RCB skipper Faf du Plessis (35 off 23) got his team off the blocks before the visitors collapsed to 78 for five.
Anuj Rawat (48 off 25) and Dinesh Karthik (38 not out off 26) shared a 95-run stand off 57 balls for the sixth wicket to give some respectability to the total.
Virat Kohli, who opened alongside du Plessis, made 21 off 20 in his first competitive game in more than two months.
Mustafizur Rahman was the stand out bowler for CSK taking four wickets. Brief scores: RCB in 20 overs (Anuj Rawat 48, Dinesh Karthik 38 not out; Mustafizur Rahman 4/29).
The 35-year-old did not have a very good outing with the bat, scoring 21 in 20 balls, with a six. His runs came at a strike rate of 105.
Published Date – 22 March 2024, 10:30 PM
Photo: AFP
Chennai: Virat Kohli completed 1,000 runs against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Friday.
Virat accomplished this milestone during the Indian Premier League (IPL) opener against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
The 35-year-old did not have a very good outing with the bat, scoring 21 in 20 balls, with a six. His runs came at a strike rate of 105.
Now, Virat has 1,006 runs in 32 matches against CSK at an average of 37.25, with nine half-centuries in 31 innings. His best score is 90*.
The most runs by a batter against an opposition belongs to Delhi Capitals’ (DC) batter David Warner, who has scored 1,075 runs against two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at an average of 44.79 and a strike rate of over 145. He has scored two centuries and six fifties, with the best score of 126 against KKR.
Virat also has 1,030 runs against Delhi Capitals in 1,030 runs at an average of 51.50, with 10 half-centuries in 27 innings. His best score is 99. His runs have come at a strike rate of over 133.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bat first against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the blockbuster opening clash of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 here at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
CSK will head into the high-voltage Southern derby with a new captain, as MS Dhoni handed over the baton to opening batter Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Faf du Plessis(c), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat(w), Karn Sharma, Alzarri Joseph, Mayank Dagar and Mohammed Siraj.
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni(w), Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Mustafizur Rahman and Tushar Deshpande.
Park Hyatt secured a commanding nine-wicket triumph over Quality Inn Residency in the final of the Hotel & Restaurants Association of Telangana State (HRATS) T20 Cricket Tournament in Hyderabad, courtesy of G Naresh Kumar’s stellar all-round performance and N Gopi’s outstanding batting display.
Published Date – 22 March 2024, 10:31 PM
Hyderabad: Riding on G Naresh Kumar’s all-round show and N Gopi’s brilliance with the bat, Park Hyatt registered a nine-wicket victory over Quality Inn Residency in the final of the Hotel & Restaurants Association of Telangana State (HRATS) T20 Cricket Tournament in Hyderabad on Friday.
Batting first, Park Hyatt’s fine show with ball led to Quality Inn bundled out for 130 in 18.5 over.
Naresh recorded a figure of 2/16. Later, he partnered with Gopi smashing unbeaten 55 and 57 run knocks respectively to comfortably reach the target in the 15.2 overs with nine wickets in hand.
Brief Scores: Quality Inn Residency 130 in 18.5 overs (Avijit rout 28; Vishal Vishvkarma 2/29, N Gopi 2/19, G Naresh Kumar 2/16 ) lost to Park Hyatt 134/1 in 15.2 overs ( N Gopi 57 no ( 42 b ) ( 5×4, 2×6 ), G Naresh Kumar 55 no (42 b) ( 6×4 ); T K Sunil Kumar 1/29).
For the winners, Santosh, Vijay, Akash recorded scores of 20, 18 and 13 respectively to contribute to their team’s victory. Tejender was the top-performer with 21 for Sanathnagar Playground.
Updated On – 22 March 2024, 11:00 PM
Hyderabad: South Central Railway (SCR) exhibited an impressive performance to beat Sanathnagar Playground 83-57 in the semifinal clash to storm into the final of the 5th Samuel Vasanth Kumar Memorial Basketball Tournament held at YMCA Secunderabad on Friday.
For the winners, Santosh, Vijay, Akash recorded scores of 20, 18 and 13 respectively to contribute to their team’s victory. Tejender was the top-performer with 21 for Sanathnagar Playground.
An nternational freestyle wrestling competition under the name of Vardanyann Cup was held between March 15th and the 17th of March in Yerevan. At the end of the tournament, the Iranian freestyle team won 2 gold medals and 5 bronze medals to finish runner-up.
Ebrahim Elahi and Abolfazl Hosseini clinched the gold medals for Iran in 70 and 74 kg weights. Meanwhile, Hossein Sarlak in 65 kg weight, Aria Moghadasi in 74 kg weight, Iman Babaei in 86 kg category, Amir Azizpour in 92 kg and Amir Bahador Khormi in 97 kg were the five bronze medal winners for Iran.
The host Armenia became the champion, Iran became the runner-up, and Belarus took the third place.
Choopan beat six other Men’s Open competitors to win the title, including runner-up and home country favorite Samson Dauda and bronze medalist Akim Williams of the U.S., to clinch the $130,000 prize and trophy from promoter Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tehran Times reported.
