Experienced Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) spinner Piyush Chawla on Friday praised Mumbai Indians’ leg-spinner Mayank Markande who has taken the Indian Premier League (IPL) by storm in the first few matches.

Markande, picked out as Mumbai’s surprise package, has taken as many as seven wickets in two matches.

“I have seen him for the first time. I think he is doing very well and I wish him luck,” Chawla told reporters on the sidelines of a promotional event.

Markande, who has got an excellent wrong ‘un, is the purple cap holder — given to the bowler with most number of wickets — now and almost bowled Mumbai to victory in the opening two matches against Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively.

While the Punjab tweaker, 20, returned figures of 3/23 against CSK, he was superb against Sunrisers on Thursday with taking four wickets and leaking just 23 runs.

Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who was also present, opined that spinners with variation are quite a handful in the shortest version of the game and are more successful.

“As an off-spinner, if you’re getting turn and you have quite a good variation that really makes a difference in T20 format. That’s why the spinners are very successful in this format,” said Yadav who is now a regular in the Indian team setup.

KKR take on SRH at the Eden Gardens on Saturday, looking to bounce back after a five-wicket defeat at the hands of CSK on the road.

After the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) home matches were shifted following the Cauvery water dispute, which has created a volatile situation in the southern city, several members of the franchise have expressed their disappointment on missing out on playing in their home ground but hoped that the issue would soon be resolved.

Expressing his dismay, CSK coach Stephen Fleming tweeted: “Sad to be leaving Chennai today. Great to be back and again experience the love and passion the Tamil Nadu fans have for cricket and CSK. I trust a ‘peaceful’ resolution is found soon for the problems at hand. Thanks to everyone for making the team so welcome.”

Batsman Suresh Raina tweeted: “Will miss playing on our home ground and entertaining our #Chennai fans this season…You are always in our hearts.”

The team’s batting coach, Mike Hussey, tweeted: “Very sad that we have to play our remaining home games away from Chennai. Feeling for the players and the fans but also hoping for a peaceful and swift resolution to the current problems. Thanks for the incredible support of all the CSK fans.”

Harbhajan Singh, the new cricketer in the CSK side, also seemed unhappy on leaving the home ground.

“Heart breaking news..no more ipl games in chennai.. fans have waited two years for CSK to play in front of them at home..hope all the issues get solved soon and matches comes back to chennai soon…Thank u for your love,wishes,prayers would be needed all the time,” Harbhajan tweeted.

English batsman Sam Billings said: “Gutted that we have had to move from Chepauk, the atmosphere was unbelievable! Thoughts with the fan who was badly hurt last night, no one should go to watch & end up in hospital. Hope he recovers soon & all issues are resolved. Keep supporting us it makes a huge difference!.”

The decision to shift the remaining CSK home matches to Pune came in wake of protests by Tamil groups demanding that no Indian Premier League (IPL) match should take place in the city until the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) is set up as mandated by the Supreme Court.

Following this, the IPL Governing Council decided to shift the remaining home matches of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to Pune’s Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.

India’s women’s hockey team lost 0-1 to defending champions Australia in a semi-final of the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Thursday.

Grace Stewart’s 37th-minute field goal gave the hosts the win to set-up a title clash with New Zealand, who overcame England 2-1 via penalty shootout in the other semi-final.

India will play England in the bronze-medal playoff on Saturday at the Gold Coast Hockey Centre.

India experienced a miserable campaign in lawn bowls events on day 7 of the 21st Commonwealth Games, losing all their matches at Broadbeach here on Wednesday.

The Indian women’s triples team comprising Farzana Khan, Nayanmoni Saikia and Pinki went down 10-19 to Canada, while in men’s Fours sectional play, the men’s team lost 8-12 to Australia.

In men’s singles sectional play, Krishna failed to open his account against New Zealand’s Shannon McIlroy to go down 0-21 in a tie that only lasted for nine rounds.

Mcilroy began his domination right from the start even as the Indian was struggling to open his scoring at Broadbeach here.

With the loss, Krishna’s journey at the Commonwealth Games men’s singles events have come to an end.

Meanwhile, in women’s pairs sectional play round 4, India’s Lovely Choubey and Rupa Rani Tirkey went down narrowly 17-19 to South African duo of Nicolene Neal and Colleen Piketh.

India had earlier beaten Jersey 22-12 in round 2 and in round 1, the Indian duo won over Wales 20-16. They however, lost the round 3 tie against Northern Ireland 14-15 on Tuesday.

England all-rounder David Willey will replace injured middle-order batsman Kedar Jadhav in the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).

“David Willey has signed up with the Chennai Super Kings for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 as a replacement for the injured Kedar Jadhav,” the BCCI announced in a statement.

