THE HINDU

Monday, April 28, 2025 15

Delhi
Sport
JOY OF TRAVEL WICKETS GALORE SMASHING ‘EM ALWAYS A CHANCE
RCB wins sixth straight away game, Bhuvneshwar moves past Chawla, SKY scales yet another peak, Bowlers will have their day
the first team to do so in a season occupies the second spot completes 4,000 runs in IPL at some point, feels Boult

SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR SPORTZPICS/IPL EMMANUAL YOGINI EMMANUAL YOGINI

X X X X
Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s victory against Delhi Capitals at the RCB pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar became the second highest Mumbai Indians batter Suryakumar Yadav completed 4,000 runs in Batters take power-hitting to another level in the IPL but the
Kotla ensured its away record remained intact in IPL 2025. It wicket-taker in the IPL when he took a three-for against DC on the IPL in Sunday’s game against Lucknow Super Giants in Mumbai. “bowlers will have their day” if they focus on staying aggressive
registered its sixth successive victory on the road, the best streak by Sunday. His tally (193 in 185 innings) took him past Piyush Chawla, He reached the landmark in his 160th match and becomes the 13th without compromising accuracy, said Mumbai Indians’ Trent Boult.
a team in an IPL season. Rajat Patidar and Co. have, however, won who ended his IPL career with 192 (191 innings). Yuzvendra Chahal Indian batter to achieve the feat. During the course of his 28-ball 54, He said T20 cricket has evolved with batters finding ways to hit big
just once in four matches at home during this campaign. sits at the top (214 wickets in 167 innings). he also crossed the 150 sixes mark in the tournament. shots but that also presents bowlers an opportunity to bag wickets.

All-round Krunal leads Mumbai Indians’ juggernaut rolls on

RCB’s surge to the top merrily, crushes the Super Giants
The 34-year-old follows up a superb bowling effort with an unbeaten 47-ball 73; Kohli weighs in
with a half-century, anchors the chase; Bhuvneshwar, Hazlewood and spinners restrict Capitals

