Wednesday, April 28, 2021

IPL 2021 CSK vs SRH Match 23 Preview

image: Hotstar


Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals will be playing a match in Feroz Shah Kolta Stadium, Delhi. This the first IPL match played this season. A few of the journalists think that playing a cricket match in Delhi cricket stadium is inappropriate and insensitive as the patients are dying in the Hospital nearby the stadium. The match will begin at 7:30 PM IST.

After yesterday's match, Chennai Super Kings rose to 2nd place in the points table as their net run rate is more compared to the Delhi Capitals with the same points in the table. 

Sunrisers are at the bottom of the points table after their only win against the Punjab Kings. In the 5 matches they have played, the team managed to win only a match. In the match against Delhi Capitals, they have managed to draw the game but lost to DC in the super over.

The Chennai Super Kings are in full swing and no one can stop them from winning this game. They even broke the RCB's winning streak. To win this game, Sunrisers Hyderabad needs a big miracle. This year is a bad year for Sunrisers.

Playing 11 :

SRH: David Warner (capt), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, J Suchith, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul

CSK: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (capt&wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi, Deepak Chahar

Mohammed Siraj won the match 22 for RCB

image: BCCI


In the second innings last over, Delhi Capitals need 14 runs in 6 balls. Mohammed Siraj bowled a wonderful over with yorkers and thigh-high full tosses and just gave 12 runs off the over. Rishab pant and Shimron Hetmeyer was unable to send the ball to the boundaries in this over.

Rishab's and Shimron's half-centuries were goes in vain, at a certain point in-game Royal Challengers Bangalore was in full control. After picking the Marcus Stoinis wicket, Shimron Hetmeyer and Rishab Pant closed the gap with amazing running between the wickets and Hetmeyer's boundaries.

Rishab played this innings with caution as the openers were gone early in the game and the score is low as compared to the RCB. Hetmeyer completed his half-century first who came late into the crease. In this innings, Rishab Pant didn't hit a six.

In the first innings, RCB scored 171 runs in 20 overs with a loss of 5 wickets. In the powerplay, RCB lost 2 wickets to the DC bowlers and scored just 36 runs. 

After a beautiful cameo from Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers played a one-man show in the game and scored 75 runs at the end of the innings. In the last over, he scored 22 runs which helped the team to win with a margin of a run. 

AB de Villiers and Rajat Patidar built a wonderful partnership of  54 runs in 38 balls in the middle overs.

Delhi Capitals had a tremble second innings, they lost two of their openers, Shikar Dhawan and Steven Smith in the powerplay and Prithvi Shaw in the 8th over. 

With the loss of wickets, the Delhi Capitals were unable to score and DC worm is below compared to RCB at that stage. 

Then, Marcus Stoinis and Rishab Pant accelerated the run rate in the middle overs. They both scored 45 runs in 34 balls. Then. Shimron Hetmeyer came into bat after  Marcus Stoinis got out.

Shimron Hetmeyer played the bad cop and Rishab Pant played the good cop. S Hetmery is hitting the boundaries and R Pant is giving strike back to him. 

Unfortunately, they both were unable to afloat the team in the last over. Their wonderful half-centuries went in vain. 

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

IPL 2021 PBKS vs KKR Match 21 Report

Image: BCCI


Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and chose to bowl in the 22nd match of the Indian Premier League and the first match at Motera Stadium, Ahmedabad.

K L Rahul and Mayank Agarwal opened the innings for the Punjab Kings, with a slow start as they just scored only 2 runs in the first over.

By the end of the powerplay, Punjab Kings lost a wicket of  K L Rahul in Pat Cummins 6th over which was caught by Sunil Naraine in the mid-off.

In the next over, Chris Gayle was caught by the Dinesh Karthi behind the wickets in Shivam Mavi's 7th over. Then in the 8th over, Deepak Hooda was caught at backward point by Eoin Morgan in Prasidh Krishna's over.

By the end of 10 over, Punjab Kings just scored 56 runs and lost 3 big wickets and they had a run rate of 5.56 per over. No opener was able to build a partnership in the powerplay which is the main reason behind the low score.

In the 12th over, Mayank Agarwal was caught by Rahul Tripathi in Sunil Narine's over at deep mid-wicket. Then in 14th over, Sunil Narine bowled Moises Henriques with an off-break.

Then slowly, one by one started to lose their wickets in the last few overs. Chris Jordan tried to revive the innings but, eventually, he got out too.

In the death overs,  Punjab Kings managed to score only 32 runs and lost 3 wickets in the process. By the end of the innings, the team made a total of 126 runs in 20 overs by losing 9 wickets.

With a small score to chase, Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill opened the innings for Kolkata Knight Riders and lost their first wicket in the 1st over. Nitish Rana was caught by Shahrukh Khan in Moises Henriques's over.

Then KKR lost Shubaman Gill and Sunil Naraine in the first three overs of the second innings. Then Eoin Morgan and Rahul Tripathi managed to build a partnership of 66 runs in 48 balls. 

At the end of the 11th over, Rahul Tripathi was caught by Shahrukh Khan at the long-on in Deepak Hooda's over.

With the help of Dinesh Karthik, Eoin Morgan finished the game by scoring 126 with 20 balls remaining, after Andre Russell got run out.

At last, Kolkata Knight Rider won their second game in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League.

IPL 2021 DC vs SRH Match 20 Report

image: BCCI

 

After winning the toss, Delhi Capitals captain Rishab Pant chose to bat first in the last match in M.A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.

DC openers had a good start from the first over, Shikar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw made an 81 run partnership in 64 balls before Dhawan got out in Rashid Khan's 11th over. 

In the next over, Prithvi Shaw got out while running between wickets. Suchith, the bowler, took the ball and hit the stumps before the batsman came to the crease. The third umpire declared that as an OUT!.

Then with the help of Steve Smith, Rishab Pant made a 58 runs partnership in 42 balls. In the 19th over, Rishab Pant got out in Siddarth Kaul's over which was caught by the Suchith in the deep mid-wicket.

In the same over, Shimron Hetmeyer caught out by Kane Williamson in the long-off. SRH has able to give fewer runs in the death overs.

In the last over, DC scored 14 runs in the over which helped them to reach 159 runs in the 20 overs.

With decent runs to chase, SRH batsmen David Warner and Jhonny Bairstow opened the innings. In R Ashwin's 3rd over, Rabada was able to pass the ball to R Pant which helped to send David Warner back to the pavilion as he missed reaching the crease before hitting the wickets.

From then, Delhi Capitals able to pick the SRH batsmen wickets regularly. In the 6th over, SRH lost Jhonny Bairstow in Avesh Khan's bowling. SRH lost 2 of their openers wickets in the powerplay.

In the 12th over, Marcus Stoinis caught Virat Singh in Avesh Khan's bowling. Rishab Caught Kedhar Jhadav's wicket in Amit Mishra's 15th over.

In the 17th over, Axar Patel took two consecutive wickets of Abishek Sharma and Rashid Khan. Then Vijay Shankar got out in Avesh Khan's 19th over. In the last over, SRH needs 16 runs to win but they are managed to get only 15 runs, which led to the first super over in this season of IPL.

In the Super over, SRH batted first as per the rules and managed to score only 7 runs in Axar Patel's over. The Delhi Capitals were able to score the 8 runs in the over and won the match.

IPL 2021 DC vs RCB Match 22 Preview

image: BCCI


The 22nd match of the IPL is played between the Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Motera Stadium, Ahmedabad. 

