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Geoffrey Boycott thinks it is time for Steven Finn to be given a run in the England team and has tipped him to replace Tim Bresnan in the side

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2012Geoffrey Boycott believes it is time for Steven Finn to be given a run in the England team even though that could mean fellow Yorkshireman, Tim Bresnan, missing out on playing on his home ground in the second Test against South Africa at Headingley.England’s bowling attack flopped in their innings-and-12-run defeat to South Africa at The Oval, as the visitors piled up 637 for 2, and Boycott told ESPNcricinfo he feels changes need to be made.After making his debut in 2010 against Bangladesh, Finn played 11 consecutive Tests before being dropped for Bresnan in Melbourne. Boycott believes it is now time to reverse that selection and for Finn to be given another run of games.”Finn will be in the squad for Headingley and he deserves to have a run in the side,” Boycott said. “He’s been carrying the drinks for far too long. He’s been playing well for his county and we need to find out if he can play well at Test level.”Finn has been in contention for selection in every Test since being left out for the fourth Ashes Test but has only played three more times – once in series home and away against Sri Lanka, and against West Indies at Edgbaston when James Anderson and Stuart Broad were rested.Finn has been in fine form for Middlesex this season, taking 22 first-class wickets at 20.04 and was also a key part of England’s ODI attack that beat Australia 4-0; Finn claimed eight wickets at 19.37.Bresnan’s place in the side has been much debated with his batting ability seen as the justification for his selection. He averages 39.00 from his 15 Tests and scored a best of 91 against India last year. With the ball he has claimed 56 wickets at 28.12 and took eight wickets at Trent Bridge against West Indies in May. Despite his record, and the fact that until The Oval defeat, England had won all but one of the Tests Bresnan had played in, Boycott feels Finn deserves a run in the side.”You have to find out if he can play well at Test level and you don’t get that by dropping somebody after one or two Tests,” Boycott said. “Eoin Morgan got a good chance and now Finn has to have a proper chance.”Through the same reasoning, Boycott feels Ravi Bopara is the man to occupy England’s other debated position – the No. 6 slot. Bopara was in line for a recall against Sri Lanka in April and West Indies in May but injuries on both occasions meant he was left out. He finally returned to the Test XI at The Oval but made 0 and 22, being dismissed with poor strokes in both innings.”Bopara is the right man to play,” Boycott said. “Whether he’s good enough is a different matter, but he has to have a proper go.”

In white-ball cricket, Pakistan have held their own and could enjoy the conditions on offer

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Mar-2021In the shadow of their Test record – 0-6 since 2010 and 1-10 since the turn of the century – Pakistan’s competitive white-ball performances in South Africa can often go by unnoticed. Under Misbah-ul-Haq’s captaincy, they were the first subcontinent side to win a bilateral ODI series in the country in 2013-14, and either side of that lost two five-match series only in the deciding game.Since 2010, Pakistan have a 6-7 win-loss ODI record in South Africa and have won three of six T20Is. As they have often come after the main, disheartening course of a Test series, though, those performances have felt consolatory in nature.Related

• Misbah: Beating South Africa 'was like a breath of fresh air'

