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ECB Reporters Network08-Sep-2020Despite centuries from Ben Duckett and Joe Clarke, Nottinghamshire still have work to do if they are to end county cricket’s most unwanted record.Without a first-class victory since June 2018, Notts will go into the final day of their Bob Willis Trophy match against Durham at Trent Bridge looking for early wickets.The visitors closed on 131 for 2 in their second innings, an overall lead of just three runs, after the home county had been dismissed for 422, earlier in the day.Duckett only added four runs to his overnight score before being dismissed for 150, with Clarke going on to contribute 133 as Nottinghamshire reached maximum batting points before being bowled out in 101 overs.The hosts’ first-innings advantage of 128 would have been significantly greater but for an heroic effort from Chris Rushworth, who took 7 for 108.Neither Duckett nor Clarke have experienced a single red-ball victory between them in Nottinghamshire colours since moving from Northamptonshire – and Worcestershire – respectively.Both though are finding their best form at this belated stage of the shortened season. Duckett had done his best work on the second day and fell at the start of the third, shortly after reaching his 150 from 208 balls, with 23 fours.His dismissal ended a stand of 195 with Clarke, who survived being dropped twice in reaching his 17th first-class hundred from 154 balls, with 13 boundaries.Durham’s catching frailties also gifted Steven Mullaney a couple of lives, as Paul Coughlin twice spilled the Nottinghamshire captain at third slip.Mullaney’s good fortune eventually ran out on 41 when he shouldered arms to Rushworth and lost his off stump.Samit Patel came and went cheaply, pinned lbw in his crease by Brydon Carse but Tom Moores was able to stick around with Clarke in a hard-hitting stand of 75.The second new ball altered the complexion of the day as Nottinghamshire’s last five wickets went down for only 15 runs, in 3.5 overs.Rushworth started the collapse, having Clarke caught at slip before dismissing Peter Trego in the same over to collect his 26th five-wicket haulBen Raine celebrated enthusiastically when he gained a positive lbw verdict against Moores, leaving Rushworth to quickly send back Matt Carter and Jake Ball.Sean Dickson and Alex Lees put on 67 as Durham began their second innings, before Trego sent back Lees for 27.Dickson’s seven previous innings for his new county had mustered only 41 runs but he more than doubled that in reaching a half century from 106 deliveries.He advanced to 56 and brought the scores level before being bowled by a beauty from Patel that turned sharply to clip the off peg.Michael Jones, with a highest career score of 39 not out, will begin the final day alongside nightwatchman Rushworth, whose bowling exploits clearly weren’t enough for one day.

Riley Meredith also played a vital role in defending a small total on a slow pitch in extremely hot conditions in Alice Springs

