Royal Challengers Bangalore may have retained the IPL trophy, but according to former England captain and Gujarat Titans wicketkeeper-batsman jos buttlerOne teen eclipsed every other story in the tournament. Speaking on the YouTube podcast For the Love of Cricket, Buttler reflected on the recently concluded IPL 2026 season and had special praise for 15-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, whose remarkable campaign captured the imagination of cricket fans around the world. Discussing RCB’s successful title defense and their defeat to Gujarat Titans in the final, Buttler made it clear that Suryavanshi’s performance stands above everything else. “RCB won the trophy and they are the story of the IPL. But Vaibhav is almost the IPL this year. He is the story of the tournament. MVP, 700-plus runs and a faster strike rate than everyone else. It was amazing to watch,” he said. Although Rajasthan Royals were not involved in the title match, Suryavanshi was present at the Narendra Modi Stadium for the final on Sunday. The teenage sensation watched the match with ICC President Jay Shah before receiving five major individual awards for a season which saw several records. Their numbers reflect the scale of their dominance. Suryavanshi scored 776 runs at a whopping strike rate of 237.3 during the season and cleared the ropes 72 times. His performances earned him the Orange Cap, Most Valuable Player Award, Emerging Player Award, Super Striker Award and the distinction of finishing as the leading six-hitter of the tournament. Former England fast bowler Stuart Broad believes that the influence of this young player has extended far beyond the IPL. Broad suggested that Suryavanshi could be the first cricketer to achieve worldwide fame before earning an international cap. “I said in my last podcast that I have never seen a player become an international star without playing international cricket. In England, people are talking about him. They may not even be IPL fans, but they are saying, ‘Oh my God, have you seen Sooryavanshi? He is incredible.’ He has become a world star. “Not like Kohli or anything, but he is probably the first player to become a world star without playing international cricket,” Broad said. Butler also told how tremendous the popularity of Suryavanshi has become in India. Recalling the Rajasthan Royals match in Kolkata, he said it was impossible for the young player to ignore the crowd’s support. “His influence in India is huge. He is the guy everyone is talking about. I was talking to Manoj Badale, the former owner of Rajasthan Royals, who told me that in Kolkata, half the stadium had turned up to see Vaibhav and they were all wearing his RR jersey. “Imagine the pressure as a 15-year-old when you get off the bus and look, but he has soaked it all up. And when he bats, I don’t know whether Rajasthan Royals have done it or in the tournament, but there is a song for him, this Suryavanshi song, which plays when he is attacking you.” The former England captain then admitted that he would be keen to see the teenager join India’s squad for the five-match T20 series in England next month, even if England’s bowlers may not welcome that prospect. “I hope to see him in England. Well, maybe not for our bowlers. But it will be worthwhile because you can see it among the players and the support staff. Everyone is keen and I want to see this guy.” Whether that opportunity will come remains uncertain. Suryavanshi is set to feature in the upcoming India A ODI tri-series, a competition selectors are reportedly looking at as a key assessment before discussing a possible T20I debut during the England tour.

Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana wants her focus to remain focused on the upcoming Women’s T20 World Cup and not focus too much on her high-profile opening match against arch-rivals Pakistan. India are scheduled to begin their tournament campaign against Pakistan in Birmingham on June 14, an event that always generates massive public interest.

IND-W vs ENG-W, 3rd T20I: highlight | Achievement:

“We played the India-Pakistan match in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and all our tickets were sold out,” Mandhana told reporters. “Not just India-Pakistan, I think we really need Promote T20 World Cup. We don’t need to hype up just one match. It is already publicized. I am sure a lot of people will come and support us. Hopefully, we can put on a show for them.”

The 29-year-old opening batsman was speaking after India suffered a six-wicket defeat against England in the third T20I, giving the hosts a 2-1 series win. Mandhana blamed India’s inability to apply consistent pressure through dot balls during England’s chase of 181 for the defeat, something she hopes the team will rectify ahead of the ICC event.

“We certainly had a very good start with the ball and restricted England to 35 for 3,” Mandhana said. “Eventually, we might have been able to create pressure with some dot balls, but we weren’t able to do that. I can’t really take anything away from their partnership; I think they played really good cricket shots.”

England recovered from the initial shock thanks to a massive 137-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Alice Capsey, who scored 82, and captain Heather Knight, who remained unbeaten on 70.

