Gujarat Titans Lift The IPL-2022 Trophy Routing Rajasthan Royals In Gujarat!

Powered by inspired bowling performances by captain Hardik Pandya (3 for 17), Rashid Khan (1 for 18) and Yash Dayal (1 for 18 in 3 overs) Gujarat Titans, joining the IPL for the first time, broke the backbone of Rajasthan Royals restricting them to just 130/9 in 20 overs and won the IPL-2022 Final by 7 wickets, tonight, the 29th May 2022. Playing at 'home' for the first time the Titans have indeed made the Gujarat fans ecstatic, but the match played in a jam-packed 1.2 lakh capacity crowd stadium in Ahmedabad, perhaps the biggest crowd in IPL history, was not a befitting climax of the absorbing tournament as it proved to be a low-scoring and languidly one-sided one. However, the No.1 team at the league stage, GT have maintained their supremacy beyond any shred of doubt. An astounding performance by them in all the departments of the game. A deserving winner indeed, and mind you, I billed them as hot favorites to lift the Trophy! After early jolts Gill and Pandya steadied the chase, then then Gill and Miller ensured GT become the Champions.

Having the 800+run Orange Cap Jos Buttler firing all the time a rollicking Royals looked very confident and spirited, deciding to bat first after winning the toss. Unfortunately, after a brief blitzkrieg by Jaiswal (22 in 16) the fire in them flickered out, in painstakingly suffocated manner. Buttler did try hard to stick on, but amid the carnage perished to Pandya for 39 runs in 35 balls. No other batsmen could take the game back by giving the most required charge as captain Samson too fell cheaply. RR tried very hard on the field, but it was too low a target to defend and dropped catches didn't help their cause either. 

Captaining for the first time in his career and that too for a brand new team, Hardik Pandya has really scored a few strong points in leadership and in individual performances. He has thus become a hot contender for a future India captain, provided, of course, he maintains his all-round consistency plus fitness and cements his place in Team India in all three formats. Now, it's back to official international cricket: first, India Vs South Africa in 5 T20Is, and second, India go to England to complete the Test Series they lead 2-1after COVID confusion kept the Series hanging. 

IPL-2022 Final: Gujarat Vs Rajasthan!

Jos Buttler has notched up his 4th century of the IPL-2022, a new record, and sealed his team's place in the Final on March 29  routing Bangalore by 8 wickets. RR won an important toss on a bouncy pitch and put RCB in. Except for Patidar whose brilliant ton enabled RCB to reach the play-offs all Bangalore batsmen were hopelessly below par. It is surprising how this team with consistent non-performing stars and the worst net run-rate has progressed thus far. Super cricketers like Kohli, du Plessis etc are expected to perform at least in crunch games. Sheer pace of the RR bowlers, Prasidh Krishna in particular, damaged Bangalore beyond repair.

The Qualifier-2 played in the stadium of the country in Ahmedabad has disappointed the huge crowd. The only moment of crowning glory is indeed Buttler who hit 106 not out in 60 balls with 10 fours and 6 sixes including the winning one. He has almost ensured his Orange Cap leaving KL Rahul behind and out. Anyway, we can expect cracker of a final with the best two teams fighting again for the trophy. In their Q-1 encounter GT beat RR despite Buttler innings. RR who is in the Final since the first IPL in 2008 that they won will be going all guns for a repeat victory. Fingers crossed! 

Miller-Pandya Catapult Gujarat In IPL-2022 Final: Rajasthan Can have Another Go in The Ahmedabad Q-2!

Led by captain Hardik Pandya and David Miller the No.1 Gujarat Titans (GT) at the league stage beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 7 wickets in the thrilling Qualifer-1 at the packed Eden Gardens, Kolkata tonight and catapult their team in the IPL-2022 Final, playing in the IPL as one of the two newbie franchises. In the last over by Prasidh Krishan GT needed 16 runs to get into the Final and Miller hit the first ball to a towering six.  Tensions ran high for both teams. But the South African southpaw had none of it and hit the second ball too over the boundary almost nonchalantly, reducing the equation to 4 in 4 balls. And then the third consecutive six in the third ball and all was over. No.1 has thus kept up its persistently classy performance throughout and at this stage looks to be the clear favorites to lift the trophy.

 

Chasing a rather stiff target of 189 runs in 20 overs the consistently successful opener Wriddhiman Saha got himself caught behind for a duck in just the second ball of the first over by Boult at his home ground Kolkata. The other opener Shubman Gill and Matthew Wade took charge, but Gill (35 in 21) was unfortunately runout at the team score of 72 in the 8^th over.  Soon after Buttler took a brilliant boundary line catch to dismiss Wade (35 in 30) off the bowling of Obed McCoy. But then David Miller and Hardik Pandya took full charge of the proceedings neutralizing the spinning duo of Ashwin-Chahal.

Earlier, put into bat, a glorious innings of 89 runs in 56 balls by Orange cap Jos Buttler with the highest individual 629 runs in 14 matches at the league stage (a record 3 tons and 3 half tons) has gone up in smoke as the momentum could not be maintained by other batsmen except for Sanju Samson (47 in 26) and Devdutt Padikkal (28 in 20). The turning point for them was that they were restrained effectively by the GT bowlers including prominently Rashid Khan in the middle overs, and Buttler singlehandedly took them to a score of 185/6 in seemingly the last ball of the innings when he ran himself out rushing for a suicidal second run. And then a comedy of sorts. The Umpire declared a no-ball and a free hit. Ashwin came to take the free hit with Parag at the other end. As Ashwin left the ball go as it was a wide Parag rushed to the other end thinking the former had failed to connect and got himself run out. Finally, Ashwin could hit the free hit and added a couple of runs taking the score to 188. In the chase by GT several dropped catches by RR also did not help their cause at all. 

