TUESDAY-MARCH 30, 2021 Sport 05 IPL 2021: CSK rope in Sam Curran's superb unbeaten Afghanistan’s Noor Ahmad and 95 in vain as India beat England Fazalhaq Farooqi as net bowlers KABUL: Chennai Super they would finish at the bottom. overseas players who have been in series-deciding third ODI Kings (CSK) seem to have learned However, they managed to avoid recruited by CSK as net bowlers their lessons from the setback they the last-place finish after ending are Afghanistan duo – Noor Ah- A magnificent unbeaten 95 received last year. The three-time the season with three wins on the mad and Fazalhaq Farooqi. from Sam Curran came in vain as champions paid a hefty price for trot. And in order to ensure that 16-year old Noor Ahmad is a India secured a clean sweep of not preparing well for IPL 2020 they do well in the upcoming sea- left-arm leg-spinner and has al- series wins over England with a as their pre-season preparation son, CSK have been taking sever- ready plied his trade in the Big dramatic seven-run victory in the was affected by positive COVID- al steps to prepare well. They Bash League for Melbourne Ren- crucial third one-day internation- 19 cases. 13 members of the team started their preparation earlier egades. The teenager was also set al. including two players tested pos- this month in Chennai before mov- to play in last year’s Caribbean With England faltering in their itive soon after landing in the ing to Mumbai last week. The Premier League after being draft- chase of 330, the all-rounder made UAE. likes of MS Dhoni, Ambati ed by the St Lucia Zouks. How- the most of being dropped on 22 As a result, the entire CSK Rayudu, Suresh Raina, and ever, he was forced to miss the and thumped nine fours and three team had to isolate while the oth- Dwayne Bravo have already competition after failing to secure sixes in his 83-ball knock but, left er seven teams were busy prepar- joined the camp. a transit visa through the UK. needing two sixes from the last ing for the tournament. The lack CSK rope in Afghanistan duo Farooq, on the other hand, is two balls, he came up just short. of practice hurt MS Dhoni & Co. CSK have not only started a left-arm fast-bowler. The 20- Quickfire half-centuries from as they failed to make it to the their preparations for IPL 2021 year-old recently made his debut Rishabh Pant (78 from 72 balls), playoffs for the first time in their well ahead of all the other teams, for Afghanistan. He played in one Shikhar Dhawan (67 from 56) and history. CSK struggled for con- but they have also roped in sever- T20I against Zimbabwe during the Hardik Pandya (64 from 44) had sistency throughout the season. al overseas players to ensure that recently-concluded three-match helped India to post 329 in Pune, They also struggled with the team- the practice is of the highest qual- series in Abu Dhabi. He bowled despite a lower-order collapse see- combination and finished IPL ity. Earlier this month, South Af- four overs on his debut and picked ing them bowled out in 48.2 overs. 2020 at the seventh spot in the rica fast-bowler Hardus Viljoen up one while giving away Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3-42) eight-team competition. was seen to the CSK 27 runs. then removed England's two in- At one stage, it looked like stars in the nets. And the latest Monitoring Desk form openers, and Jon- Krunal Pandya and Thakur Hardik dropped a relatively sim- play, only to fall for 29 when ny Bairstow early, and the tour- (30 off 21) added a useful 45 but ple chance as he came round from Bhuvneshwar came back into the ists' chase suffered a serious blow when Wood, who had been on and mid-off. attack in the 31st over. when Shardul Thakur (4-67) dis- off the field and looked visibly Fortunately for Hardik, it did England were not done though missed Liam Livingstone (36 from unwell, had the latter caught be- not prove too costly as Stokes with Curran and Rashid keeping 31) and Dawid Malan (50 from hind, the innings subsided quick- departed for 35, hitting a waist- them up with the required rate but 50) in quick succession. ly - the last four going high full toss from T Natarajan when Kohli took a stunning one- The game looked up when down for just eight runs - as India down the throat of Dhawan at handed catch in the covers to get Moeen Ali (29) departed to leave were unable to marry the fast start deep square leg. rid of Rashid (19) and give Thakur England 200-7 but Curran shared with their usual barnstorming fin- Stand-in Buttler's dis- his fourth wicket, it looked like it stands of 57 and 60 with Adil ish. appointing one-day series was was game over. Rashid and Mark Wood, respec- Wood (3-34) got Krunal (25) completed when Thakur trapped Curran, having been given a tively, to keep England in conten- after a superb catch from Roy and him lbw, India reviewing to over- life when Hardik dropped a regu- tion right until the end with a su- then bowled Prasidh Krishna (0) turn the original '' decision lation catch in the deep, reached perb first ODI half-century. before Reece Topley (1-66) dis- and leave England 95-4. his half-century from 45 balls and The all-rounder took it down missed Bhuvneshwar (3) early in It was left to Malan and Liv- cleared the ropes with a couple of to 23 from the last three overs but the 49th over. ingstone, both relative novices in lusty blows, but with just the tail after two dropped catches and a England looked set to get off ODI cricket, to get the innings for company, he faced an uphill run out in a thrilling finale, En- to another flyer in the chase as back on track and they did so im- task. gland finished on 325-9, leaving Roy hit three boundaries from the pressively; Malan elegantly kept The game seemed to be get- India to celebrate an ODI series first five balls, only to be bowled the score ticking over while Liv- ting away from England before Lewis Hamilton fends off success to go with their triumphs by the sixth, a beautiful in-swing- ingstone went boundary hunting. Thakur came back for his final over Todd in the Tests and T20s. er from Bhuvneshwar getting However, after adding 60 in and Curran thumped two fours Having been put in again, In- through his defence and hitting the 8.4 overs, the pair fell in succes- and a huge six over long-on to bring Max Verstappen in dia took a different approach with top of off. sive Thakur overs. Livingstone the visitors right back into con- Frazier the bat. Gone was the gradual Bhuvneshwar removed the in- toe-ended a full toss back to the tention, needing 23 from 18 balls. thrilling late duel to win build towards an explosive cre- form Bairstow (1) lbw in his next bowler before Malan, having Bhuvneshwar bowled a su- scendo in the last 10 overs, re- over and having accounted for pulled through midwicket to bring perb 48th over, conceding just opts out of first F1 2021 race placed by a tactic more in line England's much-vaunted opening up his maiden ODI fifty, tried to four, while it took the tightest of with England's: go hard and go pair early, it should have been three repeat the shot and picked out DRS reviews to deny him the Formula 1 2021 is alive and historic eighth title. early. in three overs for India's star seam- Rohit inside the circle. Ali kept wicket of Wood after the England Pirates kicking as Lewis Hamilton won Don't miss a second. Watch Dhawan, in particular, em- er; Stokes, on 15, skying the ball England's faint hopes alive with No 10 had been given out lbw on the Bahrain GP after surviving a every race live, only on Sky Sports braced that during the powerplay, as he tried to hit over the top but some typically stylish stroke- the field. gripping late-race battle with Max F1. getting after anything loose and deal Verstappen - with the season- "It was one of the hardest rac- peppering the boundaries, as he opener serving up an epic and ul- es I've had for a while," said Hamil- raced to a 44-ball half-century. ‘Dark day’: Pakistan football HQ timately controversial superstar ton, who took a record-extending The opening stand had duel. 96th victory. reached 103 before Adil Rashid (2- The lead changed hands three "They have had an amazing 81) broke it with a superb googly attacked, women’s event scrapped times between the predicted title performance all weekend, so it was that turned to beat Rohit Sharma Karachi, Pakistan – Pakistan A PFF spokesperson added In 2015, Pakistan was protagonists before Verstappen, going to take something really (37) through the gate and hit off football’s headquarters have been that “staff was physically ha- banned by FIFA due to third- who started on pole, chased down special." stump. The legspinner struck attacked, with the chairman of the rassed and held hostage”. party interference and there is Hamilton in the closing stages - It was one of the great sea- again in his next over, another FIFA-appointed Pakistan Foot- Shah was named PFF presi- fear among football circles that even overtaking the Mercedes son-openers which hinted at a sea- googly drawing a leading edge ball Federation (PFF) Normali- dent after a 2018 election held on Saturday’s events might lead to with three laps remaining as Red son-long head-to-head fight be- from Dhawan and the bowler held sation Committee (NC) saying he the instructions of the country’s another suspension. Bull looked set to lay down their tween F1's two superstar drivers. on to the return catch. was forced to hand over the or- Supreme Court. Malik said he suspects the marker for the championship. But Verstappen was under- England's fightback, led by ganisation’s accounts and cheque FIFA, football’s world gov- officials who took part in the “at- But, dramatically, Verstappen standably distraught after losing their spinners, continued when Ali books. erning body, and the Asian Foot- tack” will be banned and “FIFA was forced to cede the position the chance to take his first-ever (1-39) ended a 340-ball wicket- Haroon Malik, the PFF NC ball Confederation refused to rec- will probably declare them as Todd Frazier is a free agent back to Hamilton after executing championship lead - particularly less run in ODI cricket by claim- chair, said Saturday’s attack was ognise him as the elected presi- ‘persona non-grata'”. searching for a new team after the move at Turn Four while off unhappy about the call to make ing the prize scalp of Virat Kohli led by former PFF President Syed dent, ruling the court’s move a “FIFA takes these matters he decided to opt out of his deal the track. him hand the lead back to Hamil- (7), the India skipper bowled as Ashfaq Hussain Shah who was “third-party interference” in run- strongly and will likely ban Pa- with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Hamilton, who withstood im- ton. he played back to a that accompanied by other officials. ning of the national football body. kistan which means we won’t Sunday afternoon. mense pressure on older tyres, "I could have easily pulled turned sharply to hit the top of “I was working at the office In 2019, FIFA installed the have functional football for five Frazier joined the Pirates on then aced the final laps to take his those five seconds [for a penal- leg stump. when a mob, organised by Shah, NC – initially chaired by Humza years. This will just kill football a minor-league deal and had a first season-opening win since ty]. Pant and KL Rahul (7) stead- barged into my office and asked Khan – to strengthen the football in the country,” added Malik. choice to opt out of the con- 2015, giving the Englishman the I am prepared to lose a win ied things briefly before the latter me to hand over charge of the PFF structure in Pakistan, aiming to The incident also forced the tract if he did not expect to make perfect start in his pursuit of an like that than be second like this." handed Livingstone (1-20) a wick- and all bank accounts,” Malik achieve a functioning administra- cancellation of the ongoing wom- the big-league roster. He hit et with his second ball in ODI told Al Jazeera on Sunday. tion by conducting transparent en’s football championship that three home runs in 28 at-bats cricket; the part-time spinner send- “They restrained me and elections. After Khan’s resignation kicked off earlier this month in during spring training but could ing down a leg-stump full toss that locked the doors, shouting and in December 2020, FIFA named the southern coastal city of Kara- not seem to carve out a spot as was hit to short fine leg where Ali telling me to hand over the PFF Malik as the body’s chair. chi. With 19 teams comprising a backup to first baseman Colin clung on to a good catch. to them. They were furious about Tensions have been brewing young female footballers coming Moran and third baseman Losing four wickets in less not conducting the elections. I over the past months between the from all over the country to take Ke’Bryan Hayes. than 10 overs did not deter India, told them I will provide a road- group led by Shah and the NC over part in the event, the cancella- The 35-year-old plans to though, and Pant and Hardik were map and we should discuss it in a what they see as a delay in hold- tion left participants shocked and continue his career rather than soon driving the hosts forward, civilised manner.” ing elections. disappointed. retire, Jon Heyman of MLB three sixes off an Ali over the clear- “It is a dark day for all wom- Network reported. est example of their big-hitting en football players in the coun- In 1,231 career games, Fra- potential and positive intent. try. Football in Pakistan is suf- zier has hit .242 with 218 hom- The partnership quickly fering again due to politics,” said ers, 636 RBIs and 73 stolen reached 99 and a score of 400 was Taha Ali, coach of Karachi Unit- bases. He ripped 21 homers well within India's reach before ed Football Club. “The actual with the New York Mets in 2019 Curran (1-43) dismissed Pant, stakeholders in this game are the but struggled more at the plate thanks to a fabulous reaction players and coaches, but we feel last season, hitting .236 with catch, one-handed behind the powerless in this situation.” four homers and 12 RBIs in 45 stumps from Jos Buttler after he The club’s captain, Nina Ze- games split between the Mets had initially been wrong-footed. hri, said footballers crave the ex- and Texas Rangers. Hardik eased to a 36-ball fif- posure that national and interna- Fraizer was a two-time All- ty soon after, only to be bowled tional tournaments offer and a Star (2014, 2015) for the Cin- behind his legs by Ben Stokes (1- possible suspension will lead to cinnati Reds and smacked a ca- 45) at the end of the 39th over, losing years of exposure on the reer-best 40 homers for the Chi- just as India would have been gear- national and international circuit. cago White Sox in 2016. ing up for another onslaught. aljazeera reuters