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West Indies take control as Pakistan lose four in chase
The Multan Test continued to move forward at full-throttle on a treacherous pitch on Day 2 as Pakistan finished 76/4 in chase of 254 against West Indies. The visitors started Day 2 with a nine-run lead but also with the awareness that Pakistan’s spinners could run riot on a spin haven of a surface. West Indies, thus, batted with counter-attacking intent and did well across a little over two sessions to post a daunting target. Pakistan lost their openers early but had Babar Azam steadying the ship, only to fall less than 10 minutes from stumps.
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite headlined his team’s attempts to get quick runs, resorting to sweeps and reverse-sweeps against Pakistan spinners in the morning session. He was successful early on, scoring a brisk half-century in the company of No.3 batter Amir Jangoo, who shrugged his first-innings return of a golden duck to score his first runs in the format. Brathwaite found himself on the right side of four DRS calls, two taken by himself and two by Pakistan, to reach his milestone but couldn’t make that count further as he fell to first-innings hattrick hero Noman Ali.
Debutant Jangoo meanwhile, towed the line established by his captain, taking risks with sweeps and drives. One such attempt ended his stay however, giving Sajid Khan a wicket. Eager to push through, Pakistan lost all their reviews before Lunch but managed to break through two more times, as Noman snuffed out Alick Athanaze and Kavem Hodge.
The difference between Pakistan seizing full control and West Indies walking off at stumps being optimistic about series parity depended on how the second session transpired. West Indies forged ahead through small but significant contributions from the quartet of Tevin Imlach (35), Kevin Sinclair (28), Gudakesh Motie (18) and Jomel Warrican (18). Even these four fought fire with fire as the ball still spun viciously.
Abrar Ahmed broke early in the second session, dismissing Justin Greaves and leaving West Indies down to 145/6. From this point on, Imlach and Sinclair added the most important partnership of the innings that pushed their lead to 200. Sajid Khan ended that alliance with the wicket of Sinclair and Imlach became the only victim to pacer Kashif Ali after an astute stay of 57 balls. Motie and Warrican then frustrated Pakistan by adding 27 more runs to loosen the home team’s grip on the game. Even when this stand was broken, an injured Kemar Roach hobbled out to the middle and faced 17 deliveries to add 11 runs with Warrican before the latter was dismissed to end the innings.
Pakistan had a rocky start to their chase of 254 as Sinclair and Motie trapped Shan Masood and Muhammad Hurraira leg before respectively to reduce them to 5/2. Azam and Kamran Ghulam pushed back for a brief period before the latter perished while trying to take on Warrican.
Saud Shakeel and Azam nearly got to the end of day’s play without further damage to Pakistan, but Sinclair struck again. Azam was undecided whether to commit to defending a loopy length ball that turned in sharply. He went for it in the end, clipping it onto his front pad which then lobbed up to Athanaze at short leg. Nightwatchman Kashif Ali batted out 10 deliveries and Pakistan went to stumps, still needing 178 runs to win. West Indies meanwhile, are six wickets away from sharing the series spoils.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 154 & 76/4 (Babar Azam 31; Kevin Sinclair 2-41) trail West Indies 163 & 244 (Kraigg Brathwaite 52, Tevin Imlach 35, Kevin Sinclair 28; Sajid Khan 4-76, Noman Ali 4-80) by 178 runs
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US press gala shooting suspect charged with attempting to kill Trump
Federal authorities in the United States have charged the suspect who allegedly shot a US Secret Service agent as he tried to breach security at a press gala attended by Donald Trump with attempting to assassinate the US president.
Cole Thomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, also faces firearms charges in a three-count complaint, prosecutors announced on Monday.
In the case of a conviction, the attempted assassination of Trump carries out a sentence of up to life in prison.
Allen wore a blue prison jumpsuit at his first appearance in Washington, DC, federal court, two days after authorities said they foiled an attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, an annual black-tie gathering of journalists and politicians in the US capital.
“He attempted to assassinate the president of the United States, Donald J Trump”, prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine said in court.
Allen has not yet responded to the allegations. Seated at the defence table flanked by US Marshals, Allen said he would answer all questions truthfully and that he had a master’s degree in computer science.
US Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh ordered Allen detained while the case moves forward. Sharbaugh scheduled another hearing over Allen’s continued detention for Thursday.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for Washington, DC, said further charges could be filed against Allen as the investigation proceeds.
“Make no mistake, this was an attempted assassination of the president of the United States, with the defendant making clear what his intent was – and that intent was to bring down as many of the high-ranking cabinet officials as he could,” Pirro told reporters on Monday.
