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Cummins, Bhuvneshwar help Sunrisers Hyderabad snatch thriller by one run
Till the 19th over of the chase, the highest Rajasthan Royals let the asking rate rise to in a 202 chase was 10.88, which was at the end of the first over. And yet, Sunrisers Hyderabad won by one run.Pat Cummins bowled a superb 19th over followed by Bhuveneshwar Kumar successfully defending 12 in the final over despite the over-rate penalty giving them one fewer boundary rider.
Even until the last ball, RR remained the favourites, needing two to win, but Roveman Powell missed a calf-high full toss to be out lbw. It was Bhuvneshwar who got their defence to a great start, removing Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson in the first over, but Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag made the chase look easy with their fifties. When Jaiswal fell, they needed 67 off 39; when Parag left, they needed 43 off 25. Shimron Hetmyer and Powell looked like cruising it, and then two hits went straight to the fielders, and Cummins swooped in.
This was SRH’s fifth score of 200 or more this IPL, but they took the scenic route to get there after choosing to bat. By all accounts, it was a decision informed by their ordinary chasing record and not the conditions. They found themselves having to start off on a sluggish track, which got better as the evening wore off. In fact they themselves scored 153 in their last 12 overs. For the 18 overs of the RR chase, it seemed those first eight overs had cost SRH the game, who now sit among the top four on the points table.
Two left-hand batters as openers was the ideal match-up for RR. Trent Boult is anyway a new-ball ace, but now they could bowl R Ashwin too. Boult was denied a wicket first ball as Parag dropped Travis Head at backward point, but the two combined to bowl four overs for just 25 runs. After CSK had shut the SRH openers down with a sweeper on the off side in the powerplay, Boult went the other way, placing two men deep on the leg side and denying them any room. Ashwin was particularly unlucky he didn’t have a wicket as he kept beating the bat.
Avesh Khan and Sandeep Sharma reaped the harvest as they got Abhishek Sharma and Anmolpreet Singh with the first ball each of them bowled, resulting in the slowest powerplay for SRH this year: 37 runs.
After the first time-out, SRH seemed to have decided the pitch had improved. The intent changed visibly. Yuzvendra Chahal was at the receiving end of it as Head pulled and drove him for sixes. He went from 27 off 27 to get to his fifty in 37 balls. Nitish Kumar Reddy followed suit, converting his 5 off 10 into a 30-ball fifty. Even he was ruthless against Chahal, resulting in the second-worst analysis for a spinner in the IPL and also Chahal’s second-worst figures in all T20 cricket: 4-0-62-0.
Head again hit a bit of a rut after reaching his fifty, which ended with him playing on while trying to ramp a wide yorker. Not before he was reprieved again, this time by the third umpire when his bat was clearly in the air when the wicket was broken.
However, the real damage to RR came from Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen. Reddy ruined Ashwin’s neat figures by taking two sixes off his final over. Then Klaasen got stuck into Chahal in the 17th over. The RR bowlers were on point with their plans and execution, and it took improvisation and exceptional hitting from Klaasen to take SRH past 200.
Bhuvneshwar got the new ball moving, drawing the outside edge from Buttler first ball and going past Samson’s inside edge in the same over. These were his 45th and 46th wickets in the first over in T20 cricket, now only one behind Shaheen Shah Afridi’s 47 and level on joint-top at the IPL with 27.
Bhuvneshwar found swing in the second over too, but it met the broad swinging bat of Parag, who hit him for two fours and a six. This was nonchalant, disdainful hitting. Jaiswal was more respectful but just as powerful. His shot at the start of the fourth over went straight into Cummins’ midriff at mid-off, but the SRH captain dropped it. Then Cummins brought himself on to be hit for two fours and monstrous six over long leg. In the next over, Abhishek Sharma dropped Parag at extra cover. It speaks to the consistency in their hitting that the highest the asking rate hovered around 10.
Like Head, Jaiswal played on a low full toss as he tried to ramp it. Parag pulled the momentum back by hitting a six two balls later. Small things happened in the 16th over that look huge in hindsight. Parag hit a full toss from Cummins straight to short fine leg. Then he got too close to a half-volley, and holed out to long-on. SRH had a wicket and a rare over without a boundary.
Powell, though, settled RR’s nerves with 15 off the 17th, bowled by Marco Jansen. Hetmyer started the 18th with a huge six. Two dot balls later, he mis-hit a full toss and the game was refusing to die. Dhruv Jurel nailed a leg-side half-volley from Cummins straight down the throat of deep square leg following which Cummins bowled three straight dots at Powell, who hit the last ball for six to tilt the balance again.
