Sports Sunday, March 24, 2019 19

News in brief Qatar coach urges calm to lead MI’s charge against DC today

Mumbai: Rohit Sharma’s Indians will play their ahead of clash first match of the 12th season of the against the at the iconic Wankhede Stadium. Afghanistan have no room for error against Oman AFC U23 qualifiers today Mumbai are known to be slow- starters as they fare much IKOLI VICTOR depends if he’s cleared by the better in the second stage of DOHA medical staff. the IPL than the first stage. Qatar will rely on the de- However, the Mukesh Qatar coach Albert Fernan- fensive duo of Tarek Salman Ambani-owned team will love dez has urged his players to be and Bassam al Rawi, while to improve their record in the ’ Rohit Sharma calm and play without pres- expecting the attacking trio of initial matches of the league during a press conference. sure ahead of their second Abdelrahman Moustafa, Has- when they play their first match group match against Nepal in san Ahmad Alahrak to find the of IPL 2019 against the S Iyer-led Delhi Capitals. their AFC U23 Qualifier at the back of the net. Both the teams failed to qualify for the playoffs last year Aspire Pitch 5 on Sunday. Oman will look to continue but look strong on paper this year. Here are the reasons why Qatar had defeated Af- their winning form in Sunday’s Mumbai Indians will achieve their first victory of the season ghanistan 2-0 in a nervous encounter with Afghanistan, against Delhi. first-half performance, while while the latter have no room Rohit Sharma, Mumbai’s homeboy and ’s top limited- Nepal, against the odds, held for error in their clash against overs opener, will finally open the for his IPL franchise their own to restrict Oman to attacking-minded Oman. in the 12th season of IPL. Sharma has three T20I centuries to just a goal in their loss. The Omanis will hope his name playing as an opening batsman for India and it has The match is important for strikers Muhsen Saleh and Ar- been a long time since he smashed a hundred in the IPL. The both the teams as victory for shad Said find their rhythm af- ‘Hitman’ will love to exploit the batsman-friendly conditions in Qatar depending on the score- ter their profligacy in front of Mumbai. line may put them in the driv- goal against Nepal. Mumbai Indians have , , and er’s seat for automatic qualifi- Meanwhile, coach Mo- in their side. This year, they also opted for the cation. While Nepal still stand hammad Mujtaba of Afghani- services of , the Indian legend, which has only a chance of qualifying, if they stan is confident his players bolstered their strength. The Mumbai Indians also have Ben get an unexpected win against will get the required result Cutting in the mix and thus, they have a variety of options to hosts Qatar. against Oman and possibly choose from. Fernandez said after the finish second in the group with Apart from Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, and the Pandya match on Friday that his play- the hope of finishing among brothers, the Mumbai franchise have a lot of talented Indian ers achieved the most im- the best four teams to join the players in , , , portant result which is a win, eleven group winners. Mayank Markande, and Barinder Sran. knowing how difficult open- “Hopefully in the next two All of them have the potential to win the match for their ing matches are. The Span- Qatar’s Abdelrahman Moustafa is challenged by Amanullah Sardari of Afghanistan during their AFC U23 games we will do better and team on any day. The Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, will ish coach promised that, “We qualifiers at Aspire in Doha on Friday. prepare ourselves well to qual- have to find a way to tackle the Indian players of the Mumbai would have an improved per- ify for the next round as the team to stand a chance of winning the match. formance in the next game. and we are keen to correct the match between Oman and Ne- ident of the equality between second team.” Looking at the recent form of the players of both the Our ambition is to play better mistakes. There were some er- pal, “I would analyse and look the teams and that they are no “Oman are tough but I be- teams, the Mumbai Indians definitely have an upper hand against Nepal and overcome rors that haven’t happened to on their strengths and weak- pushovers. lieve my players can match heading into this match. (IANS) the pressure barrier and be in us before and we are not used nesses so we can capitalise on Fernandez is hopeful his them and get the desired result. a good state of mind. to it because of pressure.” to collect full points.” striker Abdullah Alahrak who We still have a chance of quali- “After each game we study Fernandez said having He added that the slim 1-0 suffered a knock in the game fying and we’ll play with that KKR have task cut out against Sunrisers the negatives and the positives watched the first half of the defeat of Nepal by Oman is ev- is fit and ready for the match confidence,” Mujtaba added. Hyderbad today

