Oscar Piastri Emphatically Wins Spanish GP As McLaren Secure 1-2
Oscar Piastri delivered a dominant performance to win the Spanish Grand Prix and further extend his lead in the championship standings. The 24-year-old Australian led a McLaren 1-2, ahead of teammate Lando Norris with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc rounding off the podium. Starting from pole, Piastri built an early advantage as Norris lost out to Max Verstappen at Turn 1. Although Norris quickly regained the place, Verstappen surged past both McLarens during the first round of pit stops to take the lead. However, the Red Bull driver's early second stop returned the lead to Piastri, sparking speculation of a three-stop strategy.
That gamble became clearer when Verstappen pitted again late in the race, just as a Safety Car was deployed following Kimi Antonelli's retirement. The neutralization allowed most frontrunners to pit once more, setting up a six-lap sprint to the finish.
Piastri and Norris broke clear at the restart, while Verstappen fell into battles with Charles Leclerc and George Russell. Leclerc passed him for third, and a controversial clash with Russell saw Verstappen forced off-track. After being told to return the position, Verstappen collided with Russell again and was handed a 10-second penalty, dropping him to tenth.
Leclerc completed the podium in third for Ferrari, with Russell fourth. Nico Hulkenberg impressed with a charge from 15th to fifth for Kick Sauber. Lewis Hamilton finished sixth for Ferrari, followed by Isack Hadjar in seventh and Pierre Gasly in eighth. Fernando Alonso scored his first points of the season in ninth, while Verstappen rounded out the top ten.
Further back, Liam Lawson narrowly missed out on points, with Gabriel Bortoleto, Yuki Tsunoda, and Carlos Sainz behind. Franco Colapinto, Esteban Ocon, and Ollie Bearman were the final classified drivers. Antonelli and Alex Albon retired, while Lance Stroll withdrew from the event due to injury.
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The Hindu
7 hours ago
- The Hindu
The unsung heroes in Royal Challengers Bengaluru's rise to the summit
One of the oft-used cliches is that the IPL is a marathon, not a sprint. Delhi Capitals will ruefully agree – after all, they won their first four matches in a canter yet failed to make even a serious push for the Playoffs. It's also said regularly that while batters win matches, bowlers win tournaments. One need not look beyond Royal Challengers Bengaluru to understand exactly what that means. On an emotional, dramatic Tuesday night in front of nearly 100,000 spectators at the gigantic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the most passionate sports fans in the world were finally rewarded for loyalty when Rajat Patidar did what Rahul Dravid, Kevin Pietersen, Anil Kumble, Daniel Vettori, Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis before him had failed to accomplish. In his first season as the captain of the franchise, any franchise, the unassuming Madhya Pradesh batter took his team over the finish line, sparking waves of unchecked celebration throughout the night on the pothole-ridden streets of Bengaluru. After 17 unsuccessful attempts, RCB had finally shed the monkey off their back. There was unalloyed delight, of course, but also a huge sigh of relief. And the unmistakable air of having 'done it for Virat', in a throwback to 2011 when triumph at the 50-over World Cup in Mumbai was dedicated to the peerless Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli was the obvious cynosure, like he always is when he takes the cricket field, and there is no mistaking his imprint on the march to the Promised Land. He topped 600 runs in an IPL season for the third time on the bounce, finishing with a franchise-high 657 runs. Only Orange Cap winner Sai Sudharsan (759) and the tournament's Most Valuable Player, Suryakumar Yadav (717), boasted a higher tally. No one scored as many half-centuries (8) as the former India and RCB skipper and his strike-rate of 144.71 was a marked improvement on his overall IPL strike-rate of 132.86. Alongside the effervescent Phil Salt, Kohli formed an exceptional opening pair. The Englishman, who had struck up an excellent alliance with Sunil Narine at the top of the tree when Kolkata Knight Riders won a third title last season, ended up with 403 runs, strike-rate 175.98. Until he pulled up lame with a hamstring injury deep into the league stage, Australian finisher Tim David had sent the RCB faithful into raptures by smashing 16 fours and 14 sixes in 101 deliveries to average 62.33 and strike at 185.14 runs per 100 balls faced, while Romario Shepherd became a household name after a 14-ball half-century (the joint second fastest in the tournament's history) against Chennai Super Kings a month back. Patidar himself and feisty, inventive wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma were the other batting heroes at various stages while local lads Devdutt Padikkal and his injury replacement Mayank Agarwal more than held their own, which meant that for the first