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Jacks and Kohli ace Royal Challengers Bangaluru’s 201-run chase in 16 overs against Titans
RCB took 124 off the 11 overs of spin bowled by Rashid Khan (0 for 51), Noor Ahmad (0 for 43) and R Sai Kishore (1 for 30) as GT were hiding for cover on a surface that became conducive to strokeplay as the game progressed.
Jacks’ late assault – he hit four fours and nine sixes in his last 17 balls – helped RCB ransack 58 off two overs when they needed 53 off 36 balls, and in the process he brought up a 41-ball 100. It was an innings that changed speeds in a blink of an eye, and had Kohli gesturing that he missed only a bucket of popcorn and a cold drink from the best seat in the house to witness the Will-storm.
This was all after Gujarat Titans posted 200 for 3 on the back of an unbeaten 84 fromB Sai Sudrshan and a 30-ball 58 from Shahrukh Khan. With the track assisting spin at the start of the game, it looked as if GT had enough on the board. Until it wasn’t.
RCB’s powerplay squeeze
Before the start of Sunday’s fixtures, RCB had the second-worst economy rate in the powerplay, their 10.53 being only marginally better than Kolkata Knight Riders’ 10.68. But against GT, the RCB bowlers were on the money, and it all started in the first over. Swapnil Singh, playing only his second game in IPL 2024, deceived Wriddhiman Saha by flight, having him caught at short third in an attempt to go inside out.
Thereon, Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan merely consolidated. Their attempts to free the shackles did not bear fruit as they could manage only one four in the last three overs of the powerplay to finish on 42 for 1. Glenn Maxwell, back in the XI for RCB, then preyed on Gill’s quiet start to have him caught brilliantly at long-on in a diving effort by Cameron Green.
Sai Sudharsan and Shahrukh inject momentum
At 45 for 2 in the seventh over, GT decided to send in Shahrukh at No. 4 and the move paid rich dividends. He got going straightaway, sweeping Maxwell over long-on for six before pulling a not-so-short one between long-on and deep midwicket for four. Shahrukh was asked to be the disruptor and he essayed that role to perfection. He was severe on Karn Sharma, hitting him for two sixes in two overs, which put him out of the attack. He then hit Green for 4, 4, 6 to bring up a 24-ball fifty, his first in the IPL.
Shahrukh’s carnage allowed Sai Sudharsan to change gears. He was on 18 off 16 when the powerplay ended, and on 32 off 23 at the 10-over mark. He attacked Karn’s legspin before putting away an-almost-perfect yorker from Mohammed Siraj to bring up his half-century off 34 balls. Titans managed to score 106 in the middle overs (7 to 16), the most they have in the phase this season. In fact, GT scored 86 off just 45 balls through the time Shahrukh was in the middle.
Even after Shahrukh’s dismissal – castled by a reverse-swinging full delivery from Siraj – Sai Sudharsan did not relent. In his next 15 balls, he scored 34 and was particularly severe on spin – a strike rate of 205 (41 off 20) as opposed to 153.57 (43 off 28) against the quicks. However, the 51 GT managed at the death did seem a tad underwhelming.
Kohli spins it the RCB way
Faf du Plessis targeted Azmatullah Omarzai in the third over of the chase, hitting him for 6, 6, 4 – a sequence that ended with a scoop over the wicketkeeper. But R Sai Kishore, introduced in the fourth over, managed to have him hole out to deep midwicket to break the opening stand. That did not deter Kohli, who lofted Rashid Khan over his head before hitting two sixes in two balls off Sai Kishore’s next.
It looked like Sai Kishore had managed to deceive him in the flight but Kohli’s loft over wide long-off just evaded a leaping David Miller, before he firmly flicked the next one cleanly over wide long-on. He used the sweep to good effect, taking 22 off the shot in six attempts. That Jacks was still only coming to grips with the surface and GT’s spinners at the other end seemed to have little effect on Kohli, who slashed one through backward point to race away to a 32-ball fifty.
