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SRH vs RCB: Holder, Sandeep gate-crash Royal Challengers Bangalore's party

Aryan Surana

Brief scores: 

Royal Challengers Bangalore 120/7 in 20 overs (Josh Philippe 32; Sandeep Sharma 2-20, Jason Holder 2-27) 

lost to 

Sunrisers Hyderabad 121/5 in 14.1 overs (Wriddhiman Saha 39, Jason Holder 26*; Yuzvendra Chahal 2-19) by five wickets.

Sunrisers Hyderabad threw their hat in the qualification ring by knocking off Royal Challengers Bangalore's mediocre 121 in just 14.1 overs with five wickets intact in the 52nd league tie of the Indian Premier League 2020. The blessings of NRR saw SRH cartwheel to the fourth slot in the points table from the glum nadirs of seventh. Sandeep Sharma bagged the prized scalps of Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal and hence, the man of the match award comes as no surprise.

Last four matches and qualification-elimination scenarios
- No dead rubbers this season
- DC-RCB a virtual QF for a spot in Qualifier 1; loser may go through if other results come their way
- Two teams will qualify with 14 points (has happened only once previously - in 2010)
- SRH the only side outside top 3 that have fate in their hands; beat MI on Tuesday & qualify
- KXIP, RR & KKR may get eliminated even if they win

Saha-Pandey steady SRH's ship

If RCB stood any remote chance of defending the bare minimum, they'd have to strike when the iron was hot. And penny-pincher Washington Sundar raised his hand up, having David Warner poking to mid-on. Sustained, relentless pressure was the need of the hour but Manish Pandey and Wriddhiman Saha shared an exuberant fifty partnership to chop the target into half.

Yuzi dangles the carrot, but 121 is kids' stuff after all

Yuzvendra Chahal paved RCB's road to recovery as an inexcusable slog-sweep spelt Manish Pandey's doom, taking into account the asking rate was firmly in their grasp. Saha lost his balance while flashing his blade to a tempting donkey-drop, with AB de Villiers whipping the bails off in a jiffy. Virat Kohli returned the favour by pouching Kane Williamson's aerial drive as Isuru Udana bumped into the wickets column. Abhishek Sharma's departure in the 15th over must have rattled SRH's cage, but Jason Holder employed those mighty long levers to toy three sixes and facilitate the Orange army's quantum leap.

Vijay Shankar's body betrays him again

SRH copped a significant blow with a hamstring injury ruling Vijay Shankar out of the tournament. The utility player had breezed a couple of promising knocks of late besides fielding like a cheetah to save some vitals runs for his team. Not to forget the cushion he provided David Warner with his military-mediums during the middle phases. Youngster Abhishek Sharma filled in the vacancy. RCB's merry-go-round in the bowling depot persisted with quicks Navdeep Saini and Isuru Udana hopping in for Shivam Dube and Dale Steyn.

Sandy has world-class Virat on toast

Such was Sandeep Sharma's penetration early on that RCB's top-order appeared to be tussling for life in quicksand. Devdutt Padikkal turned the back on his modus operandi of holding his shape and flaying cherries through the line, his daredevilry of an agricultural heave resulting in disturbed furniture. The canny operator proved Virat Kohli's nemesis for the seventh time in IPL history, dragging him into an aerial check-push to short covers.

The ebbs and flows of Shahbaz Nadeem

Shahbaz Nadeem committed the cardinal sin of putting down AB de Villiers in his follow-through but made amends later when the right-hander's back-foot sizzler found sweeper cover, leaving RCB in a spot of bother at 71/3 in 11 overs. Josh Phillipe, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris and Isuru Udana each surrendered to miscued hits in a bid to generate some momentum. In a lighter vein, SRH would have wolfed the total down half-asleep.

Where do RCB and SRH stand in the playoffs race?

The journey for a seat in the playoffs has been replete with crests and troughs. Tonight's results conclude that six teams are still vying for those three remaining playoff berths. RCB's final encounter is against Delhi Capitals, who seem to have forgotten how to win. While the winner is guaranteed a place in the first qualifier, the loser will have to wait until the final league game to see if they board the bus.

