Twitter goes berserk as KL Rahul hits fastest fifty in T20 World Cup 2021 to anchor India to victory

SMAT 2021: Ruturaj Gaikwad continues form, Assam cause early upset

The second day of the on-going Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy witnessed some brilliant performances and some turnarounds during the course. While Assam caused an early upset in the tournament against Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Odisha were involved in a nail biter. Here is a look at some of the highlights from the day’s proceedings. Assam vs Gujarat Assam were involved in a huge upset in the SMAT 2021 after they thumped Gujarat by 7 wickets in Delhi on Friday. Batting first, Gujarat were bundled out for 89 in the final over. Mukhtar Hussain was the pick of the bowlers for Assam after he returned with figures of 3/20 in 4 overs. Later, Assam lost three wickets but managed to chase down the target in 13.1 overs. Tamil Nadu vs Odisha Tamil Nadu and Odisha were involved in a nail-biter but the Jagadeesan-led side stole away a win eventually by just 1 run. Batting first, Tamil Nadu put 165/5 in 20 overs after Aparajith top scored with an unbeaten 44 in 20 deliveries. Later, Odisha lost a couple of early wickets but Subhranshu Senapati’s 67 and a 21-ball 38* from Abhishek Raut kept the side in the game till the end but missed to go over the line by a whisker as Odisha were restricted to 164/6 in 20 overs. Ruturaj Gaikwad continues form Maharashtra’s Ruturaj Gaikwad continued his form in the T20 format after he struck second fifty on the trot in the on-going SMAT against Punjab. Gaikwad notched up 80 runs in 54 deliveries that included three maximums and 8 fours during the course to help his side chase down a target of 138 runs by 7 wickets in less than 18 overs. Earlier, in the day, Shubman Gill was also among some runs for his side as he scored a 39-ball 44. Rahane’s important half-century Mumbai were back on track after they comprehensively defeated Services by 17 runs in Guwahati on Friday. Captain Ajinkya Rahane scored a well-compiled 54 off 44 which involved four maximums and three fours to help the side put 154/7 in 20 overs. Later, Mumbai bowlers did the job and restricted Services to 137/7 in 20 overs despite a 49-ball 64 from Rajat Paliwal. Ashwin Hebbar’s ton In a high-scoring encounter between Andhra and Haryana, Ashwin Hebbar struck a fine century as he remained unbeaten at 103 off 53 deliveries to help the side put a formidable total of 179/4 in 20 overs against Haryana in Vadodara on Friday. But the total wasn’t really enough as Haryana rode on some brilliant batting from Himanshu Rana (52 off 30), Shivam Chauhan (45* off 27) and Rahul Tewatia (46* off 25) to chase down the target by 6 wickets and in 17.5 overs. Avesh Khan’s bowling display, Venkatesh Iyer’s all-round show Madhya Pradesh fast bowler Avesh Khan and Venkatesh Iyer rattled the Railways side to restrict them to 97/9 in 16 overs. Avesh scalped three wickets for 23 runs in 4 overs while Iyer picked up a couple at the cost of 20 runs in three overs. Later, Iyer scored 50* off 41 balls and anchored the side to a win by 7 wickets in 13.5 overs. Tamil Nadu are at the top in Elite Group A with 8 points, Bengal are sitting at the helm in Elite Group B with 8 points, Haryana are in front in the Elite Group C with 8 points, Madhya Pradesh are the table-toppers in Elite Group D with 8 points, Hyderabad also have 8 points and presently rank first in Elite Group E while Vidarbha are leading in Plate with 8 points.

T20 World Cup | Mohammad Shami on a roll as India pick team hat-trick, bundle out Scotland for 85

Indian fast bowler Mohammad Shami was on a roll today as he dismissed two players with two yorkers on the first and third ball of his third over, while yet another batter was run out after the ball hit his pads and he tried to scamper a single on the second ball of the same over. This meant that the Indian team picked a team hattrick and brought Scotland from 81-6 to 81-9. The Scots eventually got all-out on 85 as Jasprit Bumrah took out Mark Watt with a perfect yorker in the 18th over. With just 86 to get, the Indian team would look to chase down the total in less than or equal to 43 balls to get their net run rate above Afghanistan and New Zealand. Earlier in the evening, Virat Kohli won the toss for the first time in this series and decided to bowl first. Scotland were cautious initially but Bumrah broke through in the third over and got the Scot skipper Kyle Coetzer. Post that wicket kept falling regularly and they were reduced to 29-4. Michael Leask and Calum MacLeod tried to build a partnership but Ravindra Jadeja was too good for them to counter. Eventually, with the help of Jadeja’s 3-15, Shami’s 3-15, Bumrah’s 2-10 and Ravichandran Ashwin’s 1-29 India managed to get the opposition all out. George Munsey top-scored with 24 for the men in purple. Courtesy of the two wickets, Bumrah has now become the leading wicket-taker in T20Is for India. He overtook Yuzvendara Chahal, who has 63 wickets n 38 innings. Bumrah now has 64 wickets in 52 innings.

