Latest News
Asia Cup 2025: Kuldeep bags four as India demolish UAE in 17.4 overs
It took just 106 balls for India to begin their defence of the Asia Cup with the most comprehensive of wins. It took them just 79 balls to bowl UAE out, and just 27 to chase down their target.
UAE’s 57 was the lowest total any team had achieved against India in T20Is. India’s 4.3-over chase was their quickest in T20Is.
UAE came into this match on the back of encouraging displays against Pakistan and Afghanistan in the tri-series they recently hosted, but all that promise came to nothing against the relentless quality of India’s bowling, with Kuldeep Yadav taking four wickets in no time to celebrate his return to action after a long tour of England spent entirely on the bench.
Thereafter, it was just a question of how quickly India would get to their target, and the answer – mostly delivered by their new opening combination of old buddies Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill – was a one-worder: very.
A lot of interest surrounded India’s selection for this game, with particularly intense debate surrounding their wicketkeeper, bowling-attack composition, and No. 8. These were India’s choices:
Gill displaced Sanju Samson from the opening position as expected, but Samson kept the keeping gloves ahead of Jitesh Sharma. India picked both their wristspinners, Kuldeep and Varun Chakravarthy, and picked the batting allrounder Shivam Dube to give them genuine depth until No. 8, but this meant they only had one specialist quick in Jasprit Bumrah.
Some of these choices were surprises. The bigger surprise, perhaps, was that India won the toss – after 15 straight toss losses across formats.
For the first time since 2019, Bumrah bowled three overs inside the powerplay in a T20I. He took one wicket, crashing through Alishan Sharafu’s defences with a searing yorker, but also conceded four fours, three in one over to UAE captain Muhammad Waseem.
With Sharafu and Waseem hitting six fours and a six between them, UAE began well enough, scoring 41 for 2 in their powerplay. But they fell apart thereafter, losing their last eight wickets for the addition of just ten runs.
To their credit, UAE did not let the loss of two powerplay wickets curb their intent, but on this day they kept losing wickets to low-percentage shots. And they kept losing wickets to Kuldeep in the ninth over – three of them, to be precise.
First, Rahul Chopra took on the large outfield at the Dubai International Stadium and the protected long-on boundary and holed out. Three balls later, Waseem was lbw, missing a sweep against a bowler whose stock ball, straightening into the right-hander from left-arm over, is stump-to-stump by design.
Kuldeep finished the over with a trademark wrong’un to bowl the left-handed Harshit Kaushik through the gate, and UAE were already five down.
India used six bowlers, and five of them ended up on the wickets column, with Bumrah – who bowled three overs in the powerplay, a rarity for him – Varun and Axar Patel taking one each.
Dube, playing ahead of a second frontline quick to give India batting depth until No. 8, bagged three with his medium-pace, which meant he had taken 5 for 15 in four overs in his last two T20Is. His first two T20Is, it has to be mentioned, since his bowling quality came under severe scrutiny following India’s use of Harshit Rana as his concussion substitute against England in Pune.
Here, Dube couldn’t help but pick up wickets even when India didn’t want them. In his second over, a direct hit from Samson caught Junaid Siddique wandering out of his crease – a la Jonny Bairstow – after swinging at and missing a short ball. Siddique was given out stumped but India captain Suryakumar Yadav withdrew the appeal. Next ball, Siddique swung at and miscued a slower ball high in the air, and walked back, c Suryakumar b Dube.
They’ve been fast friends since the Under-14 level and might have been forgiven for wanting to take a bit of time savouring the feeling of opening together for India, but that was the last thing on the minds of Abhishek and Gill. They clattered 48 runs in just 3.4 overs before Abhishek fell, miscuing a hard-length ball from Siddique, and in that time they played a number of outrageous shots. The pick of them, perhaps, were a dancing flick for six by Gill off Mohammad Rohid, and a falling-away slap over long-off by Abhishek, off a short-of-length dart from the offspinner Kaushik.
