T20 Cricket World Cup Archives - Lokmarg

India Wins Series Against NZ As Third T20I In Napier Ends In A Tie

By LokMarg 22nd November 2022

Heavy rain interrupted play with Team India scoring just enough for a tie in the final T20 against New Zealand here and walking away with a series win in the three-match series.

The Duckworth-Lewis method was employed as the rain did not allow play after India had scored 75/4 in 9 overs chasing a target of 161 runs.
With the first match having been washed away due to rain and India having won the second match, the Hardik Pandya led-team clinched the series 1-0. This is the second time India has won a T20 series under the leadership of Pandya. India had earlier won a series against West Indies under his leadership earlier this year.

Chasing 161, the visitors did not get the best of starts losing opener Ishan Kishan dismissed by Adam Milne for 10 in the second over as they lost the first wicket with only 13 runs on the board.

Rishabh Pant looked dangerous in his short stay but was dismissed in the very next over by Tim Southee for 11 of 5 balls. In the very next ball, Shreyas Iyer was sent packing to leave India tottering at 21/3.

India desperately needed a partnership and skipper Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav did just that by taking India’s total beyond the 50-run mark in 4.4 overs.

India went on to score 58 runs with the loss of three wickets in six overs of powerplay. Ish Sodhi was introduced into the attack and he broke the 39-run partnership.

Deepak Hooda walked out to join his skipper Hardik Pandya and the duo took India’s total to 75/4 in 9 overs. Rain then interrupted the play and it started pouring heavily forcing the umpires to call off the match.

India’s score of 75/4 in 9 overs was on par with the Kiwis as per the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Mohammed Siraj was declared as ‘Player of the Match’ while Suryakumar Yadav was named ‘Player of the Series.

Earlier in the day, New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat first. New Zealand faced a jolt in the second over as pacer Arshdeep Singh trapped Finn Allen leg-before-wicket for just three runs off four balls. NZ was 9/1 in 1.3 overs.

Mark Chapman joined Devon Conway, the other opener. Both started to hit Indian bowlers with some clean strikes. Conway in general looked aggressive, smashing Arshdeep for two fours and a six in the fourth over.

The duo was slowly building a good partnership but Chapman found Arshdeep at mid-on on Mohammed Siraj’s second delivery of the spell. Chapman was back for 12 off 12 balls. Kiwis were reduced to 44/2 in 5.2 overs.

Glenn Phillips joined Conway. At the end of six overs, NZ was at 46/2, with Phillips (1) and Conway (23) unbeaten.

Phillips and Conway brought up their fifty-run stand in 43 balls. In the second half of the innings, Phillips upped his run rate, smashing Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Harshal Patel for fours and sixes. Conway brought up his half-century in 39 balls, while Phillips brought up his eighth T20I fifty in just 31 balls.

At the end of 15 overs, the Kiwi’s scorecard was much healthier at 129/2, with Phillips (53) and Conway (54) still on the crease.

The 86-run partnership between the duo came to an end as Siraj dismissed Phillips for 54 off 33 balls. New Zealand was at 130/3 in 15.5 overs.

Arshdeep also took another wicket quickly, sending back Conway for 59 off 49 balls. Kiwis were at 146/4 in 16.4 overs.

India continued to make a comeback in the match. As the pair of Siraj and Pant dismissed a dangerous James Neesham for a duck. In 17.1 overs, NZ had lost five wickets for 147 runs.

Mitchell Santner was Siraj’s fourth wicket, he was back in the pavilion for just one.

Kiwis’ collapse continued as all-rounder Daryl Mitchell was dismissed for 10 off five balls and Ish Sodhi was also dismissed. Arshdeep got both wickets, taking his wicket tally to four. NZ was at 149/8.

Adam Milne was run out by Siraj for zero. Kiwis finished their innings 160 all out, with Harshal Patel taking the last wicket, dismissing Tim Southee for six.

