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IPL 2025: Mukesh four-for sets up comfortable win as Delhi Capitals close the gap up top
KL Rahul was unavailable when Delhi Capitals (DC) met Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) earlier in IPL 2025. But coming up against LSG for the first time since they parted ways, Rahul anchored DC’s chase with a half-century and guided them home along with his captain Axar Patel.
DC closed the gap with table-toppers Gujarat Titans, with only net run rate separating the two teams. DC’s win was set up by Mukesh, who claimed career-best IPL figures of 4 for 33 to restrict LSG to 159 for 6 after they were 87 for 0 in the tenth over.
LSG captain Rishabh Pant bizarrely didn’t walk out to bat until his team was five down, with just two balls left in their innings. After stepping out to his first ball and missing, he didn’t connect with a reverse-ramp next ball, and ended up deflecting the ball back on to the stumps off his pads for a duck.
His opposite number, however, had a more productive outing. After having taken the new ball and bowled four tight overs on the trot, Axar cracked an unbeaten 34 off 20 balls from No. 4.
After being asked to bat, LSG had another strong start, passing fifty for the sixth time in nine innings in the powerplay this season. Aiden Markram scored 30 of the 51 runs LSG had scored in the powerplay, including two sixes. Mitchell Marsh was happy to ride in Markram’s slipstream.
Markram also batted with high intent against spin, swatting Axar down the ground for four, and pulling Vipraj Nigam over midwicket for six. Markram went on to bring up his fifty off 30 balls, but when he tried to clear the bigger boundary on the off side, he holed out to sweeper cover for 52 off 33 balls.
It was Dushmantha Chameera who had provided DC with the breakthrough in his first game this season. Axar, meanwhile, had already bowled out by the seventh over, conceding 29 runs in four overs. It allowed him to backload Kuldeep Yadav’s overs. Kuldeep bowled the 11th, 13th, 15th and 17th overs, giving away 33 runs in his four overs.
After being on 87 for 0 in the tenth over, LSG could manage only 72 off the last ten. Mukesh led DC’s remarkable fightback with his hard lengths and reverse-swinging yorkers at the death.
In the 14th over, he coaxed a return catch from Abdul Samad, who was promoted to No. 4, and yorked Marsh while conceding just three runs. Then, in the last over of the innings, Ayush Badoni hit him for three fours in a row, but Mukesh bounced back to bowl both him and Pant, keeping LSG to their lowest total this season.
Mitchell Starc also played his part, having bested Nicholas Pooran with a slower bouncer for 9 off five balls. It was the fifth time in seven innings that Starc had dismissed Pooran in T20 cricket.
As for Pant, he batted at No. 7 for the first time in the IPL since 2016, and lasted all of two balls for zero runs. Impact Player Badoni’s 36 off 21 balls gave LSG’s total a modicum of respectability, but it meant that they could not bring in Mayank Yadav during their defence.
IPL owners often summon captains to explain the decisions they make, but it usually happens behind closed doors. Live visuals of the LSG owner giving Rahul a dressing down after Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) mowed down 166 in under ten overs went viral last season. LSG did not retain Rahul after that, and when he ran into them at Ekana, he extended his fine form for DC with his third half-century this season.
Rahul also ticked off another landmark: he became the fastest to 5000 IPL runs, getting there in his 130th innings. He then sealed the chase with a six in the 18th over.
Opener Abishek Porel who scored 51 off 36 balls for his first fifty of the season, and Axar, also contributed handsomely with the bat for DC.
After DC had lost Karun Nair early, Rahul steadied the innings along with Porel. He was on 19 off 20 balls at one point, but stepped up a gear when he slog-swept Ravi Bishnoi for six. Rahul went onto bring up his fifty off 40 balls. Axar started in fourth gear, and stayed there, as DC wrapped up the win with eight wickets and 13 balls to spare.
Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 161 for 2 in 17.5 overs (KL Rahul 57*, Abishek Porel 51, Karun Nair 15, Axar Patel 34*; Aiden Markram 2-30) beat Lucknow Super Giants 159 for 6 in 20 overs( Aiden Markram 52, Mitchell Marsh 45, David Miller 14, Ayush Badoni 36; Mitchell Starc 1-25, Mukesh Kumar 4-33, Dushmantha Chameera 1-25) by eight wickets
[Cricinfo]
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Ronaldo apologizes for Portugal walkout; says Jesus broke promise
Cristiano Ronaldo has accused Portugal coach Jorge Jesus of twice breaking his word, saying a failed agreement to publicly explain his omission against Norway drove him out of the camp, but insisting he remained available after any punishment.
In a lengthy statement, the 41-year-old gave his account of the dispute that prompted his departure from Copenhagen before Portugal’s Nations League match versus Denmark last week.
