Hyderabad and Chennai finish IPL 2025 season with big wins
In the first game of the day, Chennai Super Kings, who finished last this season, signed off with an 83-run win over Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad.
Klaasen made an unbeaten 105 from 39 balls to take Hyderabad to the third-highest IPL total after they chose to bat at New Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla ground. (Photo: Getty Images)
SOUTH AFRICA's Heinrich Klaasen scored his second IPL century on Sunday to help Sunrisers Hyderabad to a total of 278-3 and a 110-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders.
In the first game of the day, Chennai Super Kings, who finished last this season, signed off with an 83-run win over Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad.
Chennai captain MS Dhoni said he has "no hurry" to decide about his future in the T20 league. The 43-year-old was reported to be retiring.
Klaasen made an unbeaten 105 from 39 balls to take Hyderabad to the third-highest IPL total after they chose to bat at New Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla ground.
Promoted to number three, Klaasen hit seven fours and nine sixes in Hyderabad’s dominant batting show after opener Travis Head scored 76 off 40 balls.
Three-time champions Kolkata, who won the IPL last year, were bowled out for 168 in 18.4 overs to end in eighth place out of 10 teams.
Hyderabad's Head and opening partner Abhishek Sharma started with a partnership of 92 in 6.4 overs.
Abhishek made 32 before Head added 83 runs with Klaasen as the sixes continued to flow at Feroz Shah Kotla ground.
Klaasen reached his century in 37 balls, the joint third-fastest in IPL history. Chris Gayle had made a 30-ball hundred in 2013 and Rajasthan Royals' Vaibhav Suryavanshi reached three figures in 35 balls this season.
Left-handed Head was dismissed by Sunil Narine, but Klaasen kept going with Ishan Kishan.
In the earlier match, Chennai ended Gujarat’s chances of finishing in the top two. Chennai scored 230-5, with Devon Conway hitting 52 and Dewald Brevis adding 57 from 23 balls.
Chennai’s bowlers then bowled out Gujarat, who have already qualified for the playoffs, for 147 in 18.3 overs.
Chennai ended with four wins in 14 matches. The future of Dhoni, who took over as captain midway after Ruturaj Gaikwad's injury, remains uncertain.
Dhoni did not reveal any decision after the game.
"I have four, five months to decide. There's no hurry," said Dhoni.
The former India captain, who turns 44 in July, scored 196 runs in this IPL season. He was praised for his wicketkeeping with several stumpings.
"Need to keep the body fit," said Dhoni. "You have to be at your best. If cricketers start retiring for their performance, some of them will retire at 22. I will go back to Ranchi, enjoy a few bike rides.
"I am not saying I am done, not saying I am coming back. I have the luxury of time."
Gujarat, Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians are sure of places in the top four, but are fighting to secure top two spots which give two chances to reach the final on June 3.
Gujarat end the league stage with 18 points. Punjab (17), Bengaluru (17) and five-time champions Mumbai (16) have one match remaining.
The focus was on Gujarat captain Shubman Gill, who was on the field a day after being named as India’s Test team captain.
He was the first to be dismissed, for 13 from nine balls, in Gujarat’s chase which never got going.
JOSH INGLIS scored 73 runs to help Punjab Kings secure a top-two finish and a seven-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians on Monday. The result confirmed Punjab’s place in the IPL playoffs, giving them two chances to reach the final.
Both Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians had already qualified for the playoffs along with Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Punjab’s second-place finish means they will play in the first qualifier on May 29, with another chance in the second qualifier if needed to reach the final on June 3.
Punjab chased down the target of 185 with nine balls to spare in Jaipur, helped by a 109-run stand between Inglis and Priyansh Arya. Arya scored 62 before he was dismissed in the 15th over, and Inglis fell shortly after completing his first IPL fifty, with the team needing 14 runs to win.
Inglis, who also keeps wicket, hit nine fours and three sixes in his 42-ball innings.
Punjab skipper Shreyas Iyer made 26 not out from 16 balls to see the team through.
“Every individual stepped up at the right time,” said Iyer. “We’ve had players putting their hands up when we were in the dumps. (Coach) Ricky (Ponting) has been fantastic with player management, it’s important for me to get trust too.”
Ponting said of Iyer, who was bought for $3.17 million in November’s auction, “It was pretty obvious with the amount of money we spent on him, we wanted him here. He’s a man who has been so good and has a sparkle for captaincy, he has led this team superbly.”
Mumbai Indians, who have won the IPL five times, will play the eliminator on May 30 after finishing fourth in the group phase.
“We just want to play good cricket going forward, figure out the right template for the batting group,” Mumbai captain Hardik Pandya said. “Not much panic though, we knew what was at stake.”
Gujarat Titans’ position will depend on the result of the final league match between Bengaluru and Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday.
