Ahmedabad, May 28 (Cricket News) Two leaders, who are minefields of talent in their own right, one team that has made a mockery of all betting odds and the other trying to complete a cycle that started 15 summers back, IPL final between Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals is about this and much more.

When IPL started over two months back, nobody would have believed that two captains walking out for toss in the title clash will be Hardik Pandya and Sanju Samson.

'Remember the Titans', a 2000 Hollywood film headlined by Denzel Washington is considered one of the best sports films on the proverbial underdog story, which always has a capital.

It is not known if Titans skipper Hardik has watched it but for him and head coach Ashish Nehra, this journey of two months has been nothing short of spectacular. They have made a lot of people eat a humble pie because many, including experts, termed them a team of no-hopers post auction. A team that looked like a rag-tag outfit with only a few good players like David Miller, considered past their sell by date, or one-match wonders like Rahul Tewatia, it didn't really look good on paper.

But then you wouldn't call cricket a "game of glorious uncertainties" if everything would be decided on paper.

A fit-again Hardik took to leadership like fish takes to water and showed the way with his performances and the reason why he will always be an asset for Indian cricket.

Miller, who played his best cricket at least five years back, showed his 2.0 version that stunned one and all. Tewatia showed that those five sixes in Sharjah wasn't a mere flash in the pan.

Rashid Khan knew that he would be read well, so he became all the more parsimonious. Wriddhiman Saha after Rahul Dravid's hard-talk had reached a dead-end in his career but got a new lease of life and at least one more season to look forward to.

Gujarat as a state has not been known for its sporting exploits.

It produced players like Parthiv Patel or one of India's greatest ever pacers in Jasprit Bumrah but just like Tamil Nadu never had an emotional connect with a team before CSK appeared in the horizon, same is the case with Gujarat.

Come Sunday, expect a partisan and vociferous crowd to chant "Aava De" and that's the impact that Titans have had on their fans.

History will always throw examples that sporting teams bind a community and perhaps Titans can strike that chord with the Gujaratis.

For Titans, if this is about carving a niche in-front of home crowd, Rajasthan would like to do it for someone, who would be watching up from the stars.

Shane Warne -- Rajasthan's forever first Royal had used the IPL stage in its inception year to show Australian cricket establishment what Ian Chappell had always maintained : "Shane Warne was the best captain Australia never had".

With the Ravindra Jadejas, Dinesh Salunkhes, Swapnil Asnodkars and Niraj Patels, Warne had guided tournament's then cheapest team to victory.

Thirteen summers have gone but there is no Warne in flesh and blood to watch his beloved team complete a cycle of life and sport.

Sanju is perhaps one of those rare Indian cricketers, who has a massive fan following despite not having played even 20 international matches for the country.

In terms of talent quotient, there is little to choose between Sanju and Hardik.

Sanju's batting like a pendulum swinging between heroism and insanity.

One ball, he can audaciously flick Kagiso Rabada or a Josh hazlewood for a six and the next delivery could be an atrocious shot that would make his biggest supporter tear his hair in frustration.

But captaincy has made him explore a different aspect -- the skills of a manager.

It is not easy to lead a pack that has bonafide stars like Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jos Buttler, Trent Boult along with young guns Yashasvi Jaiswal or Prasidh Krishna but Sanju has handled it well.

It will be one hell of a battle where Buttler with 800-plus runs will not only fight a Lockie Ferguson or a Yash Dayal but also withstand crowd pressure: about 1,11,000 fans would be cheering for the hosts.

Similarly, Shubman Gill would like to own the big stage and show what he can do when the canvas is as large as the IPL final.

Prasidh Krishna is a handful when his team bowls first but how will he react against a rampaging Miller if he has to defend in a tense situation? What will be Hardik's tactic against a wily Chahal and an experimental Ashwin during the middle overs? Or will Buttler take risks against a Rashid Khan? We will get all those answers in the next 24 hours.

There will be heroes, there will be heartbreaks but above everything, perhaps a contest that everyone will remember for ages.

Squads: Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (c), Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Gurkeerat Singh, B Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Matthew Wade, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wriddhiman Saha, Alzarri Joseph, Darshan Nalkande, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Pradeep Sangwan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Varun Aaron, Yash Dayal.

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent NSE 1.86 % Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell, Corbin Bosch.

Match starts at 8:00 pm. 

Also Read : I am trying to hold one end up and let bowler from other end attack: Rashid Khan

News Source : PTI

Ahmedabad, May 26 (Cricket News) Rajasthan Royals will need to shake off an ordinary bowling performance in their last outing when they clash with Royal Challengers Bangalore, a team which seems to be peaking at the right time, in the high-stakes IPL Qualifier-2 here on Friday.

Having sneaked into the play-offs, RCB seem are on a roll and a tight win over Lucknow in the Eliminator has fuelled expectations for a long-awaited trophy.

They take on Rajasthan, a team which has all bases covered but still came up short against Gujarat in Qualifier 1.

The IPL caravan moves to Ahmedabad after a couple of high-scoring games in Kolkata.

It has been a quick turnaround for RCB but they won't mind that as they look to ride the momentum.

"The best thing is that we have one day and we play again. Cannot wait to be in Ahmedabad and take the field again. We are so excited and happy with how things have gone. Hopefully, two more games and we all can celebrate," star RCB batter Virat Kohli told the IPL website after the win over LSG. Rajat Patidar, who played the innings of his life on Wednesday, will be a man with supreme confidence in another high-pressure knockout fixture.

For someone who went unsold in the IPL auction and came into the RCB squad as a replacement player, it has been a career-changing season for him.

Both the high-profile openers, Kohli and Faf du Plessis, are big match players and will be itching to make an impact after low returns in the previous game. Dinesh Karthik has managed to maintain consistency in a tough role and the team management would be also hoping for more runs in the back end of the innings from Glenn Maxwell.

The team is likely to stick to the winning combination. While Wanindu Hasaranga has shown the courage even when he has been taken to the cleaners, Harshal Patel has been the go-to pacer in slog overs.

Mohammad Siraj returned for the LSG game and bowled well with the new ball. Josh Hazlewood enhanced his reputation as a death bowler with a match-deciding penultimate over and with the addition of a yorker in his armoury, has only become tougher to score of.

RCB bowlers will have to be on the top of their game against a formidable Rajasthan batting line up which rely heavily on Jos Buttler and skipper Sanju Samson. Both scored against Gujarat but it did not prove to be enough.

Samson will be eager to convert his 30s and 40s into a substantial knock and lead from the front.

It remains to be seen how the bowlers comeback after a forgettable outing. R Ashwin had a rare off day against Gujarat while Prasidh Krishna paid the price for bowling length balls to David Miller in the final over.

Squads: Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (captain), Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell, Corbin Bosch.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (captain), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Josh Hazlewood, Shahbaz Ahmed, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff, Suyash Prabhudesai, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma, David Willey, Rajat Patidar and Siddharth Kaul Match starts at 7:30 pm. 

Also Read : I don't shy away from bowling in slog overs: Harshal Patel

News Source : PTI

Kolkata, May 23 (Cricket News) Equipped with a lethal bowling attack and boasting a number of quality finishers, debutants Gujarat Titans will start as favourites against spin-heavy former champions Rajasthan Royals when the two teams face-off in the first IPL Qualifier, here on Tuesday.

Captaining a team in the IPL for the first time ever, a fit-again Hardik Pandya has been a revelation this season as he led from the front with both bat and ball to ensure a top finish for his team in the league stage.

Apart from firing at number 4, Pandya has used his resources well, be it the death bowling of wily Rashid Khan or making his batting exploits count to go alongside the fiery duo of David Miller and Rahul Tewatia. Every little thing has fallen in place.

Their weak link was their top-order batting with highly-rated Shubman Gill failing to convert his starts but the addition of veteran Wriddhiman Saha has done wonders for the team.

The discarded India wicketkeeper-batter is batting with a new-found passion at the top of the order and has scored three half-centuries in nine matches to make up for Gill's lacklustre run.

While the Afghan leg-spinner has been outstanding in the middle and death overs, India senior pacer Mohammed Shami has given them perfect starts, by being the highest wicket-taker (11 wickets) in the powerplay this season.

Saha, who has been making headlines since he was axed for Team India, will look to make a point as he along with Bengal teammate Shami play in front of their home crowd again.

The fact that the playoffs will be played on fresh tracks would put the seamers in focus and Pandya may look to bring in Alzarri Joseph to go alongside Lockie Ferguson and Shami.

The Titans had defeated the same opponents by 37 runs in the league stage but the inaugural edition champions have a spin-heavy attack to go with rich experience and they might prove to a tricky customer.

The Titans also have looked vulnerable as they suffered three defeats in last five matches, including an eight-wicket thrashing by Royal Challengers Bangalore in their previous outing, which would mean that the Pandya-led side has to step up.

Three of Titan's four defeats, and four of Royals' five losses have come while setting up a target as the toss would also be a key area of concern.

The Sanju Samson-led outfit boast of both the Orange and Purple Cap holders this season -- Jos Buttler and Yuzvendra Chahal.

They also have the experience of Ravichandran Ashwin whose versatility has come to the fore especially in the second-half of the season. Ashwin's batting has also made a huge difference.

Batting at number 5 ahead of their regular batters Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag against Chennai Super Kings the other day, Ashwin smashed an unbeaten 23-ball 40 to script a five-wicket win that also sealed their top-two finish.

But for them to repeat their 2008-IPL winning show, the Royals would not just need an Ashwin but the top-order to fire. Their leading run-getter Buttler has slowed down in the business end of the season with single digit scores -- 2, 2, 7 -- in his last-three outings.

The Englishman, who has slammed three centuries and three fifties this season, is yet to score a half-century in five innings and the Royals would desperately need him to be back among runs.

Their batting too has slumped with Samson and Hetmyer's loss of form and they would look to get into the act ahead of the big match.

The fact that the loser of the Qualifier One will get a second shot at making the final will give both the teams some breathing space.

Squads: Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (c), Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Gurkeerat Singh, B Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Matthew Wade, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wriddhiman Saha, Alzarri Joseph, Darshan Nalkande, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Pradeep Sangwan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Varun Aaron, Yash Dayal.

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell, Corbin Bosch.

Match Starts at 7:30 pm. 

Also Read : Arshdeep delighted to represent India, says bowling to Punjab King batters helped perfect yorkers

News Source : PTI

Mumbai, May 19 (Cricket News) Having gone off the boil in the last few games, Jos Buttler would be eagerly waiting to pounce on an inexperienced Chennai Super Kings attack in order to clinch a play-off berth for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL here on Friday.

A win will take Sanju Samson's men to 18 points and help them steer clear of any permutations or combinations for a top-four finish.

In fact a win will ensure a top-two finish for Royals as they will then enjoy a superior Net Run Rate (NRR) of +0.304 compared to Lucknow Super Giants' +0.251.

In this backdrop, Royals would like to turn the heat on a lacklustre CSK, who can turn out to be 'party poopers' in their final game.

To prevent that, Buttler, who is currently leading the batters' chart with 627 runs, will need to do better than register scores of 22, 30, 7, 2 -- his contribution in the last four games.

The Royals' success in the tournament has got a lot to do with brilliant starts from Buttler, who has three hundreds and as many fifties -- most of his runs were scored during the first half of the tournament -- and Yuzvendra Chahal's 24 wickets.

While Chahal has maintained his consistency, in the case of Buttler there has been a slight dip in form but the last league game is an ideal time to up the ante before the play-offs.

Rookies Mukesh Choudhary, Simarjeet Singh and 'Baby Malinga' Matheesha Pathirana will like to show their wares one last time but the CSK unit's confidence has taken a big dent because of its poor batting efforts for the better part of the tournament.

