Mumbai Indians have no plans to rest ace India pacer Jasprit Bumrah ahead of the T20 World Cup even though they are out of contention for the IPL 2024 playoffs, said batting coach Kieron Pollard. MI defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets here on Monday after Suryakumar Yadav (102 not out) struck his second IPL 2024 century to help his team chase down a target of 174 with 16 balls to spare. The win helped MI end their four-match losing streak and record only their fourth win in 12 matches. "I certainly haven't had any discussions about that," Pollard told media after the game when asked if there are any plans to rest Bumrah from MI's remaining two matches keeping in mind the upcoming T20 World Cup. "I don't think that's my role and function at this point in time. But let's see what happens. We are all here to play an entire IPL. Sometimes when we think too far ahead of different things, thinking about World Cups, all these things could affect performances even from before the team was selected. "For us and in our camp, the most important thing is finishing off the IPL and let's see what happens after that. When he leaves the IPL and he goes into the Indian team, I think that's where that concession will take place." MI's last IPL game is against Lucknow Super Giants at home on May 17. The T20 World Cup, to be co-hosted by USA and the West Indies, will begin on June 1. Pollard said as a batting coach the most difficult aspect of coaching an all-round batter like Suryakumar is to curb his attacking instinct. "He's one, who, by nature, instinctively, is very aggressive. He wants to take the bowler's on more often than not. At times it's just a matter of understanding the situation and respecting the new ball when it's moving around," Pollard said. "If the conditions are not suitable for a certain amount of shot making, having that discipline in order to be there for a period of time and they'll get into your work. "I think that would be the hardest thing ¿ to try to curb the attacking instinct. But it's not something you want to curb too much and get them in a defensive frame of mind because of the direction the sport is heading now in terms of the amount of runs being scored." Also Read: Ravi Shastri names two players essential to India's T20 World Cup dreams SRH's assistant coach Simon Helmot said Suryakumar played an exceptional innings to take the game away from his side and the world No 1 T20I batter will have a lot of influence in the T20 World Cup. "On some days you just have to take your hat off and say well played and well played to him. He's an exceptional cricketer and he's always going to demand a spot in the Indian team and I'm sure he'll have an influence in the World Cup," he said. "It's very difficult (to bowl at Suryakumar) and you guys have seen him close up for many years as I have. He's a very difficult batsman to match up with when he's in that sort of frame of mind, that sort of mood." Helmot said the conditions assisted swing bowling with the new ball in both the innings which forced the batters to adjust their game. "Travis (Head) has been one of our best players this season at the top of the order. But even he found it difficult at times to time the ball out in the middle on this particular track and that will happen at different times during the season," he said. (With agency inputs)
07 May,2024 11:46 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentFormer India head coach Ravi Shastri has picked out two players set to debut at senior ICC events for India - Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube - as key to the team's hopes in the Caribbean and USA for the T20 World Cup in June. Jaiswal and Dube were named in India's 15-member squad for the tournament beginning next month. While the former was in top form in the ICC World Test Championship series against England with a record tally of runs, Dube has smashed 26 sixes in 11 matches in the ongoing Indian Premier League and is in top form with the bat. "The two gentlemen you've got to watch out for, and both are left-handers, both playing their first World Cup. One is [Yashasvi] Jaiswal. We know a lot about him, he did extremely well against England, explosive at the top of the order, left-hander, he's young, he's fearless and he'll play shots," Shastri told ICC. Also Read: Narine is KKR’s knight in shining armour Shastri went on to pick Dube as another player to watch out for from the Indian squad. "But there's someone in the middle order, please watch out for [him], because he is explosive, he's devastating and he's a match-winner. He hits sixes for fun, and when it comes