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Suryakumar Yadav is happy to have “finally played the role of a finisher” for Kolkata Knight Riders. Suryakumar struck an unbeaten 43 off 19 against Perth Scorchers on Wednesday night, carrying Knight Riders to a win – their 12th successive in Twenty20s – from a tricky position. Finishing off a game for his team is something he has always strived to do, Suryakumar said, and he was glad to get the job done despite being under immense pressure.”I feel this has been the most high-pressure game I have played till date,” Suryakumar told . “I have never played the role of a finisher till date for Kolkata Knight Riders. I have been trying for quite some time now to finish games for Knight Riders, but I was never able to play that role successfully. I tried finishing games in the IPL as well, but I was making mistakes.”In Knight Riders’ previous game, Suryakumar was unbeaten as the team got over the line, hitting 14 not out off 5. He said he did not consider that innings substantial enough to be that of a finisher, though it did give him confidence. “In the last game against Lahore Lions, though I had a very small role to play in that chase, that innings gave me the confidence that I can play my role to good effect. I carried that confidence into this game.”Against Scorchers, Suryakumar said the pressure really began to mount on him when the big-hitting Yusuf Pathan was out with 27 needed off 15. “That was the first time I became nervous because we all know that Yusuf Pathan is someone who can take the game away from the opposition from anywhere. At that time I remembered one thing that my captain and the coach had told me – “Whenever you keep calm, you can excel more during nervous situations.” That is exactly what I did tonight and the result is there to be seen.”Given his interest in playing the finisher for Knight Riders, Suryakumar said he had more mental tactics to calm himself when under pressure in a chase. “I just don’t think about the situation at that time,” he said. “If I know that I have to score 29-odd runs from 11 balls then I have to do it; it is my job. I feel thinking about the pressure situation will only result in adding more pressure on myself. Instead I think about other things like ‘what will I do after winning the game’, ‘what would an experienced player have done if he was in this situation?’ I follow that and then take it from there.”In the Scorchers game, Surayakumar said it helped that the penultimate over was bowled by Nathan Coulter-Nile, whom he had previously played with at Mumbai Indians. “I had an idea about his stock balls in the death overs, since I have played him when we both were a part of Mumbai Indians. I knew he had a good yorker and a slower delivery, which he might try and bowl at that point of time. He had bowled a slower bouncer before in that over. He then backed himself and bowled a length ball which had to be hit, so I hit it and it was all over.”Suryakumar took 15 off that Coulter-Nile over, including two sixes, bringing the equation down to a very-manageable five needed off the final over, and the win – and Knight Riders’ place in the semis – was sealed with two balls to spare.

The owner of Dhaka Gladiators has filed a case against top officials of the ICC, the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) and the BCB. The case was lodged at the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Chittagong a day after the ICC and the BCB had appealed against the reduction of Mohammad Ashraful’s suspension.Salim Chowdhury, who was handed a ten-year ban by the BCB’s disciplinary panel chief, accused ICC chief executive David Richardson, Gladiators’ head coach Ian Pont, BCB chief Nizamuddin Chowdhary and ACSU’s Ronnie Flanagan, Yogendra Pal Singh and Dharamveer Singh Yadav of letting the game between Chittagong Kings and Gladiators continue despite having information that the game was fixed, resulting in the franchise incurring financial losses.”Though the accused had information about the match-fixing, they did not take any preventive measures to stop the irregularities,” Mahmudur Rahman, Chowdhury’s lawyer, said.Chowdhury added: “They were appointed to prevent corruption by the BCB, not let it happen. I think they have not only cheated with the BCB but also with the general spectator that came to the stadium.”Chowdhury had been acquitted of all charges by the anti-corruption tribunal but was banned after a review by BCB disciplinary panel chief Justice Mohammad Abdur Rashid.

