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Chattogram Challengers ensured themselves a second crack at the BPL final by beating Dhaka Platoon in the Eliminator match

Mohammad Isam13-Jan-2020Chattogram Challengers ensured themselves a second crack at the BPL final, after they beat Dhaka Platoon by seven wickets, in the Eliminator match. Rayad Emrit, Rubel Hossain and Nasum Ahmed set up their win, picking up seven wickets in the first 12.4 overs, before Imrul Kayes and Mahmudullah completed the chase with 14 balls to spare.Chris Gayle played the anchor role for a change as Ziaur Rahman and Kayes hit five sixes and four boundaries between them, to power Chattogram to 91 in the first 12.3 overs, before Mahmudullah hammered four sixes in his unbeaten 34 off just 14 balls to complete the chase.But Chattogram would have to thank their bowlers for restricting Dhaka to a middling 144 for 8 in 20 overs, which ultimately gave them the easy chase.Rubel v TamimDhaka fell into early trouble when Rubel pinned Tamim Iqbal to the crease in the first over of the match. After surviving a caught-behind shout off the first ball, Rubel delivered a superb yorker as well nearly trapping the left-hander lbw. Rubel would have to wait until the following over to get his man as Tamim fell for 3 off 10 balls.Emrit’s two-wicket overWith Dhaka in early strife, Chattogram sensed the chance to take control of proceedings. Emrit, a BPL regular despite a lack of noteworthy performances, struck twice in his second over. First he removed the dangerous Mahedi Hasan, and followed it up with the dismissal of Jaker Ali next ball, caught behind for a duck. To top off a fine bowling performance, Emrit removed Mominul Haque to reduce Dhaka to 52 for 6 in the 11th over, before finishing with superb figures of 3 for 23 off his four overs.Shadab Khan continues to add to his credentials as an allrounder•BCB

Shadab’s late chargeDhaka have been sending Shadab up the order in many of the matches but it was only in this game when the Pakistan allrounder gave them a batting boost. When his compatriot Asif Ali fell in the 13th over, Dhaka were 60 for 7, but Shadab picked things up with a 41-ball unbeaten 64. He struck five fours and three sixes, most of them coming in the last three overs in which Dhaka took 51 runs.
Shadab’s contribution, much of which came in the two 40-odd stands he had with Thisara Perera and Mashrafe Mortaza, gave Dhaka some breathing space with a 144-run total.Kayes faster than GayleIt was a remarkable sight: Kayes dominating a 49-run stand with Gayle. But by the time he fell to Shadab in the 13th over, Chattogram had set themselves a good platform in the chase. Kayes made 32 of the 49 runs, having struck three sixes and a four in his 22-ball knock. Gayle only contributed 13 runs to the partnership, before falling for 38 off 49 balls in an innings that wasn’t very Gayle-esque.Mashrafe’s one-handed catchFielding at short fine-leg, Dhaka captain Mashrafe must have hoped that none of Gayle’s swipes or sweeps come his way. Mashrafe had injured his left hand in Dhaka’s previous game, requiring 14 stitches. He had faced two deliveries during his 40-run unbroken ninth wicket stand with Shadab, and had bowled four overs.But for any cricketer with a hand injury, fielding must be the most traumatic experience. Mashrafe was at least lucky that the Gayle catch was off a top-edge, and struck quite tamely. He put out his right hand, and took it one-handed, much to the crowd’s delight.
It was all too late though as his opposite number Mahmudullah took care of the business of chasing down the moderate total.

