After 7 years of service, Moeen Ali retires from Test cricket

IPL 2021 | RCB vs MI: What Experts Said as resurgent RCB expose out of form Mumbai

After coming second in their last game against the Chennai Super Kings, Virat Kohli had asked his players to show more courage in press situations and it appeared that the players arrived pumped up from that mantra in the game against the Mumbai Indians. Kohli walked the talk and took the attack to the opposition bowling attack while the likes of Glenn Maxwell and KS Bharat also followed suit with the best of their explosive abilities. Their bowlers too turned up high on confidence and eagerness to get back to the winning ways after two losses on the trot. Harshal Patel took a sensation hat-trick that included two fearsome batsmen in Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya, and along with Yuzvendra Chahal and Glenn Maxwell reduced Mumbai’s lower order contributions as phone numbers on the scoreboard. Here, we’ll dissect what the captains made out of the game and how did their plan of action unfolded along with the ideas of experts on how do they see the development and journey of both sides after the game. Captains’ views At first, the losing captain, Rohit Sharma conceded that his team has not been at their best in their batting department in this season. He lamented his own wicket against the RCB and said that the moment turned out to be a “game-changing” one for his side. He also acknowledged that the lack of consistency from the top order has also not helped their cause in this edition and urged the team to recover quickly from unfavourable situations as they found themselves in against the RCB on Sunday night. However, he commented on the bowling attack for pulling things back in their control after the RCB batting lineup was cruising along and at one time appeared set to go beyond the 180-run mark. "Thought it was a fantastic bowling effort. Looked like they were going to get 180. The batters just let us down. The opening issue has been happening consistently. We have to make sure that the batters carry on. I played a bat shot today and got out; I felt that was the game-changing moment. We need to find ways to bounce back from whatever situations we are in,” Rohit said in the post-match presentation. After having a stellar season last year where he plundered bowler for 30 sixes on the way to more than 500 runs, Ishan Kishan is going through a lean patch this season. His numbers have dried up and subsequently, he has been under pressure to perform to the potential and promise he did after swashbuckling performances last year. However, Rohit came in support of his young player and reiterated that the Mumbai team management will not put him under a lot of pressure and instead they will keep on giving him space and freedom to flourish playing the game in the manner he likes to play with. “Kishan is a talented player, we just need to understand the freedom he needs, and need to provide him with that. He had a terrific IPL last year... We wanted to give him the opportunity. He is relatively young and making his way into international cricket,” Rohit concluded. On the other hand, it was almost a perfect game for a very happy Virat Kohli who would not have asked for any better performance from his men. He started the RCB’s charge in batting by playing aggressive start from the word go and he was quite ecstatic at the manner of RCB’s win over the Mumbai Indians. Kohli scored another half-century and said that Maxwell’s “unbelievable” innings of 56 runs from 37 balls that included sixes on reverse sweeps along with Bharat’s contribution of 32 runs provided RCB with a perfect rhythm in the middle over. "Very happy, especially the way we won. It was a difficult start when we lost Devdutt. He came in the second over to try and get me out... KS came out and played some amazing shots. He took the pressure off me. Maxi's innings was unbelievable,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation. The contest also presented many duels at a personal level with Kohli and Ab de Villiers on one side with the bat and Jasprit Bumrah on the side of the fence with the ball. Rating his Indian teammate very highly, Kohli said that batsmen have to try to “stamp authority” in order to have a chance against him otherwise the pacer will run over them in quick time. “If you don't try and stamp your authority, Bumrah will get over you - that's how good he is. You have to be at you level best,” Kohli addressed the Bumrah challenge. Harshal Patel repeated his heroics with the ball against the Mumbai Indians by picking up a hat0trick after scalping a five-wicket haul in the first round of the game between the sides in the first phase of IPL 201, and Kohli lauded his achievement that helped RCB take an unassailable advantage over the Rohit Sharma-led side. He rated his team’s performance a “perfect ten” but did not shy away from pointing out the areas of improvement. He said they should have got 15 runs more than where they finished but chose to back his players to achieve those goals in the coming games. “I'd give it a perfect ten tonight. We left out 15 [runs] out there... Those are the things where we feel we can get 20-25 extra runs. I went with my gut feel with DC [Christian]... With his experience and change-ups, he bowled an amazing over... What Harshal did was unbelievable,” Kohli concluded. Experts’ views One of the most prominent voices in Indian cricket, Harsha Bhogle highlighted the chinks in the armour of the Mumbai Indians while backing the Royal Challengers to qualify through to the next stage. He also pointed out the fragility in the Mumbai middle order and opined that Kieron Pollard should bat at number five following Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan in the batting order. On the other hand, Yuzvendra Chahal, who picked up two important wickets of Ishan Kishan and Quinton de Kock, received high praise from legendary Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. However, he was curious to know the pace at which he bowled his deliveries against the Mumbai Indians. He also commended Harshal Patel, who picked up a hat-trick and said that the pacer turned the things around for the RCB. Former Chennai Super Kings batsman Subramaniam Badrinath has made up his mind about the three teams who are certain to advance to the next stage. He picked his former team CSK, Delhi Capitals and RCB as three teams while sharing his anticipation about who could be the fourth side to get to the play-off stage. The RCB took one more step towards qualifying for the playoff phase albeit after losing two back to back games in the second phase of the tournament while the Mumbai Indians have made it really tough for themselves and only repeating their past glory where they came winning games one after another to the top four positions can propel them to the playoff this time around.

