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RR vs SRH: Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar entwine to keep Hyderabad alive


Brief scores: 

Rajasthan Royals 154/6 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 36; Jason Holder 3-33)

lost to 

Sunrisers Hyderabad 156/2 in 18.1 overs (Manish Pandey 83*, Vijay Shankar 52*) by 8 wickets

Manish Pandey (83*) and Vijay Shankar (52*) forged together an unbeaten 140 to anchor Sunrisers Hyderabad's 155-run chase against Rajasthan Royals, tormentor Jofra Archer's breathtaking initial spurt notwithstanding. Procuring two vital points keeps SRH in the mix for the play-offs as they usurp Kings XI Punjab to the fifth spot courtesy better net-run-rate on Thursday, October 22 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. 

Nowhere to hide versus Jofra's thunderbolts

Going for the kill upfront was RR's best bet against an order boasting of tonnes of explosiveness. The boxes were ticked like a dream with Jofra Archer spearheading the new-ball charge and two personnel manning the slip cordon, a sight as rare in the shortest version as hen's teeth. The speed demon has for long had Warner on toast, and tonight was another rendition of his undisputed hegemony as Ben Stokes in second slip plucked a stunner to grab hold of the southpaw's timid waft. 

Smith left pondering what-ifs

Jonny Bairstow was bowled neck and crop soon after to a bewitching inducker that had his name written on it. Generally, the wiser when marshalling his troops, Steve Smith's tactics came under the scanner as he decided against giving Archer a third over inside the PowerPlay, where a couple of further dents could've pushed RR in the driving seat. "Should've gone for it in hindsight", expressed the losing captain when enquired about his thought process behind the seemingly game-changing moment.

Make some noise for the desi boys

Manish Pandey's name probably isn't high on the agenda when rival teams host a meeting to devise the bowling plans ahead of a tie against SRH. Rest assured, that won't be the case from now onwards. He welcomed Kartik Tyagi into the attack with consecutive flashes to the cover fence before hoisting Ben Stokes for a pair of sweetly-timed maximums. Shreyas Gopal's zooter did wrap him on the back pad while creating room for a cut, although the impact being outside the off-stump saved his nose.

Meanwhile, Vijay Shankar furnished his designated role of an enabler to absolute perfection. He kept the good cherries at bay and ticked the scoreboard along with a steady accumulation of ones and twos, scampering hell for leather when the ball grazed its way into the empty pockets. The lofted inside out drives he caressed off Shreyas Gopal would have done his confidence a world of good. 

The curtains were drawing thick and fast on RR's vigil as the partnership stretched beyond the 100-run mark in the 15th over. The equation of 37 runs sought from 30 deliveries was reduced to a joke by Shankar, who peeled three mesmerizing boundaries with a free-flowing swing of the willow. It was only fitting that he pulled Tyagi via cow corner to not only raze his team home but also acknowledge his first half-century of the ongoing edition. 

Holder dons the SRH match jersey

Lynchpin Kane Williamson being unavailable for unspecified reasons led to Jason Holder registering his maiden exploit of the season. And boy he made his presence felt. RR refrained from heedless chopping and changing and staked money on the winning combination.

Robbie is his own worst enemy

Robin Uthappa was granted a fair crack to prove that the fire is still burning during the early days of the campaign. The faith wasn't repaid and he was assigned to shuttling drinks. He got some runs under his belt last week, but nothing that could be termed as earth-shattering. Today was another chance to prove his mettle and cement his position in the side, and it came at the expense of Jos Buttler at the top, but Uthappa kicked the gift horse in the mouth. Having oozed class for his 13-ball 19, he jetted off in pursuit of a non-existent single as Holder spelt doom with an agile direct hit in follow-through.

Frailing Rajasthan cop triple whammy

Ben Stokes blew hot and cold en route his scratchy 30, bidding goodbye to the serene shores of timing and placement to enforce his authority. He flirted with danger, quite unabashedly, surviving a missed run-out and a bungled chance in the deep. A few jaws must've dropped to the floor when Sanju Samson biffed Holder over mid-wicket, but the overseas signing deceptively rolled his fingers across the seam to clip the zing bails off. Rashid Khan cleaned up straggler Stokes while Vijay Shankar hit a jackpot with Buttler's dismissal to leave RR in the quest of a surge at 110/4.

Cometh the hour, cometh Holder

Riyan Parag hoarded 15 off Thangarusu Natarajan's 18th over, albeit Holder prizing out both the youngster and skipper Steve Smith in the momentum-thwarting penultimate to bring tears to RR's eyes. Jofra Archer's flexed his muscles to a quickfire 16, but a skimpy total was all they could muster given the incompetence of their big guns.

