Toss Mumbai Indians chose to bat v Sunrisers Hyderabad

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma went against the trend and decided to bat against Sunrisers Hyderabad in a bid to seal a playoff berth. Rohit wanted to take a chance on a fresh Wankhede pitch, despite having the dew factor in mind. The hosts were unchanged compared to two made by Sunrisers.

The visitors picked Martin Guptill to replace David Warner while Basil Thampi came in for Sandeep Sharma. Mumbai need to win one of their remaining two games to make the playoffs whereas a win for Sunrisers on Thursday will pretty much seal their playoff berth because of their superior net run rate.

Mumbai Indians: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Evin Lewis, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Barinder Sran, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Jaspreet Bumrah

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Mohammad Nabi, 5 K Williamson (capt), 6 Rashid Khan, 7 Vijay Shankar, 8 Abhishek Sharma, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Khaleel Ahmed, 11 Basil Thampi

Big Picture

Right, here we go then: England are about to hit the home straight, going into a home World Cup. And yet, they might not feel quite so at home in Malahide, where Ireland will be looking to add to their troubles after a rocky week for the ECB. England's management have spent most of the build-up dealing with the fallout from the Alex Hales affair (an ongoing series), so the chance to play an actual cricket match will be a pleasant change in that respect.

Ireland rarely need much motivation when it comes to upsetting the English, but a few weeks out from a tournament in which Eoin Morgan - who switched allegiances exactly a decade ago - is hoping to lead his much-touted England side to a first global 50-over trophy… Well, that would go down like a pint of the black stuff at Gibney's. Not least because this is the first World Cup at which Ireland will not be participating since 2003.

England may be the No. 1-ranked ODI nation, but it won't be the No. 1-ranked team who walk out in north Dublin on Friday. Hales' fall from grace aside, there are numerous absentees through (mostly) minor injuries and prescribed rest for England's IPL contingent. However, the confirmation of a debut for Jofra Archer, the most-talked-about potential World Cup star yet to have played a single ODI, does add a layer of anticipation from an England perspective.

That aside, this is as much of a chance for James Vince to audition for Hales' spot in the World Cup squad (if England don't just give it to Archer); possible ODI debuts for Dawid Malan and Ben Foakes, who is in line to take the gloves after the shoulder injury that cruelly ruled out Sam Billings; and the jostling among the pace bowlers, with Chris Jordan, like his "little bro" Archer, trying to barge into World Cup contention.

Any sniff that England are taking this game lightly would only encourage Ireland further, but there should be no room for complacency in the wake of recent disruption. Hales was part of the camp that got together at the weekend but was subsequently removed to protect the England team "environment" - with Morgan now having given a frank assessment of how the squad felt. Morgan can at least point to England's record against Ireland on his watch, with victories in Dublin in 2011 and 2013 (plus a washout in 2015), and last year's 2-0 win on home soil.

For Ireland, the opportunity to claim a major scalp burns brightly - their last win over a Full Member (other than the recently promoted Afghanistan) came against Zimbabwe at the 2015 World Cup. They will also host West Indies and Bangladesh in a tri-series later this month, while the new FTP and forthcoming ODI league marks the next stage in their bid for more fixtures. But beating England, and emulating Scotland's heroic effort in Edinburgh last year, would start their season on a sweet note.

Form guide

Ireland WLWLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
England LWLWL

In the spotlight

For a long time considered one of Ireland's most-promising talents, Andy Balbirnie has taken the long route to becoming a linchpin of the batting. He was released by Middlesex in 2016 and battled injury for a period but has blossomed in the last 18 months, scoring three ODI hundreds in the pivotal No. 3 spot. With Ireland's class of 2011 slowly heading towards retirement, Balbirnie's development has helped offset the loss of Ed Joyce, in particular, and at the age of 28 he should be coming into the prime of his career. Made a career-best 145 not out to guide Ireland to victory over Afghanistan in March and comes into this game on the back of another hundred for his province, Leinster.

