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The former Australia captain fills the void left by Rahul Dravid’s departure

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jan-2018Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting will return to the IPL this season, this time as head coach of Delhi Daredevils. Hemant Dua, the chief executive of Daredevils, made the announcement on Twitter.Ponting takes over from Paddy Upton and former India captain Rahul Dravid, who had stepped down after the previous season owing to BCCI’s conflict-of-interest regulations. While Upton’s contract wasn’t renewed, Dravid chose to coach India A and India Under-19 teams over the IPL franchise.Delhi were in contention for a playoff berth last season, only to taper off towards the end of the group stage. They eventually finished the season sixth, with six wins in 14 matches. The franchise is yet to win a title in 10 attempts.Ponting had coached Mumbai Indians to their second IPL title in 2015, but the franchise chose to not renew his two-year contract when it expired in 2016. He had joined the franchise as a player in 2013, but stepped away midway through the tournament due to poor form.Ponting also worked with Mumbai Indians in an advisory capacity in 2014. Prior to that, he was briefly part of Kolkata Knight Riders for the inaugural edition in 2008.

The former India captain believes England should play two fast bowlers and three spinners, given their depth in batting

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-20161:11

Ganguly: Not the same Anderson as 2012

England have tried everything within their means to get their most successful Test bowler ever fit in time for a major part of the series in India, but former India captain Sourav Ganguly wouldn’t pick James Anderson in the playing XI even if he was available for selection.”I wouldn’t play him [Anderson] in India to be honest,” said Ganguly, who will be part of ESPNcricinfo Match Day, the analysis show that will be aired both on ESPNcricinfo and on the SONYESPN channel on every day of the five-Test series.”It’s not the same Anderson as 2012,” Ganguly said. “I saw him in the Test series in England recently. He has lost a bit of pace. And I think Stuart Broad and Steven Finn and Ben Stokes [will be more effective] because you will need a bit of pace in these conditions to get that ball to reverse. So I don’t know whether he will make the side when he comes back. Not in Vizag [Visakhapatnam] where the ball will turn square.”In a recent ODI in Visakhapatnam, legspinner Amit Mishra took five wickets to bowl New Zealand out for 79, which is a sign of the conditions that England can expect in the second Test. If everything goes right with Anderson’s rehab – he has not bowled since August because of a shoulder injury – he could be fit in time for that Test. However, Ganguly feels Anderson shouldn’t play the rest of the series either.”I don’t see him playing in the second Test,” Ganguly said. “And if I were the England captain, I would go in with two fast bowlers: [Stuart] Broad and Ben Stokes [along with Chris Woakes]. A bit of zip, a bit of pace, reverse. And play three spinners. Moeen Ali, Gareth Batty and another spinner. The advantage is, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes can get runs with the bat. It makes the batting a lot longer, and you still have three spinners for these conditions. That’s the way I will go, and I don’t think Jimmy Anderson bowling at 80 miles an hour will find a place in my side.”Doubts about Anderson’s fitness, in light of his integral role in the 2012 series, is part of a larger reason why Ganguly doesn’t expect England to win a Test in the five-match series. He knows England have a good record against India, and that they won the last series in India, but the teams have changed a lot since then, he said.”They have a great record in India to be honest,” Ganguly said. “In 2006 when they came it was 1-1, when they won in Mumbai. In 2012 they won the series 2-1. India going to England and losing 4-0 and then 3-1. So England have got a great record against India but whether this England team can get past India in a five-Test series, I am not sure. Because when you look at the side that played in 2012, the most important part was those two spinners: Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann. Both high-quality spinners, and both match-winners. And Jimmy Anderson at his best. The Jimmy Anderson of four years ago.”Also the India team wears a completely different look. “When they caught India in 2012, it was a side that had lost 4-0 in Australia,” Ganguly said. “A side whose confidence was pretty down. It was battered overseas for a long period of time. But England are now facing a side that is high on confidence. New captain. Results have come the team’s way. It’s going to be very, very tough for England. That’s what I believe. But in sport, anything can happen.”For anything to happen, it won’t be just any old thing, it will have to be “magical” if England are to compete. “England will have to play very, very well to get past India in this series,” Ganguly said. “Not just play very, very well, do something absolutely magical. Like Alastair Cook did last time in 2012. Three back-to-back Test hundreds. Kevin Pietersen played that unbelievable knock in Mumbai. Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott getting hundreds. Somebody or the other stood up for them. Whether they have that same quality in batting, I am not too sure.”1:28

