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Persistent rain in Bangalore didn’t allow any play in the game between the two struggling sides, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Apr-2011
Scorecard

Persistent rain in Bangalore didn’t allow any play in the game between the two struggling sides, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals. They have now both played five games each, and after the shared points Rajasthan have five and Bangalore three, leaving both of them a lot of catching up to do.

The franchise only bid for the fast bowler after he had gone unsold twice

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Dec-2019Dale Steyn was lapped up right at the end of Thursday’s IPL auction, after going unsold twice, but he was “always part of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s plans”, according to Mike Hesson, their director of cricket. Steyn was picked at his base price of INR 2 crore by the same franchise that had released him in November.Steyn featured in just two games for RCB in 2019 before a shoulder injury cut his season short, after he had been signed midway through the competition as a replacement for the injured Nathan Coulter-Nile.”We knew we wanted Steyn but we knew if we put a bid on him early, it might have gone up to three or four crore, which would have had flow-on effects,” Hesson said in a video posted by RCB. “It was the same with Isuru Udana as well.”We thought Udana was going to be well sought after, so we had to slow-play that one a little bit. In the end, it worked out the way we wanted but it did require a sense of patience, which is not one of my main attributes.”I probably exchanged a couple of hundred messages with Virat [Kohli, the RCB captain] for a couple of hours. I think he thought we went to sleep in the middle for a couple of hours as well, but he was well aware of what our planning was. He was keen at the end, as we were, to get Udana and Steyn.”Hesson also felt new signing Aaron Finch could help unburden RCB’s superstar batting duo of Kohli and AB de Villiers. Finch, Australia’s white-ball captain, is currently No. 2 on the ICC’s rankings for T20I batsmen. “We want someone who takes the pressure off AB [de Villiers] and Virat, so we’ve got a world class player,” Hesson said of Finch. “Looking at the rankings, we’ve got three of the top five players in the world in terms of the last few years of T20 cricket so that is exciting.”Chris Morris is a really good addition, in terms of being a three-in-one cricketer; he can bowl upfront, can bowl at the death, he’s got some power with the bat as well. Udana is exciting, in terms of especially on slower surfaces, we felt we wanted that. Kane Richardson is one of the best bowlers in international T20s for a while, so we’ve got a really good mix of players.”Hesson said he was surprised at being able to sign Australian wicketkeeper Josh Philippe, whom he termed an “excitement machine”, at his base price. “We never thought we’d get him at 20 lakh,” Hesson said. “We had someone else in mind if he went too high.”