While Buttler is at the top of the batting chart for Royals, Ruturaj Gaikwad came to the party late with 366 runs, but none of the others have crossed the 300-run mark. Devon Conway, who played more matches in the second half, has 236 runs to his credit.

Most of CSK's senior players like MS Dhoni (206), Ambati Rayudu (271) and Robin Uthappa (230) haven't had a great IPL and that has been the biggest failure of the 'Yellow Brigade'.

The bowling suffered a lot because of the absence of an injured Deepak Chahar and the inability to retain Josh Hazlewood. It was wafer-thin in terms of experience and they paid the price.

Pathirana, with a slinging action that is pretty similar to Malinga, has caught Dhoni's imagination but he is a work in progress. Similarly, the likes of Mukesh (16 wickets), Simar (3 wickets) and spinner Mahesh Theekshana (12) are good but not assured match-winners yet.

The Royals' bowling attack, perhaps, is one of the best in the tournament with the spin duo of Chahal (24 wickets and ER of 7.76) and Ravichandran Ashwin (10 wickets at 7.15) creating plenty of trouble for the batters.

Prasidh Krishna (15 wickets) has been sharp on most days and when Trent Boult (12 wickets) gets the ball to slant into the right-handers first up, it will be difficult for any top-order.

The Royals' qualification is in their own hands and they would like to keep it that way with a win against Chennai Super Kings.

Teams: Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (captain), Moeen Ali, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Ambati Rayadu, Robin Uthappa, Mitchell Santner, Chris Jordan, Adam Milne, Devon Conway, Shivam Dube, Dwaine Pretorius, Maheesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Tushar Deshpande, KM Asif, C Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan, Subranshu Senapati, K Bhagath Verma, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana.

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (C), Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell, Corbin Bosch.

Match Starts at 7:30 pm. 

Also Read : RCB hope to qualify as they take on top seed GT in match no 67

News Source : PTI

Mumbai, May 14 (Cricket News) In impressive form throughout the season, Lucknow Super Giants would look to bounce back from their previous match defeat and register a win to confirm their IPL play-offs berth when they face another aspirants, Rajasthan Royals, here on Sunday.

LSG were on top of IPL points table with four wins on the trot before relinquishing that position after losing to Gujarat Titans in their previous match.

The KL Rahul-led side, which is now at second spot with 16 points, would not want to lose another game just before the start of the knockout round.

The Royals would also look to make amends for their all-round failure in their comprehensive eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Delhi Capitals in their last match.

With 16 points from 12 matches, a win for LSG on Sunday will confirm their play-offs berth. For the Royals too, a victory will take them on the verge of securing a last-four stage spot.

Captain Rahul and his opening partner Quinton de Kock will have to score the bulk of runs once again for LSG. Both fell cheaply against the Titans and they would look to bounce back against the Royals.

Rahul, the tournament's second most prolific batter with 459 runs from 12 matches, has been in impressive form with two centuries and as many half centuries.

De Kock has scored three half centuries to accumulate 355 runs from 12 outings.

Deepak Hooda is another batter who is in form with 347 runs and three half centuries, and he has the ability to make a difference.

The Royals will rely heavily on England wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler, who has scored 625 runs from 12 matches with the help of three centuries and as many half centuries. His team-mates though have not been in the best of form.

Captain Sanju Samson has, again, failed to realise his full potential though he has not done bad either. He has scored 327 runs from 12 matches with two half centuries.

The good news for the Royals is that Devdutt Padikkal (295 runs from 12 matches) has shown some consistency with 31 and 48 in the last two matches though he is yet to make a big one.

The same is the case with Shimron Hetmyer (291 from 11 matches), who has shown a lot of promise but is yet to fire, though his 31 not out off 16 balls was instrumental in the Royals' six-wicket win over Punjab Kings.

Ravichandran Ashwin was the top-scorer for the Royals in their previous match against Delhi Capitals and his utility as a batter can be exploited by the Royals.

The Royals will once again depend on spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who is at joint top among wicket-takers with 23 scalps from 12 matches, to deal with the likes of Rahul and de Kock, even as R Ashwin, Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna look to chip in.

For LSG, bowling is the weaker department and the likes of Avesh Khan and Jason Holder will have to step up to restrict Buttler and other RR batters.

Both were among wickets against the Titans while Mohsin Khan was economical with figures of 1/18 in four overs. The teams (from): Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (c), Manan Vohra, Evin Lewis, Manish Pandey, Quinton De Kock, Ravi Bishnoi, Dushmantha Chameera, Mohsin Khan, Mayank Yadav, Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Andrew Tye, Marcus Stoinis, Kyle Mayers, Karan Sharma, Krishnappa Gowtham, Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya. Jason Holder.

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell.

Match Starts at 7:30pm. 

 

Also Read : Do or die game for KKR and SRH in match number 61

 

 

 

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Navi Mumbai, May 10 (Cricket News) Delhi Capitals will aim to quickly recover from their loss in the previous match to stay in the IPL play-offs race while Rajasthan Royals will be eager to hold on to their winning momentum when the two teams clash here on Wednesday.

The Capitals have lost six of their 11 games and although they are fifth on the points table, they are bunched alongside Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings, who also have 10 points from as many games.

Delhi has the advantage of a positive Net Run Rate (+0.150) but the Capitals need to win all their remaining three matches for a shot at the playoffs.

Rajasthan, on the other hand, are sitting on the third spot with 14 points and need just two wins to be certain of qualification. They have a healthy 0.326 NRR, which could come in handy even if they lose their remaining games.

DC have been one of the most inconsistent teams in the league this season as they have struggled to keep the winning momentum going.

After a moral-boosting win against Sunrisers, they were handed a 91-run thrashing by CSK.

Their bowlers looked clueless against Devon Conway, who was hitting boundaries and sixes at will as CSK set a 200 plus target.

Delhi's bowling department hasn't inspired confidence. While Kuldeep Yadav is having a good season, the left-arm spinner has gone for runs aplenty in the previous two games.

The return of pace spearhead Anrich Nortje has also not made much of a difference as the South African hasn't been able to replicate his fiery performance from the previous seasons.

Khaleel Ahmed has been economical while Axar Patel has bowled well.

In the batting department, David Warner has enjoyed a good run but the Australian has got little assistance from his opening partners, who have ranged from Prithvi Shaw to Mandeep Singh to Srikar Bharat.

This biggest downer for Delhi has been Rishabh Pant's form. He has shown glimpses of his destructive power but the team would want more from its skipper who can single-handedly turn around any game.

The Capitals will have to fire on all cylinders against a formidable Rajasthan side.

The Royals have arguably the best bowling side in the competition.

With 22 wickets at 14.50, Yuzvendra Chahal leads the bowling charts this season and alongside R Ashwin, Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna, the Rajasthan attack has the ability to defend any total.

One of the positives for the Royals is that have been able to break the overdependence on Orange Cap holder Jos Buttler, who has had a quite couple of outings.

Given a chance to play after over a month, young Yashasvi Jaiswal shone with a fine half-century against Punjab Kings, providing the otherwise faltering batting department a boost.

But going ahead skipper Sanju Samson and Devdutt Padikkal need to shoulder more responsibility.

The Royals will miss the services of the big-hitting Shimron Hetmyer who flew back to Guyana for the birth of his child.

The last time the two sides met drama ensued in the final over due to the no-ball controversy. RR ended up winning the clash and Delhi would hope they can be on the right side of the result this time round.

Teams: Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (C), Ashwin Hebbar, David Warner, Mandeep Singh, Prithvi Shaw,Rovman Powell, Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, Lungi Ngidi, Mustafizur Rahman, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kamlesh Nagarkoti,Lalit Yadav, Mitchell Marsh, Pravin Dubey, Ripal Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Vicky Ostwal, Yash Dhull, KS Bharat and Tim Seifert.

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (C), Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell.

Match starts 7.30 IST. 

Also Read : LSG and GT fight it out in a bid to secure top spot in match no 57

News Source : PTI

Mumbai, May 1 (Cricket News) Guilty of making too many changes at the top, Kolkata Knight Riders would like to find a winning combination against Rajasthan Royals and snap their five-match losing streak in the IPL here on Monday.

The form of Venkatesh Iyer, who is experiencing second season blues, has a lot to do with the changes KKR have been forced to make regularly at the top of the order.

Venkatesh's performances have been underwhelming to say the least after a season that helped him get into the Indian team. After his struggles at the top, the team tried him in the middle-order but that too did not work.

The southpaw was back opening alongside Aaron Finch in the last game but runs deserted him again.

Making the play-offs from here looks improbable for KKR who desperately need to find their best XI and stick with it for the remainder of the competition.

"A lot of chopping and changing is happening, it's been difficult to set up the right combination, with all injuries not helping as well. We need to stick together, play some fearless cricket, not be conservative with the bat.

"Five more matches remaining, we need to play well, show belief and give something back to the team and the management, forget about the past, start fresh and back your instinct," said skipper Shreyas Iyer after the last game.

Shreyas has had a decent run as a batter with 290 runs at 36.25 but he has not got enough support from his teammates. In his first season as KKR captain, Shreyas has shown promise but needs to inspire his troops to script a turnaround.

Alongside Venkatesh, the dismal run of another retained player Varun Chakaravarthy has hurt the team. However, the move to drop him in the previous game did not yield the desired results as KKR lost their fifth game in a row.

The trio of Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav and Sunil Narine has been impressive and will be aiming to keep the in-form Jos Buttler quiet.

Rajasthan rely a lot on Buttler and his 566 runs at 70.75 are a big reason why they find themselves in the top-four. As the Englishman can't be expected to fire in every game, skipper Sanju Samson needs to step up and be more consistent.

They are arguably the best bowling side in the competition but could not defend 159 in their previous game against Mumbai Indians due to heavy dew.

With 19 wickets at 13.68, Yuzvendra Chahal leads the bowling charts this season and alongside R Ashwin, Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna, the Rajasthan attack has the ability to defend even below-par totals.

However, Royals will be looking for a much-improved batting effort to minimise the dew factor.

Teams (from): Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Aaron Finch, Abhijeet Tomar, Ajinkya Rahane, Baba Indrajith, Nitish Rana, Pratham Singh, Rinku Singh, Ashok Sharma, Pat Cummins, Rasikh Dar, Shivam Mavi, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Aman Khan, Andre Russell, Anukul Roy, Chamika Karunaratne, Mohammed Nabi, Ramesh Kumar, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Sam Billings, Sheldon Jackson.

Rajasthan Royals squad for 2022 IPL: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell.

Match starts 7.30 IST. 

Also Read : If dew hadn't played a part, 158 would've been enough: Ashwin

News Source : PTI

Navi Mumbai, Apr 13 (Cricket News) A battle royale is on the cards when Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Titans take on the Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals, two line-ups armed with potent bowling units in a top-of-the-table IPL showdown here on Thursday.

The Royals put together one of the best if not the best bowling attacks for this season and all their spinners and pacers have been right on the mark.

The seasoned Trent Boult has continued to reign fire with the new ball and has been equally impressive in the slog overs. In the previous game against Lucknow Super Giants, he bowled a fiery opening spell to get rid of skipper KL Rahul and Krishnappa Gowtham in the very first over.

Prasidh Krishna has given a glimpse of why he is touted to be the next fast-bowling sensation in Indian cricket. Alongside Boult, the duo has bowled with pace and aggression.

Rookie Kuldeep Sen too proved he has the stomach to play with the bigwigs. He performed tremendously under pressure on his debut, defending 15 runs off the last over against LSG.

The spin duties, on the other hand, are being ably carried out by senior India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and the wily Yuzvendra Chahal. The latter is the leading wicket taker in the league at the moment, spinning the opposition batters in to submission. The leg spinner has 11 scalps at and economy of 6.50.

