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Suryakumar’s 83 pulls one back for India
A relentless Suryakumar Yadav denied West Indies the opportunity to wrap up the five-match T20I series before it shifted base to the United States as his 44-ball 83 was pivotal in India’s comfortable seven-wicket win in chase of 159/5. Suryakumar had Tilak Varma for company, who carried on from his fifty in the previous game to get an unbeaten 49 off 37 and see off the chase after the former’s dismissal.
Suryakumar walked out to bat on the fifth ball of the first over after debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal miscued a big shot across the line on a slower ball from Obed McCoy. Suryakumar straightaway laid down his murderous intention for the evening by whipping the first ball he faced for a four over mid-wicket and then followed it up with a pull over square leg for a six. He then went down on one knee against Akeal Hosein, shaping up to play a sweep but instead sliced it over point.
Alzarri Joseph dented India for the second time in the Power-Play when he dismissed Shubman Gill but Tilak Varma walked out and sang a similar tune to Suryakumar. The first two balls he faced were both hit for fours – through extra cover and then over short third man. The duo then took McCoy apart in the last over of the PowerPlay to take India to 60/2 in 6 overs.
Tilak camped at the non-striker’s end to watch a familiar carnage unfold as Suryakumar continued to play his shots and reached his 50 in just 23 balls. Even as a drizzle came around, there was no respite for the West Indies bowlers as Suryakumar was in sublime touch, unfurling one audacious stroke after another. Romario Shepherd attempted to change the course of the game by taking the pace off the ball against the swashbuckler but in vain as Suryakumar saw through and found ways to shift across and hit him over fine leg as well as backward point. India coasted to 97 for 2 in 10 overs, the asking rate dragged down to just 6.30 an over.
Suryakumar’s urgency to get India on the series scoresheet meant India were well ahead of the DLS par score, if rain made a bigger intervention than just the drizzle that was around. Suryakumar looked on course to even get a hundred before polishing off the chase when he perished to an innocuous leg side ball that he flicked with all his might straight to Brandon King at fine leg.
Tilak took control following Suryakumar’s exit and ensured there were no late slip ups like they’d crept in, in the opening game of the series. Tilak finished one short of a second successive T20I fifty as Hardik Pandya completed the chase with a six down the track off Powell in the 18th over.
Hardik Pandya used four overs of spin in the Power-Play to put the West Indian top-order off their game. They responded by hitting each of India’s three spinners for a four or a six off the first ball of their respective opening overs (including Kuldeep Yadav’s over in the seventh) to stamp their authority. They reached 38/0 in 6 overs, with 29 of those coming from four overs of spin.
The next fours overs, also all spin, fetched 35 runs for the loss of Kyle Mayers’s wicket, taking West Indies to 73/1 in 10 overs.
West Indies’ most exciting batter in the format walked out to face Kuldeep, who’d just trapped Johnson Charles leg before and sent him packing with an excellent review. On the second ball he faced from the wrist spinner, he danced down the track, only to york himself. He repeated it just the next ball, and connected to smash a six over long-on and then premeditated a switch hit to cart a leg side ball over extra cover. Pooran’s adventurous attempts to throw Kuldeep off his rhythm brought his downfall as the next time he stepped out to play a big shot, he missed and was stumped in the 15th over.
Kuldeep turned the screws further on West Indies by ending Brandon King’s stay for a run-a-ball 42 as the opener reached out to a ball that was outside the off-stump and turned further away and hit it straight back to the bowler.
West Indies got 10, 8, 17 and 11 in the last four overs with Powell finishing with an unbeaten 40 off just 19 balls to carry his side past the 150-run mark. Powell was particularly disdainful against Arshdeep Singh, starting off with a six over extra cover at the start of the 19th over. Arshdeep missed with his attempted wide yorkers, conceded extras as well as another six in the expensive over. Mukesh Kumar, who was bowling just his second over of the game and the last of the innings, was hit for a big six in the 11-run over. Powell’s efforts took West Indies to a sizeable total, which Suryakumar picked apart expertly in chase.
The aid group Doctors Without Borders has reported recovering 11 bodies and rescuing dozens of people off the coast of Libya as it criticised the migration policies of the North African country and European countries.
In a statement on Friday, the group, known by its French initials MSF, said its Geo Barents rescue vessel managed to recover the bodies following a search operation lasting more than nine hours after being alerted by German nongovernmental organisation Sea-Watch, which also rescues refugees and migrants.
“As we cannot determine the reason behind this tragedy, we know that people will continue to take dangerous routes in a desperate attempt to reach safety, and Europe must find safe and legal pathways for them,” MSF said in a post on X. “This catastrophe must end!”
Sea-Watch said it is unclear whether the bodies were victims of a previously unknown shipwreck, adding that they tried to contact Libya’s coastguard to go and retrieve the dead, but received no reply.
“The so-called Libyan coastguard – financed by the EU – ignored our call demanding that the bodies be recovered,” the group said.
Thousands of people trying to head from Africa to Europe use Libya as a departing point, with the Italian island of Lampedusa the nearest European destination as they undertake the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to escape war, poverty and persecution.
Italy, which wants to put a stop to the migration stream, has said Libya and neighbouring Tunisia must do more to stop people from going to sea. It has also clamped down on the operation of the rescue ships, arguing that they encourage people to head to Europe, a charge that is denied by the charities.
