Let’s have a look at CSK’s five players who form the core of their team. #1 MS Dhoni There is something pleasant about watching MS Dhoni play in that yellow jersey. It would be hard to believe for a stranger that Dhoni is from Ranchi and not from Chennai. Those charismatic finishes, that calmness, and the ever-alert mind, the city of Chennai is going to be alive again as their king is back on his throne....
The IPL is a tournament which gives rise to new kinds of shots, new records and a new type of cricket. Almost 50 matches are up in this season’s IPL. There have been a few controversial moments like Ashwin’s Mankading incident and Dhoni’s pitch invasion. Then there were some nail-biting finishes like RCB’s 1-run victory, DC’s thrilling super over win and CSK’s last over finishes. The tournament has accumulated a number of records, controversies, milestones in its bag....
T20 is often considered as batsmen’s game but it is the bowlers who win matches with their economical and wicket-taking bowling. And among bowlers, fast bowlers always play a key role for their team as they usually bowl in powerplay and during the slog overs when the batsmen try to score quick runs. Therefore, the importance of fast bowlers for any team is very much. IPL 2019 will witness many top-class pacers like Jasprit Bumrah, Andrew Tye, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult, Jofra Archer and many more....
The fast bowling too has shown dearth in the quality. Except for Bumrah, no other MI bowler has been able to put his hand up and deliver. Mitchell McClenaghan has been very expensive with ball and Malinga hasn’t looked the most threatening. All in all, the Mumbai Indians team looks very vulnerable right now and it is time for them to go back to the drawing board and try out new faces to turn the tables around....
Fans in India as well as around the globe relish the opportunity to witness dream teams; teams with names one could only include in fantasy games. It won’t be exaggerating to say that all the teams possess some real world-class talents and its the presence of genuine greats of modern day cricket that makes this tournament so unpredictable. Here we talk about what each team seems to be short of on paper....
CSK fielded a surprising XI that consisted of only 3 overseas players. RCB’s XI too had a surprise element in the form of Navdeep Saini. Deepak Chahar was given the ball to start the proceedings whilst Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli held the bat to kick off the IPL. RCB started slowly but steadily as their score was 15/0 by the end of 3rd over. MS Dhoni’s decision to give the new ball to Harbhajan Singh, that had initially made no sense, turned out be a masterstroke in the 4th over as Bhajji dismissed the RCB skipper Virat Kohli in single digits....
This match promises to be a good contest as both teams have some big names, who have been performing well both with the bat and the ball. With the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Sandeep Lamichhane in Delhi’s line-up, it won’t be easy for Hyderabad to get a big score. Even Delhi’s batsmen may not score in huge numbers due to the skills of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi. Players will need to step up and perform for their team and there will one player from each team who will hold the key to his team’s success....
SRH have become the first team in IPL history to qualify for the playoffs with just 12 points. They managed to do so by virtue of their superior net run rate. SRH have been struggling to stay afloat in the second half of the season, and look like the weakest team among the four that have qualified. Where are things going wrong for the 2016 champions? Here’s a look at some of the reasons for their struggles"...
Both these teams lost their first match of the tournament, and would be desperately looking to get back on track by winning this one. RCB got all out for just 70 runs in their first match, against CSK. The MS Dhoni-led side then chased down the target in 17.4 overs. On the other hand, MI failed to chase the target of 213 set by DC and got all out for 176 runs....
Joseph, who was picked by Mumbai Indians as a replacement for Kiwi quick Adam Milne, was injured in the match against Rajasthan Royals as he dislocated his arm while fielding. Joseph played only three matches in this season. In his IPL debut, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he recorded the best bowling figures in IPL by picking 6 wickets for just 12 runs in 3.4 overs. The previous record was in the name of Sohail Tanvir (6/14) for Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in 2008....
He added that he is preparing the bowlers to get to the death overs in a better position. In an interview with Sportstar from Abu Dhabi, Mills said he is looking forward to the challenge of working on death bowling and that he is teaching the KKR bowlers the importance of not only bowling well at the end, but also not leaking too many runs in the overs prior....
