Firstpost Spodcast Episode 189: India claim two gold medals at Asian Athletics Championships, IPL final venue shifted and more

Welcome to Spodcast. In IPL news, Delhi Capitals defeated Rajasthan Royals by six wickets on Monday to jump to the top of the points table. Rishabh Pant scored 78 runs from 36 balls as Delhi overhauled the imposing target of 192 with four balls to spare. Towards the end, Rajasthan’s bowlers looked clueless as the diminutive Pant put on an impressive show. His blistering innings included six fours and four outrageous sixes - a display that will probably fuel debate over his exclusion from the 2019 World Cup squad, given his finishing skills with the bat. Delhi Capitals are now at the top of the points table, with 14 points from 11 matches. They are ahead of second-placed CSK on net run rate. Rajasthan Royals are in seventh place with 6 points. RCB, who are in last place, have 6 points as well but have a net run rate of -0.83. The IPL final scheduled for 12 May has been shifted from Chennai to Hyderabad after the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association failed to get requisite permission from the government to open the three closed stands. The three stands, which make up around 12,000 tickets, have remained closed since 2012, except during one international match between India and Pakistan. While the Chennai Super Kings still have a chance to play Qualifier 1 at home in case they finish among the top two teams in the league, the Eliminator on 8 May and Qualifier 2 on 10 May have been shifted to Visakhapatnam. Fast bowler Hamid Hassan and former captain Asghar Afghan were on Monday named in Afghanistan’s 15-member World Cup squad that includes IPL stars Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi. Gulbadin Naib will captain the Afghan side that also features the big-hitting Mohammad Shahzad as well as spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman. Asghar Afghan was removed as captain in all formats earlier this year. Unheralded half-miler Gomathi Marimuthu and shot putter Tejinderpal Singh Toor clinched a gold medal each to share the limelight as India bagged five medals on the second day of the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.  30-year-old Gomathi clocked a personal best time of 2 minutes 02.70 seconds in the half-mile event to win an unexpected gold for India. In shot put, national record holder and pre-competition favourite Tejinderpal Singh Toor’s first-round throw of 20.22m was enough to fetch him a gold in the men’s shot put final at the Khalifa Stadium. 24-year-old Toor, who has a personal best of 20.75m, had entered the championships as the season leader among the Asians and lived up to the top billing. Shivpal Singh won a silver in men’s javelin throw by sending the spear to a distance of 86.23m, thereby setting a personal best score. That effort saw 23-year-old Shivpal also book a berth for the World Championships in September-October. Jabir Madari Palliyalil and Saritaben Gayakwad bagged bronze medals in the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles events respectively India’s medal tally now stands at 1 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze. In news from the Asian Boxing Championships 2019, Kavinder Singh Bisht upstaged reigning world champion Kairat Yeraliyev to be assured of his first Asian Boxing Championships medal, while Sonia Chahal advanced to the last four of the women’s draw at the continental showpiece on Monday. World silver-medallist Sonia Chahal, who is competing in the women’s 57kg category, won a similar victory over Korea’s Jo Son Hwa. She endured an exhausting bout against Hwa but came up trumps.