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Victoria rebounded impressively from the two innings defeats which started their season

AAP29-Oct-2023New South Wales slumped to a 15th-straight match without a Sheffield Shield win after going down to Victoria by 205 runs at the MCG.They were rolled for 173 midway through the first session of day four to extend the proud cricket state’s painful run in the historic competition.NSW fought harder than they had for most of the match after beginning play on Sunday at 124 for 8, still well behind the victory target of 379.Related

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Nathan Lyon dug in with Jason Sangha in his first-class return after tearing his calf during this year’s Ashes series in England.Lyon, unbeaten on 17, was the last man standing as Sangha attempted to lift the run-rate and was caught off the bowling of Todd Murphy.Jackson Bird, who top-scored in NSW’s dismal first-innings total of 102, lasted just 11 balls and was the last batter out.NSW are without a victory since February 2022, with this current streak considerably worse than their previous low of 10 winless matches.

New South Wales’ struggles

Victoria, MCG: lost by 205 runs
South Australia, Adelaide Oval: lost by 186 runs
Queensland, Cricket Central: match drawn
South Australia, Karen Rolton Oval: match drawn
Victoria, Albury: lost by 10 wickets
Queensland, Gabba: lost by five wickets
Tasmania, SCG: match drawn
Victoria, Junction Oval: lost by 69 runs
Western Australia, SCG: lost by 133 runs
Tasmania, Hobart: match drawn
South Australia, Wollongong: match drawn
Queensland, Drummoyne Oval: match drawn
Western Australia, WACA: lost by eight wickets
South Australia, Adelaide Oval: lost by five wickets
Western Australia, Bankstown: match drawn

“We’re going to have to look deep and have a bit of an analyse and learn; see what we’re doing and see what the best are doing,” NSW captain Moises Henriques said. “They’re the age-old cricket questions but unfortunately we’re just not doing it very well at the moment.”The result brought sweet relief for Victoria after they started the season with thumping defeats to Western Australia and Queensland.They were in some trouble at 131 for 6 in their second innings, but led by Peter Handscomb’s 90 they added 153 for the final four wickets to take complete control of the match.Tailender Fergus O’Neill was dangerous on his way to an unbeaten 70 as he combined in a 58-run final-wicket stand with Scott Boland.”[Handscomb] might have got a little clip from the coach after [how he was out in] the first innings,” Victoria captain Will Sutherland said. “The way he responded, they were incredibly valuable runs.”We knew it was going to be pretty much impossible for them to chase that total down thanks to him, which takes a big burden off the bowlers’ shoulders.”Victoria will be back in action next Saturday when they host Tasmania at the Junction Oval in Melbourne, while NSW face the ultimate test against reigning champions WA at the SCG.

“I can promise you, they [are] going to get looked after amazingly well. The young cricket fans adore them”

Alex Malcolm31-Oct-2024Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram believes India will get looked after “amazingly well” if they travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy in February next year and reckons it would be a great thing for cricket.”I think whatever I’m reading, there are positive vibes from [the] Indian government and [the] BCCI,” Akram said. “I also read somewhere they will play probably all their games in Lahore. They will probably come to Lahore and travel [back] the same night. I’m all for it, as long as India is comfortable.”And I can promise you, they [are] going to get looked after amazingly well. I mean, Indian cricketers like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, [Hardik] Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, they have fans in Pakistan. The young cricket fans adore them.”Related

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• Champions Trophy 2025: PCB draft schedule has all India games in Lahore

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) remains intent on hosting the entire Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan between February 19 and March 9. It has even proposed to have all of India’s matches take place in Lahore, which is close to the Indian border and makes logistics and security hurdles less complicated. The PCB also said that it would grant about 17,000 visas to Indian fans who wanted to follow their team. The final will be held in Lahore, as will any semi-final that India play, if they qualify.Speaking ahead of Pakistan’s six-match ODI and T20I tour of Australia that begins on Monday, Akram was hopeful India would come to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.”People-to-people contact is very important in this day and age,” he said. “In this social media age, there’s so much negativity all over the world, unnecessary negativity in my opinion, and I think if India come, it will be great for cricket, and of course, it’ll be great for Pakistan too.”India have not played an international match in Pakistan since 2008, and the UAE is believed to be the likeliest – though not only – alternate venue should any part of the Champions Trophy be moved out. The BCCI did not send a team to Pakistan last year for the Asia Cup, prompting the tournament to be shifted to a hybrid model with the latter stages played in Sri Lanka.But Pakistan did travel to India right after that for the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they missed out on a semi-final spot.Earlier this month, the ECB’s chief executive Richard Gould and chair Richard Thompson, said that there are “lots of different alternatives and contingencies available” in the event that India do not travel to Pakistan, raising the possibility of a hybrid model being used.The Champions Trophy will feature eight teams, with two groups of four, followed by semi-finals and a final. The competing teams are Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa.

