Sports
Head knocks the wind out of India as Australia clinch sixth World Cup
After 10 consecutive wins to reach the final, India were outplayed by Australia on a slow Ahmedabad pitch as the visitors clinched an eye-popping sixth men’s World Cup title. If Australia’s bowlers put the choke-hold to restrict India to 240, it was Travis Head who delivered the final slam with his rollicking 120-ball 137 as they cruised to a six-wicket win.
Head, playing decisive roles in the semifinal and final of a World Cup, ensured he placed his name in history and joined an elite list of Mohinder Amarnath, Aravinda de Silva and Shane Warne to win Player of the Match awards in the knockout games.
The chase was not without stutters early on, as Australia slipped to 47/3 albeit with a healthy run-rate. Mohammed Shami, tasked with the new ball for the first time in this World Cup, struck with his second ball to have David Warner caught at slip. Jasprit Bumrah, after conceding 15 in his first over, bounced back to have Mitchell Marsh caught behind and outfoxed Steven Smith with a slower ball. Smith chose not to review with replays later confirming that he was struck outside off, and it betrayed signs of nerves in the chase.
However, Head along with a disciplined Marnus Labuschagne slowly and steadily reversed the pressure with a 192-run stand. With the spinners not getting much purchase on a slow surface, the duo stuck to their plans of rebuilding with a mixture of defence and attack. India’s second line of attack fell apart as Head first slog-swept Kuldeep Yadav for a six and Jadeja was consistently milked. It meant that the final became the only game in this World Cup where India’s spinners went wicketless, with the slowness off the surface largely negating their threat whatsoever.
Nevertheless, the duo played the conditions perfectly hitting boundaries early in the return spells to ensure that India never had an opening thereafter. They put on a massive partnership for the fourth wicket, to take the game away clinically from India. Head fell eventually with Australia needing just 2 more which was duly completed by Glenn Maxwell, to finish off the job started by their captain with the ball.
Earlier in the day, a clinical display of bowling to the conditions had enabled Australia to restrict India to a middling total of 240 after putting them in to bat.
In front of a capacity crowd over 100000, Pat Cummins decided to take a chance and bowl first on the dry pitch despite India’s imperious batting record through the tournament. His judgement call threatened to be proven wrong as India, led by Rohit Sharma once again, got the momentum in the powerplay.
Sharma set the tone with a string of boundaries hitting Josh Hazlewood off his lengths even as Shubman Gill fell miscuing to mid on. But Virat Kohli got going just like Sharma, hitting Mitchell Starc for three consecutive boundaries to keep India’s run-rate up.
So far it had played to India’s template with Rohit racing towards a quickfire fifty. But Australia kept them on their toes with the introduction of spin which paid dividends. Sharma tried to hit Maxwell out but ended up miscuing one high up and Travis Head completed a superb catch running back and across from cover-point. An already silenced crowd was stunned further when Shreyas Iyer fell nicking behind to a cutter from Cummins.
Losing two wickets in the space of four balls forced India into a position of consolidation, which was done resolutely by the duo of Kohli and KL Rahul. While they remained steadfast, it was also a period where Australia were equally standout with the ball, allowing no freebies whatsoever. The duo went through a period of 97 balls without a boundary with even the likes of Mitchell Marsh keeping the lines tight.
Leading the way with the bowling plans for the pacers was Cummins (10-0-34-2 without conceding a boundary) who had set the tone with his off-pace cutters. But India had their hopes up as Kohli brought up his 9th fifty of the tournament and 5th consecutive one. Those hopes were dashed though by Cummins’ ploy, as another banged-in cutter saw Kohli chopping on after 54. The weight of the 765 runs that Kohli had amassed through the tournament mattered little at this point as India were pushed into another corner.
They responded by changing up the batting order with Ravindra Jadeja getting a promotion. But even this ploy did not mess up Australia’s lines as the boundaries simply did not come. Rahul, who held up one end, also brought up a fifty but there was no big finish to cap it off this time. Australia now found reverse swing as well which added to the challenge. Hazlewood had Jadeja nicking behind from round the wicket while Starc mirrored that at the other angle to prise out the defiant Rahul.
Suryakumar Yadav’s attempts to shepherd the tail as well as give India a boost did not come off as he gloved a slow bouncer from Hazlewood, effectively ending any chance of a late surge as India were eventually bowled out for 240 – a total that proved too little on the back of Head’s calculated assault.
Brief scores
India 240 in 50 overs (Rohit Sharma 47, Virat Kohli 54, K L Rahul 66; Mitchell Starc 3-55, Josh Hazelwood 2-60, Pat Cummins 2-34) lost to Australia 241/4 in 43 overs (Travis Head 137, Marnus Labuschagne 58*; Jasprit Bumrah 2-43 ) by six wickets
(Cricbuzz)
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi gave the latest demonstration of his prodigious talent with a record breaking innings in Harare as India completed a dominant run at the Under-19 World Cup, swatting aside England’s challenge, to lift the trophy for the sixth time.
Sooryavanshi, the 14-year-old opener, showcased his full range of scoring in an audacious knock of 175 off just 80 balls to almost single-handedly extinguish England’s hopes after India had opted to bat. When he was third out, India were 251 for 3 in the 26th over and hypothetically on track to score 500. No one could keep up with Sooryavanshi’s rate, but cameos down the order from Abhigyan Kundu and Kanishk Chouhan did take India past 400 for the first time in a Youth ODI between Full Member nations.
For England, Caleb Falconer struck a scintillating 63-ball hundred in response, but there was too much left to do and he was last out as India regained the Under-19 title, having lost the final to Australia two years ago.
Although England struck early, Aaron George caught at point off Alex Green, the game quickly ran away from them. Sooryavanshi put on 142 in 15 overs alongside India’s captain, Ayush Mhatre, and then 78 out of 89 for the third wicket alongside Vedant Trivedi as the innings went into overdrive.
Having cruised to fifty from 32 balls, he took just 23 more to bring up his first century of the tournament, then another 16 to progress past 150. Sixes rained down around the ground, as England’s spinners, Farhan Ahmed and Ralphie Albert, were treated with disdain – although arguably no shot was more outrageous than the forehand smash off a Green bouncer than somehow went straight back over the bowler’s head into the sightscreen.
He fell completely against the run of play, gloving behind when aiming a slog-sweep at Manny Lumsden, and India’s innings stuttered – at least relative to what had gone before. James Minto bagged three-for as England strove to keep the score below 400, a mark that was breached in the final over.
Mayes struck seven fours and two sixes but fell the ball after retaking top spot from Sooryavanshi on the tournament run-scorers’ list. Thomas Rew, England’s captain, blazed out of the blocks with 31 off 18 and Dawkins notched a 49-ball fifty – but the latter’s dismissal sparked a collapse of 4 for 3 in nine balls as India’s grip tightened.
England were well up with the rate, despite wickets falling, and were given hope by a stand of 92 between Falconer and James Minto. Falconer found the boundary regularly on the way to his maiden hundred, but the requirement had ballooned above 10 an over and England were still 100 runs short when he was finally dismissed.
Brief scores:
India Under 19s 411 for 9 in 50 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 175, Ayush Mhatre 53, Abhigyan Kundu 40; Sebastian Morgan 2-74, Alex Green 2-49, Ja,es Minto 3-63) beat England Under 19s 311 in 40.2 overs (Caleb Falconer 115, Ben Dawkins 65, Ben Mayes 45; RS Ambrish 3-56, Deepesh Devendran 2-64, Khan8shk Chouhan 2-63) by 100 runs
(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]
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)
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