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Harmeet and Anderson the heroes as USA stun Bangladesh
United States of America, the No. 19 ranked cricket team in T20Is, shocked Bangladesh, the ninth ranked team in the world, with a five-wicket victory in Texas. More impressively, the hosts dominated most of the proceedings, as they took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, picking up their second win against a Full Member in T20Is, following their victory against Ireland in 2021.
Harmeet Singh, the former India Under-19 cricketer, struck the winning runs in a chase of 154 after his three consecutive sixes turned the tide in favour of the USA. He finished unbeaten on 33 off 13 balls, adding 62 runs in 4.4 overs for the unbroken sixth wicket stand with Corey Anderson who was not out on 34.
The USA also bowled superbly to restrict Bangladesh to 153 for 6. The visitors had slipped to 68 for 4, with Litton Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto continuing to struggle. However, Towhid Hridoy and Mahmudullah continued to rescue the side from tough situations as they have done all year, helping the team to a respectable score.
Hridoy top-scored with 58, lasting till the 20th over. He added 67 runs for the fifth wicket with Mahmudullah, who also showed that he can adapt to conditions faster than most in this batting line-up.
Litton couldn’t do justice to the faith shown on him by the Bangladesh team management, as he fell for 14 in the fifth over. He had already survived when he was on 2, when the US captain Monank Patel dropped a sitter behind the stumps. Litton also survived a run-out when the cover fielder couldn’t hit the stumps as he was stranded a few feet away from the crease.
Litton had struck a nice straight six in the third over but looked increasingly edgy. He missed the ramp-scoop in the fifth over against Ali Khan before falling lbw to Jasdeep Singh’s superb first over. Jasdeep’s delivery jagged back into Litton.
Soumya Sarkar followed him back to the dugout three balls later when he struck Steven Taylor right down deep midwicket’s throat. Najmul Hossain Shanto, another top-order Bangladesh batter now out of form, got stumped off Taylor. He couldn’t time any ball as he made three off 11.
Hridoy made things worse before making them better. When he nudged the ball towards the cover, Hridoy stood still as Shakib Al Hasan came down the pitch looking for a quick single. The run-out made it 68 for 4 in the 12th over. Hridoy made it up with two sixes off Jasdeep, but then he was caught in the covers in the 14th over.
Thankfully for the batter, left-arm spinner Harmeet bowled the first of his two no-balls. Mahmudullah struck Khan for a four and a six in the 17th over, but fell trying to heave Saurabh Netravalkar over long-on, where Nitish Kumar took a good catch. Mahmudullah made 31 off 22 balls, but more importantly added 67 runs for the fifth wicket with Hridoy. Jaker Ali and Hridoy took 17 runs off the last over, but Khan at least managed to remove Hridoy with the last ball of the innings.
Monank Patel couldn’t take advantage of being dropped by his opposite number Shanto in the third over, when he was run out from Taylor’s straight drive. The ball brushed against Shoriful Islam’s fingers as Patel stood out of his crease at the non-striker’s end.
Within two balls, USA’s No. 3 Andries Gous got going with a punched four through the covers. Taylor slammed Shakib for a six before Gous hit Rishad Hossain for two fours in the seventh over. He repeated the dose on Rishad in the legspinner’s next over, but then top edged a sweep to the deep backward square-leg boundary, where Mustafizur Rahman took a good tumbling catch.
Gous’ wicket slowed down the USA batting approach. Aaron Jones couldn’t time the ball which forced Taylor to try to clear mid-off. Mahmudullah ran back and took a good catch, ending Taylor’s stay on 28 off 29 balls. One ball later, Jones departed, skying Mustafizur to get out on 4 off 12.
Nitish Kumar struck a six off Shakib in the 14th over to break a 31-ball sequence of no boundaries but he fell trying to clear Shoriful in the 15th over. The left-arm quick had conceded just one run in that over, leaving the US to get 60 off the last five overs.
The required run-rate was going out of the home team’s control when they needed 50 off the last 20 balls. Harmeet, having scratched around for five balls, pinged Mustafizur for two straight sixes to hand back the pressure to Bangladesh. When he got the strike in the next over, Harmeet slammed Shoriful straight down the ground again. He finished the 18th over with a carved four through point, as the USA collected 31 runs in two overs, leaving them needing 24 off the last 12 balls.
Anderson was minding his own business even as Harmeet was landing the big sixes. The former New Zealand allrounder finally struck a six off his 22nd ball when he crashed Mustafizur over long-on in the penultimate over. Off the first ball of the last over, he drilled Mahmudullah for another six. It left the USA with just three runs to win off five balls. Harmeet struck the third ball for a four, bringing the home side a historic win.
