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IPL 2025: Archer, Sandeep and batters’ fire to hand Punjab Kings first loss

Published

11 months ago

2025/04/6

Priyan

Jofra Archer bowled a fiery opening spell [Cricinfo]

Yashaswi Jaiswal scoring runs. Jofra Archer continuing the rhythm he seemed to rediscover against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Maheesh Theekshana and Wanidu Hasaranga coming into their own.

All these things may have been on Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) wishlist coming into Saturday night’s match against Punjab Kings (PBKS). All three wishes were fulfilled, as RR consigned PBKS, playing their first home game of IPL 2025, to their first defeat of the season.

Jaiswal and Riyan Parag provided the sparks at the start and finish for RR to become the first team to post a 200-plus IPL total in Mullanpur. With this only being the sixth IPL game at the venue, it wasn’t yet clear if 205 was a winning total, but only until Archer made his entrance.

Six legal balls into their chase, PBKS were two down, with Archer finding movement at upwards of 145kph to take out Priyansh and Shreyas Iyer. RR struck two more blows in the first seven overs, and PBKS were always playing catch-up thereafter, even when Nehal Wadhera and Glenn Maxwell added 88 for the fifth wicket.

Theekshana and Hasaranga did their bit to stifle the partnership’s scoring rate, and then struck one after the other to remove both set batters. And that was that for PBKS; they only hit one boundary in the last 5.4 overs as RR wrapped up victory by 50 runs.

Jaiswal got off to a scratchy start, slashing and missing against the left-left new-ball pair of Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen, who both found early swing, miscuing a pull just beyond the reach of a backtracking mid-on, and scoring just 12 off his first 14 balls.

But perhaps all he needed, after starting his season with scores of 1, 29 and 4, was a bit of time in the middle and a bit of luck. The fourth over brought him back-to-back sixes off Jansen – a ramp over the keeper and a slog over midwicket – and he seemed to be up and running.

Sanju Samson, captaining RR for the first time this season after a finger injury had restricted him to a batting-only Impact Player role thus far, began more fluently but had less of the strike early on. When RR ended their first wicketless powerplay of the season on 53 for 0, he was on 20 off 14 and Jaiswal on 32 off 22.

From 40 for 0 after four overs, RR only scored 45 in their next six. The legspin of RR old boy Yuzvendra Chahal and the slower cutters of Lockie Ferguson and Marcus Stoinis had a lot to do with this, on a pitch that was just a touch grippy and two-paced.

Samson fell in the 11th over, trying to force the pace against Ferguson, and Jaiswal seemed to be getting stuck. But from 46 off 39, he found that elusive higher gear, crunching Chahal down the ground to bring up his fifty before slog-sweeping his next ball for six. He hit Stoinis for a six and a four in the next over – the 13th – before becoming Ferguson’s second victim, swinging too early at a well-disguised, stump-bound knuckleball.

Parag, batting at No. 3, began much like Jaiswal had done, struggling initially to get to grips with the surface. At one stage, after four successive dots against Arshdeep’s cutter, angling across the right-hander and turning further away, Parag was on 12 off 14 in the 16th over.

Then he paused for breath, and took strike transformed, a batter able to hold his shape for a split-second longer. He hit the next two balls from Arshdeep for fours, and that began a hitting spree that brought him 31 off his last 11 balls at the crease. With Nitish Rana, Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel contributing cameos as well, RR rushed past 200 in the final over. Stoinis, whose first two only went for 12, leaked 36 in his last two, which again told the tale of RR’s batters coming to grips with the conditions and finding a way to master them.

The first ball Archer bowled could not have been bettered. Perfect length, rooting Impact Sub Priyanash Arya to the crease. Movement from leg to off, at 144.6kph. The left-handed Arya defended down the wrong line and the ball slid past his outside edge to flick the top of off.

None of this seemed to make any impact on Shreyas Iyer, though. The PBKS captain began in a manner befitting someone whose head coach had likened his previous innings to a purring Rolls Royce, stroking Archer for two fours through the covers in his first four legal balls at the crease. Then he got greedy, exposing all his stumps to try and make room for another off-side hit, and Archer burst a 148.6kph ball through him.

Wickets kept falling even when Archer didn’t have the ball. Stoinis popped a return catch to Sandeep Sharma off a fairly innocuous seam-up delivery in the fourth over, and Prabhsimran Singh slog-swept Kumar Kartikeya to deep midwicket in the seventh. The required rate kept mounting too; PBKS needed 163 from 82 balls when Maxwell joined Wadhera.