Ronaldo said Jesus had agreed a plan under which the forward would miss the Norway and Denmark matches to manage his fitness. However, on the day of the Norway game, the coach told him he would play for 30 minutes.
“Everyone knows the rest. I warmed up from halftime onwards, watched the minutes tick by and wasn’t called on,” Ronaldo said.
“The manager had broken his word to me.”
Portugal’s captain and all-time leading scorer said a subsequent meeting with Jesus, attended by his club side Al Nassr’s sporting director Simao Coutinho, produced an agreement for the coach to clarify events at his next news conference.
According to Ronaldo, an eight-point document was prepared saying he had never demanded playing time, had respected Jesus’s decisions and that the coach asking him to warm up without bringing him on had been a mistake.
Ronaldo said the agreed notes did not require Jesus to apologise to him but said the coach’s public remarks bore no resemblance to their private discussion.
“It was the second time he had broken his word to me,” Ronaldo said. “I decided to leave the training camp without waiting for any further broken promises.”
The statement provided Ronaldo’s account, but on Sunday, after Portugal’s win over Norway, Jesus denied he had made any agreement with the player, nevertheless leaving the door open for his return.
The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Ronaldo’s statement.
Ronaldo apologised for failing to greet supporters after the Norway match and for leaving his teammates, accepting that his captaincy made his conduct more serious.
“The consequences of my actions must be assessed and punished by the Portuguese Football Federation,” he said.
Despite the rupture, Ronaldo said he was not limiting his international ambitions to a farewell appearance.
“If I’m physically fit, playing for my club – scoring goals, I hope – after serving whatever suspension is imposed on me, I’ll be available, as I’ve always been until now, to compete and win for our national team,” he added.
(Aljazeera)
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M. M. D. J. Senarathne, appointed Director General of the Department of National Botanical Gardens
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Harmanpreet Kaur steps down as India captain
Harmanpreet Kaur, who led India to their first women’s global title at last year’s ODI World Cup, has stepped down as captain from all three international formats. She announced her decision via an Instagram post on Tuesday morning. Having given up the captaincy and left the team in a “good place”, she has said she’s now “ready to play for the love of the game again”.
Harmanpreet, 37, led India in five Tests, 51 ODIs and 155 T20Is. Her last act as captain was leading India to their second successive Asian Games gold medal, in Nisshin last month.
The decision came a day after Harmanpreet, India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and head coach Amol Muzumdar met BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia in Guwahati to discuss the roadmap of the women’s team going forward.
“This is not an easy decision,” Harmanpreet wrote. “It carries years of memories, emotions, sacrifices, and moments that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
“I have given everything I had to this team and to Indian women’s cricket – my blood, my sweat, my time, and many times, a part of my own game and personal ambitions. There were moments when I had to put my individual performance, my own growth, and what I wanted for myself aside, because I believed the team had to come first.
“As a captain, I have had to make difficult decisions. Decisions that were not always understood, not always easy, and sometimes came at a personal cost. But every decision I made was with one intention – to make this TEAM better and to give other players the opportunity to grow, believe in themselves and become the best versions of themselves.”
Murmurs about a possible change in captaincy had been on for a while, especially after India’s second successive group-stage exit from the T20 World Cup in June this year. The selection committee, chaired by Amita Sharma, is understood to have been divided, but Harmanpreet had indicated a desire to lead India at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I leave the captaincy today with a heart full of emotions , but also with PEACE,” Harmanpreet said. “Because I genuinely believe My team is in a good place. A team with talent, character, belief and a future that I am incredibly excited to watch and be a part of.
“I feel I have done my duty. I gave this team everything I had. I carried the responsibility with pride, and I will always be grateful for the privilege of leading Indian women’s cricket.
“Now, it is time for me to turn the page. Captaincy may end today, but my love for Indian cricket never will. Thank you to every teammate, coach, support staff, management , BCCI , family members every single fan who stood by me through the highs and lows.”
The noise for Smriti Mandhana to take over has been getting louder in recent months. In the past six months, Mandhana has been vocal about her readiness for the top job, and has given evidence of her credentials by leading Royal Challengers Bengaluru to twin WPL titles (in 2024 and 2026).
Harmanpreet first captained the T20I team in 2012, but it wasn’t until after India’s group-stage exit from their home T20 World Cup in 2016 that she was considered a serious candidate for the role.
In 2018, she led the team to the T20 World Cup semi-finals in the Caribbean after having taken over the role in a full-time capacity from Mithali Raj, and followed it up with a runners-up finish at the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2020.
Harmanpreet’s stepping down as India captain will not, however, change her stance as far as playing the shortest format goes. She is expected to continue leading Mumbai Indians in the upcoming WPL edition as the team chases their third title.
[Cricinfo]
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