India’s carrom-baller, spin wizard Ashwin bids adieu to international cricket
India's decorated off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin announced his decision to retire from international cricket moments after the Brisbane Test ended in a draw.
Resurgent Royal Challengers Bangalore will clash with table-toppers SunRisers Hyderabad on Thursday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, in another must-win game.
Bangalore have two more games left and to qualify for the knockout stage, they need to win the game. However, ahead of play-offs, the RCB will face one of the strongest opponents in the ongoing season of Indian Premier League, SunRisers Hyderabad, a team that has almost been unbeatable. SRH have lost only three games in their 12 outings.
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Though Wednesday’s clash seems heavily stacked in favour of Sunrisers, RCB’s swashbuckler batsman AB de Villiers believes that his side can beat the Kane Williamson’s SRH by taking inspiration from Chennai Super Kings’ massive win over the table toppers.
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“There are no ifs or buts: we need to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in Bengaluru on Thursday or else the sun will finally set on our hopes of winning the 2018 IPL title. Until last weekend, SRH had batted first on four occasions during this campaign, posting ostensibly unimpressive totals of 118, 132, 146 and 151; and yet they had won all four of these matches, bowling and fielding as effectively as any IPL team ever,” AB de Villiers wrote in his Thursday’s column for TOI.
“Then they were asked to bat first against CSK in Pune on Sunday, and, when SRH scored 179, their highest total of the season, most observers will have assumed that was that… but the IPL is nothing if not unpredictable. Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson led the chase with purpose and aggression, and CSK reached the target with ease and an over to spare. Suddenly the great defenders had not managed to defend,” De Villiers further wrote in TOI.
If Virat Kohli’s side win Thursday’s game, then they will keep the slim hope of making it to play-offs alive. However, if they lose the match, they will be out of contention in the knockout stage. On the other hand, SRH will be unaffected by the loss.
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