KXIP Squad KL Rahul (wk), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Mandeep Singh, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda, James Neesham, K. Gowtham, Darshan Nalkande, Murugan Ashwin, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, J. Suchith, Harpreet Brar, Ravi Bishnoi, Tajinder Dhillon, Mohammed Shami, Hardus Viljoen, Arshdeep Singh, Sheldon Cottrell, Ishan Porel, Chris Jordan. While it is good to have a strong bench-strength, some deserving players might not get too many opportunities due to strong competition for places in the playing XI....
Electing to bat first after winning the toss, the Tridents seemed down and out at 90 for 5 in the 13th over. However, Jonathan Carter smashed an undefeated 50 from 27 balls with four fours and as many sixes to turn the final on its head, and lift the batting side to an impressive 171 for 6. In reply, the Warriors crumbled under the pressure of the big day. Like the Tridents, they too found themselves in similar strife at 88 for 5....
The background Chennai Super Kings had acquired the services of Sam Billings in 2018 when they signed him up for his base value of ₹1 Crore. The Englishman played 10 games for Chennai in 2018, aggregating 108 runs at an average of 13.50. Even though his numbers were not up to the mark, his Man of the Match performance in a league match against Kolkata Knight Riders safeguarded his position in the squad for the next season....
Dube had conceded a meagre 10 runs from his first two overs. But, speaking on ESPNcricinfo’s analysis show ‘T20 Time Out’, Gambhir said that he would have bowled any of the specialist bowlers in the last over. Virat Kohli tossed the ball to Dube with KL Rahul batting on 116 and KXIP’s score on 183 for three. The total soared past the 200-run mark as KL Rahul plundered 16 runs off the final three deliveries to register the highest individual score by an Indian in IPL history – 132 not out....
Ruturaj Gaikwad became the first-ever player from CSK to score three consecutive fifties in IPL. The knock against KKR and KXIP in their last two matches proved that his half-century against RCB last week was not a flash in the pan. After enduring a horrible start to the tournament, Gaikwad turned things around quite dramatically as he showed great poise and temperament to excel in the IPL. Ruturaj Gaikwad was asked to bat in the middle order on a few occasions, which is not his usual position....
In the last meeting of these two sides in IPL 2019, RCB beat SRH by four wickets, courtesy of some fine batting by Shimron Hetmyer and Gurkeerat Singh Mann. As for this season, SRH have made a few changes to their squad. The David Warner-led side have done away with the experience of Yusuf Pathan and Deepak Hooda this year and in the IPL 2020 player auction, SRH signed the trio of Abdul Samad, Priyam Garg, and Virat Singh....
After David Warner won the toss and opted to field, Sandeep Sharma was on the money straight away. He dismissed opener Devdutt Padikkal for an 8-ball 5 before removing big fish Virat Kohli (7 off 7) to leave RCB tottering at 28 for 2 after 5 overs. Joshua Philippe, though, held fort at one end and forged a 43-run partnership for the third wicket with AB de Villiers. However, Rashid Khan (1 for 24) removed the former after a patient 31-ball 32 to put SRH in the driver’s seat....
As many as 971 players have put their hat in the ring to go under the hammer. However, there are only 73 vacant spots up for grabs, and it would be interesting to note how each team will fill in their remaining places. Seven foreign players have set their base price at INR 2 crore. But not all of them would be in great demand, while a couple of them would likely go well beyond that amount....
Ruturaj Gaikwad was the Man of the Match for his blazing 75 off 44 balls as CSK beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets in Delhi on Wednesday to go top of the IPL 2021 table. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis (56 off 38) featured in an opening stand of 129 in 13 overs to set the stage for CSK’s emphatic win. Asked for his thoughts on Ruturaj Gaikwad after CSK registered another impressive win this season, Fleming observed:...
