IPL 2021 KKR vs MI Match 5

image: BCCI

Every team in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League has now played a match each. Out of the eight teams, four teams are on the top and the four teams are at the bottom of the points table.

These positions will be changed entirely in the due course of the tournament but, we can see which team has flaws and which team doesn't with this table. 

In the forthcoming games, we will see how the teams will be able to rectify their flaws to be the table-toppers at the end of the league stage.

Today, the fifth match is going to be between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians in M.A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.

Kolkata Knight Riders

In the first match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, KKR managed to win the game by scoring big in the first innings and bowling really well in the second Innings.

The middle-order batsmen didn't perform well in the last match but, luckily the top order did stay strong in the crease for a while. Especially, Rahul Tripathi's innings is amazing he scored 53 runs out of 29 balls.

Coming to bowling, the team did choose to go first over with Harbajan Singh but didn't give another chance in the middle overs. With his experience, he can be able to pick wickets.

Kolkata Knight Riders Squad

Probable Playing 11:

Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Shakib Al Hassan, Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakraborty. 

Mumbai Indians

In the first match, Mumbai Indians lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by 2 wickets. Mumbai Indians are unable to score runs in the death overs of the first innings of the match. 

RCB bowler Harshal Patel picked a five-wicket haul in that match. Out of those five, four are in the final over of the match and he didn't give the Mumbai Indian's batsmen score extra runs in the final over.

What the Mumbai Indians should sort in this match?

The teams opening pair - Eventhough, Chris Lynn scored a good 49 runs in 35 balls, he failed to communicate with his partner at the other end of the 22 yards. This costed Mumbai Indians Rohit Sharma's wicket in the early stages. They need to get Quinton de Kock back to the playing 11.

The death batting - The Mumbai Indians have the highest death overs run rate compared to other teams due to their famous players Hardik and Kieron Pollard. But they failed to deliver the runs for their team. This need to change very soon.

Bowling - Except for Rahul Chahar, everyone bowled well and able to pick the wickets but the team need Hardik Pandya as the all-rounder to play more efficiently.

Mumbai Indians Squad

Probable Playing 11 *: Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wk), Anmolpreet Singh, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya. Kieron Pollard, Adam Milne, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Piyush Chawla/Rahul Chahar.

Toss:  The team who won the toss will be going to bowl first. They didn't want to break the trend which is happening in the IPL right now.

Hurricane Hooda of Punjab Kings

image: BCCI

When the Punjab Kings lost Universal Boss Chris Gayle's wicket in the Parag's 10th over, a hurricane struck the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

Deepak Hooda, this 25-year-old right-hand batsmen really rained sixes and four in the stadium against the Rajasthan Royals in the 4th match of 14 the edition of the Indian Premier League and scored 64 runs. This IPL fifty make's the third in his IPL career. 

In the 28 balls, he faced in the match, he sent 10 balls to the boundaries. In which six of them were 6's and four of them were 4's. In the 4th match, he has the highest strike rate of 228.57 and has recorded the fastest fifty in this edition of IPL.

Last year in Dubai, Hooda scored a whopping 62 runs in 30 balls against the Chennai Super Kings when the team needed the most.

Watch his wonderful innings down below.

IPL 2021 RR vs PBKS Match 4

image: BCCI

Today in the Indian Premier League, Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings are going to fight for the two points in their first match of the season in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

In the second match between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals, the team won the toss chose to field and restrict the opponent to a lower score.

You can expect that same strategy today also on this ground. Just like in the last game the pitch may favour seamers and can easily score runs between 180-190 in the innings.

Rajasthan Royals

In the previous edition of the IPL in Dubai, Rajasthan Royals found it hard to win the matches even with good lower-middle order and a good bowling line up.

The team just managed to win 6 out of 14 matches on the league stage and finished last in the points table. There are a few matches that are lost just because of a lack of planning and implementation.

Rahul Tewatia, an unknown player before last year IPL match started to hit sixes and saved a few matches when the top and middle-order batsman failed.

The team management changed the entire stakes in the team by releasing their captain Steven Smith and others from the team and brought few new players.

 The most interesting buys are Chris Morris for 16.25 crores and Shivam Dubey for 4.4 crores. These all-rounders have to bring a good batting lineup for the team.

