Table-toppers Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who have looked a class apart so far, will start as hot favourites against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday.

Back in the IPL after a two-year hiatus, the M.S. Dhoni-led outfit have till now won six games out of eight and just lost two.

Dhoni has led from the front, playing some blistering knocks including a 22-ball 51 in the last game against Delhi Daredevils which CSK won by 13 runs.

The star former India captain has looked every inch like his old self with 286 runs in eight matches at 71.50.

Dhoni rolled back the years with his 44-ball 79 against Kings XI Punjab, showcasing some of his trademark shots and showing glimpses of the flair which made him one of the best finishers of limited-overs cricket.

Though CSK lost that game, they never looked like a team struggling to get going in this competition.

Besides Dhoni, IPL-11’s top-scorer Ambati Rayudu has been superb with the bat as well, amassing 370 runs at 46.25. In the last four matches, Rayudu has scores of 41, 46, 82 and 79.

Veteran Australian opener Shane Watson has looked good too with a century to his name against Rajasthan Royals, a team he won the inaugural IPL with in 2008.

Watson’s 40-ball 78 in the last encounter underlined the fact that his big-hitting skills are still in the right place despite being on the wrong side of 30 and along with South African skipper Faf Du Plessis, they make a deadly combination at the top.

Du Plessis’ compatriot Lungi Ngidi has added teeth to CSK’s pace battery after returning to the fold following the demise of his father which had forced the 22-year old to rush home.

Ngidi played for the first time in CSK colours against Delhi and returned figures of 1/26. Besides Ngidi, the likes of Harbhajan Singh, and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo have also done well in games, giving the team an overall stability.

Coming to the hosts, KKR registered a morale-boosting six-wicket win against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last game on the road.

After a harrowing 55-run loss against Delhi, Chris Lynn starred for Dinesh Karthik’s KKR with an unbeaten 52-ball 62 as wrist spinners Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav also looked good.

KKR are fourth in the table with four wins and the same number of losses. They have looked good in patches so far and against a formidable side in CSK, the men in purple will have their task cut out.

KKR’s consistent performer Nitish Rana got injured in the last game and had to be retired hurt for 15.

A lot will once again rest on West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell who has been KKR’s go-to-man this season. Kuldeep and Piyush will have to weave their magic with the ball to restrict Chennai and look for early wickets along with mystery spinner Sunil Narine.

In their last meeting, CSK won a humdinger by five wickets with one ball to spare.

KKR don’t have a good track record against CSK, losing 12 times out of a possible 19.

Teams (from):

KKR: Dinesh Karthik (C/WK), Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, R Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi and Tom Curran.

CSK: MS Dhoni (C/WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Faf Du Plessis, Mark Wood, Sam Billings, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Lungisani Ngidi, K.M. Asif, N. Jagadeesan, Kanishk Seth, Monu Singh, Dhruv Shorey, Kshitiz Sharma, Chaitanya Bishnoi.

The Indian U-16 football team will face Jordan, Tajikistan and hosts Serbia in May in a four-nation tournament, an exposure meet to accelerate the preparations for the AFC Under-16 Championship later this year, it was announced on Tuesday.

The exposure tournament comes less than a month after the team played against the U-16 National teams of the US and Norway in the Sportchain International Friendlies.

All the exposure tours have been planned to help the team prepare in the best possible fashion for the forthcoming Asia U-16 Championship in Malaysia between September 20 and October 7. This is India’s third qualification to the AFC U-16 in the last four editions.

India have been clubbed with current runners-up Iran, Vietnam and Indonesia in Group C. Both Jordan and Tajikistan have also qualified for the AFC U-16 Finals.

India head Coach Bibiano Fernandes feels it’s a “marvellous opportunity before the real test”.

“This 4-nation tournament is an extremely helpful project for us before the real test in September. It will help us gauge ourselves where we stand against the likes of Jordan, Tajikistan and of course Serbia. It will help us assert the areas which we need to plug in,” he was quoted as saying by a statement from the All Indian Football Federation (AIFF).

Referring to his team’s matches against a strong US and Norway, Bibiano stated the “boys have shown their mettle against them”.

“The US and Norway are much-respected footballing nations. But the boys played their hearts out. They look in good shape and are hungry to achieve more,” he added.

India’s fixtures in the U-16 four-nation tournament in Serbia is as follows:

May 9, 2018: India vs Jordan (IST 1930hrs)
May 11, 2018: Serbia vs India (IST 2230hrs)
May 13, 2018: Tajikistan vs India (IST 1930hrs).

