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IPL 2025: Brevis, Mhatre, Urvil help Chennai Super Kings sign off gloomy season on bright note

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Ayush Mhatre played a belligerent little innings [BCCI]

Dewald Brevis, Ayush Mhatre and Urvil Patel were not even part of Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) squad at the start of IPL 2025. Picked as mid-season replacements, the trio played bright knocks in CSK’s final game of the season, offering hope that the future could be just as bright.

After the 17-year-old Mhatre and local boy Urvil set the platform with blazing 30s, Brevis cracked a 19-ball half-century on a hot afternoon in Ahmedabad. The upshot was CSK finishing with 230 for 5, their highest total in IPL 2025, and signing off with a win.

Chasing a steep target, Gujarat Titans lost three wickets in the powerplay for the first time this season, which exposed their soft underbelly. CSK cut through it to hand them an 83-run drubbing. Sunday’s defeat now leaves GT vulnerable to being overtaken by two of the other three teams in the playoffs.

Mhatre, CSK’s youngest player ever, is an intent machine. When Mohammed Siraj bowled a blameless back-of-a-length delivery on top of the stumps in the first over, he pumped him straight of mid-on for four.

In the next over, he clattered left-arm seamer Arshad Khan for a sequence of 6, 6, 4, 4, 6. By the end of that over, Mhatre had charged to 33 off 12 balls. Prasidh Krishna, however, cut Mhatre’s innings short on 34 off 17 balls in the fourth over with a slower variation.

CSK were not short of attacking enterprise, though. Urvil got cracking with an M Vijay-esque six off Siraj and, along with Devon Conway, took CSK to 68 for 1, their joint-highest powerplay score this season.

Having come into the IPL with the reputation of being a pace-hitter in domestic cricket, Urvil took on the spin of R Sai Kishore and Rashid Khan as well. He moved to 37 off 19 balls before Sai Kishore changed his angle to over the wicket and drew a mis-hit.

Conway, becalmed in the early exchanges, exploded when he carted Rashid for two sixes before the wristspinner had him bowled for 52 off 35 balls in the 14th over. By then, Shivam Dube had already been dismissed by the part-time offspin of M Shahrukh Khan.

Brevis started in fifth gear when he drilled Shahrukh down the ground for four and stayed in that top gear. In all, he faced 23 balls and sent nine of those to or over the boundary with a rare mix of explosive power and T20 invention, which CSK were lacking earlier in the season.

When Rashid tossed one up wide of off, Brevis used his reach and tonked the ball over his head for six. He then left jaws on the floor when he reverse-lapped Arshad for four, damaging his figures even further. In the penultimate over of the innings, he crashed Siraj for two sixes and a four on his way to a 19-ball fifty. By the time he was dismissed off the last ball of the innings, CSK had touched 230.

Brevis finished the season with 225 runs in six innings at an average of 37.50 and a strike rate of 180.00.

In 12 of 13 matches before Sunday, GT had lost either one or no wicket in the powerplay. Against CSK in Ahmedabad, they lost all of Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler and Sherfane Rutherford in the first five overs. GT’s middle order then crumbled under scoreboard pressure. When Shahrukh and B Sai Sudharsan fell in the 11th over, GT were 86 for 5.

Gill had thrown the first punch at Anshul Kamboj when he charged at the bowler and crunched him over his head for six. Kamboj, though, hit back the next ball when he dragged his length back and had an advancing Gill nicking off to slip for 13 off nine balls. In the next over, Buttler charged at Khaleel Ahmed only to be caught in the deep by Kamboj. When Kamboj hit a hard length and had Rutherford flapping a catch to mid-on, GT were 30 for 3.

Shahrukh and Sai Sudharsan flickered briefly in a 55-run partnership for the fourth wicket, but the powerplay damage was irreparable.

Had CSK limited GT to 121 or fewer, they could have avoided the wooden spoon. But it was not to be. A difficult season, however, ended on a happy note for CSK, with MS Dhoni taking the winning catch and celebrating with his team-mates.

Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings 230 for 5 in 20 overs (Ayush Mhatre 34, Dewald Brevis 57, Devon Conway 52, Urvil Patel 37, Shivam Dube 17, Ravindra Jadeja 21*;  Prasidh Krishna 2-22, Sai Kishore 1-23, Rashid Khan 1-42, M Shahrukh Khan 1-13) beat Gujarat Titans 147 in 18.3 overs  (Sai Sudharsan 41, Shubman Gill 13, M Shahrukh Khan 19, Rahul Tewatia 14, Rashid Khan 12, Arshad Khan 20; Ravindra Jadeja 2-17, Khaleel Ahmed 1-17, Anshul  Kamboj 3-13, Noor Ahmad 3-21, Matheesha Pathirana 1-29) by 83 runs

[Cricinfo]



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Iran leader says anti-government protesters are vandals trying to please Trump

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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (seen in a file photo) called protesters "troublemakers" (BBC)

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called anti-government protesters “troublemakers” and “a bunch of vandals” just trying “to please the president of the US”.

He accused crowds of destroying buildings because Donald Trump said he “supports you”. Trump has warned Iran that if it kills protesters, the US would “hit” the country “very hard”.

The protests, in their 13th day, erupted over the economy and have grown into the largest in years – leading to calls for an end to the Islamic Republic and some urging the restoration of the monarchy.

At least 48 protesters and 14 security personnel, have been killed, according to human rights groups. An internet blackout is in place.

Khamenei remained defiant in a televised address on Friday.

“Let everyone know that the Islamic Republic came to power through the blood of several hundred thousand honourable people and it will not back down in the face of those who deny this,” the 86-year-old said.

Since protests began on 28 December, in addition to the 48 protesters killed, more than 2,277 individuals have also been arrested, the US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) said.

The Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) said at least 51 protesters, including nine children, had been killed.

BBC Persian has spoken to the families of 22 of them and confirmed their identities. The BBC and most other international news organisations are barred from reporting inside Iran.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement on Friday saying it would not tolerate the continuation of the current situation in the country.

Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last shah who was overthrown by the 1979 Islamic revolution, called on Trump on Friday to “be prepared to intervene to help the people of Iran”.

Pahlavi, who lives close to Washington DC, had urged protesters to take to the streets on Thursday and Friday.

Protesters dressed in black stand around in the dark beside an overturned car on fire.
A picture from Tehran on 8 January

Protests have taken place across the country, with BBC Verify verifying videos from 67 locations.

On Friday, protesters amassed after weekly prayers in the south-eastern city of Zahedan, videos verified by BBC Persian and BBC Verify show. In one of the videos, people can be heard chanting “death to the dictator”, referencing Khamenei.

In another, protesters gather near a local mosque, when several loud bangs can be heard.

Another verified video from Thursday showed a fire at the office of the Young Journalists Club, a subsidiary of state broadcaster Irib, in the city of Isfahan. It is unclear what caused the fire and if anyone was injured.

Photos received by the BBC from Thursday night also show cars overturned and set alight at Tehran’s Kaaj roundabout.

The country has been under a near-total internet blackout since Thursday evening, with minor amounts of traffic returning on Friday, internet monitoring groups Cloudfare and Netblocks said. That means less information is emerging from Iran.

IHRNGO director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said in a statement that “the extent of the government’s use of force against protesters has been increasing, and the risk of intensified violence and the widespread killing of protesters after the internet shutdown is very serious”.

Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi has warned of a possible “massacre” during the internet shutdown.

One person who was able to send a message to the BBC said he was in Shiraz, in southern Iran. He reported a run on supermarkets by residents trying to stock up on food and other essentials, expecting worse days to come.

(BBC)

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Deep Depression likely to cross the Sri Lankan coast between Trincomalee and Jaffna during the morning today (10 January 2026)

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Warning for deep depression to the East of Sri Lanka.
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre of the Department of Meteorology at 01.30 a.m. on 10 January 2026 for the period until 01.30 a.m. on 11 January 2026

The deep depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal was located about 50 km North-northeast of Trincomalee at 01:00 a.m. on 10 January 2026.  It is very likely to move northwestwards and cross the Sri Lankan coast between Trincomalee and Jaffna during the morning today (10 January 2026).

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Rain washes out 2nd T20I in Dambulla

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The second T20I between Sri Lanka and Pakistan which was to be played at Dambulla was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain.

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