A day back KKR won the toss decided to field first and had the match in the bag to blow it spectacularly in the final 5 overs. Well, we are told that learn from our mistakes – better still learn from others’ mistakes. In that perspective, SRH should have known the difficulty in chasing in Chennai but they still decided to chase. And the game followed in the exact template of the other day. They had to chase 150 to win and till the 13th over the match was firmly in SRH’s grasp when Warner got out. And from there the match turned on its head and RCB won the match by 6 runs.

SRH has a weak middle order or May I say an inexperienced one and it lay completely exposed yesterday! 

So what were the hits and misses from yesterday’s match at Chepauk?

Hits:

• The last half-century hit by Glenn Maxwell in IPL was way back in 2014. He has been a failure in IPL and though teams have been paying big bucks to acquire the services he always failed to deceive. Finally, Glenn Maxwell got his mojo back and RCB will hope that he keeps up with his good form in this edition. A half-century on such a slow track was a commendable effort where most of the batsmen struggled to get going.
• Jason Holder replaced an indisposed MD. Nabi and he performed admirably. He picked up the important wickets of Kohli and Maxwell and finished with 3/30. Sunrisers would have hoped that he would come good with the bat too but that didn’t happen though!
• Rashid Khan is a superstar. His 4 overs are like a fixed deposit for David Warner and I was looking forward to how Virat Kohli plays him. Though he didn’t get the wicket of Kohli, he did enough damage to stifle RCB with his mastery. 2/18 in 4 overs showed how far ahead he is from the other leg spinners in the competition. He is a very good batter too and he hit some lusty blows towards the end to bring SRH to the brink. If he would have been there till the end then I am sure SRH would have scraped through.
• David Warner has the maximum number of half-centuries in IPL history. Till the time he was there in the crease, it looked like a walk in the park for SRH. His wicket changed the scenario and proved how important he is to this SRH setup. He along with Maxwell looked like playing on a different surface altogether.
• Right at the time of the toss, Virat Kohli declared that Shahbaz Ahmed would be batting at number 3. I have been following Shahbaz’s growth in domestic cricket and I was not surprised with that decision. He is a genuine all-rounder and a superb fielder to boot. Though he scored only 14 runs with the bat, it was with the ball that he weaved magic in the 17th over. Rarely do you see a spinner bowling at the death but Virat Kohli showed confidence in Shahbaz and he repaid the faith by picking up 3 wickets in one over giving away only one run. In the space of 6 balls, the match turned on its head.
• RCB needed a good start with the ball because they were defending a low score of 149 runs. MD. Siraj started with a bang by bowling a maiden over and then returned in the second over to pick up the wicket of Wridhiman Saha. After his first spell of two overs, his figures read 1/1. He later came back at the death to pick up the wicket of Jason Holder.
• Harshal Patel was the surprise package in the first match, picking up 5 wickets. He has been earmarked as RCB’s death bowler and he gave another good performance yesterday. Though he bowled a couple of no-balls he was still able to return figures of 2/25 to snatch the purple cap back from Andre Russell.

The Misses:

• Virat Kohli scored 33 off 29 balls which is exactly what he scored in the match against Mumbai Indians. This is not the free-flowing Kohli that we are so used to seeing. He is unable to hit balls over the top consistently and getting out after being set. In T20s, you can take your time to get your eye in if you are an opener but you need to up the ante at the later stages because if you fail to do so, invariably your middle order gets under run rate pressure which leads to their failure. I am looking forward to Virat’s turnaround in the next few matches.
• Manish Pandey for the second match in a row failed to convert his start into a significant match-winning score. A year back, he was part of India’s playing XI but now he is out of the team and one of the major reasons for that is his inability to score at a fast pace. For Sunrisers it’s a big problem because they have an inexperienced middle order so Manish has to play well and score at a fast clip otherwise the team will struggle.
• Yuzvendra Chahal is a pale shadow of his usual self for the last few months. He made a significant contribution in India’s T20 win in Australia but has been struggling since. He was always Kohli’s go-to man in the previous years, but it’s no longer the same because he is unable to pick up wickets. With Adam Zampa available from the next match, I expect Chahal to be dropped from the playing XI of RCB soon if he doesn’t come up with a big performance in the next match.
• Vijay Shanker was being groomed as India’s backup player for Hardik Pandya but he has not been able to hold on to that promise. I doubt he will get selected in the next match because SRH needs to think differently about their middle order from the next match.

What to look forward to?

RCB seems to have got their combination right and with so many bowling options at his disposal, RCB is currently looking like a complete team. I still have doubts about Christian & Chahal but right now others are contributing and most importantly the team is winning so I do not foresee any changes in the next match.

For Sunrisers, they need to get Kane Williamson in the playing XI. He is one player who can make a huge difference to their playing XI. This obviously means that Bairstow has to sit out but the stability that Kane provides is worth in gold. I will also suggest having Kedar Jhadav in the playing XI replacing Vijay Shankar.

So what do you think should be the ideal XI for Sunrisers Hyderabad? Will they turn around their campaign in the next match?

Do write in as we get ready for another high-scoring encounter tonight at the Wankhede between, Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals.

Subho Noboborsho, everyone. Stay blessed!

Winning from hopeless situations is what differentiates a champion team from an average one and Mumbai Indians showed that yesterday in Chennai. It was the 5th match of IPL 2021 and Mumbai Indians kept their lopsided record against KKR intact. It’s one of the biggest mismatches in IPL history with Mumbai Indians winning 21 of the 27 matches that they had played previously against KKR. It became 22-6 after yesterday’s match. For 80% of the match, it was all KKR, with them needing 40 runs to win off 36 balls with 7 wickets in the hand. From there, things turned spectacularly and Mumbai Indians won the match by 10 runs.

