Anrich Nortje feels IPL in UAE a perfect preparation ahead of the T20 World Cup

IPL 2021 | CSK vs MI Preview: Carnival emerges from Covid shadow with clash of titans

Not many sides in the history of the Indian Premier League have played as many high-stake games as the Chennai Super Kings and the Mumbai Indians have played in their journey, and hence it is only fitting that the 14th edition of the league is being relaunched with a contest between the two sides led by MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma. The Chennai Super Kings have won the IPL trophy on three occasions while the Mumbai Indians have been the indisputable kings of the competition winning the championship as many five times. As they have been the best sides in multiple editions of the tournament, they have had the privilege of opening the competition on numerous occasions. However, the game on September 19 in Dubai will be the first of its kind as never been in its history of 14 years that the IPL was stopped midway through the season and was split into two halves. These are unprecedented times and the IPL has not been spared either in two consecutive years. When Dhoni and Rohit will walk out to the middle for the toss for the first time in UAE this year, it would be a triumph of the IPL after the long and hard shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic that had gripped both its present and future earlier this year. MO-Factor and Super Kings’ grand comeback MS Dhoni and his men struggled terribly in the last edition of the IPL as none of their main strengths such as the batting department and spinners was at the top of their game. They struggled to contain the opposition batsmen with the ball while their batsmen were grappling with the loss of form and diminishing power to hit the ball out of the ground at will. They showed some sparks towards the end of the season to win six games in the competition however it all came after the “ship” that had too many holes sank in the ocean. There were obituaries written about their fate in the coming seasons if they were not to change their style of play and bring a massive change in personnel. MS Dhoni stuck with his trusted lieutenants and instead focussed on achieving the needful. The results are there for everyone to witness as the Super Kings have made a stellar comeback in the 14th season winning five out of their first seven games. The move to bring Moeen Ali at the top of the order along with an in-form Faf du Plessis has provided them significant enforcement at the top of the order which was their Achilles heels in the last season. Moeen was at the top of his game with the ball as well and along with spinners such as Ravindra Jadeja and Karn Sharma formed a dependable lineup to give Dhoni wicket-taking opportunities in the middle phase of the games. Mumbai’s different start, Hardik a concern Rohit Sharma’s men have made a reputation of slow starters who stutter at the start of any season before transforming themselves into a beast and invincible side. They have had quite a bit of remarkable wins so far in the season and Rohit would hope the players will be fresh and ready to go with their best form from the word go. However, they would be circumspect about the form of Hardik Pandya, who has been a constant force behind their always going up the journey in the recent past. He was completely out of sorts in the first half of the tournament on the slower and spinning pitches of Chennai and his fortunes did not change on India’s tour of Sri Lanka as well where he struggled to get his timing right. He forms a formidable core of strength for the Mumbai side and with injury clouds over his bowling along with lacklustre form with the bat will make the men in blue significantly weaker in the business end of the tournament. Match Details Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians: Match no.: 30 Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Time: 19:30 IST (14:00 GMT), 18:00 Local Broadcast: Star Sports network, Disney +Hotstar Pitch and weather The pitch and the Dubai International Cricket Stadium offers stroke makers excellent opportunities to hit through the line while also keep the bowler in the game with good assistance to spinners in the middle phase of the game. Boundaries will be of decent size and it will help the spinners in providing flight to the batsmen albeit that seems to be luxury with brutal six hitters against spinners on both sides. There is no chance of rain in Dubai and humility at a level of 40 per cent will only come in handy for pace bowlers to swing the new Kookaburra ball. Team News CSK The Super Kings will have to manage their plans in the first game of the revamped part without the duo of Faf du Plessis and Sam Curran. Curran arrived late in the biosecure bubble and undergoing quarantine while du Plessis has an injury concern will not play the first game. Moeen Ali should be available to play and in all likelihood will accompany Ruturaj Gaikwad at the top of the order which will give Suresh Raina his old position of number three in the batting order. The middle-order picks itself with the trio of Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni with Dwayne Bravo and Shardul Thakur to follow. The presence of Bravo, Shardul and also Deepak Chahar will give the Super Kings abetting depth and will allow the top order to bat freely. Imran Thair should start in the playing XI with a toss-up between Lungi Ngidi and Josh Hazlewood as the only out-and-out pace bowler in the playing XI. Probable XI Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, MS Dhoni (C& WK), Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Imran Tahir, Josh Hazlewood. Mumbai Indians The Mumbai Indians are a lot more settled side than the Super Kings and there are at best only two spots up for debate. The batting order looks menacing with Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav forming the top order while the likes of Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, and Pandya brothers taking control of the middle order. The duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult are certain to be the two pacers while there is a direct fight between Nathan Coulter-Nile and Adam Milne for the third pacer’s slot in the playing XI. Rahul Chahar has impressed one and all in the first part of the competition with his leg-breaks and is all set to continue in the first game of the second part as well. Probable XI Rohit Sharma (C), Quinton de Kock (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Adam Milne, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah. CSK vs MI: Fantasy XI Quinton de Kock (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar Captain Picks: Moeen Ali Vice-captain: Rohit Sharma

What is the point of bilateral T20 matches questions Ravi Shastri

Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has criticised the scheduling of bilateral T20I matches and feels that the ICC should rather concentrate on taking the game to more countries across the globe and make it an Olympic event rather than increasing the number of T20 bilateral matches. “I would like to see less and less bilateral T20 cricket,” Shastri was quoted as saying during an exclusive interview with the Guardian. Making a comparison with football where the footballers play club football through the air besides playing a few friendlies here and there. Barring that they only compete in the Euro Cup, World Cup, Copa America or the African’s Cup and the qualification events for the same. “Look at football. You have the Premier League, the Spanish league, the Italian league, the German league. They all come together [for the Champions League]. There are few bilateral football [friendlies] now. The national teams only play for the World Cup or World Cup qualifying [and other major tournaments like the European Championships, Copa America and the Africa Cup of Nations]. I think that’s the way T20 cricket should go. Spread the game in different countries, and take it to the Olympics. But cut down on those bilateral games and give time for the players to rest, recuperate and play Test cricket,” Shastri added. India have a very successful time in the bilateral T20I series in the last few years. Under the tenure of Ravi Shastri, India whitewashed Australia and New Zealand in their own backyard. However, Shastri doesn’t care about the results of this bilateral series. All he looks for is to win Test matches and win global events like the World Cup or the T20 World Cup which has eluded him and skipper Virat Kohli. Shastri said that all the players in the team are in the same page. Already playing nearly two months of franchise cricket, Shastri feels that emphasis should be rather given on multi-nation tournaments than bilateral matches. “They all believe the same. There is enough franchised cricket. That is working. But what is the point of bilateral? In my seven years with this Indian team I don’t remember one white-ball game. If you win a World Cup final you will remember it and that’s the only thing left for me as a coach. Otherwise, you bloody cleaned up everything across the globe. I don’t remember a single [white-ball] game. Test matches? I remember every ball. Everything. But the volume is too much. We beat Australia 3-0 in the T20 series. We beat New Zealand 5-0 in New Zealand. Who cares? But beating Australia in two-Test series in Australia? Winning Tests in England? I remember that,” Shastri stated. Despite the increasing number of bilateral series around, Shastri feels that it is mainly happening as the administrators want the money which is actually needed to make a strong base in the grass-root levels. “Correct. So you need the right balance. Money is important because it can be put into the grassroots. The top players still want to play Test match cricket but, barring England and Australia, very few countries make money through it. In India it’s beginning to pick up because of the way India play. We go for the win because Test cricket is the ultimate,” Ravi Shastri concluded. The T20 World Cup in UAE will be Ravi Shastri’s last assignment as Team India coach. Under his tenure, India won two-Test series in Australia, led England 2-1 in their backyard and qualified for the final of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship.