• Misbah-ul-Haq: Batting line-up looks 'settled' in the lead-up to T20 World Cup

• South Africa's Temba Bavuma era begins with sights on 2023 World Cup

But as on that 2013-14 tour, white-ball cricket is the only game in town, and so Pakistan have arrived no doubt with less baggage than on previous visits. Not having to quarantine the way they did on their last tour, to New Zealand, will help lighten the mood as well: at Centurion’s Irene Country Club, where the team is staying in their biosecure bubble, they were able to enjoy some fishing, led by keen angler and batting coach Younis Khan.Misbah is here as coach now, having experienced both the lows of Test losses and highs of white-ball wins in the country. He’s not just hoping to win both the ODI and T20I series, but also to kickstart Pakistan’s ODI Super League and push deep with their preparation for the T20 World Cup.”I think especially with white-ball cricket, the pitches are very good, they’re true pitches, with good bounce and pace and for batters,” he said on Monday. “In white-ball cricket, it is easier to adjust to these conditions and you get good value for shots. Obviously Pakistan has also always had the luxury of good fast bowlers. That is the reason Pakistan has done well here.”In 2013-14, when we were here, we had Junaid [Khan], [Mohammad] Irfan, then we had youngsters like Bilawal Bhatti and a couple of others. That is the reason why Pakistan like playing here. No doubt South Africa are very good, they know their conditions well. But I think these conditions help Pakistan as a whole, the batsmen especially. And obviously, there’s something psychological as well, when a team has done well here before, it helps moving forward as well to perform.”Pakistan start with the first ODI on Friday in Centurion, and all seven games will be played there or at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. Their record at those two grounds isn’t great – they’ve lost eight out of 12 white-ball games there since the start of 2005 – but Misbah feels the true nature of surfaces there will help his batsmen. ‘If I look back when I used to play, these two wickets at Centurion and Wanderers, I really enjoyed batting on them, the bounce and the pace is very true,’ he said.”As a batsman you enjoy that, you get full value for your shots. Previously, in this team, some of the players have played here and performed – Imam [ul-Haq], Babar [Azam], Fakhar [Zaman] was here. These players love that pace and bounce, now [Mohammad] Rizwan is in form, a very good backfoot player. Those previous series and experiences definitely count, they play a role in your confidence as a player and team. When I was playing, suddenly, you just went to a ground where you’ve performed and your confidence level was always different.”Pakistan have already had a couple of days of training, a bonus given how difficult it had been when they toured New Zealand and had to be in strict isolation with no training for 14 days. South Africa had their own issues this season with the mid-tour cancellation of England’s series earlier, and then Australia pulling out of a visit because of concerns over the pandemic in the country. Misbah was confident, however, of no mishaps this time.”Both the boards are working very hard especially to keep this series going,” he said. “Players and all coaching staff are keen to just play and move forward. Obviously some measures been taken keeping in view previous series but we are hopeful that if we just look after protocols, especially the players while practising, and take responsibility, I’m pretty sure series will go on. Already we’ve been to England and New Zealand, completed series there and obviously we’d like to do the same here. We’ll do our best to complete this series.”

Says the BCCI is also looking into having “a mental conditioning coach or a mentor” for the women’s team

Sruthi Ravindranath11-Mar-20214:14

Smriti Mandhana: We want to raise our fielding and fitness standards before World Cup

Smriti Mandhana has stressed on the need for India Women’s team to know and be informed about their schedule, especially ahead of the next year’s World Cup, and has said that the team is “proactively working” with the BCCI on the matter.With their series against England, Australia, Sri Lanka and West Indies either cancelled or postponed amid the Covid-19 pandemic in the last one year, there was uncertainty around India Women’s return to international cricket. The home series against South Africa, which began on March 7, ended a 364-day period of no international cricket for the side, which was their longest time off the field since 2008.The squads, as well as the tour itinerary, for five ODIs and three T20Is against South Africa were publicly announced only after the team assembled in Lucknow in late February to go into quarantine. After Kerala Cricket Association informed the BCCI about its inability to host the series, the Karnataka Cricket Association was touted to host the games in Bengaluru, but the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association later said in a release that all eight games would take place at the Ekana Stadium.”It’s very important as a player to know what we’re going to look like for the World Cup,” Mandhana said. “We all are working with the BCCI, they’re really proactive in telling us now what series we will be having for the next one year. I think we’ll have a pretty clear idea in some days. I think as a player, it’s important to know what series you’re going to play next or what the schedule looks like so we can prepare ourselves mentally, physically and even with the skillsets like which bowler you’re going to face in the next two-three months. It gets easy if you know who you’re playing against.”Mandhana said that the team’s focus will be on fielding and fitness for the next one year as they prepare for the 50-over World Cup, scheduled to be played in New Zealand in 2022, admitting that they have been working on it since their runners-up finish at the 2017 ODI World Cup.The South Africa series ended a 364-day period of no international cricket for India Women•BCCI

