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Malinga, Reddy sink Chennai Super Kings chase to defend under-par 194 in Hyderabad

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3 weeks ago

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Eshan Malinga's three-for wrecked the CSK chase [BCCI]

Sunrisers Hyderabad pulled a victory out of nowhere thanks to four unheralded bowlers taking the smallest chance given to them. Three of Chennai Super Kings’ own unheralded bowlers might have been their inspiration. In an IPL season full of runs, the oppressed finally became oppressors.

After the first powerplay, ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster had the first innings total reaching 237. Jaamie Overton, Anshul Kamboj and Gurjapneet Singh prevented such nonsense. CSK were given a target of 194 and needed 84 off 60 balls with seven wickets in hand. They should have pulled off their first 190-plus chase in eight years.

But Eshan Malinga (3-29), Nitish Kumar Reddy (2-31), Shivang Kumar (1-18) and Sakib Hussain (1-32) just wouldn’t let them. On paper, there were weak links. On the field, there was none. Each of those four had an economy rate of 8 or lower and each of them picked up at least one wicket. Shivang dismissed Dewald Brevis for 0. Sakib wrecked Shivam Dube’s stumps and killed off all CSK hope. In the end, their contribution to victory was bigger than Abhishek Sharma’s 15-ball fifty and Heinrich Klassen’s 33-ball fifty.

CSK picked Matt Short over Akeal Hosein primarily so they could target Abhishek and Travis Head with offspin. For two overs it worked. They gambled on a third, and it backfired. Abhishek moved from 26 off 10 to 50 off 15 by moving leg side and making the room he needed to free his arms. Short had succeeded because he wasn’t giving any of that, but he couldn’t cope when the batter changed strategies.

Overton is 7 for 86 in the middle overs this season. He is its third-highest wicket-taker in this phase of the innings, and his success comes from his hit-the-deck style of bowling. CSK have also course-corrected a little bit. They threw him into the death overs against Tim David in Bengaluru and he got pulverised. Over the last three matches though, Overton has been given a role more suited to his strengths and he’s responded beautifully. The ball to dismiss Abhishek, minutes after he’d been dropped for 51, was a brute, rearing up at the unsuspecting batter and snagging his edge through to the keeper. Only Prasidh Krishna (7.2), Jofra Archer (11.4) and Prince Yadav (12.1) have a better bowling average than Overton (14.6) when they all go into the wicket.

For three straight IPLs, Klaasen had maintained a strike rate above 170. This time it’s down in the 140s. He is starting slow. He is being more selective with his shots. The upshot of all this caution is three fifties in six innings. Despite this change in his batting, Klaasen remained just as destructive against wristspin as he has always been, surprising Noor Ahmad with a switch hit in the 13th over. Klaasen made 24 of his 59 runs against Noor at a strike rate of 185. The other SRH batters totalled 9 off 11.

In pre-season, CSK really dove into turning Kamboj into a death bowler. They understood it was a gaping hole in their team dynamics. The worst of it was felt in Bengaluru when soon after he dismissed David with a pin-point yorker from around the wicket, it was revealed that he had overstepped. Kamboj nailed the yorker here too and Klaasen dragged it onto his stumps. This time the no-ball did not show up.

SRH ended facing the last 16 balls of their innings without their best source of boundaries. Gurjapneet from the other end alternated between going for the blockhole and getting the back-of-the-hand slower ball to kick up off the pitch. Together, this unlikely duo recorded a nice little high: where all 18 of the last 18 deliveries had to be bowled in IPL 2026, CSK giving just 17 runs slotted in right behind one of the best bowling teams of the tournament, Gujarat Titans’ effort, against Kolkata Knight Riders, when they gave up just 15 runs in overs 18, 19 and 20.

