Lalit Yadav Recent News, Trending News, Stories - CREX

IPL 2021 | KKR vs DC: Hits & Flops as Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana propel Knight Riders towards Playoffs

It was a low scoring affair but by no means a boring one as Kolkata Knight riders defeated table-toppers Delhi Capitals by three wickets in Sharjah to win their fifth game of the Indian Premier League 2021 and consolidate their position at the fourth position in the points table. With their third win out of four games in the UAE leg, the Knight Riders now have 10 points from 11 games. Capitals on the other hand couldn’t get past the Chennai Super Kings which they were aiming to with a win in this game and thus remain at 16 points from 11 games. With a win, not only would they have gotten over the Super Kings in the points table, but would have become the first team to cement their place in the Playoffs. But it wasn’t to be. Much like in every game, this too had some Hits and Flops in terms of players and they will be analysed below. Hits Sunil Narine It was a wicket that was favouring spin and no doubt Sunil Narine would have benefitted from that. However, the way he bowled was just unbelievable. Getting Shreyas Iyer, one of the best players of spin, deceived by pace and line and his stumps rattled, is nothing less than mind-blowing. Apart from Iyer, the 33-year-old also dismissed Lalit Yadav and gave away only 18 runs from his four overs. However, the moment that got him to Man of the Match was his batting. At a time when KKR were struggling at 96-5 with 32 runs still needed from 32 balls and making runs getting difficult with each passing ball, Narine came and in just 10 balls changed the face of the game. He hit the premier bowler of the Capitals, Kagiso Rabada for 19 runs in one over and the game was almost over. Nitish Rana Another man that was primarily responsible for the KKR victory in this very tightly contested game was Nitish Rana. While Narine changed the game in the 16th over, there was another time that Rana changed the game, and it was in the 14th over when Lalit Yadav was bowling. Rana, a Delhi teammate of Lait Yadav, had some idea or the other about the bowling of his domestic cricket teammate and hit him for 15 runs in four balls before Dinesh Karthik hit another four in that very over to bring the equation down from 52 off 42 to 32 of 36. The fact that Rana remained till the end to carry his team home even as wickets kept falling showed that he was determined to get the two points and thank those who always showed faith in him. Tim Southee Although the KKR debut of the Kiwi would be more remembered for his alterations with Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, Tim Southee also bowled brilliantly in the conditions, which wasn’t really favourable to him, especially with the heat turning his face almost red. But determined to prove the call to replace an injured Andre Russell with him right, Southee bowled the full quota of four overs and gave away only 29 runs to take a wicket as well. The best moment was the last over that he bowled. He gave way only six runs, four of which came from a dropped catch. Had that catch not been dropped, the last over might have seen four wickets, which remained three only, two of which were runouts. Flops Kagiso Rabada In a match as low scoring as this one, each ball is important and considering the fact that there was not even a single six hit in the entire innings of the Capitals, Rabada giving away two six and 20 runs in a single over was criminal, to say the least. Not only did he gave away 20 runs, but at a moment in the game, where a tight over could have turned the game n Delhi’s favour by all means. In total, the Proteas bowler gave away 28 runs in just three overs. This is after he bowled a wicket maiden to remove Shubman Gill Lalit Yadav Lalit, who did not bowl in the last game that he played and remained in the playing XI only keeping in mind the Sharjah wicket which supports spinners. Both his ability to bowl off-spin against plenty of lefty batters in the KKR batting order and also his ability to play spin better made him an automatic choice in the XI. However, in the game, both the tricks of his trade failed him big time. First, the 24-year-old was trapped leg before by Narine on a duck while batting, then he was taken to the cleaners by a lefty, Nitish Rana while bowling, making it a forgetful game for him. He gave away 35 runs in only three overs. Having achieved this victory, the Knight Riders would now look to carry the momentum in their last three games where they face Punjab Kings in the next match and Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals in the next two respectively, to make sure they reach the Playoffs. The Capitals however play a tough Mumbai Indians in their next game.