Despite losing the series, Mandhana found reason to remain optimistic, pointing to the superb form of captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who propelled the Indian innings with a blistering 56 off 40 balls to take the team to 180 for five.

Mandhana said, “She batted surprisingly well. Harman, when she is at her best, she is a pleasure to watch.” “I think everyone is in good shape. It’s a good sign for the World Cup that Jamie, Herman, everyone looks great from the outside. Hopefully, I can see from the non-striker end.”

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Second seed Alexander Zverev survived an early scare against Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar before reaching the French Open semi-finals with a 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-3 win at Roland Garros on Tuesday.

The 19-year-old Djodar produced a stunning performance in the opening set to break Zverev and go 4-2 up against last year’s runner-up. However, the German weathered the storm, stormed back into the contest and never looked back after winning in a tense first set tiebreak.

French Open: Quarter-finals Day 1 updates

The victory took Zverev into the Roland Garros semi-finals for the fifth time in the last six years, as he continued his quest for a first Grand Slam title.

Zverev’s best chance to win a Grand Slam?

With defending champion Carlos Alcaraz out due to injury and world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic already out of the tournament, Zverev is getting one of his best opportunities yet to break his Grand Slam duck.

Yet the German made it clear afterwards that just reaching another semi-final meant nothing to him.

“Not really, I don’t really care. I want to move forward, stay in the tournament and win the matches ahead of me, that’s my goal,” Zverev said when asked again about making the final four.

“It was a very tough test against a very good player.”

Youngsters justify the hype

For most of the opening set, Jodar justified the hype that had surrounded him in Spanish tennis circles.

Kishore equalized Zverev from the baseline and scored his first breakthrough of the match to go 4-2 up, putting the second seed under pressure for a brief period.

Zverev responded in the same way one would expect from a player with far more experience on big stages. Using her trademark crosscourt backhand to repeatedly pull Jodar down, she gradually gained control of the rallies and leveled the set at 5–5.

The opening set lasted for over an hour and ultimately proved to be the turning point of the competition.

After avoiding danger, Zverev dominated the tiebreak before maintaining that momentum throughout the remainder of the match.

The heavy weight of the German’s shot began to weaken Jodar. The Spaniard repeatedly found himself running down both wings and struggled to time the ball consistently from the baseline.

After losing from a position to win the opening set, Jodar’s resistance faded. Zverev won the second set 6–1 and maintained complete control in the third set, winning in two hours and 29 minutes.

Zverev will next face Czech teenager Jakub Mencic or rising Brazilian star Joao Fonseca for a place in the French Open final.

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India Women vs England Women Live Score, 3rd T20I: India will be hoping that their middle order can finally perform well under pressure in the series-deciding third Women’s T20 International against England. With the series tied at 1-1, the final match presents an important opportunity for both teams to boost confidence ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup starting later this month.

For India, the England tour is more than just a bilateral affair. It serves as an important rehearsal for the global tournament, allowing team management to assess combinations of conditions and player roles similar to those expected during the World Cup.

Although there have been encouraging signs from the top order, India’s batting has lacked consistency in the latter stages of the innings. Yastika Bhatia has emerged as a standout performer, scoring a half-century in the first match and another useful innings in the second match. Jemimah Rodrigues also impressed with a half-century, while Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma looked in good form while chasing the target in the last game.

However, India’s inability to finish strongly remains a matter of concern. In the opening match, despite being in a good position at the start of the innings, the team could only score 40 runs in the last five overs. The second game saw an even bigger collapse, as India faltered dramatically in the final stages of the chase after reaching a comfortable position.

As a result, the spotlight will be on experienced all-rounder Deepti Sharma and wicketkeeper-batsman Richa Ghosh. India need this pair to provide stability and pace in the middle overs. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, one of the team’s most powerful hitters, may also need to bat deeper and take the innings till the end.

Meanwhile, England have batting concerns of their own. Amy Jones’ 67 is the only half-century scored by an English batsman in the series so far. Although several players have started, no one has been able to play a match-deciding innings. With both sides looking for consistency with the bat, the final T20I promises to be a close contest with World Cup implications.

Russian teenager Mira Andreeva reached her second French Open semi-final by defeating Romanian veteran Sorana Cristea 6-0, 6-3 under closed doors at the Court Philippe-Chatrier on Tuesday. The 19-year-old, seeded eighth, needed just 56 minutes to book her place in the last four, cementing her position as a major contender for a maiden Grand Slam title.

