Sport 32
Asian Voice | 24th February 2018
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INDIA BEAT SOUTH AFRICA IN 1ST T20I
India’s domination in limited overs cricket rolled on unabated as they cantered to a 28-run victory over South Africa in the first T20 International, grabbing a 10 lead in the three-match series. Shikhar Dhawan smashed his fourth Twenty20 half-century, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed his maiden fivewicket haul in T20I to emerge as the architects of the victory at the Wanderers. Dhawan smashed a 39-ball 72 studded with 10 fours and two sixes to power India to a challenging 203 for 5 after South Africa won the toss and elected to field. Bhuvneshwar then returned with figures of 40-24-5 to restrict South Africa to 175 for nine, despite opener Reeza Hendricks’s 50-ball 70-run innings. Chasing 204, South Africa made a quick start with opener Jon-Jon Smuts (14) and Hendricks putting on 29 off 17 balls as Jaydev Unadkat (1-33) was expensive in his opening spell. Smuts skied one off Bhuvneshwar and Dhawan took a well-judged catch at mid-on. Two overs later, Raina took a similarly welljudged catch running back from mid-wicket, this time sending back JP Duminy (3) off Bhuvneshwar as well as the hosts managed only
41/2 at the end of the powerplays. Another skier, this time off David Miller’s bat (9) was also taken by Dhawan as Hardik Pandya (1-45) reduced South Africa to 48/3. With a mountain to climb, Hendricks was joined in the task by Ferhaan Behardien who smacked 39 off 27 balls. He put on 81 runs for the 4th wicket with Hendricks and brought some measure of stability to the South African innings. Hendricks reached his maiden T20 half-century off 37 balls. South Africa crossed 100 in the 12th over even as the asking rate touched 13 per over. Yuzvendra Chahal (139) took some stick, but finally managed to dismiss Behardien and got the breakthrough India were looking. Heinrich Klaasen (16) threw his bat around as the Proteas crossed 150. But Bhuvneshwar returned to deal them a quick double blow, removing both Klaasen and Hendricks in the space of four balls. Earlier, Dhawan was lucky early in his innings. In the fourth over, the opener had tried to play a flick shot off Junior Dala and the ball grazed his gloves. South Africa made an half-hearted appeal but it was called a wide by the umpire. On a batting beauty at the
Indian women lose 3rd T20I by 5 wickets
India’s middle-order collapsed after a fiery start as South Africa won the third Twenty20 International by five wickets to keep the five-match series alive. Indian women, eyeing their maiden T20I series win in South Africa after winning the first two matches, collapsed to 133 in 17.5 overs after being placed at a solid 93 for two in the 12th over. South Africa’s top-order came out firing and overhauled the target with one over to spare. They lost Lizelle Lee (5) early before skipper Dane van Niekerk (26 off 20) and Sune Luus (41 off 34) steadied the ship. Later, Luus and Mignon du Preez (20) raised a 50-run stand for the third wicket. Brief Scores: India women 133 in 17.5 overs (S Mandhana 37, H Kaur 48, V Krishnamurthy 23; S Ismail 530) lost to SA women 134 for 5 in 19 overs (D van Niekerk 26, S Luus 41, M du Preez 20, C Tryon 34; P Vastrakar 2-21).
Wanderers, Rohit Sharma (21 off 9 balls) and Dhawan got off to a flying start as they put on 23 off only 11 balls. Sharma struck two sixes during his short stay as the ball was flying to all corners of the park. Surprisingly, Suresh Raina (15) came out at no.3 and played a handy little cameo. India had hit 5 sixes before the fifth over was completed. Raina and Dhawan put on 26 runs off 13 balls, with the former smashing two fours and a six. Virat Kohli (26 off 20 balls) too got an early life from Behardien as he grassed a simple catch. The India skipper and Dhawan marched on quickly as India were placed at 78/2 after the powerplays. Dhawan continued smacking the ball and reached his half-century off 27 balls. It was the quickest T20 halfcentury by an Indian batsman against South Africa, going past Rohit’s 32-ball effort at Durban in 2011.
Virat Kohli congratulating Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Brief Scores: India 203/5 in 20 overs
MI to host CSK in IPL 2018 opener Defending champions Mumbai Indians and the returning Chennai Super Kings will kick off the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League on April 7 in Mumbai at the W a n k h e d e Stadium. The final will be played at the same venue on May 27. The first double header will be held on April 8 with Delhi Daredevils hosting Kings XI Punjab in the first game, followed by a clash between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Eden Gardens. Rajasthan Royals, also making their return after a two-year suspension, will play their first game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 9. The Jaipur-based outfit's first home game, at the Sawai Mansingh
Stadium, will be against Delhi Daredevils on April 11. Except for Kings XI Punjab, the other teams will get to play all seven of their home games at their traditional venues. Kings XI are scheduled to play three of their home games - against Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Daredevils - in Indore with the other four games in Mohali.
The Wankhede Stadium will also host the first qualifier on May 22 whereas the venues for the eliminator and the second qualifier - on May 23 and 25 respectively - are yet to be announced. There was speculation regarding a change in match timings for the upcoming season, but that has been laid to rest with the usual timings being retained.
(Shikhar Dhawan 72, Manish Pandey 29*; Junior Dala 2-47) beat South Africa 175/9 in 20 overs (Reeza Hendricks 70, Farhaan Behardien 39; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 5-24) by 28 runs India wrap up series 5-1 Virat Kohli has broken the One-Day batting record while breaking South Africa’s confidence like no other batsman in recent history, as the sixmatch series concluded 51 in India's favour. Kohli crossed 9,500 one-day runs in India’s eight wicket-win to become the first batsman to score 500 runs in a bilateral series. In doing so, the India captain raced to another ODI century, his 35th, in a manner that was convincing, threatening, reassuring and soaked in absolute self-belief. To put this series between India and South Africa in a batting perspective, Kohli’s own self-belief is one that the hosts found simply too hot to handle. It wasn’t anymore about who was the bowler they deployed and what was the length they bowled to Kohli. The batsman controlled the innings and the match with an iron grip that South Africa just couldn’t shake off.
Dhoni breaks T20 world record
While the focus was on Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar during the first T20I win, MS Dhoni quietly broke a world record. After he took a catch to dismiss Reeza Hendricks off Bhuvneshwar, Dhoni created a new wicketkeeping record of having taken 134 catches in 275 T20s. The previous record was held by Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara who has 133 catches in 254 T20s. With 77 dismissals in, Dhoni also holds the record for most dismissals in T20Is – 48 catches and 29 stumpings. The 48 catches the 34-year-old has taken in 87 T20Is is also a world record. Overall, Dhoni has 204 dismissals in T20s – the second most in the format behind Pakistan's Kamran Akmal who leads the charts with 203 dismissals.