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Although the New Zealand opener returned to form, his team couldn’t mount a good enough total thanks to Thomas and his fiery yorkers

The Report by Peter Della Penna30-Aug-2018Jamaica Tallawahs exacted revenge for their bungled chase in Florida exactly one week earlier, with a five-wicket win over Barbados Tridents thanks to a sterling bowling effort spearheaded by Oshane Thomas. They are now the sole team at the top of the points table.Thomas’ yorkers wreaked havoc on Tridents in the Powerplay and at the death as the hosts were held to a well-below par total of 151 for 9 after being sent in.Johnson Charles began peppering the fence on the legside in his first fifty of the season and the seventh fifty-plus score by a Tallawahs batsman this year to give the Tallawahs early momentum in their chase. Wahab Riaz did his best to drag the Tridents back as the Tallawahs failed to score a boundary for five overs following the end of the Powerplay but Rovman Powell came in at No. 4, following the wicket of Charles, and produced a breezy 35 not out to seal the victory.No doubting ThomasTridents had already suffered the loss of Hashim Amla – lbw missing a sweep to Samuel Badree in the second over – when Thomas bowled one of the balls of CPL 2018. Shai Hope was on strike when a heat-seeking, outswinging yorker nearly knocked him off his feet as it crashed into the base of off stump. That was only the start of another long night for the Tridents, who slumped to 56 for 5 when rain took the teams off in the 10th over.Thomas put his stamp on the tail too. Coming back towards the end of the innings, he cleaned up Wahab with another laser-guided missile into the base of the stumps. Seven different bowlers took wickets on the night for the Tallawahs, but Thomas still managed to stand out.Total recallAfter totalling just 26 runs in four innings, including two ducks, Martin Guptill was dropped by the Tridents in the previous match against Trinbago Knight Riders. But his replacement – Shamar Springer – ran himself out first-ball during the course of a heavy defeat. Seeing how Plan B had failed, the team management brought Guptill back into the XI and the result was the second-highest score by a Tridents batsman this season.Guptill was the only batsman in the top six to reach double-figures, ending with 73 off 60 balls, including a 60-run sixth-wicket stand with Imran Khan. He struck some impressive blows, launching Colin de Grandhomme’s first CPL delivery onto the Kensington Oval roof to start the sixth over, and flicking Powell over long leg for another lost ball in the 18th. One ball later though, he pulled Powell to Andre Russell at long-on and Tridents’ last hope for a strong finishing kick was back in the pavilion.Charles in chargeIn 2016, Charles and Andre Fletcher formed a menacing opening combo to take the St Lucia franchise to their only playoff appearance in the CPL. He struck four fifties that year. Having ransacked 441 runs, he finished second on the top-scorer’s list just 13 behind Chris Lynn. Last season, however, was a major struggle, leading to a change of scenery with the Tallawahs.Charles had always been threatening to break free this year, with scores of 24, 31, 42 and 34 in his four innings, and finally went past fifty on Wednesday, capitalising on some very poor lines as the Tridents medium-pacers, resulting in a flood of runs through square leg and midwicket.Charles did all the heavy lifting in the chase, scoring 53 of the first 67 runs for the Tallawahs before getting out in the ninth over. Powell took over from there, cracking Mohammad Irfan for two sixes and a four in the space of four deliveries in the 14th over to bring the required run-rate down to a-run-a-ball. David Miller and Russell fell in the space of four legal balls after a pair of handy cameos before de Grandhomme slashed the winning boundary to third man in the 18th over.

A Pakistan A side with no specialist spinners was made to toil on the third day as the Australians went 216 ahead on the back of Mitchell Marsh’s 162 and nineties from Shaun Marsh and Travis Head

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Oct-2018Mitchell Marsh plays off the front foot•Getty Images

