BENGALURU: Sunrisers Hyderabad amassed 287-3 for the highest-ever Indian Premier League total and beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 25 runs on a Monday full of records and featuring a century by Travis Head.
Hyderabad, who were invited to bat first by hosts Bengaluru, went past the previous mark of 277 they made last month after a 41-ball 102 by Head and Heinrich Klaasen’s explosive 67.
The new high was the second best in a T20 match after Nepal bludgeoned 314-3 against Mongolia in last year’s Asian Games in Hangzhou.
The match produced the highest aggregate for a T20 game with a tally of 549 runs.
Virat Kohli (42) and skipper Faf du Plessis (62) gave RCB a blazing start before Dinesh Karthik smashed 83 off 35 balls as Bengaluru ended on 262-7.
Skipper Pat Cummins and spinner Mayank Markande broke the back of the Bengaluru chase with five wickets between them.
“Against Mumbai (Indians) a few weeks ago I thought it won’t happen again, but it has happened again,” Cummins said after his team’s third straight victory and fourth of the season.
Batters ruled at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium as Hyderabad smashed the most sixes in an IPL innings, with 22 hits flying over the fence.
Head reached his ton in 39 balls for the fourth-fastest hundred in the competition as he set the tone for the assault and named man of the match.
He put on a 108-run opening stand with Abhishek Sharma, who hit 34.
Head, who was Australia’s match winner in the final of the ODI World Cup in India last year, struck nine fours and eight sixes.
After his departure Klaasen took charge with his 31-ball blitz. The South African was nearly as punishing as Head as he smashed the ball to all parts of the ground before being dismissed by Lockie Ferguson.
Fellow South African Aiden Markram (32) and Indian hitter Abdul Samad (37) put together 59 off 19 balls for the final storm.
Samad smashed England left-arm fast bowler Reece Topley for three fours and two sixes in a 25-run 19th over before he and Markram finished off with 21 runs from the final over.
Hyderabad posted 277-3 against Mumbai Indians at their home ground on March 27 to go past the 263-5 by Bengaluru in 2013.
Earlier this month, Kolkata Knight Riders posted 272-7 in a crushing 106-run victory over Delhi Capitals.
In-form Kohli attempted to set up the chase with a powerful start as he struck six fours and two sixes in his 20-ball knock and Du Plessis kept up the charge till his departure.
The steep run chase made wickets tumble but Karthik once again came up with a late assault to reduce the losing margin for bottom-placed Bengaluru, who slumped to their fifth straight loss.
“One thing really important is to freshen your mind, it’s such a mental game,” said Du Plessis.
“Sometimes it feels like your mind is going to explode. A little bit of (an) uphill task for us at the moment.”
Records galore as Hyderabad beat Bengaluru after IPL best 287
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Records galore as Hyderabad beat Bengaluru after IPL best 287
- Hyderabad went past the previous mark of 277 they made last month after a 41-ball 102 by Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen’s explosive 67
- Virat Kohli (42) and skipper Faf du Plessis (62) gave RCB a blazing start before Dinesh Karthik smashed 83 off 35 balls as Bengaluru ended on 262-7
Inter Milan reach Italian Cup quarterfinals after Asllani scores direct from corner kick
- Marko Arnautovic and Kristjan Asllani netted in the first half to help Inter set up a quarterfinal match against Lazio
- Teenage defender Mike Aidoo came on two minutes from time for Inter for his professional debut
MILAN: A much-changed Inter Milan side eased to a 2-0 victory over Udinese in the Italian Cup on Thursday.
Marko Arnautovic and Kristjan Asllani netted in the first half to help Inter set up a quarterfinal match against Lazio — the team they routed 6-0 in the league on Monday. Inter coach Simone Inzaghi made eight changes to that side.
The match was briefly halted shortly before halftime when a spectator collapsed in the stands. The fan was immediately treated as the stadium fell into silence and the players looked on, clearly concerned.
A defibrillator had to be used before the fan was carried out on a stretcher to the applause of the San Siro crowd. The fan was reportedly stable in the hospital.
When play resumed after a delay of more than five minutes, the Udinese players still seemed distracted as Asllani’s corner from the left evaded everyone and went in off the far post.
That put Inter 2-0 up as it had broken the deadlock in the 30th minute following an Udinese error. A hideous pass from visiting midfielder Jurgen Ekkelenkamp was straight at Mehdi Taremi and he fed in Arnautovic, who slotted into the bottom right corner.
Taremi hit the post in the second half, while Inter also had an early penalty revoked on review.
Teenage defender Mike Aidoo came on two minutes from time for Inter for his professional debut.
Guiu hat trick helps Chelsea rout Rovers 5-1 to extend Conference League dominance
- Guiu, who joined Chelsea from Barcelona this summer, has scored six goals in six games in the third-tier competition
- Rolando Mandragora netted for Fiorentina three minutes from time to salvage a 1-1 draw at Vitoria
LONDON: Marc Guiu’s first-half hat trick helped Chelsea ease past Shamrock Rovers 5-1 on Thursday to complete the league phase of the UEFA Conference League with a 100 percent record.
The 18-year-old forward, who netted twice in a 3-1 win over Astana in the previous round, opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a header from close range at Stamford Bridge.
Markus Poom equalized for the Irish visitors, but Guiu restored Chelsea’s lead with an angled shot from the left in the 34th.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall made it 3-1 six minutes later before Guiu completed his first hat trick for the Blues with a header in stoppage time.
“I’ve never seen anyone press like him,” Dewsbury-Hall told TNTSports about Guiu. “He doesn’t slow down, he’ll keep working hard. You forget how young he is. He’s only 18. I’m happy that he got his hat trick, he deserves it.”
Guiu, who joined Chelsea from Barcelona this summer, has scored six goals in six games in the third-tier competition.