Jadhav was ruled out after suffering a hamstring injury after featuring in CSK’s opening game against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.

Willey, an England international, is a left-arm medium pacer and a batsman, who has featured in 34 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and 20 T20 Internationals.

Willey will give CSK an attacking option with both the bat and ball. He can bowl at the death and is also a useful hitter of the ball.

He has opened the innings for Perth Scorches in the Big Bash League but bats at No.7 for England.

The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side’s next game in the IPL 2018 is against Kings XI Punjab at Mohali on Sunday.

The tussle within the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) office-bearers came to the fore once again on Wednesday when the cricket is set to make its comeback in the western city after four years.

R.S. Nandu, RCA general secretary, said that there has been a step-motherly treatment towards RCA officials who worked day in and day out to realise this dream of SMS Stadium hosting cricket again after a gap of four years.

Rajasthan Royals host Delhi Daredevils in their opening home game of the 11th Indian Premier League (IPL) later in the evening.

However, till 11 a.m., neither Nandu nor other senior officials had even one invitation card with them.

Nandu blamed RCA president Dr CP Joshi for the situation. “He might be distributing passes to his favourites,” he said.

“All Ranji players, workers who cooperated with us significantly and many other prominent people will be deprived of watching matches which are coming to the city after four years. There should have been a valid process of distribution of invitation passes.

“Had 15 per cent passes allotted to us, we could have distributed 50 per cent each within ourselves. However, there was no such distribution and hence all of us are sitting idle with no invitation passes in our hands,” Nandu alleged.

Earlier too, rifts between Joshi and Nandu have been reported.

India won three medals in shooting on Day 7 of the Commonwealth Games with Shreyasi Singh winning the gold while Ankur Mittal and Om Mitharval settling for bronze.

On Day 7, Shreyasi Singh won the gold medal for India in Women’s Double Trap on Wednesday. Varsha Varman finished in the 4th position. Ankur Mittal settled for the bronze medal in Men’s Double Trap while Ashab Mohd finished in the 4th position. Jitu Rai, who earlier clinched gold in 10m air pistol, failed to add another for India after he finished in the 8th position. Om Mitharval, who had earlier won a bronze in 10m air pistol, won another bronze after he finished in the third position in the event. India total won 1 gold and 2 bronze in shooting on Day 7

Sam Billings played a little gem as Chennai Super Kings once again pulled off a thrilling chase, beating Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets in an IPL encounter here on Tuesday.

Chasing a stiff target of 203, CSK won the match with a ball to spare as Ravindra Jadeja deposited military medium stuff from R Vinay Kumar into stands. The India discard bowled a forgettable final over where CSK needed 17 runs to win.

This was after Englishman Billings set it up nicely with a magnificent 56 off 23 balls that contained five huge sixes apart from a couple of boundaries.

The pressure put by Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s slow batting (25 off 28 balls) was neutralised by Billings.

Chasing a target of 203 needed a blazing start and veteran Shane Watson was up for a challenge, hitting 42 off 19 balls with three fours and an equal number of sixes in a 75-run opening stand with Ambati Rayudu (39 off 26 balls). Tom Curran making his IPL debut got rid of Watson with a short ball and Rayudu was accounted by Kuldeep Yadav as he tried an inside-out shot.

Suresh Raina (14) sustained a calf muscle injury which hampered his running between the wickets with Sunil Narine sending him back. Dhoni and Billings got the chase back on track with a 54-run stand.

Earlier, Andre Russell hit an incredible 11 sixes in his 36-ball-88 as Kolkata Knight Riders scored a competitive 202 for six after being put into bat.

In one of the finest counter-attacking innings in recent editions of IPL, Russell came in at 89 for 5 and then took the bowling apart with as many as seven sixes being hit off West Indies team-mate Dwayne Bravo, including three in an over.

Russell was involved in a 76-run sixth wicket partnership with skipper Dinesh Karthik (26) as KKR went onto post a good total. In fact, the last five overs yielded 79 runs that got KKR back into the match.

CSK captain MS Dhoni’s strategy to use his slow bowlers in the initial stages on a surface aiding spin worked well but Russell had other ideas as he attacked the pacers including Shardul Thakur (1/37 in 4 overs) and Bravo (0/50 in 3 overs).

Bravo, who was frugal against Mumbai Indians in the first game, was taken for 50 runs in three overs with Russell hammering him all over the park, sending two balls out of the stadium.

Earlier, Sunil Narine got off to a flying start as he did in the game against RCB by hammering Deepak Chahar for two big sixers on the leg-side in the first over of the match.

However, he departed off the first ball he faced from the experienced Harbhajan Singh (1/11 in 2 overs) in the second over, going for a big hit to be caught by Suresh Raina.