Here is the squad of Rajasthan Royals

Probable Playing 11

Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson (C), Mahipal Lormor, Shivam Dube, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Sreyas Gopal, Karthik Tyagi, Andrew Tye 

Punjab Kings

With a brand new team and brand new players, the franchise looks promising on the paper. The team brought new players for a huge price as they had a deep purse at the start of the auction.

The costliest buy for the team is a bowler, Jhye Richardson for 14 crores followed by another bowler Riley Meredith for 8 crores followed by an all-rounder Moises Henriques for 4.2 crores.

With these new buy's the team had a decent bowling lineup in the paper and with the addition of Shahrukh Khan for 5.25 crores the batting lineup might also improve.

Even though they fought hard for the victories the old team finished third last just top of Chennai Super Kings last year in Dubai.

Here is the Punjab Kings squad.

Probable playing 11 

KL Rahul (c & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Shahrukh Khan, Chris Jordan, Jhye Richardson, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami.

The new celebration of Nitish Rana indicates friendship

image: BCCI

After scoring his 12th IPL 50, Nitish Rana gestured something different to celebrate his half-century and unseen before in the Indian Premier League history.

Later on, in the match, he played wonderful innings and scored 80 runs in 56 balls before giving a catch to Vijay Shankar in Mohammed Nabi's 18th over.

If a player scored a half-century, each player has a different style of celebration according to the moment. Jadeja does his sword with the bat and I have seen Tendulkar lifts his bat and helmet while looking up to the sky. 

In an interview with Harbajan Singh After the completion of the match, Nitish Rana said, that he made the gesture to show the bond between their friends, and he has also sung the song for their friendship.

You can watch the video here.

IPL 2021 SRH vs KKR Match 3 Report

 

image: BCCI

After winning the toss, Sunrisers Hyderabad Captain David Warner choose to bowl first just like in the first match between MI and RCB.

The match started with a four from Nitish Rana in Buvaneshwar Kumar's over and ended with an LBW appeal, David Warner didn't take it upstairs.

From then, Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill punished the bad balls to the boundaries and defended the good balls from the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers.

They both made a good partnership of 52 runs in 42 balls until Rashid Khan got Shubman Gill's 15 (13) wicket at the end of the 7th over. 

After that Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana made another marvellous partnership of 93 runs in 50 balls. When the Natrajan Bowled a slower ball to Tripathi 53 (29), the ball edged and raised high towards and caught by the wicketkeeper.

Immediately after that, Andre Russell 5(5), Nitish Rana 80(56) and Eoin Morgan2(3) got out to the Afghan spinners. 

Rashid Khan and Mohammed Nabi stopped the runs massacre for SRH with their brilliant bowling efforts. If they didn't pick those wickets in time, the score would have crossed 200 runs. 

Then in the death overs, Dinesh Karthik 22(9) and Shakib Al Hassan 3(5) played few shots which sent the ball to the boundaries and they both scored a total of 27(16).

With their effort, Kolkata Knight Riders scored 187 runs in the 20 overs at a loss of  6 wickets.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

With a Target of 188 runs to chase in 20 overs, David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha opened the Innings. Harbajan Singh bowled the first over after the 2019 CSK finals.

In the second over, David Warner 3(4) gave a catch to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthi in the Prasidh Krishna's over. Then the SRH lost W Saha's 7(6) wicket at the beginning of the third over to Shakib Al Hassan.

Manish Pandey and Jhonny Bairstow made an excellent partnership and scored a whopping 92 runs in 67 balls. At the end of the 13th over, Pat Cummins claimed the J Bairstow wicket 55(40). 

From then, the SRH run-rate started to decline, Manish Pandey tried to revive it but no use. The Sunrisers batsmen started to surrender their wickets to the KKR bowlers. At last, there are no balls remaining to score the runs.

Kolkata's wonderful bowling and experience helped them to win this first match. Sunrisers Hyderabad's bad middle-order and the inexperienced batting lineup costed the match. Manish Pandey's and Jhonny Bairstows fabulous fifty's goes in vain.

Nitish Rana has awarded with man of the match for his excellent innings of 80 runs in 56 balls.

IPL 2021 SRH vs KKR Match 3

image: Hotstar

The third match of the Indian Premier League 2021 is between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Kolkata Knight Rider on the 11th of April.

Sunrisers is captained by David Warner and the Kolkata Knight Riders are led by the Worldcup-winning team captain Eion Morgan.

Both the teams won the title at least once in these fourteen years, but last year the teams fought a very thought fight to enter the knock-out stage.

