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###49th Match, Indian Premier League at Dubai

Post Match | Cricinfo | Reddit-Stream | 🌥 🌥 🌥 🌥 🌥

Recent : W 1 4 1  |  1 1 1 4 . W  |  . . 4 1 1 1  |  . 1 1 4 

KKR won by 6 wickets (with 2 balls remaining)

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##GROUP A - ROUND 5

Match 77: Vidarbha vs Jammu and Kashmir at Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy, BKC, Mumbai

Vidarbha won the toss and chose to field

Vidarbha won by 5 wickets (42 balls to spare)

Stats:

• Maiden List A fifty for Fazil Rashid (22 innings)

• 26th List A fifty for Parvez Rasool (114 innings, 1 ton)

• 9th List A ton for Faiz Fazal (105 innings, 22 fifties)

• 6th List A fifty for Apoorv Wankhade (25 innings)

• Highest List A score for Apoorv Wankhade

Match 78: Odisha vs Himachal at Cricket Club of India, Mumbai

Himachal won the toss and chose to bat

Himacha won by 63 runs

Stats:

• 15th List A fifty for Prashant Chopra (82 innings, 6 tons)

• Maiden List A fifty for Shubham Arora (5 innings)

• 13th List A fifty for Rishi Dhawan (88 innings, 1 ton)

• 7th List A fifty for Nikhil Gangta (40 innings, 1 ton)

• 6th List A fifty for Sandeep Pattanaik (22 innings)

• 9th List A fifty for Anurag Sarangi (33 innings, 2 tons)

• 5th List A fifty for Subhransu Senapati (28 innings, 2 tons)

• 2nd List A 5-fer for Mayank Dagar (36 innings, 2 4-fers)

• Best List A bowling figures for Mayank Dagar

• Highest total for Himachal

• Highest 2nd innings total for Odisha

Match 79: Gujarat vs Andhra at Dadoji Konddev Stadium, Thane

Gujarat won the toss and chose to field

20th season of Vijay Hazare Trophy will commence on 8th December, 2021. BCCI has kept the same group system as last year i.e. 5 Elite Groups and 1 Plate Group. Defending champions Mumbai are part of Group B while runners up of 2020-21 edition Uttar Pradesh are in Group C. Uttarakhand and Assam have been promoted to Elite Groups whereas Bihar and Tripura have been relegated to Plate Group. Before we discuss actual groups, let's divide the teams into 4 tiers (just like SMAT announcement thread):

https://preview.redd.it/es2lmtnxtq381.png?width=524&format=png&auto=webp&s=510a4fb2e7c6990534e869ac54f3be48d70f53e7

https://preview.redd.it/nvxtey2ztq381.png?width=524&format=png&auto=webp&s=ceee4382317acf5b44263ef2240f7e0c681f08cb

https://preview.redd.it/9kkq57o0uq381.png?width=524&format=png&auto=webp&s=4e2ccf2b12cc15d0a48209e76484bf3d7fff8a77

https://preview.redd.it/tn1a1l72uq381.png?width=524&format=png&auto=webp&s=45f79757908ff837e5da8d6197a69a9708ec9df8

https://preview.redd.it/07iwoye5uq381.png?width=239&format=png&auto=webp&s=c43bb73ef426c1cb9712c05b38befd6bcc3d0a25

Now, let us move on to actual schedule (group wise). BCCI has jam packed the schedule again by organizing 95 matches in 7 days. Qualification scenario of Vijay Hazare Trophy is similar to Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021-22 i.e. Top teams from Elite Groups qualify for quarterfinals and 2nd placed teams of Elite Groups have to play pre-quarterfinals alongside top team from Plate Group.

https://preview.redd.it/7elioflauq381.png?width=472&format=png&auto=webp&s=93f812803e29672606ea7dc21cca2a8ad083de8b

Group A is probably the weakest Elite Group. Gujarat is the only team with more than 1 W/L Ratio and Vidarbha only other with mid tier classification. Although, Andhra has worse win percentage than Himachal Pradesh and Odisha (who are equally strong), their last 5 years record is much better. With Priyank Panchal and Arzan Nagwaswalla in India A squad and Axar Patel in test squad, Het Patel has been named captain of the side ahead of Piyush Chawla. Skipper Faiz Fazal is back for Vidarbha whereas Anshuman Rath (Hong Kong player) has been omitted from Odisha squad. Ambati Rayudu is back for Andhra but Ashwin Hebbar is still the designated captain of the side. Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir have more or less similar squads to SMAT 2021-22 (with Umran Malik being a notable exception).

https:

I have used the information of all the players participated in IPL 2021 and wrote a script to see how the first XIs of all the 10 teams may look like. Here is how I did it:

1. Assigned a price value to each player from 2 to 5.
2. Gave 4 retained players to all the existing teams based on rumours and personal preference.
3. Picked 4 players each from the remaining pool of players for the new two teams. I know the limit is 3 but made it 4 for this experiment to give all teams a fair chance.
4. Used cricinfo's data to see all players who participated in IPL 2021. They have assigned roles to each player but I felt some of them were not correct.
5. The team structure for each team is fixed. 2 top order batters, 1 middle order batter, 1 wk keeper, 4 allrounders and 3 bowlers.
6. The logic used to assign a player to a team in auction is based on roles slot available, purse available, overseas slots available. Also, the logic for which team first gets a chance to pick a player for a role is randomised.

