BCCI informs nine venues to continue preparations for World T20

IPL 2021 | PBKS vs CSK - What Experts Said as Deepak Chahar masterclass grants Chennai mammoth victory

Things went horribly wrong for the Punjab Kings in their second match of the Indian Premier League as they were handed a 6-wicket defeat by the Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday, 16 April. Bouncing off the highest score of the season after scoring 221 runs against Rajasthan Royals on match number four, Punjab returned to score the lowest score of the season (106) in their registered 20 overs. The mega top order comprising KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and Chris Gayle were sent back to the hut within the first five overs of the playing leaving the rebranded franchise gasping for air. The wrecker in chief - Deepak Chahar, rioted through the Punjab frontline bowling four overs upfront. First up, he uprooted a Mayank Agarwal’s off stump with a riveting outswinger, that moved in the air and off the pitch to make for a very ugly dismissal. He subsequently picked up the wickets of Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda and Nicholas Pooran to send back the entire established batting arsenal of the team. If not for Shahrukh Khan’s defiant 47 off 36, Kings’ could have looked way more embarrassing than they were made to look after the game. Coming into an easy chase, CSK made quite a meal of it at the start of the innings, getting stuck against some quality fast bowling. With the fast bowlers still earning some purchase from the surface, Ruturaj Gaikwad along with Faf du Plessis got stuck in the crease and the scoreboard seemed to move nowhere in the first three overs of the innings. Bogged down by the pressure, in the last ball of the 5th over, Gaikwad in a poor attempt to pull a short ball from left-handed Arshdeep Singh, ended up lobbing up an easy chance to Deepak Hooda stationed at deep mid-wicket. The wicket came as a blessing in disguise as Moeen Ali, relishing the new top-order role went berserk turning the tide of the game. At the time of his dismissal in the 13th over, Ali had provided enough impetus for CSK to not lose the game even if they tried hard. Post his 46 off 31 balls CSK lost two quick wickets in Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu but were safely put over the line before the conclusion of the 16th over. Captains’ viewpoints Coming to talk after the game, a visibly dejected KL Rahul spoke about how the pitch played differently than they had anticipated earlier and that there was not much way back for them after losing five wickets in the first six overs. “There's not much more to say. When any team loses five wickets in the first six or seven overs.... It [The pitch] did [play differently]. It was more sticky and tacky than what it looked like. Deepak with his knuckle ball got a couple of wickets. Myself getting run-out. It wasn't a 110-wicket, maybe 150-160.” Rahul spoke about the positives from the game as well and stated that when they review the game later on, the way that the Punjab pacers bowled would be an asset going forward into the tournament. “We have pace in our attack and we obviously want to use that. Playing in India can be tough and cruel. Meredith and Richardson did try to execute the plan [against RR] and it was good to see them come back. We will review the key points that we spoke before the game and like you mentioned yourself that's how cricket goes. You smile and see how you can do better if we get a similar situation when we play at the Wankhede again. It's important to learn from our mistakes, that's the kind of team that we want to be.” Rahul added. MS Dhoni marked his 200th game for Chennai in T20 competitions and there could not have been a better victory against a well-rounded side. While he did not have to do much himself, Dhoni’s use of Chahar up front earned plaudits from the minds sitting in the commentary box. “Makes me feel very good and it has been a very long journey [on playing 200 matches for CSK]. It started in 2008 - played in SA, Dubai, and back home. Never thought Mumbai would be our home. In 2011, the last time that we were happy with the Chennai wicket. Before that, there was spin, but it also helped fast bowlers. After the wicket was relaid, we found it difficult to adjust to conditions. This is a very good wicket, but it depends on the conditions on that day. The ball moved today, but it didn't swing around a lot. There was no dew and enough seam movement. Overall the years, he [Chahar] has matured into a death bowler too but he's somebody who gets more purchase than other bowlers. If you're looking to attack, why not finish his first four overs. Bravo can bowl at the death. It's not a secret.” Shedding some light into the new role for Moeen Ali at the top of the order, Dhoni stated that a gifted timer of the ball needs to get more batting time. “We felt if Moeen bats up the order, we can make use of the resources that we got. Moeen is a very good timer of the ball and plays authentic shots. We have to make the most of the resources. I thought that [lbw call] was high and that's what the bowler needs to take. That's where the bowler's input is very important. I always thought DRS is one to take howlers away from the game. You take the gamble when it's really important or the last over of the game.” Dhoni concluded. Experts’ opinions It is a no brainer that much of the conversation today was around Deepak Chahar who took the first maiden wicket in this edition of the IPL. He seemed to have impressed the Indian national team coach Ravi Shastri who wrote on Twitter that Chahar's ability to swing the ball both way in the initial overs can even undo the best players in the game. Veteran commentator Ayaz Memon put the nail in the head and added on to Rahul's statement of losing early wickets. With the match wrapping up before 10:45 IST, presenter Chloe Amanda Bailey thanked Super Kings for not keeping her up late in the night. One particular incident that caught people's eye was the odd umpiring process in the potential dismissal of Faf du Plessis in the 14th over of the game. Batting against Riley Meredith, Faf failed to connect a short ball that the Punjab outfit thought was edged off his glove to the keeper. On appealing, the on-field umpire first sent it for a bouncer check (second of the over), a review that came back negative. The third umpire then asked the on-field umpire to call it an out without even considering DRS. After it being called out, the decision was reviewed by the DRS where it showed that Faf had not edged that delivery. A bit of a confusion really! The process amused Mumbai Indians' all-rounder Jimmy Neesham like it did us all. T20 cricket is a game of intent, and while it was present from one end of the CSK batting with Moeen Ali attacking every single bowler, youngster Ruturaj Gaikwad found himself on the wrong side of things failing to connect anything that came his way. Twitter was impressed with Ali's approach but feared that Gaikwad might be axed for the next game. With all teams having played two games, CSK stand at the second position in the league table with two points after their mammoth victory against Punjab. The quick finish to the game meant that they have run rate of +0.616 that might come in very handy once and if the tournament goes down to the wire. The Royal Challengers Bangalore currently rule the roost with two consecutive victories on a trot while the David Warner led Sunrisers Hyderabad trod at the bottom of the league letting slip two easy games from their hands.

