December 23, 2024
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IPL-17

IPL-17: PBKS vs CSK | Punjab Kings win toss; elect to bowl against Chennai Super Kings

IPL-17: PBKS vs CSK | Punjab Kings win toss; elect to bowl against Chennai Super Kings

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A view of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association stadium in Dharamsala. | Photo Credit: AP Punjab Kings captain Sam Curran won the toss and decided to bowl first in the Indian Premier League 2024 against Chennai Super Kings in Dharamsala on May 5. After winning the toss, PBKS captain Sam Curran said “they fancy their chances of chasing here. We are playing the same team.” CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad said “We lost nine out ten tosses so far. But we won five games. It is a positive.” He further added “Santner has come into the team in place of Mustafizur.” The teams Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, MS Dhoni (wk), Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Richard Gleeson, Punjab Kings: Jonny Bairstow, Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, Sam Curran (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh

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IPL-17: MI vs SRH | Sunrisers Hyderabad eye consistency in must-win IPL clash against Mumbai Indians

IPL-17: MI vs SRH | Sunrisers Hyderabad eye consistency in must-win IPL clash against Mumbai Indians

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A confident Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to produce a dominant show against a frail Mumbai Indians outfit and move up in the Indian Premier League points table when the two teams clash in Mumbai on May 6. Placed fourth in the IPL points table with 12 points in 10 matches with six wins and four losses, SRH will be desperate to produce an all-round show and make improvements especially in their bowling department. The Pat Cummins-led side is in the midst of an intense battle between multiple teams who are bidding for spots in the final four, with Rajasthan Royals (16 points), Kolkata Knight Riders (14 points) and Lucknow Super Giants (12 points) placed above SRH. Chennai Super Kings (5th with 10 points) and a resurgent Delhi Capitals (6th with 10 points) are breathing down SRH’s neck, a scenario that would force the 2016 winners to shrug off any rust and get ready for an intense mid-table battle. If a two-paced pitch at the Wankhede Stadium for the previous clash against KKR was an aberration, the free-flowing SRH batters would look to make merry and pile up a huge score as they have done several times this year. The pitches here generally are batting-friendly and short boundary lengths at this venue make scores in excess of 200 a norm, but the MI-KKR contest played out on a sluggish surface last Friday challenged the batters to dig deep. SRH would be high on confidence having pipped the table-toppers RR by just one run in their previous outing, a game in which their bowlers pulled off a thrilling win. Travis Head (396 runs), Abhishek Sharma (315) and Heinrich Klaasen (337) remain the enforcers in SRH’s batting but South African Aiden Markram would be keen to make a big score of his own, having had a mixed run so far. Nitish Kumar Reddy (219 runs) has emerged as one of the most promising players for SRH in last few games which takes a significant amount of pressure off the key batters. T Natarajan’s (15 wickets) accuracy would be handy for SRH as the left-arm pacer is chasing Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah (17) for the purple cap. Five-time winners Mumbai slipped to the bottom of the pool again when Royal Challengers Bengaluru trumped Gujarat Titans on Saturday night. With only three wins in 11 matches, MI’s challenge is all but over and there is only “pride and name” left to play for by their own admission. However, all is not lost as MI’s key India players for the upcoming T20 World Cup, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya would remain in focus for their individual form. Rohit’s all-out aggressive approach has not yielded many big scores whereas the world number 1 T20 batter Suryakumar would be eyeing consistency after a fine half-century against KKR a few nights ago. India vice-captain Pandya has being consistently on the receiving end due to his ordinary form with both bat and ball and also his on-field decisions as MI skipper. The all-rounder, however, would be keen to make amends and put an end to the criticism that he has been facing ever since this IPL edition got underway. Teams (from) Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Harvik Desai (wk), Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood. Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Glenn Phillips (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Upendra Yadav (wk), Jhathavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh, Mayank Agarwal. Match starts 7:30pm IST.

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IPL-17: RCB vs GT | Royal Challengers Bengaluru win toss; invite Gujarat Titans to bat first

IPL-17: RCB vs GT | Royal Challengers Bengaluru win toss; invite Gujarat Titans to bat first

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Faf du Plessis is seen with his Gujarat Titans counterpart Shubhman Gill during the toss of the Indian Premier League 2024 in Bengaluru on May 4, 2024. | Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the toss and elected to bowl against Gujarat Titans in an Indian Premier League match in Bengaluru on May 4. RCB are unchanged for the match, while for GT made two changes bringing in left-arm spinner Manav Suthar, who will make his IPL debut, and left-arm pacer Joshua Little as R Sai Kishore misses out. Teams: Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudharsan, David Miller, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Manav Suthar, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma, Joshua Little. Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell, Cam Green, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Swapnil Singh.

