Connect with us

Latest News

In a virtual knockout, a fight of reputation and expectation

Published

on

India face the West Indies in a must-win game at the Eden Gardens [Cricbuzz]
Kolkata has a habit of stirring nostalgia and deja vu, and giving the internet-savvy an excuse to #throwback. Wouldn’t Daren Sammy and West Indies like to carry that thought into the cauldron of Eden Gardens? Sammy has returned to the land of one of his biggest conquests – a T20 World Cup title victory from 2016, as the wise sage of West Indies cricket, pulling strings from behind while narrating tales of glory from the past.

Sammy has always been a headline-chaser’s dream. In a room full of journalists on Saturday, he put on a show. “It’s going to feel like a David vs Goliath game. But then again, in 2016, David defeated Goliath, so that’s what I am going to tell my boys tomorrow.”

It’s a smart narrative to go with as a coach looking to get his players fired up for their biggest game of the World Cup. But as the last 20-odd days have shown, the quality chasm between the two teams isn’t as deep as Sammy would have you believe.

For starters, they’re the two best six-hitting teams of the tournament (West Indies: 66, India: 63), who were made to look out of their depth only by South Africa. Their batters have exploitable pain points – India have struggled against pace-off deliveries and West Indies have buckled against short balls – but they’ve also shown themselves to be responsible for victories. India might want to believe there’s more match-winning depth in their bowling but an upbeat Sammy and his West Indies will not concur.

Sunday evening’s face-off is a fight to protect both reputations and expectations. West Indies cricket may weather crises and lose bona fide stars to retirement and the lure of franchise leagues, but on the field, they will always be seen as capable of bending this format to their will.

India meanwhile, are lugging along the invisible weight of expectations with the triple burden of being defending champions, the best team of the last two years, and hosts. They rekindled a version close to their best in Chennai, but that would count for nothing if their sojourn doesn’t take them from Kolkata to Ahmedabad via Mumbai.

A dry pitch? That was Daren Sammy’s first assessment of it. There’s also a bit of green left on it on the eve of the big fixture. This is also the first 7 PM start of the World Cup at this venue so average scores so far will not paint an accurate picture of what to expect. The city experienced rains last week, but the coast should be clear on Sunday.

Rinku Singh is expected to be back with the team late Saturday evening after being at his father’s funeral, but might not be rushed back into the XI. India should stick with the same combination they used in Chennai against Zimbabwe.

Against a team that has lost 19 wickets to finger spin, the most among Super Eights teams, West Indies could be tempted to pick all three of Roston Chase, Gudakesh Motie and Akeal Hosein, who sat out the fixture against South Africa for tactical reasons.

“All my soldiers are fit and ready to go” was Sammy’s response to queries on Brandon King’s fitness and availability.

India Probable XI: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh

West Indies Probable XI: Brandon King, Shai Hope (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Roston Chase, Romario Shepherd, Jason Holder, Matthew Forde/Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph

[Cricbuzz]



Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest News

Sameer Rizvi aces another tricky chase as Delhi Capitals floor Mumbai Indians

Published

on

By

Sameer Rizvi was afforded a slow start by a blazing Pathum Nissanka [Cricinfo]

Sameer Rizvi picked up his second Player-of-the-Match award in as many games in IPL 2026, this time scoring 90 off 51 balls to help Delhi Capitals [DC] seal a tricky chase against Mumbai Indians [MI] with six wickets and 11 balls to spare. If you include his Player-of-the-Match award from DC’s last game of the 2025 season, it makes it three in a row. Only seven others have done so, and no one has gone beyond.

Before the Rizvi show, the DC bowlers restricted MI to 162 for 6 on a slow, black-soil pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. With Hardik Pandya unwell, Suryakumar Yadav captained MI and top-scored with 51 off 36 balls. But most other batters struggled to play their shots. In fact, the first six of the MI innings came on the last ball of the seventh over.

DC, too, lost KL Rahul and Nitish Rana early in the chase but Pathum Nissanka’s counterattack kept them going. Nissanka made 44 off 30, after which Rizvi, coming in as DC’s Impact Player once again, ran away with the game.

Mukesh Kumar started waywardly, and Ryan Rickelton made him pay with two leg-side boundaries. From the other end, Rohit Sharma did the same against Lungi Ngidi. But Mukesh bounced back in his second over. He had Rickelton miscuing to mid-off and then caught and bowled Tilak Varma off a knuckleball.

