper Richie Berrington leading a 71-run stand with Tom Bruce. Berrington’s hard-hitting against spinners Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson which made amends for a stuttering powerplay of 42 for 3 after losing the toss. Jofra Archer was the key aggressor in those first six overs, finishing with 2 for 24 as he ticked over to 50 T20I dismissals.

When Dawson pocketed Bruce (24) and Rashid did for Berrington (49) in the space of four balls, England did not relent. Only four boundaries were scored in the remainder of the innings, with three of them to Oliver Davidson, which included a towering six over cow corner off Archer on his way to a T20I career-best 20 not out.

Having left runs out there, Scotland were always going to be up against it. Though they were gifted wickets, such as Harry Brook’s dismal flick over his shoulder to short fine leg for just 4, Banton’s brutal striking took England home in this first completed T20I between these Auld enemies.

Brief scores:
England 155 for 5 in 18.2 overs (Jacob Bethell 32, Tom Banton 63*, Sam Curran 28, Will Jacks 16*; Brandon McMullen 1-23, Brad Currie 1-21, Brad Wheal 1-23, Michael Leask 1-33, Oliver Davidson 1-12) beat Scotland 152 in 19.4 overs (Michael Jones 33, Richie Berrington 49, Tom Bruce 24, Oliver Davidson 20*; Jofra Archer 2-24, Jamie Overton 1-23, Sam Curran 1-33, Adil Rashid 3-36, Liam Dawson 2-34) by five wickets

[Cricinfo]

Latest News

Tucker 94* headlines Ireland’s thrashing of Oman

Published

9 hours ago

2026/02/14

Priyan

Lorcan Tucker goes big [Cricinfo]

Ireland muscled the highest score of the 2026 T20 World Cup en route to a dominating win over Oman in Group C to keep their Super Eights hopes alive, at least mathematically.

Lorcan Tucker, standing in for the injured Paul Stirling, muscled 94 not out as Ireland walloped 235 for 5. They hammered eight sixes in the last three overs alone – more than Oman had in the tournament until then – and the last five overs produced 93 runs.

In response, Oman were bowled out for 139 with two overs left unused, the innings characterised by a rush of wickets following an early turbocharge from 44-year-old Aamir Kaleem, who muscled 50 off 29 balls.

Playing his first game of the competition, left-arm spinner Shakeel Ahmed struck thrice in the powerplay to leave Ireland in trouble at 45 for 3 after five overs. Each of the three wickets had a different skill at play: Tim Tector was dismissed with an arm-ball, Ross Adair was beaten in flight as he skied one to mid-off, and Harry Tector was bowled, done in by dip and turn.

There was more trouble for Ireland as Kaleem, also a left-arm spinner, struck to remove Curtis Campher in the eighth over. Two balls later, he should have had Tucker on 18, but for a missed stumping by Vinayak Shukla. Deceived in flight, Tucker seemed to have been stumped down leg, but third umpire Ahsan Raza deemed Shukla to have broken the bails with the hand in which he didn’t have the ball. Replays, though, seemed to indicate both gloves were in contact with each other. Had it been given, Ireland would have been 65 for 5.

For the first 14 overs, Oman’s mantra was pace off. And that meant Tucker had to adjust to a slow surface. Out went the agricultural heaves, out came the scoops and paddles. Tucker and Gareth Delany raised their half-century stand off just 33 deliveries, with Tucker getting to his half-century first with a ferocious sweep behind square off Kaleem. This was only the second half-century by an Irish captain, after Andy Balbirnie, in a men’s T20 World Cup.

With their spin options exhausted by 14 overs, Oman turned to their seam options in a bid to restrict Ireland. This is when Delany chose to leave his imprint on the game, muscling Jiten Ramanandi for two sixes off his first two deliveries in an 18-run over. Then he went after Faisal Shah, flat-batting a six off a slower-length ball to raise a 28-ball half-century. That was to be the start of the carnage that saw Ireland muscle 93 off the last five overs.