Daniel Brettig20-Dec-2019Afghanistan’s Qais Ahmad delivered a magical spell of wrist spin to sink the Sydney Sixers on an enervating day in Alice Springs and hand the Hobart Hurricanes an opening victory in the BBL.The Sixers had appeared well placed to run down the Hurricanes’ mediocre 9 for 129, but their innings followed a similar pattern to that of Hobart as a strong start was squandered in increasingly difficult batting conditions. Ahmad’s brilliance, including three wickets in four balls in his second over, was ably supported by the speed of Riley Meredith and a pair of vital wickets to Simon Milenko.D’Arcy Short had given the Hurricanes a decent platform after Ben McDermott won the toss and chose to bat, only to see Ben Manenti, Sean Abbott and Ben Dwarshuis combine usefully for the Sixers. They had seemed happy with their looming chase, but reckoned without Ahmad, who already looks to be one of the most watchable figures in the BBL this season.Short’s stay at the creaseOn a slow, dry Traeger Park surface in temperatures above 40C, Short made the most of the early overs when the new ball was hard and provided value for shots despite a somewhat spongy outfield. When timing the ball sweetly, Short’s languid follow through can recall some of golf’s more elegant shotmakers, and this innings offered similar aesthetic pleasures to spectators and television viewers.The Hurricanes captain McDermott was content to give Short the strike while pushing the ball around and not finding the boundary, and at 1 for 44 after the powerplay and then 1 for 76 in the 11th over there was a more than decent platform. However, the off-breaks of Mantenti accounted for McDermott and then Short in the space of eight runs, opening things up for the Sixers seam bowlers.Abbott goes to workTaking the ball in the middle overs, Abbott and Dwarshuis continued to clamp down on the scoring rate as wickets began to fall more regularly against the softening ball and slowing pitch. Dwarshuis enjoyed the notable double of David Miller and the Australian selector-in-waiting George Bailey, while Abbott pinned James Faulkner lbw in a rare straightforward lbw so far for the domestic season. Both pacemen changed their pace and banged the ball into a slowish surface to good constricting effect.Tom Curran came back for the closing overs as the innings tightened still further for the Hurricanes, and the only boundary in the final five overs came from the bat of Ahmad, who hoisted a straightish delivery to within a couple centimetres of going for six.Vince, Philippe clear the ropesJames Vince and Josh Philippe had no such concerns early on, and there was something very similar to how Short started the afternoon in the way the Sixers skated away to 37 from the first four overs. A couple of inside out sixes over cover from Vince off Clive Rose bore the aristocratic style that has made him a part of the England set-up for a number of years, while Philippe looked in tune to follow-up his dismantling of the Perth Scorchers at the SCG on Wednesday night.However, after Ahmad’s early direct hit from mid-on had accounted for Daniel Hughes, neither Vince nor Philippe were able to carry on from this promising start. The combination of high pace and artful wrist spin was to provide a bewitching passage of play for the Hurricanes.Meredith turns momentum, Ahmad turns the screwIt started when Meredith’s entry to the attack brought the first plays and misses and miscues of the innings, as he swiftly pushed the speed gun beyond 145kph. His second over brought an off-cutter change-up and a miscalculation by Vince, who was through the shot too early and bowled. Ahmad’s introduction brought another key wicket when Moises Henriques’ big drive found a lurking Short, and after Milenko struck twice in an over when he replaced Meredith, Qais proceeded to put on a wrist spinner’s clinic after the strategic timeout.First ball, Curran was beaten completely by a sharp leg break that pitched on leg stump before zipping back to hit the top of off, bringing out Ahmad’s ebullient front flip celebration. Next ball Sean Abbott was drawn out of his crease by another leg break and alertly stumped by McDermott, and after Dwarshuis averted the hat-track, Qais moved around the wicket and spun a third perfect leggie through a very large gate between bat and pad. That spell was more or less that, even though Jordan Silk and Mantenti tried in vain to salvage something from the last two wickets.

The Pakistan board had hoped that its offer to voluntarily bench Sarfraz as well as his public apologies would have been enough of a resolution to the case

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2019Andile Phehlukwayo hits out as Sarfraz Ahmed looks on•Getty Images

The PCB is disappointed by the ICC’s decision to suspend Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed for four matches, having hoped that its offer to voluntarily bench him as well as Sarfraz’s public apologies would have been enough of a resolution to the case.Sarfraz issued two public apologies, the first apology on Twitter and then in person to Andile Phehlukwayo – the player who was the subject of his racist taunt at Kingsmead. In between, South Africa captain Faf du Plessis said his side had forgiven Sarfraz.A report on the incident was filed by the match referee Ranjan Madugalle and sent to the ICC last week, where the body’s general counsel Iain Higgins determined that Sarfraz did have a case to answer. There is an option in the Anti-Racism code for the case to be resolved through a process of conciliation but the ICC initially determined not to take it through that.Once the apologies were made by Sarfraz, the option of going through a conciliation was alive again but the prospect of any process dragging on during a series and potentially beyond and the effect it would have on the players involved, was thought to have played a part in it not being used.In 2016, incidentally, Cricket Namibia had lodged a complaint under the code against Afghanistan. That was resolved through a conciliator but not until the end of June, whereas the incident took place in an Intercontinental Cup game in April.ALSO READ: Sarfraz Ahmed gets four-match suspension for racist comment“The PCB notes the ICC decision on Sarfaraz Ahmed with its utmost disappointment,” a PCB statement said. “PCB had anticipated that the matter had been resolved amicably between the two players and the two boards following Sarafraz Ahmed’s public apologies, which were accepted by the player, the board and South Africa cricket team.The PCB is believed to have offered to step down Sarfraz for at least a couple of games voluntarily, as well as donating his match fees from games to suitable causes – under the Anti-Racism code, such an offer is acceptable a conciliator is being used. That offer was rejected by the ICC.The PCB’s disappointment is understood to emanate from this, that they effectively went through the procedures of a conciliation with CSA – albeit without an ICC conciliator – in the public and private apologies, as well as this voluntary suspension offer, and yet still had a sanction imposed upon Sarfraz by the ICC.There is a degree of understanding that the ICC had to act and to be seen to impose a sanction – there has not been such a high-profile violation of the code in nearly a decade – as well as acknowledgment that a minimum sanction was imposed – the gravity of the offence being what it was. But there is also the question of why, if the ICC was determined to sanction Sarfraz, it took them close to five days to do so – days within which, publicly at least, it seemed as if an amicable resolution was being reached. The report reached the ICC last Wednesday and the gap allowed Sarfraz to play the third ODI in Cape Town – he was not sent a notice of charge until late Saturday evening.”The PCB will be pursuing this matter at the ICC forums with the objective to bring reforms to the code, promoting amicable resolutions to issues as opposed to penalties,” the statement said. “Having said that, the PCB reiterates its zero-tolerance approach towards racist comments and behavior.”