When singles would have won them the match all their premier international players went for big hits and failed. Quite a spectacular turnaround by Mumbai Indians and it got their campaign back on track.

So what were the hits and misses from yesterday’s encounter?

The Hits:

• Andre Russell looks like a pale shadow of 2019 but his fitness seems to have improved over the past 6 months. Russell’s bowling at the death has been spectacular this season with his inventive yorker-length deliveries outside the off-stump which he delivers from round the stumps. He ended up with a 5 wicket haul yesterday to help KKR bowl out Mumbai Indians for a below-par total of 152 runs.
• Krunal Pandya is used very effectively by Rohit Sharma and yesterday he made a big difference in the field with both bat and ball. The 15 runs that he scored while batting turned out to be a game-changer though his main contribution was with the ball where he returned figures of 1/13 in 4 overs to squeeze the KKR middle order.
• Surya Kumar Yadav these days is playing in a separate zone altogether. All batsmen struggled to time the ball yesterday other than him. The helicopter shot which he has perfected for himself looks so pretty and the amount of power he generates with a simple flick of the wrist shows the special talent that he possesses. 
• Rahul Chahar had a very ordinary match against RCB where he visibly struggled due to the dew. But yesterday there was no dew and immediately he looked a different bowler. There were no short balls bowled and he got enough turn from the surface to keep the pressure on the KKR batsmen. His match-winning performance of 4/27 would work wonders for his confidence for the rest of the tournament. 
• Right from the time last year when Nitish Rana started opening for KKR he had been hitting a half-century followed by golden ducks. Thankfully he broke that jinx yesterday when the first ball off Trent Boult was driven beautifully through the covers for a boundary. He was not in his usual belligerent self yesterday and as I told earlier no one other than Surya Kumar Yadav seemed to come to terms with the pace of the pitch. Nonetheless, he scored a half-century though it came at a losing cause for KKR.
• The death overs of Bumrah and Boult were supposed to be challenging for KKR and that’s one of the reasons why the batsmen tried to target Chahar and Pandya. The last two overs with Russell and Dinesh Karthick in the crease with the asking rate of 9 runs per over should have been getable but there were no freebies on offer and both of them didn’t miss their length even once in the final two overs. The last 2 overs went for only 8 runs to bring about a great come-from-behind victory for Mumbai Indians.

The misses:

• Doing things predicting the future is always fraught with danger. By default, Chennai is a difficult ground to chase because the pitch gets extremely slow as the match wears on so win toss and bat first should be the strategy. But considering dew, Eoin Morgan went with the option of chasing and failed because as it turned out there was no dew in the second half of the match and both Chahar and Krunal Pandya got significant purchase from the dry surface! 
• Shubhman Gill’s struggle continued unabated and his failure to convert good starts must be very disappointing for him. Is he the right choice for KKR to open with is getting highly debatable with each passing day!
• The big middle order of Shakib, Morgan, DK, and Russell failed spectacularly and that should be highly frustrating for KKR. This is the set of 4 players who needs to perform consistently for the team to do well in the tournament. These 4 are the real enforcers in the team but as it is turning out it’s their local uncapped players who are giving them better returns with the bat.

What to look forward to?

I don’t see Mumbai Indians need to do any changes going forward. This XI is their strength and they play this team continuously which is the reason why they win consistently. The Mumbai juggernaut looks set to roll on and it would be interesting to see how Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals play against them because these are two teams that I think are the real challengers to Mumbai Indians this season.

For Kolkata Knight Riders it was a case of so near yet so far. I don’t expect any changes in the lineup, though, I would suggest a few changes in the batting order. It’s getting increasingly clear that Gill struggles to find the gap in the powerplays and he is not comfortable going over the top consistently hence do a radical change and make Russell open the batting and give him the license to go all out in the first 6 overs. Who knows, this change might bring the old Russell back. Secondly, in spin-friendly conditions, push DK or Shakib to number 3. 

I still believe that KKR has the team to reach the playoffs because their bowling is looking good and it’s the bowling that wins you championships. They will hope that Morgan will get his form back because once he is back in form, the KKR middle order will be much better than what we are currently experiencing.

So what do you think? Will KKR be able to get their house in order? Do you foresee any changes in the team going forward?

Please do share your thoughts as I anticipate another close encounter today between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings played out a thrilling high scoring encounter last season in Sharjah. Both the teams have some big power hitters and hence it’s always expected of them to give us high-scoring encounters. Rajasthan Royals without the services of Jofra Archer looks weak on the bowling front and that’s a hole they won’t be able to plug this season. For Punjab Kings, they lack genuine all-rounders which exposes a long tail which in effect puts more pressure on their top order. Wankhede is a smallish ground and we were in for another high-scoring encounter. So let’s see the hits and misses from yesterday’s match.

The Hits:

1. Last year’s orange cap holder, KL Rahul has had a pretty ordinary start to 2021 when he failed with the bat multiple times against England in the T20. He was finally dropped from the playing XI. He came back strongly in the ODIs though scoring a century. That series did a world of good for him as he started with positive intent yesterday. He took his time initially but grew in confidence in the latter part of the innings. When Rahul is in form batting looks so easy. His pick-up shots on the leg side are a treat to watch. He missed his century by a whisker being denied by a superb catch by Tewatia on the boundary ropes.

2. Deepak Hooda had a very unpleasant 2021 when he was removed from the Baroda side during the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament after having a tiff with Krunal Pandya. I guess that incident spurred him to do well this season of the IPL. He was sent up the order ahead of Nicholas Pooran and he took all the bowlers to the cleaners. Some of his shots were simply breathtaking though I must say, that Rajasthan Royals’ bowling was plain trash on most of the occasions. Royals did the mistake of having too many spinners for a small ground with a pitch that hardly gave any assistance to the bowlers. Honda’s innings of 64 runs of 28 balls made a huge difference in the final total.

