Kohli's Bengaluru begin IPL title defense in somber mood following victory parade deaths

NEW DELHI (AP) — Virat Kohli and Royal Challengers Bengaluru begin the defense of their Indian Premier League crown with muted enthusiasm against Ishan Kishan and Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday.

Bengaluru's buildup to launching the latest IPL has been overshadowed since June by the deaths of 11 fans in a stampede outside Chinnaswamy Stadium during the team's victory parade. It took months for Bengaluru to receive permission from state authorities to host IPL matches, and state cricket officials will honor the dead by leaving 11 seats in the stadium permanently empty.

The 10-team league spans 74 matches, culminating in the final on May 31.

Here's how the tournament shapes up.

Bengaluru, a three-time finalist, broke through with its first title in 2025 on the back of bowling led by Australia seamer Josh Hazlewood. Hazlewood hasn't played since November and is still recovering from hamstring and Achilles issues that forced him to miss the Ashes and the Twenty20 World Cup. In his absence, medium-pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and spinner Krunal Pandya will shoulder the responsibility. Medium-pacer Yash Dayal is also absent owing to sexual assault allegations. Kohli heads the batting lineup with foreign flavor from Phil Salt and Jacob Bethell. Back-to-back titles have been achieved only twice by Chennai Super Kings in 2010-11 and Mumbai Indians in 2019-20.

Chennai and Mumbai dominate with a combined 10 titles and 16 final appearances in 18 IPLs but Chennai hasn't won since 2023 and Mumbai not since 2020.

India's T20 World Cup star Sanju Samson is Chennai's headline purchase, acquired from Rajasthan Royals. Samson was the MVP in India's third T20 World Cup triumph and it would seem to be his time as Mahendra Singh Dhoni's influence fades. Chennai let go of long-time allrounders Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran while also adding young guns Ayush Mhatre and Kartik Sharma to a lineup including skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dewald Brevis and Shivam Dube.

Mumbai's two playoff appearance in the last five seasons are not good enough for a franchise of its caliber. After finishing fourth last season, Hardik Pandya leads a squad bursting with big names such as Jasprit Bumrah, India's last two T20 World Cup-winning captains in Suryakumar Yadav (2026) and Rohit Sharma (2024), Proteas wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock, allrounder Shardul Thakur, and hard-hitting West Indian Sherfane Rutherford.

Three teams have never won the IPL and Punjab Kings, the 2025 runners-up, are the front-runners to end their drought. With Shreyas Iyer and Ricky Ponting as guides, Punjab did well to retain its 2025 core. Iyer is the only IPL captain to guide three teams to the final. He scored 604 runs at a strike rate of 175 last season. Vice captain Shashank Singh says, “We didn't cross that last hurdle (in 2025) and everyone is coming this year ... more pumped up, more motivated.”

Delhi Capitals, a one-time finalist, won five of its first six games last season only to lose momentum. They need to find an optimal opening partner for Lokesh Rahul. Lucknow SuperGiants will don new colors — again. Rishabh Pant's team has gone from light blue to dark blue to red this season, a symbol of its ongoing search for its true identity.

Kishan is leading Hyderabad until Australia's Pat Cummins is fit again. Cummins is expected to play in the season's second half. Hyderabad will rely on power-hitting from the likes of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma to make up for the bowling.

Ajinkya Rahane’s Kolkata Knight Riders are already in trouble, though, missing many first-choice bowling options. Pacers Harshit Rana and Akash Deep are out for the season. The mercurial Andre Russell has gone and Cameron Green is coming off a T20 World Cup where he collected one wickets and 24 runs.

India test and ODI captain Shubman Gill leads Gujarat Titans. The Ahmedabad-based team has missed out on the playoffs only once. Gill says, “If you look at the past few seasons I have the most IPL runs. I don’t think I have anything to prove this season in particular.”

