The Mumbai Indians moved up to third place and the Bangalore Royal Challengers to fifth with wins in the Indian Premier League on Friday.
Mumbai defeated last-place Kolkata Knight Riders by nine runs at East London, while Bangalore defeated Kings XI Punjab by eight runs at Kingsmead.
The idle Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevills remained first and second in the standings, while Mumbai took over third from Punjab, who edged Bangalore for fourth on run rate.
PHOTO: AFP
Jean-Paul Duminy hit 52 not out in the Mumbai Indians’ 148-6 and fast bowler Zaheer Khan took 3-31 against the Kolkata Knight Riders to steer the Indians to victory at Buffalo Park.
Mumbai restricted Kolkata to 139-6, with Khan bowling openers Sourav Ganguly and Chris Gayle in the first three overs.
Brad Hodge top scored for Kolkata with 73, sharing a third-wicket partnership of 89 with Morne van Wyk (32).
After poor form with the bat, Kolkata captain Brendon McCullum dropped himself down the order from opener to No. 6, but that did not change his fortunes. He was dismissed for 5 at a crucial stage of the game when his team needed 19 runs to win in the final over.
“When someone like [Lasith] Malinga bowls well at the death, as he did, it becomes difficult to score boundaries,” McCullum said of his team’s failure to overcome Mumbai.
The defeat will increase pressure on New Zealander McCullum, who was on record saying he would quit the captaincy if his team failed to make the semi-finals.
The second match saw Kings XI Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh take a hat-trick and score 50 to win the man-of-the-match award, but he still ended on the losing side as the Bangalore Royal Challengers edged home by eight runs.
Allrounder Roelof van der Merwe scored 35 and took two wickets to set up Bangalore’s win.
Van der Merwe hit three sixes and three boundaries to help Bangalore to 145-9, dominating a 44-run partnership with Praveen Kumar (9 not out) after Bangalore were in trouble at 84-6.
Van der Merwe then took 2-22 with his slow left-arm spin off three overs as Punjab were held to 137-7.
Medium pacer Praveen Kumar took 2-27 for Bangalore. With Punjab needing 13 runs from the final over, Kumar had Irfan Pathan caught on 12 by Virat Kohli off a full toss, and bowled Piyush Chawla for 3 with the penultimate ball of the match.
Captain Anil Kumble claimed 2-25.
Punjab batsman Yusuf Abdulla took 4-36, including a maiden, to become the leading wicket-taker in the IPL with 13 dismissals.
Fenerbahce on Thursday earned a rare 2-1 win in England, but were still knocked out of the UEFA Europa League by Nottingham Forest in the playoffs. Forest entered the second leg with a healthy 3-0 lead from the opener in Istanbul — where Vitor Pereira made an impact in his first game in charge — and that proved enough to advance to the round-of-16 with a 4-2 aggregate score. The result was a boost for Forest, struggling at 17th place in the Premier League, in their return to Europe after three decades. They next face Real Betis Balompie or Kerem Akturkoglu gave Fenerbahce
Soccer officials yesterday offered “full support and assistance” to the Iranian team in Australia for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup after the US and Israel launched massive attacks on their homeland. Iran’s 26-strong squad arrived on the Gold Coast days before the strikes on Saturday killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Washington and Tel Aviv seek to topple the Islamic republic. They are due to open their tournament today against South Korea. The AFC in a statement said it “continues to closely monitor the recent developments in the Middle East during this challenging period.” “The AFC’s foremost priority remains the welfare, safety and
ROAD RASH: Marc Marquez retired after a crash, marking the first time after 88 consecutive races stretching back to 2021 that a Ducati bike failed to make the podium Marco Bezzecchi yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening grand prix in Thailand from pole position as defending world champion Marc Marquez retired late with a buckled wheel. Aprilia’s Bezzecchi led from start to finish to top the podium in Buriram, with KTM’s Pedro Acosta second and Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez third. Ducati’s Marquez is chasing a record-equaling eighth world title this season, but he exited the race in dramatic fashion while in fourth place with five laps to go. The Spaniard, who started from second on the grid, took a corner wide, with the jolt to his bike dislodging the rear tire, badly damaging his
EVERY DAY A VICTORY: Players on the women’s team faced pressure from society just getting out onto the field as they prepare for their first Women’s Asian Cup game today Bangladesh’s national soccer team face daunting odds at their first-ever Women’s Asian Cup, but have already scored a major victory by qualifying. In the South Asian nation of 170 million, social stigma, family expectations, poverty and religious hardliners have long relegated women and girls to sports sidelines. The first women’s soccer league matches took place in 2011 and the squad, known to fans as the Red and Green, have kept pressing forward despite deeply embedded prejudices. “Many more girls would have joined us if the community had been even slightly supportive,” captain Afeida Khandaker told AFP ahead of her side’s March 3
RSS