3. Chetan Sakariya was a surprise choice to start for Rajasthan Royals. I expected Unadkat or Tyagi to get the nod ahead of him but he soon showed why he was selected by picking up Mayank Agarwal within the power plays. He came back strongly towards the end too picking up 2 wickets in the final over. In between, he pulled off a stunning catch to get rid of Nicholas Pooran. A great addition to the Royals set up and I hope he builds on from here because India needs a good left-arm pacer.

4. Riyan Parag makes shot-making look very easy. In the last 2 seasons, he had shown enough glimpse of his talent and I believe he is enough matured now to convert the good starts into big scores. For that to happen, he would need to bat a bit higher this season. Ideally, number 5 looks good for him. Yesterday he was sent at number 6 and in the space of a few deliveries he brought the momentum back for Rajasthan with some sweetly executed strokes.

5. Till now Sanju Samson has been an enigma in Indian cricket. When he is in form, there is no better batsman to watch but consistency has been a big problem for him over the years. He sometimes plays a few risky shots which bring about his downfall. He will do well to cut down on these risky strokes early in the innings. He is best when he takes some time to get his eye in before playing those lofted strokes. Yesterday he looked like a man possessed and he almost made an unlikely chase possible only to miss out on the last ball. 4th century in the IPL for him yesterday and probably his best. Looking forward to some consistency this year from him.

6. Arshdeep Singh made some good contributions with the ball towards the end of the last season. India is on the lookout for some good left-arm pacers and Arshdeep’s performance yesterday after the heroics of Chetan Sakariya in the first innings shows that India has back up resources in this department. His last over was wonderfully executed. Rajasthan Royals needed 13 off the last over with Samson and Morris at the crease but he was able to defend that to give Punjab Kings a 4 runs victory. 

The Misses:

1. Without the services of Jofra Archer, Rajasthan Royals have a problem in hand when it comes to their bowling. This imperatively means that for one, Mustafizur and Chris Morris together can’t have bad days on the field. Also important is that Ben Stokes need to bowl some important overs and he along with Buttler has to contribute consistently with the bat. Bowling is the team’s weak point so their batsmen have to overcome that by scoring a few extra runs. Yesterday all their foreign recruits fail to deliver. That they were still able to come close to the Punjab Kings score of 221 runs was only due to the special innings from Sanju Samson.

2. Rahul Tewatia became a household name last season after some consistent performances. This year his stakes have risen and it’s now up to him to show the world that it was not a fluke. He failed with both the bat and the ball. The catch that he took to dismiss Rahul was a great one though.

3. Though Punjab Kings won the match, I don’t think we would have seen such a close match without the help of the Punjab Kings’ fielders. 3 absolute easy catches were dropped and Sanju Samson was a beneficiary too. I am sure their fielding coach, Jhonty Rhodes will have some tough words to say to the players after yesterday’s horror show.

What to look forward to?

I felt Rajasthan Royals did a mistake in team selection yesterday by playing an extra spinner. Wankhede is not the kind of ground where you play two leg spinners if both of them are not Rashid Khan category. I will suggest one change and that is to get Karthick Tyagi in place of Shreyas Gopal for the next match. They can also think of getting Miller in place of Vohra and Unadkat in place of Mustafizur. Here is my XI for their next match.

Manan Vohra, Jo Buttler, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Rayan Parag, Shivam Dube, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Mustafizur Rehman, Karthick Tyagi & Chetan Sakariya.

For the Punjab Kings, they have a problem with their team balance due to the lack of all-rounders on their side. They can’t do anything about it so they need to get their combination right. I think playing Chris Jordan in place of Riley Meredith would make more sense because Jordan is more than handy with the bat and his bowling in the death overs is very good. Also, I think Ravi Bishnoi is one of the best talents in Indian cricket and I was slightly disappointed seeing him benched yesterday. I hope they get him back to the playing XI in the next match.

Here is my XI for their next match.

KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Shahrukh Khan, Chris Jordan, Md. Shami, Jhye Richardson, Ravi Bishnoi & Arshdeep Singh.

So what do you think about Sanju Samson’s innings yesterday? Will he be able to have a consistent season this year? Can he win the Orange cap this season? Do write in with your thoughts as I get ready to watch KKR take on Mumbai Indians later in the evening.

Two very balanced sides, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders took the field yesterday to kick start their respective campaigns. The match was held at Chepauk, Chennai. On paper, both these sides look good with more strengths than weaknesses but cricket is a funny game and it surprises you when you least expect them. Last year, Sunrisers and KKR played out an exciting tie in the UAE, and going into the match yesterday I expected another thriller.

 So let’s look at the hits and misses from yesterday’s match.

 The Hits

 1. Nitish Rana holds the record of the most half-centuries scored by an uncapped player. After a dozen half-centuries, he is yet to crack into the Indian team is only because of his lack of consistency. Last season he scored half-centuries and then invariably followed that with a duck on the next match. Yesterday he played a fabulous knock of 80 runs and gave KKR a lovely start. He needs to now ensure that he scores consistently throughout the tournament so that the selectors take notice.

 2. Rahul Tripathi is another player who looks so good on the eye when in full flow but lacks consistency. Another year and another half-century in his first match. Now hoping for some consistency from him for the rest of the tournament. His big-hitting against Bhubaneswar Kumar turned out to be one of the big reasons for KKR’s win.

 3. Dinesh Karthick recently stated that he wishes to play for Team India and make a mark in the coming World Cup. For that to happen he needs big runs and yesterday he showed why he is one of India’s best finishers even today. His quick-fire 22 runs of 9 balls at the end took KKR from a par score to a winning score. The final margin of victory was much lesser than what DK scored in the last over.