After last playing a Test in January 2018, the bowler has only featured in ODIs and T20Is since he was not 100% fit during the Australia Tests

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jan-20192:37

It’s very rare that our top order doesn’t click – Bhuvneshwar

Not bowling for a long time in international cricket in 2018 impacted his bowling rhythm, India’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar has stated ahead of the second ODI against Australia in Adelaide on Tuesday. Bhuvneshwar largely played limited-overs matches in 2018 when India traveled for the three toughest overseas tours for any India side – to South Africa, England and Australia – largely because he was battling niggles and trying to get his rhythm back.Bhuvneshwar hasn’t featured in a Test since playing in Johannesburg, in which he was Player of the Match, in January last year because he had to sit out of the Test series in England, where he was expected to play a big role in swinging conditions, with a back injury he picked up in the ODI series in England. He returned two months later for the Asia Cup in the UAE, and has only played ODIs and T20Is since then, against West Indies at home and in Australia for the ongoing tour.When asked if the break from international cricket affected his rhythm, he said: “It did impact [my rhythm]. Match rhythm is totally different when it comes to bowling. I was trying everything to be in rhythm in the nets. But it can’t be a 100% when you compare to a match. It wasn’t great in the last match but it wasn’t bad as well. It can improve as the matches will go on. I was trying everything to be in rhythm.”I was going through niggles at that time [in England], and when you have a niggle you can’t be a 100%. Since then and now, I have trained a lot, especially during the one month of the Test series. That is the reason I am back to [bowling at] 130-135kph, whatever the thing is. The main thing is I’m niggle-free right now. That’s the main thing for me.”On Saturday, Bhuvneshwar took the field after over a month since playing the third T20I, which was also in Sydney, to finish with 2 for 66. He struck with his eighth delivery by removing captain Aaron Finch with an inswinger, which also fetched him his 100th ODI wicket. Later, he dismissed top-scorer Peter Handscomb in his third spell, one delivery after the batsman was dropped at the long-leg boundary by Ambati Rayudu at the start of the 48th over.Associated Press

Even though Bhuvneshwar was part of the Test squad in Australia, India relied on the pace battery comprising Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami to win the series 2-1. Bhuvneshwar revealed that he was not a 100% fit during the four-Test series.”See, I was fit but I couldn’t say that I was a 100% because in Test matches, it’s a five-day match, so I really didn’t know I would be able to go through that thing. What was good was we had bowlers who could play at that time, and I got time to be 100% fit again. I wasn’t really sure that time.”In the nets I wasn’t planning or preparing to bowl in the ODIs. I was preparing like I have to play in any of the Tests. I was preparing in that manner. There wasn’t anything specific that I could do. But it was just normal bowling and increasing the number of overs. If I was bowling four overs [to start with], then go to six, then eight, then 10. The key thing for me is to be niggle-free, and be in bowling rhythm.”To switch to training for the ODIs, Bhuvneshwar was seen practising by placing a shoe on the pitch for accurate lengths and trying the yorkers, a weapon he uses often with the old ball in the death overs.”This (keeping shoes on the pitch) is something that I’ve been doing for some time,” he explained. “So keeping shoes there and bowling yorkers, practicing that thing. I didn’t practise that for almost a month now because in Tests, we hardly needed that. And I didn’t play a match. Going into an ODI or T20I series, you need that thing. So I was practicing that.”Apart from yorkers, Bhuvneshwar also possesses the knuckle ball which he uses once the ball gets older and the swing wears off. Apart from Bumrah, who has been rested for the ongoing series, Bhuvneshwar is India’s key bowler for both the opening overs and the death overs, with the World Cup under five months away.”The skills needed are totally different,” Bhuvneshwar said. “You are trying to swing the new ball and take wickets. With the old ball, you are looking to bowl yorkers or slower balls. But they are both difficult. When you are bowling with a new ball, there are only two fielders outside the circle. With the old ball, batsmen don’t care how many guys are outside the circle. [The] skills are also different.”

