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Tewatia finishes another chase after Gill’s match-defining 67
Shubman Gill felt at home in Mohali as he headlined the third win of the season for the defending champions with a fine 67 off 49 balls. At a venue where he’s grown up playing his cricket and has his highest IPL score, Gill stood tall amidst tough batting conditions to take his team close to the finish line. Despite Sam Curran’s best efforts in the final over, PBKS fell short in their defence of a sub-par total of 153 for 8.
Despite conditions being a little tough for run-making, Gujarat Titans were in complete control of the chase all the way until the penultimate over where Arshdeep Singh returned and conceded just six runs. It left Sam Curran to defend seven in the final over with Gill and David Miller in the middle. Curran however, cleaned up the half-centurion in the second ball to give PBKS hopes of a late, late heist. Miller, who struggled to middle the ball in his 18-ball stay, turned the strike over to Rahul Tewatia when the equation was down to 4 runs needed off 2 balls. Curran had a mini-conference with Arshdeep and Shikhar Dhawan but it didn’t yield the desired result as Tewatia shuffled across and lapped a shot over short fine leg to cap off the chase.
Punjab Kings’ plan of throwing their bats around from the start was on but their flying start was clipped by a wicket in the first over – of Prabhsimran Singh – and that of the orange cap holder Shikhar Dhawan. The PBKS captain tried to hit over mid-on and miscued his chip off Joshua Little to get caught by Alzarri Joseph for a run-a-ball 8 – his first single-digit score this season. Despite Dhawan’s early exit, PBKS were buoyed by Matthew Short’s crisp strokeplay as he cut and drove his way to 35 off 22 in the first six overs
Short looked in control against the GT quicks but failed to read the first googly coming his way from Rashid and was comprehensively bowled to trudge back for 36 off 24 balls. Jitesh Sharma was able to read Rashid’s variations better as he pulled and paddled against the spinner to get three fours. But the struggle for him – and Bhanuka Rajapaksa – came against the pacers as Mohit Sharma and Alzarri Joseph through the middle overs. Between overs 7 and 15, PBKS scored just at just 5.22 runs an over. Despite hitting five fours, Jitesh managed just 25 off 23 balls while Rajapaksa suffered throughout his scratchy stay before Alzarri Joseph dismissed him for 20 off 26 balls. In his first IPL outing since 2019, Mohit made an impactful return, finishing with a spell of 2 for 13 in 4 overs that included the wickets of Jitesh and Sam Curran – who fell for a run-a-ball 22.
Rajapaksa’s exit inadvertently sparked life into PBKS’ essay as Shahrukh Khan walked out and walloped a 147kmph delivery from Joseph for a six over deep square leg and dragged the team past the 150-run mark with a cameo of 22 runs from just 9 balls.
Shubman Gill made a pristine start to chase when he drove the third ball from Arshdeep in the first over through covers for the first of his 7 boundaries in the chase. Wriddhiman Saha too made a courageous start as he meted out the same treatment to Kagiso Rabada in the second over. The wicketkeeper-batter then hit four fours in Arshdeep’s second over but Rabada ended his early flourish with a short ball. Saha went for the pull but ended up having to clear the longer square boundary and failed – hitting straight to Short at deep square leg. With that wicket, Rabada became the fastest to 100 IPL scalps, getting there in 64 innings.
Like PBKS, GT too saw their scoring slow down amidst testing conditions and big square boundaries. From 80/1 in 10 overs, GT limped to 111/3 in 15 as Curran and Arshdeep once again put the pressure to keep PBKS in the game.
The see-sawing fixture then had Gill putting GT back on top in a three-over period where he lofted Rahul Chahar over cover to get his half-century, hit Curran down the ground and then played an exquisite pull shot off Rabada for a six in a 12-run 18th over. This over tilted the fixture strongly in Gill and GT’s favour until Arshdeep and Curran took it to the very end.
Punjab Kings have just a day’s break before taking on LSG in Lucknow in the evening fixture on Saturday. Gujarat Titans head back home to face Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.
Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 153/8 (Matthew Short 36; Mohit Sharma 2-18, Rashid Khan 1-26) lost to Gujarat Titans 154/4 (Shubman Gill 67, Wriddhiman Saha 30; Sam Curran 1-25) by 6 wickets
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Sameer Rizvi aces another tricky chase as Delhi Capitals floor Mumbai Indians
Sameer Rizvi picked up his second Player-of-the-Match award in as many games in IPL 2026, this time scoring 90 off 51 balls to help Delhi Capitals [DC] seal a tricky chase against Mumbai Indians [MI] with six wickets and 11 balls to spare. If you include his Player-of-the-Match award from DC’s last game of the 2025 season, it makes it three in a row. Only seven others have done so, and no one has gone beyond.
