Ishan Kishan’s unbeaten 72 (47 balls) helped give Mumbai Indians a comfortable nine-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals, in the in the 51st match at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on October 30. Delhi badly needed a win to ensure their last-four spot in IPL 2020.

Chasing a target of 111, Kishan and Quinton de Kock put together 68 for the first wicket. Anrich Nortje (1/25) removed de Kock in the 11th over. Man of the match Ishan guided MI to victory with 34 balls to spare.

Put into bat earlier, Shreyas Iyer-led Delhi were restricted to 110 for 9 in 20 overs with Trent Boult (3-21) and Jasprit Bumrah (3-17) wreaking havoc on the DC batting lineup. Boult claimed the wickets of Shikhar Dhawan (0), Prithvi Shaw (10) and Ravichandran Ashwin (12). Bumrah got the Purple Cap after claiming the wickets of Rishabh Pant (21), Marcus Stoinis (2) and Harshal Patel (5). Nathan Coulter-Nile (1/14) and Rahul Chahar (1/24) took a wicket each.

It is Delhi’s fourth straight loss, but they can still grab a playoff spot if they beat Royals Challengers Bangalore in their last game.

Sunrisers seal a five-wicket win over RCB

Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers helped gain a five-wicket win against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the evening match of the day. The win took them to fourth spot in the table.

West Indies Test captain Jason Holder’s three sixes gave SRH the edge as they chased the modest target of 121. Holder also took 2/27 from his four overs.

After Sunrisers lost captain David Warner to Washington Sundar cheaply, Wriddhiman Saha and Manish Pandey put a 50-plus partnership for the second wicket. The fall of Saha (to Yuzvendra Chahal’s bowling) and Kane Williamson to Isuru Udana put SRH under some pressure.

Earlier, Sandeep Sharma took the wickets of Devdutt Padikkal and the in-form Virat Kohli cheaply. It was the seventh time in IPL that Sharma picked up Kohli’s wicket. Young Josh Philippe was the highest scorer for his team with 32 off 31 balls. Rashid Khan picked up his first wicket getting Josh Philippe out, soon after AB de Villiers fell to Shahbaz Nadeem.

Rashid was economic as usual with figures of 4-0-24-1, while Sandeep and Jason Holder claimed two wickets apiece.

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An unbeaten innings by Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar helped Sunrisers Hyderabad register an eight-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in the October 22 match in Dubai.

SRH won the toss and elected to field first. West Indies Test captain Jason Holder registered his best IPL bowling figures – 3/33 – to restrict Rajasthan Royals to 154 for 6 in 20 overs.

Playing his first match of the season, Holder dismissed Sanju Samson (36) and then skipper Steve Smith (19) and Riyan Parag (20) on consecutive deliveries. He also got Robin Uthappa (19) run out in the fourth over. From 74 for one after 10 overs, Royals slumped to a total that was about 15-20 runs short.

Pursuing a 155-run target, Pandey (83* off 47 balls, four fours, eight sixes) and Vijay Shankar (52*, four fours) stitched a 140-run third wicket partnership to cross the total with 11 balls to spare. Shankar’s bowling was top class too, yielding just 15 runs in his three overs and grabbing the wicket of Jos Buttler (9). Rashid Khan (1/20) took the wicket of Ben Stokes (30).

Sunrisers had a disastrous start with Jofra Archer felling openers David Warner (4) and Jonny Bairstow (10). Hyderabad was down 16 for two in two overs till the rescue act came from Pandey and Shankar.

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Delhi Capitals had an impressive 13-run win over Rajasthan Royals at the Indian Premier League match in Dubai on October 14, which has now taken the former to the top of the points table with 12 points from eight matches.

Delhi Capitals captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bat first. Jofra Archer’s brilliant bowling (3/19) ensured Delhi could manage only 161 for 7. Shikhar Dhawan (57 off 33 balls) and Shreyas Iyer (53 off 43) had an 85-run stand that helped build the DC innings.

The Delhi total seemed within Rajasthan’s reach as Jos Buttler (22 runs off 9 balls) and Ben Stokes (41 off 35) shared a 37-run first wicket partnership. Stokes was later assisted by Sanju Samson (25 off 18), but after their wickets fell, RR had a tougher task ahead.

Delhi bowlers showed their class in defending the modest total. Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Norje, and Tushar Deshpande held their nerves and played brilliantly giving away only 25 runs in the last five overs. In fact, RR lost a match from a winning position.

South African fast bowler Anrich Nortje, who won the Man of the Match award, has been a valuable addition for DC. He has picked 10 wickets from six matches so far. In match 30, Nortje created an IPL record when he bowled the fastest ball ever, at 156.2 km/hr, in the tournament’s history. He broke his own record off 155.21 km/hr. Nortje’s record fastest delivery sent back Royals opener Jos Buttler for 22.

