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Bumrah spearheads India’s defence of 119; Pakistan on brink of elimination

Published

2 years ago

2024/06/10

Priyan

Jasprit Bumrah brought India back into the game with Mohammad Rizwan's wicket [Cricinfo]

One team had Jasprit Bumrah. The other didn’t. And that was that. That was the difference. His legend is littered with incredible displays. But this will feel sweeter, not merely for the fact that it came in a T20 World Cup match against Pakistan, but for the fact that without his intervention this game would have almost certainly had a different ending. India defended 119. Pakistan lost after being 80 for 3. The finalists of the 2022 tournament are in serious danger of an early exit.

Pakistan need 40 runs off the last 36 balls with seven wickets in hand. ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster gave them a 93% chance of victory then. Poor thing. It’s been left on the fritz. Bumrah’s discipline, his calmness under pressure, his extraordinary skill, not just in delivering the right ball but in understanding what the right ball is, confounded man and machine alike In New York.

Mohammad Rizwan was made to believe that a full length ball was there to play a cross-bat shot. His stumps paid the price. Soon after knocking it back, Bumrah spread his arms wide and broke into a smile. That’s his usual celebration. But he didn’t stop there. He roared. And over 30,000 people at the ground roared with him. He punched the air. Millions joined him. This was the opening that India could build on. This was the crack that would cause the collapse. Rizwan, the set batter, fell for 31 off 44. Bumrah, who had accounted for Babar Azam earlier, also took out Pakistan’s final hope, Iftikhar Ahmed, in the 19th over. Of his 24 balls, 15 were dots.

Bumrah’s mastery carved out a piece of history: 119 is the joint-lowest total ever defended in men’s T20 World Cups.

India waited until the third over to deploy their super weapon. Then they had to wait until the 15th to bring him back. In between, they relied on others to keep the pressure up and two people in particular did that with aplomb. Hardik Pandya and his short-of-a-length offerings were always going to be a threat on this New York pitch with uneven bounce. He stopped Fakhar Zaman before he could play the kind of cameo that would kill chases like these. And then he took out Shadab Khan. Both times the batters were surprised by how high the ball was when they made contact with it. Hardik wasn’t. He just shrugged, as if to say, yeah, I do that. No big deal.

Axar Patel was the other unsung hero, bowling the first of the death overs and somehow keeping it to just two runs even though he was up against a left-hand batter with the short boundary on the leg side. Imad Wasim was never allowed to win the match-up as he was fed a diet of non-spinning deliveries that were angled across him and kept bouncing over his cut shots. Bumrah produced the biggest swing in momentum towards India according to Forecaster, 44% at the end of the 19th over. Axar produced the second-biggest swing, his defensive skills earning a 13% bump.

This was the best pitch to bat on in New York so far. But even that had its perils. Largely in the form of the ball not coming on, and occasionally with uneven bounce. Rizwan and Arshdeep Singh took blows to the hand.

A bit of luck is required in these conditions. Pant got that when he survived three catching opportunities in three balls and later survived an inside edge that could have gone onto the stumps. A bit of bravery helps. Pant showed that when he smashed Haris Rauf over extra cover. A bit of imagination doesn’t go amiss either. Pant epitomised that with a flick shot that he played while falling to the floor because that was the only way he knew how to get under a good length ball and put in the gap at fine leg. Later, to Imad’s highly accurate left-arm spin, he brought out the standing reverse sweep.

It was tough to bat out there. Pant’s unorthodox methods made him successful; made him stand out. He made 42 off 31 at a strike rate of 135. The rest of India made 70 off 84 at a strike rate of 83.

In the game against USA, Mohmmad Amir was all over the place. In this one, he was spot on. Eight of the first 12 deliveries he bowled produced false shots. Early on with the new ball, he beat the bat three times in a row. Later on, with the old one, he was on a hat-trick. Pakistan demoted him to first-change and by the time he came on, India had already lost their two best batters, both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli caught off balls that stuck in the pitch, a theme that would continue for the rest of the innings. Amir had a soft entry but he made the absolute most of it. His best work coincided with the best phase of the game for Pakistan, when they strung four overs together between the 12th and the 15th where only eight runs were scored and four wickets were taken. India went from 89 for 3 to 96 for 7. At the halfway stage, Pakistan were ahead. Twenty overs later, they were facing elimination, in part because they weren’t the team with Jasprit Bumrah.

