Mayank Agarwal to replace Padikkal in RCB, DC sign Sediqullah Atal for Brook
New Delhi, May 7 (PTI): Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Wednesday picked Mayank Agarwal as a replacement for injured Devdutt Padikkal, while Delhi Capitals signed Afghanistan's Sediqullah Atal in place of Englishman Harry Brook for the remainder of the Indian Premier League.
Padikkal, who played 10 matches for RCB this season and scored 247 runs with the help of two half-centuries, sustained an injury to his right hamstring.
Agarwal has played 127 IPL matches so far, scoring 2661 runs. He has one IPL hundred and 13 fifties against his name. He joins RCB for Rs 1 Crore.
DC, on the other hand, have signed up 23-year-old Afghan batter Atal, who made headlines with his heroic 85-run knock against Australia in the ICC Champions Trophy earlier this year.
Atal has played 49 T20s across various competitions, scoring 1,507 runs at an average of 34.25, including 13 half-centuries.
He first rose to prominence during the Kabul Premier League 2023, where he smashed 48 runs in a single over. In that innings, he remained unbeaten on 118 off 56 balls, which included seven fours and ten sixes. He also scored a century in the tournament final, making 103 off just 42 deliveries.
Atal played a pivotal role in Afghanistan’s title win at the ACC Men’s T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2024, topping the run-scorers’ chart with 368 runs in five matches.
He replaces Brook, who has been banned by the BCCI for pulling out of the IPL despite being bought at the auction.
"We are excited to welcome Atal to the Delhi Capitals. He is an exciting, young talent who has impressed everyone with his performances for both the Afghanistan youth and senior teams," DC head coach Hemang Badani said.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ โจ
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) May 7, 2025
This campaign won’t be the same without you, Dev. Heal up fast, we’ll keep the fight on, and wait for your comeback next year,… pic.twitter.com/Z4KJ1LkxfG
เฒจเฒฎเณเฒฎ เฒฎเฒจเณ เฒฎเฒ เฒฎเฒฏเฒพเฒเฒเณ! ๐ฅน
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) May 7, 2025
After 1๏ธโฃ2๏ธโฃ long years, ๐ก๐’๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ค where he belongs. Happy #HomeComing, Mayank. ๐ก
12th Man Army will be on top of the moon hearing this, and they’ll all be right behind you. ๐ซถ pic.twitter.com/k5RwAGINrG
An Afghan Tiger joins the ranks, welcoming Sediqullah Atal ๐โค๏ธ
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) May 7, 2025
He replaces Harry Brook in the squad. pic.twitter.com/MBrVn4MdVZ
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