 

RR under the captaincy of the late legend Shane Warne had won the inaugural IPL-2008 Final despite being billed as the weakest team of the tournament. After that, they qualified for the play-offs only twice till 2015 and got mired in spot-fixing controversies that year getting banned for two years from the IPL along with CSK apart from their sloppy performances after 2018 and an unending change of captains. This time they’ve been playing much better thanks mainly to the batting mainstay of Jos Buttler and captain Sanju Samson with spirited bowling by Trent Boult, Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal. Of course, RR can have another go in the Qualifer-2 in Ahmedabad on 27^th May when they’ll meet the winners of the Eliminator between LSG and RCB tomorrow at the Eden.

IPL-2022 Play-Offs Decided: RCB Gets The 4th Spot With GT On Top And RR, LSG 2nd And 3rd!

It has turned out the way I’d analyzed in an earlier post that either RCB or DC is going to fill up the only vacant 4^th spot in the play-offs as MI defeats DC at the Wankhede tonight by 5 wickets. In fact, the five-time Champs Mumbai, coming to its true potential much too late with Ishan, Bumrah and to some extent Rohit firing with the batting mainstay of Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav the latter being sorely missed in the last few matches due to injury, has become the virtual eliminator of the tournament: they first threw CSK out of contention; then they nearly did the same to SRH much earlier than yesterday when Hyderabad was finally ousted as RCB defeated GT by 8 wickets; and today they ousted a very deserving Delhi who needed only a win to secure a berth based on its much better net run-rate than Bangalore. Opting to field first Mumbai restricted Delhi to 159/7 in 20 overs thanks to superb bowling by Jasprit Bumrah who took 3 for just 25 in 4 overs. Delhi has been badly missing its opener Prithvi Shaw for the last few matches as he was suspected to be suffering from typhoid; Shaw came back today, but could not do much as David Warner failed in this crunch game. It was due to cameos by Rishabh Pant and Rovman Powell that enabled Delhi to post a modest target of 160 runs. With tonight’s convincing win notwithstanding MI remains at the bottom of the table locked on 8 points each with CSK, but lower down due to its lesser net run-rate. Still, some consolation for the last three performances indeed. 

 

Anyhow, the play-off games have been decided now: Gujarat to take on Rajasthan in Qualifier-1 on 24^th May and Lucknow to take on RCB in the Eliminator on 25^thMay, both matches to be played at the Eden Gardens Kolkata. The winner of Qualifier-1 will enter the Final straightaway while the loser will wait to meet the winner of the Eliminator. Qualifier-2 between the loser of Qualifer-1 and the winner of the Eliminator on 27^th May and the IPL-2022 Final on 29^th May are to be played at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. Immediately after this cricket extravaganza South Africa is to tour India from the first week of June to play five T20 International matches.

 

It’s been indeed good to see that the last few matches since my ‘dubious’ view have been very tough and fought competitively, giving no scope for doubt to true cricket lovers. In fact, tonight Tim David (34 in just 11 balls) again delivered massive hits before getting out perhaps due to rush of blood one more time, but making the victory quite easy at the end. The last league match between Punjab and Hyderabad tomorrow is now inconsequential, it may just change the order of the ousted teams in the points table. In all, the 15^th edition of the IPL has been a rather absorbing affair with crowds let in and steadily swelling for the first time since the pandemic.

Quinton Quake, Shattered Records And Kolkata Bows Out Of IPL-2022 In A Breathless Thriller!

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) opener Quinton de Kock, the South African southpaw and keeper, created an incredible chapter of a superlative batting display in the Indian Premiere League history by scoring an unbeaten 140 off just 70 balls with 10 fours and 10 huge sixes. He has become the first cricketer with the highest individual score of IPL-2022 so far and the third highest in IPL history after Chris Gayle (175 not out in just 66 balls with 13 fours and17 sixes) in 2013 and Brendon McCullum (158 not out in 73 balls with 10 fours and 13 sixes) in 2008 editions. Quinton has also created the highest opening partnership of 210 runs with captain KL Rahul (68 not out in 51 balls) in IPL history, this being the first time ever when not a single wicket of a team fell in the full 20 overs. Both of the openers showcased a batting display that can give precious lessons in cricket to the budding cricketers, apart from entertaining cricket lovers to their heart’s content. This is indeed the triumph of cricket.

 

Quinton de Kock took the lead from the very beginning accelerating the momentum from phase to phase in the innings and leading to a crescendoing climax in the 19^th and the 20^th over. In the 19^th over he hit four huge sixes off Tim Southee and four consecutive fours in the 20^th over off Andrew Russel. Normally, when the opening partnership goes on and on the momentum invariably decreases as the batsmen get tired and any new batsman coming in at the fall of a wicket cannot immediately pick up and accelerate; but not this time, in this unforgettable partnership where the scoring rate went on gaining more and more momentum with Quinton hitting and Rahul providing solid anchoring.

 

With nothing to lose Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) gave a terrific chase, never giving up despite early jolts. Quinton, following his incredible innings in batting, took a brilliant diving catch in the very first over to dismiss Venkatesh Iyer off the bowling of Mohsin Khan who delivered another severe blow by taking the scalp of Abhijit Tomar in his second over to reduce KKR to 9/2. Then there followed quickfire cameos by Nitish Rana, captain Shreyas Iyer and Sam Billings. Finally, there was a spirited last-ditch effort by Rinku Singh and  Sunil Narine made it 21 in the last over. 

And Rinku (40 in 15 balls) made it 5 off 3 balls, and in the fifth ball of that last over a brilliant one-handed catch by Lewis ended his incredible efforts. Needing 3 in 1 ball KKR failed to achieve the target by just 2 runs, thus bowing out of the IPL-2022. But not after taking the match down the wire. Andrew Russel a huge disappointment again in both bowling and batting while LSG never relaxed and fielded magnificently. In fact, despite this veritable thriller, one of the best IPL matches ever, Kolkata never deserved to be in the play-offs, their early promise breaking into smithereens thanks to inconsistent and fragile performances by their supposed celebrity players, sloppy fielding and an utter lack of team work. It’s a real dampener for the spirited crowds of Kolkata as the first two play-off matches are going to be held there.

 

Now LSG officially enters the play-off stage joining the Gujarat Titans (GT), both of them being newbies which can also be a record in IPL history. LSG’s entry into the play-off has been a foregone conclusion after it became evident that except for either Bangalore or Delhi no other team could reach 16 points.

