IPL 2020 | MI vs RR: Twitter reacts as Rohit's Mumbai thrashes Steve Smith's Royals

IPL 2020 | MI vs RR: Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah star in Mumbai's table-topping victory

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 193/4 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 79, Rohit Sharma 35; Shreyas Gopal 2/28) beat Rajasthan Royals (Jos Butler 70, Jofra Archer 24; Jasprit Bumrah 4/20) by 57 runs. Mumbai Indians passed their test against Rajasthan Royals with flying colours to bag a 57-run victory and recapture the throne of the points table in the twentieth match of the Indian Premier League. Suryakumar Yadav's gallant 79* and Jasprit Bumrah's 4/20 took the biscuit, notwithstanding Jos Butler's six-laced 70 in RR's error-strewn 194-run chase on Tuesday, October 6 at Dubai. MI pace arsenal a force to be reckoned with MI's laser-guided new-ball salvo almost had RR filing a mercy petition. Offered a chance to shine after having warmed the bench for a couple of games, Yashasvi Jaiswal came a cropper as Trent Boult's mischievous away-slanter grazed his outside edge. Bumrah then took control of the steering wheel, banishing Steve Smith as keeper Quinton de Kock plunged to snaffle the lemon-cut. MI had done their homework for six-machine Sanju Samson too, with an angling Boult bumper rushing him into submission. If red-hot bowling had inflicted the damage hitherto, a gravity-defying pouch from substitute Anukul Roy brought Mahipal Lomror's downfall to leave RR gasping for breath. Butler wages a lone war to no avail The scoreboard now looming a pathetic 42/4, the onus was on Jos Butler to yield a divine intervention. And boy he did that in some style. The long-levers were deployed to a full monty as the right-handed behemoth pulverised anything a touch short over mid-wicket en route his savage 70 off 44 balls. A sense of calm was instilled in MI's dressing room when James Pattinson capped the lid on Butler's torment, his flat shovel blocked by Kieron Pollard at long-on. The catch looked spectacular in real-time, albeit replays suggested that he misjudged the trajectory at first and recovered later to make a straightforward grab deem brilliant. Once last-resort Rahul Tewatia bit the dust, the tail was nothing but cannon fodder for Bumrah & co. as MI rollicked to their fourth victory of the campaign. Mumbai go haywire after initial burst Harsha Bhogle had just cooed on-air that Mumbai Indians tend to adopt a rather conservative approach to begin with when the openers proved otherwise. An effortless extension of the arms fetched Rohit Sharma six over long-off while Quinton de Kock pulled a cheeky ramp out of his bag of tricks. The velocity of Jofra Archer wasn't spared either as the left-hander carted him for a four and a maximum with gusto. Kartik Tyagi, who replaced Jaydev Unadkat to make his IPL debut, was into the thick of the action early. The youngster played into Rohit's hands by banging one short and duly bore the brunt of a mighty deposit over square leg, albeit de Kock floundering a trigger-happy jab lent him his maiden IPL scalp in the very first over itself. Shreyas Gopal's double whammy then nipped MI in the bud, with a seemingly ominous Rohit and Ishan Kishan perishing to miscued hoicks. For a batsman of such grand stature, it's a tough pill to swallow that the captain has been dismissed by leg-spinners on ten occasions since the onset of 2017. Cometh the hour, cometh Surya The brains at MI promoted southpaw Krunal Pandya ahead of brother Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard to nullify the threat of Gopal. Though the gamble didn't quite bear fruit as Archer exploited his obvious weakness against the short stuff, Suryakumar Yadav traded vigilance with panache to hold MI's fort. His invigorating fifty was constructed on the grounds of whippy flicks, backfoot crunches and premeditated dabs. Tom Curran splurging 19 in the 18th over pomped the blue jerseys to cloud nine, with Yadav manufacturing a couple of lap-sweeps after Hardik was reprieved off a skier by the fast bowler himself. Yadav wears concussion as badge of honour Archer returning for the death-over duties was a spiteful episode which might've transported either of the two batsmen to a nearby hospital. He inadvertently let slip a 147kmph beamer as Hardik had his heart in his mouth before somehow ducking for cover. Yadav then copped a blow flush on the helmet badge, flummoxed by the deception of Archer's well-hidden knuckleball. As the old adage goes, revenge is a dish best served cold. Yadav exhibited nerves of steel to unfurl a 'Dilscoop' the very next delivery as even the opposition captain, Steve Smith nodded his head in acknowledgement. The lethal 76-run association for the fifth wicket compensated for the brief slug during the middle-phases, shepherding MI to a delirious 193/4, a total which proved more than enough for a self-deprecating RR batting unit. What's next in store? Both teams will meet the same opposition next as the IPL caravan rolls forward. Outplayed in all three departments tonight, Rajasthan Royals have no respite in store as they lock horns with an on-song Delhi Capitals on October 9, Friday. Mumbai Indians have four days to refill their tanks before they hit the field again in a blockbuster coup on Sunday, October 11.

India tour of Australia schedule confirmed, Blue Brigade to play the day-night Test in Adelaide

The schedule of the Indian team’s tour of Australia has been confirmed with the Blue Brigade playing their first day-night Test overseas in Adelaide. The Virat Kohli led team would travel to Australia right after the end of the IPL on November 10 reported ESPNCricinfo.com White ball cricket would start the competition with three ODIs in Brisbane followed by three T20Is in Adelaide. India’s second Pink ball Test, first outside India, would be played in Adelaide and the boxing day Test would be held at its natural venue of Melbourne. While the First test would be held between December 17 and 21, the Boxing Day Test is likely to be held from December 26-30 followed by Tests in Sydney and Brisbane. Before the Pink Ball test, to acclimatize to the conditions, the Indian team would play a warm-up Pink ball Test in Adelaide as well. Before making the official announcement, both Cricket Australia and the Board of Control for Cricket in India are waiting for the formal nods from the state governments in Australia. The Indian team and the Australian players playing in the IPL would require the permission of the Queensland Government for arrival and the SOP for the number of days in quarantine, which as yet not been decided.