There can be no other candidate. Fortunately, Jofra Archer looks a player born to be in the spotlight, having blazed a trail around the world in T20 leagues from the Big Bash to the IPL since making his debut for Sussex in 2016. His story is now well known: left out of the West Indies squad for the U-19 World Cup, he decided to make use of a British passport and set out to complete the seven-year qualification process to represent England. A change of rules reduced that period to three years and the clamour to get Archer involved in time for the World Cup has only grown since then. A 90mph bowler who can blast sixes and pull down the toughest catches, now is his chance to make an irresistible case.

Team news

Stuart Thompson has been ruled out with a shoulder injury, with former Warwickshire allrounder Mark Adair called up in his place. The spine of the team is full of experience, but there could be a debut for 19-year-old left-armer Josh Little.

Ireland: (possible) 1 William Porterfield (capt), 2 Paul Stirling, 3 Andy Balbirnie, 4 Kevin O'Brien, 5 James McCollum/Lorcan Tucker, 6 Gary Wilson (wk), 7 Mark Adair, 8 George Dockrell, 9 Tim Murtagh, 10 Boyd Rankin, 11 Josh Little/Barry McCarthy

With Roy injured, Jonny Bairstow rested and Hales jettisoned, the stage is set for Vince and Malan to form England's newest opening partnership. Joe Denly is set for his first ODI appearance in almost 10 years, with Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali among those given time off after the IPL. Ben Duckett and Jordan are the other options in England's 13-man squad.

England: (possible) 1 James Vince, 2 Dawid Malan, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Joe Denly, 6 Ben Foakes (wk), 7 David Willey, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Liam Plunkett, 11 Tom Curran

Pitch and conditions

A classic green seamer that could have been designed for Tim Murtagh's nibbly medium-pace. Having been undercover for the last two days, it is unlikely to be a deck for breaking batting records. It was raining in Dublin on Thursday, but the forecast for the match is for a largely clear - if bitingly cold - day.

Stats and trivia

• Ireland's only ODI victory over England remains the 2011 World Cup win at Bengaluru, when Kevin O'Brien went ballistic.

• Gary Wilson is set to win his 100th ODI cap for Ireland.

• Morgan is about to go past James Anderson (194) on England's list of most-capped players in ODIs, with only Paul Collingwood (197) above him.

Quotes

"He is exciting. The attributes and skills he has are good enough to play international cricket, it's how he deals with the pressures that come with it and how he performs." Eoin Morgan on the prospect of Archer's debut

"England have knocked the benchmark up again in ODI cricket over the last couple of years. They've given ODI cricket an extra nudge. They're knocking scores up by about 40 runs regardless of the surfaces they're playing on."
Will Porterfield on the challenge posed by England's hard-hitting batsmen

Joe Clarke and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, the pair of highly rated England Lions batsmen, have been informed they will not be considered for selection until further notice.

Clarke and Kohler-Cadmore were named during the trial of Worcestershire allrounder Alex Hepburn as members of a WhatsApp group that exchanged disrespectful messages about women in what the judge described as a "pathetic sexist game to collect as many sexual encounters as possible". Hepburn was jailed for five years earlier this week having been found guilty of rape.

While neither Clarke or Kohler-Cadmore were charged - the judge clarified in his summing up that Clarke "did nothing wrong" on the night of the attack - it is understood the ECB was concerned by the content and tone of the messages. The ECB's Cricket Discipline Commission is currently deciding whether to bring a case against either man and has informed them they will not be eligible for selection - either for the full England team or the Lions - until those deliberations, or the subsequent disciplinary proceedings, have reached a conclusion.

The ECB withdrew Clarke and Kohler-Cadmore from the Lions squad to tour India earlier this year for the same reasons.

Clarke's current suspension is particularly pertinent. He has started the 2019 season in fine form - he made 112 and 97 not out on Championship debut for Nottinghamshire and is currently averaging 53.16 in this year's Royal London one-day competition - and might well have been in line for selection for the ODI in Dublin on Thursday.

England are without several first choice top-order batsmen, either through injury or being rested after the IPL - while Alex Hales was dropped after failing a drugs test - so have recalled the likes of Ben Duckett (averaging 28.80 in the Royal London Cup) and Dawid Malan (averaging 34.60). Had Clarke been available for selection, there is a strong likelihood he would have won a call-up.

