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Lucknow Super Giant’s playoff hopes all but gone as Capitals sign off with win

Published

2 years ago

2024/05/15

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Abishek Porel and Shai Hope brought up a fifty stand in 23 balls (BCCI)

Delhi Capitals signed off the league stage with a 19-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in Delhi, and kept themselves in contention for a top-four finish, even if only mathematically. LSG, with one more game left against Mumbai Indians, aren’t out of the running either, but both teams will have to depend on other results to go their way if they are to make the top four.

From 44 for 4 in a chase of 209, LSG took the contest to the last over thanks to Nicholas Pooran’s 61 and Arshad Khan’s unbeaten 58 from No.8 . However, Rasikh Salam defended 22 off the final over to hand DC their seventh victory of IPL 2024.

On a high-scoring surface, DC had to post 200 or above to have a shot at collecting two points. After being asked to bat, Abishek Porel and Tristan Stubbs shone with fifties to power DC to 208 for 4. With the ball, Ishant Sharma ripped through LSG early on with three wickets and even though Pooran and Arshad tried their best, LSG kept losing wickets at the other end and eventually fell short.

DC lost their aggressive opener Jake Fraser-McGurk in the first over when he was caught at long-on off the left-arm quick Arshad. But Porel and Shai Hope didn’t let the wicket slow them down. After smashing six off Mohsin Khan, Porel pummeled three fours and a six in Arshad’s second over. In the following over, Hope targeted Yudhvir Singh and hit 4,4, and 6. By the end of four overs, DC had raced to 51 for 1. The duo didn’t spare Naveen-ul-Haq either as he ended up conceding 17 runs off his first over. DC ended the powerplay on 73 for 1, with Porel batting on 43 off 16.

Porel raced to his fifty in 21 balls but hit only eight runs off his next 12 balls, thanks to LSG’s spinners who exerted pressure in the middle overs. Rahul brought in Ravi Bishnoi immediately after the powerplay and bowled Krunal Pandya and Deepak Hooda from the other end. Bishnoi broke the 92-run second-wicket stand between Porel and Hope in the ninth over, when Hope thrashed a full-length wide delivery straight to cover, where Rahul took a stunning low catch to dismiss him for a 27-ball 38. After only 17 came off the next 15 balls, Porel fell to Naveen’s slower ball, trying to go big. Bishnoi finished with 1 for 26 from his four overs, as DC accumulated just 42 runs from overs 7 to 12.

After 15 overs, DC were 136 for 3 and the 200 mark looked far away. But they still had Stubbs. After scoring seven off his first nine deliveries, he took off, first smashing Arshad for two fours and a six in the 16th over and then Naveen for two sixes and a four in the 19th to get to his fifty in 22 balls. His unbeaten 57 off 25, and a quickfire 33 from Rishabh Pant, lifted DC to 208 for 4, with 72 runs coming off the final five overs.

Ishant, the Impact Player, made an impact straightaway, removing three big guns – Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda – in his first three overs. Axar Patel’s dismissal of Marcus Stoinis – stumped by Pant – meant LSG were reeling at 44 for 4 in no time.

Despite the early blows, LSG were still in the game thanks to Pooran’s big hitting. He hit Axar for 4, 6, 4, 6 just after the left-arm spinner had removed Stoinis off his first ball. He went on to smash four more fours and two more sixes after that over – this included a reverse-sweep over extra cover for a six off Kuldeep Yadav. At the halfway stage, LSG were 97 for 5. Pooran, however, fell to Mukesh Kumar’s slower short ball, angled away from his hitting arc, slicing it to Axar at extra cover to depart for a 27-ball 61. At 101 for 6, it seemed like LSG had lost control of the chase.

There was more entertainment when Arshad came out all guns blazing. Striking at 175.5, the left-hand batter muscled five sixes and three fours to keep LSG in the game till the very end. His unbeaten knock brought down the equation to 29 off the last 12. But Mukesh and Rasikh finished with two excellent overs at the death, denying him any more boundaries, and LSG fell 19 short of DC’s total.

Brief Scores:
Delhi Capitals 208/4 in 20 overs (Abishek Porel 58, Tristan Stubbs 57*, Shai Hope 38, Rishabh Pant 33; Arshad Khan 1-45, Naveen Ul-Haq 2-51, Ravi Bishnoi 1-26) beat Lucknow Super Giants 189/9 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 61, Arshad Khan 58*; Ishant Sharma 3-34, Khaleel Ahmed 1-22, Axar Patel 1-20, Mukesh Kumar 1-33, Kuldeep Yadav 1-33, Tristan Stubbs 1-04) by 19 runs

(Cricinfo)

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Sooryavanshi blitz, Jurel 81* help Rajasthan Royals take down Royal Challengers Bengaluru with ease

Published

2 hours ago

2026/04/11

Priyan

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi struck at 300.00 [Cricinfo]

Vaibhav Sooriyavanshi equalled his own record for the fastest half-century, off 15 balls, in a six-fest on a flat Guwahati deck as Rajasthan Royals walloped Royal Challengers Bengaluru for their fourth straight win.

RCB hit seven sixes through their 20 overs in an innings where they went all out, seemingly mindful of the challenge Sooryavanshi would pose. And pose he did, hitting seven sixes off his own blade, in a scarcely believable exhibition of brutal hitting.

Reputation counted for little. If it was Jasprit Bumrah the other night, it was Josh Hazlewood’s turn to come under Sooryavanshi’s wheel on Friday. By the time he was dismissed for a 26-ball 78, toe-ending a flat-batted hit to long-on off Krunal Pandya, RR’s asking rate in a 202 chase was just over six with 11.5 overs remaining.

