All posts by n8rngtd.top

The third edition of the five-team tournament will conclude on August 21

Madushka Balasuriya11-Jun-2022The third edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) will take place from July 31 to August 21, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has confirmed. The registration of international players for the player draft “will commence shortly,” added an SLC media release.Despite speculation that this year’s tournament might see the addition of a sixth team, SLC has confirmed that it will remain a five-team tournament. Like last year, the group stage games will take place at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, while the action will then shift to the MRICS in Hambantota for the Qualifiers, Eliminator and final. The tournament will see a total of 24 games played.”We are extremely happy to announce the 3rd edition of the Lanka Premier League, which has started its journey toward carving a place in the global T20 League competitions, as a formidable tournament,” SLC president Shammi Silva stated in the release.Jaffna have won both editions of the tournament in 2020 and 2021, initially under the Stallions moniker and then a second time after being rebranded the Kings by its new owners. The Galle Gladiators have been the losing finalists on both occasions.The LPL will be part of a packed schedule for Sri Lanka’s cricketers leading up to October’s T20 World Cup in Australia. While the match dates for the tournament are yet to be announced, the July 31 start indicates a short turnaround for those involved in Pakistan’s July tour of Sri Lanka, the exact dates of which are to be finalised. Then in September, Sri Lanka are set to host the Asia Cup before heading off to Australia for the global tournament.

A round-up of IPL-related news on April 21, 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Apr-2016Governing council to discuss moving IPL 2017 outside IndiaBCCI secretary Anurag Thakur has said the IPL governing council will consider moving the next edition of the tournament outside India because of the legal challenges affecting the 2016 season of the league.”The IPL governing council will be looking at the venues in India and abroad. The constant shifting is getting tough. From now, before drawing the schedule, we have to check the availability of the venues and prevailing conditions,” Thakur said in Delhi on Thursday.BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry had also tweeted on April 17: “Very soon the IPL may be played outside the country if this goes on :)! Loss to the GDP would not be insignificant.”IPL matches have been moved out of India twice before. In 2009 the entire tournament was played in South Africa and in 2014 the first 20 matches were held in the UAE. On both occasions, the reason was the general elections in India because of which enough security could not be provided for the IPL.This year, all matches scheduled after April 30 in Maharashtra had to be moved out of the drought-affected state, because of the Bombay High Court ruling on April 13. A week later, though, the high court said Pune could host the May 1 match between Rising Pune Supergiants and Mumbai Indians, after the BCCI filed an application citing logistical difficulties due to a short turnaround time.Kings XI move Nagpur matches to DharamsalaThree of Kings XI Punjab’s home matches that were earlier scheduled in Nagpur will now be played in Dharamsala. The franchise shifted the games to Dharamsala following a Bombay High Court ruling last week that ordered all matches after April 30 to be moved out of Maharashtra due to a severe state-wide drought.Kings XI were originally scheduled to play Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Nagpur between May 7 and 15. The High Court, however, moved out matches in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur in May due to the water crisis. The ruling was in response to a Public Interest Litigation by a Hyderabad-based NGO that questioned the hosting of IPL games while Maharashtra suffered one its worst droughts.Dhawan’s form not a concern, says LaxmanVVS Laxman, the Sunrisers Hyderabad mentor, has dismissed concerns surrounding the form of Shikhar Dhawan. Dhawan, who has endured a lean patch, hasn’t registered a single double-digit score, totalling just 16 runs in three innings in IPL 2016.”Shikhar’s form is not a worry for Sunrisers,” Laxman said on Wednesday. “He is a gifted player, and when he plays well, he finishes off the match. He is a match-winning player.”Sunrisers, however, have had a few positives on the bowling front, most notably Mustafizur Rahman, the Bangladesh left-arm seamer. Mustafizur had returns of 2 for 26 in four overs in Sunrisers’ opening match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, where the hosts blasted 227 for 4, and was the only bowler with an economy rate of under seven. He took 1 for 32 against Mumbai Indians to help set up Sunrisers’ seven-wicket win, their first of the tournament.”He (Mustafizur) is a smart bowler. He is exceptionally talented, he has a plenty of variations with the new and old ball, and more important, he is very consistent,” Laxman said.Sunrisers’ batting hasn’t exactly fired in unison and David Warner has done much of the heavy lifting. Laxman commended the captain even as he called on the rest to step up. “Warner has been in fantastic form and he played many match-winning knocks, but other batsmen, particularly domestic players coming in the middle order need to contribute more with the bat,” Laxman said. “If the openers and middle order manage to click, then the team certainly enjoys a comfortable position.”Laxman also had a word of appreciation for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma and left-arm medium pacer Barinder Sran for their contributions to the win against Mumbai Indians. Laxman put the defeats in the first two matches down to improper execution of plans and exuded confidence ahead of Thursday’s clash against Gujarat Lions, who are undefeated in the competition.