The 23-year old has made strong strides towards becoming a rounded bowler and has lately proven to be proficient at picking wickets with length deliveries

Arun Venugopal in Ranchi06-Oct-2017A standout feature of Jasprit Bumrah’s young career thus far has been his willingness and ability to learn and evolve. While “learning” rolls off many cricketers’ tongues as a stock cliché, Bumrah means it. Last year, when he said he had learnt something new in each of his first three seasons in the IPL, it wasn’t tall talk. In 2013, Bumrah was schooled in the art of pre-game preparation and managing different situations. When he became one of Mumbai Indians’ lead bowlers next year, he absorbed the lessons of carrying good form and sustaining it over a length of time. Even his injury was an opportunity to learn: ahead of the 2015 edition, he sought out senior bowlers to understand how to prepare for a comeback.At 23, Bumrah has already made strong strides towards becoming a more rounded bowler. From someone who relied heavily on an amalgam of a whippety, awkward action, inch-perfect yorkers and slower deliveries, he has now proven to be adept at taking wickets with length deliveries. During India’s 5-0 ODI thumping of Sri Lanka recently, Bumrah emerged as the leading wicket-taker on either side with 15 scalps at an economy-rate of less than four and was named Man of the Series. Nine of those wickets came via deliveries that were pitched either on good length or on the shorter side of it. The yorkers made an appearance only on eight occasions, thus retaining their shock value. He also straddled the twin roles of opening the bowling and operating at the death.Bumrah’s rapid growth wasn’t lost on his captain Virat Kohli, who called him India’s “most effective short-format bowler” in the last year and a half. “He has really worked on his bowling a lot – especially his length ball, which has picked up more pace,” Kohli said at the end of the series. “It’s not only about yorkers and slower balls anymore. He can bowl a good length ball and nick you off as well, which I think is the biggest improvement in his bowling. Credit to him for shaping his game in that way.”By his own admission, Bumrah has had many mentors right from Sachin Tendulkar to Ricky Ponting and Lasith Malinga to Shane Bond. He feels much of his improvement is down to relentlessly picking another bowler’s brain – be it a peer or a senior. “We just want to improve all the time,” Bumrah said on the eve of the first T20I against Australia in Ranchi. “We keep asking questions to each other and we keep learning from the senior players – what else we can do, how to improve ourselves, how to adapt to different conditions and different wickets. So, our main focus is that. We don’t focus on the results. We just want to focus on the training and we want to get better and better after each and every game.”With Ashish Nehra’s return, Bumrah will also have another familiar mentor to lean on for advice. Earlier this year, Bumrah and Nehra combined to throttle England by five runs in Nagpur. Despite an age difference of 15 years, Bumrah enjoys a great comfort level with his senior partner. “He is a very experienced player and I have played some cricket with him during the T20 World Cup,” Bumrah said. “It’s always great fun playing alongside him. He has got plenty of experience to share and is very helpful. As a youngster, I keep asking him questions and seek his advice. The team atmosphere also becomes very good with his presence, so it’s very nice to see him back.”With rain thwarting India’s training session on Friday, some of the players, including MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, tried their hand at foot-volley in the dressing room balcony. Bumrah appeared to stand in a corner and watch them in action. Don’t be surprised if he learns a few tricks there and masters those, too.

Andre Russell’s lawyer has disputed the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission’s (JADCO) claim that the West Indies allrounder had missed three dope tests in a 12-month period, resulting in a violation of the whereabouts clause

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2016Andre Russell’s lawyer has disputed the Jamaican Anti-doping Commission’s (JADCO) claim that the West Indies allrounder had missed three dope tests in a 12-month period, resulting in a violation of the whereabouts clause.According to , Russell’s lawyer Patrick Forster claimed at the hearing of an independent panel on July 20 that his client had received correspondence from JADCO for only twice – January to March, 2015 and July to September, 2015 – for allegedly missing the out-of-competition doping tests.Forster requested JADCO’s lawyer to make available the Commission’s third correspondence which notified Russell of his transgression. The tribunal panel chairman Hugh Faulkner then asked JADCO to provide documentary evidence of Russell’s third filing failure, following which it was agreed that JADCO would provide details on Monday.JADCO has until August 10 to serve their files, while the deadline for Russell’s team is September 7. The hearing is set for September 19 and 20.In March this year, JADCO said Russell had reportedly missed three dope tests in a 12-month period, which equated to a failed test under doping laws. Athletes are required make their whereabouts known to local anti-doping agencies to facilitate testing under the WADA code and face a ban of up to two years if found guilty of repeatedly missing them.Russell, 28, has been a leading player in the T20 format in recent times. He played a crucial role in West Indies winning the 2016 World T20 title in March and April, and is a key performer in domestic leagues around the world.Russell was part of winning campaigns for Sydney Thunder in the 2015-16 Big Bash League and for Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League in February. He is currently playing for Jamaica Tallawahs in CPL 2016.

