IPL 2020: Chris Gayle fined for flinging bat after being dismissed for 99

IPL 2020 | RR vs KXIP: Rajasthan alive and kicking courtesy Stokes, Samson

Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson, some rotten luck and a lot of dew cast a shadow on Kings XI Punjab's fairytale as Rajasthan Royals brave-hearted a 186-run chase in the 50th clash of the Indian Premier League. Chris Gayle's six-studded 99 didn't bear fruit as KXIP now rest at the mercy of fellow contenders, their five-match winning streak now vanquished. Given the NRR dynamic, tonight's victory will keep RR in fine fettle for a berth in the eliminators.

IPL: Chris Gayle hits 1,000 T20 sixes, marches miles ahead of the rest

Chris Gayle is arguably the best batsmen to have ever played in the T20 format and he added yet another feather to his cap by hitting 1,000 sixes in the T20 formats across international and franchise cricket. He has now become the world's first batsman to achieve the milestone and has an unmatched lead over other prolific six hitters in world cricket. He is followed by Kieron Pollard who has 690 sixes to his name and Brendon McCullum with 485 sixes. He also possesses the record for the leading run-scorer in the format, having amassed 13,572 runs, out of which 10,170 runs have come only through sixes and fours. He is miles ahead of other batsmen on the list of leading run-scorers such as Kieron Pollard who has 10,425 runs to his name, followed by Shoaib Malik with 10,145 runs and Brendon McCullum with 9,922 runs. Gayle achieved the feat in tonight’s match between the Kings XI Punjab and the Rajasthan Royals where he was at his absolute best and batted with full authority to take the Kings XI Punjab to a fighting total. Gayle finished after a searing yorker finished his inning one short of a spectacular century. Albeit Gayle achieved a truly remarkable feat of 1,000 sixes but he was denied the chance to set another record of being the oldest player to score a T20 century. He was threatening to beat Paul Collingwood's record of scoring a century in the cricket’s shortest format at the age of 41 years, 65 days. He showed his emotions after getting dismissed on 99 by Archer and threw his bat away. However, he was not violating the spirit of the game and shook hands with Archer to calm the nerves on the field.

IPL 2020 | RCB vs SRH: Match Preview, Predicted XI & Dream11 Fantasy Picks

As the tournament is coming near to its climax, the road to the playoffs is getting more interesting and exciting. The next game in the league between the two Deccan rivals will be an ultimate clash as both the teams would be looking to enter the playoffs. While Sunrisers would be looking to gain another two points to boost their chances of qualifying, RCB would be looking to straightway enter the Playoffs with a win. SRH’s balance looking solid The Hyderabad team for the first time looked balance as they played both David Warner and Kane Williamson in one game and at the same time had an all-rounder in Jason Holder as well. Along with this, they preferred to play an extra spinner with Rashid Khan in the form of Shahbaz Nadeem. With Wridhiman Saha opening the innings, the scope playing Vijay Shankar and Holder down the order as specialist finishers also make the team look dangerous in the death. Worrying signs for RCB as it starts looking like the old self The Royal Challengers Bangalore have started to falter at the business end of the tournament, giving signs that it is getting back to its much-known version of choking at the important phases. In the last two games, it lost to Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians by huge margins. The team hasn’t found the solution of how to beat in the death if either de Villiers or Kohli get out and neither do they have a solution on how to bowl in the death if two set batsmen are batting. In Washington Sunder and Yuzvendra Chahal, they have two very good spinners no doubt, but they are rendered useless if the fast bowlers don’t capitalize on the players built by their economical spells. Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Sunrisers Hyderabad: Details Match Number- 52 Date: 30th October 2020, at 7:30 PM IST, 06:00 PM Local, 2.00 PM GMT Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Broadcast: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch Report The pitches all across the UAE have behaved in identical ways but in two phases. While in the first phase it was about high scores in the first innings and then the chasing team being unable to cross that in most cases. In the second phase, it has been about low scores in the first innings with dry pitches helping spinners and the dew helping the chasing team to cap off a win. Weather and Toss The weather in Sharjah would be good for cricket as humidity will be low and dew would be high, helping the chasing team. Also, the fact that the ground is too small, dew really becomes a huge factor. In such a scenario, the team winning the toss would look to bowl first. Team News Royal Challengers Bangalore The team is in dire need of changes. There is no clue as to why a winning combination in which Isuru Udana played the role of good fast bowlers and a lower-order hitter. Instead of playing him, the idea to play Moeen Ali or Dale Steyn could still not be fathomed by many. So the changes that can be seen in the next game are Udana coming into the team in place of Steyn. Expected XI Josh Philippe, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Washington Sundar, Isuru Udana, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal Sunrisers Hyderabad The Hyderabadis look all settled finally and hence disturbing that combination would not be considered ideal. Left-arm spinner and leg spinner are the way to go against the likes of de Villiers and Kohli. Expected XI David Warner (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Vijay Shankar, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Sunrisers Hyderabad Dream 11 and team suggestions David Warner (c), Devdutt Padikkal (vc), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Washington Sundar, Rashid Khan, T Natarajan, Isuru Udana Captain: David Warner Vice-captain: Devdutt Padikkal

