IPL 2021: Stephen Fleming credits batsmen for putting up competitive totals

Sikandar Raza suffers bone marrow infection; long recovery process to follow

Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza won’t be seen in action for an indefinite period after he was diagnosed with an infection in his bone marrow. He had suspected it to be cancerous at one stage but after the surgery on 2nd April to remove the tumour, Raza has been cleared of any serious illness. However, it might take him several weeks to get back to normal. The recovery period won’t be easy but given the toughness of Raza, he should sail through the process. Raza is currently at home is undergoing cycles of meditation and injections. Raza revealed that he first felt severe pain in his right arm during the series against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi last month. He was part of the Playing XI in both Tests and three T20Is. The series ended on 20th March and Raza returned to Harare to see a specialist. Tests revealed that it was much more serious than regular muscle pain. "I had pain in my right arm during the Abu Dhabi Tests," Raza told ESPNcricinfo. "We treated like it was muscular pain initially but the pain kept getting worse. I remember staying up all night, unable to sleep despite having sleeping pills. That's how I played the Test matches. "After coming home, the ultrasound showed that the muscles are all fine. The MRI showed that I had a foreign or alien substance on my bone marrow. Seeing this the surgeon told me that this substance could make my shoulder bone so weak that I could fracture it by just throwing a ball. He suggested that I do a biopsy right away. I wanted to wait till the Pakistan series but he insisted otherwise. He said that due to the deformity seen in my bicep bone, they were suspecting cancer." Raza decided to go for surgery instantaneously and it was only on Tuesday evening that he found out that he had an infection in his bone marrow. "I went under the knife within the next 48 hours. They opened up my bicep by drilling the bone. They created a hole to take out some puss and red substance." "All of this was sent it for a biopsy, and it came back as negative. There was a type of infection but only last night the bone biopsy report ruled out cancer," he said. Raza further added that it will take him a long time to recover fully and he will definitely miss playing against Pakistan in the ongoing series. "I have been ruled out indefinitely. There's no set date for my return. Of course, this not being cancerous has suddenly fast-tracked some of it." "After the lab professor studies my MRI, I will apparently be on medication and jab for the next six months. We want to treat it aggressively so that I don't get the infection again. I am very sure that I have three to five more weeks of doing nothing if everything goes smoothly,” Raza said. Meanwhile, Raza also expressed his regard towards the Zimbabwe Cricket officials and thanked them. It included chairman Tavenga Mukuhlani, managing director Givemore Makoni and team physio Trevor Wamble for taking his special care. "Allah was very kind. He gave me a lot of strength but people like our physio Trevor Wambe helped me through this. He was by my side in Abu Dhabi, giving me a lot of time. When we got back to Zimbabwe, he ran around with me with the scans and tests." Raza spoke about the help that he got. "When ZC found out what the doctors suggesting seeing my MRI, Givemore Makoni, the MD, and chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani got very worried. They were very supportive, even contacting other boards and telling me that they would send me anywhere else for better treatment." Raza further added. "My family, friends and team-mates were also very supportive. Alhamdullilah when the report came last night, it put me and my family at ease. There were tears of joy in my family," he said.

IPL 2021: T Natarajan unable to go for scans due to quarantine rules

The rise of Thangarasu Natarajan at the highest level has been quite phenomenal. However, it has been a lingering knee injury that hasn’t allowed the left-arm pacer to settle into the Sunrisers Hyderabad outfit especially in this edition. Despite his troublesome knee, he hasn’t left the bio-bubble to have a scan yet. If he leaves the bubble then he will need to quarantine for atleast seven days to re-enter the team’s bubble. As Natarajan missed his second game of the tournament against the Punjab Kings, SRH skipper David Warner said that Natarajan has got a sore knee and the physios and the trainers are trying their level best to analyse by looking at it. However, he also added that Natarajan has to go for scans at some point or the other. "He obviously has got a sore knee," Warner said at the post-match press conference. "Given the circumstances in these bubbles, if he goes and gets a scan, he obviously has to sit out for seven days; he has to go back into quarantine. We are just monitoring at the moment. The physios are doing their best to analyse from a face point of view. But he obviously has to go and have a scan at some point." Khaleel Ahmed was brought into the XI to replace Khaleel Ahmed and the left-arm pacer had an impressive outing. He bagged 1/24 in his four overs spell against the Mumbai Indians while picking 3 wickets for just 21 runs against the Punjab Kings. The knee trouble had kept him out of the first three T20I’s against England as well. He played in the final encounter bagging a wicket for 39 runs and also played the final ODI in Pune bagging a wicket and conceding 79 runs in his 10 overs spell. Meanwhile, Sunrisers Hyderabad will be missing Natarjan’s services who has emerged as a great bowler in the death. He made his national debut across formats in Australia not long ago and will look to return to the team at the earliest. SRH managed to win their first match of IPL 2021 when they defeated Punjab Kings quite convincingly by 9 wickets in the 14th match of the competition.