India A’s bowlers did not find enough help from a final-day pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, as the first four-day game finished in a draw after they set Australia A 240 to win in 55 overs

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy in Chennai25-Jul-2015
ScorecardTravis Head and Cameron Bancroft added 79 runs for the second wicket of 140 balls•K Sivaraman

India A’s bowlers found less help than they may have expected from a final-day pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, as the first four-day game finished in a draw after they set Australia A 240 to win in 55 overs. A solid start, aided by some ordinary bowling, kept Australia A interested in the target, but a clump of wickets towards the end subdued their ambitions.Cameron Bancroft and Travis Head made half-centuries, and added 79 for the second wicket to leave Australia A needing 125 from the last 20 overs, before falling in the space of six balls. Head nicked Abhimanyu Mithun while going hard at a fullish ball angled across him, and Bancroft pressed forward to Amit Mishra and popped a catch to silly point.Three overs later, Naman Ojha missed a stumping off Pragyan Ojha when he spun one out of the rough and past Nic Maddinson’s inside edge. This was the 39th over, and it was the first time either Ojha or Mishra had bowled from the Pavilion End. Until then, India A’s frontline spinners hadn’t bowled in tandem at all.In the first innings, all nine Australian wickets taken by the bowlers had come from the other end. But the stumping chance suggested they could have bowled a spinner from the Pavilion End earlier, and Ojha gave more evidence of the help now available from there when he spun one sharply, from the line of the stumps rather than the rough, to get Peter Handscomb caught behind in the third mandatory over.Maddinson, who had already struck Mishra and Ojha for sixes over long-on, continued playing his shots, even reverse-sweeping Ojha to the vacant point boundary. But the target was too far beyond Australia A’s reach, and the players shook hands with nine mandatory overs remaining.At tea, Australia A had been 81 for 1 in 23 overs, and 48 of those runs had come in boundaries. They had not needed to do anything outlandish to hit them; all the Indian bowlers had fed them the odd bad ball, particularly short ones, and only one of their 12 fours – Head lofting Ojha against the turn over mid-off – came off a risky stroke. India’s only success had come when Usman Khawaja, looking to sweep Mishra from the rough, top-edged a catch to leg slip.In the morning, India A added 85 runs for the loss of five wickets in the pursuit of runs that didn’t come as quickly as they would have hoped, on a pitch that remained too slow for expansive shots. Against some tight Australian bowling, they only made 64 runs in the first session, at a rate of 2.29. Gurinder Sandhu continued bowling parsimonious offbreaks, using his height to extract a fair amount of bounce, and Marcus Stoinis, who had made 77 in Australia A’s first innings, capped off a satisfying match with two perfect offcutters to bowl Karun Nair and Naman Ojha.

Kumar Sangakkara hoped better communication between administrators and players would in future help avoid the dearth of Test cricket that Sri Lanka face in 2013