 

However, we’ll keep on following the proceedings in the remaining four league matches of the IPL-2022, still very closely. 

SRH Vs MI: A Tim David Dubious Moment In IPL-2022?

Against my wishes as a true lover of the game of cricket, I’ve still preferred to use the word ‘dubious’ in the title of this piece. This is essentially because what happened in the 18^thover in the match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) belied all logic and tenets of professional cricket. Further, this basically business-driven tournament has had its long history of controversies and scandals over the decades. Even now, if you surf the internet over IPL matches, you’ll find a whole lot of sceptics who think most the matches are always stage-managed, primarily through the scourge of the game called spot fixing. Well, their views cannot be correct in general, because we’ve been witnessing fiercely competitive cricket in most of the IPL seasons, and on many occasions this writer has commented about the triumph of cricket over business. Okay, now to that moment that happened last evening at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.

 

Mumbai, opting to field first, eventually faced a very imposing target of 194 runs to win thanks basically to SRH captain Kane Williamson’s decision to demote himself in the batting order following his series of failures as an opener and the team’s five losses on the trot, and this tactic paid dividends instantly with Priyam Garg (42 in 26) and Rahul Tripathi (76 in 44) almost took the match away from MI with, for a change, a good contribution by Nicholas Pooran (38 in 22). However, again for a change, MI raced to an opening partnership of 95 runs in the 11^thover and was very much in the game. But then, an inspired bowling by the Indian pace sensation Umran Malik and Washington Sundar jolted them badly, Rohit Sharma narrowly missing what could’ve been his first fifty of the ipl-2022, and MI was finally reduced to needing 67 runs of the last five overs which was near definitive with all recognized batsmen back in the pavilion.

 

And then Tim David who was given only three matches prior to this with insignificant performances happened. He started hitting all around the park from the word go notching up 46 runs in just 18 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes. In that momentous 18^thover David collected 26 runs off the first five balls of Natarajan, suddenly making MI looking at a magnificent victory needing only 19 runs in 13 balls which was immensely achievable considering the standards of the tournament. But unfortunately, in a desperate move to retain the strike David raced to the other end. It was hardly convincing that he failed to notice that the ball never actually went beyond the bowler. To bring it to a horrible disaster, Ramandeep Singh, also started running to the other end instead of taking the most professional and logical step of sacrificing his wicket. And can you believe it? In the 19^th over with a new batsman at the crease the much-discredited veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivered a maiden. Perhaps a never-before incident in IPL history. Ramandeep tried this best in the last over, but SRH went on to win by just 3 runs.

 

Now was this ‘dubious’ or ‘rush of blood’ or ‘unprofessional’ or a combination of all? ‘Rush of blood’ perception is valid to the extent that both of the batsmen involved were rookies—Time David a Singaporean-Australian batting all-rounder who made his debut in T20 cricket only in 2019 for the Singapore National Cricket team playing, so far, only T20 cricket in various leagues and became the first Singapore cricketer to feature in IPL when he was purchased by Chennai in 2021 while Ramandeep Singh, a bowling all-rounder and a Ranji Trophy player, was playing his first IPL. But even then, they’ve been playing in tough competitive cricket and should’ve at least been aware of the professional cricket standards.  Besides, one rookie should not so much doubt the ability of another officially all-rounder rookie to take a single. In all, combined with the stark unprofessionalism, lack of any logic this act verges on the absurd, and therefore, I stick to my word ‘dubious’.

 

Now, what are the ramifications that could follow this action? IPL-2022 is already hit from the business side with the consistent franchise MI set to figure at that bottom and not only that the same team also ousted the commercially more viable franchise CSK; and had MI pulled off the match SRH would also have been out of contention. If Kolkata wins today against Lucknow the former will reach 14 points; if Bangalore loses tomorrow against Gujarat the former will remain on 14; if Delhi loses against Mumbai the former remains on 14 points; and in that scenario the last league between Hyderabad and Punjab is set to be a do-or-die match, if the former wins, they will also be on 14 points. This signifies a five-way locking of 14 points with the net run-rate becoming the decisive factor. So much for keeping the excitement of the tournament on. Of course, other options are immensely possible and one or two of such possibilities could still make the last league match inconsequential. Anyway, we’re going to observe the proceedings of the tournament very closely here onward. Very closely indeed. And we’d like to be proved dreadfully wrong.

IPL-2022: As Rajasthan Beat The Giants Only One Play-Off Spot Is Effectively Up For The Grabs!

Rajasthan Royals thanks to an intensive bowling effort by all their pacers and spinners, Boult, Prasidh, Ashwin in particular, easily defended their score of 178/6 against the Lucknow Super Giants beating them by 24 runs at the Brabourne stadium on 15^thMay 2022. By this super victory Rajasthan moves to the second spot in the points table with 16 points with a healthy net run-rate while the newbie Lucknow slides to the third position, remaining with 16 points. Bangalore in the fourth spot has to win their final match against Gujarat convincingly to move to 16 points and better their sluggish net run-rate. Once they achieve that it’ll be very difficult for the other 4 teams to have any chance of making it to the play-offs. Essentially, with three teams on 20 and16 points each, it means that only one spot is up for the grabs for four franchises with a possibly 14-point deadlock between them.

 

The real contest is now between Delhi and Punjab, both of them with 12 points and each having two matches left. Tomorrow it’s the crucial contest between them win for either of them is set to enhance their chances of making it to the final four. If Delhi wins both of their remaining two matches, they’ll end up with 16 points and may even edge out Bangalore on net run-rate and vice versa for Punjab. If they win one each, they’ll be locked with 14 points each. Mumbai, hurt and pain written all over them, can spoil the chances of Delhi and Hyderabad of making it to the final four if they produce the kind of vengeance displayed against Chennai. Incidentally Rajasthan will play their last match against Chennai.

