MUMBAI: India’s Rohit Sharma hit an unbeaten 105 but his Mumbai Indians fell 20 runs short as they tried to chase down a big target set by holders Chennai Super Kings in a battle of IPL heavyweights on Sunday.
Set 207 for victory, five-time winners Mumbai finished on 186-6 even though Rohit raised his ton in 61 balls at his home in Wankhede Stadium.
Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and the in-form Shivam Dube powered Chennai, who won their fifth title last year, to 206-4.
Gaikwad hit 69 and Dube smashed an unbeaten 66 before warhorse M.S. Dhoni smashed three successive sixes in the 20th over to take Chennai past 200.
Dhoni came in to bat with four balls left and scored 20. He smashed Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya for three sixes and finished with a two to end a 26-run over.
“Our young wicketkeeper scoring three sixes down the order helped a lot and I think that was the difference,” Gaikwad said of the 42-year-old Dhoni.
Sri Lanka quick Matheesha Pathirana then took four wickets to push Mumbai to their fourth loss of the season and Gaikwad said he bowled “exceptionally well and nailed those yorkers.”
The two teams are on contrasting runs after changes of guard this season.
Pandya replaced Rohit as Mumbai captain while Dhoni surprisingly handed over the Chennai leadership to Gaikwad.
Gaikwad had his fourth win as captain after he set the pace for his team with his 40-ball knock laced with five fours and five sixes.
He put on 90 runs with Dube before falling to Pandya, but Dube and then Dhoni’s cameo ensured Chennai finished strongly.
Mumbai started well with Rohit and Ishan Kishan putting on 70 runs for the first wicket before Pathirana hit back.
Pathirana, known “Baby Malinga” for his slinging action similar to former Sri Lankan quick Lasith Malinga, sent back Kishan and then Suryakumar Yadav, for his second duck this season, in the space of three balls.
He later dismissed Tilak Varma for 31 as Rohit attempted to keep up the charge in his 63-ball knock and his second IPL ton.
Pathirana was named man of the match and Pandya said the Sri Lankan “was the difference.”
Tushar Deshpande got Pandya out and the home crowd cheered in another sign of growing unpopularity of Mumbai’s choice of captain.
In the first match of the day, Phil Salt’s rapid 89 and three wickets for Mitchell Starc helped Kolkata Knight Riders race to a crushing eight-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants.
Starc’s 3-28 kept Lucknow down to 161-7 at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, with the other Knight Riders’ bowlers putting in disciplined performances after their side elected to field first.
The Australian left-arm quick became the most expensive buy in IPL history after Kolkata shelled out $2.98 million for his services.
Opener Salt then steered the two-time IPL winners to their target in 15.4 overs for their fourth victory in five matches this season.
The English wicketkeeper-batsman put on 120 runs with skipper Shreyas Iyer, who made 38, smashing 14 fours and three sixes in his 47-ball knock.
Rohit Sharma century in vain as Chennai Super Kings beat Mumbai Indians in IPL
https://arab.news/jve6m
Rohit Sharma century in vain as Chennai Super Kings beat Mumbai Indians in IPL
- Set 207 for victory, five-time winners Mumbai finished on 186-6
Osimhen leads Nigeria past Algeria into AFCON semifinals
- Nigeria dominated the first half in Marrakech without scoring before getting the breakthrough within two minutes of the restart as Osimhen headed in
- The 2023 African player of the year then turned provider for the second goal just before the hour mark
MARRAKESH, Morocco: Victor Osimhen scored one goal and set up another as Nigeria beat Algeria 2-0 in their Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final on Saturday to set up a last-four showdown with hosts Morocco.
Nigeria dominated the first half in Marrakech without scoring before getting the breakthrough within two minutes of the restart as Osimhen headed in.
The 2023 African player of the year then turned provider for the second goal just before the hour mark, setting up Akor Adams to put the Super Eagles out of sight.
Runners-up at the last AFCON two years ago in Ivory Coast, Nigeria came to Morocco still smarting from their failure to qualify for the upcoming World Cup but are dreaming of winning a fourth continental title here.
They were not intimidated by a Marrakech crowd of 32,452 which was almost entirely given over to the Algerian cause, but the atmosphere is likely to be far more hostile for Wednesday’s semifinal in Rabat.
Algeria had beaten Nigeria en route to winning their last Cup of Nations title in Egypt in 2019 and this has been by far their best campaign at the tournament since then.
Their large support which descended on a stadium set against the backdrop of the Atlas Mountains was full of optimism after Vladimir Petkovic’s side had impressed in the group stage and edged out the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last 16.
Yet a team featuring a formidable front three of Riyad Mahrez, Ibrahim Maza and Mohamed Amoura failed to muster a single shot in the first half and were lucky to be level at half-time.
Nigeria almost scored just before the half-hour mark, when ‘keeper Luca Zidane got nowhere near an Ademola Lookman free-kick delivery and Calvin Bassey turned the ball toward goal.
However, Ramy Bensebaini got there just in time to hook it away from the line.
- Four in four -
They then should certainly have scored in the 37th minute as Adams found himself clean through but blazed his shot over the bar.
However, Eric Chelle’s half-time team-talk clearly worked as his Nigeria side wasted no time getting their noses in front at the start of the second half.
Alex Iwobi found Bruno Onyemaechi on the left and his deep cross to the back post was headed low into the net by Osimhen for the opener.
The masked Galatasaray striker had gone seven Cup of Nations matches without finding the net before scoring against Tunisia in the group stage. He now has four in his last four matches.
Nigeria are also the tournament’s top scorers overall with 14 goals in total after Adams made it 2-0 — Osimhen was released in behind and unselfishly squared for the Sevilla striker to round Zidane and finish for his second goal in as many games.
Adams could have had another as he headed off the post when Osimhen held the ball up for him from the line, while Algeria never really looked coming back.
Tensions spilled over between the teams on the pitch at full-time, but it is next stop Rabat for the Super Eagles.