“We’ve come off a really long break so at the moment we’re going out there and trying to play some good cricket,” she said. “But for sure we know that the World Cup is happening in New Zealand. The bowlers look pretty good in the last month and we want to be consistent with bowling. The only thing we’re working on as a team post the 2017 World Cup is fielding. We keep working on our fitness and fielding and that’s the whole plan for the next one year. I think skills can come and go but the fielding and fitness standards are something we want to keep getting higher. In one year, hopefully, we get to a place where we are fielding and running between the wickets really well.”On Monday, the BCCI secretary Jay Shah tweeted that India Women will be playing a Test – their first in six years – against England Women “later this year”. Apart from Shah’s tweet, there has been no official announcement about the Test from either the BCCI or the ECB.Mandhana, who was part of the last two Tests India played – a one-off match against South Africa in Mysore and one against England in Wormsley, both in 2014 – was also not sure when the Test will take place but was excited at the prospect of playing in whites after a long gap.”I’m not sure when the Test match is happening but it has been announced and we all are really excited,” she said. “When we played there last we’ve had really good memories of that Test match. It’s the feeling of putting on whites and going into bat with three slips and a gully, we don’t get to do that much. That feeling as a batter I crave whenever I watch a men’s Test match. It’ll be exciting to go out there after six years and play a Test.”With two other global tournaments scheduled in the women’s calendar in this cycle – the Commonwealth Games in June-July next year followed by the T20 World Cup in 2023 – India are possibly looking at a busy schedule following the year-long hiatus that would also see them spend extended periods in biosecure environments. Mandhana said that talks of having a mental health professional travelling along with the team are ongoing.”At the moment the girls are in very good space because first of all, we’ve come after a long break and everyone’s fresh to go out there and play some good cricket. Definitely, a mental conditioning coach or a mentor could be of use for a lot of girls. I think the BCCI is looking into it and hopefully, we’ll have something going before the World Cup.”

New South Wales rounded up Western Australia’s batsmen for 217 on the opening day of the Sheffield Shield for 2012-13

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Sep-2012
ScorecardMichael Clarke had reason to smile on day one of the Sheffield Shield for 2012-13•Getty Images

If New South Wales did not quite erase the scar of being bowled out for 91 on the first day of the corresponding match last season, then the rounding up of Western Australia’s batsmen for 217 was a sound start to their bid for a victory to start the Sheffield Shield for 2012-13.Led for the first time in a Shield match by Australia’s captain Michael Clarke, the Blues bowlers made the most of their leader’s successful call at the coin toss, limiting the Warriors to 3 for 61 at lunch then chipping away across a rain-speckled afternoon despite the efforts of Mitchell Marsh and Adam Voges (44).Scott Henry and Peter Nevill, fit again after missing Sunday’s limited overs match with food poisoning, then survived 1.5 overs without loss before bad light called a halt to play.As he had done in the one-dayer, Doug Bollinger returned the best figures for NSW, though it was an ensemble effort as Trent Copeland, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Hanriques and the spinner Steve O’Keefe all contributed.The wicketkeeper Brad Haddin claimed a trio of catches behind the stumps as lateral movement and outside edges accounted for three of the first four wickets, Marcus North upset to have given away the other when he hooked at Hazlewood and offered a catch to Bollinger at fine leg shortly before lunch.Marsh’s afternoon innings was a patient follow-up to the 78 he managed in the one-day match, but he and the rest of the bowlers will now have to redouble their efforts on day two if they are to regather the ground lost by the batsmen.

Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s Test and ODI captain, has said that his team’s recent record against Sri Lanka gives it the edge leading into the tour slated for June and July

