Category Uncategorized

The Jasprit Bumrah yorker isn’t invincible. Not even when it starts to tail. Shreyas Iyer met it with extraordinary coolness and an open face of the bat to find a boundary. It gave him the 61st run of an enormously impressive innings and reinforced a feeling of helplessness on Mumbai Indians (MI). They were staring into the eyes of the man who was single-handedly beating them. The five-time champions came up short, and for the first time, couldn’t defend a total in excess of 200. This means IPL 2025 will mark the arrival of a new power. Punjab Kings (PBKS) or Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).

Shreyas=Kohli

There is something extra special about batters who do their best work in a chase. Even now, when the accepted wisdom is to know what your target is, the prospect of a batter playing like he owns every little blade of grass that surrounds him is the stuff of dreams. Shreyas had his eyes wide open. This was real. This was class.Related

• Hardik, Santner not completing their overs 'an opportunity missed' for MI

• The night MI felt the full force of Shreyas' ire

• IPL to crown a new champion as RCB and PBKS meet in the final

• Why Bumrah's IPL 2025 could be the greatest IPL for a bowler

He arrived at the crease in the last over of the powerplay and knew he couldn’t take his time. The second ball went for four. He never looked flustered, even when PBKS needed two runs a ball for the last eight overs. He launched Reece Topley for a hat-trick of sixes in the 13th over. Those three hits doubled PBKS’ chances of victory. It was 25% coming into the over and 53% coming out of it.Standing deep in his crease, watching every ball right onto his bat, functioning sometimes on pure instinct. There was a four he got off Hardik Pandya where he seemed almost ready to leave the short ball only to ramp it as it passed him and get it over the keeper. There was a six that he got off Ashwani Kumar, he almost seemed to predict the bowler would go wide yorker to mitigate the damage of a free-hit ball and he shifted across his crease and scythed the ball over cover.His best shots, though, were those steers all along the ground to the backward-point boundary off the two best bowlers in the opposition – Trent Boult and Bumrah. That was when everybody at the ground knew the game was firmly in Iyer’s hand. That it had always been there. He was expressionless in victory. He knew it was his. He knew it was coming.2:31

‘Such a big over’ – Aaron on Inglis taking 20 off Bumrah in the fifth

The support act

Josh Inglis produced a banger of an innings, one where he took Bumrah down for 20 runs in an over. Nehal Wadhera has had a campaign to remember. Batting at No. 5, he showed great steel and rode the kind of luck a batter at that position earns by being clear-headed. Wadhera could have been dismissed on 2 if Naman Dhir had not misjudged a catching opportunity on the midwicket boundary and came rushing in instead of holding his position. He enjoyed another life on 13 and made the most of it, the pick of his shots a straight six off Ashwani Kumar in the 16th over just before he was dismissed for 48 off 39.PBKS’ bowlers deserved credit as well. They understood that going into the pitch and taking pace off was a useful option. Kyle Jamieson took pace off once every 2.67 deliveries on average. He is a Test match bowler starting to find his way even when conditions aren’t in his favour. PBKS always found a way to come back just as MI were threatening to get away. A big powerplay was offset with a wicket in the seventh over. Fifty runs between overs nine and 12 was offset by the wickets of the set batters Suryakumar Yadav (44 off 26) and Tilak Varma (44 off 29) between overs 14 and 15. ESPNcricinfo’s Forecaster had MI looking good for 220 at the halfway stage. PBKS kept them to 203.

Power to the max

A lot of teams this IPL have focused on not allowing an early wicket to disrupt the attempt to take advantage of the field restrictions. MI lost Rohit Sharma to the 14th ball of the innings. They attacked 11 of the next 22, with Jonny Bairstow leading the way even if on occasion he was beaten by slower balls into the wicket. MI collected 43 runs off overs three, five and six.1:26

Moody: Dhir should be batting ahead of Hardik

The SKY show

Suryakumar arrived immediately after the powerplay. At that stage, PBKS were starting to string something together. They matched him up with Yuzvendra Chahal, whom he strikes at only 117 in the IPL. On Sunday, the MI lynchpin hammered the PBKS legspinner for 33 off 16 balls. That included three sixes – two majestic hits down the ground and one sweep shot that turned the bowler’s intentions to tie him down on leg stump into a real gimme. Over the course of his 44 off 26 balls, Suryakumar also took home a world record – the highest aggregate (717) in any T20 tournament by a non-opener, surpassing AB de Villiers (687 in IPL 2016).

