Category Archives: Uncategorized

PTI

NEW DELHI, May 22: The administrative mess in Indian football contributed to a new low in the continental stage as the country was handed just one play-off slot for the 2027-28 season of the AFC Challenge League, the third and last tier in Asia’s club structure.

For a few years in the past, Indian clubs had even played in the group stage of the top-tier AFC Champions League (ACL), but have had to be content with ACL2 — the second tier — appear-ances in recent times.

India has been already allotted two play-offs slots for the 2026-27 ACL 2. East Bengal, which won the Indian Super League title on Thursday, and Super Cup champions FC Goa will fea-ture in the ACL 2 play-offs round in July-August.

But for the 2027-28 sea-son, the Asian Football Con-federation (AFC) on Friday allocated just one play-off round slot for India in the third tier AFC Challenge League, which is meant for clubs from countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bangladesh.

The AFC made the slot allocations for 2027-28 AFC Men’s Club Competitions after the conclusion of the 2025-26 season in the mem-ber association countries.

“It is shocking, we were playing in ACL top division and then ACL 2. Now we are going to play in the third tier with clubs from countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan — basically SAFF countries,” a former football official told PTI.”It’s not even a direct group stage slot for the third tier AFC Challenge League, it’s a play-offs slot. That is really hard to believe, but then our football system has been deteriorating and on the downhill for some time.” He said the lure of foreign players to play for ISL clubs may reduce in the upcom-ing season as India will compete with lesser-known clubs of mostly South Asian countries.

Basically, the slot alloca-tion for Asian club competi-tions is based on member as-sociation ranking — which is different from FIFA rankings which are based on national team performance.

This ranking is, in turn, based on criteria such as technical standard of do-mestic league, club licens-ing system, number of AFC compliant stadia, sporting integrity, governance and regulations, competition format, among others.

Regarding the competi-tion format, the 2026 regu-lations of the AFC clearly states that each club in the domestic top division shall play a minimum of 24 matches per season, includ-ing the domestic top division league and domestic cup, if the member association aspires to play in the ACL Elite and ACL 2.

The AFC’s 2026 regu-lations also say that for a country to have clubs in the ACL Elite and ACL 2, the domestic top division should have a minimum duration of eight months, as well as a home and away format.In the just completed truncated ISL, each club had played 13 matches, and the format was also not home and away.

In fact, the 2025-26 ISL season fulfils AFC’s criteria for third tier AFC Challenge League, which reads: Each club in the domestic top di-vision shall play a minimum of 12 matches per season, a home and away league for-mat or a single round-robin league format for the domes-tic top-division league.

With the performance of the Indian clubs in the continental stage also not up to the mark in the last few years, the member associa-tion ranking for the country has gone down from 10th earlier to 15th this year in the West Asia region.

That also contributed to the demotion during slot al-location. (PTI)

(PTI)

AHMEDABAD, May 22: Aware of the scrutiny around Gujarat Titans’ middle order, star spinner Rashid Khan said the side has succeeded this season by not dwelling on imperfections but trusting players to deliver in different situations, and adapting quickly to conditions.

GT registered a massive 89-run win over Chennai Super Kings in their last league match on Thursday to take the top two positions in the points table.

“I think every team has those little bit areas to improve and have some areas very strong. You can’t be a complete 100% perfect team. Doesn’t matter how good a player you will have … throughout the tournament there has been lots of discussion about our middle order and things like that but I feel everyone is stepping up,” he said.

Source: PTI

HYDERABAD, May 22: Sunrisers Hyderabad main-tained their now familiar hell-for-leather template, but even a thumping 55-run vic-tory couldn’t prevent Royal Challengers Bengaluru from topping the points table at the end of their IPL league stage engagement here on Friday.

Abhishek Sharma’s bat-swing, Ishan Kishan’s daredevilry and Heinrich Klaasen’s brute muscularity took SRH to a meaty total of 255 for 4.

For RCB, the primary target was to score 166 to finish in top two and ensure two shots at qualifying for the IPL final and they did that with ease despite losing the contest by a big margin. They finished on 200 for 4.

RCB (NRR +0.783), thus, topped the group league phase with Gujarat Titans (NRR +0.695) and SRH (NRR +0.524) finishing sec-ond and third respectively despite all three teams get-ting 16 points.

