Ravi Bopara scored 84 as Kings XI Punjab defeated the Bangalore Royal Challengers by seven wickets on Friday to claim their first Indian Premier League victory this season.
Former England captain Kevin Pietersen was out for a duck as Bangalore made 168-9 in their 20 overs at Kingsmead and Punjab reached 173-3 with an over to spare in perfect conditions. Despite failing to score for the second match in succession, Pietersen remained optimistic about Bangalore’s chances in the tournament.
“It’s a long competition, if you win the next nine games then you’re OK,” Pietersen said. “We just need to get winning, it’s a habit and as soon as you start winning everything starts to become OK. It’s not nice losing, but we’ve got to try and turn it around now come Sunday.”
England batsman Bopara struck five sixes and four fours during a 59-ball spell at the crease and skipper Yuvraj Singh (30 not out) and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (26) offered good support.
Punjab, losers of two rain-affected games since the IPL extravaganza began last weekend, had 52 runs on the board before losing their first wicket and reached 80-1 by the 10-over “strategy break.”
Pietersen deployed seven bowlers, including himself, South Africa’s Jacques Kallis and India’s Anil Kumble, but they could not stem the Punjab run flow before a large crowd in the Indian Ocean city.
Kings scored 19 runs off the 16th over to swing the game decisively in their favor and when the Royals finally got rid of Bopara, caught by New Zealand’s Jesse Ryder off the bowling of Kallis, it was far too late. Only veteran Kumble (1-19) impressed with the ball for a Bangalore team suffering their third loss in four games as one-wicket Kallis conceded 51 runs in four overs.
Kallis fared much better with the bat, top scoring for the Royals with a 62 that included two sixes and five fours. New Zealand’s Ross Taylor contributed 35 and compatriot Ryder got among the runs with a brisk 32 after two ducks. Little known South African Yusuf Abdulla (4-31) and Irfan Pathan (3-35) took the bowling honors for Punjab, who were watched by co-owner and Bollywood star Preity Zinta.
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946