This is Choopan’s second straight win in the past month, having already won the 2024 Arnold Classic US competition in Columbus, OH.
2024 Arnold Classic UK Results are as follow:
1. Hadi Choopan (Iran) 2. Samson Dauda (UK) 3. Akim Williams (U.S.) 4. Jonathan Delarosa (U.S.) 5. James Hollingshead (UK) 6. Mohamad Shaaban Elimbaby (U.S.) 7. Antoine Vaillant (Canada)
The schedule for the first two weeks has been already released with defending champions Chennai Super Kings taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore at home on March 22.
Published Date – 16 March 2024, 10:50 PM
New Delhi: BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Saturday dismissed speculation that the league would be shifted to the UAE due to the upcoming general elections in the country between April 19 to June 1.
There were endless rumours about the IPL being shifted to the Emirates due to the elections which will be held in seven phases with the reports filling social media about players being asked to deposit their passports with respective franchises.
However, Shah set the in India. We will be formulating the remaining schedule very soon and announce it,” Shah told PTI.
The schedule for the first two weeks has been already released with defending champions Chennai Super Kings taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore at home on March 22.
In earlier conversations with PTI, BCCI secretary Shah had categorically maintained that the full tournament will be held in India, just like it happened in 2019, the year of previous Lok Sabha election. They were only waiting for the Election Commission to announce the poll dates.
In the morning, IPL chairman Arun Dhumal had also said there was no chance of shifting the IPL out of the country and all the reports of the tournament being held in UAE were baseless.
However, the league was moved out of the country during the general elections in 2014 when the UPA government was in power. Then the first phase was held in the UAE before returning to India for the second phase.
One of the notable names GT acquired during the IPL 2024 auction was Shahrukh Khan.
Published Date – 16 March 2024, 09:27 PM
New Delhi: Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra opened up about replacing two key players – Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Shami ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League 2024 season.
In two years of GT’s IPL journey, Shami and Pandya have played a crucial role in guiding the franchise to back-to-back finals.
However, Pandya traded to five-time champions Mumbai Indians and Shami being ruled out of the entire tournament after undergoing surgery on his Achilles tendon, GT will miss two key players in their playing XI.
Nehra talked about replacing the experience and talent that both players offer to the squad ahead of the new season and feels that players like Umesh Yadav and Sai Kishore will get the opportunity to step in and perform for the team.
“In any sport, you have to move on. You can’t buy experience to replace Hardik, Shami, it’s not going to be easy. But there’s the learning curve. Every year, new guys come and they step in and that’s how teams move forward,” Nehra said.
“In IPL, every team has the luxury of 25 players. It’s a 12-person game, but you are talking about Hardik Pandya and Shami – to fill those shoes is not easy. But like I said, we have enough people, Umesh Yadav, again a guy who has been playing IPL [for] 10-12 years. Sai Kishore, he didn’t play last year, but he’s been doing so well. So every year, you will see new guys and you have to believe in yourself and prepare for that,” Nehra said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
One of the notable names GT acquired during the IPL 2024 auction was Shahrukh Khan.
The 28-year-old was acquired for a hefty price tag of Rs 7.4 crore. Last year he showed glimpses of his true potential by playing some influential knocks for Punjab Kings.
He mainly appeared playing the role of a finisher. Nehra talked about Shahrukh’s role and stated that the fans are going to see him as the “main actor.”
“We’re going to see Shahrukh Khan become the main actor. IPL is a very long tournament. It’s not like we’re playing just three, four, five matches. Conditions are also difficult in May and June. It will be hard on the players, especially fast bowlers. Injuries can also happen. So every player we have is important and those we have are experienced. Spencer Johnson, if you see, wherever he’s played, he’s played well. Azmatullah Omarzai again, he has all the skills in this world as an allrounder and we are very hopeful that they’ll have a great IPL,” Nehra said when answering a question about the finishers in the squad.
GT will play five-time champions Mumbai Indians in their opening game of the season on March 24 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
Iran’s national Goalball team is scheduled to play against Sweden and Montenegro on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
The seven players representing Iran at the event, under the guidance of head coach Bahman Dousti Vala, are Mostafa Shahbazi, Hassan Jafari, Mahdi Abbasi, Mohammad Mahdi Zarei, Khalil Shahriarnasab, Milad Soori, and Nematollah Sarafraz.
Iran has already secured a place in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games by winning a gold medal in the IBSA Asia-Pacific Goalball Championships held in Hangzhou, China in November.
The 7th Edition of the Goalball Nations Cup 2024 is being held in Berlin, Germany, from March 15 to 17.
Iran’s Sarkhosh defeated his Ukrainian opponent, Iulian Boiko, 10-8 in the final round of the WPBSA Q Tour Global Playoff, securing his place in the World Snooker Tour (WST).
Throughout the tournament, Sarkhosh won matches against competitors from England 5-4 and 6-2, ultimately leading him to the final round.
This marks Sarkhosh’s second time participating in the World Snooker Tour.
Sarkhosh, along with another Iranian snooker player, Hossein Vafaei, will represent Iran in the upcoming world tournament.
The WPBSA Q Tour Global Playoff was held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina from March 13-15, 2024.
