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The equation is simple for Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians: The winner moves on to the playoffs, the loser pulls curtains on their season.

The Preview by Amol Karhadkar16-May-2015

Match facts

Sunday, May 17, 2015
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)2:55

O’Brien: Sunrisers have a pretty stable team

Big Picture

It will be the last of the 56 group stage games and it will decide the last of the four qualifiers. The equation is simple: The winner moves on to the playoffs, the loser pulls curtains on their season.There is very little to choose between the two teams. Sunrisers enjoy home advantage, but Mumbai Indians hold a slight edge. Not just because they enter the game having won six of their previous seven encounters, they also have a knack for pulling off stunners at the latter stages and make it to the knockouts.They did in in the CLT20 2013, chasing 150 against Perth Scorchers in the last league game in a little over 13 overs to scrape through to the semi-finals. They did it again in IPL 2014, edging Rajasthan Royals by running down an improbable 190 in 14.3 overs. Here they are, hoping to repeat what they are best at.But Sunrisers, in the second half of the tournament, have emerged as a formidable unit and they will hope to make it to the top four for the second time in three seasons. The last thing Hyderabadis would want is for weather to intervene like it did on Friday night. At the moment, the forecast is partly cloudy. And neither team would not want the heavens to open up.Mumbai Indians have a history of pulling off steals in the final game of a T20 season•BCCI

Form guide

Sunrisers Hyderabad LWWWL (last five matches, most recent first)
Mumbai Indians WLWWW

Watch out for…

Trent Boult (and Kane Williamson) will head to England to join the New Zealand squad after Sunday’s game. And Boult will be keen to get a look in and help Sunrisers get the better of Mumbai. That Shane Bond, the former New Zealand bowling coach, will be present in the Mumbai dugout might give additional zip to Boult’s performance.He has a reputation of coming good when it matters the most. But Rohit Sharma will not enter the game with the best form. Though he has tallied 400-plus runs this season, he hasn’t been able to notch up a fifty for nine innings. The Mumbai captain will be hoping to get a big one come Sunday.

Stats and trivia

• David Warner is one shy of joining Chris Gayle as the batsman with most fifty-plus scores in an IPL season. While Warner has registered seven so far this season, Gayle had struck seven fifties and a century in 2012.
• Ambati Rayudu needs 55 runs to join Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma in 2000 IPL runs club for Mumbai Indians.
• Mumbai Indians have made the cut into the top four in each of the last five IPL seasons.

Quotes

“We can walk away very proud with that performance today. And we can take the positives from today into Sunday and make sure we play our best game in the last round.””Hopefully tomorrow we can put together forty overs of very consistent cricket and if we do that I think we will be really hard to beat”

Christi Viljoen and Louis Klazinga took three wickets apiece as Namibia completed an innings victory over Kenya on the final day of their Intercontinental Cup match in Windhoek

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2012
ScorecardChristi Viljoen took three important wickets as Namibia wrapped up victory•ICC/Helge Schutz

Christi Viljoen and Louis Klazinga took three wickets apiece as Namibia completed an innings victory over Kenya on the final day of their Intercontinental Cup match in Windhoek. Set up by Gerrie Snyman’s unbeaten double hundred, Namibia’s first-innings score of 630 for 7 declared was enough for them not to have to bat again, as Klazinga bowled Tanmay Mishra with Kenya still one run in arrears.The win moved Namibia up to fourth, with 43 points from four completed matches, and left Kenya struggling in seventh, with only Canada below them. Ireland head the table with 67 points.Kenya resumed their second innings after being 109 for 2 overnight, looking to bat out the day in pursuit of a draw. They were dealt a blow when opener Irfan Karim was caught of the bowling of Viljoen in the third over of the day. Nightwatchman Hiren Varaiya lasted another ten overs before falling to Viljoen and when Collins Obuya was caught behind off Sarel Burger for 46, Kenya were five down before lunch and struggling to save the match.Mishra provided the main resistance of the day, adding a half-century to his first-innings hundred, but the biggest partnership he was involved in came with No. 10 Nehemiah Odhiambo, who struck 31 out of 46 for the ninth wicket. Viljoen returned to break the stand and when Mishra’s 159-ball vigil was ended, Namibia had claimed the maximum 20 points.

