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Round-up of the first day’s play in the fifth round of matches of the Faysal Bank Pentangular Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Mar-2011Seventeen wickets fell and 418 runs were scored on an action-packed first day at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, with Federal Areas ending up 14 runs ahead of Sind with three wickets remaining. Sind were put in to bat and were in immediate trouble at 6 for 3. Faisal Iqbal, who scored 67, and Fawad Alam got them back on track with a 97-run partnership. Wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed then came in and smashed 55 off 33, but wickets kept falling at the other end, and Sarfraz was eventually left stranded as Sind were bowled out for 202. The seamers did all the damage for Federal Areas with left-armer Sohail Tanvir and allrounder Hammad Azam taking three wickets each.Sind had scored their runs at 5.36 runs an over, which meant there were still plenty of overs left in the day for Federal Areas to bat. They went about their innings in similar fashion to Sind, scoring at 5.53 runs per over, but losing wickets at regular intervals, with several of the batsmen not converting starts. Umar Amin got 42 off 39 and Adnan Mufti got 41 off 42, but Mohammad Sami kept striking at vital moments, and finished with 4 for 56. Federal Areas will be glad to have Hammad Azam still at the crease; he finished the day on 60 not out.

Half-centuries by wicketkeeper Humayun Farhat and No. 8 Saad Nasim ensured Punjab reached 340 for 9 on the first day of their match against Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. Punjab were in tight spots twice in their innings. They lost three early wickets, but half-centuries from Mohammad Ayub and Usman Salahuddin helped them to recover to 175 for 3. Another burst of three wickets left them in trouble again at 186 for 6, but this time it was Farhat and Nasim who came to their rescue with a 100-run partnership. Nasim finished the day 84 not out. Legspinner Yasir Shah was Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s most successful bowler, picking up 4 for 118.

Before Nair’s fireworks, Yash Rathod and Dhruv Shorey scored hundreds to set the platform for a comfortable win

Shashank Kishore16-Jan-2025Karun Nair’s glorious run of form brought him an unbeaten 44-ball 88 as Vidarbha beat Maharashtra comfortably in the second semi-final of the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy. The result sets up a fascinating prospect where Nair will be up against Karnataka, his former team, in Saturday’s final.Nair narrowly missed out on a fifth straight List A century only because he ran out of time. That he even got close to one is because of a sensational end-overs acceleration. On 51 off 35 balls with two overs remaining, Nair hit four sixes and three fours in the last two overs. This included a sensational sequence of 4, 0, 6, 4, 4, 6 in the final over against Rajneesh Gurbani, who was up against his former team. Nair took his run tally to 752 runs while being dismissed just once.The only time Nair didn’t middle something was while attempting a couple of reverse sweeps early in his innings to build on the platform laid by the openers. But that didn’t stop him from being enterprising, as he played some delicate paddles, audacious scoops as well as some clean strikes down the ground – he hit nine fours and five sixes in all.After being put in, and setting a target for the first time in the tournament, Vidarbha posted 380 for 3, the last seven overs alone producing 108. Nair’s sensational late carnage came on the back of a 224-run opening stand between Dhruv Shorey and Yash Rathod in 34.2 overs. Jitesh Sharma, who came in at No. 4, also cashed in, hitting a 33-ball 51 in a 93-run stand with Nair off just 59 deliveries.Maharashtra’s chase didn’t take off till the 30th over, when they were 153 for 3. Except for a four-over window from here, where Ankit Bawne and Arshin Kulkarni upped the ante with an array of stunning shots, the intent to make a serious pitch to scale down their target seemed missing.File photo – Yash Rathod was the Player of the Match for his 116•PTI

