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Royals’ director of cricket looks forward to “grooming” Parag to become “an early-middle-order player rather than just a death hitter”

Sidharth Monga30-May-20222:29

Sangakkara – ‘Need to groom Riyan Parag into an early middle-order player’

One of the hallmarks of Rajasthan Royals’ season – apart from both the orange and purple caps going to their players – will be how cleverly they made do with a thin batting line-up, which had R Ashwin bat at No. 7. They used him as a pinch hitter and as a pinch anchor too, and even retired him out once to maximise the death overs once his job was done.In the coming season, though, their director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara will want more from the specialist batters other than Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson, especially the young Riyan Parag. He said after the final on Sunday that he would actively work towards it.Related

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“I think we have got a lot of improvement to do in all areas really,” Sangakkara said at the post-match press conference. “If you really take our batting, we had huge contributions from Jos, contributions from Sanju, and Shimron Hetmyer in the early stages. Riyan and Devdutt [Padikkal] played well in patches, but in terms of overall performance, we need a little bit from the support-role players.”I think Riyan Parag has got a huge amount of potential, and I think we have got to work him into a higher batting number by the time we come in next season. I look forward to grooming him to become more of a kind of an early-middle-order player rather than just a death hitter because I think he is so accomplished against spin as well as pace.”I think overall we have the purple cap, the orange cap, and as a team, we played extremely well. And I thought from the time we started the tournament to now, the guys have put in an amazing effort, so I am very, very proud.”Parag ended up facing just 132 balls in 14 innings this IPL. His longest innings was his 31-ball unbeaten 56 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Pune. During the season, they tried to shore up the batting by playing Daryl Mitchell and James Neesham, but that upset their bowling balance. Eventually, they went with their five best bowlers, leaving the batters to adjust. That perhaps left Buttler with the extra responsibility to bat through, which in turn left the extra onus on Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal to bat quickly so that Buttler’s slower starts could be accommodated.Asked about his own year, Samson told Star Sports at the post-match presentation: “The role was completely different this year with Jos playing 20 overs. All batters had a different mindset to play around him, play different situations, different strike rates, and take on the bowlers. Some nice 30s, 40s, 20s, but [there’s a] lot to learn more.”R Ashwin was used a pinch hitter and a pinch anchor for Royals to shore up their batting•BCCI

Buttler, though, refused to put his slower starts down to the thin batting. Asked if he was left with the dual role of batting long and batting quick, Buttler told Star Sports: “Not at all. In good teams, you have a lot of trust in everyone. I have huge trust in everyone else. We played fantastic all season and came short today. I react to my own game. If the game asks me to be aggressive or hang in, I trust myself to make the right decision.”That said, Jaiswal and Samson had made up for it with their quick starts to have Royals at 59 for 1 in eight overs in the final, which Sangakkara thought was a good base once they had made the surprising decision to bat upon winning only their fourth toss of the season.”We were debating whether to put them in first as well,” Sangakkara said. “By the time we arrived at the ground, we looked at the pitch, it was pretty dry. And we thought it will get slower and maybe offer a little bit of turn for our spinners. So we expected to get about 160-165. We were really well-set in our batting innings: 70 for 1 at halfway mark. Then Sanju got out and then Hardik [Pandya] came on and bowled some beautiful overs and we let Gujarat back into the game.”With 130, you need a bit of luck and some quick wickets in the powerplay. Yes, we did get two; unfortunately, we didn’t get [Shubman] Gill in that first over and the [asking] run rate never went over seven. So it was always going to be tough.”Sangakkara was full of praise for his bowlers, but expected Ashwin to push himself more come next season. “Ash has done a great job for us,” Sangakkara said. “Even for Ash, being a legend in terms of what he has achieved on the cricketing pitch, there will be a lot of improvements and thinking to do, especially with his offspinner and bowl more of it.”