With two right-hand batters, Rohit and Suryakumar, in the middle, Axar immediately brought himself on and sneaked in a three-run over. Rohit did hit two fours off Ngidi’s slower ones in the sixth over, the first a streaky one but the second a caress through covers, to take MI to 41 for 2, but it was a six-less powerplay for them. The last time it happened for MI was in 2023, against Chennai Super Kings in Chepauk.

Axar had a good match-up against Rohit coming into this game and he improved it further by having the batter caught at cover in the tenth over. Rohit made 35 off 26 balls. His match-up against Axar in the IPL now reads 77 balls, 67 runs, four dismissals.

Sherfane Rutherford didn’t last long and holed out to deep square leg against Vipraj Nigam, but Suryakumar kept MI going. He attacked the spinners and hit Kuldeep for two sixes. In the company of Naman Dhir, he brought up his fifty but was lbw to Ngidi off the following delivery. In Hardik’s absence, MI could score only 38 runs in the death overs.

Against Lucknow Super Giants, Rahul was out for a first-ball duck. Here he lasted three balls and made 1 before being caught down the leg side off Deepak Chahar. Rana was run out in the next over when Jasprit Bumrah, after fielding the ball off his own bowling, nailed a direct hit at the non-striker’s end.

At 7 for 2, Nissanka decided to take the attacking route. In the fourth over, he picked up back-to-back fours off Mitchell Santner, the second of which came via a reverse-hit over a leaping Rohit at cover. In the following over, he smashed two fours and a six off Shardul Thakur. Nissanka got a life on 41 when Dhir dropped him off Corbin Bosch but he fell to Santner three runs later.

After ten overs, DC were 73 for 3 – the exact score MI were at the same stage of their innings. The game was in the balance. Rizvi was batting on 25 off 23 but shifted the momentum in just one over. He flayed Bosch over mid-off, ramped him to the deep-third fence, cut him over deep point and launched him down the ground for 20 runs in all.

To ram home the advantage, he used his feet against Mayank Markande in the following over for back-to-back sixes. The first of those took him to his fifty off 31 balls. Such was his dominance that when the fifty stand for the fourth wicket came up, David Miller’s contribution in that was 1 off five balls. He was more of a bystander than a partner.

By the end of the 15th over, the result was a foregone conclusion. The only real interest left was whether Rizvi could reach his hundred. DC needed 25 to win, Rizvi needed 17. On 90, he attempted yet another big hit off Bosch but holed out to long-off.

Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 164 for 4 in 18.1 overs (Sameer Rizvi 90, Pathum Nissanka 44, David Miller 21*; Deepak Chahar 1-20, Mitchell Santner 1-22, Corbin Bosch 1-39) beat Mumbai Indians 162 for 6 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 35, Suryakumar Yadav 51, Naman Dhir 28, Mitchell Santner 18*, Corbin Bosch 11*; Mukesh Kumar  2-26, Lungi Ngidi 1=34, Axar Patel 1-22, Vipraj Nigam 1-24, T Natarajan 1-24) by six wickets

[Cricinfo]

Continue Reading

Latest News

Sun directly overhead Dodanduwa, Rathgama, Yakkalamulla, Akuressa, Mulgirigala, Ranna, Kalamatiya and Ussangoda at about 12:13 noon today (05th April)

Published

on

By

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

The nearest areas of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (05th) are Dodanduwa, Rathgama, Yakkalamulla, Akuressa, Mulgirigala, Ranna, Kalamatiya and Ussangoda at about 12:13 noon

Continue Reading

Latest News

Heat Index at Caution Level in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Eastern, North-western, Northern and North-central provinces and in Monaragala district

Published

on

By

Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 04 April 2026, valid for 05 April 2026

The Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Eastern, North-western, Northern and North-central provinces and in Monaragala district.

The Heat Index Forecast is calculated by using relative humidity and maximum temperature and this is the condition that is felt on your body. This is not the forecast of maximum temperature. It is generated by the Department of Meteorology for the next day period and prepared by using global numerical weather prediction model data.

Effect of the heat index on human body is mentioned in the above table and it is prepared on the advice of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services.

ACTION REQUIRED
Job sites: Stay hydrated and takes breaks in the shade as often as possible.
Indoors: Check up on the elderly and the sick.
Vehicles: Never leave children unattended.
Outdoors: Limit strenuous outdoor activities, find shade and stay hydrated.
Dress: Wear lightweight and white or light-colored clothing.

Note:
In addition, please refer to advisories issued by the Disaster Preparedness & Response Division, Ministry of Health in this regard as well. For further clarifications please contact 011-7446491.

Continue Reading

Trending