Franchise Cricket

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England's Phil Salt hit a 33-ball 65 as Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets in the Indian Premier League.

Chasing 174, Salt struck five fours and six sixes before pulling Kumar Kartikeya's delivery to Yashasvi Jaiswal at deep mid-wicket.

His attack left his side in the driving seat at 92-1 in the ninth over, and his opening partner Virat Kohli guided RCB home in the 18th over while reaching an unbeaten 62 from 45.

Jaiswal was the star of the Royals innings, hitting 75 from 47 at the top of the order.

The 23-year-old put on 49 and 56-run partnerships with Sanju Samson (15 from 19) and Riyan Parag (30 from 22) before being trapped lbw by Josh Hazlewood.

The finisher Shimron Hetmyer failed to fire, hitting nine from eight before being caught off Bhuvneshwar Kumar's penultimate ball of the innings, while Dhruv Jurel finished unbeaten on 35 from 22 as Royals closed on 173-4.

That total was not enough to trouble RCB and Kohli added 83 with Devdutt Padikkal (40 from 28) to secure his side's fourth win in the competition.

The win moves RCB two places up to third, while the Royals remain in seventh.

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James Vince hit 101 as Karachi Kings chased 235 to beat Multan Sultans by seven wickets in the Pakistan Super League.

Vince struck 14 fours and four sixes in his 43-ball innings, putting on 242 with Khushdil Shah before he was run out by Chris Jordan on the brink of victory.

Mohammad Rizwan hit an unbeaten 105 from the top of the order for Multan as they posted 234-3 having been put into bat.

The Multan captain hit nine fours and five sixes in his 63-ball innings.

The 32-year-old lost his opening partner Shai Hope, caught behind off Hassan Ali for eight, in the sixth over, but his own blistering start had Multan at 55-1.

After Usman Khan was stumped off Khushdil Shah, Rizwan posted partnerships of 63 with Kamran Ghulam (36 off 19) and 89 with Michael Bracewell (44 not out off 17) as Multan set their opponents a challenging target.

Karachi were 52-3 after Tim Seifert and Shan Masood fell to successive balls from Akif Javed.

But the momentum swung when Khushdil joined Vince in the seventh over, with the pair batting together until the 18th when the former England batter finally departed.

Khushdil was bowled by Akif, who took 3-41, two balls later but Irfan Khan Niazi and Abbas Afridi saw their side home.

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Lucknow Super Giants beat Indian Premier League leaders Gujarat Titans by six wickets with a 34-ball 61 from tournament leading run-scorer Nicholas Pooran.

Chasing a challenging 181, the West Indies batter struck one four and seven sixes to drive his side towards victory.

By the time he was dismissed, caught by Shahrukh Khan off Rashid Khan, Lucknow were 155-3 and Ayush Badoni finished the match in style with a consecutive four and six in the final over.

Having been put into bat, Sai Sudharsan (56 from 37) and Shubman Gill (60 from 38) got the Titans off to a flying start, striking a 120-run opening partnership.

The pair fell in consecutive overs, Gill caught superbly by Aiden Markram at long-on in the 13th and Sudharasan mishitting Ravi Bishnoi's delivery to Pooran at cover six balls later.

From that point the visitors' innings slowed, with Washington Sundar bowled for two to become Bishnoi's second dismissal of the over, and Jos Buttler caught by a diving Shardul Thakur for 16.

Thakur then removed Sherfane Rutherford and Rahul Tewatia with consecutive deliveries in the final over as the Titans finished on 180-6.

Lucknow lost Rishabh Pant, caught by Sundar off the bowling of Prasidh Krishna, just after the powerplay, but Pooran arrived to put on a 58-run partnership with Aiden Markram.

Markram (58 from 31) became Krishna's second victim, finding Shubman Gill at long-off, but Pooran powered on until he was finally dismissed in the 16th over.

Titans enjoyed a parsimonious spell after his departure, taking the match to the final over, but Badoni steeled himself to close out the match with successive boundaries.

The result sees the Titans slip from the top of table, with their net run-rate falling below that of Delhi Capitals, while Lucknow move up three places to third, level on points with the two sides above them.

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Quetta Gladiators made a strong start to their Pakistan Super League campaign, beating Peshawar Zalmi by 80 runs.