Umar Farooq18-May-2012Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s Test and ODI captain, has said that his team’s recent record against Sri Lanka gives it the edge leading into the tour slated for June and July.”Sri Lanka is always a difficult team to play against, especially in their back yard,” Misbah said on the sidelines of Pakistan’s preparatory camp in Lahore. “Obviously we have to be at our best in all departments, because they always come hard at the opposition. But our record against them gives us the upper hand, and our confidence level is high.”In their last series against Sri Lanka, in the UAE in October-November 2011, Pakistan won in all three formats. In the three-Test series, they won 1-0, took the ODIs 4-1 and won the one-off Twenty20. They also beat Sri Lanka in the one game the teams played against each other in the Asia Cup in March. However, the previous time the two teams played in Sri Lanka, Pakistan lost the Tests 2-0 and the one-dayers 3-2.Misbah said Pakistan’s improvements on the fielding and fitness fronts would help them this time around. “I think we have shown a lot of improvement in fielding and fitness in last couple of years,” he said. “Every coach in the past, whether it was Waqar Younis and Ijaz Ahmed, everyone did a good job [with those disciplines] and now Julien [Fountain, the fielding coach] is doing a great job.”For the Sri Lanka tour, Pakistan have picked specialist players in each format, meaning Misbah has missed out in the Twenty20 squad, and the captaincy was handed over to Mohammad Hafeez. Misbah reiterated that he will be available in the shortest format, should Pakistan require him.”It [Twenty20] is a format that is widely played in the world and I will keep on playing it,” he said. “As far as [ending] my international career is concerned, I think that decision has to be taken by the PCB.””Obviously the burden on me has been eased, and I can now focus on two formats. But if you are enjoying playing cricket, you can easily cope with it [playing all three formats too].”

Jerome Jayaratne has been appointed team manager, but there is no news yet as to the selection panel’s composition

Andrew Fidel Fernando28-Jan-2021Ashantha de Mel has resigned as Sri Lanka’s chief selector following the 2-0 loss to England in the home Test series that concluded on Monday. Sri Lanka had also recently lost 2-0 in South Africa. De Mel said it had always been his plan to resign as selector at the conclusion of this series.He had also stepped down as team manager – a post he had simultaneously held – several days prior. He had held both roles since November 2018.”I was planning to resign from both anyway, so I was waiting for the second Test [against England] to be over,” he told . “With the manager’s role, they needed the next manager to get visas ready for an upcoming tour. So I announced that earlier. I feel now it’s time for me to move on. It’s been two years.”Sri Lanka Cricket has confirmed that Jerome Jayaratne, who has held various roles within the team, including as interim head coach in 2015 and 2016, will take up the manager’s position. There is no news yet as to who might be part of a fresh selection committee.As chief selector and manager, de Mel had overseen the elevation of Dimuth Karunaratne to the Test and ODI captaincy, but the team has had largely poor results, particularly in Test cricket. They lost nine Tests and won just four during his tenure, suffering three 2-0 whitewashes against Australia (away), South Africa (away) and England (home). But in the first six months of his stint, Sri Lanka also won their first ever Test series in South Africa, in February and March 2019.It is likely that the loss of their last four Tests, and particularly the two at home to England, has hastened the end of de Mel’s tenure. He blamed Sri Lanka’s rushed schedule and inability to prepare for those losses however. Sri Lanka’s squad had left to South Africa two days after the Lankan Premier League had concluded, and because of complications arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, had had no practice matches there.They had also returned to Sri Lanka just eight days before the start of the England series, and had managed only one nets session before the first Test began in Galle.”Considering the last two tours, we were not prepared to go and play in South Africa,” de Mel said. “We played the LPL and next day flew off. We had one day’s practice. Who goes and plays at The Wanderers’ without having at least a three- or four-day practice game to get used to the conditions? People have to acclimatise to the high altitude, and then the physical fitness – no one checked for one month.” At least five Sri Lanka players broke down during the South Africa tour.”Even the England series, they are saying our guys can’t play spin. Well where did they have the time to play spin? We had one practice session. England were doing their preparation.”De Mel said that if it had been up to him, he would not sent the team on the tour to South Africa, and used that time to prepare for England instead. Cancelling that tour at the last moment is likely to have caused a major rift between boards, however.Sri Lanka’s ODI and T20I series results were not much better over the past two years. Sri Lanka won only one T20 trophy – a series against Pakistan in 2019. And although they outdid expectations at the 2019 ODI World Cup to finish sixth on the table, the only multi-match ODI series they won was against West Indies, whom they beat 3-0 at home in February last year.

