Sports

  Jasprit Bumrah  has joined the Mumbai Indians (MI) squad and is available for their opening match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Wankhede on Sunday, according to head coach Mahela Jayawardene. Bumrah was at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru recently to work on strength and conditioning. It is understood the plan for Bumrah to go to the CoE was devised by the BCCI medical team with the focus on India's white-ball tour of England in July. In IPL 2025, Bumrah was the second-highest wicket-taker for MI despite missing the first four matches due to a back injury. In 12 games, he took 18 wickets at an economy rate of 6.67, helping his team reach the playoffs. More recently, he was the joint-highest wicket-taker at the 2026 T20 World Cup. MI will also be without New Zealand left-arm spinner  Mitchell Santner  and England allrounder  Will Jacks  for their opening game. "Mitch and Jacksy both asked for a slightly extended time for personal reasons,...

  Punjab Kings batter Shashank Singh feels that young sensations Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Priyansh Arya will be under added pressure to repeat their heroics from the last IPL season. Speaking on the JioStar press room ahead of the IPL 2026 opener, Shashank said that the team will aim to exploit a few technical drawbacks they identified in Sooryavanshi's batting. "Teams will definitely be well prepared, and there will be pressure to perform this year," Shashank said about the two youngsters. "Expectations will be high, which is usual in India. Sooryavanshi is a star in the making, but there are certain technical areas we will try to exploit to get him out". Sooryavanshi, who turned 15 this week, has been crushing long-standing batting records, having achieved widespread appeal in his maiden IPL season. He hit 252 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 206.55, also becoming the youngest-ever T20 centurion. Since then, Sooryavanshi has hardly slowed down: a 36-b...