It didn’t help that they lost Ruturaj Gaikwad in the third over when he top-edged a pull off Darshan Nalkande and was sensationally caught by Jitesh, who covered nearly 30 yards to his left before diving full-stretch to pluck a one-handed stunner.Rahul Tripathi, their other big-match player capable of taking the attack to the opposition from get-go, made an attractive 27 off 19 before a heave across the line had him nicking behind in the ninth over. This is when Kulkarni appeared to have gotten stuck, on the face of some impressive bowling from Vidarbha, particularly from Yash Thakur, who was zippy, and Harsh Dubey, who was able to keep it tight with his left-arm spin.Despite Kulkarni putting on a half-century stand with Siddhesh Veer, Maharashtra lacked the middle-overs firepower that allowed them to put any kind of pressure on Vidarbha as the game meandered until it briefly came alive in that short window after the 30th over. But those hopes ended when Kulkarni and Bawne fell in quick succession after scoring 90 and 50 respectively. Kulkarni’s runs came at a strike rate of 89.10 when the requirement was much higher.Earlier in the day, Shorey began with three fours in the very first over off Gurbani, while Rathod brought the typical left-hander’s flair to get going as he climbed into left-arm seamer Mukesh Choudhary. The pair accelerated steadily, bringing their half-centuries in the 19th over.Rathod was the more adventurous against spin and used his feet superbly to hit both with and against the turn. He brought up his second List A century of the season off just 90 balls in the 31st over and then tried to up the scoring. Shorey got there soon after, zipping through the 90s with two back-to-back boundaries and then bringing up his second straight hundred off 104 deliveries.Maharashtra had their chances but they didn’t take. In the 24th over, they should have had Shorey for 57 when he got a bottom edge to wicketkeeper Nikhil Naik off Siddesh Veer. Had Maharashtra opted to review, they would have been able to overturn the on-field decision of not out. In Veer’s next over, Naik missed a stumping chance to dismiss Rathod on 76.Then in the 45th over, Jitesh was put down on 19 when Naik failed to latch on to a skier to make it a forgettable day that even his 49 late in the second innings couldn’t quite compensate for. Nair, too, received a reprieve when, on 30, he was put down by Pradeep Dadhe at fine leg.Whatever Nair did on the field from there on worked magically as Vidarbha recorded their eighth successive win to secure a maiden entry into the Vijay Hazare final.

He has led Delhi in 12 T20s in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Tournament, and has been with KKR since 2018

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Mar-2023Nitish Rana has been appointed interim captain by Kolkata Knight Riders, while their regular leader Shreyas Iyer recovers from a back injury that is likely to sideline him for at least the first half of IPL 2023.Rana was one of two candidates for the interim captaincy along with Sunil Narine, who joined the franchise in 2012 and has been with them ever since. Narine had recently led Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in the inaugural edition of the International League T20, where they finished last among six teams with one win and eight losses.Rana has led his state team Delhi in 12 T20s in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, with eight wins and four defeats. A 29-year old middle-order batter, he was bought by KKR ahead of the 2018 season and has been retained by the franchise ever since. He’s played 74 matches for them, scoring 1744 runs at a strike rate of 135.61.”While we are hopeful that Shreyas will recover and participate at some stage in the IPL 2023 edition, we feel fortunate that Nitish, with the captaincy experience of having led his state side in white-ball cricket and the IPL experience he has had with KKR since 2018, will do a great job,” KKR said in a statement. “We are also confident that under head coach Chandrakant Pandit and the support staff, he will get all the support needed off the field, and the highly experienced leaders in the squad will provide all support that Nitish may need on the field. We wish him the best in his new role and Shreyas a full and speedy recovery.”Rana was KKR’s second highest run-scorer last season, behind Shreyas, with 361 runs at a strike rate of 143.82. It was a disappointing year for the team, as they finished seventh in the league with six wins and eight losses.With Rana taking over as captain, KKR will be under whole new leadership this season, with Chandrakant Pandit replacing Brendon McCullum as head coach and Bharat Arun appointed bowling coach.