Neither a full match, nor a Super Over could separate the two teams at the top of South Africa’s domestic twenty-over competition table in a match which was eventually decided on boundary count. Lions beat Knights by virtue of the seven sixes and 11 fours they struck compared to the three sixes and 14 fours Knights managed, after they were all square on 161 for 7 in the allocated overs and 7 for 1 in the Super Over.The difference was down to Chris Gayle, who marched to his third milestone in as many matches. Gayle had a half-century and the competition’s only hundred so far to his name before this game and made a second fifty, which included eight fours and a six before he was run-out.Gayle and Alviro Petersen gave the Lions a sparking start, with 80 runs inside the first 10 overs but a mid-innings wobble almost derailed them. None of their batsmen after Neil McKenzie made any significant contributions as Lions lost five wickets for 44 runs, largely thanks to seamer Shadley van Schalkwyk, who claimed 2 for 17 in his four overs.Chris Morris’ 22 off nine balls took the Lions above the 150 mark but they would have known they would need a strong performance to defend against a Knights line-up who have batted well in the competition so far.Knights were aggressive in the reply once again and raced to 50 before five overs had been completed before they lost their first wicket. Gerhardt Abrahams ‘run-out gave Lions an opening and they prised further with two more wickets in the next two overs.Pite van Biljon and Diego Rosier had to rebuild and their 31-run fourth-wicket stand but legspinner Eddie Leie took two wickets in two balls to leave Knights at 90 for 5 and Lions in the driving seat. Obus Pienaar took the Knights within touching distance of victory but a wicket in the final over from Lions’ best-performing seamer Hardus Viljoen saw the match tied.Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who had been expensive in the game, conceded just seven runs in the Super Over and took a wicket to leave Lions with what seemed a straightforward task. Gayle took four off Russell’s first ball but was then bowled by a perfect yorker to leave Petersen and Morris to collect singles in a field Knights refused to bring in. Once they had got to seven, Petersen blocked the final ball, knowing Lions would win because of a higher boundary count.Dolphins, the defending champions, spun their way to a bonus-point victory over Titans, who remain winless in the competition. Twin half-century partnerships at the top set Dolphins up for a formidable score, but it was the six wickets shared between Prenalen Subrayen and Keshav Maharaj that ensured a dominant showing.Although none of the Dolphins batsmen managed a half-century, their top four all made contributions. Morne van Wyk’s 37 came off just 14 balls and provided an aggressive start. They reached 53 inside four over and 100 before the halfway mark, but Darren Sammy, Corbin Bosch and Tabraiz Shamsi pulled things back. Sammy took the first two wickets and Ethy Mbhalati returned to pluck a pair of the middle-order, which kept the Dolphins to six runs under 200.Titans needed a strong display, but they were never really in it. They managed only one individual score over 30, and the succumbed to mounting pressure. Five of the top six batsmen were caught attempting to go big and misreading the pace of the pitch. That allowed Subrayen and Maharaj to slice through the Titans’ batting and leave them sharing last place with Warriors.Dolphins are up to second on the table, but have played one more match than all the other teams except Cobras, who have two games in hand.