India were ten away from victory when Abhishek fell, and Suryakumar – whipping his first ball off his hip for six – and Gill took just four balls to finish the job.
Brief scores:
India 60 for 1 in 4.3 overs (Abhishek Sharma 30, Shubman Gill 20*; Junnaid Siddique 1-16) beat UAE 57 in 13.1 overs (Alishan Sharafu 22, Muhammad Waseem 19; Jasprit Bumrah 1-19, Axar Patel 1-13, Varun Chakravarthy 1-04, Kuldeep Yadav 4-07, Shivam Dube 3-04) by nine wickets
[Cricinfo]
Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) playoff chances took a serious beating after they lost their fifth game in a row, this time going down to Mumbai Indians (MI) by six wickets in Dharamsala. They remain fourth on the table with 13 points from 12 games, while the two teams just below them, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, have 12 points each with a game in hand.
MI were without their regular captain Hardik Pandya, who is still recovering from back spasms, and stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav, who missed out due to personal reasons. In their absence, Jasprit Bumrah led them for the first time in the IPL and put PBKS in after winning the toss. The hosts rode on Prabhsimran Singh’s chancy 57 off 32 to reach 100 in 11 overs before Shardul Thakur’s four-for derailed them. They were 140 for 7 in the 17th over but Azmatullah Omarzai, Xavier Bartlett and Impact Player Vishnu Vinod ransacked 60 in the last 22 balls to lift them to 200 for 8.
Ryan Rickelton set up the chase for MI with his 23-ball 48. But it was Tilak Verma who played the pivotal role with his unbeaten 75 off 33. With 50 needed from three overs, he, with the help of Will Jacks, took MI over the line on the penultimate ball of the match.
Priyansh Arya opened his account with a second-ball four off Deepak Chahar and Prabhsimran picked up two fours off Bumrah in the following over. In all, the two combined to hit ten fours in the powerplay but there were plenty of dot balls and not a single six. To make things worse for PBKS, Chahar bowled Arya with a knuckleball in the final over of the powerplay, after which PBKS were 55 for 1.
Prabhsimran was on 10 off 11 balls at one point. He was dropped on 5 by Naman Dhir off Bumrah and then on 28 by Corbin Bosch off his own bowling. He made full use of those reprieves and slog-swept Raghu Sharma for back-to-back sixes. He brought up his fifty off 29 balls and took PBKS past 100.
Shardul turned the tide in the 12th over. Bowling cross-seam into the pitch, he had Prabhsimran miscue an aerial hit to deep third. Two balls later, he got another cross-seam delivery to straighten and ping Shreyas Iyer’s off stump. From the other end, Raj Bawa bowled Cooper Connolly for 21 off 22 in the next over. A little later, Shardul removed Suryansh Shedge and Marco Jansen, leaving PBKS on 140 for 7 in 16.2 overs.
PBKS were so down and out that they decided to bring in Vinod as Impact Player, and the move seemed to have paid off. First, Omarzai struck four sixes and two fours in a 17-ball 38. Then Vinod (15 not out off eight) and Bartlett (18 not out off seven) added 34 off just 12 in an unbroken stand for the ninth wicket to take the side to 200.
Arshdeep Singh started the chase with a two-run over, after which Rickelton took over. He showed a preference for the leg side; 34 of his 48 runs and all four sixes came on that side of the wicket. Of the 59 runs MI scored in the powerplay, 47 came from Rickelton’s bat, while Rohit Sharma was struggling on 12 off 15.
PBKS made a comeback after the powerplay. Omarzai removed Rickelton, Dhir fell to Jansen, and Yuzvendra Chahal bowled Rohit to leave them 89 for 3 after ten overs.
While Tilak kept finding boundaries and moved to 22 off 11 balls, PBKS kept Sherfane Rutherford quiet. Jansen conceded just five singles in the 14th over and Arshdeep gave away only eight in the 15th, leaving MI with 72 to get from the last five.
