Sports

Jadeja stars in CSK’s sensational last-ball win over KKR

Published

5 years ago

2021/09/27

In a game full of twists and turns, Ravindra Jadeja’s sensational finish helped Chennai Super Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders by two wickets. CSK chased down 171 on the last ball with Jadeja smashing 22 off 8 before falling on the penultimate delivery. CSK picked up their eighth win and also took the top spot away from Delhi Capitals.

Good start. Bad progress.

KKR, having opted to bat, made a scratchy beginning. Shubman Gill struck two consecutive boundaries against Deepak Chahar, overturned an lbw call with the help of DRS but was eventually run out. Venkatesh Iyer couldn’t really find the rhythm he had in the last two matches and made just 18. KKR had 50 in the opening five overs and had lost just one wicket. In the next five, they scored only 28 for 2 as Shardul Thakur dismissed Iyer in the sixth. Eoin Morgan fell in the tenth as KKR slipped to 78 for 3.

Rana builds, Karthik finishes

While other batsmen failed to get going, it was Rahul Tripathi’s assault that kept the scoreboard moving for KKR. He struck 45 off 33 but had his share of luck. He was caught behind trying to upper-cut a Sam Curran bouncer. The umpires deemed the pacer had delivered his second bouncer of the over and signalled a no ball. Tripathi fell in the 13th with 89 on the board. The stage was set for Andre Russell but the slow nature of the track didn’t allow the allrounder the pace he needed. Russell did strike two boundaries and a six but fell for 20 off 15.

At one stage, Nitish Rana was batting on 22 off 21. KKR needed a move on and it came from Dinesh Karthik. In the 19th, Karthik struck 19 against Curran to lift the side past 150. Rana finished strong and ended with unbeaten 37 off 27.

CSK’s solid start

At the 10-over mark, batting coach David Hussey felt 170 was going to be a winning score. Ruturaj Gaikwad (40 off 28) and Faf du Plessis (43 off 30) made 74 in 8.2 overs. The plan was clear as they not only took on the pacers but also put pressure on Varun Chakaravarthy (4 overs, eight dots, 22 runs and one wicket) in the first over. The spinner was struck for two boundaries by du Plessis and leaked nine in the over. Sunil Narine’s first two overs too proved to be expensive with 25 runs.

Chakaravarthy gave five in his second – the eighth of the innings – and that out pressure on the openers to keep going at a sustained higher pace. Gaikwad fell in the ninth – to Russell – but CSK eased past 100 in the 12th. Du Plessis fell in the 12th to Lockie Ferguson but Moeen Ali’s brisk start ensured CSK continued to stay ahead.

The KKR choke and Jadeja’s grand finish

Narine continued to be expensive but dismissed Ambati Rayudu in the 15th to start CSK’s wobble. Iyer too did a great job as he gave away just five in the 16th. CSK needed 40 off 24 and lost Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni from there on. That was the only joy for KKR as Ravindra Jadeja turned things around in grand style in the penultimate over.

Prasidh Krishan crumbled under pressure 6, 6, 4, and 4 to leave CSK needing 4 off 6. The drama, though, didn’t end there. Narine dismissed Curran and Jadeja before Deepak Chahar got the one run needed for the win on the last ball. (cricbuzz)

Brief scores:

Kolkata Knight Riders 171/6 in 20 overs (Rahul Tripathi 45; Shardul Thakur 2-20) Chennai Super Kings 172/8 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 43; Sunil Narine 3-41).

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Taijul takes six as Bangladesh complete 2-0 sweep

Published

6 hours ago

2026/05/20

Priyan

Taijul Islam is pumped [Cricinfo]

Bangladesh overcame one hour of nerves on the fifth morning to beat Pakistan by 78 runs in the Sylhet Test and complete a consecutive 2-0 sweep over them. For the first time in their history, Bangladesh have won four successive Test series. Taijul Islam led the way with a six-wicket haul in the fourth innings, but the credit will also go to Litton Das for his 126, which resurrected Bangladesh from the dead on the first day.

It is a landmark moment for Bangladesh cricket. They played solid cricket across ten days in the Test series. While their pace attack got rave reviews, their spinners too stepped up as the experienced Taijul took two of the last three wickets on the final morning.