IPL 2021 | I thought he would do something magical: Balaji lavishes praise on improved Jadeja

Ravindra Jadeja won Chennai Super Kings a tough match against Kolkata Knight Riders with the bat and his bowling coach was all praise for the all-rounder. Lakshmipathy Balaji, while speaking in the post-match press conference said that he had all the confidence in the left-handed batter that he would do something magical and win the game. Recalling a moment from last IPL, Balaji said, "I think, this was exactly one year back in Dubai, the second game against KKR, Jaddu (Jadeja) won us the game in the last over.” “I recollected the memory and I thought when Ravi is playing, he would do some kind of magic and he has improved his batting under pressure, so he would win this" Balaji said. Talking about the improvement in Jadeja, who hit 22 off the 19th over when CSK needed to get 26 off two overs, having scored just 18 off the last three overs, Balaji further said, "He is showing that improvement on the field and making sure, helping us to cross the line. It is wonderful to see Ravi coming higher in this batting order, his batting ability has changed overall in the last one or two years.” On the other David Hussey, Assistant coach of KKR backed Prasidh Krishna to come back strong after this drubbing at the hands of Jadeja. "PK (Prasidh Krishna) has been (an) amazing death bowler for us throughout this tournament, in the last two games, so he is definitely in our plans to bowl. Unfortunately, he got beaten by a better player today in Jadeja. I'm sure knowing PK he is going to bounce back and become the world-class bowler that he actually is normally," Hussey said. Although CSK chased down 172 to win the game by two wickets and go top of the table, it got tight in the last over even as only four runs were required as Sunil Narine dismissed Sam Curran and Jadeja and it was Deepak Chahar who hit the last ball for a single to win the game as Sharduk Thakur had three earlier in the third ball of the over.

IPL 2021 | Harshal Patel takes hat-trick against Mumbai Indians

Harshal Patel dismissed Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Rahul Chahar on consecutive deliveries to take a match-winning hattrick against the Mumbai Indians in Dubai. He became the third player from the Royal Challengers Bangalore side to take a hattrick in the history of the Indian Premier League.

IPL 2021 | KKR vs CSK: Hits & Flops as ‘Sir’ Jadeja, ‘Lord’ Shardul foster Super Kings’ dream run