The IPL 2013 auction was supposed to be a relatively quiet one where settled franchises looked to fill in a couple of holes in their squads but, as is the case every year, it had plenty of surprises

Siddarth Ravindran03-Feb-2013The IPL 2013 auction was supposed to be a relatively quiet one where settled franchises looked to fill in a couple of holes in their squads but, as is the case every year, it had plenty of surprises. Most of the biggest earners were players barely known outside their home countries, while marquee names like Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting attracted only one bid each.Australia’s Glenn Maxwell talked himself up as his side’s X-factor at the World Twenty20 last year, and though he flopped there, Mumbai Indians splurged a million dollars for his services. “He is an upcoming youngster,” Nita Ambani, owner of the Mumbai Indians, said. “He can bat, bowl and I think he is a great fielder. We had thought of some names before we came here and he was one of them.”Australia have a wealth of young fast bowlers but few would have bet that the one getting the largest paycheque would be 21-year-old South Australian Kane Richardson, who was bought by Pune Warriors for $700,000.Another player with only one international cap, South Africa allrounder Chris Morris, was picked up by Chennai Super Kings for $625,000. Kolkata Knight Riders spent a similar amount on Sri Lanka offspinner Sachithra Senanayake, who has struggled to make the national side but hit the jackpot on a day when the country’s premier slow bowler, Rangana Herath, went unsold. Another Sri Lanka spinner, Ajantha Mendis, who wasn’t picked up at the auction last year, was back in favour among the franchises, earning $725,000 from Warriors.Among the Indians, as expected, Mumbai allrounder Abhishek Nayar was the most expensive signing, sold for $675,000 to Pune. There were surprises as well, as Saurashtra’s fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat, who got only one game last season for Knight Riders, earned $525,000 from Royal Challengers Bangalore and Punjab’s fast bowler Manpreet Gony, who has disappointed since the inaugural IPL in 2008, earned $500,000 from Kings XI Punjab.
Some of the franchises had clear-cut strategies. Super Kings were out to bolster their bowling, and picked up five bowlers including Morris, the experienced Australia quick Dirk Nannes ($600,000) and Sri Lanka’s teenaged offspinner Akila Dananjaya. Royal Challengers also wanted to spruce up their fast bowling, signing four quicks including West Indies’ Ravi Rampaul and RP Singh, who has had plenty of success in the IPL, and Australia allrounders Moises Henriques and Daniel Christian.One of the major weaknesses in Delhi Daredevils’ squad had been a shortage of quality spinners, which they have tried to rectify by bringing on board South Africa’s Johan Botha and Sri Lanka’s Jeevan Mendis. Last year’s winners Knight Riders were mostly satisfied with their squad and were among the least active franchises at the auction, only buying two players. Kings XI Punjab, who haven’t had much success in the past couple of years, also bid for and bought only two players.Several players who were expected to be sold weren’t bought, including Australia’s big-hitting batsman, Aaron Finch, who has earlier been part of Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals, New Zealand opener Martin Guptill, who hit a T20 century against South Africa little more than a month ago, and South Africa’s Vernon Philander, who has had a spectacular year in Test cricket.In all, 37 players were sold on the day and $11.9m was spent. While most franchises used up substantial portions of their US$12.5m salary cap, three of them – Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kings XI and Royals – used only around half their purse. Royals have the leanest squad, with only 21 members, while Warriors reached the maximum of 33 players.

Four things Sri Lanka might have learned from their T20 February, with an eye to the World Cup

Andrew Fidel Fernando27-Feb-2022

They have a top three

Pathum Nissanka’s strike rate across these eight matches was 117, but he stuck it out for 260 runs. For now, Nissanka is not necessarily a match-winning T20 opener, but in the context of a hilariously fragile Sri Lanka top order, his tenacity is useful. Plus, at age 23, there’s an element of investing for the future here.Kusal Mendis, meanwhile, hit 100 runs in the three innings he got in Australia (he was injured for the India series), and hit a good 69* in Melbourne to top score in Sri Lanka’s only victory in this stretch.Charith Asalanka was not quite at his best this month, but given his runs at the T20 World Cup last year, he’s hard to displace.The likes of Danushka Gunathilaka, Janith Liyanage, and Kamil Mishara didn’t make enough of an impact to break into that top three.