Till now, both the teams have played five matches each, in which, Delhi and Bangalore lost a match each. Bengaluru lost to Chennai Super Kings and Delhi lost to Rajasthan Royals.

Delhi Capitals is in the 2nd position and Bangalore is in the 3rd position on the points table as they have less run rate compared to DC.

Delhi Captals

In their last match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, the match went to super over after the SRH batsmen failed to score the extra run in the last lover. In the superover, the team managed to score the extra runs without losing wickets and won the match.

The openers and bowlers are performing well in this season, especially, Shikar Dhawan, he is the current orange cap holder  and the batsmen to hit most fours in this season of the IPL. 

Ravichandran Ashwin left the team's bio-bubble after his family contracted the virus. The management is not sure whether he returns the team before the completion of the tournament. 

According to reports, the player said, if his family is cured and fully restored to full health, he will join his team after a two week quarantine period.

This team is capable of giving a tough fight with Royal Challengers Bangalore and can even win the game with perfect game plan on the ground.

Delhi Capitals Squad



Probabale Playing 11

 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Lalit Yadav, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 Avesh Khan, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Amit Mishra

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Their winning streak is broke by Chennai Super Kings. It is easy to say its broken by Ravindra Jadeja with the batting and bowling. 

In that game, he scored 36 runs in the last over by hitting five 6's a 4 and a two runs in Harshal Patel's over. He is the highest wicket taker in the tournament till now with 15 wickets. Followed by the Delhi Capitals  bowler Avesh Khan with 11 wickets.

The RCB openers failed to score runs in the last match, if it repeats, the team would in trouble and they have the high chance of losing the match. 

RCB used to have jinxed bowling department in the previous years but from the last two years their bowling have got lot better and taking wickets and winning matches.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Squad



Probable Playing 11

 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 Washington Sundar, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Dan Christian, 7 Kyle Jamieson, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Mohammed Siraj, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Navdeep Saini/Shahbaz Ahmed

Sunday, April 25, 2021

IPL 2021 KKR vs PBKS Match 21 Preview

image: BCCI


Now all the matches have shifted from Mumbai and Chennai to Ahmedabad and Delhi. These new stadiums will have an impact on the team's performance. Till now teams have to adjust for new pitches and new stadiums.

The 21st match of the Indian Premier League is to be played in the all-new Motera Stadium, Ahmedabad. In this match, Punjab Kings will be playing against the Kolkata Knight Riders. In the 5 matches they have played, Kolkata Knight Riders won only a match and Punjab Kings won a couple of matches till now.

Eventually, one team will win and secures two points after winning the match. This match is important for both teams to stay alive in this tournament.

Punjab Kings 

In the last match, Punjab Kings won the match against the Mumbai Indians and claimed their 2nd win in the tournament. PBKS players are making most of their blunders when the pressure is on. This is making them vulnerable during the match.

They have got good openers and a good bowling squad and can reach the scores the opposition has set for them. But in the process, the team is failing somewhere. 

The middle-order is concerning for the PBKS, Nicholas Pooran has gone for duck 3 times in the last four matches which the team has to look after.

After finding the good bowling combination with Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin the team can do wonders in the middle overs if their plan goes well against the KKR.

Punjab Kings Squad



Probable Playing11

1 KL Rahul (capt & wk), 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Shahrukh Khan, 7 Moises Henriques, 8 Jhye Richardson/Chris Jordan, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Arshdeep Singh

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders just won their only match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their first match this season. They have got superb openers and a good bowling lineup but they are failing to secure a win for the team.

The openers are losing their wickets early in the matches, which is increasing the pressure on the batsmen coming next. This pressure is making them lose wickets. Every game needs a good start for a clear and neat win at the end. But the KKR players are failing to do so.

In the match against CSK, the team fought till the last moment and they are inches closer to victory but, due to bad decisions, they have lost a game. They have got batsmen with firepower in their batting lineup but the fire isn't quite igniting when required.

Their bowling lineup is taking wickets regularly but not when they needed the wicket most. 

Kolkata Knight Riders Squad



Probable Playing 11

 1 Nitish Rana, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Andre Russell, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Sunil Narine, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Shivam Mavi, 10 Prasidh Krishna, 11 Varun Chakravarthy

IPL 2021 CSK vs RCB Match 19 Report

image: BCCI


Chennai Super Kings broke Royal Challengers Bangalore winning streak in this season of the IPL. It's better to say Ravindra Jadeja broke the Royal Challenger Bangalore winning streak with a wonderful batting in the last over and with beautiful bowling in the middle overs.

After winning the toss, Chennai Super Kings chose to bat firsts. CSK openers Ruthraj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis made a wonderful start for the team. They both had done a 74 runs partnership in 58 balls. RCB has failed to pick a wicket in the powerplay.

In Chahal's 10th over, Ruth Raj Gaikwad was caught out at deep square by Jameison. Then Suresh Raina and Faf got out in Harshal Patel's 14th over. Both of them were caught out in deep mid-wicket and long-on.

In 18th over, Ambati Rayadu got out in Harshal Patel's 18th over. In the 20th over, Ravindra Jadeja scored 37 runs after hitting five 6's and a four. With this massacre, the Chennai Super Kings score reached 191 with a loss of 4 wickets in 20 overs.

With a big score to chase, Royal Challengers Bangalore's stumbled after their openers got out early. In the powerplay, RCB lost Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal.

In the middle over, the Royal Challenger Bangalore batting line-up collapsed in the Ravindra Jadeja bowling. Even, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell are the victims of his bowling. At last, CSK won the match by 69 runs all thanks to SIR Jadeja.

IPL 2021 KKR vs RR Match 18 Report

image: BCCI


Rajasthan Royals won the toss and chose to bowl first, KKR begins with a slow and steady over. RR bowlers didn't give any chance to KKR openers Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill. By the end of the powerplay, KKR lost a wicket of Shubman Gill and scored 25 runs and had a run rate below 5 runs per over.

Then Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana tried to revive the score but, in Chetan Sakariya's 10th over, Nitish Rana was caught by Sanju Samson behind the wickets. From then on, the RR bowlers picking the wickets regularly and not giving KKR batsmen any chance of scoring runs.

Except for Rahul Tripathi, no one scored more than 30 runs in this innings. An exceptional bowling performance from the Rajasthan Royals bowlers helped them to restrict KKR for just 133 runs with a loss of 9 wickets in 20 overs.

The top order of KKR just collapsed to RR bowlers in this innings. Chris Morris took 4 wickets in the death overs.

With decent runs to chase, Jos Buttler opened the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal instead of Manan Vohra, it seemed to have worked this time. 

In Varun Chakravarthy's 4th over, Jos Buttler got out after the ball hitting the pads before the stumps. In the hawk eye, the ball is just touching the bails. Jos Buttler departed without reviewing it after a heated discussion with the RR's young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Then, Yashasvi departed after trying to hit a boundary in Shivam Mavi's 5th over. Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube made a 45 runs partnership in 39 balls. In Varun Chakravarthi's 11th over, Shivam Dube was caught by Prasidh Krishna at the third man.

After a short cameo from Rahul Tewatia, David Miller ad Sanju Samson scored the final runs for the Rajasthan Royals and lead the team to victory. 

RR won this match because of good bowling from the start of the match. Chris Morris took 4 wickets in the death overs and won the Man of the Match award for his contribution to the team's victory.