Mohammad Siraj was the pick of the bowlers, taking four wickets for 17 runs in four overs. Arshdeep also took 4/37. Harshal took a wicket.

Brief Scores: New Zealand: 160 in 19.4 overs (Devon Conway 59, Glenn Phillips 54, Mohammad Siraj 4/17, Arshdeep Singh 4/37) vs India 75/4 in 9 overs (Hardik Pandya 30*, Suryakumar Yadav 13; Tim Southee 2/27). (ANI)

India Beat South Africa In the 2nd T20I To Clinch Series

By LokMarg 2nd October 2022

David Miller’s explosive ton went in vain as Indian bowlers held their nerve to clinch the T20I series 2-0 after a 16-run victory in the second T20I against South Africa at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati on Sunday.

With the win, Team India took an unassailable lead of 2-0 over South Africa. For South Africa, Miller slammed an unbeaten 106 in 47 balls, while Quinton de Kock played a knock of not out 69 off 48. For India, Arshdeep Singh bagged two wickets while Axar Patel settled for one wicket.

Defending the target of 238, India’s Arshdeep Singh dented South Africa’s chase by bagging the wickets of Temba Bavuma and Rilee Rossouw in one over.

Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock then played some careful shots while taking singles to ease some pressure from the team. Axar Patel then gave Proteas a big blow as he dismissed well-set batter Markram for 33 off 19 balls. South Africa lost important three wickets in under eight overs.

Markram’s wicket invited David Miller to the crease. Miller with de Kock found quick boundaries while taking singles at regular intervals. After 10 over of the match, South Africa’s score read 70-3.

With huge pressure on their head, Miller shifted gears and slammed Ravichandran Ashwin for back-to-back two sixes and gathered 19 runs alone in the 12th over of the innings.

While smashing Indian bowlers all around the ground, Miller brought up his half-century in 25 balls with a huge six off Arshdeep. De Kock also shifted gears and slammed back-to-back two sixes in Axar’s over and piled up 18 runs.

After 15 overs South Africa needed 95 runs in 30 balls. In the 16th over of the match, Miller slammed Harshal for two successive fours and gathered 13 runs.

Quinton De Kock also brought up his half-century in 39 balls. It was a hard-fought innings by Quinton as he anchored a much-needed great partnership between him and Miller.

De Kock started the 18th over of the match with a stunning six, however, the latter could not do much as Harshal delivered the spell with great line and length and restricted Proteas batters to score runs in his over.

In the 19th over of the innings, the duo of De Kock and Miller hammered Arshdeep for 26 runs by slamming big shots. In the last over of the match, Miller brought up his blistering century in 46 balls. On the last ball of the match, Miller slammed a huge six but failed to guide his team home by 16 runs in the massive run chase.

The explosive Proteas duo failed to take their team home in the massive run chase and handed India a T20I series win.

Earlier put to bat first, India posted a daunting total of 237/3 with the help of stunning half-centuries from Suraykumar Yadav and KL Rahul. Suraykumar slammed 61 runs in 22 balls, while Rahul played a knock of 57 off 28. Virat Kohli looked in red-hot form as he slammed unbeaten 49 runs off 28 balls.

KL Rahul picked up from where he left off in the last game and caressed a superbly timed boundary on the very first ball of the innings off Kagiso Rabada, opening the Indian scoreboard with four runs.

The Indian captain helped himself with two boundaries in the next over bowled by Wayne Parnell as the Indian innings started to gain momentum. Sharma danced down the track to pacer Lungi Ngidi in the next over to smash the first six of the innings.

Parnell came back for his second over of the innings but was taken to the cleaners by the Indian openers as both the batsmen combined to smash six and two boundaries of the over to accumulate 15 runs from the over.

The Indian duo looked in no mood to relax and made full use of the fielding restrictions, hitting boundaries every now and then.

India ended the powerplay with 57 runs without any loss of wicket. Rohit Sharma made 29 (25) while KL Rahul ended with 25(11) from the first six overs.