In the IPL playoff format, the winner of the first qualifier will move straight to the final, while the loser will get another chance in the second qualifier.
Mumbai Indians made 184-7, with Suryakumar Yadav top-scoring with 57 off 39 balls.
South Africa’s Ryan Rickelton hit 27 in an opening partnership of 44 with Rohit Sharma, who made 24. Rickelton was dismissed in the sixth over as Mumbai lost wickets at regular intervals, including Rohit and England’s Will Jacks, who scored 17.
Suryakumar steadied the innings with a 44-run stand with Pandya, who made 26 off 15 balls and hit two fours and two sixes before falling to South African left-arm pacer Marco Jansen.
Naman Dhir, batting at number seven, and Suryakumar added 23 runs in the 19th over. Dhir scored 20 from 12 balls before being dismissed by left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh at the start of the final over. Arshdeep also removed Suryakumar in the same over, finishing with two wickets for three runs.
INDIA named top-order batsman Shubman Gill as the new Test captain, the cricket board said Saturday (24), as it announced the team for next month's all-important tour of England.
Gill, 25, succeeds Rohit Sharma, who retired from Tests recently along with Virat Kohli. He will take charge in the five-Test series in England starting June 20.
Gill will lead a team in transition after Rohit, 38, and Kohli, 36, walked away from the five-day format in the space of six days this month to leave a big void.
"Shubman Gill-led TeamIndia are READY for an action-packed Test series," the Board of Control for Cricket in India said in a statement. His vice-captain will be Rishabh Pant.
Gifted with a wide range of shots, Gill has led Gujarat Titans into the playoffs of the current Indian Premier League T20 tournament.
"Obviously, he's very young but we've seen the improvement," chief selector Ajit Agarkar told reporters after the team announcement in Mumbai.
He said that, as well as Gill's IPL performances, the board "take feedback from a lot of people" and the choice was a "unanimous decision".
"It's obviously going to be a high-pressure job. But we're hopeful that we've picked the right guy. I mean, he's a terrific player," Agarkar said.
"It's a big job, big transition," he said, especially with "two of our big players retiring".
"We were all confident that he is the guy to take us forward", he said.
However, pace bowler Mohammed Shami has been left out of the 18-member squad due to fitness concerns, Agarkar said.
"He's had a little bit of a setback over the last week or so," Agarkar said, adding medical scans had ruled Shami out for the series.
Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah is in the squad, although he will not be able to play all five Tests. Bumrah's workload is being managed while he recovers from a career-threatening back injury -- a key reason for him not getting the Test captaincy.
Bumrah was Rohit's deputy in India's last Test tour of Australia.
Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj returns after he was dropped from the ODI team for the Champions Trophy this year.
Batsman Karun Nair, who hit an unbeaten 303 against England in Chennai in 2016, will make a comeback eight years after he last played a Test for India.
Gill's opening partner at Gujarat, Sai Sudharsan, who leads the IPL batting chart with 638 runs, also made the cut.
Agarkar said coach Gautam Gambhir and Gill will decide the batting order and who will replace Rohit and Kohli as opener and number two batter.
Gill has played 32 Tests, scoring 1,893 runs at an average of 35.05, with five hundreds, since his debut in Melbourne in 2020.
He has been a mainstay of India's batting in Test and ODI cricket and played a key role in the team's 50-overs Champions Trophy title in Dubai this year.
The Tests in England will be India's first in the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle.
The opener is at Headingley, followed by the second Test at Edgbaston from July 2.
Lord's hosts the third Test from July 10, with the fourth at Old Trafford beginning July 23 and the final Test at The Oval from July 31.
MITCHELL MARSH scored his first Indian Premier League century as Lucknow Super Giants defeated Gujarat Titans by 33 runs in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Marsh hit 117 off 64 balls, including 10 fours and eight sixes, helping Lucknow post 235-2 in their 20 overs.
In response, Gujarat, who have already qualified for the playoffs, were restricted to 202-9 at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
"We gave 15-20 runs extra. If we'd stopped them at 210-220 it would've been better, that was a huge difference," said Gujarat captain Shubman Gill. "Getting momentum back will be key in the next game."
Lucknow were already out of the playoffs and played for pride.
Gujarat opener Sai Sudharsan, the tournament’s top scorer, made 21 before being caught by Aiden Markram off Will O’Rourke, who took 3-27. Gill, who looked in rhythm, was dismissed for 35, caught in the deep by Abdul Samad off Avesh Khan.
Jos Buttler added 33 before falling to Akash Singh in the 10th over.
Shahrukh Khan (57) and Sherfane Rutherford (38) built a brief partnership but O’Rourke struck twice in the 17th over to end Gujarat’s chase.
"We had a lot of fun out there, T20 is fickle," said O'Rourke.