Although there is no news about KwK returning for a new season, we can still try to wear the shoes of KJo (not those shoes that are costlier than kalank's budget)... Let's play a game where hypothetically you have been approached by Karan Johar's team to finalise the guest list for the 10 episodes of brand new season of Koffee with Karan with never before seen pairings and exciting combinations.

But there are some rules:

1. The 3 Khans (SRK, Salman, Aamir) and Akshay Kumar have declined to appear on the show.
2. No repeat combination from previous 3 seasons of the show.
3. All episodes must have minimum 2 guests and maximum 3 guests.
4. Karthik, Kangana and other people who don't get along with KJo cannot be invited.
5. Only 6/10 episodes can have nepo-kids (not more than 2 episodes can have all nepo guests).
6. Only 1 episode could have stars from regional industries.
7. You can invite only one real life couple on the show together (Ranbir-Alia, Ranveer-DP, Vicky-Kat)
8. People who have not made their Bollywood debut yet (Aryan, Suhana, Shanaya etc.) are not eligible to be invited as guests.
9. No foreign celebrity (Nick Jonas etc.) can be invited to the show.
10. The first and last episode have to be big episodes with attractive star cast.

So put on your KJo shoes and get going!!!

PS. I am no PR and in no way related to Karan Johar or Dharma Productions or Koffee with Karan Team. This is just a fun thought I had while thinking who would be invited if there was next season of KwK.

Now that the Test series between England and India has come to an end, it means that all eyes (for Indian fans, at least) turn to the second half of IPL 2021 in the UAE. In the lead-up, we saw many overseas players pull out, whether it is due to bubble fatigue, injury, or even paternity leave. Also, with a change of venue, some teams might end up putting in more strong performances in the second half than the first half. Let's take a look at what's changed with all of the teams, and where they could possibly finish on the points table at the end of the league stage.

Chennai Super Kings (2nd):

• NO CHANGES IN THE SQUAD

Back in April and May, CSK made a very good start to this year's IPL despite not playing at home. After 5 matches in Mumbai, CSK had won 4 matches and had adjusted to the conditions provided at the Wankhede Stadium with ease. Additionally, this team also won 1 out of 2 matches in Delhi. One thing that made CSK stand out so far this year is the way that they have managed to create amazing batting depth within the team. On a regular basis, the MS Dhoni-led side had the likes of Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar batting at 10 and 11, and those two do not muck around when they are batting. This is something that will really benefit them in the UAE, especially as the pitches start to slow down and aid the spinners more, a time when Dhoni is expected to come into his own as a captain. As a result, I see CSK finishing in the Top 2 at the end of the league stage.

Best Playing XI: 1) Faf du Plessis, 2) Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3) Moeen Ali, 4) Suresh Raina, 5) Ambati Rayudu, 6) MS Dhoni (c and wk), 7) Ravindra Jadeja, 8) Sam Curran, 9) Dwayne Bravo, 10) Shardul Thakur, 11) Deepak Chahar

Delhi Capitals (1st):

• Who's Out: Chris Woakes (bubble fatigue)

Like CSK, Delhi Capitals have also made a roaring start to IPL 2021 in the absence of their regular captain, Shreyas Iyer. Now that he has fully fit, one wonders if the owners hand the captaincy back to Iyer or let Rishabh Pant keep the captaincy. Nevertheless, a standout quality that DC has shown this year continues to be their batting power in all conditions, whether it was the high-scoring venue of Mumbai or the low-scoring venue of Chennai. The openers, in particular, have been very impressive, with Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi shaw each scoring over 300 runs in the tournament so far. While Dhawan currently holds the Orange Cap, Shaw has scored at a strike rate of 166.48. With Shreya

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Rajasthan Royals

Purse: INR 37.85 cr || Slots left: 9 || Overseas slots left: 3

Existing squad: Sanju Samson (c&wk), Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Stokes, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Manan Vohra, Anuj Rawat, Riyan Parag, David Miller,Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Shreyas Gopal, Mayank Markande, Jofra Archer, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi

Chennai Super Kings

Purse: INR 19.90 cr || Slots left: 6 || Overseas slots left: 1

Existing squad: Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, N. Jagadeesan (wk), Robin Uthappa, MS Dhoni (c&wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, R. Sai Kishore, Mitchell Santner, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi, Josh Hazlewood, KM Asif