Ashwin though has not had many breakthroughs, the off-spinner has operated at an economy of 6.87 and has managed to choke the opposition for runs.

It will be a tall task for the Titans’ batters, who are thin on experience, to navigate through the Royals bowling.

The new-entrants have relied heavily on young opener Shubman Gill, who has been in scintillating form, and Pandya. But the skipper, who is known for his pyrotechnics, has been more restrictive in his approach and his looked to take his innings deep.

Matthew Wade has struggled to get runs while David Miller is also yet to fire, leaving rookies Abhinav Manohar and B Sai Surdharshan with more responsibility.

However, Rahul Tewatia seems to be loving his role as the finisher tonking sixes at will.

The Titans boast of formidable bowling unit themselves.

The pace bowling department includes the likes of Lockie Ferguson, one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket, senior India quick Mohammed Shami, and Pandya, all attacking wicket-taking bowlers, who can put the opposition under pressure.

Rashid Khan, expectedly, is their most economical bowler. The opposition batters have preferred to play his four overs out rather than go for the big shots.

The Titans bowlers, however, lacked sharpness in the loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the team’s first defeat this season. It will be interesting to see how they regroup against the Royals batting line up that includes the likes of the flamboyant Jos Buttler, the big-hitting Shimron Hetmyer and Samons besides the prodigiously talented Devdutt Padikkal.

Both teams have won three games and lost one with the Royals perched on top of the points table owing to a superior net run rate, while the Titans are placed fourth.

Teams (from): Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (captain/wicketkeeper), Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna, Riyan Parag, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Devdutt Padikkal, Navdeep Saini, Karun Nair, Rassie van der Dussen, James Neesham, Anunay Singh, Daryl Mitchell, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Garhwal, Kuldip Yadav, Kuldeep Sen, Obed McCoy, Tejas Baroka, KC Cariappa.

Gujarat Titans: Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Gurkeerat Singh, B Sai Sudarshan, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya (Captain), Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Matthew Wade, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wriddhiman Saha, Alzarri Joseph, Darshan Nalkande, Dominic Drakes, Jayant Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Pradeep Sangwan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Varun Aaron, Yash Dayal.

Match starts at 7.30 PM. 

Also Read : Able to do things which I was trying for a while: Shivam Dube

News Source : PTI

Navi Mumbai, Apr 2 (Cricket News) Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field in their IPL game against Rajasthan Royals here on Saturday.

Mumbai Indians have not included star batter Suryakumar Yadav and are playing the same XI.

Rajasthan have made one change to their playing XI with pacer Navdeep Saini coming in for Nathan Coulter-Nile.

Teams: Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Anmolpreet Singh, Tilak Varma, Kieron Pollard, Tim David, Daniel Sams, Murugan Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Tymal Mills, Basil Thampi Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Navdeep Saini, Prasidh Krishna. 

Also Read : Chennai Super Kings eye improved show against Punjab Kings

News Source : PTI

(Cricket news) Mumbai Indians' trend of losing the first match continued as they lost to Delhi Capitals, on the other hand Rajasthan Royals produced a clinical display against SRH to win their first match. The certain sub plots of Mahela Jayawardene vs Kumar Sangakkara & Lasith Malinga, Rohit Sharma vs Sanju Samson, Kieron Pollard vs Shimron Hetmyer, Jasprit Bumrah vs Trent Boult, M Ashwin vs R Ashwin surely promises to be a mouth-watering one.

Mumbai Indians have always been slow starters as they gradually grow into the tournament and it looks like that the trend is continuing this season as well. Suryakumar Yadav is back and fit again to be back in the playing XI after having missed Mumbai's opening game against DC because of a hairline fracture he suffered during the series against West Indies last month. The key for MI will be to get early wickets if they are to stop their swashbuckling openers from scoring big as Jasprit Bumrah leading the bowling attack can be the kryptonite against this batting line-up. Bumrah has an exceptional record against the two talisman for RR, Jos Buttler averages 12.67 against him with three dismissals, while Samson and Padikkal 24 and 4 respectively with 2 dismissals each. Heading into the match the batting looks very solid for MI but wouldn’t want more from Tim David, who had a below par first game for them as the team management requires him to finish matches for his franchise.

Rajasthan Royals made the perfect start to the season with a huge win over SRH as the Royals have also been Mumbai's bogey team. Since IPL 2018, they have won five of the eight games between the two sides in the last four years but this season their bowling attack ticks all boxes, and their batting line-up boasts of dynamic T20 players as the only concern heading into the match would be the number 7 spot. In the last match, Nathan Coulter Nile was given an opportunity but was taken out of the park by Washington Sundar, if needed then can call upon Jimmy Neesham or Daryl Mitchell to do the job for the team. If RR are going to win then the spinners could hold the key, Ishan Kishan averages just 15 against Chahal, as both the RR spinners, Ashwin and Chahal will be crucial in the middle overs. Kieron Pollard holds an average of just 15 and 16 against them respectively. 

Pitch and weather report: In the two matches at the DY Patil, teams chasing have gone on to win just like the trend in this IPL. The trend of winning the toss and opting to chase is likely to continue. However, since it's a day game, dew won't be a factor going into the game. The temperature is going to hover around 35 degrees as there is no chance of rain

Interesting facts:

• Trent Boult has the edge over  Rohit Sharma in T20 cricket, getting him out four times in 47 balls for 66 runs
• Hetmyer has struggled against Bumrah in T20s, getting out to him three times in six innings while averaging 4.0 and striking at 92.30
• Samson is to feature in his 200th T20 game 
• Ishan Kishan last four IPL innings: 81* vs Capitals, 84 vs Sunrisers, 50* vs Royals, 72* vs Capitals.
• Sanju Samson has won Player of the Match in his second match of a season on four occasions (2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020).

Probable XI for MI:

1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 N Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Tim David, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Daniel Sams/Fabian Allen, 8 M Ashwin, 9 Tymal Mills, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Basil Thampi

Probable XI for RR:

1 Jos Buttler, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 Nathan Coulter-Nile/Jimmy Neesham, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Prasidh Krishna, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Also read: Russell and Umesh Yadav star as KKR bounce back with win over PBKS
 

Mumbai, Apr 1 (Cricket News) Rajasthan Royals' director of cricket and head coach Kumar Sangakkara said on Friday that the availability of a full-strength bowling lineup is a real confidence booster for the team at a time when many sides are struggling with their overseas recruits.

Boasting one of the best attacks of IPL-15 in Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, the Royals began their campaign in style, crushing Sunrisers Hyderabad by 61 runs.

"It's always nice to have such high quality in your attack. To have them available throughout is another great plus," the Sri Lankan great said in a virtual media interaction on the eve of their match against Mumbai Indians.

While many teams are struggling with the unavailability of overseas players, Royals have scored full marks in ensuring that bowlers such as Jimmy Neesham, Obed McCoy and Navdeep Saini are available for the full season.

"The bowling and batting equally make a huge impact in T20 cricket especially on flat wickets. So, it's really a confidence booster to have that bowling strength always present." One of IPL's leading wicket-takers (170 scalps from 122 matches), Lasith Malinga has also joined the Royals as the fast bowling coach after his retirement last year.

The prospect of Malinga working alongside the likes of upcoming Indian pacers Krishna and Saini excites Sangakkara.

"It's really exciting to have him. It's really huge. The bowlers really enjoy talking to him, while he's there at the top of their marks. Discussing and debating fields and deliveries. He's been exceptional," Sangakkara said.

On Malinga's role, he said: "He's just directing the players to keep things simple, what the strengths are and how they are going to approach the situations and the batters." They also have another former Mumbai player in Nathan Coulter-Nile.

"Everyone brings knowledge and experience into the mix. Players change around in terms of auctions at various times. It's good to have their experience in the side," Sangakkara said.

The middle-order batting has always been a concern for the Jaipur franchise, but Sangakkara said the players' are aware of their roles so that they can support each other well.

"There are always times when anyone can struggle in a long season. At various times, the key is to have the ability around to support that and to have players understand that.

"It's the natural way of cricket. Unfortunately we can't have good day everyday... we try and very hard. Good days and bad days are part and parcel of the game," he concluded. 

Also Read : KKR look to get back to winning ways when they face PBKS in match

News Source : PTI

Pune, Mar 29 (Cricket News) Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to bowl against Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League match here on Tuesday.

RR skipper Sanju Samson said at the toss that as many as seven players are making their debut for the franchise while the international stars comprised Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Trent Boult and Nathan Coulter-Nile.

Teams: Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Kane Williamson (c), Nicholas Pooran (w), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (w/c), Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna. 

Also Read : West Indies spinner Fletcher tests positive for COVID, to miss Women's World Cup semifinal

News Source : PTI

(Cricket news) Both the sides will desperately want to perform this season after not performing to their fullest potential in the last IPL. RR had a tremendous auction this IPL and hopefully fully capitalise on the plethora of talent they have, on the other hand SRH’s Kane Williamson, who was retained ahead of the mega auction, has the charge of the Orange Army as the franchise is trusting him to get the IPL trophy back to Hyderabad.

Sunrisers will be without Rashid Khan and David Warner for the first time since 2017 but have tried to get able replacements for those two talisman in the squad. If SRH have a fit squad then their bowling lineup looks quite potent as Washington Sundar could do a holding role with the new ball or after the powerplay as the seam trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan and Umran Malik can offer 12 very different kinds of overs to the oppositions. Bhuvneshwar with his  swing at the top, Natarajan with his signature yorkers at the death and Malik with his raw pace can trouble the batters. Marco Jansen, the tall, left-arm seamer, could also be an option if SRH want their lineup to be pace heavy. SRH will heavily rely on the young Indian core to perform as the likes of Rahul Tripathi and Abhishek Sharma will be open, setting a platform for Williamson and Nicholas Pooran to build upon.

Royals have perhaps the best death-bowling options in the IPL this year as Trent Boult can do a job with the older ball along with being lethal at the top with him swinging the new ball one into the right-hander. Prasidh Krishna, who over the past year has been putting brilliant performances for the Indian Cricket team will likely partner Boult in the powerplay, and hopefully build a successful partnership. Going into the tournament, RR possibly have the best two spinners in R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal and they could capitalise on it to strangle the opposition in the middle overs. They retained the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson and now have Devdutt Padikkal who is most likely to bat at No. 3. Rassie van der Dussen, who has enjoyed a purple patch for South Africa recently along with Shimron Hetmyer are probably vying for one spot in the middle order.

Pitch and weather report: The MCA Pune pitches are known for supporting batters and spinners as the game progresses but again, the trend of winning the toss and bowling first will continue as chasing teams have had an advantage here. No chance of rain is expected at the venue as the temperature would hover around 33 Degrees.

Interesting facts:

• In the IPL Sanju Samson has averaged 54.50 with a strike rate of 145.33 and Jos Buttler has averaged 43.00 with an unbelievable strike rate of 159.25) .
• Royals have the most successful IPL seamer and also spinner in the powerplays. No seamer has taken more power play wickets than Boult (21) and no spinner has taken more wickets in the phase than Ashwin (8).
• With Sunrisers retaining a similar fast-bowling unit to 2021,Padikkal has scored at a strike-rate of only 94.21 against SRH
• Boult and Krishna both last season went above 10 runs a over in the death overs
• Romario Shepherd picked up 18 wickets in 9 matches in the CPL.

Probable XI for SRH:

1 Rahul Tripathi, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 5 Aiden Markram, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Marco Jansen/Romario Shepherd, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 T Natarajan, 11 Umran Malik

Probable XI for RR:

 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Sanju Samson (capt, wk), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 James Neesham/Nathan Coulter-Nile, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Prasidh Krishna

Also read: Sensational Shami leads Gujarat Titans to 1st ever IPL win

Melbourne, Feb 22 (Cricket News) Australia's star players, including David Warner, Josh Hazelwood and Pat Cummins, will miss the start of the IPL despite skipping the limited overs series against Pakistan, which is set to coincide with the lucrative T20 league.

