Gujarat Titans defended 160. Not 130. Not 145. One hundred and sixty, a total that requires one or two wickets in the powerplay to create the pressure that makes a modest total feel like a mountain. Prasidh Krishna took wickets when he finally bowled. The problem is when he bowls. Introduced too late. Used in […]
Gujarat Titans defended 160. Not 130. Not 145. One hundred and sixty, a total that requires one or two wickets in the powerplay to create the pressure that makes a modest total feel like a mountain. Prasidh Krishna took wickets when he finally bowled. The problem is when he bowls. Introduced too late. Used in […]
The pattern has already appeared once this season, and it will appear again. Gujarat Titans build a dominant position, the top order fires, the powerplay produces, and the total feels set. Then the middle order arrives and the innings contract. The 45 they should add becomes 25. The 185 becomes 165. The match that felt […]
Five matches. Three wickets. An economy of 9.36. That’s the entire Mumbai Indians chapter of Arjun Tendulkar’s IPL career. Not because he’s not good enough to contribute more, but because he was never going to get the chance to find out at a franchise with Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, and Hardik Pandya occupying the roles […]
Adam Zampa didn’t skip the IPL. The IPL skipped him. He was “not really on the radar”, his words, not a journalist’s characterisation. That admission from one of Australia’s best T20 spinners reveals more about IPL auction dynamics than it does about Zampa’s quality. The IPL prioritises mystery spinners, death-over specialists, and batters who bowl. […]
Shreyas Iyer. Marcus Stoinis. Arshdeep Singh. Yuzvendra Chahal. Marco Jansen. The conversation about IPL title contenders consistently centres on the Mumbai Indians, RCB, and CSK. PBKS appear in the supporting conversation, mentioned as strong, acknowledged as competitive, but rarely named as the team most likely to lift the trophy. The squad doesn’t justify that dismissal. […]
Jofra Archer is bowling the new ball at Chennai Super Kings’ top order. Nandre Burger from the other end with left arm angle working into right-handers simultaneously. Both bowlers are attacking rather than containing. Both are specifically designed to take wickets in the power play rather than merely reduce the run rate. CSK’s opening combination […]
Same number of matches. 189 each. Kuldeep Yadav has 241 wickets at an average of 20.60 and an economy of 7.46. Yuzvendra Chahal has 214 wickets at 23.59 and 7.55. The economy rates look almost identical. The wicket gap doesn’t; 27 wickets at a significantly better average across the same workload is a meaningful difference, […]
Three separate decisions. All wrong. All avoidable. Opening with Gaikwad and Samson created the wrong powerplay combination for swing conditions. Selecting four seamers on a surface that rewarded spin produced a bowling imbalance that RR exploited immediately. Shot selection under pressure confirmed that CSK’s batting plan had no contingency for early wickets. Any one of […]
Shubman Gill getting out cheaply is a normal T20 event. It happens. Against quality bowling, on early-movement surfaces, to exceptional deliveries. The problem for the Gujarat Titans isn’t that Gill gets dismissed; it’s what happens to the rest of their innings when he does. Their middle order has a structural gap where Sherfane Rutherford’s finishing […]
Varun Chakaravarthy bowled four overs. He took zero wickets and conceded 48 runs. Rohit Sharma attacked him in the power play before the spell had found its rhythm. KKR failed to defend 220. None of that is the real story. The real story is that Rohit didn’t look confused, didn’t look tentative, and didn’t misread […]
Rajasthan Royals have reached the IPL finals before. They haven’t won the title. The difference between those two outcomes has historically been finishing power, spin bowling quality, and squad depth at the back end of the batting order, three specific weaknesses that previous RR campaigns carried into knockout cricket and paid for. The 2026 squad […]