New Zealand Cricket’s journey towards the unconventional has continued with the appointment of a little-known Australian lawn bowls administrator as their new national selection manager

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Sep-2011New Zealand Cricket’s journey towards the unconventional has continued with the appointment of a little-known Australian lawn bowls administrator as their new national selection manager (NSM). Kim Littlejohn, who has spent the past seven years with Bowls Australia, was preferred ahead of the interim selection manager, Mark Greatbatch, along with other former cricketers including Ken Rutherford and Glenn Turner.It was a bold move from an appointment panel led by the NZC’s director of cricket, John Buchanan, who in June announced the disbanding of the existing selection panel in favour of a two-man panel made up of the NSM and the national coach, John Wright. Buchanan said the new role was very different to the traditional selection role and required a specific skill set.”A key part of the role will be accessing and utilising the wealth of knowledge that already exists within cricket, including first-class coaches, high performance staff and New Zealand’s cricket experts – in that respect it is more inclusive than previous models,” Buchanan said. “The selection panel agreed that Kim was the right fit for the role.”Kim brings extensive experience from Bowls Australia where his operational skills and understanding of high performance sport were highly regarded. Although he is new to cricket in New Zealand I am confident his will mean he has no issue getting up to speed with new selection system, performance focused management, people management, and cultural change.”It is worth noting that Mark Greatbatch provided invaluable input and expertise during his time in the acting NSM role. However, the selection panel decided that Kim was the candidate who best matched the requirements of the role with the appointment also endorsed by John Wright.”Greatbatch declined to comment on the decision on Friday. Earlier in the week, before the appointment was confirmed, the former selector Dion Nash said he held some concerns about the way Buchanan appeared to be experimenting with New Zealand’s setup.”You can feel it’s a changing of the guard. It’s not surprising,” Nash told the . “My only reservation is that I feel like we’re being exposed to a huge experiment. To me it’s uncharted territory.”We’re putting a lot of faith in John Buchanan and the new system, which is not to say it’s a bad thing, but it is quite experimental. The shame for me would be if someone who deserved to be picked, wasn’t picked.”Littlejohn has been the high performance manager and national team manager with Bowls Australia, and he previously worked as operations manager for Baseball Victoria. He started his career as an investment banker, but he does have some cricket in his background, having played in the club competition in Western Australia and coached with Melbourne University.Under the new structure, Littlejohn will be responsible for the selection of national teams for both men and women, and the under-age sides, and he will be advised by the six domestic first-class coaches. However, Wright has the final say on selection, which fits with Buchanan’s push for more accountability.Littlejohn will begin in his new role on September 19. The appointment panel consisted of Buchanan, the former fast bowler Shane Bond, and the NZC board member Brent King.

Queensland have lost the promising fast bowler Luke Feldman for six weeks after he fractured a bone in his wrist during Wednesday’s Ryobi Cup match at the Gabba

