Virat Kohli has been named as an impact substitute for the match against Lucknow Super Giants on Wednesday, April 15. Kohli suffered an ankle injury during the win against Mumbai Indians on Sunday and did not take the field during the second innings.

RCB vs LSG: Playing XI and Impact Subs

Playing XI of Lucknow Super Giants: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (captain and wicketkeeper), Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Mukul Chaudhary, Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Playing XI: Philip Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyyash Sharma, Rasikh Salaam, Josh Hazlewood.

Effect Sub:

Lucknow Super Giants: Matthew Britzke, Himmat Singh, Mayank Yadav, Manimaran Siddharth, George Linde

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Venkatesh Iyer, Mangesh Yadav, Jordan Cox, Kanishk Chauhan

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Akshar Patel and Abhishek Sharma (PTI Photo)

Abhishek Sharma And Akshar PatelIndia’s T20 World Cup-winning players have been included in the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA)’s Registered Testing Pool (RTP) for the second quarter of 2026. Smriti Mandhana And Shreyas Iyer In the updated list.NADA is India’s apex anti-doping body, responsible for promoting, coordinating and monitoring the fight against doping in sports. It operates in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code and ensures that athletes compete in a clean and fair environment. As part of its responsibilities, NADA conducts dope testing, manages the results and enforces sanctions in cases of violations.RTP is an important component of this system. This involves specific athletes who are required to regularly submit their whereabouts, including details of their location and training programme, so that they can be tested at any time in and out of competition. Athletes must be available for testing during a specified one-hour period each day, and three failures to comply with these requirements may be considered a doping violation.The latest RTP list includes 348 athletes from different disciplines. The cricket squad is largely unchanged, with key names like Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Arshdeep Singh and Tilak Verma. The women’s team includes Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma and Renuka Singh Thakur. Overall, 14 cricketers are included in the pool.Athletics continues to dominate the RTP, with its representation increasing from 118 to 134 athletes. Prominent names include steeplechaser Avinash Sable, hurdler Jyoti Yaraji, decathlete Tejaswin Shankar and sprinter Animesh Kujur. Long jumpers Shaili Singh and M Sreeshankar as well as discus thrower Tajinderpal Singh Toor are also part of the list.Other sports are also well represented. Archery includes Deepika Kumari, Rakesh Kumar and para archer Shital Devi. Hockey players like Manpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Hardik Singh, Salima Tete, Savita Punia and Navneet Kaur have been listed.The badminton team includes eight players including PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and Gayatri Gopichand. Boxing features 22 athletes, including notable names like Nikhat Zareen, Nishant Dev, Jasmine Lamboria and Olympic bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain. Wrestling also forms an important part with 31 athletes including Olympic medalist Aman Sehrawat.The updated RTP reflects NADA’s continued focus on maintaining transparency and integrity in Indian sports by closely monitoring top athletes across all disciplines.

A moment of commentary during Chennai Super Kings’ clash against Kolkata Knight Riders caught everyone’s attention as much as the match itself, when a comment from Michael Clarke took fans by surprise.

IPL 2026, CSK vs KKR: highlight | Achievement:

When Ruturaj Gaikwad was out early in the CSK innings, Clarke described it as a “big blow for KKR”. Given Gaikwad’s recent form and the context of the game, the comment immediately stood out.

Gaikwad, who has struggled for flow this season, was out for 7 off 6 balls attempting a slog sweep off Anukul Roy. He dismissed Rovman Powell at deep midwicket, continuing his string of modest returns in the tournament.

The humor stems from the irony that Gaikwad’s presence at the crease may actually be working in KKR’s favor as they have struggled to score runs quickly this season. The comment quickly gained popularity online, with fans pointing out the mismatch between Clarke’s reaction and the potential impact of the wicket.

It added a light-hearted subplot to a contest that otherwise highlighted KKR’s ongoing issues.

On the field, Chennai Super Kings registered a comfortable 32-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders on the two-faceted Chepauk surface. CSK scored 192 for 5 after a blazing start in the powerplay, where they scored 72 runs, but KKR’s spinners slowed them down in the middle overs.

Despite the slump, contributions from the middle order ensured that CSK had enough players on the board. In reply, KKR’s chase never gained momentum.

Left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmed performed brilliantly, taking 3 for 21 and dismantling the middle order. He dismissed key batsmen including Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh and Cameron Green, taking KKR’s score from 79 for 2 to 90 for 6.

KKR eventually finished at 160 for 7, their innings faltered in the face of grip and spin on a surface with variable pace.

While CSK will take confidence from their stellar performance, it was Clarke’s absurd comment that captured the mood of the fans and added an unexpected moment of humor to the one-sided encounter.