After Ashwin handed over the strike to Powell, he used the fielding penalty to take a boundary through the vacant fine-leg region. Poor throws from the outfield allowed Powell take three couples. One more, and it would be over. Perhaps Powell was expecting something close to a yorker because Bhuvneshwar had been nailing them. The full toss took him by surprise, handing RR their first defeat this IPL while chasing.
Brief Scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 201/3 in 20 overs (Nitish Reddy 76*, Travis Head 58, Heinrich Klassen 42*; Avesh Khan 2-39, Sandeep Sharma 1-31) beat Rajasthan Royals 200/7 in 20 overs (Riyan Parag 77, Yashasvi Jaiswal 67, Rovman Powell 27; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-41, Pat Cummins 2-34, Thangarasu Natarajan 2-35, ) by 1 run
(Cricinfo)
Two people taking part in Australia’s annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race have died in separate incidents, according to police.
Both crew members died in separate incidents after being hit by a boom – the large pole attached horizontally to the bottom of a sail.
The event’s organisers said the incidents happened on the Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline.
The first boats are expected to arrive in the city of Hobart, in Tasmania, later on Friday or early on Saturday. Several have already retired due to bad weather.
New South Wales (NSW) police said the first incident was reported to officers just before midnight on Thursday local time (12:50 GMT) by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority in the country’s capital, Canberra.
Just over two hours later, at 02:15 on Friday, NSW police were told that crew aboard the second boat were giving CPR to the second person, which also had not worked.
Flying Fish Arctos had been sailing approximately 30 nautical miles east/south-east of the NSW town of Ulladulla, the organisers said.
Bowline, meanwhile, was approximately 30 nautical miles east/north-east of the town of Batemans Bay, also in NSW.
“Our thoughts are with the crews, family and friends of the deceased,” the organisers said in a statement.
“The Sydney to Hobart is an Australian tradition, and it is heart-breaking that two lives have been lost at what should be a time of joy,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
The race, which began on Thursday, has continued.
It is not the first time there have been fatalities during the race, which was first held in 1945.
Six people, including British Olympic yachtsman Glyn Charles, died in 1998 after raging storms hit competitors.
[BBC]
Deepti Sharma turned in a superb all-round performance to help India seal the ODI series 3-0 in Vadodara. She first took 6 for 31 as West Indies folded for 162. Then with India in choppy waters, Deepti provided a calming influence with an unbeaten 39 to the team home by five wickets.
While Deepti dug in for the hard grind, aided with luck when she was dropped by Hayley Matthews at slip on 21, Richa Ghosh lent the finishing touches. Having walked in to bat with India 129 for 5, Ghosh allayed fears of a collapse by hitting one four and three sixes in her brisk 11-ball 23. This included back-to-back sixes off legspinner Afy Fletcher to see off India’s chase.
Under leaden skies, and on a surface that got progressively tougher to bat on with the odd ball keeping low and turning big, West Indies were left to rue another poor batting performance. Barring Chinelle Henry and Shemaine Campbelle, who put together 91 for the fourth wicket, there was little else of note from the batting unit.
The collapse began in the very first over when Renuka Singh removed Qiana Joseph, with a faint tickle down leg, and the in-form Matthews with a superb in-ducker four balls later. When Deandra Dottin was bowled attempting a hack into the leg side to Renuka, the visitors were 9 for 3 in the fifth over. Renuka with finish with a four-for eventually, coming back later to clean up the lower order amid the Deepti show.
Under the shadow of a collapse, Henry, playing her first ODI of the series, rebuilt the innings. She struggled to get bat to ball early on, pottering to 3 off 17. Then from nowhere, she brought out a release shot for six off debutant left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar to get going.
During the course of her third half-century, Henry played some neat little cuts and glides. At the other end, Campbelle showed positivity against spin. She took the attack early to legspinner Priya Mishra, hitting her for three boundaries in her second over. After using her feet to launch into two stunning drives – one down the ground and the other through cover – she rocked back to pull Mishra for a third as she dropped short.
This 91-run stand for the fourth wicket appeared to have revived the visitors as much as it frustrated India. This is when Deepti came into the game and made a telling contribution.
Campbell was consumed by a rush of blood as she was lulled into the big shot by Deepti, only for Pratika Rawal to take a comfortable catch at long-on. In the following over, Zaida James was caught superbly at slip by Harmanpreet as Deepti had her driving from the rough.
It could’ve been a triple-strike for India but for Renuka dropping the simplest of return catches via a leading edge to reprieve Aaliya Alleyne on 0. Alleyne would make only 21, though, falling to a tame chip to short midwicket. Alleyne’s wicket came hot on the heels of Henry’s dismissal for a third ODI half-century when she was out bowled by a straighter one. West Indies went on to lose their last 5 wickets for 21.
