IPL 2020 | RCB vs RR - AB's blitzkrieg helps RCB snatch a win from Royals' bag

Royal Challengers Bangalore climbed to 12 points in the Indian Premier League, courtesy a power-packed show by the mainstays in the 33rd match of the Indian Premier League 2020. AB de Villiers steadied the ship and brought impetus to the innings at a time when the Bangalore side lost two quick wickets in the chase. His six to wrap up a win also brought his fifty off just 22 balls on a track where most other batsmen struggled to get going. Skipper Virat Kohli made a 32-ball 43 while Devdutt Padikkal provided a good start yet again, thanks to his handy 35 off 37 balls.

Uthappa flourishes in his favourite slot, Morris bags four-fer

A target of 178 looked more than competitive. Robin Uthappa opened the innings for the first time and delivered with a 22-ball 41. However, he kept losing partners at the other end as the Royals were 69/3 at one stage. Steve Smith broke the duck by hitting a timely fifty and stitched a stand with Jos Buttler in the middle.

Smith found the ropes on six occasions apart from hitting a six in his 36-ball 57 before Chris Morris sent him back to the hut. Morris was impressive as he returned with figures of 4/26 with a dozen of dot ball under his belt.

Captain Steve Smith’s tactics under the scanner as RCB win big

Rajasthan probably missed a trick by not closing on the match by bowling Jofra Archer in the 19th over. Jaydev Unadkat, who has the dubious reputation of being a run-leaker, didn’t help himself as he was smacked for three consecutive sixes by AB de Villiers. When Unadkat had finished with it, 25 runs had already been leaked off the19th over which essentially took the game away from the Royals.

With 10 runs to wrap up the contest in the last over, Archer kept the game alive till the third ball before de Villiers tonked a maximum to provide a fitting finish to the game.

It seemed like RCB learned from their mistake in the previous game and didn't hold back de Villiers which paid a rich dividend. Rajasthan ticked almost all the boxes and were favourites to pocket two points till the very end of the game. Smith defended the move by stating that he wanted to use Unadkat to the bigger boundary.

With a sureshot win slipping out of their hands, Royals have a lot of thinking to do as the possibility of cementing a playoff berth is slipping away with every defeat in this crucial phase of the tournament.

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

Kolkata Knight Riders are still coming to terms with the sudden change of guard in captaincy in the middle of the IPL 2020 season. Under Eoin Morgan, the two-time champions didn’t have an auspicious start as Mumbai Indians yet again got the better of the purple and gold brigade. KKR’s momentum went south after two consecutive drubbings. The top order failed to fire against Mumbai and at one stage they were restricted to 42/4 before Pat Cummins hit a fifty to bail the team out of trouble. Mumbai chased the modest target of 149 with more than three overs to spare, putting a major dent at KKR’s net run-rate. Their opponent for the next encounter - Sunrisers Hyderabad find themselves in a similar situation. While KKR has bagged eight points in as many games, Hyderabad has managed to pick six points and they would be eager to pocket a couple of points. Hyderabad will head into the contest on the back of two defeats. They miss pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar dearly but Sandeep Sharma and T Natarajan have been promising. The trump card of the pack - Rashid Khan has been phenomenal on most occasions, barring one odd off-days which have come against the Royals and CSK where he was taken to the cleaners. In the batting front, David Warner and Jonny Bairstow have yet again found themselves among runs while Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson make the top-order look solid on paper, but they have failed to click together as a unit. The Knight Riders will have to fix their batting woes. While Dinesh Karthik has been going up and down in the batting order, Andre Russel and Eoin Morgan are yet to make notable contributions. Opener Shubman Gill has been under the scanner for his approach as KKR have failed to make use of the powerplay overs. One good show will give them an ample amount of confidence. The young pace battery has done fairly well while Varun Chakravarthy has found himself among wickets. There is uncertainty over Sunil Narine’s availability as he is working overtime on getting his bowling action right. All in all, it should be a cracker of a contest as both the teams look to get closer to the playoff berth. Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders: Match Details Match Number - 35 Date: 18th October 2020, at 3:30 PM IST Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Broadcast - Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch and Weather Report The wicket at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium has helped pacers extract movement while spinners have come handy. It gives an impression of a two-paced track where it gets difficult to score runs as the game progresses due to the slow nature of the pitch. The sun is likely to shine bright as sides have preferred cooling their heels in the dressing room and go out to bat at the stroke of sun-set. Both sides will look to win the toss and bat first. A total of anything around 165 should be defendable on the slowish track Expected XI: Sunrisers Hyderabad - David Warner (C), Jonny Bairstow (WK), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma/Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rashid Khan, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma and Khaleel Ahmed Kolkata Knight Riders - Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Eoin Morgan (C), Andre Russell, Chris Green/Kuldeep Yadav, Shivam Mavi/Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna and Varun Chakravarthy. Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders: Dream 11 team and suggestions Jonny Bairstow, Dinesh Karthik, David Warner, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Priyam Garg, Andre Russell, Rashid Khan, Pat Cummins, Khaleel Ahmed and Varun Chakravarthy Captain: Jonny Bairstow Vice Captain: Pat Cummins Powered by Froala Editor