Punjab Kings

Purse: INR 53.20 cr || Slots left: 9 || Overseas slots left: 5

Existing squad: KL Rahul (c&wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Prabsimran Singh, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Harpreet Brar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Porel, Darshan Nalkande, Chris Jordan

Kolkata Knight Riders

Purse: INR 10.75 cr || Slots left: 8 || Overseas slots left: 2

Existing squad: Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Tim Seifert (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Eoin Morgan (c), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun CV, Kuldeep Yadav, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Purse: INR 35.40 cr || Slots left: 11 || Overseas slots left: 3

Existing squad: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Josh Philippe (wk), AB de Villiers (wk), Pavan Deshpande, Washington Sundar, Daniel Sams, S

Introduction

As the second phase of IPL 2021 kicks off, I wanted to look at the best and worst players in the tournament post-covid. To do this, I have used Cricmetric data to determine the most and least valuable players. Instead of using traditional measures like averages, economy, and strike rate, I am going to use a metric called Win Percentage Added (WPA). Cricmetric has a model to calculate the win percentage. WPA calculates the difference in win percentage between two different game states, as a result of a specific play by a player. In other words, it is the amount by which a player affects the win percentage for each ball that the player faces or bowls. The changes in the win percentage for each ball are then summed up to get the batting WPA, bowling WPA and the total WPA over a particular time period. If the WPA is positive, the player has had a net positive impact on the team, and vice versa. Note that this is not designed to be a measure of how good a player is, but their contribution to the team (although the two are obviously correlated).

Obviously, this method has its flaws and is in no way a perfect way to judge the performances of a player. Firstly, the win percentage calculator for Cricmetric isn't perfect, since it is team and player-neutral. Also, the WPA seems to favor batsmen more, since hitting boundaries increases win percentage more than dot balls and occasional wickets. This is something to take into account while judging the most and least valuable player. However, I still think that this is an interesting metric that can provide insight into the relative values of players.

Batsmen

Most valuable batsmen

It's no surprise to see Shikhar Dhawan at the top of the list; he had been amazing at the top of the order for Delhi, averaging 47.5 @ 140.6 SR. Mayank's consistent run-scoring and his excellent strike rate propel him to second place. Most of the batsmen on this list are aggressors. While batting WPA is highly correlated with strike rate, there are a few accumulators on this list, such as Rahul, Warner, and Padikkal. For all the hate Rahul gets for his strike rate, he has been a consistent match-winner. I was ho

For the past few days I'm regularly seeing people trying to bring in Jamieson or Chameera as one our RCB's pacers and are willing to compromise with RCB's batting by filling it with uncapped Indian batsmen just to make space for overseas seamers in Jamieson and Chameera but no one talks about Saini? Why have RCB fans lost faith in him?

Navdeep Saini was RCB's best seam bowler in 2019, he was RCB's shining light in that mediocre campaign. Where Umesh, Siraj and Southee consistently bled runs at the death that season, Saini bowled brilliantly from the other end and was crucial in RCB's win over KXIP at Chinnaswamy where he conceded just 3 runs in the penultimate over picking 2 wickets to almost kill off KXIP's chase. He did the same against CSK, where he bowled 2 overs at the death against a rampaging MSD and CSK lower order to concede just 18 runs in those 2 death overs, picking Bravo in the process and giving Umesh 26 runs to defend which was enough for Umesh to defend. Not just in 2019, even in 2020 Saini was one of RCB's go to bowlers at the death, he had a great game against defending champions Mumbai Indians at Dubai where he conceded just 12 runs in the penultimate over which put pressure back on MI, and then repeated his quality bowling in the Super Over too, allowing just 6 runs against the likes of Hardik and Pollard which ultimately was low enough for RCB to get the 2 points. Even against SRH in the first game of 2020 season, he came in at the death and removed SRH's last hopes in Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, dismissing both of them bowled.

But still, despite these good performances RCB fans are still not confident about playing Saini over the likes of Jamieson or Chameera. Probably because Saini has the tendency to lose his radar occasionally, for example his last over against Sherfane Rutherford in Delhi 2019 where he conceded 20 runs became the ultimate cause of the defeat. He had a horrible game against RR in Abu Dhabi last season, where he was taken to the cleaners by Rahul Tewatia at the death, however RCB ended up winning that match. Saini also had another bad game against DC in Dubai, where he had a spat with Marcus Stoinis who clobbered him at the death.

Since IPL 2020, Saini has played a limited amount of cricket, he went on the tour to Australia and was hammered by Aussie batsmen in the first two ODIs after which he was dropped, his next game was against CSK in 2021 IPL where he sprayed all around and conceded 27 runs in 2 over

I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.

Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.

Do your worst!

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

It really does, I swear!

They’re on standbi

Pilot on me!!