David Miller became the fourth centurion of this edition of the IPL as he single-handedly kept Kings XI Punjab in contention for a playoff place

The Report by Firdose Moonda06-May-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
David Miller smashed a 38-ball 101 to pull off a heist for Kings XI Punjab•BCCI

David Miller became the fourth centurion of this edition of the IPL, as he single-handedly kept Kings XI Punjab in contention for a place in the play-offs. Miller’s 38-ball century resurrected Kings XI from 64 for 4 and was chiefly responsible for the 99-run blaze off the last five overs of the chase. It ensured his side pulled off a grand coup against a team studded with superstars.Royal Challengers Bangalore would not have expected this Kings XI, especially after posting the tournament’s fifth-highest score. The Royal Challengers innings was built on the shoulders of Chris Gayle – who went past the fifty mark for the first time since his whirlwind 175 against Pune Warriors and reclaimed the orange cap – and the fit-again Cheteshwar Pujara, and was given legs by AB de Villiers’ cameo at the end.Kings XI responded with only a spine in Miller. He proved it remains the most important component of the human body and can be totally self-sustaining if needs be. Miller’s father would have been a proud man, if he was watching in Durban. He gave his son an important piece of advice when he was growing up and tonight he followed it to the letter.”If it’s in the V, it’s in the tree and if it’s in the arc, it’s out of the park,” Miller senior said.Against an attack that continued to offer him length, Miller had both those options and took full advantage. His innings was a masterclass in hitting straight, although not all his shots found the boundary. He top-edged one attempt when he was on 42. Virat Kohli spilled the skier which proved match-changing. The next over confirmed it, as Miller took 26 off RP Singh to begin the assault. He started by dispatching a half-volley over long-off and ending with a cut over point to display his ability in hitting to other areas of the ground as well.Miller went on to pick the slower ball with ease and targeted wicket area as well, bringing up the 100 partnership with Rajagopal Sathish with a six off a short-ball. Sathish had only scored 11 at that point and was happy to play a bit-part role until the end.Sathish managed 14 runs off Gayle’s over and then dutifully gave Miller the strike to end the match. With three runs to get – it was only the 18th over – and Miller on 95, he needed a big hit to reach a century and he duly sent a length ball over the sightscreen to bring up his milestone in characteristic fashion.Fittingly, it came off Gayle who had himself showed intent in the other half of the match but had to be a spectator this time. Gayle started well, despite being peppered with short balls from the Kings XI attack. Praveen Kumar and Parvinder Awana did not have the pace to test Gayle on the back foot and he had Pujara as an ideal foil. When Gayle was bowled, Pujara went on to record his first half-century in the format in typically classy fashion. His only ungainly shot came when he charged Manpreet Gony and played on.Kings XI clawed back but ran into de Villiers at the end of the innings. His cheeky defiance began with a flyswat through midwicket and he innovated with the sweep shot and square cut to take Royal Challengers to a total they would have been satisfied with.Having reduced Kings XI to 64 for 4 at the halfway stage, with David Hussey among those dismissed, Royal Challengers would have been confident of victory. But the other David was still at the crease and it is his name Royal Challengers will remember after tonight.

