Monday, 7 April 2025

It Would Be Honour To Coach Team India: Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan, former Indian left-arm fast bowler and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) mentor for the Indian Premier League, has said that it will be an honour if he gets an opportunity to coach Team India. "It would be an honour to coach Team India," Zaheer Khan told Boria Majumdar in Kolkata at a CII event, according to a video posted by RevSportz on their X handle. The left-arm fast bowler went on to participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for two additional years before retiring in 2017. Following his retirement, Zaheer Khan worked as a bowling coach with Mumbai Indians in international cricket prior to accepting a position as a mentor at LSG in 2024.

Zaheer Khan made his debut in the ICC Knockout Cup in 2000 and immediately hit the headlines when he yorked Steve Waugh, beating him for pace. An Indian express-pacer was a once-in-a-blue-moon discovery, and his ability to bowl fast yorkers at the death, move the ball off the deck and in the air, and maintain his pace set him apart from the more metronomic fast bowlers that India was used to.

In his illustrious international career, Zaheer picked up 311 Test wickets in 92 matches and overall 610 scalps in 309 international matches across all formats for Men in Blue.

Zaheer was a member of the 2011 World Cup-winning team and the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy team, which India shared with Sri Lanka due to a lack of results in the finals.

Zaheer represented the Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. He played 100 matches in the IPL and bagged 102 wickets at an economy rate of 7.59.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)



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RCB Stars Collide, End Up Spilling Catch; Ritika Sajdeh's Reaction Viral

Jitesh Sharma and Yash Dayal collided on the field as they ended up missing a catch during the IPL 2025 encounter between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians on Monday. During the 12th over of the MI innings, Suryakumar Yadav miscued a delivery from Yash Dayal and the ball went high up in the air. Both Dayal and Jitesh went for the catch but there was a huge miscommunication between the two cricketers. In the end, they ended up colliding with each other as the ball spilled out of Dayal's hands. Both cricketers were left unhappy while replays showed Jitesh was hit on his face. The incident left the crowd thrilled and Rohit Sharma's wife Ritika Sajdeh's reaction has gone viral on social media.

Earlier, following his half-century against Mumbai Indians (MI), star Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Virat Kohli hailed Devdutt Padikkal and skipper Rajat Patidar for their valuable contributions and expressed importance of evolving his game with changing times in the shortest format of the sport.

Fans at Wankhede Stadium became witnesses to a power-packed performance from RCB batters, as Virat and Patidar registered brilliant fifties while Padikkal and Jitesh Sharma played fine supporting hands against MI at Wankhede Stadium.

Speaking after the innings, Virat said, "That was pretty good. After losing a wicket on the second ball (of Phil Salt), we countered pretty nicely. Dev (Padikkal) played a brilliant impact knock for us, really changed the momentum towards us. I got a few going as well. That partnership was really important for us to set that total on the board. My strength is to get my touch and feel of the ball early on, then I can play the shots that I want to. I tried to innovate a bit, tried to play different shots off spin as well and then tried to hit different areas of the ground. You need to keep evolving your game and keep up with the demands of the situation in T20 cricket. When I time the ball nicely early on, I have better chances to contribute."

Virat hailed Padikkal for his impactful cameos during last few games when early wickets fell for RCB and feels that a huge score is just around the corner for the left hander.

"That partnership was important for us to go deeper into the innings, get guys like Jitesh Livi (Liam Livingstone) and Tim David towards the back end of the innings. What Rajat did is what Rajat does most often. It was a great inning by those two as well - Rajat and Jitesh got us those extra 20-25 runs. One of their spinners was out of the game. It was difficult for the chinaman to bowl. That gave us 20-25 runs. What happened with wickets not falling was that one of their spinners was out of the game, and that played out to be an important factor for us because we knew once the spinner is out of the game, then the fast bowler with shorter boundaries will find it tough."

"The wicket was not as straightforward as it seemed. Hardik was taking pace off the ball consistently and was not coming onto the bat. We have a good score on the board. Hopefully, we break that jinx today (RCB have lost their last six matches vs MI at this venue). We have got a strong bowling line-up, and early inroads in the powerplay will help," he concluded.

(With ANI inputs)



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Sunday, 6 April 2025

IPL 2025 Points Table: SRH Stay At Bottom, GT Rise To...

