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Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday pledged deeper cooperation with Bangladeshi counterpart Muhammad Yunus in a meeting that came as Dhaka seeks new friends to offset frosty ties with India.Yunus took charge of Bangladesh last August after the toppling of autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina, who fled to New Delhi after a student-led uprising.India was the biggest benefactor of Hasina’s government, and her ouster sent cross-border relations into a tailspin, culminating in Yunus choosing to make his first state visit to China — India’s biggest Asian rival.Xi told Yunus on Friday that Beijing was “willing to work with Bangladesh to push bilateral cooperation to a new level,” Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said.”China… insists on remaining a good neighbour, good friend and good partner to Bangladesh, based on mutual trust,” Xi said, according to CCTV.The Chinese leader said Beijing and Dhaka should “firmly support each other” on core interests and backed Bangladesh on issues including safeguarding national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.He added that the two countries would explore cooperation in infrastructure construction, water conservancy and the digital, marine and environmental sectors.Yunus’s chief press secretary Shafiqul Alam called the meeting a “great success” and hailed Xi’s “warmth and cordiality” as well as his promise to encourage Chinese investment in Bangladesh.”We are optimistic about seeing significant Chinese investment this time,” Alam said, adding: “we hope this marks the beginning of a new era in Sino-Bangladeshi relations”.Dhaka said this week that Yunus’s China visit showed that Bangladesh was “sending a message”.The 84-year-old Nobel laureate is expected to return home on Saturday after holding several other high-level meetings in the Chinese capital.Several agreements are expected to be signed on economic and technical assistance, cultural and sports cooperation, and media collaboration between the two countries, according to the Bangladeshi administration.Talks are also expected to touch on Bangladesh’s immense population of Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled a violent military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar in 2017.China has acted as a mediator between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the past to broker the repatriation of the persecuted minority, although efforts stalled because of the ruling junta’s unwillingness to have them returned.- India tensions -Senior figures in the Indian and Bangladeshi governments have traded barbs ahead of Yunus’s sojourn to Beijing.Those tensions have almost fully halted travel by Bangladeshis to India for medical tourism, thousands of whom crossed the border each year to seek care in their larger neighbour.Dhaka’s top foreign ministry bureaucrat said this week that talks in Beijing would touch on the establishment of a Chinese “Friendship Hospital” in Bangladesh.Yunus’s caretaker administration has the unenviable task of instilling democratic reforms ahead of new elections expected by mid-2026.It has requested — so far unsuccessfully — that India allow Hasina’s extradition to face charges of crimes against humanity for the killing of hundreds of protesters during the unrest that toppled her government.Yunus has also sought a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a bid to reset relations, with both expected to be at the same regional summit in Bangkok next month. His government has yet to receive a response, with Indian foreign minister S. Jaishankar saying the request was “under review”. 

Family and supporters of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte will rally Friday to mark his 80th birthday and protest against his detention in The Hague on a charge of crimes against humanity.Duterte could spend the remainder of his life in jail if convicted at the International Criminal Court (ICC) of the charge tied to his “war on drugs” in which thousands were killed.Supporters are planning more than 200 simultaneous birthday rallies demanding his release.Presidential palace spokeswoman Claire Castro however warned pro-Duterte protesters that they were “bordering the line of inciting to sedition”.Castro said that Philippine officials wished Duterte “good health, good fortune”, but added that “he needs that.”Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, his eldest daughter, has been in the Dutch city since shortly after his arrest helping assemble his legal team.In a birthday message, Sara Duterte said her father “knows he will face the ICC with the Filipino people”, adding that the support “makes the challenges he is facing today more bearable”.Another of the ex-president’s daughters, 20-year-old Veronica, as well as her mother, Cielito Avancena, said they failed to get inside the prison to see him this week — but remained hopeful.Veronica Duterte said her father had “always been a force to be reckoned with, even in his sunset days”, in a post on social media.”We will make certain that his legacy lives on”, she added. – ‘Systematic attack’ -The ICC chief prosecutor’s application for his arrest said Duterte’s alleged crimes were “part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against the civilian population” in the Philippines.”Potentially tens of thousands of killings were perpetrated,” the prosecutor alleged of the campaign that targeted mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs.But Sara Duterte has said that the once wildly popular president is convinced that what the ICC did “was wrong and there is no case to begin with”.Duterte’s arrest on March 11 and rapid handover to the international tribunal came on the heels of his family’s bitter falling out with his successor, President Ferdinand Marcos.Cracks began to appear in their alliance soon after Marcos teamed up with Sara Duterte to sweep the presidential and vice presidential elections in May 2022.The vice president quit her cabinet post as education secretary after being denied the defence portfolio, while Duterte himself began calling Marcos a drug addict.Last month, Sara Duterte was impeached by a pro-Marcos House of Representatives on charges that include an alleged assassination plot against the president.The outcome of her Senate trial will likely depend on the number of seats her allies win in May 12 mid-term elections.One of her party’s candidates, former Philippine police chief and drug war enforcer Ronald Dela Rosa, says he expects to be arrested by the ICC next.The ex-president faces a six months wait inside the United Nations’ Scheveningen prison before his next scheduled court appearance on September 23.The court session will confirm the charges against him and allow him to contest the allegations.Chief ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has disclosed 181 unspecified items of evidence to the defence, led by British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman.The prisoner is only allowed two visits per day — a lawyer and a family member, the vice president said.”I urged him to write a book and then when you get out, we’ll sell it and make money out of it,” she said.