IPL 2021 | Delhi Capitals Road to UAE: Rishabh Pant's men bring both fire and substance to the table

The Delhi Capitlas were a beast side in the last edition of the Indian Premier League and while batters thrashed the opposition bowling attacks, their bowlers rattled the batsmen with pace and flummoxed them with spin. However, their domination was limited to only six teams of the tournament and the only team that made them look like an inferior team that the points table and scorecards of other matches suggested were the Mumbai Indians. The Rohit Sharma’s men went on to win the final by thrashing the men from Delhi in back to back matches in the last edition of the league and left the Capitals with a big question of big match temperament before coming back for the next event. There were not many chinks in their armour as they were rich with a well-balanced side and hence did not require too many changes for the 14th edition of the IPL. However, they suffered a massive setback a few weeks before the tournament as their skipper Shreyas Iyer, who has had led quite a turnaround of the side after taking over the reins from Gautam Gambhir in 2018, dislocated his shoulder was knocked out of the tournament. The Capitals were not disheartened by the absence of their captain and launched their campaign under an ever so dynamic captain in Rishabh Pant. The side established their ascendancy in the league and supremacy over other teams by winning as many as six games out of the eight played so far this season. In all likelihood, they are on the verge of qualifying for the next round and here we will look at their journey so far in this edition to find out what worked for them and what did not. Flamboyant start The Capitals started their campaign against the Chennai Super Kings and what a start they had to the new season albeit they did not have the trio of Iyer and a highly successful pace pair of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje. Their newbies Avesh Khan and Chris Waokes got them to a perfect start by removing Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad inside three overs. The middle-order comprising of Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja propelled the Super Kings to a big score. What followed from the Capitals while batting was nothing short of carnage for the Super Kings bowling attack as the opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw blasted their way to a 138-run partnership in the 14th over. There was no mercy for any kind of bowlers from the Super Kings and the Capitals chased down 189 runs with eight balls to spare and seven wickets intact. Royal speed breaker After a batting heist against the Super Kings, the Capitals were cock a hoop but their jubilation was short-lived as they hit a speed breaker in the next game against the Rajasthan Royals. Their flamboyant batting lineup was tied down by the subtle variations of Jaydev Unadkat, who single-handedly removed their top order and choked them before they could get a sighter. None other than the skipper Pant could stick around for long or blast their way out of trouble for the Capitals to have a defending score on board. It was Pant’s 51 that took them to 147 in the end but it was not appearing enough on a batting-friendly pitch at the Wankhede Stadium. Their pace bowling gave their all by sharing seven cheap wickets between them but the score was not too much for the Royals to not get it. David Miller did the job that Pant had done in the first half and defied the Capitals that night. Back to the beast mode The Capitals were slated to face the Punjab Kings and the Mumbai Indians, who were their sole tormentor in the last edition and the men from Delhi had no option other than to lift their game. At first, the Kings gave them the taste of their own medicines as their openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal came at them with all their might. The duo put on 122 runs for the first wicket and put the Capitals under a lot of pressure to keep the score down to an achievable level. All went for plenty but the pair of Ravichandran Ashwin and Avesh Khan rescued the Capitals and checked the Kings from running away with the game. Chasing a target of 196 runs, the Capitals too were not far behind the Kings and the opening pair of Shaw and Dhawan left their struggles against the Royals behind them and started from where they left against the Super Kings. The duo put on 59 runs for the first wicket in mere 33 balls and reduced a big run chase to a middling one that was clinically completed by Pant and co. to give the Capitals their second win. They were back on the track of winning but had a mountain to climb in the form of Mumbai Indians——their only nemesis in the last edition. They were up for the challenge though. As the caravan moved to slower and spin-friendly