Australia to meet New Zealand in WC T20I final on Sunday



Sports Desk, Barta24.com, Dhaka
ছবি: সংগৃহীত

ছবি: সংগৃহীত

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Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman amassed a huge score of 176 for Pakistan with their scintillating batting in the second semi-final against Australia. Shadab Khan alone took 4 wickets with the ball. But the heroic batting performance of David Warner-Marcus Stoinis-Matthew Wade has ruined their achievement.

Australia reached the final by defeating Pakistan by 5 wickets in the second semi-final. New Zealand had already earned tickets to the final after beating England in the first semi-final. This time Australia joined them in the title match. Captain Aaron Finch's team snatched the victory with six balls remaining.

This is the second time that Australia has reached the final of the T20I World Cup. And their opponent New Zealand has reached the final for the first time. As a result, the T20I World Cup will get a new champion in the final on Sunday, November 14.

David Warner started the chase with the bat. He played a destructive innings. However, he did not get fifty. The star opener returned to the dressing room with regret of one run.

Warner played 30 balls and scored 49 runs in a cricket innings. He smashed his excellent innings with three boundaries and three sixes. And 28 runs came from Mitchell Marsh's bat. Aussi laid the foundation for victory. The two almost brought the match out. Sometimes Pakistan returns to the game. However, they fell behind again after missing the catch.

Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade took the opportunity to do the rest. Australia reached the port of victory in an unbeaten partnership between the two with the final ticket. Stoinis scored 40* playing 31 balls with two boundaries and two sixes.  Matthew Wade, the man of the match, played an incredible 17-ball innings. He had two boundaries and four sixes in his unbeaten 41 * innings.

Australia lost 5 wickets at the end of 19 overs and reached the target of 177 runs. Shadab Khan took 4 wickets for 26 runs in 4 overs for Pakistan. Shahin Shah Afridi took the wicket of Captain Aaron Finch for 0 at the very outset of the match.

At the beginning, Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman showed their flashes with the bat. Both snatched a formidable half-century. Based on their batting prowess, Pakistan set a 176-run target for victory over Australia in the second semi-final of the T20I World Cup.

Pakistan got off to a great start by batting first when they were sent by Australia who won the toss. Mohammad Rizwan and Captain Babar Azam put Pakistan on 71 in the opening pair.

Babar Azam returned to the dressing room with 39 runs. He had five boundaries in his 34-ball innings. Opener Rizwan continued his batting frenzy by keeping one end of the crease closed even after Babur's return.

This time Rizwan formed a partnership with Fakhar Zaman. In the second wicket, the two reached 143 runs. Mohammad Rizwan played an innings of 67 off 52 balls with 3 boundaries and 4 sixes.

Fakhar Zaman also got to see 50 with extraordinary batting strength. He played an unbeaten innings of 55 * off 32 balls with three boundaries and four sixes. Pakistan lost 4 wickets at the end of 20 overs and made a total of 176 runs.

Mitchell Starc took two wickets for Australia. Adam Jampa and Pat Cummins took one wicket each.

Before that, the toss helped the Australians. That's why Captain Aaron Finch elected to field after winning the toss.

The final match will be played at Dubai International stadium at 8 PM(BST) on Sunday.

Olympic ticket sales for Paris Games gets off to rocky start



News Desk, Barta24.com
Olympic ticket sales for Paris Games

Olympic ticket sales for Paris Games

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Organizers of next year’s Paris Olympics promised relatively modest prices and “egalitarian” access to events, thanks to an online system meant to revolutionize ticket sales and bring the masses to stadiums and arenas for as little as $26.

As the month-long opening round of sales winds down, however, many “lucky” winners chosen to shop for the first 3 million tickets (out of 10 million total) are feeling frustrated, angry and cheated because their only option during the 48-hour purchasing window was paying at least 200 euros ($212) per ticket for the few remaining events on offer. And because the ticketing system requires buying packages for multiple sports, overall costs for many buyers ran into thousands of dollars.

By the time English teacher Amélie Beney and her 9-year-old son won the lottery last week to log in to the Olympic ticket office, affordable tickets for many events were gone, and all but one of their preferred sports — BMX, water polo and soccer — was sold out.

There were tickets for a soccer match at 50 euros ($53) but Beney would also have to buy at least two tickets for two additional events. Available tickets included basketball or handball at 150 euros ($160), swimming at 230 euros ($244) and a whopping 690 euros ($732) for a qualifying event in track and field.

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Saudi Arabia declares public holiday in wake of Argentina triumph



News Desk, Barta24.com
Photo: Collected

Photo: Collected

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A public holiday has been declared for employees and students in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, November 23 following the Green Falcons’ stunning 2-1 FIFA World Cup win against Argentina.

