JAIPUR: Vaibhav Suryavanshi made an explosive 34 off 20 balls as he became the youngest player in IPL history aged just 14 on Saturday but finished on the losing side as Lucknow Super Giants beat Rajasthan Royals by two runs.
In the first match of the day, England’s Jos Buttler smashed an unbeaten 97 to power Gujarat Titans to the top of the IPL table with a seven-wicket win over Delhi Capitals in Ahmedabad’s intense heat.
But it was the evening game that drew eyeballs after Rajasthan turned to Suryavanshi as their impact substitute and he opened the batting alongside India star Yashasvi Jaiswal following Lucknow’s 180-5.
Suryavanshi stole the limelight after belting his first ball for six in a much-awaited debut after he was bought for $130,500 in the November auction when he was still just 13.
Jaiswal and Suryavanshi, who hit three sixes and two fours in an electrifying knock, put on 85 for the first wicket before the youngster was stumped by Rishabh Pant off the bowling of South Africa international Aiden Markram.
Stand-in captain Riyan Parag came in and made 39 but Rajasthan lost their way as he departed shortly after Jaiswal fell for 74.
Avesh Khan dismissed both in the 18th over to turn the match on its head and Rajasthan finished on 178-5 after the Lucknow fast bowler defended nine off the last over to pull off a stunning victory for his team in Jaipur.
“These kind of matches build character,” Lucknow skipper Pant said after his team moved up to fourth in the 10-team table. “It was an amazing win. As a team, this is going to take us to a different level.”
Shimron Hetmyer scored 12 before he fell to Avesh on the third ball of the 20th over and despite David Miller dropping a catch in the deep, Avesh held his nerve with his yorkers and disciplined bowling to return figures of 3-37.
Avesh’s heroics took some of the attention away from Suryavanshi, who was handed his chance after Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson was ruled out due to injury.
He was added as an impact player for the match and then replaced medium-pace bowler Sandeep Sharma in the chase.
The baby-faced Suryavanshi, called “Boss Baby” — a popular animated film — by the TV commentators, impressed in batting with Jaiswal, who recorded his third straight half-century, but their efforts ultimately came in a losing cause.
Earlier, Markram’s 66 and a 50 by impact player Ayush Badoni helped Lucknow set a target of 181 after they elected to bat first.
In the afternoon match, Gujarat rode on Buttler’s 54-ball knock laced with 11 fours and four sixes to achieve their target of 204 with four balls to spare at the world’s biggest cricket stadium.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Buttler and impact substitute Sherfane Rutherford, a left-hand West Indies batter who hit 43, put on a key stand of 119 to steer Gujarat to their fifth win in seven matches and top of the standings
Rutherford fell in the 19th over. Delhi’s left-arm quick Mitchell Starc needed to defend 10 off the final six balls but the left-handed Rahul Tewatia finished off with a six and four.
Buttler, who hit his third half-century of the season, was left three short of a hundred that would have put him level with Virat Kohli’s record eight IPL tons.
Gujarat, who won the IPL in their debut season in 2022, elected to field first on a hot afternoon as the temperature soared above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
“I think it (heat) takes you by the surprise how draining it is,” said player of the match Buttler.
“I certainly felt that while batting, cramping up and stuff. But that’s part of the game to be fit and be able to perform under pressure in the heat.”
Delhi reached 203-8 but the total could have been more had it not been for four wickets by Gujarat pace bowler Prasidh Krishna, who now leads this season’s bowling chart with 14 scalps.
Rajasthan unleash Suryavanshi, 14, as youngest IPL player but lose thriller
https://arab.news/bk972
Rajasthan unleash Suryavanshi, 14, as youngest IPL player but lose thriller
- Suryavanshi stole the limelight after belting his first ball for six in a much-awaited debut after he was bought for $130,500
Germany off to winning start after beating Poland 1-0 in Women’s Euro 2025
- Germany are one of three big contenders for overall victory in Switzerland alongside world champions Spain and holders England
- Peter Gerhardsson’s team are now unbeaten in 13 games after a second straight win over the Danes, with Sweden running out emphatic 6-1 winners in the Nations League last month
ST. GALLEN, Switzerland: Germany made a winning start to their Women’s Euro 2025 campaign with Friday’s 2-0 win over Poland which moved the eight-time continental champions top of Group C.
