I have fulfilled my dream: Avesh Khan on picking up MS Dhoni's wicket

IPL 2021: Zaheer Khan reveals why Hardik Pandya didn't bowl against RCB

Defending champions Mumbai Indians narrowly lost their opening encounter against the Royal Challengers Bangalore and it had to boil down to the fact that captain Rohit Sharma was handcuffed and despite having Hardik Pandya in the XI, he didn’t had the leverage to bowl him. Despite Rahul Chahar and Trent Boult going for runs, he had to stick with only five options which hindered MI’s chances in the end. More than a tactical blunder, opening batsman Chris Lynn felt that the defeat was largely due to executional errors. Meanwhile it must be noted that Hardik didn’t look in the best of shapes while fielding and had to settle with two underarm throws from the deep which clearly suggested a niggle in the shoulders. Hardik bowled consistently during the T20I series against England and only bowled in the final match during the ODI series. Meanwhile MI’s Director of Cricket Operations, Zaheer Khan clarified that not bowling Hardik was part of the workload management. "Hardik, as a whole package, is always of great value," MI's Director of Cricket operations, Zaheer Khan, said. "It was a workload related thing in the previous game. He bowled nine overs in the England series. In consultation with the physio, we had to take that approach. There was a little bit of a shoulder concern but it is not worrisome. You will see him bowl very soon. The timeline you will have to ask the physio. In terms of Hardik the bowler coming in this tournament, we are confident that he will be chipping in with the ball in his hand as well." Zaheer also added the fact that Rohit has some options up his repertoire. Kieron Pollard will be used as an all-rounder as the tournament progresses and Hardik will also bowl whenever he is available and feels that he can chip in. "Pollard is our sixth bowling option," he mentioned. "He is consistent, he is an experienced campaigner. "Whenever Hardik is available, he will start bowling, he will be our bowling option as well. In that department, we are not very concerned. You have to just adapt and adjust. This year's format is a different format. So from that point of view, we need to have that adaptability and flexibility around the squad as well, with not playing in your home grounds, which is what we accept and plan accordingly for the season ahead." Quinton de Kock who missed the opening encounter as he was in quarantine will be back for the next encounter against the Kolkata Knight Riders. They will definitely have a selection headache especially given the fact that Lynn looked in good touch during the opening encounter and feel short of a well-deserved half-century by just a solitary run. "We will take the decision closer to the game," Zaheer said. "Lynn is a pro. You've seen his press conference and his dressing room chat as well. He is a good character to have around the dressing room, joking about everything. He was jokingly saying that "am I going to get the next game or no? As professional athletes you have to be prepared, you have to align yourself with how the team management is thinking. Communication is going to be the key. So on the communication part, we are going to be clear. When you're part of a good team, a champion side, you have to wait for your opportunities and that's something that the whole group is aware of. "We are very excited with Marco as well. When you see a youngster like Marco going out there and making an impact. We have all been there, in our first games, it is a big occasion. Now he has managed to relax because he made a good comeback in that game." MI have started off their IPL 14 campaign in Chennai against the RCB. They will play four more matches here before shifting their base to Delhi for the next four games.

We have a very destructive batting unit: Eoin Morgan

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Eoin Morgan has said that the Kolkata team has a destructive batting line up. The KKR youngsters Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi took on the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers in their opening match on Sunday and hammered them all around to park to help the side post 187/6 in 20 overs. "One of the many strengths we have within our squad is two of the most talented guys in the country opening the batting for us," Morgan said at the post-match virtual media conference. Hailing Tripathi’s batting, Morgan said that the right-handed batsman played beautifully while also put weight behind wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik and all-rounder Andre Russell’s batting abilities. "Tripathi today at No. 3 played beautifully, and the middle-order we have is extremely versatile. When Dinesh plays like that or Andre plays the game he can play, you're going to see a very destructive batting unit that has potential to win you matches." Talking about Rana and his performance in the opening match, the skipper said that the left-handed batsman’s aggressive stroke play helped the side to post a good total. "He played really aggressively and always took a positive option, which really did set up our batting innings,” Morgan said. KKR restricted SRH to 177/5 eventually to win the match by 10 runs. They will now play MI in Chennai on Tuesday.