 4. Rashid Khan is the best leg spinner in the world, especially in white-ball cricket. He is in a separate zone altogether. His 4 overs are like a fixed deposit for his captain and he showed why once more yesterday. First, he came in to dislodge Shubman Gill and later took the wicket of Russell to put KKR under temporary pressure!

 5. Prasidh Krishna was a surprise addition to the Indian team in the recently concluded ODI series against England. To be fair to him he turned in a very good performance and it was quite thrilling to see the amount of bounce he could extract from the pitches in each of the three matches he played. He is tall and he has good pace. Yesterday he showed that his confidence is now sky high because the ball that took the wicket of David Warner left everyone bewildered. Warner didn’t expect such pace and bounce from a docile Chennai track. Prasidh Krishna was economical and took 2 wickets too. He would be the man to watch out for this season.

6. At 10/2, chasing 188 Surisers Hyderabad was in some strife. But Bairstow and Manish Pandey brought the match alive with some clean hitting and beautiful running between the wickets. Bairstow in particular looked in ominous touch and it was his wicket that turned the match in KKR’s favour decisively. Both he and Manish scored fifties but the damage done in the powerplay was too much to be covered up in the end.

 7. Abdul Samad is a player I am really looking forward to this season. He showed glimpses of his special talent last year and he showed it yesterday too with two fabulous hits off Pat Cummins in the 19th over. That KKR won with a 10 run margin was only because of Abdul Samad otherwise the gap would have been far bigger. I hope Sunrisers make him bat at number 5 not at number 7. In the field, he took two catches too. The guy can bowl decent leg-spin too though he was not called for bowling yesterday.

 What were the misses?

 1. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar missed the IPL last year due to an injury and that left a gaping hole in the Sunrisers set up. With him back in action this year, Sunrisers needed him to bowl the important overs at the start and the death. But with Tripathi and Rana going great guns, Warner was forced to get Bhuvi in the middle overs but it turned askew as Tripathi took Bhuvi to the cleaners. We don’t often see Bhuvaneshwar getting hit in such a manner. It was an off-day for him yesterday.

 2. David Warner has been struggling with a groin injury and I am not sure if he is still 100% fit and he looked off-colour yesterday during his brief stay on the crease. He could have got out in the first over itself when Cummins dropped his catch but he couldn’t capitalise and got out in the next over against Prasidh Krishna. With an inexperienced middle order, Sunrisers Hyderabad will expect him to come good in the next match.

3. Shubhman Gill is terribly out of touch. He had a terrific series in Australia but he has not done much since then. Yesterday, he failed once again and KKR will hope that he gets back his touch soon. Yesterday 4 delightful cover drives were hit straight to the fielders – I hope he works on this aspect because playing in the gaps is an art and I am sure he will come back stronger in the future matches.

 4. Andre Russell looks fitter but he is still not at his best. This year there is a backup in Ben Cutting so if he doesn’t deliver, I won’t be surprised if he is replaced. He failed with the bat but redeemed himself somewhat with two good overs at the end. But overall he is still a pale shadow of 2019.

 What to look forward to?

 For Sunrisers Hyderabad they need a little bit of rejigging in their lineup. They need Kane Williamson in the playing XI and that would mean Nabi missing out. Williamson not only holds the innings together he is handly with the ball too. Here is my predicted XI for the next match: David Warner, Johny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Abdul Samad, Kedar Jhadav, Abhisekh Sharma, Rashid Khan, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, N. Natarajan

 For Kolkata Knight Riders they made a good start to their campaign but Mumbai Indians await in the next match. They have a horrible record against the defending champions so they need to be at their best because Mumbai Indians would come hard after their first loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Here is my predicted XI for the next match: Shubhman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan, Shakib Al Hasan, Dinesh Karthick, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Kuldeep Yadav & Varun Chakravarthy.

 Will KKR be able to build up from here? Or will they remain inconsistent like previous years? Will they be able to beat Mumbai Indians? What do you think? Do write in as we build up to another great match today between Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals.

 It’s a fresh week everyone – hope all of you are excited to take on the new challenges that life throws at you. Be happy, Be excited, and keep winning!

IPL moved to Mumbai yesterday where Chennai Superkings met last year’s finalists, Delhi Capitals. With Suresh Raina back this season, Chennai’s middle order looks better, though the biggest attraction of any match involving Chennai Superkings is always Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Delhi without the services of their captain, Shreyas Iyer had a gap to fill and the bigger challenge was how would Rishabh Pant, the captain for this year cope with the new responsibility. Delhi Capitals had another problem in hand with both Rabada and Nortje serving mandatory quarantine which meant on paper their bowling looked slightly weaker than it actually is. It was of course a good opportunity for CSK to put up a big score when Rishabh Pant invited them to bat after winning the toss.

So let’s look at the hits and misses from yesterday’s match.

The Hits:

1. Prithvi Shaw: He has had a tough couple of years and lost his place in the Indian team too. But he had a terrific domestic season scoring over 800 runs in the recently concluded CK Nayudu trophy. I expected him to carry that form to  IPL and he didn’t disappoint.  He has tremendous hand-eye coordination which allows him to play shots even against perfectly pitched deliveries. One crunching cover drive against Sam Curran and a lofted shot which went for a six over long-on against Deepak Chahar drove home the point. He played in one gear throughout the match and when he finally got out after scoring 72 runs off 38 balls Delhi Capitals were well on to their way to victory. 