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IPL-17: LSG vs KKR | Playoffs hopeful Lucknow Super Giants wary of dominant Kolkata Knight Riders’ all-round firepower

IPL-17: LSG vs KKR | Playoffs hopeful Lucknow Super Giants wary of dominant Kolkata Knight Riders’ all-round firepower

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Lucknow Super Giants will have to bring their ‘A’ game forward to prevail against a dominant Kolkata Knight Riders when the two teams, marching towards IPL playoffs, clash in Lucknow on May 5. With an all-round win by 24 runs over Mumbai Indians propelling the second-placed KKR to 14 points — one more step closer to qualification — the pressure will be on KL Rahul’s LSG to find a way past the threat that Shreyas Iyer’s side poses. Lucknow Super Giants are placed just one rung below KKR at number three with 12 points from 10 matches with six wins and four defeats. With a rampant Sunrisers Hyderabad (12 points) hot on heir heels at fourth, followed by the dangerous Chennai Super Kings (10 points) and Delhi Capitals (10 points) on the points table, LSG will be under pressure to avoid getting into a mid-table battle as the race for the final-four has intensified. LSG were far from convincing in their previous assignment at Ekana Stadium here as they were made to work hard in a modest 145-run chase by Mumbai Indians, winning by just four wickets in the last over. Skipper Rahul and all-rounder Marcus Stoinis have been the key players for LSG and it remains to be seen if South Africa veteran Quinton de Kock is brought back in place of young Arshin Kulkarni, who opened the innings in the last game. Even though he has gone without a fifty since the first game, Nicholas Pooran has consistently notched up crucial scores but LSG’s overall finishing skills is under question following their struggles against Mumbai Indians. LSG seemed to have made heavy weather towards the end giving MI a real sniff by losing wickets in a flurry and completing their modest chase with some stutter. Ayush Badoni has had a subdued run in this IPL and the uncapped Indian player would be keen to shrug off the rustiness. LSG’s bowlers will also face a stern test with none of them making a real dent with individual brilliance in this IPL. LSG are also likely to be without express pacer Mayank Yadav. Having lost only three of their 11 matches so far, it has taken something out of the ordinary to stop KKR in their tracks. CSK used a spin-friendly surface to eke out a win in Chepauk, while RR’s all-round class helped them pip KKR in a high-scoring thriller. If anything, KKR’s bowling woes were exposed when Punjab Kings recorded IPL’s highest chase ever against them, but Iyer’s side has emerged strongly from that setback with two impressive wins. However, having trumped MI on a sluggish wicket which exposed their batting frailties, KKR will aim for a much improved performance with the bat. For the second time in this IPL, KKR batters struggled when the ball did not come on to the bat and they were forced to change gears in order to build a strong target. KKR slipped to 57 for five at one stage and ran the risk of being shot out for a paltry total, but Venkatesh Iyer (70) and Manish Pandey (42) came to the rescue with a fine 83-run stand. Iyer and Pandey were forced to soak pressure, curb their attacking game and look to farm the strike to build a recovery path for their side before the bowlers carried out a perfect job to secure a 24-run win. Teams (from): Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul (c & wk), Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Shamar Joseph, Yash Thakur, Manimaran Siddharth, Prerak Mankad, Arshad Khan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Amit Mishra, Kyle Mayers, Ashton Turner, Matt Henry, Naveen-ul-Haq, Devdutt Padikkal, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Mayank Yadav, Arshin Kulkarni. Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (c), KS Bharat (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Gus Atkinson, Allah Ghazanfar, Phil Salt. Match starts 7:30pm IST.