Nothing, he was gladiator.

when I was going through the post-auction teams of the IPL and I was excited for RCB because when I was watching the Auction I thought this team is better than ever. However when I saw the team I was not so impressed. Suddenly the team didn't even look like an even team.

So I did some "research" to figure out what's wrong with RCB throughout the IPL since 2008. And here is what I found

RCB throughout the IPL has been like this(these are the points table rankings)

RCB has never been consistent in there IPL stint except for 2012-2014 and 2017-2019 where they actually performed really bad.

Here are the 5 reasons

1. Underperforming Indian Core
2. Weak team-balance
3. Cannot depend upon all 4 overseas player
4. Overspending on Marquee Players
5. Overdependence on Virat, AB, Yuzi

1. Underperforming Indian Core

RCB never ever had a completely competent Indian core. For example in the year 2016, where Rcb did the best. There key Indian players were:

Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sachin Baby, Sreenath Arvind, Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Aaron, Stuart Binny, Iqbal Abdulla, Kedar Jadhav, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh.

The Indian core looked satisfying and performed well. ( key word is well as if their core was better, the moment ABD lost his wicket, the match was still in their hand in the finals but still lost, the problem was shown in the finals where the match was in the hands of low-experienced Sachin Baby)

Virat, KL, Sachin, Iqbal, Yuzi however played few decider match winning innings and changed the results of the game hence were more dependable(VK played match winning innings for half of the IPL)

Now lets see why the next year 2017 was their worst. Their key Indian players?

Same with addition of Pawan Negi, Aniket CHoudhary and Pravin Dubey.

Here however, the Indian core was totally non-dependable.

Kl Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan missed the whole season with Virat missing the initial games.

As the Indian batting core was weakened with a weak bowling line-up since the beginning, the team only managed to win only 3 matches.

2. Weak team- balance

This is something which I don't even think I need to explain. The team never had a balanced side. From my perspective, a team should have

1. Full-time openers(At least 2 Indian options and quality overseas options)
2. Middle order b

##GROUP A - ROUND 4

Match 58: Andhra vs Himachal at Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy, BKC, Mumbai

Himachal won the toss and chose to field

Andhra won by 30 runs

Stats:

• 4th List A ton for Srikar Bharat (55 innings, 5 fifties)

• 2nd List A ton for Ashwin Hebbar (35 innings, 4 fifties)

• Highest List A score for Srikar Bharat

• 12th List A fifty for Rishi Dhawan (87 innings, 1 ton)

• 14th List A fifty for Prashant Chopra (81 innings, 4 tons)

• 2nd highest 1st innings and 5th highest total for Andhra (highest total is 385/6 vs Goa in 2011-12)

• 4th highest 2nd innings total for Himachal (highest 2nd innings total is 351 all out vs Maharashtra in 2016-17)

Match 59: Gujarat vs Vidarbha at Cricket Club of India, Mumbai

Vidarbha won the toss and chose to field

Gujarat won by 46 runs

Stats:

• Maiden List A ton for Saurav Chauhan (2 innings)

• Maiden List A ton for Het Patel (5 innings)

• 5th List A ton for Ganesh Satish (79 innings, 18 fifties)

• Maiden List A fifty for Aditya Sarwate (14 innings)

• Highest total for Gujarat

• Highest 2nd innings total and 4th highest total for Vidarbha (highest total is 350/6 vs Hyderabad in 2017-18)

Match 60: Odisha vs Jammu and Kashmir at Dadoji Konddev Stadium, Thane

Odisha won the toss and chose the field

QF 1: Himachal Pradesh vs Uttar Pradesh at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

Himachal won the toss and chose to field

Himachal won by 5 wickets (27 balls to spare)

Summary: Himachal dropped Ayush Jamwal for Sidharth Sharma whereas UP replaced Madhav Kaushik with Abhishek Goswami. List A debutant Sidharth provided an important breakthrough by trapping Goswami lbw. Vinay Guletia capitalised on that by sending keeper Aryan Juyal and skipper Karan Sharma in the next over. Galetia added another to his tally by trapping Sameer Rizvi lbw, leaving UP struggling at 39 for 4. Akshdeep Nath was dismissed by Sidharth as well, after he provided the platform by adding 64 runs in 103 balls with Rinku Singh for 5th wicket. Rinku continued his good form by adding further 75 runs in 89 balls with Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Shivam (s) (Mavi and Sharma) were dismissed in penultimate over. Bhuvi and Yash Dayal hit 13 runs off last over to take UP above 200.

Shivam Mavi provided the breakthrough by dismissing Shubham Arora after cautious start. Arora added 54 runs in 104 balls with Prashant Chopra. Nikhil Gangta also added 122 runs in 121 balls with Chopra. Ankit Rajpoot dismissed him and Rishi Dhawan (on duck) in same over. Shivam Mavi returned to strand Chopra on worst case of nervous nineties. Mavi dismissed Sumeet Verma in his next over as well. Amit Kumar hit the winning runs to take Himachal to their 2nd ever semfinal.

