Mohali, Apr 15 : After beating strong MI in their last match, Rajasthan Royals will look to continue their winning momentum in their next IPL match against Kings XI Punjab at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium on Tuesday.
In their last match, RR defeated MI on their home-ground by four wickets and are currently placed at the seventh spot with two wins from seven matches.
On the other hand, KXIP are at fifth spot after suffering back-to-back losses against Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore respectively. Overall, the hosts have registered four wins from eight matches.
This is the second encounter between these teams this season, with KXIP having won the first one by 14 runs – that match featured the infamous ‘Mankading’ incident with Ravichandran Ashwin and Jos Buttler.
For Rajasthan, Buttler has been the top-scorer but their batting line-up also includes skipper Rahane, Samson and Steve Smith and they will have to deliver their best with the bat.
English all-rounder Ben Stokes who missed the last match due to an injury will likely make a comeback against Punjab.
In bowling department, RR pacer Jofra Archer has troubled the batsmen with his fast bouncers and deadly yorkers and would look for another good outing against KXIP.
Among others, seamers Jaydev Unadkat and Dhawal Kulkarni along with spinner Shreyas Gopal will have to deliver their best performace if RR want to keep their Playoffs chances alive.
For KXIP, both their explosive openers K L Rahul and Chris Gayle have scored most of their runs and are in good touch. The likes of Mayank Agrawal, Sam Curran and Sarfaraz Khan have also performed well but they lack consistency.
KXIP were extremely sloppy in the field and they dropped catches and conceded extra runs which cost them the match against RCB.
Ravi Ashwin will be hoping for a better effort from his team-mates and the team management will also be aware of their tendency of going down in the second half of the season. They were knocked out of the tournament last year due to the same reason despite starting extremely well.
KXIP pacers, Mohammad Shami, Andrew Tye and all-rounder Sam Curran gave too many runs in the last game and they need to bowl a tight line to support their skipper R Ashwin, who has done well with his bowling so far in the tournament.
In head to head contest, KXIP and RR have played 22 matches so far in the history of the IPL tournament.
RR have won 10 of those games, while KXIP managed to win the remaining eight matches.

Mumbai, Apr 15 : The BCCI on Monday announced 15-member India squad for the World Cup to be lead by skipper Virat Kohli here on Monday.
Rohit Sharma will be Kohli’s deputy.
Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu missed the line-up while K L Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Vijay Shankar and Ravindra Jadeja finding their places in the squad.
The selection panel, led by MSK Prasad, and Virat Kohli met at the BCCI headquarters here earlier on Monday, and named the men who will be heading to the UK in late May.
Ambati Rayudu and Pant were among the contenders for the spot, but the selectors placed their faith in Karthik, with Rahul around as a reserve opening batsman or even an option for no 4.
Squad:
Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MSD (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra
Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Shami

Mumbai, Apr 13 : Rajasthan Royals won the toss and opted to field against Mumbai Indians in an IPL match here at Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.

Mumbai Indians, having won their last three matches, and are third on the table with 8 points, while Rajasthan Royals, are on seventh. They are still looking for only their second win of the season.

All the eyes will be on MI stars Kieron Pollard and Alzarri Joseph, who have come up with two match-winning performances in the home team’s last two matches. Home skipper Rohit Sharma has returned in this match.

RR’s batting line-up, includes skipper Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, Steve Smith and Jos Buttler who will confront the MI bowlers. Liam Livingstone is playing his first IPL match.

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane(c), Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w), Steven Smith, Rahul Tripathi, Liam Livingstone, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni

Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Alzarri Joseph, Rahul Chahar, Jason Behrendorff, Jasprit Bumrah

Hyderabad, Apr 13 : Delhi Capitals seem determined to carry forward their winning streak while taking on Sunrisers Hyderabad in their next Indian Premier League game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday.

