Usman Khawaja signs up for Islamabad United, to ply trade for the city of his birth

IPL 2021 | MI vs RR: Unpredictable Royals, inconsistent Mumbai seeking turnaround at new venue

When Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals will come head to head for the first time in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League, both their captains - Rohit Sharma and Sanju Samson would be aware of the fact that they will be running out of time to resurrect their sides, very soon in the tournament. Both Mumbai and Rajasthan have tasted wins only on two occasions and have lost three matches each, to find themselves tottering in the ongoing edition. The Mumbai Indians have suffered due to inconsistency of their in-form batsmen and an ailing lower order which has been their strength in the past few seasons. On the other hand, the Royals have struggled to find ways of winning the games in absence of two of its marquee players Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer. Both the sides have had some great eye-catching performances as well but those had been scattered around some average display of cricket to leave themselves without any cover in the second half of their campaign. ‘Pandya sized’ problem for Mumbai Indians Like many promising all-rounders who disappeared from the scene in Indian cricket after an injury, Hardik Pandya’s journey is dangerously walking towards the same territory. He did not bowl a single ball in the last edition and the story is similar so far in the ongoing edition. His batting prowess made life easier for the Mumbai Indians as they were finding herculean efforts from his bat last season. However, the story has changed this season as Hardik has looked a pale shadow of himself in the five matches so far. In the five matches, he has amassed a mere 36 runs with a top score of 15. He bats lower down the prolific batting order that is comprised of Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, and Suryakumar Yadav and hence it is understandable that he does not get a lot of opportunities to face more balls and build a substantive innings. Inconsistency of the top order and pitches in Chennai solved that riddle for him as he got the opportunity to bat with overs left in the game. However, his effect has dipped sharply and so are the fortunes of the Mumbai Indians in the IPL so far. It’s highly unlikely he will be axed anytime soon in this tournament, but Hardik needs to turn a corner with performances with the bat. Or else, with lack of fitness with respect to bowling and lack of runs from the bat will make him a liability for the Mumbai Indians. Aggressor or anchor—which Samson will turn up? Sanju Samson lit up the IPL 2021 with a swashbuckling century against the Punjab Kings but drew criticism and debate after he denied Chris Morris a single on the penultimate delivery and instead backed himself to hit a six and win the Royals that game. As the dust settled on the game, Samson could not replicate his form and perished in the process of bringing up his best performances. He failed for three games on the trot in attacking fashion and in the wake of criticism for being too aggressive in his approach, he defended putting his wicket on the line more often than not. However, in the last game against the Kolkata Knight Riders, Sanju Samson brought his anchoring game to the fore and took the Royals over the line. Chasing a low total helped his cause but the change in approach and adaptation he brought to his game would have been a big welcome sign for the Royals. Jos Buttler’s form—another worry for Royals The Royals were depleted even before the start of the IPL this year as Jofra Archer was ruled out of the first half of the tournament. Their crisis deepened when Ben Stokes broke his arm and got out of the tournament followed by Archer’s unavailability for the whole tournament. The English trio of Stokes, Archer and Jos Buttler has been the core strength of the Royals over the past few seasons. With both Stokes and Archer missing from action, the onus was on Buttler to lead the way for the Royals at the top of the order where he has tasted success in the IPL. But, he has struggled with the loss of form and fluency as the batting concerns have gone deeper and deeper for the Royals. The Royals need to win five more games out of their remaining nine matches and it’s imperative that Buttler rediscover his mojo or else it would be curtains for the men in pink for the chance to advance into the playoff stage in yet another season. Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals: Match Details Match Number-24 Date and Time: April 29, 2021, 07:30 pm IST, 02:00 pm GMT Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi Broadcast and Live Stream: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch and weather It will be the second match of the season to be played at the Arun Jaitely Stadium in New Delhi and the pitch is likely to move between a flat track and of spin-friendly nature. The pitches in Delhi have been slower and lower over the past few seasons when IPL matches have taken place and the script is unlikely to be any different on a scorching day on April 29 when Rohit Sharma and Sanju Samson will walk for the toss. It will be a day game starting at 3.30 PM and the weather conditions will be hotter with maximum temperatures hovering around 43 degrees which in all likelihood will alter the preference of the captain after winning the toss. Team News Mumbai Indians The Mumbai Indians reached New Delhi on April 24 from Chennai where they could not as many games as the batting coach Robin Singh had expected out of them on surfaces that were not to their liking. However, he had highlighted some lessons that the batsmen might have learnt and they will have to put all of that to good use with pitches in New Delhi are to be on similar lines to that in Chennai. The men in blue have the luxury of choosing from an all-strength squad for the game against the Royals, but it’s unlikely that they will make any change in their playing XI from their last game against the Punjab Kings that ended in a horrible loss. Strongest XI Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult Rajasthan Royals The Royals have come from Mumbai where pitches were true in nature in the early part of the tournament and batsmen enjoyed pace on the surface and short boundaries at the Wankhede Stadium. The boundary dimensions will be the same in Arun Jaitely Stadium as well but the surface will demand a different brand of cricket from the Royals batsmen. The Royals have already made a choice of giving up on Manan Vohra, whose IPL career failed to take off except for few sparkling innings scattered around frustrating failures and investing in young talent in Yashasvi Jaiswal. The move is likely to continue as the left-hander showed promise in the last game against the Knight Riders taking on the likes of Pat Cummins with indomitable confidence. The Royals showed the richness of a rare breed of cricketers—left-arm pacers by playing the trio of Jaydev Unadkat, Chetan Sakaria and Mustafizur Rahman in the last game. The team management will be tempted to unleash the pace of Kartik Tyagi on the Mumbai batting order but the repertoire of cutters and slower balls Unadkat has up his sleeves will make the choice difficult for them. Strongest XI Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), David Miller, Shivam Dube, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Jaydev Unadkat, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals: Dream XI/fantasy XI Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kieron Pollard, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Mustafizur Rahman, Rahul Chahar Captain: Suryakumar Yadav Vice-captain: Chris Morris

IPL 2021 | DC vs RCB: Hits and Flops as captain Pant fails to get Delhi over the line

Delhi Capitals seem to have made a habit of playing close games in this edition of the Indian Premier League. After a Super Over finish in their last game, the Capitals were in the mood to push this one close as well with the Delhi based franchise needing six off the last ball. However, captain Pant failed to clear the ropes in the final ball of the game resulting in a single run defeat for the young team. It was once again a last-over thriller as chasing 172, the Capitals, after not so good start was almost running away with the game courtesy of a 23 ball fifty from Shimron Hetmyer. The West Indian got Delhi to as close as needing just 14 of the last over but unfortunately couldn’t get to play more than one ball in that over. With 10 needed from the last two balls, Pant, who till then had managed to get only 50 off 46 balls, got two fours off two uncontrolled shots, to finish with Delhi still needing one run. The match saw a lot of heroes and villains from both sides and they are covered under the segment called hits and Flops. Hits AB de Villiers If there was to be chosen just one man to trust, then without any doubt, all the fans of the red and gold brigade would choose this South African maestro above all. Day in and day out he has proved that when the team is under immense pressure, one man would always come to the rescue and it is ABD. Today was also the same as after the fall of great batsmen like skipper Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and young gun Devdutt Padiakkal, de Villiers chose to resurrect the innings with his brilliant 42 balls 75. When the 37-year-old came to bat, Rajat Patidar, a young bloke was there to welcome him. After losing even him and Washington Sundar, de Villiers went into destruction mode, gathering his last 38 runs from just 14 balls, which also included