Week Ahead, April 22-28: Battle For Play-Offs Continues In IPL; ISL Semifinals Coming Up

Next seven days, April 22-28, are again stacked up with lots of sporting action. The week in IPL will see the top teams trying to race away from the bottom ones and the playoff picture will get more clear. In football, ISL semifinals are lined up while the Premier League drama continues with the top three still jostling with each other. Other sports also have big events to ensure that the week has something for everyone. (More Sports News)

Here is your guide to what lies in the next week so that you do not miss a single major sporting event that is coming up.

Cricket

Indian Premier League 2024 will have another important week that will see the top teams trying to ensure their place in the top four. At the same time, the team placed low on the table would have last chance to turn their fortunes.

The upcoming week will be the first time since the first week of this season that both Saturdays and Sundays will have a double headers.

Table-toppers Rajasthan Royals (RR) will open the week with a match against Mumbai Indians. RR then also play Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday. Solidifying their position at the top will be their main task this week.

Defending Champions Chennai Super Kings play Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday and close the week with a game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday evening.

In the Pakistan-New Zealand T20I series the action will move to Lahore from Rawalpindi where the last two games of the match series will take place.

Indian women will be in Bangladesh next week for their series against the neighbours starting from April 28.

The Pakistan vs West Indies women's ODI series ends Tuesday and from Friday the two start their five match T20I series.

Football

Arsenal will have their task cut out in the Premier League this week. The Gunners host an in-form Chelsea on Wednesday and then visit the fifth-placed Tottenham on Sunday. They have played an extra game but are sitting on top and the week would definitely test their grip at the summit.

Manchester City and Liverpool also play twice but they have relatively easier fixtures.

In the UEFA Women's Champions League, the return legs take place this weekend. Chelsea would like to maintain their 1-0 lead over Barcelona when two sides meet on Saturday while PSG would like to erase the 2-3 deficit when they take on Lyon on Sunday.

Back home, in the ISL play-off, semfinals will be lined up. Tuesday, Odisha FC host League Shield winners Mohun Bagan and the next day FC Goa takes on Mumbai City FC.

Sunday and Monday will have the return legs of semifinals.

Others

The clay court action goes ahead this week in Spain with Madrid Open starting from Wednesday.

Novak Djokovic's withdrawal from the tournament has made Jannik Sinner the top seed while the availability of Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion, is still doubtful.

The MotoGP action now moves to Barcelona with the Spanish Grand Prix set to take place this Sunday.

Indian badminton stars will be in action when the BWF Thomas and Uber Cup begin this weekend.

India being the defending champions in the Thomas Cup will be under pressure and will look to follow on on their brilliant 2022 campaign. In the Thomas Cup, champions India in Group C alongside Indonesia, Thailand and England. In the Uber Cup, India are in group A drawn alongside runner-up China, Canada and Singapore.

ISSF Final Shotgun Olympic Qualification Championship 2024 begins Tuesday with Indian contingent eyeing more berths for Paris.