Even though Nazmul Hassan, the board chief, didn’t explain why exactly the players felt so, he said it was linked to the worldwide trend of declining interest in Test cricket shown by other boards, broadcasters and players

Mohammad Isam20-Jul-2018Bangladesh’s senior players, including Shakib Al Hasan, have become reluctant to play Test cricket, according to BCB president Nazmul Hassan. Even though the board chief didn’t explain why exactly the players felt so, he said that it was linked to the worldwide trend of declining interest in Test cricket shown by other boards, broadcasters and players.In his now regular post-series briefing, Hassan said that the future of the Bangladesh Test team depended on blooding in new faces to fill the gap that will be created when the senior players near retirement. But he also mentioned the task will not be easy as all of the established players have been performing for a number of years.Hassan also named Mustafizur Rahman among those reluctant to play Tests, although he stated that the fast bowler never told him so.”Even in the ICC, I don’t see any other country other than England and Australia showing interest to play Tests,” Hassan said. “As a board, they are not interested in Tests. The broadcasters are also not interested. They say they don’t have any interest where there is no audience.”We are seeing in our country that some of our senior players don’t want to play Test cricket. Shakib doesn’t want to play Tests. Mustafiz also doesn’t want to play, but he hasn’t mentioned it. He wants it to a point. Maybe since he is injury-prone, he feels he will get injured playing Tests? Maybe they feel Test is quite tough, say for someone like Rubel [Hossain]. Bringing in younger players is our only option.”The BCB had granted Shakib’s request for a break during the Test series in South Africa last year. Shakib has been the only Bangladesh player to have put in such a request.Hassan declared that Mustafizur, who missed the Afghanistan T20s and the West Indies Tests due to an injury he picked up while playing for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, will not be given any NOCs to play foreign leagues. “The saddest part is that he gets hurt playing franchise leagues, and then can’t serve the country. It is not acceptable. I have already told him that he can’t play outside for the next two years,” Hassan said.He said that the BCB was focused on finding more specialist Test and T20 players, but admitted it was hard for practical reasons to drop their core senior players. “We have to form a new set-up for Tests. I have been saying it for the last four years. We must have three or four players in common; all the international teams are doing this. Everyone has specialist T20 and Test players. We only have Mominul [Haque] for Tests. We need to develop five or six of them.”We have Tamim [Iqbal] and another opener, plus three pace bowlers and a spinner. You can’t change Shakib, Mushfiqur [Rahim] and [Mahmudullah] Riyad. Mominul plays at three. You can’t drop him for doing poorly in one series. So, for this No. 7 position we have Mosaddek [Hossain], Sabbir [Rahman], [Mehidy Hasan] Miraz, etc.”There will be a lot of talk if we leave out any of the seniors. We need to find new players for a time when Tamim, Shakib, Mushfiqur and Riyad won’t be around. We need to prepare the new players.”