Round-up of the second day of the sixth round of Division One of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Nov-2010Water and Power Development Authority clawed their way back into a low-scoring scrap against Rawalpindi dominated by the seamers at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Resuming their first innings at 28 for 5, 221 runs behind the home side’s effort, WAPDA found their saviours in Sohaib Maqsood and Ahmed Said. The pair arrested the overnight slide with a 109-run stand, Maqsood top-scoring with 76 and Said contributing 57, before seamer Sadaf Hussain added to his three overnight scalps. Sadaf dismissed both batsmen and finished with 6 for 51 while Rizwan Akbar accounted for the remaining four wickets, giving Rawalpindi a 26-run lead. Naved-ul-Hasan, who had wreaked havoc on the opening day, inflicted early damage again, reducing Rawalpindi to 16 for 3 before Jamal Anwar showed some defiance. A late wicket to Nawaz Sardar, after Zahid Mansoor was forced to retire hurt, left the game interestingly poised at stumps.Shahid Yousuf’s sixth first-class hundred, and steady support from the rest of the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited line-up, propelled their side to an imposing 389-run first-innings lead at the National Stadium in Karachi. Resuming at 192 for 2, ZTBL had an early setback when Zohaib Khan departed after adding just four to his overnight 52. The wicket did little to stall the visitors’ progress, though, as Haris Sohail combined with Shahid to add 159 runs. Shahid struck 18 fours and two sixes in his 141, and though the hosts managed to pick up three quick wickets following the partnership, Imran Nazir’s quickfire 53 ensured there was no respite. ZTBL declared at 453 for 7, leaving Karachi Blues over two days to survive, but the openers held up well to take their side to stumps at 54 for 0.A late collapse on the second day weakened Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited‘s dominance of Faisalabad at the Iqbal Stadium. Replying to the hosts’ score of 220, SNGPL were pegged back by the early loss of their openers before being guided by captain Azhar Shafiq’s 90 and his 143-run stand with Umar Akmal. Azhar struck 11 fours in his innings, and Umar played in his characteristic style, getting 54 of his 67 runs through boundaries. Things unraveled, however, once they were separated with seamer Ahmed Hayat running through the lower middle-order to finish with five wickets as SNGPL were reduced to 218 for 8. Khurran Shehzad batted through the collapse and will hope to build a first-innings advantage on the third day.It was another day to remember for Habib Bank Limited‘s former Pakistan stars, as they surged to a 195-run first-innings lead with two wickets in hand against Islamabad at the Diamond Club Ground. Saleem Elahi was the brightest star of the day, scoring a sparkling 97 off 143 balls, while Azhar Mahmood, who had picked up five wickets on the first day, scored a half-century to add to Islamabad’s torment. Khaqan Arsal and Aftab Alam also contributed half-centuries as Islamabad toiled for impact. Fakhar Hussain, who finished the day with 4 for 84, stood out in an otherwise unimpressive bowling effort.Middle-order batsman Majid Jahangir’s fifth first-class century helped Sialkot arrest a top-order collapse to launch a promising response after their bowlers had dismissed National Bank of Pakistan for 358 at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot. Seamer Mohammad Talha was at his incisive best once again, striking three early blows to reduce the hosts to 28 for 3 before Jahangir began his resistance. Mohammad Ayub helped him steady the innings, contributing 59 to a 132-run stand. Mohammad Zahid made a couple of late breaches to rock Sialkot again, but Jahangir survived the spell to finish on 110 not out.Fast-bowler Abdur Rauf, who has played three Tests for Pakistan, starred with a six-wicket haul as Multan dismissed Pakistan International Airlines for 258, before losing three early second-innings wickets at the Gymkhana Ground in Okara. PIA’s progress was guided by captain and opener Kamran Sajid, aided by supporting acts from Shoaib Malik and Anop Santosh. Shoaib, eager to reclaim his spot in the Pakistan side, fell two short of fifty, while Santosh managed to score 59. Sajid was run-out six short of a ton, as Rauf ran through the lower order to leave the game in the balance. Najaf Shah then tilted things in PIA’s favour, striking two early blows while Sajid chipped in with another, leaving Multan stuttering at 27 for 3 by stumps.

Ajinkya Rahane made 86, and Ravindra Jadeja his now-customary fifty as Bangladesh’s bowlers were taken to the cleaners

The Report by Alagappan Muthu15-Nov-2019Mayank Agarwal is never in two minds. It shows whenever he charges at a bowler. His mind is set on getting a boundary and he will have it no matter what. It was Bangladesh’s job to sow doubts into that line of thinking but by the end of the day they were left wondering if they were good enough. The India opener amassed 243 runs all by himself to power India into a commanding lead in Indore.Agarwal has other shots. His drives, for example, are vivid. But nothing showcases his high backlift and a happy-go-lucky approach as well as when he runs at the bowler. He chose to do that nine times through the course of his innings, and failed to find the boundary only once. So confident was he with this tactic that he used it to get to his double-century.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

