Won't say Yuzvendra Chahal's spot is under scanner: Simon Katich

IPL 2021 | RCB vs PBKS: Harpreet Brar rules the show as Kings open up cracks in Royal Challengers

Normalcy seems to be returning in the Indian Premier League with the Royal Challengers Bangalore coming back to playing with a muddled mindset which has been their legacy over the years in the league. In the game against the Punjab Kings, the Royal Challengers bounced back admirably after the onslaught by Chris Gayle at the top of the order but only to let all of that go away from their hands against KL Rahul and Harpreet Brar in the end overs. Chasing a target of runs, the Royal Challengers Bangalore did not help their case by Dedvdutt Padikkal perishing in the process of showing bravado against the pace of Riley Meredith and the fearsome trio of Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers falling in quick succession. Here, we’ll analyse the best and the worst performances of the game between the Punjab Kings and the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Hits Harpreet Brar Harpreet Brar was deemed good enough for only one game last season under the leadership of Anil Kumble and KL Rahul albeit the team did not fare well for the most part of the season. The story did not change coming into the ongoing season except for the fact that Rahul needed the presence of an all-rounder in the middle to provide balance to the side. And, boy did not he balance well with the Royal Challengers? Rahul brought him in the attack just after the powerplay to keep the Kohli-Rajat Patidar duo under pressure. None of them was going great guns and the Punjab Kings thought of tightening their grip on the match with a lot of runs to defend from the remaining 14 overs. Kohli had other plans though and he danced down the track on the very first ball of Mogga lad and deposited him straight down the ground to show his willingness. Brar made a poor start and conceded 10 runs in his first over. Rahul did not give up on him and nor did Kohli and welcome him back with another four dancing down the track in signs of desperation. But, unlike the last over, he recovered well to keep it to a seven-run over. Rahul persisted with Brar and not it was the time for the Punjab lad to repay the faith and he did it in grand style with a double maiden over—first of this IPL edition. He dismissed the Royal Challengers skipper Virat Kohli, and Glenn maxwell on consecutive deliveries to choke the men in red and gold in the middle phase. If the twin strikes were not enough to dent Royal Challengers’ chances, he came back to eliminate a grave threat of AB de Villiers to pave a clean and perfect path for a win for the Punjab Kings. His bowling performance alone would have earned him the player of the match award but he had more to show against the RCB as his batting blitz put the Punjab Kings in a formidable position even before turning up with the ball. He walked out to bat at the number seven position in the 15th over when a googly from Yuzvendra Chahal found Shahrukh Khan searching for the ball. Fall of five wickets pegged KL Rahul back just when he was looking ominous to get going for a big one. He started slowly but pressed on the accelerator against Harshal Patel in the 18th over and smashed him for a four and a six on consecutive deliveries to get the Kings up and running for a big score. Then, KL Rahul took over the onus of bringing the big shots out from him. However, Brar provided the most perfect finish to the Kings’ innings with a disdainful hoick off Patel. KL Rahul KL Rahul has had an interesting IPL season so far with runs coming from the bat but without shutting down criticism surrounding his strike rate and intent o take on the bowlers. It looked as if he was headed for another big but ineffective score against the Royal Challengers when wickets started falling around him. He brought a 35-ball fifty in the 12th over and it was high time Rahul struck a big one to justify all the time he took at the start of the innings. His celebration of fifty and an intent to break free could well have been checked by the RCB bowlers as both Deepak Hooda and Sharukh Khan falling in quick succession. However, just when both Rahul and the Kings were appearing floundering in their batting effort, the skipper turned a corner with a barrage of boundaries that started on the last ball of the 19th over. He displayed his full range of shots and came at Harshal Patel with all his innovations and plundered him 22 runs in the last over to take the Kings past the 170-run mark. Rahul would be relieved at executing his batting tactics perfectly on the night against the Royal Challengers otherwise another failure to bring up a big score after batting conservatively would have reignited the debate surrounding his mindset and a flawed batting approach. Chris Gayle If the Punjab Kings were in the game at the halfway stage even as Rahul was batting well within his limits, it was for the Universe Boss who was bossing the Royal Challengers bowlers around. When Gayle walked out to bat in the fourth over and by the fifth over the Kings