Sports

DUBAI: Mahendra Singh Dhoni played his part to perfection in an extraordinary script as he led Chennai Super Kings to their fourth Indian Premier League title, outwitting Kolkata Knight Riders by 27 runs in a one-sided final on Friday. As the final delivery was bowled, the old ‘Band Master’ had that lingering smile at the far corner of his lips having orchestrated his ‘Men’, who knows may be one last time. Unarguably, the most loved and revered Indian captain of all time led a team of old warhorses with oodles of experience as they first posted a formidable target of 192 for 3 and then squeezed Knights for only 165 for 9 despite a promising opening stand of 91 between Shubman Gill (51 off 43 balls) and Venkatesh Iyer (50 off 32 balls). It was canny captaincy that ensured 91 for no loss tur...

New Delhi: India’s batting stalwart Rahul Dravid is all set to take over as the national cricket team’s head coach following the T20 World Cup in the UAE, having agreed to the BCCI’s offer after initial reluctance. The 48-year-old Dravid, one of the greatest ever to have played for India, has been in charge of the India A and U-19 set-up for the past six years and a lot of players such as Rishabh Pant, Avesh Khan, Prithvi Shaw, Hanuma Vihari, and Shubman Gill have come through the system prepared by him. He currently heads the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. “Yes, Rahul has agreed to coach the Indian team till 2023 World Cup. Initially, he was reluctant but it is understood that president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah had a meeting with Rahul on the sidelines of the IPL fina...

DUBAI: BCCI President and former captain Sourav Ganguly on Saturday said the Indian cricket team under Virat Kohli has all the talent to be considered a legitimate contender for the T20 World Cup and it only needs to show a bit of maturity to claim the trophy. India will open their T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24. “So, you don’t become champions easily and you just don’t become champions just by stepping into a tournament, so they have to get through the process, they have to show maturity,” Ganguly said when asked what India needs to do to win the title. “…they all have the talent, they all have the skill to score runs and take wickets at this level. They just have to be mentally in good space to win the World Cup,” the flamboyant former left-handed batte...

LAHORE: Fazal Mahmood, Pakistan’s first great fast bowler and Abdul Qadir, credited with reviving wrist-spin bowling following his entry in international cricket in the late 1970s, have been inducted into the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Hall of Fame posthumously. The two late former stars thus joined stalwarts Hanif Mohammad, Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Zaheer Abbas, who were the initial inductees to the PCB Hall of Fame by virtue of being part of the ICC Hall of Fame. The formal inductions of all the eight PCB Hall of Famers will take place during the ongoing season. PCB chairman Ramiz Raja said: “It is befitting that Fazal Mahmood and Abdul Qadir, legends from two different eras, be voted by their peers and admirers into the PCB Hall of Fame for 2021. “This ...

MALE: Having endured a topsy-turvy beginning to their campaign before a fine turnaround, seven-time champions India will start as title favourites when they take on first-time finalists Nepal in the summit clash of the SAFF Championships on Saturday. The final will be the 12th for India in 13 editions which shows the domination of the Blue Tigers in this regional tournament. The third-place finish in 2003 was the worst performance for them. A win against Nepal will also be head coach Igor Stimac’s first trophy after taking charge of the Indian team in 2019. Should the team come good, he will become the sixth coach to win the SAFF Championships title and third foreigner after Jiri Pesek (1993) and Stephen Constantine (2015). India drew against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in their first two mat...

DUBAI: Handed the leadership role for a second time just a few days ago, Afghanistan cricket team captain Mohammad Nabi acknowledged that he has a tough job at hand in the ICC T20 World Cup but is nonetheless hopeful of steering his strife-torn country “until the end” of the showpiece. Nabi was named captain of the final Afghan squad on October 10 after star all-rounder Rashid Khan declined the role alleging that he was not consulted while selecting the team. The 36-year-old Nabi is, however, not new to captaincy, having led the side from 2013 to 2015. “Yeah, it’s (captaincy) a tough job at the end, I will try my best to lead the team in the World Cup and perform well in the tournament. (I am) really excited to play as a captain in this event,” Nabi said in a conference call with the media...

SRINAGAR: GDC Tral beat GDC D.H. Pora by wickets in the final match of South Kashmir Inter- College T-10 Cricket Tournament played at Degree College Kulgam on Friday. Batting first, GDC D.H. Pora was bundled at a paltry score of 41 in the allotted 10 over’s, which was also the lowest score in the tournament. The bowling attack of GDC Tral was led by M. Moosa scalped four wickets, while Ubaid bagged three wickets. For D.H.Pora, Umair Wani(26) was main contributor to the scoreboard. In reply, GDC Tral managed to chase the total in 7 over’s, with 4 wickets remaining, despite a tough time given by D.H. Pora bowlers, especially Mushkoor who bagged four early wickets. For GDC Tral, Nisar Ahmad scored a match- winning 12 runs. The presentation ceremony was presided over by Secretary Sports Counci...

ANTIGUA: Curtly Ambrose is an achiever who has earned his stripes to have an opinion of his own which someone like Chris Gayle must learn to “respect” even if it’s not in his favour, said iconic Sir Vivian Richards. Ambrose, a known critic of the ‘Universe Boss’, had told a radio channel in the Caribbean that Gayle shouldn’t be “an automatic choice” in the West Indies playing eleven for the T20 World Cup as he has very little performance to show even in franchise cricket for the past 18 months. To this Gayle had lashed out on Ambrose, saying the former fast bowler of late 80’s and 90’s was a “negative person” for whom he had “no respect”. Richards, who had been Ambrose’s first international captain, came to his former pace spearhead’s defence. “It’s Curly’s honest opinion and he’s entitled...

Dubai: Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s astute captaincy in canary yellow will be Chennai Super Kings’ biggest weapon against a clinical Kolkata Knight Riders, whose troika of top-notch spinners promise to hold the aces in the high-octane Indian Premier League final here on Friday. If numbers are anything to go by, then CSK, in their astonishing ninth final appearance in 12 editions (they were suspended in two), are certain to start favourites against Kolkata Knight Riders on ‘Dussera’ day but in terms of trophies, there isn’t much of a difference. CSK have three titles with five final defeats, while KKR have won both their finals under the mercurial Gautam Gambhir. No team has mastered the art of reaching finals like Dhoni’s CSK. But KKR will definitely be in the hunt since they won one of the most...

Sharjah: Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant on Thursday said he is proud of his side despite its ouster from the IPL after a close loss to Kolkata Knight Riders in Qualifier 2 and described his teammates as “exceptional warriors”. Delhi lost by three wickets, primarily undone by an underwhelming batting show which put up just 135 runs on the board for KKR to chase. Delhi fought hard with the ball but KKR edged home with one ball to spare after losing five wickets for seven runs at one stage. “It ended in heartbreak last night, but I could not be more proud of leading this team of exceptional warriors. We battled hard through the season, and while we may have fallen short on some days, we always gave 100 per cent,” Pant tweeted. “To the owners, management, staff, my teammates and most impo...