Marc Cucurella finished off the rout in the second half.
It’s now eight straight wins in all competitions for Enzo Maresca’s team, which equals the club’s record set in December 2016.
Of the 36 clubs involved in the revamped competition, the top eight in the standings go directly to the round of 16 in March. Teams ranked ninth to 24th go into the knockout playoffs in February. The bottom 12 teams are eliminated.
Unlike the new-look Champions League and Europa League, teams in the Conference League face six opponents, not eight, in the league phase that replaced the traditional group stage.
Chelsea was the only team that stayed perfect, the only team that qualified to the round of 16 with a game to spare, and it scored 26 in six games, by far the most goals.
Despite its first defeat in the competition, Rovers finished 10th and became the first Irish club to advance to the knockout stage of a European competition.
Top eight
Rolando Mandragora netted for Fiorentina three minutes from time to salvage a 1-1 draw at Vitoria, a result that gave the Portuguese team second place with 14 points. Fiorentina, runner-up in the previous two editions, was a point back in third.
Rapid Vienna beat Copenhagen 3-0 to advance from fourth place on 13 points. Djurgarden was fifth with 13 points after a 3-1 win over Legia Warsaw, which was seventh place.
Lugano finished sixth after being held 2-2 at home by Pafos from Cyprus.
Cercle Brugge’s 1-1 draw against Basaksehir was enough to finish eighth.
AI judge unveiled in experiment for Fury-Usyk fight
RIYADH: Organizers of the rematch between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk have released a video of how an Artificial Intelligence powered 4th judge will score the fight between the heavyweights this Saturday.
The much anticipated rematch between Britain’s Fury and Ukraine’s Usyk will take place in Riyadh, as part of the cultural and sporting spectacle known as Riyadh Season.
The video, posted early on Friday by the Saudi entertainment authority chief, Turki Alalshikh, features an AI judge explaining how it will score the bout.
“I am the first ever AI boxing judge,” the humanoid figure announces in the 38-second clip, “and I am here to bring fairness to the ring.”
The AI judge, powered by The Ring, a boxing magazine dedicated to the sport, is just an experiment and will not decide the fight, according to Alalshikh.
Boxing fights are usually scored by three judges, who use the 10-point system each round to choose a winner in case there is no knockout.
“I analyze every round, every move, and every decisive moment during the fight,” it said.
Like human judges, the bot will try to track landed punches, effective aggression and defense, collecting real-time metrics to calculate a score and decide who has won.
In the past, human judges have been accused of not scoring correctly, being biased, or more seriously, being corrupt, leading to controversy within the sport.
It is unclear what the long term impact of the experiment will be, but other sports such as football and cricket use similar technologies to support referees and umpires to make accurate decisions more quickly, which have led to fairer results.
Excitement continues to build for the Saturday night fight, which is expected to start some time after midnight in the Saudi capital. Fury, who exercised a clause in his contract for a rematch after his May defeat to the Ukrainian, who has an unblemished 21-0 record, is out for revenge, exciting boxing fans across the globe.
The fighters, who attended an event hosted by The Ring, faced-off for media photos on Thursday night ahead of the official Weigh-In on Friday.
Son scores direct from a corner as Tottenham beats Man United 4-3 in the English League Cup
Son's spectacular strike in the 88th-minute at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium came as Spurs tried to hold off a dramatic comeback from United, having led 3-0 in the second half.
United had pulled it back to 3-2 and was pushing for an equalizer when Son whipped in a curling right-footed shot past goalkeeper Altay Bayindir.
Jonny Evans scored again for United in stoppage time, but Spurs held on for the win that had looked all but certain shortly after halftime.
Having gone ahead through Dominic Solanke’s goal from close range in the 15th, Tottenham took control after the break.
Dejan Kulusevski doubled the lead a minute after the restart and Solanke fired in his second in the 54th.
United head coach Ruben Amorim made a triple substitution — bringing on Joshua Zirkzee, Amad Diallo and Kobbie Mainoo.
It quickly had an impact with Zirkzee forcing Fraser Forster into a flying save and then capitalizing on a loose pass by the Tottenham goalkeeper to make it 3-1.
Forster was guilty of another mistake in the 70th when his attempted clearance was closed down by Diallo and ricocheted over the line.
United increased the pressure, but Son's unlikely goal gave Spurs a cushion again — and it proved to be the decisive strike after Evans' late header reduced the deficit again.
Saudi Arabia to compete in 2025 and 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cups
- The Green Falcons were invited to participate as a guest nation in the tournaments alongside 15 other teams
- The 2025 competition will be hosted by the US and Canada at 14 stadiums in 11 cities between June 14 and July 6
RIYADH: The Saudi Arabian national football team will compete at the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2025 and 2027, organizers announced on Thursday. They were invited to take part as a guest nation.
Next year’s tournament, hosted by the US and Canada, will run from June 14 to July 6. The Green Falcons, led by coach Herve Renard, will join eight teams that have already qualified: Curacao, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, and the two host nations. The remaining seven participants will be decided by qualifiers scheduled for March.
The draw for the tournament will take place on April 10. Matches will be played at 14 stadiums in 11 cities, five of which will also host games during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Following the announcement, Yasser Al-Misehal, president of the Saudi Football Federation, thanked the Kingdom’s leaders for their unwavering support for the nation’s sports sector, and football in particular. He praised Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, the minister of sports and president of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, for the pivotal role he has played in bolstering the global presence of Saudi football.
The first Gold Cup took place in 1991. Between 1996 and 2005, CONCACAF invited a guest nation to compete, with Brazil, South Korea and South Africa among those participating. After 16 years with no guest teams, 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar were invited to take part in the 2021 and 2023 competitions.
