The tournament has entered its business end now. While none of the franchises have cemented their spots in the IPL 2020 playoffs, the Super Kings are the only team with no chance of qualifying for the next round. MS Dhoni and co. will look to spoil the Kolkata Knight Riders’ party in their upcoming fixture. KKR have been very inconsistent in IPL 2020 so far. They have played 12 matches, registering six wins and six losses....
Both the sides are coming off losses so it would be interesting to see how they make a comeback. It is a must-win game for the Sunrisers Hyderabad as they will get knocked out of the playoff race should taste defeat. On the other hand, Delhi Capitals have lost two in a row and need to get back on track before the playoffs. SRH won the previous encounter against DC so they will come into the game in Dubai with confidence....
Players who perform well in one of these tournaments get to earn contracts with teams in other leagues. Similarly, the winning captains will also be in demand during the drafts and auctions of various leagues. Without much ado, let us look at three T20 league-winning captains of 2019 who might get to experience the ‘double delight’ of winning their domestic leagues and earning a lucrative IPL contract at the 2020 IPL auction which is set to be held in Kolkata on December 19th....
RCB posted an AB de Villiers update on social media, celebrating the return of their talisman. The franchise posted two pictures announcing AB de Villiers’s arrival. The first one sees him giving a thumbs up to the camera, while the other one is a picture of AB de Villiers’s RCB kitbag. RCB are currently in Chennai, where the team has begun training for IPL 2021. However, AB de Villiers will have to undergo a seven-day quarantine as per BCCI’s SOPs for IPL 2021....
While the Mumbai players have been toiling hard in their practice sessions in the gulf country, they enjoyed a fun evening at their team hotel, the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort in Abu Dhabi. The players’ families were also seen having a good time in a video posted by the franchise on their social media accounts on Saturday. Piyush Chawla, Rahul Chahar and Ishan Kishan played a game of pool, while Zaheer Khan, the team’s Director of Cricket Operations, showed off his table tennis skills....
What has hurt KKR so far in the tournament has been the shortcomings of their most important players. While Pat Cummins was an exception to the case, delivering with both bat and ball, he will be giving the second leg a miss. That makes it all the more important for KKR’s other stars to rise to the occasion. Here are three KKR players who will be carrying a heavy load of expectations and their performances will be the ones to watch out for as the Kolkata-based franchise push for a playoff spot in the second phase of IPL 2021....
On that note, here are four of the most promising new additions who have the potential to make their mark for the remainder of the IPL season. #1 Evin Lewis (Rajasthan Royals) The opening batsman replaced Jos Buttler, who pulled out of the IPL due to the birth of his second child. Evin Lewis was in scintillating form in the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League (CPL). His exploits at the top of the order played a crucial role in St Kitts and Nevis Patriots’ title-winning run....
Prithvi Shaw hit six consecutive boundaries against Shivam Mavi to kickstart the Delhi Capitals’ chase of 155. With KKR retreating, he continued his assault, hitting a 41-ball 82 and combining with Shikhar Dhawan for a match-winning 132-run opening stand. Speaking at the post-match press conference after KKR’s fifth defeat in seven games this season, Brendon McCullum said that although the first-over was a ‘big blow’, it wasn’t as big a factor as KKR’s negative body language post that onslaught....
In spite of losing his opening partner, Narine continued the carnage and went on to make a 36-ball 75. Narine and Uthappa together scored 75 runs in 37 balls but both got out in the twelfth over. Then entered their captain Dinesh Karthik who reached his half-century mark in just 22 balls. Karthik was helped by Andre Russell, Nitish Rana and Shubhman Gill as they scored 31(14), 11(4) and 16(8) respectively....
After losing Evin Lewis and Rohit Sharma early, a 78-run partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan revived the MI innings. Following the dismissal of both batsmen, Krunal Pandya’s 22-ball 41 took Mumbai Indians to 165. Some fine bowling from Dwayne Bravo during the death overs made sure Mumbai Indians did not score around 170-180. Chennai Super Kings weren’t off to a bad start as openers Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu hit a couple of big shots....
