Latest news with #Bengaluru
Mint
an hour ago
- Sport
- Mint
Royal Challengers Bengaluru make it to fourth IPL final, equal Kolkata Knight Riders; who has most final appearances?
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru powered their way to their fourth Indian Premier League final after they swept aside Punjab Kings in the Qualifier 1 game on Thursday. PBKS topped the table in the IPL 2025 league stage but were no match for a rampant RCB in Mullanpur, as RCB knocked off their target of 102 with 8 wickets and 60 balls to spare. The Bengaluru franchise equalled defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders's record of reaching four IPL finals. They join an elite list of teams with the most IPL final appearances. The list of teams with the most appearances in the summit clash are: Chennai Super Kings - 10 finals (5 wins) Mumbai Indians - 6 finals (5 wins) The Bengaluru side are on the cusp of history, as they have never won an IPL title in the 17 editions of the competition that have taken place so far. They have made three appearances in the summit clash and have failed to win each one of them. They first reached the IPL final in 2009 at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, where they met the now defunct Deccan Chargers. This was a final of the previous IPL season's bottom two teams. DC batted first and reached 143/6 powered by a Herschelle Gibbs half century (53), who was ably supported by Andrew Symonds (33 of 21) and a young Rohit Sharma (24 of 23). RCB, in response, could muster only 137 as they fell short by 7 runs in the final. Virat Kohli scored only 7 in the second innings as DC ran out winners. RCB's second IPL final was at the MA Chidambaram Stadium against Chennai Super Kings. Here too RCB batted second as CSK posted a mammoth 205/5. RCB meekly surrendered as they ended up with just 147/8, gifting the Chennai side their second consecutive title. The Bengaluru side's third final appearance came in 2016 at their home ground M Chinnaswamy stadium. They met the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the summit clash and batted second for the third time in a row in an IPL final. SRH posted an imposing 208/7 and here too RCB failed to chase the target on hand. However, they did put up a better fight than the last time around as they scored 200/7 in their 20 overs. It remains to be seen who RCB will face in the IPL 2025 final. Regardless of who they face, the Bengaluru franchise would hope it will be 'fourth time lucky' as they hope to finally break the final curse. Stay updated on all the action from the IPL 2025. Check the IPL 2025 Schedule, track the latest IPL 2025 Points Table, and follow the top performers with the Orange Cap and Purple Cap.
Business Recorder
an hour ago
- Sport
- Business Recorder
Returning Hazlewood ‘in good place' ahead of critical fortnight
CHANDIGARH: Australia's Josh Hazlewood said it was perfect preparation for the World Test Championship final after delivering a match-winning performance on his return to the IPL. The fast bowler finished with figures of 3-21 as Royal Challengers Bengaluru sealed their place in the IPL decider with an eight-wicket thrashing of Punjab Kings on Thursday. The 34-year-old only recently rejoined Bengaluru after returning home due to a shoulder injury and following the stoppage in the league caused by the conflict between India and Pakistan. Josh Hazlewood returns for third Test against India, Boland out He struck two key blows at Mullanpur including skipper Shreyas Iyer for two as Bengaluru bundled out Punjab for 101. Hazlewood wrapped up the Punjab batting with his third strike in 14.1 overs. With the WTC final at Lord's between Australia and South Africa starting on June 11, it was a perfect reminder of his prowess. 'I've got to be bowling. You know, wherever I am in the world I've got to be bowling, getting ready for that game anyway,' Hazlewood said. 'There's no better place than I think out in the middle. Obviously you've got to bowl more hours of training from time to time to build up for a Test, but to get that intensity right up, there's no better place than the IPL.' He added: 'I don't bowl too much differently in Test match cricket than tonight, so it's still that hard length, so I feel in a good place.' The restart of the IPL after a week-long stoppage and its revised schedule put it on a collision course with the international calendar. Some foreign stars including Australia's Mitchell Starc did not return. Others are missing from the playoffs, including Gujarat Titans' Jos Buttler, because of commitments with their countries. South African players including Punjab's Marco Jansen also headed home ahead of the IPL playoffs to prepare for the WTC final. But Hazlewood decided to be with Virat Kohli's Bengaluru and after his spell of 3.1 overs at a bowling-friendly pitch feels ready for a critical fortnight. 'Worked really hard the last few weeks on the shoulders to get back and got some good overs into it the last sort of 10 days,' said Hazlewood. 'And yeah it is feeling good to be back.' Bengaluru, who are chasing their first IPL title, await their opponent in the final on June 3 at the world's biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad. 'I think we've just got all bases covered,' said Hazlewood. 'I think any one of the five or six bowlers can bowl at any moment of the game, whether it's the start, middle or end.'