the 22 runs he scored in the 20th over of the innings to push the RCB score to 171. For this performance of his, de Villiers or Mr. 360 degree as he is popularly known, was awarded Man of the match, his 25th of the League, the most for any player in the IPL so far. He also became only the second overseas player to cross the mark of 5000 runs in the IPL and overall only the sixth batsman to do so. Shimron Hetmyer If de Villiers’ innings was a masterclass, then what the pocket size dynamite from Guyana did was by no means a mean job either. Shimron Hetmyer came, he killed and almost conquered, but for the one run. The 24-year-old came in to bat when the Capitals were under all sorts of bother as their most trusted hitter in Marcus Stoinis was dismissed playing a rash shot of a Harshal Patel delivery. With 80 needed from 44 balls, there were only two ways that Delhi was going to get to the target, either skipper Pant, who was into some hole as far as connection of his shots was concerned, decided to wake up and go all guns blazing, or there was a Shimron Hetmyer show on display. The latter did happen as the left-hander targeted two of RCB’s better bowlers in Mohammed Siraj and Kyle Jamieson. In the 15th over he hit Siraj for 12 runs and then in the 18th over, he hit Jamieson, who till then had conceded only 11 runs in his previous three overs, for 21 runs to make the equation slide down from 46 off three overs to 25 from the last two overs. Unfortunately, though, he couldn’t get much of the strike when DC needed 14 off the last over and ended up on the losing side. Harshal Patel If someone is having a dream run in this IPL, then Harshal Patel’s name would be top of that list. He goes for runs no doubt (certainly none after the 37 runs over against Jadeja) but always comes back in crucial situations to either hold up the runs or take important wickets. In this game too, Harshal was at his dangerous best, making the likes of in-form Prithvi Shaw and international star Stoinis commit similar mistakes of chasing a wide ball and edging it to the wicket-keeper. He not only got the two wickets, but when the team needed him to be tight, he showed that it can be achieved too. In the penultimate over, Patel gave away just 11 runs, nailing the wide yorkers against the two left-handers. The runs could have been less if Daniel Sams didn’t misfield at the deep square leg boundary to concede a four. In the 17th over too, Patel, 30, conceded only 10 runs with just one boundary going to Pant. Currently, the man from Gujarat sits on the top of the most wickets list and is the proud holder of the Purple Cap. What he did today is especially commendable because to come back after the beating that he got in the last games, takes gits and courage and Patel has shown that he has them both in abundant amount. Flops Rishabh Pant The measure of success in a T20 game is just about a few runs, to be precise only one run. It’s one run that makes a hero or a villain out of the same hero. Today DC skipper Pant was at the receiving end of things with his slow, snaily innings, which eventually led to the loss of the game for his team. Had Pant managed to hit a six off the last ball instead of just a four and got his team over the line, the same innings would have been held as a master class. But since he couldn’t get the win, the 48 balls 58 that he did, will be counted as nothing else than failure, mere numbers that would add up at the end of the career in his stats. Apart from his slow batting in which he could manage to hit only six fours and not a single six, Pant was laid back in his captaincy as well, failing to calculate the overs of his main bowlers and bowling a part-timer like Stoinis in the final over of the innings. This miscalculation of his led to DC getting a 23 run hammering in the last over, which eventually counted as the team lost by a solitary run. Marcus Stoinis Stonis, who has been trusted with the responsibility to play the role of the main man in the team with the bat, has failed to deliver this entire season so far. In the five innings that he has been allowed to bat, the Western Australian has managed to squander it off, making only 65 runs at a dismal average of 13. In today’s innings too, after getting a great start, having scored 22 off 17 balls and built a partnership of 45 runs with the skipper, Stonis chose to hit a wide length ball for a four, in an over where already 11 runs had been accumulated. It is this approach of his alongside the 23 runs over that he bowled at the end of the innings that put him under the category of a flop. Both the teams will remain here at the Narendra Modi Stadium for their next encounters where the Capitals will face Kolkata Knight Riders in the second game of the doubleheader on April 29. The RCB will be up against a struggling Punjab Kings on April 30.

