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Simarjeet and Gaikwad keep Chennai Super King’s campaign alive

Published

2 years ago

2024/05/12

Priyan

Sanju Samson got Ravindra Jadeja out obstructing the field (BCCI)

Chennai Super Kings signed off their home league campaign with a win, giving themselves a decent chance of coming back to Chennai for the last two playoff games. Despite losing their 11th toss out of 13 and being asked to field in the afternoon heat 40 hours after finishing their last match in Ahmedabad, the CSK bowlers used a slow pitch expertly to keep Rajasthan Royals down to 141, which they chased down with relative ease.

The slow pitch was right up the home bowlers’ alley, and they kept Royals quiet in a wicketless powerplay after which Simarjeet Singh kept getting wickets every time Royals tried to push back. Royals never really succeeded in mounting an attack, which CSK’s New Zealand batters, Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell, successfully did to put their chase on course with a Shivam Dube putting them on top.

The win took CSK up to 14 points from 13 matches, level with Sunrisers Hyderabad who have a game in hand, and two points clear of the nearest challengers outside the top four. Royals suffered their third straight defeat, which will be a cause for concern for them going into the playoffs, especially with Jos Buttler not expected to be available for the final week.

These are the two slowest teams in the first two overs of the IPL. They like to suss the pitch out before they start attacking. Royals stayed true to form, scoring just seven off the first two, but they couldn’t kick on even after that with Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana and Shardul Thakur giving them nothing to drive. Their 42 for 0 was the slowest wicketless powerplay of IPL 2024, one run behind their 43 for 0 against Punjab Kings, but that came in a small chase.

With Royals’ only left-hand top-order batter gone, Jadeja rattled through his four overs for just 24 runs to go with Theekshana’s four overs for 28. Sanju Samson just kept looking for singles while Riyan Parag tried the odd boundary. It seemed as if Royals had decided they needed to get somewhere around 160 and not aim too high.Even to get to 160, they would need two a ball for the last six overs after getting to 89 for 2 in 14 overs, which is when the spinners bowled out. Royals were banking on cashing in on pace, but just when they tried to go hard they handed Simarjeet another wicket: Samson caught at mid-off. Again Royals were pushed back.

Deshpande and Thakur stuck to their plans in the death overs, and Royals never got the big overs. Only Parag’s 47 off 35 took them to 141, which was 23 less than the lowest total successfully defended in this IPL. Royals attacked just 30 balls in their innings, the sixth-lowest figure this season in non-all-out innings when setting a target.

CSK have been the only team slower than Royals in the early goings but they were mindful of not letting the bowlers settle into their defence. Ravindra flicked Sandeep Sharma for a six over midwicket in the second over, and went after compatriot Trent Boult in the third. Even though R Ashwin got Ravindra out in the fourth, Mitchell kept up the intent. Their 56 for 1 was their fourth-highest powerplay of this IPL.In the middle overs, Royals clawed their way back. Yuzvendra Chahal got Mitchell, the spinners kept Moeen Ali and Ruturaj Gaikwad quiet, Moeen got out for 10 off 13, and 39 balls went without a boundary. Still it was 50 needed off seven overs. This was when Ashwin came on to bowl his last over with Dube on strike. Dube took the veteran spinner on for 6, 4, 4, with a leg-side wide in between, and while Ashwin came back with Dube’s wicket, CSK needed 35 off the last six.

Captain Gaikwad stayed true to his anchor role for this chase, and saw his team home despite Jadeja getting himself out obstructing the field.

Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 141/5 in 20 overs (Riyan Parag 47*, Dhruv Jurel 28, Yashasvi Jaiswal 24, Jos Butler 21; Simarjeet Singh 3-26, Tushar Deshpande 2-30) lost to Chennai Super Kings 145/5 in 18.2 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 42*, Rachin Ravindra 27, Daryl Mitchell 22 ; Ravichandran Ashwin 2-35, Yuzvendra Chahal 1-22, Nandre Burger 1-21) by 5 wickets.

(Cricinfo)

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Trump says US will ‘obliterate’ Iran’s power plants if Strait of Hormuz not open before 48-hour deadline

Published

8 hours ago

2026/03/22

Priyan

President Donald Trump says the US will “obliterate” Iranian power plants if the Strait of Hormuz is not open within 48 hours – the waterway is vital for global oil shipping.

Iran warns it will retaliate against all US-linked energy infrastructure in the Middle East if its power plants are attacked.

Trump also says he has achieved his war aims “weeks ahead of schedule”, adding: “Iran wants to make a deal. I don’t”

More than 100 people have been injured after strikes on southern Israel. The target appears to have been a nuclear facility 13km away from the city of Dimona

Meanwhile, Israel says it launched a wave of strikes on the Iranian capital. It follows an attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility, Tehran says

An attempted Iranian strike on the joint UK-US base on Diego Gracia happened late on Thursday night into Friday morning, the BBC understands. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper says the UK won’t be drawn into wider conflict

[BBC]

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Trump at a crossroad in US-Israel war with Iran

Published

13 hours ago

2026/03/22

Priyan

Three weeks after the joint US-Israeli war against Iran began, the conflict has reached a fuzzy state of mixed messages and uncertainty, with Donald Trump’s public comments often seemingly contradicted by realities on the ground.