Kumara could still be a good T20 bowler (just not at the death)

Lahiru Kumara played just five of the eight matches, but got nine wickets – as many as Dushmantha Chameera, who played all eight. This is a slightly unfair comparison, since Chameera bowls more often at the difficult stages of an innings – the death in particular – and Kumara has been given easier conditions. But if Kumara can be a wicket-taking threat through the early and middle overs, that’s enough, for now.Through the course of those five matches, Kumara has often been the quickest bowler on show (across both teams), and roughed opposition batters up with his bouncers. If he stays fit, and keeps working on those skills, the quicker tracks in Australia could suit him nicely in October.Related

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Shanaka the big-hitter emerges

No one wanted to say it. But although the T20 team was doing better under Dasun Shanaka than it had under several previous leaders, the captain’s own form had been awful. In 20 innings as captain until the first match of this India series, Shanaka had hit just 334 runs at a strike rate of 107.Just in the last two games at Dharamsala though – one of the bounciest tracks in South Asia – Shanaka has found his range. He bashed 47 not out off 19 in the second match, then a stunning 74 not out off 38 in the third, having come in at 29 for 4.Sri Lanka had lacked lower-order firepower in the last T20 World Cup. They need Shanaka to continue his big-hitting into October and November.

The Chandimal experiment is over. Right?

Dinesh Chandimal has played 61 T20 innings, striking at 104. Let’s not sugarcoat it. These are appalling numbers. When it comes to Chandimal, though, there always seems to be hope that he can resurrect the hyper-aggressive past version of himself, and this is what the selectors thought when he tore up the Lanka Premier League in November last year, hitting 277 runs at a strike rate of 151, as a finisher.Sadly, he has not even come close to replicating those numbers in the seven T20I innings he got in February, making just 112 runs, at a strike rate of 97. He’s got to be done, right? No way the selectors can pick him in this format. That is until he carves up another domestic season.

Although the scoreboard only read four wickets, New Zealand could be highly satisfied with the opening day of the series at Lord’s having restricted England to a run-rate of two-an-over.

The Report by Andrew McGlashan at Lord's16-May-2013
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTrent Boult produced two excellent deliveries to remove Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott•Getty Images

