Five wickets in a short domestic tournament window. A strike rate in T20 cricket that reflects genuine attacking intent rather than survival. Left arm wrist spin, a bowling type so rare in Indian cricket that most IPL franchises have never had one in their squad. Shivang Kumar isn’t a household name yet. He’s the kind […]
Five wickets in a short domestic tournament window. A strike rate in T20 cricket that reflects genuine attacking intent rather than survival. Left arm wrist spin, a bowling type so rare in Indian cricket that most IPL franchises have never had one in their squad. Shivang Kumar isn’t a household name yet. He’s the kind […]
Adam Zampa didn’t choose PSL over IPL because he couldn’t get an IPL contract. He chose it because the IPL’s two-month commitment, uncertain game time for overseas spinners, and bio bubble intensity don’t suit a 34-year-old who still prioritises wearing the Australian shirt above everything else. Karachi Kings gave him a defined role, a shorter […]
Heinrich Klaasen was the batter spinners feared most. His strike rate against spin across previous IPL seasons ranked among the best in the competition. He attacked early, hit against the turn, and made quality spinners look ordinary inside two overs. Something has shifted. Teams are now coming into matches against SRH with a specific plan […]
Ravichandran Ashwin said it out loud so everyone else didn’t have to. KKR doesn’t have one bowler they can hand the ball to and trust to bowl four overs without it becoming a problem. Not one. In a fourteen-match IPL campaign where twenty overs of bowling must be allocated across every fixture, that’s not a […]
Ajinkya Rahane is opening in one match. Finn Allen is the next. Sunil Narine promoted to exploit field restrictions. Angkrish Raghuvanshi appears at positions that change based on conditions rather than capability. Rinku Singh is arriving in the middle overs against spinners who have already identified exactly how to dismiss him. This is KKR’s batting […]
Sanju Samson is already at CSK proving his worth. Ishan Kishan is in the conversation. India’s white-ball setup isn’t holding a space open waiting for Rishabh Pant to rediscover his best form. The selectors watched him return from his accident, supported his recovery, and gave him time. Now they’re watching performances with the same analytical […]
Nicholas Pooran. Aiden Markram. Rishabh Pant. Mitchell Marsh. These are not average IPL players. These are match-winners with individual records that justify their franchise price tags. Lucknow Super Giants have them all in the same eleven and are still producing inconsistent results that a squad of this quality shouldn’t accept. The problem isn’t talent, it’s […]
300-plus runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at a strike rate around 160. An average close to 49 in List A cricket. Batting higher up the order and influencing matches in the first fifteen overs rather than surviving in the last three. Anukul Roy has spent years in the IPL ecosystem, including time at […]
Sanju Samson at his best is one of the most exciting batters in T20 cricket. Sanju Samson at his most Samson, instinctive, aggressive, occasionally reckless, almost always spectacular, is also one of the most nerve-wracking. CSK have built five IPL titles on the exact opposite of reckless. Measured. Structured. Dhoni-calibrated. These are the words that […]
Both captains. Both in their early seasons of T20 leadership. But the comparison stops there. Shreyas Iyer’s Punjab Kings look like a team that has been briefed on every scenario before the toss. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s CSK looks like a team discovering what their plan should have been in real time. The difference isn’t experience; Gaikwad […]
Every returning fast bowler’s story sounds the same until it isn’t. Came back, bowled a few games, broke down again. Kartik Tyagi has been through that cycle. What makes this IPL return different isn’t the fitness bulletin or the domestic performances; it’s what he actually changed during the layoff. His running mechanics were rebuilt from […]