Chennai Super Kings 181 for 0 (du Plessis 87*, Watson 83*) beat Kings XI Punjab 178 for 4 (Rahul 63, Thakur 2-39) by 10 wickets

After losing three matches in a row, the Chennai Super Kings finally ditched their go-slow at the top and maximised the powerplay, dragging themselves off the bottom of the points table with a ten-wicket shellacking of the Kings XI Punjab in Dubai. Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson reeled off an unbroken 181 together for the first wicket - the highest partnership ever for the Super Kings - to hand the Kings XI their fourth defeat. It was also the second-highest target chased down in the IPL without losing a wicket.

Du Plessis, in particular, wasn't fluent in the early exchanges, but he chanced his arm and kept clearing the infield. In the last over of the powerplay, du Plessis flitted around the crease and carted Chris Jordan for four fours in five balls, seemingly ruining the bowler's 32nd birthday.

After managing 4, 33, 14, 1 in his first four innings this season, Watson, too, dashed out of the blocks rolling out his vintage slog-sweeps and lofts down the ground. He was the first to raise his half-century, off 31 balls, before du Plessis brought up his own landmark off 33 balls. The pair then cranked up the tempo further and toyed with a Kings XI side that had drafted in Jordan to beef up their bowling attack in place of New Zealand allrounder Jimmy Neesham.

The Kings XI had started strongly, too, earlier in the evening, with captain KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal putting together their third fifty-plus opening stand in five innings. Rahul cut out all risks and was on 46 off 44 balls at the start of the 15th over; the Kings XI were 114 for 2 at that point. However, the big acceleration didn't quite come to pass as Shardul Thakur had Rahul edging behind for 63 off 52 balls with a slower yorker. Thakur had also dismissed the big-hitting Nicholas Pooran in the same over - the 18th - to help limit the Kings XI to 178 for 4.

Rahul and Agarwal at it again

After opting to bat, Rahul saw off the early swing from Deepak Chahar and only went on the offensive when the Super Kings' seamers provided him width. At the other end, though, Agarwal was more adventurous, backing away outside leg and clattering Chahar over extra-cover. He then nailed a front-foot pull off a heavy-length delivery from Thakur. However, legspinner Piyush Chawla cut short Agarwal's knock at 26 off 19 balls with his first delivery.

Mandeep Singh, who was picked ahead of Karun Nair, infused more urgency into the innings, taking Chawla for 20 off just nine balls. Then, when he tried to take on Ravindra Jadeja's left-arm fingerspin, he drilled him straight to Ambati Rayudu at extra-cover. After not picking up a single wicket in his last three matches, Jadeja got away to 3-0-17-1. However, the left-handed Nicholas Pooran messed with his figures, cracking him for back-to-back boundaries in his final over, including a massive six over midwicket. In contrast, Rahul continued to play himself in for the slog overs.

Thakur stays alive at the death

Rahul raised his fifty off his 46th ball with a six and hit the next two balls for boundaries as well. Just when he threatened to accelerate, Thakur tricked him with a slower wide yorker that found his outside edge. Dhoni dived to his right and became the second wicketkeeper, after Dinesh Karthik, to bag 100 catches. A ball before removing Rahul, Thakur had Pooran skying a catch for 33 off 17 balls. Although, Sarfaraz Khan got two fours away off the first two balls off the last over, Thakur adjusted his pace and lines to close out the innings well. In all, the Kings XI scored only 37 off their last four overs.

Hello, again, CSK

Watson set the tone for the Super Kings' chase when he planted his front leg and lofted left-arm seamer Sheldon Cottrell over mid-on in the first over. The Kings XI then threw Harpreet Brar into the powerplay, matching him up with Watson, who tends to struggle against left-arm fingerspinners. In the game against the Delhi Capitals, Axar Patel found drift and cramped him for room, drawing a weak pull to deep midwicket. Watson, though, lofted Brar over his head and settled down. Du Plessis then kept swishing at the ball, exploiting the field restrictions, taking the Super Kings to 60 for 0 in six overs. It was the first time this season that the Super Kings openers had moved past the powerplay unscathed.

With Chawla, Shardul Thakur, and Deepak Chahar at Nos. 9, 10, and 11, Watson and du Plessis kept going after the bowlers. Legspinner Ravi Bishnoi put Watson off with his reverse diagonal run-up across the umpire like how Mumbai Indians' Rahul Chahar often does. However, he, too, wasn't spared as Watson smoked him past extra-cover and then Jordan returned to cop more punishment from Du Plessis.

Du Plessis finished the chase off in grand fashion in the 18th over with a one-handed six followed by a punched four off Mohammed Shami.