Nicholas Pooran slammed 70 off 26 balls as Lucknow Super Giants easily chased down a target of 191 to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday for their first win of the new IPL season.Pooran’s power-packed innings featured six fours and six sixes, as the West Indies batsman ruthlessly took the attack to the opposition on a flat Hyderabad pitch.Lucknow, captained by the most expensive player in the IPL, India’s Rishabh Pant, lost Aiden Markram early before Mitchell Marsh (52) and Pooran put on 116 for the second wicket in barely seven overs together.Pooran eventually fell lbw to Australia captain Pat Cummins, leaving his team on 120-2 in the ninth over.Pant walked in with Lucknow well positioned but made a scratchy run-a-ball 15 before miscuing a full toss from Harshal Patel, following Marsh back after he was removed earlier by his international team-mate Cummins.Lucknow also lost Ayush Badoni cheaply but Abdul Samad hit an unbeaten 22 off eight deliveries to help them cruise to victory with 23 balls remaining.Lucknow had won the toss and restricted Hyderabad to 190-9 despite a brisk 47 at the top of the order from Travis Head.Shardul Thakur, who wasn’t initially picked up by any franchise and only received a call-up from Lucknow as an injury replacement, finished with his best IPL figures. Thakur took 4-34 and landed a key double blow by dismissing opener Abhishek Sharma (6) and Ishan Kishan (0) with successive balls in the third over. Head steadied the innings after Hyderabad slipped to 15-2 before a searing Prince Yadav delivery rearranged his stumps. Thakur, who won the player-of-the-match award, complained that the “bowlers get very little (help) on these kind of pitches” in the IPL. “Even in the last game pre-match I said that pitches should be prepared in such a way that the game hangs in the balance for batters and bowlers. Especially after the ‘impact player’ rule, it’s not fair on the bowlers,” he complained.Several Hyderabad batsmen made starts but couldn’t go on, with Nitish Kumar Reddy contributing 32 and Aniket Verma blasting a quick 36 after Heinrich Klaasen (17) was run out in bizarre fashion at the non-striker’s end.As Yadav attempted to take a low return catch offered by Reddy, he deflected the ball onto the stumps with Klaasen out of his crease. Cummins dispatched three of the four balls he faced over the rope in a whirlwind knock of 18, but it came in vain as Hyderabad suffered their first loss.Pant said that the win was “definitely a big relief”. “We don’t want to get too high after winning and too low after losing, taking it one match at a time,” said Pant. He also praised Pooran, insisting the team “just want to give freedom to him. I like that freedom too. But we’ve just told him to go express himself and he’s batting phenomenally for us”. 

