Babar Azam hits blistering hundred in National T20 Cup

Pakistan national skipper Babar Azam hit a blistering century in the ongoing National T20 Cup 2021 on Thursday, 30 September. Playing for Central Punjab, Babar, who opened the innings alongside Ahmed Shehzad, went on to record his fifty in 35 balls the 12th over itself but slowed down considerably after new man Shoaib Malik came to the crease after the fall of Mohammad Akhlaq. 

The skipper then picked up the pace once again and hit his last 35 runs in just 16 balls, which included reaching his sixth T20 century with three consecutive fours off Haris Rauf in the 19th over. In his knock of unbeaten 105 off 63 balls, which came at a strike rate of 166, the 26-year-old hit 11 fours and three sixes at the Pindi Stadium in Rawalpindi. 

Courtesy of his innings and useful contributions from Malik, Shehzad and Akhlaq, the Central Punjab unit reached 200 of their allotted 20 overs and posted a daunting total for Northern to chase. 

If Babar’s team goes on to win this game, they will strengthen their position at the second spot in the points table which is currently occupied by Northern, although the two teams have the same number of points in the same number of games. As far as Babar himself is concerned, he is currently the top scorer of the tournament with  215 runs from four innings. To his credit, he has a fifty and a hundred now. 

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England to tour Netherland for three CWC Super League games in June 2022

Netherlands Cricket Association announced that the England Men’s team will be travelling to their country for a three-match ODI series as part of the ICC Men’s CWC Super League. The games will be played on 17, 19 and 22 June in 2022 and all of the matches will be held at cricket club VRA in Amstelveen. The tour was originally supposed to take place in 2020 but was postponed due to Covid-19. To facilitate more fans to watch this historic event, the KNCB has decided to erect extra stands especially for these games, thus increasing the total capacity of visitors to 8000. Speaking on this occasion, CEO KNCB, Milena van Not said, “It is great to be able to be host country for these games. In June we have shown in Utrecht at the CWC Super League series against Ireland, that we are able to organize such an event besides achieving excellent sports performances.” “It is a magnificent opportunity to be able to organize such an event again next year, the difference being thousands of cricket fans from both home and abroad having the opportunity to be present this time. I can’t think of a more beautiful cricket event,” she further added. So far, The Netherlands have played three matches in the Super League and have won two of them against Ireland. They would have a go at seven more Test-playing nations as part of them having qualified in December 2017 for this Super League, which is also the qualifying tournament for ODI World Cup 2023 to be held in India. Apart from England, the Dutch will also host Pakistan and the West Indies in 2022.

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IPL 2021 | RR vs RCB: We have struggled with our batting, admits Kumar Sangakkara

Rajasthan Royals suffered a batting collapse despite getting a brisk start against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dubai on Wednesday night. While openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Lewis were on a roll and the two batsmen put 77 on the board for the first wicket, none of the other batters got into the groove and the Royals were eventually restricted to 149/9 in 20 overs. Expressing his disappointment on the way the batting unit has fared, RR RR's director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara pointed out that the side was struggling in the Power Plays during the first leg while it has been a vice versa scenario during the second phase. "In the first-half of the tournament in India we were struggling in the power plays and the middle and late-middle order was getting us back into the games. In the second phase we've gone the opposite way," said Sangakkara during the post-match conference. "We're winning the power plays quite comfortably, except in the Delhi game, in the sense we're getting the runs that we need. And then we're not really understanding how to manage the middle and the death. When we get the platform like we did today, 100 runs for 1 after 11 overs, how to kick on from there, get to 180-185 we need to figure,” he added. RCB later rode on some fine piece of batting from the top and middle-order to chase down the target by 7 wickets and in the 18th over. While captain Virat Kohli and opener Devdutt Padikkal provided them with a decent start, a partnership of 69 runs for the third wicket between Striker Bharat and Glenn Maxwell anchored the side to an easy win. Bharat struck 44 off 35 while Maxwell remained unbeaten at 50 off 30 during the course.