Tag: RCB

  • Dhoni’s CSK thrashes Gujrat Titans to win IPL 16

    Dhoni’s CSK thrashes Gujrat Titans to win IPL 16

    Chennai Super Kings (CSK) equaled Mumbai Indians’ record of five Indian Premier League (IPL) titles after MS Dhoni’s side triumphed in a last-ball thriller, beating the Gujarat Titans, the defending champions, by five wickets in Monday’s rain-hit final in Ahmedabad.

    Put into bat, Gujarat racked up 214 for four after Sai Sudharsan capitalised on a strong start and smashed 96 off 47 balls that included six sixes.

    Chasing a revised target of 171 from 15 overs after a lengthy rain interruption, Chennai survived intense drama before Ravindra Jadeja sealed their victory, hitting 10 runs off the last two deliveries.

    The final was originally scheduled on Sunday but incessant rain forced the organisers to move the game to its reserve day. After Dhoni won the toss and elected to field, Shubman Gill walked out to bat having smashed three hundreds in his past four innings.

    The opener seemed to have luck on his side as Deepak Chahar dropped Gill, the tournament’s leading scorer, at square-leg when the batter was on three. Gill also survived a run out chance when Jadeja could not properly gather the ball before breaking the stumps.

    The left-arm spinner, however, made amends in the same over. Jadeja lured Gill (39) out of the crease and Dhoni proved age has not dulled his reflexes and the 41-year-old whipped off the bails in a flash.

    Chahar also floored a return catch from Wriddhiman Saha, who smashed 54 before falling to the seamer with Dhoni collecting the top edge. Sudharsan then tore into the attack and hit Matheesha Pathirana for back-to-back sixes in the final over of the innings to inch closer to a hundred but Pathirana denied him the milestone.

    Chennai’s openers faced three balls before rain forced them off the field and held up play for two hours and 20 minutes. Chasing a revised target, Ruturaj Gaikwad (26) and Devon Conway (47) plundered 72 runs from the first six overs before Noor Ahmad removed both in the seventh over.

    Shivam Dube, who made 32no, kept Chennai in the race but Mohit Sharma removed Ambati Rayudu and Dhoni in successive deliveries.

    Chennai needed 13 runs from the last over from Mohit, who conceded three runs from his first four deliveries. Needing 10 off the last two, Jadeja hit Mohit over his head for a six and followed it with a boundary to seal a thrilling victory.

    “I was just trying to swing hard because every ball was important,” Jadeja said. “I knew anything could happen, so I was trying to swing hard and hit it straight.”

  • ‘I am here to play IPL not to take abuse from anyone’; Naveen opens up on verbal spat with Virat Kohli

    ‘I am here to play IPL not to take abuse from anyone’; Naveen opens up on verbal spat with Virat Kohli

    A match between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) did not end on a happy note after Virat Kohli sledged Afghan fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq in the 17th over.

    RCB registered a superb 18-run win against LSG on Monday night. However, what became the win was overshadowed by the brawl between RCB batter Virat Kohli, Lucknow mentor Gautam Gambhir and fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq.

    It seemed like a replay of 2013 when the latter was leading Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and involved in a heated exchange with a young Virat who was just 5 years old in the cricketing circle. A decade later, a similar picture was in front of everyone.

    Naveen-ul-Haq has now shared his thoughts with some of his teammates according to Indian Express. The Afghan pacer has reportedly said, “I am here to play in the IPL, not to take abuse from anyone.” The bowler said that as a player, he has dignity and nobody can abuse him like that.

    Haq and Kohli both shared cryptic Instagram stories after the incident in which the latter shared quotes while the former directly pointed towards Kohli and wrote:

    “You get what you deserve, that’s how it should be and that’s how it goes.”

    The incident was condemned by former players while all three were also heavily penalised.

  • BCCI takes strict action against Kohli, Haq, Gambhir for ugly fight in IPL

    BCCI takes strict action against Kohli, Haq, Gambhir for ugly fight in IPL

    A heated argument took place between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir after Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 18 runs in a low-scoring thriller at the Ekana Stadium during Indian Premier League (IPL).

    Now Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir and Naveen-ul-Haq have been fined for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct. LSG’s Naveen-ul-Haq was also spotted arguing with Kohli and that did not go down well with the IPL management.

    “Mr Gambhir admitted to the Level 2 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct and has been fined 100 per cent of his match fee. Similarly, Mr Kohli admitted to the Level 2 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct and has been fined 100 per cent of his match fee. Mr Naveen-ul-Haq, on the other hand, has been fined 50 per cent of his match fees for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore,” read a statement from the IPL.

    This is not the first time that Virat and Gautam have locked horns with each other. Whenever these two face each other, fans have seen aggression from both sides.

    Afghan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq has crafted a bad image in the cricket world by showing abusive aggression. A gesture he made while he aggressively shook hands with Kohli left cricketing fans aghast.