SRH will now write their own destiny. If they manage to prevail over Mumbai Indians on the final day of the league phase, they will confirm their spot in the final four. With MI already having their berth secure in the first qualifier, they might field a second-strung XI which could, in turn, clear SRH's path. But in case they come a cropper, SRH will fail to make it to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

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IPL 2020 | MI vs DC: Experts smell rot as Delhi loses four on a trot

The Delhi Capitals seem to have got off the train that they had boarded at the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL). From being rated as the best team in the tournament, now they have lost four in arrow and the problem is that all those four losses have been one dimensional in which the Capitals have just gone off the radar and lost in a big way. In this game too, the match went in the same way as after losing the toss in Dubai, the Delhi Capitals kept on losing wickets at the continuous interval and no batsman could settle in. Bundling out for just 111, there was no chance for the Capitals to comeback. And even if they would have harbored any hope, it was all washed away by the wave of Ishan Kishan show in which he scored 72 off 47 balls. In the bowling department, Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah did what they are known for, pick wickets. Captains’ Viewpoints Reacting to the victory, Kieron Pollard the winning captain looked in a seemed in a jovial mood as he counted wins for Mumbai Indians under his captaincy. “It's 16 (wins for me as captain) off 17 (matches),” he said. Talking about the strategy of rotating the bowlers, Pollard said that Bumrah wanted to bowl in the powerplays but he held him back as spinners were getting a good grip on the wicket. “Bumrah with the new ball, I kept delaying him, and in this kind of track, it was more useful to bowl him in the middle. He kept looking at me and wanted to bowl in the powerplay. We wanted to bowl spinners in the powerplay with some grip on offer,” said the 32-year-old. Impressed by how Ishan Kishan has changed since being asked to open after the Rohit Sharma injury, Pollard said, “Ishan has gotten better in every game, and once he gets going, he's hard to get rid of. He didn't even start, Ishan, in the playing XI, came to No. 4 and then came out to open and just blew us away.” “Rohit is getting better and hopefully he'll be back soon. We need to play another couple of good games and get to the finals,” the West Indian updated on the injury of the regular captain. Just as he started the post-match chat, the Trinidadian remained jolly as he ended it with a statement that might just give a burn to the fans of the rest of the teams. “This isn't supposed to be our year (even number), but it's been working for us so far,” Pollard concluded. Shreyas Iyer, warming the losing captains’ chair for quite some time now, looked disappointed at the loss. “Obviously, we fell short of reading the wicket. We weren't up to the mark right from the start and those wickets in the Powerplay took down the momentum from us,” said the Delhi skipper. Lamenting the fact they were not able to build momentum, he said, “It was important for a few us to come and build a few partnerships but it happened in bits and pieces.” He then admitted about the flaws of the team saying, “There are lots of flaws to be pointed out to, but we gotta believe in ourselves and be strong-headed, also be positive.” The 25-year-old seemed as perplexed by the behaviour of pitches over the course of time as those sitting outside. He said, “You can't anticipate how it's (the pitch) going to play right from the start.” Expecting openers to give the team a good start, Iyer said, “Openers being there, it was important to get a good start, once you get the momentum, you can build on later. I feel 150 or 160 was a good total on such wickets.” Talking about the plan for the last game, he said that most of the things would depend upon the result of the SRH vs RCB match. “We'll have to think about it (changes to the line-up) and be fearless in our approach. We'll keep things simple and will not try to think much. It's going to be doing or die for both teams (about the next game) depending on how RCB play tonight,” Iyer concluded. Expert Opinion Experts targeted Delhi Capitals for failing consistently saying that they have been foxed many times in the recent games, mainly because they haven’t applied themselves according to the situation of the game. Veteran journalist Ayaz Memon said that the Delhi team is falling away and needs to shape up quickly if they don't want to fall out of the title race. Another senior analyst Boria Majumdar also warned Delhi that they have very little time in their hand to bounce back if they want to be in the Playoffs. Considered Voice of Cricket in many ways, Harsha Bhogle called Mumbai Indians the best team in the league so far and warned other teams that might face them in the Playoffs. Cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra praised Ishan Kishan who played a brilliant inning and said that his name must be taken seriously when next time the role of a wicketkeeper-batsman in Team India is discussed. Now that Royal Challengers Bangalore too have lost their game, it is going to be a virtual quarterfinal between the Delhi Capitals and the RCB for the Playoffs spot.