Faced with an imminent danger of losing the race to the Indian Premier League (IPL)play-offs, bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils now face an uphill task of treating each game as a virtual knock-out as they prepare to host an inconsistent Rajasthan Royals here on Wednesday.

After the resignation of Gautam Gambhir, the struggling Daredevils, under new skipper Shreyas Iyer received a ray of hope when he blasted a 40-ball 93 to power Delhi to a 55-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders at the Ferozshah Kotla here.

But Monday’s 13-run loss to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Pune almost dashed all hopes of a comeback as Delhi succumbed to their sixth loss in eight games and now need to win all their remaining matches to salvage any hopes of staying alive in the tournament.

In the batting department, Iyer and stumper Rishabh Pant have done the bulk of the scoring for Delhi, amassing 306 and 257 runs respectively so far and the onus would be on the duo to lead the batting unit on Wednesday.

Delhi will also hope for a repeat of the brilliant opening platform, they got against KKR from young Prithvi Shaw and Colin Munro besides expecting Australian power-hitter Glenn Maxwell for some fireworks lower down the order.

On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals have experienced a topsy-turvy campaign and find themselves on fifth in the table with six points from seven matches.

With the IPL, entering its business end, skipper Ajinkya Rahane will expect his team to get their act together and aim for consistency.

In their previous match, Rajasthan fell short of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s modest target of 152 by 11 runs. It was despite Rahane scoring a 65 and young Snaju Samson hitting a 40 as they didn’t get support from other batsman.

Rahane and Samson have been their best batsmen this season but inconsistent run of Ben Stokes and Jos Butler has affected their performance this season.

Among the bowlers, young seamer Jofra Archer have done well to claim six wickets in the two matches that he has played so far while this IPL’s costliest buy Jaydev Unadkat have also been amongst the wickets.

But RR’s main concern will be the form of their spinners — Shreyas Gopal and K. Gowtham — who have so far failed to hunt in pairs.

Teams:
Delhi Daredevils: Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Rishabh Pant (WK), Glenn Maxwell, Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Colin Munro, Mohammed Shami, Amit Mishra, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Daniel Christian, Jayant Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Trent Boult, Manjot Kalra, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane, Naman Ojha, Sayan Ghosh, Liam Plunkett, Junior Dala.

Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Jofra Archer, Stuart Binny, Aryaman Birla, Jos Buttler, Dushmantha Chameera, Prashant Chopra, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Dhawal Kulkarni, Ben Laughlin, Mahipal Lomror, Sudhesan Midhun, Sanju Samson, Jatin Saxena, D’Arcy Short, Ish Sodhi, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi, Jaydev Unadkat.

In IPL Cricket, Chennai Super Kings will clash with Delhi Daredevils at Pune on Monday (April 30) at 8 in the evening.

On Sunday night, Kolkata Knight Riders registered a superb 6-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore at Bengaluru to hand Virat Kohli and Co. their fifth defeat in seven matches.

Put in to bat, Bangalore posted 175 for 4 riding on Kohli’s unbeaten 44-ball 68.

In reply, Kolkata overhauled the target with 5 balls to spare, thanks to Aussie opener Chris Lynn’s 62 not out. He was adjudged man of the match.

Earlier in the day, Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Rajasthan Royals by 11 runs at Jaipur to go at the top of the 8-team points table.

KKR with eight points remained in fourth place while Virat Kohli’s men slumped further with their fifth defeat in seven games.

Sunrisers now have moved up to the top spot in the eight-team competition with 12 points from Eight Games, followed by Chennai Super Kings and Kings Eleven Punjab.

Rajasthan have so far obtained only Six points from their Seven fixtures.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Opener Chris Lynn’s unbeaten 62-run knock and Robin Uthappa’s (36) disciplined inning helped Kolkata Knight Riders beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Sunday.

The win, came after two straight losses, took Kolkata to fourth spot with eight points while Bangalore are at seventh spot with four points.

Chasing 176, the visitors got off to a perfect start as Lynn and Sunil Narine (27) forged 59-run partnership in 7.1 overs before the West Indian departed by M. Ashwin.

New batsman Uthappa and Lynn then played sensibly and punished the bad balls. The duo managed to take Kolkata past 100-run mark. But just when things seemed good in the middle, Uthappa was dismissed by Ashwin in the 13th over.

New batsman Nitish Rana (15), who was looking good at the crease, got retied hurt.

Middle-order batsmen Andre Russel (0) and Dinesh Karthik (23) were also sent packing soon but at that time Lynn has already put his team on the front foot and then went on to complete the proceeding in the last over with Shubman Gill (5 not out).