Brief scores:
USA156 for 5 in 19.3 overs (Steven Taylor 28, Andries Gouse 23, Corey Anderson 34*, Harmeet Singh 33*; Shoriful Islam 1-31, Mustafizur Rahman 2-41, Rishad Hossain 1-16) beat Bangladesh 153 for 6 in 20 overs (Soumya Sarkar 20, Towhid Hridoy 58, Mahmudullah 31; Saurabh Netravalkar 1-27, Ali Khan 1-49, Jessy Singh 1-30, Steven Taylor 2-09) by five wickets
(Cricinfo)
The United States military has said that it will pull 5,000 troops out of Germany amid ongoing tensions with the key European ally concerning the US war against Iran, according to media reports.
Reuters reported that the Pentagon made the decision on Friday, several days after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Iran was humiliating the US during negotiations over the end of the war.
“The president is rightly reacting to these counterproductive remarks,” the report cites an anonymous official as saying.
The news service reported that the withdrawal is expected to take place over the next six to 12 months. The decision was also reported by CBS News, citing senior defence officials.
President Donald Trump has lashed out at European allies for not doing more to assist the US-Israel war on Iran, and had stated on Wednesday that he was thinking of pulling troops out of European countries deemed insufficiently supportive.
The US outlet Politico reported earlier this week that Trump’s threats to pull troops out of European countries caught the military by surprise, citing several anonymous defence officials and a congressional aide.
Trump attacked his German counterpart in another social media post on Thursday, stating that Merz should spend more time trying to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and less time “interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat, thereby making the World, including Germany, a safer place”.
While European countries have been hesitant to commit their own forces to the US war on Iran, leaders such as Merz were initially hesitant to offer criticism of the US attacks, widely considered illegal under international law.
[Aljazeera]
In their last match in Jaipur, Rajasthan Royals [RR] were asked to bat first, scored around 230, and never looked like they could defend it. On Friday, against Delhi Capitals [DC], their second match in Jaipur this year, RR won the toss, chose to bat first, scored around 230, and never looked like they could defend it. Between these two matches, RR themselves chased down around 230 with ease.
The decision at the toss remains in sharp focus because it took extraordinary hitting for RR to recover from 36 for 2 in five overs when the ball seamed. During the chase, though, the pitch didn’t offer much to RR, who have arguably had the best attacking new-ball bowlers in Jofra Archer and Nandre Burger. The result was DC’s highest sucessful chase without seemingly having to come out of third gear.
Riyan Parag had to endure the early misbehaviour before he could turn his innings around into 90 off 50 balls. Donovan Fereira (47* in 14 balls) drilled out proverbial yorkers for sixes to give RR their second-best finish in the Impact Player era.
However, led by the returning Mitchell Starc’s three-for, the DC bowlers did just enough to let their batters make full use of the improved conditions. Pathum Nissanka started the charge with 52 from 26 deliveries in the powerplay, KL Rahul went at better than two a ball in the middle overs, and Nitish Rana put any possible nerves to rest with his 33 off 17 balls.
The moment Parag won the toss and surprised just about everybody, including his opponents, that shock quickly gave way to anticipation of watching Vaibhav Sooryavanshi go against Starc after his first-ball sixes off Jasprit Bumrah and Pat Cummins, a second-baller off Sunil Narine, and four boundaries in first four balls against Josh Hazlewood.
However, things happened at the wrong ends. Yashasvi Jaiswal hit Starc for a first-ball six, and two balls later, offered a return chance off a high full toss. Sooryavanshi never got to the Starc end as he played on a Kyle Jamieson yorker, which might point to a pre-decided plan.
Parag had the dubious company of Dhruv Jurel, but he kept RR going at a rate that was exciting but did not promise a win. However, outside the three wickets that fell, you hardly see or hear of any IPL coaches asking those in the between to initiate something.
Now RR were happy with a strike rate of little over one as long as Ravindra Jadeja could offer Ferreira shield from Kuldeep Yadav, with the right-hand batter having fallen to the left-arm wristspinner twice in nine balls. Jadeja was strictly a pinch anchor, asked to face Kuldeep out for Ferreira to have the biggest impact.
But what impact did Ferreira have, including hitting three sixes off Kuldeep. The balls he hit were no more than two inches off the mark, if at all. By bending his back knee and staying deep inside the crease, Ferreira took RR to what looked like a competitive score.
For someone introduced into this IPL as a second thought and only for his par-time offspin against SRH, Rana has shown he belongs at this level if not for India. While the two DC openers holed out, they had already done such good work that DC needed just 49 off 28 balls. Tristan Stubbs and Ashutosh Sharma were never going to allow a hiccup.
Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 226 for 3 (Pathum Nissanka 62, KL Rahul 75, Nitish Rana 33, Tristan Stubbs 18*, Ashutosh Sharma 25*; Jofra Archer 1-46, Thushar Deshpande 1-38, Ravindra Jadeja 1-33) beat Rajasthan Royals 225 for 6 in 20 overs (Dhruv Jurel 42, Riyan Parag 90, Ravindra Jadeja 20, Donovan Ferreira 47*; Mitchell Starc 3-40, Kyle Jamieson 1-48, Axar Patel 1-39, T Natarajan 1-54) by seven wickets
[Cricinfo]
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