Openers Saud Shakeel and Finn Allen scored half-centuries to help the Gladiators reach 216-3 from their 20 overs, before they bowled their opponents out for 136 in the 16th over, with spinner Abrar Ahmed taking 4-42.

Having been put into bat, New Zealander Allen got his side off to flying start, striking 53 from 25 with five fours and four sixes before he was caught by Mitchell Owen off Sufiyan Muqeem.

That left Gladiators 88-1 at the end of the seventh over, and captain Shakeel took over scoring 59 from 42.

He was finally caught by Babar Azam off Ali Raza's 16th over, while Hasan Nawaz (41 from 32) followed him to the dugout four balls later, but Rilee Rossouw (21 from 10) and Kusal Mendis finished the innings strongly with an unbroken 58-run partnership.

In the reply, Babar was caught by Rossouw for a duck in Mohammad Amir's first over, and Peshawar were 30-3 when Mohammad Haris and Tom Kohler-Cadmore fell to Abrar with three balls of each other.

Opened Saim Ayub added 63 with Hussain Talat (35 from 19), but the rebuild was stalled when Talat and Max Bryant were dismissed from consecutive Usman Tariq deliveries.

Ayub reached his 50 from 37 deliveries, but was caught and bowled by Kyle Jamieson from the following ball, and matters got worse for Peshawar as Kyle Joseph was immediately run out.

Gladiators followed-up by taking wickets from consecutive balls for the third over in a row, as Abrar trapped Muqeem in front then bowled Mohammad Ali for the fifth duck of the innings, three of them golden.

Owen blasted 31 from 13 in a doomed effort, but finally edged behind off Amir to end the match with 29 balls to spare.

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Chennai Super Kings slumped to their fifth consecutive defeat with a heavy eight-wicket loss to Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.

KKR took just 61 balls to chase down a target of 104 with Sunil Narine top-scoring with 44.

CSK, who were being led by veteran MS Dhoni for the first time in this year's competition, failed to fire after being putting into bat, dramatically slipping from 59-2 to 79-9.

Narine also starred with the ball, taking 3-13, including having Ravindra Jadeja caught behind for a duck and dismissing the 43-year-old Dhoni, who batted at number nine, lbw for one.

The unbeaten Shivam Dube, CSK's top-scorer with 31, dragged his side to 103-9 but that was their lowest total at home in the competition.

KKR made short work of their reply, with openers Narine and Quinton de Kock smashing 46 inside the first four overs.

De Kock was bowled by Anshul Kamboj for 23, but Narine powered on, hitting five sixes in an 18-ball innings before his stumps were broken by Noor Ahmad, the tournament's leading wicket-taker, in the eighth over.

By that point KKR needed just 19 to win, and captain Ajinkya Rahane and Rinku Singh guided their team home, the latter hitting Jadeja for six to end the game from the first ball of the 11th over.

The result moves KKR up three places to third with an equal number of victories and losses from their six matches, while CSK remain in ninth having only won their first game in this year's competition.

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Defending champions Islamabad United made a winning start in the opening match of the 2025 Pakistan Super League, defeating Lahore Qalanders by eight wickets.

Colin Munro hit 59 runs from 42 balls to chase down a target of 140 with 14 balls to spare.

Abdullah Shafique anchored the Qalanders innings from number three, striking a 38-ball 66 that featured six fours and three sixes.

He was one of only four Qalanders batters to make double figure and he held out until the 19th over when he became the penultimate wicket to fall, caught by Munro off the bowling of Naseem Shah.

Former West Indies captain Jason Holder starred with the ball for Islamabad, taking 4-26 including the wickets of Jahandad Khan and David Wiese with consecutive deliveries.

Meanwhile Pakistan spinner Shadab Khan took 3-25, removing England's Sam Billings for a duck and having Haris Rauf stumped to end the Qalanders innings with four balls remaining.

Asif Afridi bowled United States batter Andries Gous early in the Islamabad reply, but Sahibzada Farhan and Colin Munro added 55 for the second wicket to put their side in control.

Sahibzada was caught by Sikandar Raza from a Rauf delivery for 25, but Munro and Salman Agha (41 from 34) put on an unbroken 76 to take the champions home in the 18th over.

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KL Rahul hit an unbeaten 93 as Dehli Capitals beat Royals Challengers Bengaluru by six wickets to make it four consecutive wins to start their Indian Premier League campaign.

