IPL 2021: Ravichandran Ashwin takes an indefinite break from ongoing IPL

IPL 2021 | SRH vs DC: Hits & Flops as Hyderabad fail to clear final test in Chennai

It was a Sunday bonanza for the cricket fans after they witnessed two crackerjack encounters in the Indian Premier League. In the first clash between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings, Ravindra Jadeja’s all-round show outclassed Bangalore in Mumbai. First, the left-hander was onslaught with the bat as he scored 62* off 28 and then rattled the RCB batting line up with his bowling to return with a three-fer and was also involved in a runout to hand the Virat Kohl-led side their first defeat in the IPL 2021. The second clash of the day between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals emerged out to be a more exciting one as we had the first Super Over of the tournament. Chasing 160 in 20 overs, SRH were restricted to 159/7 in Chennai. But before moving forward, would just dissect the Sunrisers’ batting performance in this very edition. There have been instances where the Hyderabad-based franchise have given away momentum and they did so in this match against DC. While Jonny Bairstow gave them a good start at one end, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson looked in good shape in the middle overs but after the wicket-keeper batsman departed for 36 off 18, Williamson didn’t really get any support. The middle and lower-middle order once again misfired where four batsmen went back into the hut with single-figure scores to their name and one was dismissed for a golden duck. But of course, there are positives from every game and SRH too had one in Jagadeesha Suchith who made his debut for the side in this match. He played a crucial and an unbeaten knock of a 6-ball 14. The left-handed batsman smacked a couple of boundaries at a crucial stage in the penultimate over after Avesh Khan banged in some short stuff to frighten the new batsman. But instead of being afraid to face the short deliveries from a bowler who had already scalped a three-for and was looking in good rhythm, he pulled them to the on side boundary. Suchith then deposited a back of the length delivery from Kagiso Rabada out of the park for a maximum in the last over to keep the side in the contest. The left-hander also bowled his quota of four overs and returned with an economical figure of 0/21. Well, he along with Williamson put in some effort to take the team over the line in the last over but Rabada’s experience was enough to at least end the match in a tie and take it into the Super Over. DC captain Rishabh Pant opted to give the ball to Axar Patel who was playing his first game for the franchise in this edition. The track has something to offer to the spinners and the kind of success Axar has had in the recent past, he could walk on water if you asked him to do it. But the left-arm spinner didn’t really bank upon the turn that the pitch had to offer but he also varied the pace on the ball. The first two deliveries had some pace on them and turned sharply into the David Warner who had come out to bat with Williamson. Warner did get something on the second one while trying to slog it and ended up getting a single off the inside half to deep square leg. Patel missed the length on the third delivery and bowled this one short of length at the stumps that was pulled for a boundary by Williamson. Then came a single on the fourth ball, an LBW appeal on the fifth that went upstairs but the decision came in favour of the batting team and this was followed by a perfect ball right into the blockhole which was well negotiated by Warner who went deep into the crease and squeezed it through the midwicket. The Aussie batsman raced back for the second one quickly but he was so eager to complete the second run that he ran the first one short and SRH ended up getting only 7 in the over. The Delhi Capitals had to chase 8 runs in six balls and skipper Pant was out in the middle with regular opener Shikhar Dhawan while the ball was handed to Rashid Khan probably because of the variations that the Afghan spinner has and the way the strip in Chennai was behaving. Rashid too bowled with some plan in this over but the lesser amount of runs nullified his efforts with the ball. Three out of the 8 runs came in leg byes while Pant somehow managed to time his reverse ramp well on the third ball that went to the boundary to ease the pressure on the batting side. The right-arm spinner made good use of the pace and the variation to deceive the batsmen but failed to win the match for his team. Let’s now take a look at the hits and flops from this match. HITS Kane Williamson Undoubtedly, the right-handed batsman Kane Williamson had to make it to the list of hits for this match especially after the kind of innings he played against DC on Sunday. There is surely a thing about Williamson’s batting that makes him such a dependable batsman in the shorter format of the game as well. He is one player who is not known for some belligerent stroke play but is more popular for his consistency and the orthodox