The head coach also backed captain Sarfaraz Ahmed for his wicketkeeping form over recent months

Umar Farooq08-Feb-2019With under four months to go for the World Cup in England, Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has said the selectors and team management will look at the upcoming PSL and the ODI series against Australia before finalising a squad of 15 for the global tournament. Pakistan play 10 ODIs before the World Cup – five against Australia in the UAE after the PSL and five in England in May – and Arthur said he and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq had 19 players in mind and would want to have two game plans in place for the conditions in England during the summer.”Inzi and I have been on the same page for a long while here. And I’m going to be honest because I’ve told the boys in the dressing room the same thing the other night,” Arthur said in Lahore after returning from South Africa. “I think we’ve got probably 19 players for 15 positions. PSL always throws up one or two good individual performers, so we are going to have a look at some of our borderline players, the guys that we are not sure about. We have to look at them during the Australian series and then we will make our minds up leading into England, obviously we will be taking 15 there. The key is players get clarity in terms of their roles and role clarity is particularly important.”Pakistan have given opportunities to youngsters with the advent of the PSL in the last couple of years. With the T20 league starting in under a week, players will want to impress the selectors particularly for slots in the middle order and the fast-bowling attack. The current probables for the pace attack comprise Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, Usman Shinwari and bowling allrounder Faheem Ashraf. Among the spinners, Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim are the likely candidates to make the trip to England.”The other thing that’s important for us is having an option with two game plans,” Arthur said. “I’m saying two game plans because the weather in England at any given time is very unpredictable, so we need an option where we have our spinners, who are able to suffocate through the middle [overs] because the key for us to win one-day games is about taking wickets through that middle period.”Either we do that with two spinners or little bit of reverse-swing if the weather stays dry, or if the weather is wet over that period of time there we have to have an option of a seam-bowling allrounder who can come in and bat at No. 7 for us. So we’re very close, we’ve covered all our bases in terms of our personnel at the moment.”Pakistan fought hard against South Africa in the ODIs, losing the series 3-2, but their form since they won the Champions Trophy in June 2017 hasn’t been impressive. They have won 15 of their 27 completed matches since then, completing series wins only against Sri Lanka, ranked eighth, and Zimbabwe. In this time they were also blanked 5-0 in New Zealand a year ago, won matches only against Hong Kong and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup in September, and drew the three-match series 1-1 against New Zealand in the UAE in November.AFP

Looking back at the South Africa tour, where Pakistan lost the Test series 3-0, ODIs 3-2 and T20Is 2-1, Arthur said he was proud of the way the team showed their “passion” and “intensity”.”I just think it is really important that I reiterate how proud I am of the cricket team,” he said. “We were two months away on the road. Four-and-a-half months away is a hell of a long time and the intensity and the passion that these guys trained with has been fantastic. So, look I am very very proud, players are very proud, of the development of the lot of our young players.”We’ve played the most cricket over the last four-and-a-half months than any other team in the world. That’s not an excuse, I’m not using it as an excuse because that’s the way it is. We’ve got to handle that. India have a large pool of players available to them. We didn’t rotate our players as much because we are in a process, we need to educate them in all conditions so that’s exactly the decision we’ve made.”Our planning is done. We’ve got our schedules, we’ve got everything in place leading upto the World Cup. Myself, Inzamam and Sarfaraz [Ahmed] have been completely united in the process that we are going forward.”Even though Sarfaraz’s own form has been under scrutiny, he recently got the backing of the PCB to lead the team in the World Cup. He has averaged only 26.62 in 12 ODI innings over the last year, scoring only one half-century. But with his replacement Mohammad Rizwan not impressing much with the bat in two ODIs and three T20Is against South Africa, the pressure on Sarfaraz was not mounting and Arthur, too, backed the captain primarily for his wicketkeeping skills and form.”It’s very simple, we need to be very fluid with out game plans,” Arthur said. “Sarfaraz has done exceptional work for us up and down the order. I think the thing that we’ve got to realise is over a long tour, form comes and goes and players start playing well and then they slip off the radar a little bit, and we need to then be able to send our form players at any given minute. In terms of fluidity in our batting order it’s whoever is in form and what that situation demands at that particular time. If you see all the best teams in the world have the ability to be flexible. We’re trying to be as flexible as we can. If we didn’t give the opportunity to players in those positions we wouldn’t know.”Understand that Sarfaraz’s first and foremost thing is captain and wicketkeeper, people forget wicketkeeping is a specialist position. Sarfaraz’s numbers over the last four-and-a-half months are mindblowing, one catch dropped, one stumping missed. I can tell you I did the research on the plane coming last night, he’s dropped eight balls in four-and-a-half months, so he is not out of form in his core job. His core job is to keep wickets and to take the catches and make the stumpings, he’s done a job over four-and-a-half months.”Sarfaraz will be the first one to admit that his batting form has come and gone. We have worked exceptionally hard on Sarfaraz’s batting going forward. When Sarfaraz plays well, he wins games for us. I want to reiterate I am not worried about Sarfaraz’s form. Sarfaraz Ahmed is a very very good cricketer. He and I work incredibly close together, we’ve got very close working relationship, as good as I had with any captain. I just need to put that to bed.”

