IPL 2020 | KKR vs RR: Morgan, Cummins ace KKR's last chance saloon

KXIP vs CSK: Hits and Flops as Super Kings thrash Kings XI out of IPL 2020

The Kings XI Punjab were always fighting a hard battle where one or two bad performances could knock them out of the ground while the best of performances would have kept in the hunt for the top four spots on the points table. On the day when it was all or nothing for the Kings, they were made to look like mediocre sides which floundered the strategies in crunch situations and could not quite make advancement from the situations when they were dominating the game. Here we have rated the best and the worst of the performances from both sides. Hits Ruturaj Gaikwad Ruturaj Gaikwad has seen probably all what a player or any individual can see in their lives in just one season and when the team demanded him to hit the hard yards after a series of abysmal shows from the seasoned pros, Gaikwad was not to miss out on the opportunities. MS Dhoni had backed the experience of Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis in the early part of the tournament and asked Gaikwad to bat in the middle order. He showed the signs of a fish taken out of deep water as he looked dazed and asphyxiated with the responsibility of increasing the tempo after slow starts by the openers. On the day against the Kings XI Punjab, the Chennai Super Kings needed someone with a clear head and sound temperament to steer the chase while du Plessis was going bonkers at the other end. Gaikwad once again played a match-winning inning like the last two games where the Super Kings made resounding comebacks and came back only after taking the team over the line. The Super Kings have had a terrible season in 2020 but the emergence of Gaikwad will be a silver lining for their hopes of keeping the rich legacy of the franchise intact starting the next season of the IPL. Lungi Ngidi Lungi Ngidi has been a wicket-taker all this while in his short international and IPL career but his career has been impacted severely by a spell of injuries. His body was not ready at the start of the league and it showed up in his performances as the first two games of the season turned out to be bad dreams for him where he could not find his lengths and stick to the tactics laid out by the captain MS Dhoni. After those two games, MS Dhoni dropped him to bring the experience of Dwayne Bravo back into the playing XI. Nothing seemed to work for the Super Kings and MS Dhoni and the captain resorted back to playing the first-choice seamers with whom he started the campaign and Ngidi repaid the faith showcasing that he has the quality to lead the CSK’s bowling attack in the coming seasons and that few bad performances do not take away his credentials as a strike bowler. He was on the money straight away against the Kings XI as he picked up Mayank Agarwal inside the powerplay before he could take the game away from the Super Kings. Agarwal was looking in good touch and was hitting boundaries at will but Ngidi showed heart for experimentation and a cross-seam delivery found the inside edge of Agarwal bat. He proved too good for KL Rahul as well as the skipper facing a lot of criticism for slow batting looked to break the shackles and a slower delivery off Ngidi got the better of the Orange cap holder. Doing justice with his reputation of being a wicket-taker, Ngidi finished with an impressive 9 wickets in his bag from the four games he was trusted with but he would love to get the economy rate down from a very high level above 10. Ngidi is likely to be one of the mainstays of the CSK bowling lineup and he needs to develop into an all situation bowler to be a permanent member of the CSK’s playing XI. Deepak Hooda When Deepak Hooda walked out to bat in the 12th over of the innings, the Kings XI were staring at a sub-par score with the scoreboard reading 73/4. He took six balls to hit his boundary and it seemed that he broke the deadlock to never look back again in the innings. He put on a marvellous show of hitting the balls inside out over cover against both spinners and quicks and Ian Bishop was all praise for his classy batting where he seemed so much in control. Hooda unleashed his audacious shot-making in the 18th over when he could make out the line where Ngidi was planning to bowl and preempted the lengths superbly to take him over covers for two sixes of an over. Hooda came into the limelight when he used to finish games with power-hitting like he did today against the CSK for the Sunrisers but went off radar and has not a brilliant IPL so far this year but on the big day when all was at stake for the Kings XI, Hooda showed his capabilities to the team management and reminded them that he is the one for the future to finish the games in case the Kings XI want to plug that hole in the side. Flops KL Rahul KL Rahul is the leading run-scorer in the tournament and yet has been facing a lot of flack for the lack of intent he has shown in the batting. Critics have blamed him for caring too much about preserving his wicket and not providing the required impetus to the team that could propel the side to big, very big totals. He started in the same manner as he has been battling throughout the tournament but unlike other days, he started to accelerate a bit early. However, it was not his day as he was castled by a brilliant slower ball off Ngidi when he was just looking to time the ball behind square. He was out in the middle phase and the sound the ball made after hitting his stumps was more than a sound of a batsman getting bowled as it was also