time in their history, IPL weren't reliant merely on their top three or four, as has been the case for much of their existence. One of the reasons why RCB only made three finals in the first 17 years was because they didn't have sustained firepower in their bowling. There would be the occasional high-performing asset – none more so than Yuzvendra Chahal – but one couldn't shake off the feeling that RCB had been so fixated on their explosive top order which included Kohli (the only man to play for the same franchise for all 18 years) and at various stages Chris Gayle, A.B. de Villiers, Yuvraj Singh and Shane Watson that they didn't quite pay the same attention to their bowling. That anomaly was emphatically corrected at the big November auction in Jeddah, and the results are there for all to see. RCB weren't just content to secure the services of Josh Hazlewood; they stuck with Yash Dayal, the left-arm quick, while roping in the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The two Indians played all 15 matches while Aussie Hazlewood missed three games with a shoulder injury, during which time his value to the team became even more evident. Rasik Salam and Lungi Ngidi were used sparingly – both played only two games apiece – which was because Shepherd slotted in nicely as a fourth seamer when required. The West Indian did go at 10.78 runs per over but had the happy knack of picking up big wickets, none bigger than Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer, caught behind in the final for just one after having knocked Mumbai Indians out in Sunday's Qualifier 2 with a special unbeaten 87. The pundits were unanimous in their view that RCB had had an excellent auction, that they had most bases covered. If it was only 'most' and not 'all' bases, that was because the spin department looked a little undercooked. Their main specialist spinners were Krunal Pandya, the fastish left-armer, and Suyash Sharma, the little leggie who tends to look at the sky when he releases the ball. Competent, sure, was the verdict, but game-changing? Decisively impactful? Hmmm, the jury went. How wrong we were all to be proved. The older Pandya brother will never fall in the 'classical' category – not that he will ever lay claim to it – but he is street-smart, clever, a half-step ahead of the game, making the most of whatever he has without attempting to overreach. Throughout the campaign, his changes of pace and angles were exemplary; he even bowled the bouncer, often clocked in the mid-110s, with reasonable regularity. He rushed through his overs, he was seldom collared – his economy of 8.23 was the best among all RCB bowlers who played at least two matches – but most importantly, he kept adding to the wickets column. On Tuesday, Krunal packed off Prabhsimran Singh and dangerous Aussie Josh Inglis, two wicketkeeper-batters eminently capable of changing the course of a game in a matter of a few overs. Like he had done in the previous 14 games, he was relentless, probing, testing – not with loop and drift and dip and turn, but with common sense which in reality isn't all that common. By the time he was done with his spell, he had picked up two for 17, enough to secure him the Player of the Final award for an unprecedented second time in the IPL. Krunal's 17 wickets were the joint second highest for RCB, alongside Bhuvneshwar; unsurprisingly, Hazlewood topped the charts with 22 sticks. Suyash wasn't in the same wicket-taking league as his 'spin' twin, but he too had a season to remember – eight wickets, economy 8.84. At KKR, he had often slipped in as an Impact Player; here, he often played entire matches, the surest indication of how highly he is rated by the team management even in the nascent stages of his career. In his 14 appearances, Suyash bowled 50 overs, the second most by an RCB bowler (behind Bhuvneshwar's 52), reiterating the confidence Patidar and Jitesh, who stood in as captain when Patidar was nursing a finger injury, had in the 22-year-old. While the spinners unexpectedly whipped up a storm, Bhuvneshwar and Dayal ensured that Hazlewood wasn't left to do all the heavy lifting on his own. Bhuvneshwar is a seasoned campaigner who won the title with Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016 and is closing in on 200 IPL wickets. He provided the cutting edge with the new ball, making up for a slight drop in pace by bringing his experience into play and dipping into his vast reservoir of tricks. He was also a mentor to Dayal, useful tips from mid-on or mid-off ensuring that the left-arm quick didn't get carried away. Dayal has been one of the stars for RCB in the last couple of seasons. He was a shining light in Gujarat Titans' surge to the title on their debut in 2022, but like Chetan Sharma and his last-ball six (conceded to Javed Miandad in Sharjah), he was remembered more for having gone for five sixes in the last over the following year when Rinku Singh muscled KKR to one of the more famous T20 victories. The way the 27-year-old from Allahabad has bounced back is the stuff of legend. Now, Dayal doesn't invoke memories of