Jacks and Tilak hit Jansen for two sixes and two fours in the 18th over. Arshdeep left Bartlett with 14 to defend in the final over but he started with a full toss, which Jacks hit over long-off for a six. A single and a dot brought it down to eight required from three. Tilak showed no nerves and smashed the next two balls for sixes to seal the win.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 205 for 4 in 19.5 overs (Rohit Sharma 25, Tilak Varma 75*, Ryan Rickelton 48, Sherfane Rutherford 20, Will Jacks 25*; Azmatullah Omarzai 2-36, Marco Jansen 1-55, Yuzvendra Chahal 1-32) beat Punjab Kings 200 for 8 in 20 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 57, Cooper Connolly 21, Azmatullah Omarazai 38, Vishnu Vinod 15*, Xavier Bartlett 18*; Shardul Thakur 4-39, Deepak Chahar 2-36, Corbin Bosch 1-42, Raj Bawa 1-11) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
Tilak Varma (c), Priyansh Arya, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Riyan Parag (vc), Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Harsh Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Kumar Kushagra (wk), Vipraj Nigam, Yash Thakur, Yudhvir Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Arshad Khan
Saudi Arabia is set to host its first franchise league later this year, with the ‘Dunes League T20’ due to launch in October. The league has been sanctioned by the Saudi Arabia Cricket Federation (SACF) and is expected to feature players who have recently retired from international cricket but remain active on the franchise circuit.
Saudi Arabia has been a major disruptor in the sporting world over the last five years as the oil-rich kingdom looks to diversify its economy, staging lucrative football, tennis and boxing events. The nation’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) also launched the breakaway LIV Golf tour, though has recently announced that it will withdraw funding at the end of this season.
There have been widespread rumours over the last three years that Saudi Arabia would disrupt cricket by launching a T20 league to rival the IPL, with further speculation last year about potential investment in a ‘Grand Slam-style’ circuit of T20 leagues floated by the Australian Cricketers’ Association.
In practice, Arabia’s entry into the cricketing world has been gradual, via sponsorship deals with the ICC and staging the IPL auction in 2024. The SACF also partnered with the UAE’s ILT20 last year, and has signed a long-term agreement to stage the FairBreak Women’s T20 Challenge, though the first edition has been postponed due to conflict in the Gulf region.
The six-team Dunes T20 League is planned to launch in October with matches played in Taif, near Jeddah. It has been developed in partnership with the Sports Asian Network and two talent agencies: Unique Sports Group, whose clients include Jofra Archer, and Prolithic, who manage Abhishek Sharma. Prolithic’s Yuvraj Singh will act as the league’s ambassador.
The SACF initially announced provisional plans for the league late last year and said that it was designed to put Saudi Arabia “on the global cricket map” and “develop Saudi talent”.
The league is expected to feature a maximum of four players who have played full-member international cricket in the last two years, thereby falling under the threshold that demands approval from the ICC. Top salaries could reach USD 100,000.
[Cricinfo]
Tilak Varma, Shardul Thakur hand Punjab Kings fifth successive defeat
Opposition accuses govt. of weaponising tax laws
Floods, landslides affect 3,475 people
Bid to release forest lands sparks outrage
Money laundering case against Yoshitha: Preliminary objections overruled
IUSF occupies ‘ownerless’ Malwana estate, demands land for universities
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
News5 days agoLanka Port City officials to meet investors in Dubai
-
News2 days agoEx-SriLankan CEO’s death: Controversy surrounds execution of bail bond
-
News6 days agoSLPP expresses concern over death of former SriLankan CEO
-
News6 days agoPolice inform Fort Magistrate’s Court of finding ex-CEO of SriLankan dead under suspicious circumstances
-
Features3 days agoWhen University systems fail:Supreme Court’s landmark intervention in sexual harassment case
-
Features3 days ago
High Stakes in Pursuing corruption cases
-
Midweek Review2 days agoA victory that can never be forgotten
-
News6 days agoPresident of Vietnam and delegation departs Sri Lanka