Chasing 164, the Capitals slipped to 58-4, but Rahul struck seven fours and six sixes in a 53-ball innings, forming a 111-run fifth wicket partnership with Tristan Stubbs (38 not out from 23) that took their side to victory with 13 balls to spare.

Having been put into bat, RCB got off to an explosive start, with Virat Kohli and Phil Salt racing to 61 before the latter was run out by Vipraj Nigam from the penultimate ball of the fourth over.

Salt departed with 37 from 17 having blasted four fours and three sixes in his brief innings, but his dismissal saw a change in momentum.

Kohli was caught by Mitchell Starc in the deep off Nigam's bowling, while Liam Livingstone sliced Mohit Sharma to backward point for four as they home side reached 117-6 in the 17th over.

Noted finisher Tim David arrived at number eight and he struck four sixes in a 20-ball 37, allowing his team to finish on 163-7.

The Capitals made a poor start to their reply, losing Faf du Plessis for two and seeing Jake Fraser McGurk and Abishek Porel caught behind off Bhuvneshwar Kumar for seven apiece.

But Rahul rebuilt the innings and the India international finished the game in style, hitting three consecutive boundaries, including a huge final six over fine leg, to ensure his side's unbeaten start to the season continued.

The Capitals are now level with Gujarat Titans on eight points, but remain in second on net run-rate, while RCB also stand still in third, with three wins and two defeats.

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The Pakistan Super League - Pakistan's T20 franchise league - returns for its 10th season on Friday.

The tournament is taking place later in the year than usual because of a clash with February's Champions Trophy that Pakistan hosted.

There will be six teams taking part: Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars, Multan Sultans, Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators.

Each side faces the other five teams home and away in the group stage, which runs between 10 April and 10 May.

The top four sides progress to the knockouts, which culminate in the final at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on 18 May.

The knockouts work as follows:

13 May: Qualifier - first v second

14 May: Eliminator 1 - third v fourth

16 May: Eliminator 2 - loser of qualifier v winner of eliminator 1

18 May: Final - winner of qualifier v winner of eliminator 2

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Seven English players are set to feature in the 2025 Pakistan Super League.

Batter James Vince returns to Karachi Kings after scoring 214 runs in 2024, while all-rounder Tom Curran and Sam Billings have been signed by Lahore Qalandars.

Bowlers Chris Jordan and David Willey return to Multan Sultans after taking six and 15 wickets respectively in 2024.

Batter Tom Kohler-Cadmore and left-arm seamer Luke Wood will play for Peshawar Zalmi again.

Former England all-rounder Ravi Bopara has taken his first head coach role with the Karachi Kings.

English players in the 2025 PSL

Karachi Kings: James Vince

Lahore Qalandars: Tom Curran and Sam Billings

Multan Sultans: Chris Jordan and David Willey

Peshawar Zalmi: Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Luke Wood

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Australia batter David Warner and New Zealand's Kane Williamson will play in the Pakistan Super League for the first time when the 10th edition begins on Friday.

Both will play for Karachi Kings with Warner set to captain the 2020 champions.

Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi and New Zealand duo Adam Milne and Tim Seifert are also on Kings' roster.

Defending champions Islamabad United's squad includes Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey and all-rounder Ben Dwarshuis, plus West Indies' Jason Holder.

New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell, Sri Lanka's Kusal Perera and T20 franchise regular David Wiese will be with Lahore Qalandars.

Last year's runners-up Multan Sultans have West Indies duo Shai Hope and Gudakesh Motie and New Zealand's Michael Bracewell in their squad.

West Indies seamer Alzarri Joseph, South Africa's George Linde and Australia's Mitchell Owen are with Peshawar Zalmi.

Quetta Gladiators have signed some impressive batting power including Sri Lanka's Kusal Mendis, New Zealand's Finn Allen and South Africa's Rilee Rossouw.

These players will add to an exciting Pakistan players with Babar Azam (Peshawar Zalmi), Mohammad Rizwan (Multan Sultans) and Shaheen Afridi (Lahore Qalandars) among the players set to captain their sides.

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Brisbane Heat and Sydney Sixers will get the first picks at the Big Bash League and Women's Big Bash League draft in June.

The top four picks were drawn between the sides that did not reach the knockout stages in this year's competition, with a second draw between the finalists determining picks five to eight.

The Heat came out on top in the men's draw, giving them first pick of the elite international players in the draft, with the Sixers getting the same honour in the women's draft.