IPL-18

Vivek Krishnan
NEW DELHI

efore Sunday, Kru-

B nal Pandya had

batted in just four
of nine matches for Royal
Challengers Bengaluru in
this year’s IPL and scored
24 runs off 28 balls.
He made up for his lack
of runs and batting oppor-
tunities in the earlier
matches by coming to the
fore against Delhi Capitals
at the Arun Jaitley Stadi- Got him! Jacks celebrates with skipper Hardik the dismissal of the dangerous Pooran. EMMANUAL YOGINI
um.
Chasing 163, the all- Amol Karhadkar the middle overs. Suryakumar was in his ele- the season (at least till the
rounder’s unbeaten 73 off MUMBAI Though Tilak Varma and ment. The hook off Prince’s end of this match), MI was
47 balls delivered a critical captain Hardik Pandya medium-pace was the shot in danger of ending up with
six-wicket win for the visi- Suryakumar, the senior- struggled to get going at the of the day. Despite Suryaku- a sub-par total.
tor. It stretches RCB’s per- most among the three Ya- other end after Jacks was mar’s knock making him However, cameos from
fect away record this year davs on the park, and Ryan undone by Prince Yadav, the highest run-getter of Naman Dhir and debutant
to six wins out of six. Rickelton set the tone for Corbin Bosch meant it com-
When Krunal walked in Capital effort: Krunal’s batting prowess came to the fore in the chase against DC. SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR the day before Jasprit Bum- SCOREBOARD fortably crossed the 200-
to bat at No. 5, RCB was in a rah & Co. floored the oppo- 쑽 run mark, with the former
spot of bother at 26 for There could have been a SCOREBOARD sition to help Mumbai In- MUMBAI INDIANS (Impact Player for Pooran) c ending the innings with a
three. twist in the tale had Abish- 쑽 dians roll over Lucknow Ryan Rickelton c Badoni b Bosch b Bumrah 24 (16b, 3x4), ramp shot for six.
But with Virat Kohli, the ek Porel held onto a catch DELHI CAPITALS (6b, 1x4, 1x6), Virat Kohli c Starc b Super Giants by 54 runs Digvesh 58 (32b, 6x4, 4x6), Rohit Abdul Samad b Bumrah 2 (4b), Rickelton and Suryaku-
Abishek Porel c Jitesh b Chameera 51 (47b, 4x4), Devdutt Sharma c Prince b Mayank 12 (5b, Ravi Bishnoi b Bosch 13 (14b,
master of such chases, for to send back Krunal in the and register its fifth consec- mar negated Mayank Ya-
Hazlewood 28 (11b, 2x4, 2x6), Faf Padikkal (Impact Player for 2x6), Will Jacks b Prince 29 (21b, 2x6), Avesh Khan b Bumrah 0
company, the left-hander 16th over. But that didn’t utive win in the Indian Pre- (1b), Prince Yadav (not out) 4 (9b),
dav’s good work on his re-
du Plessis c Kohli b Krunal 22 Suyash) b Axar 0 (2b), Rajat 3x4, 1x6), Suryakumar Yadav c
was able to play a defining materialise. mier League’s 18th edition. Marsh b Avesh 54 (28b, 4x4, 4x6), Digvesh Rathi b Boult 1 (3b); turn after seven months.
(26b, 2x4), Karun Nair c Patidar run out 6 (6b, 1x4), Krunal
hand. They put together Suryakumar and Rickel- Tilak Varma c Prince b Bishnoi 6 Extras (lb-2, nb-1, w-5): 8; Total (in He dismissed Rohit —
Bhuvneshwar b Dayal 4 (4b, 1x4), Pandya (not out) 73 (47b, 5x4,
119 runs for the fourth Key inroads K.L. Rahul c Bethell b 4x6), Tim David (not out) 19 (5b, ton’s quickfire fifties en- (5b, 1x4), Hardik Pandya b 20 overs): 161. who hit consecutive sixes
wicket. Kohli’s overall con- Krunal played his part with Bhuvneshwar 41 (39b, 3x4), Axar 3x4, 1x6); Extras (nb-2, w-2): 4; sured Mumbai Indians Mayank 5 (7b), Naman Dhir (not FALL OF WICKETS off the first two balls — with
tribution was 51. the ball, too, with figures of Patel b Hazlewood 15 (13b, 1x4, Total (for four wkts. in 18.3 overs): piled up 215 for seven to en- out) 25 (11b, 2x4, 2x6), Corbin 1-18 (Markram, 2.4), 2-60 (Pooran, a slower one and sneaked
4-0-28-1. That Capitals 1x6), Tristan Stubbs c Hazlewood 165. thrall 19,000 schoolkids Bosch c Pooran b Avesh 20 (10b, 6.1), 3-64 (Pant, 6.3), 4-110 through Hardik’s defence at
Not a belter were kept to 162 for eight b Bhuvneshwar 34 (18b, 5x4, 1x6), FALL OF WICKETS watching the proceedings 2x4, 1x6), Deepak Chahar (not (Marsh, 11.2), 5-135 (Badoni, the start of the death overs.
With the surface not the was also down to pacers Ashutosh Sharma (Impact 1-20 (Bethell, 2.2), 2-20 (Padikkal, at the Wankhede Stadium, out) 1 (1b); Extras (w-5): 5; Total 14.2), 6-141 (Miller, 15.2), 7-142
Player for du Plessis) b 2.4), 3-26 (Patidar, 3.6), 4-145 (for seven wkts. in 20 overs): 215. (Samad, 15.5), 8-142 (Avesh, 15.6),
kind where a batter could Bhuvneshwar Kumar and as part of the team’s pro- Jacks makes an impact
Bhuvneshwar 2 (3b), Vipraj Nigam (Kohli, 17.5). FALL OF WICKETS 9-157 (Bishnoi, 18.5).
blaze away, it was mostly Josh Hazlewood making moter’s initiative, on a sul- Mitchell Marsh and Nicho-
run out 12 (6b, 1x6), Mitchell Starc CAPITALS BOWLING 1-33 (Rohit, 2.5 overs), 2-88 MUMBAI INDIANS BOWLING
with ones and twos that key inroads. try Sunday afternoon. (Rickelton, 8.4), 3-116 (Jacks,
las Pooran kept LSG in the
(not out) 0 (0b), Dushmantha Axar 4-0-19-2, Starc 3-0-31-0, Boult 4-0-20-3, Chahar 3-0-38-0,
the two kept the score- Chameera (not out) 0 (1b); Extras Mukesh 3.3-0-51-0, Vipraj
Bumrah then made it 11.3), 4-137 (Tilak, 12.6), 5-157 Bumrah (Impact Player for
hunt before Jacks turned
board ticking in the forma- Rahul top scores (lb-1, nb-1, w-2): 4; Total (for eight 1-0-12-0, Kuldeep 4-0-28-0, count as an Impact Player (Hardik, 15.1), 6-180 (Suryakumar, Rohit) 4-0-22-4, Jacks 2-0-18-2, the tide in the over after the
tive stages of their alliance. For Delhi Capitals, K.L. Ra- wkts. in 20 overs): 162. Chameera 3-0-24-1. as the seasoned pro re- 17.3), 7-208 (Bosch, 19.4). Karn 2-0-25-0, Hardik 1-0-10-0, PowerPlay.
It was in the 13th over, hul was the top-scorer, but FALL OF WICKETS Toss: RCB. turned with his best figures SUPER GIANTS BOWLING Bosch 4-0-26-1. The offie got rid of Poo-
bowled by Mukesh Kumar, his contribution of 41 off 39 1-33 (Porel, 3.4 overs), 2-44 PoM: Krunal. of the season. With Trent Mayank 4-0-40-2, Prince 4-0-44-1, Toss: LSG. ran (mistimed to long-off
that Krunal sparked a shift deliveries didn’t hit the (Karun, 4.4), 3-72 (du Plessis, 9.5), RCB won by six wickets with nine Boult equally effective and Digvesh 4-0-48-1, Bishnoi PoM: Jacks. fielder Suryakumar) and
in momentum with two high notes expected of 4-102 (Axar, 13.4), 5-118 (Rahul, balls to spare. off-spinner Will Jacks’ gol- 4-0-41-1, Avesh 4-0-42-2. Mumbai Indians won by 54 runs. captain Rishabh Pant (mis-
straight sixes — a swivelled him. 16.2), 6-120 (Ashutosh, 16.5), den arm doing the trick yet LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS cued reverse-sweep to Karn
pull over short fine-leg was If not for a late blitz from 7-158 (Vipraj, 19.2), 8-162 (Stubbs, again, Super Giants folded Mitchell Marsh c Tilak b Boult 34 Sharma at short third-man)
19.5). (24b, 3x4, 2x6), Aiden Markram c
followed by a thumping Tristan Stubbs, who scored for 161 in the last over. to virtually seal the deal.
RCB BOWLING Naman b Bumrah 9 (11b, 2x4),
drive over long-off. 34 off 18 balls and went af- Bhuvneshwar 4-0-33-3, Dayal Earlier, after Rickelton Nicholas Pooran c Suryakumar b The door was firmly shut
In the next over, Kul- ter Yash Dayal in a 19-run 4-0-42-1, Hazlewood 4-0-36-2, had dominated the Power- Jacks 27 (15b, 1x4, 3x6), Rishabh when Bumrah accounted
deep Yadav bore the brunt penultimate over, Capitals Suyash 4-0-22-0, Krunal 4-0-28-1. Play before slashing leggie Pant c Karn b Jacks 4 (2b, 1x4), for David Miller, Abdul Sa-
as Krunal drove over extra would have finished with ROYAL CHALLENGERS Digvesh Rathi to point, Su- Ayush Badoni c Jacks b Boult 35 mad and Avesh Khan in the
cover for another six. far fewer on the board. Jacob Bethell c Karun b Axar 12 ryakumar took charge in (22b, 2x4, 2x6), David Miller same over.

