AFRIDI TO MISS CHARITY MATCH

Pakistan’s explosive batsman Shahid Afridi will miss the charity match featuring the World XI and the West Indies on 31 May as he is yet to recuperate from a knee injury, which he had sustained during a training session. The 38-year-old wrote on his twitter handle: “Went to see my doctor in Dubai, the knee hasn’t recovered fully yet. I’ll need another 3-4 weeks. Hoping to regain full fitness after that, keep praying for me,” The match will be played at Lord’s on 31 May. It has been organised to raise funds to rebuild cricket venues in the Caribbean damaged by Hurricanes.

Rajasthan Royals rode on a fine half century from Rahul Tripathi, combined with leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal’s four-for to outclass Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 30 runs and more importantly keep themselves in the hunt for a place in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Play-offs.

With the win, Rajasthan rose to the fourth spot in the IPL tally with 14 points while RCB’s campaign has ended on a disappointing note.

On Saturday, the visitors made a heavy weather of their chase of Rajasthan’s 164/5 to be eventually bundled out for 134 runs, with Gopal (4/16) ripping through the top order at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here.

Gopal was complimented well by fellow spinners Krishnappa Gowtham ( 1/6) and Ish Sodhi ( 1/31) while the pace twins of Jaydev Unadkat and Ben Laugh-