Rashid and Rahul Tewatia power GT's stunning win, SRH lose despite Umran heroics
Mumbai, Apr 27: All eyes were on Sunrisers Hyderabad's Umran Malik, but all they could see was a blur. But still, Gujarat Titans had the last laugh as they prised out a five-wicket win in their thrilling IPL match here on Wednesday.
Introduced into the attack as late as the eighth over, as Kane Williamson's last resort, the young pace sensation delivered what was expected of him, grabbing five wickets with devastatingly quick deliveries to scythe through the Gujarat Titans top-order and almost propel Sunrisers Hyderabad to their sixth successive win in the ongoing edition of the lucrative league.
But Rahul Tewatia (40 not out off 21 balls) and Rashid Khan (31 not out off 11) had other ideas as GT, needing 56 from the last 24 overs after Umran had completed his quota of four overs, knocked off the required runs, with the star from Afghanistan finishing the game with a six over fine leg.
The BCCI, nevertheless, will have again taken serious note of the man from Jammu, who, in one of the best ever exhibitions of fast bowling, finished with incredible figures of 5/25, four of which were bowled.
Opener Abhishek Sharma and Aiden Markram struck sparkling half-centuries as Sunrisers Hyderabad posted 195 for six after being asked to bat first.
In pursuit of a stiff target, the Titans were off to a flyer with Wriddhiman Saha (68) blazing his way to a flurry of boundaries while putting on 69 runs for the first wicket with a subdued Shubman Gill (22), who played the second fiddle.
After the others have tried and failed, Umran succeeded in getting the first breakthrough, when he disturbed Gill's off stump in the innings' eighth and his very first over.
Having got himself two fours, GT skipper Hardik Pandya was done in by Umran's bounce as he top-edged one to the third man.
Meanwhile, playing one of his great IPL knocks, Saha raced to his fifty in 28 balls with a single to long-on.
Luck too was on Saha's side as Washington Sundar could not hold on to what would have been an unbelievable catch at mid-on, only for the ball ball to race to the boundary.
The show then belonged to Umran before the duo of Tewatia and Rashid swung the match in GT's favour with their astonishing hitting.
Earlier, Abhishek blazed away to 65 off 42 deliveries, while Markram made a 40-ball 56 during a third-wicket stand of 96 runs.
Then, Shashank Singh (25 off 6 balls) smashed Lockie Ferguson (0/52 in 4 overs) for three successive sixes to score 25 runs in the innings' final over.
To start with, SRH were helped by Mohammed Shami's (3/39 in 4 overs) 11-run opening over in which a first-ball beauty was followed by five leg-side wides, not once but twice.
Yash Dayal too conceded 11 runs, thanks to two boundaries by Abhishek Sharma on the off side, as SRH raced to 22 for no loss in two overs.
Kane Williamson clipped Shami over square leg for his first boundary but that's all the SRH skipper could do with the bat as, three balls later, the seasoned India pacer went through the gate with a lovely seaming delivery to dismiss the Kiwi and give his team the match's first breakthrough.
Having got a life at point even before he could open his account, Rahul Tripathi smashed Shami for 6, 4, 4 before a review found that the batter was trapped in front of the wicket in an eventful fifth over, which went for 14 runs.
Unperturbed by the fall of two wickets, Abhishek collected two successive fours off Alzarri Joseph -- first he lofted over the infield and then found the gap through a packed off-side -- to help SRH score 53 runs in the six power play overs at the Wankhede Stadium.
SRH needed a partnership at that stage and the duo of Abhishek and Markram not just provided them that but also kept the scoreboard moving at a very good rate by regularly finding the boundaries.
While Markram dealt with the likes of pacers such as Alzarri, Abhishek went after Rashid Khan, hitting the Afghanistan spin ace for his third six to reach his half-century in style.
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Kho Kho World Cup: Indian women's team crowned champion
New Delhi: The Indian women's team emerged champion in the inaugural Kho Kho World Cup with a dominant 78-40 victory in the summit clash against Nepal here on Sunday.
On a memorable night at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here, India produced a masterclass of speed, strategy and skill, dishing out a clinical show.
A brisk start marked Turn 1 as the Indian attackers took charge of the proceedings. Three batches in the Nepal women were out by simple touches on 7 occasions, putting 14 points to India's kitty.
Skipper Priyanka Ingle was in the best form with multiple touch points to her name, as the hosts started off in an excellent manner. This was enough to take the Women in Blue to 34 points and preventing a single Dream Run for the Nepal team.
Manmati Dhami got Vaishnavi Pawar, and B Samjhana eliminated Priyanka Ingle but B Chaithra took India's first batch of Turn 2 into the Dream Run.
๐ธ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ณ๐
— Kho Kho World Cup India 2025 (@Kkwcindia) January 19, 2025
Congratulations to #TeamIndia women for claiming the ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ-๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐๐ก๐จ ๐๐ก๐จ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐#KhoKhoWorldCup #KKWC2025 #TheWorldGoesKho #Khommunity #KhoKho #KKWCWomen pic.twitter.com/tqlBPbTIdc
It wasn't for long, though, as Dipa completed the ALL OUT just moments later. This got the side back into the game but they only managed to score 24 points at the end of Turn 2, with an 11-point deficit at half time.
India were once again the dominant force in Turn 3, never allowing the Nepal defenders to settle in their stride. BK Dipa was a regular for Nepal but it went in vain throughout, ensuring that the Indians edged closer to the trophy.
Chaithra was the orchestrator of the Dream Run for India, taking the score to a massive 78 points in Turn 4. Their batch went on for a massive 5 minutes and 14 seconds, closing out the game for India and confirming them as the first-ever champions of the Kho Kho World Cup.
India's path to glory had included commanding victories over South Korea, Iran and Malaysia in the group stages, followed by triumph against Bangladesh in the quarter-finals and a masterful win over South Africa in the semi-finals.
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐||
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) January 19, 2025
Indian๐ฎ๐ณ Women's Team beats Nepal 78-40; Clinches the inaugural #KhoKhoWorldCup Trophy. #Finals | #KhoKhoWorldCup | #TheWorldGoesKho | #BharatvsNepal | @Kkwcindia | @Media_SAI | @YASMinistry | pic.twitter.com/mh8NJuD6RX
