Harry Kane sparks England rout against Ireland and Nations League promotion

DUBAI: The Desert Vipers got back to winning ways in season three of the DP World ILT20 with a massive 10-wicket victory over the Sharjah Warriorz at the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday.

The Desert Vipers rode on Fakhar Zaman’s unbeaten 71 and Mohammad Amir’s four-wicket haul to consolidate their position atop the standings.

The Desert Vipers wasted no time in their chase as Alex Hales got them off to a flyer with a flurry of boundaries. He clobbered Tim Southee for three fours and then smashed Adam Milne for a maximum as the side raced to 20/0 inside the first two overs.

Zaman joined in on the action with some clean hitting as he went after Bangladeshi pacer Junaid Siddique in his first over. He went across the stump and cut him away for a boundary and then struck a beautiful pull shot for four more.

Zaman was in his groove and seemed to have a simple target — to not let the bowlers settle. He went after Ashton Agar, hitting him for a massive six with a slog sweep. The Pakistani batter darted down the track for the next delivery and hit it straight past the bowler as the Desert Vipers put up 47 runs after five overs. At the same stage in the first innings, the Sharjah Warriorz were 18/4.

The gulf in batting was evident as the required run rate dipped below three runs an over and the Desert Vipers’ batsmen made merry in the middle. Hales was happy to play the supporting role while Zaman fired on all cylinders.

Hales targeted Siddique again in the seventh over, using all his might to muscle the ball over long-on and into the stands. Zaman brought up his half-century soon after, his second of the season, in 30 balls.

It was a matter of time before the Desert Vipers chased down the target and Zaman accelerated that process by executing a textbook slog-sweep to hit Agar for six and followed that up with a lovely six over long-on to wrap up the contest in style. Zaman finished with an impressive 71 in 39 balls.

Earlier, the Desert Vipers won the toss and chose to bowl. That proved to be a brilliant decision as Amir weaved his magic with the new ball. The Pakistani pacer needed just four deliveries to make his intentions clear as Johnson Charles flicked it off his pads straight to Dan Lawrence along the ropes at deep backward square. Amir would pick up two wickets in his first over as he sent Avishka Fernando back to the pavilion too.

Amir came back to haunt the Sharjah Warriorz batting lineup as he made full use of the pitch. A slightly shorter delivery undid Rohan Mustafa, who tried to flick it away on the leg side, but only got a leading edge and Sam Curran took a simple catch. The Sharjah Warriorz were in a precarious position at this point, struggling at 15/3 after three overs.

The Desert Vipers were relentless in their attacking bowling and were rewarded with another wicket in the fourth over when Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s miss-timed shot earned David Payne his first.

With the batting crumbling, Luke Wells took the onus to steady the ship. The Englishman struck back-to-back boundaries and just when it seemed like he had found his footing, Wanindu Hasaranga knocked over his stumps with a peach of a delivery. Wells was playing for the googly, but Hasaranga spun the ball in as it sneaked between bat and pad to crash onto the leg stump.

Reeling at 30/5, the Sharjah Warriorz brought Jason Roy on as an Impact Sub to replace Fernando. Typically an opening batsman, Roy found himself in an unfamiliar position batting at No. 7 for the first time in his career, but did well to slow things down. The runs did not flow off his bat, but Roy and Tim Seifert held things together in the middle. That was until Hasaranga struck again with a stunning over.

Seifert was the first to depart as a Hasaranga googly stayed low and struck him on the pads for a plumb leg-before-wicket. Some lightning-quick skills from Tanish Suri behind the stumps saw Hasaranga pick up his second of the over as Agar was beaten by a length ball and subsequently stumped. That marked Hasaranga’s 300th wicket in T20s, making him the first Sri Lankan spinner to achieve the feat.

The Sharjah Warriorz were down to 45/7 and the Desert Vipers were in complete control of the contest but suffered a setback when their skipper Lockie Ferguson hobbled off the pitch after twisting his ankle. Curran assumed the captaincy responsibilities, while Roy held his bat for the Warriorz. He was their last batting hope but lacked support from the other end as Curran accounted for Harmeet Singh and Southee.