Next on the menu-card

SRH have a day's space to bask in the glory before duty calls again on Saturday afternoon to wrestle cuffs with Kings XI Punjab, a chalk horse which has almost supernaturally transformed into an all-flaying unicorn of late. 

RR should leave the mathematics to statisticians and focus on emerging victorious in whatever they have remaining on the plate. The centre of the points table is no less than a fish market at this point and each rubber from here on awaits with a do-or-die tag attached. Mumbai Indians, beware of Jofra Archer's rage on Sunday, October 25. 

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RR vs SRH: Hits and Flops as Manish Pandey puts Royals to sword

Both the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Rajasthan Royals were looking desperately for a win to keep their campaign on track but Manish Pandey found his best touch just when the Sunrisers were in dire straits and guided the team to a dominating win over the Royals. Here we are dissecting the best and the worst performances of the match. Hits Manish Pandey Manish Pandey had walked out to bat in the very first over after Jofra Archer had taken away David Warner and soon followed it up with the wicket of Jonny Bairstow in his next over. Having lost two of the biggest match-winners the Sunrisers needed Manish Pandey to fire with the bat and justify his ascendency to the number three slot in the batting order. Pandey was not to miss out today as he looked full of intent and purpose and started taking on the Royals’ bowlers from the word go. Smith introduced Kartik Tyagi in the fourth over and he provided Pandey with the opportunity to cut loose by giving two short and wide balls which Pandey accepted gleefully. By the next over, Pandey was in the groove and when Ben Stokes erred on the line, he was dismissed from his presence by Pandey who slapped him for two sixes, and all of a sudden, the Sunrisers were back with all the momentum which Archer had taken away with two early wickets. Tyagi’s agonies continued as Pandey got stuck into him in his next over, smashing him for a couple of six and four. Pandey remained unbeaten on a 47-ball-83 and stitched a match-winning partnership of 140 runs from only 97 balls with Vijay Shankar. The SRH’s team management had decided to bank on Pandey to bat at the number three position and the move was under critics’ eyes as he was batting above Kane Williamson in the past games but Pandey showed his calls and temperament just when it mattered the mos for the men in orange and somehow justified his elevation to the top of the order. Vijay Shankar Vijay Shankar has been quite an infamous name in Indian cricket but on the night against the Rajasthan Royals, he could do no wrong and rather ended up enhancing his reputation as a reliable player both with the bat and bowl in hand. Shankar was impressive in bowling and showed impeccable discipline in line and length. His discipline and lack of loose balls paid off as in search of quick runs, Jos Buttler tried to force the issue by walking at him and ended up spooning the ball to the backward point fielder. He was assigned the role of the frontline batsman as well as he walked out to bat only in the third over of the innings after the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow. He played a white ball inning of old-school style to support Manish Pandey who was going berserk at the other end. He was quick to assess the role he had to play and did exactly that by hanging in there, albeit with a strike rate near 100 but for the larger context of the game and for the SRH’s benefits, his stay at the crease was important as Manish Pandey was going all guns blazing to keep the required run-rate under control. He wasn’t shy of showing class though and struck Jofra Archer for three back-to-back fours and stamped his authority on the game showing that he is no mug with the bat and that he was playing a role of a batsman showing subdued shot-making by choice looking at the larger prize to be won for his team. Jason Holder Jason Holder was in the news even before he made his IPL 2020 debut and when Kane Williamson was ruled out of the game against the Rajasthan Royals, he got an opportunity to make news on the pitch as well. Holder is a true all-round cricketer and he showed every bit of it in the first innings when he fielded superbly in his followthrough in the first over he was bowling and hit the wickets to see the back of Robin Uthappa who was looking in an excellent knick. His best was yet to come as the Windies captain returned in the 12th over of the Royals’ batting with a beauty of an off-cutter to better Sanju Samson. Holder was not done for the day and he was tasked to the hard yards of the final overs when Warner asked him to come in the 19th over. He outsmarted Steve Smith who was sitting back in the crease with the expectation of yorker and Holder pitched a ball fuller and Smith was caught lagging in footwork to power the ball over long-on boundary and was caught at the boundary line. Holder was too good for Riyan Paraga in the same over as well and the right armer ended his first active night at the IPL 2020 with an impressive figure of 33/3 from his four overs. Flops Steve Smith The Rajasthan Royals must have had great expectations of Steve Smith before the IPL 2020 had begun but it looks like he will be one of the prominent flop shows of this year’s event. The team needed to win against the Sunrisers to keep the winning journey continued after a resurgent win against the Chennai Super Kings in the last game. Smith batted very lower down the order, in a move that looked like a correction to his strategy of slotting all the best batsman of the team at the top of the order but he failed to shine through even at the lower middle order. He never got going in his usual style apart from a handful of shots that went in the direction he intended them to go. His misery was ended by Holder in the 19th over and it made sure that the Royals did not have the score to run away with the game with the pressure of a required run rate over Sunrisers’ batsmen. Smith is considered as one of the finest readers of the modern game but he has been exposed by some glaring mistakes in this season of the IPL. After facing severe criticism for not bowling Archer against AB de Villiers in the match against the RCB, Smith may have missed another trick by not bowling Archer for his third over in the power play. It may not have worked but the rhythm Archer was in and the frailties of Pansey against the pace and movement could well have been exposed. The Royals anyway did not have enough score on the board to contain the Sunrisers batting line up and only wickets could have saved the night for them. But, Captain Smith had other ideas and sadly for the Royals, it was not a good idea at all. Ben Stokes Ben Stokes has been looking like a pale shadow of a cricketer he is known as in the world of cricket. The Royals were dreaming big before his arrival in the tournament about the much-needed stability that he promises to offer every side he plays with but so far in this season, both he and the Royals team management have been looking for the real Stokes to rise through a deep slumber. Unlike the last games, Stokes stayed on the pitch for a bit longer period of time but that was not good enough for the team as his 32-ball-30 rather put batsman like Sanju Samson under immense pressure to cultivate shots on balls that deserved respect. There is belief about Stokes that if he is not clicking with the bat, invariably, he will fail with the ball too and it was evident against the Royals as the English all-rounder was taken to the cleaners by Manish Pandey who made no exemptions to his reputations of being one of the finest cricketer going around in the international cricket. It looks like the RR team management is carrying all the international; stars for the reputation they hold in international cricket and the strategy is providing counterproductive for both the team and the star players.

