RR vs CSK, IPL 2023, Match 37 – Jaipur

Today’s match was played between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings at Rajasthan Royal’s home turf at Jaipur. Sanju Samson won the toss and opted to bat in Superb batting conditions. They responded brilliantly by scoring 202 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in their allotted 20 overs, with Yashasvi Jaiswal being the star performer as he scored a brilliant 77 runs. There were also cameos from Dhruv Jurel and Devdutt Padikkal which guided RR to the highest ever score at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Tushar Deshpande picked up 2 wickets, while Ravindra Jadeja and Maheesh Theekshana picked up one wicket each for Chennai Super Kings. However, Chennai Super Kings’ bowling performance in the match was not up to the mark as they conceded 202 runs in their 20 overs. Their bowlers struggled to contain the run flow especially during the Powerplay and death overs.

In response, Chennai Super Kings could manage to score only 170 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in their 20 overs. Shivam Dube continued his good form and scored 52 runs, while Ruturaj Gaikwad contributed 47 runs. Ravindra Jadeja remained unbeaten on 23 runs, which was not enough as the other batters struggled to get going. For Rajasthan Royals, the bowlers did well to restrict Chennai Super Kings, with Adam Zampa being the most successful bowler, picking up three wickets. R Ashwin also picked up 2 crucial wickets, which put CSK off the track in the chase. Sandeep Sharma was yet again terrific with the ball in the powerplay and the death overs, choking the CSK batters.

With this win, RR has returned to the top of the Points table after two successive losses, while CSK will feel that this was only a one-off game and they hope to bounce back from this loss.

PBKS vs SRH, Match 28 Review

Sunrisers Hyderabad are on a roll in this IPL. They have now won 4 games in a row. Their latest victims were the Punjab Kings who were riding high after the win against Mumbai. But SRH swatted them aside easily by 7 wickets to go 3rd on the points table.

Punjab were rocked before the game began as Captain Mayank Agarwal was ruled out due to toe injury and Shikhar Dhawan led the side in his place. Batting first their batters struggled apart from Liam Livingstone who has been exceptional for them in this season. He was on song today as well murdering the bowling lineup scoring yet another half Century. Rest of the batters couldn’t quite get going as they were bowled out for 151 in 20 overs. Umran Malik was the star of the show who bowled a Maiden in the 20th over in which Punjab lost 4 wickets and he took 3 out of it. It was another impressive performance from the Youngster who had his career best performance in this game picking up 4 for 28. Bhuvneshwar Kumar also did a terrific job by picking up 3 wickets for 22 runs.

Sunrisers were in a spot of bother losing Kane Williamson early. But then Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi did the repair job and brought them back in the game. Tripathi continued from where he left off the other day hitting boundaries at will. But then just as things were looking settled both the batters lost their wickets. But then inform Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran steadied the ship and ensured that there were no more hiccups. They played some sensible cricket and gave Punjab no opportunity to come back into the contest. Punjab bowlers were good but they didn’t had lot to defend and as a result couldn’t quite make a match out of it.

DC vs RCB, Match 27 Review

It was not the day for the Delhi Capitals. They were bossing the game for most parts during their bowling as well as batting but were not able to seize the crucial moments as Royal Challengers Bangalore pipped them by 16 runs in a high scoring encounter at the Wankhede.

Firstly, it was yet again that man Dinesh Karthik who is in the form of his life took apart Delhi’s bowling and smashed an unbeaten half Century which propelled Bangalore to a healthy score of 189. He took on Delhi’s Trump card in the slog overs Mustafizur Rahman as he pummeled him for 28 runs in his final over. He was very well supported by Shahbaz Ahmed who has been contributing in almost every match. Bangalore’s innings didn’t start well as the Openers and then Virat Kohli and Suyash Prabhudessai were back in the hut in quick very early. From there Glenn Maxwell played a Counter attacking knock and instilled some momentum in their innings which paved the way for Dinesh Karthik to finish as he is doing all tournament. Delhi bowlers were excellent at the start but once Maxwell and Karthik got going they couldn’t sustain the pressure. Also Rishabh Pant dropping the catch of Dinesh Karthik too proved costly in the end and hurt them badly.