‘This England side lacks firepower to beat India’

As with the last series, Cook will have to set the tone. “He has had success in India so he will be confident when he comes to that series,” Ganguly said. “I thought he played well in Bangladesh on those tough pitches but he has got to fire. He has got to stand up for his team. Lead from the front. And people need to support him. The likes of Joe Root, who I think is an outstanding player. Ben Stokes, who I think will have a huge role in this series. These three have to fire for England consistently if they have to have some chance in the series.”The three superstars won’t be enough. Moeen Ali, who did well against India in England in 2014, will have to be at his best too. “He is definitely a threat for India,” Ganguly said. “The wickets will spin. His confidence against India will be high as a bowler. He has definitely become a better batsman than since that trip of 2014 when he was peppered with short deliveries from Ishant Sharma and the Indian bowlers. He has definitely become a better cricketer than then. He will be tested. He needs to get runs and get wickets as well, but do they have a Graeme Swann or Monty Panesar? I don’t think so.”The one advantage England have is they are not turning up blind. They played Test cricket in some testing conditions in Bangladesh just before this trip. It was so testing they didn’t even feel the need for a warm-up game in India. Ganguly doesn’t expect the conditions in India to be as extreme as Bangladesh, but sees it as good preparation for England.”Those wickets to be honest were absolute minefields,” Ganguly said. “Although the series was drawn 1-1, it can’t get worse than that for them in terms of the surface. And I saw the pitch in the last Test. It spun from everywhere. You just had to put the ball in the right place, and it did everything. In India they are going to encounter better pitches. That sort of pitch will be on day five of the Test. But when I saw the ball land on the first day of the Test in Bangladesh, it was actually like a day-five pitch.”They [England] haven’t played well in Bangladesh, but it will get them used to the conditions. I firmly believe when teams from the subcontinent go away or when it is the other way around, it is about getting used to the conditions as quickly as possible. I think it is going to help them in that aspect, but I still maintain [doubts] that whether they have that spark in this side to beat India in this series.”Ganguly will be joined on ESPNcricinfo Match Day by Nick Compton and Jonathan Trott, who were both part of the series-winning England team to India in 2012-13 in which Anderson played an important role.

Chandrakant Pandit marks a return as the Mumbai coach after over a decade, when there isn’t a single Test player in the squad for the first two matches

Amol Karhadkar30-Sep-20153:39

Jaffer has been a pillar of Mumbai cricket – Pandit

The last time Chandrakant Pandit was in charge of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy team, for the 2004-05 semi-final against Punjab, the team had five Test cricketers. During his three-year stint as coach, Mumbai won two titles, thanks to the presence of a plethora of experienced and international players in the side.In 2015-16, when Pandit marks a return as the Mumbai coach after over a decade, there isn’t a single Test player in Mumbai’s squad for the first two matches. Naturally, Pandit has his task cut out to get Mumbai back to winning ways.”Mumbai have always had experienced players, that is something we are probably missing out on,” Pandit told ESPNcricinfo ahead of Mumbai’s season-opener against Andhra. “Some of the players have been around for four-five years. That four-to-five years’ experience has to be utilised. One has to stand up as a role model especially when we have six-seven youngsters who can look up to them. I always believe whatever force we have, we should believe in it and go forward.”Its legacy of winning the Ranji Trophy as frequently as the local train logjam in the monsoon aside, Mumbai Ranji teams have always seen a plethora of current and former Test players in action. The old Mumbai fans would not have imagined a Ranji squad without a single Test player.It has happened this year. Even last season, with Wasim Jaffer being injured for most of the season, Mumbai had to field a team without a Test player but Jaffer was present in the dressing room and worked as a mentor for most of the season.Jaffer has switched to Vidarbha as a professional now. With Zaheer Khan unfit and the duo of Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane on India duty, Mumbai have had to field a relatively young squad. More than his run-scoring ability, it is the experience factor for which Mumbai will miss Jaffer the most.”You think about every experienced player who has contributed in the dressing room, there is no replacement at all. Wasim Jaffer has been a great player. He was a pillar for Mumbai,” Pandit said. “What he has done in the last so many years, I think that will be missed in the dressing room. He was looked at [as] one of the role models in the dressing room. When I was young, we looked at Vengsarkar, Gavaskar, Patil who inspired us. That is what something will be missed this season.”A young outfit led by Aditya Tare will begin the quest for winning Mumbai’s 41st Ranji title. But it will be a humongous challenge for Mumbai, considering seven of the 15 squad members have had single-digit caps in first-class cricket. Pandit feels it’s a “huge challenge” to get the best out of youngsters.Thanks to their consistency in pocketing Ranji titles in the past, anything but a title-winning performance is traditionally treated as a failure. Pandit believes Mumbai cricket is coming to terms with that fact.”People who are involved in Mumbai cricket, they do understand you can’t win it every year. But everyone wants to win,” he said. “I am sure they understand that now. We may miss out for another one or two years but the plan is to dominate for five years thereafter [in succession].”I don’t really think about it because some other states have really improved. The competition level, infrastructure and facilities have improved. Naturally every state is going to take advantage of that. We cannot underestimate any other team.”