Brief scores:
India 119 in 19 overs (Rishab Pant 42, Axar Patel 20; Shaheen Shah Afridi 1-29, Naseem Shah 3-21, Mohammed Amir 2-23, Haris Rauf 3-21) beat Pakistan 113 for 7 in 20 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 31; Arshdeep Singh 1-31, Jasprit Bumrah 3-14, Hardik Pandya 2-24, Axar Patel 1-11) by 6 runs

[Cricinfo]

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Trump announces two-week ceasefire as Iran agrees to reopen Hormuz Strait

Published

7 hours ago

2026/04/8

Priyan

[file pic]

United States President Donald Trump has agreed to suspend his planned bombing of Iran for two weeks, following his threat that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran did not comply with his demands.

On Tuesday evening, within hours of the planned attack, Trump took to his platform Truth Social to announce he had reversed course.

He credited Pakistan for mediating the settlement, but warned it came with conditions – namely that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” Trump wrote.

The message was posted online at 6:32pm US Eastern time (22:32 GMT), just under one and a half hours before Trump’s 8pm (00:00 GMT) deadline for the attack.

Shortly after Trump’s message, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi confirmed that a tentative agreement had been reached.

“If attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations,” Araghchi wrote.

“For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran’s Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations.”

Araghchi likewise thanked Pakistan for its last-minute appeal to suspend the US bombing campaign. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council also hinted in a separate statement that the ceasefire could be extended beyond its initial two weeks if negotiations proceed favourably.

Further talks are expected to take place in Islamabad over the coming weeks

In the lead-up to the Thursday evening announcement, there had been speculation that Trump might extend the deadline, as he has multiple times in recent weeks.

But tensions had mushroomed on Tuesday as the deadline inched closer – and after Trump himself posted a menacing message on social media that morning.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump had written. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

He added that the evening deadline would mark “one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World”.

Trump had previously threatened to blow up power plants, bridges and other civilian infrastructure, actions that many legal experts said would amount to a war crime.

In his Tuesday evening message, the US president once again claimed victory over Iran and said that Tehran had delivered a feasible ceasefire proposal.

“This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE,” Trump wrote.

“The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Long term PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East. We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate.”

Trump explained that the next two weeks would be spent finalising the agreement with Iran. But he voiced optimism that any past disagreements had been resolved.

“Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran,” Trump said.

“It is an Honor to have this Long term problem close to resolution,” he added.

Al Jazeera correspondent Osama Bin Javaid noted that Trump’s latest announcement was likely to be welcomed by US allies in the Middle East, who had been bracing for a heavy attack on Iran and the possibility of counterattacks.

“That is going to be a big sigh of relief, collectively from the region and beyond, because the alternative was so horrific,” Bin Javaid said.

“The level of anxiety around the region was extraordinary, and Donald Trump was the only person who could defuse it, because he’s the one who lit the fuse in the first place.”

Trump’s announcement was initially met with scepticism and confusion on the ground in Tehran, where some questioned how much of the conflict would be paused under the ceasefire.

“It’s not clear, at least not to me, whether he’s suspending what is already going on since the beginning of the war entirely, or he’s extending the deadline for that ultimate destruction of the power plants,” Al Jazeera correspondent Mohamed Vall said from Tehran.

The war has been raging for more than five weeks, since Israel and the US launched a joint military offensive against Iran on February 28.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have argued that the offensive was necessary to eliminate Iran as a regional threat and prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

But legal experts have described the offensive as an unprovoked attack, in violation of international law.

Already, nearly 2,076 people have been killed in Iran since the start of the war. Another 28 people have been killed in nearby Gulf states.

The US, meanwhile, has lost 13 military members, while 26 people have been killed in Israel.

[Aljazeera]

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Yashasvi Jaiswal powers Royals past Mumbai Indians in 11-over thrash

Published

7 hours ago

2026/04/8

Priyan

Yashasvi Jaiswal was all smiles at the end of the match [Cricinfo]

Heavy rain in Guwahati delayed the start of the match between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) by more than two and a half hours. And when play finally began at 10.10 pm, there was another storm awaiting MI.

RR’s openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooriyavanshi ransacked 80 runs in five overs. Sooryavanshi was eventually dismissed for 39 off 14, but Jaiswal rampaged unbeaten through the 11-over innings, scoring 77 off 32 to power RR to 150 for 3.