The RM Lodha committee has sought an additional five months to complete the second part of the task assigned to it by the Supreme Court that deals with recommending changes to the BCCI’s constitution and manner of functioning

Nagraj Gollapudi21-Jul-2015The RM Lodha committee has sought an additional five months to complete the second part of the task assigned to it by the Supreme Court that deals with recommending changes to the BCCI’s constitution and manner of functioning. The committee submitted an application in the Supreme Court on Monday stating that a further five months may be given to complete the rest of the work. It is likely to be listed before the court next week.The Lodha committee was primarily tasked with determining the quantum of punishment for Gurunath Meiyappan, Raj Kundra and their respective franchises. Last week the committee delivered its judgement by banning Meiyappan and Kundra for life and suspending the owners of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for two years.But while delivering its seminal and wide-ranging order on corruption in the IPL earlier this year, the Supreme Court had also asked the three-man independent panel – comprising Lodha, a former Chief Justice of India, along with retired Supreme Court judges Ashok Bhan and RV Raveendran – to “examine and make suitable recommendations to the BCCI for such reforms in its practices and procedures and such amendments in the Memorandum of Association, Rules and Regulations as may be considered necessary and proper.”The court wanted the committee to suggest amendments to the processes followed by the BCCI “with a view to preventing sporting frauds, conflict of interests, streamlining the working of BCCI to make it more responsive to the expectations of the public at large.”The committee initiated that process in April when it sent an exhaustive, pointed and incisive 82-point questionnaire to various high-ranked BCCI officials, both past and present. The questions were split into eight sections, including an understanding of how the BCCI and its stakeholders function, the basis and formation of the board’s various committees, the election process, players’ welfare, conflict of interest and transparency in the IPL.

The construction work of stadiums in Sylhet and Cox’s Bazar for next year’s World Twenty20 will be completed by mid-October, said BCB president Nazmul Hassan.

Mohammad Isam16-Aug-2013The construction work of stadiums in Sylhet and Cox’s Bazar for next year’s World Twenty20 will be completed by mid-October, said BCB president Nazmul Hassan. The expected finishing time is likely to exceed the ICC’s September 30 deadline but an inspection team from the governing body is likely to see enough evidence of progress buy the BCB the extra 15 days.The ICC team arrives in Dhaka on Friday, and will visit both cities as well as the two alternative venues in Fatullah and BKSP, Bangladesh’s largest sports institute.”I have no doubt that the construction work will end by mid-October,” Hassan said. “We will finish the alternative venues [in Fatullah and BKSP] by September. So I don’t think there will be too many difficulties, but it is unlikely to be finished by September 30.”A visit by ESPNcricinfo earlier this week showed the Sylhet stadium has made significant progress since work began in June. The structure of two floors of the four-storey pavilion building has been completed. Located on the northern end of the ground, the building is directly linked to the main entrance from the airport road.On the opposite side, the interiors of the media structure are being refurbished, and work has gone on at a rapid pace there as well. A hill, on the north-west part of the ground, is being carved to be at the same level as the one-tiered galleries on either side. It is being called the green gallery, and will be a grass bank on top of the hill.Around 400 workers have been employed for the project, with the contractors being strictly told to work around the clock by the country’s finance minister AMA Muhith, whose hometown is Sylhet. He has visited the ground a number of times since work started, and has directed all authorities to cooperate with the BCB and National Sports Council, the custodian of all sporting venues in the country.The cricket committee of Sylhet’s Divisional Sports Association has also helped in the project, although they have no direct authority of the stadium or the construction work. They are acting as a conduit in various ways, like making sure each of the two roads and walkways are built around the ground.Shafiul Alam, the committee’s chairman, was hopeful that the stadium will be completed on time for the World T20 which begins on March 16 next year, and the inspection team that arrives in Sylhet on August 20, will see a lot more than what they saw in June.”Work has progressed significantly over the last two months,” he said. “When it first started, I couldn’t imagine that it would come to this stage. Now there is the grandstand, the media centre and the green gallery that will be completed. The floodlight towers are almost done too. At this rate, all of this will be done in time. When the inspection team comes next week, I am quite sure they will be surprised by the progress.”The people of Sylhet are very interested to see this ground being completed,” Shafiul added. “Hundreds visit the stadium everyday just to have a glimpse of the progress. So it has to be finished in time. It has become a matter of our region’s pride.”ESPNcricinfo understands that BCB’s initial aim of hosting at least one match of the New Zealand series in October in Sylhet has been shelved, but it is likely to be ready for the Sri Lanka series in January as an audition for the World T20.Down south in Cox’s Bazar, the boundary wall at the newly-built cricket ground by the beach has been put up while the playing surfaces and the outfield have already been prepared. The only work pending is on the prefabricated pavilions and other facilities.The inspection team will be in Bangladesh two months after their last assessment in which they held concerns over the completion of the Sylhet and Cox’s Bazar venues. It prompted the BCB, the National Sports Council and the related ministries into quick action as they used a large number of workers in both venues to hasten the developments.Among the two alternate venues, the Fatullah Stadium has seen its drainage facility upgraded. It was constructed a decade ago for the 2004 Under-19 World Cup, and has also hosted Tests and ODIs. The other back-up venue is at the BKSP, where its main cricket ground hosted matches of last year’s Women’s World Cup qualifiers.

