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Ipl 2020 Rr Vs Mi Stokes Samson Eclipse Hardik Blitz In Rajasthans Chasing Masterclass

IPL 2020 | RR vs MI: Stokes, Samson eclipse Hardik blitz in Rajasthan's chasing masterclass

Brief Scores:

Mumbai Indians 195/5 in 20 overs (Hardik Pandya 60*, Suryakumar Yadav 40; Shreyas Gopal 2-30, Jofra Archer 2-31)

lost to

Rajasthan Royals 196/2 in 19.2 overs (Ben Stokes 107*, Sanju Samson 54*; James Pattinson 2-40) by 8 wickets.

Ben Stokes finally did justice to his price tag with an awe-inspiring century as Rajasthan Royals ascended the 196-run mountain to keep the faint ray of hope glimmering, at least in mathematical terms. Sanju Samson was no shrinking violet either, blitzing a regal 54 as the unbeaten 152-run association poured cold water on Hardik Pandya's 20-ball 61 as RR jinxed MI's six-match winning streak on October 25 at Abu Dhabi.

Stokes-Samson strike form in the nick of time

Ben Stokes and Steve Smith rained on MI's parade, albeit momentarily, after James Pattinson substracted Robin Uthappa out of the equation early. The left-right combo peeled a flurry of seething boundaries but the paceman cracked the whip again as Smith dragged on punching sans any feet movement. However, with reverse sweeps functioning as a constant pressure-releaser, Stokes ensured the asking rate remained within arm's reach during his excursion to a turbulent half-century. Sanju Samson gatecrashed the party in Pattinson's 13th over, backing away to make sweet connection on the lofted off-drive and then threading the needle with a gentle dab. The twofold traffic saw RR sit pretty with 157/2 in 15 overs.

A lesson in chasing efficiency

39 0ff 30 was a mere formality and hence, the focus shifted more so on whether Stokes will be able to tick the coveted three figures. He mounted Pattinson over cow corner to raise his bat before scooping a low full-toss via covers to seal the deal with incredible gusto.

Polly at the helm for MI

Kieron Pollard donned the captain's hat once more with Rohit Sharma still nursing his hamstring strain. Nathan Coulter-Nile was handed a pink slip, a shocker given he fared decently against Chennai Super Kings with figures reading 4-0-25-1. RR went unchanged, with the freedom of being in the nothing-to-lose zone. And their performance oozed liberty whole nine yards.

Quinny flatters to deceive

Quinton de Kock disrupted the status quo established by Jofra Archer upfront, where lifters whizz like drunk butterflies and openers look caught at their wit's end, as an express length delivery soared high and handsome into the grass banks over cow corner. Revenge is a dish best served cold, but it was flaming hot here, right on the very next ball. De Kock did himself no favors with that stagnant footwork and left the bat out to dry, as the 145kmph missile ricocheted onto the stumps. The dereliction of duty from the supporting cast of pacemen has been ailing RR, and tonight was no different. Ankit Rajpoot and Kartik Tyagi embarked on a run-leaking spree, squandering the advantage to Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, the architects of a rejuvenating 83-run partnership.

Jofra can do no wrong

Some real spark was needed to suspend the juggernaut, and there's only one source as of now for the warriors in pink. Ishan Kishan threw the kitchen sink at Tyagi's wide tempter as a leaping Archer outstretched his right arm to guzzle an absolute screamer down at third man. The breakthrough set in motion the snowball effect, with Shreyas Gopal having Yadav slicing to long-off before zipping through Pollard's defences. While Archer's grab was a moment to savour, there were three potential drops as well. Rahul Tewatia couldn't snaffle two dying chances and Ben Stokes couldn't execute a boundary-juggling effort despite aligning himself into prime shape.

Hardik reverts to type in grand style

Following the brief tailspin, MI stormed back into ascendancy courtesy Saurabh Tiwari and Hardik Pandya. The 64-run stand was engineered on the grounds of mad-cap range-hitting from Pandya, with Tiwari playing second fiddle before departing for a healthy 34. The star all-rounder was long due for a vintage finishing exploit, and boy he squared things in the most emphatic fashion. Under-fire, Rajpoot and Tyagi were thrashed black and blue, conceding 60 and 45 in the quota of four overs respectively as MI burgled 74 off the last four. It's a tough pill to swallow that a robbery of such biblical proportions went into the drain.

