News Analysis India

Tag: IPL

  • Relatively unknown southpaw Venkatesh Iyer produces another solid hand, engineers comfortable win for KKR

    Express News Service

    CHENNAI: Who is Venkatesh Iyer and where has he been all this while? That is the question on everyone’s lips after the 26-year-old left-hander produced another stroke-filled innings for Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday. After an unbeaten 41 on his IPL debut against Royal Challengers Bangalore in KKR’s previous game, Iyer once again came to the fore to deliver a seven-wicket win for his side, this time against a Mumbai Indians attack that includes the likes of Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah and Adam Milne. He smashed 53 entertaining runs off just 30 deliveries to set up the chase of 156 while Rahul Tripathi also came to the fore with an equally entertaining 74* in 42 balls. 

    While Tripathi is a known commodity in the IPL, it is Iyer’s sudden impact from seeming obscurity that has made people sit up and take notice. 

    The towering reputations in Mumbai’s line-up did not seem to faze him one bit. His very first ball on Thursday was disdainfully dispatched to the deep square leg boundary for six. It did not seem to matter that the bowler was Boult, whose ability to swing the new ball keeps far more experienced players on their toes. The man from Madhya Pradesh — whose family is originally from Tamil Nadu — started in top gear and never slowed down, batting as though this was just a game in the streets of his neighbourhood in Indore.

    As his age of 26 illustrates, Iyer is certainly not a greenhorn on the domestic circuit. He made his debut for Madhya Pradesh in the shorter formats as far back as 2015 while his first-class debut came in 2018. Having not featured for KKR in the India leg, it remains unclear why he was not utilised earlier as well as what changed between then and now. Now that Iyer is getting his moment in the spotlight, he is certainly making the most of it.

    KKR’s comprehensive win overshadowed the efforts of the Mumbai openers. Rohit Sharma, who was returning for this game, combined well with Quinton de Kock to stitch together a partnership of 78 and provide a strong platform for the Mumbai middle-order. They certainly had the ammunition to reach a score closer to 180, but the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya floundered.

    The Kolkata attack, to its credit, did well to fight back after the initial onslaught from Quinton’s blade in particular. The spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine were exemplary yet again, conceding just 42 runs between them in eight overs with a wicket to boot. Lockie Ferguson, too, made a stirring comeback after an expensive first over that went for 11 runs.

    Hardik’s absence a slight worry

    When Hardik Pandya missed the first game of the UAE leg against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday alongside skipper Rohit Sharma, coach Mahela Jayawardene had played down any concerns by saying that they were down with just minor niggles. While Rohit returned for the game against KKR on Thursday, Hardik’s continued absence from the playing XI may be a cause for concern. With the T20 World Cup coming up, Hardik’s contributions — with both bat and ball — will be vital for India to harbour hopes of going all the way.

    Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 155/6 in 20 overs (Q de Kock 55; L Ferguson 2/27) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 159/3 in 15.1 overs (R Tripathi 74 n.o., V Iyer 53; Bumrah 3/43).

  • Kolkata Knight Riders steamroll Mumbai Indians to enter top four

    By PTI

    ABU DHABI: Rookie Venkatesh Iyer left many in awe of his talent as Kolkata Knight Riders produced a clinical performance for the second successive game since IPL’s resumption to tame the mighty Mumbai Indians by seven wickets and enter the top-four in the points table here on Thursday.

    Iyer (53 off 30), playing his second IPL game, displayed the wide range of his strokes alongside Rahul Tripathi (74 not out off 42) to enable KKR to chase MI’s modest total of 155 for six with as many as 29 balls to spare.

    Quinton de Kock struck an entertaining 55 for MI before KKR bowlers bounced back in the last 10 overs, conceding 75 runs and taking five wickets.

    Shubman Gill and Iyer gave KKR another flying start with the first two overs bowled by Trent Boult and Adam Milne going for 15 runs each.

    Gill flicked Boult for a delightful six while Iyer pulled the New Zealand pace spearhead to set the tone for the rest of the innings.

    While Jasprit Bumrah found Gill’s stumps in the third over, Iyer went on to play a memorable knock comprising four boundaries and three sixes.

    Iyer and Tripathi shared an 88-run stand for the second wicket which completely shut the door on MI, who suffered their second loss since IPL’s resumption.

    Earlier, MI skipper Rohit Sharma (33 off 30) got off the innings in scintillating fashion, caressing a Nitish Rana delivery on to the mid-off boundary.