Amir came back to claim a fourth and with it the Sharjah Warriorz were bundled out for 91 in 19.1 overs. Amir finished with an impressive 4/24, which is the best bowling performance in the Desert Vipers’ history. Hasaranga also claimed a piece of history as his 3/10 was the most economical four-over spell in DP World ILT20.

Player of the match Amir said: “As a new-ball bowler, you try to swing the ball. I believe you have to bowl according to the wicket and hit the right areas. You need to adapt as quickly as you can to conditions, as a bowler. I saw the movie ‘Pushpa 2’ last week and the hero did that, so I was doing the same (on his celebration). We have got a great bowling unit.”

Brief scores:

Desert Vipers beat Sharjah Warriorz by 10 wickets

Sharjah Warriorz 91/10 in 19.1 overs (Jason Roy 30 not out, Harmeet Singh 11, Mohammad Amir 4 for 24, Wanindu Hasaranga 3 for 10, Sam Curran 2 for 14)

Desert Vipers 95/0 in 10 overs (Fakhar Zaman 71 not out, Alex Hales 23 not out)

Player of the match: Mohammad Amir

New Delhi: The ancient game of kho kho is enjoying a resurgence in India, with organizers of the first international tournament hoping their efforts will secure the sport’s place in the Olympics.
Kho kho, a catch-me-if-you-can tag sport, has been played for more than 2,000 years across southern Asia but only saw its rules formalized in the early 20th century.
It was played as a demonstration sport at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin but did not gather enough support to be included in the Summer Games and since then has been largely eclipsed by India’s ferocious love of cricket.
Nearly a century later, enthusiasts have sought to raise its profile with the inaugural Kho Kho World Cup featuring teams from 23 nations competing in India’s capital New Delhi.
The tournament’s opening ceremony saw a gala of song, dance and an Olympic-style team parade, reflecting the aspirations of organizers and athletes to take the sport global.
“My elder sister played the sport, but was not able to pursue her dreams,” Indian women’s team player Nasreen Shaikh, 26, told AFP.
“We have crossed the first barrier of playing in a World Cup. The next big step would be an entry in the Olympics.”

Kho kho is traditionally played outside on a rectangular court, divided in two by a line that connects two poles at either end of the field.
Teams switch between attack and defense, with the former chasing and tagging defending players around the field.
Only one player can give chase at a time and attacking players can only move in one direction around the court, forcing them to tag in team-mates crouched on the center line to take over pursuit.
The match is won by whichever team can gain the most points, primarily by tagging defenders faster than the opposing team.
The franchise-based Ultimate Kho Kho League, founded in 2022, brought the sport off grassy fields and onto indoor mats, also boosting its profile with a television audience.
Since then the league has become the third most-watched non-cricket sports tournament in the world’s most populous country after the Pro Kabaddi League — another ancient Indian tag sport — and the Indian Super League football competition.
“The turning point was when it transitioned from mud to mat. It made it into a global game,” Kho Kho Federation of India president Sudhanshu Mittal told AFP.
“Today we are in 55 countries... Native players in countries like Germany, Brazil, and Kenya are embracing the game because of its speed, agility and minimal equipment required.”
Mittal said he expected the sport to gain a foothold in dozens more countries by the end of the year, giving it a strong claim to be featured in the Olympics in the coming decade.
That would coincide with India’s audacious bid to host the 2036 Games in the city of Ahmedabad, 100 years after kho kho last appeared at the Olympics.
The United States, England and Australia were among the nations that competed in this month’s World Cup in New Delhi, with expatriate Indians heavily represented after taking the game to foreign shores.
But Pakistan is a glaring omission from the competition despite the sport being popular there — a reflection of the deep animosity between the nuclear-armed archrivals.
World Cup organizers refused to comment on the absence, which failed to dim the sense of optimism at the competition that the sport is destined to thrive.
“There has been a sea change in the sport,” Indian men’s team captain Pratik Waikar, 32, told AFP.
“Cricket has a rich history and they developed it well by going live on TV, and now our sport has also gone live,” he said. “In the next five years it will be on another level.”