could muster only 29 runs, before the big man from Jamaica may be said to himself that enough was enough. He took the game head-on against another big man from New Zealand—Kyle Jamieson who has been brought into the RCB team for his ability to extract bounce. None of those qualities came to the fore at the start and Gayle thumped him for five boundaries off his first over to get the momentum in the Kings’ favour by the end of the powerplay. The end of the fielding restriction did not deter Gayle as he had no other option but to keep going at the bowling with the skipper Rahul looking to do the favourite job of ‘anchoring’ the innings. Kohli took a punt on Yuzvendra Chahal to dismiss Gayle but it boomeranged on him with the left-hander finding the distance between him and the sightscreen on two occasions in the 7th over. Looking at Gayle going for all money, Rahul too joined the party and the Kings started motoring along after a sluggish start. Gayle could not bring up his fifty and was undone by an accurate short ball from Daniel Sams that cramped him for space, but his 24-ball 46 rejuvenated the Kings batting effort. Flops Harshal Patel Harshal Patel has been having an IPL season of two contrasting fortunes as his wicket column is welling up with every game along with an awful looking economy rate and treatment he gets in the end overs. He was on the brink of becoming the bowler to conceded the most number of runs against the Chennai Super Kings when he appeared blank against Ravindra Jadeja but fell short only at 37 runs. The story went on a similar scrip against the Punjab Kings as KL Rahul made him look like a bowler who ran out of ideas and all options with his innovation. He ended up conceding 22 runs in the last over and add an 18-run over when Harpreet Brar got stuck into him in the 18th over, and what appeared to be an under-par score turned out to be a match-winning one. Patel’s wicket-taking abilities have provided relief to Virat Kohli in critical junctures of games while his inability to execute plans in the death would have also opened up old wounds of ineffective bowling in the last overs of games in the mind of the skipper and the team management. Virat Kohli Needing 180 runs to chase, the RCB expected Virat Kohli to bat long while the onus of scoring briskly in the powerplay was on Devdutt Padikkal. However, he was found wanting against the pace of Riley Meredith and the accuracy of Mohammed Shami. Kohli, on the other hand, was off to a decent start with one boundary each off Shami and Meredith. Meanwhile, he also looked comfortable and hurried against the Australian pacer who has been picked to play for his ‘real pace’ as the skipper Rahul had described before the IPL. As Meredith cleaned up the stumps of Padikkal, Royal Challengers misery compounded with them opting for Rajat Patidar for the number three slot. Both the right-hander struggled to time the ball regularly albeit Kohli found periodic boundaries. However, Kohli has had a larger goal to fulfil being a masterful chaser for such a long time in his career. He has been known for pacing his innings well and timing his aggressive approach perfectly to deny the opposition any chance to get in the game. To be fair to him, Patidar’s struggles multiplied his problems and dilemma as well as he had to manufacture shots on deliveries that were not there to be hit. Kohli is not a power player who can dispatch balls out of the ground by his muscle power but lack of support from the other end did not make life easier for him. The Royal Challengers could manage only 36 runs at the end of the powerplay and the required run rate was surging beyond 14 runs per over. He had to add impetus to the batting and attempted to put pressure on the spin twins of Harpreet Brar and Ravi Bishnoi. He succeeded against Brar hitting him for a six and a four on the first ball of his first two overs but failed to execute the third time and found his leg stump rattled in the process. Brar went onto dismiss Maxwell on the next ball and Ab de Villiers in his next over to finish off any chances of RCB chasing down a big total, but the wicket of Kohli proved to be an inflexion point. He had to go big with Patidar not finding it easy but he too ate up too many deliveries in the powerplay and its weight turned out to be too heavy for him to carry for a long period of time. The Challengers have lost only two games this season that includes the one against the Punjab Kings and hence they are far away from hitting the panic button. However, Kohli would be realistic to not overlook the signs of coming back of the old ghost of poor death bowling and unreliable middle order that has haunted his side perpetually. The Kings would be delighted to come at the top of the Royal Challengers and they would be more ecstatic at newcomer putting their hands up in crunch moments of the game. However, with only three wins including the one against the Royal Challengers at the halfway mark of the tournament, the Kings would be desperate for more clinical performance if they have to stand a chance to advance into the playoff stage.

