IPL 2021 PBKS vs RCB Match 26 Report

 

image: BCCI

Royal Challengers Bangalore lost the second game this season, their first winning streak was broken by the Chennai Super Kings and their second winning streak is broke by Punjab kings. 

After winning the toss, RCB chose to bowl first, but their plans didn't go well. In the powerplay, Punjab Kings scored 49 runs just by losing a wicket.  

With the help of Chris Gayle, K L Rahul scored 80 runs in 45 balls. Their partnership really helped the team to score runs in the middle overs.

Then Chris Gayle got out in Daniel Sam's 11th over. Then Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda and Shahrukh Khan got out early by barely scoring any runs.

Then Harpreet Barr and KL Rahul built another partnership of 61 runs in 32 balls. Harshal Patel, the leading wicket-taker in the tournament gave the most runs in the death overs. 

By the end of the Innings, Punjab Kings scored 179 for a loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs.

With a decent and reasonable score to chase, Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal opened the second innings.

While trying to hit a glory shot, Devdutt Padikkal got bowled in Riely Merdith's 3rd over. Then, Harpreet Barr took Virat Kohli and Glen Maxwell's wickets in the 2 consecutive balls.

Glenn Maxwell didn't believe that he got out for quite some time. He eventually went back to the dugout after getting OUT for duck. Those balls from Harpreet were really amazing.

In the next over, Harpreet got  AB de Villiers. With the RCB top-order and their big guns failed to fire, the small guns scored a few runs to save the run rate for the points table.

Harpreet Barr, the bowler who single-handedly crushed RCB and helped his team to win the game. This is the 3rd win for the Punjab Kings. And the Royal Challengers Bangalore just fell to third place in the points table.

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 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 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.

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 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.

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 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

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

IPL 2021 PBKS vs CSK Match-8 report

image: BCCI

 

In this match too, the toss winning captain MS Dhoni chose to bowl first. That really seems to be a good decision as Chennai Super Kings restricted Punjab Kings for just 108 runs in 20 overs.

Most of the damage is done by Deepak Chahar in the powerplay, as he took a total of 3 wickets and runout in these overs. 

The Punjab Kings started with a very tough over, as their opener Mayank Agrawal 0(2) departed in the Rahul Chahar's first over. 

Followed by Punjab Kings Captain KL Rahul's 5(7) wicket in the 3rd over, after a miscommunication with the striker Chris Gayle, the skipper got run out, stumped by Ravindra Jadeja.

In the 4th over, Deepak Chahar took two wickets, Chris Gayle 10 (10), was caught out by Ravindra Jadeja in the short cover and Nicholas Pooran 0(2) was also caught by Shardul Thakur.

Hurricane Hooda of the last match also departed just after the powerplay in the Deepak Chahar's over caught by the Faf du Plessis in mid-off.

For then, Sharukh Khan 47(36) and Jhye Richardson 15 (22) tried to build a partnership, but that didn't help the Punjab Kings to score more.

By the end of the innings, Punjab Kings scored 106 with a loss of 8 wickets in 20 overs.

With a small target to chase, the CSK batsmen had a good start compared to PBKS as they just lost Rutraj Gaikwad's 5(16) wicket in the Arshdeep Singh's over. 

From then, Moeen Ali 46 (31) and Faf du Plessis 36*(33) built an amazing partnership of 64 runs in 46 balls with regular boundaries. As the target is short, the PBKS bowlers have no option of building pressure on the CSK batsmen.

By the end of the match, CSK batsmen struggled a bit after losing wickets to Mohammed Shami in the 15th over and chased the target with 26 balls and 6 wickets remaining.

Overall, the match is one-sided from the beginning and the match bored me a lot.

IPL 2021 PBKS vs CSK Match 8 Preview

image: BCCI

In the first match, Punjab Kings won against the Rajasthan Royals by defending a huge total and won by just 4 runs shy. Both the teams took the match to the final ball of the final over. Just by sheer luck, the Punjab Kings have won the match.

This time it will be different, today Punjab Kings will be playing against the Chennai Super Kings in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. In the 6th between RR and DC, both the teams found it difficult to score runs in the middle and final overs of the innings.

Let's see if any of the winning team captains chose to bat first. Since the first match, everyone is closing to bowl first.

Punjab Kings

In the first match, the top and middle-order batsmen played most of the innings, with more boundaries than the singles. In today's match, running between the wickets is important than the boundaries as the CSK bowlers are hard to hit for too many boundaries like in the previous match.

A partnership of the top and middle-order batsmen might be crucial for the PBKS to get a good score or chase a score. And the effective blowing from PBKS is going to decide their fate.

Arshdeep Singh really done a good job in the match against the Rajasthan, especially the last over of that match is unforgettable.

Shardul Thakur, with his bowling, can really do the damage to the PBKS batting lineup during the powerplay and Sam Curran at the death over. Sam can really show his impact on the scoreboard, if he can stop runs from flowing, the PBKS squad will be in real trouble. 

Coming to the batsmen, in the middle overs Ambati Rayadu and Suresh Raina can score runs for the team. More the time they stay in the field, the more damage for PBKS.

Here is the squad of Punjab Kings

Probable playing 11: 

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

Chennai Super Kings

In the first match against the Delhi capitals, CSK bowlers are unable to stop the runs from leaking. This is the main reason to lose the match. 

CSK didn't get any wickets of DC in the powerplay, if this happens today against PBKS, the score crosses 200 again.

KL Rahul, Chris Gayle and Deepak Hooda are done the most damage for the Rajasthan Royals. These three wickets are important for Chennai Super Kings.