Myanmar’s junta chief will attend a regional summit in Bangkok next week, a spokesman said Thursday, a rare foreign trip outside close allies Russia and China, as he struggles to tame a spiralling civil war.Min Aung Hlaing will travel to the Thai capital for a gathering of leaders of South Asian countries plus Myanmar and Thailand, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told reporters, saying the visit offered “potential for peace”.Since seizing power in a February 2021 coup, he has mostly only travelled to his government’s main arms supplier Russia, and its main economic partner and political backer China.The surprise announcement came after Min Aung Hlaing insisted that a planned election will go ahead despite the conflict, in a speech to thousands of soldiers and dignitaries at the annual Armed Forces Day parade.”He will attend. We are also trying to meet with leaders of BIMSTEC members countries separately,” junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told journalists in the capital Naypyidaw.”We expect to get potential development for Myanmar, potential for peace, potential for our economic development through this meeting.”He also said that Aung San Suu Kyi, whose civilian government was ousted in the 2021 coup, was in “good health”.She is serving a long prison sentence on various criminal charges her supporters say were cooked up to keep her out of politics.Leaders from the seven BIMSTEC countries — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand — are to meet for talks in Bangkok on Friday next week.The event will mark a diplomatic breakthrough for the junta, which has seen its leaders and ministers shunned from meetings of the main Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc in the wake of the coup.ASEAN has led diplomatic efforts to end the Myanmar crisis, so far to no avail.- December poll plan -In his speech, Min Aung Hlaing condemned the array of armed groups fighting his rule as “terrorist insurgents” driven by “warlordism”, after a year of seismic battlefield defeats.Russian-made jets roared overhead and troops paraded though high-security Naypyidaw for the event, which has become progressively smaller in the four years of civil war since the military deposed Suu Kyi’s civilian government.Min Aung Hlaing said the authorities were sticking to a plan announced earlier this month that a long-promised election would go ahead — despite much of the country being outside junta control.The authorities are “making provisions to hold the general election this coming December”, he said.The junta has lost the key northern town of Lashio — including a regional military command — and swathes of the western Rakhine state since the last Armed Forces Day. It has also sought to conscript more than 50,000 people.The civil war pits the junta’s forces against both anti-coup guerillas and long-established ethnic minority armed groups.- Increasing air strikes -More than 3.5 million people are displaced by the conflict, half the population live in poverty and one million civilians face World Food Programme aid cuts next month following US President Donald Trump’s slashing of Washington’s humanitarian budget.At the same time, trade sanctions have isolated Myanmar, making it increasingly dependent on China and Russia for economic and military support.”The military has never been defeated this severely,” said Jack Myint, a non-resident fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.However, observers agree its grip on the centre is secure for now.”The reality is they still have a superior supply of arms,” said Myint, and they “don’t have to defeat everyone to maintain control”.- Beijing’s influence -The past year has shown how strong a hand Beijing holds in Myanmar, with a willingness to play off the military and its opponents to pursue economic opportunities and stability on its borders, according to analyst Myint.After public concern spiked in China over scam centres in Myanmar, thousands of workers were repatriated at Beijing’s demand.Western governments have said no election held under Myanmar’s current military government can be free or fair.But cliques in the junta are pushing for polls to weaken Min Aung Hlaing’s position amid discord over his handling of the conflict, according to one US-based Myanmar analyst speaking on condition of anonymity.Min Aung Hlaing serves as both acting president and commander-in-chief but he would have to relinquish one of those roles to hold an election.”Min Aung Hlaing does not want to hold the election,” the analyst said. “But generals close to him have warned that the situation is getting worse.”