Jaffer, Ramaswamy tons give Vidarbha vice grip, Kerala-Gujarat on an even keel while UP have Saurashtra on the mat

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jan-2019Vinay Kumar, the former Karnataka captain, may have had a forgettable season with the ball – 11 wickets in six matches – but his batting contribution at a crunch moment may yet prove to be the turning point against Rajasthan at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. With plenty of support from No. 11 Ronit More, he turned a 58-run deficit into a 39-run lead, with Karnataka finishing on 263. Rajasthan ended on 11 without loss, still trailing by 28 with three full days remaining.Vinay finished 83 not out, with More’s contribution being 10 in a last-wicket stand of 97. Along the way, Karnataka were recipients of some luck. At least two lbw shouts – one each off More and Vinay prior to them taking the lead – was turned down.More was struck flush on the boot by a full delivery from left-arm spinner Mahipal Lomror, but wasn’t given as the umpire indicated it would’ve missed leg. Replays however confirmed otherwise. Then, with Karnataka’s deficit narrowed down to just 12, Vinay was stuck on the pad looking to play around a length ball from Tanvir-ul-Haq, the left-arm medium pacer. The impact was within the line, with the angle in question. Once again, replays proved it was a narrow escape.Earlier in the day, the cream of Karnataka’s batting were blown away by Tanvir and Rahul Chahar, the legspinner. The pair picked up seven wickets between them to leave Karnataka facing an uphill battle at 166 for 9. Manish Pandey, the captain, managed just 7 while Karun Nair was out for 4 to continue his barren patch – one half-century in his previous nine innings. There was also sign of enough wear and tear as K Gowtham got a grubber that scooted along the ground to have him bowled on 19.In some consolation for Rajasthan after conceding the lead, Tanvir became the first bowler from the state to pick 50 wickets in a single season. Towards the end of proceedings, his limp off the field after sending down 20.3 overs may have added to their worries.PTI

Centuries from Wasim Jaffer and Sanjay Ramaswamy underpinned Vidarbha’s dominance. The defending champions are well on their way to a handsome first-innings lead, having ended the second day in Nagpur on 260 for 1 against first-timers Uttarakhand. They trail by just
95 with nine wickets in hand.Jaffer, unbeaten on 111, now has a century in three of his last four first-class outings. The one he missed – against Saurashtra – ended on 98. Jaffer, the highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy history, now has 57 first-class hundreds. Ramaswamy, meanwhile, couldn’t have timed his return to form much better. Having failed to cross half-century in eight innings this season, he battled through to finish unbeaten on 104. The second-wicket stand was worth 183.Uttarakhand’s only success came in the 15th over when Deepak Dhapola, their highest wicket-taker this season, removed in-form Faiz Fazal for 29. Earlier in the day, Uttarakhand extended their score from overnight 293 for 6 to 355 with Saurabh Rawat completing his century and top-scoring with 108.MPCA

Wickets tumbled at a frenetic pace in Wayanad. Sixteen wickets fell on the second day – in addition to the 14 on Tuesday – but the result was far from a foregone conclusion. Gujarat, who were bundled out for 162 to concede a 23-run lead to Kerala, then fought back in the second innings.Roosh Kalaria, the left-arm fast bowler, picked up a hat-trick as Kerala were bowled out for 171 in the second innings. This leaves Gujarat, the 2016-17 Ranji champions, with a difficult, yet not impossible target of 195 with three full days remaining.Sijomon Joseph’s 56 was the only 50-plus score for Kerala, who were bowled out in just 59 overs. Tottering at 96 for 5, they were shored up by Jalaj Saxena’s unbeaten 44 to help give their bowlers a target to defend. Kerala were handicapped by the injury to Sanju Samson, that meant he could come in to bat only at No. 11. Having broken his finger in trying to avoid a short ball in the first-innings, their batting mainstay was out without scoring. Kalaria aside, Axar Patel, the left-arm spinner, picked up three wickets.Shivam Mavi appeals for a wicket•ICC/Getty Images