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Wisden condemns India over ‘Orwellian’ governance (screengrab/x)

The 2026 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, to be published on Thursday, says the game’s previous USP as a “refuge from realpolitik” has been poisoned by the increasing politicization of the game under the “Orwellian” influence of India.The “Notes by the Editor” of the 163rd edition of the annual took aim at India’s growing political influence on the game, saying “Cricket has become a key piece on the BJP’s geopolitical chessboard”.Editor Lawrence Booth writes, “Was there a more blatant indictment of the governance of the game in 2025 than Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi’s claim that ‘politics and sports cannot go together’? Perhaps he had forgotten that he was also his country’s interior minister.”Booth refers to 2025 Mains asia cupHeld in the United Arab Emirates, “a tit-for-tat showdown ensued, with players from both sides making tasteless gestures about fighter planes, and India refusing to come on stage to receive the trophy from Naqvi”. The Asia Cup was played amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan as it was the first time the two faced each other on the cricket field after Operation Sindoor following the massacre by terrorists in Pahalgam. India won and refused to join hands with Pakistan.“It was clear long before this latest assumption that the BCCI was a sporting arm of India’s ruling BJP,” Booth wrote, “but the relationship became clear when India captain Suryakumar Yadav dedicated the first of his team’s three Asia Cup victories over Pakistan to the armed forces.” And the idea that cricket was now a legitimate proxy for more lethal activity was hammered home on “Now it was being compared to the game of T20.”Booth lamented that the administration of the game was “becoming more Orwellian, pretending that Indian exceptionalism comes without any consequences”. He also wrote that the decision by Kolkata Knight Riders to release Mustafizur Rahman “confirmed cricket’s fall into the hands of political masters”.

Expression is one thing; Implementation is another matter. What Prafulla Hinge said after dismissing in-form 15-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi for a golden duck may sound simple, but it was not easy.

Sunrisers Hyderabad set a challenging target of 217 runs in 20 overs for league leader Rajasthan Royals on Monday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. But SRH’s budding fast bowler had other plans. Hinge succeeded Where players like Jasprit Bumrah, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Matt Henry and Trent Boult struggled. Obviously, it wasn’t about the stars aligning for him.

Speaking after the match, Hinz revealed that he had already planned his dismissals and had identified the bouncer as the main option. It was a strategy that had been tried by many, yet Suryavanshi had been consistently successful until this moment.

“I had already told two or three people that I would get him out on the first ball, either with a bouncer or something,” Hinz told the broadcaster.

And that’s exactly what he did, leading former India fast bowler Irfan Pathan to jokingly reiterate a question he had raised earlier on social media about whether Suryavanshi was deliberately targeting big-name bowlers.

So, what is the reality?

This may be a coincidence, but ultimately execution is what matters.

“Prafulla’s strength lies in his line and length; his performance with the ball is quite solid,” MRF Pace Foundation head coach M. Senthilnathan told India Today. This is an area that Hinge has honed during his time at the Academy, working closely with Director Glenn McGrath and other experts available to him.

He said, “In today’s game, it is not that difficult to identify a batsman’s weakness; every team is aware of it. Ultimately it comes down to execution.”

According to experts, Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s weakness lies in his high backlift and tendency to clear his front foot for wide shots. This movement can bring them into contact with balls directed at the stumps, allowing the bowler to stop them for room or create a gap between the bat and body, which is reflected in their setup.

High-quality pace, especially when combined with swing or well-directed bouncers and hard-length deliveries into the body, has repeatedly shown that it can limit the impact of a young batsman.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar tried something similar during Royal Challengers Bangalore’s game against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on April 10. However, the veteran went away from the plan after failing to land a body-guided bouncer, drifting wide outside off and conceding two wides.

Referring to Bhuvneshwar’s effort to dismiss Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Senthilnathan said, “Hinze kept the ball where it needed to be, giving space to the young lad with a bit of movement on the ball. That’s his strength.”

Operating with front-on action, Hinge hit a strong length which sent Suryavanshi running.. The youngster relied on quick reactions to hit it over square leg or mid-wicket, but could not control the shot. The ball took the edge and went to the wicketkeeper, who completed a simple catch.

In contrast, the deliveries of Jasprit Bumrah and Josh Hazlewood followed a similar short-ball approach but differed in execution. Bumrah’s bouncer, a little shorter and slower, settled into Suryavanshi’s hitting arc. Hazlewood’s effort, directed towards the back of the head, still found enough time for the batsman to adjust and send both balls over square leg for sixes.

“He showed it,” Senthilnathan said. “Keep it on the stump line and apply pressure to give him space. It’s his natural length, and he kept it there and got through.”

The difference was obvious. Hinge’s length suited his strengths and provided pace to the batsman, while others gave Suryavanshi time to flourish.

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