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Royals survive vintage Dhoni to go top of the table
The Rajasthan Royals edged home by three runs against the Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday, April 12, thanks to Sandeep Sharma holding his nerve against a rampaging MS Dhoni. This win put the Royals at the top of the points table, due to a higher net run-rate than the Lucknow Super Giants, who are now second.
After the early wicket of Jaiswal, Padikkal, returning to the XI, played some fluent strokes to give the Royals some momentum, before Jos Buttler joined in to take on the spinners, targeting Theekshana in particular, hammering him for 27 in two powerplay overs. After the powerplay, Buttler absolutely decimated his England teammate Moeen Ali, hitting him for three sixes in an over, and the Royals were well and truly on their way to a sizeable total. Moeen Ali wasn’t having the best day, going on to drop a catch, and missing a run-out too.
The inevitable spin strangle had to happen. If not Moeen, it was Jadeja who brought it all to a screeching halt. The experienced spinner picked up Devdutt Padikkal and Sanju Samson in the same over, bringing in his India spin-twin, Ravichandran Ashwin, who was later dropped by Moeen Ali. The spin strangle was certainly working against Ashwin, who struggled to get going, even though he compensated for it by smashing Akash Singh for two sixes, and then holed out to mid-off later in the same over. However, Buttler had survived all of this, and the threat of him going bonkers at the death loomed.
Moeen Ali, smashed into oblivion by Buttler earlier in the day, cut short Buttler’s innings, knocking him over before he could cut loose at the death, and redeeming himself to some extent. Wickets kept falling at the other end, decelerating the scoring rate, but Shimron Hetmyer dealt a few lusty blows to lift the Royals to 175-8.
The early wicket of the in-form Gaikwad had to be a reason to panic, but that’s simply not how CSK does things. Rahane and Conway laid the platform, albeit falling behind on the required rate, motoring along at 7.5 rpo in the powerplay. The pair found it difficult to pile on the pressure, struggling to regularly find the boundary, the required rate eclipsing the current rate at every stage.
It was always going to be CSK’s spinners vs. RR’s spinners. And the trigger was the dismissal of Ajinkya Rahane, who was trapped in front by Ashwin, trying to sweep. Conway was joined by Dube at the crease, and they both looked less than fluent at the crease, as the required rate touched the 10rpo mark in the 12th over. The next three overs, however, saw a dramatic middle-order collapse, thanks to some skilful spin bowling by the Royals, getting rid of Rahane, Dube, Moeen, Rayudu, and Conway, in a collapse that read 5-35. This brought MS Dhoni to the crease, joining Ravindra Jadeja.
CSK needed 63 off 30. The spinners were all over them. CSK’s number 8 had come in to bat in his 200th game as the franchise’s skipper. The experienced duo played out the spinners and got it down to 40 off the final 2 overs.
Jadeja targeted Jason Holder and hammered him for two sixes and a four in a 19-run over, setting it up for a classic MS Dhoni finish in the final over. Sandeep Sharma was pushed into the cage with Dhoni in the final over, with 21 to win, and the pressure certainly got to the seamer, as he dished out two wides. After nailing a yorker, with 19 required off 5, MS Dhoni picked two low full-tosses (attempted yorkers) and despatched them for sixes to bring it down to 7 off 3. It was then that Sharma gathered himself and bowled three inch-perfect yorkers while also changing around his angle and closed out the game, surviving a last-over Dhoni scare. In the process, he got his side to the top of the table, but denied the home crowd a fairy-tale finish on the occasion of MS Dhoni’s 200th game as CSK captain.
The Chennai Super Kings have a 4-day break, as they head to Bangalore to face the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday (April 17), hoping to get into the top four with another W in their account. The Rajasthan Royals will travel to Ahmedabad to face the defending Champions Gujarat Titans on Sunday (April 16), in a bid to continue their winning streak.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 175-8 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 52, Devdutt Padikkal 38, Ravindra Jadeja 2-21) beat Chennai Super Kings 172-6 in 20 overs (Devon Conway 50, MS Dhoni 32*, Ravichandran Ashwin 2-25, Yuzvendra Chahal 2-27) by 3 runs
European leaders, including in France and Germany, have announced they are working on a plan in the event the United States follows through on its threat to take over Greenland as tensions soar.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France Inter radio on Wednesday that while nations want to act if the US moves to seize Greenland from an ally, Denmark, they want to do so “together with our European partners”.
“I myself was on the phone with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday. He discarded the idea that what just happened in Venezuela could happen in Greenland,” Barrot said.
On Saturday, the United States – using fighter jets, attack helicopters, and special forces – abducted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, bringing him to New York City to be tried for alleged drug trafficking.
US President Donald Trump’s decision to greenlight the abduction of Maduro led to widespread condemnation and fear that Greenland, which the president has previously said should be part of Washington’s security apparatus, could be forcibly taken.
But since then, European allies have rallied behind Greenland’s sovereignty, saying the country belongs to its people.
Johannes Koskinen, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Finland’s parliament, called for the issue to be raised within NATO.
“[Allies should] address whether something needs to be done and whether the United States should be brought into line in the sense that it cannot disregard jointly agreed plans in order to pursue its own power ambitions,” he said.
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, requested an urgent meeting with Rubio to discuss the situation.
“We would like to add some nuance to the conversation,” Rasmussen wrote in a social media post. “The shouting match must be replaced by a more sensible dialogue. Now.”
Denmark has warned that any move to take Greenland by force would mean “everything would stop”, including NATO and 80 years of close security links.
Greenland’s government will join a meeting between Rubio and Danish officials next week following renewed US claims on the Arctic island, its foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The European Union will support Greenland and Denmark when needed and will not accept violations of international law no matter where they occur, European Council President Antonio Costa said.
“On Greenland, allow me to be clear: Greenland belongs to its people. Nothing can be decided about Denmark and about Greenland without Denmark or without Greenland,” Costa said in a speech.
“The European Union cannot accept violations of international law – whether in Cyprus, Latin America, Greenland, Ukraine, or Gaza. Europe will remain a firm and unwavering champion of international law and multilateralism.”
Greenland – the world’s largest island, with a population of 57,000 people – is located between Europe and North America. Since 2019, during Trump’s first term, the president has raised the idea of controlling Greenland, saying it would benifit US security.
So far, Trump has not ruled out using force to take the island.
Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that Trump’s intention is to buy Greenland. “That’s always been the president’s intent from the very beginning.”
House US House Speaker Mike Johnson said he hasn’t heard talk of sending the military into Greenland and the US is “looking at diplomatic channels”.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump and his national security team have “actively discussed” the option of buying Greenland.
“He views it in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region. And so that’s why his team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like,” Leavitt told reporters.
Neither Leavitt nor Rubio ruled out the use of force. But Leavitt said, “The president’s first option, always, has been diplomacy.”
[Aljazeera]
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Landslide early warnings issued to the Districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya
The Landslide Early Warning Center of the National Building Research Organisation [NBRO] has issued landslide early warnings to the districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya for the next 24 hours commencing at 1200hrs today [08]
Accordingly
LEVEL II AMBER landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Ududumbara in the Kandy District, Wilgamuwa in the Matale District, and Nildandahinna and Walapane in the Nuwara Eliya District.
LEVEL I YELLOW landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Meegahakiwula, Welimada, Kandaketiya, Lunugala, Badulla, Passara, Uva Paranagama and Hali_Ela in the Badulla District, Ambanganga Korale in the Matale District, and Mathurata and Hanguranketha in the Nuwara Eliya District.
Greenland allies vow action if Trump moves to seize world’s largest island
Landslide early warnings issued to the Districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya
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