A round-up of the Ranji Trophy Group B matches on November 8, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Nov-2015
ScorecardIrfan Pathan returned to the Ranji Trophy with a haul of 25.2-12-47-6•AFP

Irfan Pathan produced a standout performance – 6 for 47 at an economy rate of 1.85 – but his efforts were hardly enough to stop a resolute Gujarat from gaining the upper hand. With a total of 505, the least they should be hoping for is a first-innings lead and the most, an outright victory. Ousting Irfan’s efforts was the result of a string of half-centuries down the order from Manprit Juneja (55 off 83), Rush Kalaria (68 off 107), Rujul Bhatt (61 off 161) and Axar Patel (81 off 90, with seven fours and three sixes).Irfan, who was playing his first Ranji game of the season, was one of four bowlers who had to toil for at least 25 overs. The other comeback man Munaf Patel was also stingy, bowling 23 overs and giving away only 52 runs. But the frontliners’ discipline could not be emulated by the likes of Hardik Pandya, who went for 102 in his 27 overs and Yusuf Pathan, who bore an economy rate of 4.03 after 31 overs.Baroda would feel further aggrieved because on a pitch where they let Gujarat’s bottom six tally 213 runs, their own top order slumped to 76 for 3. They ended the day with six more runs to that tally with captain Ambati Rayudu and Deepak Hooda at the crease.
Scorecard.Uttar Pradesh were left staring at a daunting first-innings deficit as nearly every Mumbai batsmen made a big score, including No. 9 Shardul Thakur, who carved 56 off only 62 balls. Yet he was only the fifth-highest scorer after Shreyas Iyer and Rohit Sharma’s first-day tons, Siddhesh Lad’s 89 and former captain Suryakumar Yadav’s 58.UP’s bowlers were forced to put their stamina on the line again in Wankhede stadium and their pride was hurt a little bit as well. India bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled 23 overs for two wickets and conceded an economy rate of 4.3. Piyush Chawla racked up 33 overs and gave away four runs each while his spin partner Kuldeep Yadav was hammered for 165 runs in only 31 overs. Praveen Kumar was the only one who could keep the runs contained during a spell of 30-13-69-1.Still Mumbai got more than enough with their 610 for 9 declared and UP will have to bat and bat and bat to entertain thoughts of a lead or avoid an outright defeat. They have begun well with openers Tanmay Shrivastava on 30 and Himanshu Asnora on 21.ScorecardRajat Patidar struck his second century in as many matches as Madhya Pradesh clinched a first-innings lead of 20 runs in Gwalior. He walloped 113 off 131 balls, with 18 fours which dovetailed well enough with captain Devendra Bundela’s 47 and Rameez Khan’s 53 to resist Railways’ threat just long enough. For the visitors, legspinner Karn Sharma took 5 for 102.MP began the day at a precarious 7 for 2, trailing by 249 runs. But Patidar took charge and had a very dogged Naman Ojha (31 off 151 balls) for company at the other end. The two men put on 136 runs off 224 balls. They were the only ones to move into double-figures among the top five. The tail had similar trouble as Railways managed to keep themselves in the hunt and bowled MP out for 276.Railways would, however, have preferred to finish the day without contributing any of their own batsmen to the wickets tally – which stands at nine after yesterday’s 12 – but Ashish Singh was bowled in the third over of their second innings. They finished at 42 for 1 after 16 overs, ahead by 22 runs.
ScorecardThe entire day’s play between Tamil Nadu and Andhra in Chennai was washed out. Forecast for the remaining two days of the fixture are not entirely hopeful either.

