Sports
Kohli ton trumps Klaasen’s as RCB coast to clinical win
RCB’s playoff hopes remained intact as their openers blazed past the target of 187 set by the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on Thursday (18). The Bangalore franchise won the toss and asked SRH to bat first, and the hosts responded duly with a competitive total of 186-5, riding on the explosive hundred by Heinrich Klaasen, by far their best batsman of the season. However, an inspired performance by the RCB openers left the SRH bowling unit clueless as they coasted home by eight wickets.
Over the course of the tournament, many batting teams have gotten off to a terrific start in the powerplay before squandering it in the middle overs. A tight opening spell from Wayne Parnell and Mohammed Siraj had Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi in check. However, as soon as they cut loose against Parnell with a 16-run over to get the run-rate from sub-3rpo to almost 7rpo, Michael Bracewell scalped them both in his very first over, rendering the powerplay a failure for the SRH innings.
It was then that Heinrich Klaasen entered the arena and after blazing a flurry of boundaries got to his fifty off just 24 deliveries to rescue SRH. However, the supporting role from Markram ended up costing SRH 20 balls, in which he scored only eighteen runs, and despite a good innings from Harry Brook in the end, which contained a few lusty blows, it was undoing some of the good work done by Klaasen, who by the penultimate over got to his hundred with a six, at a strike-rate of over 200! If only the supporting roles had played their part, SRH would have gotten 200. Outside of Klaasen’s 51-ball 104 and extras, SRH scored 76 runs in 69 balls at a strike-rate of just over 100!
In retrospect, it was all over from Ball 1. The intent with which Virat Kohli hit the first two balls of the innings for boundaries, it looked like it was over for SRH. Kohli and orange-cap holder Faf du Plessis wreaked havoc, taking on the SRH bowlers indiscriminately, hitting through the line and invariably finding the gaps, leaving the SRH contingent clueless in defence of an admittedly-competitive target. As compared to previous innings, this time, the mayhem did not cease, despite a touch of luck – Nitish Reddy was denied a maiden IPL wicket, because he overstepped, rendering a terrific catch by Mayank Dagar futile, and handing Faf du Plessis a life.
It didn’t quite have the asterisk on his score as it used to, but Virat Kohli was back, and this time, he was taking no half-measures in taking RCB to the title. The two openers continued to toy with the SRH bowling, and Kohli eventually got to his sixth IPL hundred, fittingly, with a six lofted over midwicket off the bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, equalling the IPL record of Chris Gayle for the most hundreds in the history of the tournament. Kohli fell the very next ball, targeting the same area, but this time he had all but secured victory for his side.
It wasn’t exactly a scare, but the scars of the past couldn’t stop the thought of the inevitable choke. Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis had fallen, with 10 required off 10, and two new batsmen at the crease. Stranger things had happened in cricket, and perhaps in this very edition of the IPL. However, a typical reverse-swat from Maxwell off the final ball of Natarajan’s spell sealed the deal leaving 3 to get off the final over, which the pair managed to get in the first two balls of the final over, sealing victory for RCB, and keeping them well and truly alive in this competition.
This win gets RCB into the top four, for now, and gives them enough control, with them playing the final game of the league stages too (albeit against the top ranked side of the tournament). Despite that hundred by Klaasen, SRH remain at the bottom, and look like strong contenders for the wooden spoon this year. Both the teams play their last games on the final day of the league stage – Sunday, May 21. T
Brief Scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 186-5 in 20 overs(Heinrich Klaasen 104, Michael Bracewell 2-17)lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 187-2 in 19.2 overs(Virat Kohli 100, Faf du Plessis 71, T Natarajan 1-34)by 8 wickets.
(Cricbuzz)
“I’m going to put it very simple: it’s hurtful, it’s painful and it’s shameful,” Farveez Mahroof, the former Sri Lanka allrounder, said, pretty much summing up the mood among cricket fans in the island after their abject failure against New Zealand on Wednesday in Colombo. That it came after being bowled out for 95 by England and meant Sri Lanka’s T 20 World Cup 2026 was over just added to the sense of dejection.
“It’s not a pitch that you can play through the line, I get it. But the way some of the batters just gifted their wickets away, apart from Pathum Nissanka’s delivery [from Matt Henry], every other dismissal was a soft dismissal, giving the wickets away, just like the England game, where all ten were soft dismissals,” Maharoof said on ESPN Cricinfo TimeOut after the match. “Continuing the same trend into another game, a must-win game, shows Sri Lanka were not up to the mark with the bat.”
Nissanka has been Sri Lanka’s best batter in the tournament, and the main man in their win over Australia, when he slammed a 52-ball 100 not out. On Wednesday, Henry produced a peach to Nissanka first ball, and “whatever hopes that Sri Lanka had just vanished”.