Only Sunrisers Hyderabad was able to enter the knockout stage but, in the 2nd qualifiers match Delhi Capitals won the match by 17 runs, which led the team to drop out of the series.

Coming to Kolkata Knight Riders, they were in the 5th position in the points table last year. The team announced a change in captaincy in the midseason due to the frequent loss of the matches on the league stage. 

Dinesh Karthik stepped out of the captaincy, and England cricket team captain, Eion Morgan took his place, after that the team started to win the matches.

The match is going to be played in Chennai. The broadcast starts at 6 PM today on Star Sports Channels.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

SRH just added three players in the auction this year. The big buy is Kedhar Jadhav for 2 crores, followed by the Bangladesh Bowler Mujeeb Ur Rehman for 1.5 crores and Jagadeesha Suchit for 30 Lakhs.

The main problem for the Sunrisers are the middle order, if the top order performed well the team will win obviously. But, if the top order fails, there is no one in the middle order to win the matches.

Here comes the Kedhar Jadhav, he performs well in the middle order than in the top-middle or lower-middle order.  

Coming to the bowling department, they have the best bowlers in the team with good spin options and fast bowling. Adding Mujeeb Ur Rehman to the squad is a plus point for the team.

Here is the Sun Riser Hyderabad Squad.

Probable Playing 11* : 

 David Warner (c), Jhonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jhadav, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad, Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, T Natrajan.

Team News:

Kolkata Knight Riders

After last year loss, KKR brought in some big guns to the team Shakib Al Hassan was one among them for 3.5 crores, next inline was Harbajan Singh for 2 crores to strength up the spin bowling, followed by Ben Cutting, Karun Nair, Pawan Negi, Venkatesh Iyer, Sheldon Jackson and Vibhav Arora.

Hope this team would deliver the trophy this year.

Coming to last year performance, KKR just lost their touch in winning the matches. They scored big runs but unable to defend or unable to chase the small totals.

The team has flaws in both the batting and bowling department. With the new recruits, the team has huge chances to overcome their flaws very soon. Otherwise, the history repeats this year too.

Here is the KKR Squad

Probable Playing 11* :

Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Shakib Al Hassan, Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakraborty.     

Team News

Pitch

In the first match between the Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the team won the toss to choose the fielding first to restrict the opponent to a small score.

In this match too, the team which won the toss may choose to bowl first and restrict the opponent to a lower score and chase the score.

Here is the video of the pitch report in the first match.

Suresh Raina's come back in IPL 2021

image: BCCI

 

After a year gap, we all saw Suresh Raina bat for the Chennai Super Kings in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. He Scored an amazing 54 runs in 36 balls, after losing quick wickets.

With the help of Moeen Ali and Amabati Rayudu, Suresh Raina built a fabulous partnership when the team need the most. 

Here is his knock against Delhi Capitals in match 2

Match Report for CSK vs Delhi Match-2

image: BCCI

After winning the toss, Delhi Captains new rookie captain Rishabh Pant opted to bowl first due to the due factor on the ground. 

Chennai Super Kings lost their first wicket of Faf du Plessis 0(3) in the 2nd over to Avesh Khan. Then Immediately, Ruturaj Gaikwad 5(8) gave a catch to Shikar Dhawan in the Chris Woakes over. 

After these two back to back wickets, Moeen Ali and Suresh Raina built a 53 run partnership in 38 balls with regular boundaries. After a long time, it's good to see Suresh Raina hitting sixes in the stadium. He missed the last season of IPL due to personal reasons.

This partnership is broke by the veteran Indian spinner R Ashwin in the 9th over. Moeen Ali 36(24) gave a catch to Shikar Dhawan at the third man, trying to sweep the ball offside, after hitting two consecutive sixes.

Then Ambati Rayudu joins the party with Suresh Raina, they both too made a 63 runs partnership in 33 balls. When they are batting, boundaries rained in the Wankhede Stadium. This rain didn't last too long. 

At the end of the 14th over, Ambati Rayudu 23(16) gave a catch to Shikar Dhawan in Tom Curran's over. In the Anvesh Khan's over, due to a miscommunication and bowlers fault, Suresh Raina 54(36) got runout.

Immediately after that, the captain of CSK M S Dhoni got out in the Anvesh Khan's over. After seeing MS Dhoni got out, my heart just skipped a beat. That was his 4th duck out in the Indian Premier League.