Essex close out comfortable victory at Hove to reach last eight

ECB Reporters Network01-Jul-2022A magnificently miserly bowling stint from the Essex Eagles captain Simon Harmer led his side to victory by 28 runs runs in their Vitality Blast match against the Sussex Sharks at Hove, securing a place in the quarter-finals.Harmer conceded just 18 runs from his four overs and also picked up the wickets of danger man Ali Orr, Tom Alsop and George Garton. It was the eighth win of the campaign for Essex, who are assured of a top-four spot, as Sussex disappointed once again before a sell-out crowd.But Orr, the hero of Sussex’s first championship win of the season two days before, threatened more heroics as Sussex chased a challenging 198 for victory.Sussex took just five runs from Aaron Beard’s first over but then Orr plundered 25 runs off the second over, bowled by Daniel Sams, the sequence going six, six, four, four, four and one.After just four overs Sussex were 54 without loss, with Orr flying on 36. Josh Philippe was caught behind for 17 in the fifth over but after seven overs Sussex were better than on target, at 81 for one. But then Orr’s odyssey came to an end as he skied Harmer to midwicket. His 41 had come off just 21 balls, and there were five fours and two sixes.Sussex were ahead of the game at the halfway stage, at 101 for two after ten overs. But then Harrison Ward holed out to the deep midwicket boundary for a 22-ball 31 and a brave 28-ball 47 from Sussex captain and former Essex man Ravi Bopara was not enough.Earlier, Adam Rossington’s 50-ball 95, with ten fours and five sixes, was the stand-out performance in the Essex total of 197 for eight. It was his highest score in the competition. But when Essex were 68 without loss in the seventh over they must have fancied their chances of scoring even more after being invited to bat.Rossington brought up the fifty in the sixth over as he drove Henry Crocombe for a straight four, the bowler’s first three deliveries going for boundaries.But Sussex battled their way back into the match by taking three wickets in the space of ten deliveries. Delray Rawlins bowled Robin Das, Michael Pepper, reverse sweeping, was brilliantly caught by Ali Orr, diving to his right at backward-point, and Dan Lawrence was bowled by Ravi Bopara’s second ball.Rossington moved to 95 with a six over long-off but was stumped next ball and it was Essex’s red ball captain Tom Westley, with a 30-ball 54, who was responsible for ensuring his side reached a challenging total. Westley struck three fours and four sixes, hitting George Garton out of the ground over the hospitality area at cow corner.Rashid Khan was once again the best Sussex bowler with three wickets for 30 runs while Bopara (2-30) and Rawlins (2-34) also bowled well.