Though the BCCI hasn't officially announced the dates of IPL-15, the league is expected to begin in the last week of March.

Warner, Hazelwood and Cummins are part of the Test squad for the series in Pakistan, starting March 4-25, but will be skipping the limited overs assignment, beginning March 29.

However, they won't be able to link up with their IPL teams before April 5 as Australia's selection committee chief George Bailey made it clear on Tuesday that centrally contracted players who are not part of the limited-overs matches against Pakistan will not be available for the league until the bilateral series ends.

Hence, the trio will return home following the Tests in Pakistan and prior to starting their IPL stints in India.

The likes of all-rounders Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis, pacers Jason Behrendorff, Sean Abbott and Nathan Ellis will also miss the start of the league as they are part of the Australian squad for the three ODIs and one T20I against Pakistan.

"I fully respect the IPL as a tournament. I think they're at the forefront of the T20 game," Bailey was quoted a saying by cricket.com.au.

"I think it's been a really important tournament for the skill development of some of our players, so it's important not to underestimate that going forward," he said.

Bailey added that "the protocols that would dictate no centrally contracted Australia player was available to join an IPL team until April 6 were being finalised by CA's Executive General Manager High Performance and National Teams, Ben Oliver." The likes of Daniel Sams, Riley Meredith, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Tim David, who are not bound by CA contracts, will be free to join the IPL from the start.

While Warner was bought by the Ricky Ponting-coached Delhi Capitals, Hazlewood will join the Royal Challengers Bangalore, while Cummins will return to Kolkata Knight Riders.

Also Read : Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan are back in the squad against Afghanistan

News Source : PTI

Melbourne, Jan 4 (Cricket News) Multiple COVID-19 outbreaks inside bio-bubbles on Tuesday have hit the Australian domestic league hard as cricket in the country continued to grapple with the virus while several top players cope with anxiety.

Both the men's and women's domestic game has been hit hard as Cricket Australia (CA) was forced to make many late schedule changes.

Two matches of the Women's National Cricket League involving Western Australia were postponed till March due to border closures after a spike in COVID-19 cases. This has pushed the women's domestic 50-over final to mid-March.

WA were scheduled to play Tasmania in Hobart twice this week, on January 7 and 9, but the games have been pushed back to March 9 and 11 given the western state's hard border with the rest of the country.

The Big Bash League (BBL) is facing an unprecedented crisis and CA has an onerous task at hand on how to complete the season and also keep players and staff safe.

Anxiety is running high among players across the BBL teams as multiple COVID-19 outbreaks reportedly leave a hub in Melbourne as a serious option to continue the tournament.

An announcement on the future of this season could be made as soon as Tuesday, and all the eight teams could be based in Melbourne to limit travel and allow greater flexibility in the schedule, according to a report in the 'Australian Associated Press'.

Twelve Melbourne Stars players have contracted COVID-19, forcing them to call-up Victorian club cricketers just to field a team for their last two games.

Melbourne Stars players Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa and Nathan Coulter-Nile were already in isolation due to COVID-19. Players at the Sydney Thunder, Perth Scorchers and Brisbane Heat have also tested positive in recent days.

CA was on Tuesday forced to make changes in the schedule of matches to be played at Gold Coast due to fresh COVID-19 cases, according to a report in 'cricket.com.au'.

CA said some members of the Heat camp returned positive results in rapid antigen testing this morning, forcing the club out of tonight's game against the Sydney Sixers at Metricon Stadium, with the Perth Scorchers stepping in to face the Sixers instead.

The Board has shuffled the order of this week's games as the Heat await the results of PCR tests.

Melbourne Stars all-rounder Hilton Cartwright admitted it was tough to forget about the coronavirus situation and prepare for matches.

"I've never felt more vulnerable to a virus in my entire life and I never realised how much it was going to affect my mental state," Cartwright was quoted as saying by 'cricket.com.au'.

"I've had form slumps and this ranks right up there with how I actually feel about going about my business day-to-day.

"Myself and my wife have basically been locked up in our room, not sure if we're capable of catching the lift in case someone in there might have caught (COVID-19)." He said he was not able to focus on games because of the happenings around.

"Constantly, it's on your mind and then you've got to walk out there and perform one of the biggest pressure stages in the world." "My mental state wasn't in a great place about coming to your workplace and COVID is basically running rampant," he said. 

Also Read : Hoping Siraj can come out and bowl tomorrow: Ashwin on bowler's hamstring injury

News Source : PTI

Abu Dhabi, Oct 7 (Cricket news) Five-time champions Mumbai Indians will need to outclass bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last league match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Friday, knowing fully well the tricky situation they have found themselves in their bid for a play-offs spot.

Courtesy their eight-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals, the defending champions are currently at the fifth spot, with 12 points from 13 games, with a net run rate of -0.048.

But, Kolkata Knight Riders, with a net run rate of +0.294, are sitting on the fourth spot with 12 points from 13 games and will play Rajasthan Royals on Thursday evening in Sharjah.

A win for KKR against RR will take them to 14 points and also improve their net run rate further. In that scenario, MI may find it very difficult to qualify for the play-offs even if they beat SRH as the gap in their NRR with KKR is not small.

Asked if it is an advantage to play a team like SRH on the last day, MI captain Rohit Sharma had said, "All eight teams are capable of beating each other. But the good thing is that KKR plays before us, so we will know what to do.” In case KKR lose, then a win will be enough for MI to seal the fourth play-offs spot as they then will have 14 points.

In any case, Rohit (363 runs) will have to lead from the front again. He has got starts but has not been able to convert them, and the great white-ball exponent would be itching for a big score.

And so would be his opening partner Ishan Kishan (157 runs), whose confidence would have been boosted from his unbeaten fifty against RR.

MI's horribly out of form middle order, comprising the supremely talented Suryakumar Yadav (235 runs), all-rounders Hardik Pandya (117 runs), Kieron Pollard (232) and Saurabh Tiwary (115 runs), will have to come good.

On their day, they can take any opposition attack to the cleaners and SRH’s would be no exception. MI team management would, however, be pleased with the performance of their bowlers, who had restricted RR for a meagre 90 and are unlikely to tinker with the combination.

Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah (19 wickets) was exceptional and would be raring to bowl his yorkers again. He would need support from Trent Boult, Nathan Coulter-Nile, who grabbed four wickets in the last game, and spinner Jayant Yadav.

The Sunrisers, who are already out of reckoning for a play-offs berth, will look to finish the tournament on a high.

Skipper Kane Williamson was back among the runs and would be keen to start from where he left on Wednesday.

But the Kiwi will need support from others like Jason Roy and relatively inexperienced guys like Abhishek Sharma, Priyam Garg, Abdul Samad and aggressive Wriddhiman Saha.

With the addition of pace sensation Urman Malik, SRH have one of the best bowling attacks and the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan and Siddharth Kaul would have to be at their best to contain MI’s explosive batting line up.

Also, the contribution of West Indian all-rounder Jason Holder, both with the bat and ball, could be decisive.

The Teams (From): Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anukul Roy, Simarjeet Singh, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, James Neesham, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Marco Jansen, Yudhvir Singh, Adam Milne, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (captain), David Warner, Manish Pandey, Sherfane Rutherford, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Rashid Khan, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddharth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, Urman Malik, Basil Thampi, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Abdul Samad, J Suchith, Jason Holder, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Kedar Jadhav, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Jason Roy.

Match starts at 7:30pm IST. 

Also Read : KKR eye handsome win over RR to remain ahead in play-off race

News Source : PTI

Sharjah, Oct 6 (Cricket news) Rajasthan Royals' director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara blamed his team for the heavy defeat at the hands of Mumbai Indians in the IPL here, saying the fault did not lie with toss or pitch.

Jimmy Neesham and Nathan Coulter-Nile bowled exceptionally well to keep Mumbai Indians' prospects alive as they outclassed Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets in a low-scoring match on Tuesday night.

Asked whether toss was a big factor, Sangakkara said, "Well, you could probably say that, we haven't played here at Sharjah before and watching the other games, it seems to be slightly better in the night and there was probably little bit more pace." "But once you have only 90 on the wicket (to defend), it was really tough unless you had this amazing power-play with wickets and very few runs.

"The crucial part for us was, we were 42/1 after the power-play and the plan was to extend it beyond the 13th/14th over, with at least seven wickets in hand, so that we could really target a bowler or two and build a platform beyond the 15th over." He added, "Unfortunately, we didn't adapt, Mumbai bowled very well and we lost too many wickets, so we could never attack at any stage. So probably, the fault lies more with us, than just the pitch or the toss." Put into bat, Rajasthan could manage only 90 for nine, which Mumbai chased down in just 8.2 overs, with young Ishan Kishan blazing his way to an unbeaten 50.

Pitches in Sharjah haven't produced a run-feast and have been challenging for the batters this season. Asked about the Sharjah track, he said, "These types of pitches are challenging and it is a case of adapting again and being smart on it. We spoke about the Sharjah wickets in the lead up to this game, what the bowlers have to do, what the batters have to do." According to the former Sri Lankan captain, the pitches that are on offer in Sharjah test the skills, flexibility and mindset of the players.

"But on pitches like this, it really tests out not just your skill, but also your flexibility and your mindset, so at times playing on pitches like this, is not a bad idea, it is not the greatest T20 pitch in terms of lot of runs, but it is a challenging pitch in terms of coming to terms with it and then playing on it.

"So it's an experience, so we will have to wait and see how they will turn up for the (T20) World Cup," he added.

Asked whether he was surprised about how Mumbai approached the run-chase, Sangakkara said, "No, we would have done the same. The power play was the easiest period to bat in, so we would have probably approached it with the same mindset or try and get as many runs as possible." "We probably didn't bowl as well as we should have, but also when you are chasing a low total, once you get that power-play going, the rest is just easy," he quipped.

Mumbai Indians pacer Coulter-Nile, who returned with match-winning figures of 4/14, lavished praised on Kishan, who finally got going after a run of poor scores.

"I think it is good to have anyone among runs, it is really good, Ish (Ishan) coming in after missing couple of games to perform really well on such a tough wicket, just shows the quality of guys sitting on the bench, they can come in and perform for us.

"Very happy to see him (Kishan) score runs, he has been smashing them all pre-season," Coulter-Nile said.

The Australian speedster also said that everyone in the team needs to bowl well for a particular bowler to be successful.

"We all have to bowl well for someone to be successful. We had Boulty (Trent Boult) bowl well, (Jasprit) Bumrah bowled well, we saw Neesh (Jimmy Neesham) bowl well today. Everyone who comes in is responsible to keep that pressure on.

"I was lucky that the pressure was applied when I came on. That was the point where it got all too much. So today I got the wickets, it could be anyone next game.

"As long as we keep bowling as a unit, we'll see a lot more success. We've been pretty good the whole time. Even when (Adam) Milne was playing, he bowled beautifully. I think we've been really good and hope we can keep that going," he signed off.

Also Read : IPL: Qualification scenario for the IPL 2021 playoffs

News Source : PTI

(Cricket news) Rajasthan need to win their remaining two matches against KKR and MI to stand a chance to qualify as they have their destiny in their own hands whereas Mumbai, even if they win their two matches they are not guarantee of a playoff spot because of an inferior net run rate and also need other results to go their way if they stand a chance to qualify. This is virtually a quarter final for both teams as it is a must win game for them.