CSK outscored SRH in the powerplay 76 for 3 to 75 for 2, and the reason for it was a man who started the season being bounced out. Ayush Mhatre now has 68 runs against fast bowling at a strike rate of 226.66. He laid waste to Praful Hinge, teaching him not to bowl short with a down-to-up pull shot for six, and leaving him backed against that corner as he drove on the up over the off side again and again. Mhatre hit five boundaries in that over – the third of the innings. He was batting like he’d never heard of a concept called running between the wickets. Ironically enough, that’s what did him in.

Mhatre injured his left leg responding to a quick two from Ruturaj Gaikwad. The physio had to come out twice in two balls. In the dugout, there was heightened tension. Head coach Stephen Fleming couldn’t sit still, while batting coach Mike Hussey looked pensive. From the days of the dad’s army, this team’s fortunes now swing up or down based on an 18-year-old’s output. On Saturday, it swung inexorably down. CSK made 62 for 1 in 4.1 overs. Mhatre pulled up on 4.2. CSK spent the next 8.4 overs barely knowing where their next boundary was coming from. They made 58 runs and lost four wickets.

CSK know what it feels like to be on the wrong side of a Malinga. They lost a title that way. Seven years later, their efforts to put a simple league game out of sight was being blocked by a man with the same name.

Eshan Malinga bounced Gaikwad out. His ability to access the yorker length – or close to it – produced two more wickets. Short (34 off 30) and Sarfaraz Khan (25 off 19) were left ruing how well they had hit those balls, because all their power really did was make sure the ball carried to deep midwicket. At the presentation, Malinga said he was getting reverse swing as well.

Dube continued to struggle in the finisher’s role as CSK’s chase fizzled out. They were running away with the game in the powerplay. They were favourites even at the halfway mark of the chase. Not being able to pull it off is another example of how their flawed mega-auction strategy is still following them.

Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 194 for 9 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 59, Travis Head 23, Heinrich Klaasen 59, Nitish Kumar Reddy 12, Salil Arora 13, Shivang Kumar 12; Mukesh Choudhary 2-21, Anshul Kamboj 3-22, Jamie Overton 3-37, Gurjapneet Singh 1-34) beat Chennai Super Kings 184 for 8 in 20 overs (Rutraj Gaikwad 19, Ayush Mhatre 30, Maththew Short 34, Sarfaraz Khan 25, Shivam Dube 21, Jamie Overton 16, Anshul Kamboj 13*; Praful Hinge 1-60, Eshan Malinga 3-29, Nitish Kumar Reddy 2-31, Sakib Hussain 1-32, Shivang Kumar 1-18) by 10 runs

[Cricinfo]


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Trump announces three-day ceasefire in Russia-Ukraine war

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12 hours ago

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2026/05/9

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left), US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin [Aljazeera]

United States ⁠President Donald Trump ⁠says ‌there will be a three-day ceasefire in ⁠the war between ⁠Russia and ⁠Ukraine.

Posting on Truth Social on Friday, the US leader said the truce would last from ⁠Saturday to Monday.

“I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump posted.

Soon after, Ukrainian ⁠President ⁠Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on X that ⁠a three-day truce ⁠had been arranged as part of ‌US efforts to negotiate an end to the more than ⁠four-year-old war.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov later said “an agreement on this matter was reached during our telephone contacts with the US administration. In turn, US representatives were in contact with Kyiv.” He said the agreement followed a recent telephone conversation between President Vladimir Putin and Trump, in which the two presidents “emphasised that our countries were allies during World War II and also discussed the possibility of a ceasefire during the Victory Day celebrations.”

Russia had previously announced a two-day unilateral ceasefire to mark its May 9 World War II Victory Day on Saturday. Ukraine previously stated that it too had offered a truce but that this had been ignored by Moscow.

“This request was made directly by me,” Trump said on Friday, thanking his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts for agreeing to it.

“The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also a big part and factor of World War II. This Ceasefire will include a suspension of all kinetic activity, and also a prison swap of 1,000 prisoners from each Country,” Trump said. Zelenskyy also confirmed the prisoner swap would take place.

