SUNDAY-OCTOBER 25, 2020 Sport 05

Trent Boult and Ishan Kishan spur Mumbai to Egypt’s Al Ahly through to African Champions League final crushing win over Chennai despite fifty Egyptian giants Al Ahly claimed a place in the final of Afri- ca's top club competition for a record-extending 13th time as Sam Curran's first fifty for chise to 114-9 only for Mumbai an IPL match has been decided their blushes. De Kock remained in the they beat Wydad Casablanca of Morocco 3-1 in the second leg of failed to to rocket to victory off just 12.2 by such a margin - and the first Defending champions game, stumping Deepak Cha- their Champions League semi-final on Friday for a 5-1 aggre- stave off a humiliating 10-wick- overs as openers Ishan Kishan time Super Kings have been on Mumbai, meanwhile, are all har for a duck, leaving Curran gate win. et mauling at the hands of ta- (68no off 37 balls) and Quin- the wrong end of such a ham- but ensured a play-off spot af- with a major repair job - sixes Already 2-0 up from last weekend’s first leg in Casablanca, ble-topping Mumbai Indians in ton de Kock (46no off 37) mering - while it is the seventh- ter chalking up a seventh win off Chahar and Nathan Ahly went further in front after seven minutes through Marwan Sharjah. knocked off the runs in merci- quickest of those results. despite being denied the ser- Coulter-Nile soothing Chen- Mohsen, although the goal was only confirmed after a lengthy Curran, demoted from less fashion. Rock-bottom Chennai un- vices of captain Rohit Sharma nai's wounds a little. VAR check. opener to seven in the order, The pair plundered seven ravelled so quickly and spectac- due to a hamstring injury; in Super Kings passed their Hussein El-Shahat added the second in the 26th minute at played a lone hand after Chen- sixes and 11 fours between ularly that at an early stage his absence, stand-in skipper lowest ever score of 79, against the end of a super individual effort in which he turned defend- nai imploded to 3-4, then 21-5 them to earn Mumbai their first they appeared on track to post Kieron Pollard extended his Mumbai in 2013, when Imran ers twice before placing the ball into the net. Defender Yasser Ibrahim netted the third when he headed at the hands of seamers Trent 10-wicket win in their IPL his- the lowest total in IPL history - winning sequence as captain to Tahir back-cut Krunal Pandya home a corner on the hour mark. Boult (4-18) and Jasprit Bum- tory and send them top of the the unwanted record currently 15 games. for four and Curran's curbed Zouhair El Moutaraji bagged a consolation for the visitors rah (2-25). standings ahead of Delhi Capi- held by Royal Challengers Ban- Boult set the tone for the invention found an outlet in a nine minutes from the end. The England all-rounder tals and Royal Challengers galore for their 49 all out match by opening with a wick- ramped four off Coulter-Nile. struck two sixes on his way to Bangalore on net run-rate. against Kolkata Knight Riders et-maiden, trapping Ruturaj Ahly, who have won the Champions League a record eight The pair shared a face-sav- times, must wait until next weekend to find out who they play in 52 off 47 balls to drag his fran- This is the 13th time that in 2017 - before Curran saved Gaikwad - Curran's replace- ing ninth-wicket stand of 43 ment as opener - lbw for a fifth- the final on Nov. 6. before Curran was cleaned out The second leg of the semi-final between Zamalek of Egypt ball duck on his way to his best by Boult off the last ball of the figures in the IPL. and Raja Casablanca was scheduled for Saturday but postponed innings, the Surrey player hav- by eight days because of an outbreak of COVID-19 infections in Bumrah followed up with ing just reached his second IPL two wickets in as many balls in the Raja camp. fifty off 46 balls thanks to three the following over as Ambati fours in four balls. Rayudu gloved behind and Mumbai's chase cut a dash Narayan Jagadeesan was caught in the slips. as De Kock and Kishan plun- MS Dhoni (16) swayed out dered boundaries seemingly at of the way of the short hat-trick will, racing to 52-0 in the six ball but the procession contin- powerplay overs. ued as snicked a Both openers enjoyed mo- temptingly-wide delivery from ments of luck but kept their foot Boult behind and Ravindra on the pedal, with Kishan strik- Jadeja, looking to attack, ad- ing back-to-back fours off Cha- vanced down the track only to har before pulling him for a pull the Kiwi seamer to short magnificent six. midwicket. The 22-year-old posted his The board read 30-6 when fifth IPL fifty off 29 balls, get- Dhoni was well caught by wick- ting there with a reverse sweep etkeeper de Kock looking to for six off Jadeja and celebrat- repeat a straight six