The hosts would put all their efforts in winning the game as they lost two matches back-to-back in the cash-rich tournament. After losing a game against Mumbai Indians at home, they failed to defend a tally against Kings XI Punjab. However, this time, they would love to turn the tables.

Like other teams in the IPL, Sunrisers Hyderabad too have a lot to worry about. Apart from the opening duo– Jonny Bairstow and David Warner– none of the batsmen have shown stability in the middle. They would expect their batsmen to score runs at any cost for the crucial clash.

On the other hand, Delhi Capitals will be on high confidence after winning their last match against Kolkata Knight Riders, where Shikhar Dhawan struck 97 runs off 63 balls. He would once again be the key factor, as he is quite aware of the conditions at Hyderabad.

Though, it won’t easy to take on orange cap on their home ground, but DC the bowlers like Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris to take on the challenge. It will be interesting to see, whether Axar Patel can perform like others spinner.

In terms of batting, DC batsmen have proved themselves in the last game and the same performance will be expected against the hosts which has the best bowling units in the competition with Rashid, Nabi and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Kolkata, Apr 13 : Time has come for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to stop the
current slide, especially, after two consecutive loss, almost in similar fashion, or
else maintaining the top four position may prove a tough task later, when Dinesh
Karthik boys will host MS Dhoni’s rampaging brigade -Chennai Super Kings- at
Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Two times winners KKR were atop the table in the current edition even after their
5th game, but the CSK toppled them to the second position in the 6th game and
took top slot when Dhoni’s boys beat them in Chennai by 7 wickets on April 9.
KKR could not reverse their fate even at home in the following game when visiting
Sourav Ganguly mentored Delhi Capitals easily beat the host by 7 wickets at Eden
on Friday night, the first home loss in the current edition for Shah Rukh Khan
franchise.
Defending champions Chennai Super Kings, atop the eight-team table with six
wins ( 12 points) from their opening seven matches, visit Kolkata where Andre
Russell’s explosive batting form may be a game changer for the host.
Kolkata have won four matches so far but defeats in their last two games have
halted their momentum.
Chennai restricted Kolkata to 108/9 in their previous meeting, despite Russell’s
half-century (unbeaten 50), as the Super Kings claimed a seven-wicket home win.
Interestingly, the two consecutive defeats for KKR preceded by losing the toss
and rival sent KKR to batting first.
Kolkata have lost their toss in their last two matches and been asked to bat,
with the general trend at Eden Gardens being to field first.
KKR could not save match despite three changes with overseas contingent.
Joe Denly, Carlos Brathwaite and Lockie Ferguson all came into the team, with
Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn and Harry Gurney dropping out.
The changes proved unsuccessful, however, with Denly out first ball and the
two bowlers proving expensive and wicket less. There could therefore be changes
again this time out.
Despite defeat to Delhi Capitals on Friday night here, Andre Russell’s explosive
form continued as he hit 45 from 21 balls with the bat and took 1-29 from three
overs with the ball.
Russell became the third IPL batsman to pass 300 runs so far this season as a
result.
He is also KKR’s top wicket-taker.
Shubman Gill was KKR top scorer with 65, his IPL highest and second half-ton,
pushed up the order to open. Robin Uthappa moved to 211 runs from seven innings,
while Nitish Rana has 180 from six.
Spinner Kuldeep Yadav has taken three wickets so far, but he has a good economy
rate and has shown his match-winning ability for India on numerous occasions in the
past year too.
Chennai Super Kings’ skipper MS Dhoni, the man-of-the match in their most recent
games, remains available after escaping a ban for his on-field confrontation with
umpire Ulhas Gandhe in that win against Rajasthan.
Mitchell Santner and Shardul Thakur returned to the team for that game, in place
of Harbhajan Singh and Scott Kuggeleijn.
Harbhajan took 2-15 in the previous game against Kolkata but has only played in
one match away from Chennai so far this season. Dwayne Bravo is currently
unavailable due to a hamstring injury.
The Super Kings have strength throughout their batting line-up, with Ambati
Rayudu scoring 57 in that chase, and Faf du Plessis scoring an unbeaten 43 in
the win against Kolkata when these teams last met.
Shane Watson has not showed the consistent form he displayed in Pakistan,
but the Australian should never be written off at the top of the order either.
Chennai’s bowlers have been key to their success so far, meanwhile.
Deepak Chahar has taken ten wickets in seven matches so far, while Imran
Tahir has weighed in with nine.
They have excellent economy rates of 6.29 runs per over and 5.61 runs per
over respectively too.
Chennai Super Kings predicted playing 11:
Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav,
MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur,
Imran Tahir
Kolkata Knight Riders predicted playing 11:
Joe Denly, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik, Shubman
Gill, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Harry Gurney, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh
Krishna

