Sport
Back on top: Rashid reclaims top bowler ranking
Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan has overtaken Australia seamer Josh Hazlewood and re-claimed his place as the No.1 T20I bowler in the world following the latest update to the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Player Rankings on Wednesday.
Rashid earns top billing on the back of his strong start to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup for Afghanistan, where he bowled superbly during his side’s opening match against England in Perth.
Rashid took the key wicket of young gun Harry Brook and finished with tidy figures of 1/17 from his four overs as Afghanistan commenced their T20 World Cup campaign with a five-wicket loss to England.
Hazlewood has three wickets from two matches so far for Australia, but the 31-year-old has been uncharacteristically expensive during spells against New Zealand and Sri Lanka at the tournament.
Sri Lanka spinner Wanindu Hasaranga drops three places to sixth on the latest list for T20I bowlers, while England seamer Sam Curran moves up an eye-catching eight spots to eighth overall following his record-breaking five-wicket haul against Afghanistan.
Curran picked up England’s first ever five-wicket haul at a T20 World Cup and ended the match with brilliant figures of 5/10 to rise to a career high rating of 657 points.
Just 55 rating points separates the top 10 bowlers on the latest rankings update, with India veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar another new name slipping into contention following an impressive performance against Pakistan on Sunday.
The veteran seamer picked up the tidy figures of 1/22 from his four overs against Pakistan and has been rewarded with a two-spot jump to 10th on the updated rankings list.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan remains the top ranked all-rounder following the latest update to the rankings, with Afghanistan counterpart Mohammad Nabi staying in second and just 14 rating points behind.
Sport
Afghanistan beat Iraq 5-3, inch closer to Futsal World Cup berth
Afghanistan defeated Iraq 5-3 on Friday and moved closer to the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup qualification.
Afghanistan’s goals were scored by Akbar Kazemi (1), Farzad Mahmoodi (1), Mehran Ghulami (1), and Jawad Safari (2).
In the other match of playoff in Thailand on Friday, Kyrgyzstan beat Vietnam 3-2.
Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan will face off for a spot at the Futsal World Cup on Sunday at the Playoff final.
Sport
India’s Pant boosts World Cup hopes with IPL batting blitz
Rishabh Pant smashed an unbeaten 88 as he led Delhi Capitals to a tense IPL win over Gujarat Titans on Wednesday, boosting his chances of playing for India at the T20 World Cup.
Delhi posted 224-4 courtesy of a 113-run stand between Pant and fellow left-hander Axar Patel, who hit 66, after they slipped to 44-3 inside six overs at their home Arun Jaitley Stadium, AFP reported.
The hosts kept Gujarat down to 220-8 to win by four runs after David Miller’s 23-ball 55 and an unbeaten 21 off 11 deliveries by Rashid Khan.
Mukesh Kumar kept his nerve in the final over for Delhi’s fourth win in nine matches as they kept their playoff hopes alive in the T20 tournament.
Pant, 26, struck his third half-century of this season after 14 months away from top level cricket following a frightening car accident when his Mercedes rammed into a barrier, flipped and caught fire in December 2022.
Pant, a wicketkeeper-batsman, suffered multiple injuries and was rushed to hospital before being airlifted to Mumbai for further treatment and surgery.
“Everyday that I’m in the middle, I feel better,” man of the match Pant said after his 43-ball blitz studded with five fours and eight sixes.
“Every hour on the field matters, I love being on the field. I try to give it my 100 percent. I think the first six in the match gives me the confidence in a game.”
Pant has not only fired with the bat in the IPL but his sharp work behind the stumps prompted Delhi’s director of cricket Sourav Ganguly and coach Ricky Ponting to back the India star for making the national team for the World Cup in June, AFP reported.
– ‘Great fight’ –
Up and coming Australian batsman Jake Fraser-McGurk gave Delhi a strong start with his 14-ball 23 but medium-pace bowler Sandeep Warrier took three wickets including two in one over.
Patel, a bowling all-rounder promoted to number three in the batting, brought up his fifty with a boundary off Rashid before another Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad had him caught at long-on.
Pant reached his fifty in style with a six off Mohit Sharma and then hammered the medium-pace bowler in a 31-run 20th over when he finished with a six, four and three hits over the fence to raise the roof.
South African Tristan Stubbs watched the blitz from the other end after he smashed Sai Kishore in the 19th over, which went for 22 runs, for his unbeaten seven-ball 26.
In reply, Gujarat lost skipper Shubman Gill for six off Anrich Nortje before impact substitute Sai Sudarshan smashed 65 off 39 balls.
Gujarat lost regular wickets but the left-handed Miller smashed Nortje for three sixes and a four to give Delhi a scare before his departure in the 18th over.
Rashid kept up the fight till the end as Gujarat needed 19 off the final over and five on the last ball.
“I think we played some really good cricket, disappointing to lose in the end, but great character shown by everyone,” said Gill. “Great fight till the end and we never thought we were out of the game at any point.”
Sport
Attack Energy and Istiqlal Kabul secure wins in respective ACL matches
Attack Energy FC defeated Sorkh Poshan Khafi 1-0 in the 9th match of Afghanistan Champions League (ACL) in Kabul on Wednesday.
Hasib Ahadi scored the only goal and was named man of the match.
“I congratulate this victory to the Attack Energy team. It was a good game. There were some problems that, unfortunately, we couldn’t score in the first half of the match. Thank god we finally won the game,” said Ahadi.
In the 10th ACL match, played on Wednesday, Istiqlal Kabul FC beat Mawj Sahil FC 2-1.
Shadab Malikzada was named man of the match and awarded the trophy.
Tomorrow’s matches will see Khadim FC take on Maiwand FC at 1:00 PM, while Jawanan Wahedi FC face Adalat Farah FC at 3:30 PM.
The matches are broadcast live on Ariana Television every day.
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