to spin bowling, he can kill you," the former Indian cricketer said. "He'll park a few balls out of Long Island into the small island, he's that kind of a player. He hits it big, he hits it long, and like I said, against spin, he could kill you. Even against the fast bowlers, he's worked out his game, he's understood the way to play and I think he holds the key at that number five, number six position because if you're on the doldrums, you want someone to change it in 20-25 balls, he's the player to go to," Shastri added. Dube has struck at a rate of 170.73 in IPL 2024 while also averaging over 40 for his 350 runs in 11 games this year. The left-hander was singled out for huge praise by Shastri, who thinks Dube's big-hitting could unlock big totals for India in the competition. "His strike rate, which will be close to 200 most of the time, will help India immensely in going forward, getting those 190s, 200s that are needed in big competitions, especially like the T20 World Cup. So enjoy it, watch out for this left-hander -- he's big, he's strapping, and he hits a long ball," India's legendary player concluded. (With agency inputs)
07 May,2024 11:35 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentKolkata Knight Riders’s dominance in the Powerplay with the bat has been one of the prime reasons for their success in the IPL this season, and promoting Sunil Narine as an opener has proved to be a masterstroke so far. The 36-year-old Trinidadian all-rounder has been in tremendous form with the bat, to add to his usually parsimonious bowling. Decimating the rival bowling attack in the first six overs has given KKR the upper hand more often than not. Openers Phil Salt and Narine form a dangerous alliance, who, on their day, can take the game away in a matter of a few deliveries. Narine-Salt partnership That was the case at the Ekana Stadium here on Sunday night when the two wrecked the Lucknow Super Giants’s plans much to the dismay of the full house in the last home game for LSG. The home team had planned to restrict KKR to a manageable total, but with Narine and Salt at their rampaging best, it became apparent quite early in the game that it was going to be an uphill task for LSG. And so it proved as KKR ran up a venue record total of 235. Then, the home batters burdened by the huge target, succumbed to the pressure and LSG lost the match by 98 runs. They could not even last their full quota of 20 overs as they were bundled out for 137 in 16.1. Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer (left) with all-rounder Sunil Narine. Pics/PTI, AFP Those present at the stadium on the weekend will fondly remember Narine’s innings. It would have been even more memorable had he gone on to get his second century of the season. Earlier, he had made 109 against Rajasthan Royals—his maiden T20 century in over 500 games. He has now accumulated 461 runs from 11 innings this season, already his best in the IPL. He averages over 40 runs per innings, but what takes the cake is the speed at which he collects his runs—an amazing strike-rate of 183.67. ‘Starts have been great’ After the match, KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer was all praise for Narine and his alliance with Salt. “He [Narine] was splendid. The starts from the openers have been great. Pure bliss. We just want to keep continuing the momentum so that we get to great totals and be optimistic. It’s all about freedom, to go out and express. Their mindset is positive. Majority of the time, they’ve been good,” said Iyer. Narine, who was named Player of the Match, said: “The most important thing is starting well. The support staff has been backing me. It’s been working for me, hope it works for the rest of the tournament. It’s about picking what you’re going to do on that particular day with your strengths, you have to be smarter. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.” Credit is also due to the KKR bowlers, who bowled very well, as a result, the team are now on top of the table with 16 points from 11 games and just a win away from assuring themselves a berth in the Playoffs. Spinners Narine and Varun Chakravarthy have bowled in tandem. They’ve been supported well by pacer Harshit Rana, who finished with creditable figures of 3-24 off 3.1 overs. 461Runs in 11 matches 109Highest score 41.91Batting average 183.67Batting strike-rate