Jacks cuts loose in the end
The only four Jacks had to his credit before the tenth over was a flashy outside edge after not picking Noor Ahmad’s wrong’un. Mohit Sharma’s introduction only helped him unleash his full range. He thwacked one over deep midwicket before smacking a slower one over extra cover. He then muscled Sai Kishore and Noor over long-on and deep square leg respectively in successive overs as he moved from a run-a-ball 16 to 44 off 29 inside four overs.
He just upped the destruction a level in Mohit’s second over, which went for three sixes – including one off a no-ball – and two fours as RCB came within touching distance. Jacks then went 6, 6, 4, 6, 6 to complete his century as well as RCB’s third win in ten outings and a net-run-rate boost.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 200/3 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 84*, Shahrukh Khan 58, David Miller 26*; Swapnil Singh 1/23, Mohammed Siraj 1-34, Glenn Maxwell 1-28) lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru 206/1 in 16 overs (Will Jacks 100*, Virat Kohli 70*, Faf du Plesis 24; Sai Kishore 1-30) by 9 wickets
(Cricinfo)
Rain in Bulawayo allowed just ten overs of action between Bangladesh and New Zealand .
The match began an hour later than scheduled, and as a 47-over contest after Bangladesh opted to bowl. Iqbal Hossain Emon cleaned Hugo Bogue up for 8 in the second over, but just as Aryan Mann and Tom Jones steadied New Zealand, rain returned, only for no play to be possible after that.
It was New Zealand’s second washed-out game in a row, and they will hope to beat India in their final group game so that they don’t have to depend on the result of the Bangladesh-USA match to progress to the Super Sixes.
No result: New Zealand 51 for 1 vs Bangladesh
The first over of the 202 chase set the tone for what followed as Australia cruised past Japan at the Under19 World Cup in Windhoek. Will Malajczuk smashed Nikhil Pol for 14 runs, and never looked back, racing to a 23-ball fifty and a 51-ball hundred as Australia chased down the target with eight wickets and nearly 20 overs to spare to seal a Super Sixes berth.
By the time Japan finally got rid of Malajczuk, he had thumped 102 off 55 balls, with 12 fours and five sixes. He brought up his half-century midway through the sixth over, by which point Australia were already 66 for 0, with Malajczuk contributing 57 of those runs off 26 balls. At the other end, his opening partner Nitesh Samuel scored 7 from ten deliveries.
The pair added 135 for the first wicket, with Malajczuk doing the bulk of the damage as Samuel settled into a calmer role. While Malajczuk fell shortly after reaching his hundred, Samuel carried on to bring up his fifty off 62 balls in the 25th over and finished unbeaten on 60. He had scored an unbeaten 77 against Ireland in Australia’s opening game of the tournament.
Earlier, Japan were content to take their time after opting to bat. HUGO Tani Kelly was once again their standout, following up his 101 not out against Sri Lanka with an unbeaten 79. Japan, however, slipped from a position of stability to lose four wickets for 13 runs in a middle-order collapse, during which legspinner Naden Cooray struck three times.
Tani-Kelly added 72 for the seventh wicket with Montgomery Hara-Hinze before Japan eventually finished on 201, although 30 extras from Australia played its part. The target hardly bothered Australia, whose win makes both teams’ next group game a dead rubber.
Brief scores:
Australia Under 19s 204 for 2 in 29.1 overs (Will Malajczuk 102, Nitesh Samuel 60*; Nihar Parmar 1-35) beat Japan Under 19s 201 for 8 in 50 overs (Hugo Tani-Kelly 79*; Naden Cooray 3-31, Will Byrom 2-32) by eight wickets
(Cricinfo)
There is officially a traffic jam in the WPL points tale. A day after RCB qualified for the playoffs, Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Jemimah Rodrigues led her team over the line in a tense and hard-fought chase to extend Mumbai Indians’ (MI) losing streak to three games in a row. That means all four teams apart from RCB now have four points each after DC lifted themselves off the bottom to push Gujarat Giants down to fifth.
