IPL 2021: Shahbaz Ahmed has proved his worth in the team says Mohammed Siraj

Supreme Court adjourns proceedings in matter related to Sourav Ganguly -Jay Shah role in BCCI

The Supreme court on Thursday, April 15 adjourned the hearing in the case related to BCCI officer bearers such as president Sourav Ganguly, Secretary Jay Shah and Joint Secretary Jayesh George. A two-judge bench comprising of Justice Justice L Nageshwara Rao and Justice Vineet Saran adjourned the proceedings as the Amicus Curiae of the case PS Narasimha failed to submit his report and sought more time. The case pertains to BCCI’s appeal in the Supreme Court to waive off the ‘cooling period’ clause in the constitution adopted by the Apex court on the recommendations of the Justice Lodha committee in 2018. According to the constitution, the trio of Ganguly, Shah and George were to go through a cooling period of three years as having served as cricket administrators at the BCCI or at the state level for six continuous years. Their tenure had ended in mid last year, but BCCI knocked on Apex court’s door to allow continuity in administration. Recently, Sourav Ganguly had said in an interview that he will decide his next career move on the basis of the decision of the Supreme Court on the matter pertaining to his eligibility as the BCCI president. Notably, Justice Rao has overseen the departure of N Srinivasan and Anurag Thakur from the post of BCCI president in the past and if Ganguly is shown the exit door, he will be the third boss of Indian cricket to have his fate settled by India’s top court.

IPL 2021: Virat Kohli reprimanded for breaking IPL Code of Conduct

Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli got reprimanded by the match referee Vengalil Narayan Kutty during the 6th match of the Indian Premier League against the Sunrisers Hyderabad for breaching IPL’s Code of Conduct on Wednesday. Kohli who is always animated on the field was charged with a Level 1 breach of clause 2.2 which relates to "Abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during a Match". The match looked done and dusted with SRH looking well on course for a convincing victory until a major collapse allowed RCB to claw their way back into the game and in the end, they registered a 6 runs victory. Meanwhile, television cameras caught Kohli kicking an advertising cushion and also knocking down a chair beside the dugout after he was dismissed by Jason Holder after making 33. It must be noted that former KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir also did a similar thing in 2016 against a match against RCB and was docked 15 per cent of his match fees. Royal Challengers Bangalore won their second successive game in the competition after beating SRH by 6 runs. They started off the tournament with a victory against the Mumbai Indians in the curtain-raiser and continued their winning streak against SRH. The victory was largely possible due to a magnificent half-century by Glenn Maxwell and some exceptional bowling by Shahbaz Ahmed and Harshal Patel in the final few overs.

Ben Stokes named Wisden Cricketer of the Year for the second successive year

One of the finest cricketers of the modern generation, Ben Stokes has been named as Wisden’s leading cricketer of the year award for the second consecutive year on Thursday. Just like in 2019, Stokes had a stupendous time with the bat and ball. Ben Stokes has been quite exceptional in the all-round development which have England dominate world cricket, especially in the shorter formats. In 2020, Stokes scored 641 runs in 7 matches at an impressive average of 58.27 against Pakistan and West Indies. With the ball in hand, Stokes also bagged 19 wickets in the longest format. Stokes bowled his heart out during the Test series against India in testing conditions. However, his performances in India wasn’t calculated as the series took place in early 2021. Besides his Test performances, Stokes also scored 126 runs in 6 T20i’s besides bagging six wickets. "Ben Stokes becomes the first England player to be named Wisden's Leading Cricketer in the World more than once, retaining the title he claimed in 2020," Wisden's editor, Lawrence Booth said. "He did it all against a backdrop of personal tragedy: his father, Ged, died in December at the age of 65." It must be noted that Stokes was also named as the leading cricketer of the year for 2019 after his heroics in the 2019 World Cup final. His sensational knock helped England tie the game and eventually won by the barest of margins. Just after his World Cup special knock, Stokes smashed a monumental innings against Australia at Headingley to take them to a magnificent victory. His innings will definitely be regarded as one of the finest Test innings of all time. Stokes had become the first English player to bag the prestigious award after all-rounder Andrew Flintoff who bagged the prize back in 2005. Before Stokes, it was Indian skipper Virat Kohli who won the award for three consecutive times. Meanwhile, Stokes’ vigil at the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League came to an end when he was ruled out of the entirety of the tournament owing to a suspected broken arm. Meanwhile, Wisden has named Australian women cricketer Beth Mooney as the leading woman cricketer for 2020. Mooney played a major role in Australia winning the T20 World Cup in 2020. She was also the leading run-scorer in the Women’s Big Bash League.