Christian Wueck’s side lead Sweden, 1-0 winners in a Scandinavian derby with Denmark, on goal difference after coming through a hard-fought group opener in St. Gallen thanks to goals in the second half from Jule Brand and Lea Schueller.
Germany are one of three big contenders for overall victory in Switzerland alongside world champions Spain and holders England.
But the “Frauenteam” were far from their best for most of the match, with Wueck frequently bellowing at his charges to up their game.
And they lost captain Giulia Gwinn to what looked like a knee injury before half-time following a nasty fall in a challenge with Ewa Pajor.
“She’s injured her knee and will undergo an MRI tomorrow, at which point we’ll know what’s happened,” said Wueck.
“It was a tough, hard-fought victory. Poland made it very, very difficult for us with their style of play... We’re happy with the result and we know that we can do better.”
Germany had won all six previous encounters with Poland but the game was even until Brand cut inside and unleashed an unstoppable shot six minutes after half-time.
And Brand was on hand in the 66th minute with a perfect cross for Bayern Munich striker Schueller, who made sure of the points with a simple header.
Germany have now won six matches on the bounce, scoring 26 goals in that run, but looked some way below the standard shown by tournament favorites Spain on Thursday, with England facing France on Saturday.
Poland acquitted themselves admirably in their European Championship debut but Barcelona’s Pajor, who has scored 51 goals for club and country this season, was uncharacteristically wasteful with her finishing.
Pajor walloped a great chance at Germany goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger just before Schueller doubled Germany’s lead and did the same with a close-range header with nine minutes remaining.
Filippa Angeldahl scored Sweden’s winner in the 55th minute in Geneva after exchanging passes with Kosovare Asllani and firing into the far corner.
Sweden should have doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Madelen Janogy headed Hanna Lundkvist’s pinpoint cross narrowly wide, while moments before Stina Blackstenius was denied by Frederikke Thogersen’s brilliant goalline clearance.
“It was an enormous sense of joy and relief. There are so many nerves when you start a tournament that it was a wonderful feeling to score that goal,” Angeldahl told reporters.
Peter Gerhardsson’s team are now unbeaten in 13 games after a second straight win over the Danes, with Sweden running out emphatic 6-1 winners in the Nations League last month.
Sweden kept a tight handle on Denmark’s skipper Pernille Harder, although she did smash an effort off the crossbar with nine minutes remaining.
The Bayern Munich forward was also involved when VAR decided not to award a penalty to Denmark in the opening minutes for a potential handball by Madelen Janogy, who was marking Parder.
Sabalenka fights off Raducanu, Alcaraz marches on, Keys and Osaka crash at Wimbledon
- A record 36 seeds in the men’s and women’s singles failed to reach round three and the upsets continued Friday as women’s sixth seed Madison Keys and four-time major winner Naomi Osaka departed
LONDON: Women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka fought off inspired home favorite Emma Raducanu in a cauldron-like Center Court atmosphere to keep her Wimbledon quest on track but it was the end of the road for two other Grand Slam champions on Friday.
Sabalenka edged a ferocious contest under the roof after requiring eight set points in the opening set and then roaring back from a 4-1 deficit in a sizzling second.
“Wow! What an atmosphere, my ears are still hurting, it was super loud,” a relieved Sabalenka said on court after wrapping up the win on her third match point.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, chasing a third successive Wimbledon title, was also put through the wringer by Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff before sealing a last-16 spot with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.
A record 36 seeds in the men’s and women’s singles failed to reach round three and the upsets continued on Friday as women’s sixth seed Madison Keys, the Australian Open champion, and four-time major winner Naomi Osaka departed.
