Efforts are on, will bowl soon: Hardik Pandya

Ellyse Perry: First woman to complete the double of 5000 runs & 300 wickets in international cricket

Australia’s Ellyse Perry achieved a unique feat in world cricket as she took the wicket of India Women batter Pooja Vastrakar during the third day of the only Test between the two teams taking place at the Metricon Stadium in Gold Coast. With that wicket, the 30-year-old completed three hundred wickets in international cricket and became the first woman in the history of cricket to claim a double of 300 international wickets and 5000 international runs. In total, she took two wickets in the first innings of India as apart from Pooja, she also dismissed debutant Yastika Bhatia. In batting, the right-handed batter is currently unbeaten on 27 from 97 balls and is key to the 25 run stand between herself and Ashleigh Gardner, the last recognised batting pair. Australia are 143-4 in reply to India’s 377-8 declared, at the end of day three. The Test has been hugely marred by rain in the first two days. Apart from Perry, West Indies women skipper Stafanie Taylor has crossed more than 7966 runs with the bat and has 238 wickets to her credit. She is only 30 years old and has played in 11 matches less and bowled in 45 innings less than Perry. The Jamaica-born looks like the only player that can catch up to Perry on the list. Among other all-rounders, South Africa’s Dane van Niekerk has scored more than 4000 runs and taken more than 200 international wickets.

MS Dhoni features in his 200th IPL match as captain

The Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni featured in his 200th IPL match as a skipper during the match against Rajasthan Royals in Abu Dhabi. Dhoni has captained the Super Kings since the beginning of the IPL and has led the side to the title win thrice. They were first crowned champions in 2010 and then defended the title in 2011 and later lifted the trophy in 2018 season of the IPL. Apart from IPL, CSK have also won Champions League twice in 2010-11 and then in 2014-15 editions of the competition. Dhoni led Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016 after CSK along with Rajasthan Royals was slapped with a two-year ban in a spot-fixing scandal. He was then sacked from the captaincy in 2017 despite leading RPS to the final in the previous edition. The 2020 IPL season was the first instance when Chennai Super Kings failed to make a place for themselves in the playoffs. In 215 IPL matches that MS has played, he has scored over 4600 runs at a strike-rate of 136.3.

IPL 2021 | MI vs DC: What Experts said after Shreyas Iyer's 'mature' knock takes Delhi over the line

Delhi Capitals continued their form against Mumbai Indians after chasing down a target of 130 runs by 4 wickets in Sharjah on Saturday. The Capitals had a struggling start to the chase after they lost openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvis Shaw at a team score of 15. The Delhi side kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were reduced to 93/6 before R Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer joined hands and provided the much-needed resistance. The two batsmen stitched a partnership of 39 runs for the seventh wicket and took the team over the line. Nathan Coulter-Nile was the pick of the bowlers for MI after he returned with figures of 1/19 in 4 overs. Earlier, in the day, MI once again struggled with the bat and had a dismal start to the proceedings after losing skipper Rohit Sharma for 7. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were reduced to 111/7 to eventually get restricted to 129/8 in 20 overs. Suryakumar Yadav top-scored for Mumbai with 26-ball 33. DC pacer Avesh Khan rattled the MI batting unit and scalped a three-wicket haul for his side at the cost of 15 runs in 4 overs. Apart from Avesh, spinner Axar Patel was also among wickets as the left-hander returned with figures of 3/21 in 4 overs. Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma put the onus on batting for a disappointing show against DC. “We didn't bat well, we didn't create those partnerships, we always knew that it wasn't a 170-180 wicket, we knew 140 is a par score here. We just couldn't get the partnerships going. If your batters are not going to put runs on the board, it's going to be difficult to win games consistently,” he said during the post-match presentation. Experts’ Opinion Former India player Yuvraj Singh lavished praise on Shreyas Iyer for his “mature” knock. “Sometimes you have to play the situation than the expectation! Well played Shreyas Iyer mature knock,” Yuvraj tweeted. Journalist Ayaz Memon lauded Iyer and R Ashwin for a responsible and unbeaten stand that helped the side to win the match. “Sensible, clever, excellent partnership between Iyer and Ashwin takes DC home in a tense match. Rohit tried every gambit to defend modest score and almost succeeded till these two played with control and cunning to take DC home. Big setback for MI in quest for place in play off,” he wrote on Twitter. Commentator Harsha Bhogle hailed DC after the win. “Whatever the conditions, Delhi Capitals seem to have the right players. That auction three years ago was one of their finest hours,” he said. DC will now play CSK on Monday in Dubai while MI will be up against RR on Tuesday in Sharjah.

