Sports
Pooran, bowlers edge past India to take 2-0 lead
A smart bowling performance and a rampaging Nicholas Pooran ensured that despite hiccups, West Indies defeated India in the second T20I by two wickets, at the Providence Stadium in Guyana, and went 2-0 up in the five-match series.
Despite Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill getting India off to a decent start, the latter was caught at backward point off Alzarri Joseph, earning the West Indian quick his hundredth T20I wicket. Soon after, Kyle Mayers, who got Samson run-out last match, scored a direct hit at the striker’s end to get rid of Suryakumar Yadav this time, getting rid of him for just one and potentially saving his team some damage in the powerplay overs.
It was Tilak Varma and Kishan who then had to pull off a rescue act, stabilizing things with a stand of 42 in 36 balls. Kishan, however, fell soon after with the run-rate still just over six. Sanju Samson too departed soon after, while Tilak stuck around at the other end. It looked like India might never set the platform to take off at the death.
It wasn’t the typical T20I surge, but Tilak Varma, who went on to score a terrific fifty – his first in international cricket – put together 38 runs in 27 balls with Hardik Pandya. This gave the innings a semblance of impetus at the death, propelling India towards a defendable score. Hardik and Tilak departed soon after, followed by Axar Patel, but it was a couple of crucial blows at the end – a four by Arshdeep Singh, and a six by Ravi Bishnoi, that got India 13 runs off the last over and pushed them over the 150-run mark.
The chase couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start for the hosts. West Indies lost two wickets in their first over – Brandon King for a golden duck off the first ball of the innings, and Johnson Charles three balls later, caught by Tilak Varma – to Hardik. It was the perfect start for India, until Kyle Mayers and Pooran launched a stunning counterattack on the Indians, and despite Mayers’ stay being cut short by Arshdeep, an 18-run over from Bishnoi ensured West Indies had scored 61 runs in the powerplay at over 10 runs an over – never mind the fact that they had lost three wickets.
The fourth-wicket stand between Pooran and Powell was 57 off 37, and the fifth, between Pooran and Hetmyer, was 37 off 25. Pooran was leading the way with a blazing fifty, and only wickets could do the trick.
At 126-4, it only took 13 balls for West Indies to be reduced to 129-8. Three runs, four wickets, and the home side were on the verge of a familiar collapse under pressure, triggered by Pooran’s departure. It was all going downhill.
Amidst the headless collapse, No. 9 and 10 had an epiphany – that time was on their side. Akeal Hosein and Alzarri Joseph ticked the runs over before a six and a four to finish things off in the penultimate over by Mukesh Kumar, winning the contest with seven balls to spare.
The win gives the West Indies a 2-0 lead in the five-match series, with the third T20I also set to be played at the same venue.
(Cricbuzz)
B Sai Sudarshan and Prasidh Krishna once again stood up for Gujarat Titans (GT) as they beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 58 runs in Ahmedabad. This was GT’s fourth successive win in IPL 2025 and it took them to the top of the points table.
After RR opted to bowl on a red-soil pitch, Sai Sudharsan’s 82 off 53 balls, his third half-century of the season, steered GT to 217 for 6. With no dew in the second innings, it proved way too steep for RR to chase down. Mohammed Siraj and Arshad Khan struck in the powerplay before Prasidh picked up 3 for 24 in the middle overs to keep RR on the back foot. Despite Shimron Hetmyer’s fighting fifty, RR were all out for 159 in 19.2 overs.
Joffra Archer didn’t have a great start to IPL 2025. In his first two games, he conceded 109 from 6.3 wicketless overs. But he boucned back in his next two with a combined 4 for 38 from seven overs. He breathed fire tonight as well. In his first over, he rushed Sai Sudharsan with a 152.3kph bouncer. In his second, he got one to move in at 147.7kph and pegged back Shubman Gill’s off stump. His match-up against Gill in T20 cricket now reads: 15 balls, ten runs, three dismissals.
For his former captain Jos Buttler, Archer had two slips, a short leg and a catching square leg, and welcomed him with a menacing bouncer that Buttler did well to evade. Buttler inside-edged the next ball just wide of short leg, and then pushed Archer through the covers for four.
Sai Sudharsan generally takes time to get going. Here, he attacked right from the start. He ramped, scooped, drove and cut, and took his side to 50 in 5.1 overs. By the end of the powerplay, he had 39 against his name, off 22 balls. Only Wriddhiman Saha (54 vs Lucknow Super Giants in 2023) has scored more runs in an innings for GT in that phase.
Buttler was on 12 off 13 at one point but hit four fours in his next six balls to move to 31 off 19. He and Sai Sudharsan added 80 off 46 balls before Maheesh Theekshana trapped Buttler lbw. After a brief dip in the scoring rate, M Shahrukh Khan opened up and smashed 36 off 20 to re-inject momentum.