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IPL-17: PBKS vs CSK | Chennai Super Kings eye payback in second successive clash against Punjab Kings

IPL-17: PBKS vs CSK | Chennai Super Kings eye payback in second successive clash against Punjab Kings

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Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will look to set their house in order and get back to winning ways when they face an upbeat yet unpredictable Punjab Kings for the second time in a row in the IPL in Dharamsala on May 5. Just three days back, PBKS outclassed CSK by seven wickets at Chepauk, considered their fortress. The two losses in the last three games at home have put Chennai in a spot. They are placed fifth on the table with 10 points and the five-time champions will hope the change of venue would bring a change in fortune as well with just four games to go to seal their place in the knockout stage. CSK’s failure to push the pace in the middle overs against the spin duo of Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar saw them post a below-par score of 162-7. Their batting has become too dependent on skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and six-hitting machine Shivam Dube and the moment one of them fails, it puts the pressure on others who have not been consistent in bailing out the team. While Gaikwad hit his fifth 50-plus score of the season to hold it together, veteran batter Ajinkya Rahane once again failed to capitalise on the starts, while Ravindra Jadeja and Sameer Rizvi struggled against spin. CSK also has been hampered by the health and fitness concerns of their pacers, including Deepak Chahar, who limped off holding his hamstring after bowling just two balls and is likely to miss the reverse clash against PBKS. The absence of their frontline bowlers, Matheesha Pathirana (niggle) and Tushar Deshpande (flu), also didn’t help matters the other day. Add to that the dew factor which took the spinners out of the equation and PBKS romped home comfortably. While Richard Gleeson made his IPL debut in the last match, CSK might bring back Mukesh Choudhary. Punjab Kings, on the other hand, have seen a resurgence as they registered back-to-back wins to re-ignite their playoffs hopes. En route to their win over CSK, Punjab became the second team after Mumbai Indians to beat the defending champions five times in a row and they will fancy their chances. Punjab remains an unpredictable side as although it notched up wins over Gujarat in Ahmedabad, Chennai at Chepauk and also chased down a T20 record score against KKR, it has struggled at home against RR, SRH and Gujarat. With back-to-back wins, PBKS climbed to seventh spot with 8 points and will need to carry the momentum to salvage their slim hopes. Jonny Bairstow, who made a hundred against KKR, will be their go-to man, while Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh too have to raise their hands. PBKS’ bowling department has experienced names such as Kagiso Rabada, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh and Sam Curran and they need to be consistent. Rabada was brilliant the other day but others have gone for runs. If PBKS has to repeat their performance against CSK then the spinners — Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar — will have to deliver once again. Interestingly, the first IPL match in Dharmasala stadium was a clash between Chennai and Punjab in 2010. The venue offers a lot of runs and dew remains a factor, making it an enticing contest. Teams Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Aravelly Avanish, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, RS Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Nishant Sindhu, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Choudhary, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Shardul Thakur, Maheesh Theekshana and Sameer Rizvi. Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Matthew Short, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Harshal Patel, Chris Woakes, Ashutosh Sharma, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Shashank Singh, Tanay Thyagarajan, Prince Choudhary, Rilee Rossouw. Match starts: 3.30 PM.

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IPL-17: MI vs KKR | Venkatesh and Pandey’s partnership proves the difference as Knight Riders edge Mumbai Indians

IPL-17: MI vs KKR | Venkatesh and Pandey’s partnership proves the difference as Knight Riders edge Mumbai Indians

