MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) who lost their last three games will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The top concern for CSK is their bowling which doesn’t look to subside anytime soon. CSK are second on the points table and are on the edge to make it to the playoffs once again. This season, CSK have been involved in some dramatic finishes. The last time CSK met RCB, they managed to pick up an easy win at Bengaluru. Here are the probable dream XI for the Super Kings:

CSK: Shane Watson, Faf Du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar.

On the other hand, RCB has pulled up their socks in the last encounter against Mumbai Indians which they won by 14-runs. But the job for RCB is not yet done. In eight matches, they have only managed to win only three, and now they need to win all their remaining matches to make it through the playoffs. The good news for RCB is that their explosive batsman AB de Villiers has recovered from his illness and will be added to the playing XI against CSK. RCB will be eager to exploit the recent setbacks CSK have faced and will look to bring a more confident side to challenge the home side. But they still would need to be cautious considering the tremendous batting line-up at CSK’s disposal. Here we see the probable dream XI for the Royal Challengers:

RCB: Brendon McCullum, Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Corey Anderson, Mandeep Singh, Mohammad Siraj, Manan Vohra, Washington Sundar, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav.

Defending champions Mumbai Indians kept their campaign alive with a win over Kings XI Punjab by six wickets at Indore on Friday. Mumbai, who have struggled right throughout the tournament won key phases of the game and would now look to string together a couple of wins to get some momentum at the business end of the tournament.

5 talking points from Mumbai’s win:

1. Rahul-Gayle stitching together another 50 run partnership:

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Chris Gayle and KL Rahul are having a wonderful tournament and both of them again gave Punjab a wonderful start and added 54 runs for the first wicket. Gayle, who likes to attack and take down opposition was kept quiet by Jasprit Bumrah, but on the other hand, Rahul played with positive intent and this partnership has allowed Punjab’s middle order some breathing room.

2. Is Yuvraj Singh playing his last IPL?:

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India’s foremost one day player and winner of 2007 World T20 and 2011 World Cup (man of the tournament) is currently going through a really rough patch. After getting dropped in the last game, Yuvraj made a comeback and batted at No 3, but struggled for timing and fluency and could only score 14 off 14 balls before being run out.

It would be very sad if this turns out to be Yuvraj’s last IPL, but time and tide wait for none and every legend has to take a call on his career at the right time.

3. Jasprit Bumrah proving his worth:

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Indian speedster Jasprit Bumrah is not having a great tournament by his lofty standards and has been guilty of being expensive in the death overs. But on Friday, Bumrah brought his A game and only gave away 19 runs in four overs and picked up a wicket. Bumrah had to ball against a rampaging Gayle and kept him quiet and this augurs well for Mumbai that Bumrah is bowling at his best.

4. Punjab bowlers keeping Mumbai in check:

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Kings XI Punjab’s bowling attack has been doing the job with limited resources and on a small Indore ground, KXIP bowlers almost won the game for their side. Punjab struck at regular intervals and if it weren’t for Krunal Pandya-Rohit Sharma partnership in the end then Punjab might have been on the winning side.

5. Krunal Pandya clinching it for Mumbai:

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Mumbai Indians in this tournament have lost quite a few matches and their big signing players have failed to perform. Krunal Pandya, who is more known as Hardik Pandya’s brother came to the party and alongside Rohit Sharma won the game for Mumbai.

Pandya scored a quickfire 31 off 12 balls and was there till the end. Pandya has been a utility player for Mumbai in the last couple of years and playing a match-winning knock will boost his confidence.

Sandesh Prannakumar is an arduous, meticulous and speed loving bike racer. Although it was not decided that he will be a bike racer one day, he was destined to be one. His inclination towards sports was however quite evident since his childhood. He even played Zonals under 14 cricket for a year and opted out as India’s most popular sport couldn’t hold his interest for long.

It was after he received a bike on his 20th birthday that he fell in love with speed and there was no looking back since then. Matching up to his dreams, he won his debut motorbike race in 2011 named Nandi Hill climb. Then he didn’t know that he was the champion in the making who will one day become the first Indian to do a Lap Record in Buddh International Circuit in the year 2015.

