Brilliant Madhwal takes 5-5 as Mumbai knock Lucknow out of IPL

Mumbai Indians' Akash Madhwal celebrates the wicket of Lucknow Super Giants' Krishnappa Gowtham during the Indian Premier League cricket eliminator match between Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants in Chennai on Wednesday. (AP)
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Updated 25 May 2023
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Brilliant Madhwal takes 5-5 as Mumbai knock Lucknow out of IPL

  • Mumbai booked a meeting with holders and regular season table-toppers Gujarat Titans in the next playoff encounter on Friday in Ahmedabad
  • The winners on Friday will meet Chennai Super Kings in the final on Sunday

CHENNAI, India: Akash Madhwal took five wickets for as many runs to lead Mumbai Indians to a crushing 81-run win in the second IPL playoff game and knock Lucknow Super Giants out of the tournament on Wednesday.

Australia’s Cameron Green (41) and Suryakumar Yadav (33) put on 66 to help guide five-time champions Mumbai to 182-8 after they elected to bat first in the knockout contest in Chennai.

Madhwal then returned figures of 5-5 in 3.3 overs to dismiss Lucknow for 101 as Mumbai booked a meeting with holders and regular season table-toppers Gujarat Titans in the next playoff encounter on Friday in Ahmedabad.

The winners of that clash will meet Chennai Super Kings in the final on Sunday.

“It’s nice that it’s going well at the moment,” Green said.

“Our batting’s been really good. Madhwal has been the game changer for us; five today, and got four-for the other day.”

Green, who was the second-most expensive player bought in the auction at $2.11 million, added: “Gujarat are the best team. It’s going to be a tough challenge, especially on their home turf.”

Lucknow’s innings imploded as they collapsed from 69-2 to be bowled out in 16.3 overs, losing three key wickets to run outs.

Green, who hit his maiden T20 century in Mumbai’s previous win, looked in control during a 23-ball knock laced with six fours and one six until his departure.

Naveen-ul-Haq, who took four wickets for Lucknow, sent back Suryakumar and Green, bowled by a slower off-cutter from the Afghanistan pace bowler, in the space of three deliveries to push Mumbai onto the back foot.

Tilak Varma hit back with a quickfire 26 and a 43-run stand with Tim David, who was out caught for 13 after unsuccessfully reviewing a full toss for being over waist-height.

Naveen finished with 4-38 and Yash Thakur took three wickets but despite their efforts Mumbai’s impact sub Nehal Wadhera boosted the total with his 12-ball 23.

Lucknow lost their openers early including impact player Kyle Mayers for 18 before Australia’s Marcus Stoinis attempted to pull the chase together in his 27-ball 40.

But Madhwal struck with successive balls, including getting the dangerous Nicholas Pooran caught behind for a golden duck.

An engineer by profession, Madhwal learned the game while playing tennis-ball cricket in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand but is filling in for Mumbai’s injured pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.

“Bumrah bhai (brother) has his own place, and I’m just trying to play the role assigned to me,” said the 29-year-old Madhwal.

Stoinis, who crossed 400 runs this season to be his team’s standout performer, was run out after a mid-pitch collision with non-striker Deepak Hooda with both batsmen watching the ball.

The innings fell further apart with two more run outs sending back Krishnappa Gowtham and Hooda.

Lucknow, who made their IPL debut last season with Gujarat Titans as the league grew to 10 teams, fell at the same hurdle in the previous edition.

The neutral venue for both teams had many empty seats, in contrast to the nearly full stadium on Tuesday when home hero M.S. Dhoni’s Chennai made the final with a win over Gujarat.