Mitchell Marsh made his second century in as many four-day games as the Australians built on a strong start to dominate Pakistan A on the third day of their warm-up match in Dubai. In all, the Australians added 287 runs on the third day and lost only two wickets – those of the Marsh brothers – and with Travis Head’s unbeaten 90, went 216 runs ahead.Mitchell and Shaun Marsh, who already added 103 overnight, went on to add a further 104 on the third day as they took Australia into the lead. Against a Pakistan A side that picked no specialist spinners, the pair batted for more than 70 overs before Shaun fell six short of a century.But Mitchell, newly named vice-captain of Australia’s Test squad, and perhaps batting at No. 4 because of Matt Renshaw’s absence at the top of the order, pushed another step ahead in what has been a good return from being on the sidelines for five months with an ankle injury. He batted quicker than he had on the second day, taking a liking to the part-time offspin of Asad Shafiq whom he took for 51 off 53 balls.Giving company towards the end of his innings was the left-handed Head, whose recent form suggests a Test debut is drawing closer and closer. Head made scores of 87, 68 and 47 in his last three innings against India A in spin-friendly conditions and added to that run by finishing the third day unbeaten on 90. Head hasn’t scored a first-class century since March 2017 and batted for 200 balls on the third day. He was also the fourth Australian batsman to make a 50-plus score in the match.Unbeaten alongside him, on 39, was Queensland’s Marnus Labuschagne, who hit three fours and a six in a fifth-wicket stand worth 87.Pakistan A spinners Ifthikar Ahmed and Shafiq bowled 54 overs between themselves for a wicket, while left-arm seamer Waqas Maqsood took the only other wicket to fall on the day. Fast bowlers Rahat Ali and Wahab Riaz, the only other bowlers in the team with Test experience, went wicketless on the third day as well.

Rohit Sharma made a breezy, unbeaten 63 as India hunted down their target of 105 in just 14.5 overs

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy01-Nov-2018So promising across the first three ODIs, West Indies’ batting unravelled when a share of the series was still up for grabs. Having been bowled out for 153 on a flat Brabourne deck in the fourth ODI, the visitors did even worse on a trickier pitch in Thiruvananthapuram, folding for 104 after choosing to bat first.Virat Kohli, India’s captain, was happy to chase at a ground where he felt dew would be a “massive factor” in the second innings, under lights. But the match didn’t even last as far as the scheduled 45-minute interval.West Indies were bowled out in 31.5 overs, and India hunted down their target in a mere 14.5, as Rohit Sharma stroked an unbeaten 63 off 56 balls, adding an unbroken 99 for the second wicket with Kohli. Rohit hit four sixes – all clean hits, as they needed to be on one of the larger grounds in India – to become only the second India batsman to get past 200 sixes in ODIs.The only spell of positivity for West Indies was the new-ball spell of the pacy Oshane Thomas, who got Shikhar Dhawan to chop on for the second time in two ODI meetings, had Kohli dropped by Jason Holder at first slip after getting one to lift nastily at him, and had Rohit edging an away-seamer behind only for a no-ball call to deny him another wicket.Thereafter, it was all Rohit and Kohli who, having got past some early difficulty against the slowness of the pitch, entertained the Thiruvananthapuram crowd who might otherwise have felt shortchanged at getting to watch only 46.4 overs of the promised 100.The contest lasted only that long, thanks to West Indies’ inability to adapt to a slow pitch on which the ball held up and made driving on the up a hazardous prospect.It was swing that began their collapse. By the tenth ball of their innings, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, swinging it away from the left-hander, and Jasprit Bumrah, swinging it into the right-hander, had made Kieran Powell and Shai Hope pay for playing away from the body.Then came the longest partnership of the innings, of 34, between Rovman Powell – who struggled to find his feet after being promoted up the order, with West Indies sacrificing regular opener Chandrapaul Hemraj to add Oshane Thomas to their pace attack – and Marlon Samuels, who came out playing his shots at the end of a lean series with the bat.It looked pretty while it lasted, as Samuels drove Bhuvneshwar past mid-off and whipped his next ball – from virtually the same off-stumpish line – wide of mid-on. Another free-flowing drive off Khaleel Ahmed, in the next over, carried all the way over the straight boundary.Kohli responded by bringing on Ravindra Jadeja. His first over, the tenth of West Indies’ innings, was a maiden, and through that over it was clear that Samuels was itching to keep driving and that Jadeja, teasing him with his changes of pace and a length just short of driveable, was not going to allow him to. Having already inside-edged once while driving away from his body, Samuels fell in Jadeja’s second over, reaching out once again, this time only managing to pop a catch to extra-cover as the ball stopped on him.That stand broken, India kept chipping away at the wickets. Shimron Hetmyer played back to Jadeja when he should have been forward, Rovman and Fabian Allen were out hooking well-directed short balls from Khaleel and Bumrah, and Jason Holder, who had looked good while getting to 25, chipped a catch to mid-off as another ball held up off the surface.The tail survived just long enough for Jadeja, who took a five-over break after an unbroken first spell of eight overs, to return and bag two more wickets to finish with 4 for 34. It was his second four-wicket haul in eight matches since his comeback to the ODI team during the Asia Cup in September.