ESPNcricinfo previews the match between Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils in Jaipur

The Preview by Sidharth Monga06-May-2013

Match facts

Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane have made sure Shane Watson is not the only one performing•AFP

Big Picture

For the second game in a row, Rajasthan Royals run into a kamikaze side. Like Pune Warriors, Delhi Daredevils are going down too, but hold potential notoriety to take a team or two down with them. Given the nature of the format, it doesn’t take much to cause an upset: all it needs is for one of Daredevils’ big payers – now without the pressure of much to lose – to have a big day, and it could cost Royals a chance to progress further.Even against Warriors, a side that has been struggling through the tournament, Royals – now tied on second spot with three other teams with five matches to go – took some time to recover from the Warriors onslaught that came from the freedom that comes with the knowledge you have nothing left to lose. If anything, Daredevils hold a bigger threat. To make the pressure worse for Royals, Daredevils have almost been free points for most of their rivals in the top half of the table.With just six points from 11 games, Daredevils might not have been knocked out yet, but they are down for the count, and will do well to play assuming they are out. That freedom, along with quality, has been missing in their play this year.

Form guide

Rajasthan Royals WLWWL
Delhi Daredevils LWWLW

Watch out for…

Not only has Mahela Jayawardene been failing with the bat, his selection of XIs and strategy have raised eyebrows too. His preference for Jeevan Mendis and Ben Rohrer to Roelof van der Merwe has been as criticised by pundits as has been his use of David Warner in the middle order. In Twenty20 cricket, you need to have your only in-form batsman face as many balls as possible, especially if he is a batsman who struggles against spin.Even Morne Morkel, an impact bowler, has played only six games out of 11.Rahul Dravid, on the other hand, has had it good with both the bat and captaincy moves. He has batted responsibly, used his impact player Shane Watson smartly and variously, and his opposition can’t plan beforehand for a certain set of opening batsmen or bowlers.

Stats and trivia

• Apart from Chennai Super Kings, Royals are the only side that have three batsmen with more than 300 runs to their name in this IPL: Watson, Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane.
• None of the four teams tied at second spot with 14 points – Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad – has lost a game at home.
• Daredevils are the only team to have been bowled out twice for less than 100.

Quotes

“We are not thinking too far ahead. We just want to play one game at a time. We are playing against Delhi. We all know they are a strong side.”
“I am really looking forward to playing in the Champions Trophy. At the moment I would love to finish the IPL on a high as well.”

It was a match neither team seemed to want to win, and was low on quality but Royal Challengers Bangalore finally prevailed

The Report by Sidharth Monga16-Apr-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Royal Challengers Bangalore won the Super OverAB de Villiers’ two sixes in the Super Over arrested an almighty choke•BCCI