De Kock fireworks see Kolkata thrash Rajasthan in IPL

Updated 26 March 2025
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De Kock fireworks see Kolkata thrash Rajasthan in IPL

  • Spinners Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy combined to help restrict Rajasthan to 151-9 after KKR elected to field first in Guwahati
  • De Kock bossed the chase with his 61-ball innings laced with eight fours and six sixes as Kolkata achieved their target with 15 balls to spare

GUWAHATI, India: South Africa’s Quinton de Kock struck an unbeaten 97 as holders Kolkata Knight Riders registered their first win of the IPL season with an eight-wicket hammering of Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday.
Spinners Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy combined to help restrict Rajasthan to 151-9 after KKR elected to field first in Guwahati.
De Kock bossed the chase with his 61-ball innings laced with eight fours and six sixes as Kolkata achieved their target with 15 balls to spare.
De Kock, who has retired from Tests and one-day international cricket for South Africa and whose T20 international future remains uncertain, showed no signs of rustiness.
“To be fair, haven’t felt any challenges yet,” De Kock said.
“Have had three months off which felt nice. Had about a 10-day build-up to this season. Only my second game here, just taking it as I see it.”
Kolkata signed De Kock in November’s auction after he was released by Lucknow Super Giants.
He handed his team a quick start, hitting two fours but then lost opening partner Moeen, run out for five.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane fell after a brisk 18 but De Kock stood firm and along with impact substitute Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who made 22, steered the team home in an unbeaten stand of 83.
De Kock finished with a six off Jofra Archer as Kolkata bounced back from their opening loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Rajasthan suffered their second straight loss.
Earlier, Kolkata fast bowler Vaibhav Arora dismissed Sanju Samson, bowled for 13, and Chakravarthy and Moeen soon took two wickets each.
Wicketkeeper Samson is Rajasthan’s regular captain but has been forced to play only as a batter in the first three matches due to an injury.
Chakravarthy, who starred in India’s recent Champions Trophy triumph, got stand-in-skipper Riyan Parag out caught behind for 25.
Former England all-rounder Moeen, in for the unwell Sunil Narine, stifled the opposition with his off-spin and was rewarded with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal for 29.
The 37-year-old and Chakravarthy both struck again as Rajasthan slipped to 82-5 in 11 overs.
Wickets kept tumbling for Rajasthan and despite wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel’s 33 and 16 from Archer, they settled for a below-par total.
“I think 170 was a reasonable score but we fell short by 20 runs,” said Parag. “The plan was to get Quinny out early but he didn’t so we shifted to containing them in the middle overs.”
Arora and fellow quick Harshit Rana also took two wickets each.
Kolkata, under Shreyas Iyer who is now Punjab Kings captain after a $3.17 million move in the auction, won their third IPL title last year.


Big bucks Iyer leads Punjab Kings to win over Gujarat Titans in IPL

Updated 25 March 2025
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Big bucks Iyer leads Punjab Kings to win over Gujarat Titans in IPL

  • Iyer’s 42-ball knock steered the team to 243-5
  • Gujarat finished on 232-5 despite a valiant 41-ball 74 by opener Sai Sudharsan