The India opener said he hadn’t tinkered with his technique and welcomed match practice in the lead-up to the Australia tour

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Nov-2018Opener M Vijay has made it clear that he did not go to play county cricket in Essex to make a comeback to India’s Test team. After making 20, 0, 6, 0 and 0 in the first two Tests of India’s five-match series in England, Vijay was not picked in the XI for the third Test and was later dropped from the squad for the last two games. MSK Prasad, the selection panel chairman, though, picked Vijay for the four-Test series in Australia, pointing to the rich form Vijay had hit at Essex.After being dropped from the Test squad, Vijay signed up with Essex and played three matches in the County Championship, scoring 56, 100, 85, 80 and 2. Speaking to reporters during Tamil Nadu’s first-round match last week in the Ranji Trophy, Vijay said he hadn’t tinkered with his technique either.”More importantly, I should keep faith in myself,” Vijay said when asked if the team management’s show of faith in taking him to Australia was a confidence booster. “I never went to county cricket to get back in the team. I just went to play some cricket, and I thought it was the ideal time for me to go and explore county. It happened that I could perform and give myself a chance.”In 2018, Vijay has had poor returns in Test cricket apart from hundred at home ” target=”_blank”>in Afghanistan’s inaugural Test. In five matches elsewhere, three in South Africa and two in England, he made 128 runs without a single half-century. Despite the below-par returns, Vijay said there was nothing wrong with his technique, and it was more about finding the right balance mentally that allowed him to get the runs at Essex. “There wasn’t any adjustment,” he said. “It was a great experience because it wasn’t easy. I should thank Essex for having me and giving me an opportunity to play the way I wanted to. We had a crucial three matches, and it really motivated me. I could step up and contribute, so I was happy to gain some experience there.”The Indian team management had belatedly agreed the absence of warm-up matches in South Africa and England was one of the factors behind losing both Test series. But for the Australia series, India will have some quality match practice. Along with several Test regulars, Vijay is part of the India A squad for their first four-day match against New Zealand A, which starts on November 16 at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. Between that game and the first Test at the Adelaide Oval that starts on December 6, India will also have a four-day match in Sydney, as Ajinkya Rahane had revealed earlier this week.Vijay, who scored 482 runs at an average of 60.25 on India’s last tour of Australia in 2014-15, welcomed the move to get extra match-time before the Test series. “For me it’s a mental game. It’s never been a question of my ability. This time we have planned pretty well. We are going a little early and we are going to get a few practice games as well in Australia before we play the first Test match. That will be ideal for us. Hopefully our boys can gel as a team and put their best foot forward.”Any international game is more of a mental game than about the attack or conditions. For me it is about keeping myself in a clear state of mind during practice and preparation. It’s helping me out every game I play. It’s just a matter of time where I can get a big one.”While acknowledging that conditions in New Zealand would be considerably different from those in Australia, Vijay emphasised that the India A game was more about getting some “match practice and get some runs and be in the best form I can be.”On the tactics to adopt in Australia, Vijay said that it was important to not let bowlers like Nathan Lyon find their rhythm. “You can’t give bowlers the opportunity to settle down on their lengths. And especially a bowler of his calibre, you’ve got to be on top of the game all the time. Nathan Lyon and me had a good competition going, so I like to take up the challenge. Get some runs and put him on the back foot.”

England’s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan has enthusiastically backed cricket’s “brilliant” newest format after turning out for Kerala Knights in the T10 League in Sharjah