Nottinghamshire95 for 5 (Christian 30, Hales 29) beat Lancashire 94 for 4 (Croft 33) by 16 runs

Given the timings and length of games on what became Finals Half-Day, two teams were bound to be leaving Edgbaston around Sunday evening wondering why they had waited around for a day and a half. In the first semi-final it was Gloucestershire; in the second it was Lancashire after the match between the sides with the most T20 victories in the history of England's shortest format was ended in the most brutal fashion by Dan Christian, who whacked four consecutive sixes into the Hollies Stand off Liam Livingstone's eighth over of the innings. The Outlaws skipper thus made good use of the short boundary and capitalised on Dane Vilas's decision to bowl the off-spinner after a similar choice at Chester-le-Street last summer was the prelude to an onslaught by Ravi Bopara and his Lancashire's quarter-final defeat to Essex. With four overs to go Notts needed 29 runs. It looked a decent game until then.

Croft's Original Skills

Lancashire's batsmen maintained a steady rate of around eight runs per over throughout their innings. After nine balls they had scored more runs than Gloucestershire had managed in the 20 of their earlier Powerplay and Alex Davies' two straight-driven boundaries were a declaration of intent by Old Trafford's batsman of the season in short-form games. But having thus declared, Davies quickly departed, well caught above his head at backward square leg by Steven Mullaney off Samit Patel for 15.

Notts Outlaws stuck to their spin attack - four of the first six overs were sent down by twirlers - but Lancashire tucked in when they could and collected singles when they couldn't.

Steven Croft smacked his first ball for four through the covers and his third over long on for six. And after six overs Lightning appeared decently placed on 54 for 1. Livingstone lifted Matt Carter over backward square leg but then perished in the same over and same region, caught by Jake Ball on the boundary for 22.

At no point in the first half of the game did Lancashire's innings lose momentum yet at no point did they really cut loose in the fashion later managed by Notts. Croft's 22-ball 33 was a noble effort from a loyal cricketer but he perished in the tenth over, caught at deep midwicket by Zak Chappell who was subbing for Chris Nash who had earlier gone off with a leg injury.

Imad Wasim was clearly the pick of the Notts attack: he bowled his three overs at a cost of 18 runs while his four colleagues all of whom bowled two overs went for between 16 and 20. Nonetheless, Lancashire's total of 94 for 4 looked a fair target; they had after all scored 20 runs off the last 17 balls of their innings without hitting a boundary.

Christian Brutality

At no stage of their innings were Nottinghamshire behind the required rate. Ben Duckett's six over long-on in Tom Hartley's first over helped and so did Alex Hales' cut for four off Luke Wood's second. But the Notts batsmen had hardly started; when Saqib Mahmood came on at the City End Hales upper-cut him into the stands at third man. Duckett departed in the same over, caught by Croft at deep midwicket for 13, but Joe Clarke lifted his second ball from Mahmood for six over long-off and at the end of the Powerplay the Outlaws were 41 for 1. It was a substantial 13-run advantage and it looked even better when they had racked up 49 off four overs.

Hales was bowled for 29 by a classic leg-spinner from Matt Parkinson but any impetus or inspiration Lancashire took from that seemed to have been dispelled a few minutes later when Clarke lifted Hartley into the stands. However, Hartley, whose emergence has been one of the successes of Lancashire's season, responded by having Tom Moores caught at long-on by Vilas for 1 and then by bowling Clarke with a ball of full length for 17. After another tight over from Parkinson, Notts needed 29 runs off 24 balls, at which point Christian eyed the short boundary and saw that an off-spinner was coming on. Parkinson had Christian stumped for his 13-ball 30 only for Imad Wasim to end the game next ball.

Beaten T20 Blast semi-finalists Gloucestershire and Lancashire held their hands up and offered no excuses after 11-over defeats, refusing to blame conditions for their exits and instead accepting that they were beaten by better teams.

Both sides were defeated convincingly batting first after a day and a half of persistent rain in Birmingham, Gloucestershire losing to Surrey with eight balls to spare after posting a below-par 73 for 7, before Lancashire's 94 for 4 proved to be too few against Nottinghamshire, who chased that target with 16 balls left.

Instead, both teams' captains pointed to their missing overseas players and hoped that the addition of international stars next season would propel them into the final.

Gloucestershire had signed Afghanistan legspinner Qais Ahmed and Australian seamer AJ Tye for the Blast, but cancelled their contracts due to the impact of the pandemic on both club finances and international travel. In previous seasons, they have been led by the talismanic Michael Klinger, who has been the linchpin at the top of their batting order.

