IPL 2021 Auction: Harbhajan Singh, Steve Smith, Arjun Tendulkar to go under hammer
Manimaran Siddharth shines as Tamil Nadu wins it’s second Syed Mushtaq Ali title
SMAT 2021 Final: Tamil Nadu hold edge over Baroda
SMAT: Baroda thumps fancied Punjab in a one-sided affair; will take on TN in final
A well-oiled unit of Baroda, inspired by captain Kedar Deaodahar’s batting and active decision making in the field, beat Punjab in a one-sided affair at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera to move to the finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021. It was a surprise in the sense that Punjab had defeated big teams like Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh in their group with huge margins. Punjab couldn’t get to a start that they needed while chasing 161 as they lost two of their main batsmen Abhishek Sharma and Prabhsimran Singh, the two men that had propelled Punjab to better starts in the previous matches, were picked up cheaply by Lukman Meriwala. The rest of the players couldn’t get going either as Anmolpreet Singh and Ramandeep Singh took too many balls to settle down before getting out through forced shots. A major problem for Punjab occurred when their captain Mandeep Singh got injured while fielding and couldn’t bat at his usual number three position, putting a lot of o pressure on the less exposed and inexperienced middle order. It was exploited well by the Baroda bowlers especially spinner Bhargav Bhatt who choked the flow of runs in the middle overs forcing Gurkeerat Mann to take extra risks and thereby losing his wicket. Once he was out, all hopes of a Punjab revival died down and the team could manage only 135 runs in their 20 overs quota. Earlier in the evening, Punjab after winning the toss decided to bowl first and got a good start as Ninad Rathva and hero of the last game Vishnu Solanki was removed in the 9th over with only 58 runs on the board. The Punjab team was going strong until the players started dropping dollies as both Kedar Devdhar and Karthik Kakade were dropped very early in their innings on the bowling of Mayank Markande and Harpreet Brar respectively. Once the chances went begging, there was no coming for Punjab as Baroda raced to 160 in their 20 overs as both Devdhar and Kakade scored their fifties. With this win, Baroda have now made it to their fourth Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final in 12 editions where they will play Tamil Nadu, who beat Rajasthan earlier in the day to make it to consecutive finals and their third final in total.
SMAT 2021 QF: Vishnu Solanki hits six off the last ball to take Baroda into the semis
In an edge of the seat finish, Vishnu Solanki hit a six off the last delivery including 19 runs in the last over, out of which 16 came on the last three balls against Haryana to take his side Baroda into the semi-finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021. Solanki, who came in at three stayed till the end to see his team through a chase that dwindled in the center uncertainty. Chasing a modest total of 149 at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, Baroda got off to a cautious start with Smit Patel and Kedar Devdhar adding 33 for the first wicket in the first five overs. In fact, the Baroda team never went overboard trying to finish the chase early at any point in time in their innings except for when they had no other option in the last over. With Patel out, experienced Devdhar and Solanki added 68 in 56 balls. The chase started getting tougher as wily spinner Yuzvendra Chahal sneaked in four quick overs and eventually it came down to Baroda requiring 42 off 24 balls. It was then that Solanki turned on his destructive mode an unbelievable 19 in the last over off Sumit Kumar to take his team home. Earlier in the day, Baroda won the toss and decided to bowl first, and did exceedingly well to restrict Haryana to just 148 in their 20 overs even after Himanshu Rana and Shivam Chouhan got starts. Broda will now face Punjab in the first semi-finals of the SMA Trophy 2021 which will also be played at the Motera on 29th January. Check the Full Scorecard here:
IPL 2020: 'They think it's a government job' - Virender Sehwag slams CSK batsmen
Coming hard at the CSK batsmen who have been failing to bat well and show enough hunger to win the game for the team, former Indian opener Virender Shewag has said that the attitude of many of these batsmen is that of government employees, who are sure of their salaries at the end of the month irrespective of their performances. "In my view, some of the Chennai Super Kings batsmen think of CSK as a government job, whether you perform or not, they know they'll get their salary anyway," Sehwag said on Cricbuzz live while analysing the CSK’s loss against KKR. Sehwag lashed on to CSK batsmen after the men in yellow failed to chase a paltry score of 168 runs against the Kolkata Knight Riders in their last game, even when the opening pair of Faf Du Plessis and Shane Watson was able to provide a brisk start. The team had reached 100 runs in the 11th over but lost the way in the middle overs as batsmen batting in the middle order such as Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, and Ravindra Jadeja ate up too many balls and then got out without making up for it. Sehwag was specifically harsh on Jadhav and Jadeja and said "It should have been chased down. But the dot balls played by Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja didn't help.” Chennai Super Kings have not looked like a side that has got into the finals of the IPL for the most number of times for any IPL team and the team has struggled to bat freely in any moment of the game. As a result, MS Dhoni finds his team in the bottom half of the table, losing four out of six matches they played this season.