Liam Brickhill05-Dec-2018England’s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan has enthusiastically backed cricket’s “brilliant” newest format after turning out for Kerala Knights in the T10 League in Sharjah. Morgan suggested that T10 is the closest cricket will get to baseball, and that the format might even play a role in the sport’s Olympic aspirations.”The T10 format is brilliant,” Morgan told reporters after arriving in South Africa to join the Tshwane Spartans’ Mzansi Super League campaign. “It’s probably the closest cricket will get to baseball.”It exposes a different aspect of cricket. It also attracts a different fan as well in the sense that you’d probably find a lot of people there who wouldn’t go to a normal cricket match. It’s so easy to understand because it’s arguably as simplified a cricket match as there possibly could be. I’m a huge fan.”The simplicity of T10 enhances its appeal with children, Morgan suggested, adding that tailoring cricket towards the young is vital to growing the game. It’s something he also likes about England’s go at a new format, The 100.”The more you can tailor cricket towards kids, the more you can grow the game,” Morgan said. “Cricket’s scoreboard has a million different things going on. If you’re trying to explain that to a kid and you’re a parent who’s never played cricket, this is a solution. It’s 100 balls and you need to score as much runs as you can. The parent becomes a coach.”Morgan also reiterated his feelings that T10 could provide cricket’s path to the Olympics.”You can start and finish an eight-to-ten-team tournament within 12 days. You can’t do that in T20 cricket, it’s not feasible,” he said. “If we can grow the game in this manner, I’m all for it.”

Watson struck this BBL’s maiden hundred, McCullum registered his first BBL duck but the match came to a premature end under bizarre circumstances

The Report by Ankur Dhawan17-Jan-2019
No result
Sydney Thunder had not beaten Brisbane Heat in their last four matches, the Heat were yet to win at home this season, and the BBL had been parched for an individual hundred. Curiously, the one least likely to change did, as Shane Watson blasted his third T20 hundred in the last 12 months to catapult his team to 186, before Chris Jordan and Gurninder Sandhu snuffed fight out of the chase with the early wickets of Brendon McCullum, out for a maiden BBL duck, and Chris Lynn. However, a bizarre floodlight failure that occurred at the end of the third over of the Heat chase led to the match being called off and the points shared, much to the chagrin of the visitors who looked set to register their fifth win of the season.Hundred just a number for ageless WatsonUnlike the hundred in the IPL final where he took time to find his groove, here, Watson started in top gear. It started with two sixes off Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, who erred in length and Watson rocked back and pulled him flat over deep midwicket, a shot that proved a loyal ally throughout his innings. Next ball, Mujeeb erred in line, drifting down leg, with the fine-leg up, Watson just helped him over, with a surprising amount of power behind the stroke.Watson had recently spoken about working on a few things as his BBL got off to a lukewarm start, clarified by coach Shane Bond as the position of his head and hands, and the work put in was on view as Watson struck the ball cleanly from a stable base, without once leaving his crease. The spinners Mujeeb and Mitchell Swepson suffered as he took 47 off the duo of 26 balls, and all his six sixes came off the pair. It was Mujeeb who eventually had him caught at long-off immediately after reaching a 61-ball century but he’d caused enough carnage by then.Costly missWatson was still 67 runs away from being this BBL’s first centurion when he was put down off the dubutant Jack Prestwidge’s bowling. It was a slower ball, both short and wide, but Watson’s flashing blade did not get all of it and he ended up spooning it to the right of cover point, without much timing. The diving fielder got both hands to it and for a moment it looked like he’d taken it but as is customary with such catches, it popped out of his hands when the elbows made contact with the ground.Devcich steps up in Buttler’s absenceJos Buttler had been Thunder’s best batsman this season but Anton Devcich has proved to be an able replacement. His inclusion has coincided with Watson finding form and the duo have laid a solid foundation for their side in the two matches that they have opened. Against Adelaide Strikers they added 37 in 21 balls, with Devcich playing lead in the partnership. The roles switched this match but the result was equally effective as they added 58 from 40 with Devcich contributing a 24-ball 26.

The 21-year-old made a late move to Sydney for this year’s BBL on a one-year contract and now the Sixers are desperate to keep him