a death rattle for the Kings XI who were heavily reliant on the trio of KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and Chris Gayle to do the job with the bat. Rahul will walk away proud of his team for pulling out strong performances after being down and out after an initial phase of brilliance but at the same time, he would do well to realise that he as the batsman and also as the leader of the team slip away few moments that could have been won easily. Nicholas Pooran The Kings XI Punjab backed the young Caribbean to the hilt and he will have only himself to blame if the Kings XI Punjab will resist retaining him for the next season. He was wicked ahead of Chris Gayle in the playing XI in the initial phase of the tournament and while he gained a bit of form and momentum to lead the resurgence of the side, the day when the Kings needed all of the elements of the team to stand up tall, Pooran left the team in a lurch. Pooran was not dropped even for a single match and albeit his run tally shows not so bad figure of 353 runs, he will be the first one to acknowledge that he did not do justice to the chance and the trust that the team management showed in him. Both sides, the Kings XI Punjab and the Chennai Super Kings have finished their IPL 2020 journeys without making into the playoffs and both the team management will have a lot to ponder about before they hit the ground running for the preparation of the next IPL. The Chennai Super Kings will have to look for life beyond their star and ageing players while the Kings XI Punjab will have to look for different strategies to shape the side which is filled with youngsters into a world-beater side.

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

A virtual qualifier! Yes, the best term that can define the importance of this game. Both the teams, stuck at 14 points have the baggage of a series of huge losses on their back. The winner of this game will get into the Playoffs automatically while the loser would have to wait for the result of Tuesday’s game between Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Both the teams have had huge consecutive losses, while Delhi have lost four matches in a row, Bangalore have also been subjected to three continuous losses. In such a scenario, this match would not only give the second team in the Playoffs but also make sure that the losing streak of at least one of these teams is broken. DC needs to go back to the basics The Delhi Capitals seemed like the team which would win the league this year. They had everything going in their favour with bowlers like Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada hitting the deck well and the spinners in Axar Patel and Ravi Ashwin turning the ball and keeping the scoring rate of the opposition down. The batsmen in Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, and Marcus Stoinis were also hitting the ball well. Forget winning, now they are even struggling to get into the Playoffs. But how did that happen? Having won seven of their nine games, Delhi faced Kings XI Punjab and from there onwards, the derailing started. The batters lost the plot and the bowlers their rhythm. It so happened that once the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, Rabada has not been able to pick even a single wicket in his last two matches. The only way in which the Capitals can get back to winning ways is by going back to the basics. The openers need to apply themselves, without having a premeditated score in their mind. Either Stoinis or Iyer has to play till the end and give bowlers some good total to defend. Once a good total is set on the board, the bowlers would most likely defend it as well. Kohli needs to inspire his troops They say a captain is as good as his team. But there is also a term called ‘inspiring’ captain. Sometimes even a good team can fall flat if it's captain, on whom the faith of the entire team and management is placed, fails to get hold of the situation and falls out of form. Virat Kohli is not a normal player, neither a normal captain, he is someone who has always inspired his troops, be it through his performances or otherwise. This year, that seems to be lacking and he needs to bring his beastly best to rally his team for one final go at the opponents to get into the Playoffs. Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore: Details Match Number- 55 Date: 02 November 2020, at 7:30 PM IST, 06:00 PM Local, 2.00 PM GMT Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, Broadcast: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch Report The Abu Dhabi pitch as seen from the games played in the last week looks like heaven for the team bowling first. The bowl grips right from the start due to the sticky nature of the wicket. It swings as well and helps the pacers. In the second half, the weather plays its role and dew makes it difficult for the bowlers, especially spinners to grip the bowl. Weather and Toss There are no chances of rain and the wind would blow gently as well. Dew has made its presence in the tournament long back and its impact is getting heavier day after day. Expecting that it would have its impact in this game as well, the team winning the toss would choose to bowl first. Team News Delhi Capitals The Capitals have struggled with all combinations. They brought back Prithvi Shaw in the last game as well, but to no avail. The best way to go for them would be to bring back Axar Patel as he is handy with the bat as well. After this, they should go with the full strength of six batsmen and five bowlers. Rishabh Pant has been