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Reddy, Patil and Harmanpreet help India overcome Pakistan

Published

1 year ago

2024/10/6

Priyan

Harmanpreet Kaur was back at No. 4, stroking a crucial 29 [Cricinfo]

India’s net run rate (NRR) ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 game against Pakistan was -2.90. They had to win and win big against Pakistan for that to become positive and move up in the points table. On a hot afternoon in Dubai, though, India achieved only one of those tasks – beating Pakistan by six wickets to earn two points and open the account with a sluggish chase.

The win was set up by Arudhati Reddy and Shreyanka Patil who combined for five of the eight wickets Pakistan lost. Pakistan huffed and puffed to 105 on the back of Nida Dar’s 28. But on a slow, spin-friendly surface, Pakistan also used their spinners well and denied India the launchpad: they eventually got home in the 19th over with only five fours hit – three by Shafali Verma and one each by Harmanpreet Kaur and S Sajana, playing for the injured Pooja Vastrakar. Back at her familiar No. 4 spot after being promoted to one-down in the opening game, Harmanpreet was the only India batter with a strike rate over 100, in the top six.

On the eve of the contest, Pakistan captain Fatima Sana spoke about using the power game to hit hard at their rivals. The openers tried to use their feet in a bid to walk the talk after Pakistan opted to bat. Gull Feroza tried to use her feet to counter Renuka Singh’s swing but was undone in the opening over. Muneeba Ali also used the crease so much that the runs hardly justify those. She used even the slightest of width to go over the in-field, like she did twice against Renuka inside the powerplay.

In the absence of Vastrakar, who was out with a niggle, Reddy had to shoulder additional seam-bowling responsibility and was brought on in the fourth over of the game. Immediately she induced a false stroke, with Sidra Amin chipping one towards mid-off. In her next over, Reddy delivered the perfect blow, getting Muneeba to scoop one straight to short fine leg only for S Asha to grass a sitter. A couple of balls later, though, Reddy struck by having Omaima Sohail miscue one to mid-off.

A few quiet overs saw Muneeba being stifled, and Patil pounced on the chance to get among the wickets. Anticipating a charge from the Pakistan opener, she threw one wider outside off, past which Muneeba walked and Richa Ghosh did the rest. Dar found it slightly tough to keep the scorecard ticking on her own and losing partners regularly did not help.

Reddy first trapped Aliya Riaz in front – the DRS not coming to the Pakistan allrounder’s aid after Hawk-Eye showed it to be clipping leg – before Patil dismissed Tuba Hassan for a three-ball duck. Sana showed a bit of intent and struck successive fours off Asha but fell to a terrific catch by Ghosh. She looked to slog the legspinner out of the ground but Ghosh dived to her right to pluck a one-handed stunner. Reddy then bowled Dar to pick up her third.

For India to get their NRR in the positive, they had to overhaul the 106-run target in 11.2 overs. However, India endured a boundary-less powerplay, with Shafali and Smriti Mandhana struggling to put away spin. Mandhana hit some crisp strokes but found the fielders in nine of the ten balls leading to her dismissal. In a bid to break free, she chipped one tamely to backward point.

On cue, Sana kept spin on for 13 of the first 15 overs. They frustrated Shafali with lack of speed, as a result of which, she missed putting some of the juicy full tosses away. India ended their boundary drought in the eighth over when Shafali welcomed Tuba with a pull through midwicket. She hit a couple of more fours before holing out to long-on.

At the other end, Jemimah Rodrigues – batting at No. 3 ahead of Harmanpreet – kept manoeuvring the field and helping India inch closer. However, boundaries were hard to come by and, when India lost her and Ghosh off successive balls, it seemed Pakistan could do the unthinkable. Harmanpreet then almost saw India home in the company of Deepti Sharma. However, she sprained her neck while turning awkwardly to avoid being stumped and walked back retired hurt. Sajana then came out to hit the winning four that helped India maintain their upper hand over Pakistan in women’s T20Is.