Struggling Royals face an uphill task against Titans

P.K. Ajith Kumar
JAIPUR

Even the most loyal of Ra-

jasthan Royals’ fans would
concede the show hasn’t
been quite royal this season
by the franchise. Gujarat Ti-
tans, though, has lived up
to its name.
Shubman Gill’s men
have won six of their eight
games. Sanju Samson’s — or
rather Riyan Parag’s — men
have lost seven of their
nine.
All ears: Gill and Nehra plot a Royal rout. R.V. MOORTHY
Mismatched
And if a Royals supporter es was played earlier this dium on Monday. With Royals managed to mess up other hand, haven’t had The Royals fans too
wanted some relief from month at Ahmedabad, Samson still recovering some winning positions. No much trouble. would want to have some
history, more disappoint- where the host cruised to a from his side strain, things team would want to play – Captain Gill, B. Sai Sud- fun. For that, the host
ment would be in store: in 58-run victory. hardly look bright for the and then lose - a Super Over harsan and Jos Buttler are needs better contributions
their seven meetings, Ti- The odds are indeed home team. when nine runs were re- making runs at will, while from the entire team, not
tans won six and Royals just stacked heavily against RR It is not just the poor re- quired to win from the final Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh just Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jofra
one. in its return leg against GT sults that should worry the over with seven wickets in Krishna and R. Sai Kishore Archer or Wanindu Hasa-
The last of those match- at the Sawai Mansingh Sta- Royals team management. hand. The Titans, on the are taking wickets for fun. ranga.
CM A ND-NDE
YK