Kolkata: Eyeing a third elusive title, Knight Riders (KKR) will have their task cut out when they take on formidable Sunrisers (SRH) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at the on Sunday. Harbhajan leads RCB collapse in IPL opener Two-time champions KKR last won the IPL in 2014 under the captaincy of . Since then, they have made man to cross double figures in what it to the playoffs thrice in four years showing great consistency, Raina first to was the IPL’s sixth lowest total. but the team will want to finish off equally well this time round. Chasing 71 for victory, Super Kings Last season, under the new leadership of seasoned cam- get 5,000 lost opener for nought paigner , KKR incidentally lost to Sunrisers Hy- after got the Aus- derabad by 14 runs in Qualifier-2. Stumper-batsman Karthik led tralian bowled with his leg-spin. from the front, amassing 498 runs and finishing as the team’s runs in IPL , who made 28, and highest scorer. , who scored 19, then put KKR have traditionally boasted of having a superb spin line-up AFP on 32 runs for the second to get and it won’t be different this year. With India’s leading tweaker (India) the chase on track. leading the department, veteran and The left-handed Raina became the experienced will look to make an impact along with India’s led an in- first batsman in IPL history to cross young KC Cariappa who was brought in as replacement to the spired spin attack to help Chennai the 5000-run barrier during his 21-ball injured . Super Kings open the 2019 Indian Pre- stay. Raina (5004) is ahead of Kohli Last year, KKR’s weak link was their pace attack. But accord- mier League season with a comprehen- (4954) in the IPL chart. ing to head coach , the purple brigade have more sive seven-wicket win Royal Chal- Ali dismissed Raina and Rayudu options this time in the fast department. lengers Bangalore on Saturday. was cleaned up by paceman Moham- KKR will miss the services of Mavi and fellow U-19 World Cup Singh and South African leg-spin- med Siraj. , on 13, and winner who is also ruled out due to injury. But ner claimed three , on six, took the Super acquisitions such as New Zealand fast bowler , each to dismiss Royal Challengers for a Kings home. left-arm Englishman and West Indies all-rounder paltry 70, a total the defending cham- “No one wants to start like this, will add to their arsenal. pions achieved with 14 balls to spare in ’ Harbhajan Singh celebrates the wicket of Royal Challengers but it’s good to get a game like this out Coming to the visitors, SRH emerged runners-up in the previ- Chennai. Bangalore’s during the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match of the way -- this early in the tourna- ous edition after losing to Chennai Super Kings in the final by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, at the MA Chidhambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday. (AFP) ment,” said Kohli, who is yet win an eight wickets. who led the Super Kings to their third IPL title. The Kane Williamson-led side has been in cracking form for IPL title after returning from an illegal land’s Moeen Ali for nine and South the win. “I thought CSK played really well, the past few seasons since winning the trophy in 2016 under the gambling ban last year, elected to field African AB de Villiers, also for nine. “The wicket definitely needs to they deserved to win, but I loved to see leadership of . first in the 12th edition of the world’s West Indies batsman Shimron Het- be much better, even with dew it was our team fighting all the way.” All eyes will be on Warner this Sunday, as the southpaw con- most popular Twenty20 league. myer was run out for nought and soon spinning big... other teams have good The T20 extravaganza, tentatively tinues his return to cricket after being banned for a year after the The 38-year-old Singh got Super the Royal Challengers batting crum- spinners as well and this isn’t the pitch scheduled to end on May 12, runs close ball tampering incident. Kings their first breakthrough after bled with spinners Tahir and Ravindra we are looking forward to,” Dhoni said to the start of the 50-over World Cup in Besides the explosive Warner and dependable Williamson, sending back opposition skipper Virat Jadeja, who took two wickets, combin- of the pitch at Chennai’s MA Chidam- England and Wales on May 30. SRH have the likes of , and Yusuf Kohli for six in the fourth over of the ing to pack them off in 17.1 overs. baram Stadium. Pathan who are likely to be their batting mainstays but the team innings. “It was a very good bowling effort Brief scores: will miss who went to Delhi Capitals. Dhawan hit Singh ran through the Royal Chal- by him (Harbhajan) to give us a kind of Raina’s milestone Chennai Super Kings 71 for 3 (Rayudu 28, Chahal 1-6) beat 