Both the opening batters continued the onslaught taking apart the South African bowlers and stitched together a 96-run partnership before the Indian captain was dismissed by Keshav Maharaj in the 10th over of the inning.

India was at 96/1 after completing half the quota of overs, with KL Rahul scoring 48 off just 22 deliveries, while Virat Kohli was yet to open his account having faced just one ball.

Rahul brought up his half-century with a handsome six, hitting a clean strike down the ground of Markram in the 11th over. However, the batter was found in front of the stumps the very next over. Maharaj picked up his second wicket of the match and dismissed Rahul for a well-made 57 off 28 balls which included five boundaries and four towering sixes.

The wicket of Rahul brought in the in-form Suryakumar Yadav who needed no invitation to go ballistic right from the word go. Yadav swept his third ball for a four and made his intentions very clear.

Kohli and Yadav made great use of the superb platform set by the Indian openers as the duo kept scoring at a quick rate.

Rabada came onto bowl the 15th over and faced the fury of Suryakumar’s bat as the Indian absolutely decimated the pacer, hitting him for two sixes and two fours, clinching 22 runs off the over.

Suryakumar carried on the mayhem as he smashed two more sixes to bring up his fifty off just 18 balls in the 17th over.

Kohli who had been playing second fiddle until now also joined the party and smashed three boundaries in quick succession.

The crowd was witnessing an absolute mockery of the South African bowling, but it came to a minute halt after Suryakumar was run out at the beginning of the 19th over, ending his blazing knock. Suryakumar smashed 61 off 22 balls with the help of five boundaries and five sixes.

Kohli carried finding boundaries and struck two more to take 10 runs off the 19th over.

Dinesh Karthik took the crease in the final over, a situation that was absolutely tailor-made for the batsman. Karthik bludgeoned two sixes and a four in the final over to snatch 18 runs and take India to a massive score of 237/3.

Kohli missed yet another 50-plus score as he ended with 49 off 28 balls.

Brief Score: India 237/3 (Surayakumar Yadav 61, KL Rahul 57; Keshav Maharaj 2-23) vs South Africa 221/3 (David Miller 106, Quinton de Kock 69; Arshdeep Singh 2-62) (ANI)

Kohli Becomes First Indian To Complete 11,000 Runs In T20 History

By LokMarg 2nd October 2022

Star batter Virat Kohli on Sunday became the first India to complete 11,000 runs in T20 history.

Kohli achieved this feat during the second T20I against South Africa here at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati, on Sunday. In the match, after scoring 19 runs, Virat became the fastest to reach 11,000 T20 runs in just 354 matches.
Kohli slammed a stunning six over the long-off in Wayne Parnell’s over to reach this milestone. With that six in Parnell’s over, Kohli registered his name in the history book to become the first Indian to complete 11,000 runs in T20 history.

During the match, Kohli displayed his class. For a moment, everything was mesmerized by the beautiful shots that Suryakumar was playing but Kohli made his presence count with some quality shots around the park.

In the match, India batter Suryakumar Yadav also entered the elite list as he completed 1000 runs in T20I and became the third fastest Indian batter to achieve this feat.

Talking about the match, Kohli is currently playing at 49 not out while Dinesh Karthik is at 1*. (ANI)

Kohli, Surya Power India’s Win Over Australia In Series Decider

By LokMarg 25th September 2022

Blistering knocks by Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and a late cameo of 25* run off 16 balls by Hardik Pandya took India to a six-wicket win against Australia in the third and final game to seal the three-match T20I series 2-1 here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday.

Suryakumar smashed 69 off 66 balls while Kohli scored 63 off 48 balls to guide Men in Blue to a thrilling run chase victory.
Chasing 187, India got off to the worst start as they lost their opener, KL Rahul, on Daniel Sams’ delivery. Virat Kohli then came out to bat and handled the charge of the Indian team with skipper Rohit Sharma.

