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County Championship 2022 | Pujara continues his dream run with an unbeaten century over Middlesex

On a day marked with several interruptions caused by rain and bad light, Cheteshwar Pujara notched up his fourth century in as many games for Sussex. Pujara’s delightful unbeaten knock propelled Sussex’s score to 236/3 at the end of Day 3, with an overall lead of 270 runs in the bag.


The Indian veteran came to the crease when Middlesex threatened to make a comeback in the match. Shaheen Afridi and Ethan Bamber had sent the openers on duck each to leave the home side struggling at 6/2. 


All eyes were set on the battle between Pakistan’s pace sensation Shaheen Afridi and Pujara. The latter won the competition by dispatching the left-arm seamer for a four and a six early into his innings. 



Tom Alsop (66) gave the calm and composed Pujara good company and stitched a 138-run partnership for the third wicket. However, Alsop’s dismissal did not stop the run flow as Pujara continued to ditch his natural style. He is currently batting on 125 off 149 balls only, with sixteen fours and two sixes to his name.


Earlier in the day, Middlesex’s overnight batters, Luke Hollman and Martin Andersson resumed the proceedings with the scoreboard reading 284/6. They reached their respective fifties and looked set to get close to Sussex’s first innings total.


However, Andersson fell on 55 to hand Ollie Robinson his 4th wicket. The speedster did not waste any time and claimed his fifer by sending back Blake Cullen for 1.


Shaheen joined Hollman in the middle and added 30 runs for the ninth wicket. Sean Hunt picked up the latter’s wicket to end Middlesex’s first innings on 358/10. Robinson’s spell was pivotal in handing Sussex a crucial 34-run lead.


Brief scores


Sussex 1st Innings: 392/10


Tom Alsop 113, Alaistair Orr 99;

Shaheen Afridi 97/3, Martin Andersson 88/3.


Middlesex 1st innings: 358/10 


Luke Hollman 82, John Simpson 71, Max Holden 58;

Ollie Robinson 66/5


Sussex 2nd innings: 236/3 ( Lead by 270 runs)


Cheteshwar Pujara 125*, Tom Alsop 66;

Shaheen Afridi 43/1

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IPL 2022 | KKR vs LSG | Relentless Super Giants hunt down chaotic Knights

Match 53 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 saw Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) go head-to-head in a one-sided affair at Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune. It was the former who dominated throughout, with the latter suffering a drubbing, losing a must-win encounter by 75 runs. Opting to bowl first, KKR got a lucky reprieve as the in-form LSG skipper KL Rahul fell for a diamond duck, courtesy of a brain-fade run-out induced from opening partner Quinton de Kock. After that, QDK redeemed himself by taking the attack to the opposition bowlers and scoring a quick-fire half-century. While the South African was going hammer and tongs, Deepak Hooda did not hold himself back and joined De Kock in the run-spree, matching his partner shot-for-shot. As soon as Hooda got dismissed by Andre Russell, it was all downhill for LSG. The side at one stage could have easily crossed 190 but had to end up with a score of 176. That too, because of special efforts from Marcus Stoinis and Jason Holder. The overseas duo led a blitz in the final overs and provided the final flourish. Although Shreyas Iyer and Co. did well to restrict LSG to 176 runs, their batters lacked motivation and came to bat in the second innings with their shoulders down. LSG's pace quartet of Mohsin Khan, Dushmantha Chameera, Jason Holder and Avesh Khan delivered the goods with the new ball, running past KKR's top-order, including Baba Indrajith, Aaron Finch, Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana, before the completion of the seventh over. With the score reading at 25/4, Russell, in his typical style, smashed the bowlers all over the park and did manage to create some excitement to the chase. But after Avesh led to him being caught at the third-man region, it was all but over for KKR as the team eventually lost the match by a whopping margin of 75 runs, getting bundled out for a paltry 101. With this defeat, KKR's playoff hopes have been shattered, with the possibility of reaching just 14 points and a dismal Net Run-Rate adding to their woes. On the other hand, LSG, with this thumping win, shot to the top of the points table. For his match-winning figures of 3-19, Avesh Khan was handed the 'Player of the Match' award. Brief scores: Lucknow Super Giants - 176/7 (20) Quinton de Kock 50(29), Deepak Hooda 41(27); Andre Russell 2-22 (3), Sunil Narine 1-20 (4) Kolkata Knight Riders - 101/10 (14.3) Andre Russell 45(19), Sunil Narine 22(12); Avesh Khan 3-19 (3), Jason Holder 3-31 (2.3) Lucknow Super Giants won by 75 runs.