Home side fall away between showers despite promising platform

ECB Reporters Network02-Jul-2022Southern Vipers 75 for 3 (Wyatt 36*) beat Central Sparks 163 for 7 (E Jones 39, Scholfield 2-20) by seven wickets (DLS method)Southern Vipers defeated Central Sparks by seven wickets on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern in a heavily rain-affected Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy opener at Portland Road. After frequent interruptions by the weather, Vipers chased down a revised DLS target of 70 in ten overs as they reached 75 for 3 with just two balls to spare.On a relentlessly damp afternoon in Birmingham, calculators were to the fore as both innings were truncated by heavy showers.Sparks batted first and closed on 163 for 7 from 36 overs – an innings of two halves after they reached 103 for 3 from 24 before a two-hour rain break. They resumed with 12 more overs to have a thrash but added just 60 more against disciplined bowling led by Georgia Elwiss (8-0-29-1).Chasing an initial target of 176 from 36, Vipers were 24 for 1 when rain returned. That trimmed the target to 70 from ten and Danni Wyatt paced the chase to perfection with an unbeaten 36 from 24 balls.Put in, Sparks, depleted by the absence of Emily Arlott, still recovering from Covid, and recent England debutant Issy Wong, were given a solid platform by openers Eve Jones and Davina Perrin who added 65 in 17 overs. Fifteen-year-old Perrin, a Staffordshire product, impressed for 22 from 48 balls before lifting Charlotte Taylor to mid-on.Paige Schofield soon had Thea Brookes caught behind before Jones’s promising innings of 39 ended in wasteful fashion when Ami Campbell called for a second run and Jones’ desperate dive for home narrowly failed. Three balls later the rain arrived and, after the resumption, Vipers bowled accurately to deny Sparks the boundaries they needed to beef up their total. #Vipers’ reply suffered an early blow when Georgia Adams was trapped lbw by the third ball of the innings, from Grace Potts. Wyatt was quickly into her stride, striking three boundaries despite the wet outfield before rain returned at 24 for 1 after three.The final chapter of a complex plot saw Vipers resume at 5.20pm needing another 46 from seven overs. Wyatt and Maia Boucher added a measured 62 from 47 balls and though Boucher fell lbw to Sarah Glenn in the penultimate over, Vipers needed just five from the last, from Hannah Baker.A handsome straight four from 17-year-old Freya Kemp from the second ball relieved the pressure. Kemp was bowled by the next but Elwiss settled the match by lifting her first ball for a huge six.

Australia’s captain took some frustration out with the bat as her team cantered to victory

Valkerie Baynes01-Aug-2022″Are you going to have nightma…””Yep!”The question wasn’t even fully formed and Meg Lanning had given her answer. No, she would not be sleeping well after dropping the catch that would have handed legspinner Alana King a hat-trick, just the second for her country in women’s T20Is.In fairness, Lanning, the Australia captain, was as good-natured as anyone could possibly be about the situation, from burying her face in the Edgbaston turf right there at slip where if you gave her 99 similar chances she’d take them, to wincing in the background as reporters quizzed King a couple of metres away afterwards about the incident and then fronting up to the same journalists, knowing full well what was coming.”I’ll have nightmares,” Lanning said. “I wanted to dig a hole and jump in it as quick as I could. I tried my best and I dropped it.”Softening the blow somewhat was the fact that Australia had one foot in the Commonwealth Games semi-finals with Barbados 53 for 8 at that point. Barbados managed just 64 before being bowled out. Then Australia, led by Lanning’s unbeaten 21-ball 36, overhauled the target with 71 balls to spare and sealed a place in the knockout stages with one group game to go.Asked if her innings was a response to her faux pas in the field, Lanning said: “I wasn’t overly pleased, let’s put it that way. I was just disappointed for Kingy. She was bowling so well and to let her down like that was not ideal. But that’s cricket, I guess.”I was just keen to contribute really. I was just pouncing on some loose balls when I got them and giving myself a chance and it felt like I was able to do that.”Deandra Dottin conceded 25 runs off her first over, the last of the powerplay, all to Lanning and extras as Australia, via their captain, accelerated after a watchful start on a slow, hybrid pitch staging its sixth match in three days. From that point, Alyssa Healy joined the fray also, moving from four runs off 14 balls to 23 not out off 24 as Australia eased to victory.For her part, King was understanding.”That’s cricket, right? No one means to drop a ball or anything,” King said. “It’s just the way the game goes, but I’m just happy that I could contribute in any way I can.”Every ball I bowl, I’m trying to get a wicket so that was no different but it caught the outside edge and yeah, that’s just cricket, I guess. But I’m just really happy with how I played today.”I felt that there was definitely a bit more bite in the wicket today. It is the sixth game on it so it’s a bit tired, a bit slow, which works into our hands a little bit.”King entered the attack in the eighth over after Lanning had won the toss and sent in Barbados, who lost captain Hayley Matthews early for what turned out to be their top score, on 18.King struck with her second ball, brushing the outside of Dottin’s front pad in line with middle stump as she knelt down to tuck the ball to fine leg, having faced 22 balls for her eight runs.After Tahlia McGrath claimed the first of her three wickets when she had Kycia Knight caught by Megan Schutt at deep backward square and Ashleigh Gardner bowled a tight spell, including a double-wicket maiden to remove Kyshona Knight and Trishnan Holder, King roared back into action.At the end of her second over, King dismissed Aaliyah Alleyne playing across a ball that pegged back leg stump. Then, with the third ball of her third over, King pinned Shakera Selman lbw and then struck Shamilia Connell on the back leg next ball. What followed as Keila Elliott’s edge somehow popped out of Lanning’s hands at first slip was the stuff of bad dreams. Fortunately for Australia, it was all right on the night.