 

Hyderabad is in a poor shape after losing all the last six games despite having probably the best bowling attack this season, mainly because of the batting failure of captain Kane Williamson, and they can only reach up to 14 points if they manage to win both against Mumbai and Punjab. Besides, they have a very poor net run-rate. Kolkata is in a far worse condition despite their spirited win against Hyderabad in the previous match and a positive net run-rate, for the simple reason that they have only one match left which is against the Giants and even if they beat Lucknow, they can only achieve 14 points, thus joining a possible five-way 14-point deadlock. Lucknow can win any match if captain KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock fire with the bat. In last evening’s match both of them failed to lethal blows by Rajasthan’s Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna and their team lost the match. It’d be a real pity with Kolkata not figuring in the first two play-off matches to be played in their ‘home’ ground, Kolkata’s lively Eden Gardens.

 

The tournament cannot be said to be wide open now as Gujarat has already made it to the play-off and Rajasthan and Lucknow are almost sure to join them. As we said earlier there is effective suspense only about which team’s going to make it to the last spot available. Our bet is either Delhi or Bangalore. What about yours?

IPL-2022: As We Bid Goodbye To MI And CSK The Bairstow-Livingstone Blasts Save PBKS From Us!

Putting ‘goodbye’ in the headline could have more significance than perhaps you can possibly imagine; of course, the very few who ‘read’ these pages must have understood. Yes, we’re referring to the Goodbye post a few days back. However, that apparently painful post did not contain any kind of commitment or decisive action on the part of the writer which is significant in light of some famed international cricketers saying quits to the game through public announcements and then coming back again as if nothing was the matter. Therefore, that ‘goodbye’ meant nothing to the public, even if it could’ve hurt this writer a lot since he’s been rather harassed four times in the last four months for the purportedly suspicious visitors to the site who never read, but don’t care to go on a sabotaging rampage. Out of a morbid fear I've stopped posting my links on the social media too. What a pity! But still, why should I care who read and not read but try to damage! This site is very dear to me and it’s not at all surprising that cricket has changed the ‘goodbye’ to ‘welcome again’! The last league match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) last night acted like a gamechanger for me, if not for IPL-2022 or cricket.

 

The MI, already thrown out of the IPL play-offs, started nonetheless with a vengeance igniting fiery spells by Daniel Sams taking two scalps in the very first over of the match, then going on to take his third in the fifth over and joined in by an equally lethal Jasprit Bumrah, a tad too late for his team, who took one, thus reducing CSK to a shaky 17/4 from the scary start of 5/3.

 

Why this vengeance? Well, perhaps it has everything to do with the reinstated CSK captain MS Dhoni or MSD who, in fact, literally threw MI out of contention reliving his role of the Finisher on 22^nd April, at a time when the ‘home’ franchise was desperately looking for its first win after losing six on the trot. CSK could never recover from this nightmare last night, getting all out for a pitiful 97 which is CSK’s second lowest score in IPL history. Although MI captain Rohit Sharma failed once again his team managed to win the match by 5 wickets. Most significantly, this MI win now threw MSD’s CSK out of contention for the play-offs. And therefore, we bid goodbye for the five-time Champs MI and the defending Champs CSK.

 

Gujarat Titans (GT), the titanic newbie, became the first team to seal a play-off spot with 18 points followed by the second newbie Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) with 16 points. With MI and CSK out of contention and LSG almost in needing to win one out of the remaining two matches, there are still six teams still in contention for at least two of the four play-off spots, and every one of them needing to win all their remaining matches to form probable locked-in situations with 16 or 14 points each when the net run-rate comes in as the decider. Of course, Rajasthan Royals has a better chance at 14 points with two matches to go. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) is the only team with 3 matches to go and at 10 points, losing all the last five matches on the trot after a resurgence. 

 

The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had 14 points with two matches left and tonight they have faced the Punjab Kings (PBKS), still in contention at 10 points with three matches left, hoping to get the precious two points to virtually secure its spot. However, put into bat the PBKS’s opener Jonny Bairstow blasted away with incredible 7 sixes and 4 fours in his innings of 66 runs off just 29 balls (scored his fifty in 21 balls). The other Englishman in the team, Liam Livingstone, followed him religiously, blasting 70 runs in 44 balls with 5 fours and 4 mammoth sixes. The English duo thus ensured their team score beyond 200, and all others fought hard to finally score 209/9, setting a target 210 in 20 overs which looked beyond RCB despite du Plessis, Kohli, Glen Maxwell and Karthik. For RCB, fast-bowler Hazelwood suffered the most conceding 64 runs in his allotted 4 overs. Finally, PBKS won the match by 54 runs and joined the Delhi Capitals (DC) at 12 points each and two matches remaining for each. RCB has one last match and a tough one too against the No.1 GT on 19^th May to get to 16 points that could possibly give them a spot in the top four.

IPL-2022 Sidelights!

The cameras involved in the coverage are extremely sensitive and emotive. They capture all emotions of the spectators. When a wicket of a certain team falls its supporters look as if they'll drop dead in grief, but the moment they see themselves in the big screens they burst into uncontrollable cheers! So much for IPL loyalties. 

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Several times during a match the umpire raises his hand and points a finger very emphatically to his watch. The gullible might feel that it reminds them for how long they've been couch potatoes. No! It's a reminder of a very strategic kind like that of Putin, Biden and the like. For the knowing watchers it could be a signal for a tea or drinks or snack-chaat strategy. So much for strategies. 

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The phenomena called The Cheerleaders have not been seen in the three editions, due credit to the Pandemic. With crowds allowed in this edition they could very well have been imported. However, the bio-bubble involved in the cheering process could've rendered them pitifully cheerless leaders. So much for the cheers.

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Thanks to the Pandemic, of course, we've been served with the unique spectacle of Virtual Guest Boxes. The apparent jokers, as per the behavior pattern visible in the boxes, are making all kinds of movements, waving and dancing all the time whenever you behold them in the boxes in your screens. Well, for us they are virtual, but in their reality the quantity of jerks they are producing is bound to virtually drain them of all their sweat in the real heat of the raging summer heat. So much for virtuality. 

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Finally, you cannot but help feel sorry for the players running around on the field when the weather department has been sounding yellow, orange and such kinds of heat wave alerts. The tons of sweat they are shedding is increasingly making their tons really scarce. However, the kind of money they get is more than enough to make them play as much as they sweat in the process. So much for humanitarian feelings. 