With this win Andreeva achieved her 19th match win at Roland Garros. The milestone catapulted her into the record books, setting a new benchmark for the most women’s singles match wins at the French Open by a teenager in the 21st century.

Andreeva previously reached the semi-final stage in Paris in 2024 at the age of 17.

snoop dogg mantra

Beyond her record-breaking tennis, Andreeva charmed the Paris crowd by explaining the viral post-match tradition of thanking herself along with her team and fans during trophy presentations. The teenager revealed that the ritual was lifted directly from American rap icon Snoop Dogg’s famous Hollywood Walk of Fame speech.

“At first, when I said it in a speech, I saw Snoop Dogg say it when he was receiving an award,” Andreeva said during her on-court interview.

“So the first few times, I stole it to make a joke. But then I realized it’s really true. We have to thank ourselves for the work we do on the court, how much we sacrifice, how much we practice and how much we put in.”

strategic dominance

It was in the quarter-finals that the young Russian demonstrated tireless accuracy. Andreeva completed the opening set in just 24 minutes, leaving the 36-year-old Cirstea, playing her final season on the tour, desperately searching for momentum. Andreeva consistently punished weak balls and converted six break points throughout the match.

Cristea offered tentative resistance in the second set and earned an early break to draw at 3-3. However, Andreeva reasserted her dominance and took the match by breaking the Romanian twice.

When asked if her exceptional court vision was a learned trait, Andreeva indicated that it was largely innate.

She commented, “From a very young age I felt like I was studying the game.” “I never knew it was anything special.”

Andreeva dominated the power game and hit her first serve at will, while Cirstea struggled on her second serve, earning less than 20 percent of her points.

Andreeva will face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the semi-finals. Marta defeated compatriot Elina Svitolina in three sets in the second women’s singles quarterfinal on Tuesday.

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India’s all-rounder hardik pandya All set to reach BCCI Center of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru on June 2. Pandya is likely to spend more than a week at the facility before joining India’s ODI squad for the Afghanistan series on June 11.The 32-year-old, who last played in this format in the Champions Trophy final against New Zealand in March 2025. He was named in the ODI squad selected on 19 May, but “subject to fitness clearance”.It is learned that the BCCI medical team had directed both Rohit Sharma and Pandya to report to the CoE, but there is no clarity on the former at this stage. Pandya is likely to undergo fitness drills and match simulation next week.Indian Test team begins training in Mullanpur. Meanwhile, India’s Test team will hold its first training session ahead of the one-off Test against Afghanistan in Mullanpur from June 6. The team will train in the afternoon – from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm – and their rivals Afghanistan will have a morning session – from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm.Gurjapaneet Singh, Auqib Nabi, Prince Yadav, Saransh Jain, Zeeshan Ansari and Shivang Kumar have joined the Indian squad as net bowlers to assist the team in its Test preparation.India’s test team: Shubman Gill (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul (vice-captain), Sai Sudarshan, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Manav Suthar, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper)India’s ODI team: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma*, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vice-captain), KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya*, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Harsh Dubey.notes:*Subject to fitness clearance.The first ODI has been rescheduled and will now be played on 13 June 2026.

The report was lodged. The last line was sent to my colleagues at the desk, the laptop was closed. There were still a few balls left in the IPL 2026 final, and I had already reached for the binoculars because when Royal Challengers Bangalore crossed the line, there was only one place worth looking at.

I trained him well before hitting the winning six. He scored 75 runs in 42 balls, hitting nine fours, three sixes, the last of which achieved the target with two overs remaining. And then I waited.

He gave a flying kiss towards the stand where Anushka Sharma was sitting. He raised his bat briefly towards the crowd. And then he proceeded to shake hands, first with opponents, then with teammates, like a man who knew all along how the evening would end. I held the binoculars on him, waiting for the knees to bend, the chest to open, for the Kohli I knew to walk in.

He did not arrive.

The thing about Virat Kohli is that he celebrates wickets as if he has won the World Cup. Arms outstretched, chests puffed out, roaring at no one but everyone, as if the act of a batsman losing his stumps is the most momentous event in human history. It’s instinct, not performance – or perhaps, with Kohli, the two have always been the same thing. For seventeen years at Royal Challengers Bangalore, that intensity was the heartbeat of the franchise. When he got hurt, the team got hurt. When he wanted it, you could feel it from the stands.

That’s why anyone watching closely on television or from the press box in Ahmedabad spent most of it IPL 2026 The final search for that guy and finding someone else entirely.