For Bangalore, M. Ashwin and Mohammed Siraj took two wickets each.

Earlier, A good opening stand followed by skipper Virat Kohli’s unbeaten half-century helped Royal Challengers Bangalore to post 175/4.

Kohli’s unbeaten 68-run knock came off 44 balls, containing five boundaries and three sixes at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Put into bat, Bangalore started on a cautious note as openers Quinton de Kock (29 off 27) and Brendon McCullum (38 off 28) shared a 67-run partnership for the first wicket.

KKR spinner Kuldeep Yadav came up with the first breakthrough as he packed de Kock in the ninth over.

With the addition of just seven runs in Bangalore’s overall score of 67, Andre Russel jolted the hosts after dismissing McCullum and Manan Vohra (0) in the next over.

However, Kohli kept one end tight and added 65 runs for the fourth wicket with Mandeep Singh (19).

Mandeep however, didn’t show a fight and was dismissed on a Russel delivery in the 18th over with Bangalore’s score reading 140/4.

Kohli continued his good work and slammed yet another half-century and some fireworks by him in the final moments helped the hosts reach a respectable total of 175/4.

For Kolkata, Russel was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/31 while Kuldeep scalped a wicket for 20 runs.

Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore: 175/4 (Virat Kohli 68, Brendon McCullum 38; Andre Russell 3/31) vs KKR: 176/4 (Chris Lynn 62 not out; M Ashwin 2/ 36)

Sunrisers Hyderabad dominated with both bat and ball to defeat Rajasthan Royals by 11 runs and rise to the top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) table here on Sunday.

Electing to bat first, Hyderabad rode on excellent batting by Kane Williamson and Alex Hales to post 151/7 in their 20 overs.

In reply, Rajasthan could only manage to reach 140/6.

The win propelled Hyderabad to the top spot on the points table. The visitors now have 12 points from eight matches.

They rose one rung, displacing former champions Chennai Super Kings to the second spot. Kings XI Punjab are at the third position.

Both Chennai and Punjab are on 10 points, with only the net run rate separating the two teams.

Rajasthan’s chase was off to a poor start as opener Rahul Tripathi was bowled by Hyderabad pacer Sandeep Sharma in the third over.

Rajasthan skipper Ajinkya Rahane — the team’s other opener — led from the front, batting through the innings to remain unbeaten on 65 runs off 55 balls.

He posted a partnership of 59 runs off 44 balls with Sanju Samson to bring the hosts’ innings back on track after Tripathi’s departure.

Samson scored 40 runs off 30 balls before holing out to Hales at short mid-wicket while attempting to smash a deceptive slower ball by Siddarth Kaul out of the ground.

That seemed to take the fight out of the hosts as they continued to lose wickets at regular intervals.

Kaul returned figures of 2/23 to emerge as the most successful among the Hyderabad bowlers.

Sandeep Sharma, Basil Thampi, Rashid Khan and Yusuf Pathan also bagged a wicket each.

Earlier, Hyderabad rode on excellent batting by Williamson and Hales to post 151/7 in their 20 overs.

Williamson smashed 63 runs off 43 balls with seven boundaries and two sixes. Hales scored 45 runs off 39 balls.

The two of them added 92 runs between them to lay the foundation of a big total after Hyderabad opener Shikhar Dhawan was bowled by Krishnappa Gowtham in the third over.

New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi brought the partnership to an end in the 15th over when he claimed his maiden IPL wicket in the form of Williamson.

That triggered a strong comeback by the hosts as the visitors’ middle and lower order failed to rise to the occasion.

West Indies pacer Jofra Archer was the most successful among the Rajasthan bowlers with figures of 3/26 in his four overs.

Brief scores:

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 151/7 in 20 overs (Kane Williamson 63, Alex Hales 45; Jofra Archer 3/26) vs Rajasthan Royals: 140/6 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 65, Sanju Samson 40).

The All India Open Challenge figure skating championships concluded at the iSKATE- ice skating rink & cafe at Ambience Mall here on Sunday.

The competition, organised by the Ice Skating Association of India and Indraprastha Ice Skating Association, witnessed 30 competitors from various parts of India.

The figure skating challenge had separate competitions in three age categories.

The judges for this figure skating event were J.S. Sahney, Vasu Dev Tandi and Anup Kumar Yama.

Manit Singh and Ishita Kapoor finished first in the 13-15 age group boys and girls competitions respectively.

Jatin Sherawat and Harshita Ratwani won in the 10-13 age group competitions.

Sunrisers Hyderabad dominated with the bat and ball to defeat Rajasthan Royals by 11 runs in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Sunday.