In a brilliant display of seam and swing bowling, the Uttar Pradesh fast bowlers – Shivam Mavi, Ankit Rajpoot and Yash Dayal – reduced Saurashtra to 170 for 7 before bad light stopped play in Lucknow. Cheteshwar Pujara, on whom all eyes were set, lasted only 28 balls before fending to a short of length delivery from Mavi to square leg.Prior to that, Rajpoot had sent back Snell Patel and Vishvaraj Jadeja off successive balls to reduce Saurashtra to 35 for 2. Pujara edged the hat-trick ball towards fourth slip but the fielder couldn’t latch on to a low, difficult chance.Harvik Desai, the opener, held one end, scoring 84 but that didn’t prove enough and the visitors are still trailing by 215. At stumps, Prerak Mankad was batting on 42, with Dharmendrasinh Jadeja keeping him company on 9.At the start of the day, Mavi and Saurabh Kumar frustrated the Saurashtra’s bowlers for almost an hour. Resuming their association from the last evening, the duo had added 76 for the eighth wicket before Jaydev Unadkat dismissed Mavi for 42.Saurabh brought up his fifty in the company of No. 11 Dayal, with successive fours off Unadkat before skying the next ball to fine leg. Unadkat took all three UP wickets to fall on day two and finished with figures of 5 for 86.

Apart from the change in captaincy, the India women’s T20 squad includes fresh faces in Sabbhineni Meghana, Mansi Joshi and Nuzhat Parween

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Oct-2016Allrounder Harmanpreet Kaur has been named captain of the India women’s T20 team and will lead the side in the home series against West Indies and the Asia Cup T20 tournament in Thailand next month. Mithali Raj, meanwhile, will continue to lead the side in the home ODIs against West Indies, which starts on November 10, and will play as a batsman in the Asia Cup and the T20s.Harmanpreet has captained India in three ODIs and six T20Is. Her previous stint in charge of a full series was at home against Bangladesh women in 2012-13 after Raj was rested. Harmanpreet’s last appearance as captain in a T20I was in March 2014, when she stood in for Raj in the third match of the side’s tour to Bangladesh, prior to the Women’s World T20.Allrounder Mona Meshram, legspinner Devika Vaidya and left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht were recalled to the squad for the West Indies ODIs, which also includes uncapped seamer Sukanya Parida. While Meshram last played for India in April 2013, Vaidya is uncapped in ODIs, having played one T20I for the side in November 2014. Bisht had missed the home ODIs against Sri Lanka earlier this year.The T20 squad for the West Indies matches and the Asia Cup includes uncapped seamers Sabbhineni Meghana and Mansi Joshi, and wicketkeeper-batsman Nuzhat Parween, along with Preeti Bose, who played her sole ODI in February 2016 against Sri Lanka women. The only change in the two T20 teams is the inclusion of wicketkeeper Sushma Verma for the Asia Cup at the expense of offspinner Deepti Sharma.The ODI series against West Indies will be played between November 10 and 16, followed by the T20I series from November 18. The three ODIs will be counted for points in the ICC Women’s Championship and are the last matches for the teams in the tournament. West Indies, currently placed third, will look to confirm their automatic qualification for the 2017 Women’s World Cup with a finish in the top four, while India, currently sixth, are likely to finish in the bottom half of the table.The six-team Asia Cup will be played from November 27 to December 5, and will feature Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand and Nepal.India squad for WI ODIs: Mithali Raj (capt), Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Thirush Kamini, Mona Meshram, Veda Krishnamurthy, Devika Vaidya, Sushma Verma (wk), Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Sukanya Parida, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Deepti SharmaSquad for WI T20Is: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj, Sabbhineni Meghana, Vellaswamy Vanitha, Anuja Patil, Deepti Sharma, Nuzhat Parween (wk), Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, Preeti Bose, Veda Krishnamurthy, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Mansi JoshiSquad for Asia Cup: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj, Sabbhineni Meghana, Vellaswamy Vanitha, Anuja Patil, Veda Krishnamurthy, Sushma Verma (wk), Nuzhat Parween, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Preeti Bose, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Mansi Joshi