 

IPL 2021 SRH vs DC Match 20 Preview

image:BCCI


The second match of the third doubleheader out of ten in this season of the IPL. The match will be played at M.A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. Sunrisers Hyderabad will be playing against the Delhi Capitals at 7:30 PM.

In the four matches SRH has played, the team have lost three of them and won a match against Punjab Kings by restricting them to just 121 runs in 20 overs. Finding place for both Kane Williamson and Kedhar Jadhav in the playing 11 is a good move to stop the team from sinking further. 

Delhi Capitals have won three out of four matches till now in this season, they have lost against Rajasthan Royals as they failed to defend 148 runs in 20 overs. They have upper hand in the batting department compared to sunrises compared to the four matches.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

In the first three matches, the team has lost the matches due to the weak batting lineup. Only the opening pair is able to do score some runs. If they got out early, the middle order is failing early and losing the matches. 

But this team has one of the strongest bowling line up in this season of the IPL compared to the other teams. As there is no support from the batting department, the bowling department can't alone win the matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The addition of the Kane Williamson and Kedhar Jadhav in the playing 11 turned the table for the SRH in the last match. They were able to restrict the Punjab Kings for just 120 runs with bowling and able to chase it with the help of Kane Williamson in the top-order.

T Natrajan was ruled out of the IPL due to an knee injury which happened during the Australia tour. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar walked out of the ground in the last match due to strain in the thigh.

Sunrisers Hyderabad


Probable Playing 11

 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Kedar Jadhav, 5 Vijay Shankar, 6 Virat Singh, 7 Abhishek Sharma, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Sandeep Sharma, 10 Siddarth Kaul , 11 Khaleel Ahmed  

Delhi Capitals

Delhi Capitals won the match against the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in this season. They are playing really well with good team effort and planning compared to the Sunrisers Hyderabad. 

In the four matches they have played till now, they lost a match against the Rajasthan Royals as they scored less in the first innings and were unable to pick the wickets in the second innings. 

There is a huge chance that their All-rounder Axar Patel would join the team's playing 11, as he already started to join the team for practice session since his last negative covid test.

If he is in the playing 11, the would get more confident and stronger in both bowling and batting department. 

R Ashwin is bowling quite good enough but unable to pick wickets in the first half of the match. Avesh Khan and Kagiso Rabada are their present weapons against the SRH. If the DC bowlers able to pick wickets of SRH openers in the powerplay, they almost won the match.

Delhi Capitals Squad



Probable Playing 11 

 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Lalit Yadav, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Kagiso Rabada/Chris Woakes, 10 Amit Mishra, 11 Avesh Khan

Saturday, April 24, 2021

IPL 2021 CSK vs RCB Match 19 Preview

image: BCCI


This is the 3rd doubleheader out of 10 in this season. In the first match, Chennai Super Kings will be playing against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. This is the last match that is to be played at his stadium in this 14th season of the Indian Premier League.

Chennai Super Kings lost only their first match against Delhi Capitals and they won the remaining all the matches. CSK scored 220 runs against KKR and stopped them chasing the runs in the last over by taking all the wickets. That match is so intense and thrilling to watch.

Till now in this season, Royal Challengers Bangalore didn't lose a match. In the last game, the team openers completed the match without flinching to Rajasthan Royals bowling. Devdutt Paikkal is the first player from RCB to score a century except for Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle.

Chennai Super Kings

All the batsmen are performing wonderfully compared to the last year. Eventhough they lost the first match they bounced back with a wonderful win against Punjab Kings. 

Their bowlers are taking wickets in the powerplay and in the death overs and keeping the run rate to minimal.

The only thing that bothers me is the performance of the CSK middle-order batsmen. If the top order collapsed to the RCB bowler in the first 10 overs, the CSK will be in deep trouble. 

The only assured player in the middle order is MS Dhoni and his performance is questionable against the RCB bowling line up.

In the last four matches, Dhoni has got a chance to play in 3 matches, in which he scored just 35 runs during the death overs. This is a bit scary for CSK while playing against RCB.

Jason Behrendorff will not be available for the CSK as he is under quarantine.

Chennai Super Kings Squad



Probable Playing 11

1 Faf du Plessis, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 8 Sam Curran, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Deepak Chahar

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Till now, this team didn't lose any match this season. All thanks to their exceptional bowling and batting in the last four matches. 

All the players in the team have performed well this season and helped the team when they are required the most.

At first, I want to talk about RCB bowling, Harshal Patel is the leading wicket-taker this season. He started with a five-wicket haul against the Mumbai Indians in the first match of the season. And he consistently taking wickets in the matches.

Mohammed Siraj is a dangerous bowler in the powerplay and in the death. CSK batsmen need to be cautious with him and the spinner Y Chahal has become quite expensive.

Then the RCB batsmen need to be cautious with Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar in the powerplay and middle overs. Both the Chahar brothers are fighting for the purple cap this season. If the top order collapsed, no one can save RCB.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Squad



Probable Playing 11

1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 Shahbaz Ahmed, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Kyle Jamieson, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Kane Richardson, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Mohammad Siraj


IPL 2021 RR vs KKR Match 18 Preview

image: HotStar


Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders will play against each other in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. This is the penultimate match of the Indian Premier League season in this stadium. The match is going to start at 7:30 PM today.

Till now, both the teams played four matches each and won a match each. Rajasthan won the match against the Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders won the match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. In the remaining matches, both the teams lost few matches with a close margin.

Rajasthan Royals

This team lost their best opener, Ben Stokes, due to a finger injury, Jos Buttler is replacing him as the opener. Jofra Archer is ruled out from IPL as his hand is injured while cleaning a fish tank in his house during his own free time.

In the last match, when the openers lost their wickets early, the middle order and lower middle-order batsmen fought a good fight and scored 177 runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore. This is a good sign for the team, but, they are not using this for their advantage in the games.

Jaydev Unadkat took 3 wickets in the powerplay against Chennai Super Kings and the debutant Chetan Sakaryia is also taking the wickets. Those bowlers are not taking the wickets when the team needs it the most.

The captain made a tough call not to take that single against the Punjab Kings in the last over. In the next match, Chris Moriss won the match for the team against the Delhi Capitals by hitting sixes while chasing.

The team needs some luck and a good turn of events to win today's match against the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Rajasthan Royals Squad



Probable Playing 11

 1 Jos Buttler (wk), 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal/Anuj Rawat, 3 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 4 Shivam Dube, 5 David Miller, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Chris Morris, 9 Jaydev Unadkat, 10 Chetan Sakariya, 11 Mustafizur Rahman/Andrew Tye

Kolkata Knight Riders

This team has the strongest openers compared to the Rajasthan Royals. Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill are my choices of opening pair compared to inconsistent RR openers Jos Buttler and Manan Vohra.

Both the team openers have lost their wickets either in the powerplay or in the next over to the pacers. And the batsman at the 3rd position in the batting line up seems to find it difficult to settle in that pressure as a result of losing the wicket early.

This team also works hard and puts all the effort into winning the game but bad luck ad some wrong decisions pulling them away from the victories.

Today's match is going to be a wonderful chance for both teams to show their strengths and bounce back and show that they are in the game.

The team that dominates from the start is going to win the match. Both the teams are failing to show that dominance in the matches that happened till now.

Kolkata Knight Riders Squad




Probable Playing 11

1 Nitish Rana, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Sunil Narine, 5 Eoin Morgan (capt), 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Andre Russell, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Kamlesh Nagarkoti/Shivam Mavi, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Prasidh Krishna


IPL 2021 MI vs PBKS Match 17 report

image: BCCI


Miracles do happen in the Indian Premier League, exceptional bowling from the team after losing two consecutive matches is really amazing and a good comeback for the team.