Rinku anymore. He has established his own identity as a wicket-taker with the new ball, because he is able to swing the white ball when it is new, and as a terrific end-overs specialist who has become adept at defending targets in the last over (poetic justice, you say?). Last year, Dayal put Chennai Super Kings out at the league stage in a virtual quarterfinal. The five-time former champions needed 17 off the last over to dump RCB and advance even in the event of a defeat, and when Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed Dayal over long-on and out of the park, images of Rinku might have briefly surfaced. Dayal pulled himself together brilliantly, dismissed Dhoni off the next ball, and conceded only one more run in the over to win over the RCB fans. This year, with the stakes a lot lesser, he again expertly defended 15 in the last over and six off the last three deliveries against the same opponents at the same venue (the Chinnaswamy), one of many instances when he was the last-over boss. His 13 wickets were crucial to RCB's fortunes. Alongside Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar, he ensured that RCB's three principal pacers accounted for a staggering 52 wickets in the competition. The batters will understandably hog the limelight because that is the nature of the cricket beast, especially in the 20-over format, but within the dugout, Patidar, head coach Andy Flower and Kohli, the team's heartbeat, will have profusely and gratefully acknowledged the class, tenacity, persistence and bloody-mindedness of a largely settled bowling unit. And this truly was the definition of a unit propelled by its Indian core, not just Hazlewood and the rest. How heartening.
NDTV
8 hours ago
- NDTV
All Bases Covered: How RCB's Maiden IPL Triumph Is A Complete Teamwork Shutting Down Past Mistakes, Criticism
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally sealed their first-ever Indian Premier League (IPL), with their much-scrutinised bowling joining the party not only during the title clash, but throughout the entire season while their batters, particularly Virat Kohli continued providing returns expected of them. RCB's historic title win was a team effort like no other, as everyone stepped in, even if it was for a match. There was not even a single player who could be villianised for any negative contributions, as even the underperformers had their moments. The pace trio of Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal, the opening pair of Phil Salt and Virat Kohli and spinner Krunal Pandya, though, stood out tall amongst all. Different matches, different match-winners During this entire season, it was as if every player was out there to prove a point. The 'Player of the Match' honours were won by nine different players, the most by a team during a single edition of the IPL. Krunal won the first POTM award for his 3/29 against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the tournament opener, which restricted them to 174/8. In the finals, he returned to produce an all-time great spell of 2/17 in four overs, putting humungous pressure on PBKS and becoming the first player with two POTMs in the finals. In between this, he also produced a brilliant half-century in a modest chase against Delhi Capitals (DC), earning him POTM for his batting. Skipper Rajat Patidar also bagged the award twice for his match-winning fifties against struggling heavyweights Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK). A blistering 65 in 33 to chase down 174 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) got Salt his individual glory too, while Tim David's valiant half-century that pushed RCB to 95/9 in a rain-hit match against PBKS at home earned him a rare losing effort POTM. A half-century against RR earned Virat his first POTM, while a clutch 4/33 from Hazlewood to leave RR 11 runs short of 206 runs earned the Australian his moment of glory too. Romario Shepherd's explosive 53* in just 14 balls during the last two overs against CSK gave Caribbean some POTM representation too, as his effort lifted RCB to 213/5 when such a total looked out of reach. Jitesh Sharma's De Villiers-esque 85* against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to chase down RCB's highest total of 228 also gave him the award too. During the Qualifier one against PBKS, when Suyash Sharma's 3/17 ran through the hosts in the middle overs and skittled them out for 101, the Delhi spinner also got the POTM honours. Half-centuries galore for RCB A total of 10 half-centurions emerged for RCB this season, with Virat, Salt, England's young all-rounder Jacob Bethell, Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh, Krunal, David, Shepherd and Liam Livingstone reaching the milestone. For the first time, a team had 10 different half-centurions in a single IPL season. This was a sign of an extremely functional top and middle-order. While Virat (657 runs in 15 innings at an average of 54.75 with eight fifties) and Salt (403 runs in 13 innings at an average of 33.58, with four fifties) mostly provided the team with explosive