Cricket

The second T20I between West Indies and South Africa will be remembered for ages as the clash broke numerous records in the shortest format of the game. The match which was played at SuperSport Park, Centurion on Sunday, recorded the highest successful run-chase by any team to date. Asked to bat first, West Indies toyed with the Proteas fielders as Johnson Charles smashed a 39-ball century and took the visitors to a whopping total of 258/5 in 20 overs. In return, the hosts turned the table upside down after Quinton de Kock smashed a century off just 44 balls as South Africa chased down the target with six wickets and seven balls remaining. Apart from this thrilling run-chase, one thing which won the hearts of all the fans around the world was when Rovman Powell risked himself and saved a boy from getting seriously hurt.

In the third over of South Africa’s chase, De Kock played a shot towards the long-off boundary and Powell ran to stop it from going for a four. However, in the process, the West Indies skipper saw a boy, standing across the rope in the direction of the ball. Powell realised that in the attempt of stopping the ball, he will be ending up taking the boy along with him. Within a fraction of a second, Powell decided to let go of the ball and changed his direction, which resulted in him crashing onto the LED boards and sustaining minor bruises.

Rovman Powell, giving chase at full speed, has done extremely well not to completely wipe out these two kids #SAvWI pic.twitter.com/fNRVqkwg7n

— Daniel (@DanSenior97) March 26, 2023

This lovely deed from the all-rounder won a lot of hearts and left everyone impressed. The match had to halt for a while as Powell needed some medications and later he was declared fit to play.

Coming to the match, Johnson Charles smashed a 39-ball century for the visitors as they posted an imposing 258 for five, the joint sixth-highest total in T20I.

However, Quinton de Kock responded with 100 from 44 balls, a maiden T20 century, while fellow opener Reeza Hendricks hit 68. Captain Aiden Markram (38) saw his side home with seven balls to spare.

The previous highest run chase was Bulgaria’s 246 to beat Serbia in 2022 while Australia made 245 to beat New Zealand in 2018.

South Africa now hold the record for the highest-ever run chases in both ODI and T20I.

(With AFP Inputs)

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Sandeep Sharma was signed by Rajasthan Royals as a replacement for the injured Prasidh Krishna ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season. Krishna is currently going through rehabilitation after undergoing surgery for a back problem. “Rajasthan Royals would like to confirm that their 26-year-old pacer Prasidh Krishna will miss the 2023 season of the IPL owing to a stress fracture surgery, and the rehabilitation process that will follow,” the official statement read. “Prasidh has suffered a lumbar stress fracture and has been advised surgery which will mean he needs more time to recover and get back to competitive cricket. We are doing everything possible to support and aid Prasidh’s recovery process.”

Sandeep Sharma is a veteran in the IPL with more than 100 wickets under his belt in 10 seasons and he represented Punjab Kings in 2022. He has previously played for Sunrisers Hyderabad. The pacer will provide a new direction to the RR bowling line-up that already has Navdeep Saini and Trent Boult .

In other news, Punjab Kings have decided to recruit Australian all-rounder Matthew Short as a replacement for Jonny Bairstow . Bairstow was ruled out of IPL 2023 after failing to recover from an injury and that gave the chance to Short who will be playing his maiden season in the competition.

The Aussie cricketer was the Player of the Tournament in the recent edition of the Big Bash League as he took 11 wickets and scored 458 runs as an opener for his side Adelaide Strikers.

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Rajasthan Royals Punjab Kings Sandeep Sharma Prasidh Krishna Matt Short Jonny Bairstow IPL 2023 Cricket

Having found guilty of chopping and changing far too many times, Punjab Kings will be relying on World Cup winning coach Trevor Bayliss and new skipper Shikhar Dhawan to shed their perennial underachievers tag this IPL season. The reputed Australian coach knows a thing or two about winning, having guided England to the 2019 ODI World Cup and KKR to titles in 2012 and 2014. Punjab Kings owners have roped him in with the sole objective of lifting the elusive IPL trophy.

Inconsistency has hurt Punjab badly over the years and Bayliss will have to find a way to optimise the performance of a squad that looks formidable on paper. Punjab finished sixth in the past four seasons and reached their only final in 2014.

Punjab went into the 2023 mini auction with the maximum purse and spent most of their money on England all-rounder Sam Curran , making him the costliest buy in IPL history at Rs 18.50 crore.

The other players they bought were Sikandar Raza (Rs 50 lakh), Harpreet Bhatia (Rs 40 lakh), Vidwath Kaverappa (Rs 20 lakh), Mohit Rathee (Rs 20 lakh) and Shivam Singh (Rs 20 lakh).

Matthew Short has been drafted into the squad as a replacement player for the injured Jonny Bairstow .

Strengths

Punjab have plenty of firepower in the batting unit despite the absence of Bairstow. The presence of Dhawan, Liam Livingstone , Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma , Curran, Short, who impressed in the latest Big Bash edition, make them a force to be reckoned with.

Curran, player of the 2022 T20 World Cup, is expected to play every game and contribute in both the departments.

The core group remains the same as last year and that gives them much needed balance in the bowling department. Curran, Kagiso Rabada and Arshdeep Singh can do the job both with the new ball and death overs while Rahul Chahar and left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar are capable of striking in the middle overs.

Weakness

The team needs to finalise Dhawan’s opening partner in Bairstow’s absence. Sacked skipper Mayank Agarwal had pushed him down the order to accommodate Bairstow at the top last year.

Dhawan will have the option of choosing between Short, Prabhsimran Singh and Curran, who opened for the franchise back in 2019.

Chahar is their frontline spinner and if he and Brar have a couple of bad games, Punjab will not have a lot to choose from.