pitches in Chennai for the second part of their campaign from a flat surface of Mumbai, they were quite good at adapting with bowlers who are good at varying their pace. Marcus Stoinis got stuck into the Mumbai batting lineup and did not allow them to get going against the new ball, which was their strategy on those surfaces. Once a fluent Suryakumar Yadav perished at the hands of Avesh, the spin trio of Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Lalit Yadav asphyxiated the power-packed Mumbai batting and restricted them to a mere 137 runs. The Capitals struggled with the bat as well but the for of Dhawan provided them with an anchor who kept them going with timely boundaries throughout the middle phase of the game. Close contests With three wins in the first four games of the season including the one over the Mumbai Indians, the Capitals were up and running. However, two enthralling contests were awaiting them to test their nerves for the first time in the fresh season after failing on the same parameters last season. The first of those encounters were against the Sunrisers where the duo of Kane Williamson and Jonny Bairstow threatened to chase down 160 before imploding against a disciplined and diverse bowling lineup. The Capitals were blessed with another rollicking start by Shaw and Pant but lack of flourish from the middle and lower order could not help them go past 160 runs. The pitch was spinning and holding up too much and both Pant and Williamson decided to fight the battle of super over through spinners. Williams had a clear advantage as he had Rashid Khan at his disposal but Pant took the punt on Axar Patel who was getting his darts accurately in the wickets. In a 12 ball-long contest that was decided by the batting of Rishabh Pant against Rashid Khan and Williamson against Axar Patel, the Capitals emerged victories by barest of a bare margin by running a leg bye on the final ball. In the next encounter against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, they turned out to be on the wrong side of AB de Villiers’ act of genius. He single-handedly impelled the men in red and gold to 171 runs on a slow pitch in Chennai and asked the Capitals to dig deeper. Dhawan suffered a rare failure and none of Shaw, Steve Smith, and Marcus Stoinis could support the skipper Pant until Shimron Hetmyer woke up from the slumber just at the right time. Both put on an unbeatne partnership of 78 runs to leave the game perfectly poised with 14 required off the last over. Albeit Pant was there on the crease for a long time, he was struggling to get the big shots going off his bat and the trend continued n the first three balls of the over even while Mohammed Siraj could not find yorkers. He could manage to hit the final two deliveries for fours but lost the game by another barest of the bare margin as Pant failed to hit a six on the last ball of the game. Another Punjab mauling The Capitals were the only side to play eight games in the first part of the tournament before Covid had enough of it and they mauled the Punjab Kings for one more time in the same season. The Kings were without KL Rahul and the stand-in skipper Mayank Agarwal was in full flow with the bat with a 58-ball 99. However, his teammates could not give him ample support and the Capitals had to chase only 167 runs from 20 overs. The red-hot opening pair of Dhawan and Shaw was at it again with a partnership of 63 runs while valuable contributions from others made sure the Capitals strolled in the park and went past the finish line to surge and strengthen their position on the top of the points table with six wins out of eight games. Looking ahead to the UAE The Capitals are all but set to advance to the next round of the tournament and it bears testament to their improvement over the last few seasons. They have been a force to reckon with in the recent seasons and the upcoming second part of IPL 2021 will be another shot at the elusive trophy that the franchise has been desperate to earn since the first edition. They have retained Pant as captain albeit Shreyas Iyer has recovered from his injury and rejoined the squad in the UAE and it shows that the franchise is not willing to go back to the drawing board mid-season. There will be no Chris Woakes in the second half but the return of Iyer would give them space to play both Rabada and Nortje in the conditions where they ruled the show in the last edition. Challenges A majority of their batsmen will be rusty with little to no cricket in recent months. Iyer last played in March while Smith has not played any cricket since the IPL earlier this year. Both Shaw and Dhawan were in good touch with the bat in Sri Lanka but it’s been a long tie since that tour and the Capitals will be wary of a rusty batting lineup going into the business end of the tournament.