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Dominate the middle overs and win the match. That seems to be the flavour of the Indian Premier League this season. The same was on display at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday as the Kolkata Knight Riders clinched a convincing win despite having its back to the wall early on in the game. As a result, in a game influenced heavily by bowling units with all 20 wickets falling on the night, it was the 83-run association between Venkatesh Iyer and Manish Pandey (Impact Player) in the middle overs of the first innings that turned out to be the difference between Knight Riders and host Mumbai Indians. Had it not been for the duo’s partnership, Knight Riders – reeling at 57 for five – would have struggled to put on the 169 runs it did before being bowled out in the last over. Suryakumar Yadav then tried his best to take a cue from Venkatesh but thanks to KKR’s spin duo of Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine controlling the middle overs, Suryakumar perished even before MI got close to the finish line. As a result, KKR emerged as a clear second in the standings while MI’s campaign is all but over after its eighth loss of the season. Venkatesh carried on from his sterling hundred at the same venue last season to notch up his fourth fifty-plus score in five outings against MI. He found an ally in veteran Pandey who kept the scoreboard flowing. In the nine-over period from the seventh till the 15th over, KKR added 75 runs for the loss of Rinku Singh, who top-edged back to Piyush Chawla off the first ball after the PowerPlay. MI lost three wickets while adding 73 runs in the same period. The additional wickets proved to be the difference. Once Suryakumar’s skier off Andre Russell was pouched by Phil Salt, the game was all but over. Just like Nuwan Thushara in the PowerPlay and Jasprit Bumrah at the death in the first essay, Mitchell Starc targeted the stumps to finish the game off in a hurry. SCOREBOARD KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS Phil Salt c Tilak b Thushara 5 (3b, 1×4), Sunil Narine b Hardik 8 (8b, 1×6), Angkrish Raghuvanshi c Suryakumar b Thushara 13 (6b, 2×6), Shreyas Iyer c David b Thushara 6 (4b, 1×4), Venkatesh Iyer b Bumrah 70 (52b, 6×4, 3×6), Rinku Singh c & b Chawla 9 (8b, 2×4), Manish Pandey (Impact Player in place of Raghuvanshi) c sub (Brevis) b Hardik 42 (31b, 2×4, 2×6), Andre Russell (run out) 7 (2b, 1×6), Ramandeep Singh c Coetzee b Bumrah 2 (4b), Mitchell Starc b Bumrah 0 (2b), Vaibhav Arora (not out) 0; Extras (lb-1, nb-1, w-5): 7; Total (in 19.5 overs): 169. FALL OF WICKETS 1-7 (Salt, 0.4 overs), 2-22 (Raghuvanshi, 2.2), 3-28 (Shreyas, 2.6), 4-43 (Narine, 4.2), 5-57 (Rinku, 6.1), 6-140 (Pandey, 16.2), 7-153 (Russell, 16.6), 8-155 (Ramandeep, 17.4), 9-155 (Starc, 17.6). MUMBAI INDIANS BOWLING Thushara 4-0-42-3, Bumrah 3.5-0-18-3, Coetzee 2-0-24-0, Hardik 4-0-44-2, Dhir 3-0-25-0, Chawla 3-0-15-1. MUMBAI INDIANS Ishan Kishan b Starc 13 (7b, 1×4, 1×6), Rohit Sharma (Impact Player in place of Thushara) c Pandey b Narine 11 (12b, 1×6), Naman Dhir b Varun 11 (11b, 2×4), Suryakumar Yadav c Salt b Russell 56 (35b, 6×4, 2×6), Tilak Varma c Narine b Varun 4 (6b), Nehal Wadhera b Narine 6 (11b, 1×4), Hardik Pandya c Pandey b Russell 1 (3b), Tim David c Shreyas b Starc 24 (20b, 1×4, 1×6), Gerald Coetzee b Starc 8 (7b, 1×6), Piyush Chawla c Narine b Starc 0 (1b), Jasprit Bumrah (not out) 1 (1b); Extras (lb-3, nb-1, w-6): 10; Total (in 18.5 overs): 145. FALL OF WICKETS 1-16 (Kishan, 1.4), 2-38 (Dhir, 4.1), 3-46 (Rohit, 5.5), 4-61 (Tilak, 8.4), 5-70 (Wadhera, 10.5), 6-71 (Hardik, 11.2), 7-120 (Suryakumar, 15.3), 8-144 (David, 18.2), 9-144 (Chawla, 18.3). KNIGHT RIDERS BOWLING Arora 3-0-35-0, Starc 3.5-0-33-4, Varun 4-0-22-2, Narine 4-0-22-2, Russell 4-0-30-2. Toss: Mumbai Indians. PoM: Venkatesh. KKR won by 24 runs. MI 119 for six MI was 119/6 in 15 overs with Suryakumar (56) and David (9) batting. Kishan (13), Rohit (11), Dhir (11), Tilak (4), Wadhera (6), and Hardik (1) were dismissed

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IPL-17: RCB vs GT | Royal Challengers will strive to keep their momentum going as they host Gill’s Gujarat Titans

IPL-17: RCB vs GT | Royal Challengers will strive to keep their momentum going as they host Gill’s Gujarat Titans