The chase was always out of question even as Ven-katesh Iyer (44 off 19 balls) provided a solid start. Virat Kohli (15 off 11 balls) and Devdutt Padikkal (21 off 14 balls) didn’t get too many. Once RCB understood that they can’t win the match, veterans Rajat Patidar (56 off 39 balls) and Krunal Pandya (41 not out off 31 balls) concentrated on the ‘Magic Figure’ of 166 with a 84-run stand. Once Patidar flayed Pat Cummins over deep point for a six, RCB ensured a top-two finish. He was out at the team score of 178, which was required to finish on top of the table. Among SRH bowl-ers, Eshan Malinga (2/33 in 4 overs) was once again brilliant with his lengths, while Bihar youngster Sakib Hussain (1/31) also didn’t let the batters get away during middle overs. Earlier, when SRH batted, Abhishek (56 off 22 balls) scored another 20-ball half-century and pul-verised the RCB attack with his first spell.

Vice-captain Kishan found the gaps while displaying both precision and cheekiness to pummel his way to 79 off just 44 balls.

Klaasen (51 off 24 balls), probably the most consistent batter across teams below No. 3, literally toyed with a world-class operator like Josh Hazlewood, taking as many as 27 runs off his third over and the team’s 13th, as the ‘Orange Army’ ensured that they would cross the 250-run mark on a batting featherbed.

The mayhem was started by Abhishek when he el-egantly lofted a Bhuvnesh-war delivery over wide of long-off to get his first six. Bhuvneshwar, who found a second wind in this IPL, wasn’t allowed to settle down as he flicked him twice — once over square-leg and then over deep mid-wicket off back-to-back deliveries.

Romario Shepherd’s friend-wasn’t suppose to trouble the world’s No. 1 ranked T20 batter, and it didn’t. He was lofted for a couple of straight sixes while Suyas Sharma’s delivery was also sent soaring into the orbit with minimal footwork.

While Kishan dropped anchor at one end while showing consistency that one expects from a talent like him, no words of praise would be enough for Klaa-sen, who doesn’t play in-ternational cricket anymore but remains the most sought after gun for hire in the fran-chise universe. (PTI)

BRIEF SCORES

SRH: 255/4 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 56, Is-han Kishan 79, Heinrich Klaasen 51; Rasikh Salam Dar 2/52)

RCB: 200/4 in 20 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 44, Rajat Patidar 56, Krunal Pandya 41 not out; Eshan Malinga 2/33) by 55 runs.

===AUTHOR’S NAME AND AFFILIATION===
Source: PTI

INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE

PTI

KOLKATA, May 20: Kolkata Knight Riders lived to fight another day with a crucial four-wicket win over Mumbai Indians after Sunil Narine-led bowlers once again delivered on a testing Eden Gardens surface to keep their IPL play-off hopes alive here on Wednesday.

Needing nothing less than a win to remain in conten-tion, KKR rode on a clinical bowling effort to restrict the already eliminated five-time champions to a modest 147/8 after Ajinkya Rahane won a good toss.

In reply, veteran Manish Pandey (45 off 33 balls; 6×4) finally got an opportunity to bat at No. 3 with talent-ed keeper-batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi injured and anchored a tense chase in a 33-ball 45.

He along with Rovman Powell (40; 30b, 4×4, 2×6) shared a crucial 64-run part-nership to set it up as the hosts overhauled the 148-run target in 18.5 overs.

The victory lifted KKR from eighth to sixth in the standings with 13 points and kept their slim playoff hopes alive with six wins from 13 matches.

However, their fate is no longer in their own hands as KKR will now closely fol-low Rajasthan Royals’ clash against Mumbai Indians on Sunday afternoon before they face Delhi Capitals in the evening clash.

A Royals win would seal their qualification and elimi-nate KKR, rendering Kolka-ta’s final league game against DC inconsequential.

For MI, it was their ninth defeat in 13 matches as the five-time champions re-mained second from bottom—with one game left.

Mumbai Indians’ captain Hardik Pandya gets bowled by Kolkata Knight Riders’ Sunil Narine during their IPL match, in Kolkata, on Wednesday. (PTI)

On a surface where strokeplay remained dif-ficult, KKR began shakily and lost both openers inside the powerplay.