The war is “very complete, pretty much”, Trump has said, but new American ground forces – including a Marine expeditionary unit – are moving into the region. It is “winding down”, but US and Israeli bombing and missile strikes on Iranian targets continue unabated.

Opening the Strait of Hormuz, the geographic choke point through which 20% of the world’s oil export travels, is a “simple military manoeuvre”, but for now only Iranian-approved ships are transiting the waters.

The Iranian military is “gone”, but drones and missiles are still striking targets in the region and targets have extended as far as the joint US-UK base on Diego Garcia.

In a Friday evening Truth Social post published while he was flying from Washington to his Florida resort for the weekend, the US president provided a numbered list of American military objectives for the Iran war, which he said the US was “getting really close” to fulfilling.

The items, comprising his most detailed statement on the subject since the war began, included degrading or destroying Iran’s military, its defence infrastructure and its nuclear weapons programme, as well as protecting American allies in the region.

Not included was the goal of securing the Strait of Hormuz, which Trump said should be the responsibility of other nations that are more dependent on oil exports from the Gulf. The president has frequently noted that the US is a net exporter of energy and does not rely on oil from the Middle East – although such a view glosses over the global nature of the fossil fuel market, where price fluctuations directly impact the price at American gas pumps.

Trump’s Truth Social post also made no call for Iranian regime change. Gone are any references to approving the nation’s next leader or “unconditional surrender”, which Trump had insisted on in the early days of the war.

In Trump’s latest outline of his objectives, it is possible that the US could end its operation with Iran’s current anti-American leadership in power, its oil exports still flowing and its ability to assert some measure of control over the Strait of Hormuz intact.

If that is an unappealing resolution to a war that the president and his aides have said began with the 1979 Iran Revolution and that they would finish, there is an alternative route that involves the US ground forces presently on the way to the Middle East region.

Just over a week ago, US media reported that a Marine expeditionary unit, with about 2,500 combat soldiers and supporting ships and aircraft, had been dispatched from Japan to the Middle East, which it should reach in the coming days. Another Marine force of similar size recently departed its base in California with its arrival expected in mid-April.

Military analysts have suggested that the US could be planning to capture Kharg Island. an 3-sq-km (8-sq-mile) slice of land that contains Iran’s primary oil export terminal. Doing so could, in theory, cut off the nation’s oil shipments, depriving the nation of much-needed revenue and forcing it to make greater concessions to the Americans in exchange for an end to hostilities.

Trump on Friday said that he wasn’t sending ground troops to Iran, but added: “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you”. Clarity, it seems, is not his intention.

The threat of such a move prompted Iran’s state media to report on Saturday that any attack on Kharg Island would lead Iran to cause “insecurity” in the Red Sea, another key global shipping transit point, and “set fire” to energy facilities throughout the region.

Iran’s warning underscores the dangers that would accompany a US escalation that further exposes American military forces to Iranian reprisals.

Earlier this week, US media reported that the Trump administration was preparing to ask Congress for $200bn (£150bn) in emergency funding for the ongoing Iranian military operation. Such a request would suggest that, far from winding down, the White House is preparing for a long, expensive fight.

The initial reaction from Congress, including from Trump’s Republican allies, was cautious at best.

“We’re talking about boots on the ground. We’re talking about that kind of extended activity,” said Republican Congressman Chip Roy of Texas.

“They have got a whole lot more briefing and a whole lot more explaining to do on how we’re going to pay for it, and what’s the mission here.”

The so-called “fog of war” doesn’t just cloud the thinking of military planners, it also affects the perception of politicians and the public.

The Iran war, it seems, is at a pivot. But which direction it takes from here is a puzzle.

(BBC)

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Heat Index likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern and North-western provinces and in Anuradhapura, Monaragala, Mannar and Vavuniya districts

Published

13 hours ago

2026/03/22

Priyan

Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre of the Department of Meteorology
at 3.30 p.m. on 21 March 2026, valid for 22 March 2026.

Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern and North-western provinces and in
Anuradhapura, Monaragala, Mannar and Vavuniya districts.

The Heat Index Forecast is calculated by using relative humidity and maximum temperature and this is the condition that is felt on your body. This is not the forecast of maximum temperature. It is generated by the Department of Meteorology for the next day period and prepared by using global numerical weather prediction model data.

Effect of the heat index on human body is mentioned in the above table and it is prepared on the advice of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services.

ACTION REQUIRED
Job sites: Stay hydrated and takes breaks in the shade as often as possible.
Indoors: Check up on the elderly and the sick.
Vehicles: Never leave children unattended.
Outdoors: Limit strenuous outdoor activities, find shade and stay hydrated.
Dress: Wear lightweight and white or light-colored clothing.

Note:
In addition, please refer to advisories issued by the Disaster Preparedness & Response Division, Ministry of Health in this regard as well. For further clarifications please contact 011-7446491.