Entrepreneur
2 hours ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Race Capital Leads USD 4 Mn Funding Round in Unbound
The funds will be deployed to scale hiring and operations in India, expand integrations across the AI ecosystem, and enhance Unbound's model routing and orchestration capabilities. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Unbound, the enterprise-grade AI infrastructure startup, has secured USD 4 million in seed funding to redefine how organisations adopt and govern AI. The round was led by Race Capital, with participation from Wayfinder Ventures, Y Combinator, Massive Tech Ventures, and other prominent angel investors. The funds will be deployed to scale hiring and operations in India, expand integrations across the AI ecosystem, and enhance Unbound's model routing and orchestration capabilities. Over USD 1 million is earmarked for India, where Unbound currently operates with a lean team of eight in Bengaluru. "We've seen tremendous interest from Indian enterprises. Like Mangalyan, our customers are finding efficient paths to powerful outcomes," said Rajaram Srinivasan, Co-founder and CEO of Unbound. Founded in 2023 by Rajaram Srinivasan and Vignesh Subbiah, Unbound is pioneering a new category of infrastructure that makes AI safe, observable, and governable within large organisations. Their flagship product, the Unbound AI Gateway, integrates with popular tools like Cursor, Roo, Cline, and internal copilots. It offers real-time protection, cost-aware model routing, and granular usage analytics — enabling enterprises to adopt generative AI on their own terms. "Defaulting to blanket bans on AI tools is like being in the times of GPT-3.5," noted CTO Subbiah. "Unbound introduces surgical security controls into every AI request so teams can innovate without compromising sensitive data." Unbound's AI Gateway has already prevented thousands of data leaks, including secret credentials and sensitive customer information. The platform also enables dynamic model access — allocating premium LLMs to high-impact workflows while offloading routine tasks to open-source models. This approach has helped customers cut AI tooling costs by up to 70%. "As AI tools become mainstream, enterprises demand control, flexibility, and safety," added Srinivasan. "Unbound is the bridge that makes it all work." That sentiment is echoed by THG's CISO, Abraham Ingersoll, who said: "Unbound empowers us to roll out AI tools to employees with confidence." Race Capital's Edith Yeung called Unbound "a new category of AI infrastructure," built for "safety, observability, and cost discipline from day one." With a mission to make AI adoption secure and manageable, Unbound is setting a new standard for enterprise AI — one where innovation no longer comes at the cost of control.
Mint
3 hours ago
- Sport
- Mint
Punjab back to drawing board with IPL hopes alive despite thrashing
Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer said it was "back to the drawing board" after their big loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the first IPL qualifier. League toppers Punjab will get another crack at reaching the June 3 final. But they will have to perform an awful lot better than they did in going down by eight wickets to Bengaluru after being bowled out for 101 at Mullanpur in New Chandigarh on Thursday. The Punjab batting fell like a pack of cards in 14.1 overs on a seamer-friendly pitch, where Bengaluru's bowlers including Josh Hazlewood wreaked havoc. Punjab can still meet Bengaluru in the title clash if they beat the winner of the eliminator in the second qualifier in Ahmedabad on Sunday. "Not a day to forget, but we have to go back to the drawing board," Iyer said. "We were befuddled and lost a lot of wickets. Something to go back and study." He added: "We have lost the battle, but not the war." Punjab ended the league stage top of the 10-team table with nine wins and four defeats ahead of Bengaluru, who also had 19 points but missed being number one on net run-rate. Punjab's fast bowling coach James Hopes is confident the team will show what they are all about when they face the winner of the eliminator between Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians. "We have worked two and a bit months to earn the right to have a second chance and we are going to cash that second chance hopefully," Hopes said. Punjab lost an early wicket with left-handed opener Priyansh Arya caught out off left-arm pace bowler Yash Dayal for seven. In their attempt to hit out of trouble, Punjab lost more wickets as Hazlewood struck two key blows including Iyer out for two. Punjab's attacking play was blunted as Hazlewood and leg-spinner Suyash Sharma claimed three wickets apiece. "While our batters were a little bit reckless, we have counter-attacked the whole year and it's worked the majority of the time, it didn't work tonight," former Australia medium-pace bowler Hopes said. "We do need to talk about it (the batting) but we also understand we're going to a pitch that's going to be completely different to what we just played on. "So the aggressive nature should return in Ahmedabad."
France 24
3 hours ago
- Sport
- France 24
Returning Hazlewood 'in good place' ahead of critical fortnight
The fast bowler finished with figures of 3-21 as Royal Challengers Bengaluru sealed their place in the IPL decider with an eight-wicket thrashing of Punjab Kings on Thursday. The 34-year-old only recently rejoined Bengaluru after returning home due to a shoulder injury and following the stoppage in the league caused by the conflict between India and Pakistan. He struck two key blows at Mullanpur including skipper Shreyas Iyer for two as Bengaluru bundled out Punjab for 101. Hazlewood wrapped up the Punjab batting with his third strike in 14.1 overs. With the WTC final at Lord's between Australia and South Africa starting on June 11, it was a perfect reminder of his prowess. "I've got to be bowling. You know, wherever I am in the world I've got to be bowling, getting ready for that game anyway," Hazlewood said. "There's no better place than I think out in the middle. Obviously you've got to bowl more hours of training from time to time to build up for a Test, but to get that intensity right up, there's no better place than the IPL." He added: "I don't bowl too much differently in Test match cricket than tonight, so it's still that hard length, so I feel in a good place." The restart of the IPL after a week-long stoppage and its revised schedule put it on a collision course with the international calendar. Some foreign stars including Australia's Mitchell Starc did not return. Others are missing from the playoffs, including Gujarat Titans' Jos Buttler, because of commitments with their countries. South African players including Punjab's Marco Jansen also headed home ahead of the IPL playoffs to prepare for the WTC final. But Hazlewood decided to be with Virat Kohli's Bengaluru and after his spell of 3.1 overs at a bowling-friendly pitch feels ready for a critical fortnight. "Worked really hard the last few weeks on the shoulders to get back and got some good overs into it the last sort of 10 days," said Hazlewood. "And yeah it is feeling good to be back." Bengaluru, who are chasing their first IPL title, await their opponent in the final on June 3 at the world's biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad. "I think we've just got all bases covered," said Hazlewood.
