IPL 2021 in UAE to welcome back fans for the first time since 2019 edition

IPL 2021: A look at Sunrisers Hyderabad's report card in first leg

Sunrisers Hyderabad probably have had the worst start to the IPL campaign in this edition after they suffered six defeats in the seven matches that they featured in during the first leg of the tournament before it was suspended on May 4. The IPL 2021 was halted after there were instances of Covid-19 cases within the franchises. The SRH in fact took a bold decision of handing the captaincy to Kane Williamson midway. In a statement, SRH said, "The decision has not come lightly as the management respects the enormous impact David Warner has had for the franchise over a number of years.” "As we face the remainder of the season, we are sure David will continue to help us strive for success both on and off the field,” the statement added. SRH lifted the IPL title once back in 2016 under the leadership of Warner after they defeated RCB in the final. The Hyderabad-based franchise will now resume the tournament against Delhi Capitals on September 22 in Dubai. But before that let's have a look at how the Sunrisers have performed in the first half of the tournament. SRH vs Kolkata Knight Riders The Sunrisers Hyderabad began their campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai but had a disappointing beginning as they lost the very first match by 10 runs. Batting first, KKR rode on Nitish Rana’s 56-ball 80, an aggressive half-century from Rahul Tripathi and later a cameo from Dinesh Karthik where he struck 22* off 9 deliveries to post 187/6 in 20 overs. Rashid Khan was the only SRH bowler who chipped in with an economical spell of bowling where he returned with figures of 2/24 in 4 overs. Later, SRH had a dismal start to the chase after losing two quick wickets but Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow steadied the ship for the side and stitched a stand of 92 runs. Both the batsmen notched up their individual fifties but their efforts went in vain as the Hyderabad side was eventually restricted to 177/5 in 20 overs. SRH vs Royal Challengers Bangalore SRH locked horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore in their second match of the season in Chennai. RCB batted first and managed to put 149/8 in 20 overs, courtesy some good batting performance from the new recruit Glenn Maxwell who struck 59 off 41 during the course. Jason Holder picked up three wickets for 30 runs in 4 overs while Rashid Khan once again proved economical and returned with figures of 2/18 in 4 overs. The Hyderabad fans would have expected the side to chase down the target but a batting collapse in the middle overs pushed them on the back foot and the team eventually lost the match by 6 runs. SRH lost Wriddhiman Saha early in the chase but the then captain David Warner and Jonny Bairstow put up a partnership of 83 runs for the second wicket with Warner scoring a half-century. But as soon as the left-hander departed, Sunrisers began to lose wickets at regular intervals and were reduced to 130/7 to eventually get restricted to 143/9. SRH vs Mumbai Indians The Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers once again did a decent job and restricted a pretty stable Mumbai Indians batting line up to 150/5 in 20 overs after picking up wickets at crucial junctions in Chennai. MI were in a spot of bother at one stage when they were reduced to 114/4 but Kieron Pollard took the charge and smashed an unbeaten 35 off 22 balls which included three maximums. Vijay Shankar and Mujeeb picked up two wickets each while Khaleel Ahmed also scalped one during the process. Later, SRH started off the chase pretty well with Warner and Bairstow putting up 67 runs for the first wicket but another batting collapse saw SRH losing the game once again. Trent Boult and Rahul Chahar rattled the SRH batting order as they were eventually bundled out for 137 to suffer a defeat by 13 runs. Both Boult and Chahar bagged three-for each while Jasprit Bumrah and Kieron Pollard bowled economical spells for MI. Bumrah’s bowling figures for this match read 1/14 in 4 overs while Pollard only gave 10 runs in two overs. SRH vs Punjab Kings SRH finally tasted some success in the tournament when they met Punjab Kings in Chennai. The Hyderabad bowlers were once again on song as they didn’t let the Punjab batting unit take an upper hand and bowled them out for 120 in 19.4 overs. Khaleel Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers for SRH as he scalped a total of three wickets at the cost of 21 runs in 4 overs while Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up one wicket giving away just 16 runs in three overs. Spinner Rashid Khan returned with figures of 1/17 in 4 overs. Later, SRH only lost one wicket of captain Warner after the left-hander had put 73 runs along with Bairstow for the first wicket. While Warner was dismissed for run-a-ball 37, Bairstow went on to score a half-century and helped the side chase down the target in 18.4 overs. Kane Williamson who had come in at number three remained not out at 16 off 19. Fabian Allen was the only Punjab bowler to pick up a wicket as SRH won the match by 9 wickets. SRH vs Delhi Capitals The encounter between SRH and Delhi Capitals ended in a most dramatic manner as the match went into the Super Over in Chennai. SRH had to bat first in the tiebreaker as they were chasing the target earlier and Axar Patel had the ball in his hands. The left-arm spinner didn’t let the SRH batsmen, David Warner and Jonny Bairstow dominate him and gave away just seven runs in six deliveries. DC now needed to chase 8 runs in six balls to win the match. Rashid was given the ball to bowl the Super Over by SRH while DC had Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant out in the middle. The spinner only gave two runs in the first two deliveries but was hit for a boundary on the third ball bringing down the equation to 2 required off 3. He then bowled a dot ball but couldn’t save the match for his side as DC did manage to score two runs in the final two deliveries. Earlier, SRH needed to chase a target of 160 runs but once again a middle-order batting failure pushed them on the backfoot. Kane Williamson who had come in at number three looked steady to take his side home but he ran out of partners and SRH eventually ended the innings at 159/7 in 20 overs. Williamson remained unbeaten at 66 off 51 balls. Avesh Khan picked up three wickets for DC while Axar had a couple of dismissals and Amit Mishra had a wicket to his name. Batting first, DC rode on their top-order’s decent batting performance and managed to put 159/4 in 20 overs on the board. Opener Prithvi Shaw struck a half-century for his side. SRH vs Chennai Super Kings The Sunrisers Hyderabad had finished the Chennai leg with one win and four defeats and looked to turn tables for themselves but that didn’t really happen. SRH met CSK in Delhi and batting first, posted a good total of 171/3 in 20 overs. Captain and opener David Warner scored a half-century while Manish Pandey too chipped in with a 46-ball 61. Later, Kane Williamson who had come in at number four struck an unbeaten 26 off 10 balls. But the SRH bowlers failed to put a halt on the CSK’s scoring rate during the chase as Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis put 129 runs for the first wicket and the two played also notched up individual fifties during the course. The Super Kings did lose a few wickets at regular intervals but Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja provided the resistance and took the side home by 7 wickets in the 19th over. Rashid Khan was the only bowler for SRH to be among wickets as he picked a three-fer for 36 runs in 4 overs. SRH vs Rajasthan Royals The change in the captaincy reigns as well as in the line up didn’t really change much for SRH when they met Rajasthan Royals in Delhi. Batting first, RR and especially Jos Buttler took on the SRH bowlers and stamped his authority with the bat after scoring a fascinating century against the Kane Williamson-led side. Buttler struck 124 off 64 deliveries that involved 8 maximums during the course. Apart from him, captain Sanjuana Samson was also among runs as he put on 48 off 33 and helped the Royals post a mammoth total of 220/3 in 20 overs. The Hyderabad side though started off the proceedings in a steady manner after Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow put 57 for the first wicket but Pandey’s departure saw fall of wickets for the Sunrisers at regular intervals and they were reduced to 127/5 to eventually get restricted to 165/8 in 20 overs and suffer a defeat by 55 runs. Bairstow will be missing the second leg of the IPL 2021. "They (Bairstow and Malan) won't be boarding the flight to UAE. One of the reasons for their pull out is the six-day quarantine which they didn't need to do earlier," a BCCI official told PTI earlier. SRH have roped in Sherfane Rutherford in his place in the squad. The Hyderabad franchise is placed at the bottom of the table at the moment and would be looking to get back into the groove in the second half of the competition.

