The Rajasthan Royals were knocked out of the Indian Premier League following a four-wicket loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders at Kingsmead on Wednesday.
Rajasthan, after completing their 14 round-robin matches, are in sixth place with 13 points, while Chennai moved up to second on 17, one point behind leaders Delhi Daredevils.
After restricting Rajasthan to 101 for nine, Kolkata made heavy weather of their run chase as they slipped to 45 for six.
Fast bowler Munaf Patel did the early damage, capturing two for 14 off four overs before South Africa off spinner Johan Botha snared two for 19.
But right-handed Indian batsman Laxmi Shukla kept his head and compiled a match-winning innings of 48 not out off 46 balls to give Kolkata their third victory with three balls of the innings remaining.
Rajasthan’s innings had begun as poorly as Kolkata’s and they tottered to 62 for seven in 11 overs as South African swing bowler Charl Langeveldt ran through the top order, picking up three wickets in his first three overs.
In the second match of the Durban double-header, the Chennai Super Kings beat the Kings XI Punjab by 24 runs to secure their place in the semi-finals.
Punjab’s defeat left them in fifth with only a slim mathematical chance of making the semi-finals.
Chennai posted 116 for nine before restricting Punjab to 92 for eight.
Opening batsman Parthiv Patel carved his way to 32 runs off 23 balls as Chennai made a good start and reached 54 for one.
However, they proceeded to lose eight wickets for 62 runs in the face of some disciplined Punjab bowling.
Fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth was Punjab’s top performer with the ball, capturing two for 23.
In reply, Punjab failed to cope with Chennai’s off-spinners as Ravi Ashwin (2-13), Muttiah Muralitharan (2-8) and Suresh Raina (2-17) maintained such a stranglehold over Punjab’s batsmen that only Australian Luke Pomersbach (26) and Irfan Pathan (14) reached double figures.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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