IPL 2020: SRH brings Andhra's Prithvi Raj Yarra as Bhuvneshwar Kumar's replacement

The Sunrisers Hyderabad has named a replacement for Bhuvneshwar Kumar who was ruled out from the remainder of this season of the Indian Premier League. The David Warner-led team has called up left-arm pacer from Andhra Pradesh Prithvi Raj Yarra to fill the slot left void by Bhvneshwar’s injury. The team took to its Twitter handle to confirm the status of Bhuvneshwar’s injury and said that the Indian pacer has been ruled out and also announced the inclusion of Prithvi Raj Yarra into the squad. Getting into the SRH team will be sort of Deja Vu for Yarra who had made his debut against the Sunrisers only for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the last season. In the two matches, he was given the chance to play, Yarra has not been impressive and gave away runs with an economy rate in excess of 11 runs per over. The Sunrisers are struggling to cope up in this season and have lost three out of five matches they have played this season. While the bowlers have struggled to find consistency, Hyderabad’s batsmen have been looking for form in this season.

IPL 2020 | KKR vs CSK: Match Preview, Predicted XI & Dream 11 Fantasy Picks

After the team got back on the winning ways MS Dhoni would hope the streak will be longer than the losing streak the team was having when it will meet the Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi while the men in blue and purple would hope for a turnaround after a placid show in the last game against the Delhi Capitals. The Knight Riders were witness to Murphy’s law that states everything that can go wrong will go wrong while the Super Kings had their luck completely opposite to them, with all the departments clicking in unison. KKR’s bowlers were wayward while batsmen lacked steam, a problem that the Chennai Super Kings may well have resolved, at least at the top of the order. Chennai Super Kings were struggling to get going at a brisk pace at the start of the inning, but a shock of three losses on the trot following the age-old strategy of taking the game deep rang an alarm in the yellow camp. Openers came to all guns blazing and once they warded off their rustiness against the new ball, there were no looking for the pair of Faf Du Plessis and Shane Watson who made the mockery of the Kings XI Punjab’s bowling attack. It was not all about the CSK’s batting in the last game, as the bowlers, too, looked to have learned hard lessons from those three defeats until then and bowled well in tandem. Ravindra Jadeja was back to his best in both bowling and fielding and the return of Dwayne Bravo also bolstered the bowling attack in the middle overs. On the other hand, the Kolkata Knight Riders need a lot of resurrection in both the team selection and the batting order. Captain Dinesh Karthik’s form has gone off the boil in the last couple of IPL seasons and that he has slotted himself at the number four position leaves players such as Andre Russell and Eoin Morgan with far too few balls to change the course of a game. On the issue of the underperforming top order, the romanticisation of Sunil Narine as an opener has to be stopped and he should be replaced with Rahul Tripathi whose class has been wasted down the order. Tripathi has shown his credentials against the new ball in the IPL 2017 when he played for Rising Pune Supergiant and it’s high time KKR management back him to come good at the start of the inning. On the bowling front as well, the Knight Riders have been poor in execution, and the day when Pat Cummins has failed to give the team a decent start, the KKr has ended up leaking too many runs and putting too much of pressure on the batting line up. Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings: Match Details Match number- 21 Date: October 7, 2020 at 7:30 PM IST, 02:00 PM GMT, 6:00 PM Local Venue: Abu Dhabi Pitch and weather The Kolkata Knight Riders will face Chennai Super Kings on a used pitch and that can bring spinners into the game. Abu Dhabi has seen the onset of due in the latter part of the game and that will be on captains’ mind at the toss. Chasing has been tough in the side but the Super Kings were too good while chasing in their last game and MS Dhoni may very well opt to bat second in hope of due and similar performance from the batsmen. Weather conditions will remain ideal to play cricket with the temperature hovering in the range between 30 degrees to 40 degrees and lower humidity during the night time will also help players in the field. Team News Kolkata Knight Riders Kolkata Knight Riders will look to amend their batting strategies and may look at Tom Banton in place of Sunil Narine who has looked a pale shadow of himself in this season so far. He has failed with both bat and ball and the KKR management may put its weight behind the dazzling Englishman who has been rated highly for his freakish batting in the shortest format. The team had dropped Kuldeep Yadav looking at the Delhi’s batsmen hard-hitting skills against spinners and opted for Varun Chakravarthy along with three pacers in Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, and Kamlesh Nagarkot. The strategy did not work well and the team is likely to walk back on it, bringing back Kuldeep Yadav in place of any of Mavi and Nagarkoti. Expected XI Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Tom Banton, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik (captain and wk), Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti/Shivam Mavi Chennai Super Kings The Super Kings are not known for changing their team too often and when the team pulled off a clinical performance in the last game, it is unlikely they will change it in the match against the Knight Riders. MS Dhoni would hope for a similar return for his bowlers, especially spinners and batsmen to carry on with the momentum and a regained touch at the top. Kedar Jadhav’s place in the playing XI has been under the scanner for a very long time but knowing Dhoni’s modus operandi, it’s unlikely that he will be shown the door in the game against the Knight Riders. Expected XI Shane Watson, Faf Du Plessis Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (captain and wk), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Piyush Chawla Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings: Dream 11 team and tips Faf Du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, Eoin Morgan, Shubman Gill, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Andre Russell, Deepak Chahar, Pat Cummins, Kuldeep Yadav Captain: Eoin Morgan Vice-captain: Ambati Rayudu