2. Shikhar Dhawan: last season Dhawan roared back to form after an indifferent start with a majestic century against CSK. His eyes must have lit up after seeing CSK as Delhi Capital’s first opposition in 2021. Some people have this happy knack of playing well against certain oppositions and for Dhawan, CSK seems to be that team. He had a pretty good ODI series against England and he continued in the same zest yesterday. Pulls, drives, cuts all were in equal display and he looked all set for a century but got out for 85 runs leaving Delhi Capitals on the cusp of victory.

3. Suresh Raina: Suresh Raina missed out the last season and CSK missed him terribly. I was interested to see if he could have an impact this year especially after retiring from international cricket. But from the time he took the crease, it didn’t feel like that he has not played for so long. His trademark lofted strokes were back and he was particularly severe on the spinners. In the process, he brought up his half-century which incidentally was the first 50 of IPL 2021. Suresh Raina is back and his fans must be doubly thrilled seeing the way he batted yesterday.

4. Sam Curran: If there is one player whom I like to watch from England it’s Sam Curran. He plays well when his team requires him the most and he showed that in the last ODI against India too. Last season he played some matches as an opener for CSK and got a limited amount of success. Yesterday he was held back for the slog overs and it was his clean hitting towards the end that took CSK to 188 runs by scoring 34 runs off 15 balls.

5. Avesh Khan: He was the surprise package yesterday for Delhi Capitals. I expected Umesh Yadav to play and hence I was particularly surprised to see Avesh getting a game ahead of both Ishant and Umesh. But his bowling throughout the match showed why he got selected. His excellent control over line and length kept all the batsmen in check and with wickets of Faf DuPlessis and MS Dhoni to boot, Avesh Khan is set to have a longer run in the playing XI this season. 

6. Chris Woakes: Rishabh Pant missed a trick by under bowling Woakes yesterday. That one over cost Delhi Capitals at least 15 runs because Woakes finished with 2/18 in 3 overs whereas Tom Curran went for 1/40 in 4 overs. Woakes made the ball swing from the word go and his wicket of Ruturaj Gaikwad was a dream wicket for any swing bowler. An over in the middle overs when Raina was going great guns would have stifled CSK surely.

So what were the misses?

1. Before the tournament started, one aspect that I was keen to look at was India’s spinning options when it came to white-ball cricket. Ashwin has had a terrific test cricket season this year but when it comes to white-ball cricket he ends up doing too many experiments. He was trying too many variations yesterday and both Raina and Rayudu took full toll against him. The same was the condition of Amit Mishra too. Mishra particularly lacked pace and with smaller boundaries, in the Wankhede, he went for plenty too. All spinners across both the teams had a very ordinary outing yesterday.

2. IPL is the only occasion when we could see MSD play. I was looking forward to his batting but he failed miserably scoring a two-ball duck. Forcing the pace right from the start is difficult for Dhoni and I always felt number 3 or 4 is the best place for him to bat. Unfortunately coming lower down the order only makes things difficult for him. I hope he plays in the top order in the future matches

3. Ruturaj Gaikwad had a great finish last year and it was good to see that CSK started with him. But he failed to deceive getting out to a lovely outswinger against Woakes. He missed a simple catch in the outfield too giving life to the rampaging Prithvi Shaw. With CSK boasting a long batting order, I hope he doesn’t get dropped to accommodate a wicket-taking bowler. He needs to make his opportunities count.

What to look forward to?

With Rabada and Nortje coming back from the next match it would be interesting to see how Delhi Capitals accommodate them. With Woakes and Avesh doing so well it’s an interesting choice on their hands. Delhi is blessed with plenty of riches warming the bench and no wonder they are one of the favourites to win the tournament this year.

My predicted playing XI for the next match: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Ajinkya Rahane, Marcus Stoinis, Vishnu Vinod, Chris Woakes, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje,  Avesh Khan.

With Dwayne Bravo coming in at number 9 and Shardul Thakur at 10, it’s a case of having too many options with the bat for CSK. They need a couple of bowlers who can force the issue because in their current XI they have too many holding bowlers. I would suggest getting Ngidi and Tahir or Karn Sharma in the playing XI. How they accommodate them and who gets sacrificed would be an interesting watch.

Here is my predicted XI for the next match. Faf Du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Sam Curran, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Karn Sharma, Deepak Chahar, Ngidi.

Delhi Capitals look very strong and would be the team to beat this season. With Rabada and Nortje back they would become more balanced and I don’t see any problem in them reaching the playoffs.

For CSK unfortunately this is not looking good. I think this would be another season where they will miss out on reaching the playoffs. I am sure though that MSD will have some tricks which he will bring out from his bag in due course. Raina needs to have a stellar IPL for CSK to be competitive this year.

So what do you think should be the way forward for CSK? Do you think Prithvi Shaw will be able to bring consistency to his game? Who impressed you the most yesterday? Did you get surprised with Avesh Khan’s performance?

Do write in as I gear up to watch my favourite team KKR take the ground later today.

Stay blessed everyone. Keep enjoying the moments that life throws up to you. Live to your fullest and keep following the journey of the 12th man!

It’s less than 6 months and we are back with another edition of the cricketing extravaganza, Indian Premier League. Last season the tournament was shifted to the United Arab Emirates amidst the surge of Covid-19 but this year we are back in India albeit with no crowds. It’s poignant to note that on the day IPL started, India counted more than 1,40,000 new Covid-19 cases. To conduct a tournament of such a magnitude under such an environment is a challenge in itself but IPL as a brand has grown so much over the past decade that it has become a medium through which people not only get entertained but makes a lot of moolah too for businesses who are associated with the brand.

The tournament kick-started yesterday in Chennai where the two-times defending champions, Mumbai Indians faced the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Both these teams are perennially slow starters and I was excited to see who gets off the block better this time around.

So here are the hits and misses from yesterday’s match.