Tilak and Dhir’s high impact

Tilak came down the track and struck his second ball for a six. Later, he simply extended a defensive push and presented a high elbow and that was enough to send Vyshak Vijaykumar over the long-off boundary. His innings only had two fours and two sixes but he was striking at 152.Dhir was a lot more high-impact. He was 5 off 4 balls at the start of the 17th over. He took three boundaries off PBKS’ best death bowler, Arshdeep Singh, and never looked back. Arshdeep had to return for the 19th over and work with an over-rate penalty. He could only have four fielders on the boundary and Dhir exploited that handicap to score 37 off 18 with seven fours. At that point, it felt like anybody’s game. Except it wasn’t. It was Shreyas Iyer’s game. It was always Shreyas Iyer’s game.

England 312 for 7 (Root 166*, Jacks 49, Brook 47, Joseph 4-31) beat West Indies 308 (Carty 103, Hope 78, Rashid 4-63, Mahmood 3-37) by three wicketsEngland did not quite turn their back on Joe Root as a limited-overs batter, but certainly the schedule threatened to axe him from white-ball cricket.A couple of crises and a change of management later, here Root was in Cardiff, unfurling perhaps the best of his 18 ODI hundreds, a career-best 166 not out. His first 42 runs put him top of the pile of English run-scorers in the format, usurping Eoin Morgan’s tally of 6957, before the rest iced a chase of 309 to secure a series win over West Indies with a game to spare.This was Root’s second hundred in his eighth innings since returning to the 50-over format this year, ahead of an admittedly disastrous ICC Champions Trophy. Not only is he averaging 30 runs more than his overall average of 49.18, but his strike rate is also ten points higher. An immaculate straight drive, his 23rd boundary of a fever-dream knock, confirmed victory with three wickets and seven balls to spare.This second ODI did not, all told, seem befitting for Root’s historic brilliance. Mainly because, for the first half, it seemed to belong to West Indies – specifically Keacy Carty’s 103, the centrepiece of West Indies’ 308 all out. Skipper Shai Hope’s 78 at the end and Brandon King’s 59 up top were vital bookends.Keacy Carty marched through to his century•PA Photos/Getty Images

Though they left 14 deliveries unused having been inserted by England, it didn’t seem to matter as West Indies’ attack took just nine deliveries to remove openers Jamie Smith and Ben Duckett for ducks – 2 for 2 – then had England 93 for 4 when Jos Buttler was also cleaned up. From that point on, it was Root at his absolute best, accompanied for the most part by Will Jacks. You might have described his 49 off 58 in a stand of 143 from 122 as “playing the Joe Root role”, had the man himself not been at the other end strumming 87 off 64. Root’s last 70 runs with Jacks came off just 45 balls, by the way.The catastrophic start to the chase added a layer of jeopardy to Root’s innings that he never felt. But it did mean more because of a West Indies outfit hell-bent on disavowing themselves from Thursday’s 238-run loss in the first ODI at Edgbaston. Smith nicked Jayden Seales behind for a duck after four legal deliveries, before Ben Duckett scythed a thick edge off Matthew Forde to deep third, his three-ball nought capping off a horrendous day that included two dropped catches and a missed run-out.Both Duckett’s chances would have nipped a second-wicket stand between Carty and Brandon King in the bud. It reached 141 but should not have made it to double figures, let alone out of the first powerplay, Duckett’s misses at second slip off Brydon Carse – the first diving to his right, the second tipped over the bar – came when King had 10, then 11. Duckett’s hat-trick of fielding botches was completed when, spoilt for choice, both King (55 not out) and Carty (57 not out) were stuck in the middle of the pitch. King ended up running to the far end, beating Duckett’s loopy underarm to wicketkeeper Buttler.The biggest error in the first innings, however, was Saqib Mahmood’s tame drop of Carty on 41, when Jacob Bethell was worked around the corner. He also might have been run out on 57 had the throw from midwicket been crisper after he had been sent back. Both of those gifts were reciprocated to Root, who could have been found short of his ground twice.The best chance was at the end of the second over when Root was dead in the water after Harry Brook called him through for a dodgy single, only for Roston Chase to miss from backward point. A tougher opportunity arose in the 11th over when, on 30, he had again given up. This time, King missed, albeit having made a brilliant stop at midwicket, followed by a throw at the non-striker’s end from the ground. But maybe the biggest grievance as far as West Indies were concerned was an lbw appeal at the end of the sixth over. Forde hit Root on the back leg and gave it the celebrappeal, only for the review to find the ball clipping the bails.Brook was also dropped on 30 – which he had made from just 16 deliveries – when Hope palmed a diving catch to his right after Seales had found the edge. England’s captain had just launched an assault on Forde, smashing three boundaries in a row – the first a towering boundary to the leg side – but fell short of fifty when flipping Alzarri Joseph’s bouncer to backward square leg. And though Joseph would then snare the former white-ball captain six deliveries later – Buttler playing on, undone by bounce – Root was well on his way.Shai Hope got an important half-century•PA Photos/Getty Images