Where does the caravan roll?

CSK's bumpy ride is officially done and dusted with RR's comprehensive victory tonight. Steve Smith & Co. will keep their fingers crossed versus fellow playoffs aspirants KXIP on October 30. There's not a speck of doubt in the fact that Stokes and Samson operated on a higher plane, but having said that, MI just weren't themselves with the ball. Rediscovering the mojo would be their top priority as Royal Challengers Bangalore await on October 28.

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IPL 2020 | RCB vs CSK: Hits and Flops as Gaikwad guides Chennai to an easy win

Chennai Super Kings and their fans finally had something to cheer about as the yellow brigade tamed Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore by 8 wickets AT Dubai. Everything finally fell into place as the ‘youngster’ in Ruturaj Gaikwad finally showed some spark in batting, taking the MS Dhoni-led team home. Forced to field first, the Chennai team did well with their pacers Sam Curran and Deepak Chahar and fresh spin inclusion Mitchell Santner to stop the Challengers at a modest 145. After that, the resolve and intent were seen right from the start in the batting as well, when opener Gaikwad made well-combined partnerships with Faf du Plessis and Ambati Rayudu and later on with skipper Dhoni to seal the game. There were many that contributed to the victory for CSK and many that did not perform as per expectation for the RCB. To know them and their batting performances better, here is the list of hits and flops from the game. Hits #1 Ruturaj Gaikwad Before the start of the tournament, Gaikwad was primed to be the successor of Raina in the team in the absence of Chinna Thala. However, situations did not help in the initial phase as he tested positive for the covid-19 and later when he got the opportunities, wasn’t given the top spot, which he usually bats at for his team Maharashtra. Given a chance to open the innings, he finally made it count in the second attempt, scoring a match-winning 65 off 51 and more importantly carried his bat. In his innings, Gaikwad had three good partnerships alongside experienced players like du Plessis, Rayudu, and Dhoni. He hit four boundaries three sixes in the innings. #2 Sam Curran The player, who has been performing for the Daddies’ Army even when no one else did perform today as well. The Englishman picked three crucial wickets including that of opponent skipper Virat Kohli and Aaron Finch. His spell at the beginning turned out to be an important one as he did not allow RCB to build momentum. The left-arm bowler, who had till now picked 10 wickets in the IPL, added three more to the tally today as he finished with the figures of 3/19. #3 Deepak Chahar Not being able to contribute much with the ball in the last few games, Chahar, who primarily was bowled out at the start of the inning was given a chance to bowl in the death and he responded brilliantly by picking up two wickets and that too of two of the danger men, AB de Villiers and Chris Morris. The wicket of de Villiers in particular was the game-changing one for CSK as it brought the RCB total down by 30-35 runs. Flops #1 Aaron Finch This IPL has not gone the way Australian limited-overs captain Aaron Finch would have wanted. Apart from two innings- one 47 off 37 against KKR and 52 of 35 against Mumbai Indians, Finch has not been able to contribute greatly to the RCB cause. Even today, he did not look his best and was thus removed by Sam Curran early on in the RCB innings at just 15 off 11 balls. #2 Moeen Ali Moeen Ali was given a chance in place of Isusru Udana, just because he could bat a bit better and RCB wanted to try someone who was better at batting, apart from giving good enough overs in the middle. Ali though failed to impress anybody getting out for just one in the 18th over, where people expected him to go berserk. Ali couldn't do much with the ball in hand either. This might just turn out to be the last game of the IPL for Ali as Udana world be preferred in his place. While Chennai have nothing more to achieve rather than the lost respect, but RCB would look to tighten the nuts moving forward in the tournament.