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru will be meeting Gujarat Titans in Bengaluru to notch a mandatory win to keep the dream of reaching playoffs flickering. | Photo Credit: ANI Having notched up wins in its last two fixtures, Royal Challengers Bengaluru has kept its IPL playoff hopes alive. RCB will strive to keep the momentum going with a good result against Gujarat Titans in Bengaluru on May 4. RCB holds sway, having gotten past the same opponent last week at Ahmedabad. The victory was set up by a brilliant unbeaten 41-ball 100 from Will Jacks, with Virat Kohli (70 n.o.) playing the supporting role. Unlike many other sides, RCB has not been able to take full advantage of home conditions. Faf du Plessis and his men have managed only one positive result in four games held at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here. Jacks believes that RCB is now well poised to do well at home, given that their batters have found form. “We do not want to focus on our losing record here. Because of the playing conditions, it is hard to have home advantage. The pitches are good and the boundaries are small. If a batter gets going, it is hard to stop. Now that our batters are in form, we can hopefully finish our home games strongly,” Jacks said. The city welcomed a long-awaited spell of rain on Friday, even if it mildly disrupted the training schedule of the teams. The skies cleared up later, allowing players to get a hit under lights. Much like RCB, GT is teetering on the edge of elimination. With eight points from 10 matches, the visitor needs to get on a winning streak to push for a playoff spot. GT must address its bowling woes, having conceded 200-plus scores in its last two outings. Teams (from): Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan. Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), David Miller, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B. Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma, Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson, Sandeep Warrier, BR Sharath. Match starts at 7.30 PM.

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IPL 2024: SRH vs RR | My role is to carry on till 13th-14th over so that Klaasen gets license to play freely: Nitish Reddy

IPL 2024: SRH vs RR | My role is to carry on till 13th-14th over so that Klaasen gets license to play freely: Nitish Reddy

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Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Nitish Reddy plays a shot during the IPL 2024 T20 cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Uppal, in Hyderabad, Thursday, May 2, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI Entrusted with the task of shepherding Sunrisers Hyderabad’s middle-order, young Nitish Reddy has been doing the job with aplomb at a time when he is seen by many as a future India all-rounder, thanks to his ability to bowl lively medium pace. Opting to bat in the IPL game against table-toppers Rajasthan Royals here on Thursday, Reddy (76 not out) and Travis Head (58) produced explosive fifties, while Heinrich Klassen made an unbeaten 19-ball 42 to power SRH to 201 for three. Experienced seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar then did the star turn with a sensational final over as SRH pulled off a heist, stunning RR by just one run in a last-ball thriller to keep their playoff hopes alive. Nitish, 20, stated that his role was to rebuild the innings after quick wickets. “From the last two matches, we are losing quick wickets and I have to go. My role is to carry on till the 13th and 14th over so that Klaasen gets a license to bang. There is no point in Klaasen and Samad coming early, but not getting to score freely,” said Nitish at the post-match press conference. The all-rounder hailed Bhuvneshwar after the veteran pacer bowled a brilliant final over to help Hyderabad seal a dramatic win. Nitish said he was hopeful that Bhuvneshwar would be able to defend 13 runs in the last over. “I was looking at who was going to bowl. When I saw Bhuvneshwar was going to bowl, I got the confidence that he was going to pull it off.” “During his prime, he had done it so many times. I did not think we were going to win, I thought either we’d lose or tie. But that last-ball wicket, I felt so happy,” Nitish said. During his explosive knock, Nitish smashed RR’s in-form Yuzvendra Chahal for two fours and two sixes in the 13th over. Nitish said that he backed himself to attack the seasoned leg-spinner. Reddy also said the victory against RR, following losses to Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings, is important. “Beating RR will boost our confidence, they are at the top of the points table,” he concluded. Not in my best form: Parag Rajasthan Royals batter Riyan Parag returned to the top five in the Orange Cape race after striking his fourth fifty of the season. The 22-year-old Parag slammed 77 off 49 balls but could not help his side chase down the target set by SRH. Despite his breakout season with the franchise, Parag said he was not in his best form since he could not finish the game. “I got a lot of areas to improve. I am not in my best form, I would have finished the game otherwise. “I got a lot of areas to perfect. I try to learn from my mistakes and not repeat them. Is it my best innings? No. I would say that if I get a hundred,” Parag told reporters. The Assam player said the loss was “dramatic”, adding that his team made a few errors. “It is never good to end on the losing side. We did a lot of things right. We will focus on them more rather than dwelling on our mistakes. We are at a good position in the points table. Just one bad game I guess. “We made a few errors in two-three overs and it cost us the game. That is how T20 is, IPL is,” he said.