Then Curran brothers fought each other but, the younger brother Sam Curran won it by hitting his brother over to the boundaries with the help of R Jadeja.

At the end of the first Innings, CSK made 188 runs in 20 overs by losing 7 wickets.

Second Innings

Prithvi Shaw and Shikar Dhawan opened the innings for the Delhi Capitals and made a huge partnership of 138 runs in 88 balls. The CSK fielders dropped the Prithvi Shaws's catch twice in the match.

They both punished the CSK bowlers with regular boundaries, they make sure they had at least two boundaries in an over, for 10 overs. They maintained 10 runs in an over till they are back to the pavilion.

By the time Dwayne Bravo took the wicket of Prithvi Shaw 72(38), it's too late to stop Delhi from capitals scoring runs. After some time, Shikar 85 (54) gave his wicket to S Thakur.

Pant, Marcus Stoinis and Shimron Hetmyer completed the match by scoring the few runs left by the openers. At last, the rookie captain won the match for his team by hitting a four.

Here are the Match Highlights

Mumbai Indians Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore Match highlights IPL2021

Image: BCCI

 

After winning the toss after a while, RCB captain Virat Kohli opted to bowl to restrict the opposite team Mumbai Indians to the lowest score possible.

His plan worked in the name of Harshal Patel, in the 4 overs, he took four important wickets in the death overs and restricted the Mumbai Indians to 159/9.

With a decent target to chase, RCB started the second innings with new and inexperienced players. With small cameos, two top-order batsmen were back to the pavilion.

Then came Glenn Maxwell, with the help of Virat they both build a good partnership until Bumrah got him.

Then, single-handedly AB de Villiers scored maximum runs and got runout, the remaining run was scored by Harsshal Patel and M Siraj.

Here are the Highlights of the Match. 

Important moments of MI vs RCB Match 1

image: BCCI, Rohit Sharma Hitting six in Match 1

Here are some important moments in the first match of the Indian Premier League between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

 

Harshal Patel's last over

First, let us talk about Harshal Patel, A right-arm seamer with a big outswinger from Gujarat who just took control of the death overs yesterday with his balls. In his last over, he took 4 wickets, including a run out in the last ball.

In the last four overs of Mumbai Indians innings, the team managed to score only 32 runs and lost 6 wickets. The usual Mumbai Indians used score no less than 60-70 runs in the death overs.

But this time the team found it hard even to rotate the strike. The death overs specialist batsman from the Mumbai Indians Keiron Pollard, Hardik Pandya find it hard to connect the balls. Their combined score is just 20 (19)

Coming to the last over, Mumbai Indians messed up it big time with no runs scored in this over. The star of this Innings is Harshal Patel with his superb bowling.

Rohit Sharma run out

At the end of the 4th over Rohit Sharma got out with a huge mixup from the striker Chris Lynn. After a good googly from the Y Chahal, the striker Chris Lynn made a call to the non-striker Rohit Sharma to run. 

But in the midway, Lynn changed his decision and returned back as the ball didn't pass the inner circle.

In this process, Rohit Sharma got out 19(15). You can see the frustration of Rohit Sharma after he got out. Quinton de Kock missing from the game is really bad luck for Rohit Sharma.

Chris Lynn's Knock

After the bad call, Chris Lynn 49(35) really played a good knock with a little help from Suryakumar Yadav 31 (23). They both build a good partnership of 70 runs in 44 balls.

Chris hit 4x4's and 3x6's as an opener for Mumbai Indians before giving his wicket to Washington Sundar. By the end of the innings, Mumbai Indians scored 159/9 by messing the last over.

Marco Jansen 15th over

With Virat Kohli, Washington Sundar opened the second innings. In just a few balls, Kurnal Pandya got the first wicket of W Sundar 10 (16) and then after a short cameo Rajat Patidar got out 8(8). Then Glenn Maxwell came to the crease. They both build a good partnership of 52 runs in 42 balls.

Glenn is sending the ball to boundaries in all directions. There is a good cop and bad cop situation on the ground. Maxi is hitting and Kohli is rotating the strike.

Virat departed in the Bumrah 13th over for LBW. Then in the Marco Jansen 15th over, he departs Glenn Maxwell and the Shabaz Ahmed in the same over.

AB de Villier Superb Knock

Ab de Villiers came in the middle order than in the top order. That changed in the batting lineup is really thoughtful as the young batsmen in the top order of the RCB line failed drastically.