Stats:

• 12th List A fifty for Rinku Singh (39 innings, 1 ton)

• 16th List A fifty for Prashant Chopra (83 innings, 6 tons)

• 8th List A fifty for Nikhil Gangta (41 innings, 1 ton)

• Himachal's first ever win against Uttar Pradesh in 6th attempt (Now, Maharashtra is the only team that they haven't beaten in List A in 3+ attempts)

[QF 2: Tamil Nadu vs Karnataka at KL Saini Stadium, Jaipur]

SF 1: Himachal vs Services at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

Services won the toss and chose to field

Himachal won by 77 runs

Summary: Himachal made one change in their lineup by replacing Sumeet Verma with Digvijay Rangi whereas Services also brought back Rahul Singh Gahlaut in place of Mumtaz Qadir. Himachal had a rough start as they lost Shubham Arora in the second over itself. Although Prashant Chopra added 74 runs with Digvijay Rangi, it took them 106 balls to do so, which was immediately followed by low scores by Nikhil Gangta's run out and Amit Kumar's 6 ball duck. Himachal's MVP Rishi Dhawan took it upon himself to revive the innings once again. He added 88 runs in 103 balls with Chopra and 83 runs in 47 balls with Akash Vashisht. Himachal was a different team after Dhawan got set as they added 132 runs in last 15 overs. Bowling all rounder Vashisht played his role to perfection by striking at 150+ in a crucial stage. Abhishek Tiwari was the biggest victim of duo's onslaught as he went for more than 8 runs per over. Rahul Singh was the only bowler from Services who went for less than 5 per over.

Rishi Dhawan was the main man with bowl as well. He provided the breakthrough by rattling Lakhan Singh's stumps in his first over and finished his first spell with wicket of Mohit Ahlawat. He came back to dismiss Diwesh Pathania and Raj Bahadur Pal to win it for his team. Akash Vashisht also contributed with bowl as he dismissed Ravi Chauhan and Rahul Singh Gahlaut but the most dangerous batsmen of opponent (Rajat Paliwal and Pulkit Narang) were dismissed by Sidharth Sharma. There was no big partnership from Services, with the biggest of lot being 49 runs between Ravi Chauhan and Rajat Paliwal. Himachal Pradesh enter the Vijay Hazare Trophy finals for the first time in history.

##GROUP A - ROUND 2

Match 20: Gujarat vs Odisha at Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy, BKC, Mumbai

Odisha won the toss and chose to field

Odisha won by 3 wickets (3 balls to spare)

Stats:

• Maiden List A ton for Kathan Patel (8 innings)

• 3rd smallest win (by runs) for Odisha (smallest win is 2 wickets vs Tripura in 2009-10)

Match 21: Andhra vs Vidarbha at Cricket Club of India, Mumbai

Vidarbha won the toss and chose to field

Vidarbha won by 8 wickets (50 balls to spare)

Stats:

• Maiden List A fifty for CR Gnaneshwar (4 innings)

• 40th List A fifty for Ambati Rayudu (159 innings, 5 tons)

• 2nd List A ton for Atharva Taide (14 innings, 2 fifties)

• 2nd highest 2nd innings total for Vidarbha (highest 2nd innings total is 301/8 vs Bengal in 2014-15)

• Highest target chased by Vidarbha

• 4th biggest win (by wickets) for Vidarbha (bigges win is 10 wickets vs Andhra in 2015-16)

Match 22: Himachal vs Jammu and Kashmir at Dadoji Konddev Stadium, Thane

Jammu and Kashmir won the toss and chose to field first

Final: Himachal vs Tamil Nadu at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

Himachal won the toss and chose to field first

Himachal won by 11 runs (VJD method)

Summary: Himachal went with unchanged lineup but Tamil Nadu replaced Manimaran Siddharth with Murugan Ashwin. Ashwin got into List A playing xi after warming bench for 10 matches (whole 2021-22 season and half 2020-21 season). After getting sent in to bat, hero of the last match Baba Aparajith didn't last long. He was clean bowled by Vinay Galetia in first over itself. Hero of the quarterfinal Narayan Jagadeesan didn't take too long to go back to pavilion himself. He was dismissed by Rishi Dhawan. Tamil Nadu sent in spin duo R Sai Kishore and Ashwin to prevent the collapse. But it didn't happen as Sai Kishore was sent back by Pankaj Jaswal and Ashwin by Dhawan, with team score reading 40 for 4 after 14.3 overs. Dinesh Karthik shifted the tide in his team's favour with the help of some luck (dropped twice) and Baba Indrajith also going berserk at the other end. They added 202 runs in 164 balls. Digvijay Rangi dismissed Indrajith after a brilliant 80. Karthik fell in next over as well, getting caught behind off Sidharth Sharma's bowling. Shahrukh Khan came in at perfect stage for his important cameo of 21 ball 42 before getting caught behind as well. Pankaj Jaswal picked up another wicket in the same over by dismissing Sundar for 1. Himachal skipper Dhawan dismissed Tamil Nadu skipper Vijay Shankar in next over after getting hit for six. Tamil Nadu lost their last 4 wickets for 15 runs after being 299 for 6 at one stage.

