A quickfire 56 from Jason Roy helped Kolkata Knight Riders to a 21-run victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.
RCB looked like they might be able to chase down their target of 201 after Virat Kohli (54) threatened to outdo Roy, but once wickets started to fall the hosts ran out of steam quickly.
Roy brought up his 50 from just 22 balls, while Narayan Jagadeesan (27) played a supporting role, but the latter became the first wicket to fall as he tried to hit Vijaykumar Vyshak for six, instead finding David Willey for a simple catch on the boundary.
Vyshak (2-41) then clattered the leg stump of Roy in the same over to give RCB another boost as they looked to get back in to the game.
Captain Nitish Rana (48 from 21 balls) was dropped twice and made RCB pay as he blitzed some boundaries, before finally being caught well by Vyshak off the bowling of Wanindu Hasaranga (2-24).
Venkatesh Iyer (31) was also gone just two balls later after hitting one straight up in the air for Glenn Maxwell to take, while Mohammed Siraj bowled Andre Russell for just one in the penultimate over.
Rinku Singh (18 not out) and David Wiese (12no) added some welcome late boundaries to the end of the innings and set a target just beyond 200, but the reply started well for RCB.
Kohli and Faf Du Plessis (17) hit 30 from the first two overs, though the South African was out in the third as he hit Suyash Sharma to Rinku at long-on.
Suyash (2-30) had another soon after when he trapped Shahbaz Ahmed (2) lbw, and Maxwell (5) was not far behind as he hit a soft shot off Varun Chakravarthy straight to Wiese.
Mahipal Lomror was nicely dovetailing with Kohli as he knocked 34 from 18 balls before finding Russell's safe hands on the boundary as he tried to slog Chakravarthy (3-27).
Hope seemed to be over for the hosts when Kohli hit Russell to deep mid-wicket, only for Venkatesh to take the catch, while Suyash Prabhudessai (10) was run out and Hasaranga added just five before departing.
Once Dinesh Karthik has fallen to Chakravarthy for 22, the writing was on the wall as the Knight Riders clinched just their third win of the season.
Roy wracks up runs
England batter Roy struck 56 to bring up his fourth 50+ score in the IPL; and has now scored 160 runs so far in this, his fourth season, his highest of any prior IPL campaign.
Roy hit four fours and five sixes on Wednesday, with no other batter on either team hitting as many maximums.
Kohli notches another 50
The RCB captain was not quite as explosive as Roy, taking 37 balls to make his 54 and not hitting any sixes (six fours), but Kohli still set the table for what could have been a decent stab at reaching 201 for his team, though it fizzled out fairly rapidly.
This was his fifth 50+ score of the season, the joint-most of any batter (with team-mate Du Plessis), while it was his 54th 50+ score in the competition's history, second to only David Warner (63).
Leeds United 4-0 Norwich City (4-0 agg): Whites book Wembley spot in emphatic fashion
Leeds United thumped Norwich City 4-0 in the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final to seal their place at Wembley.
After a goalless draw in the first leg left it all to play for at Elland Road on Thursday, Leeds turned on the style in front of a raucous home crowd to cruise into the final on May 26.
Ilia Gruev settled the majority of Elland Road's nerves with just seven minutes played as he caught out Angus Gunn with a long-range free-kick, curling into the space vacated by the Norwich goalkeeper's expectation of a cross.
Joel Piroe then doubled the hosts' advantage 13 minutes later, again capitalising on poor goalkeeping to beat Gunn to Wilfried Gnonto's cross and nod home.
The tie was effectively over five minutes from half-time, Georginio Rutter getting on the end of Crysencio Summerville's squared pass to rifle off the underside of the crossbar and in.
And after Gunn spilled Gnonto's low shot in the second half, Rutter cut the ball back for Summerville to poke home and secure Leeds' place in next Sunday's final, where they will meet either Southampton or West Brom.
Data debrief
Leeds may have looked pretty blunt in attack at Carrow Road, but that was far from the case on home soil as they put the Canaries to the sword in brutal fashion while keeping a 21st Championship clean sheet this season, more than any other side.
Daniel Farke's men produced 2.45 xG (expected goals) to Norwich's 0.51, while Summerville made it 20 league goals for the season, more than any other Leeds player.
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Warm-Up matches confirmed
The official warm-up match fixtures for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 have been announced. Matches are scheduled to be played from Monday 27 May to Saturday 1 June across the USA and at two venues in Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies.
The venues to host the 16 warm up matches are the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas; Broward County Stadium, Broward County, Florida and Queen’s Park Oval and Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago.
Warm-up fixtures will be 20 overs per side and will not carry international T20 status as teams will be allowed to field all members of their 15-player squad. In a change from the previous rights cycle, teams will now have the option of playing up to two warm-up matches depending on arrival time at the event.
The West Indies against Australia fixture at Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday 30 May will be open to fans, tickets will be available at tickets.t20worldcup.com or box offices located at the National Cricket Centre and Queen’s Park Oval from 16 May.
Warm-up match schedule:
Monday 27 May
Canada v Nepal, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas 10h30
Oman v Papua New Guinea, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago 15h00
Namibia v Uganda, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago 19h00
Tuesday 28 May
Sri Lanka v Netherlands, Broward County Stadium, Broward County, Florida 10h30
Bangladesh v USA, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas 10h30
Australia v Namibia, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago 19h00
Wednesday 29 May
South Africa intra-squad, Broward County Stadium, Broward County, Florida 10h30
Afghanistan v Oman, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago 13h00
Thursday 30 May
Nepal v USA, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas 10h30
Scotland v Uganda, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago 10h30
Netherlands v Canada, Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas 15h00
Namibia v Papua New Guinea, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago 15h00
West Indies v Australia, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago 19h00
Friday 31 May
Ireland v Sri Lanka, Broward County Stadium, Broward County, Florida 10h30
Scotland v Afghanistan, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad and Tobago 10h30
Saturday 1 June
Bangladesh v India, Venue TBC USA
IPL: Washout confirms SRH play-off place
Sunrisers Hyderabad are into the Indian Premier League play-offs despite their game against Gujarat Titans being abandoned without even doing the toss due to rain.
SRH move onto 15 points, with one game remaining, but are now ensured a top-four finish for the first time since 2020.
Their top-two hopes have taken a hit though – they have to beat Punjab Kings in their final game and hope Rajasthan Royals lose to Kolkata Knights Riders to finish second.
The Titans were already out of play-off contention after their previous game against KKR was also called off due to a heavy storm without hitting a ball. They finish their season currently third from bottom, though that could change depending on results in the final few matches.
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