CSK batsmen need to look after Arshdeep Singh in middle and death overs and Mohammed Shami in the powerplay. Both the bowlers can take wickets and will not give any runs which may hurt the run rate for CSK.

Here is the squad of Chennai Super Kings

Probable Playing 11 

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

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 report

image: BCCI

After winning the toss, Rajasthan Royals new captain Sanju Samson choose to bowl first like in the previous games of the IPL.

From the start, Punjab Kings showed their dominance by scoring 10 runs per over. I the third over bowled by the Sakariya, Mayank Agarwal 14 (9) got out.

Then Chris Gayle entered the pitch, he and KL Rahul built a partnership with fours and sixes. In the 10th over from Parag, Chris Gayle 40 (28) got out by giving a catch to Ben Stokes. Parag has tried bowling an underarm to him earlier, which is actually funny to watch.

Then entered the Punjab Kings hero of the match, Deepak Hooda. I think Rajasthan Royals have made a mistake by taking the wicket of Chris Gayle at a certain point in time during the match. 

Hooda is so destructive than the universal boss, Chris Gayle, especially during the middle overs as his strike rate is amazingly more than him. He started to hit the boundaries as the boundary line is in the 30-yard circle.

In the 18th over Deepak Hooda 64 (28), surrendered his wicket to Chris Moriss, by that time the damage is already done to Rajasthan Royals as the score crossed 200.

We need to talk about the good catch of Nicholas Pooran 0 (1) taken by the Sakariya at the end of the 18th over. Nicholas Pooran stayed longer at the boundary line waiting for the third umpire to review than in the crease.

Then the Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul 91 (50) got out in the Sakariya's over. By the end of the Innings, the Punjab Kings scored 221 runs in 20 overs.

Chetan Sakariya is the only bowler from the Royal's camp to have the economy rate under 8 with three wickets. The new buy Mustafzur Rahman seems to be costly with no wickets for him in the four overs he bowled.

To stop the leaking runs, the captain tried eight different bowling options in this game. Every bowlers seems to be expensive in the match.

Second Innings

With a huge target to chase, Rajasthan Royals, started with Ben Stokes and Manan Vohra as their openers. In the third ball of the first over, Mohammed Shami took the first wicket of the Ben Stokes 0 (3). This wicket is a huge loss for the Rajasthan Royals.

Then in the 4th over, Arshdeep singh, a bowler from Punjab Kings took the wicket of Manan Vohra 12 (8). Now the Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju and Jos buttler in the crease. They both have built a good partnership of 45 runs in 26 balls. 

In the 8th over of Jhye Richardson, Jos Buttler 25 (13) got out after a perfect yorker hit the wickets. Then Shivam Dubey got out after a 53 run partnership in the 13th over, when the ball hit his gloves and caught by the wicketkeeper behind.

Then Parag 25 (11) has also built a partnership of 52 runs in the 23 balls and got out to Mohammed Shami's bouncer in the 17th over.

Then last year's sensation lower order batsman for the Rajasthan Royals, Rahul Tewatia 2(4) small cameo didn't made much effect to the scoreboard.

In the final over, Rajasthan has to score 13 runs which is possible for the man in the crease Snaju Samson. But finished with 5 runs short by trying to hit a SIX which is caught by Deppak Hooda in the out field.

My heart is broken and felt sad for the Sanju Samson 119 (63). Eventhough he made a debut century as a captain for his team, that effort goes in vain. 

I thought they should have run for a two in the penultimate and the last ball, which would have leveled the score and would have gone for a super over. 

Here are the Match Highlights.

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.

Punjab Kings training camps for 2021 IPL

 Here are a few images from the Punjab Kings training camp for the upcoming 14th edition of the Indian Premier League. The team is practising in Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. 

If you are following the Punjab Kings Instagram page you can see the insta stories related to these pictures. 

In one of the Insta stories, you can see that Mayank Agrawal is tracing the flower from the hotel walls to submit a picture as a part of the team activity and calls it education.

*All the Above images are from the www.punjabkingsipl.in

In the video Punjab Kings coach, Anil Kumble said that the team missed narrowly qualifying for the top four with a few bad decisions last year. This year we will keep everything aside and focus on playing the matches well and looking forward to playing this IPL.  

Punjab Kings unveiled their new jersey for 2021 IPL

image: Punjab Kings

In 2021, Preeti Zinta co-owned Indian Premier League franchise has got huge modifications in the team, name and jersey too.

At first, the team changed its name from Kings IX Punjab to Punjab Kings, then they brought entirely new players by spending a huge amount in the 2021 auction held in Chennai. 

Today, the team has unveiled their new jersey for the players. A video was released on the team's official handle, in it, a red jersey with golden font is shown with the captain of their team K L Rahul's name and number on it.

According to the report, the players are going to wear golden helmets along with Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore who are wearing them for the past few years.

IPL 2021: Punjab Kings squad

Retained players: KL Rahul, Arshdeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Darshan Nalkande, Harpreet Brar, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Mohd. Shami, M Ashwin, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Porel, Ravi Bishnoi, Chris Jordan, Prabhsimran Singh.

Players bought at Auction: Jhye Richardson (Rs 14 crore), Shahrukh Khan (Rs 5.25 crore), Dawid Malan (Rs 1.5 crore), Riley Meredith (Rs 8 crore), Moises Henriques (Rs 4.20 crore), Jalaj Saxena (Rs 30 lakhs), Utkarsh Singh (Rs 20 lakhs), Fabian Allen (Rs 75 lakh), Saurabh Kumar (Rs 20 lakh).

Here is the video of the New Jersey