Sports 49

Lewis Hamilton beat Max Verstappen in a thrilling duel to win the Spanish Grand Prix and increase his championship lead over his top rival on Sunday.

Verstappen’s Red Bull edged the pole-sitting Hamilton to the first curve to snatch the early lead.

But Mercedes’ use of two pit stops to give Hamilton fresher tires down the final stretch paid off and allowed him to overtake the Dutchman with six laps remaining.

Hamilton followed his 100th career pole on Saturday by taking his 98th career win. He also tied Michael Schumacher’s mark of six victories at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas steered his Mercedes to a third-place finish.

The Indian cricket board is exploring the possibility of holding the remaining 31 matches of the IPL after the World T20 in October-November following its decision to put the ongoing T20 tournament on hold due to a string of Covid cases, The Indian Express has learnt.

The decision to indefinitely postpone the IPL was announced by the BCCI after Sunrisers Hyderabad wicket keeper Wriddhiman Saha and Delhi Capitals spinner Amit Mishra Tuesday became the latest to test positive following two players of Kolkata Knight Riders and two non-playing staff of Chennai Super Kings.

“We are looking to conduct the remaining IPL matches after we host the World T20 in October-November. If all goes well, we will host both the World T20 and the remainder of the IPL in India. The UAE is also an option,” a top BCCI official told The Indian Express.

“We are looking to conduct the remaining IPL matches after we host the World T20 in October-November. If all goes well, we will host both the World T20 and the remainder of the IPL in India. The UAE is also an option,” a top BCCI official told The Indian Express.

After the Covid outbreak last year, the IPL was held in September in the UAE. This time, the tournament was confined to four cities in India, and 29 matches had been held across four weeks with the final to have been played on May 30.

On Monday, Kolkata spinner Varun Chakravarthy and medium pacer Sandeep Warrier tested positive, forcing the postponement of their game against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Chennai Super Kings chief executive Kasi Viswanathan and bowling coach Laxmipathy Balaji, too, tested positive — Viswanathan’s second test returned negative. Chennai officially conveyed its inability to play Wednesday’s game against Rajasthan Royals.

“The Indian Premier League Governing Council (IPL GC) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in an emergency meeting has unanimously decided to postpone IPL 2021 season, with immediate effect,” stated an IPL press release.

“The BCCI does not want to compromise on the safety of the players, support staff and the other participants involved in organising the IPL. This decision was taken keeping the safety, health and well-being of all the stakeholders in mind,” it said.

Patel said the BCCI would help the franchises arrange for the return of their foreign players. Those who have contracted Covid, and other players and support staff, have to follow the tournament’s quarantine protocols — six days isolation for close contacts and three negative tests before leaving.

“Franchises will take a call on their departures, while the BCCI will provide the necessary support,” Patel said.

“We stand by our word that for us IPL is not complete until our players and the officials reach their homes safely. We are working on that and in two days we will come out with a detailed plan,” BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal said.

Last week, the Australian government had banned all travellers from India, including Australian citizens, from entering the country until May 15. BCCI officials said the 14 Australian cricketers in the IPL are expected to get a safe passage home after May 15.

“CA is in direct contact with the BCCI as they work through plans to ensure the safe accommodation and repatriation of Australian players, coaches, match officials and commentators back home to Australia,” Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association said in a joint statement.

In the UK, The Times reported that the England and Wales Cricket Board would provide assistance to 11 England players in the IPL to return home.

Cricket South Africa (CSA), along with the South African Cricketers Association (SACA), is in touch with the South African cricketers in the IPL. “CSA…has made contact with all of the relevant franchises to ensure the expedited travel of all South African players and support staff back to our shores. Those travelling back to South Africa will undergo home quarantine in line with the current World Health Organization recommendations,” CSA said in a statement.