Alex Malcolm16-Feb-2019Young Sydney Sixers batsman Josh Philippe is set to become one of the hottest properties in the Big Bash League as a bidding war for his long-term services looks likely to take place between the Sixers and Perth Scorchers.Philippe, 21, produced another stunning innings in the BBL semi-final clubbing 52 from just 31 balls to get the Sixers away to a flyer against the Melbourne Renegades.The Sixers were beaten in the end thanks to some Dan Christian heroics, but Philippe’s second half-century of the season only furthered the Sixers desire to sign him long-term.”That’s in the works and that’s obviously up to Josh,” Sixers captain Moises Henriques.”But definitely after the season he’s had, we’d be stupid not to entertain that.”Philippe’s case is complicated in that he plays his 50-over and four-day domestic cricket for Western Australia and lives in Perth most of the year. He made his T20 debut for Perth Scorchers last season and was set to start BBL08 as a replacement player for the Scorchers while Shaun Marsh was away on Test match duty and Cameron Bancroft out suspended.The Scorchers could not contract him as they had exhausted their 18-man roster but were confident right up until early December that Philippe would play for them. But the Sixers, with help from suspended former Australian captain Steven Smith who contacted Philippe personally, convinced the keeper-batsman to join them on a one-year contract just prior to the BBL starting.It left the Scorchers seething while the Sixers knew they had a special talent on their hands. He delivered with 304 runs at a strike-rate of 158.33, the best of all players with 100 runs or more in the tournament. He was also the stand-out batsmen according to ESPNcricinfo’s smart strike-rate measurement*.”From the day that he came on board I was really excited about the potential he had,” Henriques said. “We started him batting at No.6. Although he didn’t score a mountain of runs at No.6 he was coming and making really significant impacts on the game, [20 off 13, 14 not off 7], which sometimes in that role can be more important than a 30 off 20 from someone in the top four. He was always putting the bowlers under pressure.”And he’d always batted at the top. For him to adapt to that middle order like he did I thought that this kid is a pretty special talent. I think personally, No.5, 6, 7 are the hardest to bat in T20 cricket. The later you have to come in, all the bowlers know exactly what the wicket is doing, they know the fields they’re using and any mishits are usually caught by the guys out on the boundary so you’ve got to be able to manipulate the ball. Right from the first or second game that he played of professional domestic T20 cricket, he took to it like a duck to water.”It took the Sixers nine games to move him to the top of the order where he had done so much damage for WA in the JLT Cup, and against South Africa in the Prime Minister’s XI game in Canberra. But it paid dividends with 86 not out from 49 balls against the Hobart Hurricanes and then 52 off 31 against the Renegades.”If we take him away from that middle order position then we take away some of our power there but at the same time we felt like he was batting so well that we wanted to give him as many balls as possible to face during a game,” Henriques said. “Once he moved to the top he played two outstanding innings and you could just tell the opposition bowlers don’t enjoy bowling to him. I think he’s going to be a pretty special player. Enough has been said about him. But he was a huge positive.”Philippe will now head back to WA for the remainder of the season. He found himself out of their Sheffield Shield side prior to the BBL having made a century against Victoria batting at No.6 in the first game of the season. But he was rushed to the top of the order for the next three matches and returned scores of 4, 2, 12, 2 and 6 before being dropped.However, it is understood WA and the Scorchers are desperate to sign him long-term across all formats leaving Philippe with a choice to make.

WI captain Jason Holder felt he main cause of defeat was their inability to accept the numerous chances England’s batsmen offered in the chase

George Dobell in Bridgetown21-Feb-2019Jason Holder was left with a “bitter pill to swallow” as his side failed to defend their highest-ever ODI total against England.Despite making 360 for 8, their fourth-highest ODI total and highest in the Caribbean, West Indies subsided to a six-wicket defeat against an England team that cruised to their victory target.And while Holder accepted his side’s bowlers could “tighten up” in future games, he was adamant that the main cause of defeat was their inability to accept the numerous chances England’s batsmen offered.Jason Roy, who won the Man-of-the-Match award for his 65-ball century, was missed four times, while Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow also received lives.”We just didn’t hold our chances and the chances we put down were crucial,” Holder said. “Our bowlers did create opportunities, but we didn’t hold them.”Credit to Jason Roy: he played really well and put us under pressure up front. And also Joe Root kept the tempo going and played an outstanding innings for them. But when you miss two quality players like that, they make you pay.”We’ve got to be a little clearer with our bowling plans. We bowled quite a few loose deliveries and we can tighten up with that. But I thought our combination was right; we’ve just got to hold our chances. If you drop quality players like Roy and Root and Jonny Bairstow then they make you pay.”We’ve got to be a bit better in the field. I felt the energy and body language could have been a lot better. That would give the bowlers some momentum to work with.”Holder also dismissed any criticism of Chris Gayle, who made 135, defending the slow start to his innings.”Credit to our batters,” he said. “We had enough runs. I thought Chris played a really good innings. He took a bit of time upfront, got himself set and then put pressure back on the spinners in the middle and forced Eoin Morgan to bring back the seamers back a bit earlier. I felt he held the innings together and gave other batters a chance to express themselves.”Morgan, meanwhile, praised his side’s belief in chasing such a large total – it was England’s largest successful chase in their ODI history and the third-highest successful chase in all ODIs – and the “outstanding” contribution of the opening pair of Roy and Bairstow.”We spoke at the halfway stage about the fact we have been in this situation before and we do believe we can chase big totals,” Morgan said. “We bat very deep. The manner we started in set the tone of the innings. Jason and Jonny were outstanding. At no stage did we feel we were under pressure to up the rate.”We were going at a steady clip and to have guys like that continuously putting pressure on your opening bowlers is not only difficult to play against but difficult to captain against as well. The ability to put your best ball away for four or six is heart-breaking as a bowler.”For Jason to go on and play such a commanding innings really sets up a big run chase. It’s amazing the way he plays. It’s brilliant. People will forget Joe Root scored a hundred there, he made it look very easy, but we’re so fortunate to have a guy like that who can be our rock. And he’s no slouch.”The second ODI takes place in Barbados on Friday. England may well look to rest Chris Woakes, who has been struggling with a knee problem in recent weeks, though West Indies maintain they have no immediate plans to call-up a replacement bowler for the injured Kemar Roach.