Harbhajan Singh has played just one Test since the end of the England tour in the middle of 2011 and made no pretensions of the fact that he’s on a comeback trail and is keen to be selected for the Test series against Australia

Siddhartha Talya at the Wankhede Stadium05-Feb-2013Harbhajan Singh has played just one Test since the end of the England tour in the middle of 2011 and made no pretensions about the fact that he’s on a comeback trail and is keen to be selected for the Test series against Australia starting later this month. The Irani Cup game against Mumbai starting on Wednesday, he said, “is the best game I’ve got” ahead of the series to make a lasting impression.”I just want to be relaxed and look to bowl rather than running after wickets,” Harbhajan told reporters on the eve of the Irani Cup game. “The wickets will come, today or tomorrow, but my aim is to bowl well. I’m sure I’ll get those rewards if I bowl well.”Harbhajan led Punjab in five Ranji Trophy games this season, picking up 16 wickets at 32.25. He has an impressive record against Australia, picking up 90 wickets at 29.35, and shot to fame against them in 2001 in a three-match series at home in which he collected 32 wickets. “I always look forward to playing cricket, whether it’s against Australia or England or Mumbai. It’s one of those things that’s there in my blood. I want to be there, play cricket, and enjoy the moment. Australia, I’ve done well against them, if I get a chance to play against them I’ll try to repeat what I’ve done against them.”At 99 Tests, Harbhajan is just one game away from becoming the 10th Indian cricketer to have played 100 or more Tests. Though he admitted it did play on his mind, his experience, he said, has taught him to not pay undue attention to such landmarks. “Somewhere it does get into your head, you’re close to 100 Test matches, even when you’re batting between 90 to 100 or when you’ve taken four wickets and looking to get five. But somehow as a player you just need to go with the game rather than thinking too much ahead. If you just concentrate on the process, things will automatically happen for you. If not today, tomorrow it will happen.”Last year onwards, I’ve been trying too many things to play my 100th Test, but when I started playing I never thought I’ll come this far. I’ve come this far because I was just looking to enjoy the game, just looking to go back into the whole system of trying to enjoy the game and playing with lot of passion, things will start happening.”

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will hold a teleconference on Saturday in an effort to resolve the impasse between the board, the Guyana Cricket Board (GICB) and the Guyanese government

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2012The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will hold a teleconference on Saturday in an effort to resolve the impasse between the board, the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and the Guyanese government. Earlier this month, the GCB was locked out of its premises by the Guyana government, which appointed an Interim Management Committee (IMC) headed by Clive Lloyd to govern the sport in the country.Lloyd is also a non-member director of the WICB; last week, Anand Senasie, the secretary of the GCB which has been replaced by the IMC, wrote to the WICB president Julian Hunte, asking him to remove Lloyd from his role as non-member director.The WICB refused to recognise the IMC, and the impasse, it was feared, would prevent Guyana from competing in the Caribbean T20, though that didn’t happen. But the board is set to meet ahead of the Regional Four Day Competition, the first-class tournament starting on February 3.”The WICB is making every effort to find a solution. On Saturday we will be holding a teleconference to discuss it as well as an issue with Jamaica. Both (the GCB and IMC) have been at each other and clearly that can’t continue. The players’ business must come first,” WICB director Dr Allen Sammy told .The IMC has named a provisional 30-man squad, with Ramnaresh Sarwan as captain, for the first-class competition, and the WICB said efforts should be made to ensure the players are not distracted by the ongoing problem. “What is most important is that players must be given an opportunity to play for their country and without any burden on their mind. They are playing to win for Guyana and to get on the West Indies team but the right environment must be there for that to happen,” Sammy said.The current standoff between the Guyana government – represented by sports minister Frank Anthony – and the GCB, and by extension the WICB, dates back to the disputed Guyana board elections in July 2011.

