SPORTS Saturday, 25 April, 2015
Bengali tigers eat ‘shaheens’ for dinner!
SHAKIB, SABBIR FIFTIES CRUSH PAKISTAN IN FIRST AND ONLY T20
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SPORTS DESK maiden ODI series win, and whitewash, over Pakistan. And now a maiden T20 triumph over Pakistan. Bangladesh have dominated the limited-overs leg
of this tour, and added to that narrative with a seven-wicket thrashing in Mirpur today. A haphazard batting performance left the onus on the Pakistan bowling again. With only 141 to defend though, all Bangladesh needed was one partnership.
That need increased a touch when the score slipped to 38 for 3, but Shakib Al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman steadied ship and shut Pakistan out with a 105-run stand. Both batsmen collected half-centuries and were around for the winning runs to be scored. The strokes were crisp and they imposed themselves on the bowlers despite reputation. Umar Gul’s two overs went for 23. Wahab Riaz was clattered for seven fours in four overs and nursed an economy rate near 10. Shakib and Sabbir were together for over 10 overs and the partnership run-rate was 9.84. “They are in such a great momentum,” conceded Shahid Afridi after the match. “We have to learn from the way the Bangladeshi players played” It wasn’t mere generosity either. After Pakistan had decided to bat, the cricket was so ordinary that it appeared the broadcasters had switched from the live feed to a blooper reel. Ahmed Shehzad, beset by rust, spent 10 balls on zero. He went hands first at the ball but could not find it. The defensive bat not working, he decided to hit his way out of trouble. Cue inside and outside edges. Finally, and ironically, the first promising stroke he played led to his downfall. A crisp lift, the elbow high and the head still, ended up in the hands of long-off. A man who hasn’t played for Pakistan in a month was paired with a man playing for Pakistan for the first time. Mukhtar
scoreboard Pakistan Mukhtar st Mushfiqur b arafat sunny 37 shehzad c Mashrafe Mortaza b taskin ahMed 17 shahid afridi c Mushfiqur b Mustafizur rahMan 12 haris sohail not out 30 MohaMMad hafeez lbw b Mustafizur rahMan 26 sohail tanvir run out (sabbir /Mushfiqur ) 8 extras (b 2, lb 5, w 4) 11 total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 141 did not batMohaMMad rizwan, sarfraz ahMed, wahab riaz, uMar Gul, saeed ajMal fall of wickets 1-50 (ahMed shehzad, 8.6 ov), 2-64 (shahid afridi, 10.4 ov), 3-77 (Mukhtar ahMed, 12.1 ov), 4-126 (MohaMMad hafeez, 17.5 ov), 5-141 (sohail tanvir, 19.6 ov) bowlinG: Mustafizur rahMan 4-0-20-2, shakib al hasan 4-0-17-0, Mashrafe Mortaza 4-0-29-0, arafat sunny 2-023-1, taskin ahMed 4-0-29-1, nasir hossain 2-0-16-0 banGladesh taMiM iqbal c MohaMMad hafeez b uMar Gul 14 souMya sarkar run out (saeed ajMal) 0 shakib al hasan not out 57
Mushfiqur rahiM b wahab riaz 19 sabbir rahMan not out 51 extras (lb 1, w 1) 2 total (3 wickets; 16.2 overs) 143 did not batMahMudullah, nasir hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza*, arafat sunny, taskin ahMed, Mustafizur rahMan fall of wickets 1-14 (souMya sarkar, 0.5 ov), 2-17 (taMiM iqbal, 2.2 ov), 3-38 (Mushfiqur rahiM, 5.4 ov) bowlinG: MohaMMad hafeez 1-0-14-0, sohail tanvir 3-016-0, uMar Gul 2-0-23-1, saeed ajMal 3.2-0-25-0, wahab riaz 4-0-39-1, shahid afridi 3-0-25-0 Match details: toss - Pakistan, who chose to bat series - banGladesh won the one-off Match t20i debuts - Mustafizur rahman and soumya sarkar (bangladesh); Mohammad rizwan and Mukhtar ahmed (Pakistan) twenty20 debut - Mustafizur rahMan (banGladesh) Player of the Match - sabbir rahMan (banGladesh) uMPires - anisur rahMan and sharfuddoula tv uMPire - enaMul haque Match referee - jj crowe (new zealand) reserve uMPire - Mahfuzur rahMan
Ahmed appears a power hitter, and despite trying a slog every other ball he walked baack with 37 off 30 balls. Afridi hiked himself up to No. 3, for the first time since November 2013, missed two balls and was judged caught behind off when there was ample daylight between bat and ball. The umpires’ two cents to a first hour of cricket that left much to be desired. Afridi even signalled for a review, and was told DRS wasn’t being used for the match. Mushfiqur Rahim evened the scales by missing a straightfoward stumping off Mukhtar in the sixth over. There were
multiple run out chances that weren’t converted. The saving grace though was Bangladesh’s new ball bowlers. Mustafizur Rahman, a 19-year old left arm seamer, got the ball to jag around quite strikingly and tormented Shehzad 10 balls faced, only one run scored. Mashrafe Mortaza hit the off-stump corridor. Shakib’s darts around leg stump frustrated a set of batsmen, who wanted to cane the ball more than hit the gaps. What would hurt Pakistan was despite their constant slogs, there were 49 dot balls in the innings and only one boundary in the final four overs.