On a slow-and-low pitch, Kolkata strangled Punjab with their spinners in the middle overs. It seemed they wouldn’t get to 100 but Chris Jordan swung his bat around to push the total to 123. The chase got off to the familiar Kolkata wobble, but captain Eoin Morgan and Rahul Tripathi settled the issue.

The finger-flicking spin pair

In the essence of their art, they seem to be soulmates: carrom ball here, an off-break there, some come on a bit slow, others skid on quick. A decade back, their tribe would have been regarded as ‘mystery spinners’; these days there is no real mystery about them, but Sunil Narine and Chakravarthy did the job in the middle overs to strangle Punjab. There was a lot of dew on the outfield, and it would not have been easy as the two kept wiping the ball dry after every delivery, but they held their poise to strangle the run flow. Resultantly, the wickets came, and Punjab dawdled towards a below-par total.

It must be said that wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik got the mood early in this middle-overs spell. “Varudu varadu!” (It’s coming, coming) he would encourage Chakravarthy, along with little tips on the line and angle of attack, and they were often spot on. Chakravarthy kept tweaking and ripping them as did Narine, who carefully expunges joy from his visage after a wicket; in fact, so does Chakravarthy. Both got their chances to play ‘cool’ a few times on the night.

Narine struck in the 12th over with the big wicket of Mayank Agarwal. It wasn’t a great ball, but Agarwal shovelled his pull to the deep midwicket fielder. In his next over, Narine slipped in an 89.1 kmph off-break that threaded the bat-pad gap of Moises Henriques to crash into the stumps.

Chakravarthy joined in the fun with a 96.3 kmph screaming carrom ball that beat Nicholas Pooran’s heave to bowl him. With Prasidh Krishna creating trouble with his short-of-length kickers, Punjab looked like they won’t cross 100 but Chris Jordan’s breezy 30 got them to 123.

Captain Morgan aces the chase

The chase must have prompted a familiar sinking feeling for Kolkata, who were wobbling at 17 for 3, that included a stunning catch. Narine had miscued the heave towards cow corner but the wiry Ravi Bishnoi covered some 30 metres from deep square leg before throwing in a dive to take a sensational catch.

But captain Morgan and Tripathi steadied the nerves with positive intent. They didn’t exactly counterattack but didn’t retreat into a shell either. They played their shots, ran well, and with the fours coming at a regular clip, the run rate didn’t pose any problems. “We knew that if we bat with proper cricketing shots, we can win this,” Tripathi would say later, which is what they did.

Morgan did what he always does, unfurling his calculated charges down the track to seamers interspersed with punchy drives. He didn’t let the required run rate climb at all, as he kept playing the boundary shots every now and then. Most attacks try the short ball at him and so did Mohammed Shami, but on the slow and low Motera track, the left-hander dismissed that threat with a six early on in the piece. He crashed Shami for a couple of fours in the powerplay and once the required rate became less than run-a-ball, settled in to rotate the strike. Tripathi is a free-flowing batsman and though he fell, Karthik hastened the end with a couple of big hits.

Devdutt Padikkal waltzed to a glorious hundred to make Royal Challengers Bangalore’s win a stroll in the park. Such was his dominance that Virat Kohli, his opening partner, was happy to play second fiddle. Together they put on 181 runs in an unbroken opening stand, as Bangalore won with 21 balls to spare. Four on the spin now.

From 43/4 in the eighth over, Rajasthan Royals recovered to post 177/9. Pretty decent, but not good enough on a batting-friendly Wankhede pitch and against Bangalore’s batting might. Mohammed Siraj (3/27) bowled a fantastic spell upfront to soften up Royals’ top-order. Sanju Samson made matters worse for his team by yet again throwing his wicket away.

Padikkal excels

The left-hander had enhanced his reputation in last year’s IPL. This year, during the two matches he played on Chepauk pitches, Padikkal had struggled for timing. On a surface where the ball came nicely on to the bat, the southpaw found his rhythm.

He cut Chris Morris over point for a four. He gorgeously drove a Mustafizur Rahman delivery over long-off for a six.

