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IPL 2025: Chahal, Arshdeep and Wadhera topple Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Published

8 months ago

2025/04/19

Priyan

Tim David hit three sixes in three balls in the last over

Horror for the batters, fantasy for the bowlers – it was a mash-up of genres at the M Chinnaswamy stadium and it kept the viewer guessing, but the climax went Punjab Kings’ way thanks to Nehal Wadhera’s sparkling 33 off 19 balls. The heavy lifting, though, was done by their bowlers after Shreyas Iyer won the toss and put RCB in to bat after rain reduced the game to a 14-overs-a-side affair.

Arshdeep Singh bowled consistent lengths, Yuzvendra Chahal was back to looping the ball and looking for spin and Marco Jansen used his height to good effect. Together, they reduced RCB to 42 for 7. They could have been bowled out for under 49, their lowest total, but Tim David’s 26-ball 50 not out ensured they nearly doubled it and that they weren’t all-out.

Josh Hazelwood made a modest chase of 96 tougher than it seemed on a pitch that offered steep bounce. PBKS might have feared being hit by a comeback similar to the one they delivered to Kolkata Knight Riders three days ago, but they didn’t rush the chase and were able to target bowlers in the end which got them through.

After being put into bat and with fewer overs to play with, RCB looked to get off to a positive start. Phil Salt drove the first ball down the ground for four. Cross-batted and aerial shots were fraught with danger right from the start. Both Salt and Virat Kohli were out pulling, the former off a length ball and the latter to a shorter ball after walking down the pitch.

Arshdeep Singh, who came into this game with two powerplay wickets this season, doubled his tally.

Rajat Patidar whipped Arshdeep and Xavier Bartlett for a four and a six over the leg side. Liam Livingstone looked to end the four-over powerplay on a high. He charged at Bartlett and was out trying to slap a length ball, with Priyansh Arya running back from cover point to take the catch.

RCB’s were reduced to 26 for 3. Jitesh Sharma swung at Marco Jansen but was beaten both times and in the following over Patidar top-edged a pull off Chahal which landed safely at midwicket. Jitesh wasn’t as lucky next ball as he found deep backward square with a slog sweep.

Two balls later, Krunal Pandya was the third batter out on the pull. He couldn’t extend his arms fully and feathered a shortish ball from Jansen onto his helmet and it popped right up for a caught and bowled. PBKS used DRS to reduce RCB to 33 for 5.

Chahal, who was back to slowing down his speeds and teasing the batter, struck again by looping the ball wide of Patidar’s off stump and having him slash to long-off. RCB’s ploy to send in Manoj Bhandage as the Impact Player didn’t work as he was beaten on the flick by Jansen and dismissed lbw.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and David stitched a 21-run stand for the eighth wicket, taking RCB past fifty. Harpreet Brar dismissed Bhuvneshwar and Yash Dayal off successive balls, leaving the hosts at 63 for 9 in 11.5 overs.

David then nailed a few expansive shots at the end. He went deep in the crease to pull Bartlett for two fours. He farmed strike to face the final over and smashed three successive sixes, including one off a no-ball, to reach his fifty and lift RCB to 95 for 9.

The chase started with a few early jitters for PBKS. Prabhsimran Singh missed a scoop and a swipe off Bhuvneshwar in the first over. Priyansh Arya then edged a cover drive off Yash Dayal over first slip in the next over.

A top edge off a swipe across the line fell safely at square leg to start the third. Prabhsimran connected with a couple of drives but miscued a flat-bat hit to mid-off when the bowler shortened his length. Arya was out in similar fashion off Hazlewood in the following over as PBKS were reduced to 33 for 2.

Josh Inglis and Shreyas Iyer were happy to play out a couple of quiet overs and only go after poor balls. Krunal Pandya delivered a couple of them in the sixth over when he drove the ball into the pitch, allowing Inglis to pull and cut.

Hazlewood, though, used his height to generate extra bounce to dismiss both batters on the cut. The ball zipped off a length to have Shreyas caught behind. The one to Inglis was shorter and went off the top edge to deep third. PBKS were 53 for 4, needing 43 off 36 balls.

Suyash Sharma’s attempt to bowl for wickets with a drop in pace and consistent lengths beat Wadhera four times when he was new to the crease. But the batter got a reverse between short third and backward point before plonking one over cow corner.