The Kolkata Knight Riders presented some tough challenges with shades of their best, but poor play in crunch moments did not mount a defeating challenge for the in-form side that is the Chennai Super Kings. There were many key moments in the game and at the end of the day, it was the Super Kings who were at the top on most occasions than their opponents. However, the Knight Riders will be thoroughly disappointed of letting a match in their grasp go as Ravindra Jadeja single-handedly took the game away from them. Sunil Narine tried all his magic but fell short of rescuing the Knight Riders while defending just four runs in the last over. Here, we’ll analyse the best and the worst performances of the day that turned the tide towards one side or the other. Hits Ravindra Jadeja Team needing a bowler to dry things up to create pressure and opportunity at the other end— he will do it. Team needing him to give control through the middle overs of the limited-overs games— he will do it without conceding too many free balls to hit. There are not many cricketers in the world who have improved so much in their game over the course of the last few years than Ravindra Jadeja has and both the Super Kings and India are reaping rich rewards of investment and perseverance with him. On the day against the Knight Riders, he was on the top of his game with both bat and ball and led them to a close win to establish their dominance in the season. When he walked out to bat, the Super Kings were in a precarious position, needing 27 runs off 13 balls and all specialist batsmen back in the dugout. He had no time to settle and neither did he need any of that as Prasidh Krishan was readying to bowl the penultimate over of the game. The first two balls yielded only two runs and the Super Kings were desperate position with 24 needing the last 10 balls. The situation demanded sixes and on cue, as he has been doing for the sides he plays for in the recent past, deposited Krishna over long leg and long on consecutive occasions to bring the game to equilibrium. Krishna was wrong in executing both line and length to give Jadeja space to hit over the fence and he needed to correct both aspects. Jadeja was switched on and he too knew what Krishna was trying to do. The next two deliveries were bowled at the right line but the bowler faltered with the length and an awake Jadeja plummeted another two consecutive boundaries to almost seal the game for the Super Kings. He could not sustain his magic in the last over bowled by Sunil Narine as he outfoxed him with his variations. But, that the equation had gone to just one run needed off the last three balls was down to his blitzkrieg and Jadeja, the batsman is justifying the hype and expectations on him with each passing game. Earlier, he was tasked with the tough task of containing Eoin Morgan who never shies away from taking the game to spinners, let alone of the left arm kind. On the other side, Rahul Tripathi was going all guns blazing. His line of attack was immaculate and he did not concede even one boundary in his first 12 balls and that is some feat with the kind of batting at the crease. His first 18 balls conceded just 17 runs and Dhoni’s plan of squeezing the Knight Riders was underway in a grand manner. He put an icing on the cake with the big wicket of Tripathi, who was batting like a dream along with a sluggish Morgan. That wicket derailed Knight Riders’ momentum and only remarkable momentum-shifting innings from Dinesh Karthik, in the end, could people them past the 170-run mark which they had earmarked as “winning total”. Shardul Thakur If the last few years have been brilliant for ‘Sir’ Jadeja, the year looks to be going Shardul Thakur’s way in almost the same manner. He can do no wrong either with the bat or ball irrespective of the formats. He appears an innocuous bowler who does not bring any sort of X-factor to the table for MS Dhoni but his portfolio is rich in big wickets and that provide X-factor to the team. The Knight Riders were on a roll as Venkatesh Iyer was carrying on his merry way and allowing the others to go for glory at the end. Then, in walked Shardul with the ball in hand and the first ball produced an outside edge that Dhoni accepted gleefully. If Iyer’s wicket was not enough to dent the Knight Riders, he came back in the end overs and sent their biggest X-factor in Andre Russell. He conceded just 20 runs from his quota of four overs and took the two huge wickets of Russell and Iyer, and formed an unbeatable combo with Jadeja to keep the Super Kings ahead in the game. Like Jadeja, he too was instrumental with the bat as he nudged Sunil Narine behind the wicket for a vital three to almost seal the game. His confidence to attempt that shot against the variations of Narine was proof of his coming to his own on the big stage with the bat, and why not after all his heroics with the willow in England and Australia. Dinesh Karthik The year 2021 has been a topsy-turvy ride for Dinesh Karthik, who donned many hats in the year. He was a pundit decoding India’s game in India and England in between donning the Knight Riders jersey to finish the games for them. He came to the UAE before the scheduled final Test of the series between India and England right from the Sky Sports studio but all the active time away from the field did not affect his mindset and capability one bit. When he walked out to bat, the Knight Riders had underachieved with just 125 odd runs on the board and three overs to go. He had no time to waste and neither did he miss and walloped Sam Curran to all parts of the ground for a 19-run over. Another big over followed as the final over of the innings and Karthik, in the company of Nitish Rana, had carried the Knight Riders beyond the point they were looking to achieve midway through the innings. Karthik has been an excellent fighter for the Knight Riders and his exclusion from India’s T20 side has always sparked heated debate and disappointment in fans. Whatever happens to him in the near future, Karthik’s finishing game is well and truly intact and albeit India are not willing to use it to their advantage, the Knight Riders are loving the prospect of his flourishing end. Flops Moeen Ali Moeen Ali was bought by the Super Kings to provide the off-spinning variety to the bowling attack and aggression to the top order which was found wanting in the last season. He has justified the promotion to the number three slot in place of highly successful Suresh Raina and it was quite a pragmatic decision on the part of the CSK team management to ask Moeen to bat freely at number three. However, he was jaded in mind and could not play the fearless cricket against the Knight Riders today. He was given a luxurious platform of 74 runs by Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis in quick time and his job was fairly easy at the start. He had to ensure the Super Kings did not go off the track to chase the 172 runs target. However, he was proven inefficient and the lack of imagination and improvisation from his side did not provide any momentum to the Super Kings in the middle phase of the game. It was his lacklustre innings that made what was appearing a smooth chase a monumental equation to achieve in the final few overs. Eoin Morgan There was a lot of similarities between the Knight Riders and the Super Kings in today’s game and one of the prominent ones was the abysmal batting form of their captains. Morgan has been struggling this year and the trend has not stopped in the IPL as well. He has managed to amass only 107 runs across 10 matches this season and the record has started so unbecoming for a batsman of Morgan’s reputation and credentials. On the day against the Super Kings, he was struggling to get the ball off the square albeit the other batsmen at the other end—Rahul Tripathi was going with full freedom and establishing there were no demons in the pitch. Irrespective of the form, Morgan can be relied upon to take the attack to the opposition camp but Dhoni could bowl a four-over spell of Jadeja when he was batting showcased nothing but his lack of confidence. There was also a blunder in decision making from Morgan the captain as he preferred Krishna to bowl the penultimate over and Narine to finish the job in the 20th over. It should be treated as a rule that the best bowler who has the best defending skills should bowl the 19th over of the chase to allow the cushion to the bowler bowling a high-pressure final over. The decision looks a lot more ridiculous when one will see it through the prism of experience. Krishna is highly inexperienced to execute his best deliveries in pressure situations while Narine has been a seasoned campaigner to pull off such heists. The Super Kings surged to the top of the table with another win over the Knight Riders while the men in purple and gold could not advance beyond the fourth position on the points table.