Root then took 17 off what would prove to be the last over of Forde’s opening spell. And from then on, he managed the situation, calmly at first with Bethell and thereafter in a remarkable partnership with Jacks. Most spectacular of all was the acceleration from Root, despite Jacks’ game being far more suited to the pyrotechnics he produced.The key passage came with 135 needed from 18.2 overs, with Root on 77 from 82. After taking 16 deliveries to move to his hundred – a milestone he reached with a six over midwicket and a four swept around the corner off Gudakesh Motie – he then smashed 43 from his next 24 deliveries up to Jacks’ dismissal. He ramped, scooped and then charged Chase’s offies for boundaries in four balls, before Jacks was trapped in front to give Joseph an impressive 4 for 31.A gorgeous carve over extra cover off Forde then took Root past 150 for the first time in ODIs, from 129 deliveries, and thereafter it was only a matter of how, not when. A picture-perfect on-drive for four sealed the deal with seven balls to spare.Both teams had made a single change each from the first ODI; England swapped Matthew Potts for Jamie Overton (broken little finger), while West Indies erred for experience with Shimron Hetmyer moving into the XI at the expense of Amir Jangoo.Precocious Antigua batter Jewel Andrew was moved to open with Evin Lewis still missing with the groin injury that kept him out of the first ODI. It was the first time the 18-year-old had performed the role in his professional career, across all formats – and it did not last long. A hard length from Carse lifted into harder hands from Jewell, who was surprised by the bounce and fended it away on instinct, gifting a straightforward catch to Jacks at point for a five-ball duck.Carty’s binding of the innings began at this point, and the value of his stickability felt particularly crucial with the 58 shared with Hope. Their stand began when King found Carse at long-on off Rashid – the first of the legspinner’s 4 for 63. Nine overs later, a late dab through short third brought Carty’s 13th four off his 102nd delivery to take him to three figures. And while he was unable to launch from there, stumped off Jacks three balls after the milestone, Hope was now set.Nevertheless, West Indies lost their final eight wickets for 103. Saqib Mahmood removed Forde and Chase in consecutive balls before Motie took to Jacks. But Rashid’s two wickets in his final over shifted the onus even more so on Hope, who toed a simple catch to Brook to give Mahmood figures of 3 for 37.England’s target of 309 could have been 50 more with better choices throughout, and maybe 111 fewer had England taken their chances against Carty and King. Then again, Root would not have had the scope to unfurl his brilliance. Sometimes, the game works itself out.