A bright orange helicopter races over the jungle to dump water on a raging wildfire that is adding to the air pollution choking Thailand’s northern tourist hub of Chiang Mai.Chutaphorn Phuangchingngam, the only female captain in Thailand’s national disaster prevention team, draws on two decades of flying to steer the Russian-made chopper through the thick smoke.Forest fires are burning in several areas of northern Thailand, contributing to the annual spike in air pollution that comes with farmers burning stubble to prepare their land for the next crop.Chiang Mai had the sixth worst air quality of any major city in the world on Thursday morning, according to monitor IQAir, and the city governor has warned residents against staying outdoors.Chutaphorn told AFP the dense forest and hilly terrain made helicopters the best tool to fight the blazes.”We use (helicopters) to put out fire in areas that are difficult to reach, especially in the mountains,” she said.Chutaphorn and her six-member crew flew over Huai Bok reservoir, collecting 3,000 litres of water each time before heading two kilometres to the fire zone, spread across more than 1.6 hectares (four acres).Northern Thailand is the latest area around the world to suffer significant wildfires, after South Korea — currently battling its biggest on record — Japan and California.While the causes of forest fires can be complex, climate change can make them more likely by creating hotter, drier weather that leaves undergrowth more prone to catching light.As well as damaging important forests, the fires are fuelling Thailand’s anxieties about air pollution, which causes millions of people to need medical treatment each year.- Smog crisis -Levels of PM2.5 pollutants — dangerous cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream through the lungs — were almost 15 times the World Health Organization’s recommended limit in Chiang Mai on Thursday, according to IQAir. The government banned crop burning early this year to try to improve air quality, with violators facing fines and legal action, but authorities said the measures have proven ineffective.”There are still large numbers of farmers who continue to burn their fields,” said Dusit Pongsapipat, head of the Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation in Chiang Mai.Danaipat Pokavanich, a clean-air advocate involved in drafting the Clean Air Act — a bill to curb pollution in Thailand — praised the firefighting efforts but called them a “temporary fix”.”The law alone won’t stop farmers from burning,” he said.He recommended offering financial incentives to encourage sustainable farming practices and investing in technology to reduce the need for burning.Until then, Chatuphorn and her team remain ready to take to the skies to do their part to clean up the air by putting out forest fires.”Flying a helicopter for disaster work is different from flying passengers,” she said, citing limited visibility as a major challenge.She remains committed to her childhood dream.”I just wanted to touch the cloud,” she said, after the helicopter landed. “Though now all I feel is just the smoke.”

Myanmar’s junta will muster its embattled troops for a show of strength on Armed Forces Day on Thursday after a year of seismic defeats and forcibly conscripting civilians to bolster its ranks.Thousands of soldiers will march before junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw, where a banner over the approach to the parade ground reads: “Only when the military is strong will the country be strong.”Special forces guarded the main entrance to the remote, purpose-built capital, where the annual parade has become progressively smaller in the four years of civil war since the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government.The junta has lost the key northern town of Lashio — including a regional military command — and swaths of the western Rakhine state since the last Armed Forces Day. It has also sought to conscript more than 50,000 people.The civil war pits the junta’s forces against both anti-coup guerillas and long-established ethnic minority armed groups.More than 3.5 million people are displaced, half the population live in poverty and one million civilians face World Food Programme aid cuts next month following US President Donald Trump’s slashing of Washington’s humanitarian budget.At the same time, trade sanctions have isolated Myanmar, making it increasingly dependent on China and Russia for economic and military support.”The military has never been defeated this severely,” said Jack Myint, a non-resident fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.However, observers agree its grip on the centre is secure for now.”The reality is they still have a superior supply of arms,” said Myint, and they “don’t have to defeat everyone to maintain control”.War monitors say the past year has seen a spike in air strikes by the junta’s Russian-made jets.Eleven people, including a doctor, were killed when a clinic in western Myanmar was bombed on Saturday, locals said, one week after a bombardment in the heartlands killed 12 people, according to a local official.- Election promised -The past year has shown how strong a hand Beijing holds in Myanmar, with a willingness to play off the military and its opponents to pursue economic opportunities and stability on its borders, according to analyst Myint.After public concern spiked in China over scam centres in Myanmar, thousands of workers were repatriated at Beijing’s demand.”Beijing sees all these smaller players in the sandbox like insolent children not getting along,” Myint said.”They whip out the carrot one time, they whip out the stick the next, and hold it together in a manner that best serves their interests.”Russian deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin is to attend the parade, Myanmar state media said, along with the Belarusian defence minister.The bespectacled Min Aung Hlaing is expected to preside over Thursday’s ceremony in his medal-festooned dress uniform and deliver a speech to the country of more than 50 million.He has promised elections later this year or early 2026 but, with much of the country beyond the government’s control, analysts say it would not be a genuinely democratic vote.However, cliques in the junta are pushing for polls to weaken Min Aung Hlaing’s position amid discord over his handling of the conflict, according to one US-based Myanmar analyst speaking on condition of anonymity.Min Aung Hlaing serves as both acting president and commander-in-chief but he would have to relinquish one of those roles to hold an election.”Min Aung Hlaing does not want to hold the election,” the analyst said. “But generals close to him have warned that the situation is getting worse.”

