Latest News
IPL 2025: Chennai Super Kings suffer fifth loss on the trot as Kolkata Knight Riders register monster win
So that’s what happens when Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) get the kind of pitch their spinners like. Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Moeen Ali (12-1-55-6) went into Chepauk and burgled wickets away from the five-time IPL champions until they were a pale, weak shadow of themselves. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) crumbled to 103 for 9, their lowest IPL total at home, suffered a fifth successive defeat, which had never happened before in their entire history, and are marooned in ninth place on the points table. Welcome back to captaincy, MS Dhoni.
The major characteristic of a black-soil pitch is that it is slow and it grips. It felt like home, which is ironic because home hasn’t felt like home for them this season. KKR would prefer to play most of their matches in conditions like this but their efforts to procure them at the Eden Gardens hasn’t gone well. Ajinkya Rahane doesn’t even want to talk about it now. He did, however, spearhead a phenomenal bowling performance. He brought Moeen into the XI and set him loose on CSK’s two left-hand openers. Devon Conway couldn’t overcome the handicap. The KKR offspinner pocketed a wicket maiden. In the next over, Rachin Ravindra was gone. CSK were bleeding by the end of the powerplay, their 31 for 2 only slightly better than the season low of 30 for 3 that they themselves had set, against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Exposing this CSK team’s middle order is the only thing their oppositions need to do to win against them. Rahul Tripathi was brought in as Ruturaj Gaikwad’s replacement but he couldn’t figure out whether he wanted to hit out or play through and that indecision was reflected in his final score – 16 off 22. Vijay Shankar could have been dismissed for a duck, or for 20, had KKR held onto their catches. Even with those two lives he couldn’t push on to make a big score. Shivam Dube walked out with CSK at 59 for 3. He had faced only 13 balls and that was still enough time for the score to slip to 75 for 8, at which point his team was in danger of recording their lowest total in IPL history.
For the 16th time in his IPL career, Narine bowled his four overs without conceding a boundary. No one, having got through their full quota, has done it more times. He also knocked off Tripathi, who didn’t know which way the ball would turn, and Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni, who didn’t know which way the ball would spin. There was some doubt over the Dhonii lbw, though. UltraEdge showed what looked like faint murmurs as the ball passed the bat.
CSK were being smothered. They had to wait 63 balls between boundaries – only two teams have ever been that emphatically silenced in this tournament – and hit just three after the eighth over (one of them off a top edge). They had to bring in Deepak Hooda as Impact Player, accepting the risk of going in with a bowler short when they would have to defend this total. But even that gamble backfired. Hooda fell for a duck and one of their key players, Matheesha Pathirana, could not take part in the game.
Defending 103 is a thankless job because bowlers tend to go hard searching for wickets and in that process they leak runs. After under-performing in their batting powerplay, CSK underwhelmed with their bowling powerplay. KKR ransacked 71 runs in the first six overs. This game was no contest.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 107 for 2 in 10.1 overs (Sunil Narine 44, Quinton de Kock 23, Ajinkaya Rahane 20*, Rinku Singh 15*; Anshul Kamboj 1-19, Noor Ahmad 1-08) beat Chennai Super Kings 103 for 9 in 20 overs (Devon Conway 12, Rahul Tripathi 16, Vijay Shankar 29, Shivam Dube 31; Sunil Narine 3-13, Varun Chakravarthy 2-22, Harshit Rana 2-16, Moeen Ali 1-20, Vaibhav Arora 1-31) by eight wickets
[Cricinfo]
Latest News
PNB detect large haul of methamphetamine and heroin in local fishing trawler intercepted by Navy
Acting on credible information, the Sri Lanka Navy launched a special operation on the high seas on 11 Apr 25, resulting in the apprehension of 06 suspects along with a local multi-day fishing trawler, believed to be involved in smuggling of narcotics.
Subsequently, the intercepted trawler was brought to the Dikkowita Harbour, where a thorough inspection was carried out with the assistance of the Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB) experts, leading to the detection of approximately 77kg and 484g of heroin and 42kg and 334g of methamphetamine (Ice).
The consignment, which had been meticulously hidden in the trawler, was handed over to the PNB for onward legal action on 12 Apr.
Latest News
Sun directly overhead Thunukkai, Olumadu, Oddusudan, Kumulamunei and Chemmalei at about 12:11 noon. today [13]
On the apparent northward relative motion of the sun, it is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka during 05th to 14th of April in this year.
The nearest areas of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (13th) are Thunukkai, Olumadu, Oddusudan, Kumulamunei and Chemmalei at about 12:11 noon.
Despite the absence of Mitchell Marsh, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) bested Gujarat Titans (GT) in the battle of top orders and moved up to third on the IPL 2025 points table.
After Shubman Gill and B Sai Sudarshan forged a 120-run opening stand, GT managed only 60 off their last eight overs while losing six wickets. The variations of Ravi Bishnoi and Digyesh Rathi (8-0-66-3) helped LSG regain lost ground on a black-soil pitch at Ekana Stadium.