NARINE REPORTED FOR SUSPECT ACTION AGAIN SPORTS DESK Kolkata Knight Riders offspinner Sunil Narine has been reported once again for a suspect action following the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 22 in Visakhapatnam. An IPL release said that Narine “will still be eligible to bowl in forthcoming IPL matches” and that he “may request a biomechanical analysis of the deliveries in question at the ICC and BCCI accredited testing facility, the Sri Ramachandra Arthroscopy and Sports Science Centre in Chennai.” Narine was first reported for a suspect action during the Champions League Twenty20 in October 2014, following Knight Riders’ group game against Dolphins. He was allowed to play their next game, the semi-final against Hobart Hurricanes, but all 24 deliveries of his spell were called suspect by the on-field umpires, meaning he was banned from bowling in the final, against Chennai Super Kings. Consequently, Narine skipped West Indies’ tour of India later that month, and informed the WICB about handling the rehabilitation process on his own. Despite not having played any competitive cricket since then, Narine was surprisingly picked by Clive Lloyd’s selection panel in West Indies’ World
Cup squad on January 11 and two weeks later, he clocked his best bowling performance in List-A cricket, picking 6 for 9 to help Trinidad & Tobago to the NAGICO 50-over title. Narine, though, withdrew from the World Cup squad on January 27, stating that he did not want to rush back, and
instead focused on remodeling his action, working with a very small group of coaches including former Pakistan offspinner Saqlain Mushtaq. In early March, Narine underwent tests at the ICC accredited centre at University of Loughborough and got a positive nod from the experts. However, when
the clearance report from the Loughborough centre was submitted for review and clearance from BCCI’s sub-committee dealing with corrective actions, the board wrote back to Knight Riders saying Narine would have to clear another round of tests at the Sri Ramachandra University centre if he was to play in the IPL. It meant the BCCI was effectively cancelling the Loughborough report. While Knight Riders questioned how the board could discredit a report from an ICC-approved centre, the BCCI maintained that they were merely making their own assessment to be adequately convinced with the bowler’s action. Despite the protest from his team, Narine eventually took the retest and was granted a clean chit by a panel comprising former India captain S Venkataraghavan, former India fast bowler Javagal Srinath, and ex-international umpire AV Jayaprakash. Upon being cleared, a BCCI press release stated that Narine had “recommended to the BCCI that his name may be removed from the warning list of bowlers with suspect actions”. Since reworking his action, Narine has been extracting substantially lesser turn than before, and picked up only two wickets at an average of 73.50 from five IPL matches this season.
MUMBAI RUNNING OUT OF BREATHING SPACE SPORTS DESK Mumbai Indians are almost halfway of their campaign but have lost five matches, three away and two at home at the Wankhede. They have also lost two of their first-choice overseas recruits to injuries - Aaron Finch and Corey Anderson. Add to that shaky pile of problems the lack of runs from batsmen other than Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard, the poor economy of Lasith Malinga and loss of confidence on the experienced Pragyan Ojha’s remodelled action, and it becomes hard to imagine Mumbai Indians standing for too long in the competition. Still, Mumbai Indians know it’s a fickle format. In Sunrisers Hyderabad, they have an opposition overtly reliant on their captain David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan for putting up decent totals. If Mumbai Indians can stop those two, the rest could crumble. The only problem is, Mumbai Indians are fast running out of breathing space. They need a win and they need it now. Form guide MuMbai indians LWLLL (Last five Matches, Most recent first) sunrisers hyderabad WLLWL
Watch out For…
It would have been a travesty till last season to debate Lasith Malinga’s selection, but not any more. Although Malinga has taken six wickets and bowled smart overs at crucial stages, he is not bowling with the same venom as before. Malinga or no Malinga, Mumbai Indians are leaking runs. Is there some value then of replacing him with an Indian bowler and beef up the batting with the latest recruit, Colin Munro, whose last innings was a recordbreaking 23-six-laden 281? Mumbai Indians must ponder. David Warner’s importance in Sunrisers Hyderabad cannot be overstated. He has scored 250 runs at a strike rate of 158.22 and has been Man of the Match in both wins. Among others, only Dhawan has scored more than 100. No wonder it will be up to Warner again to provide the thrust. StatS and trivia 13 - Wickets lost by Mumbai during the Powerplay this IPL, the most for any team Malinga’s economy in the IPL from 2009 to 2014 was 6.53. This year it is 8.33 Starting 2014, David Warner has won four Man-of-the-Match awards in IPL, which is the joint-highest along with Glenn Maxwell and Ajinkya Rahane.
PAKISTAN CRICKETERS DEMAND MATCH-FEE HIKE Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq and a few other senior players asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to increase their match-fee for all three formats in the new central contracts, to be issued by the Board for the year 2015. A Board official said PCB had decided to give 10 per cent raise to the players in their monthly retainers in the new contracts, but some seniors demanded a raise in the match fess for Tests, ODIs and T20. “They will get a 10 per cent raise but Misbah, on behalf of the players, told the PCB that it should also raise the match fees for Tests, ODIs and T20,” said the official. “Misbah has pointed out that the players needed to be given a substantial raise since in the last few years they have not received enough increase in their match fees,” the official said. sPorts desK
Angry Usain Bolt says Tyson Gay should be ‘kicked out of the sport’ Six-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt says Tyson Gay should be “kicked out” of athletics and says the decision to give him only a one-year ban was “the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard”. Gay was caught using anabolic steroids in 2013 and was given a year ban by the United States AntiDoping Agency having co-operated with their investigation. He has since returned to competition and is expected to line up alongside Bolt at the World Championships in Beijing this summer. But the fastest man in history is deeply unhappy that the second fastest has been allowed back on the track. “I was really upset about that,” Bolt said. “He got a year just because he talked to the authorities about how it was done and who helped him. “That sends the wrong message: ‘If you do it and get caught, just tell us all you know and we’ll lower your ban.’ It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. The message should be: ‘If you cheat you’re going to be kicked out of the sport.’ “I’m not looking forward to competing against Tyson. sPorts desK
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CMYK