Where players had been paid $250 per white-ball game, they will now receive $750, in addition to a “winning bonus”

Andrew Fidel Fernando14-Feb-2023Sri Lanka Cricket has tripled the match fee it pays to women’s international cricketers, and has also introduced a “winning bonus”.Where players had been paid $250 per white-ball game, they will now receive $750. If they win, they will also get a further $250. Squad members who did not play the match, meanwhile, will get 25% of the match fee.”The move is part of Sri Lanka Cricket’s efforts towards further enhancing women’s cricket in the country and empowering female cricketers,” a board release said.The news comes on the heels of Sri Lanka’s strong start at the T20 World Cup, where they upset hosts South Africa in their tournament opener, before defeating Bangladesh on Sunday.SLC has at times been accused of failing to prioritise women’s cricket, particularly during the pandemic, with Sri Lanka not playing a match between March 2020 and January 2022. The increased match fee is also only a fraction of what the men’s national side gets paid. They received $3000 per T20I and $4000 per ODI as per their most-recent contracts.But the hike in match fees is substantial nevertheless, particularly in the light of Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic crisis.

Zimbabwe captain says he wanted to send a message to his batters that the pitch was still good

Mohammad Isam10-Jul-2021Captain Brendan Taylor hopes his swashbuckling 92 inspires the rest of his Zimbabwe teammates to salvage a draw on the fifth day against Bangladesh. Taylor struck 16 fours in his 73-ball bonanza but got out with roughly ten overs to spare on the fourth day. The home side also lost the stonewalling Takudzwanashe Kaitano shortly afterwards, leaving them on 140 for 3, and a day to keep Bangladesh at bay.The way Taylor batted put the visitors on the backfoot for much of the evening session. He drilled cover drive after cover drive, drove the spinners with ease, looking at times like he was batting in a different league than the batter at the other end.Related

• Zimbabwe lose rampant Taylor as Bangladesh sight victory

• Najmul Hossain Shanto admits Bangladesh in 'good position' but bowlers 'have their work cut out'

He said that the strokeful innings was intuitive, as he was trying to preempt the Bangladesh bowlers’ plans on a pitch he considered to be almost dead for the bowlers.”There was no real intent to play with that amount of aggression, but playing instinctively paid off for me,” Taylor said. “I thought that at the end of day four, the wicket will start getting tired. Instead of just sitting around, I wanted to be a little proactive, and try to send a message to the guys that the wicket is still playing okay. Hopefully I have done that.”I got out at the wrong time, and I felt that I left so many runs out there. It is hurting me at the moment, but there are guys that I have a lot of faith in, as well. It is frustrating (to miss out on the hundred) when you are going that well. You want to kick on (and score the hundred) obviously. From the team’s perspective, it was crucial that I stayed out there for a longer period.”Taylor said that the rest of the Zimbabwe batters are capable of putting up a good fight on the fifth day and that the overnight batters Dion Myers and nightwatchman Donald Tiripano must stave off the first hour as a first priority.”We want to start the first hour well. Hopefully we don’t lose a wicket. We have guys who are technically sound and solid. Unfortunately we lost Kaitano in the end there. He has been a pillar for us. But there are guys there who can really front up, which will be the chat tomorrow. There’s no better time to save a game for your country,” he said.Zimbabwe’s bowlers got punished in Bangladesh’s second innings. Shadman Islam and Najmul Hossain Shanto struck centuries as the home side could take only one wicket, giving away the 476-run lead. But Taylor said that he was happy with how the bowlers worked hard in this Test.”The attitude has always been good, particularly with the ball as well. The wicket was pretty dead, and the batsmen were going pretty hard at the ball. They were not giving many chances. All I asked my bowlers, was to keep fronting up. They are young guys with great attitude and a lot of commitment. We had to work hard.”Taylor said that Bangladesh’s experience as a Test side showed as they dominated any time they got set in the middle. “They have shown that they are an experienced side. They have dominated, and when they get in, they make it count. We have certainly learned a lot from how they have gone about their business,” he said.

