Sunday, March 16TRUSTED FEARLESS,FAIR,FRESH,FIRST NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL NEWS PORTAL

Tag: Cricket highlights

WPL 2025: Smriti Mandhana’s RCB spoil Mumbai Indians’ party, Delhi Capitals’ top spot confirmed
No Comments
Sports

WPL 2025: Smriti Mandhana’s RCB spoil Mumbai Indians’ party, Delhi Capitals’ top spot confirmed

Delhi Capitals played their last league match on March 7 in Lucknow, and they will next be in action on Saturday in the final as their top spot was finally confirmed on Tuesday. They had to wait till the last over of the league phase to have confirmation for their place on top of the standings as Mumbai Indians fell short in the run-chase against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Brabourne Stadium. Meg Lanning’s DC have now made it to the final for the third straight season but will come in cold to the title clash because of the skewed schedule. In contrast, MI – should they reach the final – will play four matches in six days. First up, they take on Gujarat Giants in the Eliminator on Thursday. The story of the night in Mumbai was RCB’s batting unit firing collectively as they reached 1...
Read More
Champions Trophy: Virat Kohli headlines six Indians in ICC’s ‘Team of the Tournament’
No Comments
Sports

Champions Trophy: Virat Kohli headlines six Indians in ICC’s ‘Team of the Tournament’

The talismanic Virat Kohli was the biggest name among six Indian players picked in the 12-member ‘Team of the Tournament’ for the Champions Trophy.India beat New Zealand by four wickets in the final here on Sunday to win the tournament for the third time after 2002 (joint winners) and 2013. India have been runners-up twice in 2000 and 2017. Besides Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul, mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy and pacer Mohammed Shami featured in the playing XI, while all-rounder Axar Patel was named the 12th man. Story continues below this ad The Black Caps have four members of their squad making the team, including Player of the Tournament Rachin Ravindra, with Mitchell Santner being named captain. The much-awaited Champions Trophy Team of the Tou...
Read More
WPL 2025: Richa Ghosh, Sneh Rana shine but it’s the hope that kills as RCB’s playoff bid ends
No Comments
Sports

WPL 2025: Richa Ghosh, Sneh Rana shine but it’s the hope that kills as RCB’s playoff bid ends

Batting on 61 off 29, in the middle of the 16th over, Richa Ghosh took count of the fielding changes, then took a couple of deep breaths, calming herself down. Next ball, as Chinelle Henry strayed down the leg side, Ghosh just casually flicked the ball, and deposited it over the fence. RCB’s hopes of staying alive depended on her capable shoulders carrying the load of a mega run-chase. Next over, however, when Deepti Sharma bowled one in her arc, her eyes lit up and she went for another big heave over midwicket. But, this time, Henry was waiting. In a tournament where their catching was forgettable for the most part, the West Indies allrounder grabbed the ball cleanly and fell on her back, arms spread across in joy – and relief. Even though Sneh Rana smashed the first five balls she faced ...
Read More
ICC Champions Trophy: Amidst speculation about his future, Virat Kohli shows what makes him a chase-master in ODIs
No Comments
Sports

ICC Champions Trophy: Amidst speculation about his future, Virat Kohli shows what makes him a chase-master in ODIs

Where would India be without Virat Kohli in this ICC Champions Trophy? As they got one step closer to becoming the most successful team in the tournament’s history, for the second time in this edition, Kohli mastered a chase.Unlike the game against Pakistan where he remained unbeaten on 100, there was no century to show against Australia in Tuesday’s semi-final. But his 84 was an innings that sent a strong reminder to the world that Kohli isn’t going anywhere for now. If anything, with such knocks under pressure in the most challenging of conditions, he seems to be indicating a second wind in his career. Truth be told, Kohli looked all over the place in the first game against Bangladesh, who were able to pin him to the crease. After that knock, he trained for extra hours at the nets, facin...
Read More
IND vs NZ Rollercoaster: Varun slides into direct contention, Phillips takes a stunner & Rohit’s pull needs a rethink
No Comments
Sports

IND vs NZ Rollercoaster: Varun slides into direct contention, Phillips takes a stunner & Rohit’s pull needs a rethink