Hazlewood continued to be unhittable and gave away just two runs off the tenth over. He banged the ball into the pitch and nearly had Shashank Singh caught behind on the cut. He finished for 3 for 14 in three overs.

Suyash couldn’t build the pressure as he overpitched and Wadhera reached out and swiped him over long-off. He then pierced the gap through cover with a scorching drive. Luck, too, went against RCB as a ripping legbreak beat Wadhera’s cover drive and the keeper to race to the boundary.

The crowd tried to pump life into the game when Bhuvneshwar dismissed Shashank but those hopes were dashed by Wadhera, who first picked up a shortish ball over fine leg for six and then slapped a length ball on the up through cover.

Marcus Stoinis, who replaced Glenn Maxwell for the visitors, finished the game with a cross-bat hit over long-on and handed RCB a hat-trick of losses at home.

Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 98 for 5 in 12.1 overs (Priyansh Arya 16, Prabhsimran Singh 13, Josh Inglis 14, Nehal Wadhera 33; Josh Hazlewood 3-14, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-26) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 95 for 9 in 14 overs (Tim David 50*, Rajat Patidar 23; Marco Jansen 2-10, Yuzvendra Chahal 2-11, Arshdeep Singh 2-23, Harpreet Brar 2-25, Xavier Bartlett 1-26) by five wickets

[Cricinfo]

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More than 30 dead after Myanmar military air strike hits hospital

Published

57 seconds ago

2025/12/11

Priyan

The junta has turned to air bombardments to reclaim territory from ethnic armies [BBC]

At least 34 people have died and dozens more are injured after air strikes from Myanmar’s military hit a hospital in the country’s west on Wednesday night, according to ground sources.

The hospital is located in Mrauk-U town in Rakhine state, an area controlled by the Arakan Army – one of the strongest ethnic armies fighting the country’s military regime.

Thousands have died and millions have been displaced since the military seized power in a coup in 2021 and triggered a civil war.

In recent months, the military has intensified air strikes to take back territory from ethnic armies. It has also developed paragliders to drop bombs on its enemies.

The Myanmar military has not commented on the strikes, which come as the country prepares to vote later this month in its first election since the coup.

However, pro-military accounts on Telegram claim the strikes this week were not aimed at civilians.

Khaing Thukha, a spokesperson for the Arakan Army, told the BBC that most of the casualties were patients at the hospital.

“This is the latest vicious attack by the terrorist military targeting civilian places,” he said, adding that the military “must take responsibility” for bombing civilians.

The Arakan Army health department said the strike, which occurred at around 21:00 (14:30 GMT), killed 10 patients on the spot and injured many others.

Photos believed to be from the scene have been circulating on social media showing missing roofs across parts of the building complex, broken hospital beds and debris strewn across the ground.

The junta has been locked in a years-long bloody conflict with ethnic militias, at one point losing control of more than half the country.

But recent influx of technology and equipment from China and Russia seems to have helped it turn the tide. The junta has made significant gains through a campaign of airstrikes and heavy bombardment.

Earlier this year, more than 20 people were killed after an army motorised paraglider dropped two bombs on a crowd protesting at a religious festival.

Civil liberties have also shrunk dramatically under the junta. Tens of thousands of political dissidents have been arrested, rights groups estimate.

Myanmar’s junta has called for a general election on 28 December, touting it as a pathway to political stability.

But critics say the election will be neither free nor fair, but will instead offer the junta a guise of legitimacy. Tom Andrews, the United Nations’ human rights expert on Myanmar, has called it a “sham election”.

In recent weeks the junta has arrested civilians accused of disrupting the vote, including one man who authorities said had sent out anti-election messages on Facebook.

The junta also said on Monday that it was looking for 10 activists involved in an anti-election protest.

Ethnic armies and other opposition groups have pledged to boycott the polls.

At least one election candidate in in central Myanmar’s Magway Region was detained by an anti-junta group, the Associated Press reported.

[BBC]

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Venezuelan Nobel winner emerges to collect prize in Oslo after months in hiding

Published

8 mins ago

2025/12/11

Priyan

María Corina Machado greets crowds in Oslo [BBC]

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who has been in hiding for months, has told the BBC that she knows “exactly the risks” she’s taking by travelling to Norway to collect her Nobel Peace Prize.

