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.

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. 

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 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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

 

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 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 MI vs SRH Match 9 report

image: BCCI

After Mumbai Indians won the toss they chose to bat first. This is the first time in this season of the Indian Premier League that the toss winning captain chose to bat first.

In the powerplay, Mumbai Indian's didn't lose any wickets to the Sunrsiers bowler and scored 53 runs by the end. Then in the third ball of the 6th over, MI captain Rohit Sharma 32(25) got out by giving a catch to Virat Singh in the deep midwicket.

R Sharma and Q de Kock gave Mumbai Indians a perfect start with a 55 runs partnership in 41 balls before got out in Vijay Shankar's over.

From then, no batsman in the Mumbai Indian's playing 11 really played well in the match. 

With occasional boundaries and regular runs between the wickets, MI batsmen got out with less than 15 runs, except Kieron Pollard. He scored 35 runs in 22 balls with three sixes.

By the end of the Innings, Mumbai Indians has scored 150 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs. As usual in the last three matches, the death over batsmen didn't perform well to their full extent.

With a decent target to chase Sunrisers Hyderabad opened their Innings with David Warner and Jhonny Bairstow. A batting line up problem that is worrying the Sunrisers for the past few years.

They both started slowly in the first two overs but started to gain speed from the third over. From then, the run rate started to climb and crossed the Mumbai Indians run rate before Jhonny Bairstow got out.

In the Kurnal Pandya's 8th over, Jhonny Bairstow 43 (22) got out after hitting his own stumps by mistake. Manish Pandey 2(7) followed him soon.

David Warner got run out after a greedy run when the ball is inside the 30-yard circle. Hardik Pandya single-handedly hit the stumps from a distance and made a contact with the stumps, which is really awesome to watch it slowly in the replay.

From then, every SRH batsmen returned back to the pavilion after getting out in the Mumbai Indians bowlers. As there are no strong middle-order batsmen, and missing Kane Williamson is the reason behind the underperformance.

The team tried to change the batting position of Jhonny Bairstow to middle order but, the top order is collapsing without him. Unless SRH does something fast to their batting lineup they will continue to lose matches because of poor batting.

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 RR vs DC Match 7 report

 

image: BCCI

After winning the toss, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson opted to bowl first in the 7th match of the IPL.

Delhi Capitals

Prithvi Shaw and Shikar Dhawan opened for the Delhi Capitals as usual but, the star of the first match Prithi Shaw2 (5) got out early in the game in J Undadkat's over. As I said earlier in the preview, Prithvi Shaw will not play good for two consecutive innings.

In the 4th over, the second of Unadkat's he picked Shikar Dhawan 9(11) and A Rahane 8(8) in his next over. By this point, Delhi capitals lost their top order in the powerplay to Jaydev Unadkat. He really proved his worth and showed his comeback to the world.

In the 7th over, Mustafizur Rahman took the Marcus Stoinis wicket 0(5), from then Rishab Pant and the new debutant Latith Yadav made a good partnership of 51 runs in 36 balls. In the 13th over, R Pant got runout by trying to take a single when the ball is near the bowler Rayan Parag..

Then Tom Curran and Chris Woakes tried to revive the match but the Rajasthan Royals didn't allow them to score runs in the death overs. By the end of the innings, Delhi Capitals has scored 148/9 without any sixes in the Innings. 

Chetan Saakariya who did pick wickets in the first match didn't pick any wickets in this match. Jaydev Unadkat's good bowling in the powerplay has really worked well for the Rajasthan Royals.

Rajasthan Royals

With a 149 to chase in the second Innings, Jos Buttler and Manan Vohara opened the second innings. After hitting two consecutive fours in the Chris Woakes 3rd over, Manan Vohra 9(11) got out by giving a catch to K Rabada in the mid-on.

In the same over, Jos Buttler 2(7) gave a catch to R Pant behind the wickets after the ball edged the bat. Then came Sanju Samson 4(3), the hero of the last match also got out early in Rabada's 4th over by giving a catch to Shikar Dhawan in the slip.

From then on, Shivam Dube 2(7) and Riyan Parag 2(5) got out in the Avesh Khan's bowling. He is the guy who picked the MS Dhoni wicket in the first match against CSK.

Then David Miller and Rahul Tewatia build an exceptional partnership when the top and middle order is failed to score the runs for the team. They have both made 48 runs in 34 balls. 

In Rabada's 15th over, this partnership is broke after Rahul Tewatia 19 (17) was caught by Lilith Yadav,, Eventhough, Tewatia struggled a bit in the start, by the end he did really well in the match.

After two consecutive sixes of the match, David Miller 62(43) got out in Rabada's 16th over. His excellent performance in the middle overs really boosts the morale of the batsmen to score runs in the game.

Then Jaydev Unadkat and Chriss Morris won the game for the Rajasthan Royals by hitting wonderful sixes by the end of the game. Their partnership of 46 runs in 26 balls is impressive.

In the end, I thought, what if Sanju Samson would have taken that single against the Punjab Kings in the previous match?

Rajasthan Royals won the match with 3 wickets in hand and 2 balls remaining. Watch the match highlights here

IPL2021 SRH vs RCB Match-6 Report

image: BCCI

Same as the previous match, the chasing team is unable to chase the low scores in M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. In the previous match, Kolkata Knight Rider are unable to score 152 runs in the 20 overs as the wickets fell in the middle overs to spinner Rahul Chahar.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

In this match, Royal Challengers Bangalore has struggled to score runs in the middle overs as the opener batsmen Devdutt Padikal 11(13) and Shahbaz Ahmed 14 (10) lost their wickets in the 3rd and 7th overs of the match.