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IPL-2022: Ravindra Jadeja Gives It Back To MSD As Mumbai Registers Their First Win!

Right from the beginning of the IPL-2022 Ravindra Jadeja who was handed over the captaincy by Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MSD) had been going through an extremely lean patch. Being one of the greatest all-rounders of the game he had been consistently failing with the ball, with the bat and failing even in his specialty in fielding, dropping catches that is rare in his international career. Under his leadership CSK lost the first five games on the trot, then won the next two and again lost the 8^th; and Jadeja hardly contributed anything worthwhile in those games. So, it has been on the cards that something is going to happen as a captain cannot possibly be dropped. Finally, on Saturday, the 30^th of April 2022 Jadeja called it a day as captain and requested his leader-mentor MSD to take over again. And Dhoni obliged, and he will be leading CSK again in a crucial game against the tough SRH tonight. However, it’s not clear if Ravindra Jadeja was forced by the team management to step down or he found the burden of leadership too heavy to perform well which he in fact said in his official statement.

 

Now, the question arises as to why MSD should accept the captaincy again after resigning from the position prior to the start of the tournament. A young leadership was very much needed for the ageing franchise. Is it only his experience that counts? If so, how long would experience go on taking precedence over performance? Dhoni has performed hardly better than Jadeja except being the most dependable wicketkeeper and except for that match against MI when he brought back the vintage MSD as a Finisher that we wrote about recently. Besides, while in Team India as the wicketkeeper he had been captain Virat Kohli’s mentor for several years, and so, why has he not done so for Jadeja too. Or why the team management has not gone for a younger alternative instead of sticking on to experience. Perhaps it has more to do with ‘commercial’ reasons as CSK and MSD had been inseparable since the beginning of the tournament and if that is so, we have nothing to say since IPL has everything to do with commerce, much more than cricket. Anyway, it’d be interesting how Dhoni lead the team in Pune in the second game this evening. One more loss would virtually rule them out of the tournament.

 

Meanwhile, the beleaguered Mumbai franchise won their first game against RR, again thanks to the only successful batting duo of Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma as captain Rohit Sharma failed again. Jasprit Bumrah went wicketless again, but the rookie off-spinner Hrithik Shokeen along with Meredith restricted Rajasthan to a manageable 158/6. However, this victory is more of a face-saving affair than staying on as a tough contender in the hunt for a berth in the play-offs.

 

In the first of the double-header between RCB and the top performing GT last afternoon, Virat Kohli did pick up his first half-century of the tournament, but lost the match giving GT 16 points now with five games still left for them. Having played ten games so far gaining only ten points, for RCB the journey to the play-offs is going to be tough while Hyderabad has played only 8  and has 6 left to add to their ten points. Delhi who are playing against the formidable LSG in the first game today still has the chances to make a comeback with six games left to lift their present 8 points. Kolkata is struggling miserably at 6 points out of 9 games thanks to their celebrated non-performers.

PS: LSG gets back to the second position defeating DC in a tough match by 6 runs, opting to bat first). CSK beats SRH by 13 runs under MSD put into bat. Tough luck for Jadeja because  only in this match the opening duo of Ruturaj Gaikwad (missing a glorious ton at 99 out) and Devon Conway (85 not out) happened to fire all cylinders helping the team put up a huge target of 203 for SRH to win.

GT Vs SRH: A Fifer From The Raw Pace Sensation Umran Malik Fails To Sink The Titanic!

This really promised to be one of the most fiercely competitive matches of IPL-2022, at least for me as this involved possibly the two best teams of the tournament—the newbies sensation Gujarat Titans (GT) and the resurgent veterans Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Wankhede stadium Mumbai on 27^th April 2022. And it did indeed prove to be a down-the-wire thriller with the raw pace of fast bowling, power batting and intense body language in the field. It had the classic ups and downs for both teams all throughout. Put into bat by GT, Hyderabad was reduced to 147/4 in the 17^th over, but a power-hitting display by Shashank Singh of 25 not out in the 6 balls of the last over took SRH to a challenging score of 195/6. In the chase after GT got off to a good start with a brilliant innings of 68 runs in 38 balls by Wriddhiman Saha, the 5/25 burst of the raw-pace-sensation Umran Malik happened reducing GT to 140/5, needing 56 runs in 24 balls to win. Then, the best power batting display of the match between Rahul Tewatia (40 not out in 21) and Rashid Khan (31 not out in 11) took the match away from SRH. Still needing a difficult 22 runs in the last over Rashid Khan hit two sixes in the last two balls (total 4 sixes) preventing Umran’s fifer from being decisive and achieved an incredible victory for the GT by five wickets.

 

With this victory the GT has continued to occupy the top position in the points table, now with 14 points winning 7 out 8 games and almost through to the play-offs. This win has stopped the 5-win run of the resurgent SRH bringing them to the third spot remaining on 10 points winning 5 out of 8 games. The second spot is occupied by the Rajasthan Royals (RR) with 12 points after routing the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on 26^th April.

 

In the thriller between GT and SRH there are two interesting coincidental turning points—25 runs conceded in the last over by GT’s Lockie Ferguson giving the SRH a boost while SRH’s Marco Jansen conceding 25 runs in the last over handing over victory to the GT. In fact, the normally reliable fast bowler Ferguson for GT made it difficult for his team giving away 52 runs in 4 overs without a wicket while the equally lethal Marco Jansen for SRH went wicketless for 63 runs in 4 overs letting his team down.

 

The player of the match Umran Malik for his fifer of 5/25 in 4 overs, uprooting the stumps of three with perfect yorkers,  is a 22-year-old cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir, only the fourth to make it to national cum international cricket from the disturbed state, and has been the hot topic of discussion in IPL-22 for his consistently 145+ km speed and going over the 150 km mark several times in his team’s rout of the RCB. He has bowled his fastest ball at 153.3 km in this version of the IPL, just behind Lockie Ferguson’s 153.9 km. Comparisons of Umran have been already been started by cricket pundits with the likes of Waqar Younis, Shaun Tait, Mitchell Starc, Lockie Ferguson, Marco Jansen, Mitchell Johnson, Shane Bond and others. Most significantly, Umran is the new face of Indian cricket in terms of sheer pace as the other fast bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav have gone past the 145+ km mark only occasionally.