07 May,2024 07:15 AM IST | Lucknow | Santosh SuriSuryakumar Yadav proved why he is rated as the best batter in T20 cricket with a brilliant fighting unbeaten century that helped Mumbai Indians beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets with 16 balls remaining in Match 55 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday. It is the first century for Suryakumar of the season and the first since December 2023 as he had missed the start of the IPL 2024 because of an injury and surgery for a sports hernia. Mumbai Indians were in trouble at 31/3 after they had restricted SRH to 173/8 with skipper Hardik Pandya and experienced spinner Piyush Chawla claiming three wickets apiece. But just when it appeared that the Mumbai Indians innings would go the way it had in the previous match when they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders chasing a small target. Suryakumar had struck a half-century in that match but could not guide his team to victory. On Monday, SKY did not leave things undone as he played a brilliant innings, hitting shots all over the ground, and completing his century with a six as Mumbai reached 174/3 in 17.2 overs. Suryakumar scored 102 not out off 51 balls, hitting 12 boundaries and six maximums, operating at a strike rate of 200.00 that left the Sunrisers players shell-shocked and the capacity crowd mesmerised. On Monday, Suryakumar also became the second MI batter after Rohit Sharma to record 25 scores of 50-plus for Mumbai Indians in the IPL. With this victory, Mumbai Indians moved to eight points from 12 matches and picked them up from the bottom to ninth position. SRH remained fourth with 12 points from 11 matches, the same as Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants. Mumbai Indians got off to a poor start as they lost Ishan Kishan (9), Rohit Sharma (4) and Haman Dhir (0) in quick succession as the hosts slumped to 31/3 in the fifth over. Kishan started with a boundary off the first ball of the innings, clipping in through square leg as Bhuvneshwar Kumar drifted onto the pads. When he carved a widish delivery by Marco Jansen to the boundary despite slight movement, it looked like Kishan would trouble SRH a lot on Monday, But Jansen had his revenge when he made one move a bit to induce a leading edge from Kishan for Mayank Agarwal to pouch a simple catch. Pat Cummins brought himself into attack inside the Power-play and the SRH skipper was rewarded Rohit Sharma skied a leading edge for Klaasen to run behind to take a difficult catch. Naman Dhir tried to hit his way out of trouble off Bhuvneshwar but perished for a zero. However, Suryakumar Yadav came to Mumbai Indians' rescue hitting a timely half-century. But unlike in the previous match, when he struck a fifty but could not guide his team to victory, on Monday, the Mumbai batter stayed put at the wicket, unleashed some brilliant shots, playing his usual 360-degree cricket to help his team to a memorable victory. Though he appeared to be facing a bit of physical discomfort, Suryakumar Yadav, the best T20 batter in the World as per the ICC rankings, played some unbelievable shots and raised a century partnership for the fourth wicket partnership with Tilak Varma that pulled Mumbai Indians to safety. After playing the first couple of overs cautiously, SKY drove Bhuvi through mid-off for his first boundary and a few deliveries later stayed deep in the crease and clipped Cummins for a six over deep third. He waded into Marco Jansen in the seventh over, hitting him for two fours and two sixes, whipping, thumping and ramping him to the boundary with relish. He completed his half-century off 30 balls, hitting five boundaries and three maximums in the process. Suya kept up the scoring rate with back-to-back boundaries off Jansen in the 13th over and with a six off Bhuvi and successive fours off Shahbaz Ahmed in the 15th over and a four off Natarajan took him into the 90s. Tilak Varma proved an ideal partner to Suryakumar as he kept the other end intact, giving him company, encouraging his partner and hitting a few good shots as he remained unbeaten on 37 off 32 balls, studded with six boundaries. With 24 needed from 24 balls, Pat Cummins brought himself, hoping for a wicket and hamper Mumbai's progress but SKY launched into him, hitting the Australia captain for two boundaries and a six, three pulled boundaries that left the capacity crowd mesmerised. Suryakumar Yadav moved into the 90s and then completed his century with a six, sealing Mumbai Indians' fourth victory in IPL 2024. Brief scores:Sunrisers Hyderabad 173/8 in 20 overs (Travis Head 48, Pat Cummins 35 not out; Hardik Pandya 3-31, Piyush Chawla 3-33) lost to Mumbai Indians 174/3 in 17.2 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 102 not out, Tilak Varma 37 not out; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1-22) This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
