Explosive but responsible Ishan Kishan earns high praise from skipper Virat Kohli

Shai Hope becomes first player to hit six consecutive fifty-plus scores against one nation in ODIs

West Indian wicket-keeper batsman Shai Hope has become the first man in history to hit six consecutive fifty-plus scores against one nation in the history of One Day Cricket. All his fifty-plus scores in the last six games have come against Sri Lanka, albeit the duration between the first and last three is more than one year. This rare feat was achieved by Hope while batting in the last of the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, being held at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound Antigua. Hope, who scored a match-winning century (110 of 133) in the first game, followed it up with a half-century (84) in the second one and 64 in the last. The only player to have hit more than six consecutive 50 plus score is Javed Miandad of Pakistan. He has nine consecutive fifty-plus scores to his name. With this sixth consecutive fifty-plus score, Hope also joins the West Indian club of legendary openers Sir Gordon Greenidge and Chris Gayle. Prior to this series, the last series that the Bajan played was against Sri Lanka only, in February, just before the global Lockdown due to Pandemic. Hope, 27, missed the only other ODI series of West Indies, which was against Bangladesh. In the last series, Hope hit one century and two fifties as well, although all of them came in a losing cause. In his 81 matches old ODI career, Hope has been one of the best batsmen that the world has seen, scoring 3547 runs at an average of more than 53 and a strike rate of more than 74. The right-hander has so far hit 10 centuries and 19 fifties in his career. West Indies, chasing a target of 275, were 149-3 at the end of 32 overs at the time of writing this piece. The last game is inconsequential in the sense that having won the first two matches, the Men in maroon have already acquired an unassailable lead of 2-0.

Ishan Kishan rules Twitter after emphatic India debut

Mumbai Indians enigma Ishan Kishan made his India debut with a bold statement, scoring a brilliant 32 ball 56 and bagging the Man of the Match award in a match in which Virat Kohli also scored a fifty and compiled more runs than him. The Jharkhand skipper was hailed by all, especially former and current India cricketers for his heroics which helped Team India draw level (1-1) in the five-match T20I series against England. Kishan, 22, opened the innings and did not lose his cool even as more accomplished KL Rahul was removed for a nought at the other end. Batting with skipper Kohli, the Nalanda born stole the show and was the centre of attraction as long as he remained on the ground. In total, the former India Under-19 hit four sixes and five scoring 78.5% of his 56 runs in boundaries. It was nothing less than a dream debut for Kishan who scored with a thundering strike rate of 175. Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony he said, “It's not easy to come and play your first game against a quality side. I was disappointed with the fact that I didn't finish the game. I don't know if I'm gonna get this feeling again, but really proud and happy and I want to thank all my coaches, seniors and everyone who helped me get here.” The Jharkhand lad also got an emotional saying, “My coach's Dad passed away a few days back and this innings was for him. I wanted to prove myself because he said you have to score at least fifty for my Dad. So I want to dedicate this award to him.”

IND vs ENG| 2nd T20I: Box office Ishan Kishan, bowlers script another come back for hosts

