Waqar Younis to travel to Australia to be with his wife

Hardik Pandya hasn't been bowling because of shoulder niggle: Mahela Jayawardene

Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene has revealed the reason as to why Hardik Pandya hasn’t been bowling during the matches. Pandya hasn’t been given the bowl due to the shoulder niggle that he picked up during the series against England at home. “…we were looking forward for him to be bowling this season… he was coming back from an injury already, but after those matches against England, the last ODI, I believe he picked up niggle, so that is something that we are nursing at the moment,” Jayawardene said during a virtual press-conference. The former Sri Lanka captain suggested that the team management wants Hardik to be fully fit to bowl. “We don’t want to risk it, because it is important that we make sure that he (Hardik) is in a position to comfortably come in and bowl,” Mahela said. The Mumbai Indians have won two out of the three matches that they have played so far and are placed at number three spot in the points table. They last defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai after defending a total of 150 runs in 20 overs. SRH started the chase in a decent manner after openers Jonny Bairstow and David Warner provided them with a steady start as the two batsmen out 67 on the board for first wicket in the 8th over. But Bairstow’s departure for 43 saw a fall of wickets at regular succession and the Hyderabad-based franchise were soon reduced to 130/7 before getting bundled out for 137 to lose the match by 13 runs. Trent Boult and Rahul Chahar picked up three wickets apiece during the course. MI will now lock horns with Delhi Capitals on Tuesday in Chennai.

AB de Villiers recapitulates his intentions of playing in the T20 World Cup

One of the modern greats of the game, AB de Villiers has again expressed his desire to be part of the South African national team in the upcoming T20 World Cup slated to be played in India later this year (October-November). AB de Villiers has been in stupendous form in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League. Having last played professional cricket in the 2020 IPL, De Villiers never looked like playing after so many months. Yet again he proved that why he is one of the finest batsmen of all time. Over the years ABD has been an integral part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore set-up. On Sunday De Villiers smashed his way to a match-winning 76 of a mere 34 deliveries on a relatively difficult Chennai pitch. Riding on his special knock, RCB posted a mammoth total on the board and in the end, the score of 204 proved to be way too much. Following his exceptional knock, ABD confirmed that he will be having some discussion with his former teammate and the current national head coach Mark Bouncer on his chances for the T20 World Cup in India. "I haven't had a discussion with Bouchy (Mark Boucher) yet. We are lined up to have a chat somewhere during the IPL but yes we have been talking about it," de Villiers said. "Last year, he asked me if I would be interested. And I said, 'absolutely'. And come the end of the IPL, we will have a look at where we are at with regards to my form and my fitness. "Also, the situation with his team - he's got to look at his guys who have been performing well over the last while," he noted. "If there's no space for me, so be it. If I can slot in there, it will be fantastic if all those things fall in place. Waiting for Bouchy towards the end of the IPL, and we will then plan accordingly." AB de Villiers suddenly announced his retirement from international cricket in 2018 but he had made his intentions clear that he wanted to feature in the 2019 ODI World Cup in England. However, the team management and the selectors agreed in unison that it was too late to add ABD in the squad. De Villiers were earlier criticised for picking and choosing series and that might have played a role in his request being not accepted. Meanwhile, Boucher had confirmed during the South Africa-Pakistan series that he had had a word with De Villiers before he left for the IPL. "The conversation is still very open," Boucher had said. "AB being the person he is, he wanted to perform very well at the IPL to prove to himself and everyone else that he's still a key figure in world cricket and can dominate at that level. I said to him, 'You go do your thing and I'll give you a shout towards the end of the IPL and see where you are,” Boucher said.

Unaffected by two low scores, Mayank Agarwal relies on mindset that worked in IPL last year

The Punjab Kings opener Mayank Agarwal started off on a horrible note in the 14th edition of the IPL after a resounding season last year in UAE. He was dismissed cheaply in the first game against the Rajasthan Royals while in the next game against the Chennai Super Kings he was the victim of an unplayable delivery by Deepak Chahar. The right-hander was facing two setbacks one after another, but coming into the game against the Delhi Capitals on Sunday night, Agarwal had moved on from those failures and instead backed his thinking that yielded a lot of runs in the last season of the IPL. “I wasn't thinking too much, I planned to do and keep the mindset that worked for me last year. I thought the last match I had a good ball, I didn't want to stress too much about it and wanted to look forward and so stuck to what worked for me. I was batting well in the nets, I was getting into good positions, it was about holding shape and I don't want to live in the previous games and I am happy how I batted,” Agarwal said in the post-match press conference. Agarwal Coming into the third game against the Delhi Capitals, Agarwal had a lot of tougher challenge against the bowling attack comprised of Kagiso Rabada, Chris Woakes and Ravichandran Ashwin. Interestingly, Agarwal had played a sublime innings against the Delhi Capitals when these two sides had met for the first time in the last season as well. Also, like that game last year, the Delhi Capitlas proved to be triumphant and Agarwal commended Capitals batsmen as well as pointing out to the dew as a disadvantage for his bowlers. He said that they could not execute their plans under pressure, unlike the Capitals bowling attack that switched to a death bowling mode after the 12-over mark and stopped the Kings from running away with a big score. "I thought Delhi Capitals batted exceedingly well, also there was a dew factor. Credited to Delhi bowlers how they executed after the 12 overs, they went into death bowling and executed it beautifully,” Agarwal added. "I don't think we can do much about it as players. It boils down to execution under pressure and practising that. Those are the things which are under our control." The Punjab Kings have won one and lost two games out of three games they have played this season. They have not been able to put out a team performances with all the three departments clicking simultaneously.

IPL 2021: Graeme Swann feels that RCB have helped Maxwell find a different aspect of his game

One of the finest English spinners of all time, Graeme Swann feels that swashbuckling all-rounder Glenn Maxwell is flourishing in his new role of being the ‘third guy’ in the team rather than being the lone destroyer. He is regarded as one of the most destructive batsmen of the modern generation but getting a new role in Royal Challengers Bangalore have worked perfectly with Maxwell. Maxwell continued his tremendous run in the IPL so far as he smashed a 49 balls 78 and helped RCB recover from a precarious situation. His innings was studded with 9 fours and three sixes and this is only the second time in IPL history that Maxwell has scored back to back half-centuries. Swann feels that not having the extra burden to carry the entire innings had not only benefitted him but also the team. Maxwell was bought for a whopping Rs 14.25 crores which Swann feels is an extraordinarily large amount of money. However, Swann feels that the franchise is getting the best out of the player in a fresh season that is working in favour of everyone concerned. "He surprised me more than anyone. I thought it was a bonkers amount of money they spent on him in the auction. But they said 'no, he has got the strike rate in the middle, we're backing him'. Sanjay Bangar has been the batting coach the last two times he has been among the runs. I think he feels happy, he feels relaxed. He played really good shots. He's got his reverse hit back," Swann was quoted as saying on Star Sports. Swann feels that despite being consistent in the tournament so far, he has not lived up to his reputation of being called ‘The Big Show’ and is not matching up to the level which he performed earlier. However, this has allowed him to find a different side of him. In the first three matches, Maxell has scored 39, 56 and 78 as RCB started off their campaign with three back to back victories. "He's not the big cheese anymore, the big mac, the Big Show… whatever you call him. He's nowhere near being the Big Show. But he's got Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in the team, and it really suits him, to be that third player who can just go out there and express himself, without having to carry the team. This suits him. He looks in a very good place, he looks very fit," Swann further added.