Kohli, de Villiers keep RCB alive
New Delhi, May 12: Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers guided Royal Challengers Bangalore to a 5-wicket victory against Delhi Daredevils in a must-win game in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.
The victory at Feroz Shah Kotla has kept RCB in contention for a top-four finish.
Chasing 182 for a win to keep their play-off hopes alive, RCB were jolted early when Trent Boult and debutant Sandeep Lamichhane removed openers early.
However, Kohli attacked the Delhi Daredevils bowlers from the start and was aggressive throughout his knock.
Kohli formed a 118-run stand with AB de Villiers for the third wicket before he edged an Amit Mishra delivery to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant for 70 off 40 balls.
De Villiers, who scored an unbeaten 72 off 37 balls for his 26th fifty, did not let RCB lose steam and ensured the visitors cross the line with 6 balls to spare.
Earlier, Delhi Daredevils rode some power packed batting by Rishabh Pant and talented teenager Abhishek Sharma to post a challenging total.
Pant plundered 61 runs off 34 balls to help Delhi overcome some early hiccups. The 17-year-old Sharma gave the finishing touches to the innings, smashing his way to 46 runs off just 19 balls to give the hosts a very good chance to clinch the fourth win of a rather forgettable campaign.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was the most successful among the RCB bowlers with figures of 2/28.
Delhi suffered their first blow in the opening over itself when opener Prithvi Shaw was bowled while attempting a rather languid shot off Chahal's bowling.
Chahal got rid of Jason Roy -- the other Delhi opener -- in his next over with a sharply incoming delivery that totally bamboozled the England batsman before going on to disturb the stumps.
Pant and Shreyas Iyer came together to add 93 runs between over the next 62 deliveries in an attempt to bring the Delhi innings back on track.
Pant played a major role in boosting the run rate. His power packed knock included five hits to the fence and four towering sixes.
Off-spinner Moeen Ali finally brought the rampage to an end when Pant attempted another big hit, only to be caught by AB de Villiers near the boundary rope wide of long-on.
Iyer amassed a patient 32 off 35 balls before he too departed in an attempt to pump up the run rate. The right-hander had attempted to smash pacer Mohammed Siraj over the onside, but his mistimed shot could only manage to find RCB skipper Virat Kohli.
Delhi's teenaged all-rounder Abhishek Sharma then produced some fireworks lower down the order to help the hosts post a challenging total.
The 17-year-old thumped three boundaries and four hits into the stands as Delhi finished their innings on a high note.
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Israeli strikes kill 20 people in Gaza as Trump wraps up his Middle East visit
Deir Al-Balah (Gaza), May 16 (AP): Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people in Gaza on Friday morning, as US President Donald Trump wraps up his Middle East visit.
An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, where they were brought. Survivors said many people were still under the rubble.
The widespread attacks across northern Gaza come as Trump finishes his visit to Gulf states but not Israel.
There had been widespread hope that Trump's regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.
The strikes lasted hours into Friday morning sending people fleeing from the Jabaliya refugee camp and the town of Beit Lahiya and followed days of similar attacks that killed more than 130 people, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed earlier in the week to push ahead with a promised escalation of force in Israel's war in the Gaza Strip to pursue his aim of destroying the Hamas group, which governs Gaza.
In comments released by Netanyahu's office Tuesday, the prime minister said Israeli forces were days away from entering Gaza “with great strength to complete the mission ... It means destroying Hamas.”
It was unclear if Friday's bombardment was the start of the operation.
The war began when Hamas-led group killed 1,200 people in an Oct 7, 2023, intrusion into southern Israel. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. Almost 3,000 have been killed since Israel broke a ceasefire on March 18, the ministry said.
Hamas still holds 58 of the roughly 250 hostages it took during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, with 23 believed to still be alive, although Israeli authorities have expressed concern for the status of three of those.
The attacks come as Israel enters its third month of blockading Gaza, preventing food, fuel medicine and all other supplies from entering, worsening a humanitarian crisis. Israel says the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release the hostages it still holds and that it won't allow aid back in until a system is in place that gives it control over distribution.
Earlier this week, a new humanitarian organization that has US backing to take over aid delivery said it expects to begin operations before the end of the month — after what it describes as key agreements from Israeli officials.
A statement from the group, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, identified several US military veterans, former humanitarian coordinators and security contractors that it said would lead the delivery effort.
Many in the humanitarian community, including the UN, said the system does not align with humanitarian principles and won't be able to meet the needs of Palestinians in Gaza and won't participate it.
