Cricket news round-up – February 1: India Men, Women both emerge triumphant

Indians took 4-0 lead in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand after another thrilling Super Over win, while Indian Women began their journey in Australia with a win as well. Pakistan booked a seat in the semi-final of the Under-19 World Cup, while Sri Lanka got away with a draw against Zimbabwe.

Another Super Over loss for New Zealand

India beat New Zealand in the Super Over yet again in the fourth T20I in Wellington. The fixture that looked like New Zealand’s game was hijacked by the Indian bowlers towards the end and a Super Over finish went in favour of India.

Thanks to KL Rahul’s 39 and late blast from Manish Pandey (50*) India could manage to score 165/8. Indians started to lose wickets from the beginning and Ish Sodhi ended as the star bowler for the Kiwis with 3/26. Hamish Bennett took two wickets for 41 runs. During the chase, New Zealand were looking more solid and settled with 97/3 in 12.1 overs. Seven runs were required off six balls eventually and a young Shardul Thakur was given the responsibility to deliver the over. He replicated what Mohammed Shami had done in Hamilton and conceded just six runs from the over. Moreover, he went on to scalp two wickets in the 20^th over which also saw two run-outs.

In the Super Over the hosts had to face the deadly Jasprit Bumrah and the bowler was successful to restrict them for 13 runs. Virat Kohli walked in with the in-form KL Rahul as the stand-in skipper Tim Southee took the responsibility of facing the duo. KL started off by smashing a maximum. It was followed by a boundary and then KL was sent back on the third ball of the Super Over. The captain hit the winning boundary for India on the fifth ball.

Test drawn between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka

The second Test match between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka ended in a draw as Sri Lanka won the series 1-0. Zimbabwe proved to be better side at various points of the match but could not complete an unlikely victory by bowling Sri Lanka all out on a 5^th day pitch.

Zimbabwe declared the innings after playing just one ball, on which the captain Sean Williams completed his fifty with a six. It also enabled Zimbabwe to use heavy roller to break the pitch further. Zimbabwe got an early breakthrough when Carl Mumba got the wicket of Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne but the number three Kusal Mendis ensured that there was no pressure on Sri Lanka for most of the day. Mendis was involved in key partnerships with Oshada Fernando (47), Angelo Mathews (13) and Suranga Lakmal (13*) to take Sri Lanka to a safe 204/3 by stumps. During this time, he reached his 7^th Test century and remained unbeaten on 116. Sikandar Raza was the Man of the Match for his all-round show.

India Women take lead

Indian eves started their campaign in Australia Tri-nation Women’s T20 series with a strong win over England. Harmanpreet Kaur guided the chase after the bowlers provided an impressive show. Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad opened the bowling and provided two key wickets in her first two overs. Her opening partner Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma also finished with two wickets each. For England, the captain Heather Knight’s 67 and Tammy Beaumont’s 37 took them to 147/7.

For India, Shafali Verma again provided a good start with 25-ball 30. There was also a strong contribution from Jemimah Rodrigues (26 off 20) as India reached 82/3 after her dismissal in the 11^th over. Captain Kaur then ensured that she stayed at the crease till the end and completed the victory in the 20^th over with her unbeaten 42 off 34 balls. She also got good support from Sharma, who remained unbeaten on 12.

Pakistan reach Under 19 World Cup semi-final

A strong overall showing by Pakistan Under 19 team took them to the semi-final of the Under 19 World Cup where they would face India Under 19 in one of the cricket’s biggest rivalry. Pakistan beat Afghanistan comfortably by six wickets with almost nine overs to spare. Batting first, Afghanistan put up 189 in 49.1 overs as all the Pakistan bowlers got at least one wicket each. Mohammad Amir Khan was star for them as he ended with 3/58. For Afghanistan, the captain Farhan Zakhil top-scored with 40.

There was some controversy during Pakistan’s innings as the top-scorer Mohammad Huraira was mankaded while backing up by Noor Ahmed. Otherwise, it was an easy chase for Pakistan once the openers scored 61 runs within 12 overs. There was a cluster of wickets in the middle overs, but Qasim Akram and Mohammad Haris added unbeaten 63 runs in the 5^th wicket to take them to victory.