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Oct-2010Queensland have lost the promising fast bowler Luke Feldman for six weeks after he fractured a bone in his wrist during Wednesday’s Ryobi Cup match at the Gabba. Feldman hurt his wrist fielding off his own bowling as he took 4 for 64 in the narrow loss for the Bulls, and he has been replaced by Cameron Gannon in the squad for Friday’s Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania.The right-arm fast bowler Gannon, 21, is in his first season as a Queensland rookie and if he plays on Friday, he will be working under the leadership of Chris Hartley, the stand-in captain. Hartley has been handed the job temporarily as the Bulls’ skipper James Hopes will on Monday fly to India to join Australia’s ODI side.”We knew this situation was on the cards when I accepted the offer to captain the Bulls and we’re in a fortunate position to have a strong leadership group that can deal with this contingency,” Hopes said. “Harts is a very experienced cricketer who leads by example as well as being an astute tactician and observer of the game.”Hopes’ place in the Sheffield Shield squad has been taken by the batsman Craig Philipson. Queensland were the runners-up in the competition last summer and they will again be one of the favourites to challenge Victoria, who are searching for their third consecutive Sheffield Shield title.Queensland squad Ryan Broad, Wade Townsend, Chris Lynn, Lee Carseldine, Craig Philipson, Ben Dunk, Chris Hartley (capt, wk), Chris Swan, Nathan Rimmington, Ben Laughlin, Cameron Boyce, Cameron Gannon.Tasmania squad Ed Cowan, Steven Cazzulino, Mark Cosgrove, George Bailey (capt), Alex Doolan, Travis Birt, Luke Butterworth, Brett Geeves, James Faulkner, Brady Jones (wk), Xavier Doherty, Brendan Drew, Adam Griffith.

The Pakistan Test captain also threw his weight behind Babar stating that the players in the longer formats needed to be given time

Danyal Rasool01-Oct-2024Pakistan captain Shan Masood stated that he has seen no signs of a lack of unity from his side during his tenure as captain, saying Pakistan needed to avoid the temptation of chopping and changing regularly. In a press conference ahead of the start of Pakistan’s three-match Test series against England at home, Masood also backed Babar Azam to come good, calling him “among the world’s best batters”.”Every captain has their own style,” Masood said. “I focus on keeping the environment in the dressing room well; that is my primary concern. I have never seen a lack of unity or effort by the boys. There are some cricketing aspects to how we need to improve, but I have no complaints regarding unity.”Masood is hoping to overcome a horror start to his time as captain, with Pakistan following up a 3-0 series defeat in Australia with a home series against Bangladesh that saw the visitors win both Test matches. It has coincided with difficult runs of form for several players, not least Masood himself, who’s scored 286 runs in ten innings during this period, or Babar, who has managed 190.Related

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• Shakeel: Pakistan planning to use England's aggressive game plan against them

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• PCB chairman questions depth of Pakistan's talent pool

• Lack of unity within Pakistan team among topics discussed at PCB's connection camp

Masood said players in the longer formats had earned the right to get more time. “Babar Azam is among the world’s best batters. You have to give your players time, not just Babar Azam. Babar doesn’t look out of form, he’s getting starts,” Masood said. “There was a 10-month gap between the Australia and Bangladesh Tests, which doesn’t help us. He played some long innings in the Champions [One-Day] Cup where he absorbed pressure and changed gears. That might help him in Tests now. He’s the team’s number one batter for sure.”We have to give players a consistent chance and if and when we get Kamran Ghulam in the side, he should also get a long run instead of chopping and changing. We want to consistently back our players, and whoever comes in shouldn’t feel their spot is under threat from the first day.”Masood also defended Abdullah Shafique, who has endured a difficult couple of years in the national side, drawing from his own personal experiences to argue against dropping struggling players too quickly.”Saim [Ayub] scored two 50s in the last two Tests, if we’d dropped him after the first Test, I’ve had that happen to me; it’s not nice,” he said. “When I was out of the team for two years, I averaged over 60 in List A cricket, but Imam [ul-Haq-] and Fakhar [Zaman] were consistently performing. I didn’t complain that I wasn’t being selected, because I understood the level of competition was high. If the coach was backing the players, they were doing the right thing.”If I’ve backed a player who ends up becoming a great servant for Pakistan cricket, and he ends up replacing me in the process, I won’t be upset. If I’m backing the right thing, I’ll sleep well at night.”Mohammad Hasnain picked up 17 wickets in the One-Day Cup•PCB