starts, that tempo and consistency was maintained well by the rest of the batters consisting of Padikkal (247 runs in 10 matches at an average of 27.44, with two fifties), Patidar (312 runs in 14 innings at average of 24.00 with two fifties), Jitesh (261 runs in 11 innings at an average of 37.28 with a fifty), David (187 in nine innings at an average of 62.33 with a fifty) and Romario Shepherd (70 in three innings at an average of 35.00 with a fifty). Mayank Agarwal, who stepped in as an injury replacement for Padikkal, also hit 99 runs in four innings, including a crucial 41* against LSG and vital 24 in the finals. Even underperforming stars like Livingstone (112 runs in eight innings with a fifty at an average of 16.00 and Krunal (109 runs in seven innings at an average of 18.16 with a fifty) had at least a high or two. That means, RCB could kiss the jokes about a once non-existent batting line-up after Virat and two-three of their marquee foreign players goodbye as everyone contributed. A sensational bowling line-up which produced clutch moments RCB had a powerful pace attack, being among top three pace attacks in IPL 2025 with 64 wickets at an average of 26.04, economy rate of 9.41 and strike rate of 16.5. Above them in wickets are: Sunrisers Hyderabad (66 wickets at an average of 27.78, economy rate of 9.65 and a strike rate of 17.2) and Mumbai Indians (79 wickets at an average of 24.93, economy rate of 8.99 and a strike rate of 16.6). They were among the three pace units with 60-plus wickets. Hazlewood (22 wickets in 12 matches at an average of 17.54, with best figures of 4/33), Bhuvneshwar (17 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 28.41, with best figures of 3/33), and Dayal (13 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 36.15, with best figures of 2/18) timed their breakthroughs to perfection right from match one to the final. Be it Hazlewood producing absolute magic at powerplay and death, Bhuvneshwar producing laudable comebacks or Dayal delivering his slower ones, RCB's execution was top class. Romario Shepherd (six wickets in seven innings at an average of 25.16 with best score of 2/14), Ngidi (four wickets in two matches at an average of 20.25 with best of 3/30) and one wicket each from Nuwan Thusara and Rasikh Salam were the supporting acts in the pace department. Among the spinners, Krunal continued to prove why he is rated so high among all cricketing experts, ending as the eighth-highest wicket-taker with 17 scalps at an average of 22.29, with best figures of 4/45. He squeezed top-class batters under pressure and his big match temperament was on full display in the final. Suyash served as a great support act, taking eight wickets in 14 matches at an average of 55.25 with an economy rate of 8.84. A world-class coach in Andy Flower and a brilliant support staff Andy Flower, the former Zimbabwe cricketer who is now a top-rated name in the coaching circuit, along with batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik, headed the coaching staff. Flower brought to a team, a belief of winning a big one, having won the T20 World Cup 2022 and three Ashes Test series with England, the World Test Championship (WTC), retained the Ashes, won WTC with Australia and secured numerous other franchise cricket league titles as a coach. Having powered RCB to the playoffs from a pathetic one win in eight matches in the first half last season, the self-belief instilled from a magical second half of the last season stayed intact. Karthik as well was a fine mentor to all the players, particularly Jitesh, who even called him his "Guru". The spin bowling coach Malolan Rangarajan also put in plenty of work on Krunal and the backing of Suyash despite some expensive outings finally paid off with his outrageous effort in Qualifier one. Coming to the match, PBKS won the toss and elected to bowl first. Arshdeep Singh (3/40) and Kyle Jamieson (3/48) applied timely breaks with the ball, while Yuzi Chahal (1/37) also prevented batters from attacking. While Virat Kohli (43 in 35 balls, with three fours) tried to keep the innings together, skipper Rajat Patidar (26 in 16 balls, with a four and two sixes), Jitesh Sharma (24 in 10 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Liam Livingstone (25 in 15 balls, with two fours) upped the attack enough to help RCB post 190/9 in 20 overs. In the run-chase, PBKS started well with Priyansh Arya (24 in 19 balls, with four boundaries) and Prabhsimran (26 in 22 balls, with two sixes) stitching a 43-run stand. Josh Inglis (39 in 23 balls, with a four and four sixes) and Shashank Singh (61* in 30 balls, three wins and six sixes) tried their level best to keep up with the rising run rate, but Krunal Panddya (2/17), Yash Dayal (1/18) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/38) put a fine show with the ball to restrict PBKS to 184/7, despite a sensational 22 runs smashed by Shashank in the final over while needing 29. RCB's win marks the end of a long wait, while PBKS, in their second-ever final and first in 11 years--will have to continue their search for a maiden title.