Once he came into the field, he started swinging the bat. Eventhough he cost a wicket for a rookie batsman, he did what has to be done at that moment. 

The non-strikers didn't hold their wicket when the AB de Villiers is batting. Mumbai Indians targeted the non-strikers instead of AB. This plan of action really changed his perspective and knocked the ball hard.

In the last moment when he tried to get two runs, he got run out due to a silly mistake. Kurnal Pandya didn't waste any time throwing the ball to the wicket-keeper.

 

IPL 2021 Match 1 MI vs RCB Match 2nd innings report

Image: BCCI, AB deVilliers after getting run out.

After Mumbai Indians set a total of 159 runs on the scoreboard, Virat Kohli opened the second innings along with Washington Sundar. In 5th over, Washington Sundar 10 (16) was caught by Chris Lynn in the Kurnal Pandya's over.

Then the RCB rookie Patidar back to the pavilion after a short cameo in the Trent Boult's over. Then came the 'X' factor, Glenn Maxwell, he and Virat Kohli build a good partnership of 52 runs in 42 balls. I thought they both will complete the match in just 15 overs.

Then in the 13th over, Burmarh got Virat Kohli 33 (29) via an LBW. From then, the run rate went down for the two overs. After Kohli's wicket, Glenn Maxwell 39 (28) got out in the MI debut player Jansen.

Maxwell really played well in this innings like he has something to prove to himself. AB de Villers replaced Kohli and Shabaz Ahmed replaced Glenn Maxwell.

Shabaz got out for just 1 run in 2 balls in the same Jansen over where Maxwell got out. This wicket really placed the RCB in the tough spot, as no player is backing the AB de Villers.

Then Dan Christain replaced the Shabaz, he rotated the strikes and gave the AB d Villers the chance to hit the ball to score runs. He just stayed in the crease for 3 balls before J Bumrah got him. 

Then, Kyle Jamieson got run out, he was called by the AB de Villiers to get the strike for the next ball. As the ball is near to the bowler Bumrah, he hit the wickets. 

In the next over, AB de Villiers got run out in the process of taking two runs. Instead of running in a straight line, he ran a circle at the other end before coming to the crease, this made him lose time. Kurnal Panday passed the ball at the exact moment to Ishan Kishan.

Then, Harshal Patel and Mohammed siraj won the game by making the final run in the final ball. The match is taken to the last ball.

The Man of the Match goes to Harshal Patel for his debut 4 wicket haul against the Mumbai Indians in the first match of IPL.

IPL 2021 Match 1 MI vs RCB Match 1st innings Report

image: BCCI Harshal Patel after taking 4 wicket haul against MI

After winning the toss for a long time, Royal Challenger Bangalore team captain Virat Kohli opted to bowl first thinking that, he can restrict the opposition Team Mumbai Indians for a low score. 

Rohit Sharma and Chris Lynn opened the innings for the Mumbai Indians. At the end of 3rd over, Chris Lynn got Rohit Sharma run out with a stupid call from him. 

When Suryakumar Yadav and Chris Lynn build a good partnership of  70 runs in 44 balls. Suryakumar Yadav got out by a ball from Jameison, while pulling a shot, the ball edged and carried to the wicketkeeper.

Then the MI young star player came to the crease when he is playing well and building a partnership with Chris Lynn. Chris Lynn got out, at one run short to 50. Then Hardik Pandya came and left very soon after playing 10 balls.

After that, the players came and gone like it's a cameo party. The so-called death over destructive batsman also left early.  At the end of 20 overs, the score is just 159/9. No one has a chance to hit the ball far in the last five overs, thanks to RCB bowler Harshal Patel.

The last over was a colossal mess for the Mumbai Indians, they lost four wickets in the last over. They gave three wickets to the new recruit Harshal Patel and a run-out in the last ball. 

Harshal proved himself by taking 4 wicket haul against the previous year champions. he didn't even flinch in the death overs. Especially, in the last over, he took three wickets which is really amazing for the young player.

If the Royal Challengers Bangalore won this match, it's because of Harshal Patel. If he didn't pick those wickets, the Mumbai Indians score would be around 190-200. 

CSK signs Jason Behrendorff

image: Athletesvoice.com.au

 After Josh Hazelwood opted out of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League due to bio-bubble fatigue, Chennai Super Kings signed Jason Behrendorff replacing Josh.