Coach Mark Boucher banks on IPL-bound players to help Proteas 'peak at the right time'

The truncated portion of the Indian Premier League will be played right before the ICC World T20 and the South Africa cricket coach Mark Boucher is banking on players who are set to play in the marquee event. He said that the IPL-bound South African players will gather a “bit of information” on the nature of pitches that may be there during the T20 World Cup while playing for their respective franchise in the IPL. He also said that the team has not peaked yet and hence the team management has spoken to players over their preparation and using their IPL experience to “peak at the right time”. "We've spoken to the guys going to the IPL. They need to stay quite disciplined and realise we want to peak at the right time as a unit. They'll be picking up bits of information about playing in those conditions that will really get them ready for a big tournament and if they manage themselves well and get some good time in the nets and get used to facilities it will stand us in good stead. It will be a great experience as long as guys look after themselves and peak at the right time,” Boucher said after winning the series 3-0 against Sri Lanka. South Africa have tasted success in the shortest format at the international stage in the recent past as they have defeated West Indies, Ireland and Sri Lanka, but Boucher said that Proteas are still not a “finished product”. However, he expressed optimism that the players are learning from their mistakes and the team is on its path of growth leading up to the ICC World T20. "This team realised that we are definitely not the finished product, so there's a lot of things we speak about," Boucher said. "We had a good chat about the lessons we've learnt and where we want to go as a team. We tied the record for the most T20 wins by a South African team. That was one of the records that we were playing for. We understand that going into a World Cup each game is as important as the others and this becomes a habit. This is just part of the growth of the team,” Boucher added. The South African players who are not part of the IPL 2021 will head back home to play T20 cricket in the domestic circuit and it should augur well for the players before the big global event.

