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IPL 2025: Abhishek’s 18-ball fifty knocks Lucknow Super Giants out of playoffs race
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) are out of the IPL 2025 playoffs race, leaving Mumbai Indians (MI) and Delhi Capitals (DC) fighting for the last remaining slot in the top four.
LSG made a storming start to their 12th match, with Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram putting on 115 at close to 11 runs an over. But Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)’s bowlers hit back with clever use of the old ball and limited them to 205, a total that proved inadequate in the face of a thrilling display of six-hitting from Abhishek D=Sharma.
SRH were already out of contention for the playoffs when this match began, but they showed – even without Travis Head, who missed out after a bout of Covid-19 delayed his return to India, that they remain a batting line-up with an immense ceiling, even if the vagaries of form have ensured that they have only reached it sporadically this season.
Abhishek hit six sixes in a 20-ball 59, turning his team-mates’ task straightforward; with Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klassen and Kamindu Mendis also getting past 30, SRH reached their target with ten balls remaining.
LSG’s batting, yet again, was over-reliant on their big three, with Nicholas Pooran scoring 45 off 26 balls on the back of the openers’ half-centuries, and no one else reaching double figures. Having scored 108 for no loss in the first ten overs, LSG only managed 97 for 7 in the back half, as SRH’s bowlers pulled them back with their changes of pace.
It’s hard to say if conditions changed during the chase, making batting a little easier for SRH. But LSG’s attack certainly made it appear so; it was an indictment of their resources that the bowler they kept turning to in search of inspiration, Digyesh Rathi is an uncapped player in his debut IPL season.
Rathi picked up the wickets of Abhishek and Kishan, but SRH were well in control by the time of those strikes. The match officially ended in the 19th over, but its symbolic end came in the 14th, when Kamindu hit Rathi for three clinical, back-to-back fours in his final over.
For the first half hour or so of LSG’s innings, after Pat Cummins sent them in, this appeared to be one of the flattest surfaces Ekana has yet produced. When Cummins aimed at a hard length and erred on the shorter side in the first over, the ball sat up for Marsh to slap and pull him for a four and a six. When the debutant left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey landed the ball a touch too close to Marsh’s hitting arc in the second over, there was no grip off the pitch to endanger the step-hit over long-on.
LSG rushed to 69 for no loss in their first six overs, with both openers striking the ball authoritatively. If Marsh dominated the stand, it was only because he had more of the strike. At the six-over mark, he was on 41 off 22 balls, and Markram on 26 off 14.
At the halfway point of their innings, LSG were 108 for no loss. But the last ball of the 10th over gave a clue as to how the last 10 overs would play out. This full ball from Harshal Patel didn’t quite come on to Marsh’s bat, and a low caught-and-bowled appeal ended up going in the batter’s favour because replays suggested the ball had been momentarily grounded.
SRH were certainly finding more grip with the old ball than the new one. Marsh fell in the 11th over, with Dubey getting one to turn sharply and cause him to slice a catch to short third. In the next over, Rishabh Pant, who had promoted himself to No. 3, fell for another low score, chipping back a slower ball from Eshan Malinga, who took a superb return catch diving full-length to his left.
The challenge of the conditions was evident in the fact that Pooran began the final over without having hit a single six despite having faced 24 balls. Nitish Kumar Reddy bowled the 20th over – his second, in his first bowling innings of the season – and it turned out to be an eventful one, with Pooran and Akash Deep hitting sixes either side of three wickets including two run-outs when LSG’s batters attempted to steal byes. In all, 20 came off that over, taking LSG past 200.
Atharya Taide, coming on as Impact Sub and making his SRH debut, gave his new team early impetus with three fours in his first eight balls. Two of them were straight out of the middle, and one off an edged swipe that raced to the deep-third boundary. A similarly-edged swipe ended his innings, giving LSG debutant Will O’Rourke his first IPL wicket.
Then Kishan walked in and creamed his second ball for a gloriously-timed six over the covers. SRH were 23 for 1 in two overs, and Abhishek had only faced one ball.
All that early excitement, however, would pale against Abhishek’s onslaught. He launched a six each off Akash Deep and O’Rourke – the second an open-faced loft over cover point – and moved to 35 off 15 by the end of the powerplay. By the end of the seventh over – the most expensive seventh over in IPL history – he was batting on 59 off 19.
Abhishek only faced four balls in that over, and he hit all four over the boundary. Ravi Bishnoi is a terrific bowler against left-hand batters, using his angle across them and his wrong’un to hide the ball away from their hitting arc. But he could do nothing to stop Abhishek, who used his eye and reach to launch him for three successive sixes down the ground before pulling a short one just beyond reach of the leaping Pooran on the leg-side boundary.
SRH were 98 for 1 in seven overs, and entirely in control of their chase.