IPL 2021 | RCB vs DC: What Experts said as Bangalore steal win in a nail-bitter

The Royal Challengers Bangalore were back to their winning ways after etching a one-run win against Delhi Capitals in a thrilling encounter in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. The Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant invited RCB to bat first after winning the toss. The Bangalore-based franchise was off to a steady start but a couple of wickets in quick succession pushed them on the backfoot. First the DC pacer Avesh Khan cleaned up the skipper Kohli after he played a back of the length delivery pitching outside his off on to his stumps for 12 off 11 and then Devdutt Padikkal’s defence was breached by Ishant Sharma on the first ball of the fifth over for 17 off 14. Rajat Patidar and Glenn Maxwell then tried to steady the ship for the team as the two put 30 runs for the third wicket before Maxwell departed for 25 after miscuing a stroke against Amit Mishra to give a catch to Steve Smith in the deep. Patidar was then joined by AB de Villiers who has been in some form in this IPL despite not playing any competitive cricket for almost five months now. The two right-handed batsmen joined hands and stitched a stand of 54 runs. But Patidar’s departure in the 15th over left RCB in a spot of bother. They were 114/4 with just over 5 overs to go. But what unleashed next was a rampage from the former South African captain. ABD was in his 20s when Patidar walked back into the hut and the experienced lad had the understanding that he had to play his natural game if RCB wanted to post a defendable total and de Villiers just did the same. He took on the DC bowlers in the next five overs and slaughtered the bowling with every shot that he had in his batting manual. The right-handed batsman eventually remained unbeaten at 75 off just 42 which included five maximums and three boundaries during the course. RCB put a total of 171/5 in 20 overs. Avesh Khan was the pick of the bowlers for DC after he returned with figures of 1/24 in 4 overs. The Delhi side didn’t really have a good start to the chase and they lost three early wickets which included the scalps of Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw and Steve Smith. Captain Pant who came in at number 4 played a bit cautiously and tried to resist along with Marcus Stoinis as the two scored 45 runs for the fourth wicket before the former RCB player was sent packing for 22. But the things weren’t over yet for the Capitals because another ex-RCB batsman was ready to take on the bowlers. Shimron Hetmyer walked in at number 5 and unfolded an innings that probably everyone was looking for from him. The left-handed West Indies batsman notched up 53* off just 25 but where he was on carnage in the 18th over of the innings that was being bowled by Kyle Jamieson. The pacer was quite impressive throughout the evening but it took just three balls to nullify his efforts. He tried to bowl Yorkers on three occasions in this over and missed the length completely all the three times only to get smacked for three sixes. Courtesy, this power-hitting from Hetmyer, DC now needed 25 off the last two. The penultimate over was given to Harshal Patel who despite getting hit for a boundary gave 11 runs in this one. The equation was down to 14 off last 6 and Kohli handed the ball to Siraj for the final over. Delhi side were only able to score four off the first four deliveries. Siraj bowled a full toss to Pant who tried to slog the delivery but only managed to get an edge on it. Nevertheless, DC did get a boundary bringing it down to 6 needed off 1. The right-arm fast bowler was intelligent enough to bowl this final delivery away from the left-hander. It was a full toss, dipping down but away from Pant who did get some bat on it but could manage only a four. RCB won by 1 run. Captains’ corner RCB captain Virat Kohli hailed Mohammed Siraj for the way he bowled the last over and led the side to the victory. “At one stage I thought it was getting away, but Siraj's final over gave us confidence and we thought he would manage a professional and clinical job. If there weren't fielding lapses it wasn't going to go this far anyway,” he said. Kohli also praised AB de Villiers’ efforts with the bat who held the innings tight from one end and scored valuable runs for the team. “We lost wickets but AB went berserk and then in the last few overs while bowling Hetmyer got hold of a few, otherwise we were in control. There was no dew tonight thanks to that sandstorm, and we bowled