Winner of JK Tyre Superbike Cup race (2016), Sandesh Prasannakumar has also finished podium 3rd at Malaysia Superbike Championship (2015) in Superstock 1000cc category. This was his maiden international race. Earlier, he also finished a runner-up in the Yamaha One make championship in 2012 and got selected in Underbone Race (Indonesia).

Sandesh has his belts tightly fastened to pump up his motorcycle in Thailand Superbike Championship in superbike category which is supposed to be the toughest championship in Asia in motorcycle racing. No Indian has participated in Thailand Championship on a 1000cc yet. Challenging himself further, he also looks forward to a wild card entry in Asia Supermoto championship which is scheduled to be held in Bangalore, India. He will also participate in the JK Tyre National Superbike Cup which will be held in Delhi.

Sandesh Prasannakumar believes that fitness, zeal, rigorous training and undying passion for the sport together can make one a winner no matter how hard the competition.

Mumbai: Under pressure after slumping to their fourth loss in five games, defending champions Mumbai Indians have the onerous task of re-discovering their winning touch when they lock horns with Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL match here tomorrow.

MI had started their campaign with three losses on the trot before a victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore arrested the streak, but the three-wicket defeat yesterday in Jaipur to Rajasthan Royals, their fourth last-over setback, has put them under tremendous pressure. With nine games left before the play-off stage, MI find themselves in a difficult situation to win at least seven of them to improve their chances. As such, a win over SRH tomorrow is imperative to keep them in the hunt. Sunrisers too have slipped from their earlier top perch after suffering back-to-back defeats, following three straight wins, and would be as keen to bounce back to winning ways.

MI’s campaign has been led from the front by local product Suryakumar Yadav who has been the top batsman with a consistent run of good scores in the opening slot which has left him four short of reaching the 200 mark for the season. However, lack of runs from Rohit Sharma barring one match-winning knock of 94 against Royal Challengers Bangalore has hurt badly the three-time champions’ run and they need their inspirational captain to make it up with a big knock against SRH.

Another major disappointment has been the big West Indian Kieron Pollard who has mustered just 54 runs in five games. He is in danger of being left out at the bench.The Trinidadian’s compatriot Evin Lewis has been neither outstanding nor a total let-down with the bat, but the Pandya brothers — Hardik and Krunal — have not sparkled with the bat.

Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah showed he is close to his best in yesterday’s game against RR although he could not get MI across the finish line with a final burst of wickets, while Mustafizur Rahman has been a good foil. Mitchell McClenaghan has got among the wickets but has leaked runs too while the Pandya siblings have done a decent job with the ball. MI have not made too many changes to their playing eleven and could mull over it seriously before it is too late.

Sunrisers’ campaign had begun in pretty impressive fashion with three wins on the trot but successive defeats to Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings have dented their progress and confined them to the lower half of the table.

While captain Kane Williamson has been in superb form, carrying the batting on his shoulders to amass 230 runs in five games, the other batsmen, including Shikhar Dhawan, have not given him adequate support. Wridhiman Saha has been particularly below par with the bat with a tally of a measly 62 runs and needs to buck up quickly or lose the spot to Shreevats Goswami.

Yusuf Pathan showed glimpses of his old attacking self against RR with a quick 27-ball 45, but overall his batting has been below par. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been the stand-out performer in bowling and the visitors would be hoping for the others to chip in too.

The Teams (from):

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma(captain), Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Mustafizur Rahman, Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar, Evin Lewis, Saurabh Tiwary, Ben Cutting, Pradeep Sangwan, Jean-Paul Duminy, Tajinder Singh, Sharad Lumba, Siddhesh Lad, Aditya Tare, Mayank Markande, Akila Dhananjaya, Anukul Roy, Mohsin Khan, MD Nidheesh, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan, Shakib Al Hasan, Manish Pandey, Carlos Brathwaite, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha, Rashid Khan, Ricky Bhui, Deepak Hooda, Siddarth Kaul, T Natarajan, Mohammad Nabi, Basil Thampi, K Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Sachin Baby, Chris Jordan, Billy Stanlake, Tanmay Agarwal, Shreevats Goswami, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Alex Hale.

Match starts at 8 pm.

Brussels: Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg apologised to the European Parliament today and said the social media giant is taking steps to prevent a repeat of a massive breach of users’ personal data.