Machado appeared in Oslo in the middle of the night, waving from the balcony of a hotel. It was the first time she has been seen in public since January.

The 58-year-old made the covert journey despite a travel ban and a threat from the Venezuelan government that she would be labelled as a fugitive.

In an emotional moment, Machado waved to cheering supporters who had gathered outside the Norwegian capital’s Grand Hotel, blowing them kisses and singing with them. To their delight, she then came outside and greeted them in person, climbing over the security barricades to get closer.

“Maria!” “Maria!” they shouted, holding their phones aloft to record the historic moment.

The Nobel Institute awarded Machado the prize this year for “her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy” in Venezuela. Earlier on Wednesday, her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her mother’s behalf.

Until Wednesday night, the mother of three had not seen her children in about two years, having sent them away from Venezuela for their own safety.

In an interview with the BBC’s Lucy Hockings after her balcony appearance, Machado said she had missed their graduations, and the weddings of her daughter and one of her sons.

“For over 16 months I haven’t been able to hug or touch anyone,” she said. “Suddenly in the matter of a few hours I’ve been able to see the people I love the most, and touch them and cry and pray together.”

During the BBC interview, Machado had many rosary beads hanging around her neck, which she said supporters had given to her outside the hotel.

There has been much speculation about whether she will be able to safely return to Venezuela.

“Of course I’m going back,” she told the BBC. “I know exactly the risks I’m taking.”

“I’m going to be in the place where I’m most useful for our cause,” she continued. “Until a short time ago, the place I thought I had to be was Venezuela, the place I believe I have to be today, on behalf of our cause, is Oslo.”

Considered one of the country’s most respected voices in Venezuela’s opposition, Machado has long denounced President Nicolás Maduro’s government as “criminal” and called on Venezuelans to unite to depose it.

She was barred from running in last year’s presidential elections, in which he won a third six-year term in office. The vote was widely dismissed on the international stage as neither free nor fair, and many nations view his rule as illegitimate.

The Maduro government has repeatedly threatened her with arrest, accusing her of calling for a foreign invasion and labelling her a terrorist for protesting against the election results.

Last month, Venezuela’s attorney general said Machado would be considered a fugitive if she traveled to Norway to collect her prize, saying she was accused of “acts of conspiracy, incitement of hatred, and terrorism”.

It made her journey to Norway difficult and risky.

The details of the trip were kept so tightly under wraps, that even the Nobel Institute did not know where she was or whether she would be in Oslo in time for the prize ceremony.

The Wall Street Journal reports that to escape Venezuela, Machado wore a disguise, managed to get through 10 military checkpoints without being caught, and sailed away on a wooden skiff from a coastal fishing village.

The plan was two months in the making, it reports, citing a person close to the operation, and she was assisted by a Venezuelan network that helps people flee the country. The US was also involved, the report says, but it is unclear to what extent.

Machado did not deny these details to the BBC, but also would not elaborate on the journey.

“They [the Venezuelan government] say I’m a terrorist and have to be in jail for the rest of my life and they’re looking for me,” she said. “So leaving Venezuela today, in these circumstances, is very, very dangerous. “I just want to say today that I’m here, because many men and women risked their lives in order for me to arrive in Oslo.”

Jorgen Watne Frydnes – chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, who sat with Machado during the interview – had described her journey to Norway as “a situation of extreme danger”.

Sitting next to her during the BBC interview, he said it was an “emotional” moment for him. “In the middle of the night to have you here, it’s incredible,” he said. “It’s hard to describe what it means to the Nobel committee and to all of us.”

Machado accused Maduro’s regime of being funded by criminal activities such as drugs and human trafficking, repeating calls for the international community to help Venezuela “cut those inflows” of criminal resources. “We need to address this regime not as a conventional dictatorship, but as a criminal structure,” she told the BBC.

Maduro has always vehemently denied being connected to cartels.

When asked whether she would support a US military strike on Venezuelan soil, given Washington’s recent attacks on alledged drug vessels, Machado did not answer directly but instead accused Maduro of “giving away our sovereignty to criminal organisations”.