 

However, the pundits maintain that only raw pace is not enough, line and length more important to make the raw pace effective. Perhaps Umran got the point as initially not among the wickets he has now got into the act by achieving a fifer. There is hardly any doubt that he’s sure to be a part of Team India, even if not included in the final eleven soon enough. Some commentators have also seen him as the future of Indian cricket.

 

There are five bowlers who have breached or nearly breached the 100 miles mark—Shoaib Akhter has bowled the fastest ever at 161.3 km; followed by Brett Lee and Shaun Tait at 161.1 km each; Jeff Thomson at 160.6 km; and 160.4 km by Mitchell Starc. And, of course, not to forget the fiery West Indies fast bowlers of yore. The way he is going Umran can very well attain the heights set in world cricket. Umran began his cricket career in domestic cricket in January 2021, then he was a replacement bowler for SRH in IPL-2021 and played a few matches in the second leg of the tournament.

 

Meanwhile, a gloomy cloud seems to loom over Virat Kohli because of his prolonged lean patch, particularly the last two humiliating losses for his team RCB. His earlier team coach cum friend Ravi Shastri has advised him to take a break so that he can prepare himself well for the upcoming ICC Cricket T20 World Cup-2022. The legendary player that he is Kohli can come back to roaring form anytime soon. However, taking a rest from the IPL is not a bad idea since he has been playing non-stop cricket since the last two years without a break and under the tiring bio-bubble restrictions and isolation.

IPL-2022: Mumbai Creates IPL History Of The Wrong Kind!

Mumbai Indians (MI) becomes the first ever franchise in Indian Premiere League (IPL) since its first edition in 2008 to have lost eight games on the trot at any stage of the tournament. After losing a last-ball cliffhanger against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) that MI should’ve won the franchise succumbed to its 8^thloss against the newbie Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) last night at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. The appalling factor about the match was the total listlessness and the utter lack of a will to win on the part of MI. This reflects very badly on its captain and India captain Rohit Sharma that he should fail to regroup his eleven after loss after loss and after loss…! Ironically, as we said in our earlier pieces, all its matches have been played on its ‘home’ grounds and the performances have angered the fans and also cricket lovers, righteously.

 

Well, the IPL has always been more of a business extravaganza than cricket that does still allow us to have glimpses of excellent cricket and fierce competitive spirit as the tournament unfolds every year. Therefore, every participating team has to give a fight in every game while given the fact that victories and defeats are part of the game, and thus justifying the ‘business’ part of their owners and the ‘cricket’ part for the spectators. MI has failed on both these counts, miserably. Rohit has blamed his batsmen in the middle order calling their shots ‘irresponsible’. However, throughout the matches we had seen the team’s overdependence on the middle order in terms of Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma while the top order including the captain and the lower middle order including Pollard prominently failed to deliverer consistently. Not to speak of the dropped catches and the spineless bowling.

 

At least in this crucial match Rohit, after winning the toss, should’ve shown his win-resolve by opting to bat first on a pitch that he himself called batting-friendly and try to build up a mammoth total putting the combined might of his team. But no, he had decided to follow the ‘traditions’ as religiously as possible. It is now futile to go on speculating the chances of MI to make to the play-offs, because they are virtually or practically or realistically are indeed thrown out of IPL-2022. Again, why at all to repeat the fact that the same franchise has registered the maximum number of 5 Championship wins in IPL history.

 

On the other hand, the LSG captain KL Rahul has been on a roll proving to be a nemesis for MI hitting back-to-back centuries (interestingly, 103 not out both times) and becomes the first IPL batsman to score three tons against a single opponent. He has surpassed Virat Kohli as the fastest IPL batsman to score 6000 runs in 179 matches, and in terms of total tons scored in IPL history by a batsman he, with a total of 4 tons, only has Chris Gayle (6) and Virat Kohli (5) ahead while equaling the records of Shane Watson and David Warner with 4 each. In IPL-2022 Jos Buttler (RR) has so far scored the maximum number of 3 tons, closing in on Kohli who has scored the maximum of 4 in one IPL season, followed by Rahul’s two. Despite Rahul’s century last night LSG has managed to set only a moderate target of 169 runs for MI, but his bowlers, prominently the three spinners capable of suffocating the batsmen, have strongly defended the total and won by a huge margin of 36 runs.

 

As for Saturday’s double-header the two matches were studies in contrast. The first match between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) was an extremely one-sided affair with the fiery bursts of pacers Marco Jansen and T Natarajan, capturing 3 scalps each, skittled out RCB for just 68, one of the ten lowest totals of IPL by any team. SRH won the match in just 8 overs and by 9 wickets, thus registering their 5^th win on the trot under the able leadership of Kane Williamson. SRH now occupies the second position in the points table with 10 points and a healthy net run-rate of +0.69 and 7 games still to go.

 

In the second match on Saturday Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), chasing a modest target of 157 runs set by Gujarat Titans (GT), faltered badly with top and middle order batting collapse. Of course, the unpredictable Andrew Russel did last till the last over when the team needed 18 runs to win. Russel hit the first ball to a huge six reducing the required runs to 12 in 5 ball, a real chance to seal the match; however, in the next ball he got out thanks to an outstanding catch by Logie Ferguson; and the match was over as GT won by 8 runs. 

In another thriller on 22^nd April, Rajasthan Royals (RR), put into bat by Delhi Capital (DC) skipper Rishabh Pant, raced royally to a mammoth target of 223 runs losing only two wickets and the 3^rd century by Buttler of 116 glorious runs in 65 balls. Although in fits and starts the DC has indeed managed to turn the match into a thriller by putting up 207 runs in 20 over thanks to quick cameos by Pant and Lalit Yadav. But at the end the effective pace of Prasidh Krishna and spin bowling of R Ashwin and Yazuvendra Chahal helped their team capture 8 wickets and win by 15 runs.