Tucker began the 18th over on 60 and ended it on 86 as he took apart Mohammad Nadeem with three sixes and two fours. Suddenly, a first century by an Irish batter at a men’s T20 World Cup loomed, but George Dockrell’s cameo – 35 not out off nine – provided the perfect finish. Ireland had smashed an incredible 156 off their last ten overs.

Jatinder Singh fell for his third low score, while Ashish Odedara, playing his first game, was run out taking a casual stroll. After two ordinary outings, Kaleem showed what he is capable of in a sensational powerplay take-down, reminiscent of his half-century against India at last year’s Asia Cup. When he got to a half-century, off just 28 deliveries, he became the oldest half-centurion in men’s T20 World Cup history. At 97 for 2 in the 11th over, Oman were well on track.

Then from 107 for 3, they slumped to 108 for 5 before Josh Little, the left-arm seamer, picked up the wickets of Ramanandi and Nadeem Khan to inflict further damage. By then, it looked increasingly likely Oman wouldn’t even bat their overs. And they didn’t, the margin of defeat of 96 runs, much bigger than it seemed when Kaleem set them up in the first half.

Brief scores:
Ireland 235 for 5 in 20 overs (Ross Adair 14, Harry Tector 14, Lorcan Tucker 94*, Curtis Campher 12, Gareth Delany 56, George Dockrell 35*; Shakeel 3-33) beat Oman 139 in 18 overs (Aamir Kaleem 50, Hammad Mirza 46, Sufiyan Mehmood 10; Mathew Humphreys 2-27, Barry McCarthy 2-32, Josh Little 3-16, George Dockrell 1-06) by 96 runs

[Cricinfo]

Latest News

High risk of rain in marquee India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup game in Colombo

Published

14 hours ago

2026/02/14

Priyan

The R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo will be hosting India and Pakistan on Sunday [Cricinfo]

Two days out from a will-they-won’t-they India vs Pakistan contest, the weather in Colombo has largely been clear. But the Sri Lanka Department of Meteorology has warned of a low-pressure system developing in the Bay of Bengal, which indicates a high risk of rain that could disrupt the marquee World Cup game on Sunday evening.

The weather forecast for Sunday in the Khettarama area of Colombo, where the R Premadasa Stadium is located, shows warm and humid conditions to start the day, with temperatures peaking around 30° to 31°C. However, scattered thunderstorms are predicted throughout the afternoon, with a 50-70% chance of rain.

With the game set to begin at 7pm local time, some models suggest heavy thundershowers in the hours before the scheduled start, which might lead to a delayed toss, or a shortened game. While clouds are expected to linger, some forecasts indicate a slight clearing trend after 8pm, though isolated showers remain possible through the night.

The Premadasa, however, features a sophisticated drainage system and specialised ground staff protocols designed to handle Colombo’s tropical downpours. And unlike many international venues that only cover the pitch, the Premadasa has enough covers to protect the entire playing area. This prevents the outfield from soaking up water in the first place.

The staff also manually push water from one cover to the next until it reaches the perimeter drains. This method is often faster and more effective than using mechanical super soppers. Under standard conditions, the ground typically becomes fit for play within 45 to 60 minutes after heavy rain stops.

There’s also some rain expected the day before, on Saturday, which could disrupt India’s scheduled training session at the ground.

The weather in Colombo has otherwise been largely dry, making any rain unseasonal for this time of the year. So far, none of the matches in Sri Lanka of this T20 World Cup has been impacted by inclement weather, even though there have been a few close calls – such as Sri Lanka’s match against Oman, where rain was predicted but fell hours after the match ended.

Both India and Pakistan, meanwhile, currently have four points each after playing two games. But India are ahead in Group A due to a superior net run rate of 3.050 to Pakistan’s 0.932. If rain in Colombo forces a washout, both sides will get one point each as there is no reserve day for group-stage matches.

[Cricinfo]