Mayank Kumar ∙ 29 Apr 2021

IPL 2021 | DC vs KKR: Hits and Flops as ruthless Capitals thrash abysmal Knight Riders

After squandering a likely win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last game, the Delhi Capitals came storming back in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League handing out a proper thrashing to the Kolkata Knight Riders. The Kolkata Knight Riders were as poor as an IPL side can be and they could not match up to the firepower of the Capitals on Thursday night in Ahmedabad. Here, we will analyse the best and the worst performance of the night in the game between the Knight Riders and the Capitals. Hits Prithvi Shaw When Prithvi Shaw was going through a tumultuous phase in the last season of the IPL in UAE, former Indian batsman and now a commentator Sanjay Manjrekar had advised him to emulate the methods of Virender Sehwag. He had said that Shaw should not look to play strokes out of his comfort zone and instead should back his strength to the hilt, something on the lines of Sehwag’s school of batting. Looks like, Shaw has taken that advice with full confidence, albeit a bit too late for his international ambitions. He went back to the domestic cricket after a horrendous run of form with the bat in IPL last year and a solitary Test against Australia in Adelaide and plundered bowlers to all parts of the ground in the Vijay Hazare Trophy to reclaim his opener slot back in the Delhi Capitals playing XI. Shaw has always been a promising batsman, but now, having tasted the brutal reality of failures and the criticism it brings with itself, Shaw is looking like a wounded lion who is not holding back his punches in the pursuit of utter dominance with the bat. The first casualty of his onslaught was Shivam Mavi—who played under him in the triumphant ICC U-19 World Cup in 2018. Mavi was wayward to start off his bowling, but as erratic he was in his line of attack, Shaw was equally punitive. The first legal delivery was dispatched over his head with proper disdain and while Mavi did not show enough heart to test him with short-pitched bowling, Shaw was in no mood to let him go bowling fuller length balls outside his off stump. One boundary after another, the grimaces on Mavi’s face appeared longer and longer as the Knight Riders were sinking deeper and deeper. Shaw plundered Mavi for a 25 run over and the chase of 155 was reduced to a mere formality even before the Morgan-led side could realise what happened to their tactics. Having seen Shaw enjoying the pace and predictability of Mavi, Morgan switched to the SOS route and called upon Varun Chakravarthy in the second over itself. Dinesh Karthik was chattering behind the stumps in Tamil and was guiding the spinner that Shaw would employ sweep shot as he won’t be able to pick his variations. He was horribly wrong. If the carnage in the previous over was not enough signs of his ballistic form, Shaw stamped his form and confidence as he waited long enough and picked a Chakravarthy delivery off the surface to punch through the cover. The over yielded 10 runs and the spirit in the Knight Riders must have started flattening by that point. Morgan had no option but to throw all his arsenal to stop the Shaw juggernaut and hence Narine was called to bowl in the fourth over itself. He too did not get any respect though he employed tricks to deceive him. He pushed his line of attack wider of the off stump but the right-hander was equal to the task and put him for a classy six and a four on the consecutive ball to show Morgan that it was just his side that played a lackadaisical game and that the Capitals meant business in Ahmedabad. He motored along to a 14-ball 44 but stopped for a little and completed and brought up an 18-ball 50. Right after completing his fifty, he treated Cummins in the same way he treated Mavi to complete a poetic justice of the misery of the Knight Riders. There was no stopping Shaw and the Knight Riders bowlers kept providing him with loose balls to keep him going. He was poised for an unbeaten match-winning innings but he never cared about that in his short career. He perished in the process but not before putting the whole Knight Riders on the brink by performances that earned him standing applause from his coach Ricky Ponting. Lalit Yadav Rishabh Pant had said that the Delhi Capitals are grooming Lalit Yadav after the right-hander played a patient knock against the Mumbai Indians to help the side clinch a game. He produced yet another game-changing performances against the Knight Riders and chipped with success in the middle phase of the game. Pant took a big punt on him by introducing him just after the end of the first powerplay when the right-handed duo of Shubman Gill and Rahul Tripathi was at the crease. The game could have slipped away from the Capitals’ grapes had Yadav let either of them go off the hook. Instead, he tightened the noose around both Gill and Tripathi and yielded only 11 runs from his first 12 balls. The move paid off and it emboldened Pant into giving him another over and it turned out to be a rewarding one for all the pressure he built on the batsmen. First, skipper Eoin Morgan, playing true to his reputation and style, took a risk of hitting over the cover. Morgan, like always, was standing leg side of the ball to have plenty of room, but aware the Morgan’s intention, Yadav fired on towards him and a cramped aerial shot found Steve Smith at long-off. The Knight Riders have been too funk for their own downfall and the