MI are likely going to stick with the same playing XI for this match which means that Jayant Yadav will keep his place as an extra spinner in the line up especially when they are playing in Sharjah. Suryakumar Yadav needs to score some runs not for MI’s playoff chances but also to keep his place in the World T20 squad, same applies to Ishan Kishan as well. Rohit Sharma’s record against RR is not great as he has just managed 294 runs in 16 innings averaging 18.38 only, MI’s sake he too needs to score big if they stand a chance to qualify for the playoffs. Mumbai Indians will take encouragement as Trent Boult has dismissed Sanju Samson three times in only 23 balls conceding only 30 runs in the process.

Rajasthan Royals will also go in with an unchanged line up after they beat CSK comprehensively by chasing down 190 with ease. In the last match, their gamble of sending Shivam Dube up the order worked and the trend should continue. Evin Lewis has been a revelation up top as he has given his team blistering starts and has not let the camp feel the absence of Jos Buttler. The only area of concern for the RR camp is the inconsistency of the spinners, who need to up their game if they are to win the match. Rahul Tewatia needs to be used in the powerplay as his record against Rohit Sharma is quite commendable, he has managed only 3 runs in 8 balls and dismissed him once in the process.

Head to head: MI 12 - 11 RR, the last they played MI won by 7 wickets as Quinton De Kock was man of the match scoring 70(50)

Pitch and weather report: The games at Sharjah Cricket stadium have been unpredictable as the pitches have been on the slower side with the slower bowlers having joy in this venue. Four out of 6 matches the team batting second has won as today also the Captain winning the toss will most likely bowl first. The temperature will hover around 36 degrees with no chances of rain.

Interesting facts:

• MI have just managed to score at 6.11 rpo in the UAE leg against spinners
• Barring Rohit and De Kock no other batsman in the MI squad has managed to cross the 250 run mark
• RR have scored at a rate of 8.8 runs inside the powerplay the most in this seasons IPL
• Last year Trent Boult picked up 15 wickets in the powerplay in UAE but this year he hasn’t managed to take a single wicket in the powerplay in the UAE leg.

Also read: Avesh Khan leading the charge for Delhi Capitals in Indian Premier League

Probable XI for MI:

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

Probable XI for RR:

1 Evin Lewis, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 4 Shivam Dube, 5 Glenn Phillips, 6 David Miller, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Akash Singh/Jaydev Unadkat, 9 Mayank Markande, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Chetan Sakariya
 

Sharjah, Oct 4 (Cricket news) Mumbai Indians' mega-stars will be making one last ditch effort to put their derailed Indian Premier League campaign back on track when they take on a confident Rajasthan Royals in their penultimate league match on Tuesday.

The five-time champions were aiming for a hat-trick, which would be a first in the tournament's 14-year-history, but poor show by their batsmen has led the team down. The wrinkles on Rohit Sharma's forehead and the grumpy look on his face are telling a tale that is unheard of in the MI contingent till now.

And in this backdrop, they are now facing Rajasthan Royals, who stunned Chennai Super Kings with a superlative batting performance from two Mumbai men -- Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube.

The equation is simple for both the teams.

They have to not only win both their matches but also have to win big so that their poor net run-rates are taken care of.

Royals currently have a net run-rate of -0.337 and MI, after a poor batting show against Delhi Capitals, are seventh at -0.453.

The loser on Tuesday will be out of the tournament but then KKR are already on 14 points with a positive NRR of +0.294.

Therefore even if Mumbai win against Rajasthan and then happen to thrash laggards Sunrisers Hyderabad in their final match to reach 14 points, there's no guarantee that they would be able to go through.

KKR have won a very crucial game against SRH and even if they lose against Royals on the final day of the league stage, Morgan and his men would like to limit the damages in order to make it to the play-offs.

Hence, Rohit (341 runs), Suryakumar Yadav (222 runs), Quinton de Kock (297 runs) and Kieron Pollard (232 runs) need to bring their 'A' game to the fore.

Hardik Pandya has just about found some form going his way. the Sharjah pitch showed signs of settling down during the Punjab Kings versus RCB game, something that will make the stroke players of MI happy.

The Royals bowling attack, with Mustafizur Rahaman as their most experienced overseas signing, is a bit thin on experience.

It remains to be seen how the likes of Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur and the rest of the bowlers stop the heavy artillery firing expected from the Mumbai ranks.

Similarly, Jasprit Bumrah, along with Trent Boult and Rahul Chahar, will have the job cut out against the opening pair of Jaiswal and Evin Lewis, who literally butchered the Chennai attack which didn't have Deepak Chahar and Dwayne Bravo in their ranks.

Squads: Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (captain), Liam Livingstone, Evin Lewis, David Miller, Chris Morris, Oshane Thomas, Mustafizur Rahaman, Tabraiz Shamsi, Glenn Phillips, Chetan Sakariya, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Akash Singh, Anuj Rawat, KC Cariappa, Yashashvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dube, Shreyas Gopal, Kartik Tyagi, Mayank Markande, Jaydev Unadkat, Kuldip Yadav, Mahipal Lomror.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anukul Roy, Simarjeet Singh, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, James Neesham, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Marco Jansen, Yudhvir Singh, Adam Milne, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult.

Match starts at 7.30pm IST.

Also Read : IPL 2021: CSK face in-form DC in battle of top two

News Source : PTI

Sharjah, Oct 2 (Cricket news) Delhi Capitals opted to bowl against Mumbai Indians in their IPL fixture here on Saturday.

Having already sealed a playoff berth, the Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals made one change to their XI, with a fit-again Prthvi Shaw coming in place of off-spinner Lalit Yadav.

The Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians also made one change to their lineup with off-spinner Jayant Yadav replacing their out-of-form leg spinner Rahul Chahar.

The record five-time defending champions Mumbai Indians secured their first win in the UAE leg against Punjab Kings in the last match and they need to win all their remaining three fixtures to make the playoffs.

Second-placed Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, are coming into the game on the back of their first loss in the phase two of IPL, going down to Kolkata Knight Riders.

Teams: Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jayant Yadav, Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah.

Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Steven Smith, Shreyas Iyer, Shimron Hetmyer, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada and Avesh Khan.

Also Read : Hardik might struggle if pushed to bowl, says MI coach Jayawardene

News source : PTI

Sharjah, Oct 1 (Cricket news) Delhi Capitals will look to bounce back after a blip in the last match, while a struggling Mumbai Indians unit will hope to hold on to their new-found momentum in the first of Saturday's IPL double headers here.

Having virtually sealed their playoff berth with eight wins, Delhi were done in by the sluggish conditions of Sharjah, as an all-round Kolkata Knight Riders trumped them by three wickets in a low-scoring affair.

Lying second with 16 points from 11 games, the target for the last season's runners-up would be to finish in top-two, which will give them two shots at reaching the final.

For a team that looked at ease all along, it was their first defeat in the UAE leg -- and three from 11 matches this season -- as Delhi struggled to get going against KKR bowlers who made full use of the slow surface after opting to bowl.

That none in the star-studded Rishabh Pant-led Delhi batting lineup managed to get a six in their stipulated 20 overs, highlighted how difficult stroke-making was.

Delhi managed just 127/9 as the mystery spin duo of Sunil Narine and Venkatesh Iyer tightened the noose.

It was only Steve Smith (39 off 34 balls), who replaced an injured Prithvi Shaw, and Pant (39 off 36 balls), who got some runs while their lower middle-order managed only 13 runs.

The outing was however an aberration for the Delhi batsmen who have done well so far and they would hope that Shaw is fit and back in the playing XI.

Their seam-bowling all-rounder Marcus Stoinis (hamstring) may take longer to be back.

With the sluggish conditions on offer, DC's spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav would look to make inroads.

Mumbai, on the other hand, would look to stay in the race after securing their first win from four matches in the second phase of IPL.

Batting has been a big letdown for the record five-time IPL champions as Surya Kumar Yadav is horribly out of form with scores of 0, 8, 5, 3 in the UAE leg.

Star openers Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock also have not been able to convert their starts, putting pressure on the middle-order.

The silver lining for the IPL heavyweights was the struggling middle-order turning it around with Saurabh Tiwary (45) and Hardik Pandya (40) securing a six-wicket win over Punjab Kings.

The big-hitting Kieron Pollard also looked in the groove with a seven-ball 15 not out to play the finisher's role.

Tiwary's resolute knock would mean that he would retain his place and it remains to be seen whether Sharma gives another opportunity to the out-of-form Ishan Kishan.

In bowling, Jasprit Bumrah has consistently delivered, returning with 10 wickets so far in the UAE leg, at a time MI's spin bowling has flopped.

On conditions aiding slow bowlers, it remains to be seen how the likes of Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya make it count.

Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar has failed to make an impression in the UAE leg and managed just two wickets from four matches, while left-arm spinner Krunal managed just one wicket.

Teams (from): Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain) Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, James Neesham, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Marco Jansen, Yudhvir Singh, Adam Milne, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Rahul Chahar and Trent Boult.

Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Ripal Patel, Shikhar Dhawan, Shimrom Hetmyar, Shreyas Iyer, Steve Smith, Amit Mishra, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan, Ben Dwarshuis, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Kulwant Khejroliya, Lukman Meriwala, Pravin Dubey, Tom Curran, Umesh Yadav, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Marcus Stoinis, Ravichandran Ashwin, Sam Billings and Vishnu Vinod.

Match starts: 3.30pm IST.

Also read : Merely listening to Ricky Ponting's dressing room speech gives you goosebumps: Avesh Khan

News source : PTI

(Cricket news) Mumbai before the UAE leg looked in pole position to clinch a playoff spot but now look like in a precarious dilemma as they too need to win their remaining matches to qualify for the playoffs. The same applies to KL Rahul’s Punjab Kings who should have had two victories in the second leg but are in the same boat as RR, MI and KKR for the final playoff position.

Mumbai Indians will be hoping that with the welcome return of Hardik Pandya, their middle order gets some stability especially while chasing. The key to MI success would be to get the openers out quickly as Rohit Sharma would want the New Zealand duo of Trent Boult and Adam Milne to pick up some early wickets. Generally Jasprit Bumrah has bowled one over in the power plays; a trend going into the match can change as Bumrah has dismissed Mayank Agarwal 3 times in 14 balls, and conceded only 6 runs. The MI management might also look to play Dhawal Kulkarni in the side considering his record against Gayle and KL Rahul, he has dismissed Rahul four times and Gayle thrice.

Punjab Kings need to improve their middle order batting if they are to mount a serious challenge. This season, none of their foregin players have contributed significantly and cracked under pressure like we saw against RR. Big performances are required from the trio of Gayle, Pooran and Markram if they want to win against MI. Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh have been in red hot form as Shami has dismissed both the Pandya brothers thrice in 15 and 13 balls respectively, a match up that needs to be kept an eye on.

Head to head: MI 14 - 13 PBKS, the last time they met PBKS won comfortably by 9 wickets as KL Rahul scored 60*

Pitch and weather report: The pitch at Sheikh Zayed Stadium has been a 150-160 wicket as spinners as well as pace up front is proven to be effective, the trend so far has been win the toss and bowl, a practice which is likely to continue. The temperature is going to hover around 36 degrees and is expected to reduce as the game progresses. There is no chance of rain as of now.

Interesting facts:

• MI are on a 3 match losing streak their longest since 2015 where they lost four in a row but eventually went on to win the title
• PBKS has lost 6 out of the 8 matches in which KL Rahul has scored below 25
• Rohit Sharma has scored 163 runs against spin which is the third highest in the tournament
• MI are scoring rate of less than seven an over in the middle overs this season  

Also read: Mumbai Indians yet to find a win in second phase of the Indian Premier League

Probable XI for MI:

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

Probable XI for PBKS:

1 KL Rahul (capt, wk), 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Deepak Hooda, 7 Harpreet Brar, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Nathan Ellis/Chris Jordan, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Mohammed Shami

Dubai, Sep 25 (Cricket News) Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be aiming to up their captaincy quotient and raise their respective team's performance by a few notches when Royal Challengers Bangalore lock horns with defending champions Mumbai Indians in an IPL game, here on Sunday.