Before the Rizvi show, the DC bowlers restricted MI to 162 for 6 on a slow, black-soil pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. With Hardik Pandya unwell, Suryakumar Yadav captained MI and top-scored with 51 off 36 balls. But most other batters struggled to play their shots. In fact, the first six of the MI innings came on the last ball of the seventh over.
DC, too, lost KL Rahul and Nitish Rana early in the chase but Pathum Nissanka’s counterattack kept them going. Nissanka made 44 off 30, after which Rizvi, coming in as DC’s Impact Player once again, ran away with the game.
Mukesh Kumar started waywardly, and Ryan Rickelton made him pay with two leg-side boundaries. From the other end, Rohit Sharma did the same against Lungi Ngidi. But Mukesh bounced back in his second over. He had Rickelton miscuing to mid-off and then caught and bowled Tilak Varma off a knuckleball.
With two right-hand batters, Rohit and Suryakumar, in the middle, Axar immediately brought himself on and sneaked in a three-run over. Rohit did hit two fours off Ngidi’s slower ones in the sixth over, the first a streaky one but the second a caress through covers, to take MI to 41 for 2, but it was a six-less powerplay for them. The last time it happened for MI was in 2023, against Chennai Super Kings in Chepauk.
Axar had a good match-up against Rohit coming into this game and he improved it further by having the batter caught at cover in the tenth over. Rohit made 35 off 26 balls. His match-up against Axar in the IPL now reads 77 balls, 67 runs, four dismissals.
Sherfane Rutherford didn’t last long and holed out to deep square leg against Vipraj Nigam, but Suryakumar kept MI going. He attacked the spinners and hit Kuldeep for two sixes. In the company of Naman Dhir, he brought up his fifty but was lbw to Ngidi off the following delivery. In Hardik’s absence, MI could score only 38 runs in the death overs.
Against Lucknow Super Giants, Rahul was out for a first-ball duck. Here he lasted three balls and made 1 before being caught down the leg side off Deepak Chahar. Rana was run out in the next over when Jasprit Bumrah, after fielding the ball off his own bowling, nailed a direct hit at the non-striker’s end.
At 7 for 2, Nissanka decided to take the attacking route. In the fourth over, he picked up back-to-back fours off Mitchell Santner, the second of which came via a reverse-hit over a leaping Rohit at cover. In the following over, he smashed two fours and a six off Shardul Thakur. Nissanka got a life on 41 when Dhir dropped him off Corbin Bosch but he fell to Santner three runs later.
After ten overs, DC were 73 for 3 – the exact score MI were at the same stage of their innings. The game was in the balance. Rizvi was batting on 25 off 23 but shifted the momentum in just one over. He flayed Bosch over mid-off, ramped him to the deep-third fence, cut him over deep point and launched him down the ground for 20 runs in all.
To ram home the advantage, he used his feet against Mayank Markande in the following over for back-to-back sixes. The first of those took him to his fifty off 31 balls. Such was his dominance that when the fifty stand for the fourth wicket came up, David Miller’s contribution in that was 1 off five balls. He was more of a bystander than a partner.
By the end of the 15th over, the result was a foregone conclusion. The only real interest left was whether Rizvi could reach his hundred. DC needed 25 to win, Rizvi needed 17. On 90, he attempted yet another big hit off Bosch but holed out to long-off.
Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 164 for 4 in 18.1 overs (Sameer Rizvi 90, Pathum Nissanka 44, David Miller 21*; Deepak Chahar 1-20, Mitchell Santner 1-22, Corbin Bosch 1-39) beat Mumbai Indians 162 for 6 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 35, Suryakumar Yadav 51, Naman Dhir 28, Mitchell Santner 18*, Corbin Bosch 11*; Mukesh Kumar 2-26, Lungi Ngidi 1=34, Axar Patel 1-22, Vipraj Nigam 1-24, T Natarajan 1-24) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
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Sun directly overhead Dodanduwa, Rathgama, Yakkalamulla, Akuressa, Mulgirigala, Ranna, Kalamatiya and Ussangoda at about 12:13 noon today (05th April)
On the apparent northward relative motion of the sun, it is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka during 05th to 15th of April in this year.
The nearest areas of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (05th) are Dodanduwa, Rathgama, Yakkalamulla, Akuressa, Mulgirigala, Ranna, Kalamatiya and Ussangoda at about 12:13 noon
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Heat Index at Caution Level in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Eastern, North-western, Northern and North-central provinces and in Monaragala district
Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 04 April 2026, valid for 05 April 2026
The Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Eastern, North-western, Northern and North-central provinces and in Monaragala district.
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.
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