Then Glenn Maxwell and Virat Kohli built a partnership of 44 runs in 38 balls. In Jason Holder's 13th over, Virat Kohli's 33(29) gave a catch to Vijay Shankar in the outfield. The new addition to the team has proven worthy.

Rashid Khan took the AB de Villiers's 1(5) wicket in the 14th over by giving the catch to David Warner at the extra cover while trying to slash the ball to the boundary. In the next Rashid Khan's over, Washington Sundar 8(11) gave a catch to Manish Pandey, he ran from the long-off and dived to catch the ball.

In the 17th overs, the Natrajan's ball edged the bat and caught by the wicketkeeper behind. Dan Christain 1(2) didn't agree with the decision of the on-field umpires and went upstairs. In the ultra edge, there is a spike when the ball is passing the bat and RCB lost their review.

From then, Glenn Maxwell started to show that he is an X factor in the game. He made his first IPL 50 in 4 years. With this half-century, he made a total of 7 IPL half centries from his debut in 2012.

If he didn't play like he played in this match, the RCB would have scored below 130. By the end of the game, RCB has scored 149 with a loss of 9 wickets.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

With an easy target to chase, Sunrisers Hyderabad has started their Innings, at first, they have lost their opener Wriddhimam Saha 1(9) to Mohammed Siraj in the 3rd over.

Then came Manish Pandey to the crease, with the help of their team captain David Warner, he built a partnership of 83 runs in 69 balls. Before David Warner wicket is down, I thought that the match would be completed before 20 overs.

But everything changed after Jameison took David Warner's 54(37) wicket in the 14th over. By the end of the 14th over, SRH needs 48 runs in 36 balls which is pretty much easy and the equation can be reachable.

From then the RCB bowlers done their magic by taking wickets regularly in the last 4 overs. Three wickets in Shahbaz Ahmed's over, he took Bairstow 12 (13) in the first ball, Manish Pandey 38(39) in the second ball and Abdul Samad 0(2) in the last ball of his over. He has really done big damage to the SRH batting lineup.

The big gun of the first match, Harshal Patel took the wicket of Vijay Shankar 3(5) and the wickets of the bottom order fell due to pressure and Sunriser lost their second match by 6 runs.

Watch the Match Highlights here

IPL 2021 KKR vs MI Match 5 report

 

image: BCCI

Like all the games that happened till now, the toss winning captain Eoin Morgan chose to bowl first in this match too.

Same as in the first match, Mumbai Indians lost their first wicket of Quinton de Kock 2 (6) in the second over of Varun Chakravarthy. 

Then Suryakumar Yadav and brought some boundaries with him while coming from the dug-out. He and Rohit Sharma built a wonderful partnership of 76 runs in 56 balls with occasional boundaries and regular singles. At this point in the match, the run rate was pretty good and Mumbai Indians were looking at 180 runs by the end of the innings.

But this beautiful partnership was broke by the Shakib Al Hassan in the 11th over. Suryakumar Yadav 56 (36) gave a catch to Shubman Gill at the long-on.  Then Immediately after that, Ishan Kishan 1(3) got out at the beginning of Pat Cummins 12th over.

Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma struggled to play big shots after the early fall of wickets in the match. Eventhough, they punished the bowler for their bad balls to boundaries, their both partnership didn't last too long enough.

In Pat Cummin's 16th over, the ball hit the stumps and Rohit Sharma 43(32) got out, followed by Hardik Pandya 15 (17) in the Prasidh Krishna's 17th over.

Then on the massacre starts, one by one all the players in the Mumbai Indians team got out. As we have discussed in the match preview, the MI is not scoring any proper runs in the death overs.

In the 18th and 20th over, Andre Russell took 5 wickets, his best in the Indian Premier League. Keiron Pollard 5 (8), Kurnal Pandya 15 (9), Marco Jansen 0(1), Rahul Chahar 8(7) and Jasprit Bumrah 0(1).

By the end of the first Innings, the Mumbai Indians scored a total of 152 runs in the 20 overs and Kolkata Knight Riders need 153 runs to win the match.

Second Innings

With a 153 runs target, KKR batsmen Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill opened the Innings with a four. For a few overs, they both are really playing well and steady. They both are building a wonderful partnership of 72 runs in 54 balls. 

In Rahul Chahar's 9th over, Shubman Gill 33 (24) gave a catch to Keiron Pollard in the long-off, then after a short cameo, Rahul Tripathi 5(5) departs after giving a catch to the wicket-keeper behind after the ball edging the bat.

From this point, the KKR started to get into trouble, as the middle order batsmen are unable to score the runs required. The MI players started to tight the fielding and even Rohit Sharma bowled an over to pressure the KKR.

Due to pressure, the KKR batsmen started to lose the wickets while trying to hit boundaries, this made the MI set more aggressive fielding to stop leaking singles. The plan worked and more wickets started to fall.

In the last over, KKR needs 15 runs in 5 balls. T Boult finished the over by taking two wickets and without giving any boundaries to the KKR batsmen.

KKR lost the match by 10 runs deficit to MI. The main reason for KKR's loss is the inconsistent middle order. In the first match, the top order stood in the crease to make runs in the early stage which helped them in the later stage even though the middle order failed in that match too.

KKR needs to reconsider their middle-order and death overs batting economy to win future matches in the league stage of the 14th edition of the IPL.

Here are the match higlights

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 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.