1. Nair Hits 83 as Daredevils Stay Alive With 6-Wicket Win
Delhi Daredevils kept alive their slender hopes of qualifying for the play-offs after Karun Nair guided them to a six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad with a 59-ball unbeaten 83 in a do-or-die Indian Premier League match on Friday.
Chasing 159, Daredevils rode on Nair’s knock to secure a last-ball win against the butter-fingered Sunrisers Hyderabad who dropped two easy chances, though Barinder Sran pulled off one of the best catches of the tournament. After Mustafizur Rahman conceded just five runs in the penultimate over, Daredevils needed 11 off the final six deliveries bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The seamer had a good start, but a composed Nair managed to hit boundaries off the final two deliveries to help Delhi cross the line. Nair hit eight boundaries and three sixes.
Click here for full match report.
2. Dropped From ODI team, Gayle and Co Slam Selectors
Senior West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy have lashed out the selectors for ignoring them for the ODI tri-series involving Australia and South Africa next month. The trio was part of the World T20 winning team and the exclusion from the ODI squad did not go down well with them. The players who returned to side are Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine.
In a series of posts, Gayle and Sammy also slammed the selectors.
“@KieronPollard55 & #SunilNarine selected for WI Tri-Series. How is that possible @westindies?” asked Gayle on Twitter.
“WICB stop Sunil from playing super 50 and now they pick him. If @KieronPollard55 was fit he would’ve play the B Bash just like the rest of us!!” the southpaw said in another post.
3. Pooja Rani In Last-16 of Women’s World Boxing C’ships
Eyeing a medal as well as an Olympic berth, Asian Games bronze-medallist Pooja Rani (75kg) entered the pre-quarterfinal of the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships with a hard-fought triumph over Ukraine’s Mariya Borutsa on Friday.
The Indian charged at her rival aggressively in the opening round itself but ended up lagging behind Borutsa. She changed gears in the second round and waited for her opponent to make the first move. The strategy worked brilliantly for Rani, who had no trouble outwitting Borutsa on the counter-attack. The Ukrainian also self-destructed by bending excessively which fetched her a warning in the third round.
In the non-Olympic categories, Nikhat Zareen (54kg) and Sonia Lather (57kg) emerged triumphant to enter the pre-quarterfinals of their respective categories.
.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
4. India Settle for Bronze in Uber Cup
Indian women’s team settled for a bronze medal after suffering a 0-3 defeat at the hands of defending champions China in the semifinals of the Uber Cup badminton championship.
After top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu went down narrowly against their respective opponents in the two singles match, Jwala Gutta and N Sikki Reddy also bit the dust in the first doubles, ending India’s campaign.
Click here for the full match report.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)