Mumbai Indians take on Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 7 opener

1.  Mumbai Indians take on Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 7 opener

i. Fighting for credibility after being left devastated by a spot-fixing scandal, the glamorous but controversial Indian Premier League will roll out its seventh edition from Wednesday with the promise of putting cricket first while keeping the drama and glitz to a bare minimum.

ii. Defending champions Mumbai Indians, captained by Rohit Sharma, will square off against 2012 winners Kolkata Knight Riders, led by veteran opener Gautam Gambhir, in the event-opener at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Dubai.

iii. The UAE is hosting the high-profile T20 event's first leg from April 16 to 30 owing to a clash of dates with the Indian general elections and security concerns emanating from that.

iv. The tournament will return to India on May 2 after being assured of security in states where voting would be over by that time.

2.    Srinivasan’s name in Mudgal report; can’t discharge any duty in BCCI: SC

i. The Supreme Court today said that the suspended Chief of BCCI N. Srinivasan's name figures in the inquiry report submitted by the Justice Mukul Mudgal committee on February 10. The apex court said that Srinivasan cannot discharge any function inside BCCI. 

ii. The court added that any probe into allegations made by Mudgal committee which enqiured into the IPL scam, against 13 people including N Srinivasan should be done by BCCI itself to maintain its institutional autonomy. 

iii. On Tuesday, Srinivasan had appealed to the Supreme Court to reinstate him as BCCI chief. He was removed from the post on March 28. The court said its interim order will stand.

iv. The Apex Court also said that Sundar Raman can continue as the Chief Operating Officer of the Indian Premier League. The interim BCCI president Sunil Gavaskar has recommended that Sundar Raman can continue, the court informed

3.    Gupta loses to Iturrizaga in Dubai finale

i. Grandmaster and former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta missed out on a podium finish after losing to Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela in the 9th and final round of 16th Dubai International open chess tournament that concluded in Dubai.

ii. Having done all the hard work, Gupta fell at the final hurdle and had to be content with a fourth place finish on 6.5 points.

iii. Romain Edouard of France won the tournament defeating top seed Anton Korobov of Ukraine in the final round game.

iv. The French Grandmaster ended on a high scoring eight points out of a possible nine and this was amongst his best performance ever. Edouard, for his efforts, gets the winner’s cheque of $10000.