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Asian Voice | 28th April 2018
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DELHI SINK TO THE BOTTOM OF TABLE
Delhi Daredevils suffered a four-run defeat against Kings XI Punjab at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Monday. After posting their fifth win in six games, Kings XI Punjab jumped to top of the IPL standings with 10 points. And with five defeats in six matches, Daredevils languished at the bottom of the pile. Needing 17 off the final over, Shreyas Iyer scored 12 runs off the first five balls but young spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman got the better of him and dismissed the right-hander in the final delivery of the match to stop Daredevils on 139/8. Iyer top-scored for the hosts with 57 off 45 balls, which included a six and five fours. Thrilling win for Rajasthan Royals Rajasthan Royals won a thrilling threewicket win over Mumbai Indians on Sunday following a sensational knock of 33 not out in 11 balls by all-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham. In a see-saw battle, Rajasthan required 28 from the last two overs after they collapsed from 123/3 to 125/6 in the 17th over while chasing 168. Rajasthan did not have a brisk start but Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes kept them in the hunt before Gowtham finished the job in great style. CSK men hold nerve to beat Sunrisers Chennai Super Kings registered a four-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday. Ambati Rayudu scored 79 runs in 39 balls and laid cornerstone for Chennai’s score of 182 for three. Chasing their second highest total this season for the second straight match, the Sunrisers, handicapped by Shikhar Dhawan’s absence, needed an aggressive start, but with debutant Ricky Bhui nervously nibbling at Chahar in the first over, and Manish Pandey and Deepak Hooda handing it on a platter, it was left to Sunrisers’ skipper Kane Williamson to plough a lonely furrow. He hardly put a foot wrong in scoring 84, his third straight halfcentury, till Dwayne Bravo’s change of pace did him in, but his two partnerships helped the Sunrisers make a tight fist of it. AB de Villiers shines again AB de Villiers scored an unbeaten 39-ball 90 to take Royal Challengers Bangalore to a
six-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. The South African’s show clinched RCB their second win in five games while Delhi fell to their fourth defeat in five matches. Earlier, a fantastic rearguard action from Rishabh Pant (85) along with a purposeful innings from Shreyas Iyer (52) propelled Delhi Daredevils to 174/5 in 20 overs. Gayle, Rahul make short work of KKR Kings XI Punjab once again showed that they are the most explosive team in Power Play overs while their bowlers have proved to be the most economical in the death overs in IPL-11. KXIP cashed in on these two aspects of their game to crush Kolkata Knight Riders by nine wickets in a raintruncated match on Saturday. It was their fourth win this season - their first at the Eden Gardens since 2012. The win took KXIP to the top of the points table with eight points from five matches. Chasing KKR’s tally of 191/7, the visitors rattled up 96 runs without loss in just 8.2 overs when a sharp shower stopped play. But by then Chris Gayle and KL Rahul had done enough damage and put the game beyond the hapless Knights. Watson helps in Chennai win Aussie all-rounder Shane Watson scored 106 off 57 balls and helped Chennai Super Kings to score 204 for five and register their 64 run victory over Rajasthan Royals. It was their second consecutive loss while CSK, coming on the back of a defeat to Kings XI Punjab, started their journey at their adopted 'home' in Pune on a welcome note. Watson found a strong ally in Suresh Raina (46). Raina, who was making a comeback after missing CSK’s last game with a calfmuscle injury, showed no signs of illness as he smashed Stokes for four consecutive boundaries. Together they stitched a partnership of 81 off 44 balls for the second wicket. Chris Gayle guides Kings XI to victory Maverick West Indian batsman Chris Gayle smacked 11 sixes en route his 21st T20 century at the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali and
score in 18.5 overs. guide Kings XI Punjab to a 15 run victory Rohit Sharma powers MI to first win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday. Mumbai Indians registered their first IPL This is Kings XI's third victory in four games win by registering a comprehensive 46-run and Snrisers first loss in this season. There victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore was a solitary boundary in Gayle’s knock on Tuesday. Chasing a mammoth 214-run and he remained unbeaten on 104. Despite target, RCB managed 167/8 in 20 overs. The suffering cramps in the later part of his main architect of MI's big score was skipper innings, Gayle never threw away his wicket Rohit Sharma who regained his form and and it was evident that he wanted to be at scored 94 runs. Chasing 214, RCB skipper the crease till the last over. Sunrisers Virat Kohli found himself playing the lone arguably have the strongest bowling team ranger, as he scored a gallant, unbeaten 92 in this IPL and were shell-shocked after the even as the others around him seemed to be leather hunt they were subjected to by in no mood to fight. Gayle. Kolkata Knight Riders IPL, 2018 - Points Table clinch top spot Dinesh Karthik-led Kolkata Teams Mat Won Lost Tied Pts NRR Knight Riders displaced Kings XI Punjab 1 0 0 +0.394 6 5 Sunrisers Hyderabad from the Chennai Super Kings 5 4 1 0 0 +0.742 top spot in the IPL points table 6 3 3 0 0 +0.572 after they beat Rajasthan Kolkata Knight Riders 5 3 2 0 0 +0.301 Royals by five wickets in 18.5 Sunrisers Hyderabad 6 3 3 0 0 -0.801 overs. As Sanju Samson failed Rajasthan Royals to produce a magical knock, Royal Challengers Bangalore 5 2 3 0 4 -0.486 RR managed to score just Mumbai Indians 5 1 4 0 0 +0.317 160/8. But that was not enough Delhi Daredevils 6 1 5 0 0 -1.097 and Knight Riders overtake the
India to open 2019 World Cup campaign against SA on June 5
More than 40,000 runners braved the hottest London Marathon on record - with many even ignoring organiser’s advice to avoid costumes in which they may overheat. This year’s entrants on Sunday included fire-fighters who tackled the Grenfell Tower blaze as well as a police officer stabbed in the terror attack on London Bridge. Kishor Vekaria, ARB RIBA APM of Studio V Architects participated in the Marathon. He was raising money for spinal research, and has so far raised £2,361.
India will open their 2019 World Cup campaign against South Africa on June 5 instead of June 2 as the BCCI will have to maintain a mandatory 15-day gap between the IPL final and international assignments, as per the Lodha Committee recommendation. The 2019 World Cup will be held in the UK from May 30 to July 14. The matter was discussed during the ICC chief executives meeting on Tuesday. “The 2019 IPL will be played between March 29 and May 19. But we need to maintain a 15-day gap and the World Cup starts on May 30. Therefore as per 15 day gap we could have only played on June 4. Earlier, we were scheduled to start on June 2 but we couldn’t have played on that day,” a senior BCCI official said. “South Africa are our first opponents. The CEC agreed and the matter has been referred to the ICC board,” he further added. Interestingly, ICC in their various marquee events have always started with an Indo-Pak fixture which is a sureshot sell-out. It happened in the 2015
World Cup in Australia (at Adelaide) and 2017 Champions Trophy in UK (in Birmingham). “This is the first time Indo-Pak match won’t be a starting affair. Since the format will be a roundrobin affair (all teams playing each other like 1992),” the official added. Among the other decisions that were formalised included the FTP for the next five year cycle from 201923. “As we had decided, India will play a maximum 309 days of international cricket in this cycle across formats, a reduction of 92 days from the earlier cycle. “However the number of home Test matches will increase from 15 to 19. All these Tests will be part of the World Test Championship,” he added. It was also confirmed that India will not play any day/night Test match for now as it’s not a part of World Test Championship. “All matches in ICC World Test Championship are day matches played with red ball. If that’s the case, there is no point in playing pink ball Tests if it doesn’t help in preparation for World Test Championship,” he concluded.