Kusal Perera was banned from cricket six months ago but two days out from the Lord’s Test he was seen getting special attention in the Nursery Ground nets

Andrew Fidel Fernando07-Jun-2016Two days before a Dunedin Test match in December, news broke that a doping test had found a banned substance in Kusal Perera’s body. In the grueling months that followed, Perera put himself through more tests – including a polygraph – to have his name cleared.Two days out from another Test match and Perera’s batting was seen getting special attention in the nets on the Lord’s Nursery Ground. He admitted six months out of the game had taken an emotional and physical toll, but there is an eagerness to get back to playing cricket. What better place to make his return, he asked, than the most prestigious ground of them all?”I haven’t been told if I’m playing yet, but I was thrown into trouble and to come back from that at Lord’s would be a great opportunity,” Kusal said. “I was banned just before a Test, so to return in this format would be fitting. Even the time I was out of the team I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong. But these things can happen in life.”Between December 7, when he was provisionally suspended, and May 11, when he was cleared, Perera was not allowed to so much as train with the SLC coaches. He might not have had the time anyway, having had to make repeated trips overseas, including to London, where the polygraph and a separate urine test were conducted. A hair analysis was done in a Paris lab.”I couldn’t really think about cricket much in those months, because my focus was on the problem I was facing. I didn’t have any time to think about whether I was in touch, or whether I could train, or even what was happening in cricket. I started training the day after I was cleared. Before then I didn’t do much batting – just some fitness work.”Perera was in the nets at Colombo’s Khettarama on May 13, and said he has trained as much as Sri Lanka’s heavy southwest monsoon has allowed him to. He was not expected to play a part in the Test series, but injuries to others in the squad have allowed him to be fast-tracked.”When you start training after six months your body needs to get used to it again,” he said. “Your muscles start to hurt – but that’s normal. But what I’ve found is that because I’m coming into it quite fresh, I’m hitting the ball well. I’m seeing it well. So there are positives to it as well. I feel like I’m in good touch.”Perera said he hadn’t specifically trained for Test cricket since resuming practice, but was hopeful the relative ease of conditions at Lord’s might ease him into international cricket – if he is in the final XI. Temperatures are expected to remain in the 20s Centigrade during the Test, and no team has been dismissed for less than 350 at Lord’s in three county matches so far this season.”I watched the attack and it’s mostly fast bowlers,” Kusal said. “In London the conditions seem easier, because it must have been very cold in Durham. When it’s cold you are a bit stiff and your feet don’t work as well. With this weather and given the pitch as well – which looks like it will be batting-friendly – I think there’s a chance for us to dominate them.”

