Captain Gautam Gambhir slammed a superb 93 to help the Kolkata Knight Riders beat Royal Challengers Bangalore while Kings XI Punjab beat the Chennai Super Kings by seven runs in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.
Gambhir smashed five sixes and nine fours off 51 balls as Kolkata posted an intimidating 190-4 and then restricted Bangalore to 143-6 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
New Zealander Brendon McCullum (43) and South African Jacques Kallis (41) also came up with useful knocks for the home side.
For Bangalore, swashbuckling West Indies opener Chris Gayle waged a lone battle, bludgeoning 86 off 58 balls with six sixes and seven fours, but the team was never in the chase after Kallis removed Virat Kohli and A.B. de Villiers off successive deliveries in the sixth over.
Kolkata was second overall behind the Delhi Daredevils with five wins, three losses and a no-result from nine games. Bangalore has four wins, four losses and a no-result from nine games and was fourth.
At Chennai, Pakistan allrounder Azhar Mahmood struck vital blows with his accurate seam bowling in Punjab’s hard-fought win.
Mahmood shone with the ball in grabbing 3-25 after chipping in with a useful 18 runs as Punjab scored 156-8 and then restricted Chennai to 149-8 on a slow Chidambaram Stadium pitch.
Mahmood removed openers Faf du Plessis (29) and Subramaniam Badrinath (25) in successive overs and came back to dismiss the dangerous Albie Morkel in the final over to clinch the game for Punjab.
Mahmood’s effort was backed up by legspinner Piyush Chawla, who accounted for Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja to destabilize the mid-innings.
West Indies allrounder Dwayne Bravo, who bagged two wickets earlier, gave a glimmer of hope with a knock of 30, but holed out in the deep off Praveen Kumar.
Earlier, South African Morkel helped restrict Punjab despite a strong start by the visiting team.
Morkel took 3-29, including the important wickets of compatriot David Miller (19) and Australian David Hussey (7) as Punjab slipped from 127-2 in the 16th over.
Opener Mandeep Singh was the highest scorer with 56 off 50 balls with one six and five fours. Australian Shaun Marsh chipped in with a crisp 32 off 22 before he was run out, backing up too far as a straight drive from Singh went on to the stumps off Ashwin’s shoe.
Punjab was only above -bottom-place Deccan Chargers in the nine-team league, with four wins and five losses. Chennai was third, with four wins, four losses and an abandoned game.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care