Perhaps the brightest spark for Pakistan in what has been a challenging few months is the form of Mohammad Hasnain in the One-Day Cup. The 24-year-old recently overcame a long-term ankle injury to finish as the player of the tournament, taking 17 wickets – seven more than any other bowler. Crucially, his pace appeared undimmed from his pre-injury days, with his performances also attracting the attention of the Pakistan Test captain.”Hasnain was bowling really well and [was] a personal standout for me,” Masood said. “If I’m selecting a team, my question to him would be you’re bowling really well, how well can you do in red-ball cricket?’ We should appreciate the skill of fast bowling in Test cricket. It’s the hardest skill and you need to be super fit to execute it so we should appreciate it.”Fast bowling exerts a huge amount of stress on the body, and wherever I’ve played Test cricket, fast bowlers’ workload is always managed. Injuries with fast bowlers are common so you have to continue building stocks of fast bowlers. Personally, what I’ve said to fast bowlers is they’ll play a huge role in taking 20 wickets. So we’ve set certain standards and protocols so our fast bowlers are the fittest players in our team. That’s the only way they’ll be able to bowl effective third and fourth spells, so that’s the standard we’re looking to set.”

Florida, Morrisville, Dallas and New York among shortlisted venues inspected by ICC, with USA set to co-host tournament with West Indies

Nagraj Gollapudi28-Jul-2023The 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup is scheduled to be played from June 4 to 30 next year in the Caribbean and the USA, across 10 venues, ESPNcricinfo has learned.It is understood that this week an ICC team inspected some shortlisted venues in the USA, which will be hosting an international global cricket event for the first time. These include Lauderhill in Florida, which has hosted international matches already (and is set to host West Indies vs India in the coming fortnight), Morrisville, Dallas and New York, for tournament matches and warm-ups.Morrisville and Dallas are currently hosting the inaugural edition of Major League Cricket in the USA. The grounds in Dallas (Grand Prairie Stadium), Morrisville (Church Street Park) and New York (Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx) are yet to get international venue status, which is mandatory as per ICC rules. A final decision on the venues will be taken by the ICC together with Cricket West Indies (CWI) and USA Cricket (USAC) in the next few months.This week Ireland, Scotland and Papua New Guinea qualified for the 20-team T20 World Cup via the regional qualifiers pathway put in place by the ICC. While PNG topped the East Asia-Pacific Qualifer, Ireland and Scotland finished in the top two positions in the Europe Region Qualifier. Qualifiers from the Americas (for one spot), Africa (two spots) and Asia (two spots) regions will be determined in the coming months.Construction workers put the finishing touches on Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas, ahead of this year’s MLC•Peter Della Penna

Twelve teams had already qualified for the tournament before the regional qualifiers, including hosts West Indies and USA, and the top eight teams at the 2022 T20 World Cup – Australia, England, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan and Bangladesh qualified by virtue of their spots in the T20I rankings, completing the 20-team roster.The format for the 2024 World Cup will be different to the last two editions (2020-21 in the UAE and 2022 in Australia), where the first round was followed by Super 12s. Next year, the 20 teams will be divided into four groups of five each for the first round, with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the Super 8s. The Super 8 teams will be split into two groups of four each, with the top two in each group reaching the semi-finals.The 2024 T20 World Cup is the first of the eight men’s global events in the ICC’s next commercial cycle from 2024-31, which was finalised in 2021. The decision to appoint the USA as a co-host was part of a strategic move by the ICC with twin goals in mind: one, the North American market was identified as a strong market for growth of the game. And two, the ICC’s ambition to have cricket feature in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games (LA28).The USA being pencilled in to co-host a major cricket event, the ICC felt, would only help in the push for cricket’s inclusion in LA28. The ICC made a presentation to the LA28 team, with a final decision to be taken by the International Olympics Committee later this year.

