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The video also shows various visuals from the Punjab Kings’ training session and was captioned: “Champs da camp begins… WE ARE READY TO ROAR” In the clip, Anil Kumble said: Punjab Kings, formerly known as the Kings XI Punjab, had a poor start to their IPL 2020 campaign, winning just one out of their first seven encounters. However, the KL Rahul-led team managed to turn things around by winning their next five games....

The opener between defending Champions Mumbai Indians and, the returning Chennai Super Kings turned out to be a cliffhanger, while KL Rahul’s 16-ball 51 was the highlight of the first of Sunday’s doubleheader between Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab. The second match on Sunday saw Kolkata Knight Riders take on Royal Challengers Bangalore, at Eden Gardens, and it was the hosts who triumphed as they beat Virat Kohli’s side by four wickets to get their tournament off to the perfect start....

However, RR couldn’t build on that power play as they could only manage 158 in their 20 overs. Buttler (82) who scored his third fifty on the trot, was the only batsman who scored above 25. Andrew Tye picked up 4 wickets while Mujeeb took a couple of wickets as well. Chasing 159, KXIP lost wickets at regular intervals and never got going in their chase. KL Rahul was the only batsman that showed some fight and he batted through and scored an unbeaten 95....

In reply, KXIP were off to a brilliant start as openers KL Rahul and Chris Gayle added 55 runs before being dismissed in quick succession. Their dismissals triggered a massive downfall in KXIP’s batting as the middle-order batsmen were sent back quickly by the SRH bowlers. Punjab eventually fell short of the target by 13 runs. The win saw SRH rise up to second in the standings while KXIP slipped to 3rd....

However, much to the disappointment of many, the team from down south languishes as one of the few teams to have not got its hands on the elusive silverware. Over the past decade, the Challengers have had many reasons to blame for their lackluste performances. By not being able to fire consistently as a cohesive unit and seal crunch moments in knockout games, the men in red have been at the receiving end once too often....

In a bid to do so, the perennial underachievers of IPL retained most of the players and kept the team’s core intact ahead of the auction. Once again, they managed to assemble a formidable squad, and their team is looking solid on paper ahead of the 12th season of world’s biggest T20 extravaganza. However, Royal Challengers Bangalore made their best signing well before the auction. They traded middle-order batsman Mandeep Singh to Kings XI Punjab for Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis during the transfer window....

This game will see a lot of battles fought on the field which will add flavour to the sanctity of its contest. We pick three key ones which will change the outcome of the match. Rishabh Pant vs Imran Tahir The battle between the Capitals’ wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and CSK’s South African leg spinner Imran Tahir will be one worth watching. Both of them are in ominous form with the former belting a brilliant 78 off just 27 balls against the Mumbai Indians on Sunday....

The side started IPL 2019 on an exceptional note, crushing Mumbai Indians at Wankhede in the first match. They registered one more win after that, against KKR in a thrilling Super Over finish, but their play has been hit-or-miss so far this season. They now find themselves in the bottom half of the IPL points table, and would want to bring in more consistency as the tournament progresses. The Delhi-based franchise made several changes before going into this season of the IPL....

While the organizers have made clear that the tournament will be completely held in India, the World Cup has already started to show its impact in the form of player withdrawals. While star pacers like Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins have opted out of the tournament, any slight injury concern might see the national boards calling back their players midway during the tournament. In such situations, all the teams should have a contingency plan in place to replace those players....

While the first contest of the day is underway between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens, the other contest of the day is another match between the famous sporting rivalry of Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium. While both the clashes are expected to be nail-biting contests, the second match of the day could well be the game that gets the IPL roaring....

Players like Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran and Shubman Gill provided some quality performances while David Warner made a roaring comeback to the league. That said, there were a few stars who initially weren’t expected to be as successful as they ended up to be. Let’s take a look at one such player from each team. Chennai Super Kings - Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh defied the odds to deliver a rousing performance this season....

Head to Head in IPL 2019 Delhi Capitals lost on both occasions to CSK during the league stage matches in IPL 2019 where the 2nd match came as a major blow because Super Kings crushed Iyer’s army by a massive 80 run margin. Here are 3 possible reasons that cost Delhi the game Failed Batting Order- The opening pair of Capitals, Dhawan and Shaw could not give their team a rollicking start and also failed to establish a strong partnership....

KKR captain won the toss and invited RCB to bat first on a batting paradise. Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel provided a brilliant start to the hosts before part-timer Nitish Rana took the wicket of Patel. This dismissal brought Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers at the crease together, which delighted the crowd. The duo launched a merciless attack on the KKR bowlers who were running out of ideas to stop the onslaught....

KKR’s last game against Delhi Capitals was an intense thriller as the Kolkata based franchise lost in a super over. They have so far have looked one of the most settled units in this year’s IPL and with their main batsmen in form, one can expect another run-fest at Bengaluru. Their bowling unit also looks formidable and there aren’t any changes expected from that department. So, keeping all that in mind, here are the two changes that KKR should make for their match against RCB:...

Due to their inferior NRR, Dinesh Karthik’s men are placed lower than Sunrisers Hyderabad in the points table. Consequently, they need to beat MI and hope that SRH lose their last match, against RCB. The two-time IPL champions managed to beat MI at Eden Gardens on Sunday. Beating MI in their own backyard would be an even tougher task, and KKR would have to play out of their skins to achieve that feat....

Aakash Chopra started by lauding the ease with which Sanju Samson was caressing the ball into the stands. The latter was particularly severe on Piyush Chawla, who was the Chennai Super Kings’ standout bowler from their previous match against the Mumbai Indians. The reputed commentator pointed out that Steve Smith playing like a junior partner in his partnership with Samson was ample proof of the talent the young wicket-keeper-batsman possesses....

He made this observation while analysing the Chennai-based franchise’s IPL 2020 defeat to Delhi Capitals (DC) in a video shared on his YouTube channel. Aakash Chopra pointed out that CSK were playing with just the five bowlers in their playing XI because of the issues with their batting. These have been accentuated by Ambati Rayudu’s absence and MS Dhoni not yet reaching prime form. He added that MS Dhoni is not confident of playing six bowlers as some of the top-order batsmen are not amongst the runs....

CSK squad Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, N Jagadeesan (WK), M Vijay, Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni (C & WK), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Mitchell Santner, Monu Singh, Sam Curran, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Ravi Sai Kishore, Lungi Ngidi, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, KM Asif, Josh Hazlewood Also see – Under 19 world cup schedule However, with so many big players at their disposal, some of the players are bound to remain surplus....

#4 Andrew Tye The Australian T20 legend was picked by Rajasthan Royals at the auction at his base price of INR 1 crores after he was released by Kings XI Punjab. Tye already has an exceptional record in his short IPL career with a hat-trick on his debut of the cash-rich league. In 26 matches thus far, the 33-year-old has scalped 39 wickets at an impressive strike-rate of 15.23. In the 2018 edition, Tye led the bowling charts and won the purple cap while playing for KXIP....

Dubai International Stadium hosted a few IPL fixtures in 2014. The Pakistan cricket team has also used this venue as one of its adopted home grounds. In T20I matches played on this ground, the teams batting first have breached the 200-run landmark on multiple occasions. All squads, except defending champions Mumbai Indians and two-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders are staying in hotels in Dubai for IPL 2020. The UAE pitches have generally assisted the slower bowlers, but the track at the Dubai International Stadium has been good for batting as well....