Prashant Chopra and Shubham Arora provided a good start for Himachal in response. They added 60 runs in 53 balls, before Chopra was dismissed by Sai Kishore. Digvijay Rangi didn't trouble the scorers, getting clean bowled by Sundar. Nikhil Gangta threw away his start after adding 35 runs in 40 balls with Arora. Amit Kumar joined Arora in the middle for 148 runs partnership off

##GROUP A - ROUND 3

Match 39: Gujarat vs Himachal at Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy, BKC, Mumbai

Gujarat won the toss and chose to field

Himachal won by 97 runs

Stats:

• 13th List A fifty for Prashant Chopra (80 innings, 6 tons)

• 5th List A fifty for Amit Kumar (35 innings, 2 tons)

• 11th List A fifty for Rishi Dhawan (86 innings, 1 ton)

• 9th List A fifty for Piyush Chawla (109 innings)

• 9th List A fifty for Bhargav Merai (38 innings, 2 tons)

• 2nd highest 1st innings total and 4th highest total for Himachal (highest total is 351 all out vs Maharashtra in 2016-17)

• 5th biggest win (by runs) for Himachal (biggest win is 185 runs vs Delhi in 2016-17)

Match 40: Andhra vs Jammu and Kashmir at Cricket Club of India, Mumbai

Jammu and Kashmir won the toss and chose to bat

Andhra won by 2 wickets (6 balls to spare)

Stats:

• Maiden List A ton for Ram Dayal (45 innings, 3 fifties)

• Ram Dayal rescued Jammu Kashmir from 61/8 and added 147 runs for last 2 wickets.

• 15th List A fifty for Ricky Bhui (51 innings, 2 tons)

• 4th smallest win (by wickets) for Andhra (smallest win is 1 wicket vs Goa in 2017-18)

Match 41: Vidarbha vs Odisha at Dadoji Konddev Stadium, Thane

Odisha won the toss and chose to field

##GROUP A - ROUND 2

Match 20: Punjab vs Maharashtra, 5th November 2021 in Lucknow

Maharashtra won the toss

Maharashtra won by 7 wickets (with 15 balls to spare)

Stats:

• 15th fifty for Maharashtra skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad in 59 innings (1 ton)

• Punjab became 1st team to play 100 SMAT matches. They have won 62 and lost 38.

Match 21: Tamil Nadu vs Odisha, 5th November 2021 in Lucknow

Odisha won the toss

Tamil Nadu won by 1 run

Stats:

• 3rd fifty for Subhranshu Senapati in 21 innings

• Highest score for Subhranshu Senapati

• 2nd highest 2nd Innings total for Odisha (highest 2nd innings total is 167/9 vs Bengal in 2014-15, a match they also lost by 1 run)

• Joint smallest win (by runs) for Tamil Nadu

Match 22: Goa vs Puducherry, 5th November 2021 in Lucknow

Goa won the toss

Goa won by 9 runs

Stats:

• 4th fifty for Aditya Kaushik in 24 innings

• 10th fifty for Paras Dogra in 86 innings

• 3rd highest 2nd Innings total and 5th highest total for Puducher

##GROUP A - ROUND 1

Match 1: Tamil Nadu vs Maharashtra, 4th November 2021 in Lucknow

Maharashtra won the toss

Tamil Nadu won the match by 12 runs

Stats:

• 14th T20 fifty for Chennai Super Kings batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad (1 ton)

• Joint 3rd smallest win (by runs) for Tamil Nadu (smallest is 1 run vs Gujarat in 2018-19)

Match 2: Odisha vs Goa, 4th November 2021 in Lucknow

Odisha won the toss

Odisha won the match by 4 wickets

Stats:

• Ex-Hong Kong batsman Anshuman Rath is the first foreign international player in Syer Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

• 3rd lowest 1st Innings total and 5th lowest total for Goa (lowest is 82 all out vs Baroda in 2015-16)

• 3rd smallest win (by wickets) for Odisha (smallest is 3 wickets vs Tripura in 2010-11)

Match 3: Punjab vs Puducherry, 4th November 2021 in Lucknow

Puducherry won the toss

Punjab won the match by 8 wickets

Stats:

• 4th T20 fifty for Punjab skipper Abhishek Sharma (1 ton)

• Best bowling figures for Sunrisers Hyderabad all rounder Abhishek Sharma

• 3rd lowest 1st Innings and 5th lowest total for Puducherry (lowest is 82 all out vs Delhi in 2020-21)

