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IPL 2025: Kolkata Knight Riders survive last-ball thriller to stay alive in top four race
One run was all that separated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) in a rollercoaster of a game that could have gone either way until the last ball.Riyan Parag hit six sixes in six balls, five of which came in a 32-run over against Mooen Ali, and Shubham Dubey tonked Vaibhav Arora for two fours and a six with 22 needed in the final over.
With three needed off the final ball, Dubey drilled the yorker from Arora to long-off and took off to try and force a Super Over. Jofra Archer, the non-striker at the other end, got a head start but was found well short thanks to a sharp throw from Rinku Singh.
The win keeps KKR’s playoffs hope alive in IPL 2025, It was built on Andre Rusell’s 25-ball 57 that helped them score 85 in their last five overs after a slowdown against spin. Mooen and Varun Chakravarthy had RR on the ropes in the chase but Parag almost turned things around with a take down of his own.
Disappointment was written all over Parag’s face, however, when Varun flattened Wanindu Hasaranga’s off stump. RR were nearly out needing 136 off 73 balls at the time and the required rate touched 13 with only three fours coming in the next four overs. But the last two of those helped Parag get into a rhythm.
Then came the 32-run over against Moeen. Four of those sixes came over square leg or midwicket. When Moeen went wide, the ball sailed over long-off. Parag’s next ball was from Varun and reverse-swept for six more.
Shimron Hetmyer played within himself and was going at just over a run a ball for the majority of his innings but his presence was reassuring as proved by the two boundary-less overs after his dismissal.
Harshit Rana returned with figures of 0 for 28 off two overs and conceded a boundary off the first ball. He then bowled three full balls and peppered in two short ones to dry up the runs. The second bouncer went off Hetmyer’s bat into the hands of the keeper.
KKR brought Narine back with RR 43 needing off 24. He went for just five and nearly had Parag caught at deep midwicket.
Rana built on the pressure despite bowling a no-ball with yorkers and slower ones. Parag was nearly run out on the third legal ball. He holed out to long-on slapping a wide cutter very next ball and RR slipped to 173 for 7.
Russell was introduced in the penultimate over and, like he did in the last game, tried to land six yorkers. He didn’t nail all but went for just 11.
Arora’s wide-yorker plan started the final over with three runs. Shubham went 6-4-6 when Arora went short and wide before faltering with back-to-back yorkers. Arora, nonetheless, stuck with it last ball and it paid off.
The day started with Sunil Narine and Rahmanullah Gurbaz stepping down the leg side quite often. Narine fell cheaply and Gurbaz mistimed a few but picked up four boundaries and a six, with the majority on the leg side. Yudhvir Singh, who conceded boundaries against all top-order batters, was the costliest bowler in the 56-run powerplay.
Rahane started well, as he drove and flicked Madhwal for four and six. But he slowed down considerably – from 18 off 8 to 30 off 24 – mainly due to RR’s spin choke.
Theekshana dismissed Gurbaz slog sweeping but it was Hasaranga who first denied batters pace and forced them to apply power. Parag then brought himself on and bowled three overs straight. He got Rahane with a 76kph side-arm ball.
Meanwhile, Angkrish Raghuvanshi kept KKR going with conventional shots. He slashed, pulled and drove to pick up boundaries. He got a reprieve off Theekshana before Russell took him down, but fell next over to Archer for a 31-ball 44.
KKR had needed a late push in their own innings and got it from Russell, who said he felt like a 27-year-old, and was hitting like one after coming in at 111 for 3 in the 13th over. He started slow – 2 off 9 balls – but blasted off once spin made way for pace. He hit all of his six fours and four sixes in the last five overs, in which KKR scored 70.
Madhwal was the first bowler to be taken down, first on the leg side, with a six and a four and then a slap through cover point in a 15-run over. Archer then missed two yorkers, overpitching and bowling in the slot next, and was hit downtown for a six and a four.