CSK suffered their first-ever loss against SRH at Chepauk, and their seventh defeat in nine games this season

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Apr-20251:47

Finch: CSK needed a player like Brevis in middle order

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni felt his side had been “short by 15-20 runs” after they were bowled out for 154 on their way to a five-wicket loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Friday. It was CSK’s seventh defeat in nine games in IPL 2025, and their first-ever home defeat to SRH.CSK were at one stage poised for a better total, but lost their last six wickets for 40 runs after they were 114 for 4 in the 13th over.”I think we kept losing wickets and another thing is I felt, in the first innings, the wicket was slightly better, and 155 [154] is not a justifiable score because it wasn’t turning a lot,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation. “Yes, after the eighth, ninth, [or] tenth over, it became slightly two-paced when it comes to the fast bowlers. But nothing that was out of the ordinary. So I feel we could have run slightly better and put a few more runs on the board.”Yes, [in the] second innings, there was a bit of help. Our spinners, the quality is there. So they were bowling in the right areas, and they got a bit of bounce. It was stopping a bit, but yeah, we were short by 15-20 runs.”MS Dhoni’s men succumbed to their seventh loss in nine games this season•Associated Press

Amid the batting collapse, one positive for CSK was the performance of the 21-year-old Dewald Brevis. Playing his first game of the season after being picked as an injury replacement for Gurjapneet Singh, Brevis walked out to bat at 47 for 3 in the final over of the powerplay. He went on to top-score for CSK on Friday, smashing four sixes in his 42 from 25 balls.Three of Brevis’ four sixes came in one over off spinner Kamindu Mendis. While praising Brevis, Dhoni pointed out that CSK otherwise needed to improve against that type of bowling.”I think he batted really well, and we need something like that in the middle order,” Dhoni said of Brevis. “Where we have slightly struggled is when the spinners come in, that’s the time we need to either do it by batsmanship – pick up your areas where you’re scoring – or try to play the big shot once in your area. So, I feel that’s where we have been lacking.”We have not been able to dominate or get runs against the spinners at a good pace in the middle. So that’s one area where we want to improve because middle overs are very crucial – you have to get those extra five, ten or 15 runs, especially if you get off to a good start.”The loss against SRH has kept CSK at the bottom of the table, with just four points from nine games. CSK have lost four out of their five home games so far this season, and their next match is also at Chepauk. They host Punjab Kings on April 30, having lost to them by 18 runs earlier in the season in Mullanpur.

Antony claims to have been “disrespected” by Manchester United before his summer transfer to Real Betis was completed. The Brazil international enjoyed a productive loan spell with the Liga outfit over the second-half of last season and made it clear that a return to Andalusia was his preference. The Red Devils did not make that process easy, with Antony taking to holing up in a hotel at one stage as he endeavoured to push a deal through.

• Getty
  

  Man Utd struggles: Antony's record in England

  Antony eventually got his wish, with United sanctioning a permanent transfer. The Premier League giants took a considerable financial hit on that deal, having splashed out £85 million ($114m) on the South American forward when prising him away from Ajax in 2022. The Red Devils saw just a 12-goal return on that investment across 96 appearances in all competitions, with Antony tumbling down the pecking order.

  Having been deemed surplus to requirements, the 25-year-old was allowed to head for Spain in January. He found the target on nine occasions through 26 appearances for Betis, helping them to the Conference League final. When his initial loan agreement came to an end, Anthony was returned to the infamous ‘bomb squad’ at Old Trafford.

Advertisement

• Moving pain: Anthony finally landed Betis transfer

  He moved into a hotel at one point, after being forced to train away from the rest of Ruben Amorim’s first-team squad, and has questioned United’s handling of a saga that dragged on for the entire summer transfer window – with a return to Betis only being confirmed on deadline day.

  Antony has told : “They were very tough months in England, more than 40 days in the hotel, training separately… I feel like they disrespected me, but that’s not the point. I don’t want to create controversy; that’s life. I’m very grateful for the club; there were bad times, but also good times, with two titles. My family travelled to Seville four or five days before the deal was finalised; I had the house rented.”

• Getty
  

  World Cup target: Antony wants place in Brazil squad

  Antony won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup during his time with United, with both of those trophies being captured under the guidance of his former Ajax manager Erik tan Hag. He is now eager to turn the page on a largely forgettable spell in England and start working his way towards future goals.