Although the scoreboard only read four wickets, New Zealand could be highly satisfied with the opening day of the series at Lord’s having restricted England to a run-rate of two-an-over. Each of the top four bedded in before being chipped out by a supremely accurate bowling attack who were again led astutely by their proactive captain.It is fair to say that Brendon McCullum would have swapped one of the wickets today for that final scalp in Auckland six weeks ago, but New Zealand know the importance of backing up their performance at home with a strong showing overseas and they have ensured that England will not be sitting too comfortably overnight.Trent Boult claimed two key scalps in the afternoon session, due reward for high-class, crafty swing bowling. Alastair Cook, who had problems against him and Neil Wagner in New Zealand, pushed at one side off stump and Jonathan Trott – shaping to play a significant innings on a ground where he averages over 70 – was brilliantly caught low at third slip five minutes before tea.Trott’s dismissal will have left one New Zealander feeling especially relieved; Bruce Martin had given him a life before he got off the mark when he spilled a return catch. It meant that Joe Root, who had never played at Lord’s, emerged for his first home Test innings in a tricky situation five minutes before a break but was as assured as any of the England batsman while compiling a jaunty 25 during the final session before rain lopped off the last 10 overs.Three down would have been a solid enough – if unspectacular – day for England but the removal of Ian Bell, 10 balls before the second new ball became available, ensured New Zealand could end the day the happier side. Bell had produced a display of considerable self-restraint before being drawn into pushing at a ball (his 133rd) angled across him. It was a poor shot at a poor time, but nothing less than Wagner deserved for pounding in on a fairly unforgiving surface.Although the sun shone for the opening day of the international summer, batting was not a simple prospect. But both captains got their wish at the toss with McCullum saying he would have bowled. Firstly there was swing, the subject of much debate in the build-up, then there was a pitch on the sluggish side that made timing the ball difficult and an outfield – relayed over the winter following the Olympic Archery – which deflated value for shots on a ground where the ball normally races away. A tally of 15 boundaries in 80 overs was testament to that.Spin, historically, does not play a major role in May Tests but there were signs that it could have an influential role in this match. Martin, who only had his place confirmed on the morning of the game when New Zealand resisted the temptation of an all-seam attack, tweaked his first ball past Nick Compton’s edge which was just enough to plant a few doubts.But it could not really explain Compton’s dismissal when, completely out of character to the rest of his innings, he advanced down the pitch to try and drive over cover but only succeeded in toe-ending a catch to point. The shot came on the back of four consecutive maidens with England finding it difficult to rotate the strike. Martin should have made it two successes before lunch but shelled the chance, chest-height to his right, when Trott drove a fraction early.The rare early boundaries that did come went to Cook – a clip and a cut – but he had to work hard to survive Tim Southee’s opening spell from the Pavilion End. Southee and Boult found consistent swing and though it was not always on target it was enough to keep the batsmen wary. After lunch it was Boult’s turn to harass Cook, the movement enough to make him unsure what to play and what to leave, and he found the outside edge which was superbly held by BJ Watling having realised the ball would not have carried to first slip.Following his reprieve, Trott produced some of the best timing on show as he flicked strongly off his pads whenever the bowlers drifted and also drove strongly through the off side. Unlike overseas, where the Kookaburra ball will stop swinging after about 20 overs, the Dukes offers encouragement for much longer and Boult, brought back for a burst before tea, made one jag across Trott which, although he tried to play with soft hands, just carried to Brownlie. In New Zealand, Brownlie had a 50-50 series in the slips but this was a cracking grab.Amid the blocking and leaving there was the occasional gem; Bell’s cover drive off Wagner was a particular highlight while Root, playing with a little more intent that others, took a rare boundary off Martin with a strong sweep. When a heavy shower arrived Root was with his Yorkshire team-mate Jonny Bairstow. They are the future of England’s batting. This will be a good test of their credentials.

Fast bowler concedes five runs in Super Over after picking up three wickets; Nissanka’s 73 goes in vain

Andrew Fidel Fernando13-Feb-2022

Australia win the Super Over
There’s no way Sri Lanka had a shot in this, right? With four overs left, they were five down needing 50. With three overs left, they were six down needing 46. Pathum Nissanka was playing the best innings of his T20 international career, but that career was only 14 matches old.But with the help of Wanindu Hasaranga, Nissanka lurched Sri Lanka forward in the 18th over, bowled by Pat Cummins. Hasaranga hit two fours – one an intentional uppercut behind square, the other a thick outside edge. Nissanka then walloped Cummins over deep midwicket for six, and by the end of the over, Sri Lanka had brought the requirement to 29 off 12 balls.But Josh Hazlewood kept the runs in check in the 19th over, giving away only 10, and he would thwart Sri Lanka again, later.

SL and Nissanka get ICC reprimands

Following an in-game penalty for slow over-rate, Sri Lanka’s players were also fined 20% of their match fees for not completing their bowling innings on time.

In addition, the team’s top-scorer on Sunday, Pathum Nissanka, was handed a demerit point for using inappropriate language which was caught by the stump mic.