Chris Lynn, the dangerman, appeared to be getting into his groove and had hit four boundaries, before being castled by Ravindra Jadeja for 22.

Nitish Rana underlined his potential in his brief knock of 16 before an edge lobbed up to Dhoni. Robin Uthappa, who appeared in good touch, hitting three sixes in his 16-ball-29 was run-out as Raina’s throw caught him short of his ground.

The talented young Rinku Singh didn’t last long and fell to Shardul Thakur to leave KKR in a spot of bother at 89 for 5 in 10 overs. Although Russell rescued KKR with a blistering knock, CSK pulled off another heist.

The legendary but on the wane Lee Chong Wei was one of the casualties as a rampaging Indian mixed badminton team claimed its maiden Commonwealth Games gold medal, thrashing three-time defending champions Malaysia in the final here on Monday.
The pair of Satwik Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa claimed the mixed doubles match against Peng Soon Chan and Liu Yong Goh 21-14, 15-21, 21-15 before Kidambi Srikanth stunned three-time Olympic silver medallist Lee 21-17, 21-14 in straight games, his first victory over the Malaysian giant.
“Perhaps Lee was not at his best but then you can never be too sure against a player like him. You always have to be on your guard, which I was. And I also gave my best. I was not expecting it to be this easy,” Srikanth said after one of the biggest wins of his career.

“Pressure was there on him but Srikanth enjoys the pressure and that got him the result,” added chief national coach Pullela Gopichand. The Games debutant men’s doubles pair of Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost narrowly to Goh and Wee Kiong Tan 15-21, 20-22 keeping Malaysia afloat for a while. But the in-form Saina Nehwal put paid to their hopes with a 21-11, 19-21, 21-9 win over Sonia Cheah.

“It was exhausting, I actually lost focus during the match but thankfully managed to hold it together and ensure that the gold medal winning shot was mine,” said the London Olympics bronze-medallist. “It is a medal that I will forever cherish, it is very special. Team gold is always way more cherishable,” she added. Earlier, India had won the mixed team silver and bronze respectively in the 2010 and 2006 editions of the Commonwealth Games.

Malaysian legend Chong Wei walked out to a thunderous applause to face Srikanth but it wasn’t meant to be his day despite the arena resonating with the chants of his name. The Indian, who has never beaten Lee on the circuit, was neck-and-neck with his rival before taking a 10-8 lead in the opening game.

The ever-so-elegant Lee was surprisingly off colour. As graceful as his on-court movement was, the strokes lacked accuracy as he took the lemon break trailing 8-11. The gap widened as the game progressed and it was quite a dampener for the sizeable Malaysian fans to watch their icon struggle.

Sindhu fit: Gopi Forced out of the gold medal winning mixed team campaign due to an ankle injury, top shuttler P V Sindhu has recovered to be fit for the singles event, Gopichand said. “She is fine now and will compete in the singles competition,” Gopichand said when asked about Sindhu’s fitness status.

“She had an ankle injury, which was not major but we did not want to risk her when Saina was giving us the results we wanted. Now she has recovered and will be there from April 11,” he added. Sindhu, who was to captain the side, had sustained the injury during a practice session in Hyderabad before arriving here for Games.

She was, however, present on the sidelines during all the matches India played, vociferously cheering the team.

As Chennai Super Kings (CSK) braces to take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) this evening amid protests over delay in Cauvery Management Board (CMB), around 4,000 police personnel have been pressed in at MA Chidambaram or Chepauk Stadium in Chennai to ensure the Indian Premier League (IPL) match is played without any disruption or untoward incidents.

Political parties and fringe groups have been demanding cancellation or postponement of all seven IPL matches in Chennai till the Centre constitutes the CMB. They are even asking spectators to boycott the matches.
The protesters feel that empty galleries would send a strong message to the Centre which they say is defying the Supreme Court order by not forming the neutral body which would independently assess and share Cauvery waters between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu according to the water sharing deal.

Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TVK) workers carried out protests outside MA Chidambaram Stadium ahead of CSK vs KKR IPL match, carrying balloons stating, ‘We do not want IPL, we want Cauvery Management Board,” but they were immediately removed by the police and Tamil Nadu Cricket Association who were on their toes.
Tough restrictions have been imposed amid reports that some groups were planning to stage protests and wave black flags inside the stadium during the match. Therefore, spectators won’t be allowed to carry banners, festons, mobile phones, cameras or any other gadget to the venue. They’ve also been warned against use of abusive language.

All roads leading to the stadium will have tight police cover to keep protesters at bay.

Calling IPL matches in Chennai amid widespread Cauvery protests an embarrassment, superstar-turned-politician Rajinikanth on Sunday said, “If they don’t cancel, at least they should allow players and spectators to wear black badges.”