To understand why this matters, you have to be in the same stadium twelve months ago.

In 2025 final against punjab kingsKohli started crying even before the last ball was bowled. Standing along the boundary rope, he sank to his knees, tears flowing from his eyes. It wasn’t a celebration, not yet. It was a release from the burden of 17 years, the accumulated pressure of four runner-up finishes and a franchise that took everything it had and kept demanding more.

AB de Villiers came on this occasion. Chris Gayle too. Both were invited on the stage. The broadcaster was not able to take his eyes off Virat. Rajat Patidar was the captain, but everyone knew that the night belonged to someone else.

When Kohli spoke, the words came out raw: “I have given my youth, my best experience and my experience to this team. I never thought this day would come.”

This was a relief. Pure, carefree, respite 17 years in the making.

What unfolded in 2026 was absolutely cool. Before the final, Kohli met AB de Villiers for a brief personal chat, this time for broadcasting duties. A hug, a few words. This was its limit. The pre-match ceremony was of Patidar. The post-match ceremony was also of Patidars. And when the trophy was taken out, it was Patidar who had to guide it.

Before he could pick it up, Kohli appeared in the middle of the stage. During the victory party, Kohli was seen in the loudest voice of the entire evening, dancing with my wife. On the field, he seemed to be making himself smaller, as if vacating the space he usually filled by nature required conscious effort.

Those who followed RCB throughout the tournament saw the same quality in training. He completed his job at the nets without any ceremony and went back to the dugout. He was present without imposing. He scored runs as usual, But the story of the tournament revolved around him rather than around him – Eight different players won Player of the Match throughout the campaign, and on the day of the final Patidar turned 33, becoming only the third captain after MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma to successfully defend an IPL title.

Did Kohli do what Dhoni and Rohit did not do?

Now think about that comparison for a moment.

Dhoni rebuilt CSK in his own image so thoroughly that the franchise and the individual became, effectively, a single entity. Rohit did the same in five titles with Mumbai Indians – patient, composed, unmoving at the center of everything. It was never a failure of generosity on his part. The club’s identity was always, integrally, theirs, and so the question of retreat never arose. He remained in the headlines because he had no place else to go.

Both franchises are paying for it now. Mumbai Indians spent most of IPL 2026 searching for an identity Change of leadership to Hardik Pandya, have yet to assemble a coherent team in the image of anything. CSK without Dhoni fit and available, Had to face his own crisis. For the first time in the tournament’s history, three consecutive years went by without any of them winning the title. The machine outnumbered the men, but only just – and without any clear idea of ​​what it is when they are not there.
It is in this context that what Kohli has done has its full significance.

He was unquestionably the best player in the final: 75 not out, player of the match, the winning six off his bat. But zoom out and the picture is even clearer: 675 runs at an average of over 50 in the entire tournament, a strike rate of 165.84, and a complete abandonment of the anchor role he once regarded as a professional credit.

He attacked from the very first ball, relied on the innings to take risks and quietly did more for this team than just the statistics. There was not a single moment of looking at me involved with any of them.

Later, he spoke with the clarity of a man who had really shrugged off the need to be the sole engine: “Even tonight, I know it’s a chase, and they probably want to get me out early, but I had full confidence that even if I get out early, we have a champion team that will get the job done. When you have that kind of confidence, you can go out there and really take on the bowlers.”

In other words, he was free, because he chose to make himself replaceable. In the words of R Ashwin, he became “a mentor figure, a big brother and the alpha who allowed others to lead.”

AB de Villiers, watching from the commentary box at the exact moment Kohli scored the winning runs, came up with the description that says it best:

“There is a lot of peace in the camp. They came here with a mission and executed it to perfection. From top to bottom, clear plans were handed down to each member.”

This is what RCB never had before – not a star, they always had one of those, but a structure that could breathe without him at the centre. Dhoni and Rohit shaped their franchise with equal depth and with equal devotion. But his success did not separate him from the identity he created. Their success made them a franchise. When the transformation came, she had nothing to keep her shape.

Kohli, by a strange twist, escaped that trap after 17 years of failure. He never got the chance to build an empire, so there was no one to protect him. When success came, it came as a collective release rather than a personal coronation, and he understood, perhaps better than anyone, that it had to stay that way.

Advertisements will always want his face. The dressing room, by its own sober choosing, doesn’t need it. The franchise was always a man. Then Virat changed the script.

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