RCB vs CSK: What experts said as Super Kings finally have a perfect day

Finally, after a series of agonising losses and days of numerous frustration ended for the fans and the team management of the Chennai Super Kings after they won comprehensively against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on a slow, low wicket that suited their style of playing and team combination. Captains’ views The slowness of the pitch also found place in the losing captain Virat Kohli’s analysis of the game in the post-match interaction. Kohli also lamented the lack of adaptability shown by the RCB bowlers in not trying different tactics such as cutters or change of pace in order to check CSK batsmen from scoring boundaries. On the other hand, he was all praise for the CSK bowlers and said that they were not provided the luxury of balls that were in their arc for drives or big shots. "What you saw in the second innings wasn't a true reflection of how difficult the pitch was. We didn't hit the areas. Too many boundary balls. They bowled really well. We hardly got any drive balls from them. We were looking for 150, but we were happy with 145. Our extra pace might be a factor but that can't be an excuse. We just didn't bowl enough slower balls. No change of pace, no bouncers. We saw how difficult it was to get under those slower balls," Kohli said in the post-match interaction. The moment that was so awaited for the CSK team and MS DHoni arrived in the game against the RCB and Dhoni, too, acknowledged the moment of triumph in which his team was perfect in all the departments with all the tactics. MS Dhoni credited the spinners for making good use of the slow pitch where they kept on picking wickets at regular intervals and stopped the RCB’s march below the par score. "I felt this one was one of the perfect games. Everything went to plan, and the execution was there. We kept picking wickets, and kept them to a total that was slightly below par. The wicket was on a slower side, and the spinners did a good job,” MS Dhoni said in the post-match presentation ceremony. Dhoni also praised Ruturaj Gaikwad for providing just the kind of start the team desperately needed in the tournament. He said: “We haven't been very consistent with the batting. Today the start was very good. Rutu batted well. He backed himself to play the shots he is known for. Looking to time the ball, if you look for four, you can get six.” Talking about the mood in the camp, Dhoni said that players end up amplifying emotions when they face turbulent times and he warned that too much thinking of the problems can leave the players in a very bad mood for the remaining 12 hours that the team has to be on the field in the season. It does hurt when you don't do well so you try to amplify certain emotions. So that the guys just don't drop the game. That can leave with 12 painful hours of the remaining time in the tournament. As always has been the case for MS Dhoni, the captain, he said that enjoying the game is an essential part of playing it irrespective of the state of the team. He showed happiness that the team is responding bravely to these tough situations otherwise the remaining time in the tournament will become cruel and painful. Experts’ take Former Indian opener turned commentator and analyst Aakash Chopra reminded Twitter of Rutraj Gaikwad’s sparks after he took on the RCB bowling in the powerplay and remained not out till the end and took the team past the finishing line. Harsha Bhogle opined that the loss against the CSK will make the RCB ahungried team and that it is better to have these kinds of games away before the playoff begins. Cricket commentator Sanjay Manjrekar blamed Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, the linchpins of the RCB batting line up for the loss against the CSK and said that the duo had miscalculated the par score that was needed against MS Dhoni’s team. He also pointed to two distinctive performances from either teams in Devdutt Padikkal’s range of shots and Ruturaj Gaikwad’s ability to rotate strike by finding the gaps regularly. The win for CSK had kept the hopes alive for the MS Dhoni’s team but a win for the Rajasthan Royals against the Mumbai Indians that follows the match between the RCB and CSK will certainly rule them out of the contention for a spot in the top four position on the points table.