Andrew Fernando in Melbourne23-Dec-2012Kumar Sangakkara hoped better communication between administrators and players would in future help avoid the dearth of Test cricket that Sri Lanka face in 2013. When the Sydney Test ends early in the new year Sri Lanka will have played their last Test against top-flight opposition until December. Two-thousand-and-thirteen had shaped to be a busy year for Sri Lanka in the longest format, but the removal of five Tests now means a glut of ODI cricket will now overwhelm their schedule.A two-Test series in the West Indies was the first to be scrapped, as both boards scrambled to make their players available for the duration of the IPL – a significant boon for that tournament, given Sri Lanka and West Indies were finalists in this year’s World Twenty20. In place of the cancelled Tests, the teams will play a budget-friendly ODI tri-series involving India, which can only take place after the Champions’ Trophy, which was the time Sri Lanka had originally been slated to host South Africa at home.That three-Test series was then postponed until 2015, with the Sri Lanka Premier League, which is scheduled for early August, ensuring that South Africa’s visit could not be moved to that month. The culling of Tests from Sri Lanka’s schedule had already become a theme of the present administration, who also did away with one home Test against then world No.1 England in March this year, as well as replacing two Tests against India in July and August with a five-match ODI series.The news of the Test removals were met with personal disappointment among the seniors in the Sri Lanka team, but in November captain Mahela Jayawardene defended the board’s decisions, suggesting the preference of limited-overs cricket over Tests would allow the board to continue to function despite its financial distress. If both of the two Tests scheduled in Zimbabwe materialise, Sri Lanka will play no more than six Tests in the year, with four of those having been against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.”I think each country should play a minimum of 10 to 12 Test matches a year,” Sangakkara said. “Hopefully 12 Test matches a year. We need to make sure that we find time to do that. I think players and administrators and everyone should really be together and talk on these things and understand that Test cricket is important. That’s the only way cricketers are going to improve.”Sri Lanka last played South Africa at home in 2006, when they defeated the visitors 2-0 in a two Test series. At 35, Sangakkara may not be playing Test cricket in 2015, while 35-year-old Mahela Jayawardene and 36-year-olds Tillakaratne Dilshan and Thilan Samaraweera are also likely to consider retirement before that series.”South Africa coming to Sri Lanka would have been a fantastic opportunity for us to try and beat the number one side in our own conditions. We have done that before. So it’s disappointing. Hopefully, there will be more Test matches played and more thought put into scheduling and having a discussion as to how we fit in ten to 12 Test Matches a year.”Sangakkara also said the detriments of the paucity of Tests would spread beyond the Test specialists in the team, like Samaraweera, Prasanna Jayawardene, Chanaka Welegedara and Suraj Randiv.”It’s not just disappointing for them, even for us. Whatever the form you play, you want to play more Test cricket. So hopefully after next year we can be more proactive in our scheduling and we can talk on which countries are willing to come and play and how are we going to schedule Test cricket so that it is kept as the ultimate form of the game.”

