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Varun and Salt star in comprehensive Kolkata Knight Riders win

Published

2 years ago

2024/04/30

Priyan

Varun Chakravarthy finished with 3 for 16 (Cricinfo)

Having just hosted a run-fest where 262 was chased down with eight balls to spare, Eden Gardens reverted to a former template familiar to fans of its home team, and Kolkata Knight Riders returned to winning ways and moved to second place on the IPL table with a confident, net-run-rate-boosting seven-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals.

After a succession of flat pitches, Eden served up one with a little bit of grip, and KKR’s bowlers made full use of it after Capitals chose to bat first. Mitchell Starc and Vaibhav Arora took three wickets inside the powerplay, after which the spinners took over, with Varun Chakrawarthy and Sunil Narine combining for figures of 8-0-40-4. Reduced to 111 for 8 at one stage, Capitals set KKR a 150-plus target thanks to an unlikely, unbeaten 26-ball 35 from Kuldeep Yadav.

With Kuldeep and Axar Patel in their attack, Capitals had the tools to create a bit of pressure on this pitch, but KKR were well on their way to victory before either spinner had bowled a ball. Phil Salt made his fourth fifty in five home games this season, dominating a powerplay in which KKR rushed to 79 for no loss.

Axar Patel removed both KKR openers when he came on, but it was too little, too late for Capitals, as Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer put on an unbroken 57 off 43 balls to end the match with 21 balls remaining.

KKR now have 12 points from nine games, and a NRR of 1.096, the best of any team in the competition.

Jake Fraser-McGurk faced just seven balls on Monday night, and five of the seven were attempted yorkers, two of which ended up as full-tosses. The other two were banged into a hard length. The bulk of these balls were from Mitchell Starc, but Vaibhav Arora also stuck to the same plan with his two balls. This wasn’t two fast bowlers searching for swing from a fullish good length with the new ball. This was death bowling inside the powerplay, and as T20 batting leans more and more towards all-out attack, it’s likely we’ll see a lot more of it in the future.

On the day, Fraser-McGurk hit a four and a six and picked out deep square leg while looking to flick Starc for another six.

By then, Capitals had already lost Prithvi Shaw, who had begun ominously with three fours off Starc, off the first three balls of the match. He had fallen in innocuous manner, strangling Arora down the leg side.

Arora took one more wicket, delivering a peach that straightened off the deck to hit the top of Shai Hope’s off stump. That ball suggested the ball would grip for the spinners too, and so it proved.

Before this match, Varun had endured a difficult season, going at 9.72 while picking up eight wickets in eight games. While Narine had defied flat conditions, particularly in Kolkata, and prevented batters from accessing the boundaries, his spin partner had gone for plenty like every other bowler in KKR’s games.

Now, though, Varun had a bit of help from the pitch, and he could have struck first ball had Harshit Rana – who had just dismissed a dangerous-looking Abishek Porel in the previous over – not dropped a sitter off a Rishabh Pant miscue at short third. Pant, though, would go after Varun again in his next over – the 11th of the Capitals innings – and miscue again, with Shreyas Iyer pouching him safely in the covers on this occasion.

Varun was getting the ball to bite on the surface, and he quickly picked up two more wickets, of Tristan Stubbs and Kumar Kushagra – who came on as Impact Sub in a failed attempt to lengthen Capitals’ batting and stem the collapse. With Narine dismissing Axar Patel at the other end, Capitals were eight down inside the 15th over.

They managed to see out their 20, though, with Kuldeep getting them that far with a mixture of skill and luck. He hit two edged fours in his first four balls, and then hit a six off Starc that was very nearly a catch at deep backward square leg, and eventually finished with a control percentage of 41. They were important runs for Capitals, though, ensuring that they got to 150.

It was evident through the initial stages of KKR’s chase that the slower ball was gripping the surface and stopping on the batters, but it was also evident that Capitals’ quicks were offering frequent width to free the arms. With Salt and Narine in the form they were in, this was asking for trouble. And the trouble was compounded when Lizaad Williams, who went for 23 in the first over, dropped a straightforward chance off Khaleel Ahmed at the start of the second to reprieve Salt on 15.

The openers raced to 79 for 0 in the powerplay, with Salt, who had the bulk of the strike, reaching a 26-ball half-century in the sixth over.

Narine went after Axar’s first ball and perished, picking out deep midwicket in the seventh over while trying to hit with the turn, and Axar bowled Salt with a trademark, inward-angling skidder in the ninth. But KKR’s required rate was well below a run a ball, and it remained so even when Williams dismissed Rinku Singh with a good, hard-length ball in the 10th over.

KKR had a long, in-form line of batters still to come, and in the end didn’t require Andre Russell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi or Ramandeep Singh to bat, as the two Iyers ticked off the remaining runs with little fuss beyond a mix-up in the 16th over when the match was already all but won.

Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 153/9 in 20 overs (Kuldeep Yadav 35*, Rishabh Pant 27; Mitchell Starc 1-43, Vaibhav Arora 2-29, Varun Chakravarthy 3-16, Harshit Rana 2-28, Sunil Narine 1-24) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 157/3 in 16.3 overs (Phil Salt 68, Shreyas Iyer 33*, Venkatesh Iyer 26*; Lizaad Williams 1-38, Axar Patel 2-25) by 7 wickets

(Cricinfo)

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Peace deal to fully reopen Hormuz as US military pulls out

Published

36 mins ago

2026/05/27

Priyan

A new draft peace proposal says Iran would fully restore commercial shipping through the Strait ⁠of Hormuz to ⁠pre-war levels within 30 days while the ⁠US ⁠would withdraw ⁠military forces from Iran’s vicinity and lift its ‌naval blockade.

The Revolutionary Guard says a renewed war with the United States is unlikely because of the “enemy’s weakness” but vows to make Iran’s southern territory a “graveyard for aggressors”.

[Aljazeera]

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World Cup contenders England and India hope to get their combinations right

Published

52 mins ago

2026/05/27

Priyan

Alice Capsey will be one half of a new-look England opening pair [Cricinfo]

With the Women’s T20 World Cup looming into view, this three-match series across the green swards of Chelmsford, Bristol and Taunton shapes as ideal preparation for two teams with designs on the trophy.

For England, it is vital that they can hone their plans and approach – in particular, role definition – after the best part of a year without playing the format (before they took on New Zealand in Derby last week, their previous T20I had been against India in July 2025). That planning has been further hampered by the absence of captain Nat Sciver Brunt through injury, though they overcame that disadvantage to see off New Zealand by a 2-1 scoreline.

High on England’s list of wants will be time in the middle for a new-look opening pair of Sophia Dunkley and Alice Capsey, as well as further opportunities for Dani Gibson and Freya Kemp to establish their credentials as all-round options after injury. Three blemish-free performances in the field would also go down nicely.

India, the reigning 50-over world champions, won a historic first T20I series on these shores last summer and – in contrast to England – have been in regular action since, although they followed up victory in Australia at the start of the year with an unexpected 4-1 reversal on their most-recent tour, to South Africa in April.

Injuries to key allrounders have changed the balance of their side slightly, but they remain able to call on a formidable group of players as they seek to follow Australia in holding the women’s ODI and T20I titles at the same time. All but three of the squad have the experience of playing T20Is in England, while the new faces include uncapped seamer Nandani Sharma, who finished as joint-leading wicket-taker at the most-recent WPL.

Sophie Ecclestone ought to be one of England’s trump cards as they target a home World Cup win. Previously the No. 1-ranked bowler in women’s T20Is (she currently sits third), Ecclestone is closing in on becoming only the fourth woman to 150 wickets in the format. But she has made a quiet start to England’s international season, with one wicket in three outings against New Zealand (two T20Is, one ODI), which included getting thumped for 18 in an over by Sophie Devine in Derby. Figures of 1 for 11 from four suffocating overs in Hove on Monday hinted at a return to her best.

Talking of totemic forces, Smriti Mandhana once again shapes as key to India’s challenge. Still only 29, but already the second-highest run-scorer of all time in the format – Mandhana is currently 427 runs behind the soon-to-be-retired Suzies Bates – she will be hoping to replicate last year’s English experience, when she was the leading run-scorer on either side across five T20Is, which included notching a maiden T20I hundred at Trent Bridge. She only made 62 runs in three innings in South Africa, but topped the run charts at the WPL earlier in the year and has lots of good memories of touring in this part of the world.

England will welcome back Dani Wyatt Hodge from parental leave, although she won’t be available for the first T20I; Charis Pavely has been released to play for Warwickshire, but Maia Bouchier will remain with the squad. Lauren Filer will also be allowed to leave for Durham’s Blast game at The Oval on Wednesday, but will rejoin England for the rest of the series. Tilly Corteen-Coleman, the 18-year-old slow left-armer, awaits her debut in this format.

Amanjot Kaur was one of the stars of India’s victory in England last year but misses this tour with a back injury – as does her understudy Kashvee Gautam (knee). The top six is pretty much locked in, although Bharti Fulmali could provide an option if India want to pack the batting. Radha Yadav is also back in contention, having last played a T20I on the England tour, and could add all-round depth.

England (probable): Sophia Dunkley, Alice Capsey, Maia Bouchier, Heather Knight, Freya Kemp, Amy Jones (wk), Dani Gibson, Charlie Dean (capt), Sophie Ecclestone, Issy Wong, Lindsey Smith

India (probable): Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Shreyanka Patil/Bharti Fulmali, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, Kranti Gaud, N Shree Charani

[Cricinfo]

Latest News

Do not be misled by Fake news created using the PM’s name, photographs, and video footage – Prime Minister’s Media Division

Published

2 hours ago

2026/05/27

Priyan

It has been revealed that fake news created using the name, photographs, and video footage of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya along with the unauthorized use of official logos of various media institutions and news websites are being circulated on social media platforms.

Certain groups have published videos edited to appear as though the Prime Minister is expressing particular views, as well as fake social media posts featuring her photographs. Through such misleading content, false information has been circulated regarding various business and employment opportunities, as well as the country’s economy and tax policies.

These false stories have been created using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and modern technological tools. As the Prime Minister’s Media Division, we kindly urge the public not to be deceived by such misinformation and to remain vigilant regarding these matters.

Legal action will be taken against all individuals who create and distribute such false news through social media in a manner that harms the Government and the reputation of the Prime Minister.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division]