After winning the toss, KL Rahul chose to bowl first and his plan to restrict the Mumbai Indians to a low score was worked. Ravi Bishnoi and Mohammed Shami helped the team by taking 3 wickets each and just by giving 21 runs in 4 overs.

Mumbai Indians lost their first wicket in Deepak Hooda's second over, Quinton de Kock was caught by Henriques in the mid-on. Then Ishan Kishan was caught by KL Rahul behind the wicket in the 7th over. By this time, the run rate is just 3.75, the Punjab bowlers and fielders are not giving any singles at this point.

Then with help of Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma made 79 runs in 56 balls. They both tried really hard to revive the match but the Punjab Kings bowlers are not giving any chance to the Mumbai Indians batsmen to score any runs.

At the beginning of the death over, MI lost Suryakumar Yadav's after he was caught by Chris Gayle at the short third man in Ravi Bishnoi's over. Rohit Sharma lost his wicket in the next over to Mohammed Shami and both Pandya brothers lost their wicket at the end.

Once again the mighty Mumbai Indians barely scored any runs in the death overs. This is the one reason the team has failed to secure a victory. At the end of the innings, Mumbai Indians scored 131 for a loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs.

With a moderate target to chase, Punjab Kings started their innings with KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. They might have had a tough 1st over but, the table turned from the 2nd over. 

Both the openers started to maintain a decent run rate till the fall of their first wicket in the match. In the Depak Chahar's 8th over, Mayank Agarwal was caught by Suryakumar Yadav. This is the only wicket Mumbai Indians managed to take in the second innings.

With the help of Chris Gayle, KL Rahul reached the target of 132 runs with 14 balls remaining.  As MI bowlers are desperate for a wicket and breakthrough, they have appealed for Chris Gayles to run out. But the TV umpire rejected it.

Overall, The Punjab Kings showed their dominance and exploited the Mumbai Indians weak batting lineup perfectly. If they continued like this they might be in the top 4 in the points table at the end.

Mumbai Indians need to change their batting lineup and experiment with a new team. Eventhough the same team won the cup last year, the very same team is not winning now as they should.

Friday, April 23, 2021

IPL 2021 PBKS vs MI Match 17 Preview

image: Hotstar


Today, Punjab Kings will be playing against the Mumbai Indians in M.A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai at 7: 30 PM.

Till now, both the teams have played two matches, in which Mumbai Indians won two and Punjab Kings won only a match. Right now, the MI is in the 4th position in the points table and PBKS is the last but one position.

If PBKS wins today's match, they will go to the fifth position and the MI's position is depending on the run rate they achieve in this match.

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians lost to the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first match and to the Delhi Capitals in the 13th match of this season. In the first match, they were unable to score runs in the death overs as Harshal Patel took 5 wickets, in which  4 wickets are in the last over alone.

In the 13th match against Delhi Capitals, the team lost the top-order wickets in the powerplay and unable to score the runs later on.  As the score is less, the Delhi Capitals openers scored the most runs and confirmed the victory to their team.

Mumbai Indians need to change their batting lineup or the batsmen need to score more runs in the middle and death overs. The openers need to make use of the powerplay to score more runs without losing the wickets at the early stage of the game.

MI batsmen need to be cautious with Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh in the powerplay and in the death overs.

The Mumbai Indians need more dot balls while bowling to Punjab Kings, as their openers are very dangerous and once they settled in the crease, they will make more runs in the over. MI bowlers need to avoid this situation to leak runs. They need as many wickets in the powerplay to stop them from scoring more.

Mumbai Indians Squad


Probable Playing 11

 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Ishan Kishan, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Jayant Yadav, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Jasprit Bumrah


Punjab Kings

Punjab Kings won their first against Rajasthan Royals out of four matches they played. They won that match because Sanju Samson hit the ball 10 yards short to the boundary. In the remaining matches, all of them are one-sided from the very beginning.

PBKS have good bowlers and batsmen but they are failing to take control of the match while playing. The team is basing on the miracles rather than their players. The opposition team are controlling them more than them. 

I have one suggestion for the Punjab Kings, send Sharukh Khan ahead of Nicholas Pooran. Khan is the only consistent player in the lower middle order. 

If they continued to play like this, the change of name, change of jersey, change of players will have no use. Punjab Kings need some miracle to happen to win this game.

Punjab Kings Squad

Probable playing 11

 1 KL Rahul (capt & wk), 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Deepak Hooda, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Shahrukh Khan, 7 Moises Henriques, 8 Fabian Allen/Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 M Ashwin, 11 Arshdeep Singh

IPL 2021 RCB vs RR match 16 Report

image: BCCI


After winning the toss for the second time in this season of IPL, Virat Kohli chose to bowl first and it did work for them. RCB took 3 wickets in the powerplay and slowed the Rajasthan Royals run rate.

Jos Buttler and Manan Vohra opened the innings for the Rajasthan Royals, in Mohammed Siraj's 3rd over, Jos Buttler got after a successful appeal of an LBW. 

In Kyle Jamieson's 4th over, Manan Vohra caught out by Kane Richardson at Mid-on. Followed by David miller in the next over, a successful DRS decision from the TV umpire declared him out in Mohammed Siraj's 5th over.

By this point, Rajasthan Royals were in deep trouble. They lost 3 wickets in the powerplay and scored just 33 runs. The misery followed the RR in the 8th over too, Sanju Samson was caught out in the Midwicket by Glenn Maxwell.

Then, Shivam Dube and Rayan Parag revived the RR innings by scoring a 66 runs partnership in 39 balls. Both the players departed, later on. The lower middle-order batsmen Rahul Twatia scored 40 runs in 23 balls which put RR in a comfortable scoring position. 

At one point, I doubted that they didn't even cross 120 runs but, they put on 177 runs by the end of the innings. All thanks to Shivam Dube, Rayan Parag and Rahul Tewatia and it's a good come back for the team.

Mohammed Siraj and Harshal Patel took 3 wickets each in this innings and made the RR batsmen sweat blood during their batting

With decent runs to chase, RCB openers Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal opened and finished the innings by not losing a wicket and with 21 balls to spare.

From the beginning, both the players played aggressively and scored more runs than the RR in every over. This made them build such partnership in the game. 

Devdautt Padikkal scored his first century in the IPL. With this century, he is the second batsmen to do a century after Sanju Samson against Punjab Kings.

Rajasthan Royals bowlers weren't able to put pressure on the batsmen, instead, both RCB openers put a lot of pressure on the bowlers.

Overall, the Royal Challengers Bangalore showed their dominance from the begging of the match and able to win it without breaking any sweat and chance to other batsmen.

Thursday, April 22, 2021

IPL 2021 RCB vs RR 16th Match Preview


The two teams played three matches till now, Royal Challengers Bangalore won all three matches whereas Rajasthan had won only a match in this season till now.

Today these both teams will play against each other in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. this is the first match for the Royal Challengers Banglore in Mumbai. The team have travelled for the first time, according to the IPL schedule, every team will travel only three times in this tournament.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Till now, this team didn't lose a match and at present, they are the table-toppers with three consecutive victories in this tournament. All thanks to the AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikal. If these guys didn't play well those would have been lost too. 

Glenn Maxwell did his first fifty in four years. This team is really helping him to prove himself, which he can't in the last four years. Till now, he scored two half-centuries and helped the team to win the matches.