BCCI Apex council meets today; three main agendas of Sourav Ganguly-led meeting

The Apex council of the Board of Control for Cricket in India is scheduled to meet virtually to chart out strategies for the upcoming series and other administration related matters. The upcoming tour of Australia and a planned home series against England will dominate the majority of duration of the meeting which will be chaired by president Sourav Ganguly, Secretary Jay Shah, and treasurer Arun Dhumal who are in the United Arab Emirates to oversee the facilities for the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League. The council is expected to discuss the possibility of a shorter quarantine period after the arrival of the Indian contingent in Brisbane for a full tour comprising Tests, ODIs, and T20Is. As per reports, there will be as many as 28 players travelling to Australia for the multi-format series. "Cricket Australia has drawn up a rough schedule which is yet to be finalised. That will be discussed and also whether there could be a possible relaxation of the 14-day quarantine. The BCCI has already appealed to the Queensland Health department for a possible relaxation. Even if there is an option to train, it will be great,” news agency PTI quoted a BCCI source as saying. England’s tour to India that is scheduled to follow the series against Australia is likely to be the agenda number two for the Sourav Ganguly-led council. The BCCI is fretting over creating a bio-secure bubble for the English players like in the IPL and host the series in India. Reportedly, the board also has the option of hosting the Englishmen in the UAE just like the current edition of the IPL. The agenda number three on the office bearer's mind will be the scheduling of the domestic cricket, on which majority of the players involved in the game depend in the country. There is a possibility of the BCCI going back to the zonal system in the Ranji Trophy to categorise teams into different groups in order to reduce the number of league matches but there are no definitive signs of what is on the BCCI’s mind. Powered by Froala Editor

Breaking: Umar Gul announces retirement from all forms of cricket

Pakistani pacer Umar Call has announced retirement from all forms of the cricket and the ongoing domestic National T20 cup will be his final appearance on the cricket pitch as a player. “With a very heavy heart and after a lot of thinking, I have decided to bid farewell to all formats of cricket after this National T20 Cup. I have always played for Pakistan with all my heart and 100% of hard work. Cricket is and will always be my love n passion.” Gul said on his Twitter timeline. Gul made his debut for Pakistan in 2003 while his final appearance in the green jersey for the country four years back in 2016. Gul burst onto the scene in his debut match he produced a match-winning bowling spell against the arch-rival India in the second Test at Lahore in the three-Test series in 2004-05. Gul was rated as one of the best fast bowling talents produced in the country in the last two decades. However, continuous spells of injuries always halted his progress to become the leader of the pack for a long time. He scalped 163 wickets at an average of 34.06 from a 47 match-long international test career whereas his form with the ball in white-ball cricket was better and he claimed 179 wickets from 130 ODIs and 85 wickets from 60 T20Is.

IPL 2020: Bumrah 3 - 0 Russell - How Rohit Sharma and Co. cracked the Dre Russ code

Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma brought his go-to bowler in order to counter Andre Russell in Friday’s clash against Kolkata Knight Riders. The move paid off as Bumrah got the better of the hard-hitter. In the 11th over of the game, Bumrah aimed at Russell’s rib-cage - an area which the Jamaican is yet to fix. The batter isn’t the best customer against short balls or anything that comes shooting towards his body. However, Russell gave the impression that he is well prepared this time, having lost his wicket to the same pacer in the previous encounter. He hit a square-cut to fetch a boundary but kept shuffling away from the stumps in order to tackle a certain short delivery. Bumrah didn’t waste much time and bowled one short; Russell was caught off-guard while backing away and it resulted in his dismissal. The rivalry between the two continues to be a talking point. Bumrah has now dismissed the KKR batter on three occasions in 34 balls, conceding mere 44 runs. “I believe a lot in match-ups, we have got success as a team (doing it) - understanding the match-ups is important but we need to be instinctive at times. Krunal and Rahul also bowled to Russell, I took a chance with the ball gripping and turning, but I knew Bumrah was the go-to guy against him.” Rohit said post the match. KKR were in tatters at one stage. Pat Cummins and Eoin Morgan put on a rescue act to take the total to 148/5. Mumbai made light work of it, winning the contest by eight wickets and with more than three overs to spare.