AHMEDABAD: India batsman Shreyas Iyer led from the front with an unbeaten 97 to set up a 11-run win for Punjab Kings in a big-hitting IPL clash with Gujarat Titans on Tuesday.
Iyer’s 42-ball knock steered the team to 243-5 after being invited to bat first at the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.
Gujarat finished on 232-5 despite a valiant 41-ball 74 by opener Sai Sudharsan who set up a blazing start to the run chase, featuring a 84-run second wicket stand with England’s Jos Buttler (54).
Both sides walloped 16 sixes each across the two innings on the fourth day of the cash-rich Indian Premier League T20 tournament.
Iyer, who led Kolkata Knight Riders to a title win last year, has already gone some way to justifying his top price tag, after Punjab paid a whopping 3.17 million dollars in the November auction.
The top-order batter started with a boundary off Gujarat’s South African import Kagiso Rabada and three balls later smashed a six.
He allowed attacking opener Priyansh Arya to take charge as the Indian young left-hander hammered 47 off 23 deliveries before being denied his fifty by Afghanistan spin wizard Rashid Khan.
Gujarat’s Sai Kishore joined the bowling charge to strike twice in two balls, including trapping Australia’s Glenn Maxwell lbw for a first-ball duck, but Marcus Stoinis avoided the hat-trick.
Maxwell walked back without a review but tracking technology later revealed the ball would have gone over the stumps as a dejected Punjab coach Ricky Ponting looked upset.
Iyer stood strong as he took on the attack with sixes and fours and found support from Australian hard-hitter Stoinis, who smashed a 15-ball 20 before becoming Kishore’s third wicket.
Iyer reached his fifty in 27 balls and kept up the charge as he struck three sixes and a four in a 24-run over off seam bowler Prasidh Krishna.
Iyer went past his previous IPL best of 96 but missed out on his century as partner Shashank Singh dominated the strike in the latter stages and finished on an unbeaten 16-ball 44.
Iyer and Shashank hammered 81 runs between them in 28 balls to finish with a flourish.
In reply, the left-handed Sudharsan and skipper Shubman Gill, who hit 33 off 14 balls, handed Gujarat a blazing start but the ever-increasing run-rate made the home team fall behind the chase despite having wickets in hand.
Sudharsan fell to left-arm pace bowler Arshdeep Singh and Buttler, after reaching his fifty, was bowled by South African left-arm quick Marco Jansen.
Impact player Sherfane Rutherford, a left-handed West Indian hard-hitter, made a desperate effort to pull off a miracle with his 28-ball 46 before falling to Arshdeep in the final over.


Season-opening wins for Hyderabad and Chennai in IPL

Updated 23 March 2025
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Season-opening wins for Hyderabad and Chennai in IPL

  • Rough day for Rajasthan’s English pacer Jofra Archer
  • Mumbai had spin woes in Chennai

HYDERABAD, India: Ishan Kishan scored 106 not out off 47 balls as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Rajasthan Royals by 44 runs in their season-opening encounter in the 2025 Indian Premier League on Sunday.
Kishan smacked 11 fours and six sixes in his first IPL hundred on debut for his new franchise, which notched up its second-highest total in tournament history.
Travis Head scored 67 off 31 balls as the Sunrisers picked up where they left off in 2024 to reach a mammoth 286-6 in 20 overs.
Hyderabad’s previous highest score was 287-3 — the highest IPL total — against Royal Challengers Bengaluru last season.
In the evening game, Chennai Super Kings beat Mumbai Indians by four wickets with five balls remaining in a high-profile clash.
Afghanistan’s left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad took 4-18 in four overs for Chennai as Mumbai was restricted to 155-9 after losing the toss. Tilak Varma top-scored with 31 off 25 balls.
Rachin Ravindra’s unbeaten 65 off 45 balls, along with skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad’s quick-fire 53 off 26, helped Chennai score 158-6 in 19.1 overs.
Royals fall short despite reaching 242-6
Rajasthan Royals fought well to post 242-6 (20 overs) in reply to Hyderabad’s huge target. Dhruv Jurel led with 70 off 35 balls, while Sanju Samson scored 66 off 37 balls.
Put into bat, Hyderabad ran away at the start with Head and Abhishek Sharma’s (24) explosive opening pairing putting on 45 off 19 balls.
Kishan found another gear as he reached 50 off 25 balls. Hyderabad, which bought him at the season’s auction earlier, found immediate returns as the young batter smacked his way to an attacking hundred on debut for his new franchise.
He put on 85 off 39 balls with Head, who also hit nine fours and three sixes. The latter fell just prior to the halfway mark.
Kishan – and Hyderabad – did not let up the scoring rate. He found able company in Nitish Reddy who hit 30 off 15 balls and Heinrich Klaasen, who added 34 off 14 balls.
Kishan’s next 50 came off 22 balls, as he raced to his century, helping Hyderabad to a statement total in its first outing.
Rough day for Rajasthan’s English pacer Jofra Archer
England pacer Jofra Archer finished with 0-76 from four overs – the most expensive spell in IPL history.
Rajasthan faltered early in its chase. Yashasvi Jaiswal was out caught for one, while Riyan Parag was dismissed for four — both in the second over. It became 50-3 as Nitish Rana was dismissed for 11.
Samson, coming in as an impact substitute, did start off the season in style. He scored 50 off 26 balls, and put on 111 off 60 balls with Jurel as Rajasthan fought back on a good batting surface.
Jurel reached 50 off 28 balls at the other end, hitting six sixes and five fours as the chase revolved around him. Adam Zampa dismissed him in the 15th over, while Samson was out caught in the previous over.
It was too tall an ask for Rajasthan thereafter to chase down the mammoth target successfully despite fruitful cameos from Shimron Hetmyer (42 off 23 balls) and Shubham Dubey (34 not out off 11 balls).
Mumbai’s spin woes in Chennai
Ahmad sprung into action after left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed took 3-29, including the dismissal of Rohit Sharma for a four-ball duck.
Spin did the trick on a slow Chepauk track as Mumbai never got into third gear in its opening game. It missed skipper Hardik Pandya, who was on the bench serving a slow over-rate suspension from 2024.
Stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav only managed 29 off 26 balls. Mumbai was down to 96-6 in 13 overs and then 118-7 in 16.1 overs.
Deepak Chahar, a former Chennai player making his Mumbai debut, scored 28 not out off 15 balls including two sixes to push the score past 150.
Chasing 156, Chennai was boosted by a 67-run partnership for the second wicket off only 37 balls between Gaikwad and Ravindra.
Gaikwad hit three sixes and six fours, reaching 50 off 22 balls. Mumbai struck back through 24-year-old left-arm wrist spinner Vignesh Puthur (3-32).
Chennai lost regular wickets to Puthur and Will Jacks but Ravindra helped his team reach the target in the 20th over.


Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL opener

Updated 22 March 2025
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Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL opener

  • Bengaluru chased down the defending champions’ 174-8 with 22 balls to spare

KOLKATA: Virat Kohli scored 59 not out off 36 balls as Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets Saturday in the opening game of the Indian Premier League.
The star batsman hit four fours and three sixes as Bengaluru chased down the defending champions’ 174-8 with 22 balls to spare.
Phil Salt scored 56 off 31 balls, adding 95 off 51 balls with Kohli in a whirlwind opening stand that powered Bengaluru’s total of 177-3 in 16.2 overs.
Salt, who played a prominent role for Kolkata in their 2024 triumph, was picked by Bengaluru in this season’s player auctions and made an impression in the very first game.
For Kolkata, skipper Ajinkya Rahane scored 56 off 31 balls, including six fours and four sixes.
Rahane is leading the defending champions after last year’s winning captain Shreyas Iyer was not retained by the franchise and moved to Punjab Kings for this season.
Bengaluru, led by Rajat Patidar for the first time, had won the toss and opted to bowl with the dew-factor in mind.
Put into bat, Kolkata lost Quinton de Kock early when he was caught behind off Josh Hazlewood for four.
A couple of catching chances went begging as the hosts fought back through Rahane and opener Sunil Narine.
Narine hit 44 off 26 balls, with five fours and three sixes, and put on 103 off 55 balls with Rahane. It was the skipper who set the tone by hitting six fours and four sixes in his first outing for Kolkata.
Bengaluru put on the brakes with spin as the duo both fell within four deliveries with the score reading 109-3 in 10.3 overs.
Kolkata then lost their way as big-money all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer was bowled for six, while Rinku Singh scored only 12.
Both were bowled off Krunal Pandya, who picked 3-29 in four overs in his first outing for Bengaluru. Andre Russell was also bowled for four off wrist spinner Suyash Sharma — another former Kolkata player.
Impact sub Angkrish Raghvanshi’s 30 off 22 balls pushed the score past 170, but it proved under par.
In reply, Kohli and Salt set an electric pace as the packed Eden Gardens chanted for the visiting side.
Salt hit nine fours and two sixes to set the tone and brought up 50 off only 25 balls. Kohli also scored at a brisk pace, as RCB was 80-0 in six overs – the highest opening stand in the powerplay in IPL history.
Kohli reached his 56th IPL half-century off 30 balls, and continued in attacking fashion, even as wickets fell at the other end.
There was too much dew for Kolkata’s spinners to have any impact, as Bengaluru pushed aggressively through the chase.
Patidar chipped in with a quickfire cameo – 34 off 16 balls, with five fours and a six – on his captaincy debut.
Sunday will see the first double-header of the season – 2024 runners-up Sunrisers Hyderabad first take on Rajasthan Royals at home, followed by the high-profile clash between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians in Chennai.