Japan’s Osaka looked every bit the Grand Slam great for a set before losing 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. American Keys racked up 31 unforced errors in a 6-3, 6-3 loss to Germany’s Laura Siegemund, at 37 the oldest woman left in the singles draw.
Sabalenka is the only top-10 seed left in the top half of the draw and, with only three remaining in the bottom, she might be starting to think this could be her year.
If she does win the trophy to add to her two Australian Opens and one US Open, she will look back on Friday night under the Center Court roof as perhaps the turning point.
Had she lost the opening set the partisan crowd might well have roared former US Open champion Raducanu to victory.
Even after clinching the first set with a deft volley, Sabalenka found herself in trouble as 40th-ranked Raducanu blazed ahead and had a point for a 5-1 lead. But she then switched on the after burners to overwhelm the flagging Briton.
“Emma played such incredible tennis and she pushed me really hard to get this win,” said the 27-year-old Belarusian. “I had to fight for every point to get this win.”
Home hopes
Raducanu’s loss ended hope of a British hat-trick on day five after Sonay Kartal and Cameron Norrie sailed through to the last 16 in impressive fashion.
Local favorite Kartal moved on with a remarkable display against French qualifier Diane Parry, claiming nine games in a row to come from 1-4 down to win 6-4, 6-2.
Norrie kept the home flag flying in the men’s singles by beating Italian Mattia Bellucci 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-3 to set up a meeting with Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry, who overcame Brazilian wonder kid Joao Fonseca 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4).
Kartal had earlier reeled off nine games in a row after a slow start to beat French qualifier Diane Parry 6-4, 6-2 and set up a clash with Russian Pavlyuchenkova.
French Open winner Alcaraz extended his winning run to 21 matches by beating Struff but it was a Jekyll and Hyde performance as he again showed vulnerability.
“I was suffering in every service game... 0-30s and breakpoints down. It was stressful. Every time he could push me, he did. I was trying to survive,” Alcaraz said.
The 22-year-old will face Russian 14th seed next after he beat French qualifier Adrian Mannarino 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.
Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Amanda Anisimova ensured there would be some Fourth of July celebrations for Americans.
After being taken the distance in his first two matches, fifth seed Fritz had a slightly easier ride as he beat Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-4, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1 to reach the last 16 where he will face unseeded Australian Jordan Thompson.
Despite spending more than nine hours on court, Fritz said he felt fresh ahead of his Sunday assignment with Thompson.
“This is going to sound crazy,” said Fritz, who has been suffering tendinitis in his knee and had to deal with a bruised arm after a fall. “My body is actually feeling better after each match. I feel like somehow it felt the worst after my first round but now it’s getting better.”
Anisimova, the 13th seed, also reached the fourth round with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win over Hungarian Dalma Galfi.
Shelton, who was left seething after his second-round clash with Rinky Hijikata was suspended late on Thursday with him about to serve for the match, needed around one minute to finish the job on Friday, hitting three aces and an unreturned second serve to take his place in the last 32.
French showman Gael Monfils also had to resume his match but the 38-year-old could not prevent a 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 7-6(5) 6-4 defeat by Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics.
“I don’t really know. I wish I could win this match today but that’s sport. I’m going to rest a couple of days and go back on court and try to be ready for the US tour.”
It was the end of the road for Monfils’s wife Elina Svitolina too as the Ukrainian 14th seed fell 6-1 7-6(4) against 24th seed Elize Mertens.
PSG ‘dead’ unless they keep improving: Luis Enrique
- PSG played an entertaining attacking style with three forward on their way to Champions League glory
ATLANTA: Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique said Friday his team will keep adapting and improving to pursue future success and if they failed to do so they would be “dead.”
The European champions face German giants Bayern Munich on Saturday in the Club World Cup quarter-finals in Atlanta and the Spanish coach said they will not keep relying on the same system.
PSG played an entertaining attacking style with three forward on their way to Champions League glory, but Luis Enrique said one day he would diverge.
“We will change it because teams adapt — in football there is nothing magical,” Luis Enrique told reporters.