manner of batting. Well, you believe or not but an orthodox batsman is equally dangerous as someone who can take on the bowlers right from the word go. Williamson might not play innovative shots regularly but his drives and flicks are equipped enough to fetch him boundaries at crucial stages. To add to this kind of batting style, Williamson’s running between the wickets also helps him score runs and lets the scoreboard ticking creating pressure on the opponent. The Blackcaps captain repeated this routine on Sunday against DC. He probably had answers to every sort of delivery that the Capitals’ bowlers threw at him. He successfully played the slower balls from the spinner late while pulled, punched, drove and cut the shorter and fuller ones from the pacers with precision during the course of his 51-ball 66*. Looking at the stats of Williamson’s batting, he was 81% in control of his strokes while the most productive shot that came out of his bat was the cut, courtesy of which he scored two boundaries out of the eight he had hit. But he was the lone warrior for his side who did play a brilliant innings and tried to take his team to victory. He just fell short of partners at the other end and this became the reason for yet another defeat for SRH. The way he stitched his innings was just another example of his class, talent and calibre and he surely deserved to stand on the winning side. The Sunrisers are lacking a middle-order batsman who can complement Williamson’s batting methodology and has the ability to steady the ship for the side as and when required. Though, it is an early call but Suchith if asked to bat a bit up in the order might be that player. He showed a glimpse of his capability when he struck those two boundaries against Avesh. The left-hander is surely competent enough to face the short and back of the length balls. While the Kiwi batsman can play the anchor’s role holding on the one end tight, Suchith can be the batsman who can go after the bowlers to keep up with the scoring rate. This can be a pair with a contrasting batting method but complementing one just like we have in the Indian Test team. The newly-found pair of Cheteshwar Pujara and Pant is a perfect example of this where Pujara has taken up the responsibility of frustrating the bowlers while Pant has the onus of scoring runs at a brisk pace to keep the opponents under pressure. Axar Patel Cricket is about balance. Axar Patel is the same bowler who was once taken on by MS Dhoni in one of the IPL editions and was smacked all around the park. Cut to 2021. Axar has made his Test debut for India and has stamped his authority with the ball picking up 27 wickets in three matches against England and is an integral part of the DC bowling setup. Showing some great character on his comeback to the Delhi line up after recovering from COVID-19, Axar returned with figures of 2/26 in 4 overs where he had given away 11 runs in the very first over. The left-arm spinner took some time to adjust his line and length and went wicket-less for the first three overs of his bowling. But as soon as he got some turn on offer, Axar made slight adjustments and claimed a wicket straight away in his fourth over. The spinner bowled a back of the length ball to Abhishek Sharma and the left-handed batsman was deceived with the turn as the ball just came into him and hit his pads in front of the stumps. Sharma was given out LBW after an appeal from the bowler. He though went for the DRS but it eventually went against him. Next up was Rashid Khan who has the ability to strike few boundaries especially in the death overs. But not this time. The right-hander tried to go for a reverse sweep on the length delivery from Axar but was beaten with the pace and was hit in front of the stumps. This was absolutely plumb. Patel had two in two but he missed the hat trick later on. From being hit for 11 runs in his first over to picking two wickets on the trot in the last, it was a sheer turn around for the bowler. Prithvi Shaw Prithvi Shaw is another example of redemption and how a strong-headed youngster is back where he belongs to. The right-handed batsman had faced heat after his horrific tour of Australia. He was sacked from the Test team for the England series at home. A young kid had to face a lot but as we say this game is cruel. Shaw took this on his chin and made a fine comeback in the Vijay Hazare Trophy leading the Mumbai side to a title win. He just didn’t lead the pack to the winning podium but went on to break records himself. He became the first player to breach the 800-run mark in the one-day tournament while having three 150+ scores including a double century. Shaw was back in form. His next assignment was the IPL 2021 at home with Delhi Capitals. Playing the first three matches on his home turf, Shaw scored a brisk 72 followed by 2 and 32 to finish the Mumbai leg on a decent note. The DC franchise then took the flight to Chennai where Shaw failed to leave the mark in the first match against Mumbai Indians after getting dismissed for 7 but made another fine return with a 53 against