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

After impacting each other’s journey in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League with very wins and losses, two teams vying for one spot in the top four-- the Kings XI Punjab and the Kolkata Knight Riders will lock horns to push the other away from the race directly by defeating in a one-on-one contest. Both sides have a spring in their step after energetic and soul-searching wins in their last games. The KKR trounced the Delhi Capitals in their last game on the back of performances reminiscent of the franchise’s past while the KL Rahul’s KXIP’s resurgence has taken the IPL to a storm. The Kings XI Punjab got their mojo back in their win against the Mumbai Indians in the match that went down to two super overs and the side has never looked back since defeating the Delhi Capitals handsomely in the next match and followed it up with a spectacular win against the Sunrisers when all looked doomed and gloomy for the Mohali-based side. The team has managed to win on the back of players other than match-winning contributions from the captain KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal would give a leap of confidence to the side. Nicholas Pooran has shown the form he was trusted to display in the tournament by the side and now the Kings XI are riding high on belief and self-confidence after winning games from behind in the last few games. On the other hand, the Kolkata Knight Riders proved that the side house=s too much of class to put on dismal batting performances for a long period of time and the Delhi Capitals turned out to be on the wrong side of their firepower. The last win against the Capitals was achieved courtesy two seasoned pros in Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana and a rising star Varun Chakravarthy. The side turned back the clock and showed all the quality of it used to show in its prime days in the history of the league. The KXIP have won five matches while the KKR have 12 points from six wins after playing an equal number of matches at 11. The encounter between the side could well be a one knockout clash where the ascendancy of one over another will push the side on the wrong side of the result on the brink of the playoff chances in the season. Eoin Morgan would be hopeful of consistency from his side and will expect his men to carry on with the self-belief and momentum they would have gained after such a big win over the Capitals while KL Rahul would keep reminding his men that the journey is not finished yet and one bad game would undo all the hard work and hard-earned success of the last four games. The game will be also bee a matchup between the bowling lineup of the KKR which has the raw pace of Lockie Ferguson and Pat Cummins along with the guile and surprises of Varun Chakravarthy and the star-studded lineup of the Kings XI filled with explosive batsmen such as KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle and Nicholas Poooran. The KKR bowling lineup is in top-notch form and so are the KXIP batsmen and it would make up for a riveting contest to start afresh week in the IPL 2020. Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab- Match details Match Number - 46 Date: 25th October 2020, at 7:30 PM IST Venue: Sharjah Pitch and Weather An old pitch that was used in the game between the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings will be used again for this match and it might bring spinners into the game. The pair of Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah found help from the pitch and Boult also got a considerable amount of movement in the air to torment the CSK’s top order and the bowling attack on either side will look to extract same purchase as Boult and Bumrah got in the last game on this pitch. The par score at the Sharjah cricket ground has decreased considerably after the first few games when batsmen were making merry off the bowlers due to extremely short boundaries and the sides will look to reboot their batting tactics keeping in mind the size of the boundary in Sharjah. The weather in Sharjah is likely to be pleasant for the players with the temperature dipping below the 30 degree-mark and expected level of humidity around 50 per cent. Team News Kolkata Knight Riders Eoin Morgan had credited Brendon McCullum for bringing back Sunil Narine into the playing XI and the team did not give any reasons whatsoever to make Morgan and McCullum ponder over the makeup of the playing XI. However, it is more than likely that the KKR will maintain a fluid batting order where batsmen will be picked to bat at different positions based on situations in a particular game. Expected XI Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy Kings XI Punjab Mayank Agarwal missed the last game due to an injury he had picked up in the game against the Delhi Capitals but his injury did not look serious at that time. Although there is lack of clarity on the nature of his injury, he is likely to walk back into the XI against the KKR. The rest of the team should be as it was in the last game except for any injury concerns in the 11th hour. Expected XI KL Rahul (c & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, Chris Jordan, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab: Dream 11 team and suggestion Dinesh Karthik, Nicholas Pooran, KL Rahul, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Mayank Agarwal, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Chris Jordan, Mohammed Shami Captain: KL Rahul Vice-captain: Nicholas Pooran

IPL 2020: David Warner confident of SRH making it to playoffs

The captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad David Warner has expressed confidence over his side to win the next three fixtures and keep the hopes for playoff birth alive. But, the men in orange have a monumental task at their hands as they are slated to clash with the top three teams of the IPL 2020 such as the Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Delhi Capitals in their next three matches. However, Warner was also vocal about his disappointment on the amount of complacency shown by the batsman in the last game against the Kings XI Punjab where the team lost from a situation needing just 71 runs off 83 balls with all 10 wickets in hand. The Sunrisers have won only four matches in this season so far and will need more than winning all of their next three games with the maximum points they can reach to is 14 and they would rely on other teams to perform poorly to have any chance to secure a backdoor entry into the playoffs of the IPL 2020. The Sunrisers are placed at the number six position on the points table and will have to be at the top of their games to have any chance of competing against the sides sitting in the top three positions of the points table.