Sooryavanshi’s uninhibited hitting was matched by Dhruv Jurel’s scintillating stroke play, the pair effectively snuffed out RCB’s hopes in the powerplay itself as they plundered 97 – the highest of the season. Although RR lost a couple of wickets in a rush thereafter, the result was never really in doubt.

RCB’s defence was given an early lift when the returning Hazlewood struck in the second over to remove Yashasvi Jaiswal. After conceding a couple of sixes off the short ball, Hazlewood responded smartly by going cross-seam and into the pitch to induce the edge. But the delight at having struck early dissipated quickly as Sooryavanshi seized control by rattling off three boundaries and a six in succession in his next over.

Each of the four boundaries pierced a different arc. The short ball was carved behind point, the hard length into the pitch was muscled over mid-on, the fuller one driven crisply between cover and mid-off, and when tested with the bumper, Sooryavanshi fetched it from outside off and nailed the pull over deep square for six.

And remarkably, it wasn’t just Hazlewood under the pump. Bhuvneshwar Kumar – who had nearly dismissed him first ball with a late-curving inswinging yorker, only for the teenager to dig it out and shovel it straight back for four – was also taken apart. In the fifth over, Sooryavanshi swatted him for back-to-back sixes to bring up his half-century.

Keeping pace with Sooryavanshi stroke for stroke can’t be easy, but Jurel managed it seamlessly, without ever looking like he was trying to. He capped off the powerplay by hitting rookie Abhinandan Singh for a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 0, 6, 4 to end an extraordinary passage.

Jurel’s fast hands were the defining feature of that over – whether it was picking length early to pull or using his wrists to whip the ball into the top tier over deep square. He would later take charge of the innings, tightening his approach after a flurry of wickets, and finishing unbeaten on 76 off 36 balls.

Jurel’s 68-run fifth-wicket stand with Ravindra Jadeja then guided RR home comfortably, steadying things after Krunal briefly stirred RCB’s hopes with back-to-back strikes of Sooryavanshi and Shimron Hetmyer in the ninth over.

RR went through a quiet passage of four overs without a boundary, but the early onslaught from Sooryavanshi and Jurel meant they could afford to play out a few quiet overs fully knowing RCB were a spinner short, as they activated Venkatesh Iyer as an impact player for batting firepower in place of Suyash Sharma.

The match had a blockbuster opening act, with Jofra Archer’s vicious, rip-roaring bouncer sending back Phil Salt for a golden duck. But Virat Kohli fought fire with fire, hitting him for three boundaries in his next over, before Archer struck back to remove the in-form Devdutt Padikkal.

This didn’t affect Kohli, though, as he shredded a much-talked-about matchup with Sandeep Sharma (who had dismissed him seven times in 18 innings) by thumping him over the infield for two fours. But trouble soon came RCB’s way as Ravi Bishnoi struck two quick blows to leave them 73 for 4.

In his first two outings, Rajat Patidar went crash-bang-wallop from the get-go. But a top-order wobble forced him to dig deep. He played himself in, getting to 20 off 22 balls at one stage. And then, three overs later, he brought up a half-century off 35 balls. One of the reasons for this surge was his surety in stroke-making.

The two sixes he hit off Nandre Burger in the 15th had that stamp of authority. A gentle extension of his arms to loft one cleanly over long-off laid down the marker, but the hop back to whip a short ball aimed at his ribs over deep square leg was the blockbuster.

With none of Romario Shepherd or Tim David coming off with the bat, RCB brought in Venkatesh Iyer as their Impact Player, leaving Suyash on the bench. And Venkatesh gave an excellent account of himself on RCB debut, finishing the innings off with a cameo 29 that pushed them past 200.

As it turned out, it was nowhere near enough.

Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 202 for 4 (Yashasvi Jiswal 13, Dhruv Jurel 81*, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 78, Ravindra Jadeja 24*; Josh Hazelwood 2-44, Krunal Pandya 2-30) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 201 for 8 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli32, Devudutt Padikkal 14, Rajat Patidar 63, Tim David 13, Romario Shepherd 22, Venkatesh Iyer 29*; Jofra Archer 2-33, Sandeep Sharma 1-47, Ravi Bishnoi 2-32, Ravindra Jadeja 1-14, Brijesh Sharma 2-37) by six wickets

[Cricinfo]

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Sun directly overhead Pomparippu, Anuradhapura, Mihinthale, Galenbindunuwewa, Agbopura and Serunuwara about 12:11 noon today (11)

Published

3 hours ago

2026/04/11

Priyan

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

The nearest areas of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (11th) are Pomparippu, Anuradhapura, Mihinthale, Galenbindunuwewa, Agbopura and Serunuwara about 12:11 noon.

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Zimbabwe Women set for maiden tour of Pakistan

Published

22 hours ago

2026/04/10

Priyan

Pakistan and Zimbabwe will play 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is [Cricbuzz]

Zimbabwe Women are set for their maiden tour to Pakistan for three ODIs and three T20Is.

The ODIs kick off on May 3 and will be part of the ICC Women’s Championship 2025-29. The T20I series will be played from May 12. All six matches will take place at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi.

Pakistan are currently placed fifth on the Women’s Championship table after a 2-1 series loss to South Africa. Zimbabwe are placed seventh after a three-match series loss to New Zealand.

Zimbabwe are scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on April 29.