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IPL 2020 | KKR vs RR: Match Preview, Predicted XI & Dream11 Fantasy Picks

Two teams with totally opposite results in their previous two games would be up against each other vying for at least one place in the Playoffs. Rajasthan Royals have had two outright victories in games which seemed difficult at the beginning as they were huge chases. On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders have been ordinary in both their games, losing out on crucial moments. No team can afford a slip up as this would be the last chance to showcase whatever they have built a team in the last one and a half month in this tournament. Another problem that both these teams would face is the net run rate, but this would only happen in case Kings XI win their game against Chennai Super Kings, which would be played just ahead of this game. And if Sunrisers Hyderabad too win their match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, then the race would become even tougher and even after winning this math, neither KKR nor the Royals could be sure of qualifying. Morgan needs to put on his thinking hat For Kolkata to go ahead, beating Rajasthan is the first requirement, secondly, they would also have to stay ahead on the net run rate as they are below the Jaipur-based team in that field. So for that to happen, a comprehensive victory is required. It is at this moment that an experienced captain like Eoin Morgan comes into the frame. He must play the right combination and by that, it is meant that the batting order must be such which is according to the potential of the players as well as the situation of the game and not some pre-decided one. Batters with proven experience must play more balls for Kolkata to have any chance of challenging an in-form Royals’ squad. Toss becomes crucial As it is going to be a game in which net run rate will be the second most important motive of the teams along with winning the game as first, they would like to chase. In such a situation winning the toss can lift or down the morale of a team as well. So the captains and support staff would come into play as someone who has to make sure that the players don’t lose the match just by the result of the toss. Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals: Details Match Number- 54 Date: 01 November 2020, at 7:30 PM IST, 06:00 PM Local, 2.00 PM GMT Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Broadcast: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch Report The pitch in Dubai would be as it has been in the second phase of the tournament so far. Gripping the ball and a bit sticky in the first half and getting flat in the second one, with dew playing its part in dampening it. Weather and Toss The weather in Dubai would suit cricket as with the winters almost settling in, the humidity has gotten low and dew would be high, helping the chasing team. In such a scenario the team winning the toss would like to field first only. And also with the net run rate in mind, chasing would be the order of the day. Team News Kolkata Knight Riders It would be a bit dangerous to change the team as there was not much that the team could have done on that very day against Chennai as they had almost won the game. Therefore it would be better to motivate these guys only to dish out one final phenomenal performance. Expected XI Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Eoin Morgan (c), Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Varun Chakravarthy Rajasthan Royals Rajasthan have remained unchanged in their last two games and they would look to game the same way. The only change they can do is replacing Kartik Tyagi but two reasons force them not to opt for the option. The first one is the nonavailability of anyone better than him as the two options are of Jaidev Unadkart and Ankit Rajput and the second and more obvious one is not jinxing the winning combination. Expected XI Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes, Steven Smith (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Varun Aaron, Kartik Tyagi Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals Dream 11 and team suggestions Jos Buttler, Nitish Rana, Ben Stokes (C), Sanju Samson (wk) (VC), Eoin Morgan, Riyan Parag, Sunil Narine, Jofra Archer, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy Captain: Ben Stokes Vice-captain: Sanju Samson

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IPL 2020 | DC vs MI: Hits and Flops as Boult-Bumrah put Capitals on brink