Skipper Shubman Gill led by example with a classy half-century after Mohammed Siraj bowled with fire in his belly to return excellent figures of 4/17 as Gujarat Titans crushed Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets in their IPL match in Hyderabad on Sunday. Sent at number four, Washington Sundar too showed his class with a 29-ball 49 as GT registered their third win in four outings, even as SRH suffered their fourth defeat in five matches. The chase of 153 was completed with as many as 20 balls to spare, with Gill making an unbeaten 61 off 43 balls. Bowling first, GT restricted SHR to 152 for eight with left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore (2/24) and seamer Prasidh Krishna (2/25) too performing admirably on a slow surface.

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Mohammed Shami (2/28) and Pat Cummins (1/26) brought SRH back into the contest with their early strikes as GT found themselves at a tricky 16 for two in the fourth over.

B Sai Sudharsan (5) could not keep his shot down and was caught at square leg off Shami, and Cummins then dismissed Jos Buttler for a three-ball duck with a back of a length delivery that nipped back in sharply, and Heinrich Klaasen did the rest behind the stumps.

The two wickets gave SRH a glimmer of hope but skipper Shubman Gill and Washington Sundar joined forces to stitch a third-wicket partnership of 90 runs to pave the way for their team's win.

Helping the GT duo to get their innings up and running after the early wobble was a horrendous sixth over from pacer Simarjeet Singh, who conceded 20 runs to ease the pressure on the visitors.

Simarjeet was guilty of repeatedly bowling short and Washington took full advantage of it by pulling and hooking him for two sixes over fine leg after collecting two fours.

Gill was all class reaching his half-century in 36 balls with the help of some delightful shots but Washington got out one short of what would have been a well-deserved fifty.

A flurry of boundaries from Sherfane Rutherford (35 not out off 16 balls) then helped GT finish the game with plenty to spare.

List of batters with most runs -

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Earlier, Siraj dismissed struggling openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma cheaply before coming back to add two more wickets to his tally.

Head (8) had a fortuitous start as his edge off Siraj went past the stumps for a boundary.

However, Siraj had the last laugh as the pacer got rid of the danger man from Australia when the opener flicked one for Sai Sudharsan to complete a smart diving catch at mid-wicket.

The crowd at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium found their voice after a few boundaries.

Siraj, however, had other ideas as the pumped-up seamer sent back Abhishek after the batter took the aerial route but failed to get the timing right and was caught at mid-on.

This meant the SRH openers' struggles continued in this edition of the IPL as the side reached 45 for two at the end of the power play.

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Even as the visitors dominated proceedings at that stage, they faced some anxious moments when Glenn Phillips got injured. After being attended to by the physio, Phillips hobbled off the field.

Ishan Kishan (17) perished when he miscued a pull off a Prasidh Krishna short ball to deep square leg where Ishant completed the catch.

The duo of Nitish Kumar Reddy (31 off 34 balls) and Klaasen (27 off 19 balls) tried to revive SRH innings with a fifty-run stand for the fourth wicket, a phase where GT got a few fours and a six by the South African big-hitter against Rashid Khan.

But just when SRH looked like laying the foundation for a respectable score, left-arm spinner Sai Kishore picked up the prized wicket of Klaasen whose leg stump was disturbed as he rocked back to employ the pull shot.

Reddy too perished while trying to smash Sai Kishore out of the park, leaving SRH at 105 for five in the beginning of the 16th over.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)



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Controversy Hits IPL 2025 As Fans Slam 3rd Umpire Call During SRH vs GT Game

The dismissal of Washington Sundar sparked a massive controversy during the IPL 2025 match between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday. Washington looked in brilliant form as he dominated the SRH bowlers but he was ultimately dismissed for 49 by Mohammed Shami. During the 14th over of the GT innings, Washington slammed a short of length ball from Shami towards sweeper cover and Aniket Verma ended up taking a brilliant catch. However, the umpires were not convinced whether he cleanly collected it or not. They decided to go for a review and although some replays suggested that the ball may have touched the ground, the third umpire ruled against the batter. The dismissal led to a massive discussion on social media with several users criticising the decision.

Skipper Shubman Gill led by example with a classy half-century after Mohammed Siraj bowled with fire in his belly to return excellent figures of 4/17 as Gujarat Titans crushed Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets in their IPL match on Sunday.

Sent at number four, Washington Sundar too showed his class with a 29-ball 49 as GT registered their third win in four outings, even as SRH suffered their fourth defeat in five matches.

The chase of 153 was completed with as many as 20 balls to spare, with Gill making an unbeaten 61 off 43 balls.