Hepburn, Clarke and Kohler-Cadmore were all team-mates at Worcestershire at the time of the rape in April 2017. Clarke joined Nottinghamshire at the end of the 2018 season, while Kohler-Cadmore left for Yorkshire midway through 2017. Steve Rhodes, who was Worcestershire's director of cricket at the time of the crime, was sacked for not reporting Hepburn's arrest to club officials in a timely manner and stood down from his position as England coach for the Under-19 World Cup.

DOHA, Qatar -- Track and field's governing body will immediately apply its testosterone regulations to the 1,500 meters, president Sebastian Coe said Thursday, ignoring advice from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The CAS said Wednesday that there was not enough evidence to show Caster Semenya and other female athletes with naturally high testosterone levels had a significant advantage in that event.

The CAS upheld the IAAF's rules limiting testosterone for athletes competing in some events, including Semenya's favored 800 meters, in its landmark ruling.

But in a caveat to the decision, the Switzerland-based court specifically said there was "a paucity of evidence" to apply the rules to the 1,500-meter and one-mile races. The CAS asked the IAAF to delay the rules in those events until it provides more evidence.

Asked a day later at a news conference in Doha, Qatar, if the IAAF would heed that advice from sport's highest court, Coe simply said: "No."

Despite saying the IAAF would ignore the CAS' advice on the 1,500 rules, Coe said he was "really grateful" to the court for its overall decision.

Having answered two questions from reporters on the CAS decision, Coe refused to speak any more on the issue.

Coe's response to the 1,500-meter question fuels Semenya's argument that the IAAF is deliberately sidelining the South African star because of her success. The two-time Olympic and three-time world champion in the 800 recently put more focus on the 1,500 as an alternative. She won a bronze medal in the 1,500 at the 2017 world championships.

Semenya, 28, gave her strongest criticism yet of the IAAF when she said in a statement in the wake of the CAS decision: "I know that the IAAF's regulations have always targeted me specifically. For a decade the IAAF has tried to slow me down, but this has actually made me stronger."

Semenya now has the option of submitting to the IAAF rules and medically reducing her testosterone to be able to compete in the 800 or 1,500 at major meets. Or she could run longer distances and not have to medicate. She hasn't indicated what she will do.

Semenya and another athlete who has publicly announced she has a testosterone condition, Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi, will both run in the 800 at the Diamond League meet in Doha on Friday.

It will be the last top-class women's 800 before the testosterone regulations go into effect next week.

The Oakland Raiders are expected to re-sign veteran running back Doug Martin, a source confirmed to ESPN's Paul Gutierrez on Wednesday.

Martin's anticipated return comes after Raiders running back Isaiah Crowell tore his Achilles tendon during a workout with the team Tuesday and was ruled out for the season, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Wednesday.

The team's move to bring back Martin was first reported by NFL Network.

Martin showed he had something left in the tank last season, rushing for a team-high 723 yards after he replaced an injured Marshawn Lynch as the Raiders' bell-cow back in Week 8. It was the third-highest single-season total of Martin's career.

Martin, who turned 30 in January, rushed for four touchdowns, and he tied Lynch for the team lead in averaging 4.2 yards per carry -- a big jump after he averaged 2.9 yards per attempt in 2017 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Martin also caught 18 passes for 116 yards, though he had some ball control issues, with three fumbles.

A two-time Pro Bowl selection with the Bucs, who selected him in the first round (31st overall) of the 2012 draft, Martin was released in 2017 following two tumultuous seasons. He entered a drug rehabilitation program and was suspended for the final game of the 2016 season and the first three games of 2017. He then was benched in favor of Peyton Barber for the final three games of the 2017 season and was a healthy scratch in Week 15 for violating a team rule.

In seven NFL seasons, Martin has rushed for 5,356 yards and 30 touchdowns. He has caught 148 passes for 1,207 yards and another two TDs.

The Raiders used the No. 24 pick in the draft on Alabama running back Josh Jacobs and also have Jalen Richard, DeAndre Washington, James Butler and Chris Warren on the roster.

Tiger Woods is set to celebrate his Masters victory by visiting the White House and President Donald Trump on Monday, according to multiple reports.