Hamish Bennett, the New Zealand fast-bowler, has insisted he’s happy to support Tim Southee and James Franklin despite being an obvious new-ball candidate after his heroics in New Zealand’s nine-wicket defeat of Pakistan in the first ODI

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jan-2011Hamish Bennett, the New Zealand fast-bowler, has insisted he’s happy to support Tim Southee and James Franklin despite being an obvious new-ball candidate after his heroics in New Zealand’s nine-wicket defeat of Pakistan in the first ODI.He and Southee were expected to open the bowling but allrounder Franklin took the new ball with Bennett second change. The formula clearly worked well as Southee finished with man-of-the-match figures of 5 for 33 and Bennett chipping in with three wickets of his own.New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori said a horses-for-courses approach was being taken and with the history of bowler-friendly conditions Queenstown, Southee and Franklin’s ability to swing the new ball would likely see them open again in Wednesday’s second match.”I think we’ll look to use James, particularly in Queenstown where the wicket probably suits the swing and seam bowler,” Vettori said. “When we get to the likes of Hamilton and Napier, maybe we’ll revisit it on the flatter wickets.”Vettori felt that Bennett, who finished with 3 for 26 from eight overs in just his third one-day international, was better suited to first or second change.”I think that’s where he’s most comfortable, but if he keeps bowling as well as he did [on Saturday], there’s no reason why he can’t step up into that opening role. We just hope he keeps performing that way.”Bennett, 23, is by far the quickest bowler in the team and generated good pace and bounce throughout the opening ODI. He was happy to start with the older ball in the circumstances but hopes to get hold of the new ball in future and feels he can generate more pace as he settles into the team.”I think Franky and Timmy do a good job swinging the new ball so we’ve got to use that, especially with the conditions we had [on Saturday],” he said. “I probably rely more on bounce so if I can use that and bowl a heavy nut it’s going to help.””I’ve never bowled [at the stadium] before so it was quite funny, it always felt like you were bowling into [the wind], so I found that quite tough. Hopefully in Queenstown I have the wind at my back. I think in Bangladesh last year I got clocked just under 145kmh so if I can get the conditions going my way, hopefully a bit quicker but who knows? If it’s not in the right area it doesn’t really matter, does it?”New Zealand routed Pakistan with their batsmen chasing down the modest target of 125 in just 17.2 overs. The new opening partnership of Jesse Ryder and Martin Guptill surged with an 84-run stand in 10 overs as John Wright’s first move for the ODI team succeeded. Ryder returned to form after a difficult Test series with 55 from 34 balls, while Guptill ended 40 not out and Ross Taylor was unbeaten on 23.After an 11-match losing streak last year Vettori was pleased to return to winning ways but cautioned the conditions were nothing like what the side will face come the World Cup next month. “It’s a difficult one because we’re not going to play on any wickets like that at the World Cup but this series is about getting that winning feeling back.”

With one of the most well-rounded teams in the world game currently, South Africa look good to win a Test series in India, but they should not write off the hosts, who have displayed the habit of doing exceptionally well under pressure