Aiden Markram and Rishzbh Pant, who was opening the batting for the first time in the IPL in nearly ten years, then maximised the powerplay to put LSG further ahead. Markram fell for 58 off 31 balls but Nicholas Pooran rushed LSG towards the finish line with a six-laden 61 off 34 balls. LSG completed the job with three balls to spare, snapping GT’s four-match winning streak.
After being asked to bat first, Gill and Sudharsan added 54 for 0 in the powerplay. Sudharsan had kicked off the innings with a slapped four off Shardul Thakur and then when Akash Deep pitched one too full, he drove the ball straight past him for four more.
T20 isn’t Sudharsan’s strongest format, but he keeps finding ways to score at a brisk pace with a low-risk approach. At the other end, Gill took more risks, often stepping out or manufacturing swinging room. When LSG tried to burgle an over from Markram, Gill and Sudharsan spoiled their plan by taking the part-time offspinner for 15 runs.
Sudharsan’s knock could’ve been cut short on 46 had Abdul Samad held onto a catch at cover off Rathi. He went onto bring up his fourth half-century in six innings in IPL, soon after Gill had raised his own fifty.
The dismissals of Gill and Sudharsan in successive overs, however, brought LSG back into the contest. While Avesh Khan had Gill caught at the long-on boundary with a cutter, Bishnoi had Sudharsan caught at cover with a skiddy wrong ‘un. Bishnoi also had Washington Sundar chopping on for 2 with the wrong ‘un.
Mystery spinner Rathi, who had two catches dropped off his bowling, eventually wrote his name into the wickets column when Thakur held onto a tough chance at short fine leg to dismiss Jos Buttler for 16 off 14 balls. Thakur then closed out the innings with his nifty variations, which fetched him the wickets of Sherfane Rutherford and Rahul Tewatia in the final over. From 120 for 0 after 12 overs, they finished on 180 for 6.
LSG rattled off 61 for 0 in the powerplay, with Markram claiming 38 of those. Pant, who had bumped himself up the order, got off to a more sedate start and was in discomfort after being struck on the knee by left-arm seamer Arshad Khan.
Pant was happy to ride in Markram’s slipstream before he attacked Rashid Khan in the last over of the powerplay, slog-sweeping the wristspinner for four over midwicket. In the next over, though, when he charged at Prasidh Krishna, the bowler shifted his line wide of off stump and had Pant slicing a catch to deep third for 21 off 18 balls. Markram, meanwhile, mixed orthodox strokeplay with T20 innovation to bring up a 26-ball fifty.
Pooran had already hit two sixes by the time GT introduced R Sai Kishore into the attack in the tenth over. The first delivery, which seemed like the carrom ball, was whacked over midwicket for six. He then smoked the left-arm fingerspinner for two more sixes off the next three balls he bowled to him and dumped him out of the attack. With his big hits, Pooran brought the asking rate down to a run-a-ball. He ended up with seven sixes on the day, extending his tally to 31 sixes this IPL. The next best on the list hasn’t even hit half as many.
On the day, Pooran alone hit four more sixes than the entire GT team.
By the time Rashid removed Pooran in the 16th over, LSG needed 26 off 28 balls. Ayush Badoni, LSG’s Impact Player, helped knock off those runs with an unbeaten cameo.
Brief scores:
Lucknow Super Giants 186 for 4 in 19.3 overs (Nicholas Pooran 61, Aiden Markram 58, Rishabh Pant 21, Ayush Badoni 28*; Prasidh Krishna 2-26, Rashid Khan 1-35, Washington Sundar 1-28) beat Gujarat Titans180 for 6 in 20 overs (Shubhman Gill 60, Bhardwaj Sai Sudharsan 56, Jos Buttler 16, Sherfaine Rutherford 22, Masood Shahrukh Khan 11*; Shardul Thakur 2-24, Digvesh Rathi 1-30, Avesh Khan 1-32, Ravi Bishnoi 2-36) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
Trump exempts smartphones and computers from new tariffs
Nigerian bandit kingpin and 100 followers killed
PNB detect large haul of methamphetamine and heroin in local fishing trawler intercepted by Navy
-
Business6 days agoColombo Coffee wins coveted management awards
-
News1 day agoSuspect injured in police shooting hospitalised
-
Features2 days agoRobbers and Wreckers
-
Features4 days agoSri Lanka’s Foreign Policy amid Geopolitical Transformations: 1990-2024 – Part III
-
Midweek Review4 days agoInequality is killing the Middle Class
-
Features6 days agoSri Lanka’s Foreign Policy amid Geopolitical Transformations: 1990-2024 – Part I
-
Business1 day agoSanjiv Hulugalle appointed CEO and General Manager of Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams Sri Lanka
-
Features5 days agoA brighter future …