Hong Kong registered a 109-run victory over Scotland in the historic first ODI played in East Asia on Tuesday

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2016
ScorecardFile photo – Nizakat Khan boosted the Hong Kong innings with a well-paced 94 off 93 balls•Martin Hunter/IDI/Getty

Rain may have spoiled the maiden first-class match from being played on Hong Kong soil last week, but the weather behaved long enough for a historic maiden home ODI victory by Hong Kong, who defeated Scotland by 109 runs at Mission Road on Tuesday. A total of 259 after being sent in, achieved thanks to a 170-run fourth-wicket stand between Nizakat Khan and Anshuman Rath, turned out to be plenty for the hosts.The win for Hong Kong breaks a four-way tie to move them to the top of the WCL Championship points table. They are now two points clear of Scotland, Netherlands and Kenya, who each have six points.Hong Kong found themselves in trouble at 16 for 2 in three overs as Alasdair Evans removed Kinchit Shah for a second-ball duck before Babar Hayat fended a short ball to wicketkeeper Matthew Cross for 8. Former captain Jamie Atkinson fell shortly after the initial powerplay, slapping Safyaan Sharif to Calum MacLeod at cover for 21 to make it 55 for 3.Nizakat joined the opener Rath and the pair engaged in a dogged resistance of the Scotland attack’s pressure. It took Nizakat 12 balls to get off the mark before the shackles came undone with a lofted cover drive. The right-hander looked increasingly comfortable by the 28th over when he flayed debutant Bradley Wheal behind point for a pair of crisp cuts to the boundary.Rath was on 20 when Nizakat came to the crease but Nizakat overtook his partner in the 31st over with a straight drive over Richie Berrington’s head before flicking the part-time medium pacer through fine leg for his ninth four to bring up a half-century off 59 balls. Rath, whose momentum slowed down in the 30s after being struck on the box, grafted his way to his own fifty off 91 balls four overs later.Scotland’s frustration at being unable to break the stand grew after Rath was dropped on 75 in the 40th over off Josh Davey, when a skied chance produced by a checked drive to a slower ball was spilled by a backpedaling Preston Mommsen at midwicket. Nizakat powered a six over cover off the next ball, then smashed another over midwicket off Sharif in the 44th to break into the 90s. However, Sharif’s commitment to the slower-ball bouncer paid off by the end of the over as Nizakat gloved an attempted pull to Cross behind the stumps to finally end the partnership.At 225 for 4 and with Rath on 86, Hong Kong set out to finish the innings with a flourish but their aggressiveness backfired and they wound up being bowled out with five balls left in the innings. The slide was sparked by Evans in the 47th, who had Tanwir Afzal and Waqas Barkat out caught behind and teamed up with Cross for a third wicket when he chased down a delivery off his own bowling at midwicket before firing to the keeper’s end to run out Rath for 97.Rob Taylor had Aizaz Khan and Haseeb Amjad both caught by Mommsen at long-on in the 49th before Wheal closed out the innings by getting Nadeem Ahmed to slice a drive to Evans at third man. Evans led the way with 4 for 41 but consistent support came from Sharif and Taylor with 2 for 44 and 2 for 38 respectively.A light rain was present throughout the early part of the Scotland chase but the outlook became gloomier for the visitors when captain Afzal struck off back-to-back balls in the fifth to clean bowl Kyle Coetzer for 6 and tease Matt Machan into chasing a rising delivery for an edge behind. The rain increased enough for the players to leave the field at 9 for 2 after seven overs.Any hope Scotland might have had of being saved by rain faded when the umpires brought both sides back on 20 minutes later and before long wickets continued to tumble. Mommsen fell for 5 in the 10th to a superb sliding catch by Aizaz at mid-on after a mistimed pull off Amjad.Afzal, who bowled a near-unbroken 10 overs, changing ends midway through his spell, took one more in his final over to finish with 3 for 20 as Berrington flicked loosely to midwicket. Aizaz struck in back-to-back overs beginning in the 26th when Cross was well caught just inside the rope at long on by Barkat before MacLeod’s resistance ended for 58 in the 28th when he sliced a drive to third man.Nadeem then came on to wipe out the tail and finished with career-best List A figures of 4 for 26. Taylor was claimed at deep midwicket before Sharif was stumped overbalancing on a whiffed drive. The left-arm tweaker induced a leading edge to cover by Evans for his third wicket before a thick edge from an errant drive was sent by Davey to Afzal at point on the first ball of the 40th over to wrap up victory.The two sides are scheduled to play the second ODI at Mission Road on Thursday.