Off his last ball, when Shivam Dube needed to hit a six to take the game into a Super Over, Malinga overstepped, but the umpire missed the obvious no-ball, leaving the home side shaking in disbelief

The Report by Mohammad Isam28-Mar-20194:15

Dasgupta: Hand all front-foot no-ball calls to third umpire

Lasith Malinga was not even supposed to play this game. But he did, and he sealed Mumbai Indians’ first win of the season in controversial circumstances, defending 17 runs off the last over against Royal Challengers Bangalore.Off his last ball, when Shivam Dube needed to hit a six to take the game into a Super Over, Malinga overstepped, but the umpire missed the obvious no-ball, leaving the home side shaking in disbelief. The result was particularly harsh on AB de Villiers, who was stranded at the other end on 70*. Before this match, de Villiers’ team had never lost in the IPL when he remained unbeaten during a chase.Despite an outburst from RCB’s captain Virat Kohli, the result stayed, meaning Mumbai had ridden their luck for a five-run win – their first of the season. RCB held the edge at various points in the match, but Mumbai withstood a four-wicket burst from Yuzvendra Chahl, and later a 49-run partnership between Kohli and de Villiers, to eventually come out on top.Jasprit Bumrah delights in dismissing Virat Kohli•BCCI

Mumbai start brightlyRohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock were both quick off the blocks after RCB chose to field. They reached their fifty partnership during the Powerplay, with Rohit bringing out his silky drives and flicks, and the walking front-foot pull. De Kock, who was dropped by Colin de Grandhomme in the sixth over, was also timing the pace bowlers well, but Chahal’s crafty googly snuck past his attempted reverse-sweep in the seventh over.Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav added 33 runs in the next 4.1 overs before Rohit, who had struck eight fours and a six in his 48, fell pulling Umesh Yadav. Suryakamar then began a rush of big hits, most notably smashing Moeen Ali for a four and six at the end of the 13th over, before Yuvraj Singh struck Chahal for three big sixes over square-leg and long-on.Yuvraj, however, fell the next ball trying a fourth consecutive six. Thankfully for Mumbai, Suryakumar kept finding the boundaries as the visitors eyed a total in the vicinity of 200.

