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IPL 2025: Siraj, Gill and Washington hand Sunrisers fourth successive defeat

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Gujarat Tirans brushed aside Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets [Cricinfo]

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) suffered another batting malfunction, this time on a slow, black-soil surface at home, crashing to their fourth successive defeat in IPL 2025.  Having lost Travishek in the powerplay, SRH waited until the 13th over to see the first six of the innings, and managed only one more after that Mohammad Siraj caused irreparable damage right from the start, ending with his career-best IPL figures of 4 for 17.

Pat Cummins’ cameo (22* off nine balls) and then his dismissal of Jos Buttler for a duck in Gujarat Titans’ (GT) chase of 153 gave SRH some hope, but that faded away once  Washington Sundar clattered 23 off nine balls in the powerplay. Earlier in the day, GT didn’t need Washington with the ball, but his attacking enterprise at No. 4 settled their chase on a slow pitch. Washington fell agonisingly short of a maiden IPL half-century, but his captain Shubman Gill ushered GT home, with an unbeaten 61 off 43 balls, along with Sherfane Rutherford.

Siraj had sparked the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to life when he gave Travis Head a send-off in Adelaide last December. Four months on, Siraj was bowling to Head for the first time in T20s, and the battle lasted just five balls. After Head scored two fours off Siraj, the fast bowler struck with his trademark wobble-seam delivery, having him chip a catch to midwicket for 8.

Abhishek Sharma hit four fours before Siraj had him miscuing a catch to mid-on in his third over of the powerplay. It was Siraj’s 100th wicket in the IPL and sixth in the powerplay, the most by a bowler in that phase so far this season, with an economy rate of 6.27.

Siraj then returned in the death to york both Aniket Verma, the last recognised batter for SRH, and Simarjeet Singh, their Impact Player.

With both Head and Abhishek gone early,Rashid Khan, who was coming into this game on the back of figures of 4-0-54-0, could afford to ease himself in. He started fairly well by giving away just 10 runs in his first two overs, but when he erred in length, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klassen dispatched him to the fence. Rashid finished with 4-0-31-0, going wicketless for a third successive game, and with tournament figures of 1 for 143 in 14 overs at an economy rate of 10.21

Left-arm fingerspinner Ravisrinivasan  Sai Kishore,  on the other hand, showed remarkable control over his length and variations. He claimed the big wicket of Klaasen by knocking him over with a quick dart, which skidded off the pitch, for 27 off 19 balls. Sai Kishore also had Reddy holing out for 31 off 34 balls and finished with 4-0-24-2.

That SRH passed 150 was down to Cummins’ late blows. He was the only SRH batter in the top eight to have a strike rate of over 160.

It appeared like GT had handed a franchise debut to Washington to primarily match his offspin up with SRH’s left-hander heavy top order. But with Siraj dominating the powerplay and Sai Kishore taking care of the middle overs, GT ended up not using his offspin.

Washington then walked out to bat at No. 4 after his childhood friend B Sai Sudarshan and Buttler fell cheaply in successive overs. Washington took advantage of the last over of the powerplay, smoking Simarjeet for two sixes and two fours. It provided a throwback to Washington of 2016, when he opened the batting, alongside Abhinav Mukund, in the TNPL and showed the intent to hit over the top. Just like that, Washington dumped SRH’s Impact Player out of the attack.

Washington continued to attack even after that. When the ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis darted one on the stumps with his right hand, Washington manufactured swinging room and laced him over extra-cover for four. Washington seemed set for a fifty until he holed out one shy of the landmark in the 14th over.

Gill, who had already crossed 50 by that point, finished the job along with Rutherford, who hit an unbeaten 35 off 16 balls.

Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 153 for 3 in 16.4 overs (Shubman Gill 61*, Washington Sundar  49, Sherfaine Rutherford 35*; Mohammed Shami 2-28, Pat Cumminss 1-26) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 152 for 8 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 18, Ishan Krishan 17, Nitish Kumar Reddy 31, Heinrich Klassen 27, Aniket Verma 18,Pat Cummins 22*; Mohammed  Siraj 4-17, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore 2-24, Prasidh Krishna 2-25)by seven wickets

[Cricinfo]



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USA allrounder Isani Vaghela suspended from bowling

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Isani Vaghela won't be bowling in international cricket until she submits a re-assessment of her action (Cricinfo)

USA allrounder Isani Vaghela has been suspended from bowling in international cricket after the ICC found her action to be illegal.

The ICC made the decision after match officials reported her bowling in USA Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier match against Ireland.

The ICC’s Event Panel reviewed footage of Vaghela’s bowling in USA’s next game, a win against Papua New Guinea, and concluded that her action was illegal.

Her suspension will remain until she corrects her bowling action and appears for a reassessment.

