A disciplined bowling effort on a wicket that offered extra bounce and some assistance helped Mumbai Indians restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 162/5 in 20 overs in Match 33 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday.

After skipper Hardik Pandya opted to bowl first, Mumbai Indians used the conditions superbly and kept the Sunrisers batters under a tight leash from the start and did not allow them to score freely. Will Jacks claimed 2-14 in his three overs while Jasprit Bumrah (1-21), Trent Boult (1-29) and Hardik Pandya (1-42) were the other successful bowlers.

Zimbabwe have kickstarted their preparation for the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh via its first training session at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Thursday, despite rain delaying the start and forcing an early end to the day’s activities.

“It’s unfortunate, but obviously these things you can’t control. I’m happy with the prep we got in Harare. We had four good days of a regional game there, so the guys are coming off quite a bit of game time. And we sort of prepared for all possible conditions when we were in Harare – that was quite nice,” said head coach Justin Sammons in a statement on Thursday.

Sammons praised the players’ attitude in whatever time they got to practice despite having back-to-back travel days. “Like I said, it’s unfortunate, but the guys are in good spirits. They’ve had some nice time together in the changeroom after two sort of heavy travel days. So, I am happy with where the group is at.”

Punjab Kings assistant coach Brad Haddin believes the morale-boosting 16-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has instilled a renewed sense of belief within the squad.

However, with the business end of IPL 2025 approaching, he has called for sharper focus, better execution and bolder cricket from the Shreyas Iyer-led side.

Punjab Kings had defended the lowest-ever total in IPL history — just 111 runs — to bowl out KKR for a mere 95 in Mullanpur. Haddin said such a result reinforced the players’ belief in their process and ability to fight back from any position.

Speaking ahead of RCB’s upcoming IPL 2025 clash against Punjab Kings on Friday, the veteran seamer admitted that the Bengaluru surface has shown inconsistent behaviour this season, leaving even home teams like RCB scratching their heads.

“Our preparation is as usual, nothing different. What we do for any opposition on any ground, it is going to be the same. We know the Chinnaswamy is known for batting, but if you look at the wicket, it is not the same as what it used to be. I don’t know the reason, but yes, whether we bowl or bat first, we’ll look at the first few overs and then see how the wicket plays, and then we will decide how to approach things accordingly.”

Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Match 33 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday.

Both sides are coming into the match with wins in their respective matches and decided to go ahead with the same playing XIs as their previous matches.

Mumbai Indians decided to go with former captain Rohit Sharma starting among the impact substitutes.

Gurugram's Tapendra Ghai produced the day’s best score of eight-under 62 to build an imposing four-shot lead in round three of the Rs 1 crore Calance Open being played at the Qutab Golf Course.

The 29-year-old Ghai (64-67-62), who won his only title on the PGTI in 2018, took his total to 17-under 193 after his penultimate round that helped him gain three spots from his overnight tied fourth place.

Delhi’s Honey Baisoya (67), Ludhiana’s Pukhraj Singh Gill (68) and Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu (69), were all tied for second place with matching totals of 13-under 197.

Ghai, who was the first-round leader before he slipped three shots behind the lead in round two, was in terrific form with the putter on a day when everyone else struggled with the short putts. He made single putts on his first eight holes where he sank three birdies and came up with a few outstanding par-saves.

Ratnagiri Jets, the two-time champions of the Maharashtra Premier League (MPL) in the men’s circuit, announced its official foray into women’s cricket by acquiring a franchise in the Women’s Maharashtra Premier League (WMPL). In a move that signals serious intent and commitment to the women’s game, the franchise named Team India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana as its icon player for the next three seasons.

The left-handed opener, regarded as one of the most elegant and consistent batters in the world, was recently conferred the Best International Cricketer of the Year (Women) by the BCCI for the 2023–24 season. She was one of the top picks ahead of the WMPL player auctions, which will take place in Pune on April 17, alongside the men's MPL auctions.

Goals from Lautaro Martinez and Benjamin Pavard helped Inter reach the Champions League semifinal for the second time in three seasons with 5-4 aggregate win over Bayern Munich.

Both teams were heavily involved in the opening exchanges. Thomas Muller forced the first save six minutes in with a skidding drive following a neat turn on the edge of the area after collecting Michael Olise's pass, while Dimarco was unable to add the finish to a sweeping move from the hosts, drilling his low effort straight at Jonas Urbig.

The 35-year-old Müller was in the thick of the action again as Bayern aimed to breach a Nerazzurri defence that had conceded just once on home soil in this season's competition, the visitors stepping up the pressure following a Hakan Çalhanoğlu curler that flew narrowly wide, UEFA reports.

A Joshua Kimmich volley and an acrobatic Leroy Sané strike were both claimed by Yann Sommer late in the first half, the Swiss international aiming for an eighth clean sheet in the Champions League this term.

Arsenal completed a 5-1 aggregate win over holders Real Madrid to end their 16-year wait for a Champions League semifinal appearance, setting up a match against high-flying French champions Paris Saint-Germain.

Bukayo Saka missed an early penalty that would have handed us a virtually unassailable four-goal aggregate lead, but he redeemed himself on 65 minutes by finishing off a fine move to make it 4-0 on aggregate.

Two minutes later Vinicius Jr pounced on some defensive hesitation to get one back, but in second half stoppage time Gabriel Martinelli raced clear to win the game as we became the first English side to win twice at the Bernabeu and stretch our unbeaten European run to eight matches - our longest run since reaching the final in 2006.

The Gunners were off to a flying start as Saka flashed a shot wide after Jurrien Timber won the ball back well on the edge of the Madrid box, before the winger forced Thibaut Courtois into a decent save with a similar effort from 20 yards.

Late cameos by captain Axar Patel and Tristan Stubbs rescued Delhi Capitals (DC) from a precarious position, and enabled them to post a formidable 188/5 in 20 overs against Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Wednesday.

It’s the first time after 2023 that a score above 200 wasn’t posted in IPL games in New Delhi. On a slow pitch, which offered ample help for slower deliveries and balls were stopping at times, RR bowled brilliantly to keep DC on a tight leash, as they reached 111/4 in 15 overs.

But from there, Axar came in to hammer a sensational 34 off 14 balls, while Stubbs made the same number of runs in 18 balls and Ashutosh Sharma hit an unbeaten 15, as the trio’s impactful batting ensured DC got 77 runs off the last five overs.

Pushed into batting first, Jake Fraser-McGurk got going by smashing Jofra Archer for two boundaries in the opening over. Abishek Porel took a liking to Tushar Deshpande’s pace and lengths by hitting four boundaries and a six in the 23-run second over, with the wristy flick going over the deep-backward square-leg fence being the standout shot.