The Hits:

Kohli has made a name for himself in losing tosses and so when he won the toss yesterday he surprised himself by winning it. I hope he carries this toss-winning habit to England too where toss would be a very important factor in the WTC finals.

Going into the match I was interested to see who among Siraj, Saini, Jamieson, and Harshal Patel gets the nod to play in the first XI. Only 3 out of 4 could make the cut and quite predictably Saini missed out. Harshal Patel had a very good domestic season and Saini has fallen off the radar as Siraj’s stocks kept rising after the Australia series. But given all that, no one could have predicted the performance of Harshal Patel yesterday. He went for 14 runs in the first over but came back strongly in the next 3 to finish with 5 for 27 runs. His last over which was the final over of the Mumbai innings too went for just 1 run and 4 wickets (one run out). 5 yorkers in the last over showed why he was preferred over Saini.

Before the start of the tournament, one important aspect of RCB that needed to be looked into was their middle-order batting and slog overs bowling. With Harshal Patel and Siraj doing a commendable job it was interesting to see how the batting order responds. For years this team has been highly dependent on Kohli and AB DeVilliers to take them home. Devdutt Padikkal brought in new hopes last season but with him being indisposed yesterday, Maxwell needed to come good. He did justice yesterday by being the Maxwell the world knows of. He didn’t let any of the bowlers settle and controlled the middle overs with aplomb. 39 off 28 balls should give the RCB management a lot of hope going into the future matches. Just to bring things into perspective, Maxwell’s highest score last season was only 32 runs – that he has already overshot that score on the first match must give the other teams plenty to think and plan about.

Chris Lynn didn’t get a match last season. Mumbai Indians had such a good batting unit that they didn’t need any changes in the top of the order. But with Quinton DeKock still under mandatory quarantine it opened up an opportunity for Chris Lynn. He started slow and Virat Kohli got in spinners early knowing his weakness against leg-spin but Lynn was in no mood to let go of the opportunity. The big sixes were back and he looked all set for a half-century when he got out for 49. He was the highest scorer among both the teams so a very good start from him this season.

Marco Jensen is one player about whom I had no clue about. I expected Nathan Coulter-Nile to be the third pacer for Mumbai Indians but Jensen’s selection came to me as a surprise. A 20-year-old tall left-arm pace bowler from South Africa, Jensen was the only uncapped player in the Mumbai Indians’ lineup. He went for a few in the first over but he came back very strongly in the next 3. He doesn’t have too much pace but his lines are quite accurate. He was also given the duty of bowling the last over with RCB needing 7 runs to win. That he was able to take it to the last ball was an achievement in itself especially with AB DeVillers on strike. A good prospect for South Africa as well as Mumbai Indians because his pace variations could be very useful as the tournament wears on.

The misses:

India’s white-ball leg-spinning options have dwindled over the last 2 years. With the rise of Kuldeep and Chahal in 2017, India had a potent force to block the middle overs in international cricket. But both of them have gone into the shadows and India is desperately looking for more options. Yesterday there were two leg spinners on view and I was hoping for a good performance from both Rahul Chahar and Yuzvendra Chahal. Unfortunately, both of them failed. Rahul Chahar returned 0/43 while Chahal returned with 0/41 and this happening in Chennai where the spinners were supposed to have a better say in the proceedings was highly disappointing.

Washington Sundar’s rising stock got a blow yesterday. He had a match to forget. Dropped an easy catch in the boundary line which ultimately went for a six was a sucker punch for him. The match might have finished in the 19th over itself if that catch was taken but then cricket is not the place to discuss ifs and buts. He was the surprise opening partner with Virat Kohli and he looked completely out of sorts. One thing that we have got used to Sundar is his good pick-up shots on the leg side and his timing on the offside. Unfortunately, all was missing yesterday and he made a painful 10 runs off 15 balls. His wicket of Chris Lynn was a good breakthrough for RCB though.

What to look forward to:

With RCB making a hash of the chase towards the end, I think they will do well to replace Shahbaz Ahmed with Devdutt Padikkal. They already have a lot of bowling options so it would be better to replace a bowling all-rounder with a batsman. My predicted next XI for RCB in the next match: Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, AB DeVilliers, Dan Christian, Washington Sundar, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Md. Siraj & Yuzvendra Chahal. This looks more balanced with 7 bowling options to boot.

For Mumbai Indians, it’s the 9th year in a row that they have lost the opening encounter so this is familiar territory for them. That they were still able to take the match to the last ball showed the level of competitiveness this team has. I would suggest a few changes though for the next match and they are replacing Rahul Chahar with Piyush Chawla and getting Jayant Yadav in place of Krunal Pandya. My predicted XI for the next match is Rohit Sharma, Chris Lynn, Surya Kumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Marco Jensen, Jayant Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, and Trent Boult.

The performance of Maxwell makes RCB a serious contender for this season and I think we are going to see another very close IPL in 2021.

What do you think? Who impressed you the most yesterday! Do you advise any changes for any of the teams? 

Do write in as the action moves to Mumbai today with CSK taking on last year’s finalists, Delhi Capitals.

Keep well guys as I get ready to exercise my franchise today!

I have seen that when I define a goal and give a deadline, most often than not I tend to achieve it. This has made me believe that having a goal and having a plan to back it up is very important in life. I know for sure that all are not in your control but assuming that things go according to plan will definitely help you reach your goal.

Sometimes I miss out on achieving my goals but due to a plan in place, I can go back and find out the reasons behind the failure. This then helps me to tweak my plans so that I go forward with the same zest the next time and try and achieve the goal.

As stated above, from my personal experiences, it’s very important to have “Goals” or “Objectives” when you first sit to plan it out. And this planning could be for anything, personal or professional.

