Sport
‘Baby Malinga’ leads Chennai to big IPL win over Mumbai
Sri Lanka’s Matheesha Pathirana led an inspired pace attack to help Chennai Super Kings hammer Mumbai Indians by six wickets in a clash of IPL heavyweights on Saturday.
Pathirana, who is called “Baby Malinga” for his slinging action similar to former Sri Lankan pace ace Lasith Malinga, returned figures of 3-15 to limit five-time winners Mumbai to 139-8 in Chennai, AFP reported.
New Zealand opener Devon Conway made 44 as M.S. Dhoni’s Chennai — four-time IPL champions — romped home with 14 balls to spare.
Dhoni praised Pathirana, saying, “People who don’t have any clean action, batsmen have a difficult time picking it. But his consistency, pace makes him special.”
Dhoni advised the youngster to stay away from Test cricket and concentrate on playing “only ICC tournaments with ODIs”.
The left-handed Conway put on a strong opening stand of 46 with Ruturaj Gaikwad and moved second in the batting chart with 458 runs behind Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis (466).
The 41-year-old Dhoni hit the winning run at Chennai’s M.A. Chidambaram Stadium as fans, who are coming in numbers to cheer the superstar cricketer in what is expected to be his last IPL season as player, went wild.
Shivam Dube hit an unbeaten 26 off 18 balls as Chennai jumped a spot to second behind table-toppers Gujarat Titans in the 10-team table.
Chennai’s bowlers set up victory after they rattled the Mumbai top-order including the key wickets of Cameron Green, out for six after opening the batting, and skipper Rohit Sharma, dismissed for a second successive duck after coming at number three.
The opening pace duo of Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande reduced Mumbai to 14-3 inside three overs before Nehal Wadhera (64) and Suryakumar Yadav (26) attempted to rebuild in their stand of 55.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja sent back Suryakumar and the 20-year-old Pathirana, who has played one T20 for Sri Lanka, bowled Wadhera with a yorker — his main weapon — to take the steam out of the Mumbai batting.
Pathirana with a unique celebration of his hands in front of his chest and eyes in meditation said, “I’m a die-hard fan of Cristiano Ronaldo and have modeled my celebration after him.”
Wickets kept tumbling as the dangerous Tim David fell for two off Deshpande and Pathirana got South African batsman Tristan Stubbs for 20.
Sport
Omar Zawak thrash Istiqlal Kabul 5-1 in ACL
Omar Zawak secured an emphatic 5-1 victory over Istiqlal Kabul in the 80th match of the sixth season of Afghanistan Champions League Roshan, delivering an impressive attacking performance.
The match was played in Kabul on Tuesday. Both teams struggled to find the back of the net in the first half, which ended goalless.
However, Omar Zawak stepped up their attacking efforts in the second half, scoring five goals to take control of the match. Istiqlal Kabul managed to score just once as Omar Zawak sealed a convincing 5-1 victory.
Omar Zawak will face Ariana Khost in their next match on November 12, while Istiqlal Kabul will take on Aino Mina Kandahar on the same day.
All matches of the sixth season of Afghanistan Champions League are broadcast live on Ariana Television.
Sport
First Test between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe ends in a draw
Zimbabwe produced a remarkable batting display to secure a draw against Afghanistan in the first Test in Sharjah, with Craig Ervine and Wessly Madhevere scoring unbeaten centuries on the final day.
Resuming the fifth and final day at 164/3, Zimbabwe finished on 523/5 in their second innings, following their first-innings total of 504. This marked the first time in Test cricket history that a team has scored more than 500 runs in both innings of a match.
Craig Ervine remained unbeaten on 206, while Madhevere scored 100 not out, as the pair frustrated Afghanistan’s bowlers throughout the day.
Ervine, aged 41 years and 82 days, became the third-oldest player to score a double century in Test cricket.
Afghanistan had posted 514 in their first innings. Afghanistan needed early wickets to put pressure on the hosts, but Zimbabwe’s batters showed patience and discipline on a pitch offering little assistance to the bowlers.
Brian Bennett scored a half-century before Mohammad Saleem dismissed him, while debutant Antum Naqvi contributed 61 runs. Naqvi and Ervine shared a 140-run partnership before Abdul Malik broke the stand.
However, Madhevere joined Ervine and the pair put together an unbeaten 208-run partnership for the sixth wicket, the highest for that wicket in Zimbabwe’s Test history. Madhevere also registered his maiden Test century during the partnership.
The result leaves the two sides level heading into the second and final Test, which is scheduled to begin in Sharjah on November 13.
Sport
Portugal beat Afghanistan 2-0 in Dakar Youth Olympics futsal semi-finals
Afghanistan’s Under-18 futsal team missed out on a place in the gold medal match at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games after suffering a 2-0 defeat to Portugal in the semi-finals on Monday.
Portugal took the lead through Joao Carvalho, who capitalised on a goalkeeping error by Afghanistan’s Ahmad Esmaeili to score into an unguarded net from inside his own half.
Diego Ferreira doubled Portugal’s advantage before half-time, putting the European side firmly in control of the match.
Afghanistan pushed hard to get back into the game in the second half, creating several opportunities to reduce the deficit. However, they were unable to find the net, with Portugal goalkeeper Bernardo Borges making several important saves.
The victory sends Portugal into the gold medal match, while Afghanistan will now compete for the bronze medal at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
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