IPL 2021: Eoin Morgan fined for slow over rate during match against CSK

Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Eoin Morgan has been docked his match fees after the World Cup-winning skipper maintained a slow over-rate in the 15th game of the tournament. Morgan has been fined INR 12 lakh for slow over-rate. Meanwhile, it must be noted that it was the first offence from the two-time champions this season under the new IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to a minimum over-rate offences. As per the new IPL guidelines laid down by the IPL governing council the captain of the team having bowled lesser overs during a stipulated period of time will be fined INR 12 lakh for the first instance. If the team is charged for the second time, the fine is doubled (INR 24 lakh). Meanwhile, every other member of the franchise is fined 25 per cent of the match fees of INR 6 lakh which is lesser among the two. If a team fails to bowl their quota of overs in the stipulated time for the third time in the season, the captain has to pay a fee of INR 30 and will be suspended for a match. Meanwhile, the rest of the members of the playing XI will be levied with a fine of INR 12 lakh or 50 per cent of match fees whichever is lesser. Coming back to the match, it was a thriller of a contest with CSK piping past KKR by 18 runs. Chasing a mammoth target of 221, the Gold and the Purple brigade needed to get off to a flying start but wickets kept falling at regular intervals and out of nowhere they were tottering at 31/5. The match looked done and dusted before Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik shared a 81 runs stand and brought KKR back into the game. After Russell’s and Karthik’s dismissal in quick succession, it seemed a mere formality for CSK to finish things off. However, Pat Cummins who is no mug with the bat suddenly changed the complexion of the game by smashing Sam Curran for 30 runs in the 16th over. KKR were back in the game but in the end, the loss of wickets proved to be vital as they were bowled out in the final over. A heartbreak for KKR but CSK was overjoyed to get out of a corner. Courtesy the victory, CSK go atop the points table with a better Net run-rate than the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

IPL 2021 | KKR vs CSK: Hits & Flops as Russel, Cummins fail in muscling Knight Riders past Super Kings