S Aga13-Feb-2010Different teams react to pressure in different ways. In the past, South Africa didn’t really enjoy being pushed into a corner. When subjected to pressure, they had all the resilience of a can of Castle. Then Perth happened and later, Melbourne. As recently as last month, they demolished England in a game that they had to win to at least share spoils in a series where they had been the better side. Traditionally, India have been just the opposite. Few sides start a series as poorly, and few summon up such memorable performances when least expected.On the tour of England in 2002, they were routed at Lord’s and escaped at Trent Bridge before deciding to bat first in seamer-friendly conditions at Headingley. They won by an innings. After the dramatic last-afternoon collapse and the attendant controversy at Sydney (2008), they went to Perth and ambushed Australia in conditions where they were expected to submit to Australia’s four-man pace attack.A few months later, South Africa humiliated them on a well-grassed surface at Ahmedabad and then won the toss on a pitch never likely to last the distance in Kanpur. But Sourav Ganguly produced a masterful 87 to give India a 60-run lead and the bowlers did the rest. Dale Steyn may have referred to it as a bunsen-burner of a pitch, but it took some especially inept batting to squander the advantage of the toss.Whenever the Eden Gardens is mentioned, thoughts turn to those unforgettable five days in March 2001. It’s easy to forget that that too came after a clinical Australian display in Mumbai, when everyone except Sachin Tendulkar looked utterly out of their depth.After the crushing win in Nagpur, South Africa’s confidence couldn’t be higher, and all eyes are on the nature of a pitch that the curator has insisted won’t be dictated by home interest. The last time these two teams played in Kolkata, Graeme Smith was amazed by the reception that his team got during an utterly one-sided 10-wicket victory. That one-day game had come soon after the Greg Chappell-Sourav Ganguly spat and with Kolkata’s golden boy sidelined, the Indian players muttered afterwards of how they’d felt like the away side.The South Africans shouldn’t expect such backing this time, but with capacity reduced to half because of renovations, they also won’t have to confront the intimidating atmosphere that made even grizzled Australian veterans quail back in 2001. With the Test starting on a Sunday though, expect plenty of noise each time a wicket falls or a four is hit.South Africa won by a mammoth 329 runs back in 1996, but were on the wrong end of a Harbhajan Singh special in 2004. A Jacques Kallis-century had held the first innings together but with India having built a significant lead, the close-in fields and sharp turn were too much to handle. Smith and Kallis offered stout resistance but having found his rhythm, Harbhajan was unstoppable.He will once again be a central figure, especially after all the questions raised about his form and lack of effectiveness in Nagpur. He has 38 wickets from his six Tests at Eden Gardens, but India will need to catch much better than they did in the first Test if that tally is to be enhanced. With Kallis and Hashim Amla in prime form, and Smith unlikely to go a full series without playing a big innings, India need to latch on to every chance that comes their way.With the winter cold still to disappear completely, the pace bowlers will certainly enjoy the conditions, and that should persuade India to break with tradition and go with three pace bowlers. With Zaheer Khan now undoubtedly the best bowler in the line-up, spin isn’t the weapon it once was. If Harbhajan needs support, there’s always Virender Sehwag to bowl some overs of canny offspin.If India are to find a route back into the series though, there’s little doubt that the principal protagonists are the men at the top of the order. When Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir score, they do so at such a pace that even the biggest threats – Mendis and Murali in Galle in 2008 – are neutralised. Gambhir had his first poor Test in ages at Nagpur, while Sehwag alone handled Steyn with any confidence at the first time of asking. How they combine here will decide India’s fate.South Africa were 2-0 winners back in 2000, but in 1996, 2004 and 2008, they found the last Test of the series a bridge too far. Smith insists that things have changed, that this is a more battle-hardened outfit. In Steyn, they have the best bowler in the world. Kallis is the best allrounder since Imran Khan. This really does look like a team whose time has come. Just don’t write off India, who have a habit of scaling great heights from subterranean depths.

India’s complaint over gestures made by Farhan and Rauf will be heard on Friday

Shashank Kishore25-Sep-2025Suryakumar Yadav, India’s T20I captain, has been told to refrain from making comments that could be construed as political following an ICC hearing conducted by match referee Richie Richardson on Thursday in Dubai. It’s not yet clear if Suryakumar faces any other sanctions.An official hearing was necessary because the Pakistan team management had filed a complaint alleging that Suryakumar made political remarks following India’s Asia Cup group-stage win over Pakistan on September 14, which the PCB’s top brass had pointed out at a press conference in Lahore last week.Related

• Suryakumar found guilty of breaching code of conduct; verdict on Rauf and Farhan awaited