Singapore, Apr 11 : Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and sixth seed Saina Nehwal progressed into women’s singles quarterfinals of the USD 355,000 Singapore Open here on Thursday.
Fourth seeded Sindhu took 39 minutes to defeat world number 22 Mia Blichfeldt 21-13 21-19. This was her second straight win over the Danish girl, who had clinched the Spain Masters this year.
World number 6 Sindhu will face China’s Cai Yanyan in next game, a BWF World Junior Championships bronze medallist.
While, Nehwal ranked no 9 in BWF charts took 67 minutes to beat unseeded Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 21-16, 18-21, 21-19 in the second round.
Saina will next face second seed and former world champion Nozomi Okuhara in Friday’s quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Parupalli Kashyap failed to deal with reigning Olympic champion Chen Long. Kashyap battled hard to force a decider after meekly surrendering the first game 9-21 to Chen.
However, the Chinese shuttler managed to close out the deciding game 21-16 and progress to the quarter-final.

Meanwhile, unseeded Sameer Verma went past China’s Lu Guangzu 21-15, 21-18 to book a place in the quarter-final. He will now face the winner of Thursday’s Round of 16 match between Jan O Jorgensen and second seed Chou Tien Chen on Friday.
Later in the day, sixth seed Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy will be in action in the men’s singles second round. While Prannoy faces world number one Kento Momota, Srikanth takes on Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus for a spot in the quarter-final.

New Delhi, Apr 11 (UNI) Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) named Australia’s fast-bowler Matt Kelly as a replacement for the injured South African pacer Anrich Nortje for the remainder of the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

He has played 16 First-Class matches, five List A games and 12 T20s so far. This will be his first IPL.
Nortje, who was bought by the franchise for Rs 20 lakh, was ruled out of the cash-rich league right at the start due to a shoulder injury.

The 24-year-old Australian cricketer has represented Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League (BBL).

Former Australian batsman Simon Katich, who is now KKR’s assistant coach, was clearly impressed enough by Kelly’s performances in the BBL to convince head coach former South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis that he was worth signing for the rest of the season.
He will join the likes of Andre Russell, Chris Lynn and skipper Dinesh Karthik.
KKR features at number two in the points table with 8 points in 6 matches.

Jaipur, Apr 10 : Playing at their home ground, struggling Rajasthan Royals will look to put their IPL campaign back on track as they face rampaging Chennai Super Kings in their next match at Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Thursday.
RR have won just one match against RCB and lost four so far in the tournament and are placed at 7th position in the points table.
On the other hand, CSK thrashed KKR in their last match will play fearlessly as they are sitting pretty at the top of the table with five victories from six games.
This is the second encounter between these two teams this season. Earlier, when they met in Chennai, CSK won the match by eight runs.
After losing their last match against KKR, RR are now in a position from where they have to win almost all their remaining games to keep their play-off chances alive.
RR, who are largely dependent on Buttler are facing drought in the batting department . Even, Butler has failed in the last couple of innings.
Sanju Samson, who had the brilliant first ton of this IPL, is still recovering from an injury and after a great start to the season.
However, the return to form of former Australian captain Steve Smith will give some relief to RR camp. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Tripathi and Ben Stokes will also have to play their part.
In bowling too, RR bowlers have not been consistent so far. The likes of Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jaidev Unadkat, and Dhawal Kulkarni will have to pull up their socks against an in-form CSK and come up with new strategy.
CSK, on the other hand are high on confidence after they defeated the Royals earlier in the season, when Dhoni smashed an unbeaten 75 to clinch an eight-run victory.
CSK batting looks strong with Shane Watson and Fau Du Plessis at the top while the middle-order consists of Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jhadav and Dhoni.
In bowing unit, CSK have an impressive mix of pace and spin will try to exploit the Jaipur wicket, which has been playing slow and low.
However,CSK will definitely miss the services of all-rounder DJ Bravo who is still nursing the injury.