 

The most exciting newbie franchise GT sits pretty on the top with 12 points winning 6 out of 7 matches so far. Captain Hardik Pandya is leading well and shining effectively with the bat almost every time. We must mention here their hyperactive coach and former India pacer Ashish Nehra who rather reminds us of a typical football coach, coming to the boundary line again and again and giving emotive instructions. His efforts seem to be paying off for his team. As for the other positions Rajasthan, Lucknow and Bangalore, in respective order, are locked with 10 points each while Delhi, Kolkata and Punjab, in the 6^th to 8^thspots, are locked with 6 points each, KKR, after a good start, has been doing badly losing more often in recent days having their non-performers to blame only. The stakes seem to very high for DC, KKR and PBKS to make it to the play-offs at the moment.

 

In the meantime, the BCCI has announced that the Qualifier-1 and the Eliminator will be played at the Eden Gardens Kolkata on 24^th and 25^th May respectively while the Qualifier-2 and the Final are to be played in the Narendra Modi stadium Ahmedabad on 27^th and 29^th May respectively. Good news for the cricket lovers is that in all these play-off games and the Final full-capacity crowds will be allowed.

(Note: In our IPL-2022 Reports the photos are being utilized from the IPL Official Website )

IPL-2022: Dhoni Finishes Off Mumbai As The Two Bottom Ranked Champions Produce A Thriller!

It was a rare moment. It was vintage Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the firebrand yet cool former India captain, in his long-forgotten role as the Finisher. The match between the bottom ranked Champions, the defending Champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the five-time Champions Mumbai Indians (MI), played at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on 21^st April went down the wire with CSK needing a four in the last ball to win. And MSD was at the crease. In that momentous last over bowled by Jaydev Unadkat and CSK needing 17 runs to win, the first ball gets the blast-away Dwaine Pretorius (22 off 14) out LBW; Dwaine Bravo comes in and takes a single to let Dhoni take over; 16 runs to get now in 4 balls; Dhoni hits the third ball to a towering six; next ball a four; the fifth ball Dhoni hits the ball and scampers desperately back for the second run to be able to face the last ball, a feat that he missed in the historic semi-final against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup-2019; now a 4 needed in the last ball in an epic situation; and Dhoni (28 not out in 13 balls) gets it in style leading CSK to win by 3 wickets. The Finisher stages a rare comeback to the ecstasy of his fans and the fans of CSK. MI captain Rohit Sharma and the last-over bowler Unadkat look devastated as their team crashes to its 7^th consecutive defeat, almost eliminating them from IPL-2022.

 

Both the bottom-ranked teams were justifiably desperate to win, MI needing their first win and CSK wanting its second in 7 games each, and as a result the match had been intensely fought all throughout with crisis situations thrown in for both. CSK wins the toss and as usual puts MI into bat. CSK rookie pacer Mukesh Chaudhary in a fierce burst as the first new-ball bowler mops up the top three MI wickets: Rohit Sharma for a duck and Ishan Kishan for 1 in the very first over of the innings, and then capturing Dewald Brevis for 4 in his second over, finishing the Player of the Match figure of 3-19.

 

Mumbai could never really recover from those early blows. It was thanks mainly to Tilak Varma (51 not out in 43) and the ever-needed Suryakumar Yadav (32 in 21) that MI crawled to a somewhat respectable total of 155/7. Pollard failed again with the bat and was never bowled a single over in the match. Among the other bowlers Mithchell Santner was good, but others including prominently captain Jadeja failed to impress.

 

Desperation acted as some kind of stimulator for Mumbai as they acted like tigers hungry for prey on the field and put CSK in dire straits. Daniel Sams in a burst like Mukesh earlier getting four scalps, the two by Unadkat and one severe blow by Meredith separating CSK captain Ravinda Jadeja from Dhoni which could’ve been an ominous partnership reduced CSK to 106 for 6 wickets. With 50 runs needed in four overs Mumbai seemed to have the match in their pocket and again with 35 needed in the last two overs. However, Pretorius became the first predator for MI and the rest was history as MS Dhoni re-established his role as the Finisher. And unfortunately again, main strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah failed to get wickets still.

 

MI and CSK continue to give company to each other at the bottom positions—CSK with 4 points now in the 9^th position and MI with no win in the 10^th spot. In the meantime, RCB has been doing very well amassing 5 wins out of 7 to rise to the second position with 10 points while GT retains the top spot with 10 points due to their better run-rate. RR also rises to the third position with 8 points in 6 games while LSG slides to the fourth, also with 8 points, but in 7 games. Resurgent SRH rises to the 5^th position with 8 points in 6 games. DC had thrashed Punjab to make amends to their poor stats and is now occupying the 6^thposition. KKR has been fighting very bravely, but losing matches recently and sliding to the 7^th position with 6 points in 7 games. PBKS is in the 8^th position, but also with 6 points in 7 games.

 

With 7 games each left for 7 teams and 8 for the 3 teams a see-saw battle for the top four spots is still very much on the anvil. Unfortunately, it seems almost over for MI unless they win all their remaining 7 games only to remain in contention. It’d be interesting too to watch what CSK does next with that huge morale-booster delivered by MS Dhoni.

IPL-2022: David Miller-Rashid Khan Blitzkrieg Powers GT To Its 5th Win Handing Over 5th Defeat To CSK!

After watching this cliffhanger of a match between Gujarat Titans (GT) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the second of the Sunday double-header today in Pune I just couldn’t stop myself from writing a bit about it. Chasing a moderately challenging but tricky nonetheless target of 170 runs set by CSK the GT started in a horrible way passing through the phases of regular fall of wickets at 1 for 1, 2 for 2. 16/3. 48/4 and 87/5, losing in the process all the batsmen except for David Miller and without the momentum-building skipper Hardik Pandya, not playing today due to injury. At the stage of 87/5 in the 13^th over GT was looking at defeat needing 83 runs in 38 balls with only one recognized batsman Miller and stand-in skipper cum bowling all-rounder Rashid Khan just coming in who did not quite do well with the bat in the previous matches. As you know nothing is for certain in cricket, a game of glorious uncertainties, Rashid Khan had other incredible ideas as if he was in a dream.

