VIVO IPL 2021, MATCH 10 RCB VS KKR – MATCH REPORT

Royal Challengers Bangalore registered their third win on the bounce after beating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Match 10 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the M. A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.

Glenn Maxwell’s explosiveness and AB de Villiers’ clean hitting was on full display as RCB put forward a commanding total of 204/4 and successfully defended the same against KKR, who fell short of the target by 38 runs.

KKR, who remained unchanged from their previous defeat, had a massive target of 205 to chase and needed an explosive start from openers – Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill.

Gill went berserk in the second over, clobbering two sixes and a four to Kyle Jamieson before the right-arm pacer got the KKR opener in an eventful over, thanks to a diving catch from Dan Christian at mid-on.  

Tripathi, who walked in at 3 ,went after the RCB attack right from ball one and smashed 4 boundaries. But Washington Sundar got Tripathi caught near square-leg at the end of powerplay, with KKR 57-2 after 6 overs.

Rana went after Chahal straightway and hit the leg-spinner for two boundaries in an over but the trend of six and out continued for KKR as Rana tried to hit one more out of the park, only to find Devdutt Padikkal in the outfield as Chahal scalped his first wicket of the season.

KKR were completely on the backfoot and Chahal made the KKR feel that pressure with dot balls. Dinesh Karthik was the next man to be dismissed after getting rapped on the front pad, facing Chahal and KKR were 83-4 at the 10-overs mark.

Eoin Morgan, the KKR skipper, was still out in the middle, along with Shakib Al Hasan as the duo built a steady partnership and added 24 in the next three overs.

Both Morgan and Shakib targeted Maxwell and hit a six each in the 13th over but the KKR skipper departed after he was caught by Virat Kohli at extra-cover off Harshal Patel who got the vital wicket of Morgan.

With 79 required off the final four, Andre Russell, who joined Shakib at the crease, hammered Chahal for 20 runs, smacking three boundaries and a six to the leg-spinner.

The West-Indian all-rounder further crunched Jamieson for a six but the right-arm seamer finished on a high note after hitting the timber to dismiss Shakib and then got Cummins caught behind on the final ball.

KKR required 44 off 12 deliveries as Mohammad Siraj bowled an exceptional penultimate over to Russell, giving away just 1 run and prevented Russell from opening his arms.

Harshal bowled the final over and rattled Russell’s stumps and it was game over for KKR as RCB won by 38 runs to complete a hat-trick of wins.

Earlier, RCB, who made one change, bringing in Rajat Patidar in place of Daniel Christian and played with three overseas players, elected to bat.

KKR started with spinners from both ends and it turned out to be a rewarding move as Varun Chakravarthy scalped the wickets of RCB skipper Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar in the second over.

First, the RCB skipper tried to slice it over covers but was caught by Rahul Tripathi who took a brilliant running catch while Patidar was castled by the off-spinner, completely beaten on the inside edge.

However, Padikkal and Maxwell teamed up to lead the recovery for RCB as they finished the powerplay with a total of 45/2 and the switch-hit was out for the Big Show, who smashed 17 off the sixth over.

Chakravarthy was back to bowl the seventh over as KKR overstepped for the third time in the game. Maxwell greeted the free-hit with a flat six followed by a boundary behind square leg and RCB were on the move.

Maxwell brought up his second consecutive half-century, that too off 28 deliveries and the fearless approach worked in favour of the right-hander while the pressure moved back to KKR, with RCB 84-2 at the 10-over mark.

Padikkal took some inspiration from Maxwell played the reverse paddle for four before the left-hander holed out to deep mid-wicket as Tripathi completed his second catch of the game.

de Villiers joined Maxwell in the middle and although the next couple of overs were quiet, RCB had an opportunity to finish on a high with the situation they were in.

The AB-Maxi show was on display after the duo smashed 17 runs off Chakravarthy, who bowled his final over. First de Villiers hit consecutive boundaries to the leg-spinner and then Maxwell hammered the last ball for six with a trademark switch-hit. 

The 16th over wasn’t any different as de Villiers went after Prasidh Krishna to bring up 11 runs off the over and a fifty-run stand with Maxwell for the fifth wicket.

Pat Cummins provided the all-important breakthrough for KKR, bringing an end to Maxwell’s fine innings of 78(49) with extra bounce.

de Villiers, as always for RCB, calm under pressure, with excellent strokes in his offering, finished the innings in grand fashion. The right-hander, supported well by Kyle Jamieson added 56 runs in the last three overs, smacking four sixes at the back-end of the innings.

de Villiers also brought up his fifty off just 27 deliveries and powered RCB to a commanding total of 204/4.

Brief Scores:  Royal Challengers Bangalore: 204-4 (Glenn Maxwell 78, AB de Villiers 76*; Varun Chakravarthy 2/39) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 166-8 (Andre Russell 31, Eoin Morgan 29; Kyle Jamieson 3-41) by 38 runs.

VIVO IPL 2021, MATCH 9 MI VS SRH – MATCH REPORT

Mumbai Indians (MI) registered their second consecutive victory in the season after beating the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Match 9 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the M. A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.

Rahul Chahar delivered once again with the ball while Hardik Pandya’s fielding brilliance including a couple of direct hits on the field  encouraged an impressive comeback into the game and defended their total of 150/5 against SRH.

Chasing 150, Jonny Bairstow, who was back in the role of the opener, and David Warner were watchful against the duo of Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah in the first two overs. 

However, Bairstow didn’t hold back for too long, as he hammered 18 runs off the third over, smacking three fours and a six off Boult, bringing his stand and deliver ability into the chase.