    The skipper, who was in sublime touch in the Tests in England, had not played the opening game against CSK.

    Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya did not start once again, raising questions about his fitness.

    Rohit took the attack to mystery spinner Varun Charkravarthy with two consecutive fours in opening two deliveries of the fourth over.

    De Kock was not to be left behind as he matched his skipper stroke for stroke, pulling a Lockie Ferguson delivery over the fence for the first maximum of the match.

    Introduced into the attack in the sixth over, Prasidh Krishna was taken to task by de Kock, hitting the medium pacer twice over the fence to pick up 16 runs from his first over as MI cantered to 56 for no loss.

    De Kock seemed unstoppable as he welcomed Andre Russell with consecutive fours.

    Morgan bowled out trump card Chakravarthy by the 11th over (4-0-22-0) with MI not losing a wicket against him.

    Sunil Narine was also tidy giving away only 20 runs in four overs.

    With de Kock going hammer and tongs, Rohit played the second fiddle and scored 33 runs off 30 balls before Narine got his man for the ninth time in T20s, holing out to Shubman Gill at the boundary.

    KKR pulled things back between 10-15 overs, conceding only 26 runs and picked up two wickets.

    Pollard, as he often does, came up with much needed big hits in the last five overs, including a flat batted six over mid wicket in Krishna’s 18-run over.

    Ferguson bowled a brilliant last over for KKR, removing the dangerous duo of Pollard and Krunal Pandya (12) at the cost of only six runs.

    MI collected 49 runs from the last five overs.

  • Kolkata Knight Riders limit Mumbai Indians to 155/6 despite Quinton de Kock’s fifty

    By PTI

    ABU DHABI: Quinton de Kock struck an entertaining half-century before Kolkata Knight Riders bounced back to restrict Mumbai Indians to 155 for six in the IPL here on Thursday.

    MI skipper Rohit Sharma (33 off 30) got off the innings in scintillating fashion, caressing a Nitish Rana delivery on to the mid-off boundary.

    The skipper, who was in sublime touch in the Tests in England, had not played the opening game against CSK.

    Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya did not start once again, raising questions about his fitness.

    Rohit took the attack to mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy with two consecutive fours in opening two deliveries of the fourth over.

    De Kock (55 off 42) was not to be left behind as he matched his skipper stroke for stroke, pulling a Lockie Ferguson delivery over the fence for the first maximum of the match.

    Introduced into the attack in the sixth over, Prasidh Krishna was taken to task by de Kock, hitting the medium pacer twice over the fence to pick up 16 runs from his first over as MI cantered to 56 for no loss.

    De Kock seemed unstoppable as he welcomed Andre Russell with consecutive fours.

    Morgan bowled out trump card Chakravarthy by the 11th over (4-0-22-0) with MI not losing a wicket against him.

    With de Kock going hammer and tongs, Rohit played the second fiddle and scored 33 runs off 30 balls before Sunil Narine got his man for the ninth time in T20s, holing out to Shubman Gill at the boundary.

    Suryakumar Yadav (5) was done in by a fine outswinger from Krishna as the batsman edged one to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps in the 13th over.

    De Kock then notched up his fifty with a single of Ferguson in the 14th over.

    KKR pulled things back between 10-15 overs, conceding only 26 runs and picked up two wickets.

    Pollard, as he often does, came up with much needed big hits in the last five overs, including a flat batted six over mid wicket in Krishna’s 18-run over.

    Ferguson bowled a brilliant last over for KKR, removing the dangerous duo of Pollard and Krunal Pandya (12) at the cost of only six runs.

    MI collected 49 runs from the last five overs and 75 in the last 10.

  • Kolkata Knight Riders opt to bowl, Rohit Sharma returns to lead Mumbai Indians

    By PTI

    ABU DHABI: Kolkata Knight Riders opted to bowl against Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League here on Thursday.

    Rohit Sharma, who missed the team’s opener against Chennai Super Kings, returned to lead Mumbai while KKR did not make any changes from the last game against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

    Hardik Pandya once again did not feature in Mumbai’s playing XI.

    Mumbai Indians: Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Saurabh Tiwary, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Adam Milne, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult

    Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna

  • IPL confident despite Covid-19 scare

    By Express News Service

    CHENNAI: On a day when Sunrisers Hyderabad’s T Natarajan tested positive for Covid-19, their Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Delhi Capitals went ahead in Dubai. The move is bold but the IPL Governing Council is sounding fairly confident that with all necessary protocols in place, there is no need to press the panic button. It’s to be noted that the board’s Covid-19 based quarantine norms is in line with Dubai Health Authorities (DHA).  