"We've used our squad and guys have stepped up and chipped in at different times," said Jack Taylor. "We've got such a competitive squad, and we're having to leave guys out who want places in the team and that's without having overseas players."

"I've no doubt we'll come back next year and put in another strong showing like we have done in the group stages in the past four or five years. I don't think there are any excuses: we all wanted to play and prepared to play and were very excited to get out there but we weren't quite good enough. We didn't quite sum up the conditions - I reckon we only needed 15 more runs."

Lancashire, meanwhile, had planned to add Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner to their squad for the second year in a row, but again had to cancel their contracts. As a result, they lacked power in the middle order with the bat, and added only 20 runs in the final 2.5 overs of their innings.

For Nottinghamshire, Imad Wasim bowled his three overs for just 20, while Dan Christian finished the game with four sixes in as many balls off Liam Livingstone after bowling a tight final over.

"Tonight wasn't our night," Lancashire captain Dane Vilas said. "Their overseas stepped up and did the business, with overseas players maybe being the difference tonight.

"I think momentum was with us: we were pretty confident at the halfway stage getting near that competitive 100 mark and then we squeezed with our spinners. But unfortunately, in any game Dan Christian hitting those sixes takes it away from you."

For the second year in a row, Vilas was left to rue his decision to bowl Livingstone at a crucial time. In last year's quarter-final, he bowled the 19th over against Essex and disappeared for three sixes; this evening, Christian managed one more off the eighth to effectively end the game as a contest.

"Credit to Livi," Vilas said. "He stuck his hand up and he wants to be that sort of guy who does well for us and has done it in the past. I was confident, and I was backing him tonight. I thought we had a chance when he was going with the bat, but it wasn't to be."

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson continues to remind everyone that he's the best dual-threat QB ever.

On Sunday in Washington, Jackson reached 5,000 yards passing and 2,000 yards rushing quicker than any player in NFL history. He recorded this feat in his 35th career game.

Needing 96 yards passing to reach the 5,000-yard milestone, Jackson set the record on a 25-yard touchdown pass to Mark Andrews in the second quarter.

Jackson showed how dangerous he is running the ball earlier in the second quarter when he broke free for a 50-yard touchdown run, which is the longest of his career. It was the longest touchdown run by a quarterback in five seasons.

This marked the first time a player produced a touchdown run of 50 or more yards and a touchdown pass of at least 25 yards since Marcus Mariota in 2015.

Oklahoma dropped out of The Associated Press college football poll for the first time since September 2016 and No. 24 Iowa State jumped back into the Top 25 after a day of upsets.

There largely was stability at the top of the rankings Sunday after No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Florida all won big, though the Bulldogs and Gators switched spots. Clemson received 52 first-place votes and Alabama got eight from the panel of sports writers and broadcasters.

Notre Dame was idle and held at No. 5, while No. 6 Ohio State received two first-place votes despite no Big Ten Conference games scheduled until late October.

Overall, though, five teams dropped out of the Top 25 after eight ranked teams lost Saturday, six to unranked opponents.

The Sooners were involved in one of those upsets, losing at Iowa State for the first time since 1960. Oklahoma's first two-game, regular-season losing streak in 21 years snapped its string of 64 straight poll appearances.

That was the fourth-longest active streak in the country behind Alabama, Ohio State (not including the polls in which it was not eligible) and Clemson.

The Sooners will head into their Red River rivalry game against Texas next Saturday as an unranked team for the first time since 2005.

The 22nd-ranked Longhorns managed to hold on to a spot in the rankings, falling 13 spots after losing at home to TCU.

POLL POINTS

Alabama's streak of poll appearances reached 201, the fourth longest of all time behind Nebraska's record 348 (1981-2002), Florida State's 211 (1989-2001) and Florida's 209 (1990-2002).

Ohio State's streak is up to 134, but it now comes with a caveat. The Buckeyes were ineligible to be ranked in the first two regular-season polls of this season because the Big Ten had postponed its football season. When the Big Ten (and other conferences) reversed course and decided to play, those teams became eligible again and the Buckeyes were back.

OUT

- UCF took the biggest fall among the five teams to drop out of the rankings, going from 11th to unranked and snapping a streak of 33 straight appearances.

- Mississippi State followed up its upset of LSU by losing to Arkansas at home. The Razorbacks snapped a 20-game SEC winning streak and the Bulldogs dropped from No. 16 to others receiving votes.

- Pitt stumbled at home to NC State and dropped out.

- Memphis fell from the rankings after losing to SMU.