A round-up of Franchise 1-Day Cup matches that took place on November 11

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Nov-2011Morne van Wyk’s 136 off 144 balls led Knights to 318 for 5, a total large enough to secure a nine-run victory in a rain-affected game against Lions in Kimberley. van Wyk, who is Knights’ opening batsman, captain and wicketkeeper, anchored his team and provided momentum after choosing to bat, hitting 13 fours and a six in an innings that ended only in the 49th over. He was supported by Dean Elgar, who made 48, while Ryan Bailey provided a strong finish by scoring 47 off 30 balls. Left-arm spinner Jean Symes was Lions’ best bowler, taking 2 for 36 in a ten-over spell. Lions had reached 91 for 2 after 16 overs, when their chase was interrupted for the first time by rain. Three overs were lost. Alviro Petersen and Neil McKenzie kept the innings on course, before Petersen was dismissed for 62 in the 26th over. There was another rain interruption in the next over, with Lions on 154 for 3, and seven overs were lost. The revised target was 269 in 40 overs, which meant Lions needed 115 off 79 balls. While McKenzie was at the crease, Lions had a chance of victory. But he was dismissed for 72 off 58 balls in the 37th over, when 43 were needed. Cliffe Deacon smacked three sixes during his 19 off 7 balls but Lions fell nine short.Chasing 206 in 48 overs against Warriors, Cape Cobras had reached 172 for 7 in 39.5 overs, three runs ahead of the D/L par score, when rain brought an end to the game in Port Elizabeth. JP Duminy remained unbeaten on 43 off 68 balls, steering Cobras’ tricky chase as wickets fell around him. The most vital boundary, however, was the four Rory Kleinveldt hit off Wayne Parnell moments before the players went off the field. That stroke took the Cobras past the D/L target. Duminy’s innings had pulled his team out of trouble after they had slipped from 66 for 1 to 80 for 4 and then 128 for 6. Nicky Boje took 3 for 26 in 10 overs for Warriors. Earlier in the match, Charl Langeveldt’s 4 for 46 had cut through the middle order to limit Warriors to 201 for 9 in 48.3 overs. The spinners Robin Peterson and Duminy picked up two wickets apiece as well. Opening batsman JJ Smuts was Warriors’ top-scorer with 49. Though seven of his team-mates made double figures, no one went past 30.Loots Bosman’s century was at the centre of a strong chase as Dolphins overhauled a target of 316 against Titans in Centurion. Dolphins made a strong start as their captain Imraan Khan scored 60 off 50 balls during an opening partnership of 94 with Bosman, off 12.1 overs. They had a strong second-wicket stand as well, with Bosman and wicketkeeper Daryn Smit adding 166. Bosman scored 112 off 102 balls, with seven fours and four sixes, while Smith contributed 95 off 111 balls. Though both batsmen were dismissed within a short time of each other, they had done enough to ensure victory. Cameron Delport blitzed 20 off 5 balls to achieve the target with five balls to spare and six wickets in hand. Titans’ innings did not have as strong a start as Dolphins’ did. They were 24 for 2 after 6.1 overs before a steadying 89-run stand between Henry Davids and Faf du Plessis, who went on to score 120 off 115 balls. The middle order made useful contributions as well, with David Weise remaining unbeaten on 46 off 24 balls to take his team to 315 for 6 in 50 overs.Points table

Kallis reached a 36th Test hundred in the course of his unbroken 242-run partnership with Hashim Amla, South Africa’s second highest for any wicket against Pakistan, on the fourth day at Dubai

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Nov-2010It is almost inevitable that a player who spends more than a decade in international cricket will break the odd record along the way and put together some notable statistics, but even so Jacques Kallis’s list of achievements make particularly impressive reading. Kallis reached a 36th Test hundred in the course of his unbroken 242-run partnership with Hashim Amla, South Africa’s second highest for any wicket against Pakistan, on the fourth day at Dubai.At 35, Kallis is already South Africa’s leading scorer in Test cricket by a margin of several thousand, but he believes he still has a lot more to give. “Hopefully there’s a few more left in the body,” he said. “I’m still enjoying my cricket, hopefully there’s many more runs there.”He is third on the all-time list for most Test hundreds, with Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar the two men ahead of him with 39 and 49 hundreds respectively. Kallis has also been involved in no fewer than 15 double century partnerships in his career, three short of Tendulkar’s record and is one better than the great Sir Donald Bradman.His partnership with Amla was their fourth double century partnership – they shared stands of 220 and 330 against New Zealand in 2007-08 and 340 against India in the innings win at Nagpur earlier this year – a number that has only been exceeded by Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer’s six.”Hashim and myself got us off to a good start,” Kallis said after the day’s play. “Scoring was always going to be tough today, but we were always ahead of the rate. We complemented each other pretty well throughout the partnership. It became a little bit easier than we thought it would be, but it was still tough scoring. Batting and staying out there was a little easier, but scoring was quite tough.”The wicket is pretty slow, the outfield is very slow as well, so you could add on a few runs for that. But we just tried to rotate the strike and put the bad ball away to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Then we could play with a bit more freedom once we got to a total that we were happy with.”Kallis hit his first delivery of the day from Saeed Ajmal for a straight six, and that set the tone for his and Amla’s treatment of Pakistan’s slow bowlers for the rest of the day. It had been thought that Pakistan’s spinners – offspinner Ajmal and left-armer Abdur Rehman – could have a decisive influence of the game but they have been out-bowled by Johan Botha and Paul Harris, their South African counterparts.”I think we played their spinners pretty well,” Kallis explained. “Also, our spinners’ lines are probably slightly different to what their spinners have bowled. And our guys are pretty confident. It’s a lot easier and things seem to go for you when you’re ahead of the game, so hopefully that’ll continue happening for us. It’s a happy changeroom, we’ve got some hard work ahead of us tomorrow but there’s enough in the wicket to keep the bowlers encouraged.”Kallis also paid tribute to Amla, who is now only 6 runs short of his 1 000 Test runs for the calendar year. Amla reached a ninth century of the year in all formats, including four in Tests and five in ODIs, finishing unbeaten on 118.”He’s been unbelievable, he’s certainly been our rock [this year],” Kallis said of Amla. “The way that the guys have batted around him has also helped. He’s very confident, and he’s come a long way from when people said ‘with that backlift, you’ll never be able to play international cricket.’ I think he’s proved a few people wrong.”The wicket is a little flat, nothing special,” said Amla. “Fortunately Jacques and I got a partnership going and that made it a lot easier to score. We have managed to get a few big partnerships together and today was one of them. At certain times when we weren’t scoring Jacques was very level-headed and calm about it. He put a reality spin on certain situations which was great.”Amla added that there was no secret to his current phenomenal run of form, saying: “I wish I had a penny for the amount of times I’ve had that question asked over the last year or so. There has been no secret. I just try to bat the way I can, not try and change too much and keep things simple.”I don’t attribute it to anything special. I just try to gain as much experience in each game and fortunately it is coming through.”