When a player reaches four or more demerit points within a 24-month period, they are converted into suspension points. Two suspension points equate to a ban from one Test or two ODIs or two T20Is, whatever comes first

The final over, bowled by Marcus Stoinis, seemed to be going Australia’s way, when Nissanka was caught at deep backward square, and Sri Lanka still needed 12 off the last three balls, with only tailenders on strike.Perhaps buoyed by the news of their big IPL contracts, though, Maheesh Theekshana and Dushmantha Chameera hit the boundaries that levelled the scores and force a Super Over. Theekshana bashed his first ball over deep midwicket, where Steven Smith almost pulled off a stunning save, but didn’t quite manage to prevent a six. Last ball of conventional play, Dushmantha Chameera smoked one down the ground for four to tie the scores. If the ball in between, a fullish ball way outside off stump, had been called a wide as it should have been, Sri Lanka might have won the game there.The visitors did well to force the match into overtime, but that is where their fight ran out. Australia won it easy, in the end.The Super Over
Although Nissanka had played perhaps the innings of the game, captain Dasun Shanaka, who had also struck the ball cleanly in his 34 off 23, chose to open in the company of Dinesh Chandimal. It didn’t go well. Shanaka tried to scoop Hazlewood over his shoulder first up but didn’t make contact. Then he played and missed a wide yorker outside off stump. Third ball, he missed again, and when they tried to run on the overthrow, Chandimal was run out at the non-striker’s end. Nissanka hit a two and a single in the two balls he got to face, but a Super Over score of 5 was never going to be enough.With Hasaranga bowling, Stoinis hit two fours off balls two and three to finish the match.Hazlewood’s match-winning turn
Aside from the excellent Super Over, Hazlewood was outstanding all through Sri Lanka’s innings. He removed Danushka Gunathilaka in the first over, the batter smoking one straight to cover. He then had Avishka Fernando caught at cover as well – his figures read 2 for 9 from his two Powerplay overs. He only gave away three runs in his third over – the 12th of the innings – and kept his last to 10. All up (including the Super Over), he sent down five overs and conceded only 27.Nissanka’s slow-burn knock
Josh Inglis produced an excellent 48 off 32 to set Australia’s total up, but Nissanka produced the innings of the evening, progressing steadily while Sri Lanka lost wickets in the early overs (they were 25 for 3, then 67 for 4), before moving up the gears alongside Shanaka, with whom he shared a partnership worth 48 off 31. In the death overs, Nissanka cleared the boundary twice, to bring Sri Lanka close when they had seemed out of contention for much of the chase’s duration. He will be annoyed at the ball he got out to – a knee-high full toss from Stoinis, which he slapped straight to deep backward square in the final over. Nevertheless, his 73 off 53 encapsulated much of Sri Lanka’s fight.

Bairstow, Buttler and Stokes backed to battle through injuries to play their part

Andrew Miller08-Jan-2022Graham Thorpe has called on England’s batters to save the Sydney Test and prove that they have absorbed the lessons of a tough campaign, as he backed the team’s walking wounded of Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes to do everything they can to be ready for what could yet prove to be their final appearances of the tour.Neither Bairstow, who sustained a blow to the thumb during his first-innings century, nor Buttler, who struggled to grip his bat while making a duck in the same innings, took the field on Saturday after being sent for X-rays, leaving Ollie Pope to step up behind the stumps – a role he performed with aplomb with four catches to equal the record for a substitute fielder.And while Thorpe insisted both men would be ready to bat when required -as would Stokes, who remained on the field despite suffering a side strain on the second day of the match – England were grateful for an extra night’s rest for each player, as openers Haseeb Hameed and Zak Crawley made it through to the close on 30 for 0 after 11 overs of resistance.Related

