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Gujarat end Rajasthan’s winning streak with IPL thriller

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Gujarat Titans celebrated ending Rajasthan Royals’ IPL four-match winning streak in a nail-biting thriller to win by three wickets on Wednesday.

While Rajasthan cling on to their table-topping position above Kolkata Knight Riders, the Titans clawed their way back to a dramatic victory in the final five overs, needing 73 off the final 30 balls, AFP reported.

The pressure fell on the shoulders of bowling all-rounder Rashid Khan from Afghanistan to win the match on the final ball — thumping it to the boundary for four to end on top with 199-7.

“You just have to be positive,” Rashid said. “The more positive you are thinking inside, the better the result comes out.”

Asked where the Royals had lost, skipper Sanju Samson laughed and said “the last ball of the game”, adding it was “very hard” to speak after the defeat.

But he still handed out praise for the Titans’ play.

“You have to give credit to the Gujarat Titans, to the way they batted, bowled and fielded,” Samson said.

Rajasthan had looked confident going into the game, after being invited to bat first at their home ground of Jaipur.

‘We had belief’
After initial wobbles, with Yashasvi Jaiswal caught on 24, and England’s Jos Buttler going for eight, 22-year-old Riyan Parag helped build a daunting total.

He celebrated his third fifty in five innings, this time in a knock off 34 balls.

Parag fell for 74 to a juggled but successful catch by Vijay Shankar.

But Samson, who made 68, and Shimron Hetmyer, unbeaten on 13, guided Rajasthan to 196-3 — keeping their hopes that they were heading for their fifth straight victory alive.

As Gujarat came into bat, the Royals seemed to have taken charge, with the chase crumbling as speedster Kuldeep Sen ripped through the Titans’ top order, posting figures of 3-41.

Sen trapped Sai Sudharsan lbw for 35 before bowling Matthew Wade and Abhinav Manohar cheaply.

“We lost a few wickets back-to-back”, said Gujarat’s Sudharsan. “But we had belief and we won the game.”

Skipper Shubman Gill made 72 to push Gujarat’s total up before being stumped, while Rahul Tewatia made 22 before he was run out.

But it was Rashid who brought the Titans across the winning threshold, making 24 in the frantic final balls, AFP reported.

“This victory was much-needed for us and gives us momentum,” Sudharsan added. “Hopefully we play a few more good games and have a good season.”

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Patel and Mendis help Sunrisers beat Kings in Dhoni’s 400th T20

Fast bowler Harshal Patel grabbed four wickets and Kamindu Mendis showed his allround skill as Sunrisers Hyderabad upstaged Chennai Super Kings by five wickets in Chennai on Friday.

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Patel grabbed 4-28 and was ably assisted by skipper Pat Cummins and Jaydev Unadkat — both finishing with identical figures of 2-21 — to dismiss the home team for a below-par 154 in 19.5 overs.

South African youngster Dewald Brevis was the top scorer for the Kings with a blistering 25-ball 42, cracking four sixes and a boundary on his debut for the franchise.

Skipper M.S. Dhoni failed to make his 400th T20 a memorable occasion, managing just six runs and coming out on the losing side.

Sunrisers achieved the target in 18.4 overs for the loss of five wickets with Ishan Kishan leading the way with a solid 34-ball 44 with five boundaries and a six.

Mendis struck an unbeaten 32 off 22 balls, adding 49 in an unbroken sixth wicket stand with Nitish Kumar Reddy who finished with a 13-ball 19 not out.

The victory lifted Sunrisers to eighth on the 10-team table topped by Gujrat Titans with 12 points in eight matches while five-time champions Kings are at the bottom with four points in nine.

Patel, declared man-of-the-match, attributed discipline as the key for his fine bowling.

“I figured out pretty early that hitting it on a good length around the stumps was important because it was hard to hit with the horizontal bat,” said Patel.

Dhoni blamed losing a cluster of wickets for the poor batting show.

“I think we kept losing wickets and another thing is in the first innings the wicket was slightly better,” said Dhoni. “A total of 157 wasn’t a justifiable score.”

Earlier, Chennai Super Kings were rocked by Sunrisers’s pacer Patel who ripped through the middle and lower-order batting.

The home team started on a wrong note when opener Shaik Rasheed was caught in the slip off the very first delivery of the match by fast bowler Mohammad Shami.

Seventee-year-old Ayush Mhatre was impressive in his 19-ball 30, which was studded with six boundaries, while Ravindra Jadeja managed 21 with a six and a boundary.

Jadeja’s dismissal brought Dhoni to the crease as the crowd roared to welcome their hero in his 400th T20 match but Dhoni’s stay lasted for just ten balls.

It was Brevis who assured Kings get past 150 with some lusty hitting.

Deepak Hooda also chipped in with a 21-ball 22 with a six and a boundary.

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Sri Lanka A defeats Afghanistan A by 4 wickets in Abu Dhabi

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Afghanistan A was defeated by Sri Lanka A with a margin of four wickets in the ongoing 50-over tri-nation cricket series.

The match was held on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Afghanistan had previously lost one match against Ireland and another against Sri Lanka in this series.

Batting first, the Afghan team set a target of 229 runs after losing eight wickets.

In response, Sri Lanka A chased down the target, losing six wickets.

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Afghanistan qualify for U19 Cricket World Cup 2026

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Afghanistan’s U19 cricket team has officially qualified for the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup 2026, following the final day washout in the Asia Qualifiers.

After securing three big wins in their first three games, today’s match against Nepal U19s was washed out. Thanks to their superior Net Run Rate, Afghanistan U19s topped the table and book their berth in the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup 2026, which will take place early next year in Namibia and Zimbabwe.

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