IPL 2021: Playing spin is in my blood says Nitish Rana after match-winning performance

It was a perfect start for the Kolkata Knight Riders in their Vivo IPL 14 campaign as they eased past Sunrisers Hyderabad by 10 runs on the back of some exceptional batting from Nitish Rana and a good bowling effort by the majority of the bowlers. Rana scored a magnificent 80 of just 56 deliveries which were studded with 9 fours and 4 sixes. He looked in ominous touch and it was his brilliant knock that set the foundation for a big score of 187 runs. A total of 187 on that surface was always going to be a tough task for the opposition. The southpaw won the Man of the Match Award for his knock and revealed that he just backed his instincts and it came out well today. Opening the innings with Shubman Gill, the duo shared a 52 runs stand before the dismissal of Gill but Rana continued and started taking the SRH bowlers part. He was eventually dismissed by Mohammad Nabi in the 18th over but by then he had laid a foundation for a big score. The start was quite dramatic as Rana smashed Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a boundary through the cover region in the very first ball of the match. He wasn’t to the pitch of the ball but let his hands do the talking. Relieving his knock at the post-match presentation ceremony, Rana said that he tried to hit boundaries whenever he got an opportunity. “I thought the ball was in my slot so I went for it and luckily got four off my first ball. In my mind there's only one thing: play my shots if the ball is there. I was backing myself and looking to hit balls. I’ve been playing spin since childhood, so in a way, it’s in my blood,” said Rana. KKR won the opening encounter quite convincingly in the end by 10 runs. A good partnership between Jonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey wasn’t enough as the KKR bowlers held their nerves and bagged wickets at crucial junctures of the match which didn’t allow SRH to chase the target down. Manish Pandey stayed there till the end but didn’t manage to get his side over the finishing line.

Sanjay Manjrekar decodes the reasons behind Ashwin's struggles in white-ball cricket

Premier Indian spinner in the longest format, Ravichandran Ashwin has been out of the Indian limited-overs set-up since the series against West Indies back in 2017. Despite his impressive returns in the Indian Premier League (IPL) he hasn’t quite managed to break his way into the national side. With the Indian spinners going for plenty during the limited-overs series against England, many pundits have expressed their views of bringing back Ashwin in the scheme of things for limited-overs cricket. Ashwin had a great time with the ball during the tour Down-Under where he picked 12 wickets in 3 matches. His wicket tally of 32 in 4 matches against England at home paved way for a 3-1 series victory. However, his consistent performances in Tests weren’t enough to force his way back into the limited-overs team. Ashwin started off his IPL 14 campaign in a disappointing fashion. He ended up conceding 47 runs in 4 overs besides bagging a solitary wicket. Meanwhile, former Indian batsman turned commentator, Sanjay Manjrekar tried to break down as to why Ashwin was having a tough time in white-ball cricket. "For Amit Mishra, there isn't much change in how he bowls in Test and T20 cricket. He sticks to his strength and his intent is to get the ball to turn. Ashwin doesn't bowl the off-spinner. He hardly bowls the off-spinner in white-ball cricket," Manjrekar said. "In Test matches, that's his main delivery. In white-ball cricket, there's a lot of other stuff, the pause and the round-arm delivery and stuff like that which I don't really like too much," he added. "I think Ashwin when he gets into this white-ball circle, he's only thinking about not getting hit and he thinks the only way to escape punishment is to have all these kinds of variations and he goes away from his main strength which is him being this wonderful off-spinner. "So in return, you don't get much return off the pitch because he's not bowling any turning deliveries," Manjrekar added. "It wasn't a case of Ashwin bowling badly. I think both Raina and Moeen played some superb shots that put him off his length, they hit the good balls for sixes. "But this is the thing with Ashwin that we saw in the first game... a lot of people believe that he should be part of the white-ball format for India but the Ashwin that you see in Test matches is not who you see in white-ball cricket," Manjrekar concluded. With the Indian spin department coming under a bit of stick in the last few months, it will be interesting to see whether he is brought back to the Indian squad ahead of the T20 World Cup. While wrists spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have leaked runs, Ashwin’s inclusion might solve a few problems lingering in the mind of Kohli and Co.