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Samson, Boult star as Royals overpower Lucknow Super Giants
Sanju Samson led from the front with an unbeaten 82 from 52 balls as Rajasthan Royals opened their IPL campaign with a hard-earned 20-run victory over Lucknow Super Giants in Jaipur.
After winning the toss for his team, Samson’s knock was the mainstay of Royals’ imposing 193 for 4, and a tight contest hadn’t seemed remotely likely when Trent Boult and Nandre Burger reduced LSG to 11 for 3 in the first four overs of their reply.
However, KL Rahul – on his return from injury – teamed up with Nicholas Pooran to take the chase deep in a fifth-wicket stand of 85 from 52 balls that ended from the first ball of the 17th over, as Sandeep Sharma popped up with a priceless spell of death bowling that left LSG with too much to do.
With 38 still needed from 12 balls, Sandeep’s penultimate over was arguably even more important, as he limited the hard-swinging Pooran to just a brace of boundaries in an 11-run over, allowing Avesh Khan to close out the contest with ease. Pooran finished unbeaten on 64 from 41 balls.
Samson certainly knows how to launch an IPL campaign in style. For the fifth consecutive IPL campaign, dating back to 2020, he opened Royals’ account with a half-century, this time in an innings featuring three fours and six sixes, the best of which – from the penultimate ball of the innings – was a formidable inside-out drill over extra cover from Mohsin Khan.
The bulk of Samson’s work was done in the course of a 93-run stand with Riyan Parag that spanned 62 balls and bridged a potentially tricky period at the end of the powerplay, in which Jos Buttler’s streaky 11 from nine balls, and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s more focussed cameo of 24 from 12, had telegraphed a potentially tricky pitch for comfortable strokeplay.
Certainly, LSG’s spinners found some purchase on the cracked, dry surface. Krunal Pandya, on his 33rd birthday, wheeled through his four boundary-less overs for 19, and could have dismissed Parag for a golden duck when he induced a leading edge back down the pitch, only for Samson at the non-striker’s end to get in the way, completely inadvertently, as he stood his ground with the ball lobbing towards his helmet.
Both men, however, stepped up their intensity after the strategic time-out, when the extra pace of Yash Thakur entered the fray. Three sixes poured forth in a 21-run over, including back-to-back pulls from Samson off undercooked bouncers, and after bringing up Royals’ 100 with another six off Ravi Bishnoi in the 11th over, Samson marched onto his fifty from 33 balls – by which stage Parag should have been removed for 29, only for Mohsin at square leg to make a hash of a top-edged sweep.
Boult and first-over wickets are a staple of the IPL experience. This time, it was Quinton de Kock in his sights at the top of the powerplay, his 24th such victim – second only to Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 27 – and it set in motion a catastrophic top-order implosion for LSG.
De Kock’s only scoring shot was a classy punch down the ground to a full-length outswinger, but when Boult fired one into his legs in the same over, he lured a loose flick in the air to Burger at backward fine leg.
Two balls into his second, Boult struck again, delivering a merciless one-two to Devdutt Padikkal, to ensure his reunion with his former Royals team-mates was a miserable one. A sharp bouncer pinged Padikkal’s helmet and sent his neck-guard spinning; Boult’s follow-up skidded through low and pegged back his middle and leg stumps as he flapped loosely across the line from deep in the crease.
And LSG reached their nadir one ball into the fourth over, as Burger – the most literal impact sub imaginable – fired down a 147kph delivery that Ayush Badoni could only spoon to Buttler at mid-off. At 11 for 3, the fightback would have to be a remarkable one.
It’s a tricky time for Rahul across formats. In the absence of Virat Kohli, he had looked set to be the wise old head in India’s Test team, until his untimely injury against England opened the door for the same generation of young guns who are pushing him to the fringes in the white-ball set-up too.
And so, his innings of 58 from 44 balls was an important reminder of his enduring class, albeit his dismissal at the start of the 17th over, caught at deep cover moments after the strategic time-out, effectively spelt the end of LSG’s challenge, with first Marcus Stoinis and then Pandya unable to find their timing from the get-go. The fact that he took the gloves, ahead of both Quinton de Kock and Pooran, was arguably a sign of his desire to remind the India selectors of his enduring versatility.
Either way, while it lasted, Rahul’s knock provided, first, the stability his team so desperately needed, and latterly the power to stay in touch with a run rate that was pushing two a ball by the tenth over. His own contribution at that point had been a run-a-ball 26, but in crashing the dangerous Burger for 6, 4, 4 from his next three deliveries, he rushed towards a 35-ball fifty, and signalled a charge that would not fizzle until his departure.
Deepak Hooda, LSG’s impact sub, has come and gone with a degree of purpose too, making 26 from 13 balls before taking on Yuzvendra Chahal, into the breeze, and holing out at deep midwicket. But it took Pooran’s more focussed power to truly ignite his team’s belief.
At 102 for 4 in the 12th over, Boult returned for his final over as Royals strove for the partnership-breaking wicket. Pooran was waiting to take him down in a 20-run over that finished with a low full-toss being smashed over wide long-on for six.
Sandeep, however, was still lurking up Samson’s sleeve, and his introduction proved pivotal. His first over, in the 15th of the innings, stemmed the flow of boundaries with just five singles, one of which could have been a direct-hit run-out. And when, in his second, Rahul chased his wide line to pick out Dhruv Jurel in the deep, Royals had seized back control.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 193 for 4 in 20 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 24, Sanju Samson 82*, Riyan Parag 43, Dhruv Jurel 20*; Mohsin Khan 1-45, Naveen-ul-Haq 2-45, Ravi Bishnoi 1-38 ) beat Lucknow Super Giants 173 for 6 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 64*, KL Rahul 58, Seepak Hooda 26, Trent Boult 2-35, Nandre Burger 1-30, Ravichandran Ashwin 1-35, Yuzvendra Chahal 1-25, Sandeep Sharma 1-22 ) by 20 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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