    Match Highlights: Royal Challengers Bangalore 126/9 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 44, Virat Kohli 31; Naveen-ul-Haq 3-30, Ravi Bishnoi 2-21) beat Lucknow Super Giants 108 all out in 19.5 overs (K. Gowtham 23, Amit Mishra 19; Josh Hazlewood 2-15, Karn Sharma 2-20) by 18 runs

  • ‘Rajasthan Royals owner slapped me 3-4 times’: Ross Taylor makes shocking reveal

    ‘Rajasthan Royals owner slapped me 3-4 times’: Ross Taylor makes shocking reveal

    Former New Zealand batter Ross Taylor claims that an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise owner of the Rajasthan Royals team “slapped” him three to four times during the 2011 IPL season.

    The disclosure was made by Taylor in his latest recent book, Ross Taylor: Black & White, and he claimed that the incident happened after a loss to Kings XI Punjab in Mohali.

    In his book, Taylor stated, “The chase was 195, I was lbw for a duck and we didn’t get close.” An excerpt from Taylor’s book was posted on Stuff.co.nz.

    “The squad, support staff, and management were then at the hotel’s bar on the top floor. Warnie [Shane Warne] was present along with Liz Hurley. We didn’t pay you a million dollars to acquire a duck, one of the Royals owners said to me, slapping me three or four times in the face. I’m not certain if it was all play, but he was laughing and they weren’t hard slaps. I wasn’t going to complain about it because of the circumstances, but I couldn’t see it occurring in many professional sporting settings.”

    The Royals have not yet made a remark on this.

    Taylor played one season for Royals in 2011 after being acquired for USD $1 million at the auction after spending three years with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) between 2008 and 2010. Taylor wrote in his memoir that he regretted not staying at RCB.

    Taylor said, “While it was amazing to go for a million dollars, in the end I would’ve been better off RCB had got me for US$950,000.”

    “If they had, I would have been with them for the fourth year. Although the IPL is not very sentimental, there is devotion to long-serving players, and I probably would have had a longer IPL career if I had only played for one franchise. On the other side, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to play with legends like Virender Sehwag, Shane Warne, Mahela Jayawardene, and Yuvraj Singh if I had remained at RCB.”

    “When you fetch that sort of money, you’re desperately keen to prove that you’re worth it. And those who are paying you that sort of money have high expectations – that’s professional sport and human nature. I’d paid my dues at RCB: if I’d had a lean trot, the management would have had faith in me because of what I’d done in the past. When you go to a new team, you don’t get that backing. You never feel comfortable because you know that if you go two or three games without a score, you come under cold-eyed scrutiny,” he went on to write.

    Taylor played 12 matches for the Royals in 2011, hitting 181 runs at a strike rate of 119. He then played three more seasons in India for the Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors.

    While playing cricket in and for New Zealand, Taylor also acknowledged in his autobiography that he had encountered racial insensitivity.

  • IPL match rescheduled after two KKR players test positive for COVID-19

    IPL match rescheduled after two KKR players test positive for COVID-19

    The Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), scheduled to take place today (Monday) has been postponed after two players tested positive for COVID-19.

    According to details, spinner Varun Chakravarthy and seamer Sandeep Warrier from the Kolkata squad tested positive for the virus. Meanwhile, the rest of the KKR squad has tested negative but are currently in isolation.

    Chakravarthy had recently left the IPL bio-bubble for a shoulder scan, which could have led to him being exposed to the virus.

    The event is currently being played behind closed doors and is due to end in late May.

    Read more – Pat Cummins donates $50k for COVID-hit India

    India on Monday reported more than 300,000 new coronavirus cases for a 12th straight day, taking its overall caseload to almost 20 million, as scientists predict a peak in infections in the coming days.

    With 368,147 new cases over the past 24 hours, India’s total infections stand at 19.93 million, while total fatalities rose by 3,417 to 218,959, according to data released by the health ministry.

    Medical experts say real numbers across the country of 1.35 billion may be five to 10 times higher than the official tally.

    Meanwhile, BCCI has also confirmed the rescheduling of the match.

    “IPL reschedules KKR-RCB match slated for May 3, 2021, after 2 KKR players test positive. Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier were found to be positive in the third round of testing in the last four days. All other team members have tested negative for COVID -19,” states a release. 

    “The Medical Team is also determining the close and casual contacts of the two positive cases during the 48 hours prior to collection of the sample that returned the positive test results.  The BCCI and the Kolkata Knight Riders prioritise the health and safety of everyone involved and all measures are being taken in that endeavour,” it adds.

    Later it was reported, three members of the Chennai Super Kings’ IPL contingent – chief executive officer K Viswanathan, bowling coach L Balaji and a bus cleaner – have also tested positive for COVID-19. It is understood that the rest of the group, which is currently in Delhi, has tested negative. The results emerged after the latest round of testing on Sunday.

    It must be noted that the ICC T20 World Cup is also scheduled to take place in India later this year.