But on being asked about his record-breaking delivery, Nortje was surprised and said that he was “hearing it for the first time”.

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Mumbai Indians registered a five-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in Abu Dhabi on October 11 in the 27th match of the IPL season.

Chasing a 163-run target set by DC, Quinton de Kock (53 runs off 36 balls, 4×4, 3×6), Suryakumar Yadav (53 off 32) and Ishan Kishan (28 off 15) achieved the goal easily. Man of the match Quinton de Kock’s powerful shots gave MI a fine start. He also reached his second half century in IPL 2020. Yadav also hit his second fifty in a row.

Despite the Delhi bowling being helped by Ravichandran Ashwin and Kagiso Rabada taking key wickets, the target seemed like too little for the reigning champions who knocked off the last seven runs with two balls left.

Delhi won the toss and elected to bat, but the early dismissals of Prithvi Shaw and Ajinkya Rahane was a setback. Skipper Shreyas Iyer took 42 off 33) had an 85-run third wicket stand with Shikhar Dhawan (69 off 52) to reach 162/4 in 20 overs.

MI’s solid batting line-up took them to 166/5 in 19.4 overs. MI has now replaced DC at the top of the table owing to better net run rate.

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Three-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings registered a stupendous 10-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab in Dubai on October 4. In reply to Punjab’s 178/4, the men in yellow made 181/0 proving critics wrong.

Going by Chennai’s recent performances in chases, the match was not expected to go in its favour but CSK openers gave a rousing powerplay. Veterans Shane Watson (83 not out off 53 balls) and Faf du Plessis (83 off 53) produced the best first wicket partnership in IPL 2020 to script a magnificent victory for CSK, which had suffered a string of losses after the first win in this season.

Poor bowling added to Punjab’s woes as the Watson-Du Plessis partnership went berserk. Mohammad Shami and Sheldon Cottrell were unable to replicate their success in the opening spell and, except Ravi Bishnoi (yielding only 33 runs in his 4 overs), none of the Punjab bowlers looked like they could arrest the onslaught.

Punjab, which won the toss and elected to bat, made 178 runs helped by skipper KL Rahul’s 63 (52 balls) and Nicholas Pooran’s (33 off 17). However, Shardul Thakur’s brilliant bowling in the 18th over, when he took out Rahul and Pooran off successive deliveries, helped Chennai limit the KXIP total.

The Player of the Match title went to 39-year-old Shane Watson, who hit 11 boundaries and three sixes.

With a host of 30-plus players –, M.S. Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav and Ambati Rayudu – the CSK team has been nicknamed the ‘Dad’s army’.

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While the event’s Governing Council will meet next week to chalk out the final details and approve the schedule, it is understood that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has informally intimated the franchises about the plan.

“The GC will meet shortly but we have finalised the schedule. It will run from September 19 to November 8. We expect the government approval to come through. It is a full 51-day IPL,” Patel confirmed.

The IPL has been made possible by the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) decision to postpone the October-November T20 World Cup in Australia owing to the covid-19 pandemic.

BCCI and GC are preparing Standard Operating Procedure to combat the COVID-19 and BCCI will formally write to the Emirates Cricket Board.

While there was speculation that the IPL will start from September 26, BCCI decided to advance it by a week in order to ensure that the Indian team’s tour of Australia is not jeopardised.

“The Indian team will have a mandatory quarantine of 14 days as per the Australian government rules. A delay would have sent the plans haywire,” the official said.

“The best part is that 51 days is not at all a curtailed period and there will be much less double headers. We could stick to the original five double headers in a seven week window,” he said.

The Indians are set to play a four-match Test series against Australia starting December 3 in Brisbane.

It is expected that with each and every team needing at least a month’s time to train, the IPL franchises will be leaving base by August 20 which gives them exactly four weeks time to prepare.

There are three grounds available in the UAE – Dubai International Stadium, Sheikh Zayed Stadium (Abu Dhabi) and the Sharjah ground.

Now with the confirmation of the IPL dates, it is certain Dhoni will lead the Chennai Super King troops in the tournament and as expected, set Twitterverse ablaze.

Great to know #IPL2020 is happening.
I’m excited and looking forward to see @msdhoni play again! 💪🏻

— Kidambi Srikanth (@srikidambi) July 24, 2020

#IPL2020 to be held in UAE

Dying to see him playing once again 😍♥🙏@msdhoni pic.twitter.com/74Y2hBWQSO

— VIDHI (@VidhiBhatia7) July 24, 2020

Waiting for Thala Entry#IPL2020 #MSDhoni #CSK pic.twitter.com/PnZ4q2vj6J

— Ak Kumar (@Arun_kumar846) July 24, 2020

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