IPL 2021 | Delhi Capitals Road to UAE: Rishabh Pant's men bring both fire and substance to the table

The Delhi Capitlas were a beast side in the last edition of the Indian Premier League and while batters thrashed the opposition bowling attacks, their bowlers rattled the batsmen with pace and flummoxed them with spin. However, their domination was limited to only six teams of the tournament and the only team that made them look like an inferior team that the points table and scorecards of other matches suggested were the Mumbai Indians. The Rohit Sharma’s men went on to win the final by thrashing the men from Delhi in back to back matches in the last edition of the league and left the Capitals with a big question of big match temperament before coming back for the next event. There were not many chinks in their armour as they were rich with a well-balanced side and hence did not require too many changes for the 14th edition of the IPL. However, they suffered a massive setback a few weeks before the tournament as their skipper Shreyas Iyer, who has had led quite a turnaround of the side after taking over the reins from Gautam Gambhir in 2018, dislocated his shoulder was knocked out of the tournament. The Capitals were not disheartened by the absence of their captain and launched their campaign under an ever so dynamic captain in Rishabh Pant. The side established their ascendancy in the league and supremacy over other teams by winning as many as six games out of the eight played so far this season. In all likelihood, they are on the verge of qualifying for the next round and here we will look at their journey so far in this edition to find out what worked for them and what did not. Flamboyant start The Capitals started their campaign against the Chennai Super Kings and what a start they had to the new season albeit they did not have the trio of Iyer and a highly successful pace pair of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje. Their newbies Avesh Khan and Chris Waokes got them to a perfect start by removing Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad inside three overs. The middle-order comprising of Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja propelled the Super Kings to a big score. What followed from the Capitals while batting was nothing short of carnage for the Super Kings bowling attack as the opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw blasted their way to a 138-run partnership in the 14th over. There was no mercy for any kind of bowlers from the Super Kings and the Capitals chased down 189 runs with eight balls to spare and seven wickets intact. Royal speed breaker After a batting heist against the Super Kings, the Capitals were cock a hoop but their jubilation was short-lived as they hit a speed breaker in the next game against the Rajasthan Royals. Their flamboyant batting lineup was tied down by the subtle variations of Jaydev Unadkat, who single-handedly removed their top order and choked them before they could get a sighter. None other than the skipper Pant could stick around for long or blast their way out of trouble for the Capitals to have a defending score on board. It was Pant’s 51 that took them to 147 in the end but it was not appearing enough on a batting-friendly pitch at the Wankhede Stadium. Their pace bowling gave their all by sharing seven cheap wickets between them but the score was not too much for the Royals to not get it. David Miller did the job that Pant had done in the first half and defied the Capitals that night. Back to the beast mode The Capitals were slated to face the Punjab Kings and the Mumbai Indians, who were their sole tormentor in the last edition and the men from Delhi had no option other than to lift their game. At first, the Kings gave them the taste of their own medicines as their openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal came at them with all their might. The duo put on 122 runs for the first wicket and put the Capitals under a lot of pressure to keep the score down to an achievable level. All went for plenty but the pair of Ravichandran Ashwin and Avesh Khan rescued the Capitals and checked the Kings from running away with the game. Chasing a target of 196 runs, the Capitals too were not far behind the Kings and the opening pair of Shaw and Dhawan left their struggles against the Royals behind them and started from where they left against the Super Kings. The duo put on 59 runs for the first wicket in mere 33 balls and reduced a big run chase to a middling one that was clinically completed by Pant and co. to give the Capitals their second win. They were back on the track of winning but had a mountain to climb in the form of Mumbai Indians——their only nemesis in the last edition. They were up for the challenge though. As the caravan moved to slower and spin-friendly