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Spinners, Jaiswal give India opening day honours

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Yashasvi Jaiswal struck a quick-fire half-century to put India in a position of strength (BCCI)

India’s spin trio shared eight wickets between them before Yashasvi Jaiswal slammed a rapid unbeaten half-century to give the hosts the opening day honours against England in Hyderabad. England were put under the pump for large parts of the day and were dragged to 246 by skipper Ben Stokes. Their hopes of making early inroads before stumps were then thwarted by Jaiswal who smashed 76* off just 70 balls to guide the hosts to 119/1 by stumps on Thursday (January 25).

England made a very good start with the bat after winning the all-important toss having picked three spinners in their XI. Mohammad Siraj started off in erratic fashion and was duly punished by Zak Crawley. Ben Duckett got going as well and even though the two new ball bowlers found swing, England managed to get through that period on a positive note scoring at over five an over before Rohit Sharma turned to spin.

The move worked as Ravichandran Ashwin managed to trap Duckett leg-before-wicket to give India the first breakthrough. Ollie Pope, who looked tentative in his short stay, was the next to depart as he edged Ravindra Jadeja to the slip fielder. The left-arm spinner could have put England in deep trouble had Joe Root been given lbw in the same over but the former skipper got away with the third umpire giving him the benefit of the doubt. England’s relief was short-lived though as 55/0 quickly became 60/3 with Ashwin removing Crawley.

Jonny Bairstow then walked out with a positive intent as he hit Jadeja for a couple of boundaries and raced to 32 before the lunch break to revive England alongside Root. The visitors relied heavily on the pair to carry on with the good work post the lunch break but unfortunately, Axar Patel quashed those plans with a top delivery that spun away from Bairstow to castle him. Root then failed to connect properly while attempting to sweep a delivery that wasn’t full as the top edge was pouched by Bumrah at short fine leg. That wicket tilted the game completely in favour of the hosts, who looked to stamp their authority from thereon.

Axar got his second with Ben Foakes edging behind and Bumrah opened his account with an off cutter to get rid of Rehan Ahmed. The flurry of wickets forced Stokes to open up finally as he brought out the switch hit against Jadeja to break the shackles. Debutant Tom Hartley chipped in with some useful runs but it was Stokes who was causing damage with some timely boundaries. The skipper targetted Jadeja in particular and got to his fifty in style with back-to-back sixes. His extravagant innings was finally brought to an end by a Bumrah delivery that jagged away sharply after pitching to catch Stokes off guard and rattle the stumps.

Jaiswal then came out all guns blazing to lead India’s strong reply. The very first ball was clipped away for a boundary and Hartley’s introduction to Test cricket saw him get hit for two sixes in his first over as 19 runs were knocked off from the first 12 deliveries. Hartley was picked apart continuously by Jaiswal and even Rohit to an extent as India brought up their fifty off just 39 deliveries. Hartley ended up leaking 51 runs off his first six overs but Stokes continued to persist with the spinner at one end and it was at the other end that the breakthrough finally came.

Jack Leach managed to end the rapid opening stand when Rohit mistimed to get caught. While the run rate dipped after the dismissal with only a few overs left for stumps, England managed to burn all three of their reviews in desperation and might end up regretting that going ahead with India primed to take the lead on Friday.

Brief scores:
India
119/1 in 23 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 76*, Rohit Sharma 24; Jack Leach 1/24) trail  England 246 in 64.3 overs (Ben Stokes 70, Jonny Bairstow 37, Zak Crawley 20, Ben Duckett 35, Joe Root 29, Tom Hartley 23; Jasprit Bumrah 2-28, Ravichandran Ashwin 3-68, Ravindra Jadeja 3-88, Axar Patel 2-33) by 127 runs.



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PSL 2025 to resume on May 17, final scheduled for May 25

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PSL 2025 will end a week after it was originally scheduled to (Cricinfo)

PSL 2025 will resume on May 17, with the final on May 25. While there hasn’t yet been a public decision on the fixture list or venues, the announcement confirms the league will end a week after it was originally scheduled to.