Jake Ball, England’s newest seam-bowling recruit, has been given a vote of confidence by two veteran Test cricketers, Stuart Broad and Kumar Sangakkara

Andrew Miller12-May-2016Jake Ball, England’s newest seam-bowling recruit, has been given a vote of confidence by two veteran Test cricketers, Stuart Broad and Kumar Sangakkara, ahead of his possible Test debut against Sri Lanka at Headingley next week.Ball, who has soared to the top of the County Championship Division One wicket-takers list with 19 at 21.15 in four appearances for Nottinghamshire, was named in a 12-man squad alongside his county team-mate Broad, who has witnessed at close quarters his rapid improvement over the past two seasons.”Having seen him grow over the last three or four years, he’s one of the quickest-improving bowlers I’ve seen in a while,” Broad told ESPNcricinfo during the launch of the Investec Test series in London.”He’s tall, he’s got pace, he gets bounce from a fuller length, he’s got the skill to go around the wicket and over the wicket to the left-handers, and to move it in and out of the right-handers,” Broad added.”He’s got every attribute to be a successful Test match bowler. It’s a good move to get him involved in the squad, and he’ll be very excited about joining up, I’m sure.”

Sangakkara hails new SL stars

Kumar Sangakkara has backed Kusal Mendis, his young heir at No. 3, to rise to the occasion in the Investec Test series against England.
Mendis, 21, has a top score of 46 in three Test appearances to date, but Sangakkara believes he has the pedigree to become a “very special” player for Sri Lanka.
“Kusal has a lot to offer,” Sangakkara told ESPNcricinfo. “He has a great head position, he gets into the ball very well, he has a lot of good things to build upon, so he’ll be very special in years to come.
He also expressed his hope that Sri Lanka’s young pace bowler, Dushmantha Chameera, would be fit for selection after sitting out the opening warm-up against Essex.
“He is exciting, with very good control and bowls very quickly, at 150kph. There are some sparks that augur well for the future of Sri Lanka cricket.”