    Unlike in May when the organisers and the BCCI were forced to reschedule a match — before ultimately calling it off — after two players tested positive on the morning of a match (Kolkata and Bangalore), We­d­n­e­sday’s match took place as scheduled. As soon as Nataraj­an’s test results came back positive, the organisers were on the toes,  ensuring the entire Hyde­r­a­bad contingent underwent RT-PCR tests at 5 in the morning. Although there isn’t a GPS me­c­h­anism in place like in 2020, when the IPL was held in the UAE, the BCCI has put in place bubble-integrity managers for each team. They monitor movements of players round the clock and are allowed to review CCTV footages for the purposes of contact tracing. This is how they we­re able to identify and isolate all of Natarajan’s close con­tacts.  

    According to a BCCI statement, all-rounder Vijay Shankar and net bowler G Periyaswamy are among those under isolation. The others happen to be support staffers Vijay Kumar (team manager), Shyam Sundar J (physiotherapist), Anjana Vannan (doctor) and Tushar Khedkar (logistics manager). As per the IPL health protocols, they are undergoing isolation at a separate wing of the hotel and will be allowed to re-enter the bubble after six days, provided they test negative in the tests scheduled on Days 2,4 and 6.

    Although Natarajan attended Tuesday’s training session, the BCCI and the Governing Council gave the greenlight for the match only because the rest of Hyderabad contingent tested negative. While a Covid-positive case inside the bio-bubble does create a scare, the BCCI believes they have put all the mechanism in place and there is no possibility of the virus breaching the bubble from the outside. 

    “During the India leg, it was possible for the outsiders to come in contact with the players or use the common areas in the hotel. In Dubai and Abu Dhabi, teams are kept in a separate wing and public have no access to bio-secure area. All the loose ends are covered. A thorough check was done to identify if there were any breaches,” an IPL official tracking the developments said. 

    While all the teams took a charter flight to the UAE before undergoing mandatory quarantine, Natarajan had taken a commercial airline, which the BCCI suspects could have made him contract the virus. 

  • Dominant Delhi Capitals demolish Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets

    By PTI

    DUBAI: Delhi Capitals rode on a brilliant fast bowling performance from their South African duo Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada to pulverise wooden spooners Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets as they took a giant leap towards Indian Premier League play-offs on Wednesday.

    Capitals produced top-notch performance in their first match of the second phase of this year’s IPL to eke out the easy win in 17.5 overs in their pursuit of a modest 135-run target.

    It was only possible after fast furious Nortje bowled at 150 clicks to finish with 2 for 12 and was ably supported Rabada (3/37) and Axar Patel (2/21) in a brilliant bowling effort.

    Last edition’s runners-up are now well and truly in contention for clinching a play-off berth with 14 points from nine games while SRH with two points are all but out of the competition.

    DC started their chase on an aggressive note with Shikhar Dhawan and young Prithvi Shaw (11 off 8) adding 20 runs in 17 balls before the latter was caught by Kane Williamson off the bowlng of Khaleel Ahmed as the batsman went for an extravagant shot over mid-wicket.

    Orange Cap Dhawan was unperturbed as he continued his attacking batting and slog swept Rashid Khan over deep midwicket for a maximum in the Afghan spinner’s first over.

    While SRH batsmen struggled, Dhawan made batting look easy on the wicket as he then pulled a Jason Holder delivery on to the square leg fence.

    Swing bowler Sandeep Sharma was then taken to task by Dhawan as he hit the medium pacer for back-to-back boundaries in the 10th overtake DC to 69 for one.

    But Dhawan paid the price for being too aggressive when he was holed out by Abdul Samad off the bowling of Rashid as the left-hander went for a slog sweep over deep square leg in search of a six.

    Dhawan’s runs came off 37 balls and was laced with six boundaries and one hit over the fence.

    Shreyas Iyer (47 not out off 41), who played the second fiddle when Dhawan was around, then took the onus on himself and upped the ante, hitting Sandeep Sharma for two consecutive fours in the 14th over.

    Iyer continued to bat freely and in the company of skipper Rishabh Pant (35 off 21) took DC home with 13 balls to spare.