When the spinners came, Padikkal neutralised them with the lightness of touch. Riyan Parag and Rahul Tewatia looked clueless against such high-quality batting. Shreyas Gopal was once reversed-pulled to the third man boundary. Royals bowling surrendered to Padikkal’s ‘dancing feet and flashing blade’.

Fifty came off 27 balls, through a four off Parag. The hundred was reached off 51 deliveries, via a sparkling cover drive off Mustafizur. He remained unbeaten on 101.

All the while, Kohli eschewed his ego and allowed the youngster to play the lead. Towards the back-end of the innings, the Bangalore captain shifted gears and galloped to a 47-ball 72 not out, completing 6,000 IPL runs in the process. But the night belonged to Padikkal.

Siraj sizzles, Samson fizzles

Earlier, Siraj bowled a fantastic first spell to put Royals under pressure. He kept Jos Buttler guessing with the variations in angle.

The Royals opener walked into the off side to score a boundary. But when he moved into the leg side to make room for an inside-out cover drive, Siraj followed him and breached his defence. The yorker that dismissed David Miller would have gotten almost any left-hander out.

With wickets falling at the other end, the onus was on Samson to take the innings forward. The Royals captain hit a sumptuous six over deep mid-wicket off Washington Sundar and then chipped the next delivery straight to Glenn Maxwell at short mid-wicket.

This has now become sort of routine, from the T20Is against Australia in Sydney last year to this year’s IPL. Samson hasn’t been doing justice to his talent. Shivam Dube, Parag and Tewatia contributed to give Royals’ total respectability. But on the night, they looked paupers against Bangalore’s princely show.

Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 177 for 9 in 20 ovs (Shivam Dube 46, 32b, 5×4, 2×6; Rahul Tewatia 40, 23b, 4×4, 2×6; Mohammed Siraj 3/27, 16 dots) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 181 for no loss in 16.3 ovs (Devdutt Padikkal 101*, 52b, 11×4, 6×6; Virat Kohli 72* 47b, 6×4, 3×6).

Delhi Capitals were cruising at one stage. But Mumbai Indians’ never-say-die attitude took the game into the final over. Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant departed in quick succession to make matters tense for Capitals, but Jasprit Bumrah bowled two no-balls to release the pressure. Also, MI had only 137 runs on the board, and Shimron Hetmyer and Lalit Yadav held their nerve to secure a six-wicket win with five balls remaining.

Capitals’ win was even more creditable for this was their first match in Chennai. Conditions were tricky, something which MI got acquainted with, as this was their fourth game at Chepauk. But Capitals were the better team on the night.

Mishra rolls back the years

In favourable conditions, Amit Mishra can still spin a web. At 38 years of age, international cricket probably has bypassed him, but on a ‘gripping’ surface, the leg-spinner showed his value. This was only Mishra’s second match in this year’s IPL and he made a telling contribution.

Rohit Sharma took a little bit of time to get into the groove but once he settled down, the MI captain was playing like a prince.

An inside-out lofted drive for six off Kagiso Rabada was magnificent. Pant hurriedly brought on Mishra, inside the Powerplay, to stem the run-flow.

He started off by conceding back-to-back fours to Suryakumar Yadav. But when Mishra came back for his second spell, his dream run began. Rohit jumped out of his crease, but the bowler had held his leg-break back a little. The batsman had to reach out for the ball and skied it to Steve Smith at long-on.

A couple of balls later, a similar delivery accounted for Hardik Pandya. The all-rounder went through his shot, but the wily leggie had beaten him in the air.

A googly trapped Kieron Pollard plumb in front. Mishra wasn’t giving the batsmen any pace to play with and was turning the ball. Suddenly, MI were 84/6 after 12 overs with the cream of their batting back in the hut.

Scores of around 150 have proved to be par at this venue, which the defending champions had defended successfully.