The United States has removed multimillion-dollar bounties on leaders of Afghanistan’s feared Haqqani militant network, including the current Taliban interior minister, the State Department and the Taliban government said.The Haqqani network was responsible for some of the deadliest attacks during the decades-long war in Afghanistan.The men remain on Washington’s list of “specially designated global terrorists” but the bounty price has been scrapped.Taliban interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told AFP that Washington had “cancelled rewards” for Sirajuddin Haqqani — who also heads the Haqqani network — as well as other key leaders, Abdul Aziz Haqqani and Yahya Haqqani.Sirajuddin Haqqani had long been one of Washington’s most important targets, with a $10 million bounty on his head.The US State Department said that “the three persons named remain designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), and the Haqqani Network remains designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a SDGT”.But while the wanted page remains active, the bounty on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) website has been removed.”It is the policy of the United States to consistently review and refine Rewards for Justice reward offers,” a State Department spokesperson told AFP on Wednesday.- ‘Largely symbolic’ -The bounty cancellation came days after the first visit by US officials to Afghanistan since President Donald Trump returned to office, and the announcement afterwards of the release of a US citizen by Taliban authorities.US-based Afghan political analyst Abdul Wahed Faqiri told AFP that the bounty removal is likely “largely symbolic” but a way for the United States to “give credit to Sirajuddin Haqqani”, seen as an emerging more moderate “alternative”. Media reports talk of increasing tensions between the “pragmatic” Haqqani figures and a more hardline circle around Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, who vie for influence within the government.Despite the US bounty and international travel bans, Sirajuddin Haqqani has travelled outside Afghanistan multiple times since the Taliban government swept back to power in 2021.The government in Kabul is not recognised by any country and has expressed hopes for “a new chapter” with Trump’s administration.Trump signed a peace deal with the Taliban during his first term in office, that paved the way for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and their return to power. 

From a gated community for her Zoroastrian faith in Pakistan’s megacity Karachi, 22-year-old Elisha Amra has waved goodbye to many friends migrating abroad as the ancient Parsi community dwindles.Soon the film student hopes to join them — becoming one more loss to Pakistan’s ageing Zoroastrian Parsi people, a community who trace their roots back to Persian refugees from today’s Iran more than a millennium ago.”My plan is to go abroad,” Amra said, saying she wants to study for a master’s degree in a country without the restrictions of a conservative Muslim-majority society.”I want to be able to freely express myself”, she added.Zoroastrianism, founded by the prophet Zarathustra, was the predominant religion of the ancient Persian empire, until the rise of Islam with the Arab conquests of the seventh century.Once the Parsi community in Pakistan had as many as 15,000-20,000 people, said Dinshaw Behram Avari, the head of one of the most prominent Parsi families.Today, numbers hover around 900 people in Karachi and a few dozen more elsewhere in Pakistan, according to community leaders, many staying together in compounds like where Amra lives.She acknowledges her life is more comfortable than many in Pakistan — the Parsis are in general an affluent and highly educated community.But says she wants to escape the daily challenges that beset the city of some 20 million people — ranging from power cuts, water shortages and patchy internet to violent street crime.”I’d rather have a life where I feel safe, and I feel happy and satisfied,” she said. Zubin Patel, 27, a Parsi working in e-commerce in Karachi, has seen more than two dozen Parsi friends leave Karachi for abroad in the past three years.”More than 20-25 of my friends were living in Karachi, they all started migrating”, he said.- Derelict homes -That is not unique to Parsis — many young and skilled Pakistanis want to find jobs abroad to escape a country wracked with political uncertainty and security challenges, a struggling economy and woeful infrastructure.The number of highly skilled Pakistanis who left for jobs abroad more than doubled according to the latest figures from the Pakistan Economic Survey — from 20,865 in 2022, to 45,687 in 2023.Parsis are struggling to adjust in a fast-changing world.The religion, considered among the oldest in the world, forbids conversion and mixed marriages are frowned upon.”There is a better chance to find a Zoroastrian partner in Canada, Australia, UK and America than in Pakistan,” said Avari, who heads of a chain of hotels.He points out that Parsi population of Toronto is some 10 times greater than Karachi.Avari, 57, said that a wave of Parsis left Pakistan during the hardline military rule of Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s, who enforced a programme of Islamisation.Since then, Islamist violence has targeted religious minorities, and while Parsis say they have not been targeted, they remain wary.He suggested the community’s high levels of education and Western outlook to life meant many eyed a future abroad, while for those who do stay, family size is shrinking.”Couples are more interested today in looking after their career; they are not interested in family,” he said.”When they do get married, they will have one child — and one child is not enough to make a positive impact on the population.”Parsi members were among the pioneers of the shipping and hospitality industries in Karachi, and the city’s colonial-era historic district is dotted with Parsi buildings including hospitals and schools.But as the community declines, many buildings have crumbled, with as many as half the homes in elegant tree-lined streets of the century-old Sohrab Katrak Parsi Colony lying abandoned.- ‘Difficult decision’ -For many among the younger generation, the only pull left keeping them in Pakistan is their ageing relatives.Patel, the e-commerce worker, said he would leave if he could.”It would be a difficult decision,” he said. “But if I have an opportunity which would give my parents … a healthy lifestyle, then I’d obviously go for it”.Amra, who visits her 76-year-old grandfather almost daily, worries that her parents will be alone when she leaves. “You have to figure out a way, eventually, to either bring them to you or come back,” she said.