By his own admission, Ball’s rise to prominence began in 2014-15, after a winter of gym-work gave him the necessary strength to back up his talents, and a season-best haul of 39 wickets earned him an England Lions call-up.”He got a lot fitter and stronger, which really helps with his extra bounce as he really bounds in with a bit more energy in his run-up,” said Broad. “I think he enjoyed his experience with the Lions in the winter, reports came back of him really impressing with his skills, as he’s got a lot of white-ball skills as well, and that’s a good place to be.”Ball’s credentials were fully showcased during a remarkable televised County Championship fixture between Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge last week. In a contest that came down to the very last ball after a thrilling final-day run chase, Ball emerged with match figures of 7 for 125, including the prized scalp of Joe Root, caught at slip in the first innings for a first-ball duck.”He’s hit the ground running this season, and it always helps when you get one of England’s best batters out first ball on the telly, doesn’t it?” Broad said. “I think it’s exciting in county cricket when you get people rewarded for good performances, and no one can argue that his start to the season doesn’t deserve further recognition.”Ball’s best haul to date, however, was his 5 for 98 in the second innings against Surrey in April, when he included Sangakkara among his victims, caught behind for 83 to trigger a decisive collapse.”He’s improved his line and length,” Sangakkara told ESPNcricinfo. “Instead of searching for wickets, he tries to bowl the ball in exactly the right area, and wait for the batsman to make a mistake or for the ball to do something that allows him to get a wicket. That’s something that any bowler takes a while to learn, and to have Jake learn that at a young age is very important.”When I faced him he did exactly that, he swung the ball into the left-handers and he can bowl very well both round and over the wicket. That constant movement of the ball troubles any batsman. He also bowls a heavy ball, he’s not the quickest but he’s very challenging in English conditions.”Sangakkara, who retired from Test cricket last year with a national-record haul of 12,400 runs, concedes that this summer’s tour promises to be a “steep learning curve” for Sri Lanka. Despite a squad containing several veterans of their memorable series win at Headingley in 2014, he believes the most important thing is for the younger members of the side to absorb the experiences on offer against opponents whom he described as “the world’s best”.”They are here to try and win, but also they are here as part of a long-term process,” he said. “I think the next one-and-a-half years under Graham Ford [the new coach] will be very important for Sri Lanka’s players, to understand themselves as players and as people, and their strengths, weaknesses and how to grow.”England, it could be said, are currently reaping the rewards of their own 18-month rebuilding phase, with their recent 2-1 Test series win in South Africa and their near-miss in the World T20 final in India firm evidence of the progress they have been making.”I think the huge strides the England cricket team has taken in the last couple of years is realising that we are in the entertainment industry and actually, yes we want to win games but win them the right way,” Broad said. “That’s by people leaving the ground day to day thinking, ‘cor, that was good fun, wasn’t it?'”The mainstay of England’s performances in all three formats has been Root, arguably the most rounded batsman in the world today.”He’s hugely consistent at the moment,” Broad said. “He’s played some really important knocks, and he’s at that stage now when opposition teams will be looking at him and thinking ‘how will we get Joe Root out?'”He does have that added pressure that teams may do more research on him, but he’s the sort of character who can cope with that. Cooky’s coped for 11 years.”He’s a tricky player to bowl at because he scores quickly,” Broad added. “He doesn’t give chances but the ball still runs away to the boundary, he’s got a beautiful ability to hit gaps, and long may that continue.””He’s been wonderful for England, ever since that dropped catch second ball in the Ashes Test,” said Sangakkara, recalling Brad Haddin’s costly miss at Cardiff in the first Test of the 2015 Ashes.”It just goes to show, a lapse in the opposition allowed one of the best players in England’s recent history to rise to the status that he has now. It is thoroughly deserved. He is very good against pace and spin, he’s very attacking, he looks to score, he’s got a good defence, he’s very good on the back foot, which is very important, and his temperament is excellent for all formats of cricket.”Investec is the title sponsor of Test match cricket in England. For more on Investec private banking, visit investec.co.uk/banking

Calls time at age of 38 to take up coaching role in Women’s Hundred

Peter Della Penna22-Mar-2023Kyle Coetzer, the former Scotland captain who led his side to famous victories over No. 1-ranked England in 2018 and into the Super 12 stage of the 2021 T20 World Cup, has announced his retirement from international cricket at the age of 38.Coetzer, who was born and raised in Aberdeen, had stepped down from the captaincy in May 2022 at the end of Scotland’s ODI tour of the USA and also retired from T20Is, but he has now called time in all formats to take up a role as assistant coach with Northern Diamonds for the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and Charlotte Edwards Cup.”I don’t ever think there’s a perfect time for a decision like this, but I’ve been considering my options for some time, and an opportunity came up which was too good to turn down,” Coetzer said in a retirement announcement through Cricket Scotland. “The balance that the Scotland team need at this time was outweighed by the opportunity for me to move into coaching, and I’m extremely excited about the chance to work with such a high-profile team.”Having come up through Scotland’s Under-15 and Under-19 pathway, Coetzer made his initial appearance for Scotland as a 19-year-old in an unofficial UK tour warm-up match for Pakistan at Glasgow in 2003. A year later, he made a full-fledged international debut against Kenya in the Intercontinental Cup, the ICC’s first-class competition for Associates, in which he made an unbeaten 133 in the second innings to help claim enough points in a draw that put Scotland into the final, where they beat Canada a week later to claim the title.Though the Intercontinental Cup is no more, his performance in that match was a harbinger of things to come in a far more illustrious ODI and T20I career. Coetzer leaves the game as Scotland’s all-time leading scorer in ODIs with 3192 runs in 89 matches at an average of 38.92 as well as ending up second overall in T20I runs for Scotland with 1495 runs in 70 matches.Coetzer’s individual ODI zenith came during the 2015 World Cup in Australia when he made 156 against Bangladesh, one of five ODI centuries during his career. However, it was another century he made in 2017 in a win against Zimbabwe during his second stint as captain that left a far bigger imprint on his Scottish cricketing legacy and paved the way for the team to reach even greater heights.It was their first-ever win over a Full Member and came a year after Scotland had finally broken their World Cup curse by defeating Hong Kong at the 2016 T20 World Cup to register their first win at a major ICC global event.Scotland memorably beat England at the Grange in 2018•Peter Della Penna