Before that, Mohammad Rizwan held Bangladesh at bay for nearly an hour, until Sajid Khan edged Taijul for 28. In the next over, Rizwan guided Shoriful Islam to Mehidy Hasan Miraz at gully for 94. Mehidy had earlier dropped a tough chance at gully when Rizwan had tried a similar shot in the day’s first over, while a Sajid top edge had dropped in front of wicketkeeper Litton.

Taijul took the final wicket when Khurram Shahzad swung him towards deep midwicket, where debutant Tanzid Hasan held a high catch.

Chasing 437, Pakistan started the day on 316 for 7. It was a spirited response from the under-fire visitors, who were bumped by two decent partnerships. Shan Masood and Babar Azam added 92 for the third wicket, which mitigated their early losses of openers Azan Awais and Abdullah Fazal. The partnership ended when Mehidy nabbed Babar down the leg side for 47. Masood scored 71 before Taijul had him caught at short leg.

Rizwan and Salman Agha staved off any further batting collapse with a 134-run partnership for the sixth wicket. The pair batted at a fair clip, frustrating the home side who, in their attacking mindset, hardly bowled a maiden over during that period.

With the second new ball, Taijul finally breached Agha’s defence with an arm-ball. The batter made 71. Rizwan kept the fight on but the task proved to be too monumental.

Brief scores:
Bangladesh 278 in 77 overs (Litton Das 126; Mohammed Abbas 3-45, Khurram Shahzad 4-81) and 390 in 102.2 overs (Mushfiqur Rahim 137, Litton Das 69; Khurram Shahzad 4-86, Sajid Khan 3-126) beat Pakistan 232 in 57.4 overs (Babar Azam 68; Nahid Rana 3-60, Taijul Islam 3-67) and 358 in 97.2 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 94, Shan Masood 71, Salman Agha 71; Taijul Islam 6-120) by 78 runs

[Cricinfo]

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Sooryavanshi’s stunning 93 takes Rajasthan Royals closer to IPL playoffs

Published

12 hours ago

2026/05/20

Priyan

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi brought out a new celebration, after reaching fifty [Cricinfo]

No Riyan Parag? No Ravindra Jadeja? No fast start for Vaibhav Sooriyavanshi? No problem for Rajasthan Royals (RR) as they hunted down 221 against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and moved up to No.4 on the points table. If RR also win their final league game against Mumbai Indians on Sunday, they will firm up their playoffs spot, irrespective of other results.

In RR’s chase of 221, Sooryavanshi got off to an unusually slow start – he was on 11 off 12 balls at one point. After watching his opening partner and RR stand-in captain Yashasvi Jaiswal dominate the powerplay, Sooryavanshi cranked up to top gear when he lined up left-arm seamer Akash Singh for two sixes and three fours in the ninth over. He then went on a more familiar six-hitting spree and by the time he was dismissed for 93 off 38 balls in the 14th over, he extended his sixes tally in IPL 2026 to 53. Only Chris Gayle has smashed more sixes in an IPL season, back in 2012 when Sooryavanshi was a year old.

Dhruv Jurel sealed the chase for RR with a calm fifty in the company of Donnovan Ferreira.

Jofra Archer ran in hard and hit the Jaipur deck harder, but even his extreme pace and bounce wasn’t going to bother Mitchell Marsh and Josh Inglis, the Western Australia boys. In the first over, Marsh advanced down the track, manufactured swinging room and flayed Archer for a four and a six over the covers.

Inglis was more fluent square of the wicket or behind square. He scooped Archer over short fine leg for four in the third over and by the end of the powerplay, LSG racked up 83 for 0. Four of LSG’s top-five powerplay scores in the IPL have come in this season. RR’s attack, meanwhile, went wicketless in the powerplay for a fourth successive game.

Wristspinner Yash Raj Punja bowled the first boundary-less over in the first innings. In the 13th over, he conceded only seven runs to go with the wicket of Nicholas Pooran (16). That over triggered a passage of play where LSG went 22 without a boundary. Earlier, he had stopped LSG’s opening stand at 109 in the ninth over when he tossed up a wrong’un on an in-between length and bowled Inglis for 60 off 29 balls. Punja returned figures of 4-0-35-2, demonstrating why RR trusted him and promoted him into their main squad after he was a net bowler with the side in the previous season.

