The Mumbai-based franchise have dominated the Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. This time, however, the momentum is in the favor of the Eoin Morgan-led outfit. KKR defeated RCB by nine wickets in their opening game of the UAE leg. Meanwhile, MI lost to CSK by 20 runs. The fact that Kolkata beat Bangalore at Sheikh Zayed Stadium will give the team more confidence heading into their battle against Mumbai....
After winning the toss and opting to field, KKR restricted MI to 155/6 in their 20 overs. A brilliant 42-ball 74 from Rahul Tripathi helped the Knight Riders complete the chase in just 15.1 overs. Courtesy of his 74-run knock, Tripathi’s highest score in IPL 2021, he is now among the top 10 run-getters with 261 runs to his name. Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma, who returned to the side for the game against Knight Riders, scored a 30-ball 33....
The perennial under-performers of the IPL, KXIP has tried to plug the holes that have derailed their journey in the past, and have managed to assemble a potent squad with a strong Indian core. Having said that, let us look at the Probable XI that KXIP will field against the Delhi Daredevils in their tournament opener. Here’s my Probable XI #1 Chris Gayle Opening the batting would be Chris Gayle....
TVK leader Panruti T Velmurugan said, “In order to condemn the Centre which shows no regard for the livelihood and the identity of the Tamils, we request that the IPL should not take place here – at a time when Tamilians are bursting with anger. If the BCCI conducts the IPL here, and the Tamil Nadu government and the Tamil Nadu police support it, then all those who eat the food produced by farmers will buy tickets and go inside the stadium and protest in a democratic way....
Over the years power-hitters has been the impact players in the T20 format. It is a hard-hitting batsman who can single handily shape an innings and this is the biggest reason that they are in demand for playing T20 cricket all over the world. Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers are two big names who belong to this category of players and have been entertaining the fans across the world with their thunderous batting style....
Few teams are on the brink of elimination as one more loss will end their hopes of making it to the playoffs. Apart from the one team that has already qualified, two other teams have all but confirmed their playoff berth and the other four teams in the fray are fighting it out for the remaining playoff spot. Let us take a look at what each and every team should do to qualify for the playoffs....
RCB openers started off cautiously and even after a massive 22 run over off Duminy’s bowling, RCB could only get to 62/2 in the first 9 overs. Brendon McCullum and Virat Kohli put together a 35-ball 60 run partnership to steady things. After McCullum’s run-out inflicted by Hardik, everything seemed fine for RCB before the eighteenth over by Hardik Pandya, who picked up three crucial wickets of Mandeep Singh, Virat Kohli and Washington Sundar....
Such is their faith in their bowling line-up, that Williamson chose to bat first after winning the toss for the afternoon game of the day. His side put up a total of 151 at the end of the 20 overs, which was below par on the high-scoring surface in Rajasthan. However, as it has been on multiple occasions in this tournament, the first-innings effort by the SRH batsmen was enough for their bowlers to pull a rabbit out of the hat in the chase....
Jos Buttler out – Evin Lewis in (Uncapped) Nitish Rana out – Suryakumar Yadav in Uncapped preference order: Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Ankit Rajpoot, Mayank Markande Captain – KL Rahul Captaincy preference order: KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle, Hardik Pandya Differentials: Evin Lewis, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma Multiplier used – Yes Guru’s team ahead of MI vs KXIP: KL Rahul, C Gayle, S Yadav, E Lewis, V Kohli, AB de Villiers, J Archer, K Gowtham, K Pandya, J Bumrah, M Markande...
Even without their star batsman and captain, David Warner, Sunrisers finished on top in the group stage and even reached the final last season. Kane Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan did the bulk of the scoring and their bowlers were economical as usual. However, Manish Pandey’s failure has exposed them and Yousuf Pathan too was hugely inconsistent. Coming into the new season, Sunrisers Hyderabad already lost Shikhar Dhawan to Delhi Daredevils....
Kohli would want to put all questions about his captaincy to rest and register an emphatic win for his team. The track is a flat one with a tinge of green, and it should be a run fest with very little assistance for the bowlers. The bowlers will have to be spot on with their line and length as the short boundaries will ensure that missed yorkers go for sixes....
The purple cap was introduced in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League as a reward for the bowler who picked the most wickets. So far, the purple cap has been held by some of the best bowlers in the world. With the IPL set to commence on March 23rd, the race for the purple cap will be much closer than ever before. Hence, we’ve decided to predict the 5 bowlers who could win the purple cap this year....
Mumbai have been infamous for being slow starters in the IPL and this year was no different as they came up against an exuberant Delhi team who grabbed the bull by its horns and took the game to the experienced Mumbai Indians. Delhi captain Shreyas Iyer looked disappointed when he lost the toss but his side did not let him down as they posted a mammoth 213 in their twenty overs, leaving Mumbai a mountain to climb even though Wankhede is a great ground for chasing totals....
KKR got off to a very slow start. The new opener Nikhil Naik played many dot balls and eventually got out. It started a collapse. KKR were 5/59 in 9 overs. Skipper Dinesh Karthik was looking in good touch and he was joined by Andre Russell. Both played a few overs cautiously but once they got set, especially Russell, he absolutely hammered the Delhi bowlers. No bowler was spared. His fantastic knock and Karthik’s sensible batting got KKR to 185/6 when at a point it looked like they might get only 150....
Delhi openers gave them a flying start. Umesh removed Prithvi Shaw, who looked dangerous for the short time he stayed on the crease. Dhawan and Iyer batted brilliantly to keep the scoreboard ticking. The Indian opening batsman scored his 37th half-century in the IPL and got out immediately to Chahal. The leg spinner removed Pant immediatly. Captain Shreyas reached his much deserving half-century. At one stage, the home team were at 141/5 in 15 overs and in dire need of a strong finish, which came from Axar Patel and Rutherford....
This is where the significance of a lethal death-overs bowler strikes the franchises. All the IPL teams target the best that they can decide upon and rope them in their club. We know that the sides having the best bowlers for the back end of the innings have done great in the history of the tournament, be it Chennai Super Kings with Dwayne Bravo, Mumbai Indians with Lasith Malinga or Sunrisers Hyderabad with Bhuvneshwar Kumar....
Rajasthan Royals captain Steve Smith won the toss and elected to field first. The hosts made too many experiments at the top of the order and paid for it. At one stage, KKR were 42/3 in the ninth over and they were in deep trouble. This is where Dinesh Karthik could have done better, he made a mistake by not opening the innings with Sunil Narine. The KKR captain made up for his mistake by playing an incredible innings....
On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders are riding high on the sensational form of the destroyer - Andre Russell. KKR hasn’t looked strong on paper but Russell has single-handedly won games for them. However, KKR will be wary of the fact that Rajasthan Royals is a difficult team to beat in their own backyard. Rajasthan Royals Strength Rajasthan Royals’ batting has shaped up well in IPL 2019 so far....
With the World Cup nearing, three countries have called back their players, to prepare them physically and mentally. England, Australia and South Africa are the three teams who have requested for their players to return. These countries had already decided before the start of the IPL that they would be recalling their players halfway throughout the tournament. This was also done as an injury precaution. Many players, mainly the fast bowlers did not even play this IPL season, just to stay fit for the World Cup....
Both these sides have been at their best in this tournament and this rivalry is set to renew another chapter as both teams chase a direct leap to the final, with hopes of winning their 4th IPL title. Mumbai moved to the top of the table after their win over the Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday. CSK, meanwhile lost their last group stage encounter to Kings XI Punjab and will want to get back to winning ways in this crunch encounter....