Chahal disrupts the inningsSuryakumar fell midway through the 16th over, caught by Moeen who ran back from cover. Chahal then dropped Krunal Pandya but made up for it by removing Kieron Pollard next ball, and eventually got Krunal in his next over. At 147 for 7 in the 18th over, Mumbai were staring at a below-par finish, but Hardik Pandya provided a much-needed counterattack, slamming a 14-ball 32 to power the visitors to 187. Bumrah v Kohli When RCB began their chase, the battle within the battle was a very one-sided one as Kohli cracked Jasprit Bumrah for consecutive fours off the first three balls he faced. He hammered Hardik for two fours too, before Parthiv Patel went after Krunal in the sixth over.Even after Parthiv fell to legspinner Mayank Markande in the next over, Kohli and de Villiers added 49 runs for the third wicket. Soon afterwards, however, Bumrah, brought back for one over, nailed a superb bouncer at Kohli who miscued the pull and was caught at square-leg.AB to the rescue, untillJust before Kohli got out, de Villiers, who was dropped on 0 by Yuvraj Singh, had found his gear with a six each off Markande and Malinga. He then smashed the veteran Sri Lankan for 20 runs in the 16th over with a four and two sixes, over long-off and midwicket.De Villiers also went after Hardik, collecting 18 off the 18th over. The big hits included two sixes going over cover and square-leg. RCB would have fancied their chances at that point, but Bumrah bowled an exceptional penultimate over, conceding just five runs and dismissing de Grandhomme. It left the hosts needing 17 off the final over, to be bowled by Malinga. Malinga hangs on, just aboutDube blasted the first ball over long-off for a six, before Bumrah dropped him running back from short third-man. Malinga, however, used his decade-old muscle memory of bowling full accurate balls, leaving both de Villiers and Dube flustered with deliveries going under their bat. Malinga had just about done his job, even if the umpires hadn’t quite done theirs.

De Villiers also opens up about retirement, hinting at “deeper reasons” for his decision to quit South Africa duty

Liam Brickhill18-May-2019AB de Villiers has revealed that he urged current South Africa captain Faf du Plessis not to take up a second stint in county cricket after du Plessis’ Kolpak contract with Lancashire expired in 2010.In an interview on Indian web show Breakfast with Champions, de Villiers explained how he told du Plessis that he was “pretty close” to national selection at the time he was considering taking up a second deal in England.”There was a moment when he was thinking of signing for one of the English counties,” de Villiers said. “He did call me up, and said what do I think about it? I said listen, not a long time from now there will be a few retirements, a few guys will step down, and you’re pretty close. And the coaches and the team are talking about you, so just hang in a little bit longer. And finally the breakthrough came. I’m not taking credit for that, but we did have that conversation. And I’m very happy I was straight up with him.”De Villiers and du Plessis had been childhood rivals, playing for different primary schools, but when they both attended Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool – also known as ‘Affies’ – in Pretoria as teenagers they became team-mates and friends. A prodigious talent, de Villiers made his Test debut against England in December 2004, before his 21st birthday. Du Plessis’ call-up would only come almost seven years later, against India in 2011, after he had topped the domestic one-day run-charts.ALSO READ: We just want to focus on enjoyment – du Plessis“He waited a bit longer,” de Villiers said of du Plessis. “It happened quite quickly for me. A couple of doors opened up, and I put my hand up at the right time. The path he walked was a different one, but it set him up perfectly for international cricket. I think he was mentally in a great space when he finally made his debut.”De Villiers also opened up on his 2018 retirement, which came as a shock to many South African fans – especially as the World Cup was only a year away. De Villiers said that he wanted to play in the World Cup, but he cited a desire to spend more time with his family and a general weariness with international competition as reasons for his decision. He also said that he “felt cornered” by expectation and criticism, and hinted at other, “deeper reasons” for his departure.”I was keen to play in the World Cup, but I left, I retired,” he said. “So it was a very sensitive situation. For the last three years of my career, I was labelled as a guy who is picking and choosing when I was playing and when not. So I got quite a lot of criticism from back home, which also played a role in me retiring. And it was difficult for me to then go ‘hey, but I’ll still play the World Cup’. It’s that picking and choosing thing again, and it’s quite arrogant to do something like that. But as they say, you can’t have your bread buttered on both sides.”I felt cornered. It’s always been about the team, it’s never been about myself. But I found myself in a position where I had to make a decision where it’s going to look like I’m just thinking about myself.”There’s a lot of reasons I had to move on. Family’s definitely a big part of it. And the longevity of my career, I played for 15 years and I was just tired of the whole international scene. It’s quite busy. Very stressful. And the mental game, the doubts you have as a person and as a player, it wears you down. And being captain of the Proteas for a long time also took its toll. And then there are a few deeper issues that might have to be discussed when I’m 50, one day.”There’s a part of me that will always miss it. Everything that goes with it. I wish I could have pushed on longer, but it was time. I had a great run. I had so much fun, I really did, and more dreams came true than I could ever imagine. And there was lots of heartbreaks as well along the way, and that’s the great ride that we all go through.”