messy, but the Capitals have no choice as they have no other Indian keeper in the squad, therefore he would also remain part of the Playing XI. Expected XI Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Harshal Patel, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje Royal Challengers Bangalore The Bangalore team is also suffering from some really painful selection debacles, although they did bring back Isuru Udana for the last game. Gurkeerat Mann has been truly off-colour and needs to sit out. At his place, a strong finisher like Shivam Dube or Pawan Negi or even for that matter Shahbaz Ahmed needs to play. Expected XI Josh Philippe, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Isuru Udana, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore Dream 11 and team suggestions Josh Philippe (wk), Shikhar Dhawan (vc), Devdutt Padikkal (c), Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Marcus Stoinis, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Navdeep Saini, Anrich Nortje Captain: Devdutt Padikkal Vice-captain: Shikhar Dhawan

Argument: Making sense of controversial selection moves for tour of Australia

The international calendar is set to be back after a long Covid-break. With the Indian team locking horns against Australia later this month, it seems that the buzz and the controversies surrounding it have also returned. Much has been spoken about the selection of the Indian team for the series Down Under and the panel has come under intense scrutiny over their choices. The selection committee led by Sunil Josi met for the first time to select an Indian team and although they were not available for press interaction, there were enough takeaways from the squads that were picked for the ODIs, T20Is and the Test series. The selection process for the tour of Australia was tough and full of difficult choices for the selectors who had to pick a jumbo squad keeping in mind the tough protocols that the team will be imposed upon in Australia. They had the job of picking a side with players who promise to perform well in Australian conditions while also not overlooking veterans with experience on Australian soil which can look completely of opposite natures while batting and bowling (ask MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly). The squads were mixed with the names of players who picked themselves while the inclusion of some players also reignited the debate on issues such as the role of domestic First-Class cricket, performance in the IPL and influence of IPL performances on Test team selection. Here are the four major takeaways from the selection of squads for the Australian tour. The ascendency of KL Rahul to a leadership position The selectors have rewarded KL Rahul for his excellent performances with the bat and leadership qualities. This comes off the back of him leading the Kings Punjab back from the brink of elimination to their current position where the team is vying for a spot in the top four on the points table. He has been named as the vice-captain of the side while the usual deputy of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, is not in the squad due to an injury. The promotion emphasises the role that selectors see Rahul playing over the next few years as one of the wise men of the Indian team after the Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma era. He has been exquisite with his bat and stands way above the rest in the list of leading run-scorers in the ongoing season of the IPL. KL Rahul has been one of the most utility players for the Indian cricket team in the last 18 months or so. While his performances in Test cricket attracted criticism, his exploits in the white-ball formats have been phenomenal, to say the least. He is too good a player and was in such good form that the Virat Kohli-led team management could not ignore his prowess in the ODI series against New Zealand in March, earlier this year. The hits and misses of Rishabh Pant in the limited-overs series did blessings in disguise for the team as Virat Kohli got a window to play Rahul while his place in the team at the top of the order was not vacant at all. Rahul owned the place of a wicket-keeper batsman in the team on the back of towering performances in the white-ball series in New Zealand. Selectors would hope his shoulders will be fresh for the dual duty of donning the gloves and finishing the game for the sides in limited-overs games in Australia. Hardik Pandya, the specialist batsman has a long way to go Hardik Pandya has not played for India since September last year and in Test cricket, his appearances dating back to the tour of England in 2018. Pandya has had a history of injuries in the last two years and his body has not coped well with the demand that has arisen out of the talents he possesses as an all-rounder. He is no Ben Stokes by any stretch of the imagination, but for a nation like India which has been on the search for a pace-bowling all-rounder since forever, Pandya has been that light at the end of a long tunnel. However, his body has not quite been on terms with it and India had to do the hard yards of balancing the team in his absence in the last one year. A delayed IPL raised hope for the return of Hardik Pandya, the all-rounder in full flow but he has not bowled a single ball and the tournament is nearing its end. He has not lost his power and ball striking abilities and that would relieve the Indian management as he has been belting the balls to all part of the ground, but his role for the India team is deeper than few cameos here and there and whenever