PBKS vs CSK: Deepak Chahar produces first wicket-maiden of IPL 2021

Deepak Chahar was on song with the new ball and caused a real demolition of the Punjab Kings batting group at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. He moved the ball upfront and that prompted MS Dhoni to bowl him out by the seventh over of the match. Chahar was at the top of his game and proved Dhoni’s decision of giving him an extra over by bowling a maiden wicket in the seventh over to send back Deepak Hooda, who was Punjab’s dangerman in the last game. Before Hoodas’ wicket, Chahar was impressive with the new ball and swung the ball admirably to castle Mayank Agarwal with an absolute jaffa. He also relied on seam movement and pitched the ball up to test the technique of all Punjab batsmen. Then, as the ball stopped moving in the air and off the pitch, he brought out his variation of knuckle ball to find Gayle hitting the ball very early. Just one ball later, he tempted Nicholas Pooran into playing a pull shot and the top edge by snapped up safely by Shardul Thakur at the deep fine leg position. His impressive four-over spell that produced a bowling figure of 4-1-13-4 rattled the Punjab Kings and they could muster only 106 runs in their 20 overs.

IPL 2021| MI vs SRH: Sunrisers desperate for X-factor to avert hat-trick of losses against mighty Mumbai

It will be a desperate situation for the Sunrisers Hyderabad when they will take on the defending champions Mumbai Indians in Chennai on April 17. The Mumbai Indians have dusted off the rust that plagues them at the start of a season with a win over the Knight Riders in their last game, while the Sunrisers Hyderabad have been guilt of messing their tactics around to lose both their games from situations they should have closed the game down. Rohit Sharma was sharp and proactive in the field while defending a par score to bring about a collapse of the Knight Riders batting order. After the batsmen failed to come to the party once again on a pitch that will seriously invoke change in the decision-making process in terms of batting first due to its slowness in the second innings. On the other hand, the Sunrisers were not lagging behind the curve against the RCB open both an aggressive and temperamental front. First, slow batting from Manish Pandey at the top did not provide any momentum for the middle order to breathe easy, and then the middle-order crumbled under pressure as they lost a many as three wickets in one over. Manish Pandey conundrum Manish Pandey has spent considerable time at the crease in both the games the Sunrisers have played this season, but instead of taking the team home, his struggled to get going and lack of intent has put pressure on other batsmen. He too has failed to capitalise on slow starts and has been dismissed at the worst possible time to leave the Sunrisers in a disarray. In the last game against the RCB, he was down the track to hit the left-arm spinner, Shahbaz Ahmed, over the top just a ball after the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow. It started a collapse of the middle order which the Sunrises could not come back from. If the men in orange have to stand a chance to make a comeback, Manish Pandey will have to rediscover his mojo in the third game of the season against the Mumbai Indians, or else, the Sunrisers will be in a whole heap of trouble with three consecutive losses. Win the toss and bat first- Finally? Chasing scores have become the mantra of success in T20 cricket over the years with pitches becoming more and more helpful for the batsmen. However, the pitches being produced at Chepauk in IPL have shown no help for the batsmen, more so in the second innings when the ball starts gripping and batsmen struggle to find their timing. In all the matches that have been played this year in Chennai, the teams chasing have gone on to lose the game with the side bowling second employing a lot of cutters to deceive batsmen. An increasingly successful tactic of batting second has been tested severely by the pitches in Chennai, and it would not come as a surprise if Rohit Sharma or David Warner decide to bat first when they win the toss on the night of the game. Mumbai need more from middle-order After an early wicket of de Kock, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav took Mumbai to a position of significant strength by the 10th over. However, Yadav’s wicket led to a collapse of the middle order except for a short partnership between Rohit and Hardik Pandya otherwise the story could have been a lot worse than it was. There was not even a single five-wicket haul against the Mumbai Indians in the season before the ongoing one, but they have gifted two fifers in the last two games. In the first game, it was Harshal Patel who rose to new heights while Andre Russell was the benefactor of Mumbai’s middle-order collapse in the last game. Eoin Morgan had held back Andre Russell till the 18th over and he went on to take a fifer in a span of 12 balls to dismiss the Mumbai Indians. All middle-order batsman following Yadav could neither go off to a berserk start nor they could manage to last long to have any impact on the game with the bat. Going into the game against the Sunrisers where they will come against a potent weapon in the middle phase in the form of Rashid Khan, Rohit would be hoping for a disciplined act from his middle-order batsmen who have been instrumental in establishing Mumbai’s dominance in the league. Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad: Match Details Match Number-09 Date and Time: April 17, 07:30 pm IST, 02: 00 pm GMT Venue: M.A Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Broadcast and Live Stream: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch and weather The pitches in Chennai have been slower and lower in nature where bowlers have relied on variations such as off-paced deliveries and cutters to get at the top of the batsmen. Run-scoring has not been easy in all the game so far this season in Chennai and there is no definite sign of changing such a trend in the game between the Mumbai Indians and the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Team News Mumbai Indians Mumbai will have a full-strength squad to pick from with the return of Quinton de Kock in the last game. Ishan Kishan who was at the forefront of Mumbai’s domination last year with the bat has found it tough this time around. He has not been able to spend some time in the middle so far and would love to do so against the Sunrisers before attempting to tee off. The bowling attack looks stronger than ever with the leg spinner Rahul Chahar producing a match-winning spell and Krunal Pandya finding his tight line and lengths in the game against the Knight Riders. However, the uncertainty surrounding Hardik Pandya’s fitness remains and Kieron Pollard has been assigned the task of the sixth bowler if needed. Mumbai are likely to field an unchanged playing XI from the last game. Strongest XI Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Marco Jansen, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah Sunrisers Hyderabad Sunrisers tweaked their playing XI but could not extract the desired result in the game against the RCB. Now, they will surely be contemplating bringing Kane Williamson back in the middle order to pace his innings and with that anchor the batting efforts of the Sunrisers who have missed stability in the middle. However, bringing back Williamson would mean giving up on either Jonny Bairstow or Jason Holder— both of whom can bring substantial match-winning performances on their own. Another puzzle the Sunrisers will have to deal with will be the issue of Wrridhiman Saha who has looked clearly out of touch. The Sunrisers can ask Bairstow to open the batting with Warner and replace Saha with Abhishek Sharma that will also strengthen the spin department that has been bare except for the quality of Rashid Khan. Strongest XI David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Abdul Samad, Vijay Shankar, Jason Holder, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Shahbaz Nadeem MI vs SRH: Dream XI/fantasy XI Jonny Bairstow, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar Captain: Suryakumar Yadav Vice-captain: Abdul Samad

Harmanpreet Kaur tests negative for COVID-19

Indian women’s T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur has recovered from COVID-19. The right-hander batter made the announcement in a tweet. “Happy to inform you all that I have tested -ve & I’m feeling better. My only message to y’all is to take care & be extra careful,” Harmanpreet tweeted. “The virus is real & it’s dangerous. Follow all the protocols set up by the authorities.Wishing strength to the ones who are in the middle of the fight,” she added. Kaur had earlier tested positive for the virus and was experiencing some symptoms. She got herself tested after having mild fever. A source close to the cricketer told PTI that she is got tested herself and the result of the tests came out to be positive then. “She is self-isolating at home. She got tested yesterday and the report came positive today morning. She had mild fever since four days so thought it was best to get tested. She is doing fine otherwise and should recover soon,” a source close to the player told PTI. “She was getting tested regularly during the South Africa series so she must have caught the virus after that only,” the source added. She had missed the T20I series against South Africa at home and has played 114 matches in the shorter format scoring 2186 runs. She has also been an important part of the ODI setup and has represented India in 104 matches where she has notched up 2532 runs.