Emphasising its policy on the rescue ships, Italy said on Friday that it forced the MSF rescue vessel to take the 165 people that it had saved from boats in the Mediterranean operation to the northern port of Genoa. The port was more than 650 nautical miles (1,200km) from their position and much farther than the more convenient ports in nearby Sicily, significantly delaying assistance to the rescued.
The route in the central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migrant crossing in the world, with the United Nations registering more than 20,000 deaths and disappearances in the area since 2014.
More than 3,000 refugees and migrants went missing in 2023 while attempting to use the route, according to the International Organization for Migration.
According to Italy’s interior ministry, the number of arrivals in the country has dropped in 2024 to fewer than 21,800 people since the beginning of the year, compared with close to 53,300 in the same period last year.
[Aljazeera]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
Afghanistan boosted their Super Eight chances with yet another dominating win, this time thumping New Zealand by 84 runs in Providence. Having beaten Uganda by 125 runs in their opening match, they are now at the top of Group C with a net run rate of 5.225.
After being sent in, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran gave Afghanistan a start of 103 in 14.3 overs. It came off the back of the 154 the pair added against Uganda, thus making them the first opening pair to register two successive century stands in the history of the T20 World Cup.
Afghanistan’s was an innings of two halves. They scored 55 for no loss in the first ten overs and 104 for 6 in the last ten, with Gurbaz contributing 80 off 56 balls. New Zealand, who had decided not to play any warm-up games, looked every bit rusty as their fielders dropped catches and missed run-out opportunities.
With the pitch assisting both seamers and spinners, chasing 160 was not going to be easy. But few would have expected New Zealand to collapse in the manner they did.
Fazalhaq Farooqi picked up three wickets in the powerplay and Rashid Khan three just after it. Eventually, both ended with identical figures of 4 for 17 as New Zealand were bowled out for 75 in the 15.2 overs. Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry were the only New Zealand batters to reach the double digits.
Trent Boult found some swing in the opening over but Gurbaz and Ibrahim showed their intent by picking up three fours off Henry from the other end. Both batters had luck on their side, too. Gurbaz got a second life when he skipped down the track to Santner and missed the ball, which went on to brush the leg stump but the bails did not budge. In the following over, Finn Allen dropped Ibrahim off Henry at the deep-square-leg boundary.
That was not all. Gurbaz got another reprieve after being involved in a miscommunication with Ibrahim. Having taken off for a single, Gurbaz had to retrace his steps and would have been run out had Conway not fumbled the throw.
Two balls later, New Zealand finally seemed to have found success when Santner pinged Ibrahim’s pads and umpire Kumar Dharmasena ruled it lbw. But the batter got the decision overturned on review as the ball was heading down the leg side. Immediately after that, Ibrahim hit Santner for an inside-out four as Afghanistan ended the powerplay on 44 for no loss.
New Zealand went against the prevailing wisdom of not bowling an offspinner when two right-hand batters at the crease, and Michael Bracewell repaid that faith by conceding only six off his first two overs.
Lockie Ferguson was even more frugal, going for five in his first two. He could have had Ibrahim off a slower full toss but a leaping Kane Williamson failed to pull off a one-handed stunner at mid-off. That meant while Afghanistan remained unscathed, they had only 55 on the board after ten overs.
Afghanistan had not hit a single six in the first ten overs, but there were five in the next three, including three in one Bracewell over as Gurbaz and Bracewell stepped on the accelerator. The pair took the side past 100 in the 14th over. New Zealand finally broke through when Ibrahim bottom-edged a short ball from Henry onto his stumps, after having been hit on the grille on the previous delivery.
Promoted to No. 3, Azmatullah Omarzai played his part with 22 off 13, which included two sixes in three balls off Henry. Mohammad Nabi fell for a first-ball duck but Gurbaz kept finding the boundary at regular intervals. However, a three-wicket, three-run final over by Boult kept Afghanistan to 159.
Farooqi gave Afghanistan a dream start with the ball. With the very first delivery of the innings, he uprooted Finn Allen’s leg stump as the ball moved in late. In the seamer’s next over, Conway pushed at one that seemed to come slower off the surface and was caught at extra cover.
The decision to give Farooqi a third over in the powerplay brought further rewards. This time, bowling around the wicket to Daryl Mitchell, he got a length delivery to just straighten and take the outside edge. Gurbaz took a regulation catch to complete the dismissal and leave New Zealand 28 for 3.
It could have been worse for New Zealand. In between, Naveen-ul-Haq had rapped Kane Williamson’s front pad after the batter had moved across to play a delivery. Afghanistan sent it upstairs for an lbw review but the umpire’s call saved the New Zealand captain.
Afghanistan did not have to wait too long for Williamson’s wicket. Rashid brought himself on after the powerplay and struck straightaway as Williamson guided one to first slip. But Rashid was just warming up. In his next over, he dismissed Mark Chapman and Bracewell off successive deliveries to leave New Zealand on 43 for 6. Chapman went for a pull and got bowled; Bracewell was late to bring his bat down and was lbw.
Phillips was New Zealand’s last hope. He did hit a couple of boundaries but was soon caught at long-on when he tried to take on Nabi. That ended any hopes of revival New Zealand might have had.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 159 for 6 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 80, Ibrahim Zadran 44, Azmatullah Omarzai 22; Trent Boult 2-22, Matt Henry 2-37, Lockie Fergusoan 1-28) beat New Zealand 75 in 15.2 overs (Glenn Phillips 18; Rashid Khan 4 for 17, Fazalhaq Farooqi 4 for 17, Mohammad Nabi 2-16) by 84 runs
[Cricinfo]
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