Political uncertainty forced the relocation, with the ODIs expected to start at 4pm

Umar Farooq30-May-2022Pakistan have relocated their home series against West Indies from Rawalpindi to Multan. The decision has been taken in light of political uncertainty in Islamabad – the country’s capital, adjacent to Rawalpindi. The fixtures and schedule, however, remain unchanged, with the three ODIs, which are a part of the Cricket World Cup Super League to be played on June 8, 10 and 12.The games were originally slated for Rawalpindi, but the PCB had kept Multan as a back-up option, with former Prime Minister Imran Khan potentially planning protest rallies in the capital over the coming days. The original protest rally took place on May 25, but there remains a significant possibility of further such rallies over the coming days.Multan remained the only viable option, with Lahore and Karachi’s pitches being relaid, and the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar undergoing renovation work.Multan is situated in southern Punjab, and among the hottest cities in the country, with temperatures in the high 40s expected on matchdays. Pakistan has never hosted elite cricket at this time of year due to the summer heat, with nearly all high-level competitions including domestic season played during the winter and spring months between September and April.During the summer months, the PCB has mostly held its training camps in northern side of the country mostly in Abbottabad, which is located in the hilly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and experiences relatively milder weather. Last year, the PCB had made an attempt to host women cricketers camp in Multan but had to call off the camp due to extreme heat.The games will start at 4pm in the afternoon to mitigate the weather conditions. Pakistan will carry out their training camp in Lahore from June 1-4, before the squad moves to Multan on June 5. West Indies will arrive in Islamabad as planned on June 6 and will travel to Multan on a charter flight. The ODIs have been carried over from the series scheduled last December, when only the three T20Is took place, a Covid outbreak in the West Indies camp forcing the postponement of the ODIs. There will be no biosecure bubble for the series.

Cummins and Green wipe out the deficit but hosts have just four second-innings wickets left

Andrew McGlashan27-Dec-2020India put themselves on the doorstep of one of their finest Test victories as the bowling attack again came to the fore at the MCG to dismantle an increasingly fragile Australia top order. The success was shared equally, but Jasprit Bumrah could easily have had more than the one wicket for his efforts, while the spin duo of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja combined with great effect.Ravindra Jadeja picked up a couple of wickets after scoring a crucial half-century•Getty Images

For the majority of the time, they were without Umesh Yadav, who, after removing Joe Burns early, limped off with a calf injury and has since been taken for scans. The decision to pick five bowlers, therefore, paid off handsomely for India with Jadeja, following his vital half-century in the innings-defining stand of 121 with Ajinkya Rahane, taking two wickets as he and Ashwin allowed Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj to not be overbowled.At the close of play, Australia had yet to score a half-century in the match. Steven Smith fell for his third single-figure score of the series – bowled behind his pads by Bumrah – and in a 66-over innings they had managed just seven boundaries. There was a dose of controversy thrown in for good measure when Tim Paine was given out caught behind by the DRS, which left the Australia captain fuming as he walked off. But the protocols were followed to the letter when Snicko provided a spike where Hot Spot had not shown a mark.Related

• Rahane builds his legacy by staying in the moment

• Warner remains doubtful for third Test against India

At that point, Australia had lost three wickets for one run in 23 balls and were lurching towards a three-day defeat, but that was at least avoided as Cameron Green and Pat Cummins ground out 34 in 18 overs to ensure India would need to bat again, although it remained a long way from being a recovery.A deficit of 131 was sizeable, but less than it might have been for Australia after they claimed India’s last five wickets for 32 – following the run-out of Rahane when Jadeja chanced a single for his fifty – amid a barrage of short-pitched bowling at the lower order. However, it was a hefty enough difference that they would need at least 300 to give themselves a realistic chance in the fourth innings but again they produced a limp performance that will leave much head-scratching ahead of the third Test.There will be increasing desperation that David Warner prove his fitness even though he would be coming in with very little cricket. The Burns Question will again loom large, as it did at the beginning of the series, with the opener failing for the third time in four innings across the two Tests. Burns lived on the edge even during a ten-ball stay; he would have been run-out by a direct hit getting off the mark and was nearly pinned lbw by a searing inswinging yorker from Bumrah before edging an excellent delivery from Yadav. To make things worse, he wasted a review.’What’s happening here?’ – Tim Paine seems to ask as he’s walking off•Getty Images