  One of those involves the Brazil national team, with Antony – who has won 16 senior caps for his country – desperate to earn a place in Carlo Ancelotti’s plans for the 2026 World Cup. He said of that target: “It’s a dream. I played in a World Cup, and of course I dream of playing in it a second time. It’s always great to represent your country. I’m going to do my job, like I’m doing, and I hope to be in the squad.”

  Antony formed part of Brazil’s ranks at the 2022 World Cup, offering him another taste of major tournament action. He became a gold medal winner with Brazil at the 2020 Olympic Games – which were pushed back a year during the coronavirus pandemic.

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

• Feel the love: Antony rediscovers his smile

  Playing with a smile again should help to bring the best out of Antony. He previously said of his struggles in England, while breaking down in tears: “Only my family knows how hard it was to be there. Training separately. But I knew this incredible moment was coming. Of course, I was afraid it wouldn't happen in the end, but I waited because I had so much faith. Now with more time, there are so many things to do and achieve. I had trouble sleeping after seeing so much love from the Betis fans; there were people waiting at my house at two in the morning.”

  Antony intends to reward the affection that has been shown to him by Betis fans, with support being found in Spain that was often denied him in Manchester. His goal account for the 2025-26 campaign has already been opened, with the net being hit in a Europa League opener with Nottingham Forest that ended in a dramatic 2-2 draw.

Liverpool have been dealt a massive blow, with summer signing Giovanni Leoni having suffered a potentially season-ending anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. The defender saw his debut for the Reds in the Carabao Cup cut brutally short and reports have now confirmed that severity of the 18-year-old's issue.

• Leoni suffers ACL injury

  Per , Leoni sustained an ACL injury during Liverpool's 2-1 win over Southampton in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night. Leoni was stretchered off in the closing stages after an awkward fall. The defender joined the Reds in a £30 million ($41m) deal from Parma in the summer but he now faces a serious challenge to return before the end of the season. 

Advertisement

• Getty Images
  

  Teenager's fitness battle

  Leoni is just 18, and will surely have had dreams of becoming a first-team star at Anfield after his debut. Alas, he now faces a gruelling recovery schedule as he attempts to find his way back onto the grass. ACL injuries can take up to nine months to recover from, meaning Leoni could be out until pre-season ahead of the 2026-27 campaign. 

• A young international with time on his side

  Leoni may only be 18 but he has already taken great strides in his career, making 17 first-team Serie A appearances, and also winning seven caps for Italy's Under-19s, before his move to Merseyside. He has signed a long-term contract with Liverpool until 2031, so he has plenty of time to make his mark at Anfield. 

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

• Getty Images Sport
  

  Liverpool move forward without him

  The Reds have fixtures to fulfill without Leoni and play Crystal Palace this weekend. The young Italian will hope that Arne Slot's team can continue their superb start to the season without him. They have a perfect record from their first five Premier League fixtures. 

Erling Haaland has spoken out in frustration following a challenging start for Manchester City, who lost two successive Premier League games ahead of the international break. The Norwegian international said the Manchester derby will provide the "perfect" opportunity to turn things around, after a start the striker branded as "not good enough" by Pep Guardiola's side.

• Haaland: Improvement is needed for City

  Reported by The Guardian, Haaland spoke to Viaplay ahead of the crunch derby on Sunday. The 25-year-old expressed his frustration at the Cityzens' difficult start to the season and claimed that they must improve and be on their best form to "get things going" and kick-start their season once again. Following opening-day victory at Wolves, City have since lost against both Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton and sit in 13th in the league table.

Advertisement

• Getty
  

  Unfamiliar start for Guardiola's Man City

  It has been an unfamiliarly challenging start for the 2023 Treble winners, who are used to challenging for titles under Guardiola. While a mid-season blip can occur and is often quickly recovered from, for City to sit in the bottom half of the table at this stage of the season is largely uncharted territory. Haaland's words reflect the fact that City will hope improvement is forthcoming as new signings continue to bed in.

• 'Way too bad' – Haaland opens up on troubles

  Haaland said: “We’ve lost two games in a row, it’s not good enough, it’s way too bad. We need to figure it out, get back to winning ways. We can’t afford to lose games as there’s so many good teams. It’s perfect to turn things around against United. We need to all be on our best, get our asses going, get things going, because it’s not been good enough so far.