Facing a severe downturn in the last three matches. The Delhi Capitals were hoping to turn around things in the game against the Mumbai Indians but Trent Boult had other ideas. Boult was as lethal as he has been with the new ball in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League as the Delhi Capitals were made to look like a mirror image of the side that had won seven games out of their first nine games this season. The defeat, as well as the manner in which the Mumbai Indians, which was thin on firepower with Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya missing will ring the alarm bells in the Capitals camp and a defeat of such magnitude, has plummeted their net run rate below zero threatening their place in the top four in case of another loss in the next game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Here we have rated the best and the worst performers of the day that caused great jubilation in the Mumbai camp while the Delhi side is left to ask tough questions from themselves. Hits Trent Boult When Kieron Pollard won the toss and elected to bowl first, it came as a decision that surprised many people but Pollard could see what others overlooked in the pitch and also in the air. Trent Boult was assigned the task he has been doing for fun with the Mumbai Indians this season and New Zealand in his entire career and he did not disappoint his captain as he drew Shikhar Dhawan to a drive off a ball that was pitched away from the driving length. Shikhar Dhawan has epitomised what has gone wrong for the Delhi Capitals in the last few matches as he was dismissed for two consecutive ducks after two back-to-back centuries. Boult also got the better of a returning Prithvi Shaw whom the management backed after Ajinkya Rahane failed to provide solidity at the top. Boult broke the back of the Delhi’s batting when he proved to be too smart for Shaw while the right-hander tried to pull him off a length. Trent Boult has been quite a revelation for the Mumbai Indians in this season of the IPL and both the captains-- Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard have used him judiciously with the new ball. The bowling line up of Mumbai was anyway impressive with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah but the inclusion of Boult has given the captains a cushion of keeping Bumrah safe for the latter overs of the game when batsmen go into the zone of hitting at every ball. Jasprit Bumrah If Trent Boult’ early burst with the new ball did not make the match feel like the first session of a Test match as the commentators Harsha Bhogle and Danny Morrison pointed out, Jasprit Bumrah left nothing in his tank to prove it was indeed one. After Boult struck gold with the new ball, Pollard held Bumrah back to challenge Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant and introduced him only in the ninth over. After a quiet first over, Buramh ran riot with the Delhi’s batting line up by picking up two big wickets of Marcus Stoinis in the 12th over of the innings. Stoinis was new to the crease when he came against Bumrah and Bumrah made sure that his inning was a very short one with a Jaffa that would prove to be wicket-taking delivery on the upcoming tour of Australia. A good length on the off stump reared off to take Stoinis’ edge and the Capitals were down to drain after the wicket. The over was not done as an off-colour Rishabh Pant was found rooted to the crease to a delivery that straightened a bit from round the wicket angle. Bumrah has been a lynchpin of the Mumbai Indians’ success in the last few seasons since the time he debuted for the franchise in the IPL and it seems that he is getting only better with the number of matches increasing in his career. Ishan Kishan Chasing a mere 111, Mumbai’s openers Ishan Kishan and Quinton de Kock had a fairly easy task at hand but it was important for the duo to not lose wickets in the first couple of overs with Shreyas Iyer bowling Ravichandran Ashwin in a tactical move against the left-handers. Kishan has batted with absolute domination and flamboyance in the season but on the day when the two points were crucial for the team to secure a top-two place on the points table, he also showed excellent composure to set his eyes in before going berserk in his usual style of batting. Once he got his eyes in, he unleashed his full range of shots and none including Kagiso Rabada was spared as the star bowler again struggled to produce magic for the Capitals. Ishan was brought into the playing XI when Saurabh Tiwary was injured and boy, hasn’t he nailed his position in the team with brilliant performances? He was rewarded for his performances with a chance to open the batting when Rohit Sharma was ruled out for the last few games and by the looks of it, he has owned that spot as well and it could take the might of Rohit Sharma only to dislodge him from the top of the order. Flops Shreyas Iyer Shreyas Iyer has batted well in the tournament and like his team, has started well, but has tapered off in the last few games. On the day when he needed to show his A-game against the thunderbolts of Trent Boult, he showed signs of conservatism and went into a shell. He started very slowly and when the wickets started failing around him could not quite catch up. He had his eyes set on spinners and was able to send Jayant Yadav downtown but Rahul Chahar ended his misery at the crease. He looked perplexed as a batsman and could not quite figure the bowlers he could target in order to increase the run rate. He has shown excellent signs of not showing emotions on the field but it looks like the series of his own and team’s failures are catching up on him as his tense faces in the field depicting the emotions going inside him as the team is on the brink of elimination after such a fabulous start. Prithvi Shaw Prithvi Shaw started the IPL 2020 with the promise of class and substance he could offer to the team that already had too many stroke makers. But, the think tank led by Ricky Ponting saw more promises in his belligerent than in the class of Ajinkya Rahane. Shaw started in the playing XI of the team and was on and off with the bat before the management ran out of patience with him and dropped him. He was brought back into the playing Xi when his replacement-- Rahane, too, failed to live up to the expectations. The team management again backed him to come good in a very big match when the capitals were chasing a hard-earned win but Shaw was reckless as he has been blamed for throughout his career and tried very hard to get out of Boult. After fetching a streaky boundary by slogging a good length ball, Shaw was found too excited to pull on a ball that was not short to be pulled and the Capitals were back in the hole they so badly wanted to get out of so early in the third over. Shaw could have shown restraint in that Boult’s over, especially as he had already got two boundaries in it but he could not resist going all out against Boult and perished in the process and took down the Capitals with him very early in the game. The experts had raised scepticism about the Delhi Capitals’ loss of form in their last three games preceding the one against the Mumbai Indians and their reservations about the Shreyas Iyer’s side is not turning out to be completely out of place. The Delhi Capitals looked shell shocked after a horror show with the bat and it will be important for the Iyer-Ponting duo to motivate the players to find their mojo back.