Abhishek’s attempt to go after Rathi in the eighth over cost him his wicket, as he ended up losing his shape while making too much room against a wrong’un. Rathi gave Abhishek an old-fashioned send-off, pointing him to the dressing room, before launching into his notebook celebration; all this sparked a confrontation that needed the umpires to pull Abhishek and Rathi apart.
Three more overs went by before Rathi came back into the attack, and he struck in that over too, the 12th, bowling Kishan when he missed a reverse-sweep. Kishan fell for 35 off 28, having struggled for timing after hitting that early six.
By this point, Klaasen was already up and running, having hit two fours and a six in getting to 24 off 11 balls. Kamindu joined him now, and the two put on 55 in 36 balls to shut LSG out of the game.
There were a couple of nervy moments late on, with Klaasen feathering Shardul Thakur behind for 47, and Kamindu retiring hurt after appearing to tweak his hamstring while completing a single. SRH only needed nine at that point, however; they took just three of the remaining 13 balls to finish the job.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 206 for 4 in 18.2 overs (Atharva Taide 13, Abhishek Sharma 59, Ishan Kishan 35, Heinrich Klaasen 47, Kamindu Mendis 32; Will O’Rourke 1-31, Digvesh Rathi 2-37, Shardul Thakur 1-39) beat Lucknow Super Giants 205 for 7 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 65, Aiden Markram 61, Nicholas Pooran 45; Harsh Dubey 1-44, Harshal Patel 1-49, Eshan Malinga 2-28, Nitish Kumar Rddy 1-28) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
European leaders, including in France and Germany, have announced they are working on a plan in the event the United States follows through on its threat to take over Greenland as tensions soar.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France Inter radio on Wednesday that while nations want to act if the US moves to seize Greenland from an ally, Denmark, they want to do so “together with our European partners”.
“I myself was on the phone with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday. He discarded the idea that what just happened in Venezuela could happen in Greenland,” Barrot said.
On Saturday, the United States – using fighter jets, attack helicopters, and special forces – abducted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, bringing him to New York City to be tried for alleged drug trafficking.
US President Donald Trump’s decision to greenlight the abduction of Maduro led to widespread condemnation and fear that Greenland, which the president has previously said should be part of Washington’s security apparatus, could be forcibly taken.
But since then, European allies have rallied behind Greenland’s sovereignty, saying the country belongs to its people.
Johannes Koskinen, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Finland’s parliament, called for the issue to be raised within NATO.
“[Allies should] address whether something needs to be done and whether the United States should be brought into line in the sense that it cannot disregard jointly agreed plans in order to pursue its own power ambitions,” he said.
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, requested an urgent meeting with Rubio to discuss the situation.
“We would like to add some nuance to the conversation,” Rasmussen wrote in a social media post. “The shouting match must be replaced by a more sensible dialogue. Now.”
Denmark has warned that any move to take Greenland by force would mean “everything would stop”, including NATO and 80 years of close security links.
Greenland’s government will join a meeting between Rubio and Danish officials next week following renewed US claims on the Arctic island, its foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The European Union will support Greenland and Denmark when needed and will not accept violations of international law no matter where they occur, European Council President Antonio Costa said.
“On Greenland, allow me to be clear: Greenland belongs to its people. Nothing can be decided about Denmark and about Greenland without Denmark or without Greenland,” Costa said in a speech.
“The European Union cannot accept violations of international law – whether in Cyprus, Latin America, Greenland, Ukraine, or Gaza. Europe will remain a firm and unwavering champion of international law and multilateralism.”
Greenland – the world’s largest island, with a population of 57,000 people – is located between Europe and North America. Since 2019, during Trump’s first term, the president has raised the idea of controlling Greenland, saying it would benifit US security.
So far, Trump has not ruled out using force to take the island.
Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that Trump’s intention is to buy Greenland. “That’s always been the president’s intent from the very beginning.”
House US House Speaker Mike Johnson said he hasn’t heard talk of sending the military into Greenland and the US is “looking at diplomatic channels”.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump and his national security team have “actively discussed” the option of buying Greenland.
“He views it in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region. And so that’s why his team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like,” Leavitt told reporters.
Neither Leavitt nor Rubio ruled out the use of force. But Leavitt said, “The president’s first option, always, has been diplomacy.”
[Aljazeera]
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Landslide early warnings issued to the Districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya
The Landslide Early Warning Center of the National Building Research Organisation [NBRO] has issued landslide early warnings to the districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya for the next 24 hours commencing at 1200hrs today [08]
Accordingly
LEVEL II AMBER landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Ududumbara in the Kandy District, Wilgamuwa in the Matale District, and Nildandahinna and Walapane in the Nuwara Eliya District.
LEVEL I YELLOW landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Meegahakiwula, Welimada, Kandaketiya, Lunugala, Badulla, Passara, Uva Paranagama and Hali_Ela in the Badulla District, Ambanganga Korale in the Matale District, and Mathurata and Hanguranketha in the Nuwara Eliya District.
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