he is available for selection as an all-rounder, Kohli will want the reliance of 10 overs from him. By the looks of it, Pandya is not back with his all-round ability and the selectors too, have dropped a hint as to how they are flexible with Pandya’s role in the squad. Belligerence with the bat has earned him the place back in the white-ball squads while a Test return will test both his resolve and fitness. The selectors are not ready to trust either his fitness or the batting in the longest format of the game as he has not been named in the Test squad to take on Australia. He may or may not find a place in the playing XI in ODIs but he is capable enough in selectors’ views to deserve a place in the squad that shows his batting and the aggressive intent he brings with himself is valuable for the team in the shorter formats. FITNESS MATTERS IN SELECTION When Zaheer Khan had pulled up his hamstring on the first day of the tour to England in 2011, there were feelings of remorse among fans and frustrations among experts and analysts that how can an undercooked Zaheer find a place in the squad and it ignited the much-needed debate on the difference between being fit and ‘match fit.’ Fans were sulking and probably they were of the view that selectors had to pick Zaheer for his excellence with the Dukes ball and there was no one who could win the games and series for India with the ball other than Zaheer and his absence also proved that argument true. Fast forward to 2020, and Indian team is blessed with superb bowlers who have championed the art of seam and swing bowling over the course of past few years but Ishant Sharma who was once tamed as ‘unlucky’ to be not among wickets in the last decade has finally come of age and become the leader of the pack he promised to become in 2008 after that iconic spell to Ricky Ponting in Perth. Yes, India does have the luxury of varieties that Jasprit Bumrah brings and the seam movement that Mohammed Shami promises to offer but Ishant’s role has been immense. The fact that he has found a place in the playing XI on almost all the matches when the team toured overseas bears testament to the value he brings for the team as a bowler of all situations and for all pitches. Keeping all that in mind, selectors could have easily opted for Ishant Sharma’s availability in Australia would have banked upon him to regain fitness and play some role at any point of time in the Test series that anyway is scheduled to take place in December. But, selectors have made a tough call of not getting swayed by the value and reputation of players and their persona and have sent a strong signal to all the current and aspiring players that fitness is non-negotiable for the selection into the Indian team. The current crop of bowlers under the leadership of Virat Kohli are supremely fit and the policy of non-selection purely on the basis of the level of fitness and irrespective of the stature of players and their form is bearing fruit for the team. A note to Rishabh Pant-- promises alone won’t take you any further In his short international cricket career, Rishabh Pant has attained the reputation of being an enigma that Rohit Sharma had held for so long. After bursting onto the scene with flamboyance and unbelievable ball striking, if anyone had told Rishabh Pant and Indian cricket fans that he will cement his place in the Test team while losing the place in the T20Is and ODIs after almost two years, both Pant and fans would have burst out laughing. But the reality is as weird as it could have been for Pant as the left-handed batter has gone out of favour of the limited-overs squad to Australia. Selectors have banked on Sanju Samson to fill the gap in case of Rahul’s unavailability with the gloves while his consistency with the bat left Pant with no choice but to perform and pile on match-winning performances which did not arrive. The IPL 2020 alone may not have influenced selectors in overlooking the promises Pant had to offer in the last two years without delivering consistently but the fact that he has looked a shadow of the batsman he used to be in the previous editions of the IPL and the evidence of a cluttered mind may well have accentuated the selectors’ anxiety about him. Pant was brilliant with the bat on the last tour of Australia and it’s likely that he will be donning the gloves yet again, but more for his batting than his wicket-keeping and that is a sad aspect of modern Test cricket. Rishabh was tried in 27 T20Is but mere two fifties in 25 innings he played with an abysmal average of 20.5 and a fairly average strike rate of 122, Pant has no one but himself to blame for his exclusion from the limited-overs squad. His exclusion from the white-ball squads also suggests that selectors could not be influenced with performances in other formats while picking the team for another and that KL Rahul found a place in the Test team shows that selectors are willing to invest more on KL Rahul while putting Pant on an alert with exclusion from limited-overs team. The upcoming tour of Australia holds a special place for the BCCI and the Indian cricket fans and they would be hopeful for a similar return to that of the last tour. Virat Kohli will bank on batsmen to provide cushion to bowlers as they will be touring after a long and tiring IPL. The challenges for the Virat Kohli-led side will be monumental with Steve Smith and David Warner being all set to return for the Aussies and the bowlers will have to raise their game to go past the duo who have plummeted Indian bowlers to the ground on tours preceding the last one.

