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CPL 2021 | Final: Dominic Drakes steals last ball victory for Patriots

When Dominic Drakes was signed up by St Kitts and Nevis Patriots for Caribbean Premier League 2021, the management wouldn’t have imagined him winning a crucial match like the season finale, especially with bowlers of the stature of Sheldon Cottrell, Dwayne Bravo and international stars like Naseem Shah and Fawad Ahmed present in the side already. 

Well if this was hard to think, imagine how wild it would have been to think that the guy you signed up as a bowler, who has no hundreds or fifties to his credit in domestic cricket would go on to win you the most important game of your franchise history with the bat? But then what are victories if not for wildest dreams to come true. 

And St Kitts and Nevis realised their wildest dreams when Drakes hit the last ball of the final match down to the short fine leg and completed a single to win the first-ever CPL title for the Patriots in their seven-year journey of the league. 

Chasing a target of 160 set up by their St Lucia Kings, who were playing their second consecutive CPL final, having lost to Trinbago Knight Riders last year, the Patriots had a shaky start losing Chris Gayle in the very first over. 

While Roston Chase was responsible for the first dismissal, he single-handedly made it possible to get rid of in form Evin Lewis with a cracker of a catch at the boundary line. At 26-2, the Patriots looked in trouble chasing such a huge total. Soon,  a 45 run partnership developed between wicket-keeper batter Joshua da Silva and Sherfane Rutherford. 

The Patriots’ chase seemed to be motoring along until both da Silva and Rutherford fell in quick succession with the men in black and green still needing 85 to get from 55 balls. It is at this instance that Drakes entered the arena. First with skipper Dwayne Bravo and then with spin bowling all-rounder Fabian Allen, Drakes stitched important partnerships to take Patriots to 139-5 with only 21 needed off the last 12 balls. However, Allen fell in the first ball of the 19th over and all the responsibility came on the shoulders of Drakes.  

The left-hander hit a six and took a single to give the strike to Sheldon Cotrell who too hit a four and even though he got out on the last ball of the over, got the Patriots in winning distance from the total. 

With nine needed off the last over and Drakes on strike, he was blacked to do it. Kesrick Williams, the Kings bowler though had other ideas as he kept the 23-year-old batter quiet for the first four balls. 

With five needed off the last two balls, Williams missed his full length by just a whisker and that was enough for Drakes to drive it past cover-mid-off for a four. A single on the last ball meant that Drakes was off the crease dancing and his teammates were out of the dog out, ready to pounce on him and celebrate. 

Earlier in the day, after winning the toss, St Lucia Kings decided to bat first. Their start was not as they expected as last game heroes Mark Deyal and Andre Fletcher fell in quick succession even as Rahkeem Cornwall ket firing at the other end. Chase provided some support to the opener, but after a 42 run stand was broken and Cornwall was out. 

Then, Chase and Tim David tried resurrecting the innings but hadn’t it been for Keemo Paul’s 39 off 21 balls, the Kings couldn’t have reached 159. Chase was the joint top scorer with 43 runs in the Kings innings alongside Cornwall. 

Overall Chase turned out to be the fin of the tournament as he scored 446 runs in 12 games and took 10 wickets as well. Receiving the Most Valuable Player of the Season award, the 29-year-old said, “Very thankful for this. My advice to youngsters is you always have more time than you think in T20s, so don't rush.” 

Drakes was awarded Man of the Match for his 48 runs and 1-38 with the ball.

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IPL 2021 | Punjab Kings Road to UAE: It wasn’t smooth sailing but greater challenges lie ahead