Theekshana’s spin was brought back in the 18th. He created a chance that Parag dropped at long-off and then had a mistimed slice land safely at mid-off. The strike then rotated from Raghuvanshi to Russell and it led to a hat-trick of sixes. Theekshana went wide all three balls, short on the first two and full on the third, but was hit in the arc between cow corner and long-off.
Archer created two more chances next over. Raghuvanshi was was caught at deep square leg but Russell got a reprieve from Parag at long-off again. That was just before Russell capitalised on a missed yorker from Archer to bring up a 22-ball fifty and belt a slower bouncer down the ground.
The final over started with three wides and an edge that landed safely at deep extra cover. The wide yorker was then abandoned for bouncers, till Rinku pulled one in front of midwicket. Two missed yorkers then went for sixes, as both the 18th and 20th overs went for 20-plus runs.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 206 for 4 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 35, Sunil Narine 11, Ajinkya Rahane 30, Andre Russell 57*, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 44, Rinku Singh 19*; Jofra Archer 1-30, Yudgvir Singh 1-26, Maheesh Theekshana 1-41, Riyan Parag 1-21) beat Rajasthan Royals 205 for 8 in 20 overs (Riyan Parag 95, Yashasvi Jaiswal 34, Shimron Hetmyer 29, Shubhman Dubey 25*, Jofra Archer 12*; Vaibhav Arora 1-50, Vaun Chakravarthy 2-32, Harshit Rana 2-41, Moeen Ali 2-43) by one run
[Cricinfo]
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Heavy showers about (100-150) mm are likely at some places in the Central, Sabaragamuwa, Uva and Southern provinces
WEATHER FORECAST FOR 13 October 2026
Issued at 2.00 p.m. on 12 October 2026 by the Department of Meteorology
A low-pressure area may form over the southeastern Bay of Bengal by 13 October.
Under the influence of this system, an increase in rainfall is expected over the island and the deep and shallow sea areas around the island during the next few days from tomorrow (13).
The general public, as well as the naval and fishing communities, are requested to be attentive to the future forecasts and bulletins issued by the Department of Meteorology in this regard.
Heavy showers about (100-150) mm are likely at some places in the Central, Sabaragamuwa, Uva and Southern provinces.
Fairly heavy showers above 75 mm are likely at some places in the other areas of the island. Showers or thundershowers will occur in most parts of the island.
The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damage caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
Misty conditions can be expected at some places in the Sabaragamuwa, Central and Uva provinces during the early hours of the morning.
Maaz Sadaqat crashed 96 off 51,Sahibzada Farhan clobbered 73 off 44, and Pakistan scorched their way through the last 12 overs of their innings to mount a fearsome total of 215 for 3. Pakistan reaped 156 runs just in the last 12 overs of their innings, as a 73-run stand between Sadaqat and Farhan was followed by a manic 72-run partnership between Sadaqat and Hasan Nawaz.
Sri Lanka’s batting was woeful in response. They slumped to 64 for 5 by the 11th over, with none of their top seven managing to get to 30. They limped to 133 for 7, having had their hopes of leveling the series wrecked by quicks Mohammad Imran and Salman Mirza, who took five wickets between them.
Sadaqat propels Pakistan into the stratosphere
The openers had laid a decent platform with Pakistan having got to 55 for 1 by the end of the seventh over. But it was Sadaqat who injected the energy that truly set Pakistan on course to their mammoth total. Having gone at less than a run a ball in his first eight balls, Sadaqat unleashed a spectacular lofted square drive off Eshan Malinga to collect his first six, before pumping the same bowler down the ground later in the 10th over.
Sadaqat would go on to clobber six further sixes and five further fours. The big hits tended to come down the ground, while his fours were more square of the wicket. Of the 125 runs Pakistan plundered in the second half of their innings, 79 off 40 came from Sadaqat, who pummeled both pace and spin with equal relish. Off the sixteenth over, bowled by Maheesh Theekshana, Sadaqat thumped three sixes in the arc between long on and midwicket.
