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Sai Sudharsan delivered a stunning performance on Sunday, scoring an unbeaten 108 off just 61 balls as the Gujarat Titans cruised to a dominant 10-wicket win over the Delhi Capitals, securing their place in the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs. Opening the innings, Sudharsan and captain Shubman Gill put together an unbroken 205-run partnership — the third-highest opening stand in IPL history — as Gujarat comfortably chased down the target in 19 overs. Gill contributed a commanding 93 not out from 53 balls. Their effort overshadowed Lokesh Rahul’s impressive 112* from 65 balls — his fifth IPL century — which helped Delhi post 199-3 in their 20 overs. The loss marked Delhi’s fifth defeat in seven matches. With this win, Gujarat Titans moved to the top of the IPL standings with 18 points from 12 games. The result also ensured playoff berths for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (second with 17 points) and Punjab Kings (third with 17 points), as Gujarat's victory over fifth-placed Delhi widened the gap. Delhi has 13 points and is a point behind fourth-placed Mumbai Indians, who occupy the fourth and final playoff spot, with two regular season matches remaining. Lucknow Super Giants is currently seventh with 10 points from only 11 games. Punjab beat Rajasthan Royals by 10 runs earlier Sunday to secure its playoff spot. Rahul’s century in vain Rahul scored his fifth IPL century overall as Delhi rode on a blistering knock to present a challenging score. Mustafiz to leave for IPL after playing first T20I vs UAE He hit 14 fours and four sixes, and put on a vital 90 off 52 balls with Abhishek Porel (30). Axar Patel and Tristan Stubbs also had cameos – but there wasn’t a second major contribution alongside Rahul, who reached 100 off 60 balls. In reply, Gujarat relied on its in-form openers to confirm a spot in the knockouts. The duo dominated Delhi’s bowling, hitting 11 sixes and 15 fours altogether. Gill scored 50 off 33 balls, including four sixes, and then added another three. Sudharsan hit 12 fours and four sixes. Three of those sixes came after he scored 50 off 30 balls and helped him gallop to a second IPL century.   Punjab wins Nehal Wadhera scored 70 off 37 balls to lead Punjab Kings to a 10-run win over Rajasthan Royals. Wadhera smashed five sixes and five fours in his second half-century of the season in Punjab’s 219-5 in 20 overs. Shashank Singh’s 59 not out off 30 balls also helped the Kings cross the 200-mark. Left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar then took 3-22 in four overs as Rajasthan’s chase lost momentum despite half-centuries from Yashasvi Jaisal and Dhruv Jurel. The Royals were restricted to 209-7 for a 10th loss this season. Wadhera took charge of the innings after Punjab was down to 34-3 in 3.1 overs, rebuilding it with a 67-run partnership off 44 balls with skipper Shreyas Iyer, who scored 30 off 25 balls. Wadhera reached 50 off 25 balls, and then added 58 off 33 with Shashank Singh which set up the base for a 200-plus score. Singh hit five fours and three sixes, while also finding an able partner in Azmatullah Omarzai, who scored 21 not out off nine balls. The duo added 60 runs off the last four overs. In reply, Rajasthan made a quick-fire start. Jaiswal took 22 runs off the first over, and added 76 off 29 balls with his teenage opening partner Vaibhav Suryavanshi. The latter scored 40 off 15 balls, with four sixes, before he was caught off Brar in the fifth over. Jaiswal carried on despite the breakthrough, scoring 50 off 25 balls, before he holed out too – again off Brar in the ninth over. Rajasthan started losing steam afterward with Sanju Samson (20) and Riyan Parag (13) unable to keep up the momentum.    

Gujarat Titans cruised to a commanding 38-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Friday’s Indian Premier League fixture, powered by explosive half-centuries from captain Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler. Gill led the charge with a blistering 76 off just 38 balls, while Buttler hammered 64 from 37 deliveries. Sai Sudharsan also chipped in with a quickfire 48 off 23 as Gujarat posted a formidable total of 224 for 6. In reply, Hyderabad never truly threatened the steep target. Despite a valiant 74-run knock from Abhishek Sharma, the rest of the batting lineup failed to fire. Fast bowlers Prasidh Krishna (2 for 19) and Mohammed Siraj (2 for 33) played key roles in derailing the chase, restricting Hyderabad to 186 for 6. With this win, Gujarat Titans climbed to second place in the 10-team standings, while last year’s finalists Sunrisers Hyderabad slipped to ninth, now teetering on the edge of playoff elimination. Hyderabad stalled The 225 target was steep, and only steeper after Krishna removed opener Travis Head for 20 to Rashid Khan's stunning diving catch and No. 4 Klaasen for 23. Eric Dier to leave Bayern Munich at season’s end Ishan Kishan continued to struggle since his century in the opening game as he labored for 17 balls to 13 runs, and Gerald Coetzee, playing his first match of the season, found a leading edge and gave Krishna a regulation catch at deep third man. Sharma did the bulk of the scoring and hit six sixes and four boundaries before Gujarat sealed the game with four wickets for six runs within 12 balls. Siraj took out Aniket Verma and Kamindu Mendis for a combined three runs and was on a hat trick but captain Pat Cummins defended it. Hyderabad, apart from Sharma though, struggled to pose a threat. Gill leads Gujarat to big total Openers Gill and Sudharsan set the platform for Gujarat. Their electrifying 82 runs together off 41 balls in the powerplay, including 13 boundaries, was Gujarat’s best ever. The left-handed Sudharsan, who smashed five boundaries in one over off Mohammed Shami, became the leading run-scorer in this IPL. He's also the second fastest batter in Twenty20s to complete 2,000 runs, in 54 matches. Sudharsan was out in the seventh over, caught behind, but Buttler joined Gill and upped the ante with smart, powerful hitting. Mumbai's big win ends Rajasthan IPL playoffs bid, 14-year-old Suryavanshi dismissed for 0 runs Gill reached his fifty in 25 balls, and was run out at 149-2 on a single he called, by Harshal Patel’s throw deflected by wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen. Gill hit 10 fours and two sixes. Buttler, dropped on 22 by Cummins, reached his fifty in 31 balls. He eventually fell to a catch on the boundary off a Cummins delivery in the penultimate over.    