Shaun Marsh has lost his race to be fit for Australia A’s game against England at Hobart and has been replaced by Ed Cowan

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Nov-2010Shaun Marsh has lost his race to be fit for Australia A’s game against England at Hobart that starts on Wednesday, and has been replaced by Ed Cowan.Marsh was originally named in the squad for the final warm-up match before Brisbane in the hope that he’d recover from an injury he picked up in the one-day series against Sri Lanka.”Shaun was originally selected in the Australia A squad subject to fitness after injuring his lower back during the Commonwealth Bank Series against Sri Lanka,” said Cricket Australia physiotherapist Kevin Sims.”Unfortunately that injury hasn’t healed well enough for him to take part in this tour match for Australia A against England. We will continue to monitor Shaun’s return to fitness.”Cowan, the 28-year-old Tasmania opener, comes into the squad after making 65 against Queensland in the Sheffield Shield earlier this week and chairman of selectors Andrew Hildreth said it’s a chance for him to press his claims.”It’s unfortunate that Shaun’s injury hasn’t healed well enough in time for this match, however it provides Ed Cowan with a fantastic opportunity,” said Hildreth. “Ed performed well for Australia A during the off season against Sri Lanka A in Queensland and has continued that good form for Tasmania so far this season.”

Tasmania will join the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) for the 2010-11, taking the competition to seven teams

Cricinfo staff15-Jun-2010Tasmania will join the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) for the 2010-11, taking the competition to seven teams. The Tasmanian Roar joined the women’s national Twenty20 competition last summer and will take the final step by being added to the 50-over tournament.The WNCL gained a sixth team last season with the addition of the ACT. James Sutherland, the chief executive of Cricket Australia the acceptance of Tasmania into the WNCL was testament to the efforts of Cricket Tasmania to develop women’s cricket in the state.”The team produced some encouraging performances in the interstate Twenty20 competition last year and regular exposure to matches at this level will help drive women’s cricket participation in Tasmania,” Sutherland said.”Female cricket participation in Australia has risen dramatically in recent years and today’s announcement, along with the continued success of the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars, will only inspire more young girls to pick up a bat and ball.”

Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, has placed the blame for the current crisis in the IPL squarely on Lalit Modi, for he was entrusted with the running of the league

