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Bumrah five-fer, Suryakumar, Ishan blitz dismantle Royal Challengers Bangalore
Jasprit Bumrah produced a fast-bowling clinic on a featherbed of a batting surface to take 5 for 21 before Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav led a batting onslaught to chase down Royal Challengers Bangalore’s total of 196 in just 15.3 overs. RCB, who had Faf du Plessis, Rajat Patidar and Dinesh Karthik hit brisk half-centuries, faced the worst of the conditions on a dewy Mumbai evening after losing the toss and were condemned to their fifth loss in six games while Mumbai continued to make the climb up the standings after a slow start to IPL 2024, giving their Net Run Rate a big fillip on their way up.
In his mid-match chat with the broadcasters, Bumrah said that he had seen deliveries from Mohammad Nabi’s first over of the match holding up a touch. And so, he resorted to hitting the hard lengths at pace. It took him just three balls to knock over IPL 2024’s leading run-getter. Virat Kohli, having made a scratchy beginning, backed away to the first ball and missed with an attempted swipe across the line. He wore the second ball, an inducker, on his pad. Another attempt to swing across the line sent him on his way as the inside edge was snaffled neatly by Kishan. Kohli was back in the hut for 3 (9) in the third over. His dismissal and that of IPL debutant Will Jacks – replacing big-money trade signing Cam Green – meant RCB got to a middling PowerPlay score of 44/2, despite a promising start from du Plessis.
Hardik Pandya summoned his bowling linchpin back at the end of the 10th over when RCB had staged a laudable comeback through du Plessis and Patidar. The pair plundered 45 in the four overs after the PowerPlay and the MI captain, who had leaked 13 in his only over, needed to reclaim a semblance of control. And so in came Bumrah and sent down a four-run over. There was no wicket here but the over included a pacy short ball that whizzed past Patidar before the follow-up yorker honing in on the legstump had to be frantically dug out. Control somewhat regained, MI proceeded to dismiss Patidar after his return-to-form 26-ball 50 in the following over before the returning Shreyas Gopal added to RCB’s misery by handing Glenn Maxwell a four-ball duck, extending his dreadful start to the season.
RCB recovered once more and at 149/4 with half-centurion du Plessis and Karthik in the middle, they were primed to cash in on the final four overs. But to entertain any thought of a finishing kick, they had to go through Bumrah once more. Du Plessis couldn’t. The RCB captain mistimed a low full-toss to long-on to depart for a 40-ball 61. Bumrah welcomed new batter Mahipal Lomror with a searing yorker with the batter unable to get DRS to his aid. The unexpected slide forced RCB to use their impact substitute in the first innings, but Saurav Chauhan didn’t last long with Bumrah offering him a quick short ball which the batter miscued to mid-on. Vijaykumar Vyshak was the next batter to get a first-ball duck when Bumrah served him another short ball and had him chip a simple catch to mid-off. That wicket helped Bumrah join a very select group of bowlers — James Faulkner, Jaydev Unadkat and Bhuvneshwar Kumar the others — to take two IPL five-fers. He finished with a sensational 5 for 21.
After two excellent half-centuries from du Plessis and Patidar, it took an even better effort from Karthik to take the visitors to 196. Karthik walked out to bat unusually early, in the 13th over and after nine balls had just six runs to his name. He took down Akash Madhwal in the 16th over, using the ramp to third to great effect. Four boundaries came in that over before Karthik added another four and a pair of sixes from Madhwal’s 20th over. Karthik’s unbeaten 53 off 23 made it only the 11th instance in the IPL for an innings to feature three half-centurions. His innings also powered RCB close to 200 but his innings was also a revelation of the easing batting conditions with the onset of dew.
Any hopes RCB had of defending the score was to be a function of how their bowlers fared in the powerplay. Reece Topley and Mohammed Siraj found swing in their first overs respectively and MI’s openers made a circumspect beginning. All that changed in the third over when Kishan edged Topley only to be reprieved by Maxwell, who was placed wide at first slip. Kishan proceeded to lay into the wayward RCB attack, dispatching Mohammed Siraj for two sixes and a four in a 23-run fifth over. Du Plessis turned to Maxwell’s off-spinners for some match-up advantage but saw the all-rounder leak 17 as Kishan reached a 23-ball half-century. The chase was as good as done with Mumbai Indians racing off to 72/0 after six overs.
