Sikandar Raza scored the winning runs off the final ball as Punjab Kings beat Chennai Super Kings by four wickets in a thrilling Indian Premier League contest.
Devon Conway's highest IPL score of 92 off 52 balls took CSK up to 200-4 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday, but the in-form batter's brilliant knock was in vain.
Prabhsimran Singh (42 off 24), Liam Livingstone (40 from 24) and Sam Curran (29 off 20) kept Punjab in the hunt to pull off the highest successful run chase against Chennai in their own backyard.
Needing 12 to win off the final over from Matheesha Pathirana, Raza hoisted the final delivery towards the square-leg boundary and scampered through for the three runs that were required for victory.
Conway put on 86 for the first wicket with Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was stumped for 37, giving Raza the charge in the 10th over.
Shivam Dube made a brisk 28 before he was sent on his way by Arshdeep Singh and Moeen Ali fell cheaply, but Punjab were unable to see the back of Conway.
He struck a six and found the rope 16 times in another masterful knock, falling just short of a century and watching on at the other end as MS Dhoni struck Sam Curran for back-to-back sixes to end the innings in style.
Prabhsimran and Shikhar Dhawan got the run chase off to a flying start, putting on 50 before the captain became the first of Tushar Deshpande's (3-49) victims.
Ravindra Jadeja (2-32) made it advantage CSK by removing Prabhsimran and Atharva Taid, but England duo Livingstone and Curran kept the game in the balance.
They put on 57 before Livingstone was caught in the deep off the bowling of Deshpande and Pathirana struck another blow by cleaning Curran up.
Jitesh Sharma fell for 21 in the penultimate over, but Raza ensured Punjab moved just behind CSK in fifth place with their fifth win of the season.
Conway shows the way for CSK
New Zealand opener Conway has been a revelation for CSK at the top of the order, this being his fifth half-century in six knocks.
The left-hander needed just 31 balls to reach his latest fifty, taking his tally of runs for the tournament to 414.
Only Faf du Plessis (422) has more runs in the 2023 IPL than Conway, who averages 59.14 at a strike rate of 144.25.
Livingstone looking ominous
Punjab had to start the tournament without Livingstone as he recovered from injury, but he certainly appears to have his eye in again.
The all-rounder gave a demonstration of his power and timing, clearing the rope four times in a crucial knock to keep the target within reach.
Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
Last Hurrah: Dwayne Bravo to call time on CPL career after this year's edition
Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo says this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be his last hurrah as he announced his retirement from the tournament on Saturday.
Bravo, who represents the Trinbago Knight Riders, made the revelation on his Instagram account hours ahead of the franchise’s opening contest against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre, scheduled for 7:00pm.
“It's been a great journey, and I'm looking forward to playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean people," Bravo said in his post.
“TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team,” he added.
The 40-year-old’s post all but indicates the end of a decorated professional career, as he retired from international cricket in 2021 after the T20 World Cup and also announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) a year later after being part of four title-winning Chennai Super Kings campaigns.
Bravo, known for his flair and skillful batting and bowling, is currently the CPL’s highest wicket-taker with 128 scalps in 103 games at an average of 22.40 and economy rate of 8.69.
In fact, Bravo is the leading wicket-taker in all T20s, with 630 scalps in 578 matches. He has also scored 6,970 runs with the bat.
No doubt the electrifying Trinidad and Tobago stalwart will go down as one of T20's early legends, having played seven World Cups in the format, winning two titles, as well as over 15 franchise league titles. He is the first bowler to get to 500 T20 wickets.
CWI targets domestic T20 competition in 2025 to identify Caribbean representative(s) for 2028 Olympic Games
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr. Kishore Shallow says plans are already afoot to host a domestic T20 competition next year to determine the Caribbean representative(s) for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Shallow, once again welcoming cricket’s return to the Olympic Games, pointed out that his administration is already in dialogue with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) hierarchy to stage the domestic competition in 2025.
Cricket, which last featured at an Olympic Games in 1900, was always set for a long-awaited return to the global multi-sport showpiece, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year confirmed it and four other sports—baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, and squash—for the LA Games.
“To add cricket to the agenda in the next Olympics is certainly going to be something tremendous, as we did in the Commonwealth Games a couple years ago when we had one of our teams representing the females. We at the time chose our original women’s tournament, and the winner at the time was Barbados, so they represented the region,” Shallow said.
“We anticipate something similar will be done unless they tell us all the teams can come and participate, which would be ideal, but it is unlikely for that to happen,” he added.
Shallow also explained that the CPL champions cannot represent the region at the Olympic Games given that the tournament is franchise-based and involves players from other parts of the world.
As such, he revealed that he has engaged CARICOM leaders regarding plans for a domestic T20 competition from which the winner or top finishers would secure the coveted Olympic Games spot(s).
“We have been in discussion with CPL for them to fund a domestic T20 tournament starting next year. I think Miles Bascombe and his team have already scheduled a window for that next year in 2025. Once we are able to have that tournament, then we can use that to determine which team or teams will participate in the Olympics on behalf of CWI,” Shallow shared.
“We can’t use the CPL as it is now because it’s franchises. But in the domestic tournament that we’re having, which will still have a commercial model to it but not to the extent of CPL, but that will more than likely be territories instead of franchises, so we will be able to identify teams,” he noted.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