Bear one thing in mind that goals should be measurable. Always, keep it simple. Do not write a goal that is 3 sentences long. Remember, in the future, you can come back to this document to connect the dots and at that time it should be easy for you to remember/understand. After writing down a goal, put an imaginary question mark and the answer to that question should always be in yes or no. If the goal can be answered in yes or no then it’s a measurable goal.

You can’t have a goal like, “I will read books this year”. This is not really a measurable goal. As I say it, you are your own competitor so write down, how many books you plan to read this year and then measure it month on month.

Types of Goals:

There are two types of goals

• Long Term Goals
• Short Term Goals

Write down your goals on paper (Notepad or Google docs) and give a definite deadline to both short and long-term goals. It’s always important to have a deadline for your goals. Once you have a deadline, you will plan out how you are going to reach that deadline. A goal without a deadline is not really a goal. But, remember do not stress yourself out if you miss a deadline. It’s not imperative that you will reach all your goals within a specified time. You can fail too. But the advantage here would be that since you are monitoring and measuring your performance, you will know why you failed, what you learned and this will effectively mean that you will now know what you need to do, to avoid this failure next time around.

Once you have completed writing your goals, next​,​ write down the pointers or the pathway to reach that goal.

These are generally the activities that you need to do on a daily or regular basis to reach your goals. Habits fall under this category too. We are all slaves to our habits. So change your habits that align you towards your goal. Say, for example, you have a goal to write a book this year. So you will have to plan the title, the plot, the characters, the chapters, the number of hours you will need to put in to write the book, editing, publishing, and marketing plan, etc.

Now that you have written down your goals and you have defined a pathway, it’s extremely important to keep monitoring yourself. Once in a week go back to your goal sheet and update how far you have reached. If you have been able to break down your goals into micro short-term goals then keep a close watch and see to it that you are on track.

If you see yourself faltering then you need to ask yourself why it happened and how you can get yourself back on track. When you do this every week, you can’t veer away too much but if you don’t monitor regularly, at least initially then you might lose the habit and if you veer too much away from the ​set ​goal then it might become very difficult for you to reach your goal within the specified time.

Ideally, you can have:

• A 10-15 year long term goal (ambition/dream etc)
• One 3 year goal
• One yearly goal that can be broken into quarterly goals

As you keep hitting your quarterly goals ask yourself if you can do slightly better than the previous quarter. Try and stretch your goals a little bit to keep yourself uncomfortable! Use the concept called, “Power of 1%“. Try to be better by 1% each day than the previous day. Remember, you are your competitor. You are not competing or comparing yourself with anyone. It’s you who is important and hence trying to be better than yourself every day, is a very good habit to have.

Too much comfort, in the long run, takes you away from your goals, and hence this weekly monitoring and trying to do better than the previous month or quarter helps you ​to ​keep​ yourself​ on track! This is the reason I always advise to remain slightly uncomfortable. Once comfort seeps in, hubris set in, and once hubris set in, you are bound to fail, sooner rather than later. So, never get too comfortable.

You can only reach your ambitious goal by shooting down your short-term goals.

The keyword here is consistency. Keep up with your set habits and show up every day and keep hustling.

So what are you waiting for?

Get a notepad and start writing down your goals!

Are you doing it?

One of the reasons that Mumbai Indians are the most successful team in IPL is because of the continuity that they have had in their team over the years. The core team has been together for a pretty long time and cricket being a team sport that strategy definitely helps.

Over the past few years, they have had a tremendous eye in picking up good youngsters and now all these youngsters have become international cricketers. This is the only IPL team that will have a First XI devoid of uncapped players or retired cricketers. The long-term thinking by the team management must be given kudos for creating such a strategy and sticking to it.

Mumbai Indians have been the champions of IPL for 2 seasons in a row. Will they make it 3 times in a row? Let’s see what’s in store for them this time around.

Predicted First XI:

Rohit Sharma

Quinton de Kock

Surya

Kishan

Pollard

Hardik

Krunal

Rahul Chahar

Adam Milne

Bumrah

Trent Boult

Here is the SWOT analysis:

Strength: Big batting lineup has always been their strength and it continues to remain so this season too. Top Order, Middle Order, and Finishers, everything is in order and there lies their biggest strength. A couple of wickets at the top doesn’t stop this team from changing their strategy because of the long batting lineup. Their pace bowling resources are equally eye-catching with Boult, Bumrah, and Adam Milne. They also have Nathan Coulter-Nile as a backup. A bench comprising of Piyush Chawla, Neesham, and Lynn is equally mouth-watering.

Weakness: This is one team that hardly has any weakness with all their bases covered. The only place they have a little bit of weakness is in their spin department. Rahul Chahar is not very experienced and Piyush Chawla is past his prime. Krunal Pandya can go for a lot of runs. With Hardik not bowling regularly, expect Pollard to bowl quite a bit this season.

Opportunity: Big opportunity for Rahul Chahar to establish himself in the Indian team. He needs a very good season to get into the playing XI of the Indian cricket team. Krunal Pandya needs a very consistent season to get into the Indian XI too. He got some opportunities with Jadeja not available but he has not been consistent enough. This season he got to make it count. Opportunity for Surya Kumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan to establish themselves in the Indian team by having another great season.

Threat: They have quite a lot of players who are prone to injuries namely, Rohit, Pandya, Pollard, and Milne. Injury management and proper rotation of players would be very vital this season especially because India has some big series coming up after IPL. How the Mumbai Indians’ team management works that out would be interesting to see. They will also hope that their weakness with the 5th bowler doesn’t turn out to be their liability.

All in all, I think Mumbai Indians would be the team to beat this season too. Individual flashes of brilliance might still trump them but I doubt any other team would be as consistent as Mumbai Indians throughout this season.

So what do you think? Will Mumbai Indians lift the trophy once again? Which team according to you can beat the defending champions?