NDTV
9 hours ago
- NDTV
Pat Cummins Confirms Steve Smith's Batting Position For Australia In WTC Final: "Not Willing..."
Australian skipper Pat Cummins said that star batter Steve Smith will be batting at number four during the much-anticipated ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against South Africa at the Lord's. With the ICC World Test Championship Final 2025 fast approaching and set for June 11, Australia have zeroed in on an important batting decision. With multiple alternatives in contention to take the centre-stage, skipper Cummins has named batting icon Steve Smith to occupy a crucial spot in the middle order. In a recent conversation with The Grade Cricketer on Prime Video Australia, Cummins stated as quoted by ICC, "I can confirm that Smudge will be batting at four. Everyone else, I am not willing to, but I can confirm Steve Smith will be number four." Smith, who has batted most of his Test career at number four, boasts 6531 runs from 120 Test innings at the slot, averaging 61.61. This includes 23 centuries and 26 fifties. The veteran batter had also starred in Australia's triumph in the previous WTC Final in 2023, scoring a first-innings century that helped set the tone for a big win. As they prepare to defend the WTC mace, Cummins opened up on the prospect of becoming the first team to do so since the inception of the tournament in 2019. "After winning in 2023, there is a lot of talk of trying to retain it. Go and defend it. It is not tangible until you actually make the final," he said. "Now that we have made it, it will be pretty cool to win another ICC trophy. Playing at Lord's, it is a tournament that every other Test-playing nation is vying for so, it just signifies a pretty good couple of years," Cummins said. The Australian captain also highlighted the significance of the tournament and the challenges it presented. "I think it shows performance over two years. But there are varying conditions. Even in ICC World Cups, it is normally very similar conditions," he said. "A Test tournament, you have got to go and win basically everything at home, but for us, we had to go to Sri Lanka and win in tough spinning conditions," Pat Cummins said. "Go over to New Zealand, and beat a really strong side at home. So, I think it shows that you have really got to be a complete team over a couple-year stretch to make the final," he said. "We just missed out that first year (2019-2021), but I think we are a better side now than we were back then. We lost a couple of games at home. But, yeah, I think two (WTC titles) would be incredible. One, I think, is still a pretty good demonstration of how good we've been over the past few years," the Australian captain said. While Australia will be featuring in their second successive WTC final, South Africa made it to their first by topping the World Test Championship standings. Cummins showered praise on the Proteas, and believes the Temba Bavuma-led side has multiple match-winners in their midst to pose a challenge. "They always seem to compete in every tournament. They have got a lot of experience, especially the white-ball teams - they play across different franchise leagues. Rabada, Maharaj, Bavuma, they have played a lot of cricket over the years," said the Aussie skipper. "They have really good fast bowlers, they always seem to have not just one or two main guys but they have got four-six guys they can call," he said. "And yeah, some batters, you have not seen much (of them), but they have scored plenty of domestic runs. (We have) played most of the guys in the squad, certainly not everyone. There is always a little bit of mystique around South Africa, because we do not play them as often as, say India," he concluded.