This 21-year-old Australian player has a decent bowling record in the T-20 format. In the seven matches he played, he picked seven wickets and has an economy under eight.

His debut T-20 match was against India in Ranchi on 7th October 2017, In the second T-20 match on 10th of October 2017, he picked 4 wickets just by giving 21 runs.

He got Rohit Sharma, Shikar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, and Manish Pandey's wicket in that match. Here is the scorecard of that match. He also played for the Mumbai Indians in the 2019 edition of IPL.

I would say, he is an excellent in-experienced left-arm bowler. As there is no reputed fast bowler who can deliver their best at the death overs for CSK, Jason would be the man for the job.

How to watch IPL in India?

Image: BCCI

The fourteenth edition of the Indian Premier League is going to start from tomorrow, this festival for fans going to last till 30th May.

As the coronavirus cases are spring in the country, the BCCI has announced the matches will be played behind closed doors without spectators in the stadium. 

This is the second year in a row that the fans are not allowed into the stadiums. Last season the entire IPL is played in Dubai.

England tour of India is the last time when the audiences are allowed into the stadiums to watch the matches at limited capacity in Motera Stadium, Ahmadabad.

So where to watch this festival of Sixes in India which lasts for almost two months?

Television

The first option is television, if you are having a DTH connection or cable connection to your house, you can tune your TV sets to Star Sports.

Star Sports have multiple channels with numbering for multiple language broadcastings. For English, tune to Star Sports 1, for Hindi, tune to Star Sports 2. For the regional languages, tune to respective channels.

The cost of these channels for both HD and SD will cost you around ₹23 for a month, so you can enjoy the whole IPL for just ₹46 for two months.

Mobile

The other option is Disney Plus Hotstar for watching on your mobile or on your laptop. Just for ₹399 a year you can get the Disney Plus Hotstar VIP subscription. 

With this subscription, you can watch the live cricket matches in your favourite language and you can also watch the latest Disney Plus only Marvel TV series that is going to release an episode a week.

How to buy the subscription?

1. You can just head to the Disney Plus Hotstar and buy a subscription by entering the required details and choose your preferred payment option to pay.
2. You can also buy the subscription on Paytm, Amazon Pay, Mobikwik and Phone Pe.
3. Recharge a data pack from your cellular provider that gives you a free Disney Plus Hotstar VIP subscription.

 For more details on the packs visit your cellular provider website.

1. Airtel
2. Jio
3. V!

A young bowler from Afghan bowled good balls to seniors

image: Twitter

Fazalhaq Farooqi, a 22-year old young Afghan left-arm pacer is brought by the Chennai Super Kings in the auction. He just played a single international T-20 match against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi and took a wicket by giving just 27 runs in four overs.

As the IPL matches are just two days away, the teams are playing practice matches among themselves by dividing up into two teams. The youtube is full of them in the last 48 hours. 

In the CSK practice sessions, Fazalhaq Farooqi bowled a few excellent balls to MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina. At first, he balled short balls to Suresh Raina, his weakest zone and then he balled wide yorkers for MS Dhoni.

Both the senior player found hard to send his balls to boundaries in the practice match. They just managed to rotate the strike between them with singles.

Josh Hazelwood opted out for the entire season and Lungi Ngidi will be unavailable for the next few matches due to mandatory quarantine.  Fazalhaq Farooqi will be the best option for the Chennai Super Kings for their pacer position.

This 22-year-old can do wonders in the forthcoming Indian Premier League edition if he played well and under MS Dhoni captaincy.

Here is the video of the Fazalhaq Farooqi bowling to Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni

Afghanistan's Fazalhaq Farooqi Bowling to Captain @msdhoni & @ImRaina During Practice Game 🔥#WhistlePodu #CSK #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/Jwm0CMeV0C

— Chennai Super Kings FC (@TeamSuperKings) April 6, 2021

Few overseas players to miss their first match

image: ICC

A few of the South African players to miss their first match. As they have just arrived in Indian after completing the first two ODI matches against Pakistan. According to the BCCI guidelines, the players have to be quarantined for a certain period of time.

If the quarantine period is two weeks, the players are going to miss at least three to four matches in this period. Most of these players are very important for the teams to win matches on the league stage.

I think the players will be under quarantine just for a week, to see whether they have developed symptoms and test regularly for the virus.