• The Pakcroft drama: everything, everywhere, all at once

• BCCI lodges complaint with ICC against Farhan and Rauf

ESPNcricinfo understands Suryakumar’s use of the term “Operation Sindoor” – a term coined by the Indian government during the military skirmish between the two countries that followed the Pahalgam terror attacks in April – was one of the PCB’s points of objection.Suryakumar had used the term at the post-match press conference following that September 14 match, while dedicating the win to the victims of the terror attacks as well as India’s armed forces.That match also caused another controversy, with Pakistan lodging a “formal protest” against match referee Andy Pycroft because he had “requested the captains not to shake hands during the toss”. At the time, the PCB had demanded Pycroft to be taken off the roster for their matches, which the ICC rejected.That incident threatened to snowball into something bigger when Pakistan didn’t arrive on time for their match against UAE. They eventually relented after Pycroft apologised for the “miscommunication” over the handshake incident.Meanwhile, India’s complaint to the ICC over gestures made by Sahibzada Farhan and Haris Rauf during their Super Fours clash will be heard on Friday since Pakistan were involved in a match on Thursday evening against Bangladesh.The gestures were made on the field during a tense game where the two sets of players exchanged words multiple times.At a press conference ahead of Pakistan’s match against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, Farhan had been asked about his machine-gun celebration after reaching his half-century against India. “That celebration was just a moment at that time,” he had said. “I do not do a lot of celebrations after scoring fifty. But, it suddenly came to my mind that let’s do a celebration today. I did that. I don’t know how people will take it. I don’t care about that.”

Bumrah and Coetzee overcame a spirited Kings’ chase as Mumbai moved from ninth to seventh on the points table

Sreshth Shah18-Apr-20241:58

Rapid Fire: What stands out the most about Shashank-Ashutosh duo?

Ashutosh Sharma’s heroic 28-ball 61 went in vain as Punjab Kings suffered yet another close defeat in IPL 2024, this time going down to Mumbai Indians in Mullanpur by nine runs.Early in the chase, Kings were at the risk of being bundled out cheaply when Jasprit Bumrah and Gerald Coetzee combined to leave the hosts 14 for 4 in 2.1 overs. Soon that became 77 for 6. But Ashutosh – and Shashank Singh with a 25-ball 41 – injected life into the contest.

Hardik fined for slow over rate

Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya has been fined for his team maintaining a slow over rate during their match against Punjab Kings in Mullanpur. He was fined INR 12 lakhs, this being his team’s first over-rate offence of IPL 2024 under the IPL’s code of conduct.

With three overs to go, Kings needed only 25 runs more. However, Ashutosh fell at the start of the 18th over, and Mumbai never let that advantage go. Kings suffered their fourth final-over defeat of the season, and their fifth loss in all, as Mumbai climbed from ninth to seventh on the table.

Bumrah, Coetzee bowl thunderbolts

Kings were on the mat early in their chase of 193 when Coetzee had Prabhsimran Singh caught behind down the leg side in the first over. At the other end, Bumrah took the new ball and struck right away, removing franchise debutant Rilee Rossouw for a duck and the new opener Sam Curran for 6.Liam Livingstone, batting at No. 4, then lasted two balls when his attempted pull off a 150kph Coetzee delivery was sliced back to the bowler. A score of 14 for 4 soon became 49 for 5 when Harpreet Singh Bhatia was caught by legspinner Shreyas Gopal, and then became 77 for 6 when Jitesh Sharma was lbw for nine by Madhwal.Ashutosh Sharma played an innings to remember•BCCI

The near miracle

By the time Ashutosh walked in, Shashank had already kept Kings’ score moving with the occasional boundary. Shashank pumped three sixes and two fours to make 41 in 25 balls from No. 6, but it was only when Ashutosh joined him that runs flowed from both ends.Ashutosh hammered Madhwal for a six over fine leg in the tenth over and then took Romario Shepherd for four and six in the 11th. He clubbed Hardik Pandya for a six in the 12th too, and even after Bumrah had dismissed Shashank in the 13th, he swept the fast bowler for an audacious six in the same over. Ashutosh and Harpreet Brar then took Coetzee for a 13-run 15th over as they made 65 runs in that five-over period.But it was the 16th over that took Kings ahead in the game for the first time in the chase. Madhwal missed his lengths and Ashutosh punished him with consecutive sixes. Harpreet smacked another six to bring the equation down to 28 off four overs.The required run-rate of only seven gave Ashutosh and Harpreet the breathing room to see out Bumrah’s final over for only three runs, which ended with Kings needing a manageable 25 off 18. But Coetzee’s uncanny habit of breaking partnerships came through again, and he had Ashutosh pulling to deep midwicket at the start of the 18th over. Harpreet was then dismissed by Hardik in the 19th over. Rabada, the No. 11, struck a six off Hardik’s last ball to make it 13 required off seven balls. A single off the last ball of that over, and a wide off the first ball of the final over, bowled by Akash Madhwal, brought it down to 11 off six.However, he was run out in pursuit of a second run next ball, and Mumbai could celebrate a great escape.Suryakumar Yadav was slightly more subdued than usual, but still unfurled some of his trademark shots•BCCI