    While Khaleel Ahmed extracted some pace and bounce from the track, none other SRH bowlers managed to trouble the DC batsmen as Iyer and Pant batted with consummate ease.

    Iyer hit two fours and as many sixes during his knock, while Pant decorated his innings with three boundaries and two lofty hits over the fence.

    Earlier, SRH put up a dismal batting performance to manage a meagre 134 for nine.

    Nortje and Rabada were terrific with the ball as they extracted extra bounce and pace from the relatively low and slow wicket to dismantle SRH top-order.

    The script didn’t turn out as SRH wanted after opting to bat as they lost David Warner (0) in the third ball of the innings without any runs on the board.

    Wriddhiman Saha (18) then added 29 runs with skipper Kane Williamson (18) before the former mistimed a pull to Shikhar Dawan at midwicket of the bowling off Kagiso Rabada.

    Williamson and Manish Pandey then tried to build the innings, stitching 31 runs for the third wicket but SRH soon suffered a jolt when their skipper gave a simple catch to Shimron Hetmyer at long-off off the bowling of Axar Patel.

    Pandey (18) followed suit and Kedar Jadhav (3) too didn’t help his cause either.

    Jason Holder (10) too turned out to be a big flop for SRH.

    Damage already done, Abdul Samad (28 off 21, 2x4s, 1×6) tried his best to shore up the run-rate in company of Rashid Khan (22 off 19 balls) but he too departed in search of quick runs, top-edging a miss-timed pull to DC skipper Rishabh Pant off Rabada’s bowling.

    Rashid’s knock was laced with the help of two fours and one six before being run out.

    Bhuvneshwar Kumar remained not out on 5 from 3 balls.

    Rabada was the pick of the bowlers for DC with figures of 3 for 37, while Nortje (2/12) and Patel (2/32) picked up two wickets apiece.

  • Delhi Capitals pacers Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 134/9

    By PTI

    DUBAI: Sunrisers Hyderabad put up a dismal batting performance to manage a meagre 134 for nine against Delhi Capitals in an Indian Premier League match here on Wednesday.

    The script didn’t turn out as SRH wanted after opting to bat as they lost David Warner (0) in the third ball of the innings without any runs on the board.

    Wriddhiman Saha (18) then added 29 runs with skipper Kane Williamson (18) before the former mistimed a pull to Shikhar Dawan at midwicket of the bowling off Kagiso Rabada.

    Williamson and Manish Pandey then tried to build the innings, stitching 31 runs for the third wicket but SRH soon suffered a jolt when their skipper gave a simple catch to Shimron Hetmyer at long-off off the bowling of Axar Patel.

    Pandey (18) followed suit and Kedar Jadhav (3) too didn’t help his cause either.

    Jason Holder (10) too turned out to be a big flop for SRH.

    Damage already done, Abdul Samad (28 off 21, 2x4s, 1×6) tried his best to shore up the run-rate in company of Rashid Khan (22 off 19 balls) but he too departed in search of quick runs, top-edging a miss-timed pull to DC skipper Rishabh Pant off Rabada’s bowling.

    Rashid’s knock with the help of two fours and one six before being run out.

    Bhuvneshwar Kumar remained not out on 5 from 3 balls.

    Rabada was the pick of the bowlers for DC with figures of 3 for 37, while Anrich Nortje (2/12) and Patel (2/32) picked up two wickets apiece.

  • Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya are recovering very well: Trent Boult

    By PTI

    ABU DHABI: Mumbai Indians pacer Trent Boult is not sure if skipper Rohit Sharma and all-rounder Hardik Pandya would feature in their next IPL game on Thursday but said both of them are recovering well.

    West Indies’ Kieron Pollard had led the side against Chennai Super Kings in the absence of Rohit, who has a dodgy knee while Pandya also missed the game due to a niggle.

    “They are both recovering very well. In terms of their selection for the next game, I’m not too sure what’s going on there. But day by day, they are improving,” Boult said during a virtual press conference on the eve of their game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

    “They are obviously two vital players in the XI for Mumbai. And we’re desperate to get them back. So, fingers crossed that they’ll be pretty good to go over the next couple of games,” added the New Zealand pacer.

    Boult said Rohit was “sorely missed” in the game against CSK but defended the team management’s decision to rest the star opener.

    “He is right up there in terms of experience and runs achieved in this format. So, it was a big hole but it was a good decision to make sure he is 100 per cent with the amount of cricket coming up. If he comes to the eleven, it will be brilliant, but we want to make sure he is 100 percent fit,” said Boult.

