Sport
Dhoni mania as IPL heads into tense final week

The Indian Premier League enters its playoff phase this week and Chennai Super Kings will host Gujarat Titans on Tuesday in front of a home crowd desperate to see MS Dhoni win another Indian Premier League.
A packed house is expected at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium and all eyes will be on the 41-year-old Dhoni, AFP reported.
Four-time champions Chennai host table-toppers Gujarat in the first playoff of this season’s IPL, with the winner going into Sunday’s final. The loser goes into another playoff match.
Fans have turned up in large numbers at every venue to watch Dhoni, the Chennai skipper and former India captain who is expected to retire from cricket at the end of this campaign.
He retired from national duty in 2020.
Dhoni has kept fans guessing and not explicitly said he expects to call it quits when the end of the season arrives at some point over the next week.
The wicketkeeper-batsman has reinvented himself this term as a lower-order batsman coming in at number eight.
“This is what my job is,” he said after hitting a nine-ball 20 in a late cameo to help Chennai defeat Delhi earlier this month.
“I have told them (his team) this is what I am supposed to do, don’t make me run a lot, and it has been working.”
Dhoni’s likely farewell is one of a number of subplots heading into the final week of the Twenty20 extravaganza.
Opponents Gujarat have extended their fairy tale journey from winning the crown in their debut season last year to making the play-offs once again.
“Last year we did well, everything went our way,” said skipper Hardik Pandya, who then guided Gujarat to the top of the 10-team table in the regular season this year.
“This year was a different challenge for us. We were expecting people to challenge us. The boys showed tremendous character.”
Opener Shubman Gill has led the way with his 680 runs, second only in this IPL to Faf du Plessis at Bangalore on 730, but with a chance now to grab the Orange Cap for top-scorer.
He struck his second straight ton on Sunday to play another match-winning role for a team which triumphed in 10 of their 14 group matches.
If Gujarat make the final they will again enjoy home advantage playing at the 132,000-capacity stadium in Ahmedabad.
Green justifies price tag
On Wednesday, five-time champions Mumbai Indians, led by India skipper Rohit Sharma, take on Lucknow Super Giants in another playoff.
The winner of that match will play the loser of Chennai-Gujarat on Friday for a spot in Sunday’s final at the world’s biggest cricket stadium.
Mumbai rode on Australian all-rounder Cameron Green’s maiden T20 century in a crushing win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday to sneak into the playoffs.
Green’s 47-ball 100 not out and a 56 by Rohit in Mumbai’s successful chase of 201 has suddenly made the IPL heavyweights, who last won the IPL in 2020, favorites in the knockout clash against Lucknow.
The 23-year-old Green was the second-most expensive player in IPL history when Mumbai bought him for $2.11 million in this season’s auction.
Sport
IPL 2025: Gujarat Titans beat Mumbai Indians by 36 runs
In today’s fixtures, Delhi Capitals will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam at 3:30 PM, while Rajasthan Royals will take on Chennai Super Kings in Guwahati at 7:30 PM.

Gujarat Titans have beaten Mumbai Indians by 36 runs at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. Chasing 197 runs Mumbai could only manage to get to 160/6. Prasidh Krishna was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets for the Titans.
Earlier Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to bowl first. Sai Sudharsan chipped in with 41-ball 63 which helped Titans to put on a decent total on what seemed like a tricky surface.
In reply, Mumbai Indians could only score 160 for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs, with Suryakumar Yadav top-scoring with 48 off 28 balls. For Gujarat, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna claimed two wickets each.
With the result, Titans have registered their first win of the tournament while Mumbai after two games remain winless.
In today’s fixtures, Delhi Capitals will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam at 3:30 PM, while Rajasthan Royals will take on Chennai Super Kings in Guwahati at 7:30 PM.
Ariana Television will again broadcast this match live and exclusively across Afghanistan. Fans can tune in from 2:30 PM Kabul time.
Sport
De Kock fireworks see Kolkata thrash Rajasthan in IPL

Spinners Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy combined to help restrict Rajasthan to 151-9 after KKR elected to field first in Guwahati.
De Kock bossed the chase with his 61-ball innings laced with eight fours and six sixes as Kolkata achieved their target with 15 balls to spare.
De Kock, who has retired from Tests and one-day international cricket for South Africa and whose T20 international future remains uncertain, showed no signs of rustiness.
“To be fair, haven’t felt any challenges yet,” De Kock said.
“Have had three months off which felt nice. Had about a 10-day build-up to this season. Only my second game here, just taking it as I see it.”
Kolkata signed De Kock in November’s auction after he was released by Lucknow Super Giants.
He handed his team a quick start, hitting two fours but then lost opening partner Moeen, run out for five.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane fell after a brisk 18 but De Kock stood firm and along with impact substitute Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who made 22, steered the team home in an unbeaten stand of 83.
De Kock finished with a six off Jofra Archer as Kolkata bounced back from their opening loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Rajasthan suffered their second straight loss.
Earlier, Kolkata fast bowler Vaibhav Arora dismissed Sanju Samson, bowled for 13, and Chakravarthy and Moeen soon took two wickets each.
Wicketkeeper Samson is Rajasthan’s regular captain but has been forced to play only as a batter in the first three matches due to an injury.
Chakravarthy, who starred in India’s recent Champions Trophy triumph, got stand-in-skipper Riyan Parag out caught behind for 25.
Former England all-rounder Moeen, in for the unwell Sunil Narine, stifled the opposition with his off-spin and was rewarded with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal for 29.
The 37-year-old and Chakravarthy both struck again as Rajasthan slipped to 82-5 in 11 overs.
Wickets kept tumbling for Rajasthan and despite wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel’s 33 and 16 from Archer, they settled for a below-par total.
“I think 170 was a reasonable score but we fell short by 20 runs,” said Parag. “The plan was to get Quinny out early but he didn’t so we shifted to containing them in the middle overs.”
Arora and fellow quick Harshit Rana also took two wickets each.
Kolkata, under Shreyas Iyer who is now Punjab Kings captain after a $3.17 million move in the auction, won their third IPL title last year.
The seventh match of the day will see Sunrisers Hyderabad play Lucknow Super Giants. The live broadcast of this match, on Ariana Television, will start at 6:15pm.
Sport
AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers: Myanmar defeat Afghanistan 2-1

Afghanistan’s national football team went down 2-1 to Myanmar in their first match of the third round of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers.
The match was held on Tuesday at the stadium in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar.
The only goal for Afghanistan was scored in the 14th minute by Omid Popalzay.
Afghanistan is in Group E along with Myanmar, Pakistan, and Syria.
The national team’s next match will be on June 10 against Syria. The venue is still to be decided.
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