 

For the next three overs Miller had been taking the charge of hitting big shots allowing Rashid to settle down. They needed 48 runs from 18 balls then. Now Rashid Khan picked out pacer Jordan for an incredible display of genuine cricketing shots hitting 3 sixes and a four collecting 25 crucial runs in that over and thus building a partnership of 80 runs. They still needed 23 runs from the last two overs and as Khan got out in the 19^th over Miller had only the tail-end bowlers for company, and finally it was 13 runs in the last over. However, riding on the momentum created with Rashid Khan he steered the team to a 3-wicket victory in the penultimate ball. Miller had today achieved one of his best T20 innings scoring 94 not out with 6 sixes and 8 fours and was the obvious choice for the Player of the Match. GT retains the top spot in the IPL-2022 points table with 10 points now, winning 5 out of 6 matches and almost ensuring a place in the play-offs.

 

CSK continues to languish in the 9^th position with a solitary win, just above the beleaguered Mumbai Indians. Of course, today Ruturaj Gaikwad hit a solid 73 in 48 balls and good contributions by Rayudu, Dube and Jadeja at the later stage enabled CSK to reach 169/5. Rashid could not capture any wicket and so made amends to be a match winner with the bat. For CSK Bravo bowled well, but except for Mukesh Chaudhary and Maheesh Thieekshana the other bowlers could not deliver the much desired finishing punches.  

 

Earlier, the resurgence of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) continued with its 4^th consecutive victory overpowering Punjab Kings quite easily by 7 wickets in the first match today. Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi and Nicholas Pooran did well with the bat steering the team to victory without hiccups. Now SRH has also become one of the serious contenders for the play-offs occupying the 4^th position. This season of IPL so far has delivered very competitive cricket with absolute low-scoring thrillers and incredible chasses of tall scores too.

IPL-2022: 5-Time Champions MI Crashes To 6th Straight Defeat Even As Top Spots Are Up For Grabs!

Five-time IPL Champions Mumbai Indians (MI), the maximum number any franchise has won the tournament title, has crashed to their consecutive sixth defeat in IPL-2022 losing to Lucknow Super Giants (LPG) by 18 runs today at the Brabourne stadium Mumbai. The irony gets even bitter as this time the tournament has most of the league matches being played in Mumbai, the erstwhile home ground for the team, leaving the crowds with nothing to cheer for. I just wonder if this is some kind of a jinx with the newly appointed Team India captain in all three formats going on a losing spree like the former captain Virat Kohli with his team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) figuring at the bottom steps of the points ladder in almost all the previous versions of the IPL! Now, MI is looking at a disastrous ouster from the tournament unless it achieves the near-impossible task of winning at least 7 of its remaining 8 matches to stay in contention.

 

What ails MI? Well, to my mind the biggest factors are the failures of MI Captain Rohit Sharma, opener Ishan Kishan, veteran Pollard and India’s main strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah to deliver. Rohit, even though he has become only the second player after Kohli to amass more than 10k T20 runs, has scored so far just 141 runs (highest 41) in 6 games while Bumrah has taken just 5 wickets in the six outings. There are, of course, other factors: MI has a weaker bowling attack with no one to give moral support to Bumrah; the franchise is sorely missing the absence its erstwhile integral keeper-batsman Quinton de Kock (now in LSG) and the mainstay bowler Hardik Pandya (now captaining Gujarat Titans); and the fall-out overdependence on Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis and the like.

 

However, even as MI is tottering on the brink of an ignominious ouster the tournament is really opening up with 8 teams in contention for the play-offs (the BCCI in the meantime has announced the play-off games to be played either in Lucknow or Kolkata and the Final on 29^th May in Ahmedabad). The newbies GT and LSG occupy the top spots in the points table with 8 points each, the former winning 4 out of 5 and the latter winning 4 out of 6 so far. While GT skipper Hardik Pandya is coming back to his potential the LSG skipper KL Rahul has been on a roll with the bat as well as in the new role of a proactive team leader. In the first of the double-header today Rahul has scored a glorious 103 not out off 60 balls helping his team set up a daunting target of 200 runs for MI.

 

At the moment RCB with its terrific victory over Delhi Capitals (DC) today rises to the third position with 8 points, followed by Rajasthan Royals (RR), Punjab Kings (PBKS), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) locked with 6 points each, the net run-rate putting them in this order that can change instantly. DC remains with 4 points winning just 2 of 5 outings. One highlight of the tournament is the resurgence of the SRH winning all its last three matches under the leadership of Kane Williamson. KKR is, as always, unpredictable just like its vital all-rounder Andrew Russel. Dinesh Karthik whose performance for the KKR was under a scanner is now showering fours and sixes for the RCB: in today’s match building an unbeaten partnership of 97 runs with Shahbaz Ahmed (32 in 21) and contributing a glorious innings of 66 runs in just 34 balls thus rescuing the team from a precarious position to setting a challenging target of 190 runs for DC, finally enabling his team to win by16 runs. There was also a sterling performance by Glen Maxwell of 55 runs in 34 balls earlier in the innings. 

 

Unfortunately, there is nothing to write home about Virat Kohli who is in bits and pieces with the bat for RCB that he had led in earlier versions. Some critics even question his place in the team as he is no longer the captain. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has in the meantime managed to win just one match out of five beating the RCB thanks to great innings of 95 not out by Shivam Dube and 88 by old guard Robin Uthappa thus setting an unassailable target of 216 runs. Apart from the non-performing veterans like Dhoni, Moeen Ali and Bravo the CSK is sorely missing its main strike bowler Deepak Chahar who is ruled out of the tournament due to injury. Captain Ravindra Jadeja and youngster opener Ruturaj Gaikwad are yet to play to potential. For struggling DC Rishabh Pant and David Warner are also not performing consistently; however, this team has the wherewithal to come up anytime.

 

Many more exciting contests are yet to unfold in the coming days that can change the table in any possible way for at least 8 of the 10 franchises. And of course, all teams should be wary of instinctively opting to field first on winning the toss as the results so far show.