The list of players includes 

• Quinton de Kock, wicketkeeper and the opener of Mumbai Indians, 
• Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, wicket-taking bowlers from Delhi Capitals, 
• David Miller, a middle-order batsman from Rajasthan Royals, 
• Lungi Ngidi, pacer from Chennai Super Kings.

With this list, Delhi Capitals have to lose the most. As the team already missing their star captain Shreyas Iyer due to shoulder injury, Axar Patel Tested Positive for the coronavirus and the two most important bowlers will be missing their first match.

Wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock can be easily replaceable by Ishan Kishan. But you can't replace the reliable opener batsman Quinton de Kock. He has played a few wonderful innings in that position.

I think Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan will open the first match followed by Chris Lynn/ Anmolpreet Singh.

For Rajasthan Royals, David Miller is an option for the squad but not the only choice for the top-middle-order. For Chennai Super Kings, Lungi Ngidi is also an option as they use their new recruits to fill the seamer position in the team.

IPL 2021 CSK vs DC Match 2

The second match of the Indian Premier League 2021 is between the Chennai Super Kings and the Delhi Capitals on the 10th of April.

Chennai Super Kings led by the legendary, cool captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The team won three times in the IPL. But, last year the team didn't even qualified for the playoffs.

Delhi capitals, led by the rookie captain Rishab Pant by replacing Shreyas Iyer. As Shreyas Iyer injured his shoulder during an ODI match, he was ruled out for the entire season.

This team went to finals last year, and knock out stage the year before that. As the team is performing well, for the last two years, this year they might really have the chance to lift the cup.

The match starts at 7:30 PM IST in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The match will be played behind a closed door without spectators due to coronavirus.

Chennai Super Kings

The team is lead by MS Dhoni, a former captain of the Indian cricket team. With his experience, he led the team as a three-time champion in IPL. But, last year, the team didn't even make it to the knock-outs.

As CSK really struggled with their batting lineup and didn't have good middle-order batsmen. Raina, Harbajan Singh leaving the tournament due to personal reasons made a huge impact on the team.

The new includes such as Cheteshwar Pujara, K Gowtham, Moeen Ali might add strength to the batting and bowling line up. Moreover, Raina is back on the team. 

Here is the squad of Chennai super kings

Probable playing 11 *: This will be updated soon 

Team News

• Lungi Ngidi will not be playing the first match due to mandatory quarantine.
• Josh Hazelwood opted out of IPL 2021 due to personal reasons. 

Delhi Capitals

With a new captain and new purchases, the team is on fire this year. As they made almost to the finals last year, this year Delhi Capitals are already in the limelight. In 2019, the team made it to knockouts and lost to Chennai super kings in Vishakapatnam. They made it to the finals in the previous season and lost to Mumbai Indians. 

The change in captaincy and losing two important players for the first match might put DC in a tough place. They might struggle a bit from the start. If they opt to bat first, and if Shikar gave a good start and took the total score to 180 -190, the team might have an edge against CSK.

Here is the squad of Delhi Capitals

Probable Playing 11 *: Shikar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishab Pant (c &wk), Shemron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel/ Chris Woakes, R Ashwin, K Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma/ Umesh Yadav. 

Team News:

• Shreyas Iyer to miss the entire season due to a shoulder injury.
• Rishab Pant to take his place as Captain.
• Axar Patel has tested positive for coronavirus, he might not play the first match.
• Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje will no the playing the first match due to mandatory quarantine.

Toss: This will be updated soon

Pitch Report: This Will be updated soon

Weather: This will be updated soon

For detailed analysis visit https://digest.cricn.co.in.

*  Probable playing 11 is just a guess by my side after the careful analysis of the teams. These are not 100% garunteed.

You can join us for the live blog down below.

IPL 2021 MI vs RCB Match 1

The first match of the Indian Premier League 2021 edition to start with Mumbai Indians and the Royal challengers Bangalore on the 9th of April.

On one side, Mumbai Indians, who are in hunger for their 6th IPL trophy, on the other hand, Royal Challenger Bangalore with legends and yet to win a cup.

The match starts at 7:30 PM IST in M A Chidambaram Stadium at Chennai. The match will be played behind a closed door without spectators due to coronavirus.

Mumbai Indians 

Mumbai Indians are the dominating team in IPL. They won almost 70% of their matches in the IPL in the last two seasons. They have got a good batting lineup that can score even in death overs and good bowlers who can deliver wickets in the same death overs.

