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Chennai Super Kings knocked out as Royal Challengers Bengaluru win six in a row to make playoffs
Virat Kohli looked nearly in tears. Faf du Plesis could not contain his joy. MS Dhoni was nowhere to be seen after the game. All of it summed up the crazy night in Bengaluru, as Royal Challengers Bengaluru won their sixth game on the trot in IPL 2024 to knock Chennai Super Kings out and make the playoffs.
RCB have been in this situation many times – needing a win in their last league match to make it to the knockouts. They were at the same venue last year, where they managed to post a tall score featuring a Kohli century, only for a Shubman Gill ton to overshadow it all and knock them out. On Saturday, they found themselves in a similar situation again.
RCB were asked to bat first. They posted 218 and needed to win by at least 18 runs to knock CSK out. They were helped by blazing starts from Kohli and du Plessis with cameos from Rajat Patidar and Cameron Green.
CSK came within touching distance. They needed 10 off the last two balls to qualify with Ravindra Jadeja, the batter who hit a six and four to win CSK their fifth title last year, on strike. But Yash Dayal bowled two off-pace length balls to deny Jadeja and CSK. This was after being taken for a massive six on the first ball of the last over by MS Dhoni, and then using the back-of-the-hand slower one to have him caught at deep square leg.
CSK hopes dipped at that moment and RCB never let them back.
Kohli has reinvented himself this season like none other. He is leading not just the pack of run-scorers this season (708) but also that of six-hitters with 37 to his name. Tushar Deshpande delivered a couple of length ball that he duly deposited into the stands. Du Plessis also struck one off Shardul Thakur when rain hit pause on RCB’s charge at 31 for 0 in three overs.
The 40-minute intervention seemed to have changed the track, with both Maheesh Theekshana and Mitchell Santner bowling seven dots in the two overs since resumption. RCB finished the powerplay at 42 for none, their joint-lowest score this season alongside the 42 for 3 they made against CSK in the season opener.
Kohli tried to break the shackles with sixes off Santner and Ravindra Jadeja but holed out to wide long-on. Du Plessis, though, hit two sixes and a four of a Jadeja over to get to a 35-ball fifty after being on 29 off 28 at one point.
That Patidar takes down spin is an open secret, and he proved it with a massive hit over long-off off Theekshana, who was the most economical CSK bowler. But he loves playing fast bowlers more. And that facet came to the fore with the ease he hit Simarjeet Singh for a four and six off successive balls. He continued his unhindered strokeplay against Deshpande and Thakur to super-charge RCB’s progress, along with Green, who showed his power game to full effect.
Green slapped Simarjeet through point before hammering Theekshana straight down the ground. He then hit Thakur for back-to-back sixes as RCB crossed 200 for the sixth time this season, becoming the third team to do so in an IPL season.
The result? CSK leaked 63 at the death (overs 17 to 20), the most they conceded in the phase in the entire season. The presence of dew meant they were not able to grip the ball and use the assistance the pitch had, especially when off-pace length balls were dug in.
After Glenn Maxwell, brought back in place of Will Jacks, struck first ball to have Ruturaj Gaikwad caught at short fine leg. Dayal then had Daryl Mitchell miscue to wide mid-off. CSK’s charge in the powerplay was led by Rachin Ravindra with some assistance from Ajinkya Rahane.
Rahane targeted Dayal and hit a six and two perfectly-timed fours off him. He added 66 off 41 for the third wicket with Ravindra, whose gameplan seemed quite simple – to slice the length balls square through off.
Like he did and succeeded against Maxwell in the first over. He would use even the slightest of width – like Mohammed Siraj provided in the fourth over – to thrash it through point, while the short-of-good-length ones would either be ramped over short third or heaved through midwicket. He brought up his half-century off 31 balls and looked good to be the difference, before a mix-up with Shivam Dube saw him be run out.
Thereon, dew was a constant presence in the middle, which made RCB reluctant to bowl spin. That helped Ravindra Jadeja who walked in after Ravindra’s dismissal, to get into the groove quickly. An off drive against Green got him going before hit a six each of Dayal, Siraj and Lockie Ferguson. Despite middling almost everything, it was not enough to see the side through.
In hindsight, the middle overs proved to be the difference between the two teams. It was the phase in which Patidar and Green showed RCB the way. It was the phase were RCB scored boundaries at will. It was the phase that set them up for a tall final flourish with the bat.
RCB scored 113 runs in overs 7 to 16, and lost just two wickets. But CSK could not quite capitalise in the phase, and could score only 80. What’s more, they lost four wickets in the phase, one each in the 12th, 13th and the 14th to be devoid of any momentum. One of those was all du Plessis’ brilliance. Mitchell Santner had creamed a lofted off drive off Siraj that seemed to clear mid-off. But du Plessis swiftly moved to his right and timed his leap perfectly to pluck out a one-handed stunner. CSK, as a result, went from 115 for 3 to 129 for 6 in the space of 13 balls.
Brief Scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 218/5 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 54, Virat Kohli 47; Mitchell Santner 1-23) beat Chennai Super Kings 191/7 in 20 overs (Rachin Ravindra 61, Ravindra Jadeja 42*; Yash Dayal 2-42) by 27 runs
(Cricinfo)
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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