On Tuesday, however, Mishra took out all the MI big hitters and innovators to thwart their death-overs push. Ishan Kishan was playing sensibly, building a partnership with Jayant Yadav and setting himself up nicely for a back-end slog. But he fell prey to Mishra’s pace variation – a faster delivery that almost yorked him. The left-hander jabbed his bat down and played the ball onto his stumps. The veteran spinner finished with 4/24 from four overs.

Before that, at the start of the innings, two champion cricketers cancelled each other out. Honours were even between Rohit and Ravichandran Ashwin until the former stood and delivered a gorgeous six over extra cover to a carrom ball.

Capitals hold their nerve

Dhawan survived a marginal decision on four, in the very first over of Capitals’ chase. Hardik had pulled off a stunner diving forward but the TV umpire adjudged that the ball had touched the ground. Against a modest total, Capitals needed to avoid a collapse. A 53-run second wicket stand between Dhawan (45) and Smith (33) laid the foundation for their victory. The former stayed until the 15th over to ensure that there was no middle-overs muddle.

Shikhar Dhawan struck a swashbuckling 92 as Delhi Capitals made short work of a 196-run target for a six-wicket win over Punjab Kings in the IPL at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium on Sunday. Dhawan looked in sublime form during his 49-ball knock that was studded with 13 fours and two sixes. Dhawan was ably supported by Prithvi Shaw (32 off 15) first up and then skipper Rishabh Pant (15) and Marcus Stoinis (27 not out) as DC chased down 196 in 18.2 overs.

Put in to bat, Mayank Agarwal and captain KL Rahul stitched a century-run opening stand to guide Punjab to a challenging 195 for four.

Agarwal made 69 off 36 balls, while Rahul scored 61 off 51 deliveries as Punjab made a flying start to their innings.

Chasing 196, Dhawan and Shaw made a quick start, sharing 59 runs in just 33 balls for the opening wicket.

Shaw continued his fine form and smashed a 17-ball 32 before being holed out to Chris Gayle off Arshdeep Singh.

Steve Smith, playing his first match for DC, looked a pale shadow of himself before

becoming Riley Meredith’s first victim of the day.

But the wickets hardly had any impact on Dhawan, who continued his attacking strokeplay to bring up his fifty off 31 balls.

Needing 71 off 42 balls, DC struck gold by picking up 18 runs off the 14th over.

Dhawan hit Meredith for a hat-trick of fours, besides the bowler gave away another boundary off a wide ball as DC brought down the margin to 53 off 36 balls.

Dhawan, however, fell eight short of a brilliant century when he was cleaned up by Jhye Richardson (2/41) in the 16th over.

Earlier, Pant’s decision to bowl after winning the toss backfired as the opening duo of Agarwal and Rahul took the attack to the opposition bowlers from the onset, hitting boundaries and sixes at will.

While Agarwal was the aggressor of the two initially, Rahul upped the ante after a relatively sedate start.

Agarwal and Rahul adopted an aggressive approach against debutant Lukman Meriwala and Kagiso Rabada, taking their team to 94 for no loss in 10 overs.

Agarwal was looking dangerous during his 36-ball knock and ended up hitting seven boundaries and four hits over the fence.

But DC dismissed both the batsmen in quick succession to make a comeback into the match. While Agarwal was the first to depart, slicing a Meriwala delivery straight to Shikhar Dhawan at sweeper cover in the 13th over, Rahul handed a simple catch to Marcus Stonis at midwicket off Rabada.

Rahul’s knock was laced with seven boundaries and two sixes.

Big-hitting Chris Gayle (11) failed to make a mark, perishing soon in search of a maximum.

Nicholas Pooran (9) failed yet again but Deepak Hooda (22 not out off 13) and Shahrukh Khan (15 not out off five) provided the much needed big hits towards the end.

For DC, Ravichandran Ashwin (0/28) was economical, while Avesh Khan (1/33), Meriwala (1/32), Chris Woakes (1/42) and Rabada (1/43) picked up a wicket each