Earlier, Marsh and Markram gave Lucknow a solid start with a 91-run opening partnership after Gujarat won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Markram hit two consecutive sixes off Kagiso Rabada but was caught by Shahrukh Khan near the boundary off Sai Kishore for 36.
Marsh kept scoring quickly, taking 25 runs off Rashid Khan’s first over. He reached his century in 56 balls before being caught by Rutherford off Arshad Khan for 117.
Nicholas Pooran made an unbeaten 56 off 27 balls, including four fours and five sixes. Captain Rishabh Pant remained not out on 16.
The IPL resumed last Saturday after a pause due to a deadly conflict between India and Pakistan, which had led overseas players to reassess their plans.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Mumbai Indians' Suryakumar Yadav celebrates his team's win against Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on May 21, 2025.
Suryakumar Yadav's unbeaten 73 and a quickfire 24 from Naman Dhir helped Mumbai Indians secure a 59-run win over Delhi Capitals and confirm their place in the Indian Premier League playoffs on Wednesday.
In a direct contest for a playoff spot, Mumbai scored 180-5 and bowled Delhi out for 121 at the Wankhede Stadium.
Mitchell Santner returned figures of 3-11 from four overs, while Jasprit Bumrah also picked up three wickets.
"I can throw them (Santner and Bumrah) the ball whenever I want," Mumbai captain Hardik Pandya said. "They bring such control and perfection, which makes my job easy."
The five-time champions have now joined Gujarat Titans, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings in the top four. The playoffs begin on May 29.
Delhi still have one game left but can only get to 15 points, while Mumbai have 16 points with one more match to go.
Mumbai recovered their campaign midway through the season after losing four of their first five games. They have now won seven of their last eight matches.
The final group games will determine the playoff positions, with the top two teams getting two chances to reach the final on June 3.
After being asked to bat first, Mumbai overcame an early top-order collapse, which included Rohit Sharma getting out for five. They rebuilt in the second half of the innings.
Suryakumar held firm in his 43-ball innings that included seven fours and four sixes, while Dhir added 24 not out from eight balls to boost the total.
Dhir hit two fours and two sixes off Mukesh Kumar in a 27-run 19th over. Suryakumar followed it up with 21 runs in the final over bowled by Dushmantha Chameera.
‘Let it slip’
"We let it slip in the last two overs," said Delhi stand-in captain Faf du Plessis, who stepped in for Axar Patel due to illness.
"Momentum is a real thing in cricket. The way they counter-punched to get almost 50 in the last two overs, undoing the work of the first 17-18 overs. We lost that momentum."
Du Plessis also said the team missed Australian bowler Mitchell Starc, who did not return after the IPL resumed following a pause caused by the India-Pakistan conflict.
The IPL resumed last Saturday with a revised schedule, leading some overseas players to change their season plans.
Tilak Varma added 27 runs in a 55-run stand with Suryakumar after Mumbai lost three early wickets.
Rohit was dismissed by Mustafizur Rahman in the third over, followed soon after by Will Jacks and Ryan Rickelton.
Rohit, who recently had a stand at the stadium named after him, had several fans dressed in white as a tribute to his recent retirement from Test cricket.
Delhi lost early wickets in the chase, starting with du Plessis falling for six in the second over.
Trent Boult dismissed KL Rahul for 11, and Jacks removed Abishek Porel for a single-digit score.
Wickets continued to fall, and Santner took two in one over to end Delhi’s resistance. They were bowled out in 18.2 overs.
(Inputs from agencies)
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FILE PHOTO: Pakistan's players, (L-R) Shaheen Shah Afridi, Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan. (Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)
PAKISTAN dropped stars Shaheen Shah Afridi, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan on Wednesday (21) as they named a new-look squad for three home Twenty20 internationals against Bangladesh.
Former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson will take charge for the first time after being appointed last week, replacing Aaqib Javed.
Salman Ali Agha will captain Pakistan as they look towards next year's Twenty20 World Cup, to be hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
Fast bowler Shaheen had played in Pakistan's last T20 series in New Zealand in March, but batsmen Azam and Rizwan were omitted for the second consecutive T20 series after being criticised for slow scoring.
"The squad has been selected based on players' performances in the ongoing Pakistan Super League, which concludes on May 25," the Pakistan Cricket Board said in a statement.
Shaheen has taken 12 wickets for Lahore Qalandars in 10 PSL matches at an economy rate of 8.20. Opener Sahibzada Farhan earned a recall after topping the PSL batting charts with 394 runs.
Batsmen Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman return after missing the New Zealand tour with injuries.
Fast bowler Hasan Ali is back after being sidelined with multiple injuries since May last year.
The PCB said that the matches, which have been affected by a 10-day delay to the PSL caused by the deadly India-Pakistan conflict, will be held in Lahore on May 28, 30 and June 1.
Pakistan squad: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Shadab Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Wasim, Mohammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub
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