Zuckerberg also pledged to keep investing in Europe as he made the latest stop on a tour of contrition over the Cambridge Analytica scandal that began in the US Congress in April. Zuckerberg told the livestreamed hearing in Brussels that it has become clear in the last two years that Facebook executives “haven’t done enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm”.

“And that goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections or developers misusing people’s information. We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility,” he said. “That was a mistake, and I’m sorry for it.” Facebook admitted that up to 87 million users may have had their data hijacked by British consultancy Cambridge Analytica, which worked for US President Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign. The Silicon Valley giant has told the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, that the personal data of up to 2.7 million Europeans may have been sent inappropriately to Cambridge Analytica, which has since filed for bankruptcy in the US.

The Facebook chief welcomed the EU’s sweeping new personal data protection rules, which come into effect in three days, saying that his website was adopting similar steps. Zuckerberg said Facebook was bringing in new features including a special “clear history” button that would allow them to delete any cookies or browsing history details it stores. He also told the leaders of the European Parliament’s political groups that Facebook would make fresh investments to protect its users in the wake of the scandal.

“It’s going to take time to work through all of the changes we must make. But I’m committed to getting it right, and to making the significant investments needed to keep people safe,” he added. “I expect this will significantly impact our profitability. But I want to be clear: keeping people safe will always be more important than maximising our profits.” Zuckerberg meanwhile admitted that Facebook had been “too slow to identify Russian interfering” in the 2016 US presidential ballot, but was working with European governments for future elections.

Facebook also serves a valuable social role with tens of thousands of people having used its Safety Check feature “after the recent terrorist attacks in Berlin, Paris, London and here in Brussels”, Zuckerberg said. The Facebook chief staged a U-turn on Monday and agreed to the hearing being webcast, in a further bid to limit the fallout from the data scandal. Angry EU lawmakers had objected to initial plans for it to be held behind closed doors.

European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, who welcomed Zuckerberg to parliament, urged him to ensure people’s data was respected. In April, Tajani rejected Zuckerberg’s initial offer to send a more junior executive in his place, saying it would be a “big mistake” for him not to answer questions from an elected body that regulates a market of 500 million people, many of them Facebook users. Tajani said MEPs want to know if “people used data for changing the position of the citizens”, including during the shock 2016 referendum for Britain to leave the EU.

Objecting to a closed-door hearing, MEPs insisted Zuckerberg face a grilling similar to his 10-hour interrogation in US Congress last month. Guy Verhofstadt, who heads the ALDE liberals group in parliament, dropped his plan to boycott the event now that it would be “transparent and public”. Inviting Europeans to send him questions for Zuckerberg, Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister, tweeted that EU citizens “deserve to hear the truth”.

EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova recently paid Zuckerberg a backhanded compliment for having admitted that the Facebook scandal showed the need for strict new rules despite the reluctance of US internet giants. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into effect on Friday, aims to give users more control over how their personal information is stored and used online, with big fines for firms that break the rules. Zuckerberg, who has repeatedly apologised for the massive data breach, told the US Congress in April that the more stringent EU rules could serve as a model globally.

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex drifted lower by another 125 points in early trade today amid unabated foreign fund outflows and surging global crude oil prices. The rupee depreciating against the US dollar also affected momentum.

Brokers said sentiment remained weak largely on sustained capital outflows by foreign funds and rising global crude oil prices, which went past the USD 80 per barrel mark. Investors also kept an eye on political developments in Karnataka.

The 30-share index fell by 125.10 points, or 0.35 percent, to 35,024.02 in the opening trade. The gauge has lost 407.59 points in the previous three sessions. In similar fashion, the NSE Nifty declined by 34.35 points, or 0.32 percent, to 10,648.35.

Sectoral indices led by capital goods, IT, teck, oil and gas, banking and PSU were trading in the negative zone.

Major losers were Wipro, L&T, HDFC Bank, Adani Ports, Infosys, Tata Motors, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank, ITC Ltd and Reliance Industries, falling by up to 1.28 percent.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net sold shares worth Rs 830.94 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities to the tune of Rs 428.92 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

Trend at other Asian markets, however, was better as investors kept a cautious watch on developments in US-China trade negotiations.

Japan’s Nikkei advanced 0.25 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.22 percent in early trade. China’s Shanghai Composite index too rose 0.46 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, ended 0.22 percent lower in yesterday’s trade.