Undergoing a complete course correction after a dismal show in the last game as per a script that must have been a familiar one by now, India bounced back to level the series in Ahmedabad. First, the bowlers did a stellar job of containing England to a score substantially lower than the tourists’ standard, and then they were outplayed with the bat on the back of magnificent innings from Ishan Kishan and Virat Kohli. Kishan was adjudged Player of the Match for his blazing innings to set up the chase for India. Kohli made a remarkable comeback with the bat after an unlike him innings in the lats game. He was calculative and played his role of anchoring the chase perfectly. In the end, he finished the game for the hosts in a fitting fashion and personally became the first batsmen to go past the 3000 runs mark in the T20s. Having suffered due to a sluggish display of batting at the top of the order in the last game, Kohli finally walked away from the set pattern of playing reliable players and handed Ishan Kishan a debut as an opener in place of Shikhar Dhawan. Kishan had hit the most number of sixes in the last edition of the IPL, and hence all players and spectators present at the ground and watching on Star must have been waiting for the balls to go beyond the boundary lines regularly. The left-hander started his career with a gift on the leg side of Archer who could not replicate his hostility and venom from the last game. Both Kohli and he managed to get India going after the early loss of KL Rahul who has gone two matches without making runs and showing signs of being in good touch—a vital aspect of his T20 batting career. At the end of the fifth over, India could muster only 34 runs with Kohli batting at a better strike rate than Kishan. However, the mutual inflexion point for both Kishan and India was very closer as Tom Curran got ready to replace Mark Wood with the ball after replacing him from the team sheet. The very first ball was belted over long-on to make a resounding statement which was followed by a display of his range of shot-making as Curran was left confused what was the lines to attack the lefty from Jharkhand. Kohli’s delight after every aggressive shot from Kishan showed how badly India are in search of the end of their struggle with intent and the run rate at the top of the order. Specifically, from lessons of the last game and his long days in an international career, he knows the methods adopted by Kishan is drought with high risk, but batsmen have to wear those risks on his sleeves for India to boss the shortest format at the international stage, and hence his kind words and public ratification were symbolically imperative. Looking at the game slipping away from England’s grasp Morgan called upon his talisman Ben Stokes to weave his magic around. He almost won the battle, but unluckily ended up earning merely a moral victory when Kohli got a leading edge in an attempt to hit him over the top on the leg side and the ball to Stokes and Morgan’s dismay carried over the third man boundary. Kishan dismissed him once more in his very first over square leg to send England a clear signal of being nerveless on his debut at the big stage. It was not to be Stokes’ day at Motera and it was evident in the very next over when he spilt an easy chance to redeem himself and bring England back in the game against Adil Rashid. Morgan held back Rashid due to Kishan’s presence at the top of the order in a sign of playing matchups with opposition players, but the leg spinner had to come at some stage and the task of containing the left-hander remained when he as brought on to bowl in the eighth over. Kishan greeted him with a thumping slog-sweep before mishitting a flatter delivery to Stokes at long-on only to leave Stokes bemused at the drop of one of the easiest catches he has been offered in his career. There was no looking back from Kishan after that and he made sure to make it big on debut with back to back sixes off Rashid in his next over. He reached his fifty in 28 balls, but the hunger to strike big against the leg spinner resulted in him walking away caught in front of the wicket. Pant’s promotion to number four continued in the second game and it is appearing the think tank is giving him the longer rope and license to go for the kill while he is in red hot form. He started with a bang like in the last game and launched offensives on Chris Jordan over the off side. He could not get a big score, but his innings with a strike rate of better than 200 runs per 100 balls was a significant show of intent from the Indian team. By the time Pant left, the men in blue with the bat in hand had already made a light work of the England total, and Virat Kohli— the chase master was batting in supreme control to allow England any chance of sneaking their way back in the game. He batted with amazing precision and apart from a mis-hit off stokes and a dropped catch from Buttler, he looked as solid as ever and established his prowess in the T20s with some majestic shots that included a straight drive for six off Curran which was reminiscent of his best in the white-ball formats. In the end, two magical boundaries off his troublemaker from the last game—Archer sealed the game and handed India a series-leveller game. It was a perfect outing for Virat Kohli, the captain as well, and it began with him winning the toss. He was happy to bowl first after seeing England batsmen enjoying batter pitch in the second innings of the last game. He called up two debutants in the team and dropped an all-rounder to bring more depth to the batting department. He took a big punt on Hardik Pandya’s bowling fitness and played only five bowlers. An off day for either of them, or any injury concerns would have made everything awry for India and him, but bowlers had their eyes on bringing tier best game after a loss in the last game where they appeared toothless. Bhuvneshwar Kumar showed good rhythm and tasted success in his very first over in the form of Jos Buttler, who departed on the very first ball to send India in delight. There was no change in Jason Roy’s mood and he kept on his merry way of batting with an absolute dismissive attitude. However, he could not find regular boundaries and England were squeezed at only 44 runs at the end of the powerplay. Desperate for runs, they went after Yuzvendra Chahal right after the field restriction was lifted but their efforts did not bear fruit in the leg spinner’s first over. To make matters worse, Malan who has been one of England’s flag bearer in the shortest format perished in the desperation of big shots against Chahal while Roy’s tiff with the leg spinner continued for some more time as reverse sweep started flowing from his bat. Kohli went back to the strategy of bowling Washington Sundar in the powerplay which has been his strength in the T20 format. He had an astonishing economy rate of 5.7 runs coming into this game and along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had as good an economy rate of 6.74 runs per over, formed a lethal combination with the new ball to choke the Englishmen out on Sunday night at Motera. Sundar reaped the rewards of tight bowling in the powerplay in his second spell when Roy got so itchy about not being able to hit boundaries and once again he combined with his new-ball partner Bhuvneshwar to bring about the downfall of the English opener. On 97/3 at the end of the 12th over, England needed some impetus to get going against spinners and possible for that reason, Morgan promoted himself up the order ahead of Stokes to take the game to Indian spinners. On cue, he started with a splendid inside out against Sundar. At the other end, Bairstow was looking to launch Washington as well, but the off-spinner was too clever for his desperation. The off-spinner showed signs of maturity and slowed down the pace and took the line of attack away from him, having understood the right-hander was going for big shots every ball. A slower-paced and dragged ball resulted in Bairstow top-edging the ball to allow the debutant Suryakumar Yadav to come in the game, even before he could come to bat. From the other end, Shardul was carrying on with good work, but a mixture of misfortune and class of England batsmen were making his bowling figure worse than he bowled on the night. However, the spells of misfortunes did not last long and he came back to dismiss both Morgan and Stokes late in the innings to obliterate any chance of England posting an above-par total to put a longish Indian batting order under real pressure. Morgan would have realised it too that India come back stronger when they face a big defeat and hence the stakes have gone higher in the series which appeared titled in the favour of England based on their track record in the format and clear-headed approach of domination. Virat Kohli showed some ominous signs for the opposition camp as well with the move of batting with ‘freedom’ and ‘intensity’ finally paying off in the second T20 of the series. England’s domination in the first game and an equally powerful comeback from India in the second game augur well for the remaining three T20Is of the series which will be contested while both sides will have their eyes on getting their priorities right for the elephant in the room in the form of World T20 scheduled for later this year.

IPL 2022 to have 10 teams competing for the trophy: Reports

The Indian Premier League might have 10 teams starting from the 2022 season with the auction for the remaining two teams taking place in May this year. If sources are to be believed, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s top brass including those from the IPL Governing Council held a meeting on Saturday, 13th March and decided to pursue this idea. "The 10 team IPL will roll on from next year and the bidding process and finalisation of the new franchises will be completed by the month of May this year," PTI quoted a senior BCCI source on conditions of anonymity. Once the bidding process is done in May 2021, the teams will then have a lot of time at hands before the mega IPL auction, which would most probably take place in January 2022. "Once the teams are finalised, they can start their operational work which takes considerable time," the source further added, making it clear that the development is very much on the cards. The 2021 edition of the IPL would begin on April 9 with the opening fixture between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.