May 7: Punjab Kings v Rajasthan Royals, 52nd Match, Wankhede Stadium Safe XI: Jos Buttler (capt), Sanju Samson, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (vice-capt), Shimron Hetmyer, R Ashwin, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Sen Captain: Jos Buttler This season’s leading run-scorer with 588 runs in ten outings at an average of 65.33 is our choice for captain for the safe XI. He has scored 386 runs in…
Cricket’s return to the Asian Games after a gap of eight years has been delayed with the tournament postponed until 2023. The 19th edition of the Games was supposed to take place between September 10 and 25 in Hangzhou but a surge of Covid-19 cases in China has forced a chance of plans. Cricket made its debut at the Asian Games in 2010 in Guangzhou. In 2014, the last time…
Big picture Two sides who are beginning to forget the art of winning face off in a fixture that has big implications. Three losses in their last five games has left Punjab Kings playing catch up in the race for the playoffs. Rajasthan Royals, too, seem to be slipping just as the teams below them are making their charge. Both teams need a win. Anything less and their lives could…
Mohammad Amir is back playing first-class cricket again. Two-and-a-half years after announcing the end of his Test career, the left-arm fast bowler is back in whites. Amir signed up with Gloucestershire county cricket club in England as a replacement for Naseem Shah and picked up his first wickets of the season on Thursday. Still only 30 years old, and trotting the globe playing white-ball cricket, Amir’s performances led to the…
Given the kind of IPL season Rovman Powell was having, Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant went to his room after their previous game and asked him where he wanted to bat. Powell, who had scored just 135 runs in eight innings at 19.28, told his captain: “Just trust me and let me bat at No. 5.” Powell had started this IPL at No. 6, then batted twice at No. 5…
Warwickshire 273 for 7 (Sibley 118*, Bailey 3-50) vs Lancashire Dominic Sibley will never be a gainly cricketer but he might become an exceptionally effective one once more. Those Warwickshire and England supporters who watched Sibley struggle dreadfully when playing Test cricket last summer would be heartened by such a renaissance and they may be further encouraged when Sibley finally talks about the work he did over the winter. The…
Sunrisers Hyderabad pace sensation Umran Malik clocked the fastest ball of IPL 2022 on Thursday evening, bowling one at 156.9 kph against Delhi Capitals in his side’s 21-run loss. His coach Tom Moody had recently likened him to a Ferrari, and the 22-year-old duly pressed the accelerator to record one of the fastest deliveries in the tournament’s history: he was nearly 0.7 kph faster than Anrich Nortje‘s 156.22 kph delivery…
Surrey 261 for 6 (Burns 107, Curran 71*, Procter 3-51) vs Northamptonshire The clock is ticking. England’s first Test under new leadership – in the form of a managing director, a coach, a captain, support staff and possibly a selector – is four weeks away and their opponents New Zealand have already named their touring party. With a squad expected to be announced within the next two weeks, there are…
Durham 339 for 3 (Dickson 104, Borthwick 80*, Bedingham 69*) vs Worcestershire Just as people who come to Worcester to watch cricket routinely extol the magnificence of the cathedral, but barely notice the spire of St Andrew’s further along the skyline, so Sean Dickson knew that he would be overshadowed the moment Ben Stokes came to the crease. But Stokes’ first innings since being appointed England captain, and only his…
Delhi Capitals 207 for 3 (Warner 92*, Powell 67*) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 186 for 8 (Pooran 62, Khaleel 3-30) by 21 runs David Warner took centre stage in the clash between his current franchise and the one that unceremoniously dumped him last season, an unbeaten 92 from 58 setting up Delhi Capitals for a comfortable victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad, and a much-needed two points in their quest to force a…