New Delhi, Apr 10 : NKFI & DSPORT on Wednesday announced dates for the first edition of the Indo International Premier Kabaddi League (IPKL), beginning from May 13 in Pune.

The IPKL will run from May 13 June 4 across three venues in Pune, Mysore and Bengaluru.

There will be a total of 44 matches in season one, which will feature eight teams and a total of 160 players, including 16 foreign signings. All players were selected post rigorous selection trials conducted throughout the country which were open to all.

Former Indian cricket great Virender Sehwag here at a glittering ceremony in the national capital unveiled the logo said, “It pained the whole nation including myself to see India lose their golden stranglehold in the Kabaddi competition at the Jakarta Palembang 2018 Asian Games.

Kabaddi is a pride of the country including many such indigenous sports which all of us at some point grew up playing. I wish the IPKL and all players all the very best in this new journey” said he.

Bhubaneswar, Apr 10 : Football Club (FC) Goa thrashed I-League 2018-19 champions Chennai City FC 3-0 in the first semi-final of the Hero Super Cup, here at the Kalinga Stadium.
Now, FC Goa will face the winner of Wednesday’s match, to be played between ATK and Chennaiyin FC , in the Final.
On Tuesday, Ferran Corominas scored from the penalty spot in the 26th minute to give Goa a 1-0 lead. The Spaniard found the back of the net again after nine minutes to take the Goa’s tally to 2-0.
Brandon Fernandes added his name to the score sheet when he scored match’s third goal in the 69th minute.
Goa posted some early challenge against Chennai City’s defence, with Jackichand Singh finding space down the right wing and making a nuisance of himself with his speed and unpredictable run inside the box.
In the first 15 minutes, Seriton Fernandes and Zaid Krouch came close to score, but the player shot at goal post which was deflected wide, while Krouch’s deflected shot from range needed a fingertip save from Chennai custodian Mauro Boerchio to keep the Goa team goalless.
However, Goa kept attacking which finally paid off in the 25th minute as Jacki found Ferran Corominas in the box, who finished the deadlock in 26th minute by scoring first of his two goals.
In the second half too, Goa continued its dominance and scored third goal of the match in the 69th minute.
Boumous received the ball in the midfield and set Brandon Fernandes free.
The winger put on his afterburners, ran onto the through pass and calmly slotted it past Boerchio to make it 3-0 for Goa.
Then, Chennai tried their best to make come back into the game, but Goa managed to keep them at bay.
Goa’s assistant coach Jesus Tato gave all credit to their players for executing plans on the field.
Speaking after the match, he said, “Before the game, we knew Chennai City are a team with a lot of potential. We outplayed them easily as the score can tell. But at the end of the day, it was the players who displayed it on the pitch. We really worked hard towards this game. I must give all the credit to the players.”
Talking about his miss opportunities for third goal, Corominas said, “As a striker, you always want to score goals. Today, I would have liked to score a hat-trick, but regardless of who scores, the most important thing is that the team wins. I will always do my best for the team.”
Goa’s young left back Saviour Gama was adjourned Man of the Match. The defender was also instrumental in Goa’s victory.