BCCI Apex council to meet on Oct 17; England series a prime agenda for discussion

IPL 2020: Strike-rates are overrated - KL Rahul

Under-fire Kings XI Punjab skipper KL Rahul has shrugged off talks over his strike-rate, stating that numbers can be misleading at times. According to many cricket pundits, Rahul has adapted to a steady role in order to cover up for the lack of depth in the KXIP batting line-up. Rahul has been the highest run-scorer so far this season. However, his strike-rate in powerplays - 113.3 doesn't do justice to his potential or past heroics. His slow approach came under the scanner in the match against Rajasthan Royals. While Mayank Agarwal was scoring freely, Rahul made a 54-ball 69 in Sharjah. Punjab eventually lost the game in spite of putting up a solid total on board. Yesterday, the elegant batter made a 16-ball 11 while chasing 202. "Strike-rates are very, very overrated," Rahul opined after the game. "For me, it's only about how I can win games for my team. And if on a certain day I think a strike-rate of 120 can win the game for my team, I will do that. This is how I bat and I would like to take responsibility as a leader. We all make mistakes, I'm not saying I have not made a few mistakes but you learn each day as a leader, as a batter.” The skipper had a word of praise for his bowlers for pulling back things after David Warner-Jonny Bairstow’s scintillating first wicket stand. Rahul said he is happy with the way bowlers kept coming back, especially at the death overs. Punjab currently finds themselves at the bottom of the points table with a solo win in six games. Powered by Froala Editor

IPL 2020: Anil Kumble reveals reason behind Chris Gayle's exclusion for the match against Sunrisers

Explosive opener Chris Gayle’s exclusion for the game between Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad raised a few eyebrows. KXIP having lost four out of five games, needed a major shuffle to strengthen their batting line-up. However, Gayle yet again failed to make the cut in IPL 2020. Head coach Anil Kumble later revealed that the Jamaican batsman was set to play but he was down due to food poisoning. “Gayle was set to play against SRH but he is down with food poisoning,” said Kumble. Meanwhile, Mayank Agarwal, the KXIP batsman, had stated that Gayle is sharing his vast experience with the batters in the dressing room. Agarwal had played with Gayle at Royal Challengers Bangalore previously. The batter added that it’s always fantastic to have a conversation with the veteran. “Gayle is an integral part of KXIP whether playing or mentoring. He has been speaking to all of us, contributing in the batter’s meeting and also sharing stuff which is crucial. I have had great conversations with Gayle. We first played together in RCB and just watching him play and chatting is fantastic," Agarwal said. KL Rahul’s side lost to Hyderabad to mark their fifth loss in six games. The side is currently at the bottom of the points table with two points in their kitty. Powered by Froala Editor

IPL 2020 | SRH vs KXIP: 3 Reasons Why Hyderabad defeat Punjab by a big margin of 69 runs

The Sunrisers Hyderabad effected a clinical 69-run win over a disarrayed Kings XI Punjab in the 22nd match of the Indian Premier League on Thursday, 8 October at the Dubai International Stadium. Things went Sunrisers way from the start after captain David Warner won the toss and chose to bat first. With the venue overwhelming favouring the teams that bat first, nobody could complain about the decision. The prolific David Warner-Jonny Bairstow from the last season finally clicked together at the halfway mark of the tournament putting up 160-run together in just 15 overs. Runaway winners at that point of the match, SRH managed to give it up losing six wickets in the next five overs and were restricted to 201 in their registered 20 overs, at least 20-30 runs short of what they would have actually liked to defend with the makeshift bowling. Coming into the chase, none barring Nicholas Pooran fired in all cylinders and Punjab managed to mess up a difficult but achievable run chase in comical fashion. The West Indian waged a one-man war in a shot-laden innings of 77 where he hit 7 huge sixes and at the end of the day, it was just not enough with his teammates falling apart like a pack of cards. On that note here are the three reasons why Sunrisers Hyderabad won a crucial game in their campaign against KL Rahul’s Kings XI Punjab. David Warner and Jonny Bairstow Making a name for themselves in the last season as the most dangerous opening pair in the Indian Premier League, the unlikely combination of an Australia and an Englishmen scored a total of 1137 runs between them. Things were not coming off since the start of this season with David Warner unable to find his timing. With a partnership long overdue, both the batsmen broke their shackles to put together a stellar 160-run stand to entertain the crowd, err…the viewers at home. While Warner scored 52 off 40 balls and played the anchor role, Bairstow hit 6 sixes and 7 boundaries en route his 97-run innings. Warner later in the second innings, started the KXIP debacle affecting an excellent runout of in form Mayank Agarwal which halted Punjab's momentum from the get-go and put SRH in control of the game. Rashid Khan Rashid Khan is back to doing what he does best, picking wickets. With ace pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar out of the equation for the tournament, Rashid Khan has taken it upon himself to be the leader of the pack. This is the second time that Rashid picked up three wickets in a match this season and last night he was the sole reason KXIP had to give the fight. At the time when Pooran was playing one of the best innings of his life, Rashid Khan nonchalantly walked down his runup and bowled a well-measured googly at a good pace. Pooran punched the ball uppishly and put the ball in the safe hands of Khaleel Ahmed. Game! Set! Match! With Pooran gone and Rashid still left with one ball in his full quota of four overs, he caught a clueless Mohammed Shami plumb in front to pick up the eighth wicket of the KXIP innings. Mujeeb Ur Rahman Don’t get me wrong, I am not singling out any Punjab bowler because when you let Warner and Bairstow settle you can only sit back and watch. Mujeeb Ur Rahman finally got a chance to play in the first XI after much criticism of the Punjab thinktank about their bowling combination. He gave away 39 runs in his four overs failing to register any impact on the SRH batting line-up, but it was his batting that puts his name on this list. In the 14th over of the game, Mujeeb edged a ball back to the keeper. A loud appeal from bowler Khaleel Ahmed and keeper Bairstow was turned down by the on-field umpire but the umpires sent the decision upstairs to check for bump ball. Once the soft signal (not out) was overturned and as Mujeeb started walking back towards his dugout, he turned back and signalled for review himself. Now, according to the laws that govern the IPL, a batsman can neither consult the dugout nor can the dugout send out instructions to the batsmen to review an umpire’s decision. With umpires sending the decision back upstairs to check for an ultra-edge, Mujeeb had to take the long walk back again. The good thing is that Mujeeb’s review became inconsequential with Pooran giving a dolly into the hands of Khaleel. But with six overs still to go, what would have happened if there was a tight call involving Pooran? This could have turned out to be a huge talking point in the game and Twitter would have been up in arms against the young Afghan. KXIP losing one more match in the Indian Premier League 2020 means that they are the only team in the league, reeling at 2 points from six games. They have lost 4 consecutive games and for a side that looked so solid initially, their fallacies have been exposed by the other teams time and again. Punjab play their next match against Kolkata Knight Riders who would be on a high after restricting Chennai Super Kings in a mind-boggling game. Punjab will need to find the correct combination and just get on with it if they want to remain in the competition.