IPL 2021 | RCB vs PBKS: What Experts said as Punjab get back on track

Punjab Kings finally tasted success after a string of defeats in this IPL 2021 after the beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 34 runs in Ahmedabad on Friday to take two points and etch their third win in the tournament. After being put into bat by RCB captain Virat Kohli, PBKS didn’t start off really well and lost the wicket of Prabhsimran who had replaced Mayank Agarwal in this game for 7. But Punjab skipper KL Rahul and aggressive batsman Chris Gayle throughly dominated the RCB bowling attack to put up 80 runs for the second wicket before Gayle departed for 46 off 24 which included a couple of maximums and six boundaries. Gayle’s dismissal though was followed by few quick wickets and Punjab were 118/5 in the 15th over when Rahul along with Harpreet Bear took the charge and the two batsmen 61 runs for the sixth wicket to take the team’s total to 179/5 in 20 overs. Rahul remained unbeaten at 91 off 57 which involved five sixes and seven boundaries while Brar chipped in with a 17-ball 25 not out. Kyle Jamieson picked up a couple of wickets for RCB while Daniel Sams, Yuzvendra Chahal and Shahbaz Ahmed scalped a wicket each. Harshal Patel who has been among wickets in this season for the Bangalore franchise went for some runs and returned with figures of 0/53 in 4 overs. Later, RCB struggled to get a good start after Devdutt Padikkal was cleaned up by Riley Meredith for 7. Captain Kohli and Rajat Patidar who walked in at number three tried to steady the ship for the side but their slow-paced innings pushed RCB on the backfoot. Kohli eventually departed for 35 off 34 after trying to accelerate against left-arm spinner Brar. The right-hander completely missed the line and length from the spinner and the ball just dismantled the woodwork behind him. Glenn Maxwell followed Kohli on the very next ball after he too was bowled by Brar on a peach of a delivery that went through the gates. The left-arm bowler didn’t stop here and got rid of AB de Villiers a couple of overs later after the former South African was caught at short cover by Rahul. Brar had a dream run in the middle in this match. First his late surge helped Punjab most a defendable total and he then ripped apart RCB’s middle order to bag a three-for that included the big wickets of Kohli, Maxwell and ABD. RCB were soon left tottering at 96/7 when Harshal had a go at the bowlers. The right-hander scored 31 off 13 but his brisk innings wasn’t really enough to take RCB over the line. Apart from Brar, Ravi Bishnoi too had a brilliant day at the office after he returned with figures of 2/17 in four overs. Captains’ Corner RCB captain Virat Kohli pointed out that Punjab Kings scored some 20-25 runs extra especially after getting reduced to 118/5. “They got off to a good start but we pulled things back somewhat after five down. Should have been chasing 160, when they were 116/5, but we gave away 25-odd runs in the end. Focused too much on what the batters were doing. We got away from our plans. We gave too many bad balls for boundaries,” he said. Kohli further admitted that RCB did fail as a batting unit and the team needs to sit on the drawing board and rejig some strategies before the next assignment. “It was all about trying to get a partnership and have a strike rate of more than 110. We were not able to do that as a batting unit. Just a few little tweaks we need to address going forward. There are areas we need to improve. The composition of our team is such that we give him (Patidar) the freedom to play at number 3. It's (batting order) situational, this is a good balance for our batting line up,” he added. Rajat Patidar who came out to bat at number three struggled to get going and his slow-paced innings did create some pressure on Kohli as well as on the team. But the skipper insisted that the right-hander is a talented batsman and it was just a bad day for him. “Rajat is a quality player, just that tonight wasn't his night. In the end we gave away 25 runs too many. One wicket there and we could have squeezed them. We couldn't execute our plans. Pulled few runs nicely as Harshal and Jamieson hit few runs towards the end. The margin could have been a bigger one otherwise,” Kohli said. Harpreet Brar had a dream run in this match as he scored some runs at a brisk pace and then followed it with the wickets of Kohli, Maxwell and ABD. Talking about the left-arm spinner, Punjab captain KL Rahul said that the team had been preparing Brar and he could have been a useful player on this kind of a track and this is what exactly happened. “We were preparing Brar. On a pitch like this, we felt like we needed a finger spinner who could hit hard lengths. He did exactly that and batted really well in the end as well. I am young myself, but I have been trying to speak to the boys and pass on whatever experience I have of IPL and international cricket. They are blessed with enormous talent and we have to prepare them for the situations and the pressures they'd face in the middle as the captain and the support staff. Really makes me and the support staff very happy,” Rahul said. Gayle was in some form during the match against RCB and he went all guns blazing to score a 24-ball 46. Rahul lavished praise on the West Indies batsman and said that he is someone who takes pressure off him. “There is a lot written about Gayle, about his age and whether he should be playing. But I know as a captain, just his impact he has when he walks out is huge. I have played with him for 7-8 years and he keeps getting better and better. He is batting at three, something he hasn't done ever in his career, but he'll do that for the team. That's the kind of man Chris is. He takes pressure off me at the top,” KL added. Experts’ Opinions Commentator Harsha Bhogle hailed Brar and Ravi Bishnoi for their contributions in Punjab’s win against RCB. Journalist Ayaz Memon also praised Harprreet for his brilliant bowling against the likes of Kohli, Maxwell and de Villiers. Journalist Boria Majumdar had an interesting question to ask for the selectors. Appreciating Bishnoi’s efforts both with the ball and in the field, Boria asked whether the right-hander can be the answer to India’s leg spin for the World T20. TV journalist Vikrant Gupta too praised Brar’s three-wicket haul and especially the batsmen he dismissed during the course. Punjab Kings will now play DC on Sunday in Ahmedabad while RCB will face KKR on Monday at the same venue.