And all the while Imrul Kayes just watched. He had been at slip when Agarwal, on 32, offered a straightforward chance off Abu Jayed. It went in and then it plopped out.Bangladesh’s hopes of building on that moment of uncertainty, which happened on day one, were severely undercut by the poor work done by their spinners. Mehidy Hasan and Taijul Islam leaked boundaries, 33 of them; Agarwal alone cracked 19. That’s a rate of one every 10 balls, by the way. It was pure mayhem, and yet not altogether surprising considering the protagonist.Agarwal goes at the ball really hard. He hits all around the park. He looked completely untroubled by the opposition. He played the innings we all do in our most shameless dreams because it was what his captain had specifically ordered.Stump mic podcast with Mayank Agarwal: Listen on ESPN radio and SpotifyWhen Agarwal had raised his bat for 150, Virat Kohli put up two fingers to make sure he kept going. Later, when Agarwal got his double and pointed two fingers back at the dressing room again, Kohli grinned and put up three.India should have been celebrating not one but two centurions on Friday. Ajinkya Rahane had spoken about the relief he felt after breaking through a rut of middling scores after making 102 against West Indies in August and ever since then he seems to have rediscovered the flow in his game. There was hardly a stroke in anger, but never a lull in his scoring. India’s vice-captain finished with 86 runs off 172 balls. In all that time, he played only six false shots. One of them was his dismissal, off a powerful cut shot straight to the fielder at deep point.Bangladesh spent most of the day waiting for those kinds of mistakes. Their bowlers couldn’t control the run flow, even though they had four men on the boundary in the fourth over of the day. It was clearly an omen when Agarwal creamed a half-volley through the covers for four off the second ball of that over. And the little moments of success Bangladesh had – like knocking out Cheteshwar Pujara early on the day and handing Kohli his 10th duck in 140 Test innings – didn’t offer any consolation.India made 407 runs in the day, only the third time they’ve made more than 400. They went to stumps leading by a whopping 343, and towards the close, when the dressing room was up on its feet, screaming with glee as Ravindra Jadeja made his now-customary fifty and Umesh Yadav swung for the fences, it was hard to avoid the notion that this Test match had lot all pretence of being a contest.

Kumar Sangakkara has said he was not surprised by the way in which West Indies dominated the drawn first Test in Galle but added the difference in bowling between the teams was an “eye-opener”

Sa'adi Thawfeeq in Galle19-Nov-2010Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, has said he was not surprised by the way in which West Indies dominated the drawn first Test in Galle but added the difference in bowling between the teams was an “eye-opener”. West Indies, led by Chris Gayle’s 333, piled up 580 before their bowlers struck to help enforce a follow-on on the hosts. Sri Lanka managed to save the Test but West Indies were also held back by the weather on the last three days.”We were pretty wary about what they could do. The only thing was our attitude probably in the first two sessions which was a bit wanting,” Sangakkara said of his team’s bowling on the opening day. “The first six overs were probably okay although we didn’t make the batsmen play too much. But after that I thought the lines and the lengths we bowled on this track were not good enough for us to put any pressure on them either to get wickets or to cut down on the runs. Chris (Gayle) took a lot of
advantage from that and he batted magnificently.””We’ve got understand that it is a good eye opener for us. It’s an example to us the way West Indies were disciplined in their bowling. I thought the attitude of the West Indian bowlers the way they went about their job was very impressive.”Sangakkara admitted Sri Lanka could have put in a better performance with the bat in the first innings where no batsman reached a century even though four managed to get past fifty. “If one batsman can get a hundred, usually a side ends up making 400. Those are the par scores for Test cricket on these tracks and unfortunately we fell about 100 runs short on our first innings at least,” he said.”With the bowling attack we had unfortunately we didn’t have the conditions in our favour apart from the first six overs where there was a little bit of swing. The first two days were the best days for batting and West Indies took maximum advantage of that.”The star for Sri Lanka on the final day was opener Tharanga Paranavitana, who made 95 in nearly three hours, and steered Sri Lanka to safety. “It was a fantastic effort from him,” Sangakkara said. “He quickly adjusted from the first innings and he showed us what a real old -style opener he is in Test cricket to grind away at the opposition and score runs.”The second Test gets underway on November 23 in Colombo.

According to Football Insider, Glasgow Rangers are interested in signing Danilho Doekhi from Dutch outfit Vitesse Arnhem.

Gers eye Doekhi

With the Premiership title already wrapped up, Ross Wilson can afford to cast his eyes towards the future as he looks to prepare the Gers for a potential Champions League run.

As such, they are said to be eager to sign Doekhi. Football Insider claimed that he is available for about £1.5m this summer, while Filip Helander’s future at Ibrox remains uncertain.