Brief scores:
India Women 108 for 4 in 18.5 overs (Shafali Verma 32, Harmanpreet Kaur 29*, Jemima Rodrigues 23; Fatima Sana 2-23, Sadia Iqbal 1-23, Omaima Sohail 1-17) beat Pakistan Women 105 for 8 in 20 overs (Nida Dar 28; Renuka Singh 1-23, Deepti Sharma 1-24, Arundhati Reddy 3-19, Shreyanka Patil 2-12, Asha Sobhana 1-24) by six wickets

[Cricinfo]

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Mighty India meet multicultural USA in polarised World Cup

Published

1 hour ago

2026/02/6

Priyan

Mumbai will have plenty of local boys to root for, from both sides [Cricinfo]

The USA national team has only four players born in the USA, all of them children of immigrants. The other 11 are first-generation immigrants.

Three of those 11 were born in Pakistan. Their captain Monank Patel, and four others, were born in India. Monank recently told PTI there is “no Indian or Pakistani when you represent the USA.”

This team of Indian, Pakistani, South African and Sri Lankan immigrants will get under the star-sprangled banner and start, against India, their campaign in this T20 World Cup, during whose build-up the world has seemed to grow increasingly polarised.

Make of it what you will. Be relieved that cricket still has room for these niceties, or be despondent that this small win is worth celebrating.

Amid all the politicking, what has probably not been celebrated enough is the T20 excellence India have put together. Over nine editions, the T20 world title has neither been defended successfully nor been won at home. On Saturday, in front of a packed Wankhede Stadium where they won the 2011 ODI title, India will begin their campaign promising that both can be achieved in a month’s time.

Fourteen years ago, Ian Chappell wrote that left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh, born in Mumbai and an Under-19 World Cup winner for India, was ready for international cricket. Watching Harmeet, Chappell was put in the mind of Bishan Singh Bedi. Here he is, an international cricketer via a circuitous route, back in his place of birth to take on the team representing his country of birth.

Six months ago, Ishan Kishan was not even on the World Cup radar. Then Shubman Gill got injured and fell short of runs on his T20I comeback. Kishan blasted all comers during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. So he entered the World Cup squad as the back-up wicketkeeper-batter. Then Sanju Samson fell short of runs. Now, if India’s World Cup warm-up fixture was anything to go by, Kishan is the No. 1 choice to partner Abhishek Sharma at the top. And if he can get off to a good start, he is likely to keep his place for the business end of the tournament.

Washington Sundar, still recovering from a side strain, was not with the squad during their warm-up match against South Africa, but India are going to keep him in their squad. As it is, he is a back-up for Axar Patel, who is the first-choice spin allrounder. Harshit Rana was seen in some discomfort during the warm-up fixture and walked off after bowling just one over. The prognosis for Rana’s participation in this tournament ” doesn’t look good”, India captain Suryakumar Yadav has said, and it is particularly a cause for concern since he is the only genuine fast bowler in the squad who can contribute a few sixes down the order. Tilak Varma has made a successful return to fitness.

India (probable): Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy.

Andries Gous, who missed USA’s last T20I, the final of the North America T20 Cup last April, should come back as wicketkeeper and opener. Others could drop down a slot each to make up for the absence of the suspended Aaron Jones.

USA (probable): Saiteja Mukkamalla, Andries Gous (wk), Shayan Jahangir, Monank Patel (capt.), Milind Kumar, Harmeet Singh, Shubham Ranjane, Mohammad Mohsin, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan

[Cricinfo]

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At least 31 killed, dozens wounded in Islamabad mosque blast

Published

2 hours ago

2026/02/6

Priyan

People shift an injured man to a hospital following an explosion at a mosque in Islamabad on February 6, 2026 [Aljazeera]

An apparent suicide attack at a Shia mosque in Islamabad has killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens more, in one of the worst such incidents to hit Pakistan’s capital.

The powerful explosion occurred at Khadija Tul Kubra mosque, in southeastern Islamabad’s Tarlai Kalan area, during Friday prayers.

A senior police official told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity the explosion appeared to be a suicide attack but the conclusive cause is yet to be determined.

