QPlay: Mumbai Indians Beat KKR, Usman Khawaja Joins Dhoni’s Pune
A wrap of all the sports stories making headlines.
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1. Rohit, Pollard Fire MI to Six-Wicket Win Over KKR
Rohit Sharma played a captain’s knock and struck an unbeaten 68 while Kieron Pollard smashed 51 not out off just 17 balls to power defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) to a comfortable six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday.
Rohit put up 72 runs in 30 balls for the unbroken fifth wicket with Pollard, who belted three sixes each in two overs as MI chased down the score of 174 for five with two overs to spare.
This was MI’s 13th win in 18 head-to-head clashes against KKR and their fourth victory this season in eight appearances that boosted their points tally to eight. This was also two-time title-winners KKR’s second loss, both to MI, in six matches this season.
2. Khawaja Replaces Injured Faf du Plessis in Pune
Australian batsman Usman Khawaja has replaced injured South African Faf du Plessis for Rising Pune Supergiants.
“One of our mainstays Du Plessis has injured his finger during the course of the last match and has returned to South Africa for further treatment. We wish him speedy recovery,” coach Stephen Fleming said in a statement.
“We are glad to have roped in Usman Khawaja in the team. His presence will definitely be an advantage to the team and could be pivotal in bolstering the position of the side in the tournament,” he added.
Khawaja was also the leading run-scorer for Australia in the recently-concluded World T20, averaging 35.75 with a top score of 58.
3. Deepika Makes Quarter-Final Exit at World Cup
A day after her world record equalling feat, Deepika Kumari made a shocking quarter-final exit on a forgettable day for the Indians in the individual events of the Archery World Cup first stage on Thursday.
Top-seeded Deepika, who got a bye into round three following her world record of 686 in the qualification round, started off well with two easy wins but stumbled against Maja Jager 4-6, abruptly ending her glorious run in the women’s recurve individual.
Besides Deepika, Laxmirani Majhi and Jayanta Talukdar too made quarter-final exits in their respective events and none of the Indians remain in medal contention in the individual events.
The Indians will now bank on the team events and mixed pair competition.
4. Saina Sails to Quarters, Sindhu Sinks in Asian Badminton C’ships
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal reached the quarter-finals of the Asia Badminton Championship after brushing aside Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol in straight games. The fifth-seeded Indian prevailed 21-14, 21-18 over Jindapol to take her head-to-head record to 7-0 against the Thai player. The World No 8 will take on third-seeded Chinese Shixian Wang next.
The other Indian in the fray, PV Sindhu, however, suffered a narrow 21-13, 20-22, 8-21 loss against the deceptive Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in a match that lasted for an hour.
5. Next Opponent ‘Doesn’t Look Easy”, Says Vijender
None of his four fights so far have gone the distance and Indian boxing star Vijender Singh is not keen on a longer contest either even though he does not expect this weekend’s face-off with Frenchman Matiouze Royer to be an easy one.
Vijender, who has won all his previous four contests via Technical Knockouts in under three rounds, said he respects Royer for his experience of 44 bouts, which includes 14 wins.
“From whatever I have seen of him, he does not look easy. He knows how to fight a tough one. I would say he is good but then I am no less,” the 30-year-old Haryana-lad told PTI from London.
“I will try to finish this fight as soon as possible again. But I think it could be a little longer than the previous ones, which is also good for me. I don’t mind more time in the ring but if I can finish off something early, why not?” he added.
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