Renowned Bollywood actor Paresh Rawal has said that the people of Gujarat will bear inflation but not "Bangladeshis and Rohingyas" living next door, and his stereotyping “cooking fish” remark has also infuriated Bengalis in India. The actor made the remarks while campaigning for BJP in Gujarat a week ago, reports NDTV.  On Monday, Paresh Rawal  was called for questioning by the Kolkata Police over his comments on Bengalis after former Member of Parliament and CPI(M) leader Md Salim filed a complaint against him. Read more: Indian beauty pageant celebrates transgender life Md Salim wanted Paresh Rawal to be charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including for promoting enmity, intentional insult, public mischief etc. "Gas cylinders are expensive, but their price will come down. People will get employment too. But what will happen if Rohingya migrants and Bangladeshis start living around you, like in Delhi? What will you do with gas cylinders? Cook fish for the Bengalis?" — Paresh Rawal was quoted as saying last week in Valsad. Read more: Protesting ‘Hindi imposition’, South Indian man burns himself to death Paresh Rawal's statements sparked outrage in West Bengal, with the ruling Trinamool Congress strongly condemning him. The veteran actor’s efforts to explain his comments with an apology later fueled the controversy more as he claimed he meant “illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas” when he used the word “Bengalis”.

Six people were killed when a speeding car crashed into an auto-rickshaw and a bike in the Indian state of Gujarat, police said on Friday. The accident occurred near Dali village of  Gujarat's Anand district, 100 kms from the western state's capital Gandhinagar, on Thursday night. "The car first hit the auto-rickshaw carrying four people and then the bike as its driver tried to speed away," a senior police officer told the local media. All the four occupants of the three-wheeler passenger vehicle and two teenagers on the bike sustained serious injuries in the impact of the crash. Read: Five relatives of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput die in India accident "They were rushed to a local hospital, where doctors declared them dead on arrival. The car driver also sustained minor injuries in the accident," the officer said. A probe has been ordered into the accident, he said. "The car driver has been booked for rash and negligent driving. He will be arrested upon discharge from the hospital." Road accidents are common in India, with one taking place every four minutes. These accidents are blamed on poor roads, rash driving and scant regard for traffic laws.  The Indian government's implementation of stricter traffic laws in recent years has failed to rein in accidents, which claim over 100,000 lives every year.

At least 28 people have died and 60 others became ill from drinking altered liquor in western India, officials said Tuesday. Senior government official Mukesh Parmar said the deaths occurred in Ahmedabad and Botad districts of Gujarat state, where manufacturing, sale and consumption of liquor are prohibited. It was not immediately known what chemical was used to alter the liquor. Ashish Gupta, Gujarat state's police chief, said several suspected bootleggers who were involved in selling the spiked alcohol have been detained. Read: 8 killed in India road crash Deaths from illegally brewed alcohol are common in India, where illicit liquor is cheap and often spiked with chemicals such as pesticides to increase potency. Illicit liquor has also become a hugely profitable industry across India where bootleggers pay no taxes and sell enormous quantities of their product to the poor at a cheap rate. In 2020, at least 120 people died after drinking tainted liquor in India’s northern Punjab state.

A special anti-terrorism court in the western Indian state of Gujarat on Friday sentenced to death as many as 38 people in a 13-year-old serial bomb blasts case. This is by far the highest number of death sentences given by any Indian court in one go. The same court had earlier convicted 49 people for the terror attack -- a series of 31 blasts in a span of an hour -- that claimed 56 lives and injured more than 200 others in the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat in 2008. Also read: Indian Minister's son, accused of killing farmers, granted bail Eleven of the remaining convicts have been sentenced to life imprisonment by special court judge AR Patel. None of the life-term convicts would be entitled to parole after 14 years, the court made it clear. In fact, a total of 80 accused were put on trial in the case. On February 8, the court, however, acquitted 28 others in the case for lack of evidence. During the trial, the prosecution held the home-grown terror outfit Indian Mujahideen responsible for the blasts.  Also read: PM Narendra Modi sold tea at this Vadnagar stall in Gujarat. Now it will be a tourist spot The terrorists had carried out the serial blasts as an act of revenge for the 2002 riots in Gujarat that claimed the lives of over 1,000 people, mostly minority Muslims, according to police.