Rohit then tried to ease some pressure and smashed one four and six in the Josh Hazlewood’s over. In the fourth over of the innings, Pat Cummins gave India a big blow as he dismissed skipper Rohit who smashed 17 runs in 14 balls. Rohit tried to play the pull shot but handed an easy catch to Daniel Sams on the straight down deep backward square leg. With the skipper’s wicket, both India openers went back to the pavilion in under four overs.

Suryakumar Yadav then came out to bat. Cameron Green was then brought into the attack but the pacer could not do much as Virat Kohli smashed a classy four on the very first ball of the spell.

In the 6th over of the innings, Kohli slammed one six and four in Hazlewood’s spell. Suryakumar then joined hands with Kohli to smash Australian bowlers all around the ground while stealing singles.

With a massive back-to-back two sixes in Adam Zampa’s spell, Suryakumar brought up his half-century. The duo of Kohli and Suryakumar brought up their 100-run partnership stand in 59 deliveries as they continued their carnage on Australian bowlers.

Suryakumar looked in great touch smashing Hazlewood for one six and four, however, his stint was cut short as he tried to play a shot on straight to long-off but handed an easy catch to Aaron Finch for 69 runs in 36 deliveries in the 14th over of the match.

Hardik Pandya then came to bat on the crease. In the 16th over of the innings, Kohli also brought up his half-century in 37 deliveries. This was Kohli’s 33rd T20I fifty.

India needed 32 runs in 18 balls and Pandya and Kohli’s duo smashed Cummins for 11 runs in the 18th over. In the second last over Pandya showed his great skills he slammed a six on the very first delivery of Hazlewood’s spell.

With 11 runs left to win in the last over, Kohli sent the very first delivery of Sams for a six but was sent back to the pavilion after scoring 63 runs in 48 balls. With 5 runs left to win in 4 balls, Dinesh Karthik came out to bat. Sams delivered a wide yorker but Hardik cleverly opened the face of the bat and sliced this fine with one hand to get it to the boundary. With a clever boundary, Hardik guided his team home to clinch the three-match T20I series against Australia.

Earlier, Cameron Green smashed 52 off 21 and a late blitz of 54 runs by Tim David guided Australia to post a competitive total of 186/7

For Australia, Cameron Green smash 52 off 21 while a blistering knock of 54 runs by Tim David powered Men in Yellow to a decent total. For India Axar Patel scalped three-wicket while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel bagged one wicket each.

Put to bat first, Australia got off to a flying start as opener Cameron Green smashed Indian bowlers all around the ground, Green smashed Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a massive six on the second delivery of the game, but it was not enough for the Australia opener as he slammed a stunning four and gathered 12 runs in the first over of the innings.

Green in red-hot form continued his carnage in the second over to smashing two fours piling 11 runs in an over. The third over of the innings saw Green hammer a four before slamming two huge sixes on the delivery of Jasprit Bumrah.

Axar Patel was brought into the attack he gave his team a big breakthrough, dismissing Aaron Finch for 7 runs. However, the skipper’s wicket did not stop Green’s carnage as he slammed back-to-back three fours and brought up his 19-ball half-century in the fifth over of the game.

Bhuvneshwar was brought back into the attack and the pacers gave his team a huge breakthrough as he dismissed Green. Green departed after playing a fantastic knock of 52 in just 21 balls.

Green’s dismissal brought all-rounder Glenn Maxwell to the crease. Maxwell then joined hands with Steven Smith to keep the scoreboard running for the team.

In the 8th over, with a brilliant and fast fielding by Axar Patel helped wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik stump run out Maxwell for 6 runs.

After Cameron Green’s blitz India Pulled things back in their favour as Australia’s score read 75 for three. Josh Inglis then came out to bat on the crease.

Smith’s stint on the crease was cut short as he was stumped by Karthik on the delivery of Yuzvendra Chahal after scoring 9 runs in 10 deliveries.