If Kishan’s 34-ball 69 was rapid then what followed was a blitzkrieg. Suryakumar, in just his second game back from an injury, walked out in the ninth over behind a century opening stand and sent the opposition on a leather hunt. Akash Deep copped punishment to the tune of 24 runs in the 11th hour. All of the facets that make Suryakumar one of the best in the format: the wristy flicks, the slice over point for six, the walk across the crease and lap over short fine were all on display. Suryakumar proceeded to take down Reece Topley for three fours and a six and in the process completed a half-century off just 17 balls – his fastest in the tournament history and the second-fastest for the season. The only good thing at that point for RCB on the night was that their pain didn’t last too long thereafter.
Brief scores:Royal Challengers Bengaluru 196/8 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 61, Rajat Patidar 50, Dinesh Karthik 53*; Jasprit Bumrah 5-21, Gerald Coetze 1-42, Akash Madhwal 1-57, Shreyas Gpal 1-32 ) lost to Mumbai Indians 199/3 in 15.3 overs (Ishan Kishan 69, Suryakumar Yadav 52, Rohit Sharma 38, Hardik Pandya 21*; Vijaykumar Vyshak 1-32, Akash Deep 1-55, Will Jacks 1-24) by seven wickets.
The first Test match at Centurion is tantalisingly poised after Pakistan took three wickets in nine overs to leave South Africa wobbling at 27 for 3, still 121 runs away from the 147-run target that seals a win, as well as a place in the 2023-25 World Test Championship [WTC] final.
After South Africa had bowled Pakistan out for 237, they needed a fairly comfortable 148 to secure victory, but an unerring spell of accurate medium-fast bowling from Mohammed Abbas and Khurram Shahzad was well rewarded. Aside from Aiden Markram , the South Africa batters were somewhat timid in their approach to the last few overs of the day, while Abbas and Shahzad targeted the pads. Abbas brought one to jag back in sharply into Tony de Zorzi for the first breakthrough.
Pakistan’s reviewing was chalk and cheese from the previous innings, successfully overturning two lbw calls. Shahzad found similar seam movement from around the wicket to strike Ryan Rickleton on the front pad, viciously enough that it hit him in line despite the batter having moved well across.
Having successfully overturned that one, Pakistan repeated the formula, with Abbas finding the right line and adequate sideways movement, which has seen him find bouts of high success. Tristan Stubbs took a step out of his crease but was beaten on the outside edge, and yet again Pakistan went up collectively for the umpire to turn them down. But Shan Masood signalled to go upstairs once more and was proven right again.
Earlier in the day, Marco Jansen’s six-wicket haul had helped South Africa tighten their control over the game. He picked five wickets in the afternoon as Pakistan squandered a promising start following a rain delay that wiped out the morning session. He picked one more in the final session as the hosts returned to polish off the Pakistan tail after stubborn resistance from Saud Shakeel.
Babar Azam and Shakeel put on 79 for the fourth wicket, with Babar reaching his first Test half-century in nearly two years, but holed out to deep point immediately after. Mohammad Rizwan was squeezed down leg as Pakistan crumbled around Shakeel.
Persistent rain saw the game start an hour after the lunch break concluded, and Pakistan began by taking advantage of a bowling effort that was nowhere near its best. Shakeel and Babar each worked Kagiso Rabada away for four in the third over, and the runs flowed for the next half an hour. Twenty-three runs came off the next three, and though Babar still found himself beaten a few times, he was also finding the timing that in the past was so often a precursor to a big score.
Corbin Bosch found that out when he missed his line twice and Babar helped himself to two fours, before a clip into the covers brought up his long-awaited half-century, his first in 20 innings. But he threw it away disappointingly, failing to get on top of a short and wide one from Jansen, Bosch barely having to move to send a devastated Babar on his way.
Jansen was finding the wickets that eluded him in the first innings, with Rizwan and Salman Agha falling cheaply. A brief stand between Shakeel and Aamer Jamal once more gave the impression Pakistan would go into tea six down, before Jamal lobbed a tame Dane Paterson bouncer straight to deep midwicket, and Naseem Shah helpfully nicking Rabada into the slips.