Finn Allen started aggres-sively with two boundar-ies before Deepak Chahar cleaned him up for 8.

Ajinkya Rahane survived an lbw review via umpire’s callable but never looked com-fortable during his 17-ball 21 before edging Corbin Bosch in the final over of the powerplay.

Bosch struck again in the eighth over when Cameron Green (4) miscued a poor delivery down the leg side straight to fine leg as KKR slipped to 54/3.

Mumbai sensed an open-ing but let the game drift through sloppy fielding.

In the 10th over, Powell top-edged a pull off Hardik Pandya. Chahar at fine leg appeared set for the catch but left it for Robin Minz run-ning across from deep square leg, only for the ball to land safely between them.

Pandey however could not complete the chase and was cleaned up by Jasprit Bumrah, while in the next over Powell fell to AM Gha-zanfar. But with hardly any scoreboard pressure – KKR needed 19 from last four overs –Rinku Singh (nine not out) and Anukul Roy (four not out) sealed their seventh win in last eight matches.

Earlier, KKR’s bowlers had exploited the sticky conditions superbly as Green (2/23), left-arm pacer Sau-rabh Dubey (2/34) and Na-rine’s exceptional figures of 1/13 choked MI.

Green was exceptional on the field and with the ball, striking twice in the space of three deliveries to remove Ryan Rickelton (6) and Na-man Dhir (0).

He then pulled off a stun-ning running catch from midwicket to dismiss Rohit Sharma (15) off Dubey just when the Indian stalwart was looking to break free.

MI went on to lose three wickets for six runs in the space of eight balls.

After a one-hour rain in-terruption, KKR’s spin duo of Narine and injured Varun Chakravarthy tightened the screws further, conceding just 14 runs in their first four overs bowling in tandem.

Narine, in particular, was menacing with his turn and variable bounce, repeatedly troubling Tilak Varma, before taking the prized scalp of MI skipper Pandya (26) beat-ing him with a delivery that drifted in and stayed low to crash into the stumps. (PTI)

BRIEF SCORES

MI: 147/8 in 20 overs (Corbin Bosch 32 not out, Hardik Pandya 26, Tilak Varma 20; Saurabh Dubey 2/34, Cameron Green 2/23)

KKR: 148/6 in 18.5 overs (Manish Pandey 45, Rovman Powell 40; Corbin Bosch 3/30)

By PTI

AHMEDABAD, May 20:
Gujarat Titans may have
faced criticism for their con-
servative batting approach
but their opener B Sai Sud-
harsan said they are focused
on sealing a top-two finish
rather than obsessing over
net run-rate going into their
final IPL league match here
on Thursday.

GT have already secured
a playoff berth and are cur-
rently placed second on the
points table, but a victory
against already-eliminated
CSK would significantly
strengthen their chances of
finishing in the top two,
providing them two shots at
reaching the final.

“The first important thing
is to play good cricket and
win tomorrow,” Sudharsan
told reporters on the eve of
the game.

“We are not in a position
to think about winning by a
very big margin or getting a
very big win. It is about again
doing the right things which
we have been doing and first
getting a victory.

“If we are in that position,
yes, as every team we would
love to close it as smoothly
as possible or give ourselves
the best opportunity to be in
the top two,” the left-handed
opener added. (PTI)</

(PTI)

NEW DELHI, May 20: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will instill the same fear in the bowlers’ minds that West Indian marauder Chris Gayle had managed to do in his prime, according to former India pacer Irfan Pathan.

Sooryavanshi, with 53 sixes in the ongoing IPL, is within touching distance of the record 59 that Gayle struck in the 2012 season.

On Wednesday night against Lucknow Super Giants, the 15-year-old Rajasthan Royals batter hammered a 38-ball 93 that was dotted with 10 maximums and seven fours. The brutal knock steered his team to a facile seven-wicket win despite being in pursuit of a steep 221.

“It is very difficult to stop him. In his first 10 balls, he was batting at a strike rate of less than 100, and by the end of the innings, he had scored 93 runs off just 38 balls,” Pathan said.