In reply, MI lost three wickets inside the powerplay, which was reduced to 3.2 overs, and were eventually restricted to 123 for 9. Jofra Archer had provided the first breakthrough, and Sandeep Sharma, Nandre Burger and Ravi Bishnoi picked up two wickets apiece. RR moved to the top of the points table with three wins in three games, while MI suffered their second successive defeat.

Sooryavanshi and Jaiswal don’t need to be told to be aggressive, and that natural instinct was heightened in a rain-shortened contest. If there was any moisture in the pitch due to the weather, there was no evidence of it in the powerplay. MI chose to give the first over not to Trent Boult but to Deepak Chahar and Jaiswal tore into him: 4, 6, 4, 0, 4, 4.

Then came the highly-anticipated battle: 15-year old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi facing Jasprit Bumrah for the first time in his fledgling career. How would he approach one of the greatest bowlers in the game? Bumrah’s first ball was a slot ball. Sooryavanshi played the delivery and not the deliverer, and smashed it over the long-on boundary. The strike rotated back to him over the next two balls, and when Bumrah tested him with an off-pace delivery, Sooryavanshi swivelled and pulled him for another six over deep backward square leg. Round one – 13 off 5 balls – to Sooryavanshi.

Boult came on for the third over and Jaiswal cleared the deep square leg boundary twice and Sooryavanshi once, and by the time the 20-ball powerplay was finished, RR were 59 for 0.

Jaiswal is usually boom or bust against MI. Before this match, he had two centuries and five scores of less than 15 in eight innings against them. On Tuesday, he went boom again, smashing four fours and three sixes in his first nine deliveries. He got to fifty off 23 balls by cracking Hardik Pandya through point.

Sooryavanshi fell to the golden arm of Shardul Thakur, Dhruv Jurel and Riyan Parag fell to the mystery spin of AM Ghazanfar, but Jaiswal didn’t stop. He clobbered Bumrah for a straight six and picked three fours off Shardul in the final over to take RR to 150.

Like they had with the ball, MI suffered 20 balls of powerplay mayhem with the bat. Facing an asking rate of nearly 14, Ryan Rickelton swung Jofra Archer for six over deep midwicket but then top-edged another pull and was caught by Jurel running back. Suryakumar Yadav paddled Nandre Burger for the flattest of sixes over fine leg but was deceived by a hard-length offcutter and caught at deep backward square a ball later. Rohit was pinned lbw for the sixth time in 13 IPL innings by Sandeep. While RR’s powerplay score was 59 for 0; MI responded with 29 for 3.

The pitch had become a little tacky as the match progressed and the RR quicks adapted by using their cutters to good effect. Legspinner Ravi Bishnoi extended his lead at the top of the Purple Cap charts by dismissing Hardik and Tilak Varma in his first over, reducing MI to 46 for 5 after five overs. He should have had a third in his next over, when Sherfane Rutherford miscued to long-on but Jaiswal dropped the chance.

With the required rate soaring to past 17 an over, Naman Dhir and Rutherford tried to revive the chase with a partnership of 47 in 17 balls. But any slim hope MI may have had was extinguished when Sandeep dived forward at short third to take a low catch to end Rutherford’s innings. Burger, Sandeep and Archer closed out the innings to seal RR’s victory by 27 runs.

Brief scores: [11 overs per team]
Rajasthan Royals 150 for 3 in 11 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 77*, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 39, Riyan Parag 20; Shardul Thakur 1-36, AM Ghazanfar 2-21) beat Mumbai Indians 123 for 9 in 11 overs (Tilak Varma 14, Sherfane Rutherford 25, Naman Dhir 25; Jofra Archer 1-17, Nandre Burger 2-21, Sandeep Sharma 2-26, Tushar Deshpande 1-29, Ravi Bishnoi 2-25) by 27 runs

[Cricinfo]

Latest News

The Sun is directly overhead Warakapola, Aranayaka, Gampola, Bibile, Inginiyagala, and Akkaraipattu at about 12:12 noon today (08)

Published

10 hours ago

2026/04/8

Priyan

On the apparent northward relative motion of the sun, it is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka from the 05th to 15th of April this year.

The nearest areas of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (08th) are Warakapola, Aranayaka, Gampola, Bibile, Inginiyagala, and Akkaraipattu at about 12:12 noon.