SKY anchors Mumbai’s 192

Before this game, Suryakumar Yadav had made two ducks and two half-centuries in his four innings this season. On Thursday, he walked in at No. 3 after Ishan Kishan fell to Rabada in the third over, and got off the mark with consecutive fours off the same bowler. It wasn’t a duck, so he inevitably got to the 50 mark.Suryakumar then used his wrists to put away Harshal Patel for another boundary in the fifth, and followed it up with a cut over the off side off Sam Curran in the sixth. Along with Rohit Sharma, he helped Mumbai to 54 for 1 in the powerplay.Together, they would put on 81 in 57 balls, with Rohit contributing only 26 to the stand. Suryakumar dominated spinners Harpreet and Livingstone after the powerplay, but Rohit could not find the same fluency having been starved of strike for most of the stand. He fell in the 12th over for 35 when he tried to hit Curran over the covers but found the point fielder instead.By the time Rohit was gone, Suryakumar had already reached his fifty in 34 balls. His innings was unusually sluggish by his standards, but the two-paced surface and the change-up deliveries bowled by Harshal and Arshdeep Singh forced false strokes too.It needed Tilak Varma’s take-down of Arshdeep in the 15th over for Suryakumar to also break free in his familiar, trademark fashion, and he did that by bashing Rabada for four, six and six in the 16th after successfully reviewing an lbw decision earlier in the over.That 18-run Rabada over took Mumbai to 148 for 2 in 16 overs, and with big hitters to come, a score of over 200 seemed to be on. But Curran removed Suryakumar for a 53-ball 78 – only the second time he had faced 50-plus balls in an IPL innings – and Mumbai could not get a lot out of Hardik or Tim David. Harshal bowled a seven-run 20th over, which included three wickets, to keep Mumbai down to under 200.After the innings finished on 192 for 7, the highest first-innings IPL total in Mullanpur, Suryakumar told the broadcasters he felt the score was “way above par,” and his prophecy came true, but not without Mumbai surviving a massive scare.

Matthew Wade cut loose with a six-laden half-century but Hurricanes collapsed after he was dismissed

AAP31-Dec-2022Stellar knocks from Oliver Davies and Alex Hales helped Sydney Thunder post the fourth-largest total in BBL history and storm to a 62-run defeat of Hobart Hurricanes.Thunder finished 228 for 6 before Matthew Wade’s own rapid-fire effort had Hurricanes in the contest up to their necks and ready to break the record for largest-ever BBL chase.But after forgotten allrounder Ben Cutting took Wade’s wicket and Brendan Doggett ripped through the tail, Thunder closed in on their third consecutive win and put their disappointing start to the summer firmly in the past.On an extremely batter-friendly wicket at Albury’s Lavington Sports Ground, Davies fired away to the first half-century of his young BBL career, while English opener Hales was the steady hand after the Thunder were sent in.Only Nathan Ellis was able to consistently trouble the batting order as Davies proved especially keen to exploit the short boundaries down the ground.Six of his ten boundaries went over either long-on or long-off before he was caught by Paddy Dooley at backward point from Ellis’ bowling.Hales became the first man to surpass 200 runs for the tournament and appeared set to finish the innings unbeaten until he was caught on the boundary rope by Tim David on the first ball of the final over.Davies caught the destructive D’Arcy Short at point from Doggett’s bowling to get Hurricanes’ chase off to a meek start but Wade wasted no time making amends.The skipper hit three sixes from ramp shots in the same over Short was dismissed and equalled his own record for fastest 50 by a Hurricanes player. Wade hit six sixes as he reached his half-century from only 19 deliveries.Called in to replace the injured Gurinder Sandhu, Cutting enticed Wade into toeing the ball to Rilee Rossouw at backward point on only his second delivery of the BBL summer.Wade reviewed the decision, hoping it was a bump ball, but the wicket stood after multiple replays and the Hurricanes fell to 105 for 3.Promoted up the batting order, Tim David found himself run out after a pin-point throw from substitute Joel Davies, who was fielding in the BBL for the very first time.Davies, younger brother of Oliver, threw straight to wicketkeeper Matthew Gilkes from midwicket to spring David as he tried to sneak back for a second run.Hurricanes were officially in trouble when their last two recognised batters, Asif Ali and Shadab Khan, were both caught in the space of seven deliveries and it faded away quickly.