Group B

ScorecardYuvraj Singh scored a swift hundred with 14 fours and five sixes•PTI

Yuvraj Singh struck a brisk hundred and Sandeep Sharma took three early wickets to put Haryana in trouble, after setting them a target of 321 with a day to go in Patiala. Punjab declared at the score of 330 for 6 in their second innings soon after Yuvraj’s 130 to have 10 overs to bowl to the Haryana batsmen, in which they were left struggling at 26 for 3.Resuming at 21 for 0, leading by 11, Punjab’s top order got starts but could not capitalise on them – Jiwanjot Singh, Manan Vohra and Mandeep Singh fell for low double-digit scores, leaving the team at 94 for 3. Amitoze Singh and Yuvraj then got together to put Punjab in the driver’s seat with a stand of 145 runs at 4.55 per over. Wicketkeeper Nitin Saini rolled his arm and broke the stand by dismissing Amitoze for 65 and also got rid of Gurkeerat Singh for 20. But Yuvraj continued at the other end, hammering 14 fours and fives sixes during his 20th first-class hundred to take the score past 300. Punjab declared with a lead of 320 once Yuvraj handed a return catch to Amit Mishra, who also finished with two wickets, like Saini and Jayant Yadav.Haryana were rocked early in the chase when Sandeep removed Abhimanyu Khod and Sunny Singh in consecutive deliveries in the third over. He didn’t get the hat-trick but struck again four overs later with the wicket of Yuzvendra Chahal to leave Haryana with a tough task of scoring another 295 runs to win.
ScorecardDelhi’s pacers took nine wickets between them to bowl Saurashtra out for 217 and earn their team a huge first-innings lead at the Roshanara Club Ground. Saurashtra, who began the day at 152 for 6, could only manage another 65 runs, as Sumit Narwal (3 for 52), Parvinder Awana (3 for 30) and Rajat Bhatia (3 for 25) each claimed three scalps to run through their line-up in 79.5 overs. Divyaraj Chauhan was Saurashtra’s top scorer with 63, but nobody else was able to score more than 38. With a massive lead of 225 in hand, Delhi enforced the follow-on and once again made early breakthroughs. Narwal, Awana, Bhatia and Navdeep Saini claimed a wicket each, as Saurashtra were struggling at 163 for 4 at stumps, still trailing by 62.
ScorecardFifties from Harshad Khadiwale, Chirag Khurana and Shrikant Mundhe helped Maharashtra secure a first-innings lead against Odisha in Pune. Maharasthra were well-placed at 126 for 0 when the day began, but the openers Khadiwale and Khurana could only add 11 more runs to that partnership, as Deepak Behera dismissed both batsmen in successive overs early on. Khadiwale struck 13 fours during his 83, while Khurana’s 54 included 10 fours. Behera took 4 for 82 to rattle Maharashtra’s top and middle order, and Biplab Samantray’s 3 for 36 cleaned up the tail, but by then, Maharashtra had already posted 371 to take a 60-run lead. The hosts were aided largely by Mundhe’s unbeaten 82 down the order, and a handy 44 from Kedar Jadhav.
ScorecardA century from Priyank Kirit Panchal, and a two-wicket burst from Ishwar Chaudhary left Gujarat comfortably placed to prevail against Rajasthan in Jaipur. Set a steep target of 412, Rajasthan were tottering at 34 for 3 at stumps. The hosts were 172 for 8 in their first innings when the day began, and Gujarat needed just 6.2 overs to claim the final two wickets, as Rajasthan were bowled out for 195. Gujarat lost two early wickets in their second essay, but Panchal’s 110, which included 18 fours, as well as thirties from Parthiv Patel, Rujul Bhatt and Akshar Patel, lifted the team to 266. Shailender Gehlot was the pick of Rajasthan’s bowlers, collecting 4 for 50. Rajasthan did not begin their chase well, as they lost Siddharth Saraf, Vineet Saxena and Gehlot in the space of three overs, leaving them 378 runs adrift heading into the final day.

New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder will not turn out for Melbourne Renegades at the Big Bash League this season. His absence is due to a back injury, a Renegades statement said, and England’s Ben Stokes will replace him in the squad.Melbourne Renegades head coach Simon Helmot said Stokes would be an important addition to the team. “Ben is a quality player and was recognised by many as one the shining lights during England’s difficult tour of Australia last year,” he said. “He brings international experience and a real energy and will be a great asset to both our bowling stocks and batting line up.”Obviously we wish Jesse well in his recovery from his back injury and hope we get the chance to see him in red in the summers to come.”Allrounder Stokes averages 23.63 and strikes it at 128.35 with the bat in Twenty20 cricket, and has 19 T20 wickets with his medium pace at 33.94. In the 2013-14 Ashes, which Australia won 5-0, Stokes impressed with a century in Perth.Ryder has not played competitive cricket since November 13, and he had pulled out of New Zealand A’s tour to the UAE due to personal reasons later that month. He was not included in New Zealand’s 30-man preliminary squad for the World Cup.

ScorecardFile photo – Doug Bollinger’s 5 for 57 was his third first-class five-wicket haul of the past 12 months•Getty Images

Doug Bollinger ran through Tasmania to deliver an innings victory for New South Wales on the final day of their Sheffield Shield match in Hobart. Bollinger collected 5 for 57 as the Tigers were skittled for 213 in their second innings, falling 91 runs short of making the Blues bat again after Peter Nevill’s double-century pushed them to 576 on the third day.Tasmania started the morning on 1 for 139 and seemingly in a good position to play for a draw, but instead lost 9 for 65 and did not even make it halfway through the day. The problems began when opener Jordan Silk was caught behind off Bollinger for 71, and was followed by Dom Michael, who was lbw for a second-ball duck.Stand-in captain Alex Doolan was lbw for 42 to Steve O’Keefe, who also picked up Jonathan Wells cheaply. Bollinger and Nathan Lyon then ran through the rest of the order, Bollinger finishing with his third first-class five-wicket haul of the past 12 months, and Lyon ending up with 2 for 24.