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DC vs MI: Mumbai pacers run riot before openers punish Capitals in Dubai

In form fast bowling duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult weaved their magic against Delhi Capitals to storm the defending champions into the playoffs spot of the Indian Premier League 2020. Playing a crucial top of the table clash at the Dubai International Stadium, Mumbai Indians restricted the hapless Capitals for a modest total of 110/9 in their allotted 20 overs and later returned to complete an easy chase courtesy Ishan Kishan's stunning 72 off 47 balls. With the win, Mumbai went up to 18 points while Delhi added one more loss to their streak - four in as many games. Earlier in the day, opener Shikhar Dhawan bagged his successive duck as Delhi got off to a worst possible start. 1/1 soon turned into 15/2 as the Capitals managed to hit just one boundary between 3-10 overs. Mumbai, for a change, operated with two spinners in the powerplay. Jayant Yadav and Krunal Pandya bowled half the overs as Delhi could only score 22 runs in the first six. Pandya proved to be more than handy against right-handers while Jayant didn’t let southpaw Rishabh Pant break free. Delhi lost the next three wickets in a space of 12 runs as Iyer departed for 25 while trying to counter a leg-break delivery outside off stump, only to lose his wicket to Rahul Chahar as Quinton de Kock did a quick work behind the stumps. Soon after, Bumrah sent back Marcus Stoinis and Pant as the scorecard read 62/5. A few hits here and there got Delhi to the three-figure mark but it proved to be too little to have a crack at the Mumbai outfit. The pitch looked like a two-paced surface but openers Ishan Kishan and Quinton de Kock went about their business. It seemed like the duo had mastered the art of chasing modest yet tricky targets. Mumbai got off to a flying start as Kishan took charge against Anrich Nortje. Kishan went ballistic as he hit eight fours and three maximums including one over square leg to score the winning runs off Nortje's length ball. The Proteas pacer did scalp the wicket of his fellow countryman but there was no stopping the men in blue. Kishan remained unbeaten on 72* and Suryakumar added 12 runs to the scoresheet as the Kieron Pollard-led side romped home with more than five overs to spare - winning the contest by 9 wickets.