Tag: IPL 2026

HYDERABAD: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Virat Kohli declined a handshake with Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Travis Head after their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match on Friday.

The moment quickly drew attention after videos circulating on social media showed Kohli shaking hands with several SRH players, including captain Pat Cummins and opener Abhishek Sharma, before seemingly bypassing Head, who had extended his hand during the line-up.

The incident came after a tense exchange between the two players earlier during RCB’s run chase. Kohli was seen engaging in a verbal exchange with the Australian batter while Head was fielding, although the exact reason behind the interaction remains unclear.

Head later had an impact on the match with the ball after Kohli’s dismissal, picking up the wicket of RCB captain Rajat Patidar during the chase.

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Earlier, Hyderabad posted a massive 255-4 after a dominant batting display. In response, Bengaluru needed at least 166 to secure a top-two finish in the league stage, and at least 178 to top the table.

They finished on 200-4 and ensured their top spot in the IPL 2026 points table.

RCB will now face the Gujarat Titans (GT), who finished second on the league table, in Qualifier 1 in Dharamsala on May 26.

Sunrisers Hyderabad finished third on the points table and will now feature in the Eliminator in New Chandigarh on May 27, while the race for the final playoff spot remains open between Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals.

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A powerhouse batting display, headlined by three frenetic half-centuries, set up Sunrisers Hyderabad comprehensive 55-run victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL 2026 on Friday, though it wasn’t enough to secure them a top-two finish as both teams completed their league engagements on 18 points apiece.

Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen extended their consistent run on a terrific batting surface at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, muscling the home side to 255-4 after Pat Cummins chose to bat.

Defending champions Bengaluru needed to score at least 166 to ensure that they finished ahead of Hyderabad on net run rate even in the event of defeat, and they got the job done with clinical efficiency, finishing on 200-4.

Despite the defeat, Bengaluru (0.783) ended up table-toppers, ahead of Gujarat Titans (0.695), who also amassed 18 points, with Hyderabad occupying the third spot.

Bengaluru seemed determined to have a go at the massive target through their new opening combination of Venkatesh Iyer and Virat Kohli, who added 60 in just 27 deliveries.

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After both fell in the space of 14 runs, Devdutt Padikkal kept up the momentum but when the left-hander was caught in the deep off the excellent Eshan Malinga, Bengaluru retrained their focus on achieving their primary objective of 166.

Where Hyderabad’s bowlers used pace off the ball to great effect, Bengaluru had been punished earlier in the evening for being unidimensional, Travis Head and Abhishek setting the tone through their 45-run first-wicket stand.

Hyderabad, the 2016 champions, made sure wickets didn’t fall in clusters, stringing together successive subsequent alliances of 52, a blazing 113 off just 48 balls for the third wicket between Kishan and Klaasen, and 45 respectively to put on an exhibition for their home supporters in the last game of the season at this venue.

Abhishek’s first fifty in six innings was the base from which Kishan and Klaasen cut loose.

Diminutive left-hander Kishan packed quite a punch while Klaasen, who was on five off nine deliveries at one stage, rediscovered his boundary-hitting touch with three sixes and a four off a Josh Hazlewood over that went for 27.

While Kishan brought up his fourth consecutive half-century against Bengaluru before being dismissed off the last ball of the innings, Klaasen’s sixth score of more than 50 took him past the 600-run mark for the season on a run-soaked night of high-class entertainment.

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Fifteen-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi struck a blistering 93 to power Rajasthan Royals to a seven-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday to boost their play-off hopes in the IPL 2026.

T20 sensation Sooryavanshi, who was playing as an impact substitute, struck his third half-century of the season as he hammered seven fours and 10 sixes in his 38-ball knock to guide Rajasthan’s chase of 221 at their home in Jaipur.

Left-handed Sooryavanshi missed out on a century before Dhruv Jurel made an unbeaten 53 as Rajasthan achieved their target with five balls to spare for their seventh win in 13 matches and move into the top four of the 10-team table.

A win in their last league match against Mumbai Indians on Sunday will book the only remaining play-off spot.

Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad have already made the play-offs of the tournament that will conclude on May 31 in Ahmedabad.

Sooryavanshi’s batting blitz trumped Lucknow opener Mitchell Marsh’s 96, a knock that steered his team to an imposing 220-5.

The T20 sensation has been in red-hot form in the 2026 IPL, and passed March’s tally of Marsh 563 runs to climb to the top of the batting chart with 579 runs in 13 matches.

He has hit one ton and has compiled his runs at a punishing strike-rate of 237.29.

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Sooryavanshi’s opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal provided the early impetus with his 23-ball 43 in a first-wicket stand of 75.

Jaiswal, a left-hander who stood in as captain in place of injured Riyan Parag, departed in the seventh over but Rajasthan kept up pace with Jurel and Sooryavanshi putting together 105 runs.

