Cricket news round-up – 3 April 2019: Rajasthan open account, New Zealand announce World Cup squad

Cricket news round-up – 3 April 2019: Rajasthan open account, New Zealand announce World Cup squad

Shreyas Gopal IPL 2019 12 Rajasthan Royals RR

Rajasthan Royals opened their account in IPL 2019 with a 7-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore, at Jaipur, while New Zealand have announced their 15-man squad for the upcoming World Cup.

In other news, former India Women coach and Baroda cricketer Tushar Arothe has been arrested under betting allegations, and Sri Lanka Cricket have slapped a $7,500 fine on Dimuth Karunaratne.

Royals open account

Rajasthan Royals won their first match of IPL 2019, in four attempts, when they beat Royal Challengers Bangalore at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, by 7 wickets with 1 ball to spare. Bangalore are still winless after four matches.

Bangalore put up 158/4 in 20 overs. They should have done better, but Parthiv Patel (67) got to face only 41 balls out of 104 when he was at the crease. Shreyas Gopal was the wrecker-in-chief: his 4-1-12-3 included the wickets of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Shimron Hetmyer.

The chase was set up by Jos Buttler (59), supported by cameos from Ajinkya Rahane, Steven Smith, and Rahul Tripathi. Yuzvendra Chahal waged a lone battle for his 4-0-17-2, during the course of which he clinched the Purple Cap.

New Zealand pick uncapped Blundell

New Zealand have announced their squad for the 2019 World Cup. The most notable inclusion is of wicketkeeper Tom Blundell, who has played Tests and T20Is but not ODIs. Blundell was drafted in for the injured Tim Seifert. New Zealand already have a batsman-wicketkeeper in Tom Latham.

The squad reads:
Kane Williamson (c), Tom Latham (wk), Tom Blundell (wk), Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Ross Taylor, Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.

Arothe arrested

Tushar Arothe, former Baroda cricketer and coach of India Women, was one of 19 people arrested under allegations of being part of a Vadodara racket that got involved in betting on Monday’s IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Capitals.

Arothe had played 114 First-Class matches, mostly for Baroda. His son Rishi currently plays for the same team. He had also coached India Women to the final of the 2017 Women’s World Cup.

Karunaratne fined

Dimuth Karunaratne, captain of the Sri Lanka Test side that had won the historic series in South Africa earlier this year, was arrested for drunk driving on Tuesday.

Karunaratne has now been slapped a fine of USD 7,500 (about LKR 1.31 million) by SLC. However, he will lead Kandy in the upcoming Super Provincial One-Day Tournament.