Electing to bat first, Hyderabad rode on excellent batting by Kane Williamson and Alex Hales to post 151/7 in their 20 overs.

In reply, Rajasthan could only manage to reach 140/6.

The win propelled Hyderabad to the second spot on the points table. The visitors rose one rung, displacing Kings XI Punjab to the third position.

Both Hyderabad and Punjab are on 10 points, the same as leaders Chennai, with only the net run rate separating the three teams.

Rajasthan’s chase was off to a poor start as opener Rahul Tripathi was bowled by Hyderabad pacer Sandeep Sharma in the third over.

Rajasthan skipper Ajinkya Rahane — the team’s other opener — led from the front, batting through the innings to remain unbeaten on 65 runs off 55 balls.

He posted a partnership of 59 runs off 44 balls with Sanju Samson to bring the hosts’ innings back on track after Tripathi’s departure.

Samson scored 40 runs off 30 balls before holing out to Hales at short mid-wicket while attempting to smash a deceptive slower ball by Siddarth Kaul out of the ground.

That seemed to take the fight out of the hosts as they continued to lose wickets at regular intervals.

Kaul returned figures of 2/23 to emerge as the most successful among the Hyderabad bowlers.

Sandeep Sharma, Basil Thampi, Rashid Khan and Yusuf Pathan also bagged a wicket each.

Earlier, Hyderabad rode on excellent batting by Williamson and Hales to post 151/7 in their 20 overs.

Williamson smashed 63 runs off 43 balls with seven boundaries and two sixes. Hales scored 45 runs off 39 balls.

The two of them added 92 runs between them to lay the foundation of a big total after Hyderabad opener Shikhar Dhawan was bowled by Krishnappa Gowtham in the third over.

New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi brought the partnership to an end in the 15th over when he claimed his maiden IPL wicket in the form of Williamson.

That triggered a strong comeback by the hosts as the visitors’ middle and lower order failed to rise to the occasion.

West Indies pacer Jofra Archer was the most successful among the Rajasthan bowlers with figures of 3/26 in his four overs.

Brief scores:

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 151/7 in 20 overs (Kane Williamson 63, Alex Hales 45; Jofra Archer 3/26) vs Rajasthan Royals: 140/6 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 65, Sanju Samson 40).

A good opening stand followed by skipper Virat Kohli’s unbeaten half-century helped Royal Challengers Bangalore to post 175/4 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) tie here on Sunday.

Kohli’s unbeaten 68-run knock came off 44 balls, containing five boundaries and three sixes at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Put into bat, Bangalore started on a cautious note as openers Quinton de Kock (29 off 27) and Brendon McCullum (38 off 28) shared a 67-run partnership for the first wicket.

KKR spinner Kuldeep Yadav came up with the first breakthrough as he packed de Kock in the ninth over.

With the addition of just seven runs in Bangalore’s overall score of 67, Andre Russel jolted the hosts after dismissing McCullum and Manan Vohra (0) in the next over.

However, Kohli kept one end tight and added 65 runs for the fourth wicket with Mandeep Singh (19).

Mandeep however, didn’t show a fight and was dismissed on a Russel delivery in the 18th over with Bangalore’s score reading 140/4.

Kohli continued his good work and slammed yet another half-century and some fireworks by him in the final moments helped the hosts reach a respectable total of 175/4.

For Kolkata, Russel was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/31 while Kuldeep scalped a wicket for 20 runs.

Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore: 175/4 (Virat Kohli 68, Brendon McCullum 38; Andre Russell 3/31) vs KKR.

World football’s governing body FIFA said on Friday that the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) head Marco Polo Del Nero has been banned for life from the sport.

In addition to the lifetime ban, Del Nero was also fined 1 million Swiss francs ($1 million), FIFA said in a statement, reported Efe.

Del Nero, who faces federal charges in the US, was suspended as CBF president last December 2017 as a result of a FIFA investigation into corruption allegations.

The probe uncovered “schemes in which he received bribes in exchange for his role in awarding contracts to companies for the media and marketing rights to various football tournaments,” according to the FIFA statement.

The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee concluded that Del Nero violated multiple articles of the FIFA Code of Ethics in regard to bribery and corruption, offering and accepting gifts and other benefits, and conflicts of interest.

The note added that Del Nero was informed of the decision on Friday and the ban came into force immediately upon notification.

The CBF is currently led by Rogerio Caboclo, who was backed by Del Nero in an election in which he was the only candidate and had the support of all regional federations and most of the clubs in the country.

(ians)