Kolkata Knight Riders lead Indian spinner Varun Chakravarthy has revealed he sharpening his legbreak to surprise the batters in the remainder of the tournament. It is not that Chakravarthy can’t take the ball away from the right-handers. The mystery spinner has regularly used the carrom ball in his Indian Premier League career. But the idea is to add a “new dimension” to his game after not taking as many wickets as he would like at the beginning of the new season. Chakravarthy had taken 17 wickets from 13 matches in IPL 2020 and 18 wickets from 17 games in the 2021 season at 6.84 and 6.58 rpo, respectively. Two successive good campaigns and…
Author: Kashish Chadha
Kashish Chadha
Kashish Chadha is a cricket analyst and writer by heart and profession. You can find his works featured on such websites as CricXtasy, Circle of Cricket, and Cricfit.
Before emerging as a key player for Punjab Kings, Jitesh spent two seasons in Mumbai Indians camp. While he did not get an opportunity to take the field, the right-hand batter learnt the trade from some of the game’s most prominent faces in practice sessions during those years. In one such preparatory session, MI skipper Rohit Sharma got his arm around young Jitesh and told him to focus more on timing the ball rather than belting it to all corners. Rohit asked the batter to not lose shape in his strokes while incorrectly attempting to take the leather out of it. “I…
Playing flagbearer to a potentially game-transforming move, Ravichandran Ashwin believes more teams will be utilising the tactical retire-out in the future in T20 and IPL cricket. For him, teams are “already late” in availing the advantages of the ploy that his side Rajasthan Royals used to great effect in their recent IPL 2022 match. Playing against the Lucknow Super Giants in Mumbai, RR sent the 35-year-old at No.6 with the intention to use his solid defensive game in arresting a collapse from 67/4. The idea was also to allow their designated power-hitter Riyan Parag a more suited entry point. Ashwin did his job well, contributing a…
Punjab Kings lead spinner Rahul Chahar is planning in detail for each of the threats he has identified in the Mumbai Indians batting unit ahead of Wednesday’s IPL fixture at the MCA International Stadium in Pune. Chahar said he is hoping to continue in this vein through good planning and execution against MI’s key batters such as skipper Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Kieron Pollard. “I will definitely try to give my hundred percent as always. Mainly, there are two or three batters who are challenging to bowl against that I have my eye on. Suryakumar Yadav, for instance, is in great form.…
Dinesh Karthik, who joined Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 5.50 Crores at the 2022 mega auction, says he is relishing the role-clarity and security provided by the management to come up with his best performances in the current edition of the Indian Premier League. The 36-year-old thinks assessing the situation has been key to his success, but equally influential has been the backing and the clarity given to him by the team management. “It’s about assessing the situation, trying to understand and use your experience to figure out what’s the best way to do it on that day or that…
The brainchild of PCB boss Ramiz Raja, the four-nation annual T20I tournament involving India, Pakistan, Australia and England, was turned down unanimously at the two-day International Cricket Council board meeting concluding on April 10. While the governing body did not offer an official statement on rejecting the idea, multiple reports are that Ramiz’s idea was considered infeasible to execute given, not just the ICC regulations that limit member nation arrangements to trilateral events, but also the packed calendar and FTP for the next eight-year cycle 2024-31. Notably, Ramiz had tweeted that his idea had been initially received with an open mind…
South African left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj was the star of the second Test as the Proteas hammered Bangladesh by 332 runs at Port Elizabeth to complete 2-0 series victory. Dean Elgar’s men completed a series sweep and consolidated their second place in the World Test Championship standings with 71.42% points percentage. Maharaj spun his web around the Bangladesh batters yet again as he claimed his second seven-for of the series to bowl out the visitors for 80 in the fourth innings. Bangladesh began the day on 27/3, but their resistance lasted for only an hour on the fourth day. They lost their veteran pair Mushfiqur Rahim and Mominul Haque in just three overs…
Rajasthan Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara revealed the discussions leading into his team’s potentially game-transforming decision to tactically retire-out Ravichandran Ashwin in the IPL 2022 clash against Lucknow Super Giants. On April 10, Ashwin became the first-ever player to be tactically retired out in the tournament’s history. Batting on 28 off 23 at the time, RR decided to retire-out their No.6 as they looked to maximise the remaining 10 balls left in the first half. Pioneering a change that had been long advocated from outside but not applied by any IPL side up until now, Sangakkara said, both the team management and Ashwin were…
In an allround display, DC hammered KKR in the league-stage encounter of the IPL 2022 played on April 10. The 2020 finalists proved too good for the two-time champions in a high-scoring fixture where their opening pair and bowlers shined the brightest. Opting to bowl after winning the toss, Delhi reached a whopping 215/5 in their allotted 20 overs, with their opening duo Prithvi Shaw (51) and David Warner (61) being the two stand-out scorers. The duo gave their side an early footing in the game, adding 91 runs for the first wicket inside the first nine overs. View this post on Instagram A post shared by IPL (@iplt20) Given…
Bangladesh spinner Taijul Islam, who claimed six for 135 against South Africa in the first innings of the Port Elizabeth Test, was seemingly irritated at a reporter’s question after the game. Islam came in as a replacement for Taskin Ahmed in the second Test of the ongoing tour and straightaway made an impact as he snared six for 135 in his 50-over spell in the first innings. Despite stepping up with the ball time and again, the left-arm spinner hasn’t managed to cement his place in the Bangladesh Test side in overseas conditions. One of the reasons for it being Bangladesh’s approach of playing three seamers in…