IPL 2021 | SRH vs RCB - What Experts said as SRH surrender from winning position

The MA Chidambaram Stadium produced yet another low-scoring thriller as the Royal Challengers Bangalore edged past Sunrisers Hyderabad by 6 runs in a cliffhanger to go to atop the points table in Vivo IPL 2021. Similar to the clash between KKR and MI where KKR were cruising to the target, the match looked dead and buried with David Warner and Manish Pandey ticking along the scorers and looking in brilliant touch. It was the wicket of David Warner and a triple wicket 17th over by Shahbaz Nadeem which turned the game on it’s head. Eventually, a composed Harshal Patel delivered the killer punch in the final over defending the 15 runs with some well-disguised slower deliveries and yorkers. For 80 per cent of the game, Sunrisers Hyderabad were the hot favourites to win but pretty ordinary batting in the final stages of the matches allowed RCB to get a sniff and they pounced on that opportunity with both hands. Barring an early wicket of Wriddhiman Saha, the Sunrisers Hyderabad were in cruise control when David Warner and Manish Pandey were at the middle. Manish Pandey didn’t score at a brisk pace but with Warner looking in sublime touch, Manish didn’t need to anything fancy. The wicket of David Warner brought about a collapse. Kyle Jamieson bowled a terrific over which included the wicket of the dangerous southpaw and that allowed RCB to claw their way back into the game. Time and again Virat Kohli has been questioned about his decisions on the field especially while leading RCB but the brave decision to go with Shahbaz Ahmed in the 17th over proved to be a masterstroke. The left-arm spinner bowled perfect lines and some horrendous shots from Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey and Abdul Samad brought about their downfall in that over. Shabaz bagged 3 wickets conceding just a solitary run and it proved to be the turning point in the game. Earlier in the day, it was David Warner who won the toss and put RCB in. Devdutt Padikkal who was RCB’s leading run-scorer in the previous season returned to the playing XI and came out to open the innings with skipper Virat Kohli. Padikkal couldn’t get going and was eventually dismissed after scoring 11 of 13 deliveries. Virat Kohli looked in good touch and along with Shahbaz Ahmed tried to resurrect the innings. Shahbaz was dismissed early as well but it was the partnership between Maxwell and Kohli that got RCB back into the game. Yet again, Maxwell looked in ominous touch and carried on from where he left against the Mumbai Indians. He didn’t start off in a bang and played the situation perfectly. Following some quick wickets against the run of play, Maxwell rotated the strike to perfection and opened his arms in the final two overs. It was his knock of 59 of 41 deliveries that allowed them to get near the 150 mark. Eventually, a score below 150 yet again proved to be enough in Chennai as RCB made it two out of two in the 14th season of the extravaganza. Captain’s Viewpoints Sunrisers Hyderabad lamented the fact that SRH allowed Bangalore to get a sniff which they pounced on. He expressed his disappointment at the way they played cross-batted shots against Shahbaz Ahmed which proved to be the game-changer in the end. “A very big bitter pill to swallow. Obviously Maxi batted well, but our bowlers did well to restrict them. Look, it was just about building a partnership...and I was quite disappointed with how we went - cross-batted shots against left-arm orthodox. It just hurts,” Warner said. SRH have now lost both their first two encounters and they will need to turn their fortunes around pretty soon. With three more games remaining for SRH at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Warner feels that the pitches will just get better for batting and they are hoping to execute their plans to perfection in the next encounter. “We have another three games here, the wickets are going to get better here. We need to try to take powerplay wickets and need to have one big partnership in the middle. The last four games here the team batting second should've won the game. Last night's game was an example and we played an identical game,” Warner added. Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli hailed his boys for producing a magical show and make a dramatic turnaround to seal the match from nowhere. He gave the example of the MI-KKR game where under a similar situation KKR faltered and it went the same way even in this encounter. Kohli emphasised the fact that just like RCB struggled to 149 it would be that much difficult for SRH to chase the target down. “Not as exhausted as I'm proud. It was a top game for us and probably it will get more and more tougher here. You saw it in KKR vs MI - you're never really out of the game. Those extra options made the impact performances in the middle overs. I told them if we've struggled to 149, it will be tougher for the opposition,” Kohli said. Even last year RCB started off the campaign in a splendid fashion and faded out during the business end of the tournament and almost scraped through to the playoffs. Perhaps given that in mind, Kohli said that they are not over-excited with the victories and needs to keep on executing their plans to perfection. “I truly believed we could win with 150. The wicket was never a belter and tonight our execution under pressure was spot-on. The wicket kept getting tougher and tougher with the old ball. It's about getting momentum in the first six overs, but for us Maxi gave us that momentum and got us closer to 150. To be very honest, we're not over-excited with victories. We have a clear plan and backing our players. Got Harshal from Delhi for a role. It's a long tournament and you have to be professional with your job,” Kohli added. Experts' take Harsha Bhogle congratulated Bangalore for winning their second match in as many games. Besides he also portrayed the last two matches at Chepauk as a horror movie named Death overs. for the second successive day a relatively low total was defended by the team batting first. It was almost that history repeating itself as it went on the same terms as the KKR-MI encounter. Prominent journalist Sambit Bal resonated the fact and also reminded the viewers that it was just the 7th half-century for Glenn Maxwell in the IPL. He feels that this could be the best year for the swashbuckling all-rounder. Former Indian opener and one of the most prominent voices of cricket currently, Aakash Chopra also voiced his opinion on the game. He accepted the fact that lightning does strike at the same place twice in two days. He also believed that in due course captains winning the toss will chose to bat first given the trend in this season so far.