Drizzle disrupts KKR, RCB practice ahead of IPL opener; rain threat looms over match
Kolkata, Mar 21 (PTI): A steady drizzle in the evening brought premature end to evening practice sessions of Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru on the eve of their IPL 2025 opener at Eden Gardens here on Saturday.
Practice began as scheduled at 5pm, but rain set in around 6pm, bringing the ground staff into action while the players had to pack up.
Fortunately, Eden Gardens is one of the few venues with full ground covers, ensuring the playing surface remained protected.
The Indian Meteorological Department's New Alipore office has issued an "orange alert" for Friday and Saturday, warning of thundersqualls, gusty winds, lightning, hailstorms, and moderate rainfall across several districts, including Kolkata.
"Thundersqualls with gusty winds, lightning, hailstorms, and light to moderate rainfall are likely in Jhargram, Purba and Paschim Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia, Purba Bardhaman, Hooghly, and Howrah on Friday," the IMD stated.
For Saturday, the forecast includes thunderstorms with gusty winds, lightning, and moderate rainfall in Nadia, Birbhum, Murshidabad, Purba Bardhaman, and North and South 24 Parganas.
The match has a 7.30pm start, with the toss scheduled for 7pm.
A glittering opening ceremony featuring Shreya Ghoshal and Disha Patani among others is planned at 6pm, but it remains to be seen if the weather plays a spoilsport.
According to IPL regulations, the league-stage matches have a one-hour extension window, meaning the cut-off time for a five-over match is 10:56pm, with play needing to conclude by 12:06am.
Kolkata has already experienced rain disruptions in the lead-up to the season opener, with a KKR intra-squad practice match being washed out after just one innings.
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Trump says Islamic State group leader was killed in joint US-Nigerian mission
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump said US and Nigerian forces killed a leader of the Islamic State group in Nigeria in a mission carried out Friday.
Trump announced the joint operation in a late-night social media post that offered few details. He said Abu Bakr al-Mainuki was second in command of the Islamic State group globally and “thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing.”
The US viewed Al-Mainuki as the key figure in IS organising and finance, and believed he was plotting attacks against the United States and its interests, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to share sensitive information.
Born in Nigeria's Borno province in 1982, al-Mainuki took the helm of the IS branch in West Africa after the group's previous leader in the region, Mamman Nur, was killed in 2018, according to the Counter Extremism Project, which tracks militant groups.
Al-Mainuki was based in the Sahel area, the monitoring group said, adding that it is believed that he fought in Libya when IS was active in the North African nation more than a decade ago. He was sanctioned by the US in 2023.
Trump in December directed US forces to launch strikes against the Islamic State group in Nigeria, though he released little detail then about the impact.
Nigeria has been battling multiple armed groups, including at least two affiliated with IS.
The Friday night operation was the latest instance in a string of covert missions abroad that Trump has announced this year, starting with the stunning overnight raid in January to capture and remove Venezuela's then-leader Nicolás Maduro and whisk him to the US, followed nearly two months later by the launch of strikes that kicked off the war with Iran.