Potential

A quick look at Doekhi’s form so far this season would suggest that he could be a good signing for Steven Gerrard. He has appeared 27 times in the Eredivisie (Transfermarkt) as part of the second-best defence in the league behind Ajax (Sky Sports), and he has shown his consistency by averaging two tackles and 3.1 clearances per match (WhoScored).

Helander has been linked with a move away from the Gers in recent weeks, with the 55-time Scottish champions said to be looking for a fee of £6m as Leicester City and Aston Villa circle (Aftonbladet). The Sweden international is 28, while Doekhi has plenty more years ahead of him at just 22.

Letting Helander leave and replacing him with the Dutchman could prove to be a fantastic piece of business from Wilson and the Ibrox hierarchy.

In other news, many Rangers fans loved this video.

The upcoming transfer window could be the perfect time for Crystal Palace to wave goodbye to a costly arrival.

According to Correire dello Sport, centre-back Mamadou Sakho is on a list of potential summer targets for Serie A giants Lazio alongside the likes of Arsenal’s David Luiz and Chelsea’s Thiago Silva.

Out of contract at the end of the season after four years as a permanent Eagles player, Palace should certainly not fight too hard to keep the Frenchman at Selhurst Park.

Having arrived from Liverpool, initially on-loan, Sakho has endured a rollercoaster period with the club.

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He has, at points, been an excellent option at the back for Roy Hodgson, specifically during the 2018/19 season where he played 27 times in the Premier League alone as the club finished 12th in the standings.

However, he has also endured frustrating injury problems, having missed a total of 67 matches through injury, whilst he has only appeared on six occasions throughout the current campaign.

For context, the defender has only actually appeared on 75 occasions for the club in his four years at the club since arriving for what was a reported fee of £26m from Liverpool.

As a result, Sakho has now fallen considerable down the pecking order, finding himself behind the likes of Gary Cahill, Cheikhou Kouyate, Scott Dann and James Tomkins for a starting berth at centre-back.

Considering that lack of action then, the £6.3m-rated French international has certainly not justified his £100k per-week wages at Selhurst Park.

With Lazio then now swooping for his signature, Palace now have the perfect opportunity to let him go as opposed to extending his contract.

It really now could be time then, for the Eagles to wave goodbye to Sakho in the upcoming transfer window.

AND in more news, Palace have been handed a huge boost in their pursuit of Aaron Ramsey…

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, Rob Lee, who made 280 Premier League appearances, claims Joao Mario didn’t impress him at West Ham during the 2017/18 season so doesn’t want the Hammers to make a move for him this summer.

It has been reported that West Ham may look to bring the Portugal international back to the London Stadium with his contract set to expire at Inter Milan, where he hasn’t played since 2018/19, next summer.

Mario spent six months on loan with the Hammers during David Moyes’ first West Ham spell, but they opted against making the move permanent with his market value at that time being around £23.4million. The midfielder made 14 appearances in claret and blue, scoring twice, but still failed to convince the club that he was worth the money.

Speaking on how he can’t even remember Joao Mario playing for West Ham and why owners get blinded by foreign players and the clubs they play for, Lee told FFC:

“I don’t remember him impressing me that much and if he did impress people, why didn’t they sign him at the time? I don’t remember him really and I can’t remember many West Ham fans talking highly about him. 

“I think when people name all these foreign players owners seem to get carried away with their names and what club they’re playing for, but none of that means anything if you aren’t a good player.”

Since Mario left West Ham, he has experienced loan spells at both Spartak Moscow and Sporting Lisbon with one season at Inter Milan coming before those.

David Moyes will be looking to build around his team this summer and after working with the midfielder during his first stint as Hammers manager, it could be someone Moyes wants to bring back.

When Everton raided Swindon Town for their academy graduate Lukas Jutkiewicz in 2007, few may have forseen how poorly things would turn out for the striker at Goodison Park under David Moyes.

But after a nomadic career having failed to make the grade on Merseyside, the Polish forward found a home for himself at Birmingham City in 2017 on the back of an initial loan spell.

Life at St. Andrew’s has been good for Jutkiewicz in most, and on Sunday he reached a landmark by making the 500th senior appearance of his career in a 1-0 win over Rotherham United that moved Lee Bowyer’s side nine points clear of the relegation zone.