India's outgoing T20 captain and the one who will replace him, both have endured crushing defeats. It puts them on a slippery slope as the tournament approaches its business end.

RCB are still in top four with 10 points from nine games while MI after their back-to-back defeats have slumped to sixth spot with eight points from nine games.

The fact that bulk of India's top-order batters, who are currently under-performing, are from these two sides, sticks out like sore thumb.

Going into the World T20, Kohli, Rohit, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan are some of the batting mainstays.

Also there is Hardik Pandya, who is not being picked by Mumbai Indians as he is perhaps not 100 percent fit to carry his all-round duties which includes four overs of brisk fast-medium bowling.

But if Hardik is batting fit and still the burly and bordering on sloppy Saurabh Tiwary is preferred, then it does seem a bit baffling as the Baroda all-rounder purely as a batsman is miles ahead of the Jharkhand man.

Kohli showed some form en route his half-century against CSK at Sharjah but the overall form has been scratchy and his MI counterpart also didn't completely look in his elements during the previous game against KKR.

The more worrying factor will be Surya's lack of form which might be a result of lack of game time, having sat through two Tests in England. He is suddenly looking a lot rustier than usual.

It was no different for Ishan also as the trio needs to fire to be in good head space before the T20 World Cup on same tracks that are expected to get slower.

One can only hope that their form doesn't desert them when they need it most in the "Desert Nation".

Interestingly, both RCB and MI have lost their two matches on resumption to same opposition --- KKR and CSK.

What's more disconcerting has been the patchy bowling efforts from both sides save an odd bowler.

For Mumbai, it is Jasprit Bumrah, who has looked head and shoulders above the rest of the pack while Yuzvendra Chahal with wiry little frame is carrying the burden of an entire below-par bowling attack.

No support for either of the two from the other bowlers have not helped their cause either.

RCB's case is a bit trickier as they have now lost seven matches on the trot in the UAE. Five of those defeats came in the last edition.

RCB's bowling attack, in terms of quality, is a bit wafer-thin as the likes of Harshal Patel don't have the wherewithal to perform match after match.

In case of Navdeep Saini, a success-rate of just about "half wicket per IPL game" (17 scalps in 30 matches) gives a picture of why Kohli can't always rely on him.

Wanindu Hasaranga was taken after just two good matches against a second string Indian side in Sri Lanka and even if one goes by his ICC rankings, there are enough quality players who would see his spell through.

In batting, it's more about Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal who put on 111 for the first wicket only to find that others weren't good enough to add even 50 runs.

They have a keeper in Kona Bharath, who is primarily a red-ball specialist. Against the CSK, Harshal Patel, who had some sporadic experiences of batting for Haryana, was sent ahead of him.

That only speaks of skipper's lack of trust having sent him up the order.

Glenn Maxwell as usual is the "big buy" which more often than not goes waste and Tim David not being the man for slow tracks is also hurting RCB chances.

Squads Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (Captain), Navdeep Saini, Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christian, Rajat Patidar, Dushmantha Chameera, Pavan Deshpande, Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Sachin Baby, Wanindu Hasaranga, George Garton, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shahbaz Ahmed, Devdutt Padikkal, Kyle Jamieson, Suyash Prabhudessai, KS Bharat, Tim David, Akash Deep, AB de Villiers.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain) Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, James Neesham, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Marco Jansen, Yudhvir Singh, Adam Milne, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult.

Match starts at 7:30PM IST.

Also Read : Our batters are lot more aggressive than they were last time: Simons

News Source : PTI

Abu Dhabi, Sep 22 (Cricket News) Defending champions Mumbai Indians would look for inspiration from skipper Rohit Sharma, who is set to return to action, when they take on a rejuvenated Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League match here on Thursday.

Mumbai were without the services of Rohit and star all-rounder Hardik Pandya in their 20-run defeat to Chennai Super Kings on Sunday as both were rested as a precautionary measure due to having niggles. However, head coach Mahela Jayawardene has said Rohit should be fit and available for selection for the match against KKR.

KKR, on the other hand, have registered a dominating nine-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening game of the second leg of the league.

Mumbai, who are currently placed fourth in the table with eight points, began their second leg campaign in a typical slow manner but with only half the tournament left to play, the defending champions need to win to stay in the top half of the league table.

Rohit, who has been in fine touch of late, will be expected to continue in the same vein and help his side make amends of the inept batting performance against CSK. Apart from Saurabh Tewary, who hit an unbeaten half century, none of the other batsmen were able to capitalize on their starts against CSK, failing to chase down 156.

On the other hand, the comprehensive win would have boosted KKR’s confidence. Having struggled in the first leg, KKR looked a completely different unit, in the manner in which they defeated RCB.

The Eoin Morgan-led side, placed sixth in the points table, fired on all cylinders with mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy and star all-rounder Andre Russell wreaking havoc with the ball before openers Shubman Gill and debutant Venkatesh Iyer chased down the 93-run target with 10 overs to spare.

Skipper Morgan had said that KKR would be dangerous opponents with nothing to lose in the second leg and the team certainly looked menacing against RCB. They will hope to continue playing in a similar aggressive fashion and win the title just like 2014 edition when they notched nine victories in a row.

They will also hold the edge over their rivals having already experienced the conditions at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium against RCB.

The Teams (from): Kolkata Knight Riders: Eoin Morgan (captain), Dinesh Karthik, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Karun Nair, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathy, Shubman Gill, Harbhajan Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pawan Negi, M Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Dube, Tim Southee, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russel, Ben Cutting, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Sheldon Jackson, Tim Seifert.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain) Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, James Neesham, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Marco Jansen, Yudhvir Singh, Adam Milne, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult.

Match starts at 7:30PM IST.

Also Read : Special to change game myself after watching others do it: Tyagi

News Source : PTI

Melbourne, Aug 15 (Cricket news) Cricket Australia has cleared the way for the country's leading players to return to the rescheduled Indian Premier League in the UAE starting next month ahead of the T20 World Cup.

CA has issued No Objection Certificates for the players to return to the IPL next month, while a planned T20 tri-series with Afghanistan and West Indies may be re-purposed as (T20) World Cup warm-ups, according to a report in cricket.au.com.

This year's IPL was halted in May after an outbreak of COVID-19 in India, and about 40 Australian players, coaches, broadcasters and support staff had to spend time in Maldives while international borders were shut, before eventually returning home via a charter flight provided by the BCCI.

The IPL has since been rescheduled to complete the remaining 36 games in 27 days between September 19 and October 15 in the UAE, finishing just two days before the T20 World Cup begins, which has also been relocated to the region from India.

CA's clearance came after the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) confirmed the postponement of a three-match ODI series between the two nations originally planned to be held in India in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup, the report said.

A mooted T20 tri-series also involving the West Indies was due to form an important part of the World Cup preparations for all three squads, and Afghanistan authorities are continuing efforts to secure a venue to host it.

With the initial group stages of the T20 World Cup expected to be played primarily in Oman, the UAE venues could be free to host the matches between the end of the IPL and the start of the World Cup's Super 12 stage, expected to begin on October 23.

Seven players who participated in the initial stage of this year's IPL -- David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson and Daniel Sams -- are now expected to return to the lucrative T20 league.

Also read: Anything over 220 won't be easy won't be easy to chase says Moeen    

Pat Cummins has said he will miss the IPL reboot due the impending birth of his first child but has committed to Australia's T20 World Cup tilt.

Josh Hazlewood, Riley Meredith, Dan Christian, Moises Henriques, Mitch Marsh, Jason Behrendorff, Adam Zampa, Andrew Tye, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Ben Cutting and Josh Philippe are the other players that hold IPL deals.

Hazlewood, Marsh and Philippe had opted out of the first stage of the IPL tournament that was held in India, but are eligible to return to the reschedule closing stages.

It will also be the second successive season in which top players will miss the opening rounds of Australia's domestic competitions to participate in the IPL.

Australia's men's domestic summer is due to begin with a Marsh One-Day Cup game on September 11, meaning any players heading to the IPL and subsequent T20 World Cup will not feature at home before the Test summer begins against Afghanistan from November 27. News source: PTI

Melbourne, Aug 14 (Cricket news) Batting legend Ricky Ponting has backed Australian players to feature in the rescheduled Indian Premier League in the UAE, saying it would be an ideal preparation ahead of T20 World Cup in October.

The IPL will squeeze its remaining 76 games between September 19 and October 15 while the T20 World Cup will be held just after that from October 17 to November 14. Both tournaments will be held in the UAE.

"Those guys that haven't played for three or four months now, they need to get back into the groove of playing high-quality cricket against the best players in the world," Ponting was quoted by cricket.com.au as telling Australia Test captain Tim Paine in a conversation on SEN radio.

"No doubt it's their best preparation to be in those exact conditions, playing in probably the strongest domestic T20 tournament in the world," said Ponting, who will head to Dubai as head coach of IPL side Delhi Capitals.

Fast bowler Pat Cummins, who skipped the West Indies and Bangladesh tours to spend the time with his pregnant fiance, is not expected to return to the IPL with his first child due in the middle of the rescheduled tournament.

"For second half of this season it's going to be really tough to get over there," Cummins said in a vlog on his YouTube channel.

"We'll see how it plays out but at this stage it might be a bit too hard, but with the World Cup straight after that, I'm hoping to be good to go for that." Australia captain Aaron Finch this week had surgery on his right knee to repair cartilage damage he suffered in the West Indies. While the surgery was a success, he faces a 10-week recovery period, which will leave him sidelined right up until Australia's opening match of the Super 12 stage of the World Cup.

Finch has previously said he believed a return to the IPL would be "hard to justify" for players who had skipped the winter tours citing the fatigue and toll of hotel quarantines and bio-secure bubbles.

Riley Meredith, Dan Christian, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Adam Zampa, Andrew Tye and Josh Philippe were all part of the side that toured the Caribbean and Bangladesh, and all hold IPL deals.

Marsh and Philippe had opted out of the first stage of the IPL tournament that was held in India.

Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn and Ben Cutting - none of whom are in Australia's plans or hold state contracts - are the other Australians with IPL contracts.

Australia's T20 side, which did not have a host of first-choice players, suffered 1-4 series defeats against West Indies and Bangladesh recently, and Ponting said the results underlined the current lack of depth in Australian cricket.

Also read: KL Rahul backs Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane to find form soon; says they know how to turn things around

The Australian side crashed to their lowest-ever T20I total of 62 against Bangladesh in Dhaka a few days ago.

"... whether it was a lack of confidence or a lack of skill or a lack of game awareness in the conditions. Just the lack of know-how and skill in those conditions brought us undone again.

"It's been the Achilles heel for Australian cricket for as long as I can remember. It just goes to show the depth around Australian cricket right now is not where it needs to be.

"The T20 World Cup is not far away (but) with everyone fit and healthy in the UAE, I still think the Australian team can push really hard to win that title that's eluded us," Ponting said.

News source: PTI

Mumbai, May 6 Mumbai Indians on Thursday said that their local stars have reached home while it has also ensured a safe passage for its Australian contingent to Maldives along with Sri Lankan head coach Mahela Jaywardene, who also will be quarantining there.

The five-time champions posted a series of tweets and shared the travel plans of its players and support staff.

"Indian players have embarked on their journey back to their hometowns. All Covid-19 related travel and safety protocols have been diligently adhered.