Vaghela, a 20-year old medium pacer, had made her T20I debut in 2021 and played her first ODI in 2024. She has played 39 T20Is and taken 31 wickets, and has four wickets in six ODIs so far.

USA finished the Super Six stage of the qualifying tournament with one win, and failed to make the cut, with Bangladesh, Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands qualifying for the women’s T20 World Cup in June-July in England and Wales.

(Cricinfo)

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Iran’s supreme leader warns of regional war if US attacks

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Iran is due to hold live fire naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz (BBC)

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that any attack on his country would spark a regional conflict, as the US continues to build up its forces nearby.

“The Americans should know that if they start a war, this time it will be a regional war,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Donald Trump earlier said Iran was in “serious discussions” and he hoped they would lead to something “acceptable”, while Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CNN he was “confident that we can achieve a deal” on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Trump has threatened to intervene in Iran over its nuclear ambitions and after its deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.

(BBC)

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India qualify for Under-19 World Cup semi-finals, Pakistan knocked out

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Ayush Mhatre took three wickets for India Under-19 (Cricinfo)

Pakistan Under 19 neither succeeded in qualifying for the semi-under 1final nor managed a win against India Under 19 in the  last Super Sixes match of the Under 19 World Cup. Two absolute points and significant net-run-rate points behind India, Pakistan needed to chase down the target of 253 in 33.3 overs, but they never quite went for that outrageous chase on a difficult surface with variable bounce. However, as the game got deeper, the pitch got more and more difficult to bat on, scuttling even the regulation chase, which looked good till 33.3 overs.

India needed a win to end as their group leaders and thus get Afghanistan in the semi-final in Harare while a defeat after 33.3 overs would have pitted them against Australia on the same tired square in the semi-final in Bulawayo. In the end, the depth in India’s line-up trumped Pakistan, who had looked dominant in the early goings in both the innings.

Pakistan had India down at 47 for 3 and 200 for 7, but just couldn’t restrict them to a manageable chase. Vedant Trivedi  shored India up with 68 off 98, and then the lower order all contributed: No. 8 Kanishk Chouhan scored 35, No. 7  RS Ambrish hung around for 29, and even No. 9 Khilan Patel  hit 21 off 15. It didn’t help that Pakistan were slow in the field, and had to bowl the last four overs with an extra fielder inside the 30-yard circle: 39 runs came off these overs even though India didn’t have wickets in hand.

With the bat, Pakistan got off to a sprightly start, but the dip in quality of batting was quite steep after No. 4. That’s possibly why they didn’t go all out for the qualification. India, on the other hand, had plenty of defensive spin options, which proved to be valuable on a pitch that offered them a lot of turn in the afternoon.

India will look back at a game in which they were tactically superior even though the opposition dominated the early goings. They read the conditions better, deciding to bat first, but it never came to pass as Pakistan won the toss and decided to chase anyway. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi went after the new ball during his 30 off 22, but when they lost three wickets for the score of 47, Trivedi and Vihaan Malhotra dug in, knowing any score over 200 would make it extremely difficult for any outrageous chase. Even with the ball, they bowled defensively to first make sure they qualified and just burst through the narrow opening provided when Pakistan captain Farhan Yousaf was caught at long-on to make it 151 for 3 in 29.4 overs.

The collapse after that was spectacular – 8 for 43 – with the ball turning square and India using their part-time spinners against a left-hand dominated batting order. While Chouhan, who started early, ended with figures of 10-1-30-1, captain Ayush Mhatre picked up three wickets to go with one for Malhotra. Khilan, whose hitting pushed India past 250 earlier, took three bonus wickets.

Pakistan will rue their indiscipline with the ball and in the field, and indecision with the bat. The intent against the new ball wasn’t absolute. One Henil Patel got Sameer Minhas out early, they understandably needed to be a little circumspect, but you would have expected them to turn this into a T20. At 13.3 overs, they needed 174 in 20 overs with nine wickets in hand if they were to qualify, but they never put India under pressure. They took only what was on offer, and Chouhan didn’t offer much.

However, during the 63-run third-wicket stand between Usman Khan and Yousaf, Pakistan looked like they were the favourites for a regulation win. Yousaf picked a slower ball from Ambrish, tried to hit his third six, but couldn’t clear long-on. That is when India started to tighten the noose, and choked Pakistan out of the game.

Brief scores:

India Under-19 252 in 49.5 overs (Vedant Trivedi 68, Kanishk Chouhan 35; Abdul Subhan 3-33) beat Pakistan Under-19 194 in 46.2 overs  (Usman Khan  66, Hamza Zahoor 42; Ayush Mhatre 3-21, Khilan Patel  3-35)by 58 runs

(Cricinfo)

 

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