Let the fun begin from 9th April and I will be back every day with my views on all the matches.

Delhi Capitals over the past few years, invested in youth and finally reaped rich dividends last season. Led by a young and astute captain, Shreyas Iyer, the team reached the finals. Some of their young guns had a fabulous tournament especially, Rishabh Pant. This year they bolstered their batting prowess by getting Steven Smith. In hindsight, it turned out to be a very good decision because of the unfortunate injury to Shreyas Iyer. 

The injury to Shreyas Iyer which has ruled him out of the tournament meant, the team needed a new captain. Rishabh Pant has been having a great 2021 and it was hardly any surprise when he was declared as the captain for this season. How well he leads the team would be interesting to watch.

Here is my best XI for Delhi Capitals:

Prithvi Shaw

Shikhar Dhawan

Steve Smith

Rishabh Pant

Ajinkya Rahane

Marcus Stoinis

Axar Patel

Ravichandra Ashwin

Kagiso Rabada

Anrich Nortje

Ishant Sharma

Here is the SWOT analysis:

Strength: Their top order looks very good and with the form Rishabh Pant is in, I don’t think they will feel the absence of Shreyas Iyer. Two crafty spinners who are equally adept with the bat is another advantage for them. Two out and out fast bowlers to complement the spinners bring balance to this team. Marcus Stoinis is their X-factor. He had a great tournament last season and would like to continue in the same vein this year too.

Weakness: However strong the first XI looks, the same can’t be said about their bench strength. IPL is a very long tournament that runs for more than 7 weeks and hence you would need some replacements in the middle of the tournament to rest some of the tired legs. The team might struggle in that front which would also mean too much pressure on a few players. How the team management balances the workload would be interesting to see. Another weakness that I see in this team is the fielding. more than 4 players in this team are slow movers and that could affect the team in the field.

Opportunity: Biggest opportunity is for Prithvi Shaw to show the world once again why he was touted as the best thing to come out of Mumbai cricket in the last 5 years. He somehow lost his touch over the last couple of seasons. He came back very strongly in the recent domestic tournament and he should look at building on that form and have a big IPL. The T20 World Cup will be held in India in another 6 months’ time and I am sure he is eyeing a spot in the Indian team. India has been struggling off late with spinners in white-ball cricket. Both Ashwin and Axar Patel would love to take this opportunity to make a comeback. I look forward to their all-round skills in this tournament.

Threat: Bench strength of Delhi Capitals is a cause for concern and hence injury management would be one of their topmost priorities. They have some players in the team who are prone to injuries, namely, Ishant Sharma, Ravichandra Ashwin, and Prithvi Shaw. There lies their biggest threat because they have already lost Shreyas Iyer to injury even before the tournament begins.

All in all, if the team plays to its potential, I see them reaching the playoffs and from there it’s always anybody’s game. I think both Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant are going to rock the IPL season. Seeing both of them bat together would be some fun for sure.

What do you think about their playing XI? Should there be any changes to the XI I gave? 

Do write in with your thoughts and views as I come back to you tomorrow with the SWOT analysis of the defending champions, Mumbai Indians.

Sunrisers Hyderabad is one team that has always been consistent in the IPL. Even in adversity, they find ways to turn around their campaign. Last year they had to deal with a lot of last-minute injuries in their team but they went above their means to reach the playoffs and finally lost to Delhi Capitals in the 2nd Qualifier. David Warner is an inspirational leader and Kane Williamson plays a big role too in making this team a consistent performer.

So how are they looking this year?

Here is the best XI for SRH according to me:

Johny Bairstow

David Warner

Kane Williamson

Manish Pandey

Vijay Shankar

Abdul Samad

Abhishek Sharma

Rashid Khan

Bhuvaneshwar Kumar

Sandeep Sharma

N. Natarajan

Here is the SWOT analysis of Sunrisers Hyderabad:

Strength: Their top order is too good and will give a lot of headache to the opposition teams. If Warner doesn’t get you, Bairstow will and if Bairstow doesn’t get you, Kane Williamson definitely will. They have a good middle order too led by Manish Pandey and a great bowling attack. Last year they were handicapped with the injury of Bhuvaneswar Kumar – no such problem this year and with Rashid Khan amongst their ranks, this is definitely a team to beat, this IPL. They have good backup players too on the bench like Jason Holder, Priyam Garg, etc. 

Weakness: I do not find much weakness in the team other than probably the inexperienced middle order but with such a top-heavy batting lineup, I doubt if the middle order would be called up in many games. They also seem to have a slight weakness with the second pacer but Sandeep Sharma did very well last year and there is no reason to believe that he won’t repeat his performance this year too.

Opportunity: I really liked whatever I saw of Abdul Samad last year. Also, Priyam Garg looked well in some of the matches. Samad bowls as well and I am particularly eager to see if he has improved his bowling skills. Abhishek Sharma is also a genuine allrounder in the Jadeja mold and it will be interesting to see how he does this year. It’s an opportunity for all the youngsters to show that they are ready for the National call-up. Over the past year, Manish Pandey has fallen off the radar from the national selectors. This is a good opportunity for him to show that he can still command a place in the National XI.

Threat: Injury remains a big threat to this team. They have some heavyweight superstars in their team and we all know these superstars are not easily replaceable so they need to keep that in check. Last year, even with injuries they were able to reach the playoffs but that might not happen this year if the injuries resurface.

Overall, this team has all the ingredients to win the IPL. They have the perfect blend of experience and exuberance. They also have some match-winners who can win them matches single-handedly.

What do you think? Will Sunrisers Hyderabad be able to reach the finals this year?

Do write in as I come back tomorrow with the SWOT analysis of the Delhi Capitals.

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