The draft will take place on 19 June, with overseas players able to put themselves forward from 28 April.

BBL15 draft order

1. Brisbane Heat

2. Adelaide Strikers

3. Melbourne Renegades

4. Perth Scorchers

5. Hobart Hurricanes

6. Sydney Sixers

7. Melbourne Stars

8. Sydney Thunder

WBBL11 draft order

1. Sydney Sixers

2. Adelaide Strikers

3. Melbourne Stars

4. Perth Scorchers

5. Hobart Hurricanes

6. Sydney Thunder

7. Melbourne Renegades

8. Brisbane Heat

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Opener Sai Sudharsan hit 82 as Gujarat Titans thrashed Rajasthan Royals by 58 runs to go top of the Indian Premier League.

The 23-year-old hit eight fours and three sixes from 53 balls, passing 50 for the third match in a row, before he was caught behind off the bowling of Tushar Deshpande in the penultimate over of his side's innings.

Chasing 218, the Royals slipped to 68-4 in their reply, and while Sanju Samson (41 from 28) and Shimron Hetmyer (52 from 32) offered the visitors some hope, they were ultimately bowled out for 159 in Ahmedabad.

Having been put into bat the Titans lost Shubman Gill in the third over, bowled by England's Jofra Archer for two, but Sudharasan was joined by Jos Buttler (36 from 25) and the pair put on 80 for the second wicket.

Sudharasan, who is now the tournament's second leading run-scorer, was one of two wickets to fall in Deshpande's 19th over, but finisher Rahul Tewatia closed with an unbeaten 24 from 12 as the home side concluded their innings on 217-6.

Having seen his side lose four early wickets, Royals captain and opener Samson added 48 with Hetmyer before he was caught at short third off Kulwant Khejroliya.

The visitors' hopes then lay with Hetmyer, and the West Indies batter struck four fours and three sixes before he was caught by Sai Kishore at deep backward square off Prasidh Krishna (3-24).

The wicket effectively ended the match as a contest, leaving the Royals 145-8 in the 16th over, and Sudharasan got to finish the match off himself, catching Maheesh Theekshana at long-off.

The win sees the Titans leapfrog Delhi Capitals to lead the table by two points, while the Royals remain in seventh with two wins and three losses.

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Lucknow Super Giants held on to deny Kolkata Knight Riders in an epic chase and win a high-scoring thriller by four runs.

Lucknow piled up 238-3 after being asked to bat but, attempting the second-highest chase in Indian Premier League history, their hosts gave themselves every chance in pursuit.

They raced to 162-2 in the 13th over but the loss of captain Ajinkya Rahane for 61 from 35 balls sparked a slide of five wickets lost for 23 runs.

Rinku Singh hit 38 not out from 15 balls to keep KKR in it but could not do enough at the death.

He was left needing to hit the final three balls for six to force a super over but only cleared the rope once, along with two fours.

Lucknow were powered to their total by 81 from Mitchell Marsh and a 36-ball 87 not out from Nicholas Pooran.

Australian Marsh, who put on 99 for the first wicket with Aiden Markram, became the season's leading run-scoring during his innings, only to be overtaken by Pooran who hit seven fours and eight sixes.

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Jos Buttler was out for a duck but Gujarat Titans inflicted a fourth successive defeat on Sunrisers Hyderabad with a comfortable seven-wicket win.

England batter Buttler, who made two half-centuries in his first three innings at this year's Indian Premier League, nicked his third ball behind off Australia captain Pat Cummins but the Titans still chased 153 in 16.4 overs.

Opener Shubman Gill batted through for 61 not out, Washington Sundar added 49 and Sherfane Rutherford finished unbeaten on 35.

It came after Sunrisers' hard-hitting top order disappointed again in making 152-8.

They made 286-6 in their opening victory against Rajasthan Royals but have since failed to fire.

Travis Head was caught for eight, fellow opener Abhishek Sharma out for 18 and Ishan Kishan 17.

Nitish Kumar Reddy top-scored with 31 and South Africa batter Heinrich Klaasen made 27 but neither were able to kick on.

Mohammed Siraj took 4-17 for the Titans on the back of 3-19 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

The win lifts Gujarat up to second in the table, level on points with leaders Delhi Capitals. Sunrisers, last year's finalists, are bottom with four defeats from five.

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