Matthew Wade battled against his natural instincts – impressively so – while Marnus Labuschagne scored most of the runs that were on offer but was undone by a wonderful piece of bowling from Ashwin, who slid one across him from around the wicket, which took an edge to slip.Ashwin, getting the ball to drift, bite and turn, nearly had Smith caught at leg slip in a repeat of the first-innings dismissal during another fascinating battle between the pair, but this time it was India’s other leading man – Bumrah – who pulled off a perfectly-worked plan when he bowled Smith behind his legs that many bowlers have tried before him. The ball just clipped the top of leg stump and Smith even set off for a run, scarcely able to believe what had happened. At 71 for 3, still 60 behind, with the two lynchpin batsmen gone, India had made their opening.Ten overs later came the clatter that will surely decide the game. Wade’s 137-ball defiance ended when he played back to Jadeja and was beaten by one that slid on. In another tick to Rahane’s captaincy book, Siraj struck with his first ball back when Travis Head edged to second slip to complete twin dismissals of much similarity in the game.Then there was the wicket that lit up social media, Paine playing a forcing shot off the back foot against Jadeja, which was given not out by Paul Reiffel with Rahane quick to review. The third umpire, Paul Wilson, gave Paine out based on the spike on Snicko, which matched with the ball passing the bat but Paine could not hide his anger.At 99 for 6, it was there for India to wrap up and they may have got close to doing so had Rishabh Pant gathered a thin edge off Cummins when he nicked Ashwin on 8. As it was, Cummins and Green clung on, taking Australia to parity but with just three bowlers left in the shed. What sort of target would make India nervous? It’s been a crazy year, but surely this will be their Test match.

England right-hander comes in as a replacement overseas player after Amy Satterthwaite was ruled out of the tournament

Alex Malcolm09-Sep-2019The Melbourne Renegades have signed England opener Tammy Beaumont as their replacement for absent skipper Amy Satterthwaite ahead of the new Women’s Big Bash League season starting in October.Beaumont played for the Adelaide Strikers in second and third seasons of the WBBL but did not play the last one. She was named in Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year for 2019 and produced her sixth ODI century during the recent Ashes series in England.Beaumont, 28, joins England team-mate Danielle Wyatt and New Zealand’s Lea Tahuhu as the overseas players at the Renegades after Satterthwaite was ruled out of the tournament after recently announcing she was pregnant.”I’m thrilled to be heading back to the Big Bash,” Beaumont said. “I’ve played against a lot of the talent in the Renegades line-up so it’ll be nice to be playing alongside them this time. The Renegades are a side on the rise and the Big Bash is such a tough competition so I’m looking forward to testing myself against some of the best players in the world.”

The election for the post of league director ended in a deadlock, with both candidates receiving 12 votes each

Peter Della Penna18-Aug-2018Two rounds of voting were not enough to break the deadlock between ex-USACA president Atul Rai and former USA captain Sushil Nadkarni for the right to serve a three-year term as league director on the new USA Cricket board of directors. So the men decided to shake on it.In an unprecedented move, the two candidates have agreed to a split term according to a USA Cricket press release. In the main election voting that concluded on July 29, Rai and Nadkarni each received 12 votes from the eligible voting leagues. A special runoff vote that ended on August 12 produced the same result. A stipulation was announced that the winner would then be decided by a coin toss with the winner serving the full three-year term.However, both men agreed beforehand to serve half of the term each, an agreement that was unanimously approved by USA Cricket’s four-person nominating and governance committee, which includes ICC chief executive David Richardson. Rai wound up winning the coin toss, meaning he will serve the initial 18 months in the position. Nadkarni will then take over for the final 18 months before a fresh election is held for the league director position in 2021.Now that the seven-person constituent board has been finalised, the final three independent directors will be selected by the nominating and governance committee. The committee is meeting this weekend in Florida to finish their evaluations before putting their three candidates forward to complete the 10-member board of directors.