Opportunities

Dhawan, who was among the consistent performers of the team last year, has been handed the leadership responsibility. The southpaw will be aiming to revive the fortunes of his team as well as himself.

A good IPL with the bat and as captain can pave the way for a national comeback though the 37-year-old finds himself on the wrong side of 30s. He being handed a BCCI contract on Sunday will also give him hope. Tamil Nadu batter Shahrukh Khan is yet to prove himself in the middle-order and will be itching to do that in his third season.

Threats

Liam Livingstone, who has not played any competitive cricket since December 1 due to a knee injury, can change the game with his big hitting. Punjab will be hoping he has fully recovered from his injury. His spin, both leg break and off-spin, has also proved to be handy.

Sri Lankan Rajapaksa is another one who can take the game away from the opposition and he showed glimpses of that last year. He will be looking to build on that performance.

Squad: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Sikandar Raza, Raj Bawa , Rishi Dhawan , Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide , Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis , Baltej Singh , Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Mohit Rathee.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Punjab Kings Shikhar Dhawan Jitesh Sharma Liam Livingstone Sam Curran Kagiso Rabada IPL 2023 Cricket

Pakistan stand-in skipper and all-rounder Shadab Khan believes plenty of positives will come from his side’s series loss to Afghanistan and the consistent efforts of experienced absentees Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan will be further appreciated when the star duo return to the national setup and said that there is always a “sword hanging over them of strike rate”. Afghanistan stunned Pakistan by claiming their second victory and securing the three-match T20I series at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday. Babar and Rizwan were rested for the ongoing three-game series against Afghanistan in Sharjah as a host of players with less experience and fewer credentials were given a chance to shine in the absence of the ultra-reliable top-order pair.

The results from the opening two games of the series have not gone to plan as Afghanistan registered a thrilling seven-wicket victory over Pakistan on Sunday to clinch their first series triumph over their Asian rival.

The usual stability of Babar and Rizwan early in Pakistan’s innings has been lacking during the first two matches against Afghanistan and Shadab thinks too many people take the performances of the experienced duo for granted.

“People criticise Babar and Rizwan regardless of whether they perform or not. There is always a sword hanging over them of strike rate. As a nation, we wanted youngsters to come in international cricket, as they were performing in PSL (Pakistan Super League), so we thought they would play with a better strike rate,” Shadab said as quoted by ICC after the match.

“But finally, our nation will realise that experience matters and our seniors did not get the respect they deserved considering their performances. So after this series, they will get a lot more respect from media and the nation,” added Shadab.

Pakistan lost three wickets inside the first four overs of Sunday’s clash and was always on the backfoot as they mustered a modest total of 130/6 from their 20 overs. Contributions from Imad Wasim (64* off 57 balls with three fours and two sixes) and Shadab (32 off 25 balls with three fours) helped Pakistan reach this modest total. The duo stitched a stand of 67 runs for the sixth wicket after Pakistan was reduced to 63/5.

Fazalhaq Farooqi (2/19) was the pick of the bowlers for Afghanistan. Naveen-ul-Haq, Rashid Khan and Karim Janat got one scalp each.

Afghanistan chased down that victory target with a solitary delivery remaining, leaving Shadab to ponder what may have been if his side had been able to post a slightly larger total. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (44 off 49 balls with two fours and a six) and Ibrahim Zadran (38 off 40 balls with three fours) made notable contributions for Afghanistan.

Zaman Khan and Insanullah took a wicket each for Pakistan.

“When you lose three wickets in powerplay, you lose 70 per cent of the games…the young players were nervous. They are playing for the first time for Pakistan, but we have to back them. Our motive for this series was to check out talented young players and we have to back them in the future,” concluded Shadab.

The third and final T20I will take place in Sharjah on Monday, with Pakistan trailing by 2-0 in the series. They had lost the first game by six wickets.

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Shadab Khan Babar Azam Mohammad Rizwan Cricket

The Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 final between Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Capitals saw the Harmanpreet Kaur -led side emerge triumphant. While there’s no denying that Mumbai played the better brand of cricket in the title decider, a ‘controversial’ dismissal of Delhi opener Shafali Verma did become a huge talking point among fans on social media. The DC side even asked a question on social media, seeking opinions from fans on whether Shafali’s dismissal was fair or not.

Early into the game, Shafali was looking to go berserk. After scoring a boundary and a six in the same over, the attacking opening batter was dismissed on a full toss. While the on-field umpire called it out, the decision was also referred to the third umpire as it seemed like the ball was above the waist height. The third umpire chose to stick with the on-field umpire’s decision, leaving many in the Delhi camp fuming. Not just Shafali but also the franchise’s skipper Meg Lanning was unhappy with the decision.

, and OUT! #Final https://t.co/N0U4wKUU0z #TATAWPL | #DCvMI pic.twitter.com/iMLHWvmJMW

— Women’s Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 26, 2023

Even the Delhi Capitals asked fans on social media if it was “No ball or fair delivery?”.

No ball or fair delivery?

— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) March 26, 2023

“We would have loved to win tonight, but full credit to Mumbai Indians they have been excellent throughout the tournament, so they deserved their win,” said Delhi skipper Lanning after the match.

As for the match, England’s Nat Sciver -Brunt hit an unbeaten 60 as Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals by seven wickets to clinch the inaugural Women’s Premier League title on Sunday.

Mumbai restricted Delhi to 131-9, a total they overhauled with three balls to spare at their home Brabourne Stadium after a key 72-run third-wicket stand between Sciver-Brunt and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (37) in a tense final.

With AFP inputs

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Women’s Delhi Capitals Shafali Verma Women’s Mumbai Indians Women’s Premier League Cricket