The Punjab Kings started the 2021 IPL season with a change in name, hoping that it would bring a change in the fortune of the team as well. The team, which hadn’t tasted success since 2014 by remaining out of the top four thought that the change in the name would bring some change in the fortune too. However, that hasn’t been the case so far with the Kings winning only three of their eight games of IPL 2021. The journey so far The IPL 2021 started in a great way for the Kings when they defeated Rajasthan Royals in a close encounter by four runs. KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda were the heroes of the game for the team even as Saju Samson’s century almost won it for the Royals. In their second game, the Kings tasted defeat as they were decimated by the Chennai Super Kings when Deepak Chahar ran through the defences of the Punjab players. Post the Supekings humiliation, the Kings lost one more game in Mumbai where they were outdone by the Delhi Capitals, courtesy of a Shikhar Dhawan masterclass with the bat. From Mumbai, the caravan of the Kings moved to Chennai, but without much change in the fortunes as they once again folded for a low total against Sunrisers Hyderabad and were mauled by nine wickets. Just when it seemed that this season is going to be no different story for the Kings, having lost three back to back games, they sprang up a surprise and won against the defending champions Mumbai Indians. In the game against Mumbai, the bowlers were at their level best and so were the batsmen in skipper Rahul and experienced Chris Gayle. But in the very next game against the Kolkata Knight Riders, the same batsmen failed and it became very difficult to understand the trajectory of the Kings in the season. The difficulty only increased when they came back in the next game once again and beat the then table-toppers Royal Challengers Bangalore defending 179 and getting the opposition restricted to 145 in the 20 overs. In that game, a star was found in the form of Harpreet Brar for Punjab Kings who removed three greats AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli and Glen Maxwell in the very same game. However, in their last game in the India leg, Punjab Kings, who were thinking of getting a move on after a great win over RCB, were overhauled by Delhi capitals and Shikhar Dhawan once again. New signings: Blessing in disguise? The changes that Punjab Kings were forced to make for the UAE leg of the league might actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise. The two Aussie pacers in Riley Meredith and Jhye Richardson which they bought at hefty amounts for the first leg didn’t really prove their mettle much and hence signing an all-rounder Nathan Ellis and spinner Adil Rashid in their place makes a lot of sense. Dawid Malan’s unavailability is unfortunate as he looked in good touch. But the replacement Aiden Markram has been equally good and that too on spinning tracks in Sri Lanka, making it a great replacement. The fact that Markram can roll his arm over if needed, makes him an even better prospect at the top of the order. Final PBKS Squad Batsmen: Aiden Markram, KL Rahul (C&WK), Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran (WK), Prabsimran Singh, and Sarfaraz Khan. All-rounders: Chris Gayle, Darshan Nalkande, Deepak Hooda, Fabien Allen, Harpreet Brar, Jalaj Saxena, Moises Henriques, Saurabh Kumar, Shahrukh Khan, and Utkarsh Singh. Bowlers: Adil Rashid, Arshdeep Singh, Chris Jordan, Ishan Porel, Mohammed Shami, Murugan Ashwin, Nathan Ellis, and Ravi Bishnoi. What to expect in the UAE leg? With three wins from eight games, the Kings are currently sitting in the sixth position on the points table and the next six matches are as crucial as it gets for them to finally make it to the Playoffs of the IPL. To make the Playoffs, they would need their new foreign recruits as well as old ones, especially Nicholas Pooran, who has been in great form in the CPL 2021 to come good. They need at least four victories to come in the contention for a playoff spot and to win four out of six is not going to be easy. But then what is victory if it comes easy, cause it never has.

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Hanuma Vihari parts ways with Andhra, to return to Hyderabad after five years

Hanuma Vihari has parted ways with his domestic Ranji side Andhra Cricket Association after a period of five years, the Indian cricketer said on his Twitter account. He also informed his next destination and said that he will be returning to the Hyderabad team from the next year. Vihari was in England with the Indian squad albeit he could make it into the playing XI for the World Test championship against New Zealand and four Test matches against England. Vihari made his first-class debut way back in 2010 against Jharkhand and has gone to amass a truckload of runs to claim a place in the Indian Test side. His international debut against England in 2018 at the Oval. He has played 94 first-class matches and has piled on 7,261 runs at an outstanding average of 55 with the help of 21 hundred and 37 half-centuries. He rose to prominence with a staggering 752 runs from just six games in the 2017-18 season of the Ranji trophy and the number of runs was enough for the Indian selectors to give him his maiden call up. He doesn’t have a superlative set of numbers to show at the international level with just 624 runs from 12 Tests but his batting exploit has come in to rescue India in various circumstances. Earlier this year, he battled with a hamstring injury and formed an unshakable partnership with Ravichandran Ashwin to save the third Test of the series against Australia which paved the way for India’s series win at the Gabba in the final Test.

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PCB offers retainers domestic to 191 cricketers, top category players to earn up to 5 Million PKR

Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to raise the retainers fee of its domestic cricketers and has thereby offered central contracts to 191 domestic players divided into five categories, with the top category players earning as much as 5 Million Pakistani Rupees if they play all the matches of the upcoming domestic season starting from September 15. “The cricket board confirmed the list of 191 players who will be offered the enhanced packages for the 157-match six senior men’s events from 15 September to 30 March,” PCB said in a release. “As such, a Category A+ player, featuring in all matches, can earn up to PKR5million,” it added. The new retainer has increased all the pay slabs by PKR 1 Lakh on the suggestions of the new PCB chief Ramiz Raja. According to the 1new retainer list, the 10 players in the A+ category of the list will receive a monthly retainer of PKR250,000 each, followed by PKR185,000 each for the 40 cricketers in Category A, PKR175,000 each for 40 players in Category B, PKR165,000 each for the 64 players in Category C and PKR140,000 each for the 37 players in category D. It is important to note that the retainers are in addition to the match fees, daily allowances, share in prize money and PCB-arranged lodging, boarding and travelling fee that they already receive. PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja while speaking on this major change said, “It is extremely important that our domestic cricketers are paid well-enough so they continue to focus on upgrading their skills and fitness levels without worrying about how they have to take care of their families, loved ones and careers.”