down the ed by launching the spinner's ground off Rahul Chahar (2- next delivery over the stands at 22). midwicket. FIFA President Infantino not interested Premier League Darts champion Glen in backing European Super League Durrant tests positive for coronavirus Recently-crowned Premier beating Nathan Aspinall in the All other event personnel League champion Glen Dur- Premier League final in Cov- required to test prior to, or on, FIFA President Gianni In- tion with the backing of the glo- tino said FIFA was focused on “For me, it’s not about Bay- rant has withdrawn from this entry last week, had been set fantino said on Thursday he is bal soccer body. the success of the revamped ern Munich against Liverpool, their arrival in Riesa have re- weekend's International Darts to compete in the European not interested in a European In an interview published Club World Cup, which will but Bayern against Boca Jun- corded a negative test. Open after receiving a positive Tour event in Riesa, but will Super League amid reports that by German-language newspa- feature 24 teams and be held iors. From the original field of test for coronavirus. now be required to isolate in some elite clubs were in talks per Aargauer Zeitung and oth- for the first time in China in “Liverpool have 180 million qualifiers, Niels Zonneveld has Durrant, who sealed his line with Government guide- to set up a breakaway competi- er regional Swiss media, Infan- 2022. fans worldwide. Flamengo have first PDC televised title by lines. also withdrawn after earlier in- 40 million fans and 39 million forming the PDC of his self- of them are in Brazil. Liverpool isolation requirements after have maybe 5 million fans in receiving a positive test earlier England and 175 million fans in October. around the world,” he added. Kyle Anderson, Peter “I want clubs from outside Europe to have global appeal in Wright, Dirk van Duijvenbode the future. That’s my vision: and Ryan Murray had also pre- to have 50 clubs and 50 nation- viously withdrawn from the In- al teams who can become world ternational Darts Open. champions.” As a result, eight players Sky News reported on Tues- will come from the Host Nation day that more than 12 teams Qualifier in Riesa on Thurs- from Europe’s top five leagues day night to complete the 48- -- in England, France, Germa- player field for this weekend's ny, Italy and Spain -- were in event. negotiations to become the founding members of the new Adrian Lewis and Stephen competition with a provisional Bunting will return to action start date in 2022. in Riesa this weekend after re- FIFA had previously de- ceiving negative results to clined to comment on its report- COVID-19 tests this week, hav- ed involvement in the plans. ing tested positive ahead of the alarabiya recent World Grand Prix. Justin Thomas holds one-shot lead in California Justin Thomas continued his hot start to the Zozo Championship to grab a one-shot lead after another low-scoring day in California. Dylan Frittelli and Lanto Griffin matched Thomas' score to sit in a share of second, with Patrick Cantlay a further stroke back in tied-fourth alongside Scottie Scheffler and Richy Werenski jump- ing within three of the lead after a course-record 61. Tyrrell Hatton leads the European interest after three birdies in the last four holes helped him to a four-under 68, lifting him to tied-sixth, while Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods both lost further ground on the lead despite carding rounds of 67 and 66 respectively. Beginning on the back nine, Thomas made a two-putt gain at the 11th and holed a 20-footer from off the next green, with further birdies over his next two holes followed by another at the par-four 16th. Thomas birdied the first and made par at the next despite finding water with his approach, before converting a 10-footer at the third and seeing out his bogey-free card by draining clutch 15- foot par-save at the par-three eighth. "I played well," Thomas said. "I'm not very pleased with the finish. The last six holes I would have liked to at least have got something. Definitely having a 5-iron and a 5-wood out of the fairway into two par-fives and making two pars is not good. Justin Thomas reflects on posting a second successive 65 and setting the clubhouse target at the Zozo Championship. "I had a great par save there on 8 and I hit a lot of good shots, I just wasn't near as tight and tidy those last four holes. So just try to go work on that a little bit to where hopefully it's fixed for the weekend." Frittelli also got to 14 under with five birdies in a six-hole stretch but then bogeyed the par-four last, while Griffin held a share of the lead until missing a ten-footer to save par on his final hole of the day.