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Though SRH’s Jonny Bairstow was the top scorer from either side with 61 runs, all the attention was garnered by 20-year-old Devdutt Padikkal, who scored 56 on his IPL debut to give RCB the ideal start on a sluggish wicket. This means that the Bangalore opener has now scored a fifty on his first-class, List A, T20 and IPL debuts. Bairstow, however, occupies the third position while Padikkal is placed two slots below him in fifth....

The 23-year-old has seen a meteoric rise in international cricket over the last few months. From not being a first-choice starter in the first Test against Australia last year to cementing his place in all three formats of the game, Rishabh Pant has had an eventful last few months. Rishabh Pant’s Delhi Capitals (DC) teammate Ravichandran Ashwin recently spoke about what sets the wicketkeeper-batsman apart. Ashwin said in this regard during an interaction with the New Indian Express:...

KKR started the tournament with a win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Chennai. However, the side then went on to suffer a hat-trick of defeats against Mumbai Indians (MI), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK). On Saturday, they lost to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) by six wickets after yet another disappointing outing as a batting unit. Placing his belief in the KKR players, David Hussey told the press that it’s a matter of time before the team will turn things around....

The franchise recently shared a photo where the CSK skipper MS Dhoni could be seen playing billiards with his eyes firmly on the cue. The Chennai Super Kings captioned the post: The Indian contingent of the Chennai Super Kings consisting of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suresh Raina, Deepak Chahar, MS Dhoni and Karn Sharma recently departed for the UAE. The families of the cricketers were allowed to travel with the squad....

It’s impossible to see raining sixes if you don’t have batsmen who have the capability to do it. Fortunately, IPL consists of all the world class batsmen who have entertained all the spectators with their valuable performances. Let’s look into the batsmen from each franchise who will be up to take their team to a huge total and bag the orange cup. #1 Chennai Super Kings - Suresh Raina Raina has made a phenomenal comeback to the Indian team by showing some promising performances on the South African Tour and the ongoing Nidahas Trophy....

The Royals are currently 6th in the table with 5 wins and 6 defeats. Tonight, RR will take on Mumbai Indians who have also been resurgent in the past week. A win for RR will take them to at least 5th position and will keep their playoff hopes alive. However, a defeat will mean that they will have to win their remaining matches and see how the other teams fare to stand a chance of reaching the playoffs....

CSK hold the record for the most final four appearances and have produced entertaining encounters over the years. CSK have retained two of their pillars since the first season, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and IPL stalwart Suresh Raina. We look at the potential starting eleven of the side from Chennai. Opener #1: Sam Billings The former Delhi Daredevils opener will have to replace Brendon McCullum as CSK’s go-to man at the top....

M.S Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. Chennai got off to a superb start, compiling 90 runs in the first 10 overs. With nine wickets in hand, Chennai looked well set to cross the 200 mark but an excellent fight back in the middle overs by Rajasthan’s bowlers restricted them to a score of 176. In reply, Royals got off to a great start as Jos Buttler continued in his rich vein of form....

However, Kuldeep Yadav changed the course of the match post the power-play by picking up 4-20 in his quota of 4 overs. At one stage Rajasthan were 7-107 but a cameo at the end by Jaydev Unadkat (26 of 18) ensured Rajasthan Royals reached a total of 142 before being bowled out in the 19th over. In reply, KKR started the innings with a bang by scoring 21 runs of the first over, thanks to some lusty hitting by their star opener Sunil Narine....

This year’s auction was the biggest IPL auction since the first one in 2008 and each team has a number of new players in their fold this year. Fans are eagerly waiting for the IPL to start and let’s have a look at the strength and weaknesses of your favourite teams. Kings XI Punjab They have a destructive finisher in Miller to finish off their Innings and have ticked all the boxes as far as batting is concerned....

The 2019 IPL season will be the 12th edition of this spectacular tournament and every year we have a few selected favorites to lift the IPL trophy. But apart from the IPL trophy, several fans wonder as to who will win the Orange Cap and Purple Cap. The Orange Cap is awarded to the player who finishes the season with most runs under his belt while the Purple Cap is awarded to the player who holds the most number of wickets at the end of the season....

At this rate, there is a possibility of Royal Challengers Bangalore ending the season at the bottom of the points table. It would undoubtedly be a huge disappointment for their loyal followers. It would also be a disappointment for Virat Kohli. The Indian captain has a World Cup after the IPL and a loss at the Indian Premier League would do a lot of damage to his confidence. We may expect some fightback from them as the series progress, but the early damage shows that things might go irreparable for them....

The filmy dialogue of Amitabh Bachchan has come alive this month, and how. IPL 2019 has witnessed the dominance of 35-plus cricketers over the young breed, in a way that nobody could have expected. They have demolished bowling attacks, triggered batting collapses and taken acrobatic catches. At no point of time have they looked old or fatigue-stricken. Rather, they look more aggressive and just as agile as all the 20-something players in the tournament....

Expected combination: Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Shubman Gill, Kuldeep Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Prasidh Krishna and Piyush Chawla/Overseas Pacer Since the first mega auction in 2011, Kolkata Knight Riders have won two IPL titles - in 2012 and 2014 - along with playoff finishes in 2011, 2016, 2017 and most recently in the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League. Led by their CEO Venky Mysore, KKR delivered in the 2018 auction with clever buys of Dinesh Karthik and Nitish Rana, while also looking towards a long term perspective with as many as three players from the Indian U-19 set up....

CSK come into this match as defending champions while RCB finished sixth in the points table last year. CSK vs RCB has been always been a brilliant rivalry due to the huge fan bases of these giant franchises. CSK have always had the better of RCB in the IPL. In the 2011 IPL final, CSK beat RCB very comfortably to win their second IPL title, while RCB have been chasing it for 11 years and have lost two in two finals, the second one being against Sunrisers Hyderabad....

On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals has been competitive in all their matches but has failed to win important moments which has resulted in the results not going their way. The Royals have three back-to-back matches at Jaipur and the team will look to capitalise on the home advantage. RCB - Areas the team needs to work on RCB have failed to get going in all the three departments. While foreign recruits such as Shimron Hetmyer, Colin de Grandhhome and Moeen Ali have failed to set the stage on fire, their batting is over-dependent on Kohli and Ab de Villiers....

While the Super Kings have lost some momentum after suffering three losses in their last four games, their wins in the initial phase of the tournament means there are no reasons to panic. Chennai will look to return to winning ways when they take on a formidable Delhi side. Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, have progressed to the playoffs for the first time since 2012. Table-toppers currently, they’ve won six of their last seven matches, including all four on the road....

On the other hand, MI needed a win to finish in the top two and get an extra chance to qualify for the final. SRH fans were also interested, as an MI win would mean that they would qualify for the playoffs. Earlier, Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field first. The visitors got off to a great start as Chris Lynn looked in good nick, and they reached 49 runs in the first powerplay without losing a single wicket....

Bangalore was the first to bat and kept the scoreboard moving with decent overs occasionally. However, 3 wickets that fell at regular intervals pulled them down, restricting the flow of runs. The final burst from RCB saw the team pile up 158 runs at the end of the 20 overs. RR started off the chase well after having gained the momentum slowly. However, the first wicket in the 8th over gave RCB some hopes of getting back into the game....

SRH looked all set to win their opening match against KKR till they ran into a rampaging Andre Russell. The SRH bowling, which is good at defending targets, conceded 53 runs in 16 balls to lose the match. Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, would want to forget the Mankad incident and take the field with a fresh mind. They had a lot of positives in the first match but would face a tough challenge against a good SRH side at their home ground....