Chasing 155 on a slow Vadodara track, DC saw Rodrigues walk out needing 71 off 58 balls. The MI bowlers then dried up the boundaries by taking the pace off on a pitch keeping a little low as well and forced Rodrigues and Laura Wolvaardt to mostly trade in singles and doubles. Rodrigues, however, kept finding the boundaries – square and behind square – to bring the equation down to a more comfortable 27 from 18. She placed the ball in the gaps for three more boundaries before Marizanne Kapp smoked a six to seal victory with an over to spare.
MI were earlier restricted after another slow powerplay with the bat. Once the openers failed again, Nat Sciver Brunt did the heavy lifting once more with an unbeaten 65 after Harmanpreet Kaur fell for 41, as Shree Charani’s 3 for 33 dented MI while they looked to press the pedal. But the total wasn’t enough as almost all DC batters got going and Rodrigues scored her maiden fifty of the season and as WPL captain.
Even though MI stuck to their opening pair from the last game, it didn’t change their powerplay fortunes. They continued to be the worst performing team in that phase, with a score of 23 for 2 against the DC quicks who kept aiming for the stumps. With some movement with the new ball, Nandani Sharma knocked over S Sajana’s off stump in the fourth over and Kapp had Hayley Matthews’ middle stump knocked back by two balls later.
The run rate was starting to plummet further as Sciver-Brunt kept finding the fielders and Harmanpreet got off to her usual slow start of 5 off 13. Until spin was introduced. Harmanpreet found the boundary twice as soon as Shree Charani erred with her lengths, including a trademark inside-out drive over the covers. Sciver-Brunt started to pepper the leg-side fence, and she stylishly brought up the half-century stand and push the run rate over six with an inside-out drive for the first six of the innings.
Just when Harmanpreet had started to turn into Harmonster with three consecutive fours off Shafali Verma square of the wicket, DC dented MI’s middle order. The big wicket came through Shree Charani who had Harmanpreet hole out to long-on for 41 off 33 and even though Sciver-Brunt kept finding the boundaries regularly around the park and brought up her 11th WPL half-century – joint most with Meg Lanning – and third of the season, Shree Charani’s double-wicket 18th over that went for just four runs rocked MI again. After just 11 runs in the 18th and 19th overs, Sanskriti Gupta’s last-ball six helped MI collect 13 from the last over to post 154, their lowest total this season.
DC had the kind of powerplay MI can only dream of this WPL. The MI bowlers strayed often with their lines and Shafali and Lizelle Lee pulled and punched with confidence for boundaries to try and wipe out a good chunk of the target in the first six. They collected three fours each off Nicola Carey and Sanskriti in the second and sixth overs respectively, and the others in between for two fours each. With 57 smashed in the powerplay, DC had brought the asking run rate down to seven an over.
WPL debutant and left-arm spinner Vaishnavi Sharma, a replacement for the injured G Kamalini, started to loop deliveries from wide of the crease that made DC’s job tougher to dispatch the ball to boundaries. Amanjot Kaur was frugal too and she accounted for Lee with a stumping through a wide down leg, although it took several replays for the third umpire Ajitesh Argal to conclude Lee’s bat was in the air and foot on the line when the bails came off. The boundaries dried up for 20 balls, the equation became a stiff 51 off 36, but Rodrigues was determined to see the chase through.
She scooped, swept, reverse swept – all while staying low on the pitch – and smacked a six over midwicket to not let the pressure get to her. One of her shots even had Wolvaardt run-out at the non-striker’s end with a deflection off Sciver-Brunt’s hand, but Rodrigues kept her nerve to beat the defending champions.
Brief scores:
U – 19 world Cup: Rain disrupts New Zealand vs Bangladesh game in Bulawayo
U – 19 World Cup: Will Malajczuk’s 51-ball century helps Australia blow Japan away
Rodrigues holds nerve as Delhi Capitals hand Mumbai Indians third straight loss
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