"Mumbai and Ahmedabad based players and support staff members will return home via Ahmedabad on a charter flight. The cabin crew has completed seven days quarantine at the team hotel in Delhi,” the franchise stated.

"Australian players and support staff members will fly to Maldives on a special charter. MI has made arrangements for their 14-day quarantine stay in Maldives before flying them back to Australia," it said.

The franchise has two Australian players – hard-hitting batsman Chris Lynn and pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile.

"Head coach Mahela Jayawardene will also complete his quarantine in Maldives before returning to Sri Lanka," it added.

The players and support staff from New Zealand, South Africa and the Caribbean will fly to Auckland, Johannesburg and Trinidad on their respective charter flights arranged by the franchise.

Among its foreigners, while swashbuckling all-rounder Kieron Pollard is from the West Indies, opener Quinton De Kock hails from South Africa.

Pacer Trent Boult and bowling coach Shane Bond are from New Zealand.

The postponement of IPL was announced by the BCCI after Sunrisers Hyderabad's wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha tested positive for COVID-19 along with Delhi Capitals' veteran spinner Amit Mishra.

On Monday, Chennai Super Kings bowling coach L Balaji along with Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers Sandeep Warrier and Varun Chakravarthy had also returned positive results. News Source : PTI 

New Delhi, May 3 Back in the groove after two consecutive wins, defending champions Mumbai Indians will be firm favourites to put it past the turbulence-hit and bottom-placed SunRisers Hyderabad in an IPL game here on Tuesday.

Mumbai will enter the game after their four-wicket win over in-form Chennai Super Kings courtesy Kieron Pollard's blitzkrieg.

SunRisers, in contrast, suffered a humiliating 55-run loss to Rajasthan Royals, their sixth in seven games this season. They are also battling a transitional phase in which Kane Williamson has taken over captaincy from an out of form David Warner, leaving him disappointed.

Mumbai openers Rohit Sharma (250 runs) and Quinton De Kock (155 runs) would be itching to give the five-time champions another strong platform and also convert their starts into big scores.

Mumbai's hard-hitting middle-order has clicked in the last two games, which would be quite pleasing for the team management. Pollard (168 runs), who blazed his way to a match-winning 87 off 34 balls in the last game, would be keen to continue from where he left.

The likes of Krunal Pandya (100 runs), Hardik Pandya (52 runs) and the flamboyant Suryakumar Yadav (173 runs) can be destructive on their day and the trio wouldbe aiming to fire in unison.

Also, it remains to be seen if Mumbai plays Ishan Kishan or Jayant Yadav in place of all-rounder James Neesham, who neither scored big nor was able to pick up wickets.

However, the Mumbai bowlers would need to forget the hammering received at the hands of the CSK batsmen and start afresh.

The pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah (6 wickets) and Trent Boult (8 wickets) have been exceptional at the death and would pose a big threat to the SRH batting unit, which has been inconsistent at best.

Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar (11 wickets) has been the MI's main wicket-taker, but he would need support from Krunal, who has just three scalps.

The duo would need to keep things tight to contain the SRH batters.

Pollard, also picked up two important wickets in the last game and can fill in the role of fifth or sixth bowler.

However, there are problems aplenty for SRH.

They are over-reliant on their top-order, especially Jonny Bairstow (248 runs), but their middle-order has faltered most often.

Against RR, they dropped Warner and opened with Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow, with Williamson coming in at three. If they persist with the same line-up, the three need to fire on all cylinders.

Also, the likes of Vijay Shankar (58 runs), Kedar Jadhav (40 runs), Abdul Samad (36 runs) and Mohammed Nabi (31 runs), if he plays, will have to get some runs for the side to have any chance of building a momentum.

On the bowling front, star leg-spinner Rashid Khan has been the pick of the bowlers with 10 wickets but pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3 wickets) and Khaleel Ahmed (4 wickets) would need to find their form too.

It remains to be seen if Sandeep Sharma plays again or makes way for Siddharth Kaul.

Teams (From): Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (C), Adam Milne, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, James Neesham, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Marco Jansen, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Quinton De Kock (wk), Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Yudhvir Singh.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (C), David Warner, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Sreevats Goswami, Wriddhiman Saha, Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Virat Singh, Jason Holder, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul, Basil Thampi, Jagadeesha Suchith, Kedar Jadhav, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman.

Match starts at 7.30 PM. News Source : PTI 

New Delhi, Apr 29 Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl against Rajasthan Royals in an IPL game here on Thursday.

Mumbai made one change, leaving out Ishan Kishan and bringing in Australian Nathan Coulter-Nile.

Rajasthan, however, decided to field an unchanged playing XI.

Teams: Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(wk/c), Shivam Dube, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Chris Morris, Jaydev Unadkat, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman.

Mumbai Indians: Quinton de Kock(wk), Rohit Sharma(c), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult. News Source : PTI

New Delhi, Apr 28 Defending champions Mumbai Indians will look to sort out their middle-order woes and bring their campaign back on track when they take on an inconsistent Rajasthan Royals in an IPL game here on Thursday.

MI are coming into the match after suffering back-to-back losses, the last one being a nine-wicket defeat against Punjab Kings in Chennai and need to start the Delhi leg afresh.

The Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan have lost thrice in the tournament so far and will seek to build on the six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the previous match.

Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma (201 runs) has got starts but hasn't played a big knock and the Mumbaikar would be itching to get one as would be his opening partner Quinton De Kock (47 runs).

But Mumbai's middle-order, which boasts of hard-hitting batsmen like Suryakumar Yadav (154 runs), Ishan Kishan (73 runs), Hardik Pandya (36 runs), Krunal Pandya (29 runs) and Kieron Pollard (65 runs), hasn't fired in unison so far.

The middle-order can pummel any good attack into submission on any given day and Sharma would hope for their batting to click on Thursday when the action shifts to the Feroz Shah Kotla ground here.

In the bowling department, pace duo of Trent Boult (6 wickets) and Jasprit Bumrah (4 wickets) have been exceptional, particularly at the death.

Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar (9 wickets) and Krunal (3 wickets) have also been impressive and will again need to play their parts to perfection.

Pollard is used as the fifth or the sixth bowler even as Hardik plays solely as a batsman.

Mumbai, however, might play Adam Milne in place of Jayant Yadav.

Rajasthan, on the other hand, have a lot of issues to ponder over, particularly in the absence of key foreign players – Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone and Andrew Tye.

RR are yet to have a settled opening combination. They tried Manan Vohra (42 runs) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (22 runs) at the top but both failed to convert their starts.

Englishman Jos Buttler would need to score big to compliment his skipper Sanju Samson, who is the team's leading run-scorer (187) despite being inconsistent.

And the likes Shivam Dube, David Miller and Riyan Parag, would have to support the top-order by chipping in with much-needed contributions.

All-rounder Chris Morris (9 wickets and 48 runs) has blown hot and cold and will again be under pressure to deliver his high price tag.

Left-arm pacer Chetan Sakariya (7 wickets) has been a revelation, while the experienced duo of Jaydev Unadkat (4 wickets) and Mustafizur Rahman (4 wickets) have been decent. The three left-arm pacers along with Morris, however, need to be consistent.

Leg-spinner Rahul Tewatia has got just one wicket from five games, while Shreyas Gopal, another leggie, has gone wicket-less in the two games he has played.

Tewatia's role would be crucial if the Royals aim to contain the MI batting line-up, keeping in mind Amit Mishra's performance for Delhi.

The dew won't be a factor on Thursday as it is an afternoon game.

Teams (From): Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Adam Milne, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, James Neesham, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Marco Jansen, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Quinton De Kock (WK), Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Yudhvir Singh.

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c & wk), Jos Buttler (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Manan Vohra, Anuj Rawat, Riyan Parag, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Shreyas Gopal, Mayank Markande, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya, KC Cariappa, Kuldip Yadav, Akash Singh.

Match starts at 3.30 PM. News Source : PTI

New Delhi, Apr 26 Australian pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile understands why some of his compatriots decided to leave home midway from the IPL but he feels safer being part of the Mumbai Indians' bio-bubble as India battles a deadly second wave of COVID-19 infections. Rajasthan Royals pacer Andrew Tye has left for Perth fearing that he may be "locked out" of his own country in the wake of a COVID-19 surge. Soon after, Royal Challengers Bangalore's Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa also pulled out citing personal reasons. However, Coulter-Nile was surprised when he got to know about the three of them leaving. He has a Rs 5 crore contract with MI. "Everyone's got their own opinions on it and different situations for them," Coulter-Nile told cricket.com.au where more than 20,000 cases have been reported daily for the past one week. "I was surprised to see AJ go home, and then Zamps and Richo, but when you speak to them, you definitely understand where they're coming from. "I spoke to Zamps a little while ago and he made a very compelling argument for going home. But for me, I feel like it's safer for me to stay in the bubble than try and get home at the moment." Top Australian stars like David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins and Steve Smith are part of the IPL. Getting out of India is becoming tougher by the day with some countries, including UK and New Zealand, imposing travel bans from the country and Australia contemplating on the same. "...I feel like something's got to give for getting home. I'm just going to wait and see how that plays out. "Worst comes to worst, we'll have to quarantine in Dubai for a couple of weeks before we can fly home. But I'm sure it will get sorted," said Coulter-Nile. The Australian, who is being tested three times in a day, said he has faith in the bio-bubble created for the IPL. "We have a rapid response test in the morning ahead of another test later in the day, and then one at night as well. And that's for everyone – players, staff, the people who do laundry, cleaners, everyone. "In terms of testing, they are pretty onto it. I'm as confident (in the bubble) as you can be. All the protocols and measures are in place, I can't think of anything more we could be doing. "As long as everyone follows them – that's the hardest bit, there's a lot of moving parts – but if everyone does the right thing, we should be fine," he added. India has been reporting more than three lakhs case for the past few days. News Source :PTI

Chennai, Apr 19 A battle royale is in the offing as heavyweights Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals cross swords, looking to outsmart each other in the IPL here on Tuesday. Up against a resurgent side, defending champions MI will need to address their middle-order woes if they are to go for a third consecutive win. While Delhi come into the match after beating Punjab Kings by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai have recorded back-to-back victories by defending low totals, something a formidable opponents like DC may not offer. Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma has got starts and he would be keen to convert it into a big one and so would be Quinton de Kock. MI have the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya and his brother Krunal, who can pummel any attack into submission on their day, but they are yet to fire on all cylinders. After the last game, Rohit had conceded that his team "can bat a little better in the middle overs." The Mumbai bowlers, led by pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, have been splendid in the last two games when they successfully defended low scores of 150 and 152 respectively. Strike bowlers Bumrah (3 wickets) and New Zealander Trent Boult (6 wickets) have been exceptional at the death. Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar, whom bowling coach Shane Bond described as a "wicket-taking bowler", has grabbed seven wickets in last two games. Another important cog in the wheel is left-arm spinner Krunal, who would be itching to give his team breakthroughs. Mumbai played Adam Milne in the previous game but considering the nature of the pitch, they could be tempted to bring in off-spinner Jayant Yadav, who played the 2020 final against the same opposition. Meanwhile, for Delhi Capitals, the biggest positive has been the form of Shikhar Dhawan, who is the leading scorer so far in the tournament with 186 runs. Dhawan and young Prithvi Shaw form a lethal opening combination, but the Mumbaikar needs to convert his starts into big scores. Delhi opted for Australian Steve Smith on Sunday but, as they are next playing on the slow Chepauk track, they might go back to Ajinkya Rahane, who is looking better suited for such tracks. Skipper Rishabh Pant has the ability to take any attack to the cleaners. The DC team management would be hoping that the top-order fires in unison against the defending champions, to whom they had lost in the final last year. DC also possess quality all-rounders in Marcus Stoinis and Lalit Yadav, who would be keen to play their roles well. Their pace attack is led by South African Kagiso Rabada and Chris Woakes, and the two have been impressive so far. They have an additional option in Anrich Notrje, who has also joined the squad. Delhi played four pacers in the game against Punjab, but in Chennai, they could play more spinners as the track is conducive for the slower bowlers. They have options in the experienced Amit Mishra, Pravin Dubey and new recruit Shams Mulani, who can complement Ravichandran Ashwin. Teams (from): Delhi Capitals: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Woakes, R Ashwin, Shams Mulani, Amit Mishra, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Avesh Khan, Steve Smith, Umesh Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod, Lukman Meriwala, M Siddarth, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Aniruddha Joshi. Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Adam Milne, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, James Neesham, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Marco Jansen, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Quinton De Kock (WK), Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Yudhvir Singh. Match starts at 7.30 PM. News source: PTI