Prithvi Shaw and David Warner gave Delhi another flying start. But Prithvi Shaw was dismissed early and then Mitchell Marsh who was playing his first match for Delhi struggled to time the ball. From the other end, David Warner was toying with Bangalore bowling as he completed a superb half Century and it looked as if he would take Delhi over the line comfortably. But Marsh’s struggles put a lot of pressure on Warner and as a result he lost his wicket while trying to improve the scoring. Mitchell Marsh’s misery ended when he was unfortunately run out at the non strikers end. From there Delhi batters lost the plot and Josh Hazlewood took out their middle order picking Rovman Powell and Lalit Yadav in an over. Rishabh Pant was the only hope left in the end for Delhi as he was looking in good touch. But Virat Kohli ended his knock with a stunning catch and with that put an end to Delhi’s Challenge. Josh Hazlewood was outstanding on the night picking up 3 wickets as he bowled proper test match line and lengths suffocating the batters. Siraj too got back into some rhythm as he scalped 2 important wickets. All the other bowlers too did a fantastic job and helped Bangalore to register their 4th win of the Tournament in 6 matches and getting to 8 points.

MI vs LSG, 26th Match Review

6-0. Yes this is not a soccer scoreline but of the 5 time IPL champions Mumbai Indian’s record this season. They have now lost 6 games in a row and their season is now almost done and dusted. They came close yet again chasing 200 against Lucknow today, but fell short by 18 runs in the end at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

Earlier it was a classy century from Lucknow Skipper KL Rahul playing his 100th IPL game and his second Century against Mumbai and 3rd Overall in the history of the IPL. He and Quinton De Kock got off to a flier after being put into bat. De Kock was soon dismissed and from there Manish Pandey and Rahul took the attack to MI bowlers and thrashed them all over the park. Mumbai’s dismal performance in the field also didn’t help them. Marcus Stoinis too played a quick cameo in the end and Rahul Stayed Unbeaten on 103 to help Lucknow put up a solid score of 199 runs on the board. Mumbai Bowlers continued the same story of leaking a lot of runs except for Bumrah who has been a lone warrior in this bowling lineup.

Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan fell away early in the chase and from there Mumbai were put under a lot of pressure chasing a stiff target. Both the Openers are going through a horrendous run of form this IPL which is hurting Mumbai. Young Dewald Brevis came out and was batting beautifully. It was looking like he will run away with the game before Avesh Khan sent him packing. From there Mumbai struggled to get going and despite of another solid knock from Suryakumar Yadav and some late fireworks from Pollard, Unadkat and M Ashwin they succumbed to their 6th consecutive defeat. Avesh Khan bowled really well picking up 3 wickets for just 30 runs for Lucknow. Apart from Avesh all the other bowlers too did a fine job of chocking the Mumbai batters and help Lucknow get over the line. With this win they have now won 4 out of their 6 games and sit second on the points table with 8 points.

DC vs RCB, Match 27 Preview

The Royal Challengers Bangalore have begun their IPL 2022 journey really well by winning 3 out of 5 games. While their opponents for today have blown hot and cold so far winning 2 out of 4. This is going to be a very exciting contest at the Wankhede given the unpredictable nature of both these sides.

Delhi Capitals will hope for Shaw and Warner to give them another whirlwind start just like they did against KKR. Both the batters are in tremendous form and on their day can destroy the opposition with their attacking stroke play. Their middle order hasn’t quite come to the Party yet with Pant, Powell , Lalit misfiring. In the last game Sarfaraz Khan didn’t even got a chance to bat as DC sent Axar Patel & Shardul Thakur over him. Although in the end it proved to be a right decision as Axar & Shardul finished off the innings very well with their power hitting. On the bowling front Delhi have got a good attack with Kuldeep Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman getting wickets for them consistently. It will be interesting to see if they play Anrich Nortje who just played one match after coming back from injury but looked undercooked in that game. Kuldeep Yadav has picked up 10 wickets while Khaleel Ahmed has 7 wickets so far which shows their wicket taking ability. Mustafizur has been tremendous in the slog overs and we all know Shardul Thakur’s knack of picking up wickets at crucial junctures. So overall DC bowling looks great.