At the T20 World Cup, which Sri Lanka came to after losing 3-0 to England in a series at home, they beat Oman and Ireland, teams ranked lower than them, and then Australia in the group stage, but since then, it has all been downhill. Zimbabwe, England and now New Zealand have beaten Sri Lanka, and the last two have come after poor batting performances.
“It’s becoming a bad habit to have. I have been doing this analysis for seven-eight years, I keep saying the same old thing: once in a while, a good game, and our hopes are high; all of a sudden, come crashing down to the earth,” Maharoof said, referring to the Australia game. “It’s not the first time. I just hope something down the line, this has to come to an end, some hard decisions have to be made.
“I think after the next game, before the next series starts, Sri Lanka’s selectors and the think tank should really think of the future, what are the capabilities of the players, who should stick and who should not stick, and move on. I expect probably in the next couple of weeks, some hard decisions are going to be made. If not, I will be very surprised.”
Sri Lanka end their campaign with a game against Pakistan, in Pallekele on February 28.
[Cricinfo]
Hayley Matthew’s tenth ODI century led West Indies to a six-wicket victory in the final match of the series against Sri Lanka and gave them their first points in the new Women’s Championship cycle.
Sri Lanka had already secured the series but couldn’t clinch a whitewash as Matthews dominated: she started the match by removing opposite number Chamari Athapaththu in the first over of the contest and then compiled an 118-ball hundred, which took West Indies most of the way in their chase.
“I felt like I was in a pretty good space batting-wise and probably just [in the] first game got pretty unlucky with how I got out and then in the second match gave my own hand away,” Matthews said. “So I certainly felt like I was in a space where I wasn’t exactly being too threatened at the crease and I knew I just had to lock in and try to take it a bit deeper.”
The home side was in early trouble in St George’s against a target of 218 with Qiana Joseph and Shemaine Campbelle falling to Malki Madara to leave West Indies 12 for 2. But after taking 12 balls to find her first boundary, Matthews did not look back as she took charge of the innings, adding 124 for the third wicket with Stefanie Taylor, who moved second on the all time run scorers list in ODIs.
Matthews’ fifty came from 48 balls before she slowed a little in the second half of her innings, but the asking rate was never a threat for West Indies. She did give a chance on 70 when Nilakshika Silva was unable to hold a return catch. The ball after reaching the century, though, Matthews picked out deep midwicket but a stand of 49 between Deandra Dottin and Chinelle Henry finished the job.
Following the early loss of Athapaththu, Sri Lanka’s innings was anchored by Harshitha Samarawickrema’s 70 off 112 balls. She added 78 for the third wicket with Vishmi Gunaratne, but the visitors struggled to lift the scoring rate in the latter stages as West Indies chipped away, with Karishma Ramharack removing Gunaratne and Samarawickrama in the space of four overs.
Brief scores:
West Indies Women 218 for 4 in 46 overs (Hayley Matthews 100, Stefanie Taylor 38, Chinelle Henry 32*; Malki Madara 2-33) beat Sri Lanka Women 217 for 7 in 50 overs (Hasini Perera 27, Harshitha Samarawickrama 70, Kavish Dilhari 45*, Hayley Matthews 2-33, Karishma Ramharack 2-39) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
Pulisha Thilakarathne top scored with 89 runs and held the top order batting together as Trinity scored first innings points and took major honours in the Ranil Abeynayake Memorial Trophy cricket encounter at BRC ground on Wednesday.
Trinity took a first innings lead of over 50 runs and declared their innings with two wickets in hand to find Thomians doing better in the second essay.
Jayden Amaraweera was in the forefront of the Thomian revival in the second innings as he scored his second half century of the match. Aaron Kodituwakku missed a second half century by five runs.
For Trinity, Mahendra Abeysinghe and Dinal Fernando were the others to make contributions with over 40 runs, while Aadham Hilmy made 32.
Scores:
S. Thomas’ 189 all out in 77.4 overs
(Aaron Kodituwakku 72, Jaden Amaraweera 50, Shanil Perera 37n.o.; Kanika Anthony 5/66, Dinal Fernando 3/34) and 182 for 5 in 53 overs (Jaden Amarawera 68, Aaron Kodituwakku 45;
Chaniru Senarathne 2/44)
Trinity 54 for 1 overnight 246 for 8 decl. in 58.2 overs (Pulisha Thilakarathne 89, Mahendra Abeysinghe 44, Dinal Fernando 45, Adam Hilmy 32; Abheeth Paranawidana 4/95, Gimhan Mendis 3/41) (RF)
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