Jofra Archer's absence a 'big blow' for us: Kumar Sangakkara

Rajasthan Royals pacer Jofra Archer will be missing at least four matches for the franchise after undergoing a finger surgery. The RR Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara has admitted that it’s a huge blow for the team but he is confident that the Indians bowlers would fill in the void for the seamer.

"Sanju and I will both agree that it's a big blow for us. Jofra is a very vital part of our make-up and not to have him is unfortunately the reality of it. We have to work around it and plan contingencies," Sangakkara told PTI during a virtual press conference on Sunday.

Sangakkara further suggested that fast bowling isn’t an easy task and the tracks have been helpful for the batsmen so far. "Inexperience can probably work for you and it could mean that opposition hasn't seen you either. Fast bowling in IPL is not an easy task and we saw that yesterday (Delhi Capitals vs Chennai Super Kings) as well," Sangakkara said.

"Most of the wickets are good for batting. So, you have to be quite skilful. We have Kartik Tyagi, who did pretty well last season in patches and this year we have new additions (pacer) Kuldeep Yadav (Jr) and Chetan Sakariya," he added.

RR will begin the IPL 2021 quest against Punjab Kings on Monday in Chennai. The Royals have been crowned the IPL champions only once in the inaugural edition of the tournament after they defeated CSK in the final under Shane Warne’s captaincy and would be looking for some fruitful results in this season.

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PSL 2021 to resume on June 1

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is set to resume from June 1 while the final of the tournament will take place on June 20. PSL was earlier postponed with immediate effects after a rise in COVID-19 cases within the franchises.

Sunrisers get ready for the Knights challenge in their IPL 2021 opener

Sunrisers Hyderabad start their IPL campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders tonight, April 11 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. They are all geared up for the big day, having gone through two practice games and some serious net sessions. Speaking about the big occasion, VVS Laxman, their batting consultant and mentor said, “We have played two practice games and I am very happy with the way we are standing right now.” He further said that backing own strength is more important than anything else in big competitions like IPL. “It’s all about soaking up the pressure in that first big game and taking it from there,” added the 46-year-old. David Warner, the skipper of the side was equally geared up saying that he was very excited about getting involved in a lot of practice before the big game. “We have obviously had a taste of practice tonight and the boys are ready to go. They have trained hard, prepared well and had two good practice games,” Warner said. The southpaw was enthralled by the support that the team is getting on various social media. “I know our supporters are one hundred per cent behind us. I wish they could come, but we will try to entertain them and win some games,” he said. SRH will not have the services of their latest import Jason Roy for the first game and thus looking at their team combination would be interesting as well.

David Warner vs Sunil Narine rivalry resumes as SRH, KKR begin their IPL 2021 campaign

As the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Kolkata Knight Riders are gearing up to start their campaign in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League, the game will also offer many contests within a contest. Out of all the riveting battles to watch out for, the duel between Sunrisers’ skipper David Warner and Knight Riders’ ace spinner Sunil Narine will be prominent of them all. The Sunrisers will back their leader to come at the top of the mystery spinner once again as he has done over a long period of time in IPL. In total, Warner has taken 190 runs off a total of 122 balls bowled by Narine with a staggering strike rate of 155.7 runs per 100 balls over a long period of time in IPL. The Australian left-hander has hit Narine for as many as 15 fours and 10 sixes. Overall, David Warner has been an IPL legend for over an 11-year long career in the cash-rich league. He has amassed 5254 runs from 142 matches with an average of 42.71 and a strike rate of 141.54 runs per 100 balls. On the other hand, Sunil Narine, too, has been phenomenal with the ball for the Kolkata Knight Riders. However, his stocks have nosedived in the last few seasons with him struggling due to suspected action and batsmen finding out tricks to negate his variations. He has taken 127 wickets from 120 matches with an astounding average-economy rate combo of 24.77 runs per wicket and 6.77 runs per over for over a nine-year period in the IPL. The contest between Warner and Narine will offer a riveting spectacle for the fans of both franchises and the individual players. However, for Warner to get into the stage of taking on Narine, he will have to first take on and win a duel against his countryman Pat Cummins.

IPL 2021: Mumbai Indians players and support staffs share their views on IPL returning to India

The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League returned to India after the previous edition being held in UAE. Despite the whole tournament being played behind closed doors, the feeling of returning to India and playing the cash-rich league is quite surreal, especially for the local players. Mumbai Indians who started off their campaign with a defeat at the hands of the Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to get their act right in their coming games. Mumbai Indians haven’t won any of their opening games in the IPL since 2012 and they continued their trend in the opening match of the 14th season. During a recent video posted by the Mumbai Indians on their Twitter handle, the players and the support staffs can be seen giving their views on the tournament returning to where it belongs. Former Indian pacer and currently the Director of Cricket Operations in the Mumbai Indians, Zaheer Khan said that it is always a special moment to play the extravaganza in India. All the editions of the tournament have been held in India barring the 2009 edition which was shifted to South Africa. Meanwhile, the first phase of the 2015 edition was also held in UAE. “ All the fans will be very excited that the IPL has come back to India,” Zaheer said during the video. Meanwhile wicket-keeper batsman Aditya Tare added that the players were lucky that IPL was held in UAE last year very successfully and to top it off Mumbai Indians bagged their 5th IPL title. Meanwhile captain Rohit Sharma also expressed his excitement with the IPL being back in India. Fast bowling coach Shane Bond also gave his opinion on the fact that how it is different for the Indian players to be back in their own den and despite not having home advantage as such, it feels that the players are back in their own territory.