16 players sign terms, taking number of professionals in England and Wales to 58

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-202041 female players have signed full-time domestic contracts as part of the ECB’s new regional set-up, taking the total number of professional women’s cricketers in England and Wales to 58.The ECB had initially planned to award domestic contracts to 40 players in time for the 2020 season, but the process was significantly impeded by the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, 25 players signed regional retainer deals in June, all of whom have now moved onto full-time contracts.A further 16 players have now signed contracts, including the former England seamer Jenny Gunn who played an instrumental role in the Northern Diamonds’ run to the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy final this year. Other notable names who will now play professionally include Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier (Southern Vipers) and Georgia Hennessy (Western Storm).ALSO READ: Jenny Gunn’s accidental comeback – ‘I’m definitely not the next Enid Bakewell’Alongside the 17 centrally-contracted England players, there are now 58 professional women’s cricketers across England and Wales.Seven of the eight regional hubs have awarded five contracts, while Western Storm and Glamorgan have provided funding for a sixth between them.Clare Connor, the ECB’s managing director of women’s cricket, said that the move to full-time domestic contracts was “the most significant step forward for the women’s game in recent years”.”In terms of the health of women’s cricket in England and Wales, we cannot overestimate the importance of these 41 players having the opportunity to train and work on their skills full-time, with access to high quality coaching and facilities across the eight regions,” Connor said.”Today’s news is not only wonderful for the players themselves, it represents a step change for our whole domestic game and for young girls who will now be able to see more opportunity and aspiration in front of them.”When you add in the profile opportunity of the Hundred next year, the landscape looks even more exciting. After a challenging year in the wake of the pandemic, I’m really pleased with the progress we’ve made in 2020, just one year after launching our action plan to transform women’s and girls’ cricket.”We’re delighted that these 41 young women are able to call themselves full-time professional cricketers and we wish them every success.”Contracted domestic women’s players:Northern Diamonds: Hollie Armitage, Beth Langston, Linsey Smith, Phoebe Graham, Jenny Gunn
Thunder: Georgia Boyce, Alex Hartley, Emma Lamb, Ellie Threlkeld, Hannah Jones
Central Sparks: Evelyn Jones, Marie Kelly, Issy Wong, Emily Arlott, Gwenan Davies
Lightning: Kathryn Bryce, Sarah Bryce, Bethan Ellis, Lucy Higham, Abbey Freeborn
Western Storm: Dani Gibson, Sophie Luff, Fi Morris, Georgia Hennessy, Nath Wraith, Alex Griffiths
Southern Vipers: Georgia Adams, Tara Norris, Paige Scholfield, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier
South East Stars: Alice Davidson-Richards, Sophia Dunkley, Tash Farrant, Bryony Smith, Aylish Cranstone
Sunrisers: Naomi Dattani, Cordelia Griffith, Amara Carr, Jo Gardner, Kelly Castle

Sunrisers bossed the game for 36 overs, and then they let it slip away

Alagappan Muthu11-Oct-20205:09

Moody: Tewatia’s confidence a big reason for his success

Out. Of. Nowhere. The Rajasthan Royals are making a habit of winning un-winnable games this IPL. Rahul Tewatia was their hero in shiny pink armour last time and he was at it again, with two daring reverse sweeps off Rashid Khan. The Sunrisers Hyderabad legspinner is among the most inscrutable bowlers in the world, but he was smacked for 4, 4, 4 in the 18th over which completely changed everything.This time there was help. Riyan Parag is only 18-years old. He had already teased the IPL world with his talent last season and he thought it was time for a refresher once more. He was dropped on 12. He didn’t even have a single boundary to his name then. But by the end of it all, when he tossed his helmet off and began dancing on the pitch, he had two fours, two sixes and 42 match-winning runs at a strike rate of 161.5.The awkward startSunrisers were 26 for 1 at the end of the powerplay. They hit only two boundaries. That’s a new low in IPL 2020. But they didn’t panic. David Warner wouldn’t let them.Bit by bit, he became accustomed to a finicky, two-paced pitch. He realised he couldn’t go searching for runs; that he would just have to make the most of the bowlers’ mistakes. That change in mindset was crucial. It took the pressure off him. It kept his mind sharp. It added to his urgency in running between the wickets. And the moment there was a half-volley, or a wide short ball, it helped him whack them for sixes. With Warner in charge, Sunrisers amassed 48 runs in the five overs from seven to 11.The awesome finishThe Royals could see the problem Warner posed and so they brought Jofra Archer back in the 15th over and he cuh-lean bowled the Sunrisers captain for 48. Their head-to-head tonight: eight balls, three runs and the wicket.Manish Pandey joined David Warner for a 73-run stand•BCCI

Sunrisers could have lost their way at that point, but they still had a set batsman to fall back on. Manish Pandey, who figured if the ball wouldn’t come onto his bat, his bat would just go charging after the ball. All five of his boundaries were the result of his charging down the pitch as he finished with 54 off 44 balls and helped push the total up to 158.The awesome startBen Stokes got into the XI on the back of one day’s training after his quarantine with the Royals and that rustiness showed. He was whisked off the attack after only one over and, having opened the batting, he went to pull a ball that wasn’t short enough for it and was bowled for 5.Steven Smith found another way to undermine himself, this time not trusting his partner’s call for a second run and was run-out for 5. It was his fourth single-digit score in five innings this IPL. When Jos Buttler, who looked in ominous form, fell three balls later, the Royals were 26 for 3 in the fifth over and their chase looked in trouble.The super awesome fantasticular finishThe Royals were 105 for 5 after 16 overs. ESPNcricinfo’s Forecaster rated their chances of winning at 7%. This wasn’t so much a come-from-behind victory as it was a %$#@ smash-and-grab.Riyan Parag does a celebratory jig after taking the Royals home with a six•BCCI