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“With some of the injuries we’ve got, we’re going to need two, three or four of our players to really stand up and bat for a long time,” Thorpe said. “I want us to play positively, with a good mental approach, and I was pleased with the way Zak and Has went about it tonight.”They moved well, and you could see their intent, defending well and being able to put away the ball which came along to actually score off. That’s important too, because scoring runs is important for your confidence, even when you’re trying to play for a draw.”In a measure of England’s struggles with the bat in this series, the pair’s partnership has already exceeded England’s previous best for the first wicket – 23, between Hameed and Rory Burns at Brisbane. And though it wasn’t plain-sailing to the close, with Crawley gloving a lifter from Scott Boland over the slips for four, Thorpe said that the mental fortitude to roll with such moments was a vital part of any batter’s armoury.”The odd one is kicking up off a length, so the guys have got to have a clear mind that that’s going to happen from time to time and, if you’re unlucky, you’re unlucky,” Thorpe said. “Zak got a little bit of luck tonight but he needs to keep that really positive attitude to the game tomorrow.”It’s been challenging for some of them technically and mentally,” Thorpe added. “And that’s the biggest thing for the younger players who are trying to establish themselves and own a place in the team. They’ve got opportunities tomorrow to do that. To stay in the team, you have to perform [like] Jonny, who played fantastically in an innings of great courage and skill.”That’s the same thing we want to see again in our second innings. It was a good start tonight. But we need a hell of a lot more of it again tomorrow.”England have had one near-miss in a rearguard already this series, after Buttler’s doughty 26 from 207 balls was unable to carry England to safety on the final day at Adelaide. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be capable of performing to that level again after bruising his hand while keeping on the second day, but Thorpe was hopeful that the commitment he showed in that innings would rub off on his team-mates.”Each individual can assess how they play,” he said. “You saw how Jos went about it in Adelaide. I still like people to be positive in the way they’re thinking and the ability to score runs as well, because it puts you in a better place. But it’s about little blocks of time as well tomorrow. Ten overs each, trying to work together as partnerships.”We’ve obviously got some blows to some fingers, but I’m sure the lads will take whatever they need to take to get themselves into a position where they’re capable of performing tomorrow,” he added. “So they’ll all bat and they will do their very best. I know that.”However, with 98 overs scheduled on the final day, Thorpe believes that England will need to improve their decision-making if they are to avoid slumping to their fourth defeat of the series. He singled out England’s captain, Joe Root, as an example of a player who could have done better in the first innings, after edging to slip for a duck during England’s collapse on the third morning.”It was a poor shot in the first innings, and we played some poor shots, pushing at balls which you don’t need to push at,” Thorpe said. “They’re aware of it and they kick themselves when they come in. But that is the game. You have to make those decisions and get them right on the pitch.”I do believe that some of the young players in this team will have very good and long Test careers, but they have to be able to front up and accept some of their failings – whether it be technically or mentally – in periods on this tour.”I know that they’re trying to correct it. And I’m hoping that some of these younger guys will be far better players down the line with their awareness, their smartness, their decision-making absolutely key.”Everyone goes on about technique, but you’ve got to make good decisions constantly when you’re out in the middle and that requires a good temperament. And that’s what players are always being assessed on, whether they’re going to be good enough to do that down the line.”With the ball, England showed spirit in adversity – reducing Australia to 86 for 4 in their second innings before Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green took the game away again in a fifth-wicket stand of 179.”It was very tough,” Thorpe said. “At the beginning of the week, we said ‘let’s try and show a good attitude’. Let’s keep trying to turn up. Test cricket is hard sometimes, and you need individuals. I thought our bowlers kept going – Mark Wood has been incredibly unlucky at times, I thought he’s bowled fantastically well on this trip, and it was good for Jack Leach as well just to pick up [four] wickets for himself.”But this is the harsh end of the game, and our batters have also seen that as well. Tomorrow’s another opportunity.”