The right-hander then went after MI debutant Adam Milne and scored 19 off the fourth over, adding two more sixes to the count. 

SRH made the most out of the powerplay, scoring 57/0 in the 6 overs, with Bairstow striking the ball as clean as anyone else. 

The right-hander got out in an anticlimactic way – a hit-wicket dismissal that provided MI a breakthrough out of nowhere.

MI cleverly capitalised on that Bairstow dismissal and brought Rahul Chahar into the attack. The leg-spinner managed to dismiss Manish Pandey for 2 to bring MI right back into the contest.

SRH were 74/2 at the 10-overs mark as Warner continued playing his shots against the MI spinners before the SRH skipper fell victim to an excellent direct-hit from Hardik Pandya inside the circle that ended his innings of 36.

Milne made an impressive comeback and considered only 6 runs in the 14th over as Vijay Shankar and Virat Singh were placed in a tricky situation in the chase. 

In the next over, Chahar scalped two wickets, dismissing Virat and Abhishek Sharma in the same over, with both batsmen trying to take on the leg-spinner. 

Shankar brought some hope into the SRH chase after smacking Krunal Pandya for consecutive sixes as Sunrisers required 31 off the final four overs, with Abdul Samad at other end. 

Bumrah bowled the 17th over and conceded only four runs as SRH tried taking the chase deep. Another bullet-throw from Hardik in the game ended Samad’s innings. 

With 21 required off the final two, Bumrah got the crucial wicket of Shankar in the penultimate over and Boult castled Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed in the final over that meant SRH were bundled out for 137.

Earlier, MI decided to put runs on the board after winning the toss. The Rohit Sharma-led unit brought in Adam Milne, who was playing his first game of MI, replacing Marco Jansen. 

Quinton de Kock and Rohit got off to a confident start, smashing three boundaries in the first two overs, with SRH being a little sloppy in the field early on.

Spin was introduced early on by SRH to tackle Rohit but the MI skipper counter-attacked with a boundary and a six each off Mujeeb Ur Rahman and later muscled Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s slower delivery for a maximum.  

de Kock joined the party with some improvisation, playing a scoop over fine leg to Khaleel Ahmed, as the fifty was up for the opening duo at the end of powerplay.

However, Rohit was dismissed in the next over as lack of pace did the trick for Vijay Shankar, giving SRH their first wicket. 

Suryakumar Yadav, who was the next man in, got off the mark with a stylish boundary. The right-hander followed that with two more crisp-looking shots, especially the one that was lofted inside out, all the way for a maximum before Vijay Shankar took a sharp catch off his own bowling and dismissed the MI batsman.

The breakthrough forced de Kock and Ishan Kishan to play out a couple of quiet overs in the middle, with MI placed at 75/2 at the halfway mark. 

The duo kept rotating the strike but the SRH spinners didn’t allow them to switch to aggressive mode, forcing de Kock to play an aerial shot off Mujeeb Ur Rahman, straight to the outfielder at mid-wicket and the left-hander was gone for a well-made 40.

With four overs to go, SRH continued to bowl with Mujeeb, who was clubbed for a giant 105m six by Kieron Pollard before the SRH spinner got rid of Kishan, thanks to a fine catch by Bairstow behind the stumps.

Hardik, who came in at 6, was unable to add the finishing touch after he was caught in the deep by an excellent running catch from Virat Singh in the penultimate over as Khaleel Ahmed scalped his first wicket. 

However, Pollard didn’t let SRH get away with their death bowling excellence after the right-handed West Indian batsman tonked the final two deliveries for six, allowing MI to reach the 150 mark and put a competitive total on board. 

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 150/5 (Quinton de Kock 40, Kieron Pollard 35*; Vijay Shankar 2/19) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 137 all out (Jonny Bairstow 43, David Warner 36; Rahul Chahar 3/19) by 13 runs.

VIVO IPL 2021, MATCH 8 PBKS VS CSK – MATCH REPORT

The bowlers led from the front once again in the early stage of the season as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) secured their first victory of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, beating Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Match 8 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.

Deepak Chahar’s remarkable four-wicket haul helped CSK restrict PBKS to 106/8 before they chased down the target with more than four overs to spare.

CSK made a cautious start with the bat, chasing 107. Nothing to take away though from the PBKS pacers – Mohammad Shami and Jhye Richardson – who were right on the money with the new ball, conceding only eight runs in the first three overs.

Faf du Plessis then switched gears, smacking 2 fours and a perfectly executed scoop that went all the way for a maximum, scoring 14 off the fourth over by Richardson.

Arshdeep Singh, the star from PBKS’ last game, came into action and dismissed the struggling Ruturaj Gaikwad after the right-hander holed out in the deep.

Moeen Ali was the next man in, and the left-hander was right on the attack, creaming two boundaries off Riley Meredith to take CSK to 32/1 at the end of 6 overs.

Both Ali and du Plessis kept rotating the strike without taking big risks as CSK sailed past fifty in the eighth over, in total control of the chase.

At the halfway mark, CSK were going a touch over 6 runs per over with Moeen Ali doing the majority of hitting. The left-hander came out with positive intent as he smashed a couple of boundaries off the leader of the PBKS bowling attack, Mohammad Shami.

Nothing seemed to work in PBKS’ favour after an overthrow in the 12th over went all the way for four. 

In the next over, Moeen Ali launched one off Murugan Ashwin, over long-on for a maximum. While he was caught in the deep in the same over, he ensured the damage was done after scoring 46 off 31 balls. 

