Parvez Hossain Emon smashed a 53-ball hundred to lead Bangladesh to 191 for 7 and set up a 27-run win for a 1-0 lead in the two-T20I series against UAE in Sharjah on Saturday. Big hits from Muhammad Waseem, Rahul Chopra and Asif Khan meant that UAE make a good fist of the chase, but clever death bowling from Mustafizur Rahman, who is headed for IPL 2025, gave Bangladesh victory.

Parvez’s century was only the second by a Bangladeshi in T20Is after Tamim Iqbal had scored an unbeaten 103 against Oman in the 2016 T20 World Cup. Parvez also set the Bangladesh record for most sixes in a T20I innings, hitting nine, beating Rishabh Hossain’s seven against Sri Lanka last year.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ title defence ended with a washout in Bengaluru knocking them out of IPL 2025. The tournament’s return after a break because of tensions between India and Pakistan was a wet one as heavy rains lashed the city. The downpour was so consistent the players couldn’t even come out to stretch.

The one point from this match took KKR to 12, which means the maximum they can get to is 14.Three teams are already past 14, and there is a match remaining between the ones at 14and 13.

The one point also confirmed progress for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, but they were looking to maximise points in order to seal a top-two spot. They moved to 17 from 12 matches. Their closest rivals were Gujarat Titans with 16 from 11 matches and Punjab Kings with 15 from 11.

A top-two finish ensures two shots at making the final of the IPL. Unlike the usual semi-final formation, sides finishing in the top two don’t get knocked out with their first defeat in the playoffs. They get a chance to play a virtual semi-final against the winner of a playoff match between the third- and fourth-placed teams.

Only once has a side finishing outside the top two gone on to win the IPL: Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016.

It was a frustrating night out for Virat Kohli fans, who came out in whites to pay tribute to Kohli, who announced his Test retirement during this break. They will be hoping for better luck with the weather on Friday as the rainy season in Bengaluru has kicked in, and RCB still have one home match to go. The said match is against Sunrisers, a team that has already been knocked out. They will want to have a shot at two points against them.

[Cricinfo]

United States President Donald Trump says that Iran has his administration’s proposal regarding its rapidly advancing nuclear programme as negotiations between the two countries continue.

Trump made the remarks on Friday on board Air Force One as he ended his trip to the United Arab Emirates. It is the first time he has acknowledged sending a proposal to Tehran after multiple rounds of negotiations between US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

“We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” Trump told a journalist when asked about the proposal. “We’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran. I think we’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this,” he said. “But most importantly, they know they have to move quickly, or something bad is going to happen.”

On Thursday, Araghchi spoke to journalists at the Tehran International Book Fair and said that Iran had not received any proposal from the US yet.

Araghchi also criticised what he called conflicting and inconsistent statements from the Trump administration, describing them as either a sign of disarray in Washington or a calculated negotiation strategy.

Witkoff at one point suggested that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67 percent, then later said that all Iranian enrichment must stop.

“We are hearing many contradictory statements from the United States – from Washington, from the president, and from the new administration,” Araghchi said.

“Sometimes we hear two or three different positions in a single day.”

Araghchi later stressed that Iran will not give up uranium enrichment. “Mark my words: there is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to enrichment for peaceful purposes,” he wrote in a social media post.

Iranian diplomat Kazem Gharibabadi also reiterated on Friday that the right to enrich uranium is Tehran’s “absolute red line”.

Iranian and American officials have met in Oman and Rome in recent weeks for the negotiations mediated by Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, a trusted interlocutor between the two nations.

The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the US has imposed on the Islamic republic.

Trump has previously threatened to launch attacks targeting Iran’s nuclear programme if a deal isn’t reached.

Some Iranian officials have warned that Tehran could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Separately on Friday, Iranian officials also met officials from Britain, France and Germany in Istanbul to discuss their nuclear negotiations with Washington.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who attended the talks in the Turkish city, said in a post on X: “We exchanged views and discussed the latest status of the indirect nuclear negotiations and the lifting of sanctions.”

Gharibabadi added that if necessary, Tehran would meet with the so-called E3 – the European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal, along with China, Russia and the United States – once again to continue discussions, after several meetings since last year.

Trump had effectively torpedoed the deal during his first term by unilaterally abandoning it in 2018 and reimposing sanctions on Iran’s banking sector and oil exports.

A year later, Iran responded by rolling back its own commitments under the deal, which provided relief from sanctions in return for UN-monitored restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities.

[Aljazeera]