“We didn’t want a war, we didn’t look for it… it was Maduro who declared war on the Venezuelan people,” she added.

Machado says she and her team are ready to form a government in Venezuela, and that she offered to sit down with Maduro’s team to work out a peaceful transition, but “they rejected it”.

[BBC]

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Fifties from Conway, Hay extend New Zealand’s advantage

Published

2 hours ago

2025/12/11

Priyan

Devon Conway raises his bat after getting to his first half-century against West Indies [Cricinfo]

Despite a bright bowling performance from the West Indies seamers, half-centuries from New Zealand’s Devon Conway and Mitchell hay extended the hosts’ advantage after an absorbing second day of the Wellington Test. New Zealand secured a 73-run first-innings lead before a double-wicket burst from their quicks left West Indies still 41 behind with eight wickets in hand.

West Indies produced bursts of quality with the ball to keep pegging New Zealand back, and several home batters contributed to their own dismissals with loose shots. But the visitors also offered enough scoring opportunities for Conway and Hay to make valuable inroads.

Conway’s 60 – his first fifty against West Indies and 13th overall – anchored one end, while debutant Hay struck an enterprising 61 from No. 6. Their efforts allowed New Zealand to declare at 278 for 9, with the injured Blair Tickner not batting.

With the relatively new ball, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Ojay Shields and Anderson Phillip consistently challenged the batters as the ball swung both ways and occasionally jagged off the surface. Conway, however, punished the loose deliveries, hitting eight fours – mostly cuts and flicks – to keep New Zealand moving.

From the non-striker’s end, he saw Tom Latham (11) lose his off stump to a nip-backer from Roach from around the wicket, before watching Kane Williamson (37) have his off stump pegged back by an Anderson Phillip delivery that squared him up. After lunch, Rachin Ravindra – who made 176 in Christchurch – was caught behind off Roach while chasing a wide one. Conway himself was then caught down the leg side off a poor Justin Greaves delivery, thanks to a superb diving take from Tevin Imlach. At that stage, New Zealand seemed to be wobbling at 117 for 4.

A fifth-wicket stand of 73 between Daryl Mitchell (25) and Hay – the latter playing in place of the injured Tom Blundell – brought New Zealand closer to West Indies’ first-innings score of 205. Mitchell was conservative, while Hay leaned on his white-ball instincts to score his runs, producing strong cuts through the off side and, when tested with short balls, pulling confidently over the leg side.

Mitchell, like Conway, was eventually strangled down the leg side off Phillip. Hay later fell to the short-ball tactic: after striking back-to-back fours behind square leg, he miscued a pull off Shields straight to Roach at deep-backward square and walked back bitterly disappointed. At 213 for 6, New Zealand then leaned on Glenn Phillips (18) and the lower order to extend their lead.

West Indies continued to pepper Phillips with short balls in a cat-and-mouse exchange that brought body blows and top-edges over the keeper. Seeking a change, captain Roston Chase turned to spin for the first time in the innings, and needed only four deliveries to tempt Phillips into a slog that failed to clear deep midwicket.

Zak Foulkes then batted 43 balls and frustrated West Indies with deflections off the seamers’ through the gully region on his way to an unbeaten 23. Jacob Duffy added further runs with boundaries to long-off and long-on, and No. 10 Michael Rae joined a rare group of batters to begin their Test careers with five runs off an overthrow boundary. Rae reached 13 before the expensive Seales finally claimed his first wicket of the match, knocking back the debutant’s leg stump.

New Zealand’s batting may have been patchy, but their bowlers restored control with a sharp ten-over burst late in the day. John Campbell fell in the seventh over, beaten by a Rae delivery that zipped in to hit off stump. Next over, nightwatcher Phillip initially survived a DRS review for caught behind off Duffy, but a second look confirmed he was lbw instead. Brandon King (15*) and Kavem Hodge (3*) saw out the final few minutes, but West Indies still face a steep challenge when play resumes on Friday.

Brief scores:
West Indies 205 and 32 for 2 (Brandon King 15*; Michael Rae 1-4, Jacob Duffy 1-8) trail New Zealand 278 for 9 dec (Mitchell Hay 61, Devon Conway 60; Andeson Phillip 3-70) by 41 runs

[Cricinfo]