It was 15-years ago this month that Jutkiewicz made his senior debut for Swindon in a 2-1 defeat to Swansea City, just two weeks after his 17th birthday, but his efforts as the season petered out failed to prevent the Robins from being relegated to the fourth-tier.

Yet it was in League Two that Jutkiewicz caught the eye of Everton and Moyes, who agreed to hand the then 18-year-old a lucrative contract as part of a £1m move, after an impressive campaign with five goals and two assists in 33 appearances despite only starting 13 times.

Action was much harder to secure at Goodison Park, even with Moyes claiming in 2008 that the Southampton-born centre-forward “is certainly in our thoughts” after showing progress behind the scenes, with the only appearance of his Toffees career lasting just four minutes.

Jutkiewicz featured on the bench in dribs and drabs between his arrival in 2007, loan spells with Plymouth Argyle, Huddersfield Town and Motherwell before eventually leaving in 2010 when sold to Coventry City. But his only outing for Everton came as a late substitute when replacing Tim Cahill in a 3-0 win at home to Sunderland in December 2008.

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His time with Coventry failed to make Everton regret his departure with Jutkiewicz only scoring 18 goals in 69 games across all competitions before joining Middlesbrough, where he would again attract Premier League interest – this time from Burnley.

The Clarets spent £2.5m on Jutkiewicz in 2014 but would fail to see the forward find the back of the net in any of his 35 appearances, but did offer three assists – including one in a 3-1 defeat to Everton to equalise after Samuel Eto’o had opened the scoring.

That was the closest Jutkiewicz has ever come to making the Blues regret his exit, having gone on to round out the first 500 games of his senior career by establishing himself as a solid if not remarkable Championship centre-forward with Birmingham.

In 213 games across all competitions for the second city side, the now 32-year-old has hit 51 goals and offered 23 assists, with personal-best league returns of 14 goals in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 campaigns.

Jutkiewicz currently has five goals in 39 games this term as the £10,000-per-week frontman enters the twilight years of his career as a two-time Premier League flop, having failed to fulfil the promise that first caught Everton and Moyes’ attention more than a decade ago.

AND in other news, Carlo Ancelotti faces a selection dilemma after a £16m-rated Everton star’s error-strewn weekend horrors…

Derby County forward Martyn Waghorn endured a disappointing afternoon on Saturday as Wayne Rooney’s side slipped up in their bid to secure Championship safety.

Knowing that a win against Swansea City would have all but ensured the Rams’ place in the second tier ahead of next season, despite taking the lead at the Liberty Stadium, two second-half Swansea goals ultimately saw Derby slump to their sixth consecutive league defeat, with the 2-1 loss leaving Rooney’s side in very real jeopardy of dropping down to League One on the final day of the season.

With both Rotherham United and Sheffield Wednesday picking up draws in their respective fixtures against Blackburn Rovers and Nottingham Forest, as well as Wycombe Wanderers securing a shock win against Bournemouth, Derby now find themselves just three points above all the trio of Wednesday, Rotherham and Wycombe in the relegation places – with the Rams’ final game of the season essentially becoming a relegation play-off against the Owls at Pride Park.

In the fixture against Swansea itself, Martyn Waghorn was easily one of Rooney’s worst performers, with the 31-year-old earning a SofaScore match rating of just 6.2, ranking him as the club’s second-worst player on the day.

This disappointing rating is likely to do with just how ineffectual the former Rangers striker was, with Waghorn managing no attempts at Freddie Woodman’s goal, completing just seven of his 13 passes, failing with all three of his attempted dribbles and losing possession of the ball 14 times over his 80 minutes on the pitch.

As such, it would very much appear as if Waghorn badly failed Rooney on Saturday, and, if the 35-year-old manager opts to start him again in the crucial clash with Sheffield Wednesday this weekend, it is essential that the striker ups his game – or else Derby could well be playing their football in the third tier next season.

In other news: Bye-Bye Waghorn: Rooney must sanction Derby summer swoop for “fantastic” £5k-p/w ace – opinion