Has Varun Chakravarthy powered himself to earning a spot In the semifinal and maybe beyond? Ravi Shastri roared: “What he’s done is that he has put his hand up now for a spot in the semifinal in the playing XI, because the pitches will be the same, he has been outstanding tonight. Well more headaches for the think-tank and selectors.” With his figures of 5/42, Varun has almost definitely sealed his spot to take on the Aussies in Dubai on Tuesday.Earlier though amidst his flipper and top spinner variations, while aiming at the stumps, there was a tiny slice of luck. And he had Michael Gough to thank. When the English umpire gives a decision on field, rarely has it been overturned in recent times. But he made a rare mistake on Sunday in Dubai when he gave Michael Bracewell out LBW against Va...
Read More
IND vs PAK ICC Champions Trophy: Five key pointers that signified the gulf in class between the teams
No Comments
Sports

IND vs PAK ICC Champions Trophy: Five key pointers that signified the gulf in class between the teams

– Pakistan were off to a decent start, but lost two wickets just before the end of the first Powerplay. Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel immediately went into a shell. On the other hand, India, despite losing Rohit Sharma relatively early, didn’t hit the brakes too hard. Between overs 11-20, Pakistan scored just 27 runs and faced 36 dots (60%) while India scored 45 runs and played 25 dots (41.7%) – While Pakistan were able to gradually build in the middle overs, India triggered a collapse soon after. Set batters Rizwan and Shakeel were dismissed in back-to-back overs, just after the second drinks break. Pakistan went from 151/2 in the 34th over to 200/7 in the 43rd over. India, after Rohit’s cameo, had two match-defining partnerships that never allowed Pakistan a footing in the game. – Axa...
Read More
Ind vs Pak Emotional Rollercoaster: Dot balls impede Pakistan, Hardik entraps Saud Shakeel & Axar direct throws apply brakes as Pak reach 241
No Comments
Sports

Ind vs Pak Emotional Rollercoaster: Dot balls impede Pakistan, Hardik entraps Saud Shakeel & Axar direct throws apply brakes as Pak reach 241

Mohammed Shami, at his best, is at it from the word go. When he is in rhythm, he hardly wastes any time in hitting the right lines and lengths. But it wasn’t the case on Sunday as he struggled to get his radar right. In an over that would have given flashbacks to 90s kids of the stat to the 2003 World Cup final, Shami had to bowl 11 deliveries to complete a legal 6-ball over. It wasn’t quite like the 15 runs that Zaheer Khan conceded that forgettable day in Johannesburg, but it was the first sign that something was off with Shami in Dubai. He then went off the field, pointing to his shoes. By the time he got close to finishing his third over, the physio was out, massaging his right calf. Shami then slow-walked into the dressing room. A couple of days after his 5-for, it was a worrying star...
Read More
Shubman Gill, Mohammed Shami, and spinners star as India beat Bangladesh in spin-friendly conditions
No Comments
Sports

Shubman Gill, Mohammed Shami, and spinners star as India beat Bangladesh in spin-friendly conditions

It was the start that India needed to kick off their Champions Trophy campaign. Despite having all the arsenal that makes them a formidable white-ball outfit, there were a few doubts coming into the tournament especially against a spin-heavy attack. And through the course of their six-wicket win against Bangladesh, India went about ticking all the boxes, showing their blueprint could after all be foolproof in these conditions in Dubai where other teams are likely to struggle to get used to the nature of the surfaces. More importantly, in the afternoon Mohammed Shami rediscovered his rhythm and their spin formula showed it would work wonders in these slow conditions, more so if they get a chance to bowl first. In the evening, a fluent Shubman Gill scored his second successive century in as ...
Read More
What lies behind Mohammed Shami’s march to 200 ODI wickets? A romantic heart with a sadist’s skill
No Comments
Sports

What lies behind Mohammed Shami’s march to 200 ODI wickets? A romantic heart with a sadist’s skill