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IPL-17 | Kolkata Knight Riders look to iron out flaws against off-colour Mumbai Indians

IPL-17 | Kolkata Knight Riders look to iron out flaws against off-colour Mumbai Indians

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Kolkata Knight Riders will look to iron out their flaws and get the better of a mis-firing Mumbai Indians when the two teams, placed on the opposite ends of IPL points table spectrum, clash here on Friday. With six wins in nine games giving them 12 points and the second position in the IPL points table, a berth in the playoffs looks within the grasp of two-time winners KKR. But the Shreyas Iyer-led side will have to find consistency across departments and avoid any slip-ups in order to make it to the final four. Each of their three losses have come in the last six games for KKR, who were at the receiving end of a record run chase by Punjab Kings but did well to bounce back with a seven-wicket thrashing of Delhi Capitals. With the bat, KKR’s requisite firepower in the ranks entwined with an ultra-aggressive approach has delivered the goods more often than not but it is their bowling which needs improvement. Mitchell Starc has given nearly 12 runs an over while managing a mere seven wickets in eight outings. On flat, batting-friendly pitches, the lanky Australian’s lack of control has also been exploited well by zealous batters. Harshit Rana is among those with most wickets (11) for KKR this season but the right-arm seamer will serve a one-match ban for his animated celebrations after dismissing DC’s Abhishek Porel. Vaibhav Arora’s nine scalps in five games make him KKR’s best bet with the ball. A small Wankhede Stadium with a batting-friendly wicket tends to encourage scores in excess of 200 and the team would be mindful of that. Spotlight will also be on Rinku Singh, whose exclusion from India’s main squad for the T20 World Cup, has triggered an outpouring of sympathy for the 26-year-old. The power-hitter has not got enough game time this season which probably tilted the scales against him. For Mumbai Indians, the race to the IPL playoffs seems lost even though the five-time winners have five more games to play. Even if Mumbai Indians win each of these, they can only get to 16 points and somewhere in the middle of the points table — not necessarily challenging those who have been consistently good. Jasprit Bumrah (14 wickets) and Gerald Coetzee (13) have been MI’s best bets with the ball but despite their impressive showing, the batters’ collective failure has resulted in the team’s underwhelming season. Tilak Varma has been MI’s best batter with 343 runs, including three fifties this IPL, but his performances have not been enough to hide the failings of others. Ishan Kishan has struck the ball well but severely lacks consistency at the top and losing wickets in heaps in the powerplay has been one of MI’s biggest woes in this season. India skipper Rohit Sharma’s (315 runs at strike rate of 158.29) selfless approach with the bat has not given him big scores consistently but his form will be in focus given the T20 World Cup is now just one month away. All eyes will also be on Suryakumar Yadav who has two fifties in seven IPL games this season, but it is not the consistency which is expected from the batter of his calibre. Mumbai Indians’ under-fire skipper Hardik Pandya has neither dazzled with the ball nor the bat after a long injury lay-off. but the fact that he finds himself in the Indian side as vice-captain for the World Cup should motivate him to turn things around. Teams (from) Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Harvik Desai (wk), Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood. Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (c), KS Bharat (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Gus Atkinson, Allah Ghazanfar, Phil Salt. Match starts 7:30pm IST.

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Hardik Pandya fined ₹24 lakh after team’s second slow over-rate offence

Hardik Pandya fined ₹24 lakh after team’s second slow over-rate offence

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Mumbai Indians’ Hardik Pandya bowls during the Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians, at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, in Lucknow on April 30, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya has been fined ₹24 lakh after his team’s second slow over-rate offence in the Indian Premier League during their match against Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow. All the other players, including the Impact Player, were each individually fined either ₹6 lakh or 25% of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser. MI lost the match by four wickets at the Ekana Stadium on April 30. “Mr. Hardik Pandya, Captain, Mumbai Indians has been fined after his team maintained a slow over-rate during Match 48 of the TATA Indian Premier League [IPL] 2024 against Lucknow Super Giants on April 30, 2024,” the IPL said in a statement. “As it was his team’s second offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Pandya was fined INR 24 Lac,” it said adding, “The rest of the members of the Playing XI, including the Impact Player, were each individually fined either INR 6 Lac or 25% of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser.”

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