Marsh continued his fine form in the series with a player-of-the-match display

Andrew McGlashan15-Jul-2021When Fabian Allen kept depositing the ball in the stands in the penultimate over, bowled by Riley Meredith, at Daren Sammy Stadium, it seemed as though one of Mitchell Marsh’s best nights in coloured clothes for Australia might not end in victory.But Allen edged behind, and with 11 to defend in the final over against Andre Russell, Mitchell Starc produced a masterclass to deny boundaries for five deliveries and earn Australia their first win of the tour.After Starc had expensive outings in the first two games of the series – where his combined figures were 8-0-89-0 – he responded with his most economical four overs in the third game (1 for 15) and then this match-clinching over when the odds had appeared to favour the in-form Russell.Related

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“I thought he was world class,” Marsh said. “At the start of that over, I was at short third man with Finchy [Aaron Finch] and those moments, that’s the ultimate. Mitchell Starc versus Andre Russell, two of the best in the world at what they do, that’s why you play. We love that stuff. You’d like it to be not as close but that’s cricket at the highest level, was awesome to watch that last over.”He [Starc] may have had a slower start to the series but he’s the best in the world and that over tonight, we’ve got a lot of young bowlers who aspire to be like that. He’s a great leader, a great white-ball bowler.”Adam Zampa also had his best outing of the series so far with 2 for 20 as he and Marsh hauled West Indies back from a rapid start to the chase courtesy Lendl Simmons. Jason Behrendorff was impressive on his return – his first Australia outing since the 2019 World Cup – and it was somewhat surprising he wasn’t handed the 19th over, which then almost took the game away from the visitors.

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“We saw with both teams batting against the new ball was the time to do and we knew it was going to slow up,” Marsh said. “It was about hanging in there, the plan was really simple, Zamps does what he does, he’s done it for a long time now, and for me it’s about taking as much pace off the ball as I can.”Marsh has been the biggest gain from this tour so far for Australia as he has taken the chance to bat at No. 3 with three half-centuries in four games. Whether that clarifies anything ahead of the World Cup should Steven Smith be available is another issue but the selectors have seen one of their plans come off. He was just the third Australia men’s player to score a half-century and take three wickets in a T20I.”I’m 29 now and have had a lot of experiences, both good and bad, in international cricket,” he said. “I came into this tour really well prepared, had a great break, feel in great physical shape and mentally feeling really good.”As an allrounder, it’s pretty rare you get a game where you have the opportunity to get stuck in with bat and ball, but most importantly to get a win after going 3-0 was important for this young group.”

Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik carried Mumbai Indians to their third win in four games and the top of the table

The Report by Sidharth Monga13-Apr-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Rohit Sharma scored 47 off the last 15 balls he faced•BCCI

Even as Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar take their time to bed in as an opening combination, Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik carried Mumbai Indians to their third win in four games and the top of the table.Tendulkar finally arrived, in particular with four consecutive boundaries off Ashok Dinda, but the openers fell in quick succession, and it needed a flourish of 65 runs in the last four overs for Mumbai to feel comfortable with the target. Dinda was the victim again as he equalled the most expensive IPL figures by going for 63 runs in his four overs. Mitchell Johnson, then, did the exact opposite by swinging his way through the Pune Warriors top order, which all but sealed the win.With a mix of swagger and desperation, Tendulkar finally got going with his 44 off 29, but Ponting continued to struggle and finished with yet another effort at under a run a ball, taking his tournament tally to 48 at an average of 12 and a strike rate of 73. Around him, though, Tendulkar caused mayhem, especially with Dinda, one of the five bowlers used in the first five overs.Left-arm spin, though, worked for Pune: Aaron Finch began the innings with a three-run over, and Yuvraj Singh got Ponting first ball when introduced in the eighth over. Finch accounted for Tendulkar, who holed out at long-on, in the next over, and Mumbai were 60 for 2 in the ninth. They now needed a bit of rebuilding, which Karthik and Rohit did, but without sacrificing the scoring rate.Karthik equalled the highest run-getter of the tournament with a pulled four off Yuvraj in the 12th over, and then claimed the orange cap with an inside-out four next ball. However, just when the two looked set for the final flourish with a 55-run stand, Karthik fell to the first ball after the second timeout. Mitchell Marsh, introduced just then, came up with the perfect offcutter first up.Rohit, just 15 off 16 then, was ready to strike, and Kieron Pollard was the perfect foil. It was Dinda who let them off the hook decisively with a gentle length ball in the 17th over. Rohit smacked it over long-off, and the flood gates opened. The next one was a slower no-ball, and it sailed over long-on. In the next over, Marsh got the treatment: a four and a six from Pollard, followed by a four and a six from Rohit.Angelo Mathews bowled a fine 19th over, for just nine runs, but handed the ball over to Dinda for the 20th, and Rohit feasted with yet another brace of sixes. The first of those brought up his fifty; in all he looted 47 off the last 15 balls he played. Still, on a flat pitch with short boundaries, this was not a safe total. Mumbai could do with a bit of Johnson.And Johnson it was then with a fast, full, spearing delivery to knock Finch’s middle stump back first ball. In his next over, he demolished Robin Uthappa’s off stump. In between the two events, Uthappa had run Ross Taylor out. At 13 for 3 in the third over, there was too much left for the rest to do.

