Two teams. Both are coming off wins. Neither convincing. Gujarat Titans have won matches without their middle order consistently finishing them; their top order sets platforms that the middle order converts into adequate rather than dominant totals. Lucknow Super Giants have won matches without their big-name batting producing the fear factor that those names are […]
Two teams. Both are coming off wins. Neither convincing. Gujarat Titans have won matches without their middle order consistently finishing them; their top order sets platforms that the middle order converts into adequate rather than dominant totals. Lucknow Super Giants have won matches without their big-name batting producing the fear factor that those names are […]
Bowling attacks arrive at Shreyas Iyer with pre-match plans. Short-pitched deliveries above chest height, the plan that worked. Spin in the middle overs, the plan that contained him. Both plans exist because they previously worked. Both plans are now producing different outcomes because Iyer has specifically addressed both. His pull shot against short-pitched pace no […]
Kolkata Knight Riders lost to LSG in the final three overs. The total was in the 180 to 185 range, a score that should have been competitive. The bowling plan collapsed under pressure. Mukul Choudhary exploited the gaps and won LSG the match. It’s the same pattern KKR have produced before, and it cost them […]
Jamie Overton bowled two tight overs in the middle phase. Lines were disciplined. The economy was controlled. He was in rhythm on a batting-friendly Bengaluru surface, where finding rhythm as a pace bowler requires effort rather than arriving automatically. Ruturaj Gaikwad broke that spell and held Overton back for the death overs. When Overton returned […]
128 for 7. LSG needed 54 runs from the final overs. By every statistical measure available in T20 cricket, that match belonged to KKR. The required rate was climbing beyond what any lower-order partnership should produce. The bowling attack had already taken seven wickets. One more wicket and the match was finished. Instead, Vaibhav Arora […]
LSG needed runs. The required rate was climbing. KKR’s bowlers were executing their death over plans, yorkers at the stumps, wide yorkers at the toes, the deliveries that most lower-order batters either dig out for singles or miss entirely. He arrived at six or seven, took guard, and hit the helicopter shot over the boundary. […]
KKR had an 80 percent win probability against LSG late in the match. They lost. Three weeks earlier, they had controlled the RR game and lost that, too. The pattern is the same every time: strong position, specific phase failure, same result. 17 runs from overs eleven to fifteen against LSG while losing three wickets. […]
Dewald Brevis gave an interview. He talked about Kartik Sharma and Prashant Veer, two young CSK players he’s excited about. He talked about Tilak Varma and how much their time together at the Mumbai Indians shaped his cricket. He mentioned the Chennai local transport and the coffee. None of those things individually tells you much. […]
Two runs from two balls. Miller is on strike. The non-striker is not a recognised boundary hitter. The equation was simple, and the decision was genuinely difficult. A single on ball five guaranteed a Super Over, another chance, another twenty balls, another opportunity for Miller himself to win it in an extended format. Not taking […]
Umran Malik is bowling at 150 kilometres per hour and taking 22 wickets. Jake Fraser-McGurk is scoring 330 runs at a strike rate above 230. Mayank Markande dismissed MS Dhoni in his debut season. All three produced the kind of first-season impact that generates headlines, auction price increases, and the specific expectation that the career […]
Ajinkya Rahane has the respect of teammates. He has the experience of a veteran. He has the composure that every captain needs when the match is live and the pressure is real. What he hasn’t produced at KKR is the specific output that justifies captaincy, a team that performs better because of how it’s led […]