TEAMS P W L PTS NRR

RCB (Q) 13 9 4 18 +1.065

GT (Q) 13 8 5 16 +0.400

SRH (Q) 13 8 5 16 +0.350

RR 13 7 6 14 +0.083

PBKS 13 6 6 13 +0.227

KKR 13 6 6 13 +0.011

CSK 13 6 7 12 -0.016

DC 13 6 7 12 -0.871

MI (E) 13 4 9 8 -0.510

LSG (E) 13 4 9 8 -0.702

Last updated on May 20

PTI

NEW DELHI, May 20: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the Italian Republic Giorgia Meloni have said the relationship between India and Italy has now reached a decisive stage, evolving from a cordial friendship into a special strategic partnership.

In an article, jointly written by the two leaders for the Indian and Italian media, Modi and Meloni said that at a time when the international system is undergoing a profound change, the partnership between the two countries is guided by regular exchanges at higher political and institutional levels.

Modi is currently in Italy as part of the final leg of his five-nation tour.

The two leaders said the bilateral relation is gaining a new and higher dimension that combines the economic dynamism, societal creativity, and millennia-old civilisational wisdom of the two countries.

“The relationship between India and Italy has now reached a decisive stage. In recent years, our ties have expanded with unprecedented momentum, evolving from a cordial friendship into a special strategic partnership grounded in the values of freedom and democracy, and a common vision for the future,” they said.

The two leaders said the cooperation between India and Italy mirrors the awareness that prosperity and security in the 21st century will be shaped by the ability of nations to innovate, manage energy transitions, and strengthen strategic sovereignty.

To this end, they said they have committed to deepen and diversify the bilateral relationship with a view to pursuing new objectives and pooling the two countries’ complementary strengths. “We aim to forge a powerful synergy between Italian design, manufacturing excellence, and world-class supercomputers – reflecting Italy’s position as an industrial powerhouse – and India’s rapid economic growth, engineering talent, scale, and innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem with over 100 unicorns and 200,000 start-ups,” they said.

The leaders said this is not a simple integration, but a co-creation of value where the respective industrial strengths amplify one another. They said the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and India paves the way for increased trade and investment in both directions.

“We want to reach and exceed the Euro 20 billion target for trade between Italy and India by 2029, with a focus on defence & aerospace, clean technologies, machinery, automotive components, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, textiles, agri-food, tourism and more,” they said.

In the article, Modi and Meloni said “Made in Italy” has always been synonymous with excellence worldwide, and today it finds a natural synergy with the high-quality goals of the “Make in India” initiative.

The growing interest of Italian businesses in the production of goods for India and the increasing presence of Indian industries in Italy, numbering over 1,000 from both sides, is a positive sign that will strengthen the integration of our supply chains, they said.

The two leaders said technological innovation lies at the very heart of the partnership and the coming decades will be shaped by a technological revolution of unmeasurable scope, marked by advances in such sectors as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, critical minerals, and digital infrastructure.

They said India’s dynamic innovation eco-system, coupled with a highly skilled professional talent pool, and Italy’s advanced industrial capabilities make the cooperation in the above sectors both natural and strategic.

India and Italy also see AI as a powerful instrument for inclusive development, especially for the Global South, where digital public infrastructure and accessible, multilingual technologies can bridge divides rather than deepen them, they said.

The leaders said conceiving AI as a tool created by humans for humans means firmly asserting that technology cannot replace individuals or undermine their fundamental rights, nor be used to manipulate public debate or alter democratic processes.

Modi and Meloni said India-Italy cooperation also covers the space sector and India’s impressive advancements in space exploration and satellite technology, together with Italy’s aerospace engineering excellence, offer significant opportunities for next-generation technology development.

They said Italy and India intend to further strengthen their cooperation in sectors such as defence, security and strategic technologies.

The leaders said energy is another key pillar of our partnership and the global transition towards diversified energy sources requires innovation, investment, and cooperation.

The two leaders said physical, digital and human connectivity is the thread that weaves us together and both India and Italy are located at the very heart of two crucial hubs of the global economy, the Indo-Pacific and the Mediterranean – regions that cannot be viewed as separate spheres, but as increasingly interconnected spaces.

As a matter of fact, the leaders said they are witnessing the emergence of what might be termed the Indo-Mediterranean, an important corridor for trade, technology, energy, data and ideas tying the Indian Ocean to Europe.