Yorkshire will sense that a third consecutive County Championship title is well within their compass after climbing to third place with a victory that drew on tried and trusted ingredients

Jon Culley at Headingley06-Aug-2016
ScorecardJack Brooks and Ryan Sidebottom were back in harness for Yorkshire, and it showed•Getty Images

Yorkshire will sense that a third consecutive County Championship title is well within their compass after climbing to third place with a victory that drew on tried and trusted ingredients. It puts them within striking distance of the two teams ahead of them, both of whom have played a match more and both of whom must still face Yorkshire for a second time.There were no headline-grabbing innings, and never were there likely to be on a bone-dry pitch that was a challenge from day one, but the reuniting of what has been their most consistently effective bowling attack seemed to bring with it a fresh injection of self-belief. Ryan Sidebottom and Jack Brooks were back in tandem for the first time in more than three months, spurring each other on to excessively celebrated successes; Steven Patterson backed them up with his metronomic miserliness and Adil Rashid hoovered up the left-overs by bamboozling the tail.It was a contest of narrow margins and important moments, none more so than the stunning catch at third slip pulled off by Jack Leaning to remove Tim Ambrose, breaking a partnership with Jonathan Trott that had added 91 runs and seemed perhaps to be tilting the balance in Warwickshire’s favour.That gave Sidebottom a second wicket in the innings and a fifth in his comeback match. Shortly afterwards, Brooks, who himself has been off the scene lately with hip and thigh injuries, accounted for Trott for the second time in the match, again caught and bowled off a leading edge, which is certainly not a regular mode of dismissal for the former England batsman. It gave Brooks, who had dismissed Varun Chopra and Ian Bell in the same over earlier, his fifth in the match too.Rikki Clarke perished leg before to Patterson, one of several decisions in which Warwickshire felt they were unlucky, and then it was over to Rashid, who picked off Keith Barker, Jeetan Patel and Chris Wright in consecutive overs before finally winkling out a gutsily resistant Sam Hain, who batted essentially with one arm for more than two hours before Adam Lyth snared him at slip with a joyous whoop.Earlier, Hain had been lucky to escape serious injury when he tripped over the rope after a vain attempt to deny Andy Hodd a
boundary, crashing into the concrete wall of the Western Stand. He sat up but remained motionless for some minutes before being helped off the field, clearly in some pain after his left shoulder had borne the brunt of the impact.Warwickshire later revealed that Hain had felt the shoulder dislocate with the impact and return to its socket as he rolled over. He is scheduled to have a scan on Monday to determine if there is any other damage.Andrew Gale, the Yorkshire captain, felt the return of Sidebottom and Brooks was the key to recharging their title challenge.”Ultimately that’s the attack that won us the Championship last year,” he said. “They are the guys that perform well at Headingley, where Jack Brooks and Siddy have outstanding records and it made a massive difference having those two back. Having Ryan back is like a new signing.”And when we get into positions like that with the opposition five or six down, we turn to Adil Rashid and he is just so ruthless in the way he cleans the tail up. We call him the Hoover, the Dyson.”There are not many tailenders who can pick his googly and this was a pitch which turned a lot more than usual for Headingley, so it was perfect for him.”It’s a massive result. If we are to be up there again at the end of the season we need to win our home games and this puts us right back in the mix, breathing down Middlesex’s necks.”All this was made possible by Yorkshire fulfilling Sidebottom’s assessment of what was required to post a competitive total, adding 72 runs to their overnight 78 for 5 thanks largely to Alex Lees, whose 70 was an outstanding effort in the circumstances.None of his partners could stay with him long. Rashid cracked a couple of nice-looking boundaries off Clarke but fell to a catch at short leg as the tireless Jeetan Patel took the first of his three wickets on the day.Tim Bresnan was caught at mid-on, miscuing an attempted slog-sweep, then Hodd followed one from Wright to be caught behind. There was no shifting Lees, who had been patient in picking off the bad balls, until he went after a wide ball from Wright to give Ambrose another catch. Sidebottom soon followed as Patel claimed his sixth wicket of the match, but 150 had swelled the target to something that was always going to be testing.”It is tough to fall 50 runs short and it is frustrating that we lost a game we could have won if we had performed better at key moments,” Warwickshire’s director of cricket, Dougie Brown, said.”But credit to Yorkshire. They played very well and it just came down to needing two or three runs more from each partnership, that’s how close it was.””It was a brave effort by Sam, who was clearly in a lot of pain and hampered in some of the shots he was not able to play but he stuck at it and tried to make a difference.”