497 runs and was the team’s second highest run-scorer last year. lengers top-order with his wily off- start that was very well capitalised by Opener top-scored Royal Challengers Bangalore 70 (Parthiv 29, Tahir 3-9, spin, getting the big wickets of Eng- the other spinners,” Dhoni said after with 29 and remained the only bats- Harbhajan 3-20) by 7 wickets Hamad steers Shah XI into Div B final Malinga to retire the Hadico in just 11 balls and In high-scoring Division C left. For the losers, Sahan had a after T20 World Cup They will take on followed it up with an unbeaten matches, Zerone Technologies match-high 70 with two sixes 21 during the Shah XI’s chase and Challengers Club posted and nine boundaries in 47 balls. AFP Redco for to set up the title clash with thrilling victories. Faizal’s 54 with two sixes Centurion () T20 crown Redco, who also crushed Khan Chasing a stiff 176-run tar- and four boundaries and 32 Youngsters by 10 wickets, rid- get against Lankan Knights, by Denzil, who cracked half a Sri Lankan limited overs cap- Tribune News Network ing Rasmi’s superb individual Farhan smashed three sixes and dozen fours, took QF to a fight- tain Lasith Malinga will retire DOHA performance. (Left) Hamad of Shah XI and three boundaries to essay 50, ing 166 for nine. Rafaqat (36 not from international cricket Rasmi of Redco while Raj Mohammed hit a six out), Rahman (33) and Faizan after next year’s Twenty20 Hamad dished out a stellar and three fours in his 44 to lift (31) played main roles in their World Cup, he revealed on all-round showing and steered Hamad removed half the Zerone Technologies to a one- team’s five-wicket win with just Friday. Shah Eleven into the Division Hadico in just 11 balls wicket triumph with three balls one before the finish. Malinga said that he would B final of the Qatar Airways and followed it up with an quit one-day internationals af- Cricket Tournament with a unbeaten 21 during the brief scores ter the World Cup in England dominant nine-wicket tri- Shah XI’s chase to set up and Wales this summer before umph against Hadico. the title clash with Redco Division B semi-finals - Lankan Knights: 175 for six in 20 overs (Sahan 70 in calling time on his career fol- Qatar Airways is proud to be (Left) Farhan of Zerone and Shah XI beat Hadico by nine wickets 47 balls, Nilantha 27 in 26 balls; Anil Thakuri 1/16, lowing the Twenty20 tourna- Hadico: 57 all out in 13.5 overs (Atique 16, Bilal 9; Sanjay 1/28) the official sponsor of the annu- Faizan of Challengers Club Hamad 5 wkts, Alam 3 wkts) Zerone Technologies: 176 for nine in 19.3 overs (Farhan ment, being played in Aus- al Qatar Cricket Tournament. Batting first after winning Shah XI: 58 for one in 8 overs (Javed 31 , 50 in 27 balls, Raj Mohammed 44 in 28 balls; Jeewaka tralia over October-November As the country’s national car- the toss, Hadico were shot (three for 8) and Faheem (two Hamad 21 not out; Saqlain 1 wkt) 2/15, Dimuthu 2/11) 2020. Lasith Malinga rier, Qatar Airways continues out for just 58 in 13.5 overs by for 16) caused them a serious Man of the match: Hamad (Shah XI) Man of the match: Farhan (Zerone Technologies) “After the World Cup, my to play a vital role in enhancing man-of-the-match Hamad and damage, despite Abrar’s fine Redco beat Khan Youngsters by 10 wickets Challengers Club beat Qatar Foundation by five cricketing career is ending,” career.” the already flourishing sports Alam, who bagged three scalps. 45 with a six and three fours. Khan Youngsters: 120 for nine in 20 overs (Abrar 45 in wickets the 35-year-old said after his Malinga dismissed South activities in Qatar and is a keen Then, Shah XI needed only Redco powered to the victory 37 balls, Israr 2 in 16 balls; Rasmi 3/8, Faheem 2/16) Qatar Foundation: 166 for nine in 20 overs (Faizal 54 his side were beaten by 16 runs African top-scorer Reeza Hen- Redco: 123 for no loss in 10.2 overs (Rasmi 77 not out in 41 balls, Denzil 32 in 17 balls; Faizan 3/20, Sami supporter for developing the eight overs to race to the target. as man-of-the-match Rasmi in 36 balls, Marso 31 not out in 26 balls) 2/19) by South Africa in the second dricks for 65 on Friday, his next generation of cricket play- Apart from Hamad, Javed hit slammed six sixes and five Man of the match: Rasmi (Redco) Challengers Club: 167 for five in 19.5 overs (Rafaqat at Su- 97th T20 international wicket. ers in Qatar. 31 not out. boundaries to collect 77 not out 36 not out in 28 balls, Rahman 33 in 26 balls, Faizan perSport Park. He is one short of the world At the West Bay Ground on Khan Youngsters made a in 36 balls. Marso chipped in 31 Division C - Zerone Technologies beat Lankan 31 in 27 balls; Raju 2/35) “I want to play in the T20 record of 98 held by Pakistan’s Friday, Hamad removed half modest 120 for nine as Rasmi not out. Knights by one wicket Man of the match: Faizan (Challengers Club) World Cup and then end my .