Anil Kumble remains confident that the Royal Challengers Bangalore can reach the semi-finals of the Champions League Twenty20 despite suffering a second successive loss in the group stage.
The Mumbai Indians beat Bangalore by two runs in a dramatic match at Kingsmead on Sunday night, leaving the Challengers needing to beat the Highveld Lions in the last match in Group B in Johannesburg tomorrow.
The Lions and Mumbai both have four points from two wins. A Bangalore win will put them level on points but they have a superior run rate to both their rivals.
However, Bangalore will have to overcome an enthusiastic Lions side who will be playing on their home ground at the Wanderers Stadium.
The Lions scored an easy nine-wicket win over tournament whipping boys Guyana in front of an enthusiastic crowd at the Wanderers earlier on Sunday, prompting Lions captain Alviro Petersen to say: “The guys play for each other ... with this crowd behind us we can go all the way.”
Bangalore appeared to have taken control of their match against Mumbai with what seemed a superb tactical plan. Fast bowler Dale Steyn was held back until the eleventh over in order to counter the threat of big-hitting West Indian Kieron Pollard.
The plan worked to perfection when Steyn had Pollard caught for a duck to reduce Mumbai to 84 for five after 13 overs. Steyn had figures of two for six after five balls of his third over.
However, the match turned around dramatically as Dwayne Bravo and Sourabh Tiwary put on 64 off only 34 balls, with Steyn conceding 20 runs off his last seven balls.
Bravo fell to Steyn in the 19th over after hitting 29 off 17 balls. Steyn finished with three for 26, Tiwary made 38 not out as Mumbai reached 165 for seven.
Bravo followed up by taking two for 23 in an unbroken four-over spell which pegged back the Bangalore scoring rate.
Bangalore needed 70 off the last seven overs and 28 off the last two. It proved just too much despite an unbeaten 71 off 58 balls by Rahul Dravid and an explosive 47 off 24 balls by Virat Kohli, who was caught off the last ball, bowled by Zaheer Khan, as he tried to hit the winning runs.
For Mumbai, their winning form almost certainly came too late. They lost their first two matches but won their next two.
Mumbai captain Sachin Tendulkar admitted that run rate would probably scupper his team’s chances.
“It’s beyond our control,” he said.
Earlier the Lions cruised to victory as Guyana produced another disappointing performance. Opening bowler Ethan O’Reilly took four for 27 as Guyana struggled to 148 for nine.
Petersen (57 not out) and hard-hitting Richard Cameron (78 not out) took the Lions to victory with 4.5 overs to spare.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
RSS