    The defending champions have a better record against KKR in the cash-rich league but Boult believes that history does not matter in this format.

    “It is more about starting afresh, every game is such a big game, every match is important now. History is history, it is nice to have previous results against them, but they are a quality side and we would not take them lightly,” said the left-arm pacer.

    Boult, 32, also felt that competing in the IPL was good preparation ahead of the T20 World Cup, which will be held in the UAE and Oman in October-November.

    “You could probably not have any better build-up to the tournament like the T20 World Cup. The focus is on what’s on for the next couple of weeks, but in terms of preparation, it is very good. Conditions can change quite quickly but having to deal with the heat and humidity is a big challenge at this stage. It is going to be interesting to see how conditions move over the course of the next few weeks,” Boult signed off.

  • MI eye improved batting effort against rejuvenated KKR

    By PTI

    ABU DHABI: Defending champions Mumbai Indians would look for inspiration from skipper Rohit Sharma, who is set to return to action when they take on a rejuvenated Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League match here on Thursday.

    Mumbai were without the services of Rohit and star all-rounder Hardik Pandya in their 20-run defeat to Chennai Super Kings on Sunday as both were rested as a precautionary measure due to having niggles.

    However, head coach Mahela Jayawardene has said Rohit should be fit and available for selection for the match against KKR.

    KKR, on the other hand, have registered a dominating nine-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening game of the second leg of the league.

    Mumbai, who are currently placed fourth in the table with eight points, began their second leg campaign in a typical slow manner but with only half the tournament left to play, the defending champions need to win to stay in the top half of the league table.

    Rohit, who has been in fine touch of late, will be expected to continue in the same vein and help his side make amends of the inept batting performance against CSK.

    Apart from Saurabh Tewary, who hit an unbeaten half century, none of the other batsmen were able to capitalize on their starts against CSK, failing to chase down 156.

    On the other hand, the comprehensive win would have boosted KKR’s confidence.

    Having struggled in the first leg, KKR looked a completely different unit, in the manner in which they defeated RCB.

    The Eoin Morgan-led side, placed sixth in the points table, fired on all cylinders with mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy and star all-rounder Andre Russell wreaking havoc with the ball before openers Shubman Gill and debutant Venkatesh Iyer chased down the 93-run target with 10 overs to spare.

    Skipper Morgan had said that KKR would be dangerous opponents with nothing to lose in the second leg and the team certainly looked menacing against RCB.

    They will hope to continue playing in a similar aggressive fashion and win the title just like 2014 edition when they notched nine victories in a row.

    They will also hold the edge over their rivals having already experienced the conditions at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium against RCB.

    The Teams

    Kolkata Knight Riders: Eoin Morgan (captain), Dinesh Karthik, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Karun Nair, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathy, Shubman Gill, Harbhajan Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pawan Negi, M Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Dube, Tim Southee, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russel, Ben Cutting, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Sheldon Jackson, Tim Seifert.

    Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain) Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, James Neesham, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Marco Jansen, Yudhvir Singh, Adam Milne, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult.

    Match starts at 7:30 pm IST.

  • SRH bowler T Natarajan tests positive, match against DC to go ahead as scheduled

    By PTI

    DUBAI: Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer T Natarajan has tested positive for COVID-19 but the team’s IPL match against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday will go ahead as scheduled, the BCCI said.

    Left-arm pacer Natarajan, who is coming back from knee surgery, has been isolated along with six close contacts which also include out of favour India all-rounder Vijay Shankar.

    “Sunrisers Hyderabad player T Natarajan tested positive for COVID-19 at a scheduled RT-PCR test. The player has isolated himself from the rest of the squad. He is currently asymptomatic,” a BCCI release stated.

    “The rest of the contingent including the close contacts underwent RT-PCR tests at 5 am local time this morning and the test reports are negative. As a result, tonight’s game between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals will go ahead at the Dubai International Stadium, Dubai,” it further stated.

    The close contacts identified by the medical team also include Vijay Kumar(Team Manager), Shyam Sundar J (Physiotherapist), Anjana Vannan (Doctor), Tushar Khedkar (Logistics Manager), and Periyasamy Ganesan (Net Bowler).

    The IPL resumed here on Sunday after it had to be halted in May due to multiple COVID cases in its bio-bubble when the event was being staged in India.