SL vs BAN | 2nd Test, Day 2: Sri Lanka steady after quick fall of wickets in Pallekele

Sri Lanka ended the second day’s play at 469/6 against Bangladesh on Friday in Pallekele. The home side began the day’s proceedings at 291/1 with Lahiru Thirimane and Oshada Fernando out there in the middle. While Thirimane struck 140 before getting out to Taskin Ahmed, Fernando notched up 81. Captain Karunaratne had also scored a century before getting out on Day 1. The hosts then lost some wickets in quick succession and Sri Lanka were reduced to 382/6 from 313/2 before Niroshan Dickwella and Ramesh Mendis joined hands and steadied the ship for the side once again to put an unbeaten 87 before the end of the day’s play. Dickwella was at 64* and Mendis at 22* when the stumps were called after bad lights stopped the play. Bangladesh pacer Taskin picked up three wickets while Mehidy Hasan, Shoriful Ismal and Taijul Islam scalped a wicket apiece. Oshada who missed out on a hundred during the course expressed his disappointment. "I'm very disappointed about not getting to a hundred. I was out for 90-odd in the West Indies as well, and when you're a batsman, you feel you need to get those runs. It doesn't matter where I get to bat - No. 3 or 4, or wherever, what you have to do is score runs as a batsman,'' Fernando told reporters after the day's play. Talking about Bangladesh bowlers, Fernando admitted that the visitors did bowl well in the morning session and resisted the batsmen to score runs quickly. "They bowled well in the morning, so we weren't able to score quickly then," he said. "They bowled line and length very well. There was a bit of cloud cover, they probably had some help from the surface as well,” he added. The first match of the two-match Test series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh ended in a draw.

Wife Prithi Narayanan reveals family health emergency behind R Ashwin's withdrawal from IPL 2021

Revealing the health status of the family that led to Ravichandran Ashwin’s withdrawal from the ongoing edition of the IPL, off spinner’s wife Prithi Narayanan has said that their kids were the mode of transmission of the novel coronavirus infection that spread fast and went on to infect as many as six adults and four children in the family. Explaining the situation, Narayanan said that the period between the fifth and eighth day was the most difficult one to handle while the whole family suffered a total nightmare. HIghlighting the mental toll the Covid-19 disease takes on the patients and the people related to them, Prithi said that the mental state will take a much longer time to recover than the physical state of those infected. Also, Prithi nudged her followers to shed vaccine hesitancy and take the covid-19 vaccine as it aids them in the fight against the raging pandemic. Notably, R Ashwin had on April 26 announced his departure from the 14th edition of the IPL as he was looking to support his immediate and extended family in these ‘tough times.’ He had vowed to come back depending on the improvement of the health emergency in his family but there is a lack of clarity on whether he will be able to return to the Delhi Capitals side before the end of the IPL this year.