AHMEDABAD: England’s Will Jacks on Sunday served a timely reminder for his inclusion in the T20 World Cup with a match-winning 41-ball 100 for IPL team Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Jacks chalked up 10 sixes in his blitz as he put on an unbeaten stand of 166 with Virat Kohli, who hit 70.
Bengaluru chased down their victory target of 201 against Gujarat Titans with four overs and nine wickets to spare as Jacks hit the winning six, which also brought up his century.
In the second match of the day, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad hit 98 to help holders Chennai Super Kings jump to third in the table with a 78-run hammering of Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The innings from Jacks and Gaikwad came just two days ahead of the International Cricket Council deadline of May 1 to announce teams for the T20 World Cup in June.
Bengaluru got their third win — and second in a row — in 10 matches so far this season, keeping their slim hopes of reaching the play-offs alive.
Jacks was on 16 when the in-form Kohli reached his fifty in 32 balls with a four off Rashid Khan, but soon the 25-year-old Englishman smashed three sixes and two fours in a 29-run 15th over from Mohit Sharma.
“Phenomenal. Initially when he came to bat, he was annoyed that he wasn’t able to strike the ball as he wanted to,” Kohli said after the win.
“The only talk was for him to stay calm; we know how explosive he can be when he gets going. The over from Mohit was the game changer, I was just happy to stay around and watch him go.”
Jacks then took on Rashid with four sixes and a four in the winning over.
The 35-year-old Kohli, who hit the first ton of this edition, reached 500 runs and was quick to slam critics who said the veteran batsman has struggled to meet modern T20 standards of power hitting.
“There’s a reason why you do it for 15 years. For me, it’s only about doing the work. People can talk anything they want to, they can talk about me not able to push on, not playing spin well, but you yourself know the game better,” Kohli said.
Kohli — who played the spinners with aplomb, including by using the sweep shot to good effect — and Bengaluru are still waiting for their first IPL title.
Bengaluru, who remain bottom of the 10-team table, elected to field first and Gujarat reached 200-3 in their 20 overs.
Sai Sudharsan hit an unbeaten 84 and put on key partnerships, including putting together 86 runs with Shahrukh Khan, who hit 58, and an unbeaten 69-run stand with David Miller, who made 26.
Glenn Maxwell returned to the Bengaluru line-up after a short “mental and physical break” of three matches, taking a wicket in his first over to return figures of 1-28 with his off-spin.
In match two, Chennai posted 212-3 courtesy of Gaikwad’s 54-ball knock and his key partnerships including a 107-run second-wicket stand with Daryl Mitchell, who hit 52.
Medium-pace bowler Tushar Deshpande led the bowling charge with four wickets as he helped bowl out Hyderabad for 134 in 18.5 overs.
England’s Jacks makes case for T20 World Cup inclusion with IPL ton for Bengaluru as Chennai win
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England’s Jacks makes case for T20 World Cup inclusion with IPL ton for Bengaluru as Chennai win
- Jacks chalked up 10 sixes in his blitz as he put on an unbeaten stand of 166 with Virat Kohli
Inter thump Como to top Serie A ahead of Liverpool visit
- Strike partnership Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram scored in each half
- “Today we showed how good we are against a really good side in Como,” said Martinez
MILAN: Inter Milan moved top of Serie A on Saturday after hammering high-flying Como 4-0 at the San Siro, ahead of the visit of struggling Liverpool in the Champions League.
Strike partnership Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram scored in each half before Hakan Calhanoglu and Carlos Augusto netted late as Inter eased to a victory which pushed them two points ahead of AC Milan and Napoli who are both yet to play.
Champions Napoli host fierce rivals Juventus on Sunday night while Milan will be favorites to leapfrog back over their local rivals at Torino on Monday.
“Today we showed how good we are against a really good side in Como,” said Martinez.
“We showed just how hungry we are to get as many points as we can... it’s a really good win for us.”
Saturday’s win was the perfect warm-up for Tuesday’s clash with Liverpool, which could be key to whether Cristian Chivu’s team secure direct qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League.
A good sign for Chivu was the strong display by Luis Henrique at right wing-back, which has been a trouble position for Inter since Denzel Dumfries’ picked up an ankle injury last month.
It was Henrique who was key to Martinez’s opener in the 11th minute, the Brazilian surging into the area from his own half, cutting back inside and perfectly feeding his captain who netted a league-leading seventh goal of the Serie A campaign.
And in the 59th minute Thuram added to his brace in Inter’s midweek cup thumping of Venezia with his first league goal since returning from a hamstring injury suffered in September.
France forward Thuram poked home from close range after Federico Dimarco’s corner caused chaos for Como, who had started the second half the better team and should have levelled from one of two great chances for Tasos Douvikas and Alex Valle.
Cesc Fabregas’ Como drop down a place to sixth, six points behind Inter after falling to their first defeat since August, which was made emphatic by Calhanoglu firing home his seventh goal of the season in the 81st minute and Carlos Augusto’s fine volley shortly afterwards.
“It’s hard to analyze when you’ve been beaten 4-0. It’s a heavy defeat... but honestly I didn’t see a huge difference between the two teams tonight,” insisted Fabregas.
“A result like today’s helps you develop... A heavy defeat is when you grow the most and when you learn the most.”
- Fiorentina’s crisis continues -
Fiorentina plunged deeper into crisis with a 3-1 defeat at promoted Sassuolo which left them bottom of the division without a single win this season.
Once the home of players like Gabriel Batistuta and Rui Costa and sixth-placed finishers last season, Fiorentina have collected just six points from 14 matches.
And even with the backing of some 4,000 traveling fans the “Viola” were dreadful in Reggio Emilia, collapsing to an eighth league loss of the league campaign after going ahead through Rolando Mandragora’s ninth-minute penalty.
Cristian Volpato levelled for Sassuolo with a deflected strike five minutes later. Tarik Muharemovic gave the hosts a deserved lead on the stroke of half-time when he was given the freedom of the Fiorentina penalty area to head home his first Serie A goal.
From that point Fiorentina showed nothing to suggest a comeback and Ismael Kone sealed the points for Sassuolo in the 65th minute, shortly after Volpato had a screamer ruled out for a soft looking foul on Fabiano Parisi.
That decision incensed eight-placed Sassuolo’s coach Fabio Grosso who was subsequently sent off for dissent.
Grosso’s counterpart Paolo Vanoli, who took charge of Fiorentina a month ago, screamed on the sidelines to no avail as his team stayed six points from safety with just over a third of the season done.
Raffaele Palladino looks to continue his good start as Atalanta coach, a job he took last month after quitting Fiorentina in the summer, at Verona in the day’s late fixture.