Sooryavanshi reached his fifty in 23 balls and changed gears to smack Prince Yadav for two straight sixes and another two off Mayank Yadav in a 29-run 12th over to put Lucknow on course.

He finally fell to Mohsin Khan with Abdul Samad taking a well-judged catch in the deep but the damage was done.

Bottom-placed Lucknow, who are already out of the play-off race along with Mumbai, had a blazing start with Josh Inglis, who made 60 off 29 balls, adding 109 for the first wicket with fellow Australian Marsh.

Inglis and then Nicholas Pooran departed but Marsh kept up the pace alongside skipper Rishabh Pant, who made 35.

The Rajasthan Royals bowlers pulled things back in the final few overs and Marsh missed out on his hundred after being run out on the penultimate ball.

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Skipper Pat Cummins’ 3-28 and an attacking 70 by Ishan Kishan helped Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) book their play-off spot in the IPL 2026 with a nervy five-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Monday.

The result at Chennai’s M.A. Chidambaram Stadium ensured a play-off berth for Gujarat Titans as well. Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru were the first team to qualify for the play-offs.

Five teams now jostle for one remaining play-off place in the T20 tournament that will conclude with the final on May 31 in Ahmedabad.

Australia’s Cummins struck key blows with his pace bowling to restrict the opposition to 180-7 in Chennai’s last home game.

Hyderabad slipped to 56-2 in their chase before the left-handed Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen, who made 47, put on 75 runs to guide the team home with six balls to spare.

Chennai’s Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad denied Klaasen his fifty and Hyderabad lost another key wicket of Nitish Kumar Reddy before Kishan, a wicketkeeper-batter, struck decisive shots.

He departed after his 47-ball knock laced with seven fours and three sixes, but the job was done and Ravichandran Smaran hit the winning four.

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Five-time champions Chennai’s fate hangs by a thread.

Bowlers led by Cummins set the tone for Hyderabad’s domination after the Australian quick struck first to dismiss Sanju Samson, caught behind for 27.

Cummins then took down skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, for 15, and Kartik Sharma, for 32, as Chennai lost regular wickets.

Dewald Brevis hit a 27-ball 44 and put on 59 runs with Shivam Dube to raise Chennai’s hopes of a 200-plus total but it was not to be.

Sri Lanka’s Eshan Malinga bowled Brevis and fellow quick Sakib Hussain rattled the stumps of left-handed Dube to hurt Chennai.

In reply, Hydebarad lost their attacking openers including Travis Head, for six, and Abhishek Sharma, for 26, before Kishan and Klaasen took charge.

The left-right batting combination of Kishan and Klaasen put the chase back on track and despite wickets at the end Hyderabad sealed the win and the ticket into the next stage.

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LAHORE: Mohsin Naqvi is unlikely to travel to India for the Indian Premier League 2026 final despite recent reports suggesting that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman had been invited to the event in Ahmedabad.

According to an international cricket news report, the invitation extended to Naqvi is primarily linked to the upcoming meetings of the International Cricket Council rather than the IPL final itself.

The clarification comes after speculation emerged regarding a possible visit by the PCB chairman to Ahmedabad, where the IPL 2026 final is scheduled to be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium on May 31.

Sources further indicated that Naqvi, who also serves as Pakistan’s interior minister, is expected to participate in ICC discussions virtually instead of travelling in person.

The ICC is set to conduct a series of meetings later this month, beginning with the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) meeting on May 21, followed by Board meetings scheduled for May 30 and 31 in Ahmedabad.

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The timing of the meetings alongside the IPL final had fuelled speculation regarding possible high-level cricket diplomacy between the neighbouring countries.

However, reports suggest that the CEC meeting will be held virtually and is not expected to include discussions related to men’s cricket.

Instead, the agenda is likely to focus on women’s cricket along with commercial matters such as data monetisation and mobile gaming.

The proposed restructuring of the ICC World Test Championship is also reportedly not expected to be discussed during the CEC session, with major decisions likely to be taken later during the ICC Board meetings in Ahmedabad.

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Virat Kohli and Venkatesh Iyer struck half-centuries to help defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru become the first team to qualify for the IPL 2026 play-offs with a 23-run win over Punjab Kings on Sunday.

In-form Kohli struck 58 off 37 balls before Venkatesh hit an unbeaten 73 to steer the team to 222-4 after being invited to bat first in the Himalayan hill town of Dharamsala.

The bowlers, led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, then restricted Punjab to 199-8 despite a late batting charge by Marcus Stoinis, who hit 37, and Shashank Singh, who made 56.

Bengaluru, who won their first IPL title in 18 attempts last year, consolidated top spot in the points table and secured their place in the play-offs.

Runners-up last year, Punjab, who started the season with six victories and one no-result, suffered their sixth successive defeat and are no longer in control of their fate.