New Delhi, Apr 2 (PTI) England wicketkeeper batsman Sam Billings believes that he has improved as a cricketer and is ready to make a difference in his second stint for the Delhi Capitals in the upcoming Indian Premier League starting April 9.Billings, who was part of the Delhi franchise in 2016 and 2017, was bought by the Capitals for his base price of Rs 2 crore in the IPL Auction in February. "My game has improved a lot since I last played for Delhi. Hopefully, we can kick-on as a group and win the competition this year," Billings said. "It's great to be back at the IPL. There are a great group of players and the DC camp has been very welcoming. I am very excited to be here," he said. The 29-year-old Billings has so far scored 3527 runs, taken 107 catches and effected 17 stumpings in 187 T20 matches. "I love the IPL. It's one of the best competitions in the world and the buzz around the IPL is something that you can't get anywhere else in the world, so I am just looking forward to playing in the tournament again," he said. Delhi Capitals will be lead by young Rishabh Pant this year after regular skipper Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the entire season due to a shoulder injury. Billings, who spent a considerable amount of time with Pant during his previous stint with the Delhi franchise, recounted his first-ever experience of watching the Indian bat. "I remember the first time I saw Rishabh play. We had a middle practice, and he was hitting bowlers like Chris Morris, Nathan Coulter-Nile and lot of other bowlers everywhere and then I asked Rahul Dravid (then Delhi franchise mentor), 'Who is this guy?'," he said. "And now we all know who Rishabh Pant is and I actually said back then that he's probably the best young player I have ever seen. "We have seen what he does on a regular basis in the India shirt and also in the Delhi shirt. I am really happy for him and he will go from strength to strength." DC will begin their IPL 2021 campaign against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 10.

Mumbai, Mar 31 (PTI) A batting line-up dotted with power-hitters coupled with a solid pack of death bowlers make five-time champions Mumbai Indians a formidable unit in the upcoming IPL. But the absence of quality spinners could hurt them in pursuit of a hat-trick of title wins. Here is a look at what works and what doesn't for the outfit led by Rohit Sharma, which opens its campaign by taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai on April 9. STRENGTHS: After lifting the trophy in 2019, Mumbai once again won in 2020 when the lucrative league was shifted to UAE due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The win was built on the team's strength -- their core has remained the same over the years and this is one of the biggest reasons for the side's dominant run. MI's batting is their biggest strength and they possess a solid opening duo in the form of skipper Rohit Sharma and South African Quinton De Kock, and if needed, have an option in Australian hard-hitting batsman Chris Lynn. The ever-improving Suryakumar Yadav, young Ishan Kishan, both of whom starred on their India debuts, the Pandya brothers -- all-rounders Hardik and Krunal -- and West Indian Kieron Pollard, make for a very strong middle-order. On the fast bowling front, the team possesses one of the finest in Jasprit Bumrah, and the India pacer would be raring to go once again after a break from the game. Last season's new addition, New Zealand's Trent Boult proved his worth by taking wickets in the powerplay, including in the big final. Add Australia's Nathan Coulter-Nile to the mix and it becomes a superb pace attack. WEAKNESSES: Their problems could lie in the spin department, which is a bit light, especially on Chennai's Chepauk track. Lack of a wicket-taking spinner could hurt the Mumbai Indians' prospects. With Lasith Malinga bidding adieu to franchise cricket, MI have been left to fill up a huge void. Left-arm spinner Krunal, who was taken to the cleaners by the visiting England side in the ODI series, is more of a restrictive option and there is Rahul Chahar, one of the finds of the IPL. Off-spinner Jayant Yadav played only two matches in the last season and it remains to be seen how many games he will get this time around. Mumbai have roped in experienced leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, but if the team persists with Krunal and Chahar, he could end up warming the benches. Chawla, for the record, has 156 wickets in the IPL, the third highest for any bowler in the league's history. Mumbai have a strong A side but don't have enough replacements for each slot and have relatively young players as their bench strength. OPPORTUNITY: Given that all of Mumbai middle-order batters are big-hitters, this could give the side an advantage over others, especially while chasing big totals at places like Chennai and Bengaluru. THREAT: All this might ensure that Pollard will have to contribute with the ball too, and play the role of the fifth or the sixth bowler, depending on the playing XI that is fielded. Pollard, who has been with Mumbai Indians for a considerable amount of time, is their second highest run-scorer (3,023 runs) after Rohit Sharma (5,230 runs) and has grabbed 60 wickets. Pollard has also smashed 198 sixes and is the second highest for his franchise after Rohit, who has hit 213 sixes. The opponents could fancy their chances but MI definitely have the team to go for a sixth title and third on the row. Squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Adam Milne, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), James Neesham, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Marco Jansen, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Quinton De Kock (wicket-keeper), Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Yudhvir Singh. Mahela Jayawardene (Head Coach).

Ahmedabad, Mar 10 (PTI) England wicket-keeper batsman Sam Billings feels the upcoming IPL will be good preparation for the T20 World Cup later this year but conceded that he will get limited game time due to the "phenomenal" competition in the Delhi Capitals' squad. The 29-year-old was bought by Delhi Capitals for Rs 2 crore at the mini-auction last month. "You look at the squad that Delhi have, and especially the overseas options: you could go with any combination and it would be a successful one," Billings told 'ESPNCricinfo'. "The competition for places is phenomenal: they obviously got to the final last year, so game time might be limited, but it comes back to the point of preparing for a World Cup and giving myself the best chance in these conditions to prepare for that," he added. Delhi, who finished runners up in the previous edition, are spoilt for choice in the overseas players department. Last year, their go-to combination was South African pacers Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis and big-hitting West Indian Shimron Hetmyer. This year they have added former Australian skipper Steve Smith, England's Tom Curran and Billings into the squad. Billings, who was part of the Delhi franchise in 2016 and 2017 as well, recalled the first time he got a glimpse of the flamboyant Indian wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant. "With Pant, I played with him for 2 years when I was in Delhi. I turned to Rahul Dravid and asked 'who is this kid?' "He was smacking Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Morris, Rabada everywhere in the open net. "I was just thinking 'this is unbelievable!' and that year he lit up. It's been great to see him evolve as a cricketer and to be in the same team as him again would be great," Billings said. The right-handed batsman from Kent is eager to team up with India spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel, who snared 32 and 27 wickets respectively in the recently-concluded Test series against England. "Facing those two spinners in the nets is one of the great things about the IPL, and other franchise competitions. "(If) you face these guys day in, day out in testing conditions, you're going to get better - it's impossible not to. That's a huge plus point...I'll be writing a few notes about a few different cricketers that I see about," he added. This year's IPL begins with a match between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai on April 9 with the final scheduled to be played on May 30 in Ahmedabad.

According to a press release by the ECB, the final list of retained men’s players for England's new 100 ball tournament "The Hundred" has been announced today. A number of English and foreign stars among the 57 male and female players have signed up for the event that will kick start this year. The men’s retention window, where the teams could retain players who were due to play with them last year is now sealed. Australian stars like Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell, Blackcaps skipper Kane Williamson, West Indies’ power hitter Andre Russell and English pacer Mark Wood were the high profile names announced today. The women's squads also are continuing to build with players like Alex Hartley, England's Freya Davies, and Kiwi Amelia Kerr among a series of new signings. The signings of players for the women’s teams can take place until June. The announcement of the picks along with more women’s signings will take place throughout the day on 23rd February. The league will feature eight city-based teams from Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Southampton and two from London. Birmingham Phoenix have heavily armed their men’s squad with the retention of Pakistan's Shaheen Afridi and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson. Along with Gwen Davies, Thea Brookes and seamer Issy Wong are the three women’s retention. The London Spirit will have Mason Crane, Freya Davies, Joe Denly and Mark Wood all staying at Lord’s. Glenn Maxwell and Somerset spinner Roelof Van Der Merwe are two of men’s retention. Australia's Aaron Finch and Chris Lynn alongside Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman will stay with the Northern Superchargers. The women’s side will continue to construct with English bowlers Beth Langston and Linsey Smith signing Lauren Winfield-Hill’s squad. Wicket keeper John Simpson rounds off the list of retention for the Emerald Headingley-based side. Southern Brave signed three overseas stars consisting Kiwi leg spinning all rounder Amelia Kerr. She will line up alongside Western Storm spinner Fi Morris. West Indian Andre Russell and Australia’s Marcus Stoinis will join the men's squad alongside England seamer Craig Overton and Ross Whiteley. England Sam Billings has been retained by the Oval Invincibles. South Africa women’s team skipper Dane Van Niekerk and Nepalese spinner Sandeep Lamichhane will continue to stay at the Kia Oval. Retained Scotland international Sarah Bryce, and exciting batter Alice Capsey and allrounder Jo Gardner will strengthen the women's squad. Manchester Originals have entrusted the locals with England and Lancashire spinners Alex Hartley and Matt Parkinson continuing their stay at Emirates Old Trafford. Veteran Derbyshire, Wayne Madsen is the final men’s player to be retained. English allrounder Lewis Gregory will captain the Trent Rockets side that will avail the services of Australia's Nathan Coulter-Nile and D’Arcy Short. Nancy Harman and Lucy Higham will join the Trent Rockets, whereas Ben Cox, Luke Wood and Luke Wright are also being retained. Liam Plunkett will line up with Afghan leg spinner Qais Ahmad. They will be joined by Ryan Higgins and David Payne at Welsh Fire. South East Stars Amy Gordon will also stay in Cardiff. Full list of players named today: Birmingham Phoenix: Shaheen Afridi, Thea Brookes, Chris Cooke, Gwen Davies, Liam Livingstone, Isabelle Wong, Kane Williamson London Spirit: Charlie Dean, Mason Crane, Freya Davies, Joe Denly, Hannah Jones, Glenn Maxwell, Sophie Munro, Roelof Van Der Merwe, Mark Wood Manchester Originals: Georgie Boyce, Natalie Brown, Ellie Threlkeld, Alex Hartley, Emma Lamb, Wayne Madsen, Matt Parkinson, Northern Superchargers: Aaron Finch, Beth Langston, Brydon Carse, Chris Lynn, John Simpson, Linsey Smith, Mujeeb Ur Rahman Oval Invincibles: Sam Billings, Sarah Bryce, Alice Capsey, Laurie Evans, Jo Gardner, Will Jacks, Sandeep Lamichhane, Dane Van Niekerk Southern Brave: Amelia Kerr, Fi Morris, Craig Overton, Andre Russell, Marcus Stoinis, Ross Whiteley, Trent Rockets: Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ben Cox, Lewis Gregory, Nancy Harman, Lucy Higham, D'Arcy Short, Luke Wood, Luke Wright Welsh Fire: Qais Ahmad, Amy Gordon, Ryan Higgins, David Payne, Liam Plunkett