  “Losing’s not cool. It’s annoying you need to use it for something positive. As motivation to do better the next game, and I expect that we are. We need to use the angriness inside us out on the pitch to deliver at our highest level.”

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

• (C)Getty Images
  

  Huge Manchester derby awaits

  City host their local neighbours Manchester United on Sunday at 16:30 and it will be an intriguing encounter, after a mixed start by both clubs. Ruben Amorim's Red Devils are under immense pressure themselves and the key difference-maker could be which side deals better with the adversity in a crunch match.

In a major boost in pursuit of yet another addition, one Glasgow Rangers target now reportedly wants to complete a summer switch to Ibrox as the 49ers continue negotiations.

Rangers gearing up for crucial UCL second leg after Ibrox win

It’s an important week for Rangers and the most important of Russell Martin’s tenure so far. The Gers travel to Greek side Panathinaikos in hope of sealing their victory in the second qualifying round of the Champions League. With a 2-0 lead to defend, the Scottish Premiership giants already hold a key advantage, but will be wary of preventing any dramatic comebacks.

Of course, if the Greek side square up against the Rangers side that were just held to a 2-2 draw by Championship side Middlesbrough in a pre-season friendly, then the Gers could certainly be in for a few twists and turns.

Left frustrated by the result, Martin told reporters: “The first half was a bit frustrating because we’re playing a good team. They’re athletic, they pressed really aggressively, but a lot of the moments that were uncomfortable for us were down to a lack of intensity on our part.

“And I said to the guys, I didn’t like the warm-up, there’s a bit of disappointment in a few people, maybe not in the team and all that stuff.

“But, if you’re disappointed and especially playing for this football club, you have to show it in being more aggressive and more intense, not being downbeat and sort of just being out there and letting the game pass you by a little bit. So they know that now. That can’t happen.”

The more that the former Southampton boss sees his side in action, the more he will learn and that has seemingly seen him turn his attention towards the likes of Abu Kamara and one other potential addition.

Rak-Sakyi now wants Rangers move

As reported by The Sun and relayed by Ibrox News, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi now wants to complete a summer switch to Rangers as the 49ers continue to negotiate a deal which could cost as much as £10m with Crystal Palace.

The talented winger spent last season on loan at Sheffield United and impressed many as he scored seven goals and assisted another two for the Blades. Even after impressing in England’s second division, however, the 22-year-old’s place in Oliver Glasner’s plans is far from guaranteed, and he has now set his sights on Ibrox as a result.

Rangers can forget all about Diomande in swoop for "tenacious" £5m star

Rangers could cash in on and Mohamed Diomande and forget about him in a move for this star.

By
Dan Emery

Jul 26, 2025

Dubbed “fearless” by Crystal Palace fan account HLTCO, Rak-Sakyi would be following the likes of Thelo Aasgaard, Emmanuel Fernandes, Djeidi Gassama and Joe Rothwell on the list of players to swap English football for Martin’s Rangers side if he completes a move in the coming weeks.

The Gers have so far enjoyed an impressive overhaul, with the 49ers looking to make an instant statement, and the arrival of the Crystal Palace gem would only add to that.

This Is Munaf’s first high-profile coaching gig after retiring from competitive cricket in 2018

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Nov-2024

Munaf Patel, the former India bowler and ODI World Cup winner, will be the new bowling coach of Delhi Capitals (DC). The franchise made the announcement on Tuesday, with Munaf joining head coach Hemang Badani and director of cricket Venugopal Rao in the team’s new-look backroom staff for IPL 2025.This will be Munaf’s first high-profile coaching gig after retiring from competitive cricket in 2018. Since then, he has been playing in a few competitions comprising retired cricketers. But before that, he made his mark as a pacer with the skill to generate reverse swing and deliver yorkers. Apart from an international career of 86 caps across three formats between 2006 and 2011, Munaf also represented Rajasthan Royals (2008-2010), Mumbai Indians (2011-2013) and Gujarat Lions (2017). He won the 2013 IPL season with Mumbai.