Sudharsan was dropped on 81 by Shubham Dubey off Archer in the 18th over, but he only added one more to his tally. Then Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan ransacked 30 in the last two overs to take GT past 200.
RR did not have a great start. Yashasvi Jaiswal slashed Arshad to deep third in the second over of the chase and Nitish Rana did the same against Siraj in the next. Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag counterattacked and added 48 off 26 balls for the third wicket. The stand was broken when Impact Sub Kulwant Khejroliya had Parag caught behind in the seventh over. Parag immediately reviewed the decision, confident that his bat had only hit the ground, but the third umpire thought otherwise, with Ultra Edge also bringing up a second spike when the ball passed the bat.
Coming into this game, Rashid had picked up just one wicket in four outings. Tonight, he struck in his first over. It was a shortish ball that didn’t bounce as much as Dhruv Jurel expected, and Sai Sudharsan at deep midwicket gobbled up the mistimed pull.
Rashid enjoys a favourable match-up against Hetmyer, having dismissed him six times in 63 balls for 79 runs before this game. He almost had Hetmyer lbw for a first-ball duck but the ball had pitched fractionally outside leg stump. From there on, Hetmyer dominated Rashid and hit him for 26 runs off 12 balls with the help of two fours and two sixes. However, Rashid was too good for RR’s Impact Sub Shubham Dubey and had him lbw for 1.
In his final over, the 16th over of the innings, Prasidh had Archer caught at mid-off and Hetmyer at deep-backward square leg, both off short balls. With RR 145 for 8 after 16 overs, the result was sealed. They dragged their innings into the final over but that did little to reduce the margin of their defeat.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 217 for 6 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 82, Jos Buttler 36, M Shahrukh Khan 36, Rahul Tewatia 24*, Rashid Khan 12; Joffra Archer 1-30, Tushar Deshpande 2-53, Sandeep Sharma 1-41, Maheesh Theekshana 2-54) beat Rajasthan Royals 159 (Shimron Hetmyer 52, Sanju Samson 41, Riyan Parag 26; Mohammed Siraj 1-30, Arshad Khan 1-19, Prasidh Krishna 3-24, Kulwant Khejroliya 1-29, Sai Kishore 2-20, Rashid Khan 2-37) by 58 runs
[Cricinfo]
Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs Tournament
Speedster Manasa Madubashana celebrated his 19th birthday sharing four wickets each with spinner Yenula Dewthusa as St.Joseph’s sealed a comfortable 71 runs victory over Trinity in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs tournament final at Surrey Village ground on Wednesday.
Chasing 205 runs to win Trinity’s top order batsmen were rattled by Madubashana who took four wickets in a decisive seven over spell. He took wickets in consecutive balls in his second over to trigger a collapse from which Trinity never recovered.
The four wicket hauls by Madubashana and Dewthusa restricted Trinity to 133 runs. In their chase, Trinity lost wickets at reguler intervals and a laboured 48 runs from Sweath Anurajeewa only managed to delay the outcome till the 48th over. His innings came to an end when Madubashana held on to a regulation catch off the bowling of Aveesha Samash.
Earlier put to bat, St. Joseph’s too lost wickets at reguler intervals, but mini partnerships between Abishek Jayaweera and Senuja Wakunegoda (52 for the second wicket), and Jayaweera and Nimthaka Gunewardena (45 for the 3rd wicket) enabled them to stay aloft.
Gunawardena top scored with 47 runs, while skipper Kenath Liyanage played a vital role anchoring the tail with an unbeaten 29 runs.
The title victory capped a remarkable end to the Joes limited overs tournament campaign after having reached the knockout stage with only two victories under their belt.
by Reemus Fernando
Schools Relay Carnival commenced at Diyagama on Wednesday. Here are some pictures from day one of the three-day championship.
(Pix by Kamal Wanniarachchi)
Lyceum International Wattala were the winners of the Under 20 distance medley
relay. (From left) Himansi Pradeepani, Shalomi Rashni, Rashini Karunarathne
and Jithma Wijethunga.
.Under 20 boys medley relay winners, St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena. (From
left) Andrew Akash, Kalana Jayamanna, Kavindu Jayamanna and Denuth Nimesh.
Under 12 boys’ 4x100m relay winners, Maris Stella College. Negombo (From left) Tanujitha Weerasekara, Senith Ranasinghe, Milan Fernando and Denuth Thenujan.
Girls’ Under 12 4×50 metres relay winners, St. Bridget’s Convent, Colombo. (From left) Jenuli Perera, Sanah Fernando, Glesha Nanayakkara and Dehara Alwis.
Sun directly overhead Hatthikuchchi, Kalankuttiya, Halmillewa, Ipalogama, Palugaswewa and Habarana at about 12:11 noon. today [10]
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