Rajasthan was second to last in 2025 but will draw eyeballs on boy wonder Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who turned 15 on Friday. He amazed the cricketing world last year with a 35-ball hundred against Gujarat Titans. His prodigious talent has only grown further. With Samson gone, Suryavanshi has become the present and future for Rajasthan.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

Gujarat Titans' captain Shubman Gill gestures in Ahmedabad, India, Thursday, March 26, 2026, as he speaks during a press conference ahead of the Indian Cricket Premier League 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

FILE - Royal Challengers Bangalore's Virat Kohli plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals in Bengaluru, India, April 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida committed numerous violations of House rules and ethics standards, the House Ethics Committee found Friday in a ruling that could add weight to Republicans’ potential push to expel her from Congress.

After meeting into early Friday morning following a seven-hour hearing, the ethics panel of four Democrats and four Republicans found that Cherfilus-McCormick had committed 25 ethics violations, including breaking campaign finance laws. The panel said it would recommend a punishment in the coming weeks.

The allegations center around Cherfilus-McCormick's receipt of millions of dollars from her family’s health care business after Florida made an overpayment of roughly $5 million in disaster relief funds. Cherfilus-McCormick is accused of using that money to fund her 2022 congressional campaign through a network of businesses and family members.

The congresswoman, who is running for a fourth term representing a southeastern Florida district, has denied wrongdoing, and her attorney stridently criticized Thursday’s public hearing — the first open proceeding in nearly 15 years. But the ruling from the Ethics Committee could fuel a potential vote on her expulsion and divide a Democratic caucus that is trying to make a comeback to power in the November midterm elections.

Cherfilus-McCormick also faces federal charges for allegedly stealing the $5 million in COVID-19 disaster relief funds and using it for purchases like a 3-carat yellow diamond ring. Her brother, former chief of staff and accountant were also charged. She has pleaded not guilty to those charges, and her attorney indicated Thursday that the trial is expected to start in the coming months.

The congresswoman declined to testify during Thursday’s ethics hearing, citing her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Her attorney, William Barzee, sparred with some of the lawmakers on the ethics panel and argued that they should have allowed a thorough ethics trial, where he could present witnesses and evidence to counter the conclusions of House investigators.

Barzee accused the panel of giving further momentum to the effort to “throw a woman out of Congress who was duly elected by her constituents” based primarily on bank records.

Committee investigators laid out 27 violations of House ethics standards and rules in a 242-page report. The report accused Cherfilus-McCormick of winning a 2022 special election by portraying her campaign as self-financed when it was actually funded through the $5 million overpayment her family’s company received from Florida for coronavirus vaccination services.

Barzee had argued that “she was entitled to that money,” pointing to a document that broke down how her family would share the proceeds from the health care business. But lawmakers on the ethics panel were skeptical of that argument.

The panel found Cherfilus-McCormick guilty of all but two of the ethics violations proposed by investigators. Lawmakers declined to find her guilty of one allegation of receiving political help from an organization run by an adviser and her husband that received funding from the Haitian government. The panel also did not find her guilty of refusing to cooperate with the ethics investigation.

The full House Ethics Committee said it would meet after Congress returns from a two-week break in April and consider what punishment to recommend for a vote in the House.

Rep. Greg Steube, a Florida Republican, told reporters Thursday that once the committee makes a determination he “will move on the floor to expel.”

House Democratic leaders have declined to condemn Cherfilus-McCormick and said they wanted to see the ethics process play out. A couple of members of the Congressional Black Caucus, one of the most powerful groups of Democratic members, also showed up to the start of the ethics hearing Thursday in an apparent show of support for Cherfilus-McCormick.

But Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a moderate member from Washington state who often breaks with her caucus, posted on social media Friday morning that “since she was found guilty, she should resign or be removed.”

The last member to be expelled from Congress was Republican Rep. George Santos of New York in 2023. He argued at the time that the House would be “haunted” by the precedent of expelling a member before a criminal trial played out. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., voted against expulsion at the time, expressing the same concern.

It takes a two-thirds majority in the 435-member House to expel a member.

Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C.

FILE - Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., listens during a rally on Jan. 28, 2026, in support of the extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants before it expires in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)