Marsh brought up his fifty off 25 balls, but could manage only 43 off his last 32 balls on the day. The lack of pace from Punja, Sandeep Sharma and Dasun Shanaka slowed him down. “To be honest, felt like torture out there,” Marsh summed up the back-end of his innings. He suggested that he may have left a few boundaries out there.

Marsh, Rishabh Pant and Ayush Badoni all departed in the final over of the innings, bowled by Archer, which cost RR only five runs.

RR came out swinging in the powerplay in the chase, but it was Jaiswal, and not Sooryavanshi, who was doing most of the swinging during that phase. He was responsible for 39 of the 71 runs RR scored in the powerplay. Jaiswal latched onto anything that was remotely wide of off. His four fours off Akash in a 23-run first over, bowled by Akash, set the tone for the chase.

By the end of the powerplay, Sooryavanshi was on 25 off 16 balls, which was measured by his standards. All of 15, he had the maturity that he could catch up on a pitch where the ball came onto the bat nicely. He reached his half-century off 23 balls with a reverse-sweep and threatened to convert it into a century until Mohsin Khan stopped him. He finished with a strike rate of almost 245.

Prince Yadav, who had earned a call-up to India’s ODI squad earlier in the day, was pumped for back-to-back sixes. The other Yadav – Mayank – wasn’t spared either, with the teenage phenom launching him for back-to-back sixes in the next over.

Sooryavanshi holed out while attempting his 11th six, but by then he had snatched the Orange Cap from Marsh. Jurel then anchored the chase while Ferreira applied the finishing touches.

Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 225 for 3 in 19.1 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 43, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 93, Dhruv Jurel 53*, Donovan Fereira 16*; Akash Singh 1-54, Mohsin Khan 1-31) beat Lucknow Super Giants 220 for 5 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 96, Josh Inglis 60, Nicholas Pooran 16, Rishabh Pant 35; Jofra Archer 1-39, Yash Raj Punja 2-35) by seven wickets

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Sri Lanka women’s volleyball team ready for Central Asian challenge

Published

14 hours ago

2026/05/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

Sri Lanka women’s volleyball team will leave for Central Asian Volleyball Championship today.

The Sri Lanka women’s volleyball team, powered by Dialog Axiata is set to depart the country today to compete in the 2026 Central Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship, which will be held from 22 to 29 May with the participation of eight nations from across the region.

The tournament will be played in two preliminary groups, with the Sri Lankan side, captained by Ashani Chamodika, drawn in Group ‘B’ alongside Kazakhstan, Iran and Bangladesh. Group ‘A’ will feature India, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives and hosts Nepal.

Sri Lanka Head Coach Amila Wijepala believes the team is well prepared to face the challenge despite being drawn in a highly competitive group.

“Our group is comparatively more challenging than Group ‘A’. Kazakhstan recently secured third place at the Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship after defeating China, making them our toughest challenge. We are confident of overcoming Bangladesh, while I also believe our players possess the ability to defeat Iran. Our objective is to win at least two matches and qualify for the semi-finals,” he said.

Vice President of the Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation, Mahinda Bandara, expressed confidence in the squad and praised the players for their commitment during the preparation period.

“We are fielding a very strong side for this tournament. The players have undergone close to two months of residential training at the Watupitiwala Indoor Stadium. We are grateful to the Ministry of Sports for its invaluable assistance in facilitating this tour. We also sincerely appreciate the continued sponsorship and commitment shown by Dialog Axiata towards Sri Lanka’s national sport and this international campaign,” he said.

The Sri Lanka squad for the Central Asian Women’s Volleyball Championship includes high-ball hitters Dilukshi Harshani, Nimeshika Sewwandi, Preethika Pramodani, Timi Mary, Arana Sanjeewani and Shalu Thilakshana. Short-ball hitters are Sanjeewani Karunaratne, Dilki Nethsara, Sesandi Ruwanya and Piumi Bhashini.

Naduni Nimansala and Kavindi Asanthika will serve as liberos, while captain Ashani Chamodika and Dilki Charuka have been named as setters.

The support staff includes Head Coach Amila Wijepala, Assistant Coach Udaya Rukmal, Trainer Upendra Perera, Women’s Team Officer Renuka Nilmini and Team Manager Mahesh Kariyawasam.