LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Ravindra Jadeja’s brilliant all-round performance handed Lucknow Super Giants a fourth straight loss in the Indian Premier League and lifted Rajasthan Royals to second in the standings on Wednesday.
The left-handed Jadeja top-scored with an unbeaten 43 off 29 balls on a tricky wicket as he led Rajasthan to 159-6 after Lucknow skipper Rishabh Pant had won the toss and elected to field.
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Lucknow Super Giants' Mitchell Marsh plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals in Lucknow, India, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rajasthan Royals' Ravindra Jadeja, right, celebrates with teammates the wicket of Lucknow Super Giants' Nicholas Pooran during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals in Lucknow, India, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rajasthan Royals' Ravindra Jadeja bats during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals in Lucknow, India, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rajasthan Royals' Ravi Singh, center, celebrates with teammates after running out Lucknow Super Giants' Ayush Badoni during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals in Lucknow, India, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
“The wicket was not easy to bat on because the ball was seaming and swinging,” Jadeja said after being adjudged player of the match. “In T20 cricket, you never know. In the last over you can cash in and we did … the ball was gripping so when bowling slow, I got some hold and that helped.”
Three of the top four Lucknow batters, including Pant and Aiden Markram, were dismissed without scoring inside the first three overs as the home team was bowled out for 119 to ensure a 40-run win for Rajasthan.
Jadeja stifled the chase further by grabbing the wicket of the struggling Nicholas Pooran for 22 in the 10th over, the batter holing out at mid-on in an attempt to accelerate.
Pooran’s disappointing campaign has included four single-digit scores in seven games.
Opening batter Mitchell Marsh made a fighting 55 while fast bowlers Jofra Archer (3-20) and Nandre Burger (2-27) shared five wickets that left Lucknow skipper Pant disappointed.
“I don’t have answers, the batting has let us down,” Pant said. “We are disappointed as a team, as a group … no excuses out there. Including myself, we could have taken it deeper. As a batting group, we have to put our hands up.”
Earlier, Rajasthan’s aggressive top-order perished inside the first six overs with young batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (8) striking two boundaries off his first two balls before falling to fast bowler Mohsin Khan (2-17).
Lucknow seemed to be in control with the Royals on 110-6 in the 16th over but Jadeja and Shubham Dubey (19 off 11 balls) shared a brisk 49-run stand.
Rajasthan has 10 points, one behind Punjab Kings. Lucknow has two wins from seven games and is just above rock-bottom Kolkata Knight Riders.
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
Lucknow Super Giants' Mitchell Marsh plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals in Lucknow, India, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rajasthan Royals' Ravindra Jadeja, right, celebrates with teammates the wicket of Lucknow Super Giants' Nicholas Pooran during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals in Lucknow, India, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rajasthan Royals' Ravindra Jadeja bats during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals in Lucknow, India, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rajasthan Royals' Ravi Singh, center, celebrates with teammates after running out Lucknow Super Giants' Ayush Badoni during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals in Lucknow, India, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals are moving from their longtime home at Kauffman Stadium to the downtown Crown Center area, partnering with Hallmark Cards on a $3 billion project that includes a mixed-used development with a new ballpark as its centerpiece.
Royals owner John Sherman was joined by Hallmark chairman Don Hall Jr., Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, along with other local and state dignitaries, in making the announcement Wednesday near Hallmark headquarters.
While the finalized master plan has yet to be complete, Sherman said the $1.9 billion stadium would break ground next year in the middle of Crown Center as part of the first phase of an 85-acre project. Two-thirds of the funding will come from private sources and the remaining one-third from public partners, including money earmarked by the state for stadium projects.
“This is a partnership between two treasured Kansas City institutions,” Sherman said. “We are committed to creating a vision which honors our history, the rich past of both organizations, while reinvigorating and reimagining what our future can be together.”
The announcement came about a week after Kansas City officials passed an ordinance authorizing City Manager Mario Vasquez to negotiate a $600 million deal to help the Royals move downtown. Most believed the stadium would sit on Washington Square Park, which is next to Union Station, but it will instead be located just south of it, with the park featured in the development.
Hallmark intends to build a new headquarters in the area, which is connected by a streetcar to the Power & Light District, where the T-Mobile Center serves as its anchor. That part of downtown Kansas City will provide the backdrop beyond the outfield fence.
Officials touted the availability of public parking already in the area and convenient traffic flow from nearby highways.
Missouri's contribution comes from a law enacted last year that authorized bonds covering up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums in the state, plus up to $50 million of tax credits for each stadium and unspecified aid from local governments.
“We think it's a great investment for our Missouri taxpayers, because this does not affect existing programs,” Kehoe said. “The ripple effect from this facility will truly be far-reaching into rural Missouri and other parts of the state.”
The Royals have insisted they would leave Kauffman Stadium when their lease expires at the Truman Sports Complex in 2031, and the intention of Sherman ever since purchasing the club in 2019 was to build a downtown ballpark as its replacement.
Yet reaching Wednesday's announcement did not come without plenty of pitfalls.
The biggest stumbling block came in April 2024, when the Chiefs joined the Royals in a plan to renovate Arrowhead Stadium and replace Kauffman Stadium. The plan hinged on the extension of a sales tax that had been paying for stadium upkeep, and voters in Jackson County, Missouri, overwhelmingly rejected the proposal, forcing the franchises to go their own way.
The legislature in neighboring Kansas aggressively pursued the Chiefs, committing last December to issuing $2.4 billion in bonds to cover 60% of the cost of a new $3 billion domed stadium in Kansas City, Kansas. The NFL franchise ultimately decided to move across the state line, where it also will build a new training facility in the nearby suburb of Olathe, Kansas.
Officials in Kansas briefly pursued the Royals, too, but their interest in the MLB franchise had always been lukewarm.
The Royals had been weighing several options in recent months. But they ultimately rejected an option in the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, and allowed a deadline to pass for a site north of downtown and across the Missouri River in Clay County, Missouri.
Economists have long concluded that subsidizing stadiums isn’t worth the cost for communities because the venues pull economic activity away from other parts of the area, rather than expanding the overall economy. Yet states and cities continually provide money to renovate stadiums or build new ones — 49 of the 60 used by MLB or NFL teams are publicly owned or sit on public land.
One of the stadiums that Sherman has cited as an example of what's possible in Kansas City is Truist Park in Atlanta.
The stadium was a public-private partnership in which the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum & Exhibit Hall Authority issued up to $397 million in bonds, the county raised millions more from transportation taxes and businesses added millions in cash. The Braves contributed the remaining money for the park and The Battery, a mixed-used development, with a total cost of more than $1.1 billion.
“There are many great ballpark neighborhoods in Major League Baseball,” Sherman said, “but this is a bigger project with more land in downtown and in the heart of the city. We are bringing a modern, state-of-the-art ballpark experience to our fans, closer to our public transportation and where more people work and live.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb
Kansas City Royals' Carter Jensen, right, celebrates with Jac Caglianone (14) after scoring on a sacrifice fly hit by Michael Massey during the second inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
People gather under storm clouds in a parking lot outside Kauffman Stadium after a baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox, Saturday, April 11, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. throws to first for the double play hit into by Baltimore Orioles' Colton Cowser during the ninth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