“Our team is present at the site and we’re in process of confirming the cause,” he said.

A security source told told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity the attacker detonated himself after being stopped at the gate of the mosque.

In a statement, Islamabad administration said 169 people were transferred to hospital after rescue teams reached the site of the explosion.

Footage shared on social media and verified by Al Jazeera showed bloodied bodies laying on the floor of the mosque, surrounded by broken glass and debris.

At the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences hospital, AFP journalists saw several adults and children being carried in on stretchers or by their arms and legs.

Medics and bystanders helped unload victims with blood-soaked clothes from the back of ambulances and vehicles. At least one casualty arrived in the boot of a car, while friends and relatives of the wounded screamed as they arrived at the hospital’s heavily guarded emergency ward, the news agency reported.

In a statement, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his “deep grief” following the incident.

In November last year, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the Islamabad District Judicial Complex, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens

(Aljazeera)

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The SSC finally steps out of the sunshine and into the floodlights

Published

4 hours ago

2026/02/6

Priyan

Floodlights on at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in Colombo (Cricinfo)

For over a century, the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) has been the quiet, dignified heartbeat of Sri Lankan cricket. To walk through its gates is to walk through a gallery of greats, and ghosts. This is where Muthiah Muralidaran turned the ball as if by magic, claiming 166 of his 800 Test wickets – a world record for a single venue to date. It is where Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara built their 624 run monument to patience, and where Chaminda Vaas’ 8 for 19 left Zimbabwe in ruins.

But for all the prestige the SSC had as the ‘Lord’s of Sri Lanka,’ the modern game had begun to grow beyond its reach. For years, the ground was a sanctuary for the traditionalist, a place of white kits and long afternoon shadows. One that has fed more players and captains to the national team than any other. But while the world embraced the floodlit frenzy of T20 cricket, the SSC remained a daytime relic.

The last limited-overs international hosted there was a women’s T20I in 2023, while the last men’s white-ball game was an ODI in 2020. Its T20I history, meanwhile, frozen in time, preserved in the memory of Associate clashes between Canada, Ireland, and Afghanistan in the afternoon heat of 2010.

This Saturday, while the sun will still be high over Colombo, the 16-year drought finally ends. As the rumble of the T20 World Cup curtain-raiser between Pakistan and the Netherlands echoes across the ground, six towering sentinels will stand watch over the turf – an LKR. 1.8 billion crown of LED floodlights waiting to signal the club’s belated arrival to the present. The journey to this moment, though, has been long.

“My God, for the last two decades,” exclaimed SSC cricket committee chairman Samantha Dodanwela, his voice carrying the relief of a man who has finally crossed the finish line.

Since 2009, the dream of floodlights was mired in the complexities of a private members’ club – disputes, corporate hesitancy, and protective instincts of a historic membership. It took the backing of Sri Lanka Cricket and the skills of a legal firm to ensure that this modernisation wouldn’t cost the club its soul or autonomy.

The result is a venue that feels both intimate and international. With a capacity of 12,000, it is a ’boutique’ World Cup experience, though a plan for a 6000-seater three-tier stand is already moving from the boardroom to the western hill.

“This venue is in the heart of the city,” Dodanwela noted, eyeing the urban sprawl of Colombo that surrounds the club. “You will see members patronising the club in the evenings; the crowd will always be there.”For Dodanwela, who joined the club in 1990 and took stewardship of its Cricket Committee in 2011 – albeit with a short gap when Jayawardene took over briefly from 2020-22 – the lights are a guarantee of relevance. While the heritage of the SSC is built on the craft of Test cricket, he knows the future is T20.

“The SSC pitch is the best in Sri Lanka. If you are a good bowler, there is life early on. But if you survive? There are loads of runs. And in T20, what we need is runs.”

As the Oman vs Zimbabwe clash kicks off at 3pm on February 9, and Pakistan vs USA plays out fully under lights the following night, the transition will be complete.

The membership may look back fondly on a past defined by Test cricket, but the SSC’s future is set to begin with the glow of flood-lit mayhem in the heart of Colombo.

(Cricinfo)