move continued with promoting Sunil Narine over the likes of Russell and Karthik, who have been deemed as only finishers of the side. Yadav fired another one in towards another left-hander in Narine, but that time, the ball gripped and turned to castle the fading all-rounder from Trinidad and Tobago. There has been a big hole created by the departure of R Ashwin from the Capitals side, but at least for that delivery that beat Narine all ends up, Pant and Ponting would not have missed Ashwin. Pant missed another trick by not finishing the four over the quota of another spinner having done that on two occasions with Amit Mishra and R Ashwin, but the Knight Riders were too average to challenge his call on the night. Axar Patel Before taking a punt on Lalit Yadav, Rishabh Pant took a bigger risk on Axar Patel by bowling him against Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill in the third over of the game. The move appeared to be a shaky one as Rana dismissed Axar from his presence via a brutal reverse sweep that landed beyond the point boundary. However, the move paid off immediately after the big six as Rana got greedy and Axar Patel preempted his greed. Having reverse swept Patel over the off side, Rana expected the left armer to come straighter at him and danced down the track to go big over the leg side. Axar went further wide from the off stump and found Rana way outside the batting crease. Rana departed after a big grunt but the Capitals were ecstatic at the departure of the Knight Riders’ most fluent batsman at the top of the order this season and the brave move of bowling Axar Patel had paid a dividend. After the fall of Rana, Pant used Axar sparingly—one in the eight and then in the 15th over. He conceded one six each in both the overs. However, he came back superbly with the big wicket of Dinesh Karthik who missed an attempt to reverse sweep from the length. Pant preferred Axar over Lalit Yadav looking at the pair of Karthik and Russell at the crease, and the Gujarat lad put his hands up and heard the big call from his skipper. Flops Eoin Morgan Eoin Morgan was promoted as the leader of the side midway through the last season as Dinesh Karthik was failing to lift the performances of his fellow Knight Riders. The move looked a big one as he was replacing a prominent name in the IPL arena but the clout Morgan was carrying as the first world cup winning England captain, the promise and expectation beat any apprehension about if he could really make a difference. After all, the Knight Riders have been on a downhill curve after the departure of Gautam Gambhir, who led the franchise to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014 and hence the team management thought of getting another larger than life leader back in the form of Gautam Gambhir. The results though have been disappointing and more worryingly, the Knight Riders have been caught multiple times between hot water and frozen ice. Morgan by nature knows only one way of playing and he has a similar partner in the form of Brendon McCullum as the coach, who too, likes to live and die by the same sword. On the other hand, the batsmen have not shown any signs of batting with the attitude of their leaders and even the fluent batsmen such as Shubman Gill and Rahul Tripathi have not been able to replicate their promise into explosive, match-winning innings so far. While the captain Eoin Morgan has a long list of worrying factor about the team, the team has a lot of things to be worried about Eoin Morgan, the batsman. He has not looked in great touch and neither has shown any willingness to curb his instinct to grind and play an ugly innings that would get him going. Instead, he has backed the tried and test formula of hitting his way out of the trouble. It’s high time Morgan will be asking some tough questions from himself on the batting front as well from the team overall as the Knight Riders are walking on the brink of the must-win all territory. Shivam Mavi Shivam Mavi was roped in as a fresh talent as a long term investment by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2018 following a successful stint with the India U-19 team. Spells of injuries plagued his growth as a bowler but he has come back fit and raring to go this season although the performances have not been on the line of the expectations made out of him by the Knight Riders. Mavi should be feeling lucky that he got the opportunity to bowl with the new ball from a side that is rich with the presence of Pat Cummins in the playing XI. however, he made a meal of it against the Delhi Capitals and surrendered both his and his side’s effort against his India U-19 skipper Prithvi Shaw. Shaw went ballistic against him and he could not gather his mind back after a couple of disdainful boundaries. He should have used his pace to alert Shaw against coming on the front foot and hurled a bouncer or a two to unsettle him. Instead, he kept on pitching it up to Shaw and Prithivi rolled on to a 25-run over that pushed the Knight Riders so far back in the game that a catch up fell way short. The Delhi Capitals could not rise to the top of the table as they had lost a close game against the Royal Challengers but five wins from the seven matches at the halfway stage give them a solid second position on the points table. On the other hand, the Knight Riders are just a couple of failures away from facing a situation of seeing an exit door with their every loss and hope and respite from losses of their opponents.