PBKS’ hopes began to stir when both batters hit sixes off Kartikeya in a 19-run 10th over, but Theekshana and Hasaranga immediately got to work, conceding just five and 12 – the latter an impressive recovery after Wadhera slog-swept the first ball of the over for six – in the 11th and 12th overs.

But as Maxwell ramped and reverse-swatted Yudhvir Singh for a pair of fours in the 13th, Wadhera launched Hasaranga for a straight six to bring up a 33-ball fifty in the 14th, and then began the 15th with back-to-back fours off Theekshana, PBKS began to dream once again.

Then the two Sri Lankan spinners brought their defensive skills to the fore again, asking the batters to try and fetch balls dangled wide of their hitting arcs. Maxwell sliced a catch to long-off at the end of the 15th over, and Wadhera slog-swept to deep midwicket at the start of the 16th. PBKS were six down and needed 75 off 29. It was never going to happen as they continued to lose wickets.

Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 205 for 4 in 20 overs (Yashaswi Jaiswal 67, Riyan Parag 43*, Sanju Samson 38, Nitish Rana 12, Shimron Hetmyer 20, Dhruv Jurel 13*;Lockie Ferguson 2-37, Arshdeep Singh 1-35, Marco Jansen 1-45) beat Punjab Kings 155 for 9 in 20 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 17, Shreyas Iyer 10, Nehal Wadhera 62, Glenn Maxwell 30, Shashnak Singh 10*; Jofra Archer 3-25, Sandeep Sharma 2-21, Maheesh Theekshana 2-26, Kumar Kartikeya 1-21, Wanidu Hasaranga 1-36) by 50 runs

[Cricinfo]

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Heat Index at Caution Level at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, North-central and North-western provinces and in Monaragala, Mannar and Vavuniya districts

Published

2 hours ago

2026/03/17

Priyan

Warm Weather Advisory Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre of the Department of Meteorology at 3.30 p.m. on 16 March 2026, valid for 17 March 2026

The general public are warned that 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, North-central and North-western provinces and in 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.

Foreign News

Ecuador deploys 75,000 soldiers and police to combat drug gangs

Published

3 hours ago

2026/03/17

Priyan

[pic BBC]

The Ecuadorean government has deployed more than 75,000 police officers and soldiers to four of the country’s most violence-wracked provinces, the interior minister says.

The authorities have also declared a night-time curfew in these areas as part of a “new phase” in their “war” on criminal gangs.

Since coming to office in November 2023, President Daniel Noboa has tried to quell drug-related violence but nevertheless Ecuador registered a record murder rate in 2025.

Noboa has also joined a US-led alliance of 17 countries aimed at fighting criminal cartels in the Western Hemisphere.

“We’re at war,” Ecuadorean Interior Minister John Reimberg told residents of the provinces of El Oro, Guayas, Los Ríos and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas.

“Don’t take any risks, don’t go out, stay at home,” he added.

Ecuador’s geographical location – sandwiched between Colombia and Peru, the world’s largest producers of cocaine – has turned it into a key transit country for the illicit drug.

Around 70% of the cocaine produced in Colombia and Peru is estimated to be shipped through Ecuador.

Noboa’s government has been working with the administration of US President Donald Trump to quell the flow of cocaine from Ecuador to the US.

Last week, the FBI opened its first office in the Andean country, a move which came shortly after the two countries launched joint counter-narcotic operations.

Noboa was one of the Latin American leaders to attend an international meeting hosted by Trump in Mar-a-Lago, which the US authorities dubbed the “Shield of the Americas” summit.

At the summit, Trump likened criminal gangs to a “cancer” and urged his Latin American counterparts to use military force to root them out.

“We don’t want it spreading,” Trump added.

Following the meeting, Noboa posted a photo on social media of himself standing next to Trump with the words: “For too long, the mafias thought that America was their territory. That they could cross borders, move drugs, guns and [spread] violence without consequences. Their time has run out.”

Since coming to office, Noboa has tried to combat criminal organisations in his country with an iron fist and has declared several states of emergency but nevertheless the murder rate rose by over 30% between 2024 and 2025.

[BBC]

Latest News

Wednesdays declared a government holiday with effect from 18th March

Published

11 hours ago

2026/03/16

Priyan

The Commissioner General of Essential Services, Prabath Chandrakeerthi has announced that, after taking into consideration the current fuel situation in Sri Lanka, the Government has decided to declare Wednesdays of every week as a holiday for government sector employees, all government schools, universities, and courts with effect from March 18, 2026, until further notice

The holiday will not apply to essential service sectors including Healthcare, Ports, Water Supply and Customs.