Smith’s wicket invited right-handed batter Tim David to bat on the crease. After 10 overs, Australia’s score read 86 for 4. With four wickets down Australia looked in trouble as the duo of Tim David and Inglis struggled a little to get runs.

However, the struggle did not last long as the batters steal quick boundaries and took their team’s score beyond the 100-run mark in the 12th over.

Axar Patel struck twice in the 14th over, dismissing Inglis who smashed 24 runs in 22 deliveries and new batter Matthew Wade who was caught and bowled by him. Axar totally broke the back of the visitors’ middle order in the 14th over, getting rid of Josh Inglis and Matthew Wade.

Daniel Sams ended 16th over of the innings with a huge six and four on Hardik Pandya’s spell. In the second last overs, Tim David held the fort from the front and smashed Bhuvneshwar for back-to-back two sixes and one four while gathering 21 runs.

David smashed a massive six in the 19th over of the innings and brought up a 25-ball fifty and his maiden in T20Is. Harshal Patel then stopped the blistering stint of Tim David as he dismissed him for 54 and restricted Australia to 186 for 7 in the 20-over match. David’s knock was decorated with four sixes and two fours.

Brief score: Australia 186/7 (Cameron Green 52, Tim David 54; Axar Patel 3-33) vs India 187/4 (Suryakumar Yadav 69, Virat Kohli 63; Daniel Sams 2-33). (ANI)

‘Men In Blue Should Take A Knee For Mohd Shami Too’

By LokMarg 28th October 2021

Noida-based cricket fan Tausif Alam (35) is less surprised and more disappointed by the online hate campaign against Indian pacer Mohammad Shami

This whole online hate campaign against Mohammad Shami is totally against the spirit of any game. However, this is not the first time a player has been targeted for not performing in the game. We have witnessed similar criticism of players in the past. But, Shami’s targeting is peculiar in the sense that his religious identity is being dragged into it.

For me, those online comments are laughable that Shami underperformed because he was playing against Pakistan. Though I am trying to laugh it off, it shows how opinionated people are about Muslims in India. And the scrutiny they constantly face.

Shami is a fabulous cricketer. He has performed for India in many matches, bringing glory to the team. He has been in superb form and that’s why he was picked for T-20 WC squad. But, just one bad balling spell against Pakistan and he was attacked online for his religion and his loyalty to the country.

This shows the journey we, as a country, have covered. However, this kind of behaviour is not particularly reserved for Muslims, but Dalits too. Just a few months ago, when the Indian women hockey team lost against Argentina in the semi-final match at the Tokyo Olympics, they were attacked in a similar manner. It was said that the team lost because it had “too many Dalit players”.

ALSO READ: ‘Fabindia Is Not The Target, Muslims Are’

I believe that we have to bring this sanity in our home, especially in India-Pakistan match. We pass on the culture to our children. Enthusiasm for a game is fine but it shouldn’t transcend the limit and become some sort-of mania. We should learn from the players. Beyond the media hype and posturing, those Indian and Pakistani players were so friendly with each other on field; we all saw those pictures from how Rizwan and Babar Azam hugged Virat Kohli after winning the match. Shahnawaz Dahaani, another Pakistani player, was posting picture with Dhoni on his Twitter account.

Another sad thing was the response of Shami’s team-mates and the team management towards the whole issue. Neither Virat Kohli nor BCCI tweeted in support of Shami. They seemed to have buried their heads in the sand.

The most ironical part was ‘taking the knee’ by team India before the match for ‘Black lives matter’ in America. Team India which was showing solidarity for a cause in a far-off land hasn’t spoken a word about atrocities in their own country. They couldn’t even muster courage to show similar solidarity to their own team-mate who was being targeted post-match. There is a reminder for team India that ‘black lives matter’ is an American issue while their own country is facing a similar crisis of sorts. They must understand that taking the knee is not a photo op but represents a cause.

As Told To Mamta Sharma