Sports

Saha’s unbeaten 67 gives Gujarat a comfortable seven-wicket win over Chennai

16-May-2022 411

After the bowlers produced a brilliant show to restrict Chennai to a below-par 133/5, Saha carried his bat throughout the innings to chase the total with five balls to spare.

Wriddhiman Saha starred with an unbeaten 67 as Gujarat Titans completed a comfortable seven-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in match 62 of the IPL 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.

After the bowlers produced a brilliant show to restrict Chennai to a below-par 133/5, Saha carried his bat throughout the innings to chase the total with five balls to spare. The result also means that Gujarat have confirmed their spot in the top two of the points table, which means they will get to play in Qualifier 1 at Kolkata on May 24.

Saha got Gujarat off to a brisk start in pursuit of 134, taking three boundaries off Mukesh Choudhary in the opening over, two of them coming through an inner edge past stumps and top-edge over keeper. In Choudhary’s next over, Saha was dropped on 21 by Ruturaj Gaikwad at point amidst the right-hander collecting two boundaries.

From there onwards, it was no looking back for Saha, pulling Simarjeet Singh over deep mid-wicket for six in the fifth over followed by thumping one over the bowler’s head for a boundary. Saha’s fast and furious start allowed Shubman Gill to take his time and bring out the pull as well as sweep to take boundaries off Mitchell Santner.

But Matheesha Pathirana, the pacer with an uncanny resemblance to countryman Lasith Malinga’s sling-arm bowling action, bagged his maiden IPL wicket by trapping Gill lbw with a full, pacy delivery which hit him low on the pad as the right-hander attempted to flick. Gill reviewed but was unable to overturn the decision, ending the 59-run opening partnership.

Matthew Wade got going with a brace of boundaries off Pathirana but fell while trying to loft against Moeen Ali in the 12th over and mistimed to long-on. Two overs later, Pathirana got his second wicket when his off-cutter took the leading edge off Hardik Pandya’s attempted flick and was caught by mid-on.

Saha, meanwhile, hanged around to reach his third fifty of the tournament in 42 balls and shared an unbeaten 37-run stand with David Miller to take Gujarat past the finishing line. Fittingly, it was Saha who hit the winning runs – guiding one past short third man off Pathirana to give another convincing win to Gujarat.

(Inputs from IANS)

Riding high on momentum, RCB could be too strong for inconsistent Punjab

13-May-2022 423

Mumbai, (PTI) Royal Challengers Bangalore, who have found much-needed momentum towards the business end of IPL, will back themselves to ride past an inconsistent Punjab Kings and get closer to a play-off spot here on Friday.

Having put up complete performances in their last two games, RCB seemed to have figured out their best combination.

Barring Virat Kohli, all of their batters are in top form with uncapped Rajat Patidar and Mahipal Lomror complementing seasoned pros like skipper Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik, who has been among the best finishers in the tournament alongside Gujarat's Rahul Tewatia.

The bowling packs a punch too in the presence of in-form pacers Josh Hazlewood and the ever-reliable Harshal Patel. Mohammad Siraj has not been at his best but trust him to deliver when the team wants it the most.

Maxwell has been handy with his off-spin, both in powerplay and middle overs, while Wanindu Hasaranga is among the leading wicket-takers in the tournament with 21 scalps including a five-wicket haul.

"What we are trying to get better as a team is making sure that one of those top-four creates a bit of a base. We have got some really strong hitters at the back.

"The games where we didn't do so well, there was a big cluster of wickets in the powerplay. Obviously need some stability but at the same time you gonna make sure you don't go into defensive mode," said du Plessis after the massive win over SRH.

Kohli, who is in the middle of his worst IPL season, is due for an impact knock and that could come against Punjab. A win on Friday would take RCB to 16 points though 18 seems to be a safe number for a play-off berth.

Punjab, who have three games left, need to win all to have a shot at the top-four finish. They had started their campaign with a win over RCB and are on 10 points with five wins and six losses.

The fact that they have not been able to win two games in a row sums up their inconsistent run.

Shikhar Dhawan and Bhanuka Rajapaksa have delivered at the top, so has Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma in finishing the innings. Jonny Bairstow finally got runs after being promoted to open the innings alongside Dhawan.

Skipper Mayank Agarwal, who has moved himself down the order, needs to lead from the front.

On the bowling front, Sandeep Sharma has been tidy but could do with some wickets in the powerplay. Lead pacer Kagiso Rabada has done well to take 18 wickets but has gone for close to 9 runs per over.

Arshdeep Singh has been brilliant, especially in the death overs, and has impressed many with his ability to land yorkers at will.

Despite a solid squad at their disposal, Punjab have flattered to deceive and they must raise their game before it is too late yet again.

Teams (From):

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (C), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Josh Hazlewood, Shahbaz Ahmed, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff, Suyash Prabhudesai, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma, David Willey, Rajat Patidar, Siddharth Kaul.

Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal (C), Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar, Shahrukh Khan, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone, Odean Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Benny Howell.

Odisha, Himachal win in Senior National Women's Hockey

10-May-2022 751

Bhopal, May 10 (PTI) Odisha and Himachal Pradesh registered convincing wins over their respective pool H opponents on day 5 of the 12th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship here on Tuesday.

In the first game of the day, Odisha beat Kerala 11-0, while Himachal defeated Telangana Hockey 8-0 in another fixture.

On Monday, Jharkhand had registered a 10-0 win over Andhra Pradesh in a Pool E match.

Indian para-powerlifter Paramjeet Kumar bags medal at Worlds

15-Apr-2022 485

Paramjeet, competing in the 49kg category, lifted 158 kg to grab the Bronze medal while Omar Shami Qarada of Egypt won the gold medal after lifting 174kg

Paramjeet Kumar became the first Indian para-powerlifter to clinch a medal in the World Para Powerlifting Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia on Sunday.

Paramjeet, competing in the 49kg category, lifted 158 kg to grab the Bronze medal while Omar Shami Qarada of Egypt won the gold medal after lifting 174kg. Viatnam’s Van Cong Le won the silver medal with a total of 170kg.

“History created for India in Para @Powerlifting by Paramjit Kumar of Punjab as he wins #bronze at the ongoing World Para Powerlifting Championship in Tbilisi, Georgia. Paramjit’s 158KG Lift has created history! Cheer for @ParalympicIndia team as the championship continues!” President of the Paralympic Committee of India, Deepa Malik tweeted.

“Parmjeet Kumar wins 1st medal (BRONZE) in the men’s up to 49kg category at the ongoing World Para-Powerlifting C’ships 2021 Parmjeet’s medal-winning lift was 158kg He is a #KheloIndia Athlete training at @SAI_Gandhinagar Many congratulations,” SAI Media tweeted.

Parmjeet has earlier won a bronze medal in the 49kg category at the 2018 Asian Para Games in Indonesia. He is a resident of Haripur Khalsa village, 22 km from Ludhiana, Punjab.

A ten-member Indian Para-powerlifting squad including, Manreet Singh (41 kg, Punjab), Sakina Khatun (45 kg Karnataka), Raj Kumari (55 kg, Delhi), Geeta (67kg, Haryana), and Bhawana Sharma (86 kg, Rajasthan) are competing in’the women’s category while Parmjit Kumar (49 kg, Punjab), Ashok (65 kg, Haryana), Jai Deep (73 kg, Haryana), Sudhir (88 kg, Haryana,) and Sachin Chaudhary (107 kg Uttar Pradesh) are participat’ng in men’s category.

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