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

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.

IPL 2021 | CSK vs RCB: What Experts said as Jadeja hands Chennai top spot

MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings put a halt to Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore’s winning streak after thumping them by 69 runs in Mumbai on Sunday. Chasing a stiff total of 193, RCB were restricted to 122/9 in 20 overs. RCB did have a decent start to the chase when Devdutt Padikkal and Kohli put up 44 runs for the first wicket, though majority of runs were scored by Padikkal during the course. The two stitched a stand of 44 before captain Kohli departed while trying to work a short ball, moving away from him through the covers off Sam Curran. The right-handed batsman just managed to edge the ball and Dhoni took an easy catch behind the stumps. Kohli’s departure was followed by a flurry of wickets in the middle, courtesy some brilliant piece of bowling and fielding from Ravindra Jadeja who had a gala time at Wankhede Stadium against RCB on Sunday. The left-arm spinner first scalped the wicket of Washington Sundar who came in at number three after inviting him to go for a glory hit on a length ball. Sundar went for the slog and took the aerial route trying to clear the fence over deep mid-wicket boundary but didn’t time his shot well and was caught by Ruturaj Gaikwad for 7 off 11. Jadeja followed Sundar’s wicket with Glenn Maxwell’s dismissal. With the kind of form that Maxwell has been in this IPL, he would have thoroughly dominated CSK bowling attack. But Dhoni played the perfect trump card and handed the ball to Jadeja when the Aussie batsman was in. The spinner totally deceived him and rattled the woodwork behind Maxwell to send him packing for 22 off 15. The Indian all-rounder didn’t just stop here and was involved in a couple of more wickets. In the 10th over of the innings, AB de Villiers tried to rotate the strike after guiding a length ball towards the covers with soft hands and called for the run. Jadeja who was stationed inside the circle quickly ran towards the ball and threw it straight to the batting hitting the bull’s eye to see Dan Christian depart for just 1 run. The left-hander was not over yet. He probably scalped the wicket of one of the most important batsmen of the RCB line up, ABD. The former South Africa captain was beaten in the turn on a length ball that was pitched around the middle stump channel and went through to clean him up for 4 runs off 9 deliveries. Jadeja eventually returned with figures of 3/13 in 4 overs. Earlier, after winning the toss, CSK opted to bat first and had a solid start to the proceedings after Faf du Plessis and Gaikwad put 74 runs on the board for the first wicket. Gaikwad though departed for 33 but Du Plessis continued with his form to notch up yet another half-century in the competition. Suresh Raina who walked in at number three also chipped in with 24 off 18. But the real drama was unleashed by Jadeja who smacked an unbeaten 62 off 28 that included five maximums and four boundaries in the process. The left-hander had a struggling start and took some time to get his eye in before unfolding an unforgettable knock. RCB paid the price for dropping him twice when he was on 1 and 2 respectively. Jadeja totally turned the course of the innings in the last over where he managed to gather 37 runs in six deliveries off Harshal Patel. The aggressive batsman began the over with four maximums including a free-hit. He then ran a couple and concluded the over with another six and a four. Patel who is the purple cap holder gave away 51 runs in 4 overs and took three wickets. Captains' corner RCB seamer Harshal Patel had gone for 37 runs in the last over but captain Virat Kohli has said that the team management will continue to back him. "You have to look at it the right way. I feel this is a positive feedback for our side. A performance like this, it is good to get this out early on in the tournament. Our start was decent enough. One guy completely beat us. Today his skill was there for everyone to see. He (Harshal) bowled well and we will continue to back him," he said. Kohli lauded Jadeja for his all-round performance and said that he is pretty happy to see him perform with both bat and ball and in the field. "His (Jadeja) ability has been there for everyone to see. I am very happy to see him perform with the bat, ball and on the field. After two months, he will be back playing for India and it is always a pleasure to see your premier all-rounder do well with the bat. When he plays well and is confident, it lets out many opportunities," he added. CSK captain MS Dhoni also praised Jaedja for his brilliant show and suggested that he is someone who has the ability to turn the game on its head alone. "He's (Jadeja) somebody who can change the game on his own and we have seen that significant change with the bat and in tj bowling as well. It's good to give him that extra opportunity, the extra few balls where he can express himself. It's also important that the individual grabs the chance when you take a decision like that and he's done that so far.” Talking about the bowling, Dhoni said that the bowlers have found it difficult to bowl against the left-handed batsmen with the slog. “Also from a strategy point the bowler's have found it slightly more difficult to contain the left handed batsman with the slog. In that way it also helps us a bit. You can't predict the quantum of win. We were also pondering whether to bat or bowl first. Heat is also a factor here. We've played a lot of cricket here. Whether the groundsmen have time to prepare the wicket, it's still a good wicket," Dhoni said. The former India captain further added that the track had something to offer to the spinners. "I felt the spinners had something up their sleeve if they bowled consistently in the right areas. You can play with the field and put extra pressure on the batsman. I felt that the extra few runs jadeja scored in the last over.. that really helps because we were looking to go close to a par score 160-170," he added. Experts' Views Commentator Harsha Bhogle lavished praise on Jadeja and hailed him for the match-winning effort. Boria Majumdar had a small complaint from Jadeja. Boria missed Jadeja's sword dance but he too hailed the performance from the all-rounder. Majumdar praised the foundation laid by Faf and Suresh Raina in the beginning of the innings. While Faf completed his fifty, Raina was among some runs. CSK's Imran Tahir was invoked in a runout after he removed Kyle Jameison with a direct hit. Joy Bhattacharjya made a brilliant observation about the act. CSK for the first time in the history of IPL failed to make a place for themselves in the playoffs in the IPL 2020. Mentioning about the previous edition Bhattacharjya said that it seems that the MS Dhoni-led side would turn the fortunes for themselves in this season. Ben Jones applauded Jadeja for the kind of performance he had unleashed against RCB. Jones said that the left-handed cricketer had won the match for CSK single-handily. RCB will now face Delhi Capitals in Ahmedabad on Tuesday while CSK will lock horns with Mumbai Indians in Delhi on Saturday.