“When you overcome the press, your opponent adapts, when you create superiority in an area, your opponent adapts, there is no magic formula.
“There is no coach who has a system or a move, and that’s it, that’s the difficulty of modern football, all coaches are prepared, all players are better physically and technically than ever.”
“So you adapt, you improvise, and you become unpredictable for your opponent, or you are dead.”
Luis Enrique said playing the same way that led PSG to a first treble this season would not suffice going forward.
“It’s not enough to do what we’ve done this past season in the next, we have to change, we have to improve things,” added Luis Enrique.
Bayern Munich beat PSG 1-0 in November in the Champions League group stage, before the French side found their stride and went on to triumph in the competition for the first time.
“We have a little bit of revenge to take, we know they’re a tough team, but we’re much stronger than in November,” said Ousmane Dembele, who was sent off in Munich.
“A lot has changed — the players have clearly raised their level, I’ve raised my level too, and we have a lot of confidence. We know what we need to do on the field, we can beat any team.”
The 28-year-old is a leading Ballon d’Or contender after a superb campaign, although has only made a brief cameo as a substitute in the Club World Cup thus far.
Dembele suffered a quadriceps injury during the Nations League at the start of June and came on in PSG’s 4-0 romp against Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami.
The forward said he is now “100 percent” fit but it is up to Luis Enrique whether he starts against Bayern at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“It’s not the time to give information to my opponent — we’ll see tomorrow,” said Luis Enrique.
Fluminense beat Al Hilal 2-1 to reach Club World Cup semis
ORLANDO: Substitute Hercules struck a 70th-minute winner as Brazil’s Fluminense defeated Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal 2-1 on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Club World Cup.
A fine left-foot finish from Matheus Martinelli had put the Rio club ahead in the 40th minute but Al Hilal’s Brazilian forward Marcos Leonardo levelled six minutes into the second half before Hercules stole the show to the delight of the vast majority of the 43,091 crowd.
Fluminense could yet face an all-Brazilian semifinal if their rivals from Sao Paulo, Palmeiras, are able to overcome Premier League outfit Chelsea in Friday’s other quarter-final.
Al Hilal had pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament, beating Manchester City 4-3, to reach the last eight and Simone Inzaghi’s side fought hard until the end to keep their adventure alive.
They bow out of the tournament having been unbeaten through the group stage, including holding Real Madrid to a draw, and having truly made their mark on the world stage.
There was a moment’s silence before the kick-off in memory of Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota and his younger brother Andre Silva, who died in the early hours of Thursday after their car veered off a motorway in Spain and burst into flames.
Al Hilal’s line-up featured two of Jota’s Portugal team-mates in Ruben Neves and Joao Cancelo.
The first half was a tight and tactical affair with few chances until Martinelli opened the scoring when he picked the ball up from Gabriel Fuentes inside the box and span out to give himself space for a left-foot shot that rocketed past Yassine Bounou.
Al Hilal went close to a quick response when Kalidou Koulibaly’s header forced Fluminense’s 44-year-old goalkeeper Fabio into a fine save.
The Saudi side were awarded a penalty when Samuel Xavier was ruled to have brought down Marcos Leonardo in the box but Dutch referee Danny Makkelie was eventually sent to the monitor where he overturned his own decision after seeing there had been no contact between the two players.
After going in at the break trailing by a goal, Al Hilal came out strongly for the second half and drew level when Koulibaly headed a Neves corner down to Marcos Leonardo who poked home.
Al Hilal’s Brazilian full back Renan Lodi had a let off when his poor backpass fell straight at the feet of German Cano but the Fluminense striker’s attempt to round Bounou was denied by the smart work of the Moroccan keeper.
But the outcome was settled with 20 minutes remaining when half-time sub Hercules saw a shot from distance blocked but from the loose ball Samuel headed the ball back to the forward who raced into the box and fired past Bounou to make it 2-1.
Al Hilal produced a flurry of corners and some intense pressure in the final minutes as they desperately sought a way to keep their dream alive but the Brazilians were good value for their victory.