Shami came in to bowl the 15th over and created some late damage for CSK after picking 2 wickets in 2 balls, dismissing Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu respectively.

With 4 runs required, Sam Curran finished off the chase in style, with a boundary and CSK chased down the total.

Earlier, CSK and PBKS both retained the same playing XIs from their respective last game, with the former putting the latter in to bat first on a fresh Wankhede surface.

CSK were on fire with the new ball after getting rid of both the PBKS openers.

Chahar castled Mayank Agarwal’s stumps in the very first over, hitting the top of off-stump followed by Ravindra Jadeja’s outstanding fielding effort – a direct hit – inside the circle that ran out the PBKS skipper, KL Rahul.

Chahar was back to bowl the fifth over and there was no stopping the right-arm seamer who struck twice in an over.

First, he dismissed Gayle with a beautiful knuckle delivery after Jadeja took a brilliant diving catch, and later got Nicholas Pooran for a duck, with a short ball that was hit straight to the outfielder at fine leg. 

PBKS were struggling at 26-4 at the end of powerplay. While the CSK seamers were bowling tight lengths from one end, the CSK skipper decided to finish Chahar’s quota as the bowler scalped his 4th wicket of the innings after Deepak Hooda, who struck one boundary, chipped it into the hands of du Plessis at mid-off.

Shahrukh Khan, along with Richardson formed a vital partnership for the sixth wicket, adding 31 runs with the help of three fours and a six, and managed to score some crucial runs against the CSK spinners. 

However, Moeen Ali put an end to the same, crashing one into the stumps of Richardson, providing the sixth wicket for CSK. 

Shahrukh kept the boundaries flowing, despite wickets tumbling at one end and raced off to 39. Dwayne Bravo got Murugan Ashwin out and the PBKS were struggling at 87-7 at the end of the 17th over.

The Punjab Kings brought their hundred up in the penultimate over bowled by Bravo, who conceded only 4 runs.

Shahrukh Khan fell just three runs short of his half-century after he tried to smack Sam Curran for a maximum, only to find Jadeja in the deep. PBKS finished with a total of 106-8, scoring only 6 runs in the final over of the innings.

Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 107/4 (Moeen Ali 46, Faf du Plessis 36*; Mohammad Shami 2/21) beat Punjab Kings 106/8 (Shahrukh Khan 47, Jhye Richardson 15; Deepak Chahar 4/13) by 6 wickets

VIVO IPL 2021, MATCH 7 RR VS DC – MATCH REPORT

Rajasthan Royals (RR) won their first game of the season after beating the Delhi Capitals (DC) in Match 7 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.

A fifty from David Miller and a terrific cameo from Chris Morris at the end sealed the victory for the RR in yet another low-scoring thriller.

Chasing 148 to win, Manan Vohra and Jos Buttler opened the innings for RR. While Vohra hit two consecutive boundaries off Chris Woakes after a couple of quiet overs at the start, the right-arm pacer dismissed the RR openers in the same over, guiding DC to the start they wanted. 

First, Vohra, who tried to go aerial, was holed out to Rabada at long-on before Pant took a terrific catch to get Buttler out.

The Royals were in all sorts of trouble after skipper Sanju Samson edged it straight to Dhawan at slips after getting beaten with Rabada’s pace as RR finished their powerplay at 26-3.

Shivam Dube was the next man to get out as Avesh Khan got the better of Dube, with his pace that produced a thick-edge straight to the fly-slip. 

The pacer then varied his pace, deceiving Riyan Parag, who got the height but not the distance as Dhawan completed his third catch of the innings. 

The Royals were 52-5 at the halfway mark. After a couple of quiet overs, Miller welcomed Marcus Stoinis into the attack with three boundaries in a row that sounded beautifully off the bat.

Tewatia, who had joined Miller in the middle after Riyan Parag’s fall, complimented Miller, scoring a couple of fours off Tom Curran in the 14th over, forming a vital partnership for the sixth wicket.

DC skipper Pant handed the ball to Rabada in the 15th over and the seamer provided the breakthrough, dismissing Tewatia with pace and bounce.

Miller then brought up his fifty and was going strong, carrying the hopes for the RR, who required 58 off the final five overs to secure a win.

In the 16th over, Miller clobbered two consecutive sixes against Avesh Khan and was right in the zone before Avesh got him out on the fifth delivery after the left-hander attempted to complete a hat-trick of sixes.

It was a tough equation that was out of reach for RR at the end after losing 7 wickets, with Morris and Unadkat at the crease.

With seven wickets down and 43 runs to get in the last four overs, RR were on the backfoot and the pressure mounted further as they could only score 16 runs over the course of the 17th and the 18th over.

RR required 27 off the last 2 over. The 19th over then swung the momentum in RR’s favour as Morris clubbed two sixes off Rabada to bring down the target to 12 runs off the final over.

DC opted to give Tom Curran the responsibility to defend those 12 runs. But Morris, as calm as ever, tonked two sixes off the England pacer, and got RR over the line.

Earlier, Sanju Samson won the toss and opted to bowl against DC. Chetan Sakariya, who made a fine debut in the previous game started off well against the DC openers – Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan – giving away just 2 runs in the first over of the innings.

Jaydev Unadkat, on the other end, built severe pressure with dot balls and found a breakthrough as Shaw ran out of patience, edging the ball straight to backward point in the second over of the match. 

The left-arm pacer then got rid of Dhawan in the fourth over of the innings, courtesy a screamer from the RR wicketkeeper-batsman and skipper, Samson.