AB de Villiers is coming to bat in the middle order to re-enforce the team strength in the middle overs. He usually opens with Virat Kohli, this change in the batting lineup really worked in the last three matches. 

Coming to the bowling department, Harshal Patel's five-wicket haul in the first match against the Mumbai Indias is the best thing that happened in that game. Now, he is the most wicket-taker in this season of the IPL. The spinners are also helping the team to pick the wickets when the team needed them the most.  

Royal Challengers Bangalore



Probable Playing 11

1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Finn Allen, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Kyle Jamieson, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Shahbaz Ahmed, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Rajasthan Royals

In the three games, they played, they won only a match against the Delhi Capitals. In this match, the bowlers did a really good job by taking the wickets in the early stage of the match and Chris Moriss last over proved that he can hit sixes to win a match.

In the match against the PBKS, the team captain didn't seem to trust Chris Moriss with the last ball but he proved to be useful in the next match. In the match against the Chennai Super Kings, the team lost the match by 45 runs.

The CSK bowlers didn't give any chance to the Rajasthan Royals batsmen to score any runs in that match. If this situation happens again in this match, there is no chance for Rajasthan Royals to win this match.

They need to be extra careful with Harshal Patel, Y Chahal and Shabaz Ahmed and try not to lose any wickets in the powerplay and death overs. If the Rajasthan Royals bat first, they need to score more than 190 runs to stop the current RCB.

If they bowl first, they need to restrict the RCB to less than 170 runs to take a clean and calm victory without any tensions. Chetan Sakariya and Jaydev Unadkat need to take the wickets as early as possible and most importantly the RCB's top-order batsmen.

Rajasthan Royals Squad


Probable Playing 11

1 Jos Buttler, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal/Manan Vohra, 3 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 4 Shivam Dube/Shreyas Gopal, 5 David Miller, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Chris Morris, 9 Jaydev Unadkat, 10 Chetan Sakariya, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

IPL 2021 KKR vs CSK Match 15

image: BCCI


In the second match of today's doubleheader, Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and chose to bowl first to stop the CSK batsmen. But their plan failed, Ruthraj Gaikwad did perform well today with the help of the Faf du Plessis.

In 77 balls, the duo scored a whopping second-highest partnership in this season of the Indian Premier League. KKR has waited till Varun Chakravarthy's 13th over to take their first wicket of the match. Rutraj Gaikwakad 64 (42), caught out by Pat Cummins at deep mid-wicket.

Then, Moeen Ali and Faf du Plessis made another 50 runs partnership in 27 balls. In Sunil Naraine's 17th over, when Moeen Ali 25 (12) missed the ball, Dinesh Karthi stumped the wickets and got him out.

Then, Faf du Plessis with help of Dhoni and Jadeja scored an amazing total of 220 runs just by losing 3 wickets in 20 overs.

Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers proved to be costly this night. Only Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell took a wicket each. Only Varun Chakravathy's economy is under 8 in the bowlers, which is not good and KKR needs to focus a bit on the bowling.

With a high score to chase, Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill opened the innings for Kolkata Knight Riders. They had a very bad start in the powerplay, the team lost half of the wickets in the powerplay.

Starting with Shubman Gill in Deepak Chahar's 1st over, Nitish Rana in D Chahar's 2nd over, Eoin Morgan and Sunil Narine in D Chahar's 5th over, And Rahul Tripathi in L Ngidi's 6th over.

Out of the 5 wickets, Deepak Chahar took 4 wickets in the powerplay. As I mentioned him as the dangerous bowler in the powerplay for CSK in the match preview. He's done what I feard to the KKR.

From then Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik really revived the match with regular boundaries. The required run rate is coming down while the duo is playing.

They both made  81 runs partnership in 53 balls, which is later broken by Sam Curran in the 12th over. The ball has struck the leg stump and dislodged the bails with blinking red lights. At once, I felt sad to watch Andre Russell walks out of the ground with a heavy heart.

 Then with the help of Pat Cummins, Dinesh Karthik played for a while with regular boundaries. Chennai Super Kings has tightened their fielding to avoid singles. There more dot balls in these middle overs after the match has picked up.

In the 15th over, Ngidi has got Dinesh Karthik for a LBW. Since then, Pat Cummins has done a one-man show in the field. He is the only guy who is able and hitting the boundaries. Especially in Ngidi's 16th over, Pat Cummins hit 5 consecutive boundaries. In that over, he scored 30 runs.

It seemed like, he can win the match for KKR and the equation is still reachable but with his stupid decisions, he sacrificed others and his wickets to CSK fielders. At last Chennai Super Kings won the match by 18 runs and 5 balls left.

IPL 2021 PBKS vs SRH 14th Match report

 

image: BCCI

In the first match of today's doubleheader, Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bat first in M.A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal opened the innings for the Punjab Kings.

Punjab Kings started with a slow over and tried to increase the run rate in the 2nd over but, in the Bhuvaneshwar Kumar's 4th over, KL Rahul  4(6) got out by giving a catch to Kedhar Jhadav in the mid-wicket.

After a 24 runs partnership with Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal 22(25) departed in Khaleel Ahmed's 8th over which is caught by Rashid Khan at mid-wicket. In the next ball, Nicholas Pooran 0(0) got runout by David Warner, by not even facing one ball in the match.

At this point, the run rate is hovering at 5.6 runs per over. In the 9th over, Chris Gayle 15(17) departed after an LBW in Rashid Khan's 9th over. 

PBKS total score didn't even cross 50 and lost 4 wickets. This showed the Sunrisers Hyderabad's hunger for a win in this tournament.

Then Hurricane Hooda lost his wicket to Abishek Sharma in the 12th over, after a ball hit his pads before the wicket. Then followed by Moises Henriques wicket in Abishek Sharma's 14th over. A small and good cameo from Sharukhan has led the score to 120 runs after losing all wickets with 2 balls remaining.

A wonderful fielding and bowling from the Sunrisers Hyderabad for a win in this tournament after losing 3 consecutive matches. Khaleel Ahmed and Abishek Sharma really turned the table for SRH with their exceptional bowling.

With a low score to chase, Sunrisers Hyderabad batsmen, Jhonny Bairstow and David Warner played a wonderful knock. They both made a wonderful partnership of 73 runs in 64 balls. Their partnership was broken by Fabian Allen in the 11th over after taking David Warner's 37(37)wicket.

Then Kane Williamson and Jhonny Bairstow started to scored the remaining runs with regular runs between the wicket as the score is less and they didn't want to risk any more wickets. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad, at last, won a match in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League.

PBKS bowlers didn't show any effect on the Sunrisers Hyderabad's top order, the three batsmen didn't give any chance to the PBKS bowlers.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

IPL 2021 KKR vs CSK Match 15 Preview

image: Hotstar


The second match of the second doubleheader is between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders at 7:30 PM in Wankhede stadium, Mumbai.

Both the teams have played three matches, in which Chennai Super Kings won two against Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals and lost one match to Delhi Capitals. Whereas Kolkata Knight riders won a match against Sunrisers Hyderabad and lost two matches against Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders are losing the matches due to the weak middle order, in the last three matches, no player in the middle order scored more than 30 runs. All the runs are scored by the openers and the upper-middle-order batsmen. 

If openers lost their wickets, the runs scored per over is reducing and the batsmen are eventually losing his wicket. and thus they are unable to win the matches.

Against RCB, KKR bowlers have done a good job by picking two wickets early but, they are unable to pick Glenn Maxwell's and AB de Villiers wicket in the middle overs. By the time Maxwell is dismissed the damage is already done.

Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar can do unrecoverable damage to the KKR if, the openers dismissed early. If that happened, this game also will be a low scorer.

Kolkata Knight Riders Squad


Probable Playing 11

1 Shubman Gill, 2 Nitish Rana, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Shakib Al Hasan/Sunil Narine/Lockie Ferguson, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Harbhajan Singh/Shivam Mavi, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Prasidh Krishna

Chennai Super Kings

With the two consecutive victories, CSK is in full form and can easily win this game just by following a few basic tricks.

Right now, the CSK opener Ruthraj Gaikwad is the only flaw in the top order batsman. And I don't agree with the position of MS Dhoni playing. He could have gone up for two places.

If Chennai Super Kings won this match they will be the table toppers, irrespective of the morning sessions win.

To win the match early, the CSK bowler just needs to pick the wickets of the openers before the powerplay and the remaining wickets will come automatically as the game progress.

The new addition to the team Jason Behrendorff, will not be available for this match too, as he is under quarantine after landing in India.

Chennai Super Kings Squad


Probable Playing 11

1 Robin Uthappa/Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Sam Curran, 8 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 9 Dwayne Bravo, 10 Shardul Thakur, 11 Deepak Chahar

IPL 2021 PBKS vs SRH Match 14 Preview

image: Hotstar


This is the second doubleheader of the 14th season of the Indian Premier League. In the first match, Punjab Kings to take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at M.A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. The match begins at 3:30 PM.

Both the teams have played three matches till now, in those Punjab Kings won the match against Rajasthan Royals. Sunrisers Hyderabad is yet to win a match this season, this is a bad start for them after the rebranding of the franchise.

Punjab Kings

They have got good batting and bowling lineup and a plan of action but, they are failing in implementing the plan on the ground. The pressure is getting them at the very early stages of the game.

Their batting lineup is good compared to the Sunrisers Hyderabad, so, opting to chase is the best option in my opinion.

Punjab Kings need to do a good opening partnership without losing any wickets in the powerplay. As Sunrisers bowling is good enough to take wickets at the beginning of the match and starts to pressure the batsmen.

It would be the wise choice to send the Sharukh Khan ahead of Nicholas Pooran and even replacing him with Sharfarz Khan would be even a better option for the Punjab Kings.

Coming to the bowling department, PBKS need to take the important wickets in the powerplay. David Warner, Jhonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey are dangerous batsmen and PBKS bowlers need to get rid of them as early as possible.

Punjab Kings squad



Probable Playing 11

1 KL Rahul (capt & wk), 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Deepak Hooda, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Shahrukh Khan, 7 Jalaj Saxena, 8 Jhye Richardson, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Ravi Bishnoi/M Ashwin, 11 Arshdeep Singh


Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad needs to change the batting lineup in this match, else, they would be in big trouble. Except for few batsmen, no one in the middle order is standing long in the crease to score few runs for the team.

The captain needs to find a place for Kane Williamson and Kedhar Jhadav in the playing 11 to reinforce their batting lineup for some extra power. In a match, Vijay Shankar tried to score few runs but, because of few mistakes, he got out.,

Mohammed Shami is a threat to the team if, he got any wickets of the openers in the powerplay and in the middle overs, SRH is in big trouble for the rest of the game.

SRH's bowling department is strong enough but not strong enough to win the matches without any help from the batting department with a big score to defend.

The first five batsmen of the Punjab Kings are the most dangerous enough to score and build a few big partnerships. SRH needs to be careful and stop those big partnerships before any damage is done Compared to PBKS, SRH is way weaker unless a few miracles happen while they are batting.

Sunrisers Hyderabad squad



Probable playing 11

1 David Warner (capt), 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Kedar Jadhav, 5 Vijay Shankar, 6 Abhishek Sharma, 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 11 Khaleel Ahmed

IPL 2021 MI vs DC Match 13 report

image: BCCI


Mumbai Indians won the toss and chose to bat first in the 13th match of the Indian Premier League. At first, they trembled after losing Quintin de Kock 2(4) in the Marcus Stoinis 3rd over, then Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma started to play a good knock.

They both made a wonderful partnership of 58 runs in 29 balls and the run rate is hovering at 8 runs per over. Then this partnership is broken by the Avesh Khan at the end of the 7th over by taking Suryakumar Yadav's 24(15)wicket.

Immediately after that, Mumbai Indians lost Rohit Sharma 44(30) and Hardik Pandya 0(1) in the Amith Mishra's 9th over. From then, Mumbai Indians batsmen switched to survival mode, just to stay long in the crease.

In the 11th over, the survival plan didn't work well in Lalit Yadav's bowling, Kurnal Pandya, got out, followed by Keiron Pollard in Amit Mishra's 12th over. The run rate is dropped to 7 after losing wickets regularly.

Jayant Yadav and Ishan Kishan tried to revive the team's score but their partnership of 39 runs in 39 balls didn't have much impact on Delhi Capitals. 

In Amit Mishra 18th over, the ball hit the stumps after bouncing on Ishan Kishan's 26 (28) bat, this is the awkward dismissal in this IPL after Jhonny Bairstows hit-wicket. You can watch this wicket in the highlights below.

By the end of 20 overs, Mumbai Indians scored 137 after a loss of 9 wickets in 20 overs.

With a low score to chase, Delhi Capitals batsmen Prithvi Shaw and Shikar Shawan opened the second innings. Like Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals too had a starting problem, after losing Prithvi Shaw's wicket in the 2nd over to Jayant Yadav.

With help of Steven Smith, Shikar Dhawan, scored a wonderful partnership of 53 runs in 48 balls. At his point, Mumbai Indians started to tight the fielding and bowling. In the Pollard's 10th over, Steven Smith 33(29) got out after an LBW.

Then Lalit Yadav and Shikar Dhawan slowly started to score some runs in that tight bowling and fielding. In Rahul Chahar's 15th over, Shikar Dhawan 45(42) was caught by Kurnal Pandya at the long leg.

Then Rishab Pant 7(8) departed immediately after that, Shimron Hetmyer and Lalit Yadav scored all the runs and lead the team to victory. The last run is a reward from Keiron Pollard for his mistake.

With this victory, Delhi Capitals broke the Mumbai Indians winning streak in this season and took second place in the points table.


Tuesday, April 20, 2021

IPL 2021 DC vs MI Match 13 Preview

Image: BCCI


Till now both Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals have played 3 matches till now in the tournament and won only two matches. Mumbai Indians won the two consecutive matches if they won this match, it would MI's hat-trick win in the league.

The match is going to start at 7:30 PM IST in M.A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians are unable to score more runs in the death overs, since the beginning of the tournament. This is because the lower middle-order high strike-rate batsmen are underperforming and losing way more wickets in the death overs. 

This is the main reason behind losing the first match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Eventhough, they scored less in the next two matches, their bowling squad rescued the team from losing the match with tight bowling and fielding. 

If this continues in the tournament, Mumbai Indians might lose more matches this year than compared to last year. By playing carefully and scoring more runs in the death overs, the team might just afloat in this tournament till last.

Openers in the team need to make more runs in the powerplay to increase the run rate which decreases the pressure on the next batsman.

Coming to the bowling department, Mumbai Indians have the best players in the Indian Premier League but, they need to focus on taking wickets early on in the match to take control of the match.