Same is the case with their opponents for tonight i.e.RCB who have got Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Akash Deep and Josh Hazlewood in their ranks. But in the absence of Harshal Patel in the last game their bowling looked very thin especially in the slog overs where Harshal Patel has mostly weaved his magic. But him returning tonight will bolster their bowling. Siraj is not looking Siraj of 2020 or 2021 where he became their go to bowler in the death. He is bowling waywardly and giving away lots of runs this time. The story of the RCB batting this season has been the middle and lower order who are consistently performing well with the likes of Shahbaz Ahmed , Dinesh Karthik clicking for them and we saw how good was Suyash Prabhudessai in the last game. Dinesh Karthik is batting like a dream finishing the games for them this season. Faf Du Plessis, Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell haven’t yet fired as such for them. All these players have got starts but haven’t been able to convert it into a significant score.

As I said this will be an even contest as both the teams have got some exciting players in their lineups and Wankhede as we all know is a batting beauty. So expect a high scoring encounter.

SRH vs KKR, Match 25 Review

It was an ex KKR player Rahul Tripathi show at the Brabourne Stadium as Sunrisers Hyderabad thrashed Kolkata Knight Riders by 7 wickets and won their 3rd game on the bounce. Tripathi was ably supported by Markram who also went on to get his 2nd IPL half Century and he alongside Nicholas Pooran got the job done for SRH in the end. Kolkata bowlers once again looked hapless today especially Varun Chakravarthy whose mystery spin was taken apart by Tripathi. Andre Russell and Pat Cummins were amongst the wickets but were too expensive. Sunil Narine as usual did his job but it wasn’t enough on the night.

Put into bat by Williamson, Kolkata lost their top order cheaply. Shreyas Iyer’s struggles against the bounce yet again as his innings was cut short by a scorching yorker from the Youngster Umran Malik who bowled brilliantly tonight with sheer pace which was delightful to see. He even troubled Russell with his pace as he just gave away 2 runs during the slog overs. It was a classy innings from Nitish Rana who scored a solid half Century and the Russell show at the end propelled KKR to a competitive total of 175. T Natarajan, Marco Jansen and Bhuvneshwar Kumar also did a terrific job with the ball tonight. SRH are proving to be a dangerous team now with their strong Bowling attack and also their batting slowly coming into the groove.

MI vs LSG, 26th Match Preview

The time is ticking for the Mumbai Indians. The 5 time champions are looking down the barrel as they are yet to open their account in this season so far in the 5 matches they have played. Their next challenge will be against the newbies Lucknow Super Giants who have had a much better start to their campaign compared to their opponents winning 3 games out of 5.

To be honest, Mumbai have got the worst bowling lineup this season. Apart from Bumrah, no other bowler is looking like taking a wicket at any time. They will have to make changes in that bowling lineup by including either Fabian Allen or Riley Meredith. The former will also be handy with the bat as well as he is a live wire in the field. Their batting has been disappointing apart from Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma. Dewald Brevis was exceptional the other night against Punjab as he took Rahul Chahar to the cleaners. They will be looking to their Openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan for Powerplay fireworks which has been a rarity this season. They might also be tempted to bring back Tim David to strengthen the batting. It was a harsh call from the management to drop him without giving much opportunity.

Lucknow was talked about being the most balanced side on paper before before the start of the season and they have lived up to that expectations so far. They have got the batting depth as we saw in the last game where Stoinis coming in at No.8 almost took them over the line against Rajasthan. But when you have so many options you tend to take unnecessary punts as LSG did that night by Sending K Gowtham and Holder ahead of Deepak Hooda and Marcus Stoinis which cost them the valuable 2 points. They have got a solid bowling attack with the likes of Holder, Avesh, Bishnoi, Chameera and even Krunal Pandya who have been impressive for them.