IPL 2021 | DC vs RCB: Brutally hurt Challengers look to regroup against Red-hot Capitals

The Royal Challengers Bangalore were looking like a team to beat before they met Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in their last match of the Mumbai leg. They were not only defeated but thrashed brutally with all their confidence taking a tumble. Their main bowler, Harshal Patel was taken to the cleaners and all their strike batsmen including Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli were tossed up like minions in the sky under the Chennai storm. It is under these circumstances that the red and gold would take the field against a team that is oozing with confidence under a young skipper and with a super over victory under their belt. Delhi Capitals by any means are not an easy opponent for the pride hurt Challengers. Could Ashwin's absence be a blessing in disguise for DC? Ravichandran Ashwin, one of the major part of a Delhi Capitals outfit decided to quit the IPL midway to be with his family which is fighting Covid-19. In any circumstance, Ashwin, 34, is an asset for any team with his ability to provide so many variations with the ball, especially in the powerplay. However, in this IPL, Ashwin hasn’t really been that effective. The spinner has got only one scalp in the 19 overs of the five games that he has bowled in. His economy rate of 7.74 isn’t the best either and it could be said that with the comeback of Axar Patel, Ashwin’s absence could pretty much solve the jigsaw puzzle for the Capitals. Lalit Yadav, who has been in great touch with both bat and ball could now be included in the side without compromising on anything. In the three matches that he has played, Yadav, 24, has scored 54 runs and has got dismissed only once. With the ball too, he has been successful in picking a wicket and has generally been economical only. With Amit Mishra, Axar, Lalit, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan and Marcus Stoinis as bowling options, the Capitals have a more than good enough chance of trouncing any opponent. Getting the loss out of system should be RCB's priority The RCB unit must take the defeat at the hands of CSK as an off day which any team could have had in a season. Instead of drawing too many conclusions Virat Kohli and his men must let that defeat sink in and redraw the lessons from their previous wins to focus on the next game. The fact that their prime bowler, who has so far taken 15 wickets in just five games of the tournament, went for 37 runs in the last over, was not a mistake on the part of his skills. Rather they should take it on the face value that the batsman at the other end was too brave, too skilful, too lucky at times to do what he did in that game. Similarly with their batsmen including the skipper himself failing in the face of the adversity should not demoralise themselves. Instead, they should go chin up and trust their skills with which one Devdutt Padikkal scored a hundred, another Maxwell showed that he could be consistent and an ABD demonstrated that winning games were still a trick he could pull easily. It is only this attitude that could lift up the morale of the team and could lead its comeback. Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore: Match Details Match Number-22 Date and Time: April 27, 2021, 07:30 pm IST, 02:00 pm GMT Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad Broadcast and Live Stream: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch Report The newly built Motera Stadium has several strips which could be used as the pitch for the game and fortunately or unfortunately, all the strips do not behave the same way. This means that a game could be as high scoring affair as a team getting 224 and the second team could close it down as well, or it could be as low scoring as the team bundling out for 124. But with the experience of the India-England T20I series and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy knockouts, it could be reasoned that the square won’t be super quick and thus expecting runs in access of 170 might be too much. Weather and Toss With clear skies and temperatures getting better for playing cricket with each passing hour, Motera could be a better place to play with three fast bowlers and two spinners. It would surely be better than Chennai and the western part of India is prone to dew in this period of the year. Hence, a skipper winning the toss and deciding to field first shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Team News Delhi Capitals With Ashwin leaving the field and no signs of Nortje’ full recovery, the only change possible in the team seems the coming back of Lalit Yadav in place of the off-spinner. Strongest XI Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Steven Smith, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan Royal Challengers Bangalore The idea of pushing Dan Christian ahead of Daniel Sams is beyond logic, especially with the fact that Sams has so far been untested. Moreover, since Motera has been pace friendly, playing Sams with an option of left-arm angle for the left-handed Delhi batters would be an interesting approach. Also, the fact that Sams in the past had been part of the DC camp could also come as an advantage for the RCB unit, giving all the more reasons as to why he should play. Shahbaz Ahmed should also get back his place in place of Navdeep Saini. Strongest XI Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Daniel Sams, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal Dream XI Predictions / Fantasy XI Suggestions AB de Villiers (wk), Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan (c), Glenn Maxwell, Devdutt Padikkal (vc), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Amit Mishra, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan.

IPL 2021 | SRH vs DC: Rejuvenated Sunrisers face in form Capitals on their comeback trail