When Kolkata Knight Riders were struggling at 31-5 at the end of the fifth over, nobody even in their wildest of dreams would have thought that they would be trying to get 20 of the last over with a certain Pat Cummins batting at 65 off 33 balls. It wasn’t only Cummins that was an unlikely hero with the bat for KKR, but Andre Russell also finally paid dividends with the willow in his hand, scoring a 22 ball 54 and getting out in the unlikeliest of fashion, bowled from behind the legs. Dinesh Karthik was the third KKR batsman to eke out any sort of resistance. However, he too got out leaving Cummins alone in the middle. The Aussie did hit Sam Curran for 30 runs in one over to get the equation in his favour with 45 needed off the final four. In the end, though, it was too much to ask for Cummins as he ran out of partners and the last man, Prasidh Krishna couldn’t support him by completing a two of the first ball of the last over, getting run out in the event and wasting away five precious deliveries. Earlier in the evening, MS Dhoni, the skipper of the Super Kings had surprisingly decided to bat first after winning a toss at Wankhede. Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad made full use of the decision, getting back in form, with two scintillating half-centuries for both the openers. This firebrand batting helped Super Kings reach a huge total of 220 runs. The game had a lot of heroes and villains too. Let’s have a look at them in the segment called Hits and Flops Hits Faf du Plessis The CSK opener was on a roll with the bat, especially in the second half of the Yellow Brigade’s innings. At the time of the other opener, Gaikwad’s wicket in the 13th over, du Plessis was hardy in the limelight, just going about things lacklustre. He hadn’t even completed his fifty back then. But once the fifty was completed in 36 balls, the 36-year-old utilised the next 24 balls to hit 43 runs and remain unbeaten at 95 with the help of nine fours and four giant sixes. It was with the help of the South African’s innings only that CSK, after being 165-2 in the 17th over, were able to get to 220 at the end of the 20th. The importance of this innings could be gauged from the fact that it was also du Plessis’ first-ever fifty-plus score in his last 10 innings across formats. Pat Cummins It would be hard to believe, if someone reads this piece a few years down the line that Pat Cummins would feature as a hit in a T20 game, not for his bowling, but rather for his batting. The New South Wales born was able to keep his team the Knight Riders in the game even after all their batting superstars had walked off to the dressing room when 75 runs needed off just 30 balls. Cummins hit Englishman Curran, who had got dangerous Russell bowled around his legs, for 30 runs in the 16th over and brought down the required rate from 15 runs per over to just over 11, with 45 needed from 24. He then took 13 runs off a Shardul Thakur over to bring the equation down to 27 from two overs. But with wickets falling regularly at the other end, it wasn’t easy for the paceman to keep going at the same rate. Eventually, it came down to 20 off the last ball and well rest of it has already been told. Deepak Chahar Chahar was back to his very best once again for MSD’s calling. Swinging the ball left-right and centre and forcing the batsmen to commit mistakes. Most of his wicket-taking deliveries were actually lucky escapes for the bowler and unlucky for the batters. Only Eoin Morgan’s wicket came off a delivery that had genuine merit for taking a wicket. But what should not be forgotten is the fact that Chahar was able to get those four wickets because of the better 16 balls that did not fetch him a wicket, but did force the batsmen to take different recourse and thereby making him commit the mistake. This was Chahar’s second four-wicket haul this season and he has now reached the joint second place in the list of most wickets, just one behind leader Harshal Patel of the RCB. Flops Eoin Morgan The KKR skipper has failed continuously this season, having not been able to play even one good innings in the four matches so far. Today was no different either. Trying to get to up the ante, and reasonably so, he was going for the boundaries. But the manner in which he played an outside off delivery from Chahar to get run out at, was silly, to say the least. It was not at all becoming of a World Cup-winning captain. With just 45 runs so far in the four innings, it is high time for Morgan, 33, to get his act together and lead by example for others to follow. Ireland born was not at his usual best in terms of bowling changes as well as this was the second game in a row that KKR conceded more than 200 runs. Prasidh Krishna The lanky fast bowler was guilty, of not only wayward bowling, but also of committing cardinal sins like bowling not just one but two no-balls in a T20 game. The Karnataka bowler went on to concede 49 runs in his four overs without getting even a single wicket. Krishna was not able to keep the ball in the right areas and was also missing his wide yorkers. His length was so much aloof that du Plessis was able to scoop him. Further, Krishna was guilty of ball watching in the final over of the game when KKR desperately needed a double in the first ball of the final over to get Cummins back on strike. Replays were not kind to Krishna when they showed how the player hadn't moved an inch off his crease despite Cummins' straight drive going well past him. This resulted in a runout in the bowlers' end and robbed KKR off what potentially could have been a match deciding five deliveries. Special Mention: Andre Russell Andre Russell, as a bowler has been pitiable, to say the least apart from his five-wicket haul against Mumbai Indians. But as a batsman, the Jamaican has showcased, in this game, as well as in the last one that he is still a force to reckon with. When most people lost hope of any comeback from KKR, just the presence of Russell was more than good enough to keep that one flame, even a flicker of it burning, in the hope that the game might change. It did change eventually as well when the 32-year-old started swimming against the tide. He was supported well by Karthik and who knows, if that unfortunate manner of getting out would have been averted somehow, Wankheded might have witnessed another Andre Russell special (People wouldn’t have forgotten his 2016 T20 World Cup semis knock against India). While CSK one more game at Wankhede (vs RCB) before moving to Delhi, Kolkata find themselves up against Rajasthan in the next encounter.