Pant smacked a few boundaries to get things going but the powerplay belonged to Jaydev Unadkat, who scalped his third wicket inside the six overs after dismissing Ajinkya Rahane, helping RR limit DC to 36/3 after 6 overs.

Mustafizur Rahman joined the wicket-taking party after deceiving Marcus Stoinis with a slow cutter, getting the DC all-rounder out for a duck. Lalit Yadav, who joined Pant, played a couple of confident strokes for fours in the eighth over.

DC were still striking below 6 at the end of ten overs, placed at 57-4, with Pant and Lalit in the middle.

The left-hander shifted gears and scored 20 runs off the 11th over bowled by Rahul Tewatia, smacking four fours. He brought up his half-century with a four, and helped DC recover from a difficult phase.

However, Pant ran himself out, thanks to an excellent direct hit from Riyan Parag off his own bowling as RR broke the important partnership between Pant and Lalit.

Yet another outstanding piece of fielding from the Royals contributed to a dismissal after Tewatia ran backwards and took a well-judged catch to dismiss Lalit.

With four overs to go, Curran and Woakes had the task of finishing  the DC innings on a higher note. The duo hit three boundaries and added 28 runs before Curran was castled by Mustafizur’s slower-cutter.  

R Ashwin got run out in the same over after trying to sneak in a double. DC scored 11 runs off the final over bowled by Sakariya and finished their innings with a total of 147/8.

Brief Scores:  Rajasthan Royals 150/7 (David Miller 62, Chris Morris 36*; Avesh Khan 3/32) beat Delhi Capitals 147/8 (Rishabh Pant 51, Tom Curran 21; Jaydev Unadkat 3/15) by 3 wickets.

VIVO IPL 2021, MATCH 6 SRH VS RCB – MATCH REPORT

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) won their second consecutive game after beating the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Match 6 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.

RCB produced a monumental comeback with the ball after Shahbaz Ahmed struck thrice in one over and managed to defend a total of 149 against SRH

Chasing a total of 150, the SRH openers – David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha – got off to a cautious start, scoring 13 in the first two overs.

Mohammed Siraj built the pressure early on with the new ball, forcing Saha to play a rash shot which went straight into the hands of Maxwell at backward point in the third over.

However, SRH attacked the pace of Kyle Jamieson, smashing 17 off the 4th over with Warner and Manish Pandey hitting a six each.

The SRH skipper shifted the gears and the fifty was up for the Sunrisers, inside the powerplay. Both – Pandey and Warner – looked extremely comfortable in the middle and put the pressure on the RCB spinners.

The fifty-run partnership was up between the two as RCB continued to search for the breakthrough.

At the halfway mark, SRH were 77/1 and were pacing the chase to perfection. Warner, leading from the front, then notched up his 49th half-century in IPL.

However, Jamieson provided RCB a much-needed breakthrough as he dismissed Warner in the 14th over.

SRH though were still in control of the chase, with 42 needed from the final five overs.

RCB skipper Kohli then handed the ball to Shahbaz Ahmed in the 17th over and it turned out to be a match-changing move as the left-arm spinner scalped 3 wickets in an over.

He dismissed Jonny Bairstow and Pandey on consecutive deliveries and then got Abdul Samad out on the final delivery, with all three batsmen attempting to clear the ropes.

The pressure built on SRH as they further lost two wickets. First, Harshal Patel got rid of Vijay Shankar, courtesy a running catch from Kohli in the 18th over and later, Siraj dismissed Jason Holder after he holed out in the deep in the penultimate over.

Harshal Patel had 16 runs to defend in the final over. While he bowled a no-ball, he kept his composure and scalped a wicket, helping RCB seal a stunning 6-run win.

Earlier, RCB, who were put in to bat, made one change to their playing XI, bringing in Devdutt Padikkal in place of Rajat Patidar.

While Kohli opened his account with a boundary straight down the ground, Padikkal struck a couple of fours on the other end. However, Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed the left-hander with a back of a length delivery.

All-rounder Ahmed joined Kohli, who played some stylish flicks, pushing RCB to 47-1 at the end of the powerplay.

Nadeem came in to bowl his second over and got rid of Ahmed after he deposited the left-arm spinner’s delivery to Rashid Khan, who took a fine running catch in the outfield, giving SRH their second wicket.

RCB had to switch back to defence, with Maxwell and Kohli building a steady partnership and were going at 6 runs per over until the half-way mark.

Maxwell decided he’d had enough as the right-hander smacked 2 sixes and a four off Nadeem while Kohli creamed a four as the two scored 22 runs off the 11th over.

However, SRH managed to scalp a big wicket of Kohli after the right-hander top edged one into the outfield where Vijay Shankar did a remarkable job to complete the catch.

The Kohli dismissal was followed by another breakthrough, as Rashid Khan got AB de Villiers out for 1 in the 14th over to push RCB on the backfoot.

With 5 overs to go, the SRH bowling attack had the majority of work done and was incredibly complimented by the outfielders with the sharp catches.

Washington Sundar fell victim to yet another outstanding grab by SRH after Manish Pandey held on to one diving forward, helping Rashid get his second wicket.

While Maxwell kept the boundaries coming, he was running out of partners after Natarajan dismissed Daniel Christian for 1.

Jamieson played a helping hand to Maxwell, smashing 2 boundaries before he was dismissed by Holder in the final over of the innings.