It has been no different this season as they lost 6 out of their first 8 games and have then won three on the bounce. They’ve been brilliant in these last three games and they are picking up momentum going to the back end of the tournament. They are currently placed fifth on the points table with 10 points from 11 games. However, MI will need to continue their good form as they still need to win all their remaining games to qualify for the playoffs....
Ambati Rayudu out – AB de Villiers in Shane Watson out – Rohit Sharma in (Uncapped) Avesh Khan out – Murugan Ashwin in Uncapped preference order: Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Mayank Markande, Murugan Ashwin Captain – Virat Kohli/AB de Villiers (whoever bats at 3) Captaincy preference order: Virat Kohli/AB de Villiers, Suryakumar Yadav, Evin Lewis Differentials – Evin Lewis and Ishan Kishan Multiplier used – Yes (keep an eye on the weather, though)...
They have traded Shikhar Dhawan to the Delhi Daredevils in return for Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem and Abhishek Sharma, while retaining the following players: David Warner, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey, Natarajan, Ricky Bhui, Sandeep Sharma, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Yusuf Pathan, Billy Stanlake, Kane Williamson, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Shakib Al-Hasan. Besides, they have released the following players: Sachin Baby, Tanmay Agarwal, Wriddhiman Saha, Chris Jordan, Carlos Brathwaite, Alex Hales, Bipul Sharma, Syed Mehdi Hasan and Shikhar Dhawan....
In the Indian Premier League, Chennai Super Kings have been one of the most pre-eminent teams. After being banned for a couple of seasons, they made a roaring comeback to emerge as champions in 2018. In the history of the tournament, CSK has been the most successful side having won three titles and finishing as runners-up in four seasons. Also, the franchise has qualified for the playoffs in all the nine editions of the tournament in which it has taken part....
However, due to injuries and bad form, the experienced campaigner has found it difficult to make a strong comeback thereafter. Having played a total of 304 ODIs and scored more than 8700 runs, Yuvraj last appeared in Indian colors in 2017. Apart from international cricket, the Punjab born cricketer hasn’t been performing too well in the domestic arena either. He was bought at a whopping amount of 16 crore by Delhi Daredevils in 2015, making him the most expensive buy of all time....
The background On 14th of this month, a CRPF convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber in the Pulwama area of Jammu and Kashmir, killing over 40 personnel while injuring plenty more. The incident left the whole country in shock and anguish, including the cricketing fraternity as well. The heart of the matter In a step to show support for the families of the Pulwama attack victims, the CoA has now decided to do away with the entertainment of the opening ceremony for IPL 2019....
Kolkata would wish to repeat what they did in Bangalore against the Royals too, defeating them in their own den. However, Rajasthan are a little more balanced than RCB, and would be desperate to climb above their current second-last position in the IPL points table. With the thunderous win over RCB, KKR have proven that they have the capability to turn the match in their favor from anywhere. They have an accomplished top-order batsman in Chris Lynn and possibly the world’s best finisher in Andre Russell....
It is the latter that has continued to remain a hotly debated topic thanks to Pant exhibiting scintillating form in the last few IPL matches though he is yet to score really big as yet, and unfortunately for Karthik, the last few matches have seen him struggling both as a batsman and as a captain. Under his captaincy, Kolkata Knight Riders has been on a losing streak in the last five matches and his own batting failures have in no small way contributed to that streak....
One of the major reasons for the team’s inconsistent performance in the season was the poor show by some big ticket players. Kuldeep Yadav was one of the biggest underperformers of the entire season. Also, things didn’t seem to be okay in the KKR camp when Russell said that the team’s environment isn’t healthy. Then we saw a Dinesh Karthik meltdown in the strategic timeout in KKR’s penultimate game against Kings XI Punjab....
Chennai Super Kings is still enjoying the top spot with 16 points from 12 games. Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals have 14 points each from 11 games and are at the second and third positions respectively. Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab have 10 points each and both of them will be eyeing the 4th spot which is the last ticket to the playoffs. Even though the CSK are the favourites to get into the playoffs, let us look at the possibility of them getting eliminated in the league stage itself, of course, it’s a rare probability....