Even though Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were leaders of their groups, it’s the finalists from last season, Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh, who will get the easier quarter-final opponents – teams from the Plate League

Sidharth Monga18-Dec-2009

Quarter-final line-up

• Haryana (from Plate league) v Mumbai (defending champions)

• Delhi v Tamil Nadu (Group A toppers)

• Karnataka (Group B toppers) v Punjab

• Assam (from Plate League) v Uttar Pradesh (last season runners-up)

• Relegated teams: Hyderabad, Maharashtra

Karnataka and Tamil Nadu won’t gain any advantage from topping their Ranji groups this season. Even though they are the leaders of their groups by a fair distance, it’s Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh, the finalists from last season, who will get the easier quarter-final opponents – the teams from the Plate League. While Karnataka are not impressed with what seems to be a new rule, Tamil Nadu sort of saw it coming, because that’s how the Ranji Trophy worked in the 1990s, before the Elite League and Plate League – and hence clear-cut semi-finalists – were introduced.Last season, when the system of promoting two Plate teams to the quarterfinals was introduced, the two Super group leaders got to play them, and as expected made it to the semi-finals. This year, Karnataka with a whopping 28 points from six games, and Tamil Nadu with 26 from seven would have also expected easy quarterfinals, but they will be facing Punjab and Delhi respectively. On the other hand, UP and Mumbai, who finished second and third respectively in their groups, get the simpler matches against Assam and Haryana.”It’s quite unfair to give the advantage to them [the finalists from the last season],” Robin Uthappa, Karnataka’s captain, told Cricinfo. “It’s unfair on teams who have done really well this season. We could have finished second or third and could have still played Punjab, who we are playing anyway. That beats the whole purpose, all the hard work that goes in topping a table.”WV Raman, Tamil Nadu’s coach, though, “distinctly remembered the system from earlier years” and was waiting for the confirmation, which – as with most of us – reached his team on the last day of the league stages. “The last year when the format changed, group-toppers got to play Plate teams. But this system was there [in the nineties] that when winners or runner-ups qualified in the next year, even though they didn’t top the group they would automatically become No. 1 and No. 2 [for the purposes of deciding who will play whom in the knockouts].”What Raman alluded to was the time when the league matches were played on a zonal basis. Three teams from each of the five zones qualified to play a Super League in three groups of five. The top two teams from each group would qualify for the next round, but two of those six would get byes and the other four would play quarter-finals to join the top two in the semis. The teams getting the bye were the finalists from the previous year, and if those finalists didn’t make it past the Super League, teams with most points would go straight to semi-finals. For example, in 1999-2000, Karnataka, who finished sixth in terms of points in the Super League, got the bye because they were the defending champions. Madhya Pradesh, who lost the final in 1998-99, didn’t make it to the Super League.Hence Raman and Tamil Nadu were not surprised when they were told they would be playing Delhi and not Assam in the quarter-finals this year.When asked if he, like Uthappa, thought it was unfair to reward teams for previous season’s form and deny the best teams of the on-going season, Raman said, “If that is the rule, what can you do? I wasn’t surprised, but we were just waiting for the information to come.”