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IPL 2020: It was painful to see Faf du Plessis carry drinks the entire season - Imran Tahir

With three wins in 10 outings, Chennai Super Kings are languishing at the bottom of the points table in Indian Premier League 2020. They might, in all likelihood, miss out on a play-offs berth for the first time in the history of the money-spinning league. Last season’s purple cap winner Imran Tahir is yet to roll his arms in the ongoing edition of the IPL. The proteas spinner has been warming the bench as the likes of Sam Curran and Dwayne Bravo have made the cut courtesy their all-round ability. In an interaction with Ravi Ashwin, in his Youtube channel ‘Hello Dubiaahh’, Tahir stated that he has no clue as to when he will get a chance to play this season. He went on to add that it isn’t easy to carry drinks the whole season. “I have no clue. Earlier, Faf Du Plessis had to carry drinks the whole season. It was quite painful. He’s got a brilliant T20 average. I’m doing that this year. I actually got an idea of how he felt. I have been talking to him as well,” Tahir said. “And once four overseas players are settled in CSK then it’s hard for the fifth guy. I hope I get a game,” he added. With Bravo ruled out due to a groin injury, Tahir might well get a look in the remaining games. Skipper MS Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming earlier conceded that CSK’s season might be over. Dhoni, in fact, hinted at certain changes as they look to experiment a bit with their playing XI as not much is at stake in the ongoing season anymore.

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IPL 2020: This will affect our confidence - McCullum on Kolkata's hapless show against RCB

Kolkata Knight Riders faced a humiliating loss in the hands of Virat Kohli and his men on Wednesday night at Abu Dhabi. Pacer Mohammed Siraj proved to be too good for the KKR batters as he returned with figures of ⅜. Eoin Morgan’s men could only manage to score 84/8 - the lowest total in IPL without getting bowled out. The Bangalore-based side got home with more than six overs to spare. KKR coach Brendon McCullum said his batters showed a timid approach and that there was no intent whatsoever. The defeat will bite Kolkata bad as their net run rate of - 0.828 looks inferior to most of the teams in the race for a playoff berth. McCullum said there was no ghost on the pitch and added that it’s frustrating because the side discussed the importance of being positive and asking questions to the opposition bowlers. "In all honesty, I didn't think there was a lot in the wicket. Siraj obviously bowled well and [Chris] Morris at times also. But if anything, we were just a little timid in our approach," McCullum said at the press conference. "That's a bit frustrating because we spoke at length before the game about trying to be positive and show some strong intent. So that's something we'll have to address in the next few days. The Knight Riders still find themselves at the fourth spot with 10 points and four games in hand. McCullum still believes that there is enough fire-power and potential in the current side to go the distance. However, the going will be tough. This is going to affect a little bit in terms of our confidence and [we need to] work hard on ensuring our morale doesn't drop. At the same time, having those honest conversations around how we improve. But I still firmly believe we have a side which can be there come finals time. We just need to improve slightly." he concluded.