The eyes of television cameras searched for Mohammed Shami. When they located him, he wore a shy, warm smile. He soon broke from the crowd and ambled to the run-up point, the trajectory of the next ball playing in his mind, the off-cutter that marked his two hundredth ODI wicket now a mere time-stamp on his remarkable cricketing journey. The moment suitably captured the essence of Shami the man— un-theatrical and un-obsessed with the statistical peaks, a superstar with an everyman’s persona, seam-scientist with a common man’s air. He wouldn’t have burned the midnight oil digging numbers or spent sleepless nights dreaming about his No 200, or evaluated his spot in the pantheon of India’s great fast bowlers. Such trivialities don’t fuss him. He is, at the heart, a pure romantic. The bowlin...
Read More
Yash Rathod’s fifth Ranji ton and Wadkar’s gritty fifty leave Mumbai gasping in Ranji Trophy semifinal
No Comments
Sports

Yash Rathod’s fifth Ranji ton and Wadkar’s gritty fifty leave Mumbai gasping in Ranji Trophy semifinal

When Yash Rathod was an upcoming cricketer in his early days his uncle ensured he was penalised if dismissed early. The paternal uncle had enough of his nephew getting out cheaply, rather frequently, as he was intent on making someone in the family a cricketer, and not just sit in the family grocery shop. Luckily, by the time Rathod turned 10, he fell in love with the game. This year has been a dreamy season for Rathod who scored his career best 151 against Mumbai in the semi-finals; his marathon innings has pushed him to third spot in the list of highest run getters this season (933 runs). On Thursday, Mumbai witnessed some khadoos-ness from Vidarbha as two of their lower-order batsmen Rathod and Akshay Wadkar refused to budge from the crease. They batted 367 balls, handled bowlers for mo...
Read More
WPL 2025 | UPW vs DC: Meg Lanning’s return to form a positive as Delhi Capitals leave it late to beat UP Warriorz
No Comments
Sports

WPL 2025 | UPW vs DC: Meg Lanning’s return to form a positive as Delhi Capitals leave it late to beat UP Warriorz

It’s been a strange old start to Delhi Capitals’ Women’s Premier League campaign. They huffed and puffed over the line, quite literally when it came to crossing the crease, against Mumbai Indians. They were off colour for large parts against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. And despite playing well for a significant amount of the match against the UP Warriorz on Wednesday in Vadodara, they once again left it uncomfortably late. For a team that was arguably the strongest on paper before the tournament started, the start has been laboured, but having stumbled at the finish line for the first two years, maybe they are – as the cliche goes – looking to peak at the right time. And one of the more favourable signs in that regard was Meg Lanning’s most fluent knock of the tournament yet. With her si...
Read More
Champions Trophy: Pakistan’s bewildering naivety leads to morale-crushing defeat against New Zealand
No Comments
Sports

Champions Trophy: Pakistan’s bewildering naivety leads to morale-crushing defeat against New Zealand

The thousands that thronged Karachi’s National Stadium returned home heartbroken as New Zealand inflicted a crushing blow on the hosts in the Champions Trophy opener. It was not so about the margin of defeat (60 runs when hunting 320) as it was about the manner of the surrender. The lingering feeling would be that they lost not because they were the inferior side, but because New Zealand exuded a streak of clarity and purpose, as they always do, that the hosts couldn’t fathom.There was a bewildering naivety about the defeat, in their inability to seize the moments and deliver the knockout blows, in their shuddering strategies, in their lack of exigency plans, or in their sheer stage fright. The enormity of the occasion, big-ticket cricket returning to the country after nearly three decades...
Read More
WPL: Clinical MI trounce GG by five wickets
No Comments
Sports

WPL: Clinical MI trounce GG by five wickets

All-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt starred in both departments as Mumbai Indians produced a clinical performance to return to winning ways with a five-wicket victory over a self-destructive Gujarat Giants in their Women’s Premier League (WPL) match here on Tuesday. Sciver-Brunt smashed a 39-ball 57, her second consecutive half-century, after taking two wickets for 26, as MI first bowled out GG for a modest 120 and then chased down the target, scoring 122 for 5 with 3.5 overs to spare. Invited to bat, Gujarat paid the price for their over-aggression, with MI’s bowlers, led by off-spinner Hayley Matthews, delivering a tight performance. Shabnim Ismail (1/17), Amelia Kerr (2/22), and Amanjot Kaur (1/17) also played key roles in restricting Gujarat’s batting. Story continues below this ad ...
Read More