IPL: Krunal Pandya stars in LSG's 5-wicket win over SRH
Lucknow, Apr 7: Krunal Pandya shone with an all-round show while his captain KL Rahul chipped in with the bat as Lucknow Super Giants notched a comprehensive five-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Indian Premier League match here on Friday.
Krunal first produced a superb spell of 3/18 with the ball to restrict SRH to a paltry 121 for 8 and then contributed 34 off 23 deliveries with the bat to help LSG chase down the target with 24 balls to spare in a low-scoring match.
He stitched 55 runs with Rahul (35) for the third wicket to take the game away from the SRH's reach. By the time, Krunal was out in the 13th over, LSG needed just 22 runs to win. The home side eventually reached 127 for 5 in 16 overs.
Rahul hit four fours during his 31-ball knock while Krunal's innings was studded with four boundaries and one maximum.
Rahul and Romario Shepherd (0) were out off successive deliveries bowled by Adil Rashid (2/23) in the 15th over but that was just delaying the inevitable.
Experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded 13 runs in the first over of LSG's run chase, giving away five wides and Rahul hitting a four.
Rahul found the boundaries against Washington Sundar and Aiden Makram but lost his opening partner Kyle Mayers (13) in the fourth over bowled by Fazalhaq Farooqi who came in as SRH's impact player in place of Rahul Tripathi.
Bhuvneshwar made amends of his expensive first over, scalping the wicket of Deepak Hooda (7), caught and bowled, in the last powerplay delivery to reduce LSG to 45 for 2.
Rahul and Krunal denied SRH any success for 6.2 overs as LSG inched closer to the target.
LSG were always far ahead of the asking rate and they needed just 40 runs from the last 10 overs with eight wickets in hand.
Earlier, left-arm spinner Krunal snapped wickets of three top-order batters in a superb spell.
Krunal scalped the wickets of Mayank Agarwal (8), Anmolpreet Singh (31) and captain Makram (0) -- the last two dismissals from successive balls in the eighth over -- to reduce SRH, who opted to bat first, to 50 for 3.
Playing his first match of the season as well as the first as SRH captain, Markram went for a drive in the first ball he faced but it spun away to disturb his off stump.
Ravi Bishnoi then removed Harry Brook, stumped by Nicholas Pooran, for 3 as SRH were in tatters at 55 for 4 in nine overs. SRH could not recover from there.
Veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra produced a fine spell of 2/23 later in the innings to restrict SRH to a small total. Mishra was substituted by 'Impact Player' Ayush Badoni with just one over left in the innings.
LSG skipper Rahul's ploy to introduce spin in the third over in the form of Krunal on a difficult wicket having variable bounce paid off.
Agarwal went for a drive only to hit straight to Marcus Stoinis in the third over to give LSG their first wicket. Five overs later, he trapped well-set batter Anmolpreet for an LBW before bowling out Makram the next ball to spoil the South African's first outing as SRH captain.
From 43 for 1 after the powerplay overs, SRH were 63 for 4 at the halfway stage.
One-down Rahul Tripathi (34) played a lone hand in the second half of the innings as he stitched 39 runs, the highest partnership for SRH, with Washington Sundar (16), before he fell in the 18th over off the bowling of Yash Thakur.
Abdul Samad hit two sixes in the final over bowled by Jaydev Unadkat to take the SRH score past 120.
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