According to a directive issued by the Saudi Press Agency, all employees in both the public and private sectors, as well as all students, will not be required to work or attend lessons in a celebration of Herve Renard’s team’s heroic efforts against the World Cup favorites on Tuesday.

This comes after King Salman approved a suggestion to announce a public holiday by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - which comes after the Crown Prince had previously told the Saudi national team to enjoy the experience at the World Cup given their underdog status.

“I know our group is difficult in the World Cup, and nobody expects us to secure a win or a draw. So what I want to say is just be comfortable, play your game and enjoy the tournament,” he said last month.

And it appeared that the Saudis were staring down defeat after Lionel Messi gave Argentina a 1-0 lead from the penalty spot after ten minutes in their Group C encounter at the Lusail Stadium in Tuesday's early kick-off.

Argentina had a further three goals ruled out for offside in the opening half before a salvo of goals from Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari in a five-minute spell early into the second half proved to the be the difference, and one of the biggest upsets in FIFA World Cup history.

The defeat ended a 36-game unbeaten streak for Argentina dating back to July 2019, the second longest run without losing a game in international football history

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Cumilla Victorians win BPL title beating Barishal Fortune



Sports Desk, Barta24.com, Dhaka
Photo: collected

Photo: collected

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Cumilla Victorians beat Fortune Barishal by one run in a thrilling final to secure the title of the 8th edition of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL)-2022 at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur in Dhaka on Friday (February 18).

This is the hat-trick BPL title triumph for the franchise. Earlier, Cumilla secured titles of third and sixth edition of the tournament.

In the final of eighth BPL edition in 2022 on Friday (February 18), Cumilla, thanks to Sunil Narine’s 57 runs, scored 151 runs by losing 9 wickets in 20 overs when the skipper won the toss and opted to bat first.

In reply, Barishal, thanks to brilliant innings of Shaikat Ali’s 58 runs, managed to score 150 runs by losing eight wickets in 20 overs.

For Cumilla, Sunil Narine hit a quick innings of 57 runs from 23 balls which includes five boundaries and as many over-boundaries.

Moeen Ali smashed 38 runs from 32 balls while Abu Hider Rony posted 19 runs off 27 balls.

Imrul Kayes scored 12 runs off 12 balls while wicket-keeper Liton Das, Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Faf du Plessis could not reach two digits. Liton and du Plessis scored four runs each while Mahmudul Joy bagged eight runs. Ariful Haque and Shohidul Islam hit a duck each.

For Barishal, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Shafiqul Islam bagged two wickets each. Dwayne Bravo, Shakib Al Hasan and Mehedi Hasan Rana shared a wicket each.

In Chase, Barishal’s Shykat Ali smashed 58 runs off 34 balls with 11 fours and a six.

Chris Gayle scored 33 runs from 31 runs while Nurul Hasan bagged 14 runs and Najmul Hossain Shanto scored 12 runs.

However, no other batsmen of Barishal could reach two digits.

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Junior Tigers in the quarter finals of the World Cup



Sports Des, Barta2.com, Dhaka
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Photo: Collected

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After losing to England in the first match, an unknown fear arose. However, the Junior Tigers kept their dream alive by beating Canada in the second match of the group stage. This time in their last match in the group, the under-19 youth of the country fulfilled that dream by beating UAE by 9 wickets under the rain law. Reigning world champions Bangladesh have reached the Super League quarter-finals of the Under-19 World Cup.

Captain Rakibul Hasan's side will play against India in the fight to reach the Super League semi-finals of the tournament. The two neighbors will fight on January 29.

Due to the rain, the target of the red-green representatives was 107 runs in 35 overs. The country's cricketers reached the port of victory by losing just one wicket in 24.5 overs and scoring 110 runs in the opener Mahfizul Islam's fifty. This victory came in with 61 balls remaining.

Mahfizul Islam and Iftekhar Hossain laid the foundation of victory in the inaugural partnership. Both of them collected 86 runs. Iftekhar returned with 37 runs but Mahfizul played a strong innings of 64 * off 69 balls with 6 boundaries and 2 sixes. He left the field with the gift of victory to the team.

Jash Gianani took the only wicket of Bangladesh for UAE. He returned opener Iftekhar to the dressing room.

In their third and final match of the Under-19 World Cup group stage, the UAE averaged 148 runs in 48.1 overs against Bangladesh. Punia Mehra showed his power with the bat. He played a great innings of 43 runs. 33 runs came from Dhruv Parashar's bat. Captain Alishan Sharafu collected 23 runs.

Ripon Mandal took three wickets for Bangladesh. Ashikur Zaman and Tanjim Hasan Shakib took two wickets each. Earlier, the Junior Tigers won the toss and elected to field at Warner Park in St. Kitts.

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