IN

- No. 23 Louisiana returned to the rankings without playing. It has been quite an early season for the Ragin' Cajuns, who last month made their first appearance in the AP Top 25 since 1943 by winning at Iowa State.

The return of Big Ten and Pac-12 teams to the rankings, combined with a couple of close victories against Sun Belt rivals, nudged the Cajuns out last week. Suddenly, beating Iowa State is looking impressive again.

- No. 18 SMU is the only 4-0 team in the country.

- No. 19 Virginia Tech got bumped by the Big Ten teams last week, but after winning another game shorthanded, the Hokies are back in.

- No. 25 Minnesota was No. 19 in the preseason but didn't return to the AP Top 25 last week when the Big Ten became eligible again. Having star receiver Rashod Bateman opt back in and become eligible helped win over some voters.

UP

- No. 15 BYU has its best ranking since 2009, when the Cougars briefly broke into the top 10 early in the season by upsetting Oklahoma.

This BYU squad hasn't played an opponent as notable as the Sooners yet, but no team in the country has been more dominant. The Cougars have outscored Navy, Troy and Louisiana Tech by a combined 148-24.

- No. 8 North Carolina moved up four spots to match its best ranking since 2015.

- No. 10 Oklahoma State took advantage of the the eight ranked teams losing to jump seven spots after beating Kansas.

- No. 14 Tennessee was another beneficiary of a tumultuous week for ranked teams. The Vols moved up seven spots after beating Missouri.

CONFERENCE CALL

SEC -- 7 (Nos. 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 17, 21).

ACC -- 5 (Nos. 1, 5, 7, 8, 19).

Big Ten -- 5 (Nos. 6, 9, 16, 20, 25).

Big 12 -- 3 (Nos. 10, 22, 24).

American -- 2 (Nos. 11, 18).

Pac-12 -- 1 (No. 12).

Sun Belt -- 1 (No. 23)

Independent -- 1 (No. 15).

RANKED vs. RANKED

No. 7 Miami at No. 1 Clemson. It's about to get real for the Hurricanes.

No. 4 Florida at No. 21 Texas A&M. Aggies return home from Alabama, hoping for better against the Gators.

No. 14 Tennessee at No. 3 Georgia. Vols get a chance to make a statement against a Georgia team that looked scary good against Auburn.

No. 19 Virginia Tech at No. 8 North Carolina. What could the Hokies do at full strength?

Brent Lakatos denies David Weir win No.9 while Nikita den Boer secures surprise success

David Weir had predicted that the men’s wheelchair event would be a “sprinter’s race” and so it proved as Canada’s multiple track world record-holder Brent Lakatos had the closing speed required to deny the Briton a ninth London Marathon title on Sunday.

Racing on a 2.15km loop course in a torrential downpour made the going tough and six athletes remained in contention until the closing stages.

But it was Loughborough-based Lakatos who made a move going into the final stretch and none of his rivals could respond.

The 2016 Paralympic T53 100m champion clocked 1:36:04 to claim his first London Marathon victory ahead of six-time Paralympic gold medallist Weir with 1:36:06.

Switzerland’s Paralympic marathon champion Marcel Hug pipped Japan’s Sho Watanabe to third as they both clocked 1:36:08, while Spain’s Jordi Madera finished fifth in 1:36:09 and Japan’s Kota Hokinoue sixth in 1:36:11.

“I feel amazing,” said the winner. “This is the type of marathon I like – a sprinter’s marathon with all the accelerations and the slow downs, it gives you the chance to catch your breath for the next sprint. So it suited me quite well and I’m really ecstatic with the result.”

Weir, racing in the senior event for the 21st time, was also pleased with his performance and said: “It was a good race. It was tough. I knew it would be a sprinter’s race, the course really suited Brent.

“I gave it my best shot. I was just a bit unlucky at the end. My hand came out of my glove so I had to quickly put it back in. It was so wet, it just kept slipping in and out. But I was happy with my performance.

“I’ve had a really good six or seven months of solid training so it just showed me today, I know I came second but I’ve not beat Marcel for two years so it was nice to beat him for once. I feel like I’m a lot stronger now and fitter, to compete with the top guys again.”

There was a surprise in the women’s race as Dutch racer Nikita den Boer beat Switzerland’s pre-race favourite and defending champion Manuela Schär – 1:40:07 to 1:41:29.

Even Den Boer, who achieved Paralympic Games qualification with her PB performance, admitted that she didn’t expect it.

“I’m really, really happy,” said the 2019 world 5000m fourth-placer. “The first 20km, it looked really easy for Manuela, so I just stayed with her.