Bowling first, GT restricted SHR to 152 for eight with left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore (2/24) and seamer Prasidh Krishna (2/25) too performing admirably on a slow surface.

Mohammed Shami (2/28) and Pat Cummins (1/26) brought SRH back into the contest with their early strikes as GT found themselves at a tricky 16 for two in the fourth over.

(With PTI inputs)



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Saturday, 5 April 2025

"Our Nation...": Rizwan's Response After Pak Suffer 0-3 Battering vs NZ

Pakistan's captain Mohammad Rizwan said the team needs to improve. "Disappointing series for us. (Positives) Babar was in good touch with two fifties. Naseem Shah's batting as well. In the bowling, Sufiyan Muqeem was the guy who bowled really well. I give credit to New Zealand in all departments. They've been playing well. We know that these are difficult conditions for us here, but they played in Pakistan really well. They played against us in Pakistan. There are professionals in all departments. We need to improve, that's it." Mohammad Rizwan said at the post-match presentation.

"In New Zealand, it's very important to play well against the new ball. We'll learn from here and fix it. If you lose, you can't say like that (when asked if today was their best performance of the tour). Individually, we are good. New Zealand won all the key moments. After the Champions Trophy and this series, we'll leave the past. PSL is a big tournament for us in Pakistan, hopefully our nation will enjoy. Hopefully, we'll do well in PSL," he added.

Ben Sears's second five-wicket haul on the trot inspired New Zealand (NZ) to whitewash Pakistan (PAK) with a 3-0 ODI series triumph, following their 43-run success in the third and final series clash at Bay Oval on Saturday.

Batting first, New Zealand showcased their strength to rack up a competitive 264/8 on the scoreboard. In a game reduced to 42 overs due to a wet outfield, Pakistan's attempt to chase a target of 265 ultimately fell short as they were bowled out by New Zealand for 221 in 40 overs. New Zealand captain Michael Bracewell received the player of the match award for his outstanding fifty and one wicket.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)



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PM Modi Meets Sri Lanka's 1996 WC-Winning Team On Visit To Island Nation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday interacted with members of the 1996 World Cup-winning Sri Lankan cricket team and said the triumph captured the imagination of countless sports lovers. PM Modi is on a two-day official visit to Sri Lanka. The PM arrived in Colombo on Friday night for bilateral discussions and the signing of several key pacts between the two nations. Later on Saturday, he met the members of the Sri Lankan World Cup-winning side that defeated the Mark Taylor-led Australian team by seven wickets in the final at Lahore. "Cricket connect! Delighted to interact with members of the 1996 Sri Lankan cricket team, which won the World Cup that year. This team captured the imagination of countless sports lovers!" wrote the PM on 'X'.

The members of the triumphant side, including Kumar Dharmasena, Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas, Upul Chandana and Marvan Atapattu presented Modi with a memento on the occasion.

"In Colombo, PM @narendramodi interacted with the members of the 1996 Sri Lankan cricket team, which won the World Cup that year. Here are a few glimpses from their interaction," wrote the PM's official account while posting images of the interaction.

In the final played on March 17 at the Gaddafi Stadium, the Arjuna Ranatunga-led Sri Lanka chased down Australia's 241/7 for the loss of just three wickets with De Silva scoring an unbeaten 107.

Romesh Kaluwitharana, an explosive opening batter of his time, said after the meeting that India had always stood with Sri Lanka, especially during the crisis.

De Silva, the all-time great Sri Lankan batter, praised Modi, saying the Indian PM is well respected around the world.

Jayasuriya said the interaction with Modi was a great experience, and noted that the Indian PM spoke about his work since coming to power in 2014.

Former pacer Vaas said Modi had good cricketing knowledge and discussed with the players their 1996 World Cup campaign.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)



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Friday, 4 April 2025

New Zealand vs Pakistan 3rd ODI, LIVE Score Updates

New Zealand vs Pakistan 3rd ODI, LIVE Score Updates: Pakistan will be hoping to get a consolation win as they take on New Zealand in the third and final ODI of a rather unsuccessful white-ball tour. Pakistan were hammered 4-1 in the T20I series, and have already been outclassed in the first two ODIs of the series. Having previously beaten Australia and South Africa in ODI series away from home, Pakistan haven't been able to replicate the same against New Zealand, continuing on from their disastrous Champions Trophy 2025 campaign. (LIVE SCORECARD)



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