Four losses from five matches. That’s the number that has pushed Kolkata Knight Riders into genuine restructuring territory. The problems aren’t subtle or hard to locate. The opening pair hasn’t fired, the bowling unit has been disrupted by injuries, and a high-profile auction signing hasn’t delivered what was expected. KKR is a team built to […]
KKR’s problems this season aren’t about players failing. They’re about players being put in positions where succeeding is almost impossible. Cameron Green is the clearest example. Sunil Narine’s opening is an experiment that creates more questions than answers. The middle overs have become a phase where partnerships accumulate without applying any pressure on the opposition. […]
Gujarat Titans have enough talent to be genuine contenders this season. The problem isn’t quality in isolation; it’s how the moving parts are affecting each other. A middle order that can’t accelerate when it matters. A top order structure so dependent on two players that one bad day reshapes the entire innings. Powerplay bowlers who […]
Josh Hazlewood doesn’t produce the kind of highlights that end up on social media at midnight. He won’t bowl a 150kph delivery that sends a stump cartwheeling, and he won’t swing a ball 40 metres in the air the way Starc can on his best day. What he does instead is quietly dismantle batting plans […]
Gujarat Titans aren’t just the form side going into this fixture. They’re the side better equipped for exactly the conditions Narendra Modi Stadium produces. KKR arrive in Ahmedabad searching for answers to problems that have compounded across multiple games: a batting order that’s been reshuffled out of its optimal shape, a bowling unit that has […]
RCB posted 240. RCB won. Virat Kohli scored 50. Those three facts should coexist comfortably. The reason they don’t is the fourth fact: his 50 came off 38 balls at a strike rate of 131 in a match where the surface demanded 180-plus and the batting lineup around him produced it. Rajat Patidar scored 50 […]
Riyan Parag is a natural aggressive batter. His best cricket arrives when he commits to attacking intent without the cognitive weight of captaincy decisions occupying his mental space simultaneously. In IPL, he is captaining Rajasthan Royals while trying to bat in the same innings he’s been managing from the field. The mental transition from captain […]
Phil Salt scored 78 off 36 balls against the Mumbai Indians at Wankhede. Six fours. Six sixes. Strike rate above 200 through the powerplay. RCB posted 240. MI chased 222. The 18-run margin traces directly to the platform Salt built before the fifth over was complete. His 132 runs from four IPL innings at 178.37 […]
Five Indian bowlers. Five IPL debuts. Five four-wicket spells. From Shadab Jakati’s spin masterclass on South African pitches in 2009 to Praful Hinge taking three wickets in a single over in 2026, the pattern is consistent. Debut bowlers carry one advantage no amount of preparation can neutralise: batting teams have zero footage. No length preferences […]
SRH’s bowling attack was predictable. Repetitive medium pace on flat surfaces. No genuine threat when the ball wasn’t swinging. No variation that batters couldn’t read with a few deliveries of information. Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain changed that in their debut match against the Rajasthan Royals. Hinge’s skiddy pace combined with a late swing. Hussain’s […]