It was a match neither team seemed to want to win. Low on quality, it headed towards what looked like a natural result, a Royal Challengers Bangalore victory, for about 33 overs. Out of the other seven, two produced 30 runs for Delhi Daredevils at the end, two were a contest between Morne Morkel and Chris Gayle that the bowler won, and the other three featured an almighty choke from Royal Challengers that resulted in a tie despite a Ravi Rampaul six in the last over when they needed 12.Umesh Yadav nearly won it for Delhi in the Super Over with four yorkers or near-yorkers at the top, which went for three runs, but he missed the length on the last two, and AB de Villiers deposited both of them over deep midwicket for sixes. Royal Challengers, nursing their demons of ties and close matches, called upon Rampaul, who has demons of his own in Super Overs, but he had also bowled a maiden and hit that six over extra cover when it seemed Royal Challengers had seen a ghost and forgotten how to bat.Daredevils had a surprise in store too. Neither Virender Sehwag nor Mahela Jayawardene batted. David Warner found point first ball, and out came Irfan Pathan with two right gloves in hand. The glove changed, he picked up a length ball over square leg for four. Rampaul came back with a yorker, but Irfan pulled out an absolute rabbit by walking down to the fourth ball and ramping it over fine leg for a huge six.With six required off the last two, Rampaul dished out a full toss, and got lucky. Irfan flicked it nicely, but found square leg. Six feet either side, and it would have been over. That bullet bitten, Rampaul bowled full and straight, and bowled out IPL debutant Ben Rohrer.All this sporadic excitement, though, was like an old man out on a pacemaker at times. Except for a blinder of a return catch from R Vinay Kumar, that contest between Morkel and Gayle, and Rampaul’s six, it was all curiously unspectacular. On a flat skiddy pitch with a quick small outfield around it, no Daredevils batsman reached 30, no Royal Challengers Bangalore bowler extracted disconcerting movement or extraordinary fortune, but somehow Daredevils remained subdued throughout their innings to end up with a paltry total by Bangalore standards. Most strikingly, Jayawardene scratched around for 28 off 31.There was some spark to the Daredevils’ start, but it was short-lived. Sehwag and Warner seemed to have set up a good base with 42 off the first five overs, but then Vinay plucked an unbelievable catch when Warner smashed one back at him. In the next over, Sehwag chipped a gentle loosener from Andrew McDonald straight to midwicket. Just like that, Daredevils found themselves in the jail, and couldn’t find a way out.Over after over of steady bowling went by, but Jayawardene could neither find his touch nor get out. Jaydev Unadkat then worked Manprit Juneja over with bouncers, and the latter was eventually caught back for a length ball and holed out to long-on. Rohrer then found deep midwicket with a long hop. Just like that, Daredevils found themselves in solitary confinement.There were periods of mercy for Daredevils. Royal Challengers omitted to appeal on a run-out, gave one more last over to RP Singh, but Daredevils could still muster only 152.Daredevils’ bowling might not be the most rounded for Twenty20 environment, but it sure is exciting. The Powerplay of the chase was all drama. In the first over, Ashish Nehra was denied a plumb lbw of KL Rahul, but he came back to get him a second time and gave him a justified send-off.At the other end, Morkel went hard at Gayle, bowling 145kmph and upwards and short of a length. Gayle was equal to it, putting behind the plays-and-misses, and hitting two sixes off Morkel. Eventually the bowler prevailed with a thick edge flying all the way to third man. That, though, was only a third of the work done for Daredevils.Coming together at 26 for 2 in the fourth over, the other two-thirds turned it on, matching each other shot for shot before Kohli ran away with it when he targeted the left-arm spin of Shahbaz Nadeem in the middle overs. When Kolhi pulled a long hop from Irfan for four in the 14th over, he brought up yet another fifty, and also brought the asking rate down to a run a ball. And the two could have strolled the rest of the way through.When de Villiers was run out at the end of the 16th over, Royal Challengers needed 24 off 24 with seven wickets in hand. Daredevils didn’t do anything spectacular after that, just held their catches and saw Royal Challengers implode. McDonald chipped one back to Nadeem. Arun Karthik ran himself out when he didn’t want to take the third off the last ball of the 18th over because that would mean Kohli would be off strike at the start of the next over. Kohli disagreed.At any rate, Kohli didn’t have the strike, and J Syed Mohammad lobbed one straight to long-on. Kohli drove the next ball inside-out, and found Jayawardene. It was 15 off eight now. Irfan, though, began the next over with a wide half-volley, which Rampaul picked the bones out of. Irfan came back well in the rest of the over, and then almost got his own back at Rampaul in the Super Over, but after a twist or two the match did reach its natural conclusion.