RCB vs SRH: What Experts said as Sunrisers expose chinks in Bangalore's armour

The Sunrisers Hyderabad outclassed the Royal Challengers Bangalore in avital clash on Saturday’s night to keep their campaign alive with 12 points from 13 games. On the other hand, the RCB have some tough questions to answer and now they will have to further for the game against the Delhi Capitals see ‘Q’ written beside them on the points table. Here we have compiled the expert opinions and captains’ view of the match where the RCB were no match to the class on display by the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Captains’ views The losing captain Virat Kohli pointed out the unexpected changes in the game conditions behind the failure of the team. He said that although the team had lowered their expectation and par total on the pitch, the team did fail to achieve that objective too. "It was never enough. We thought 140 might be a good total to get into the game, but things changed drastically, which we didn't predict. It is strange. We thought the weather became pleasant, and there won't be much dew,” Kohli said to the host broadcaster Star in the post-match interaction. He criticised batsmen for not showing enough courage to take the tem to a good position but did not run away from commending the opposition bowlers for bowling in right areas and making their life difficult. “I thought we were not brave enough with the bat throughout the innings. To be fair to them, they bowled in the right areas and used the pitch,” Kohli added. Kohli showed his outlook as the captain of the side which has lost its way in the last few matches and felt the heat of not qualifying (yet) even after strong performances and said that his men faced a simple equation of winning the last game and seeing the team in the top two. On the other hand, David Warner was all praise for his team which is showing the right attitude when facing the situation of needing to win all and against top teams of the tournament. He expressed disappointment at the loss of Vijay Shankar due to injury but showed satisfaction over finding a suitable combination to come up strong after the setback.”Coming here, needing to win against top teams, needing to win all to qualify. It is big. Losing Vijay is a big miss. For us, we worked out how to go about it. Right balance, right partnerships,” Warner said in the post-match presentation. Warner credited his bowlers for the success and said that the pitch was slowing quite a lot. He suggested that the bowlers have a job of adaptation and they can’t rely on a certain type of balls to get the better of batsmen. “All the credit today goes to the bowlers. The kind of wicket it is, it is slowing up quite a bit. The bowlers have to adapt. Can't just be yorkers, can't just be slowers. You have to hit the wicket. I was not surprised at all with the dew. When it is cooler here, it gets quite dewy,” Warner added. Jason Holder has brought a new dimension into the Sunrisers lineup and Warner did not miss the chance to heap praise on him. “Jason is a very very good cricket ball. Someone of his height, if you are trying to bowl a bouncer to him, you have to dig it in quite short. And it will sit up for him in these pitches,” Warner said of Jason Holder who finished the night against the Rcb with a figure of 27/2 from four overs. Warner was optimistic of Sunrisers winning the IPL this year and he drew reference to the 2016 edition when again the team had to win all their last three games to make it to the big stage of the league. “Same do-or-die in the next game. Yeah we can still win the IPL. We had to win all three in 2016. We are winning these close ones. Of course we lost that close one the other night; don't even remind me of it,” Warner echoed the mood in the Sunrisers’ camp. Experts’ views Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle had made his prediction clear about the match when the RCB were restricted to a mere 120 runs. He also talked about the dip in form the two teams such as RCB and DC have been dealing with as other teams are stepping up their games to ask some soul searching questions from them. He also lauded Jason Holder for putting a brilliant performance while he also liked the prospect of the playoffs in the IPL with teams still fighting against each other to secure their places on the top four positions of the points table. Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra lauded the Sunrisers Hyderabad for turning up with brilliant performances one after the other even without the services of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Chopra also predicted that if the men in orange go on to win their next fixture against the Mumbai Indians on October 3, they may very well secure a berth in the playoffs of the IPL this year. Veteran journalist Ayaz Mmeon pointed to the overreliance on the Virat Kohli- AB de Villiers behind the RCB’s defeat against the Sunrisers. He compared the RCB to the Delhi Capitals with no alternative plans in their hands. He suggested that the RCB too, like the DC have gone off the boil.