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India sink Pakistan with a complete performance
India pulled off a perfectly complete performance against the top-ranked ODI team to record a whopping 228-run victory in the rain-hit fixture on Sunday and Monday in Colombo. KL Rahul and Virat Kohli slammed centuries after which the pacers made life hell for the top-order and Kuldeep Yadav wrapped up the win with a five-wicket haul. This is India’s biggest ODI victory over Pakistan in terms of runs.
The two-day affair was taken a few notches higher on the second, when Rahul and Kohli got hundreds and stitched together the highest ODI partnership for India against Pakistan – worth 233 runs – to pile on the misery on an opposition that had to work with a bowler short. Haris Rauf was off bowling duty as a precautionary measure after scans revealed an inflammation in his oblique muscle.
Babar Azam had to turn to Iftikhar Ahmed’s part-time spin to cover for the five overs that Rauf couldn’t bowl and the Indian duo duly capitalised on it. None of the Pakistan bowlers came close to making a breakthrough, and regressed further as the innings went on as both Rahul and Kohli began to score more freely. The pair hit 92 off the last eight overs to propel India to a humongous 356/2 in 50 overs
Right after the batters were done flaunting their skills and abilities, India’s quicks took centre stage. Both Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj made the Pakistan openers hop and jump at the crease as they got the ball to nip both ways. Pakistan captain Babar Azam – and the No.1 ODI batter in the world currently – was made to look inferior to those standards by Bumrah as he kept chasing at balls that swung away and beat the outside edge repeatedly.
Imam-Ul-Haq fell in the fifth over, playing for the inward angle from Bumrah bowling round the stumps but was squared up and nicked the ball that straightened instead. Fakhar Zaman faced similar woes, against Mohammed Siraj, who switched seamlessly between balls that were angled across the left-hander and those that went straight from the middle-stump line. Such was India’s accuracy with the ball that it took until 8.2 overs in the chase for Babar to get off the mark. Zaman, like his captain, was also struggling to put bat to ball, and runs on the scoreboard.
Babar found his way past two fiery five-over spells from Bumrah and Siraj, only to be completely flummoxed by a sharp nipbacker from Hardik Pandya in the 11th over. Pandya presented a wobbly seam and got the ball to dart in sharply, cut Babar in half and hit the stumps. By the end of that over, showers forced teams off the field and kept them for a little over an hour. However, play resumed without any loss of overs and India continued from where they left off. Shardul Thakur replicated Hardik Pandya’s first-over success by squaring up Mohammad Rizwan, who nicked the ball to KL Rahul, who took over keeping duties from Ishan Kishan early in the chase. Hardik and Thakur probed further, making life uncomfortable for Zaman and new batter Agha Salman before Kuldeep Yadav dismantled Pakistan’s chase for good.
In just his second over, Kuldeep had his first wicket when Zaman let the pressure of the ticking asking rate get to him and went for a wild swing which he missed and got bowled. Pakistan added just 51 runs after that dismissal as Kuldeep ran riot. Agha Salman, who was looking to be proactive against the spinner with the use of the sweep shot perished with it as he was trapped leg before. Salman took a review back with him. Shadab Khan was next, lured into a big shot with a tossed up delivery, but could only hit it as far as Shardul Thakur at long-on.
Kuldeep’s fourth was a bit of a gift as Iftikhar Ahmed hit a long-hop straight back to the bowler, before Faheem Ashraf was cleaned up off a wrong ‘un. The game ended with 128 for 8 in 32 overs as Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah had suffered injuries during India’s innings and did not come out to bat.
Brief scores:
India 356/2 in 50 overs (Virat Kohli 122*, KL Rahul 111*, Shubman Gill 58, Rohit Sharma 56; Shaheen Afridi 1-79, Shadab Khan 1-71) beat Pakistan 128 in 32 overs (Fakhar Zaman 27; Kuldeep Yadav 5-25) by 228 runs
Typhoon Noul has hit southern China, including Hong Kong, bringing strong winds and heavy rain to the region and prompting the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people in Guangdong province.
China’s national weather centre said Noul made landfall on the coast of Huidong county in Huizhou, southern Guangdong province, at approximately 3:50am local time on Sunday (19:50 GMT on Saturday).
China’s official Xinhua News Agency said Noul was the strongest typhoon to make landfall in China so far this year.
Hong Kong’s Observatory said Noul, with maximum sustained winds of 110 kilometres per hour (68 miles per hour) near its centre, was moving Sunday into inland Guangdong and weakening progressively, bringing strong winds and heavy rain to parts of the region.
More than 715,000 people had been relocated for safety by early Sunday in Guangdong province, according to state-owned China National Radio. On Saturday, authorities said some 340,000 people were evacuated.
China’s National Meteorological Centre expected parts of southern Guangdong and southeastern Fujian provinces to experience heavy rain and strong winds over the weekend.
Many trees were seen uprooted in Huilai county, located on the coast of Guangdong province, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Hong Kong’s airport authority said about 350 flights were cancelled on Sunday. At least nine people were injured across the city during the typhoon period, according to Hong Kong authorities.
As Noul approached Hong Kong, parts of a large scaffolding on a high-rise building collapsed on Saturday afternoon, local police said, although initial reports indicated there were no injuries.
[Aljazeera]
Colombo Kaps defended 197 runs to win the 12th match of the Lanka Premier League by restricting Dambulla Sixers to 176/8 at the Dambulla International Cricket Stadium on Saturday [25] night.
SCORES:
Colombo Kaps 197/5 in 20 overs [Rubin Hermann 39, Sadeera Samarawickrema 16, Sharujan Shanmuganathan 12, Kamindu Mendis 88*, Ben McDermott 14, Janith Liyanage 17; Fazalhaq Farooki 1-41, Dushmantha Chameera 1-41, Ramesh Mendis 1-05, Gulabdin Naib 1-15]
Dambulla Sixers 176/8 in 20 overs [Pavan Rathnayake 50, Marques Ackerman 40, Gulabdin Naib 28, Maheesh Thhekshana 13; Shahnawaz Dahani 2-20, Wanuja Sahan 1-34, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2-33, Malsha Tharupathi 1-26, Milan Rathnayake 1-26]
Kandy Royals’ bowlers led by Nuwan Thushara were able to defend their score of 165 to win the 11th match of the Lanka Premier League by defeating Galle Gallants by 11 runs at Dambulla on Saturday.
SCORES:
Kandy Royals 165/6 in 20 overs [Lahiru Udara 16, Dale Phillips 34, Wanidu Hasaranga 16, Moeen Ali 41, Angelo Mathews 28, Vijay Shankar 15; Pramod Madushan 2-41, Akif Javed 2-26, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth 2-36]
Galle Gallants 154/8 in 20 overs [Sam Harper 14, Charith Asalanka 14, Chamika Karunarathne 52, Dasun Shanaka 57*; Nuwan Thushara 3-33, Asitha Fernando 2-33, Moeen Ali 1-11, Wanidu Hasaranga 1-26]
Typhoon Noul makes landfall in China, with hundreds of thousands evacuated
Colombo Kaps down Dambulla Sixers by 21 runs
Kandy Royals win by 11 runs
Showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts
Govt. launches EPF, ETF shake-up
SLPI concerned over the proposed Chartered Institute of Media Professionals of Sri Lanka
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