Surrey welcome chance to work with giants of IPL, but resolve to keep controlling stake

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Feb-2025Surrey have confirmed that they will be retaining their majority stake in Oval Invincibles, as they begin their period of exclusive negotiations with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), the owners of Mumbai Indians, in the wake of last month’s Hundred equity sale.RIL secured a 49% stake in Invincibles, the reigning Men’s Hundred champions and the most successful team across genders in the tournament’s four-year history, after valuing the franchise at £123 million at a live auction on January 30.That means they are expected to pay just over £60 million for their equity share when the team ownership transfers from ECB to Surrey County Cricket Club at the end of 2025. This will be undertaken through negotiations with RISE Worldwide, Reliance’s subsidiary, which has been named as the club’s preferred partner from the 2026 season onwards.Mumbai Indians, five-times winners of the IPL, are widely seen as the most powerful IPL franchise, while Surrey are the richest English county club. The Invincibles’ men’s and women’s teams will become the sixth and seventh teams associated with RIL, after Mumbai Indians (in both the IPL and WPL), MI New York (MLC), MI Cape Town (SA20) and MI Emirates (ILT20).Related

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RIL, owned by the Ambani family, had been widely linked with buying a stake in London Spirit, but that franchise was eventually secured by a Silicon Valley tech consortium that valued the Lord’s-based franchise at £295 million.Up to five IPL teams could be involved in team ownership when the sales process is completed later this month. Last week, Sun Group – owners of Sunrisers Hyderabad – secured a 100% stake in Northern Superchargers for £100 million, while Sanjiv Goenka’s RPSG Group – owners of Lucknow Super Giants – expected to land a 70% stake in Manchester Originals when their negotiations are complete.Southern Brave is widely expected to be secured by GMR Group, co-owners of Delhi Capitals, who last year bought a groundbreaking majority stake in host county Hampshire, while the owners of Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals are among those who are understood to have shown interest in Nottingham-based Trent Rockets.Surrey, however, have reiterated their desire to keep hold of their controlling stake in Invincibles, while welcoming the chance to work with a franchise that has won 11 league titles across the globe, including at least one in each of the competitions they have competed in.Oli Slipper, Chair of Surrey CCC, said: “We said at the outset that we wanted the best partner to ensure that Surrey continue to lead the way in English cricket and in Mumbai Indians that is what we have got.”They share our passion for cricket, they own the biggest and most successful team in the IPL, the Mumbai Indians, and we believe this partnership will bring continued success to both Surrey CCC and our Hundred team.”Beyond cricket, the huge success of RIL’s global business will help Surrey to thrive off the field too. I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Mrs. Nita Ambani, Akash and his team as our new partners.”Mrs. Nita M Ambani, Owner of Mumbai Indians, said: “Cricket is more than just a sport, it’s a passion that unites people across geographies and cultures. Welcoming Oval Invincibles into our Mumbai Indians family is a proud and special moment.””England, with its rich cricketing culture, has always been special to the game,” Akash Ambani, Owner of Mumbai Indians, added. “To have the iconic Oval, which has witnessed some of cricket’s greatest moments, as our home venue is truly special.”