Gautam Gambhir has said his team should have ‘easily’ beaten Kings XI Punjab, after restricting them to a total of 134, at Eden Gardens on Sunday

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Apr-2012Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir has said his team should have ‘easily’ beaten Kings XI Punjab, after restricting them to a total of 134, at Eden Gardens on Sunday. Knight Riders lost by two runs despite needing 13 runs off the last two overs, and a visibly annoyed Gambhir blamed the middle-order for the loss saying it’s time they shoulder more responsibility.”I’m not happy with the form of the middle order,” Gambhir said. “There are some experienced players who need to start taking responsibility. Otherwise strong decisions need to be taken. I feel this was a very good wicket to bat on, as the ball was coming nicely on the bat. I’m not happy with our performance, and we should have chased it down easily.”Despite the loss, Gambhir said his bowlers did a tremendous job. “It was a fantastic effort by the bowlers, and I couldn’t have asked for more. If you can’t chase down 135, you don’t deserve to win,” Gambhir said. “The result didn’t go in our favour, but I can’t say it was a poor day. We played well in patches.”Knight Riders now will look to turn the tables on Kings XI when then play them in the return fixture in Mohali on April 18. “We are playing them again after two days, so hopefully we can try and beat them and carry the momentum to Cuttack [where they face Deccan Chargers on April 22],” Gambhir said. “We have 11 games to go, and we need to get the momentum back.”

An aggressive half-century from Chandan Madan helped Punjab knockout Mumbai and enter the final against Baroda, to be played tomorrow

The Report by Nagraj Gollapudi in Mumbai26-Mar-2012
Scorecard
Notwithstanding a mini collapse late in their innings, an aggressive half-century from Chandan Madan helped Punjab knock out Mumbai and enter the final against Baroda, to be played tomorrow. Madan started aggressively, was dropped on 21, but stayed calm thereafter to stitch a match-winning 60-run partnership for the third wicket with Mandeep Singh.With five overs to go, Punjab needed just 18 runs. But what seemed a formality, almost turned into an ordeal for Punjab as Iqbal Abdulla, Mumbai’s leading spinner, provided a late twist to the second semi-final, at the Bandra-Kurla Complex ground. Off the fourth delivery in his third over, Abdulla lured Mandeep Singh with a flighted ball outside the offstump, which he pushed straight into the hands of Rohit Sharma at short extra-cover. Two balls later, Abdulla got the prized wicket of Madan when he drew the batsman out of his crease with a ball that dipped and then turned away. Aditya Tare, the Mumbai wicketkeeper, snapped the bails easily.Abdulla, who had taken two wickets in the quarter-final against Tamil Nadu, stuck another blow in his final over when the left-handed Bipul Sharma swept him in the air. Dhawal Kulkarni covered a good ten yards to complete a neat catch in the deep and pump some late adrenalin into the match.But Amitoze Singh slog-swept Mumbai’s second left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan for a six in the 18th over to push Punjab nine runs closer to victory. He followed it up with a straight hit over the bowler’s head for four in the 19th over off Ajit Agarkar. With seven balls to go, Taruwar Kohli dispatched a low full-toss from Agarkar for a boundary past mid-off to win the game.Mumbai coach Sulakshan Kulkarni would be an unhappy man considering Mumbai finished second to Punjab in all areas of the game. Madan had started confidently against the new ball and found the medium pace from the pair of Kulkarni and Javed Khan easy to hit. A couple of pull-shots and some strong flicks pushed him into the 20s. On 21, though, he tried to hit Khan over Suryakumar Yadav at mid-off but mistimed his shot completely. Unfortunately, for Mumbai, Yadav spilled a dolly. He had let a ball through his legs in the previous over too, leaving Khan exasperated.But it was the failure of Mumbai’s batsmen that proved the difference between the two sides. Wasim Jaffer cut to a wide delivery from Manpreet Gony straight into the hands of the point fielder; Abhishek Nayar limped out of the ground after being run-out and Ajinkya Rahane was beaten in flight to a turning ball from left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma that pegged his off-stump back.At 42 for 3 after seven overs, Mumbai were reliant on the pair of Rohit Sharma and Yadav. Rohit Sharma started fluently with two boundaries off Amitoze ; a back-foot punch behind square and then a pull over midwicket. Yadav, too, got into the groove easily with his favourite stroke, the sweep, against Bipul, which raced to the square-leg boundary.Yadav was not in the mood to wait as he welcomed Harbhajan Singh with a reverse-swept four. But going for a suicidal single, Yadav was beaten by a fine throw from Mandeep. Ten runs later, Rohit Sharma went for a casual loft against Rahul Sharma, holing out to Amitoze Singh at long-off. Mumbai then lost five quick wickets for the addition of just 22 runs, thereby losing the plot.Edited by Devashish Fuloria