This was announced on X (formerly Twitter) by PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi. “HBL PSL X picks up from where it left off,” he wrote in the post. “6 teams, 0 fear. Get ready for 8 thrilling matches starting 17th May, leading up to the Grand Final on 25th May. Best of luck to all the teams!”

PCB is expected to announce further details shortly, and though Naqvi’s tweet did not officially confirm it, the remaining matches are expected to be played in Pakistan. The league, which was postponed due to increasing cross-border tensions with India, has eight games left and the PCB, as well as several franchises, have been eager to conclude the season as early as possible.

The PSL held meetings with the franchises on Monday to discuss specific dates and venues. The most pressing issue is the availability of overseas players, with ESPNcricinfo understanding a significant number are unlikely to return. The asymmetry of player availability may also impact squads, with some franchises more confident about overseas players rejoining than others. To mitigate that, PCB has also considered a replacement draft to make up the numbers.

This also confirms that Bangladesh’s tour of Pakistan  will not stick to its original schedule. The final of the PSL takes place on the day Bangladesh were to play their first T20I against Pakistan, in Faisalabad. BCB has said it is in active and ongoing discussions  about the tour.

(Cricinfo)

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Ahmedabad likely to host IPL 2025 final

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The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad is likely yo host Qualifier 2 and final of IPL 2025

While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has yet to officially announce the venues for the final and the first two playoffs – Qualifier 1 and the Eliminator – Cricbuzz understands that the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad has been shortlisted to host Qualifier 2 and the final, scheduled for June 1 and 3 respectively.

The plan could change if the forecasts turn completely inaccurate, as weather remains the only reason the BCCI has withheld announcing the venues for the playoffs. The board is closely monitoring the monsoon’s movement across the country before finalising the schedule. The expectation, however, is that there is unlikely to be any rain in early June in Ahmedabad as of now.
As for the first two playoffs matches, Mumbai remains a potential option, but the final decision will hinge on the timing of the monsoon’s arrival. The city experienced heavy rainfall a few days ago, and the weather has remained overcast since. The BCCI is expected to decide soon. If a North Indian venue like Delhi, Jaipur, or even Lucknow is likely to remain unaffected by the wet weather, the board may opt for one of those instead.
In all likelihood, the BCCI will not shift the IPL bandwagon to a new city for the playoffs and the final. The venues will most likely be among the six cities already allotted the 17 remaining league matches of the season following the suspension. The key factor influencing the BCCI’s decision is operational – transporting broadcast equipment and setting up infrastructure at a new venue would be logistically challenging.
Logistics, in fact, is the primary reason the BCCI did not allocate matches to Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Mohali/Dharamsala. Teams like CSK and SRH had only one remaining home game, and the board deemed it impractical to move broadcast equipment for a single fixture. Mohali and Dharamsala were ruled out due to recent border trouble, prompting the BCCI to make Jaipur the new base for Punjab Kings, who will now play their two remaining home games there. Kolkata is facing unpredictable weather, and that may be the reason why the final two games have been moved away from the Eden Gardens. KKR, anyway, had played all their home games in Kolkata already.
To further explain the decision, the BCCI is believed to have informed franchises that teams left with only one home game will play it in Delhi. This explains why CSK (vs RR) and SRH (vs KKR) are scheduled to play their remaining home fixtures in the capital. An exception has been made for the Wankhede – but then, Mumbai is a different case altogether.
Being at the heart of the IPL map, transporting broadcast equipment from Mumbai is not difficult. In fact, the equipment has remained at the Wankhede since the last game on May 6. Moreover, Mumbai is also in contention to host some of the playoff matches. As for Rajasthan Royals, although they had only one remaining home game, the decision to make Jaipur the new base for Punjab Kings made it convenient to allot RR’s final fixture to the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. In fact, Jaipur is now hosting three matches, post resumption, two of which are the home games of Punjab Kings.

The IPL is resuming on May 17 and it will have 17 games post break. Six centres – Mumbai, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Jaipur – will be hosting the games.