However, Maxwell managed to make the most of the Holder over, smashing 13 runs as he brought up his first half-century for RCB as well as of the season. The right-hander was dismissed off the final delivery of the innings after guiding RCB to 149/8.

Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 149/8 (Glenn Maxwell 59, Virat Kohli 33; Jason Holder 3/30) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 143/9 (David Warner 54, Manish Pandey 38; Shahbaz Ahmed 3/7) by 6 runs

VIVO IPL 2021, MATCH 5 KKR VS MI – MATCH REPORT

Mumbai Indians (MI) secured their first victory of the season after beating the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Match 5 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday.

Rahul Chahar registered his best bowling figures (4/27) in the IPL as MI successfully defended the total of 152 against KKR. 

Chasing a target of 153, the KKR openers – Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill – took calculated risks to start off their innings, with Rana doing majority of the hitting.

The duo batted positively, targeting the pace of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult, and hitting some well-timed strokes, including a drive from Gill off Bumrah, and completed a 50-run stand soon after the conclusion of the powerplay.

The pair continued to bat on before Chahar provided a breakthrough for MI after Gill lofted one into the hands of the outfielder in the 9th over. KKR were placed at 81/1 at the halfway stage and it was Chahar once again who struck for the MI, dismissing Rahul Tripathi in the 11th over.

While Rana brought up his second consecutive half-century in the season, Chahar scalped his third wicket of the match, dismissing KKR skipper Eoin Morgan in his third over. A well-set Rana was the next man to get out as the young MI leg-spinner outfoxed the left-hander before de Kock dislodged the bails to give MI and Chahar his fourth wicket.

MI continued to mount pressure on KKR as Krunal Pandya then got the wicket of Shakib Al Hasan, who was caught in the deep by Suryakumar Yadav in the 16th over. Krunal had a chance to add one more wicket to his name but could not manage to hold on to a sharp chance as Andre Russell got a life even before he had opened his account.

The big-West Indian all-rounder got another life in Krunal’s next over as Jasprit Bumrah could not grab a skier. Krunal, to his credit, though conceded just three runs in the 18th over, exerting pressure on KKR.

Bumrah, who bowled the penultimate over, then brought his wealth of experience in bowling the death overs into play and denied the duo of Russell and Karthik a chance to open their shoulders, giving away just 4 runs.

With 15 runs to defend, Boult was given the responsibility to bowl the final over against the likes of Russell and Karthik and he delivered for the team, cleverly varying his pace as he scalped two wickets, including that of Russell and helped MI seal a stunning 10-run win.

Earlier, MI, who were asked to bat first, made one change to their playing XI as Quinton de Kock replaced Chris Lynn at the top. However, the left-hander made an early exit after being holed out in the deep off Varun Chakravarthy’s bowling in the second over.

Suryakumar Yadav, who replaced de Kock in the middle, got off to an aggressive start, creaming three boundaries in the third over off Harbhajan Singh. While KKR managed to keep Rohit Sharma quiet, Surya continued playing his shots as MI finished their powerplay at 42/1.

The right-hander smacked 16 runs off the 8th over bowled by Prasidh Krishna, hitting the pacer for a couple of boundaries along with a stylishly-flicked maximum and then brought up his fifty in style with a mammoth six off the bowling of Pat Cummins.

KKR desperately needed to break the partnership and they struck twice in quick succession, courtesy Shakib Al Hasan and Cummins. While Shakib, who was playing his 50th IPL game for KKR, dismissed Surya for 56, Cummins got the wicket of Ishan Kishan.

The duo of Rohit and Hardik Pandya then added 27 runs in the next four overs before Cummins castled the MI skipper as the latter tried to slash one on the off-side. 

KKR bowlers were magnificent at the death, not allowing the big hitters – Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard – to cause any damage as the MI wickets came in plenty.

Prasidh Krishna got Hardik out for 15 in the 17th over before Russell ran through the MI batting line-up, scalping five wickets in his two overs.

In the 18th over, Russell picked up two wickets, dismissing Kieron Pollard and Marco Jansen and then bowled a three-wicket final over and completed his maiden five-wicket haul in the IPL which helped KKR bowl out MI for 152.

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 152 all out (Suryakumar Yadav 56, Rohit Sharma 43, Andre Russell 5/15) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 142/7 (Nitish Rana 57, Shubman Gill 33, Rahul Chahar 4/27) by 10 runs

VIVO IPL 2021, MATCH 4 RR VS PBKS – MATCH REPORT

Punjab Kings (PBKS) overcame a spirited Rajasthan Royals (RR) challenge, led by a sensational Sanju Samson, and emerged victorious in a high-scoring thriller in Match 4 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.  

PBKS skipper KL Rahul led from the front, with a defining knock of 91 before Arshdeep Singh defended 13 runs in the last over, helping the side seal a 4-run win.  

Chasing a humongous total of 221, RR needed a powerful and explosive start from their openers. But they were denied the same as Mohammad Shami and Arshdeep Singh held on to catches off their own bowling to dismiss Ben Stokes and Manan Vohra respectively.

Samson and Jos Buttler had a mountain of runs to climb, but they didn’t let the pressure of early wickets affect them.

Buttler counter-attacked Riley Meredith in the fourth over, welcoming the right-arm pacer in the IPL with four fours in a row. Sanju Samson then creamed two fours in the sixth over off Arshdeep as RR moved to 59/2 at the end of powerplay.

Jhye Richardson was back into the attack after conceding 13 runs in the first over and managed to get rid of the dangerous-looking Buttler, cleverly deceiving the right-hander with a slower delivery.

