Raihan Mahmood
Bangladesh skipper Shakib al Hasan and coach Jamie Siddons expressed their hopes of beating defending champions Pakistan in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup at the official press conference. ‘We are targeting Pakistan in the ICC Twenty 20 World Cup,’ Siddons told the press conference.
‘We have played a lot of T20 cricket in the last few days and every player got the opportunity of having match practice and that would help them perform well at the World Cup,’ said Siddons.
Skipper Shakib al Hasan was also upbeat about winning the first match against Pakistan. ‘I think the preparation is quite satisfactory,’ said the skipper.The skipper said Pakistan are not going through a good time and we just want to capitalise on it.
The 3rd edition of the ICC World Twenty20 will begin on April 30.
Bangladesh, placed in group A with strong Pakistan and Australia, will play their opening group match against Pakistan on May 1 at the Beausejour stadium in St Lucia before facing Australia in the second game on May 5 at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. The Tigers will also play two warm-up matches before their World Cup fixtures with game against Barbados on April 27 and the second against England on April 28, both at the Kensington Oval.
RAJSHAHI RANGERS LIFT NCLT20 TITLE
Suvagoto Hom and Kaiser Abbas shared a record partnership to help Rajshahi Rangers to lift the National Cricket League Twenty20 title outclassing Kings of Khulna by six wickets in the final at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
Hom and Abbas both struck half centuries as Rangers chased down Kings’ impressive 161 for six, reaching 163-4 with four balls to spare. Hom was out on 62 off 49 runs with seven runs away but Abbas went on to finish the game remaining unbeaten on 61 off 44 balls.
Hom and Abbas fetched 109 runs in their fourth wicket partnership, which was the highest for any wicket in the competition. Coming together on the fifth over after left-arm spinners Sakib al Hasan and Abdur Razzak had left Rangers tottering at 46–3, they calmly took the game away from Kings’ grip.
BKSP student Hom, who first hogged the headlines with a 30-ball 91 against England in a warm-up match in March, led the way racing to his 50 in only 38 balls before Elias Sunny had him caught and bowled in the last but one over. His innings included two fours and as many sixes.
Pakistani cricketer Abbas, who earlier took two wickets and was adjudged man of the match, faced 44 balls for his innings clubbing nine fours and a six
INTER MILAN THUMP BARCELONA
Barcelona’s attempt to becoming European soccer’s first repeat champion in two decades was jeopardized with a 3-1 loss to Inter Milan in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals.
Barcelona appeared fatigued as the game went on, perhaps from a 450-mile bus trip the team was forced to take. Flights were grounded across Europe following the volcanic eruption in Iceland, and Inter may have to take a similar trip for the second leg of the in Barcelona
Wesley Sneijder, Maicon and Diego Milito scored for Inter, seeking to become Europe’s champion for the first time since consecutive titles in 1964 and 1965. Inter frustrated FIFA player of the year Lionel Messi, whose four goals in the second leg of the quarterfinals eliminated Arsenal.
Pedro Rodriguez scored on a low shot in the 19th minute for Barcelona, but Sneijder tied the score off a pass from Milito in the 30th minute and Maicon put Inter ahead in the 48th on an overlapping run,l again from a Milito pass.
Milito scored the final goal on a header in the 61st after Samuel Eto’o broke down a wing and crossed to Sneijder, who nodded the ball back.
AC Milan was the last repeat champion, winning when the competition was known as the Champions Cup in 1989 and 1990.
BAYERN BEAT LYON
Arjen Robben scored a second-half winner as Bayern Munich beat Lyon 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal on Wednesday, in which both sides finished with 10 men.
Robben found the net in the 69th minute with a shot that took a slight deflection off teammate Thomas Mueller.
Bayern winger Franck Ribery was sent off in the 37th minute for a challenge on Lisandro Lopez, and Lyon defender Jeremy Toulalan went off with his second yellow card in the 54th.