Chennai pitches difficult but not unplayable: Mahela Jayawardene

Super King Sam Curran relishing another fantastic fight against Royals after win over Punjab Kings

The Chennai Super Kings bounced back strongly after the loss in their opening game of the season against the Delhi Capitlas with a resounding win over the Punjab Kings. Their opponent in the next game— Rajasthan Royals too will be coming off an impressive win over the Delhi Capitals and Super Kings all-rounder Sam Curran is expecting another fantastic game when the two dies will meet on Monday night. He said that the CSK won their last game on the back of a complete team performance where the bowler led by Deepak Chahar bowled exceedingly well to contain Punjab Kings to 107 and followed by the batting group not allowing them to get back in the game. “Looking ahead to Rajasthan, I think it will be a fantastic game. We got a great team and win in the last game and they also won their last game as well and so, it will be another great..fantastic game,” Curran said in a video posted by the franchise on its Twitter timeline. “The game against the Punjab Kings was obviously a game where we showed how good a team we are. Deepak started off the game beautifully and the whole bowling group bowled fantastically well to restrict them to 107.” Curran spoke very highly of Chahar who started with a bang and wiped out the top order of the Punjab Kings with the wickets of Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle and Deepak Hooda. Chahar finished with an astounding figure of 13/4 wickets from his quota of four overs. “The second game showed why he is such a good bowler. Taking the wickets of mayank, gayle and hood as well. Fantastic four wickets for 17 runs is a great achievement. He showed some skills and hopefully, will be able to get some confidence and also give the team some confidence going into the next match against Rajasthan,” Curran added. In the last eight matches played between them, no team has held an edge over the other and won four games each. The yellow brigade was taken to the cleaner by the Royals on both the occasion they met last year and hence the Super Kings will be eager to settle the score come Monday, April 19.

Waqar Younis to travel to Australia to be with his wife

Pakistan bowling coach Waqar Younis is set to leave the tour of Zimbabwe midway and travel to Australia to be with his wife who is slated to undergo surgery. The former fast bowler who is one of the finest pacers of all time is currently in Zimbabwe with the Pakistan squad. The Men in Green is scheduled to play three T20I’s and two Tests against the African minnows starting from 21st April. The recent development was announced by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday afternoon during a press release. It stated that the former speedster will be leaving for Australia during the latter half of the day. As per reports in the Pakistan local media, it is learnt that the surgery is slated to take place after Ramzan. However, Waqar Younis is leaving a bit early as he has to abide by the mandatory 14-day quarantine period after reaching Australia. The recent protocol in Australia says that a 14-day quarantine period is a must for anyone coming to this country in order to curb the COVID-19 surge.

Hardik Pandya hasn't been bowling because of shoulder niggle: Mahela Jayawardene

Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene has revealed the reason as to why Hardik Pandya hasn’t been bowling during the matches. Pandya hasn’t been given the bowl due to the shoulder niggle that he picked up during the series against England at home. “…we were looking forward for him to be bowling this season… he was coming back from an injury already, but after those matches against England, the last ODI, I believe he picked up niggle, so that is something that we are nursing at the moment,” Jayawardene said during a virtual press-conference. The former Sri Lanka captain suggested that the team management wants Hardik to be fully fit to bowl. “We don’t want to risk it, because it is important that we make sure that he (Hardik) is in a position to comfortably come in and bowl,” Mahela said. The Mumbai Indians have won two out of the three matches that they have played so far and are placed at number three spot in the points table. They last defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai after defending a total of 150 runs in 20 overs. SRH started the chase in a decent manner after openers Jonny Bairstow and David Warner provided them with a steady start as the two batsmen out 67 on the board for first wicket in the 8th over. But Bairstow’s departure for 43 saw a fall of wickets at regular succession and the Hyderabad-based franchise were soon reduced to 130/7 before getting bundled out for 137 to lose the match by 13 runs. Trent Boult and Rahul Chahar picked up three wickets apiece during the course. MI will now lock horns with Delhi Capitals on Tuesday in Chennai.

AB de Villiers recapitulates his intentions of playing in the T20 World Cup

One of the modern greats of the game, AB de Villiers has again expressed his desire to be part of the South African national team in the upcoming T20 World Cup slated to be played in India later this year (October-November). AB de Villiers has been in stupendous form in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League. Having last played professional cricket in the 2020 IPL, De Villiers never looked like playing after so many months. Yet again he proved that why he is one of the finest batsmen of all time. Over the years ABD has been an integral part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore set-up. On Sunday De Villiers smashed his way to a match-winning 76 of a mere 34 deliveries on a relatively difficult Chennai pitch. Riding on his special knock, RCB posted a mammoth total on the board and in the end, the score of 204 proved to be way too much. Following his exceptional knock, ABD confirmed that he will be having some discussion with his former teammate and the current national head coach Mark Bouncer on his chances for the T20 World Cup in India. "I haven't had a discussion with Bouchy (Mark Boucher) yet. We are lined up to have a chat somewhere during the IPL but yes we have been talking about it," de Villiers said. "Last year, he asked me if I would be interested. And I said, 'absolutely'. And come the end of the IPL, we will have a look at where we are at with regards to my form and my fitness. "Also, the situation with his team - he's got to look at his guys who have been performing well over the last while," he noted. "If there's no space for me, so be it. If I can slot in there, it will be fantastic if all those things fall in place. Waiting for Bouchy towards the end of the IPL, and we will then plan accordingly." AB de Villiers suddenly announced his retirement from international cricket in 2018 but he had made his intentions clear that he wanted to feature in the 2019 ODI World Cup in England. However, the team management and the selectors agreed in unison that it was too late to add ABD in the squad. De Villiers were earlier criticised for picking and choosing series and that might have played a role in his request being not accepted. Meanwhile, Boucher had confirmed during the South Africa-Pakistan series that he had had a word with De Villiers before he left for the IPL. "The conversation is still very open," Boucher had said. "AB being the person he is, he wanted to perform very well at the IPL to prove to himself and everyone else that he's still a key figure in world cricket and can dominate at that level. I said to him, 'You go do your thing and I'll give you a shout towards the end of the IPL and see where you are,” Boucher said.