The RR skipper though, continued playing his shots with the help of his supreme timing and struck a fifty on his IPL captaincy debut.  

Shivam Dube, who joined Samson, had a short stay at the crease after he holed out into the deep, granting Arshdeep his second wicket of the innings.

With 6 overs to go, Riyan Parag smashed the ball right from ball one, making things easier for his skipper at the other end. There was no shortage of entertainment as the Samson-Parag duo were on a roll, hammering 20 runs off the 16th over bowled by Murugan Ashwin. 

With 48 required off the final four overs, skipper Rahul brought Shami back into the attack and the pacer scalped the vital wicket of Riyan Parag in his final over of the match.

There was no stopping the RR skipper though as the right-hander brought up a magnificent century, becoming the first batsman to get a hundred on IPL captaincy debut.

However, PBKS managed to dismiss Rahul Tewatia as Meredith picked his maiden IPL wicket in the penultimate over. 

Samson had laid the foundation and now had the challenge to finish the innings for the team with 13 runs required off the final six deliveries.

Arshdeep, who had already scalped two wickets in the match was given the ultimate responsibility to bowl the final over. The left-arm pacer bowled phenomenally and varied his pace to perfection. With 5 runs required off the last ball, Samson sliced the ball in the air, into the deep and Deepak Hooda took a fine running catch, helping PBKS win the nail-biter of a match.  

Earlier, PBKS were put in to bat. The strong and promising duo of PBKS – skipper KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal – were up and running, smashing 21 runs off the first two overs. 

But, Chetan Sakaria, who was playing his maiden IPL game provided an early breakthrough for the Royals, dismissing Agarwal for 14 in the third over. 

Rahul was then joined by Chris Gayle, who muscled a boundary off Mustafizur Rahman, as PBKS finished the powerplay at 42/1.

Rahul got a life in the 7th over after he was dropped by Ben Stokes in the outfield, off Shreyas Gopal’s bowling.

The boundaries kept flowing off the bat for both Rahul and Gayle as the duo played some crisp shots, adding 24 runs in the next two overs to push RR on the backfoot. 

RR were desperately in need of a wicket and it was Riyan Parag, who got the big wicket of Gayle as Stokes, stationed at long-on, dived in front and grabbed a stunner to make up for his earlier drop.

Rahul, however, was going strong on one end, as he brought up his first fifty of the season in style with a maximum in the 13th over.

Hooda joined the party and got going in no time, clobbering 5 huge sixes over the course of the 13th and 14th over. First, he smashed two sixes off the medium pace of Shivam Dube, and then took Shreyas Gopal to the cleaners, with three sixes.  

PBKS were strongly placed at 161-2, with five overs to go. The Royals were struggling to pick up a wicket with both Hooda and Rahul eying to finish on a high note. The destructive duo added 26 runs off the next two overs before Hooda’s fine innings came to an end, in an attempt to clear the ropes once again.

Nicholas Pooran didn’t disturb the scorers after the left-hander got out for a first-ball duck, thanks to a spectacular catch by Sakariya, who continued to shine on his debut.

The PBKS skipper, on the other end, marched on to the nineties but RR finally got their man, after brilliant work in the outfield by Tewatia. While Sakariya scalped two wickets in the final over, PBKS ended their innings with a commanding total of 221/6.

Brief Scores: Punjab Kings 221/6 (KL Rahul 91, Deepak Hooda 64, Chetan Sakariya 3/31) beat Rajasthan Royals 217/7 (Sanju Samson 119, Riyan Parag 25, Arshdeep Singh 3/35) by 4 runs

VIVO IPL 2021, MATCH 3 SRH VS KKR – MATCH REPORT

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) registered a victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Match 3 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.

Fifties from Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi powered KKR to a competitive total and the Eoin Morgan-led unit successfully managed to hold their nerves against SRH to seal a 10-run win. 

Chasing a challenging total of 188, the SRH openers were back in the hut before they could attack the new ball. While David Warner nicked one to the keeper off the bowling of Prasidh Krishna, Wriddhiman Saha chopped a Shakib Al Hasan delivery onto the stumps.

Jonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey played steadily, ending the powerplay with 35 runs on the board. Pandey smashed a six against Shakib over long-off in the seventh over as SRH started to shift gears. Andre Russell, who bowled the next over, gave away 15 runs as Bairstow targeted him, hitting two fours and a six.

The Bairstow-Pandey duo brought up their fifty-run partnership and continued to score at a brisk pace.

However, just when it seemed that SRH were positively heading towards the target Pat Cummins dismissed Bairstow to give KKR a vital breakthrough in the 13th over. 

Pandey continued striking the ball and was joined by Mohammad Nabi who smashed two boundaries before mistiming a Prasidh Krishna delivery, giving an easy catch to KKR skipper Eoin Morgan.

Although Pandey brought up his fifty, SRH required something special at the death in order to chase the total.

While Vijay Shankar was dismissed slicing the ball straight to Morgan at covers, Abdul Samad smacked two huge sixes off Cummins in the penultimate over.

But, with SRH needing 22 runs off the last over, Russell held his nerves and helped KKR successfully defend their total.

Earlier, KKR were put in to bat on a dry wicket. Rana joined Shubman Gill in the opening slot and made a confident start to the innings, smashing three boundaries in the first two overs.

Gill, on the other end, with his glorious balance and poise, got off the mark with a four.  The slowness and the pace variations of Sandeep Sharma didn’t affect Rana’s confidence as he smashed the pacer for three boundaries in a row.