IPL 2020 | SRH vs KXIP: What experts said as KL Rahul's Kings XI surrenders against Sunrisers

The Sunrisers Hyderabad dominated the proceedings to thrash KL Rahul-led Kings XI Punjab by 69 runs at the Dubai International Stadium. Punjab were absolutely thumped by the men in orange and what looked like an impressive season, to begin with, is now starting to look like doomsday for the Kings XI Punjab in the IPL 2020. After a contrasting set of performances by both teams, captains had a lot to say about the game. The winning captain David Warner expressed his nervousness at the time when Nicholas Pooran was going berserk in the middle overs while the losing captain KL Rahul pointed out the things that his team was not good enough at. Captains’ reading of the game “I think when we lose wickets in the powerplay, it's always going to be tough, and getting Mayank run-out was a disaster. We kept losing wickets after that and it was one of those days where everything (aerial shots) went into the hands of fielders. The last five games we've been struggling in the death overs, but we pulled things back, else 230 was on the cards. Pooran is so good to watch, he's hitting proper cricketing shots. If we get a decent job at the start, he can do the job for us later. He's (Ravi Bishnoi) always enjoyed those situations, that's great to see for a youngster. All of them are professionals, and they know where they're going wrong. Everyone's working hard and they want to contribute to the team. They have proved themselves in the past, sometimes it doesn't come off, but you gotta be patient,’ said an introspecting KL Rahul after the loss. “I was a bit nervous while Nicholas was hitting it over the stands. I have always had high prospects for that kid. I was fortunate to play in Bangladesh with him. You always think, 'What can I do, how can I get him out?'. He's (Rashid) a world-class bowler, it's great to have him. He always delivers in pressure situations. He loves that stuff. What a player. Sad for Bhuvi, we wish him all the best, but having one of our best death bowlers out of the team gives others an opportunity for others. We love batting with each other. We pride ourselves in running hard between wickets. At the moment, I am just rotating strike for him (Bairstow). We enjoy batting with each other. We tried to negate the swing by coming at them (KXIP bowlers). We have got a tough game against RR, a day game, and have to start fresh again’” David Warner shared the difference of thighs developing in his mind during the game and the challenges that his team has on its hand going into the next phase of the tournament. Experts’ take Cricket experts such as Mark Nicholas and Pommie Mbangwa were not impressed by too much chopping and changing made by the Kings XI management. Mark Nicholas pointed to the selection of three different wicketkeepers in the six games of this season so far and said that it shows the team management does not quite know the best players of the team and also not backing players enough to guide them towards performances. Commentator Harsha Bhogle, too, talked about the insecurity of the Kings XI team and also reminded that the pair of Warner and Bairstow made sure that the agony will carry on for Anil Kumble and KL Rahul going ahead in the tournament. He also spoke highly of the contributions made by Rashid Khan and the way he had led the SRH blowing line up in every match. He also commended Nicholas Pooran’s talent and suggested the Kings XI Punjab to start afresh and that they have a quality support staff, it won’t be too difficult for them to turn it around. Jonny Bairstow's belligerent batting and the attitude caught the eye of former English captain Michael Vaughan who rated him as one of the best top-order batsmen of the 21st century in the white-ball cricket. Veteran cricket journalist Sambit Bal was impressed with Ravi Bishnoi who had changed the momentum of the Sunrisers’ batting inning, taking two big wickets in the same over. Bal said that a single over from Bishnoi could have made a difference of 30 runs but it was not to be for the Kings XI Punjab who could not rise to the occasion. He was also awestruck by the level of pure hitting skills on show by Nicholas Pooran and said that his hitting abilities are too good for any stadium, let alone the Sharjah where tiny sized boundaries make the average hitter of the ball look like a genuine six-hitter.