MI will be desperate to open their account but Lucknow will not make it easy for them.

SRH vs KKR, Match 25 Preview

It is gonna be a ‘Good Friday’ tonight for either the Sunrisers Hyderabad or for the Kolkata Knight Riders as they face off against each other tonight (15 April) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai

Sunrisers who lost their first 2 games have found their mojo in the last 2 games and have 2 wins in 4 matches. They eased passed the Chennai Super Kings first and then handed Gujarat Lions their first defeat of the season. Their bowling has been fantastic with Natarajan, Bhuvi Kumar, Marco Jansen & Washington Sundar strangling the opposition. SRH have been dealt with a serious blow as Washington Sundar has been ruled out for one week due to an injury (split webbing) he picked up in the last game. So that will be a huge miss for them as he contributed with both bat and bowl for them. It will be interesting to see if SRH go with the leg spinner Shreyas Gopal or left arm spinner J Suchith in Sundar’s place. Their batters Abhishek Sharma, Kane Williamson, Rahul Tripathi are in good touch and they will be pleading Nicholas Pooran to finish more games for them. Kane Williamson got back amongst the runs scoring a classy half Century in the last game. Abhishek Sharma has been brilliant at the top in last 2 games giving the team good starts along with the ever consistent Rahul Tripathi.

KKR, on the other hand have had a great start to the tournament winning 3 out of 5 games. In their previous game their bowlers were taken to the cleaners by the Delhi Capitals batters except for Sunil Narine. Varun Chakravarthy has not looked effective so far as he is proving to be costly which was not the case for past couple of years. Umesh Yadav has been in excellent form but only at the start of the innings as we have seen over the years that he gets hammered in the slog overs. Cummins also hasn’t quite lived to his potential. On the batting front apart from Shreyas Iyer and Andre Russell to some extent none of the KKR batters have made any significant contributions. They need to take a call whether they want to continue with Rahane at the top or replace him as he hasn’t got them off to good starts. The other batters have got starts but will need to convert them into big ones for KKR to be a dominant force going ahead.

The pitch at the Brabourne Stadium has been a batting paradise with scores of above 200 being chased down here. The Captain who wins the toss would definitely want to bowl as dew would play a major role in the outcome of the this game. Should be a cracking contest…

RR vs GT, Match 24 Review

Who would have thought before the tournament started that Gujarat Titans will be at the top of the points table. But they are now courtesy of 3D performance from Hardik Pandya. He was everywhere tonight first with the bat playing a swashbuckling innings of 87*. Abhinav Manohar also made a vital contribution of 43 runs & Miller’s extraordinary finish helped Gujarat post a mammoth total of 192 runs. Rajasthan bowling was lacklustre today as they dearly missed the services of Trent Boult in the Powerplay and in the slog overs.

Rajasthan had a depth in their batting tonight with Neesham playing at No.8 and the pitch been very good for batting. 2 nights before RCB almost chased down 216 against CSK. Rajasthan were off to a flier as Buttler decimated Gujarat bowlers as he got to his 50 in the Powerplay itself. But then a sensational Lockie Ferguson yorker ended his innings and from there Rajasthan fell like a pack of cards. Hardik Pandya threw a rocket to send Sanju Samson Packing and Shami getting the in form Hetmyer ended Rajasthan’s chances of chasing this total. It was a sensational bowling performance from Lockie Ferguson and the debutant Yash Dayal both picking 3 wickets a piece. In the end we have to say it was a Hardik Pandya day tonight which has pushed Gujarat to the top of the table.

RR vs GT, Match 24 Preview

It’s the clash of the 2 most consistent teams with Rajasthan taking on Gujarat. Both teams have done really well so far and a win here could take them to the top of the table. RR and GT have got some of the best bowlers in their ranks.

It will be interesting to see which bowling attack comes out on top and take their team over the line. Batting of both these teams has been decent with Buttler, Hetmyer contributing for RR while Gill, Hardik, Manohar are the Pillars of the GT batting.

Hoping to see an exciting contest between these two neighbouring states.