“To be with her and be second to her would have been really good so to be first is really crazy. She has been unbeaten for two years in the marathon.”

The USA’s Jenna Fesemyer was third in 1:52:16, while Britain’s two-time winner Shelly Woods did not finish.

Faced with another salary cap crunch, the Chicago Blackhawks have traded defenseman Olli Maatta to the Los Angeles Kings for a prospect.

Chicago needs to make deals for forwards Dominik Kubalik, who finished third in Calder Trophy voting, and Dylan Strome, and they do not have a frontline goalie under contract. Two-time Stanley Cup winner Corey Crawford is an unrestricted free agent.

Buying out the remaining two years of Maatta's contract was a legitimate option for Chicago, but they found a taker in the Kings.

"Olli is a well-rounded player who will fit well with our group of defensemen," Kings general manager Rob Blake said in a statement. "He is a young player that already has a lot of valuable NHL experience, including a pair of Stanley Cups, and we look forward to having him join our organization."

Maatta, 26, won those Cups with the Penguins before the Blackhawks acquired him in June 2019 in a deal that included Dominik Kahun.

Maatta was underwhelming during the regular season for Chicago, but he was arguably their best defenseman in the playoffs -- scoring three goals and six points, along with being a plus-7.

The Blackhawks get 23-year-old center Brad Morrison in the deal. He had 19 points in 17 games for the Fort Wayne Komets in the ECHL last season.

NORTH BERWICK, Scotland — Englishman Aaron Rai needed only one playoff hole to beat compatriot Tommy Fleetwood and win the Scottish Open for his second European Tour title on Sunday.

Fleetwood (67) birdied the last hole of regulation to match Rai’s total of 11 under par, but then missed from three feet for par on the first extra hole.

“Tommy had finished off incredibly and it’s not nice to see him miss that but it feels incredible,” said Rai, who won the 2018 Hong Kong Open and finished second in the Irish Open seven days ago.

The 25-year-old Rai had set the clubhouse target after a superb 7-under 64, recovering from a bogey at the second to birdie five of the next six holes before picking up three more shots on the back nine.

Robert Rock (70) looked set to match Rai’s total after he birdied Nos. 10, 13, 15 and 16, only to bogey the last after a clumsy chip from just short of the green.

Rock, who began the day with a two-shot lead, finished alone in third on 10 under, with Australia’s Lucas Herbert (65) and Scotland’s Marc Warren (66) a stroke further back.

Herbert held a one-shot lead at the halfway stage but slumped six shots off the pace following a third round of 79 in miserable conditions on Saturday.

However, the 24-year-old Herbert surged into the lead with six birdies in the first 10 holes Sunday and recovered from a bogey on the 12th with further gains on the 15th and 16th, only to crucially drop a shot on the 17th.

Wide receiver Josh Gordon and defensive lineman David Irving have been waiting months for decisions from the NFL on their reinstatement from indefinite suspensions -- decisions that now are overdue, based on the league's collective bargaining agreement.

Gordon applied for reinstatement in June and Irving applied in July, and the NFL is supposed to make a decision on the application within 60 days. Gordon has an agreement in place with the Seattle Seahawks but cannot sign it until he is reinstated.

Irving, who has 12 sacks in 25 career games, has drawn interest from at least six teams and wants to return to football. His agent Steve Weinberg believes Irving is overdue an answer from the NFL on his client's application for reinstatement.

Weinberg told ESPN that Irving applied for reinstatement in mid-July, and the NFL is supposed to make a decision on the application within 60 days, which would have been a few weeks ago. With a verdict overdue, Weinberg wants Irving to be reinstated immediately so that he can sign with a team.

"David has done everything asked of him," Weinberg said. "He's been drug tested, he's met with doctors and I don't get it. Why have 60 days in the program if they're not going to abide by it."

Irving, 27, announced he was quitting football in March 2019, shortly after the league suspended him indefinitely for violating its substance-abuse policy for a third time in as many years. He announced his decision in an Instagram video where he appeared to be smoking marijuana, saying he was walking away from the game in a form of protest for not being allowed to smoke marijuana.

But with players no longer being tested for marijuana use in the new CBA, Irving wants to return to the NFL and is now awaiting the league's approval.

"We're baffled why we don't have a decision," Weinberg said. "We're at a loss as to why this hasn't been ruled on yet."

Gordon, 29, was suspended indefinitely in December for violations of the league's policies on performance-enhancing substances and substances of abuse. It was Gordon's sixth suspension since the 2013 season and his fifth for some form of substance abuse, according to ESPN Stats & Information.