The opening duo brought up their fifty partnership, and didn’t shy away from playing the aerial shots, timing them to perfection.

With SRH needing a wicket, Warner introduced Rashid Khan into the attack in the seventh over and the leg-spinner struck in the very first over with a beautiful googly that bamboozled Gill.

In the next over, Rahul Tripathi, who joined Rana in the middle, lofted a drive for a maximum over long-off.

Rana notched up his half-century in style with a maximum, attacking the right-arm medium pacer, Vijay Shankar in the 10th over. KKR were placed at 83-1 at the halfway mark and Rana continued the exploits, making full use of the crease.

Tripathi complimented the left-hander, piling runs quickly on the other end. The right-hander, who had earlier completed 1000 IPL runs, smacked two sixes and a four in the 15th over to bring up his half-century before being dismissed by T Natarajan in the sixteenth over.

Rashid, as always came to the rescue once again for the Sunrisers after he picked the huge wicket of Russell before the right-hander could cause any damage.

SRH capitalised on that Russell dismissal as Mohammad Nabi got the dangerous-looking Rana and then dismissed the KKR skipper Morgan on consecutive deliveries.

Dinesh Karthik played a nice cameo in the end, scoring 22 off 9 deliveries as KKR finished their innings, setting a target of 188 for SRH.

Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 187-6 (Nitish Rana 80, Rahul Tripathi 53, Rashid Khan 2/24) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 177-5 (Manish Pandey 61, Jonny Bairstow 55, Prasidh Krishna 2/35) by 10 runs

VIVO IPL 2021, MATCH 2 CSK VS DC – MATCH REPORT

Delhi Capitals (DC) started their VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 campaign with a 7-wicket victory against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.

Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw’s entertaining knocks at the top helped DC chase down a challenging total with ease.

Although DC were without the services of their core overseas players like Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, they played some strong backups, with Tom Curran and Chris Woakes making their respective debuts for DC. 

Chasing a challenging target of 189, DC needed an aggressive start from their openers and the pair of Dhawan and Shaw did just that.

The runs came in very quickly and came off to good cricketing shots. While Dhawan took on Sam Curran from one end, Shaw smacked Shardul Thakur for three boundaries in a row.

Shaw was picking gaps for fun, his timing and execution was class apart as DC raced off to a total of 65 for no loss at the end of powerplay, putting pressure on the CSK bowling line-up.

CSK skipper MS Dhoni introduced spin into the attack to put an end to the opening partnership and it nearly provided them a breakthrough but Shaw got a life in the eighth over after he was dropped in the outfield off Moeen Ali’s bowling.

Shaw continued the demolition while Dhawan, on the other end, kept the runs flowing, timing the ball to perfection as the DC openers brought their respective half centuries in no time.

DC maintained their run-rate at the end of the 12 overs and the manner in which Dhawan and Shaw were striking the ball, they wanted to finish the game in a hurry.

It was Dwayne Bravo, who provided the breakthrough for the Chennai Super Kings after Shaw mistimed a wide delivery straight to Moeen Ali in the deep. Hammering 72 off 38 deliveries, the right-hander did his bit to put DC in command.

Rishabh Pant, who was captaining for the first time in the IPL joined the party after slicing a four to a short and wide delivery bowled by Deepak Chahar, who conceded 12 runs in his last over. 

Meanwhile, Dhawan continued playing with the lines of the bowlers and was simply striking the ball in the gaps. However, after smashing Shardul Thakur for two consecutive fours in the 17th over, he was trapped in front, bringing an end to a thoroughly entertaining innings.

Pant, though, stayed till the end and finished the chase in style, whipping away the fourth ball of the 19th for a four.

Earlier, CSK, who were put in to bat, lost both their openers – Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad – early. While Avesh Khan dismissed du Plessis, making the most of his pace and the Wankhede surface, Gaikwad failed to make a mark after getting caught at first slip, courtesy a sharp catch from Dhawan, providing Woakes his first wicket of the match.

Suresh Raina marked his return to the CSK side, joining Moeen Ali at the other end, after CSK found themselves in early trouble.

Moeen counter-attacked the pace of Avesh, smashing the seamer for a couple of boundaries. The fifth over saw Raina hitting consecutive fours off R Ashwin, including a trademark inside-out shot before CSK moved 33/2 at the end of powerplay.

With the scoring-rate stuck at 6, Moeen clobbered two sixes off Ashwin in the ninth over, but the right-arm spinner eventually got his man after Moeen tried getting a little too cheeky and ended up playing it into the hands of Dhawan, who took a sharp running catch.

At the halfway mark, CSK were placed at 71/3, with Raina and Ambati Rayudu out in the middle, looking to up the ante.

Raina smacked two sixes against Amit Mishra, who was bowling beautifully before the left-hander launched his googlies into the orbit with a slog sweep over deep mid-wicket.

The duo of Raina and Rayudu brought up their fifty-partnership off just 24 deliveries, leading the way through for CSK. Raina got to his fifty in style, smashing a half volley for a maximum and with it, became the first batsman to score a fifty of the season.

Tom Curran helped DC pull the things back after getting the crucial wicket of Rayudu as Dhawan safely grabbed yet another catch in the innings. Ravindra Jadeja joined Raina out in the middle and struck two boundaries on the first two deliveries that he faced.

With five overs to go, DC managed to get the all-important wicket of the dangerous-looking Raina, after the left-hander was involved in a mix-up with Jadeja, eventually running himself out.

Adding to the worries of CSK, skipper MS Dhoni got out on the second delivery that he faced, providing Avesh his second wicket.