South Africa’s Quinton de Kock struck an unbeaten 97 as holders Kolkata Knight Riders registered their first win of the IPL season with an eight-wicket hammering of Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday.Spinners Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy combined to help restrict Rajasthan to 151-9 after KKR elected to field first in Guwahati.De Kock bossed the chase with his 61-ball innings laced with eight fours and six sixes as Kolkata achieved their target with 15 balls to spare.De Kock, who has retired from Tests and one-day international cricket for South Africa and whose T20 international future remains uncertain, showed no signs of rustiness.”To be fair, haven’t felt any challenges yet,” De Kock said.”Have had three months off which felt nice. Had about a 10-day build-up to this season. Only my second game here, just taking it as I see it.”Kolkata signed De Kock in November’s auction after he was released by Lucknow Super Giants.He handed his team a quick start, hitting two fours but then lost opening partner Moeen, run out for five.Skipper Ajinkya Rahane fell after a brisk 18 but De Kock stood firm and along with impact substitute Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who made 22, steered the team home in an unbeaten stand of 83.De Kock finished with a six off Jofra Archer as Kolkata bounced back from their opening loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru.Rajasthan suffered their second straight loss.Earlier, Kolkata fast bowler Vaibhav Arora dismissed Sanju Samson, bowled for 13, and Chakravarthy and Moeen soon took two wickets each.Wicketkeeper Samson is Rajasthan’s regular captain but has been forced to play only as a batter in the first three matches due to an injury.Chakravarthy, who starred in India’s recent Champions Trophy triumph, got stand-in-skipper Riyan Parag out caught behind for 25.Former England all-rounder Moeen, in for the unwell Sunil Narine, stifled the opposition with his off-spin and was rewarded with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal for 29.The 37-year-old and Chakravarthy both struck again as Rajasthan slipped to 82-5 in 11 overs.Wickets kept tumbling for Rajasthan and despite wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel’s 33 and 16 from Archer, they settled for a below-par total.”I think 170 was a reasonable score but we fell short by 20 runs,” said Parag. “The plan was to get Quinny out early but he didn’t so we shifted to containing them in the middle overs.”Arora and fellow quick Harshit Rana also took two wickets each.Kolkata, under Shreyas Iyer who is now Punjab Kings captain after a $3.17 million move in the auction, won their third IPL title last year.

Former Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal has thanked fans for their support as he recovers from a serious heart attack he suffered during a match earlier this week.The 36-year-old was leading Mohammedan Sporting Club in a match of the 50-over Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League when he was rushed to a nearby hospital complaining of severe chest pain on Monday. He has since been relocated to a larger medical facility in the capital where he remains under observation.  “It’s the heartbeat that keeps us alive, but we often forget that this beat can stop at any moment, without any warning,” Tamim wrote on social media on Tuesday.”I offer my heartfelt gratitude and love to all of you. Please keep me and my family in your prayers. Without your love, I am nothing.”Elder brother and former Bangladeshi international Nafees Iqbal was by Tamim’s bedside along with other family members. Tamim was in critical condition when he was rushed to hospital, Razeeb Hasan, the medical director at the facility where Tamim received treatment, told reporters on Monday.He also said Tamim had to undergo surgery to implant stents to clear an artery blockage.Tamim scored more than 15,000 runs for Bangladesh in a career spanning 15 years and remains the only Bangladeshi to score hundreds in all formats of international cricket.