07 May,2024 05:08 AM IST | Mumbai | IANSAll-rounder Shivani Lokhande played a stellar role with bat and ball (unbeaten 35 runs and 5-17) to guide Dr DY Patil SA to record a 78-run victory over John Bright CC in a Group A match of the MCA Women’s knockout cricket tournament at the Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana, Kandivli, on Monday. Batting first, DY Patil posted a challenging total of 157-8 in 35 overs. Khushi Thakkar’s 49 too helped boost the innings. Siddhi Kamte (2-21) and Vaidehi Pofale (2-33) were the pick of the bowlers. Later, spinner Shivani tormented the John Bright batters and bagged five wickets to bowl them out for a mere 79 in 23.1 overs to clinch a convincing win. Laxman, Manveer, Arhaan score tons in U-14 meet Centuries from Laxman Vishwakarma (118 not out) and Manveer Jain (104 not out) placed Prabodhan Centre, Goregaon in a commanding position against Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana Centre on the opening day of the 27th Ajit Naik Memorial Under-14 cricket tournament 2024, organised by Worli Sports Club under the aegis of the Mumbai Cricket Association. At Bharat CC, Shivaji Park, on Monday, Laxman and Manveer stitched a massive unbroken 233-run fifth-wicket partnership for Prabodhan to pile up 296-5 for five in 75 overs at end of the Day 1 of the two-day fixture. Meanwhile, Arhaan Patel cracked a century (109) for Palghar District Taluka SA Centre to amass 293-8 in 70 overs against Tarapur Vidya Mandir. Tarapur were 8-1 in two overs at stumps. Citibank, ICICI victorious in inter-bank tournament Citibank SC’s all-round show steered them to a resounding nine-wicket victory over Thomas Cook SC in a Plate Division Group B match of the 62nd Sir Benegal Rama Rau Bank Shield Cricket Tournament, organised by Reserve Bank of India under the aegis of the Mumbai Cricket Association. Meanwhile, ICICI Bank defeated State Bank of India by a seven-wicket margin.
07 May,2024 04:23 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentIndia continued their dominant run against Bangladesh with a 56-run win via Duckworth-Lewis method in the rain-curtailed fourth women’s T20I here on Monday. A late start and then over an hour-long delay due to persistent rain and hail meant that the contest had to be shortened. Harmanpreet Kaur (38) and Richa Ghosh (24) shared a 44-run stand to help India post 122-6 against Bangladesh after persistent rain reduced the contest to 14 overs a side. The hosts had to chase 125 in 14 overs under the DLS method to secure their first win of the series. But the batters, barring Dilara Akter (21), Rubya Haider (13) and Shorifa Khatun (11 not out), failed to reach double digits. Brief scoresIndia 122-6 in 14 overs (H Kaur 39; M Akter 2-24, R Khan 2-28) beat Bangladesh 68-7 in 14 overs (D Akter 21; D Sharma 2-13, A Sobhana 2-18) by 56 runs (DLS method) This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
07 May,2024 04:19 AM IST | Sylhet (Bangladesh) | PTIPakistan limited overs skipper Babar Azam is optimistic that Gary Kirsten’s appointment as head coach of Pakistan’s white-ball side will certainly improve its performance. “He [Kirsten] is a very experienced coach, and his presence should be beneficial for us all. He is already taking a lot of interest in the planning for the World Cup and discussing strategy with the team management,” Babar told a media in Lahore on Monday. Babar said Kirsten was in touch with the side daily, receiving reports about what they were doing and how they were planning things. “He [Kirsten] shares his plans with us, discussions are happening with coaches about our planning, and we update him on net practice plans, like how the bowling practice went today,” he said. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
07 May,2024 04:16 AM IST | Lahore | PTIPakistan pacer Mohammad Amir may not be able to leave with the national squad on Tuesday morning for the three-match T20 series in Ireland due to visa issues. While a source in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said the visa delay in Amir’s case was due to his involvement in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal, another source insisted it was purely due to technical reasons. “We are hopeful he will get his visa in a day or two and he can join them later,” a source questioned. Pakistan’s first T20I against Ireland is on May 10. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