pitches in Chennai for the second part of their campaign from a flat surface of Mumbai, they were quite good at adapting with bowlers who are good at varying their pace. Marcus Stoinis got stuck into the Mumbai batting lineup and did not allow them to get going against the new ball, which was their strategy on those surfaces. Once a fluent Suryakumar Yadav perished at the hands of Avesh, the spin trio of Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Lalit Yadav asphyxiated the power-packed Mumbai batting and restricted them to a mere 137 runs. The Capitals struggled with the bat as well but the for of Dhawan provided them with an anchor who kept them going with timely boundaries throughout the middle phase of the game. Close contests With three wins in the first four games of the season including the one over the Mumbai Indians, the Capitals were up and running. However, two enthralling contests were awaiting them to test their nerves for the first time in the fresh season after failing on the same parameters last season. The first of those encounters were against the Sunrisers where the duo of Kane Williamson and Jonny Bairstow threatened to chase down 160 before imploding against a disciplined and diverse bowling lineup. The Capitals were blessed with another rollicking start by Shaw and Pant but lack of flourish from the middle and lower order could not help them go past 160 runs. The pitch was spinning and holding up too much and both Pant and Williamson decided to fight the battle of super over through spinners. Williams had a clear advantage as he had Rashid Khan at his disposal but Pant took the punt on Axar Patel who was getting his darts accurately in the wickets. In a 12 ball-long contest that was decided by the batting of Rishabh Pant against Rashid Khan and Williamson against Axar Patel, the Capitals emerged victories by barest of a bare margin by running a leg bye on the final ball. In the next encounter against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, they turned out to be on the wrong side of AB de Villiers’ act of genius. He single-handedly impelled the men in red and gold to 171 runs on a slow pitch in Chennai and asked the Capitals to dig deeper. Dhawan suffered a rare failure and none of Shaw, Steve Smith, and Marcus Stoinis could support the skipper Pant until Shimron Hetmyer woke up from the slumber just at the right time. Both put on an unbeatne partnership of 78 runs to leave the game perfectly poised with 14 required off the last over. Albeit Pant was there on the crease for a long time, he was struggling to get the big shots going off his bat and the trend continued n the first three balls of the over even while Mohammed Siraj could not find yorkers. He could manage to hit the final two deliveries for fours but lost the game by another barest of the bare margin as Pant failed to hit a six on the last ball of the game. Another Punjab mauling The Capitals were the only side to play eight games in the first part of the tournament before Covid had enough of it and they mauled the Punjab Kings for one more time in the same season. The Kings were without KL Rahul and the stand-in skipper Mayank Agarwal was in full flow with the bat with a 58-ball 99. However, his teammates could not give him ample support and the Capitals had to chase only 167 runs from 20 overs. The red-hot opening pair of Dhawan and Shaw was at it again with a partnership of 63 runs while valuable contributions from others made sure the Capitals strolled in the park and went past the finish line to surge and strengthen their position on the top of the points table with six wins out of eight games. Looking ahead to the UAE The Capitals are all but set to advance to the next round of the tournament and it bears testament to their improvement over the last few seasons. They have been a force to reckon with in the recent seasons and the upcoming second part of IPL 2021 will be another shot at the elusive trophy that the franchise has been desperate to earn since the first edition. They have retained Pant as captain albeit Shreyas Iyer has recovered from his injury and rejoined the squad in the UAE and it shows that the franchise is not willing to go back to the drawing board mid-season. There will be no Chris Woakes in the second half but the return of Iyer would give them space to play both Rabada and Nortje in the conditions where they ruled the show in the last edition. Challenges A majority of their batsmen will be rusty with little to no cricket in recent months. Iyer last played in March while Smith has not played any cricket since the IPL earlier this year. Both Shaw and Dhawan were in good touch with the bat in Sri Lanka but it’s been a long tie since that tour and the Capitals will be wary of a rusty batting lineup going into the business end of the tournament.