IPL 2021 | KKR vs SRH: With missing pieces in the puzzle, Kolkata take on Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders will be up against each other in Dubai on Sunday. This might be a dead rubber for SRH but KKR would probably look at this clash as an opportunity to grab a couple of crucial points. The race for the last two playoffs’ spots has become more intense. Moreover, the Knight Riders’ defeat at the hands of Punjab Kings has put them in a spot of bother. The game against a depleted SRH is an opportunity for KKR to stay alive in the tournament. KKR have got a stable opening combination after the introduction of Venkatesh Iyer who along with Shubman Gill has been able to give the side steady starts during the Dubai leg of the IPL 2021. Apart from these two, Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana too have been scoring some decent amount runs consistently. But the failure of middle-order with the bat and sloppy fielding are some of the major concerns for the Kolkata team management. On the other side, SRH have suffered defeats in nine out of the 11 matches that they have played in this edition and have already been knocked out of the tournament. But the Sunrisers did make some changes in their line up and included Jason Roy in place of former skipper David Warner. The right-hander scored a half-century in the first match that he played while failing to leave a mark in the next encounter. The Hyderabad side has faced a major issue of batting collapse and not scoring enough runs in the middle overs which has pushed them on the back foot. Barring Jason Holder, none of the batsmen have chipped in with some aggressive batting performance which eventually prevented SRH from putting up big scores on the board. Talking about the last match between SRH and KKR, Kolkata rode on some brilliant batting from Rana and Tripathi and a brisk knock from wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik to put 187/6 in 20 overs. Later, Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow scored individual fifties but failed to take the team over the line and lost the match by 10 runs. Match Details Date – Sunday, October 03, 2021 Time – 7:30 PM IST Venue – Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Broadcast: Star Sports Network and Disney Hotstar Pitch Report The last encounter at the venue saw some runs being scored in both the innings. While Venkatesh Iyer was on song for KKR while batting first, PBKS captain KL Rahul was too among the runs. Opener Mayank Agarwal chipped in with a valuable 27-ball 40 while Shahrukh Khan played a cameo of 9-ball 27 to see the side home. The track is expected to behave in the same manner and the batsmen would have to get their eye in before they start to accelerate. So, if you win the toss, elect to bat as the surface is unlikely to tweak much as the game progresses. Missing piece in the puzzle for KKR KKR skipper Eoin Morgan has failed to cross the double-figure mark in the second half of the IPL and this probably is one of the major reasons for Kolkata’s middle-order batting woes. A batsman of Morgan’s calibre has the ability to hold the fort from one end but his lean patch has created pressure on others. KKR have been getting some decent starts especially in the UAE leg and if Morgan gets among runs, the side would be unstoppable. Fielding- A headache for KKR “Initially we didn’t field that well, we put catches down, myself early and other guys, it has cost us," Morgan said during a post-match interview with the broadcasters after the game against Punjab Kings. In fact, PBKS won the match off a catch that went begging by the fielder at deep mid-wicket region. The Knight Riders are at such a crucial junction in the tournament that they can’t really afford to miss the trick in the field especially when you have Brendon McCullum in the coaching staff. Team News SRH: The Sunrisers Hyderabad have already been eliminated from the tournament but the result of this match can put a major impact on the playoff scenarios. KKR: The Kolkata Knight Riders were without the services of all-rounder Andre Russell against PBKS after he had sustained a hamstring injury during the match against Chennai Super Kings. There is now update on whether he will be available for the game against SRH or not. McCullum admitted that it is difficult to get the balance after such a void is created in the line up. “In terms of the balance, when you take out a world class all-rounder like Russell, it’s always difficult to balance your side,” the former New Zealand skipper said. Probable XI KKR: Venkatesh Iyer, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy SRH: Jason Roy, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul Fantasy XI Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Jason Roy, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Sunil Narine, Jason Holder (vc), Venkatesh Iyer (c), Shivam Mavi, Rashid Khan, Varun Chakravarthy