Barbados got their first win in the Regional Super50 tournament when they beat Guyana in a low-scoring match in Bridgetown

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2013
ScorecardBarbados got their first win of the tournament when they beat Guyana in a low-scoring match in Bridgetown. After dismissing Guyana for a paltry 111, Barbados reached the target in the 27th over, but after losing five wickets.Guyana were off to a slow start after being put in to bat. Their openers were dismissed within the span of three runs, by Jason Holder, and were 37 for 2. Leon Johnson and Assad Fudadin put on 44 for the third wicket and once their stand was broken, the Barbados bowlers ran through their line-up, taking their last seven wickets for 30 runs. Offspinner Ashley Nurse finished with career-best figures of 4 for 22 and pacers Holder and Chris Jordan shared five wickets.Chasing 112, Barbados lost their opener Kraigg Brathwaite in the fourth over and the next two batsmen within five balls, leaving them 30 for 3. Rashidi Boucher made 21 but was dismissed in the 10th over and became Paul Wintz’s third wicket. Jonathan Carter steered the innings from there, and even though they lost their fifth wicket in the 15th over, Carter and Shane Dowrich saw them home with a 50-run stand.

Three young cricketers from Sri Lanka’s war-affected regions have been named in the squads scheduled to participate in a one-day tri-series, which aims to prepare Sri Lanka’s national side for the Champions Trophy

Andrew Fidel Fernando07-May-2013Three young cricketers from Sri Lanka’s war-affected regions have been named in the squads scheduled to participate in a one-day tri-series, which aims to prepare Sri Lanka’s national side for the Champions Trophy. Fast bowler S Silojen and wicketkeeper Rishan Tudor, both 19, have been named in the Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Combined sides respectively, while top order batsman S Sanjeewan, 21, has been picked for Sri Lanka A.Tudor, who played for St. Patrick’s College, Jaffna, had impressed Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara last year, after he was chosen for the Unity Team that traveled to Singapore in October last year. Sanjeewan, who played for St. Michael’s College in Batticaloa, had also been part of that side.”They are really talented cricketers and I’m very happy that they’ve got this chance,” Northern region coach Ravindra Pushpakumara, who had worked with all three players, said. “Last year when we went to Singapore, Murali got to bowl a few overs at Rishan Tudor, who was wicketkeeping, and Murali and Sanga were amazed at his ability to pick the doosra so quickly. Sanjeewan also hit a couple of very fast fifties on that tour.”Silojen meanwhile, had been spotted by chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya on a recent trip to Jaffna, and has since been enrolled in Sri Lanka’s pace bowling academy. He had played for Kokuvil Hindu College.”Everyone who has worked for this is extremely happy,” Pushpakumara said. “It’s been a dream to see cricketers from the north and east playing in high level teams, and our first objective has been realised.”The tri-series begins on May 12, and all seven matches will be played in Pallekele. The Sri Lanka team for the tournament features only six cricketers who have been picked for the Champions Trophy squad, as the remaining players are currently in India for the IPL.