And the confusion among the Sunrisers was palpable. Garg simply over-ran a skier in the 15th over. T Natarajan, who nailed his yorkers against Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya, began missing them here. Khan could have had Tewatia stumped but the zing bails would not budge. They would simply light up, almost as if to taunt the bowler. Yep, ball hit the stumps, but it ain’t a wicket.In the midst of this mayhem, Parag and Tewatia ransacked 85 runs in 47 balls to put a 50-foot exclamation point on a five-wicket win.

Hafeez’s unbeaten 74 off 46 balls guides Lahore Qalandars into the second Eliminator

Deivarayan Muthu14-Nov-2020
How the game played out
Featuring in their first playoff game, the Lahore Qalandars hunted down 171 and knocked out former champions Peshawar Zalmi in Karachi. The Pakistan Super League (PSL) resumed on Saturday after a pandemic-induced break of eight months, but it was business as usual for the Qalandars as they notched up their sixth victory in their last eight matches. Ben Dunk, who had led the batting earlier this year, holed out for 20 off 19 balls, but Mohammad Hafeez stepped up, his 34-ball half-century putting Qalandars in the second Eliminator.The Qalandars were also helped in their quest by Zalmi’s attack that didn’t have a specialist spinner. The Zalmi seamers tried to hit the pitch, and while it worked for the them in the powerplay, the ball skidded onto the bat later in dewy conditions.When Samit Patel holed out for 20, the game was evenly poised, with the Qalandars needing 41 off four overs. But Hafeez, who turned 40 last month, reminded the world of his power and calmness, finishing it off with an unbeaten 74 off 46 balls.After being inserted, the Zalmi rode on thirties from their new recruit Faf du Plessis (31), his brother-in-law Hardus Viljoen (37), and Shoaib Malik (39), but it wasn’t enough in the end. Shaheen Afridi swung the ball, Haris Rauf and Dilbar Hussain provided extra pace, while David Wiese smartly bowled cutters into the pitch for the Qalandars.Star(s) of the day
Who else? The Qalandars didn’t need Hafeez with the ball, but they desperately needed him to take charge of the middle order after Lancashire quick Saqib Mahmood blasted out the top three within five overs. Hafeez used the pace of the Zalmi’s bowlers to his advantage, regularly tapping them behind the wicket. 22 of his 74 runs came in the third-man region. Then, even after Dunk and Patel were dismissed, Hafeez didn’t panic and saw off his former side.Afridi also did his bit, first yorking Haider Ali for a duck and then returning at the death to fool Carlos Brathwaite with a slower cutter.Turning point
The 18th over of the chase, bowled by Mahmood. Hafeez sized up the first ball, which was in his slot, and crunched it over extra-cover. Three balls later, he backed away and mowed a short delivery over wide long-on for six. When Mahmood went full again, Hafeez carved him over point for another four to cap a 16-run over. Those blows narrowed the equation to 20 off 12 balls. Hafeez and Wiese needed only six balls to secure victory.The big miss
Hafeez was on 12 when he threw his bat at a wide delivery from left-arm seamer Rahat Ali in the eighth over. Seemingly there was a noise as the ball passed the bat, but none of the Zalmi players appealed, with UltraEdge later detecting a spike. Hafeez got another reprieve when he was 33 in the 13th over. After he top-edged a pull, Ali ran around, got into an awkward side-on position and dropped the catch.Where the teams stand
Zalmi will go home while Qalandars will face the Multan Sultans on Sunday for a crack at Karachi Kings in the final. With previous winners Zalmi, Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators all eliminated, the PSL will have a new champion in 2020.