Jofra Archer to miss whole of IPL 2021

Rajasthan Royals and England pacer Jofra Archer will miss the whole of the ongoing Indian Premier League, the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed on Friday.

The right-arm fast bowler underwent a surgery on his middle finger. A statement released by the ECB said that the intimidating pacer will be in full training with Sussex.

"Archer will now step up his training regime starting next week and will be in full training with Sussex. It is expected that he will return to cricket in the next fortnight if he can continue to bowl and prepare pain-free," the release said.

Archer had suffered a cut to his hand while he was cleaning his room before leaving for India in January. The injury was then managed by the ECB medical staff during the tour.

If Jofra had to take part in the IPL then he had to go under a mandatory eight-day quarantine which would have interrupted his preparations. The decision of him missing this edition of the IPL has been taken by both RR and Archer mutually.

Jofra was one of the most successful bowlers in the IPL last season after he picked up a total of 20 wickets in 14 matches at a healthy economy of 6.55.

RR are already missing the services of Ben Stokes and Liam Livingstone. Stokes returned back to UK after sustaining finger injury while Livingstone flew back home due to bio-bubble fatigue.

The franchise though is likely to sign South Africa batsman Rassie van der Dussen who has been among runs for quite some time now. But he has to pass a fitness test to confirm his availability.

The Sanju Samson-led side is already in a spot of bother after losing three of the four matches that they have played so far and are at the bottom of the points table.

The Royals suffered a defeat against RCB on Thursday after Virat Kohli’s side thumped them by 10 wickets while chasing 178 in 20 overs in Mumbai.

Opener Devdutt Padikkal notched up his maiden IPL ton while captain Kohli scored a fifty during the course of the run-chase. RR are now slated to play Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday in Mumbai.

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IPL 2021: Wasn't bothered about the century as far as team is winning says Devdutt Padikkal

A commendable season with the bat in his maiden IPL tenure, Devdutt Padikkal was always going to the No 1 opener for the Royal Challengers Bangalore coming into the season. Scoring more than 400 runs in the 2020 edition, Padikkal was a certainty coming into the 14th edition but destiny had other plans for him as he was down with COVID-19 and had to miss the tournament opener against the Mumbai Indians. However, he didn’t have to miss more matches after recovering in time and was part of the XI in the matches against the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Kolkata Knight Riders. Despite not scoring much in both the games, he spent some quality time in the middle which actually helped hi quite a bit during his stupendous century against the Rajasthan Royals. Padikkal stormed back to form with a sensational century against the Royals. The southpaw smashed his way to his maiden IPL century in just 51 deliveries and shared an unbeaten 180 runs stand with his skipper Virat Kohli to help RCB chase the target down with all 10 wickets in hand. "To be honest it's been special, all I could do was wait my turn. When I had Covid, it was all I was thinking about, to come here and play, and when I missed the first one it really hurt me. The wicket was coming on really well, and when we get into a partnership like that it gets easier," Padikkal, who was the unanimous Player of the Match stated during the post-match presentation ceremony. He also said that scoring the century was not what he was looking at. Even if he had not got to the century it wouldn’t have mattered as far as his team is winning. "No real tension when the hundred came, I told Virat to go for it. At the end of the day even if I didn't get a hundred it wouldn't have mattered to me if the team won. The conversation was very clear, we both realised when we were going good. There were times when he was going better, times when I was going better. We just wanted to rotate the strike," he added.

Rassie van der Dussen likely to join Rajasthan Royals: Reports

South Africa batsman Rassie van der Dussen is likely to join the Rajasthan Royals franchise for the rest of the season. The Rajasthan franchise has been on the backfoot after they are tottering at the last position in the points table after four matches. The Sanju Samson-led side has lost three out of the four games that they have played so far. According to the reports in Netwerk24 Sport, the batsman is supposed to pass a fitness test to confirm his availability. RR have already lost the services of all-rounder Ben Stokes who returned back to UK after sustaining an injury in his finger while Liam Livingstone flew back home due to bio-bubble fatigue. Apart from them, England fast bowler Jofra Archer would also miss the first half of the tournament after undergoing a surgery in his right hand. Rassie van der Dussen has been in some good form. He scored a half-century and 34* against Pakistan in the T20I series at home while struck a fifty and a hundred in the ODI series against the same opposition. The South Africa cricketer has so far played 20 T20Is scoring 628 runs at an average of 41.9 while has been capped 23 times in ODIs and 8 times in Tests. In ODIs, the right-handed batsman has notched up 890 runs while has scored 485 runs in Tests. The Rajasthan franchise is in some spot of bother at the moment and need to get back in form. They suffered a thumping defeat against RCB on Thursday in Mumbai. Chasing 178, Bangalore rode on Devdutt Padikkal’s maiden IPL ton and skipper Virat Kohli’s half-century to go over the line by 10 wickets in the 17th over. RR next play Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai on Saturday.