“We didn’t have many chances but we made the most of them, the entire group worked and were committed,” said Fluminense coach Renato Gaucho.
“Our fans here in the USA and those in Brazil, they can be proud and I ask them to wear a jersey, in the mall, street, beach, wherever, wear that shirt — they should all be proud to wear that jersey,” he said.
The Fluminense coach was full of praise for the performance of his 40-year-old central defender Thiago Silva who ensured the Brazilians were able to withstand the second half pressure from Al Hilal.
“Thiago Silva is huge for us, I worked with him 15 years ago, he is a coach on the pitch, very helpful and conveys calm and experience to the others. He is our captain and a leader and in hard matches like these against big clubs, its important to have people like him. He is key and fundamental,” he said.
Al Hilal coach Inzaghi said his side had been unfortunate to end on the losing side.
“It has been a good World Cup for us but clearly we leave with a little bit of a bitter taste in our mouth because after what happened in that second half, we deserved much more,” he said.
“It was a tight match, decided by episodes, as happens in football. Fluminense are very well organized team that are having an excellent tournament,” he added.
“A Beautiful Gift“: Swiss women pioneers celebrate the game’s transformation
- The mascot of the tournament, a Saint Bernard puppy, bears her name, Maddli, in recognition of her role in advancing women’s football in Switzerland
- There are now 40,000 registered women players and 134 female referees in Switzerland, according to the Swiss FA
SION, Switzerland: On the terrace of a restaurant in the Swiss city of Sion sits a group of pioneers of women’s football in Switzerland who have seen the beautiful game change beyond recognition.
For 72-year-old Madeleine Boll, seeing the city in the French-speaking part of Switzerland hosting three games in the Women’s European Championship, which is being staged across the country, is a proud moment.
The mascot of the tournament, a Saint Bernard puppy, bears her name, Maddli, in recognition of her role in advancing women’s football in Switzerland.
At 12 years old in 1965, Boll became the first woman in Switzerland to obtain a license to play football, with FC Sion’s boys’ youth team. But just months later it was taken away from her after the club said it had made an error.
“I was the happiest little girl. But the day they took away my license, I was the unhappiest because I didn’t understand why I was forbidden to play,” Boll told Reuters.
However, it marked the first in a series of landmark moments that enabled women’s inclusion in Swiss football.
By 1970 the first Swiss Women’s Football League was created, with Boll’s father, Jean Boll, its president. Madeleine later played for FC Sion, one of the earliest women’s football clubs in Switzerland.
“It’s a beautiful gift because it’s here that the beginnings of Swiss women’s football took root,” she said.
KEY MOMENT
A lot has changed since Boll and her generation played. There are now 40,000 registered women players and 134 female referees in Switzerland, according to the Swiss FA.
“It was different. We didn’t have jerseys, we didn’t have means to travel ... We had to make people understand that we are capable of playing,” said 72-year-old Rosemarie Siggen, from Sion who started playing football toward the end of the 1960s.
For Siggen and Boll, who were joined by four other footballing pioneers in the women’s game in Sion, this year’s tournament is a key moment to make strides in supporting women’s football.
“The Euros will be a catalyst,” Boll told Reuters, pointing to it as an opportunity for greater investment in the women’s game.
The Swiss hosts are hoping the legacy of the tournament — being played across eight cities over the next month — will bolster female football in the country as Euro 2022 did for champions England. It is aiming to double the number of female players by 2027, according to the Swiss FA.
“It’s a bit difficult for these young girls. They need help. I think there should be stronger support, a real investment ... we want to see them progress because they can bring many beautiful things,” said Siggen.
Boll hopes that the Switzerland side, who lost their first match of the tournament 2-1 to Norway, can continue to make strides with more financial support.
“If we want to have a good Swiss team ... it will be important that girls become professional because it is difficult ... to achieve results while having a job or being a student,” Boll said.
UEFA, the governing body for European soccer, announced a record 600,000 tickets have been sold for the tournament. Basel will host the final on July 27 at St. Jakob-Park, the largest football stadium in Switzerland.