She cited an alleged manifesto written by the suspect, saying that his targets were administration officials “prioritised from highest-ranking to lowest”.
Pirro added that Allen allegedly had a semiautomatic pistol, a shotgun and three knives. She said authorities believe the guns were purchased in California.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Allen travelled via train from his home near Los Angeles to Chicago and then to Washington.
[Aljazeera]
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Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar lead rout of Delhi Capitals
On Saturday, Delhi served up a belter of a pitch on which 265 played 264. Two days later, the adjacent surface produced a passage of play straight out of a spicy Test-match session. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood maximised the swing and bounce on offer in the early exchanges to raze through Delhi Capitals. DC crumpled to 8 for 6 – their powerplay score of 13 was the lowest in a full IPL game – and were in danger of being dismissed for the lowest total in the league.
Contributions from the lower order helped them avoid that ignominy and dragged them to 75. Royal Challengers Bengaluru completed the demolition job with nine wickets and 81 balls to spare. They narrowed Punjab Kings’ lead at the top of the table to just one point and boosted their NRR.
The carnage began with Bhuvneshwar yorking IPL debutant Sahil Parakh for a two-ball duck in the first over and ended with DC being decimated for the lowest powerplay score.
The Delhi pitch didn’t misbehave, but offered swing and bounce throughout the powerplay. Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood made the most of it to return figures of 3-0-5-3 and 3-0-8-3 respectively in the first six overs. At the innings break, Bhuvneshwar said that he was surprised that the ball swung for so long. Safe to say so were the DC batters.
Parakh, picked ahead of Prithvi Shaw, came in as a player with considerable reputation for an 18-year old. DC’s director of cricket Venugopal Rao believes he can play for India one day, but on Monday, his IPL debut lasted all of two balls. Bhuvneshwar hit his edge first ball with an outswinger and knocked out his middle stump with an inswinger next ball.
In the second over, Hazlewood hit the perfect length – neither short or full – with his first ball to KL Rahul and had him top-edging a pull to the wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma. Hazlewood pushed his length and line fuller and wider next ball and found late away movement to have Sameer Rizvi nicking to Jitesh for a golden duck.
Tristan Stubbs denied Hazlewood a hat-trick, but in the next over he too edged behind, off Bhuvneshwar. With two slips in play, including a wide one, Rajat Patidar ramped up the pressure on DC and empowered his bowlers to keep attacking. When Bhuvneshwar also kissed Axar Patel’s edge, DC were 7 for 5 in the third over.
It soon became 8 for 6 when Hazlewood dug a snorter into Nitish Rana’s arm pit from around the wicket. Rana took his eyes off the ball and ended up fending it to Padikkal.
Even RCB couldn’t believe what had just transpired. Tim David covered his face in disbelief.
A dust storm, which caused a brief stoppage, and a 35-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Abhishek Porel and David Miller then gave DC some respite.
DC had pressed the emergency switch and brought Porel in as an Impact Player following the fall of the fifth wicket. The first shot of authority came from Porel when he swatted Rasikh Dar over midwicket for four soon after the powerplay.
Miller also seemed fairly comfortable against RCB’s change bowlers before Rasikh drew a top edge with a short ball that stopped on the batter. Batting at No.8 for the first time in his 565-match T20 career, Miller was dismissed for 19 off 18 balls.
Kyle Jamieson hit the first six of the game when he launched Romario Shepherd over square leg in the 11th over, but two overs later, Krunal Pandya pinned him lbw for 12 off 13 balls.
Porel hung around for 33 balls for 30 runs before he was the last man dismissed. He was also the only DC batter to pass 20 and took them past the lowest IPL total of 49. Hazlewood made a mess of his stumps with a searing yorker that tailed in from around the wicket.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 77 for 1 in 6.3 overs (Jacob Bethell 20, Virat Kohli 23*, Devdutt Padikkal 34*; Kyle Jamieson 1-42) beat Delhi Capitals 75 in 16.3 overs (AbishekPorel 30, David Miller 19, Kyle Jamieson 12; Josh Hazlewood 4-12, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-05, RasikhnSalman 1-21, Suyashb Sharma 1-07, Krunal Pandya 1-09) by nine wickets
[Cricinfo]
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Heat Index at Caution Level in the Northern, North-central and North-western provinces and in Colombo, Gampaha, Kegalle, Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts during the day time
Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 27 April 2026, valid for 28 April 2026.
The Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Northern, North-central and North-western provinces and in Colombo,
Gampaha, Kegalle, Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts during the day time.
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 the 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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