IPL 2021 | Rajasthan Royals Road to UAE: Glimpses of brilliance overpowered by consistent inconsistency

Newly signed Tabraiz Shamsi of the Rajasthan Royals feel that the 2021 Indian Premier League season is yet very open for his team, especially going into the UAE leg and seven matches still left to play. To Shamsi, the situation is ‘glass half full’ instead of ‘half empty’. Surely, if nothing, this attitude will certainly boost the morale of the troops. But, will only morale-boosting be able to get the Royals to their first Finals in the last 12 years or even their first Playoffs since 2018? Well, time would have the best of the answers, but for the time being, they have surely great some replacements for after their most expensive players pulled out ahead of the UAE leg. But before getting to what would be up for them in the UAE leg, it would be only apt to know what transpired in the seven matches that they played during the India leg of the competition. Journey so far The Royals started on a really tantalising note with their skipper Sanju Samson hitting a century in their very first match of the season against Punjab Kings, even though they remained four runs short of the target and the controversial turn down for a single by Samson to all-rounder Chris Morris became the talk of the town, especially when Morris went on to single-handedly win the next game for the Royals against the Delhi Capitals by hitting 36 off 18 balls. After being on both sides of the extreme in their first two games, the Royals got a thrashing in their next two games from Chennai Super Kings and the Royal Challengers Banglore. While against Super Kings they were reduced to 143-9 chasing 189, against the RCB, they along with the audiences were treated to a masterclass from Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli, especially Padikkal as he registered his first-ever IPL century and the Challengers Routed the Royals by 10 wickets chasing a target as big as 178. Not getting demoralised by those two maulings, the men from the pink city came back well in their fifth game of the season to defeat a struggling Kolkata knight riders team by six wickets, having reduced them to 133 in the first innings. Morris was on fire in that match as he finished with figures of 4-23 from his four overs. Just as it seemed they have got back on the plot, they lost it once again after a seven-wicket defeat by Mumbai Indians. Quinton de Kock was the heor of that game with his 70 off just 50 balls, anchoring the chase throughout as he remained unbeaten. But then came the Jos Buttler show in what would be the last game of the season so far for the Royals as it was after this game only that the league was postponed. Against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Jos Buttler scored one of the most well-complied hundreds. He not only took his time at the start but was scoring below run a ball for the first 30 balls of his innings. In the next 34 balls that he played, the Englishman went berserk as he unleashed what was a beast on the ground, hitting Mohammad Nabi and Sandeep Sharma for more than 20 runs in consecutive overs. Courtesy of this ravaging innings, the Royals scored 220 and then bundled out the Hyderabad side for 165. Thus, the Sanju Samson led side would be heading into the UAE leg of the IPL on a winning note. New signings: A bag of players in red hot form If there is one side that has been dealt the heaviest of the blows with players pulling out, it is the Rajasthan Royals. First, they lost Jofra Archer in the pre-season itself and then they lost Ben Stokes midseason during the India leg of the league, and now they do not have the services of even Jos Buttler and Australian Andrew Tye, who was first thought of as the genuine replacement for Archer. But what this has done is, it has brought in fresh faces who always wanted to nake it to an IPL squad but couldn’t. They are the players who are in form and are hungry for success so that they can grab this opportunity and cement their places, not only in an IPL side in the mega auction happening next year, but in their national sides for the upcoming T20 World Cup as well. Shamsi, the replacement for Archer is currently the number T20I bowler and is very hard to play during any part of the match. Glenn Philipps, the replacement for Stokes is in a scintillating form and confidence-wise rates very high having got himself a place in the Kiwi T20 World Cup squad. He performed decently in The Hundred as well as CPL 2021 and hence is bankable. The biggest asset however are Liam Livingstone and Evin Lewis, two in-form men who haven’t really get a chance to showcase their mettle in IPL so far. They would be craving this opportunity. Lewis was roped in Buttler while Livingstone came back having missed the entire first round unable to get into the playing XI first and then living the league midway. Oshane Thomas, the tall fast bowler from Barbados has been signed as a replacement for Tye. Final Rajasthan Royals Squad Batsmen: Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, David Miller, Manan Vohra, Glenn Phillips, Evin Lewis All-rounders: Liam Livingstone, Chris Morris, Shivam Dube, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror Bowlers: Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya, Tabraiz Shamsi, Oshane Thomas, K.C. Cariappa, Kuldip Yadav, Kartik Tyagi, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Akash Singh What to expect in the UAE leg? To be honest, the Royals look like the slickest of all sides with its four probable playing XI foreigners firing all cylinders. Mustafizur Rahman was having a gala time in his home conditions making the Aussies and Kiwis dance to the tunes of his cutters. Livingstone and Shamsi have been in phenomenal form as well and one can never rule out Chris Morris. Thus, the lineup is so strong and inform that players of the sort of Lewis and Phillips are unable to even fit in. If Sanju Samson could just hit the consistency button hidden somewhere in his brain and the likes of Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag chip in, Royals could very well turn Shamsi’s hopes of reaching the Playoffs true.