with a dry ball, so that made a difference. Maxi is still not bowling, he's the 7th option, so we have enough options to do the job for us. We always had batting depth, but now we have a lot of bowling options too. I choose to be optimistic, but captaining for too long does make you nervous. I invariably go with the gut feel of the bowler. AB doesn't like me saying this, but he hasn't played competitive cricket for 5 months, but if you look at him bat it doesn't feel like he doesn't play international cricket anymore. Hats off to him, keeps doing it again and again for us. Such an asset for us. I'll say this again (smiles). He hasn't played for five months, just watch that innings,” Kohli added. DC captain Rishabh Pant missed it out just by a whisker when he failed to score a six off the final ball of the innings. Expressing his disappointment, Pant said that RCB did score some extra runs on this track. “Obviously feeling disappointed, especially when you are on the losing side. They got 10-15 runs extra on this wicket. Hetty (Hetmyer) played a brilliant innings, because of him we got close to the target,” Pant said. The wicket-keeper batsman also discussed how he and Hetmyer had planned to go after the target and how runs they could score against which bowler. “In the last over, we were thinking whoever gets the ball has to finish the job for the team. That's what we were planning, in the end we were one run short. We counted the overs really well, in the end the spinners weren't getting the help which we thought they might get. In the end, I had to give the ball to Stoinis. It's good to take positives from all the matches. As a young team, we like to learn from each and every game and want to improve each and every day,” Pant added. Experts’ point of view Commentator Harsha Bhogle appreciated Hetmyer’s efforts who did play a crucial role in getting DC nearer to the target. Journalist Boria Majumdar also lavished praise for Hetmyer. He further talked about Harshal Patel’s temperament. Harshal was taken on by Ravindra Jadeja in the last match and was struck for 37 runs. Mentioning about the same, Boria hailed Patel’s bowling against the two well-set left-handed batsmen. Both ABD and Hetmyer played a brisk but responsible knock when their respective teams required the most. Talking about the same, journalist Ayaz Memon was all in praise of the gutsy batting by the two but also mentioned the contrasting last overs bowled by Marcus Stoinis and Siraj that made the difference eventually. DC had a late start to their chase as there was an occurrence of a sand storm. Something similar happened in the year 1998 in Sharjah when a game between India and Australia was halted because of the similar reason. But was unleashed next was a carnage by Sachin who hammered Australia all around the park. Comparing the two scenes, Gaurav Kalra, a veteran TV journalist said ABD played somewhat similar knock that once Sachin played in Sharjah. DC will now lock horns with KKR on Thursday while RCB will be up against Punjab Kings at the same venue.

Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan among big names picked in PSL 2021 replacement draft

Shakib Al Hasan, Andre Russell, Usman Khawaja and Martin Guptill are among the players who have been picked in the PSL 2021 replacement draft. While Shakib has been picked by Lahore Qalandars, Russell and Khawaja went to Quetta Gladiators and Islamabad United respectively. New Zealand aggressive batsman Guptill is a part of Karachi Kings. The PCB held the PSL replacement draft on Tuesday as the franchises would be able to complete their squads. The tournament was earlier suspended with immediate effect after there was a rise in COVID-19 cases among the players and staff. Though, it will now resume on June 2 with the final scheduled to take place on June 20. All the matches will be taking place in Karachi while the teams will have to reach the venue on May 23 to undergo a mandatory seven-day quarantine. The tournament will be without the services of a number of international players. The England cricketers will be busy with the Vitality Blast T20 tournament while the others would be on national duties. As many 134 players were there in the list of the players for the mini-draft out of which 25 belonged to West Indies and 24 to Sri Lanka. Apart from this, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa had 10, 12 and 18 players respectively while there were 6 players from Zimbabwe, 16 from Afghanistan, 5 from Ireland, 4 from Scotland, and one each from Nepal and Oman.