Mumbai Indians Squad



Probable playing 11

1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Lalit Yadav, 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Amit Mishra, 11 Avesh Khan

Delhi Capitals

In the last 3 matches they have played, Delhi Capitals lost to Rajasthan Royals till now and won against Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings. In these two matches they played well but, Rajasthan Royals, their batting lineup just collapsed.

Delhi capitals need to be careful with the Mumbai Indians bowling line up which is much stronger compared to the Punjab Kings.

Replacing Ajinkya Rahane with Steven Smith is a great idea but the team need to put him for good use with the bat. He can bat well but he needs some time to connect the ball. Once he settles, he is a more dangerous batsman.

Unless the team gets a good start with the bat in the powerplay, the team is in big trouble and might lose the match. They can do a fair bit with bowling but can't do wonders like Mumbai Indians did in those two matches.

In the last two games, the scores in Chennai are considerably more when compared to the previous matches and the team that bats first can score more and defend the other team to less score. The chasing team needs to do a good partnership in the powerplay and death to win this match. 

Delhi Capitals Squad


Probable Playing 11

1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Ishan Kishan, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Jayant Yadav, 9 Rahul Chahar, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

IPL 2021 CSK vs RR Match 12 report

 

image:BCCI

After the toss, Rajasthan Royals elected to bowl first and told that the bowling first works in this pitch and trusts his team and played with the same team as the last match. Even CSK has gone with the same team as the last match.

In the 4th over, Rutraj Gaikwad 10 (13), departed in the Mustafizur Rahman's over after giving a catch to Shivam Dube at the mid-off.

After that, in the Jaydaev Undakat's 5th over, Faf du Plessis 33(17), scored 19 runs with the help of four boundaries and caught out R Parag in the 6th over by Chris Moriss. This the one of the costliest over for Rajasthan Royals.

Then, it's Moeen Ali Turn to hit a few boundaries and got out in Rahul Tewatia's 10th over after giving the catch to R Parag in the deep mid-wicket.

When Ambato Rayadu and Suresh Raina are about to get a 50 runs partnership, in Chetan Sakariya's 14th over the ball was caught by R Parag at sweeper cover.

From then on, Rajasthan Royals bowlers started to take regular wickets and didn't give any time for CSK batsman to settle.

But in the last three overs, RR bowlers gave no less than 15 runs per over, this is the costly mistake they have done. Dwyane Bravo and Sam Curran are the heroes for scoring runs in the death overs.

By the end of the Innings, Chennai Super Kings made 188 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 20 overs.

With a big target to chase, Rajasthan Royals batsmen came to the crease. The openers Manan Vohra and Jos Buttler started with a good 11 runs in the first over. From then the dot balls started to increase, in Sam Curran's 5th over, Manan Vohra 14(11) was caught by Jadeja.

Immediately after that, Sanju Samson was departed in Sam Curran's 6th over by giving a catch to Dwyane Bravo at the mid-on.

With help of Shivam Dube 17(20), Jos Buttler 49(35) trying to build a partnership to rescue the team but, in the 11th over, Jadeja took both of their wickets at the start and end of the over.

From this moment Rajasthan Royals lost their upper hand, the CSK bowlers are taking wickets regularly and made their situation worse.

Rahul Tewatia and Jaydev Unadkat tried to revive the RR from the death bed but, the equation is unsolvable for them too and departed later. In this innings, Ravindra Jadeja took four catches which are almost near the boundary line.

Chennai Super Kings won the match by 45 runs. These are the runs that Chennai Super Kings scored in the last 3 overs of their innings. Those three overs did cost Rajasthan Royals a match.

 

Monday, April 19, 2021

IPL 2021 CSK vs RR Match 12 Preview

image: BCCI


Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals lost a match each after playing 2 matches in the tournament. This match is important for everyone as the CSK is in the 4th position before this match with 2 points and the RR is just behind CSK with the very same 2 points, just a difference in run rate.

Those who win this match will claim the 4th position and two extra points in the table. The match is going to begin at 7:30 PM at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

Chennai Super Kings

Till now, CSK lost a match to Delhi Capitals and won the match against the Punjab Kings. We can say that the CSK bowlers performance is improved from the first match compared to the second. 

In the first match against DC, CSK bowlers felt the pressure to deliver the wickets but failed to do so and gave runs to the DC batsmen. In the second match against PBKS, from the beginning, CSK bowlers showed their upper hand by taking 3 wickets in the powerplay.

Today, it might be different, as, in the last game between the DC and PBKS, the bowlers seem too hard to pick wickets in the first innings of the match. So the team that opt to bat first might have the advantage.

CSK's batting is improved compared to the last season of the IPL. The top order is in the good form and scored runs till now and has a good strike rate in the powerplay.

The CSK batsmen need to be cautious with Chetan Sakariya, Jaydaev Unadkat and Criss Morris as they are the most dangerous bowlers from RR.

And the CSK bowlers need to pick the RR's top order as soon as possible to decrease the risk of leaking the runs.

Lungi Ngidi might be playing this match as he has completed his mandatory quarantine after coming from South Africa. 

Chennai Super Kings Squad


Probable Playing 11

 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad/Robin Uthappa, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Sam Curran, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 9 Dwayne Bravo/Lungi Ngidi, 10 Shardul Thakur, 11 Deepak Chahar.

Rajasthan Royals


In the first match against the Punjab Kings, the captain missed the victory by just a few yards. That's a match that will be remembered for a while.

In the second match against the Delhi Capitals, the bowlers showed their full extent of performance. Especially, Jaydev Unadkat, who took 3 wickets of the DC's top order in the powerplay which helped to win the game.

Compared to the first match, RR batsmen struggled to bat in the second due to some exceptional bowling from Delhi Capitals. If RR batsmen tremble like this today's match, the CSK's bowling lineup will finish them off in no time.

The most dangerous bowlers for RR batsmen is Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar in the powerplay and Sam Curran in the death overs.

RR bowlers need to pick CSK batsmen wickets regularly by not allowing them to build any full-fledged partnership in the game. This is the only strategy that helps them to restrict them.

Rajasthan Royals Squad



Probable Playing 11

1 Jos Buttler, 2 Manan Vohra, 3 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 4 Shivam Dube, 5 David Miller, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Chris Morris, 9 Jaydev Unadkat/Shreyas Gopal, 10 Chetan Sakariya, 11 Mustafizur Rahman.

IPL 2021 PBKS vs DC Match 11 report

image: BCCI


After winning the toss, Delhi capitals elected to bowl first in the second doubleheader match of the day.

Punjab Kings had a wonderful start with KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal in the first innings of the match. They both scored a whopping  122 runs in 77 balls, which is the highest opening partnership in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League till now.

Mayank Agarwal scored his 8th IPL fifty in just 25 balls with seven 4's and two 6's, which really helped the team to cross 50 runs in just 31 balls. By the end of the powerplay, PBKS scored 59 runs without losing a wicket.

KL Rahul too scored a wonderful 50 in just 45 balls with six 4's and a 6 on his birthday. With regular running between the wickets and regular boundaries, the duo made a feast for the eyes until the partnership is broken.

In Meriwala's 13th over, Mayank Agarwal 69 (36) departed after giving a catch to Shikar Dhawan. A first breakthrough for the Delhi Capitals. Their happiness didn't last long as the universal boss entered.

In Marcus Stoinis's 15th over, KL Rahul 61(51) got out after giving a catch to Rabada in the deep mid-wicket. Immediately in the next over of Chris Woakes, Chris Gayle 11 (9) caught in the extra cover a substitute player RV Patel.