The top four teams at the end of the league stage will make the playoffs in the 10-team tournament.

Virat Kohli, who blasted an unbeaten 105 in his team’s previous win, kept up his form as he hit four fours and three sixes to lay the foundation for Bengaluru’s total after losing his opening partner Jacob Bethell for 11.

He then put on 78 with the left-handed Devdutt Padikkal, who made 45, to rebuild the innings and hit back.

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Kohli raised his fourth fifty of the season and 67th in the IPL before he finally fell to leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.

Venkatesh kept up the pace to reach his fifty as he clobbered the bowlers and put on an attacking fourth-wicket stand with Tim David, who made 28.

In reply, Punjab lost openers Priyansh Arya, for a duck, and Prabhsimran Singh, for two — both falling to Kumar’s seam bowling.

Punjab slipped further to 93-5 after skipper Shreyas Iyer (1), Cooper Connolly (37) and Suryansh Shedge (37) departed.

Impact substitute Stoinis and Shashank attempted to raise Punjab’s hopes in their partnership of 67 but disciplined bowling ensured a ninth win in 13 matches for Bengaluru.

Rasikh Salam took two wickets in the final over to return figures of 3-36.

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Jasprit Bumrah made a winning start to his Mumbai Indians captaincy stint on Thursday, as Tilak Varma hit 75 not out off 33 balls helped beat Punjab Kings by six wickets in the IPL.

Bumrah stood in for the unavailable duo of Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav, as Varma starred again for Mumbai, lifting his side from 88-3 to 205-4, and crossing the finish line with a ball to spare.

Varma hit six sixes. He had Will Jacks (25 not out) for company at the end.

Earlier, Punjab recovered to 200-8 after a middle-order collapse precipitated by Shadul Thakur’s 4-39.

Azmatullah Omarzai’s 38 off 17 balls turned the game around for the Kings, but it did not suffice.

Fourth-placed Punjab, struggling to stay afloat in the top four, lost a fifth consecutive game, and must win both their remaining games to make the knockouts. Mumbai are ninth with four wins in 12 games.

Put into bat, Punjab made a quick getaway with its openers putting on 50 off 33 balls.

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Prabhsimran Singh, who has been criticised on social media for being overweight, replied with four sixes and hit 50 off 29 balls. He added 57 off 35 balls with Cooper Connolly (21).

Thakur applied the brakes as he picked four wickets in three overs.

He had Prabhsimran Singh caught in the 12th over, and bowled skipper Shreyas Iyer two balls later.

Punjab did not score a run for six balls as Raj Bawa bowled Connolly. They lost six wickets for 33, crashing to 140-7.

Late carnage helped Punjab hit 63 runs in the final three overs and reach 200. Omarzai struck 19 runs off the 18th over, then Bartlett scored 22 and 12 off the final two – the duo hit four sixes between them.

Skipper Bumrah took no wickets and conceded 35 runs in his four overs

Mumbai started quickly as Ryan Rickelton hit 48 off 23 balls with four sixes. He put on 61 off 39 balls with Rohit Sharma (25).

Omarzai struck with the ball, dismissing both Rickelton and later Sherfane Rutherford for 20 after a stand of 61 with Varma.

Yuzvendra Chahal bowled a controlled first spell of wrist spin on a slowing Dharamsala wicket, before Varma broke free with 50 off 25 balls.

Varma and Jacks put on 56 off 20 balls to secure victory.

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South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada led an inspired pace attack to power Gujarat Titans to the top of the IPL 2026 table with an 82-run thrashing of Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Hosts Gujarat defended 168 in Ahmedabad as Rabada took 3-28 and, with his fellow quicks, bowled out Hyderabad for 86, their lowest ever score in the IPL.

Fellow quick Jason Holder cleaned up the Hyderabad middle and lower-order to claim 3-20 from his four overs.

Former champions Gujarat leapfrogged Hyderabad and defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru to top the 10-team table, moving closer to a playoff spot.

Gujarat have 16 points with eight wins from 12 matches and are favourites to finish in the top two after the league stage.

The top four will make the playoffs, with the top two getting an extra chance to make the final in Ahmedabad on May 31.

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Gujarat pace spearhead Mohammed Siraj struck in the first over of the Hyderabad chase as he dismissed Travis Head for a duck with the fourth ball of the innings.

In the next over, Rabada removed the dangerous Abhishek Sharma for six before striking twice in his next two overs, having skipper Ishan Kishan (11) caught behind by Jos Buttler, followed by Ravichandran Smaranto (9) miscuing to Shubman Gill at mid-off.

Wickets kept tumbling as Holder took two in one over, including Heinrich Klaasen, who made 14 to regain top spot in this season’s IPL batting chart with 508 runs.

Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan trapped Praful Hinge lbw for the final wicket as Gujarat bowled out Hyderabad in 14.5 overs.

The batters set up victory after Sai Sudharsan, who made 61, and Washington Sundar put on 60 for the fourth wicket to lift Gujarat from early trouble to 168-5.

Hyderabad pace bowler Hinge struck two early blows including skipper Gill (5) and Buttler (7) to put Gujarat on the backfoot.

Sudharsan counter-attacked as he struck five fours and two sixes in his 44-ball knock, and after his departure, fellow left-hander Sundar steered the team to a challenging total with his 33-ball 50.

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Delhi Capitals rode on blistering half-centuries from skipper Axar Patel and David Miller to mount a record chase and keep their IPL 2026 qualification hopes alive following a stirring three-wicket victory over Punjab Kings on Monday.

A furious early onslaught by opener Priyansh Arya was the bedrock around which Punjab, coming off a hat-trick of losses, posted a commanding 210-5 at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala, where no total in excess of 200 had been chased down successfully previously.

Punjab seemed to have things under control when Arshdeep Singh and Yash Thakur reduced Delhi to 33 for three inside the first five overs.

Axar and Miller reignited their hopes with a 64-run stand for the fifth wicket, after which impact player Ashutosh Sharma and Madhav Tiwari, playing his first game of the season, tore into the Punjab bowling to secure victory with six deliveries to spare.

Axar came into this game with just 44 runs from eight previous innings but found form when it mattered most, unleashing a flurry of boundaries that unsettled the pace-heavy Punjab attack.

With the ball becoming greasy, thanks to a damp outfield, the bowlers had trouble gripping it and Axar and Miller made merry, picking off fours and sixes at will to keep their team in the hunt.

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Both fell not long after bringing up their respective fifties but Delhi weren’t done yet.

Ashutosh and Tiwari embarked on a six-hitting spree against the Australian duo of Ben Dwarshuis and Marcus Stoinis, and Auqib Nabi brought up a much-needed victory by slamming Thakur for a straight six.

Punjab had earlier shown no signs of the pressure they must have felt after three successive losses as Arya got the match off to a stunning start by driving the first ball, from Mitchell Starc, over point for six.

The Australian paceman conceded 22 in the first over, a sign of things to come with the Delhi bowlers going too full in looking for non-existent swing.

Once they pulled their lengths back a little, the quick bowlers were harder to hit and the Punjab innings wobbled briefly before skipper Shreyas Iyer and Cooper Connolly rode to their rescue with a stand of 83 for the third wicket.

Suryansh Shedge then weighed in with 21 off only eight deliveries, but Delhi’s resolve proved stronger as they staved off elimination with their fifth win of the season.

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Finn Allen’s blistering century powered resurgent Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a fourth consecutive win in IPL 2026 against Delhi Capitals on Friday.

The New Zealander brought up his ton with his tenth six, which sealed a victory which had been set up by a superb exhibition of spin bowling masterminded by Sunil Narine,

West Indian off-spinner Narine took one for 17 from his four overs as the Kolkata spinners established a middle-overs stranglehold, restricting Delhi to 142-8 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.

Narine was well supported by left-armer Anukul Roy and mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy.

Between them, the trio snared three for 76 from 12 exceptional overs, derailing a Delhi innings that had begun with great promise after Sri Lankan opener Pathum Nissanka made a polished half-century.

Nissanka and KL Rahul put on 49 for the first wicket on being put in by Ajinkya Rahane, but once the spinners came on, the scoreboard came to a virtual standstill.

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Delhi were strangled by the brilliance of the Kolkata tweakers and failed to score a boundary for 38 deliveries at a stretch in the second half of the innings before Ashutosh Sharma provided the late impetus with 39 off 28 deliveries.

Allen, who came on as the impact substitute for a hobbling Chakravarthy, hadn’t survived the Powerplay in his previous six innings but he bided his time after losing Rahane, run out at the non-striker’s end backing up, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, bowled off his shoulder trying to sweep Axar Patel, in quick succession.

Allen found an able ally in Cameron Green, the powerful Australian all-rounder who was content to play second fiddle during a match-sealing unbroken third-wicket alliance that yielded 116 runs in 64 deliveries.

Dropped on 42 at long-on by Tristan Stubbs, Allen brought up his fifty off 32 deliveries before switching gears effortlessly.

He took down wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam with consummate ease, needing a mere 15 deliveries for his second fifty.

Allen breached the three-figure mark with the last of his 10 sixes, off paceman Mukesh Kumar, the boundary also muscling three-time former champions Kolkata home with 34 deliveries to spare.

Kolkata swapped places with Delhi on the points table, climbing to seventh and keeping their playoff hopes alive, while Delhi slumped to their ninth defeat at home in 11 outings since the start of the 2025 season.

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