Within Indian culture, Modi and Meloni said, the concept of “Dharma” evokes the sense of responsibility that must guide our actions, while the principle of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” – the world is one family – resonates powerfully in the interconnected digital age.

They said such values find a natural echo in Italy’s humanist tradition, rooted in the Renaissance, which highlights the dignity of each individual and the power of culture to unite peoples and societies.

“Our shared vision, therefore, aims to lay the foundation for a strong and forward-looking India-Italy Partner-ship with our people at the centre,” the two leaders said. (PTI)

PTI

RAEBARELI/AMETHI, May 20: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and the RSS “traitors” who are “attacking the Constitution” every day and have sold the country’s interests to select industrialists.

The strong allegations by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha came on the second day of his visit to his constituency Raebareli. The BJP criticised his remarks as a reflection of his “anarchic mindset and character”.

Gandhi while addressing a ‘Bahujan Swabhiman Sabha’ in Raebareli to commemorate local revolutionary Veera Pasi, appealed to the public, “You will have to stand up and fight. When RSS workers come to your homes and talk about Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, you must tell them that their prime minister, their home minister and their organisation are traitors. They have sold our Hindustan and attacked our Constitution, Ambedkarji and Mahatma Gandhi.”

Later addressing an event in Amethi, Gandhi referred to his remarks made earlier in the day at Raebareli and said, “I had said that Modi and Amit Shah are traitors. If someone weakens and destroys our Constitution, then what else should they be called if not traitors?”

Taking on the RSS, he said, “They ask me to apologise. I will never apologise. I am not afraid of them.”

In Raebareli, Gandhi accused the prime minister of “attacking the Constitution 24 hours a day” by weakening MNREGA, not conducting caste census, and favouring select industrialists.

He also referred to Modi’s recent appeal to cut down on fuel consumption, gold purchase, and foreign travel to warn of an “economic storm” coming our way.

He slammed Modi for fly-ing off on a five-nation tour right after his appeal to the people to refrain from going abroad.

PTI

NEW DELHI, May 20: When Lucknow Super Giants assembled their support staff headed by former Australia coach Justin Langer and IPL journeyman coach Tom Moody, the expectation was that the franchise would finally graduate from being a talented but inconsistent side into a genuine title contender. Instead, what unfolded through the season was a campaign riddled with confused selections, questionable combinations and a team that never quite appeared to know what its strongest XI actually was.

For long phases of the tournament, the tournament, it seemed that head coach Langer and skipper Rishabh Pant were operating from different tactical playbooks. The body language after defeats, the chopping and changing of personnel and the indecisiveness around batting positions all pointed towards a side searching desperately for clarity.

The biggest talking point naturally remained owner Sanjiv Goenka’s decision to break the bank for Pant at Rs 27.50 crore. While Pant remains one of India’s biggest cricketing brands and among the most impactful match-winners, the move inevitably skewed the balance of the squad and perhaps left glaring holes elsewhere.

The most obvious deficiency was the absence of quality overseas fast bowlers. Save South African Anrich Nortje, who himself got only one game, LSG never truly possessed an intimidating foreign pace option.

It left the burden squarely on an inexperienced Indian bowling unit. Among domestic bowlers, only Mohsin Khan and Prince Yadav consistently showed signs of promise. After his surgery, speedster Mayank Yadav played only four games and failed to pick up a single wicket while leaking runs. Young left-arm pacer Akash Singh looked tidy in one outing but was severely punished in the next game.

Yet, through all the struggles, LSG persisted with combinations that raised more questions than answers.

Then came the most curious aspect of LSG’s campaign. Once the team was effectively out of playoff contention, there appeared little logic in not handing opportunities to fringe players. Which naturally raises the question: why did Langer and Moody never give Arjun Tendulkar even a single game? Would he really have done worse than Akash or even the burly Avesh Khan?

Ironically, the LSG social media team aggressively pushed an “Arjun Tendulkar yorker package” online, generating considerable traction and engagement. But if those yorkers were genuinely effective enough for promotional campaigns, why was he never considered good enough for an actual match situation? Or was the famous surname useful only for social media impressions and digital reach? The irony is hard to miss. In a cricket ecosystem where conversations around nepotism dominate discourse, Tendulkar junior almost appears to be a reverse case – picked by franchises repeatedly but seldom trusted enough for a first XI opportunity. (PTI)