Shakeel attempted to farm the strike post-tea and would enjoy some success as wayward bowling allowed for the odd boundary and comfortable late-over singles. A regal pick-up for six over midwicket was the highlight, but Pakistan’s penchant for gifting wickets to deliveries that did not merit them struck again when a knee-high full toss rapped into Shakeel’s front pad and effectively concluded Pakistan’s batting effort.
It appeared to be the final nail in the coffin, but Pakistan’s bowlers have seen to it that South Africa do not rest easy overnight.
Brief scores:
South Africa 301 and 27 for 3 (Aiden Markram 22*, Mohammed Abbas 2-3) need another 121 runs to beat Pakistan 211 and 237 (Saud Shakeel 84, Babar Azam 50; Marco Jansen 6-52, Kagasio Rabada 2-68)
Almost exactly 100 years since Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe became the first pair to achieve it in Test cricket, the Afghanistan pair of Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi batted out a full day of a Test match without being dismissed. In the process, Rahmat became the holder of Afghanistan’s highest Test score (231*), Shahidi struck his second Test ton (141*), and the pair comfortably broke the record for Afghanistan’s best Test partnership (361). All in all, their addition of 330 runs across 95 overs on the third day has taken Afghanistan to 425 for 2, now only 161 behind Zimbabwe’s 586.
Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo ranks among one of the best places to bat among Test venues, and Zimbabwe’s first-innings score across the first two days suggested a placid third-day surface, which it was, barring the occasional ball that stayed low.
The Zimbabwe bowlers were made to grind by the strong defensive game showed by Rahmat and Shahidi, but they were also let down by their fielding. There were atleast four catches dropped, all off Rahmat, along with a few half-chances. Both spin and pace proved ineffective to get a breakthrough, and the set batters pounced on the loose deliveries from the inexperienced bowlers, a regular occurrence through the day.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 425 for 2 in 125 overs (Rahmat Shah 231*, Hashmatullah Shahidi 141*) trail Zimbabwe 586 [Sean Williams 154, Craig Ervine 104, Brian Bennet 110*; AM Ghanzafar 3-127] by 161 runs
[Cricinfo]
A court in China has sentenced a man to death for killing 35 people last month by driving into a crowd, in an attack that raised national concern about mass killings.
Fan Weiqiu was venting his anger because he was unhappy with his divorce settlement, the court in the southern city of Zhuhai said in handing down the sentence on Friday.
The victims were exercising at a sports centre. Fan pleaded guilty to endangering public safety by dangerous means, a court statement said.
Fan’s “criminal motive was extremely despicable, the nature of the crime was extremely vile, the means of the crime were particularly cruel, and the consequences of the crime were particularly severe, resulting in great social harm”, the court said.
The attack on November 11 was one of the deadliest attacks in contemporary Chinese history.
It was among a spate of violent attacks that have recently raised questions about public safety in China, where citizens have long been proud of streets safe from violence.
The attacks spurred Chinese leader Xi Jinping to order local governments to take steps to prevent future “extreme cases”.
His order prompted pledges from local leaders to examine personal disputes that could trigger aggression, from marital troubles to disagreements over inheritance.
Some analysts have linked the incidents to growing anger and desperation at the country’s slowing economy and a sense that society is becoming more stratified.
A court earlier this week gave a suspended death sentence with a two-year reprieve to a driver who injured 30 people when he drove into elementary school students and parents in Hunan province. Such sentences are usually commuted to life in prison.
The court in the city of Changde said the driver was taking out his frustration after losing money he had invested.
Chinese authorities keep a tight lid on any reports about the attacks, censoring videos and witness accounts posted on social media and releasing only basic information, often many hours later.
The death toll in Zhuhai was not announced until 24 hours after the attack. In addition to the 35 people killed, 43 were injured, police said.
The 62-year-old driver, Fan, was found in his vehicle trying to stab himself with a knife, a police statement said.
Police set up barricades the day after the attack and barred people from entering the sports complex. Members of the public left bouquets by an adjacent square instead.
[Aljazeera]
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