##GROUP B - ROUND 1

**Match 4: Bengal vs Chhattisgarh

##GROUP A - ROUND 4

Match 58: Tamil Nadu vs Goa, 8th November 2021 in Lucknow

Goa won the toss

Goa won by 7 wickets (8 balls remaining)

Stats:

• 2nd 4-fer for Ex Vidarbha pacer Shrikant Wagh in 62 innings, 1st for Goa

• Maiden T20 fifty for Ex Mumbai all rounder Shubham Ranjane in 14 innings

• 5th biggest win (by wickets) for Goa (biggest win is 9 wickets vs Andhra in 2015-16)

Match 59: Punjab vs Odisha, 8th November 2021 in Lucknow

Punjab won the toss

Punjab won by 60 runs

Stats:

• Maiden T20 fifty for Ramandeep Singh in 7 innings

• Maiden T20 fifty for Abhishek Raut in 40 innings

Match 60: Maharashtra vs Puducherry, 8th November 2021 in Lucknow

Maharashtra won the toss

Maharashtra won by 117 runs

Stats:

• 5th T20 fifty for Naushad Shaikh in 37 innings

• 14th T20 fifty for Kedar Jadhav in 134 innings

• Lowest total for Puducherry

• 3rd highest 1st innings total and 4th highest total for Maharashtra (highest total is 215/4 vs Mumbai in 2012-13)

• Biggest

##GROUP A - ROUND 5

Match 77: Puducherry vs Odisha, 9th November 2021 in Lucknow

Puducherry won the toss

Puducherry won by 6 wickets (6 balls remaining)

Stats:

• 11th T20 fifty for Paras Dogra in 89 innings

• 5th highest 2nd innings total for Puducherry (highest 2nd innings total is 228/6 vs Andhra in 2020-21)

• Biggest win (by wickets) for Puducherry

• 2nd highest target chased by Puducherry (highest target is 227 vs Andhra in 2020-21)

Match 78: Maharashtra vs Goa, 9th November 2021 in Lucknow

Maharashtra won the toss

Maharashtra won by 73 runs

Stats:

• Maiden T20 ton for Yash Nahar in 12 innings

• 3rd lowest 2nd innings total and joint 5th lowest total for Goa (lowest total is 82 all out vs Baroda in 2015-16)

• 2nd biggest win (by runs) for Maharashtra (biggest win is 117 runs vs Puducherry, 1 day ago)

Match 79: Tamil Nadu vs Punjab, 9th November 2021 in Lucknow

Punjab won the toss

Tamil Nadu won by 7 wickets (17 balls remaining)

Stats:

• 5th T20 fifty f

##GROUP A - ROUND 3

Match 39: Punjab vs Goa, 6th November 2021 in Lucknow

Goa won the toss

Punjab won by 81 runs

Stats:

• Maiden T20 ton for Prabhsimran Singh in 28 innings

• 5th biggest win (by runs) for Punjab (biggest is 117 runs vs Railways in 2020-21)

Match 40: Tamil Nadu vs Puducherry, 6th November 2021 in Lucknow

Tamil Nadu won the toss

Tamil Nadu won by 8 wickets (35 balls to spare)

Stats:

• 3rd T20 4-fer for R Sai Kishore in 26 innings (2 5-fers that means he has taken 4+ wickets in an innings 5 times)

• 3rd T20 fifty for C Hari Nishanth in 21 innings

• 5th highest 1st Innings score for Puducherry (highest 1st innings score is 159/6 vs Hyderabad in 2018-19)

• 11th consecutive T20 win for Tamil Nadu. They have won 22 out of their last 25 matches.

Match 41: Maharashtra vs Odisha, 6th November 2021 in Lucknow

Maharashtra won the toss

Maharashtra won by 27 runs

Stats:

• 16th T20 fifty for Ruturaj Gaikwad in 60 innings (1 ton)

• 3rd consecutive

Assumption is that 3 retentions with NO RTMs is the rule. (A bittersweet rule for all teams).
Most of these retentions can be anticipated, but teams like Punjab Kings, Rajasthan royals and KKR, you never know.

CSK:

1. MS Dhoni
2. Suresh Raina
3. Ravindra Jadeja

DC:

1. Shreyas Iyer
2. Rishabh Pant
3. Shikhar Dhawan/Kagiso Rabada (Dhawan most Likely)

KKR:

1. Shubhman Gill
2. Andre Russell
3. Nitish Rana/Dinesh Karthik

MI:

1. Rohit Sharma
2. Hardik Pandya
3. Jasprit Bumrah

PBKS:

1. KL Rahul
2. Mayank Agarwal/Mohammed Shami
3. Chris Gayle/Nicholas Pooran

RR (Tricky):

1. Jos Buttler
2. Ben Stokes/Jofra Archer
3. Sanju Samson

RCB (VERY TRICKY):

1. Virat Kohli
2. AB De Villiers
3. Yuzvendra Chahal/ Mohammed Siraj

SRH:

1. David Warner
2. Rashid Khan
3. Bhuvneshwar Kumar

This tells us that the pool of bankable players available are huge. My wish *Fingers Crossed* is that RCB get Kane Williamson in. I am anticipating that Lots of teams are going to fight hard for him, specially CSK and SRH, but if Willamson is in RCB, he can get his foot in by the time AB De Villiers retires. Other picks would be Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, to consolidate the middle order. If possible, buy back Padikkal and Siraj.

