Kohli, Padikkal strike fiery half-centuries but CSK restrict RCB to 156/6
Sharjah, Sep 24: Skipper Virat Kohli and young Devdutt Padikkal struck brisk half-centuries in an impressive 111-run stand before Chennai Super King pulled the strings to restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore to 156 for six in an IPL game here on Friday.
Kohli (53) and Padikkal (70) were going hammer and tongs after being asked to take first strike but once the partnership was broken by Dwayne Bravo, the RCB lost momentum and allowed CSK to wrest control.
RCB managed only 45 runs in the remaining 6.4 overs after being in a position from where they could have pushed for a score in the vicinity of 200.
Bravo's bowling made a huge difference to the conclusion of the RCB innings as he conceded only 24 runs in his four overs and also added the wickets of Glenn Maxwell (11) and Harshal Patel (3).
CSK had no dearth of quality bowlers with Deepak Chahar and Josh Hazlewood opening the attack but Bangalore openers -- Kohli and Padikkal -- went about striking the ball cleanly.
Kohli began with consecutive boundaries off Chahar but took a bit of time to find his rhythm. The skipper lofted the same bowler for a massive six on the on-side while Padikkal was fluent with his well-timed shots on the off-side.
MS Dhoni shuffled his bowlers but none got the length that could either trouble the batsmen or stop the run flow.
The young left-hander also used his feet well against left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, sending the ball soaring over long-on. He completed his fifty with a crushing four off Chahar which also raised the team's hundred.
The breakthrough eventually came when Bravo sent back Kohli, who struck the ball clean and hard but was caught near the boundary ropes.
That wicket stemmed the run flow and while trying to break the shackles, both AB De Villiers (12) and Padikkal became victims of Shardul Thakur.
Maxwell was expected to go after the bowlers and he did that, striking a six off Bravo to raise the team's 150 in the 18th over, but a late flourish eluded RCB.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 156/6 in 20 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 70, Virat Kohli 53; Shardul Thakur 2/29, Dwayne Bravo 3/24).
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3 US troops killed, 5 seriously wounded during Iran attacks, military says
Washington (AP): Three American service members have been killed and five others seriously wounded during the US attacks on Iran, the military said Sunday, marking the first American casualties in a major offensive that has sparked retaliation from the Islamic Republic.
US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, announced the deaths in a post on X but did not say when and where they occurred. The statement said “several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions” and were going to return to duty.
Central Command described the situation “as fluid” and said it would withhold the identities of the service members who were killed for 24 hours after their families were notified.
The US military also denied Iranian claims that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier was struck with ballistic missiles, saying on X that the “missiles launched didn't even come close.”
President Donald Trump had warned that American troops could be killed or injured in the operation.
“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties,” the Republican president said in a video address released early Saturday. “That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now. We're doing this for the future.”
Following the US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other leaders, Iran's counterattacks have struck US bases in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has threatened to launch its “most intense offensive operation” ever targeting Israeli and American military installations.
Before the strikes, Trump had built up the largest US military presence in the Middle East in decades. The arrival of the Lincoln and three accompanying guided-missile destroyers at the end of January bolstered the number of warships in the region.
The world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and four accompanying destroyers later were dispatched from the Caribbean Sea to head to the Middle East.
The Ford was part of the US raid in Venezuela that captured leader Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges. The operation in January claimed no American lives but left seven US troops with gunshot wounds and shrapnel-related injuries.
One of those injured received the Medal of Honor during Trump's State of the Union address last week. Trump said Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover piloted the lead CH-47 Chinook helicopter that descended on the “heavily protected military fortress” where Maduro was staying.
Trump has launched several military operations during his second term, including strikes on members of the Islamic State group in Syria in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two US troops and an American civilian interpreter in December.
The US military has also struck IS forces in Nigeria, after Trump accused the West African country's government of failing to rein in the targeting of Christians.