Sadaqat, whose previous top score in three T20Is had been 50, could have gone to triple figures off the last ball of the innings, but holed out to deep cover instead, unable to quite find the power to lift a Malinga slower ball over the ropes. He had utterly dominated the middle and late overs, however.
Farhan sets the tone
On another flat Rawalpindi deck, Farhan made the first big charge, although he waited until spin came on to really get into high gear. Theekshana was one of his main victims as well. Farhan’s first six came from a slog sweep off Theekshana in the seventh over, before he launched the same bowler over wide long on and cow corner off successive balls in the ninth over. Getting to his 12th T20I fifty off the 31st ball he faced, Farhan began to aim big blows off the seamers as well. He was caught at deep third off the bowling of Dasun Shanaka, in the 15th over.
Sri Lanka stumble in the powerplay
An excellent Salman Mirza bouncer took the glove of Lahiru Udara in the first over, ending the innings of one of Sri Lanka’s few form batters for a mere five runs. And although Sineth Jayawardena – playing his first international in a full-strength Sri Lanka side – hit three consecutive boundaries in the third over, Sri Lanka were unable to build up any momentum in the powerplay. By the end of the sixth over, they had laboured to 35 for 2.
Imran’s spell lights up the middle overs
A full house in Rawalpindi was treated to some excellent fast bowling by Imran, who finished with the game’s best figures of 3 for 11 from his four overs. Having got Jayawardena to top-edge a desperate pull shot at the end of his second over, Imran had Kusal Mendis caught behind off a slower delivery, before two balls later (a wide in between), he took Sahan Arachchige’s edge with a quick delivery angled across the left-hander. Wicketkeeper Khawaja Nafay made two diving grabs to convert these chances in the eighth over.
All through his unbroken spell, Sri Lanka’s batter struggled to so much as hit Imran off the square, despite the good batting conditions on offer. Imran mixed up his pace, frequently going to slower balls, but his line and length control were also excellent through the spell. When he finished his unbroken spell at the end of the 10th over, Sri Lanka’s required rate had climbed past 15.
Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Theekshana struck some late boundaries, but by the time they came to the crease, Sri Lanka did not have a realistic shot at levelling this series. They lost by 82 runs in the end.
Scores:
Pakistan 215 for 3 in 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 73, Fakhar Zaman 22, Maaz Sadaqat 96, Hasan Nawaz 19*; Maheesh Theekshana 1-55, Eshan Malinga 1-41,Dasun Shanaka 1-30) beat Sri Lanka 133 for 7 (Sineth Jayawardena 22, Kamnbdu Mendis 23, Chamindu Wickremasinghe 29, Maheesh Theekshana 32*; Salman Mirza 2=28, Mohammad Imran 3-11, Saim Ayub 1-19, Shadab Khan 1-19) by 82 runs
[Cricinfo]
At least 139 people, including 15 children, have died and 84 are missing after a boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti, according to the United Nations migration agency.
In a statement on Sunday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) quoted survivors as saying that the incident happened near Guhere off Djibouti’s eastern coast in the Gulf of Aden near the Bab al-Mandeb strait from Thursday night to before dawn on Friday.
The boat was heading from Djibouti to Yemen with more than 300 people on board. More than 80 people – all Ethiopians – survived the shipwreck while Djiboutian search and rescue operations continued.
“Our teams are on the ground alongside local authorities to provide emergency assistance,” IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti Alexandre Coissac said, lamenting the “devastating loss of life”.
That number only includes those buried by authorities in Djibouti. Others have been buried by the migrants themselves but they won’t be added to the official count until authorities can verify the bodies, Alexandre Coissac, IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti, told the Associated Press.
“This tragedy is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by migrants along this migration corridor as they seek economic opportunities,” Coissac added.
[Aljazeera]
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Showers above 75 mm are likely at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Southern, Uva and North-Western provinces and in Anuradhapura and Mannar districts.
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