Let me know if you think these choices are right, and your thoughts about having williamson in.

Punjab Kings

Squad: KL Rahul (c&wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Prabsimran Singh, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Harpreet Brar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Porel, Darshan Nalkande, Chris Jordan

Today's buys: Dawid Malan (INR 1.5 cr), Jhye Richardson (INR 14 cr), Shahrukh Khan (INR 5.25 cr), Riley Meredith (INR 8 cr), Moises Henriques (INR 4.20 Cr), Jalaj Saxena (INR 30 L), Utkarsh Singh (INR 20 L), Fabian Allen (INR 75 L), Saurabh Kumar (INR 20 L)

Purse Remaining: INR 18.80 cr

Rajasthan Royals

Squad: Sanju Samson (c&wk), Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Stokes, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Manan Vohra, Anuj Rawat, Riyan Parag, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Shreyas Gopal, Mayank Markande, Jofra Archer, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi

Today's buys: Shivam Dube (INR 4.40 Cr), Chris Morris (INR 16.25 cr), Mustafizur Rahman (INR 1 cr), Chetan Sakariya (INR 1.20 Cr), KC Cariappa (INR 20 L), Liam Livingstone (INR 75 L), Kuldip Yadav (INR 20 L), Akash Singh (INR 20 L)

Purse Remaining: INR 13.65 cr

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Josh Philippe (wk), AB de Villiers (wk), Pavan Deshpande, Washington Sundar, Daniel Sams, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Kane Richardson, Harshal Patel

Today's buys: Glenn Maxwell (INR 14.25 Cr), Sachin Baby (INR 20 L), Rajat Patidar (INR 20 L), Mohammed Azharuddeen (INR 20 L), Kyle Jamieson (INR 15 Cr), Daniel Christian (INR 4.80 cr), Suyash Prabhudessai (INR 20 L), K.S. Bharat (INR 20 L)

Purse Remaining: INR 35 L

Chennai Super Kings

Squad: Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, N. Jagadeesan (wk), Robin Uthappa, MS Dhoni (c&wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, R. Sai Kishore, Mitchell Santner, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi, Josh Hazlewood, KM Asif

**Today's buys:**Moeen Ali (INR 7 Cr), K Gowtham (INR 9.25 Cr), Cheteshwar Pujara (INR 50 L), M Harisankar Reddy (INR 20 L), K. Bhagath Varma (INR 20 L), C Hari Nishanth (INR 20 L)

Purse Remaining: INR 2.55 cr

Mumbai Indians

Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anmolpreet Singh, Aditya Tare (wk), Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Anukul Roy, Jasprit Bumr

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Released: Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Moeen Ali, Isuru Udana, Dale Steyn, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Pawan Negi, Gurkeerat Mann, Parthiv Patel

Squad: Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Joshua Philippe, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahamad, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson

Purse Remaining: INR 35.7 cr

**Slots Remaining:**13 (4 overseas)

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

Released: Sanjay Yadav, B Sandeep, Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, Yarra Prithviraj

Retained: David Warner (c), Abhishek Sharma, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Abdul Samad, Mitchell Marsh, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh

Purse Remaining: INR 10.75 cr.

Slots Remaining: 3 (1 overseas)

Delhi Capitals:

Released: Alex Carey, Keemo Paul, Sandeep Lamichhane, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Sharma, Jason Roy

Retained: Shreyas Iyer (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Prithvi Shaw, R Ashwin, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Lalit Yadav, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Daniels Sams, Anrich Nortje

Purse Remaining: 12.8cr.

Slots Remaining - 6 (4)

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Released: M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad, Chris Green, Tom Banton

Retained: Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan (c), Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi,, Varun Chakravarthy

Purse Remaining: 10.85cr

Slots Remaining - 5 (2)

Rajasthan Royals:

Released: Steve Smith, Ankit Rajpoot, Oshane Thomas, Akash Singh, Varun Aaron, Tom Curran, Anirudha Joshi, Shashank Singh

Retained: Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Kartik Tyagi, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, David Miller, Manan Vohra, Robin Uthappa

Purse Remaining: 34.85cr.

Slots Remaining - 8 (3)

Kings XI Punjab

Released: Glenn Maxwell, Karun Nair, Hardus Viljoen, Jagadeesha Suchith, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Sheldon Cottrell, Jimmy Neesham, Krishnappa Gowtham, Tajinder