Cricket news roundup – 24th March 2019: Chennai thrash Bangalore in IPL 12 opener

Chennai Super Kings routed Royal Challengers Bangalore by 7 wickets – with 14 balls to spare – in the opening match of IPL 2019, at M Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai, following which MS Dhoni slammed the Chepauk pitch.

In other news, Lasith Malinga has announced that he will retire after the 2020 World T20, while Nigeria qualified for the 2020 Under-19 World Cup.

Chennai stroll to victory

CSK kick-started the 12th edition of the IPL with an easy win over RCB. Asked to bat, RCB lost Virat Kohli in the fourth over, but things did not look hopeless at 38/2 in the eighth over with AB de Villiers at the crease.

Then the Chennai spinners – Harbhajan Singh (3/20), Imran Tahir (3/9), and Ravindra Jadeja (2/15) bowled out RCB for 70 on a dry pitch. Parthiv Patel, who had opened with Kohli, scored 29 of these and was last out.

For CSK, Shane Watson fell for a duck, but there were no further hiccups. They won in the 18th over.

Dhoni slams Chepauk pitch

Despite the win, CSK captain MS Dhoni expressed dissatisfaction with the Chepauk pitch in the post-match presentation: “I never expected the wicket to play how it actually played. It was too slow. Definitely it needs to be a lot better than where it is right now. Even with the dew, it was still turning a bit.

“It needs to be high-scoring. Something like 140-150 is something you are looking at; 80, 90, 100 or 120 is very low-scoring. If you saw how the wicket played and if you have genuine spinners in your attack it will be very difficult to score runs. So the wicket needs to get much better than where how it is now.”

Malinga to retire

Sri Lanka limited-overs captain Lasith Malinga has announced that he will retire after the 2020 World T20 in Australia. With 97 wickets, Malinga is the second-highest wicket-taker in the history of T20 internationals, behind only Shahid Afridi.

Malinga had also led Sri Lanka to their only win in the World T20, in Bangladesh in 2014.

Nigerian teens create history

Nigeria will feature in the Under-19 World Cup for the first time, in the 2020 edition in South Africa. They reached there with a 2-wicket win over Sierra Leone on the last day of the Africa Qualifiers Division One in Namibia.

Sierra Leone were bowled out for 138 by Mohammad Taiwo (2/21), Peter Aho (2/49), SA Okpe (2/23), and Abdulrahman Jimoh (2/2). Haroun Kamara (58 in 60 balls) was the only one to put up some resistance.

In response, Nigeria were reduced to 91/7 despite a 47-run fourth-wicket stand. GE Ngegba (2/24), OT Sankoh (3/13), and S Conteh (2/19) did most of the damage. But Aho (21*) held the fort to steer Nigeria home, in the company of E Boniface, then Jimoh.