'Disappointed' Dawid Malan says Indian bowling attack 'pretty tough' to get used to

India had an upper hand going into the last match of the five-match long Test series against India and a lot of credit for the two wins they registered in the series went to their pace bowling attack. They were at their best in most phases of the game and kept the hosts batting lineup on their toes throughout the four matches of the series. They rattled and ripped all the faultlines of the England batting in the open that compelled the hosts to drop two of their top three midway through the series. The duo of Zak Crawley and Dob Sibley was axed for Haseeb Hameed and Dawid Malan after a loss in the second Test at Lord’s. Malan, who batted at number three in the last two Tests of a truncated series rated the Indian bowling attack very highly and said that although all appear the same from the outset, all of them offers different challenges which never allows batsmen to get used to them. He said that India’s pacers were relentless and as soon as England batsmen were getting used to one of them, they used to throw a completely different set of challenges to throw the batsmen off their zone. "They've all been pretty tough. I think the one thing about this Indian attack is they’re all slightly different. They all have different release points and different things they do with the ball, which makes it so challenging you know you can never get used to (them). If you think you are getting used to one of them, they just come at you with different challenges all the time so you know it’s really tough to pick them. They've all been really, really good this series," Malan told PTI in an interview. The pace attack comprising of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur picked the bulk of the wickets while the duo of Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma played their part in helping India to get a vital 2-1 lead in the series. Malan was brought back to the England Test team after a long gap of three years as the England team management was in search of a technically equipped batsman who could stabilise the top order that looked shaky with the trio of Rory Burns, Sibley and Crawley in it. He started his return with a bang but could not carry on with big scores in the next innings of the fourth Test. Discussing his own performance, Malan expressed disappointment of not converting starts into big and substantial scores against India. He was run out in the second innings at the Oval where the pitch was “pretty flat” and left England in the lurch in the afternoon session of the final day. "Yes and no. You know, to get a score in that first Test was good.. disappointed not to (have) capitalised on that one to score a hundred. It was a really good batting wicket so to get out the way I did this was obviously disappointing. And then the first innings at The Oval. To get to 30 once again on a wicket that was playing well and to get out was tough, was disappointing from my point of view. You know I’ve come in, I feel like I’ve hit the ball well I’ve moved well," he added. Malan will not take part in the remainder of the IPL 2021 after he pulled out of the tournament citing bubble fatigue with big events such as the ICC World T20 and the Ashes tour to Australia to follow right after the end of the IPL.

Glenn Maxwell sees IPL 2021 as level playing field for international sides before ICC World T20

The revamped portion of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League will provide a “ levelled the playing field” for all countries in the ICC World T20, Australia and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has said. He has said that no side will have home advantage as the T20 World Cup is scheduled to be played right after the conclusion of the IPL, where many international stars will feature for their IPL franchises and gain adequate acclimatisation. “The tournament being in UAE probably levels the playing field a little bit. Probably makes it a little bit easier for there not to be as much of a home ground advantage. For the IPL to be there to have a lot of international players that are potentially going to be in that World Cup over there playing, I think it has probably levelled the playing field a fair bit,” Maxwell said to ICC-Cricket.com. Australia have struggled to play and compete in spin-friendly conditions in the recent past and Maxwell has suggested that the recent experience of playing in the IPL will do “wonders” for their batsmen. He has put big faith in Australian bowlers and said that they come firing all their cylinders right from the word go in in the big global event. “The fact we’ve got a lot of guys going over for the IPL as a preparation, get a few games in those conditions, it’s going to do wonders for our batters. Our bowlers are going to be up and firing by the time the tournament starts. I can assure you everyone is looking forward to hitting the ground running over there,” Maxwell added. Maxwell forms an important part of the Royal Challengers set up in the upcoming IPL and the skipper Virat Kohli would be banking on him to form a dominating middle-order in the company of AB de Villiers.