The reports say Trump will host a ceremony honoring Woods, who won his 15th major championship last month and fifth green jacket.

The day after the victory, Trump tweeted that he had spoken with Woods and announced he would be honoring him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest honor for a civilian. That presentation is expected to take place later in the year.

The president is an avid golfer who played a round with Woods at Trump's golf club in Jupiter, Florida, in February.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Linebacker Derrick Johnson will be the next player to sign a one-day contract and retire as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Johnson said by text message he would sign the contract next week.

Running back Jamaal Charles signed a one-day contract with the team on Wednesday so he could retire as a Chief.

Johnson, 36, was the Chiefs' first-round draft pick in 2005 from Texas. He played 13 seasons with the team and was one of the NFL's top linebackers for much of that time.

Johnson was selected to play in the Pro Bowl four times and was a first-team All-Pro in 2011. Johnson has 27.5 sacks and 14 interceptions for the Chiefs.

The Chiefs released Johnson last March. He signed with the Oakland Raiders but lasted just six games before the Raiders released him.

More than 200 women's hockey players -- including Team USA stars Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Canada's Marie Philip-Poulin -- have announced they will not be playing in a professional league next season.

"We cannot make a sustainable living playing in the current state of the professional game," said the statement, released by individual players on social media Thursday. "Having no health insurance and making as low as two thousand dollars a season means players can't adequately train and prepare to play at the highest level."

We may represent different teams, leagues and countries but collectively we stand as one.   #ForTheGame pic.twitter.com/O9MOOL8YOt

— Hilary Knight (@HilaryKnight) May 2, 2019

Many players have gone on the record to say they want the NHL to support a women's league with financial and infrastructural resources, and sources told ESPN that the players hope the joint announcement could apply pressure on the NHL to act.

The NWHL is the only remaining professional women's hockey league in North America.

"We have all accomplished so much, there is no greater accomplishment than what we have the potential to do right here and right now -- not just for this generation of players, but for the generations to come," the players' statement read. "With that purpose, we are coming together, not just as individual players, but as one collective voice to help a sustainable living playing in the current state of the professional game."

There has been uncertainty clouding the women's hockey landscape since the Canadian-based CWHL made a shocking decision to fold after the 2018-19 season. The CWHL said in a statement that "while the on-ice hockey is exceptional, the business model has proven to be economically unsustainable."

Ever since the U.S.-based NWHL debuted four years ago, there had been calls to merge the two leagues. Players were upset that resources were fragmented, and they believe there isn't a big enough talent pool to support two leagues at this time. What's more, the low pay in each league means players have to juggle other full-time jobs, and the travel itineraries are less than ideal.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has gone on the record several times to say he didn't want to intervene with either league as long as they both existed in their current states -- mainly because the league didn't want to look like it was choosing sides or swooping in as a "big brother" to save the day, according to NHL sources.

"As long as elite women hockey players have professional opportunities, it is not an environment we are prepared to wade into in any formal way," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN when the CWHL folded, leaving only one league. "We have always supported professional women's hockey, and we plan to continue to do so. That doesn't mean we need to form or directly subsidize an existing professional league."

The NHL previously gave $50,000 annual contributions to each league. When the CWHL folded, the NHL upped its contribution to the NWHL to $100,000.

Dani Rylan, the founder and commissioner of the NWHL, said the 2018-19 season was one of growth. Rylan says she wants to expand the league next season with franchises in Montreal and Toronto, though no formal details have been announced.

The 2019 NWHL All-Star Game in Nashville drew 6,200 -- the largest crowd for a pro women's hockey game in the United States. Combined, the skills challenge and All-Star Game generated more than a million viewers on Twitter. And in their first NWHL season as the league's first expansion team, the Minnesota Whitecaps sold out every home game; TRIA Rink in Saint Paul has a capacity of 1,200.

The NWHL does not disclose any information about its budget or revenue. Only some of the investors are made public. That has been a point of contention for the NWHL Players' Association, especially in contract negotiations, in which it wanted to know how the league arrived at $100,000 for the salary cap.

Rylan told ESPN in April that she expects player salaries to grow for next season. The NWHL had a salary cap of $100,000 last season, with the lowest-paid player making $2,500 for the season.