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IPL 2020 | CSK vs MI: Match Preview, Predicted XI & Dream11 Fantasy Picks

The clash between the Chennai Super Kings and the Mumbai Indians would have been a clash of titans and have always been in the past encounters but the story is different this time around. The Super Kings are on a downward slope and have struggled to find a proper playing XI and ‘spark’ in players while the Mumbai Indians have been a force to reckon with in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League. Mumbai’s bowling attack has looked menacing, to say the least with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, James Pattinson whereas the bowlers in yellow have failed to step up to the challenges posed by conditions completely alien to what would be normal at Chepauk in Chennai. Interestingly, these two teams started the IPL 2020 with a bang with MS Dhoni-led CSK dominating Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians and it appeared that Dhoni’s men were ready to bury the ghost of Mumbai against whom they have a terrible record in the near past. CSK started their campaign on a resounding note while the Mumbai Indians had to find out answers to some questions that were put in front of them in the very first game. One month into the tournament and now it looks like the men in blue have found the problems and also their solutions while the men in yellow could not do justice to the big name and reputation it always rides on. The Super Kings have been blamed for showing a lack of courage and innovation in all processes of the game starting from team selection to outlook of batting at the start and in the middle overs. The team banked on experience more than the enthusiasm and energy of young players to do the job and after failing to achieve the goal, MS Dhoni almost conceded the season is over and hinted that youngsters will have a chance to go and express themselves with the pressure of losing now becoming irrelevant for the side. CSK’s coach Stephe Fleming said something after the loss against the Rajasthan Royals which nobody would have expected him to say before the commencement of the IPL 2020. He acknowledged that the team they picked after returning from a ban in the 2018 edition may well have run out of juice after a three-year-cycle which started with an IPL title followed by an IPL final in the last season. The statement was telling of what the days ahead may look like for the Super Kings and the team may go for an all-reset option before the IPL next year. Mumbai, on the other hand, will love to get back on the winning track after the loss in a euphoric against the Kings XI Punjab that went down to the wire and ended only after two super overs. Kieron Pollard had said that the team was disappointed but he felt that it was not the end of life and it showed the kind of mood in Mumbai’s camp. Mumbai was brilliant in the last game but was overrun by a resurgent Kings XI Punjab and now Rohit would remind his teammates about the warning he had issued about teams trying to catch up his side as the remaining days in the tournament are getting lesser and lesser. The outcome of the match will impact the points table minimally but Rohit would be hopeful of a win to come back to winning habit as he knows the value of momentum in tournaments such as the IPL. Chennai’s top order has failed to start at a brisk pace and their job is not getting any easier with Bumrah, Boult, and one of Pattinson or Nathan Coulter-Nile bowling to them in the powerplay. Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians: Match Details Match Number- 41 Date: 23rd October 2020, at 7:30 PM IST, 06:00 PM Local, 2.00 PM GMT Venue: Sharjah Broadcast: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch and Weather This will be the ninth match to be played at the Sharjah cricket ground and the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians will meet on a new pitch. A new pitch will help batsmen more than bowlers as the par scores have been reduced in the last few matches due to slowing pitches. A slight newish pitch will assist batsmen as balls will come nicely onto the bat. Captain winning the toss will be looking forward to chasing with short boundaries and expectations of a true pitch. The weather in Sharjah will be cooler in the evening time and humidity will hover around the 50 per cent range. Team News Chennai Super Kings Both MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming subtly hinted that youngsters will be given a chance with their chance to make it into the playoffs looking bleak. That would mean a return for one of Ruturaj Gaikwad and N Jagadeesan. They will have a point to prove after the remarks from MS Dhoni about the lack of spark in them to push experienced guys in the playing XI. Dwayne Bravo has been ruled out of the tournament and it will allow Josh Hazlewood a longer rope in the playing XI. Expected XI Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, Shardul Thakur, Josh Hazlewood Mumbai Indians Rohit Sharma’s team lost the last game but did not look out of the game till the winning shot by Mayank Agarwal and he would not be looking to change the playing XI. Nathan Coulter-Nile is likely to be persisted with as Rohit will be eyeing in options before the playoffs begin to have a proper backup ready in case of some injuries in the knockout phase of the league. Expected XI Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians: Dream 11 team and suggestion Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Sam Curran, Kieron Pollard, Deepak Chahar, Karn Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult Captain: Rohit Sharma Vice-captain: Faf du Plessis