Mumbai: Ahead of the IPL 2025 clash between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, RCB star batter Virat Kohli opened up about his long-standing bond with Rohit Sharma. Despite past media rumours of a rift between the two, Kohli reaffirmed the mutual respect and strong professional relationship they share.

In a conversation on the RCB channel, Kohli said, “Playing alongside someone for such a long time naturally leads to a strong bond, especially when you share so much of your understanding of the game. In the early years, we were constantly learning from each other and growing in our careers simultaneously.”

He further added that over the years, they had built trust and often found themselves on the same page while making decisions in leadership roles. “Reflecting on our long careers, we are both grateful and proud of the journey we've shared. The consistency and memories we’ve built together have been incredibly fulfilling,” he said.

Kohli and Rohit have played crucial roles in Indian cricket’s success over the past 15 years. While rumours of discord often emerged, both have consistently denied them and maintained professionalism on and off the field.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians will aim to register their second win of the season as they host RCB at the Wankhede Stadium. Led by Hardik Pandya, MI have so far won just one out of their four matches, while RCB have two victories in three games.

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New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday said rampant illegal riverbed sand mining has created an "environmental crisis" and wreaked "havoc" in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary, causing a grave risk to the gharial (long-snouted crocodile) preservation project.

Slamming the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh for their utter failure in dealing with the issue, the apex court directed them to install high-resolution Wi-Fi-enabled CCTV cameras along all routes frequently used for illegal sand mining in the area.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta directed that live feed of such surveillance cameras shall be placed under the direct control, supervision and operational oversight of the superintendent of police or the senior superintendent of police of the concerned district and the divisional forest officer.

It said these officers shall ensure continuous and effective monitoring of the CCTV feeds by designating appropriate officers.

"It can't be gainsaid that the issues involved are of great concern in as much as the rampant illegal mining activities in the river bed have created an environmental crisis and havoc in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary causing a grave risk to the very project of gharial preservation of which the state governments themselves were proponents and were under an obligation to foster and promote," Justice Mehta said while pronouncing the order.

The bench directed the authorities in these three states to initiate prompt and necessary action under law if any instance of illegal mining or allied activities comes to light.

It said the authorities shall ensure seizure of vehicles or machinery found involved in illegal sand mining and also initiate prosecution of persons involved in it.

The bench, which passed several other directions, posted the matter for hearing on May 11.

The top court passed the order in a suo motu case titled 'In Re: Illegal sand mining in the National Chambal Sanctuary and threat to endangered aquatic wildlife'.

The National Chambal Sanctuary, also called the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, is a 5,400-sq km tri-state protected area.

Besides the endangered gharial, it is home to the red-crowned roof turtle and the endangered Ganges river Dolphin.

Located on the Chambal river near the tripoint of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the sanctuary was first declared a protected area in Madhya Pradesh in 1978 and now constitutes a long and narrow eco-reserve co-administered by the three states.

On March 13, the top court took suo motu cognisance of news reports about rampant illegal sand mining on the banks of the Chambal river.