"We have two different business models," Rylan said when asked why the NWHL would succeed when the CWHL couldn't. "We are for-profit. We have the flexibility to sell our assets, whether it's at the league level or the team level, and I think that's fundamentally the biggest difference."

The Memphis Grizzlies are interested in one of the EuroLeague's rising coaching stars, Lithuania's Sarunas Jasikevicius, and plan to meet with him soon, league sources told ESPN.

The Grizzlies' coaching search, which Executive VP of Basketball Operations Zach Kleiman is running, is still largely in the early stages, league sources said.

Jasikevicius, 43, has rapidly built a reputation as a legitimate NBA head-coaching candidate in his three seasons as coach of Zalgiris in Lithuania.

Known for a strong-willed leadership style and teams that exhibit elite ball movement and offensive execution, Jasikevicius has so far shown an ability to get his Lithuanian and EuroLeague teams to overachieve. Toronto president Masai Ujiri interviewed Jasikevicius for the Raptors' head-coaching opening last year, and his name keeps coming up with NBA general managers as a possible NBA coaching candidate.

Along with a decorated EuroLeague playing career, Jasikevicius played two seasons in the NBA with Indiana and Golden State, as well as four years at the University of Maryland for Naismith Hall of Fame coach Gary Williams. He also attended a year of high school in the United States and speaks fluent English.

Memphis fired coach JB Bickerstaff after a 33-49 season.

DENVER -- Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray reaggravated a right thigh injury that kept him out of the final 53 seconds of Game 2 and will undergo treatment over the next 48 hours.

Murray missed six of his eight 3-point attempts and finished with 15 points and seven assists, then had to watch the final seconds of Portland's 97-90 victory at Denver in Game 2.

Murray first bruised his thigh during the first round by absorbing a screen from San Antonio's Jakob Poeltl, and he has been nursing a right shoulder injury. He said he ran into another screen on Tuesday and had difficulty moving as Game 2 progressed.

"Those screens hurt," Murray said. "It is what it is. It hurt for the rest of the game. Couldn't move, obviously, and coach [Michael Malone] had to take me out. I'm just going to get treatment and just be ready for Game 3. It was definitely hurting."

Murray will try to get his thigh to "loosen up as much as possible" in the next few days, according to Malone.

"It's that right thigh area," Malone said. "Obviously, I think it is still probably sore and bruised from last series, and he probably got hit there again."

In addition to Murray hobbling, the Nuggets lost Torrey Craig for nearly 21 minutes between the second and third quarters after he sustained a bloody nasal contusion by inadvertently falling into teammate Monte Morris' knee. Craig and Portland's Zach Collins went for a loose ball before Craig fell into Morris.

Craig, who scored seven points in 19 minutes, returned wearing a protective mask late in the third quarter. He had his nose reexamined before the team flew to Portland late after Game 2.

Both Murray and Craig have been pivotal parts of Denver's playoff success. Murray is averaging 23.4 points in the Nuggets' five playoff victories this postseason.

After Malone inserted Craig in the Nuggets' starting lineup in place of Will Barton in Game 4 in the first round against San Antonio, the Nuggets won four of their next five playoff games and erased a 2-1 deficit to beat the Spurs. Craig's defensive versatility played a huge role in that series win over San Antonio.

Craig and Murray also were at the center of a dust-up in the final seconds of Game 2. After Portland center Enes Kanter was shoved into Craig by Nikola Jokic , Denver guard Gary Harris took exception and verbally let Kanter know.

During the ensuing timeout with 43.6 seconds left, Murray left the bench and had words with Kanter. Both teams separated the sides to prevent things from escalating.

"There was nothing dirty about it," Malone said. "The first play was inadvertent, and Torrey falls and winds up hitting Monte Morris' knee. There's nothing dirty about that. It's an unfortunate bounce for Torrey Craig.

"And the second one, Nikola and Kanter are tangled up in the paint, Kanter goes flying up the floor and runs into Torrey. I don't think there's any malice in either one of those plays. But listen: Both of these teams are trying to get to the Western Conference finals. It's going to be hard-fought and physical, but there is nothing dirty about it, and I respect that."