CSK reached the 150-mark at the end of 17 overs, hoping to finish on a high note. Avesh bowled beautifully at the death, ending with figures of 2-23 off his four overs.

Sam Curran clubbed two sixes and a four in the penultimate over and it was his brother, Tom at the receiving end.

Curran and Jadeja brought up the fifty-run stand, powering CSK to a comprehensive total before Woakes hit the timber on the last ball of the innings.

Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 190/3 (Shikhar Dhawan 85, Prithvi Shaw 72, Shardul Thakur 2-53) beat Chennai Super Kings 188/7 (Suresh Raina 54, Moeen Ali 36, Chris Woakes 2/18) by 7 wickets

VIVO IPL 2021, MATCH 1 MI VS RCB – MATCH REPORT

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) kicked off their VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 campaign with a 2-wicket win against the Mumbai Indians (MI) on Friday at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. 

Harshal Patel starred with the ball, picking a fifer and AB de Villiers provided the finishing touch, giving RCB their first win of the season. 

Chris Lynn along with the six-foot-eight-inch left-arm Proteas seamer, Marco Jansen made their respective debuts for MI. 

Chasing a total of 160, Washington Sundar, who opened the batting for the first time in the IPL was dropped off Boult on the second ball of the innings. The RCB skipper Virat Kohli at the other end got off the mark with a leading edge that raced away to the boundary. 

RCB openers started confidently, tackling the pace of Boult and Bumrah, and subsequently attacking the young left-arm pacer, Jansen. 

Krunal Pandya provided the early breakthrough for MI, dismissing Sundar in the 5th over.   Rajat Patidar, who walked in next, hit a boundary before he was knocked over by a beauty from Boult, giving MI their second wicket.  

Maxwell joined skipper Kohli in the middle with RCB trying to rebuild after two wickets falling inside the powerplay. 

Rahul Chahar was introduced into the attack and Glenn Maxwell took the leg-spinner on, perfectly executing his trademark switch hit and later played a lofted drive inside out, producing the same result. 

At the halfway stage, RCB were 75-2 with both Maxwell and Kohli looking settled. In the eleventh over, Maxwell tonked Krunal Pandya for a maximum that went deep into the night sky and out of Chepauk. 

RCB were cruising, thanks to the Big Show and MI were desperately looking for a breakthrough. Jasprit Bumrah was brought back to the attack and he got the job done for the team, dismissing the RCB skipper in the 13th over. 

MI got two timely wickets in quick succession including the wicket of well-settled Maxwell. But AB de Villiers, who was joined by Daniel Christian, got 15 runs off Rahul Chahar, getting RCB closer to the ask, with four overs to go.

Skipper Rohit Sharma handed over the ball to the best in the business – Jasprit Bumrah and he delivered once again, dismissing Daniel Christian and conceding just 5 runs in the 17th over.

AB de Villiers kept RCB’s hopes alive after the righthander smashed 15 runs off the 18th over bowled by Boult as well as struck two crucial boundaries against Bumrah in the penultimate over.  

With 3 runs required off the last 3 deliveries, de Villiers ran himself out in an attempt to steal a double but RCB got off the line, winning on the last ball. 

Earlier, RCB, who elected to bowl first, were joined by some fresh faces in the squad in the form of Glenn Maxwell, Kyle Jamieson, and Rajat Patidar. Daniel Christian was also back after eight years for the same franchise. 

The MI openers got off to a watchful start with both Siraj and Jamieson being right on the money with the new ball, conceding only 12 runs in the first three overs. 

Rohit Sharma eased off the pressure after lofting Chahal over mid-on for the first six of the season but was soon run out after a slight confusion between the MI skipper and Chris Lynn, giving RCB their first breakthrough. 

Suryakumar Yadav, who was the next man in, got off the mark in style with a boundary as the Mumbai Indians reached 41/1 at the end of the powerplay. 

Although Lynn took his time to settle, the right-hander was up and running after he took on the left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed, smashing 14 runs in the over. A front-foot no-ball from Harshal Patel bettered Lynn’s confidence as the right-hander took full advantage of the free hit. 

The duo negated the early wicket pressure after bringing up the fifty partnership between the two as the Mumbai Indians moved to 86/1 at the halfway stage.

Kyle Jamieson provided the all-important breakthrough of the dangerous-looking Suryakumar Yadav in the 11th over after skipper Virat Kohli handed over the ball to the right-arm pacer, eventually turning out to be a fruitful decision. 

Washington Sundar was introduced in the 13th over and he made it count by taking an excellent running catch off his own bowling to dismiss Chris Lynn, who fell one short of his fifty. 

Despite losing wickets in quick succession, Hardik Pandya and Ishan Kishan ensured the boundaries kept coming in for the Mumbai Indians as they approached the business end of the innings.  

Harshal Patel broke the 30-run partnership with a cleverly bowled slower delivery that trapped Hardik Pandya, who walked across the stumps, followed by Ishan Kishan who was dismissed in the same fashion, after being dropped twice in the deep. 

The pacer was back to bowl the final over of the innings and managed to get rid of Krunal Pandya and Keiron Pollard on consecutive deliveries, and then castled Jansen’s stumps in the same over, becoming the first-ever bowler in IPL history to register a fifer against the Mumbai Indians. 

Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 160/8 (AB de Villiers 48, Maxwell 39, Bumrah 2/26) beat Mumbai Indians 159/9 (Chris Lynn 49, Suryakumar Yadav 31, Harshal Patel 5/27) by 2 wickets

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