Assam coach Sanath Kumar has slammed the Pune pitch for their ongoing Ranji Trophy game against at Gahunje stadium Maharashtra

Arun Venugopal24-Nov-2015Assam coach Sanath Kumar has slammed the Pune pitch for their ongoing Ranji Trophy game at the Gahunje stadium against Maharashtra, calling it “very dangerous.” He also confirmed Assam were contemplating lodging an official complaint at the end of the match.”Definitely it was a dangerous wicket, at least till lunch,” Sanath told ESPNcricinfo. “Even after lunch a couple of balls did [something] but it was not as bad as it was till lunch. Till lunch I was literally worried that some of my players might get a real knock.””I was struggling to watch the game,” Sanath said. “I really cannot understand why they play on this sort of wicket. So many balls went so dangerously close to the face, flying all over. They had a short leg, leg slip, backward short leg, so imagine [how the pitch would have behaved]. That’s what I am thinking [about lodging a complaint].”However, Pandurang Salgaonkar, the curator at Gahunje, denied Assam’s contention, saying the pitch was “not at all dangerous.” “The wicket was absolutely good, but it was a grassy wicket,” he told ESPNcricinfo.KB Arun Karthik, who spent the most time in the middle to score an unbeaten century, said he informed the umpires that the batsmen were at risk of getting hurt, but they didn’t take the players off the field.Assam had been put in to bat after the first day was rained out and while they went to stumps at a fairly healthy 223 for 4, Arun Karthik said it had been a struggle throughout the day. Their top-three batsmen fell inside six overs to the seam-bowling pair of Samad Fallah and Anupam Sanklecha, but Arun Karthik and Amit Verma steadied things with a 75-run stand. After Verma’s departure, Arun Karthik and captain Gokul Sharma, who remained unbeaten on 59 put on 130 runs.”The pitch was damp today, but they started it regardless,” Arun Karthik said. “The umpires had a look, but they said there was no other go but to play.”The wicket was damp and there was quite a bit of grass as well, so there was uneven bounce and the ball kept cutting off the pitch. Some balls hit me on the glove, some on the elbow and some others on the thigh pad.”A particular ball stopped and bounced over my head, and went on the bounce to the keeper. It was obvious for everyone to see [that the pitch was behaving alarmingly],” Arun Karthik said. “I told them [the umpires] we were at a serious risk of getting hurt. The umpires said, ‘we will look at it after sometime.’ They didn’t take us off the field.”Arun Karthik said there were only a few strokes, such as the flick and the backfoot punch, that could be played on the surface. “There was no chance of playing a cover drive as the ball was bouncing off a length. Even while leaving the ball you will have to be positive on a wicket like this.”Pune is one of the six centres that have been accorded Test status recently. The surface comes under scrutiny – despite allowance being made for the rain the city has received recently – especially because it was made a standby venue for India’s fourth Test against South Africa in the event of Delhi not securing the necessary approvals in time. Had the Test match been played at this venue, the Maharashtra-Assam game, it is understood, would have been shifted to Poona Club.