Three consecutive losses to start the season. Last in the table. The same franchise that won five IPL titles under Dhoni now sits at the bottom with a death over economy of 16.65, a batting order that keeps reshuffling, and a leadership structure that looks reactive rather than composed. These three losses are the visible […]
Three consecutive losses to start the season. Last in the table. The same franchise that won five IPL titles under Dhoni now sits at the bottom with a death over economy of 16.65, a batting order that keeps reshuffling, and a leadership structure that looks reactive rather than composed. These three losses are the visible […]
75 off 42 balls against the Gujarat Titans. The scorecard shows an excellent innings, and most match reviews stop there. They shouldn’t. Dhruv Jurel’s contribution to Rajasthan Royals’ win included identifying which boundary to target against which bowler on Ahmedabad’s asymmetric surface, suggesting the tactical plan that used googlies specifically against left-handers to force risky […]
Eleven required. One over remaining. Elite finishers at the crease. The situation that separates death-over specialists from death-over experiments. Tushar Deshpande bowled six yorkers. Not six attempted yorkers with variations mixed in when the pressure climbed. Six yorkers. The four runs GT scored came from the margins of execution rather than from Deshpande changing his […]
Mohammed Shami came back from injury as a seam-and-swing bowler. That’s what everyone expected to see. The bounce, the outswing, the hard length that climbs above the hands. What IPL 2026 batters are actually facing is something different, a Shami who mixes pace in the powerplay before the batter has established their timing, bowls fuller […]
Ravi Bishnoi built his T20 reputation on one specific quality: quicker leg spin that rushed batters before they had loaded for the shot. The skiddy delivery arrived faster than the flight suggested. The trajectory removes the settling-in time that conventional leg spinners give batters on flat surfaces. That quality has been partially replaced by something […]
Varun Chakravarthy’s entire value to KKR is built on one specific quality: batters don’t know what’s coming. The carrom ball that looks like the leg break. The googly is from the same action as the off-spin. The release point variations make reading the hand genuinely difficult rather than occasionally uncertain. That specific quality requires freshness, […]
Axar Patel didn’t bowl Kuldeep Yadav when MI expected him. He didn’t use T. Natarajan in the power play when convention said he should. He didn’t lock any bowler into a fixed-over allocation regardless of how the match was moving. Delhi Capitals beat Mumbai Indians with a bowling plan that was built around one principle: […]
There was a time when the short ball to Shreyas Iyer was a bowling plan rather than a delivery option. Hit him hard in the body. Force the rushed pull. Set the field for the top edge. Repeat until dismissed. Multiple bowling attacks used that blueprint across multiple IPL seasons, and it worked consistently enough […]
RCB chased 200-plus in under sixteen overs in their recent match. CSK’s bowling attack has failed to defend competitive totals in two consecutive fixtures and hasn’t taken enough wickets in key phases to create the pressure that changes match outcomes. These two facts, converging at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, a venue where the average run rate […]
Nearly 40 runs from just over ten deliveries against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk. Not slogging. Not swinging blindly at everything. Clean timing through Priyansh Arya scoring zones had identified before he faced a single ball, executed with the decisiveness that comes from knowing exactly what his job is before he walks out. Punjab Kings’ […]
Suryavanshi scored 175 at the U19 World Cup. He became the youngest T20 centurion India has produced. He made his Ranji Trophy debut before most players his age had finished their school cricket. And then he turned up in IPL 2026 and made an immediate impact against professional bowling attacks who had match plans, videos, […]