Ahead of a high stakes IPL 2025 clash between Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes the Shreyas Iyer-led side has to really work hard on sorting their death bowling issues.

PBKS find themselves in an IPL playoffs after 11 years and a win over MI at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Monday will make them the first team to secure a top-two finish in the points table. But Iyer & Co. are coming after failing to defend 206 against Delhi Capitals on Saturday.

What will also keep PBKS worried is that leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal hasn’t been available due to a small niggle. “Punjab Kings’ batting looks good — that’s one area that’s fairly organised. Bowling is the worry.”

FC Barcelona ended the season with a 3-0 win away to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday in a game where neither side had anything significant at stake.

The match began after both teams gave a guard of honour to Athletic Bilbao defender Oscar de Marcos, who was making his 573rd and final appearance after 16 years with the club.

Two goals in just three minutes from Robert Lewandowski put Barca 2-0 ahead in the first half, with the third coming from Dani Olmo's penalty, moments after De Marcos received an emotional send-off as he left the pitch at San Mames for the last time, reports.

Alexander Sorloth ended the season with a hat trick to take his tally of league goals to 20 as Atletico Madrid won 4-0 away to Girona, while Yeremy Pino, Pape Gueye (twice) and Alex Baena scored in Villarreal's 4-2 victory at home to Sevilla.

"Dear cricket, give me one more chance": On December 10, 2022, Karun Nair pleaded with the cricketing gods for him to get one more opportunity to play in the Indian national team. Over two-and-a-half years later, he has been recalled into the Test setup for a date with destiny, after being out of the Test squad for nearly 3000 days, and that too for India's tour of England, the toughest challenge for any overseas batter.

The 33-year-old batter, however, is not one to stand down in the face of adversity.

Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth advanced to his first men’s singles final at a BWF event in six years with a straight-game victory over Japan’s Yushi Tanaka at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament on Saturday.

The 32-year-old, a silver medallist at the 2023 World Championships, produced a stellar performance, displaying flashes of his vintage form with sharp net play and aggressive shot-making to overcome world No. 23 Tanaka 21-18, 24-22 in a gripping encounter.

This marks Srikanth’s first BWF World Tour final appearance since he finished runner-up at the 2019 India Open. His last title came in 2017, a year which saw him lift four silverwares.

Right-handed batter Shubman Gill has been appointed as India’s 37th Test captain as chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced the 18-member squad on Saturday for the crucial five-match tour of England, starting on June 20.

Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been named as the vice-captain. The Agarkar-led selection committee, along with BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia as the meeting convener, picked the squad in a meeting at the BCCI HQ in Mumbai, before announcing it in a formal press conference addressed by him and Shiv Sunder Das.

"We discussed every option that's there, over the last year or so, we've looked at Shubman at various times. Taken a lot of feedback from the dressing room. Very young, but there's been improvement.”

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar and secretary Devajit Saikia arrived at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters in Mumbai to pick India's squad for the upcoming five-match Test series against England.

Subroto Banerjee, who is one of five members of the selection committee, was also seen arriving at the BCCI headquarters for the high-profile meeting.

India’s all-important Test series against England will take place from June 20 to August 4, with Headingley, Edgbaston, Lord’s, Old Trafford and The Oval being the venues. India are aiming to win a Test series in England for the first time since 2007.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar and Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Pat Cummins have been fined for maintaining slow over-rate during their IPL 2025 clash at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Friday.

As it was his team’s second offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Patidar was fined Rs 24 lakh. The rest of the members of the Playing XI, including the Impact Player, were each individually fined either Rs 6 lakh or 25 per cent of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser.

Cummins was fined Rs 12 lakh as it was his team’s first offence of the season under Article 2.22 of the IPL Code of Conduct, which pertains to minimum over-rate offences.

Patidar featured in the match against SRH as an impact substitute, with Jitesh Sharma stepping in as the stand-in captain. Despite not leading the side on the day, the fine was imposed on Patidar, as he remains the full-time captain of RCB this season.

After narrowly missing out on the Serie A title on the final day, assistant coach Massimiliano Farris said Inter Milan are now turning their full attention to the upcoming Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain.

Although a largely rotated Inter squad secured a 2–0 victory over Como on Friday, last season’s Scudetto winners couldn’t defend their title as Napoli clinched the championship with a 2–0 win over Cagliari.

Speaking on behalf of suspended head coach Simone Inzaghi, Farris urged the team to quickly move past the disappointment and focus fully on the decisive clash with PSG on June 1.

"The mood is that of a team that has done its duty. It's a shame because it's been a long journey, and we've had to let the title slip away," Farris told reporters.

Napoli fended off Inter Milan's pressure to register its fourth Serie A title on Friday after a 2-0 home victory against Cagliari in the final round, making the Nerazzurri's win over Como to no avail.

The Scudetto race was practically a two-horse race before Friday. Napoli entered its final matchday with 79 points, one point ahead of Inter, so Antonio Conte's side only needed one victory to secure its Serie A champion, regardless of Inter's result.

Cagliari had confirmed its Serie A status after the 37th round and had nothing to play for on Friday, but Napoli only broke the deadlock on the stroke of halftime when Matteo Politano whipped in a cross, Scott McTominay found the net with a stunning acrobatic scissor kick, reports.

Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead just six minutes after the break when the Belgian collected the ball in the midfield and surged forward, resisting shoulder-to-shoulder challenges before finishing with a low-strike.

Punjab Kings’ assistant coach Brad Haddin expressed strong confidence in his team's batting unit and outlined the team's strategic goals for the remainder of the tournament ahead of the Punjab Kings next Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 encounter against Delhi Capitals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Saturday.

Haddin was effusive in his praise for the team's batting performance throughout the tournament and also denied any change in skipper Shreyas Iyer’s batting order, who played down the order in the previous game against Rajasthan Royals.