MINI BYTES
With three wins in as many games, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will look to continue the unbeaten run when it clashes against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. Having secured six points from its matches in Chennai, Bangalore will play in Mumbai for the first time. Rajasthan, which has been based in the Maharashtra capital since the start of the season, has two points from three fixtures.
Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Rohit Sharma has been fined Rs 12 lakh for maintaining a slow overrate during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 game against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Chennai on Tuesday. “As it was his team’s first offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over rate offences, Mr Sharma was fined Rs 12 lakh,” read an IPL media statement.
The controversial European Super League collapsed on Tuesday as nine of the competition’s 12 founding clubs officially pulled out. Six English clubs (Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur), two Italian teams (AC Milan and Inter Milan) and Spanish oufit Atletico Madrid opted out of the breakaway league.
FC Goa suffered its first defeat in the AFC Champions League after going down 1-2 to Iranian giant Persepolis in a Group E fixture at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa on Tuesday. Midfielder Edu Bedia scored FC Goa’s first goal in the competition in the 14th minute, but Mahdi Torabi (18’ P) and Jalal Hosseini (24’) ensured all three points for Persepolis. Following the result, debutant FC Goa has two points from three matches while group topper Persepolis has nine points from the same number of games as its rival.
The FIH Hockey Pro League matches between India and Great Britain, scheduled for May 8-9 in London, were on Wednesday postponed following the UK government’s decision to add the Asian nation to the travel ‘red list’. “FIH, Hockey India and Great Britain Hockey are monitoring the evolution of the situation in the hope of rearranging these matches at a later date,” said a FIH media release.