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Apr-2010Apart from the obvious issues relating to the fate of Lalit Modi and the charges against him, there was one key question surrounding Monday’s press conference following the IPL governing council meeting: What was the council’s responsibility in overseeing the working of the IPL, and what was the extent of its culpability in the current mess?The response of Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, was three-fold: first, the council was not informed of most of the chairman’s work; second, that it was not the job of the council members to scrutinise the work anyway, and, third, that there was a full-fledged secretariat – and the hired help of IMG – to ensure things were run in a professional manner.”An institution functions on trust,” Manohar said. “If I have to do all the jobs, I don’t need executives. Why do I need a secretary? Why do I need other people? Because even in your institution your managing director does not look into where you’re going, what you’re doing and if you commit something wrong, your managing director is not responsible for that.”If you are expecting every governing council member to come here every morning at 10 and leave at 10 in the night to look at what is happening everywhere, then we don’t need the other staff which is there. Then we don’t need to pay IMG Rs 27 crore [approx $6 million] and we don’t need a CEO to running the IPL. It is their job to do all these things.”He expanded on the theme, essentially saying the council entrusted Modi with running of the league and left it at that. “Any public organization functions on trust because each and every person can’t go and check every aspect or each and every document in an organization. There are huge companies that are run by people and those people, once a decision is approved, don’t go and look at the document whether it is properly executed or not. It is the job of the professionals and the executives who are appointed by the institution to do that job.”An allegation is being made and the media is saying all the members of the governing council are party to all the decisions. Now most of the contracts have been entered into without the consent of the governing council and they’ve been brought to the governing council after the contract was signed. So the governing council has no other option and are presented with a fait accompli,” Manohar reason, before citing an example.”I came here [Mumbai] three days in advance to look into all the documents and contracts in view of the ongoing controversy. I called Sundar Raman [the IPL CEO] because on that day in the evening there was an IPL awards function. I asked for the contract of that function and I was told ‘Sir, there was no contract. The contract terms were finalised last night.’ And this he informs me at 3 in the afternoon when the function is going to be held at 7 in the evening.”Thereafter, if this issue comes before the governing council, what do you expect the governing council to do? Do you expect the governing council to say, ‘No, we reject this contract and we’re going to cancel this function’, when the function is already over,” Manohar asked.Manohar’s apportioning of the blame squarely on Modi, absolving the governing council of its responsibility in the matter, is at odds with the views of MAK Pataudi, a council member and now one of the three former cricketers entrusted with working out a mechanism for the next IPL season. Pataudi had last week said the governing council had been a failure because the members should have been more aware of what was happening.Manohar was also questioned on the issue of professionalism within the IPL, in answer to which he pointed to the appointment of IMG to help run the tournament. “As far as the IPL is concerned, we knew that this is a huge and valuable property. Therefore we appointed professionals like the IMG, who conduct tournaments like Wimbledon and the FIFA world cup. And we are paying them a huge sum of Rs 27 crore for all operational things.”It the duty of IMG, because they are the corporate entity and their job is to look after the professional things and the normal functioning of IPL games. We also appointed a professional CEO, Sundar Raman, for the IPL who is also paid a huge salary. We have a separate staff for IPL and so I don’t understand what media means by saying `professional people’ for running the event,” he said.

A Manchester United fan has gone viral for noting down 11 Marcus Rashford mistakes in his "absolutely embarrassing" display against Newcastle.

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Rashford dismal against NewcastleWas toothless in attack and sluggish defensivelyWas taken off around the hour markWHAT HAPPENED?

The England international continued his rather lacklustre and inconsistent form on Saturday against the Magpies. Rashford hardly had an impact in attack as he was given little room to manoeuvre by Tino Livramento on the right wing and was also guilty of not tracking back on several occasions. One fan, @SimonUTD11 on X (formerly Twitter), took it upon himself to document just how poor the United forward's performance had been.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Rashford showed hardly any improvement after the break. To make matters more complicated, Anthony Gordon scored the opener for Newcastle which forced Erik ten Hag to look towards his bench. The Dutchman brought on Rasmus Hojlund to replace Anthony Martial, while a visibly frustrated Rashford was substituted for Antony.

WHAT THEY SAID

Rashford has found the net just twice in 18 appearances this term, which highlights his poor return in front of goal. He was an anonymous figure for United on the pitch on Saturday evening, leaving United Stand presenter @bethTmufc to brand the forward's display as "absolutely embarrassing", highlighting specifically his "lack of effort".

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Getty WHAT NEXT FOR RASHFORD?

Rashford has failed to keep up with his 2022-23 form when he ended up scoring 30 goals. His dismal performances prompted Darren Bent to pick Arsenal's Kai Havertz rather than him in his team, whereas Tim Sherwood asserted that the forward shouldn't start for England at the upcoming Euros if he keeps firing blanks. However, he will hope to turn around his fortunes soon and find the net against Chelsea on Wednesday night at Old Trafford.