IPL Enthusiast : IPL 2024 Insights and In-depth Analysis

At the start of the penultimate over of the PBKS batting, PBKS required 25 runs in the last 2 overs. The win predictor showed a 71% win chance for GT. The 19 th over was being bowled by Mohit Sharma. Mohit Sharma was the impact player for GT tonight. Alas, tonight he turned out to be the impact player for PBKS. 18 runs were scored in his over, and the match completely titled towards PBKS. What could GT have done more? How did they go from a winning position in 38 overs of the match to losing the match? GT batted perfectly. After the early departure of Saha, Williamson, playing his match for GT, and Shubhman steadied the innings. Later Sai Sudarshan and Tewatia, supported Shubhman in taking GT to 199. Shubhman played a captain’s innings scoring 89 off 49 balls. PBKS bowlers were not very impressive barring Brar. PBKS started badly by losing Dhawan early on. Prabhsimran and Bairstow steadied the innings. But the real star for PBKS today was Shashank Singh. He scored 61 from 29 bal...

It is difficult to write about a match if one has ever supported the losing team. It was not just losing, it was the destruction of DC by KKR. The match was lost by DC in the first innings itself when KKR with their explosive batting. DC batters did not even look like they were ever trying to win the match. DC lost by more than 100 runs to KKR probably to one of the biggest defeats in an IPL game. This takes them almost to the bottom of the table. What next for DC? The only way for DC now can be up. They cannot fall any further. But how does one go up? Is there enough time left now? DC has played 4 matches till now. There are still 10 matches remaining so there is enough time. But they need to build confidence and work on getting their basics right. Did they miss Kuldeep so much? He is an important player in the team, no doubt but too much dependency on any one player is never good for a team. Hope, Delhi will be able to build itself back up as a serious contender in this tournament....

IPL is turning 17 this year. When IPL was launched in 2008, no one was sure if the format would work and would die hard cricket fans take to the new format. Over the years, IPL has become one of the biggest sports franchises in the world. The fan base for IPL is huge. It is not just confined to a city, state, or country, it is worldwide. The four franchises with an insane fan following include – MI, CSK, KKR, and RCB. Out of these four teams, CSK and MI have won the title five teams each and KKR has won twice. RCB has disappointed its fans time and again every year from 2008 onwards. Evey year we the fans of RCB are hopeful, “THIS WILL BE THE YEAR…………” and every year we are disappointed. The disappointment is not just with not winning the title, but at times the team plays so much below their potential. That seemed to be the case today in RCB vs LSG match. Interestingly, when LSG started their batting innings, it was a sense of déjà vu for RCB fans. Quinton De Kock played for RCB i...

When Hardik Pandya came into the ground for the toss he was booed. The booing was so bad that Sanjay Manjrekar had to ask the crowd to behave. But this booing set the tone of the evening. Sampson won the toss and decided to field first. Trent Boult started the attack with the new ball. He took 2 wickets in the last two balls and that also wickets of Rohit Sharma and Naman Dheer. For MI, the match seemed to get over at the end of this over. They never recovered from this loss. They kept losing wickets at short intervals. All the batters barring Pandya and Tilak Verma put up no resistance to RR Bowling attack.  Nobody created an impact on RR bowlers. Both RR bowling and fielding was superb today. The catches were brilliant especially the two catches by Hetmeyer were great. They carried an economy rate of  tmore than 8 which is great for a T20. When RR came out to bat, Jaiswal, Sampson, and Buttler departed early in the innings. This led to a glimmer of hope in the hearts...

Over the last sixteen IPL seasons, Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) have had a mixed record. In face to face encounters, MI is slightly ahead of RR. Of the 28 games that have been played between them, MI has won 15 of them, and RR has won 12. One match had no result. MI has dominated their last few encounters with RR. When examining the last five meetings, MI has won four of them while RR has only won one. Both sides have excelled in their home arenas. Having won five of the eight games versus RR at Wankhede Stadium, MI has a great record there. On the other hand, RR has had success at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, defeating MI 5 times out of 7 times at home. In IPL 2024, RR is coming in this game with two back to back wins against DC and LSG. Their top batting order has contributed as required and the bowling  has been adequate. MI is coming here with back to back losses. They lost the opening match to GT and to SRH in a high scoring run fest. The batting was adequate...

This year, countrywide there has been a backlash against Mumbai Indians after the change in captaincy of the team was announced. The unrest is more as fans and spectators believe that Rohit Sharma has been treated badly as he does not seem to have been kept in the loop when the Mumbai Franchise decided to purchase Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Franchise apart from the auction. This move has not gone down well with the fans of MI. Today, 1 st April is the first home game of MI in IPL 2024. It is expected that  Hardik Pandya would get a hostile reception from the crowd in the stadium. We saw the frenzy in the opening game of MI in Ahmedabad. The chants of “Hamara Captain kaisa ho, Rohit Sharma jaisa ho” reverberated in the stadium. Will the same reception be there for Pandya and MI in Wankhede also? Is the crowd justified in this boorish behavior? We saw a frenzy of the crowd in the CSK match yesterday where despite CSK losing, the fans were happy to see Dhoni score runs. Wankhed...

Wow! What a match!! The crowd clamoured for Dhoni to come and hit. He obliged. Prithvi Shaw and David Warner had one of the best openings for DC in IPL 2024. Both played strongly and swiftly. They kept the scoreboard ticking hitting almost all bowlers all across the ground. Delhi will hope that Prithvi Shaw will continue this form throughout the tournament.  They both got out as they completed their half-centuries. From the 11 th over till the 15 th over, CSK bowlers were able to halt the run-fest. In the last 5 overs, Rishabh Pant accelerated the run rate and helped DC reach an impressive 191 runs off the 20 overs. Among the bowlers, Pathirana and Deshpande were impressive as they halted the run flow. Pathirana picked up 3 important wickets in the match.  The runs were more but not something which was difficult for CSK batting lineup. The DC bowlers were exemplary today as they picked up early wickets of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rachin Ravindra wobbling the top order of CS...

GT played their natural game and won with ease against SRH.   It was a clinical performance from Gujarat Titans. In the first innings, their bowlers bowled superbly. No bowler had an economy rate of more than 9. They were accurate and straight and they frustrated the batters. They took wickets at regular intervals and did not allow SRH batsmen to settle down. SRH batting was mediocre today, to say the least. No batter scored above 30 runs. The top batting order started well and also hit some brilliant shots. But these shots were far and few. They consistently lost wickets at regular intervals. Mohit Sharma was superb with his economical bowling and taking big wickets. The bowling attack of GT was brilliant in pulling down the run rate in the last five overs of the SRH innings. GT started well. Both Saha and Gill seemed to be in great form. But both lost their wickets in the initial 10 overs. Sai Sudarshan, who came in as the Impact player, and David Miller played admirably and ...

In the thirteenth match being played at Vishakhapatnam today, we have five time champion and unbeaten in this IPL edition, CSK take on Delhi Capitals. CSK is one of the most successful teams in IPL forever. They hold the joint maximum number of title wins. They have not made playoffs only in two years of the sixteen years they have played IPL. This season they have won both their matches till now easily. DC has always had a mixed fortune in IPL. Doing brilliantly in a few seasons and worst performances in a few seasons. DC was rebranded in 2018. In their earlier avatar, they were Delhi Daredevils which was changed to Delhi Capitals. The name change did seem to bring about a fortune change for a few years. But last year they had an abysmal tournament. In IPL 2024, they have lost both their opening matches. Rishabh Pant has won the toss and DC has decided to bat first. The lineup of the two teams is as below: Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, David Warner*, Mitchell Marsh*, Rishabh P...