MS Dhoni will make the call himself. CSK management has left the decision entirely in his hands, which tells you everything about how carefully they’re managing this situation. He’s been keeping wickets in the nets at Wankhede and facing bowlers, clear signs that the body is responding. Whether that translates into playing on match day […]
MS Dhoni will make the call himself. CSK management has left the decision entirely in his hands, which tells you everything about how carefully they’re managing this situation. He’s been keeping wickets in the nets at Wankhede and facing bowlers, clear signs that the body is responding. Whether that translates into playing on match day […]
Dhoni is coming back. That’s the news CSK fans wanted. The tactical headache that comes with it is what the team management is quietly wrestling with right now. His return as wicketkeeper doesn’t just add a player to the XI. It locks a slot, removes substitution flexibility, and forces a decision about Sanju Samson that […]
Abhishek Sharma has always been capable of hitting. What he showed against the Delhi Capitals was something different entirely: the ability to think. His 135 off 68 balls wasn’t the most explosive innings he’s played this season; his 141 off 55 against a weaker attack was technically faster, but it was almost certainly the most […]
Eshan Malinga doesn’t bowl the fastest ball in the park. He doesn’t need to. What he does better than almost any pacer in this tournament is make batters feel like they can’t quite get hold of him, regardless of how well they’re reading the pitch. His sling action creates an angle that very few bowlers […]
Mumbai Indians needed someone to step forward in a match they couldn’t afford to lose. Tilak Varma Century didn’t just step forward. He produced an unbeaten 101 that changed both the scoreboard and the dressing room. Against the Gujarat Titans at Ahmedabad, MI posted 200 or above, won the match, and found the kind of […]
Ayush Mhatre’s injury doesn’t just remove a batter from Chennai Super Kings’ lineup. It removes the one player whose specific brief was to disrupt bowling attacks inside the first six overs, before the field spreads and boundaries become harder to find. Replacing runs in the middle order is a different problem from replacing powerplay intent […]
For years, the template was fixed. Bumrah at the death, Bumrah in the 19th over, Bumrah when the match is on the line, and everything else has failed. That template produced results, but it also left the most dangerous bowler in the format sitting on the boundary rope while opposition openers settled into their rhythm […]
The gap is 80 strike rate points. Rishabh Pant sits at 132.43 from seven innings this season. Rajat Patidar is at 212.96. Shreyas Iyer is at 182.45. Those numbers don’t just reflect different levels of form. They represent three completely different approaches to captain-batting arriving in the same tournament at the same time. Pant sees […]
CSK haven’t announced MS Dhoni’s return. They haven’t needed to. Every selection call since his absence has pointed in one direction. The backup wicketkeeper slot, the reshuffled batting order, the redistribution of finishing responsibility across the middle order none of these changes read like reactive squad management. They read like preparation. When a franchise with […]
Akeal Hosein walked off the Wankhede field with figures most spinners only dream of in T20 cricket. Four wickets for 17 runs. He didn’t just take wickets against the Mumbai Indians. He dismantled their batting structure from the first over through to the middle overs, controlling the powerplay with the new ball, deceiving both right-handed […]
Five defeats. Five different opponents, five different venues, and five different phases of the Mumbai Indians’ history. The same story every time. The power play unravels. The middle order fails to stabilise. The lower order scrambles for runs that are already too far away. MI have won five IPL titles and produced some of the […]