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IPL 2025 to resume on May 17, final to be played on June 3

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IPL 2025 will resume on May 17 and end on June 3, as per the revised schedule announced by the BCCI on Monday night.

The remainder of the tournament, which was suspended on May 9 for a week due to cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan, will be played at six venues: Bengaluru, Jaipur, Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The venues for the playoffs will be announced later, but the matches will be played on the following dates: Qualifier 1 on May 29, the Eliminator on May 30, Qualifier 2 on June 1 and the final on June 3. A total of 17 matches will be played after the resumption, with two double-headers, both of which will be played on Sundays.

The revised schedule features 13 league games and the four playoff matches. This means that the Punjab Kings (PBKS) vs Delhi Capitals (DC) game,  which was called off midway through the first innings on May 8 in Dharamsala, will be played again, on May 24 in Jaipur, which will be the temporary home base for PBKS. Two days later, PBKS will play against Mumbai Indians (MI), a match they were originally meant to play in their second home base of Dharamsala on May 11. The match that will restart the tournament on May 17 will be played between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Bengaluru.

On the first of the two double-header days, Rajasthan Royals (RR) will meet PBKS in the day game (3.30pm IST) on May 18 and DC will take on Gujarat Titans (GT) in the evening (7.30pm IST). The next Sunday – May 25 – will see GT take on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the day game in Ahmedabad and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) meet KKR in Delhi at 7.30pm IST. The last league game will be between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and RCB on May 27 in Lucknow.

The change in venues also means that three teams – PBKS, CSK and SRH – won’t get to play on their original home grounds anymore. With CSK and SRH out of the playoffs race, PBKS will count themselves unlucky to be playing two of their home matches at a neutral venue. With 15 points from 11 matches, PBKS were third on the points table  before the tournament was suspended.

The official release said the BCCI held “extensive consultations with government and security agencies, and with all the key stakeholders” before finalising the resumption of the tournament.

The delayed finish of the IPL, which was originally scheduled to end on May 25 in Kolkata, means it will now coincide with the entire ODI series between England and West Indies starting on May 29 in Birmingham and ending on June 3 at The Oval. It will lead to a clash for Romario Shepherd (RCB), Shamar Joseph (LSG) and Sherfane Rutherford (GT), who have all been picked in the West Indies ODI squad. England have not named their squad yet but the players likely to be affected are Jos Buttler (GT), Phil Salt (RCB), Jacob Bethell  (RCB), Liam Livingston (RCB), Will Jacks (MI) and Reece Topley (MI), depending on which teams make the playoffs.

The revised IPL schedule also squeezes the gap between the IPL final and the WTC final  to just seven days, with Australia and South Africa set to contest the Test world title from June 11 at Lord’s. Both Australia and South Africa are scheduled to announce their squads on Tuesday. The players who are currently part of the IPL teams and are likely to be picked for the WTC final are Australia captain Pat Cummins and Travis Head (both SRH), Mitchell Starc and Tristan Stubbs (both DC), Josh Hazlewood (RCB), Marco Jansen and Josh Inglis (both PBKS), Aiden Markram (LSG), Kagiso Rabada (GT), Ryan Rickelton (MI) and Kwena Mphaka (RR).

The revised schedule will also potentially impact the India A tour of England, which is scheduled to begin from May 30, for two unofficial Tests in Canterbury and Northampton. Several fringe India players, some of whom are likely to be part of the India squad for the five-Test series starting on June 20 in England, will now be part of the IPL when the A matches begin.

For now, the biggest challenge for the 10 IPL franchises will be to re-assemble their squads and bring back overseas players and support-staff members who had begun flying back home over the weekend. The team that could find it easiest to get back together will be GT, currently on top of the table, who had seen only two of their overseas players fly back: Buttler and Gerald Coetzee. The rest of their squad was continuing to train in Ahmedabad. MI could also benefit from the revised schedule, as their first game is on May 21, four days after the tournament resumes.

(Cricinfo)

 

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