Sunrisers at the same venue on Sunday. The 21-year-old’s batting style, stance and backlift is often compared to that of former India player Virender Sehwag. But Sehwag had another quality in him and that was being fearless. His approach was simple. No matter who the bowler is, he would go after him if the ball is in his slot. Shaw is probably somewhere like him and he showed this against SRH. The right-hander broke the shackles with three boundaries off Khaleel on the first three balls on the trot. He played the first one through the covers on the backfoot, glanced the second that was a length ball and drove the fuller length through extra cover on the third occasion. Three boundaries in three different areas and Shaw had announced that he was in some different mood. He ended up scoring 53 off 39 including 7 boundaries and a maximum before getting runout. Shaw’s batting stats show that he scored the majority of runs through the covers which is obviously a sign of a batsman who is in some form. One major aspect of Shaw’s batting is that he has all the shots in the textbooks. He can drive the ball through the covers, can flick with precision, has good hand-eye coordination while going for a pull and can punch the short or back of the length deliveries through the point region. Shaw scored 18 runs through cover drive which involved a couple of boundaries and the only six he had hit while he was in 85% control of his strokes. The Delhi Capitals would want him to continue this kind of run and capitalise on the starts he has been getting. FLOPS Khaleel Ahmed SRH and India fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed’s biggest problem is his consistency. While he started off the IPL 2021 pretty well picking up four wickets at a decent economy rate in two matches, the left-handed bowler totally lost his form in his third outing. He was hit for three consecutive fours by Shaw but didn’t give away any runs further in that particular over. Just mentioning about Axar here, the spinner too went for 11 runs in his first over but he ended up with some impressive figures which was totally not the case with Khaleel. While he went for 12 in his first, he gave away 30 more in the next three. The pitch didn’t really have much for the fast bowlers but the alteration that Khaleel made in his second over did work for him. He took off the pace on a number of occasions and this turned out to be the first boundary-less over in the innings. The left-handed pacer then returned for his second spell in the 18th over and was once again taken on by the bowlers. He gave 10 runs in this over the included two boundaries. The batsmen had started to read his variations well and dispatched the slower ones to the fence for four. Khaleel bowled the final over of the innings which was more disastrous. He went for 14 runs in this one. The DC batsmen had the perfect reading of Khaleel’s bowling and had the plans to tackle it. Some blame should also go to captain Warner. The fast bowler had got his rhythm back a bit in the second over that he bowled but instead of carrying on with him, he made changes in the bowling attack. The flow that he had got then gradually faded away when he was handed over the ball again in the death overs. Already under some pressure, Khaleel was asked to bowl to batsmen like Pant, Steve Smith and Marcus Stoinis which eventually resulted in a ravaging spell of bowling. Khaleel returned with figures of 0/42 in 4 overs. David Warner Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner had a decent start with the bat but he failed to leave an impact on Sunday against DC after getting runout for 6 off 8. SRH were coming into this match with a win in the last one and were looking to gain more confidence and keep momentum but everything went haywire for them. A lot of it has to do with the captaincy. Warner initially failed to use his bowlers in a better way. For example, Khaleel was removed from the attack just after he had got in the groove. Another failing instance of his captaincy was during the chase when Vijay Shankar was pushed down the order. Shankar is the kind of batsman who has the ability to strike big but he takes his time to get his eye in. But to everyone’s surprise, he was asked to go in at number 8. Then came the most astonishing decision when Warner came out to bat with Williamson in the Super Over with Bairstow warming the chairs in the dugout. With the way the pitch was behaving, there was a huge possibility that the over would be bowled by a spinner and it did happen. Pant gave the ball to Axar who had received some hammering from Bairstow earlier in the match and we all know how dangerous the English batsman is against the spin. While Warner failed with the bat against DC, he was miserable with his captaincy. The Australia international should sit with the think tank and needs to come up with new plans because the old ones are clearly not working. SRH are presently placed at number 7 in the points table while DC are at two. Delhi will now face RCB in Ahmedabad on Tuesday while SRH take on CSK in Delhi on Saturday.