A player pissed on my head: Another Asian origin player alleges racism at Yorkshire

As the Azeem Rafiq racism row picks up the pace with England and Wales Cricket Board cancelling all major games at Headingley, all major sponsors pulling out from their deals with the club and its president resigning, yet another blow has hit the Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Another Asian origin former player has alleged racism at the north England club. He asked to remain anonymous as he does not want his family to know what he endured. Saying that the comments and acts of the white players at the club were ‘both blatant and sly’, during his time at the club in the early 2000s. It was due to his treatment at the club that the player left it disillusioned after being unable to receive the same opportunities as white cricketers. Revealing the treatments the player said, “I experienced racism from fellow players both direct and indirect. Believe it or not, I had a player p*** on my head from the hotel bedroom above, as I was on the phone leaning out of my room window.” “Everyone in the Asian cricketing community has known Yorkshire County Cricket Club is racist, yet somehow they have been able to cunningly continue with their agenda,” he added giving an example of how the Yorkshire management still manages to get the nod of being the largest representer of Asian talent. “I and others were used as a statistic. When people said Yorkshire were racist, their reply was, ‘How can we be — we have X amount of Asians on our books?” he said. While racial slurs were still something that players found hard to deal with it, they were attacked on religious lines as well. Telling another story, the player said he overheard ‘senior players’ — both still involved at Yorkshire —talking about ‘how they “sh**ged a bird” in the hotel room who was on her period and made a mess, and all they could find is a Muslim player’s prayer mat to clean it up. Sick or what. These are supposed to be your teammates and people I looked up to.’ These allegations were made by the player through Sportsmail and when the paper asked Yorkshire to respond, a spokesman said, “This behaviour would be completely unacceptable to the club. It goes without saying we will investigate thoroughly.”

T20 World Cup | NZ vs NAM: Late surge with bat, clinical bowling puts Kiwis closer to semi-final spot

A clinical bowling performance from New Zealand against Namibia helped them attain the second spot in the Group 2 points table after they defended a target of 164 runs on Friday in Sharjah. Namibia were off to a decent start after openers Stephan Baard Michael van Lingen had put 47 runs on the board in less than eight overs but Jimmy Neesham provided the Blackcaps with a much-needed breakthrough as he cleaned up van Lingen for 25 off 25 deliveries. Lingen’s departure saw Namibia losing wickets at regular intervals and they were left tottering at 102/5 in the 18th over only to end up getting restricted to 111/7 eventually. For the Kiwis, it was their bowlers who took the onus on themselves and didn’t let the Namibian batsmen cut loose. While Boult returned with figures of 2/20 in 4 overs, Southee also scalped a couple of wickets as well for 15 runs in his allotted 4 overs. Apart from these two, Mitchell Santner, James Neesham and Ish Sodi picked up one wicket each. The spinners prevented the batters from taking any advantage in the middle overs and the required rate kept rising for Namibia. Earlier, in the day, New Zealand rode on a brisk partnership between Glenn Phillips and Neesham to put 163/4 in 20 overs on the board. The Kane Williamson-led side were reduced to 87/4 in 14 overs before Phillips and Neesham joined hands and provided them with resistance. The two batsmen put up an unbeaten stand of 76 runs for the fifth wicket. While Phillips scored 39* off 21, Neesham remained not out on a 23-ball 35 to help New Zealand post a good total. New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson said that the track in Sharjah was a challenging one. “I think we all know what we have to expect here (Sharjah), it's a real scrap. We tried to maximise that short side, it was a challenging surface. The guys played well to get us to 160. You need to build those partnerships and try to maximise towards the end. An over or two can crack the game, that was our focus today,” he said in the post-match presentation. New Zealand will now play Afghanistan on Sunday in Abu Dhabi while Namibia will lock horns with India on Monday in Dubai.