Here is the squad of Mumbai Indians for the 2021 IPL

Probable Playing 11*: Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wk), Anmolpreet Singh, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya. Kieron Pollard, Adam Milne, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Piyush Chawla/Rahul Chahar.

Team News: 

• Hardik Pandya will be playing as an all-rounder.
• Quinton de Kock to miss the first match due to mandatory quarantine. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore

One of the worlds top batsmen cum captain, a batsman cum wicket-keeper who can hit the ball in any direction, and the worlds best spinner is their team but they are unable to lift the IPL cup.

Devdutt Padikkal, a young talent, who recently showed his performance in the Vijay Hazare trophy secured a place in the team. But, due to coronavirus, he was quarantined in his house in Bengaluru.

The team didn't announce anything about his status in the first game. If he is still positive, he might not play in the first game. RCB needs Padikkal best performance in the powerplay to get a good score in the game.

Here is the Royal Challengers Bangalore Squad for IPL 2021:

 

Probable Playing 11*: Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, AB de Villers (wk), Washington Sundar, M Azharudeen, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Kyle Jamieson

For detailed analysis on the Dream 11 team visit https://digest.cricn.co.in.

* Probable playing 11 is just a guess by my side after the careful analysis of the teams. These are not 100% garunteed.

Team News

• Adam Zampa might not be available for the first match due to his marriage.
• Devdutt Padikkal tested positive for coronavirus on march 22nd. He might not play the first match.
• An Indian wicket-keeper will be behind the wickets for RCB. Not the Mr.360.
• Daniel Sams tested positive for coronavirus ahead of the first match.

Numbers:

Virat Kohli is just 122 runs away to reach 6000 runs in IPL.

Toss: The team that won the toss might choose to Bowl first. The dew later on the field might help score runs.

Pitch report: Chennai will always help spin bowlers very well. The dew in the second innings of the game might slightly change the outcome. The average runs scored in this ground is 144 runs. I would be expecting at least 150 to 170 on the board for the first innings. 

Weather: At the beginning of the match the temperature will be around 31 C and the temperature will be dropping to 29C with a partly cloudy sky. The winds will be blowing at 20 to 21 kph towards the city.

You can also join us for the live blog on the 9th of April 2021 down below

Star Sports broadcast crew tests positive

image: Getty Images, Philip Brown  

The Star Sports crew of fourteen members staying in bio-bubble at the four-season hotel tests positive for coronavirus. This crew is responsible for producing the world feed from 9th April on behalf of BCCI.

This list includes the cameraman, producer, directors, video editors and EVS operators (people who provide slow and ultra-motion replays and instant graphics). 

As per the reports by Outlook India, the BCCI is in charge of creating the bio-bubbles for the teams and the staff.

As the cases in the state of Maharashtra are rising at an alarming rate, the ground crew from the cricket stadium tested positive along with few players and a few IPL managers.

Recently, the state government announced partial lockdowns in the state to restrict the spread of the virus. At that time, everyone's eye is the IPL but, the government did not place any restrictions on the matches. With this decision, BCCI felt some relief for few hours.

That relief is spoiled with this news but, still, the BCCI is confident that the IPL will be played as planned. 

Star Sports is also managing another crew securely in bio-bubble at the JW Marriot hotel. These guys are responsible only for the customized feed for regional language. 

Sourav Ganguly said, “Once you are in a bubble nothing happens. Even in the UAE last season, there were a few such incidents in the lead-up to the event but once the tournament started everything was fine."

The Indian Premier League will be played without any changes, as per the assurance from the government and with the confidence of BCCI. 

Matches in Mumbai will be played as per schedule

image: IPL

According to the Cricbuzz report, the 10 matches which are scheduled at Mumbai will be played as per the schedule without any interruption. Despite the government's partial lockdowns at night and at weekends. 

As long as the teams maintain their bio-bubbles for the players and supporting staff, there will not be any restrictions on the Indian Premier League matches played in Wankhede stadium said Police Commissioner to MCA official.

image: ECB

In other news, Moeen Ali, the 33-year-old English player, who will be playing for the Chennai Super Kings in the 14th edition of IPL, refuses to wear the team jersey promoting the alcohol company. 

The team management respected and accepted his choice and made a special jersey without the alcohol company logo just for him.

As the player is from a religious family, he keeps his distance from alcohol even during the champagne popping celebrations after winning a match.

Chennai Super Kings paid seven crores for the player in the Auction.