India’s reply began in nervous fashion as they lost Smriti Mandhana and Harleen Deol early in the power play against the moving ball. Pratika Rawal too missed out on a great opportunity to build on a solid foundation from her first two ODIs when she holed out to mid-on in an attempt to hit out against Matthews’ offspin.
India captain Harmanpreet then picked the pieces up and put together a fantastic exhibition of cover driving. Having begun with two fours off her first five deliveries, she went on to pierce a packed off-side ring to hit Dottin for three fours in the ninth over to quickly take to 23 off 13.
Harmanpreet looked in rip-roaring form when she played back to be bowled by a skidder from Afy Fletcher. The wicket briefly galvanised the visitors, but India weren’t to be denied as Deepti, Jemimah Rodrigues and Ghosh all played neat hands to see them home.
Brief scores:
India Women 167 for 5 in 28.2 overs (Deepti Sharma 39*, Harmanpreet Kaur 32, Jemmimah Rodrigues 29, Richa Ghosh 23*) beat West Indies Women 162 in 38.5 overs (Chinnel Henry 61, Shemaine Campbelle 46, Aaliyah /alleine 21; Deepti Sharma 6-31, Renuka Singh 4-29) by five wickets
[Cricinfo]
Australia kept their vice-like grip around the MCG Test despite a fighting effort from Yashasvi Jaiswal as India went to stumps at 164 for 5, trailing the hosts by 310 runs. Scott Boland and Pat Cummins made that possible after Steve Smith scored his 11th Test century against India – the most by any batter against this opposition in the format.
Jaiswal shrugged off his four ordinary outings in Adelaide and Brisbane to get stuck into the Australian bowlers on Day 2 to carve out a fine essay. He was proactive with his feet movement against the pacers and negotiated Nathan Lyon with a lot of comfort in favourable batting conditions. He went after Mitchell Marsh too, setting himself up for a three-figure score. Kohli did well to buckle down and offer judgment to balls on the fifth stump channel as the Aussie quicks repeatedly tempted him to play at it with a populated slip cordon on their toes. Kohli, who was seen simulating this situation with Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna in the nets on the eve of the game, successfully let balls go. With edges not carrying either, the pacers bowled straighter at him that allowed Kohli to get his innings going with flicks and pulls.
But in the final hour of the day, a few minutes of indecisiveness saw both the batters back in the dressing room. First, Jaiswal fell for 82 to a run out after driving one to mid-on and dashing off for a single. Kohli wasn’t keen and stood his ground, leading to Jaiswal’s dismissal. Seven balls later, Kohli bit the bullet and edged a ball from Scott Boland – the kind he’d let go for majority of the session – to depart for 36. Boland dug his heels in further, dismissing nightwatchman Akash Deep and leaving India five down.
The home side’s advantage at the close of play on the second day was built on Steve Smith’s outstanding century in the morning. Smith overcame a mini-battle against Jasprit Bumrah and took runs off Deep at the other end to extend his team’s dominance that was well-established by the top-order on the opening day. Smith had several false shots against Deep but none came with the doom of his dismissal for him. He further rubbed it in by picking runs easily as Deep conceded 30 in his five-over spell. The change bowlers couldn’t stop the runs either as Siraj endured a forgettable outing with figures of 0 for 122 in 23 overs.
Smith and Cummins added quick runs in the first hour before Jadeja ended the Australian captain’s stay on 49. Smith however, got to his 34th Test hundred, fifth at the MCG, and shifted gears after to take on both Jadeja and Washington Sundar. Mitchell Starc didn’t hold back either, even hitting Jasprit Bumrah for a six towards the end of the session. The Lunch break came as respite for a misfiring India, who then struck early in the second session. Jadeja cleaned up Starc and Deep removed Smith with some luck – the centurion danced down for a big shot through the off-side, but the ball ricocheted off his leg and rolled on to dislodge one bail as he watched on. Bumrah wrapped up the innings soon but India’s riposte was once again found wanting.
Rohit Sharma opened the innings again but was swiftly sent back by his opposite number when he tried and failed to play a pull shot off a ball that wasn’t quite short. KL Rahul and Jaiswal started to build a stand but Cummins put the lid on that with an incredible ball that straightened off a length, squaring up and cleaning up Rahul at the stroke of Tea.
The difference between a fighting response and an underwhelming one for India was the health of the Kohli-Jaiswal stand, which promised to lead the way before being broken against the run of play. India lost three wickets for the addition of just six runs in this period, letting Australia maintain complete control of the game.
Brief scores:
India 164/5 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 82; Pat Cummins 2-57, Scott Boland 2-24) trail Australia 474 (Steve Smith 140, Marnus Labuschagne 72; Jasprit Bumrah 4-99) by 310 runs
[Cricbuzz]
Two die in Sydney to Hobart yacht race
Deepti’s all-round heroics hand India series sweep
Australia maintain full control despite Jaiswal’s 82
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