Axar Patel joins Delhi Capitals after recovering from COVID-19

Delhi Capitals and India all-rounder Axar Patel has rejoined the franchise after recovering from COVID-19. The left-handed spinner had been tested positive earlier. He had checked into the team hotel on March 28 with a negative report but returned with a positive test on April 3. The DC franchise posted a video on social media and gave the confirmation. “Smiles and hugs all around as Bapu returned to the DC camp,” the Delhi Capitals posted with a video of Axar meeting his teammates. “Aadmi dekh ke hi toh mujhe maza aa raha hai (I’m getting sheer joy just by seeing people),” Patel said in the video. Apart from Patel, Kolkata Knight Riders’ Nitish Rana and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Devdutt Padikkal had also tested positive earlier. But the two batsmen later recovered and joined the team. Capitals had roped in Mumbai’s Shams Mulani in place of Axar as IPL’s first short term COVID-19 replacement. DC defeated Mumbai Indians in their last outing. Chasing 138 in 20 overs, Delhi rode on Shikhar Dhawan and Steve Smith’s steady batting performance to go over the line by 6 wickets sparing five balls during the course. Earlier, Amit Mishra rattled MI with a four-wicket haul restricting them to 137/9 in 20 overs. The Rishabh Pant-led side will now take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai on Sunday.

My main aim is to continue to try to set AB up for the final overs says Glenn Maxwell

The Big Show Glenn Maxwell is finally making his presence felt in the IPL. Having been released by the Punjab Kings after a string of mediocre performances over the last few years, Maxwell was snapped up by RCB for a whopping Rs 14.25 crores and he has not let down so far. He began with a stroke-filled 37 against the Mumbai Indians and followed it up with two back to back half-centuries making sure that Bangalore keep a tight grasp at the top of the points table. Meanwhile, the pitches at the MA Chidambaram Stadium has never quite helped RCB in the past. However, they have turned things around this year winning all the games there so far. Maxwell revealed that how it went through in the training process and how it was a challenge to face experienced campaigners like Harbhajan Singh and Shakib Al Hasan. “I have trained so specifically since I have been here. I am almost going into the game knowing exactly what I am going to face. Playing against Harbhajan and Shakib back to back was challenging, but I have faced them earlier as well. So I had to put them away early on." "We saw how the Chennai wicket played. If y0u don’t score runs at the front end, it’s not going to be easy to score at the backend,” Maxwell said. The orange cap and the purple catch has transferred from heads to heads. While Harshal Patel has created a significant gap with the second-ranked bowler in the Purple Cap race, Shikhar Dhawan has also gone 70 runs clear of Glenn Maxwell in the orange cap race. “Every team has a brand new orange and a purple cap before every game. Harshal Patel has got the purple cap and he wears it everywhere, be it the team room, training ground, during the game. Everywhere he is, he just carries the purple cap. I have already taken one and put it in the bag. With Shikhar Dhawan on fire, it’s hard to get it now,” Maxwell said. “There was actually a game we played a few years ago when KL Rahul had won the cap in the first innings and just in the first over of the second innings, the other guy took over," Maxwell added. "In the last game, there was actually a time that I was batting and I took over Nitish Rana for the orange cap. One of the 12th members of the team was about to come and chuck Nitish’s cap and put it on me, that would have been some sort of scene, but then he went running back,” Maxwell said. The presence of bigwigs like Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers has helped Maxwell gel into the RCB outfit. In whichever teams he had played earlier, Maxwell was the only Big show in the XI and several things were expected out of him. However, in RCB, Kohli and AB de Villiers are the two big names that have taken the pressure out of Maxwell and he has been able to play his game freely. He says that his main aim throughout the tournament will be set up a perfect platform for AB de Villiers. "My main aim is to continue to try to set AB up for the rest of the tournament in every game,” Maxwell said.