07 May,2024 04:13 AM IST | Lahore | PTIDelhi Capitals (DC) face a must-win situation in their remaining three games to stay in the hunt for a play-off berth, but head coach Ricky Ponting is confident that if Rishabh Pant and Co can play their best cricket for 40 overs, they will be hard to beat. DC have been inconsistent so far, winning five and losing six of their last 11 games. Ricky Ponting While winning the remaining three games is a must for DC, even that will only take them to 16 points which might not be enough to qualify for the last four stage. “Our last performance against Kolkata wasn’t one of our best, but we’re back home now. We’ve won two of our three games here,” Ponting said on the eve of their match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) here. “We know we’re coming up against a very good Rajasthan side, but as we’ve seen in the tournament so far if we can play our best cricket for 40 overs, then I’ll guarantee that we’ll be hard to beat. It doesn’t matter who we play or where we play them. We know that we can beat anybody. “We are keeping an eye on things. We find ourselves in a situation where we most likely have to win our last three games to qualify. We had a slow start, but really proud of what the boys have done in the last 6-7 games,” he added. RR have won eight out of their 10 games and are placed second in the points table. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
07 May,2024 04:09 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIOnly recently, Mumbai Indians restricted Kolkata Knight Riders inside 170 at the Wankhede Stadium, but their batters fell 24 runs short of the target. On Monday, the MI bowlers tried their best to better their performance against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), but the Pat Cummins-led team somehow managed to post 173-8 in the allotted 20 overs at the same ground. It seemed everything went in favour of the hosts as skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and bowled first. He and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla dismissed six key batters.SRH opener Travis Head (30-ball 48, 7x4, 1x6) and Cummins (17-ball 35 not out, 2x4, 2x6) showed some spark to give the visitors some hope of a big score, for which SRH have been known for this year. Head was lucky to survive on a couple of occasions when his inside edges earned him few boundaries. He smashed debutant pacer Anshul Kamboj (1-42) for a six over the mid-wicket fence. A couple of balls later, Kamboj clean bowled Head, but the umpire declared it a no ball and Head survived. On his next ball too, Kamboj overstepped and Head capitalised on it with back-to-back fours. It was not an ideal start for the young MI pacer from Haryana. He conceded 13 runs in his first over and 19 in the second. At the time of going to press, SRH were 83-3 in nine overs. Earlier, when ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah (1-23) was introduced in the attack in the fourth over, both Head and Abhishek Sharma (11) gave him respect and managed only four singles in the over. In search of a wicket, Pandya got Bumrah to bowl his second over in the Powerplay and the pace ace didn’t disappoint his captain, dismissing opener Abhishek through wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan. At the end of the first six overs, the visitors were 56-1. Head got lucky again when pacer Nuwan Thushara (0-42) dropped him on 44 at third man off Kamboj in the eight over. The Australian missed his fourth half-century in the tournament when Chawla dismissed him through Tilak Varma; the left-hander trying to target the mid-wicket fence.
07 May,2024 04:08 AM IST | Mumbai | Subodh MayurePacer Harshit Rana feels Kolkata Knight Riders are reaping the rewards by following the winning template set by two-time IPL-winner and mentor Gautam Gambhir. KKR qualified for the playoffs five times under Gambhir between 2011 and 2017. He also guided KKR to the final of the now-defunct Champions League T20 in 2014. However, in the last seven years, KKR could reach the Playoffs only twice. Gambhir’s return to the KKR as mentor this year turned things around. On Sunday, they moved to the top of the table with 16 points following a dominating 98-run over Lucknow Super Giants—their eighth win in 11 games. “This entire season we’ve been focussing on the style of cricket that Gautam Gambhir wants us to play. He has a lot of knowledge on how to turn games in our favour and it helps us in the middle. Like today, he gave the bowlers a free hand, to find their length depending on the wicket, and not to try too many things. We read the wicket well. The areas we had to bowl, we targeted the right places,” said Rana (3-24 in 3.1 overs), who played a crucial role in the win. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
07 May,2024 04:04 AM IST | Lucknow | IANSADVERTISEMENT