Sunrisers Hyderabad have tasted victory for the first time this season courtesy of their all-around performance against the Punjab Kings. They came close to winning on various other occasions as well in their last three matches, but something or the other kept holding them back (mostly it was their batting). Now, with settled batting order and the calming influence of Kane Williamson, the Orange Army would be looking to make it two in two as they look to bury the Chennai jinx behind them. The Capitals on the other hand have had a resolute force going with them having defeated Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians after a close loss against Rajasthan Royals. All their departments are clicking and the Chennai wicket is more than suitable enough for what would now be a three-pronged spin attack for them with the comeback of Axar Patel, who has recovered from Covid-19. The calming influence of Kane Williamson Having lost the last three of their games while chasing, Sunrisers in their last game, seemed to have lost control despite having to chase a meagre total of 121 runs. The team in orange started to lose their cool after losing their skipper David Warner. However, the presence of Williamson and his ability to manoeuvre spin meant that the Sunrisers were able to get past the thick of things relatively easily at the end. It is this influence that was missing in the previous games. T Natarajan being ruled out of the tournament could turn out to be costly for the Hyderabad unit. But the way Khaleel Ahmed has leapt up to the opportunity, it might just turn out to be a blessing in disguise for both Ahmed and the team. With Siddarth Kaul and Vijay Shankar finding their feat and Kedar Jadhav bringing in his wealth of experience at the back end alongside Abhishek Sharma’s all-around abilities being utilised to its potential, SRH have shown promises to be a nicely knit unit. The deadly spin trio of Capitals Amit Mishra showed in the last game how deceptive he could be with the ball as he picked up his fifth four-for in the IPL, the most by any Indian bowler. MA Chidamabaram is also only the third ground in IPL history where 38-year-old Mishra has 10 or more wickets, the other two being Arun Jaitley Stadium and Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, his two home grounds in the league. But it is not only Mishra who is to be feared. Home town hero Ravi Ashwin and his million variations with the ball, and him being extra dangerous against left-handers (read David Warner) also becomes a point of worry for the Sunrisers. The third is Axar Patel who is coming on the back of a great England series and he almost made Jonny Bairstow his bunny in that series, cleaning him up twice in four innings. Among the 80 wickets that he has taken so far, Axar has dismissed 49 % of top-order batsmen and 28% of his dismissals have come courtesy bowled. All this is more than good enough to suggest that if he gets a dry ball on the Chepauk wicket that this IPL has been used to, there would be many worried faces in the Orange brigade’s dugout. Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Delhi Capitals Match Number- 20 Date and Time: April 25, 2021, 07:30 pm IST, 02:00 pm GMT Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Broadcast and Live Stream: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch Report Chennai pitch has been rebuked a lot, although Warner has given the curator a green chit saying that he could do nothing about that. The wicket is slow, bounce is low and also two-paced and a target of as small as 140 looks completely defendable if bowled in the right areas and with the right amount of variation. A similar sort of wicket is expected in this game as well and Delhi Capitals with three prime spinners will relish the opportunity. Weather and Toss Clouds would be passing by Chepauk and when that happens, there is some amount of dew in the air for sure as has been proven in the last three games at the venue. The skipper winning the toss would therefore look to field first without any doubt. Team News Sunrisers Hyderabad Having finally found their perfect XI, it would only be reckless if they change it in the next game. Although keeping out Manish Pandey is not as easy as it seems, but for the larger good of the side, we might see him warming the bench once again. Strongest XI David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Kane Williamson, Virat Singh, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Kedar Jadhav, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul Delhi Capitals If Axar Patel is coming back into the side, then the only place available for him is that of Lalit Yadav. Now that Lalit has played well in both the games that Capitals won, getting him out of the side won’t be easy either. Given the fact that Shimron Hetmyer took the team over the line last game, it wouldn’t be easy to drop him either. But if the choice is between him and Lalit on the Chennai wicket, Lalit might get the preference because of his ability to bowl 2-3 overs of off-spin, which can come in handy. If at all they are to make a change, the bold call would be to trade Prithvi Shaw for Lalit Yadav and open with Marcus Stoinis or Steve Smith along with Shikhar Dhawan. Strongest XI Prithvi Shaw/ Lalit Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Steven Smith, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan Dream XI Predictions / Fantasy XI Suggestions Jonny Bairstow (vc), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shikhar Dhawan (c), Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Abhishek Sharma, Amit Mishra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan

IPL 2021 | MI vs DC: What Experts said as Mumbai's middle-order woes continue

Two in-form teams Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals locked horns on Tuesday night in Chennai. While Rishabh Pant’s DC grabbed a thumping win against Punjab Kings by 6 wickets in their previous encounter, the Rohit Sharma-led MI had dominated Sunrisers Hyderabad to beat them by 13 runs. But as they say there can be only one winner at the end of the contest. Though, the two sides looked in some good shape, MI had a slight edge as they had defeated DC in the last four matches on the trot. But the fortunes changed for DC on Tuesday. Call it the new captain Rishabh Pant’s luck or some hardwork from the Capitals team, they did defeat MI and pretty comprehensively by 6 wickets and with 5 balls to spare. Chasing a target of 138 on a tricky surface, the Delhi franchise lost an early wicket in the form of Prithvi Shaw who was removed by Jayant Yadav after the spinner caught him off his own bowling for 7 off 5 balls. But Shaw’s opening partner Shikhar Dhawan continued his purple patch and stitched a stand of 53 runs with former Australia captain and DC’s new recruit Steve Smith who came in at number three. Smith and Dhawan were looking steady when stand-in captain Kieron Pollard brought himself into the attack and scalped the Aussie batsman’s wicket for 33 after trapping him in front of the stumps. While Smith departed, Dhawan continued to play his game and eventually notched up 45 off 42 before getting out to Rahul Chahar. The situation still looked under control as they needed 38 more to win in just over five overs. But DC captain Pant’s dismissal in the 17th over had the side in a spot of bother. The left-handed batsman miscued a stroke while facing Jasprit Bumrah and gave a catch to Krunal Pandya in the deep for 7 while the team score read 115/4. But Lalit Yadav who had come out to bat at number four held the other end strongly and put up an unbeaten partnership of 23 runs with Hetmyer to see DC home. Yadav scored 22* off 25 while Hetmyer was not out for 14 off 9. Earlier, Mumbai Indians had a disappointing start to the proceedings after they lost Quinton de Kock early in the innings but skipper Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav came in for the resistance and scored 58 runs for the second wicket before SKY departed for 24 off 15. Sharma though continued with his stroke play but Pant’s decision to give the ball to leg-spinner Amit Mishra did the trick for them. Mishra probably put in all the experience that he has to rattle MI’s batting line up. He first removed Rohit who was looking dangerous for 44 off 30 and then got off Hardik Pandya a couple of balls later inviting both the batsmen to take the aerial route. Both Rohit and Hardik mistimed their strokes and deposited the ball straight into the hands of Smith at long on. The right-arm leggier then scalped the wickets of Ishant Kishan and Kieron Pollard to return with figures of 4/24 in 4 overs. Captain’s viewpoints Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma admitted that the batting unit has failed to capitalise on the starts they have been getting and this is happening regularly. “After the start we got we should have batted better in the middle overs. It is happening time and again. We aren't able to capitalize on our starts and we need to understand as a batting unit,” he said. But Sharma also credited the Delhi Capitals for keeping things tight and in their favour while he also talked about the dew factor and whether it was difficult to grip the ball or not. “But you have to give credit to the Delhi bowlers, they kept it tight and kept taking wickets. We knew dew would come in but we have seen that it's not all that difficult to grip the ball in the last few games. Dew isn't the factor, we need to play smart cricket to win games which we didn't do today. [On his injury] It's only a niggle. It should be fine,” Rohit added. Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant hailed Amit Mishra for getting the team back on track after SKY and Rohit had created some pressure on the Delhi side with a steady partnership. “When we started we were a little under pressure. Mishy bhai got us into the game. Bowlers did a great job to restrict them to 136. We like to take it into the ground, take one match at a time,” Pant said. The wicket-keeper batsman also praised Lalit Yadav who played a handy knock and also picked up a wicket during the course. “He's a great Indian player we're trying to groom (Lalit Yadav). Can do wonders on pitches like these. What we've learnt is if you keep wickets in hand you can chase any target,” the left-handed aggressive batsman further added. Expert Opinion The cricket pundit and commentator Harsha Bhogle was in all praise of the Delhi Capitals for the way they went ahead with the run chase. Bhogle said that dew could be a determining factor but the way DC have played is very sensible. Boria Majumdar, a cricket journalist and historian lauded Shikhar Dhawan and Amit Mishra for their match-defining performances. But Boria also pointed out the weak point that MI have persisted with so far in the tournament. The historian said that MI batting unit hasn’t been able to capitalise on the starts they have got and the failure of their middle-order has been a cause of concern in this edition. Vikrant Gupta had some questions for MI. He too pointed out the middle-order collapse while putting the onus on Hardik Pandya who hasn’t fired in this season. MI had successfully defended a couple of low scores before coming into this match while giving a hard time to the Royal Challengers Bangalore but according to Vikrant bowling can’t really win a team all the matches if they put up a score on the board. Mumbai Indians will now play Punjab Kings in Chennai on Friday before flying to Delhi to begin the next leg of the tournament. Delhi Capitals are also left with one game in Chennai where they will face Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday. DC will then move to Ahmedabad.

Lalit Yadav

[Watch] T Natarajan Yorks Lalit Yadav To Take SRH Closer To A Thrashing Win

DC vs CSK | No Surprises at Toss Time as MS Dhoni Elects To Bat First in a Must-Win Game

[Watch] Lalit Yadav's One-Handed Stunner Sends Ajinkya Rahane Back To The Hut

What is the Cricket Match Today? Expected Changes, Winner Prediction

IPL 2023 | 'Yet' Another Half-Century from 'King Kohli' Pushes DC on Back-foot

Predicted Playing XI of Delhi Capitals for Match 20 of IPL 2023

IPL 2022 | Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel's air show help DC stun Paltan