Then Nicholas Pooran 9(8) just like in the other matches he got out quickly. Deepak Hooda 22 (13) and Sharukh Khan 15 (5) played really well in the last few overs. By the end of the innings, Punjab Kings scored 195 runs with a loss of four wickets in 20 overs.

Delhi Capitals

With a big score to chase, Delhi Capitals openers Shikar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw opened the innings with a good start.

Delhi Capitals crossed the first 50 runs in just 29 balls, which is 2 balls less compared to Punjab Kings. In the 6th over, Delhi Capitals lost its first wicket of Prithvi Shaw32 (17) in the Arshdeep Singh's over caught by Chris Gayle at square leg.

Then Steven Smith 9 (12) got out a 48 run partnership with Shikar Dhawan in  Meredith's 9th over which is caught by Richardson at third man.

After that, Rishab Pant and Shikar Dhawan made another 45 run partnership in 25 balls which in turn helped to decrease the required run rate. 

Especially in Meridith's 14th overs, Shikar Dhawan smashed 3 consecutive 4's and the next ball is wide and KL Rahul failed to stop the ball, which went to the boundary. This is the most expensive over bowled by the Punjab Kings to Delhi Capitals.

In the 15th over, Richardson got Shikar Dhawan 92(49), the ball hit the middle stumps. Shikar Missed his hundred in the match. Then Stoinis and Pant played for a while and smashed a few boundaries.

Then in the 18th over, Deepak Hooda caught Rishab Pant 15(16) in Richardson's over, the catch is comical in its own way, as he succeeded in the 4th attempt. You will able to watch it in the highlights below.

Then Marcus Stoinis and Lalit Yadav scored the remaining runs with 10 balls left. Mohammed Shami failed to take wickets in the middle overs as the pressure got to him and gave more runs.

Overall, a wonderful game with full-on entertainment and a festival of boundaries in the 11th match and the second match of the first doubleheader. 

Watch the highlights here

Sunday, April 18, 2021

IPL 2021 RCB vs KKR Match 10 report

image: BCCI


After winning the toss, RCB chose to bat first in the first doubleheader of the IPL in M.A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.

At first, Royal Challengers Bangalore lost 2 wickets, Virat Kohli 5(6)and Raj Patidar 1(2) in the 2nd over of  Varun Chakravathi's. From then, Glen Maxwell and Devdutt Padikal made a wonderful partnership of 86 runs in 56 balls.

Most of the runs are from Glenn Maxwell, he played his best innings in the last few years in the IPL and scored his 8th IPL fifty since his debut in 2012. 

From 2017 to 2020, he didn't score any fifties, this is the second fifty in this year. The change in camp from Kings XI Punjab to Royal Challengers Bangalore has really worked for him. 

In Prasidh Krishna's 11th over, Rahul Tripathi caught the ball after Devdutt Pidikal 25 (28) tried to hit for a boundary and got out. The AB de Villiers entered and the scoreboard started to change the score fast after every ball.

In 37 balls, both Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers smashed the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers balls to every corner of the boundary and made a beautifully 50 runs partnership. The boundaries literally rained in the Chepuk Stadium, Chennai just because of them.

Unfortunately for RCB, Glenn Maxwell 78(49), got out in Pat Cummins 17th over while trying to pull the short ball, which was caught by Harbajan Singh in the third man. After this innings, right now he is the batsman in this season of IPL with the most runs.

Even after then, AB de Villiers didn't stop to rain boundaries with Kyle Jamieson. In the last 4 overs, AB de Villers and K Jamieson scored 70 runs against KKR. This is the highest runs scored by a team in death overs in this edition of IPL.

After the end of the innings, RCB scored 204 with a loss of 4 wickets in the 20 overs.

Kolkata Knight Riders

With a huge target to chase, Kolkata Knight Riders opened their innings. At first, KKR batsmen started with good pace but, in the second over Shubman Gill 21(9) caught to in Jameison over. Then Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana tried to revive the situation but no use.

At the end of the powerplay, KKR lost Rahul Tripathi 25 (20) in Washington Sundar's over. Then in the next over Nitish Rana 18 (11) departed in the Yuzuvendra Chahal's over, caught by Devdutt Padikal at the deep midwicket.

In the Y Chahal's 8th over, Dinesh Karthi 2(5) departed after an LBW. From then, the required run rate is increasing and the RCB is gaining control of the match by taking regular wickets and bowling the dot balls.

After that Eoin Morgan and Shakib Al Hassan tried to revive the KKR, by building the partnership. Their efforts almost succeeded until Harshal Patel took Eoin Morgan's 29 (23) wicket, in the 14th over. They both built a partnership of 40 runs in 31 balls.

Then Andre Russell came and started to hit consecutive boundaries, suddenly the run rate started to come down for a moment. 

In Jameison's 18th over, he took two wickets of Shakib Al Hassan and Pat Cummins. With these wickets, RCB had confidence that they are going to win this match but Andre Russell is in the crease.

In Mohammed Siraj's 19th over, the bowler just gave a run in that over. As the penultimate over is crucial for both the chasing and defending team, Siraj did a wonderful job which confirmed the RCB victory.

At last, Royal Challengers Bangalore won the match by 38 runs. What an interesting match to watch, but by the end, the game converted to one side after the powerplay in the second innings.


IPL 2021 DC vs PBKS Match 11 Preview

image: BCCI


This is the second match of today's doubleheader where Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings will be playing each other in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

In the previous match, Punjab Kings lost to the Chennai Super Kings as their batsmen failed to face the CSK bowler. In the first match against the Rajasthan Royals, they successfully defended the total they scored in the last over.

Delhi Capitals won their first match against the Chennai Super Kings with their amazing all-around performance in the game. But in the second game, they lost to Rajasthan Royals after poor top-order performance and unavailability of their star bowlers.

Delhi Capitals

First, let's talk about the top-order, Prithvi Shaw and Shikar Dhawan were the important batsmen for their team score. If they failed to do so, Rishab Pant is their next best hope. 

Anjikya Rahane and Shimron Hetmeyer aren't guaranteed players who can score runs, depending upon the situation they both acts.

Coming to Marcus Stoinis, he needs to come into the crease a couple of overs early before the death overs, then only he can do a good score.

Coming to the bowling, Anrich Nortje might join the team today as per the espncricinfo.com reports. If he is back into the attack, Delhi Capital's bowling will be as strong as a wall. They have got good spinners and death over bowlers to stop the flow of runs.

Delhi Capitals Squad



Probable Playing 11

 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Lalit Yadav, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Anrich Nortje

Punjab Kings

In the match against the Chennai Super Kings, the Punjab Kings made a huge mess in the powerplay by losing wickets way too early. This has built a lot of pressure to score runs on the batsmen who came into the crease later on. 

With that pressure, they lost the wickets quickly and unable to score any runs in the match. Sharukh Khan has done a good job for the Punjab Kings in the middle overs. If the team can find a place for him up in the batting lineup, he can do wonders in the matches with the bat.

In today's match, PBKS top-order batsmen need to be extra careful and score few extra runs before Kagiso Rabada comes to the bowling, as he can break the partnership in his overs.

PBKS spinners need to spin more in this match as the pitch will be helping them, if not R Ashwin uses it against them in the middle overs.

Punjab Kings Squad



Probable Playing 11

1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 KL Rahul (capt, wk), 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Deepak Hooda, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Shahrukh Khan, 7 Jhye Richardson, 8 M Ashwin, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Riley Meredith, 11 Arshdeep Singh


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