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Bumrah five-fer, Suryakumar, Ishan blitz dismantle Royal Challengers Bangalore
Jasprit Bumrah produced a fast-bowling clinic on a featherbed of a batting surface to take 5 for 21 before Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav led a batting onslaught to chase down Royal Challengers Bangalore’s total of 196 in just 15.3 overs. RCB, who had Faf du Plessis, Rajat Patidar and Dinesh Karthik hit brisk half-centuries, faced the worst of the conditions on a dewy Mumbai evening after losing the toss and were condemned to their fifth loss in six games while Mumbai continued to make the climb up the standings after a slow start to IPL 2024, giving their Net Run Rate a big fillip on their way up.
In his mid-match chat with the broadcasters, Bumrah said that he had seen deliveries from Mohammad Nabi’s first over of the match holding up a touch. And so, he resorted to hitting the hard lengths at pace. It took him just three balls to knock over IPL 2024’s leading run-getter. Virat Kohli, having made a scratchy beginning, backed away to the first ball and missed with an attempted swipe across the line. He wore the second ball, an inducker, on his pad. Another attempt to swing across the line sent him on his way as the inside edge was snaffled neatly by Kishan. Kohli was back in the hut for 3 (9) in the third over. His dismissal and that of IPL debutant Will Jacks – replacing big-money trade signing Cam Green – meant RCB got to a middling PowerPlay score of 44/2, despite a promising start from du Plessis.
Hardik Pandya summoned his bowling linchpin back at the end of the 10th over when RCB had staged a laudable comeback through du Plessis and Patidar. The pair plundered 45 in the four overs after the PowerPlay and the MI captain, who had leaked 13 in his only over, needed to reclaim a semblance of control. And so in came Bumrah and sent down a four-run over. There was no wicket here but the over included a pacy short ball that whizzed past Patidar before the follow-up yorker honing in on the legstump had to be frantically dug out. Control somewhat regained, MI proceeded to dismiss Patidar after his return-to-form 26-ball 50 in the following over before the returning Shreyas Gopal added to RCB’s misery by handing Glenn Maxwell a four-ball duck, extending his dreadful start to the season.
RCB recovered once more and at 149/4 with half-centurion du Plessis and Karthik in the middle, they were primed to cash in on the final four overs. But to entertain any thought of a finishing kick, they had to go through Bumrah once more. Du Plessis couldn’t. The RCB captain mistimed a low full-toss to long-on to depart for a 40-ball 61. Bumrah welcomed new batter Mahipal Lomror with a searing yorker with the batter unable to get DRS to his aid. The unexpected slide forced RCB to use their impact substitute in the first innings, but Saurav Chauhan didn’t last long with Bumrah offering him a quick short ball which the batter miscued to mid-on. Vijaykumar Vyshak was the next batter to get a first-ball duck when Bumrah served him another short ball and had him chip a simple catch to mid-off. That wicket helped Bumrah join a very select group of bowlers — James Faulkner, Jaydev Unadkat and Bhuvneshwar Kumar the others — to take two IPL five-fers. He finished with a sensational 5 for 21.
After two excellent half-centuries from du Plessis and Patidar, it took an even better effort from Karthik to take the visitors to 196. Karthik walked out to bat unusually early, in the 13th over and after nine balls had just six runs to his name. He took down Akash Madhwal in the 16th over, using the ramp to third to great effect. Four boundaries came in that over before Karthik added another four and a pair of sixes from Madhwal’s 20th over. Karthik’s unbeaten 53 off 23 made it only the 11th instance in the IPL for an innings to feature three half-centurions. His innings also powered RCB close to 200 but his innings was also a revelation of the easing batting conditions with the onset of dew.
Any hopes RCB had of defending the score was to be a function of how their bowlers fared in the powerplay. Reece Topley and Mohammed Siraj found swing in their first overs respectively and MI’s openers made a circumspect beginning. All that changed in the third over when Kishan edged Topley only to be reprieved by Maxwell, who was placed wide at first slip. Kishan proceeded to lay into the wayward RCB attack, dispatching Mohammed Siraj for two sixes and a four in a 23-run fifth over. Du Plessis turned to Maxwell’s off-spinners for some match-up advantage but saw the all-rounder leak 17 as Kishan reached a 23-ball half-century. The chase was as good as done with Mumbai Indians racing off to 72/0 after six overs.
If Kishan’s 34-ball 69 was rapid then what followed was a blitzkrieg. Suryakumar, in just his second game back from an injury, walked out in the ninth over behind a century opening stand and sent the opposition on a leather hunt. Akash Deep copped punishment to the tune of 24 runs in the 11th hour. All of the facets that make Suryakumar one of the best in the format: the wristy flicks, the slice over point for six, the walk across the crease and lap over short fine were all on display. Suryakumar proceeded to take down Reece Topley for three fours and a six and in the process completed a half-century off just 17 balls – his fastest in the tournament history and the second-fastest for the season. The only good thing at that point for RCB on the night was that their pain didn’t last too long thereafter.
Brief scores:Royal Challengers Bengaluru 196/8 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 61, Rajat Patidar 50, Dinesh Karthik 53*; Jasprit Bumrah 5-21, Gerald Coetze 1-42, Akash Madhwal 1-57, Shreyas Gpal 1-32 ) lost to Mumbai Indians 199/3 in 15.3 overs (Ishan Kishan 69, Suryakumar Yadav 52, Rohit Sharma 38, Hardik Pandya 21*; Vijaykumar Vyshak 1-32, Akash Deep 1-55, Will Jacks 1-24) by seven wickets.
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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