IPL 2021 | SRH vs DC: What Experts Said as Capitals sink Sunrisers in battle of attrition

The Delhi Capitals found a way around a Kane Williamson masterclass to make it four wins out of five games this season while the Sunrisers Hyderabad slipped to the path of loss once again. The Capitals struggled to take the game completely away from the Sunrisers and could post only 159 runs on the board. However, the pitches at the MA Chidambaram Stadium have shown it to be enough to challenge the sides chasing and the story could not have been more similar except the incredible batting from Kane Williamson. Captains’ views Discussing the loss against the Capitals, the Sunrisers skipper David Warner said that the bowling attack put their hands up and brought the team back in the game after an average powerplay. Warner lauded Vijay Shankar for being accurate with the ball and helping the side stem the flow of runs in his three-over spell. Warner also commended the duo of Kane Williamson and Jonny Bairstow for providing the team platforms to go for the win albeit they fell short in the super over. The Sunrisers Hyderabad made a tough call of dropping Manish Pandey and however Warner rated the call as ‘harsh,’ he put the onus on selectors for the decision. He also came in defence of young Virat Singh who failed to get going and put pressure on Williamson. “It's a tough one. I thought the way the bowlers came back after the powerplay was fantastic. Vijay is not one of our strike bowlers, but he was fantastic. Johnny at the top and Kane batted deep but... It's on the selectors. Harsh call (dropping Manish Pandey). You can't discredit Virat. They bowled fantastically in the middle and brought it back. If you hit the ball to a world-class fielder, you get run-out nine times out of ten,” Warner said to the host broadcaster Star. Rishabh Pant was not well to come for the post-match presentation and hence the stand-in captain Shikhar Dhawan came to address the questions posed at his team. Dhawan said that the game turned out to be far more thrilling than it should have been. However, he conceded that Kane Williamson’s class almost took the game away from them albeit there was ample help for the bowlers in the wicket. The Capitals will move to Ahmedabad for their next round of games this season and Dhawan said that the pitches there are likely to be more batting-friendly than the ones at the Chepauk. “Absolutely, a thrilling game. It shouldn't have gone to the Super Over. We should have done it easily. But, it's part of the game. It was very tough to bat especially after the powerplay. It was turning and holding. Kane Williamson played a very good knock, he's a champion player, but good to win it in the end. Those little things [one short] make a huge impact and we got an edge over that and we ended up winning the game. Glad the Ahmedabad wicket will be better than this one,” Dhawan said in the post-match presentation. Experts’ views Considered as one of the prominent voice of the game, Harsha Bhogle had put all his weight behind Kane Williamson, who he said is being treated as ‘Kane Mama.’ However, he also called for support from Vijay Shankar and Abhishek Sharma, which never arrived and it left Williamson with a lot to do. Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra brought a piece of the stat around teams not winning even a single game when the captain has got dismissed by the mode of run out. Chopra also reminded the viewers that the power to call short run was given to the third umpire before this season and it worked wonders as the Sunrisers skipper ran a short run in the super over. Cricket analyst Ben Jones commended both Williamson and Bairstow for batting with amazing ease on a surface where other batsmen fought hard to time the ball. He said that while Williamson batted beautifully without offering too many opportunities to dismiss him to the opposition, Bairstow bated with absolute supremacy. Going by the same analysis, he wondered the reasons as to why the Sunrisers did not opt for the duo to do the job in the super over. Jones also lamented Virat Singh for playing as poorly as it gets on the big stage of IPL. The Capitals would be elated to get back at the top of the points table with the narrowest of wins over the Sunrisers. However, they would be the first one to admit that the four wins don’t paint a true picture of the level of their performances so far in this season. On the other hand, the Sunrisers Hyderabad have sunk further in the standings of the 14th edition of the IPL. They are running against time and will need to win seven from the remaining nine games to have a chance to make it to the playoff.

IPL 2021 | Virat Kohli fined Rs 12 lakh for slow over rate against Chennai Super Kings

After a heavy loss in the game against the Chennai Super Kings, the skipper of Royal Challengers Bangalore has been fined Rs 12 lakh for a slow over-rate. Kohli was fined only Rs 12 lakh as it was the first offence of slow over-rates by the RCB this season. Notably, other captains such as MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, and Eoin Morgan too have been fined Rs 12 lakh each so far in this season. Virat Kohli’s men were defeated massively by the Chennai Super Kings in the 19th game of the IPL 2021 in Mumbai. Batting first, the Super Kings posted a mammoth total of 191 runs while the Royal Challengers collapsed in the chase and could manage only 122 runs.

Hasan Ali, Rizwan put off Wesley Madhevere scare as Pakistan clinch the T20I series

Zimbabwe opener Wesley Madhevere, till the time he was in the middle, has his and team’s hopes high about chasing down Pakistan’s 165 in the 20 overs to win the series decider at the Harare Sports Club in Harare. However, it wasn’t to be as a fine spell of bowling from Hasan Ali ensured that the Chevrons remained 34 short of the target as Pakistan completed a 2-1 series victory with the win the third and final game. Chasing 166, Zimbabwe started well with the opening pair adding a quick 37 for the first wicket. It was followed by a 51 ball 65 runs stand for the second wicket between Madhevere and youngster Tadiwanashe Marumani. However, once Marumani was removed by Mohammad Hasnain, it didn’t take much time for Hasan Ali to wreak havoc, removing first the settled Madhevere and then wicket-keeper batsman Regis Chakabva to let Zimbabwe reel at 110-4 with 56 needed from 25 balls. It became increasingly difficult for the men in red to go for the target as wickets fell at regular intervals. The team could only get up to 141 at the loss of seven wickets in their full quota of 20 overs thanks to 20 run innings from Brendon Taylor. Apart from Ali’s four wickets, Haris Rauf removed two men as well while one wicket was taken by Hasnain. Earlier in the day, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam won the toss and decided to bat first. Babar, on his way to 46 balls 52, became the fastest batsman to reach 2000 T20I runs, taking only 52 innings to reach the milestone, four less than Indian skipper Virat Kohli. However, it was once again Mohammad Rizwan’s 60 balls 91 that pushed Pakistan to 165 in 20 overs. Luke Jongwe, who picked up all three wickets that fell in the Pakistan innings was the pick of the bowlers for Zimbabwe. The 26-year-old all-rounder finished with nine wickets in the entire tournament, the most for any bowler from both sides. While Hasan Ali won the Man of the Match award for his 4-18 match-winning performance, Mohmmad Rizwan was declared Man of the Series for his historic 186 runs in the tournament at an average of 186.