London: West Indies gathered their wits in time to fend off a resurgent Pakistan and win a tense, low-scoring Champions Trophy match by two wickets at The Oval on Friday. Despite conceding a winning target of just 171, the Pakistanis took wickets when they desperately needed them to keep the outcome in the balance right until the death.
Even when West Indies lost their eighth and last wicket and needed six more runs, victory wasn't certain until tailender Kemar Roach cut through the tension by hitting the winning runs to the point boundary off Junaid Khan.
Roach ran around the pitch in jubilation as West Indies joined India, winners over South Africa on Thursday, atop Group B. West Indies finished on 172 for 8 in 40.4 overs, after routing Pakistan for 170 in 48.
Pakistan's bowlers almost trumped West Indies' on a flat pitch offering bounce and turn. The target ought to have been a doddle for West Indies, but Mohammad Irfan, the 7-foot-2 fast bowler who turned 31 on Thursday, reduced the chasers to 15 for 2, bouncing out the in-form Johnson Charles for 9 and Darren Bravo for a duck....
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11:04 PM, Jun 07, 2013
Birmingham: West Indies offspinner Sunil Narine, who has eclipsed Pakistani Saeed Ajmal to become the number one-ranked ODI bowler in the world, says he plans on maintaining his position. The Trinidadian climbed to the number one spot in just 28 games to become the first West Indian to top the list in ODIs since Curtley Ambrose in 1997, reports CMC. "Whatever success you get you just look to enjoy it....
07:13 PM, Jun 05, 2013
Cardiff: West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo has pointed to big-hitting opener Chris Gayle and mystery off-spinner Sunil Narine as key weapons in the team's arsenal for the Champions Trophy starting next week. Speaking to media here Wednesday, Bravo said both players possessed outstanding qualities which would augur well for the squad in their June 6-23 campaign. Narine, with only two years of international cricket behind him, has emerged as an...
03:55 PM, May 30, 2013
Eleven matches. Eight defeats. Kolkata Knight Riders, defending champions and regarded as one of the strongest teams in the league, are almost certifiably out of IPL 6. The stage has been reached where it is almost easier to say "insert previous match comments here" in describing how KKR have stumbled through IPL 6 like zombies, walking in circles with their groans getting louder as their hunger for success increases. Unfortunately...
12:20 PM, May 08, 2013
Jaipur: Twenty20 cricket is heavily loaded in the favour of batsmen but Mushtaq Ahmed reckons that the spinners of late have been able to influence the outcome of the matches in the shortest format. Ahmed, one of the best leg-spinners the game has seen, said the best thing about spinners is that they have a lot of variety to attack the batsmen. "A lot of teams are winning the matches...
01:28 AM, May 07, 2013
Kolkata: While he relished the big wicket of Sachin Tendulkar on the senior batsman's 40th birthday, Kolkata Knight Riders mystery spinner Sunil Narine admits that the defending champions will have to get their acts together quickly to keep alive their hopes in IPL 6. Narine came out victorious in the much-anticipated battle against Tendulkar on Wednesday by crashing through the senior batsman's gate with a classic off-spin delivery, but eventually...
01:04 PM, Apr 25, 2013
This is not something that the team management of Kolkata Knight Riders had expected when they began their defence of the IPL title. Though they started their campaign with a win, they are in the middle of an extremely bad phase - losing five of their next six matches. And in spite of having world class limited-over spinner in the form of Sunil Narine, they are not ending up in...
11:33 AM, Apr 25, 2013
Mumbai Indians' opener Dwayne Smith, who lead his team to victory against Kolkata with a match winning knock of 62 in 47 balls at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday said that he wanted to play out Sunil Narine as he was in a wicket-taking form and wanted to get himself in and pick up the pace after judging the nature of the track. Chasing a tricky 160 to win on...
10:11 AM, Apr 25, 2013
Kolkata: Observing that 160 was a defendable target, Kolkata Knight Riders' spinner Sunil Narine Wednesday rued the absence of all-rounder Jacques Kallis, who could not turn up to bowl after getting injured while batting against Mumbai Indians in their IPL encounter at the Eden Gardens here. "The target of 160 was defendable but we fumbled at the end. Kallis is a world class bowler and his absence badly hurt our...
02:16 AM, Apr 25, 2013
The fight for getting the Purple cap this season in the Indian Premier League seems to be getting intense with every passing day. Legspinner Amit Mishra got hold of the Purple Cap on Friday when he also became the highest wicket taker in IPL, and within 24 hours it was overtaken by Royal Challengers Bangalore's best bowler this season Vinay Kumar. The Karnataka pacer now has 12 wickets this season,...
09:26 AM, Apr 21, 2013
Mohali: Kolkata Knight Riders' Sunile Narine registered the first hat-trick of IPL 6 when he sent back Kings XI Punjab's batsmen David Hussey, Azhar Mahmood and Gurkeerat Mann on Monday at the PCA stadium, but another hat-trick in the same match by KKR captain Gautam Gambhir got little attention. En route to the second spot in the list of highest run-scorers this season, Gambhir scored his third consecutive half-century, albeit...
10:17 AM, Apr 17, 2013
Live updates from Game 8 of the IPL 6 season between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders played at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur. After notching up victories in their tournament openers, both Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals will be keen to extend their winning streak. Shane Watson is fit and will be part of the playing XI in all likelihood. While defending champions KKR beat Delhi Daredevils comprehensively by...
07:20 PM, Apr 08, 2013
KKR assistant coach Vijay Dahiya is happy with the defending champions' preparations for the sixth edition. ...
10:25 AM, Apr 08, 2013
Jaipur: After notching up victories in their tournament openers, both Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals will be keen to extend their winning streak when the two teams lock horns in their IPL 6 match here on Monday. While defending champions KKR beat Delhi Daredevils comprehensively by six wickets in a low-scoring match in the tournament opener, Rajasthan prevailed in a five-run win over the same opponents in their first...
12:26 AM, Apr 08, 2013
Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) off-spinner Sunil Narine, who has tormented batsmen with his variety and guile in the Indian Premier League (IPL), rates dashing Delhi Daredevils (DD) opener Virender Sehwag as the most dangerous batsman he has bowled to. "Sehwag by far is the most dangerous batsman I have bowled to. No matter what the situation is, he will always go after the bowling, which makes him the most...
06:04 PM, Apr 05, 2013