[Aljazeera]

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Heat Index is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the North-central and Eastern provinces and in Mannar, Vavuniya and Monaragala districts during the daytime

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12 hours ago

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2026/05/9

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Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 08 May 2026, valid for 09 May 2026

The Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the North-central and Eastern provinces and in Mannar, Vavuniya and Monaragala districts during the daytime

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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Finn Allen’s 47-ball ton powers Kolkata Knight Riders to huge win over Delhi Capitals

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12 hours ago

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2026/05/9

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Pathum Nissanka carried Delhi Capitals in the first half of the innings [Cricinfo]

Kolkata Knight Riders picked up their fourth win on the trot, their spin bowlers (12-0-76-3) capturing Delhi Capitals in a vice-like grip and never letting go Finn Allen made sure that wouldn’t repeat in the second innings. He pulverised DC’s spinners (9-0-102-1) to score his first IPL century even though he only had 143 to chase.

Pathum Nissanka scored a good half-century. He made 50 of DC’s first 85 runs at a strike rate of 172. The other end could only contribute 33 at a strike rate of 103. It was symbolic of how hard it was for a new batter to settle in and how much pressure comes on the set batter on a pitch like this. Even though he was going at a good clip, and had hit the previous ball for four, he still left his crease looking for more and was stumped off Anukul Roy.  The left-arm spinner took another wicket, four balls later.

DC were 74 for 2 after eight overs. But only four of those overs were from spin bowlers and three of them were inside the powerplay. Given the comfort of five fielders on the boundary, and a pitch that was slow and turning, Roy, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy started to dictate proceedings. At one point, DC scored just 11 runs in 30 balls. This was between overs 12 to 16. No IPL team in nearly two decades has ever been this sluggish in this period of play.

Roy set this choke up, stumping Nissanka out with a slower and wider delivery and bowling Tristan Stubbs out with the exact opposite of that. That was solid range for a bowler with no mystery about him.

With DC at 89 for 5, Axar Patel in wretched form (his 44 runs, with only three boundaries, are the fewest by any batter this season having faced at least 50 balls) and the conditions not helping run-scoring, all Narine and Varun had to do was what they do so well. Amp up the mystery. Aim at the stumps. Narine finished with 4-0-17-1. Varun, badly limping when he bowled his final over which cost 16 runs, finished with 4-0-28-0.

Ashutosh Sharma broke a boundary drought that last 38 balls in the 17th over. He reverse swept Vaibhav Arora, coming around the wicket, for six in the 19th over. His cameo – 39 off 28 balls – carried KKR to 142 for 8.

For the first time in his IPL career, Allen played through the powerplay. This was his eighth innings. He might have felt bad for running out his captain Ajinkya Rahane when his straight drive flicked Mitchell Starc’s outstretched finger and deflected onto the stumps but he quickly got over it. DC played a part in that a well with Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam bowling balls right in the slot. Allen is superb down the ground and needed no second invitation. From 20 off 17, he launched 10 sixes, the last of them when KKR needed two to win and he needed six to bring up 100.

Allen had a strike rate of 235 against spin (73 off 31). The next best, from both teams, was Rahane with 167, benefiting from playing just three balls and scoring five runs.

In a match where his former team’s spinners held so much sway (economy rate 6.33), Kuldeep suffered, going at 13.66 an over even though he was spared the trouble of bowling in the powerplay. Axar bowled three with the field up and still finished with figures of 4-0-27-1.

Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 147 for 2 in 14.2 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 13, Finn Allen 100*, Cameron Green 33*; Axar Patel 1-27  ) beat Delhi Capitals 142 for 8 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 50, KL Rahul 23, Axar Patel 11, Ashutosh Sharma 39; Kartik Tyagi 2-25, Anukul Roy 2-31, Vaibhav Arora 1–29, Sunil Narine 1-17, Cameron Green 1-12) by eight wickets

[Cricinfo]

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