Aakash Chopra draws analogy to defend KL Rahul's place in Indian Test team

The selection of KL Rahul into the Indian Test team for the tour of Australia has not gone too well for some fans and experts and like all the issues of nowadays, it has polarized the cricketing world too. His selection has been termed as prioritizing IPL performances and overlooking recent records in the longest format by his critics while the others have supported the move by the selectors to back Rahul’s pedigree on a supposedly tough tour of Australia. Analysts finding his selection correct are justifying the selectors' position by taking factors such as the experience of Rahul who has been on two tours of Australia in the past and the absence of Rohit Sharma from the squad but few like Aakash Chopra has some direct and rational anecdotes to justify Rahul's place in the squad to take on Australia. In a column written for the ESPNcricinfo, Aakash Chopra has argued the move taken by the Sunil Joshi-led selection panel is a right one because KL Rahul is a special player and that he needs to be invested upon like the selectors have been doing with other players such as Virender Shewag, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli who went on to become the undisputed legends of the modern-day cricket. Recalling a similar time before the tour of Australia in 2007-08, Aakash Chopra wrote that he along with Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Jaffer were included in the 21- member provisional squad for the tour and it was certain that one of him or Gautam Gambhir would take the flight to Australia as the second opener as Virender Sehwag was out of favour following his dismal show with the bat in a year leading up that time. An effort to regain form and knock selectors’ gate also failed as Sehwag could not get going in a couple of matches before the squad was to be finalised. Outlining the honesty and pragmatism of Virender Sehwag, Chopra wrote that the opener stepped up to the selectors and asked for his omission from the tour as he was not feeling good about his form. Interestingly, Chopra pointed out that the selection committee in consultation decided to back Sehwag for the tour only for him to not look back again as he cemented his position on the back of a dismissive hundred in Adelaide in the fourth match of the series. Chopra also drew the comparison to the amount of backing Rohit Sharma got after failing as a middle-order batsman in the Indian team and the level of confidence that was shown on Virat Kohli after a disastrous England tour in 2014 to justify the selection of KL Rahul in the Test team for Australia and said that there are many instances that prove special players need investment to blossom and KL Rahul is indeed special in Chopra’s eyes. Notably, KL Rahul has been in a top-notch form in the white-ball games both for India and the Kings XI Punjab in the last 18 months and it was a tempting option for the selectors to not waste his good form on the tour of Australia. Rahul is way ahead of the race for the Orange Cup in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League with 595 runs from 12 games. He has also shown admirable leadership qualities by leading the team to five wins on the trot that revived the Kings XI Punjab’s journey in the IPL 2020 and he has been rewarded for that quality as the selectors have made the Vice-captain the limited over the side for the tour of Australia in the absence of Rohit Sharma.