With Coetzer as captain during the coaching tenure of Grant Bradburn, the belief was instilled that those would not be Scotland’s last major achievements either. That same summer of 2017, he produced a century in an unofficial one-day win over Sri Lanka ahead of the Champions Trophy. A year later, his 58 off 49 balls as part of a century partnership with Matthew Cross laid the platform for Scotland to defeat England by six runs in an epic match at the Grange in Edinburgh.”I’ve been so lucky throughout my Scotland career that it’s tricky to pick out a highlight,” Coetzer said. “Getting our first win in the ICC T20 World Cup against Hong Kong in 2016 was special… but then so was the whole of 2018. The victory against England at The Grange was just amazing. That whole year – Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, England – just felt like a change of momentum and belief amongst the players about competing against the best teams in the world.”Another feather in Coetzer’s cap came in 2021 when he captained Scotland to three wins from three in the opening round of the T20 World Cup in the UAE. That included a win over group favourites Bangladesh and helped propel them into the Super 12 stage for the first time.”Reaching the ICC T20 Super 12s in 2021, having never achieved it before, and being the captain of that squad, will always stay with me,” Coetzer added.His last ODI century came in his penultimate match as captain against the UAE on Scotland’s tour of Texas in 2022. His form waned in the final year and a half of his career after relinquishing the captaincy, crossing 50 just once in his last 16 ODI innings while making 315 runs at an average of 22.50, well below his career mark.Related

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Yet his contributions were still significant enough over the last three years to help Scotland finish as the champions of the ICC Cricket World Cup League Two ODI tournament for top-ranked Associates, and in the process helped Scotland clinch a spot in the 2023 ICC World Cup Qualifier later this year in Zimbabwe.Aside from his lengthy career with Scotland which spanned two decades, Coetzer was also a regular on the county circuit, having started at Durham Academy in the early 2000s before making his senior debut in the County Championship against Glamorgan in 2004. His last match for Durham came in 2011 before a move to Northamptonshire, where he stayed through to the end of the 2015 season, before a brief cameo for three matches in the 2018 T20 Blast.Between the Intercontinental Cup and his county career, Coetzer made 4404 runs across 94 first-class matches at 30.37 with eight centuries and a best of 219. His decision to take up a role in women’s cricket coaching with Northern Diamonds in England follows up his role as a consultant coach with the Scotland Women’s team in September 2022 during their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier tour of the UAE.His retirement continues the changing of the guard within the Scotland set-up. Fellow batting stalwart Calum MacLeod – player of the match in that England victory – announced his retirement in November following the conclusion of the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.

Arjun Tendulkar, playing his second IPL game, finished the job for Mumbai Indians by bowling a five-run final over and getting his first wicket

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Apr-2023It’s perhaps not the toughest last over he will ever bowl in an IPL game, with the opposition eight down and 20 runs still to get, but for Arjun Tendulkar, it was a test all right. Can he hold his nerve? Does he have it in him? Is he more than just the most famous surname in Indian cricket? On the night, in Hyderabad, Tendulkar did what was asked of him, sticking to the wide-yorker plan, giving little in terms of bat-swinging opportunity to the batters, and competing the job against Sunrisers Hyderabad, getting his first IPL wicket in his second game to wrap things up.”Obviously it was great getting my first IPL wicket. I just had to focus on what was in hand, the plan and execute it,” Tendulkar said after the game on the official broadcast. “Our plan [in the last over] was just to bowl wide and get the long boundary [on the off side] into play, make the batsman hit it to the longer side.”In his first game of the season, and his IPL career, Tendulkar bowled the first and third overs of the match to Kolkata Knight Riders. He conceded four and 13 runs for returns of 2-0-17-0. Nothing too spectacular. Nothing too problematic. This time, too, it could have ended with overs one and three, for 0 for 14, but the late Sunrisers fightback meant the bowlers had to be moved around, and it fell on him to bowl the last over.