More expansions on horizon for T20 franchise cricket

Updated 20 March 2025
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More expansions on horizon for T20 franchise cricket

  • Beyond financial considerations, leagues have a duty to support ailing domestic structures and act as platforms for developing better talent

The 18th edition of the Indian Premier League begins on Sunday, March 23, with the final scheduled for May 25. This year, the Pakistan Super League will overlap with the IPL, because it had to make way for Pakistan’s hosting of the ICC Champions Trophy.

Compared with the IPL’s 74 matches, the 10th edition of the PSL will feature 44, opening on April 8 and ending on May 19. As further evidence of the expansion of T20 franchise cricket, this number is set to change in 2026.

The Pakistan Cricket Board hopes to expand the PSL from six teams to eight. The existing franchises operate under a 10-year agreement which ends after this season. Expansion outside of the current four cities — Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Multan — is under consideration whilst media and sponsorship rights will be up for sale with the aim of strengthening the PSL’s commercial appeal and competitiveness.

A part of this recalibration will need to focus on the optimal time to hold an expanded tournament. The previous window in January to February now faces competition from SA20 in South Africa and ILT20 in the UAE. In addition, an increasingly intense battle for the top overseas players is a corollary of expanded franchise leagues.

It remains the case that the IPL attracts the best of those players. It has shown its strength by imposing penalties on any overseas player who, having been picked for a franchise, withdraws before the start of the season for other than medical or family reasons. England’s Harry Brook, who has just done so, faces a ban from participating in the IPL for two seasons. The decision may have something to do with him being touted as England’s next white ball captain.

Despite having separate windows in previous years, there are few players who have participated in both the IPL and PSL in the same season. Indeed, there have been few who have played in both leagues in different seasons. Fears that a clash of dates for the first time might lead to some acrimony over player choices were not realized until this week. Then, South African all-rounder Corbin Bosch withdrew from the Peshawar Zalmi squad in the PSL to join the Mumbai Indians in the IPL to replace an injury withdrawal. Subsequently, the PCB has served Bosch with a legal notice for breaching his contractual obligations.

Pakistan’s poor showing in the Champions Trophy has reinforced concerns its players and administrators are being left behind in cricket’s ever-changing landscape. These have led to the non-selection of Pakistan players for The Hundred, which occupies August in England and Wales. Fifty of them — 45 men and five women — registered for the draft. It is the first time no Pakistani players have been selected. The purchase of equity in four of the franchises by Indian investors has prompted murmurings of a possible “soft ban.” Pakistan players have not played in the IPL since 2008 and the global spread of Indian franchise ownership has led to suspicions of tacit discrimination.

As far as The Hundred is concerned the reality is likely to be more prosaic, as the Pakistani players have overlapping international commitments. Pakistan is scheduled to play ODIs and T20Is in the West Indies from late July to mid-August and may play a T20I series against Afghanistan before the Asia Cup begins mid-September. Franchises are also likely to be worried about the PCB’s stance towards releasing players with domestically contracted obligations. There are already tensions. 

Another concern is the value which Pakistan’s players currently bring to the franchise. Recent performances have been disappointing and they may be caught in a vicious circle of not being able to improve because they are not getting picked. Additionally, they are not being exposed to the latest developments, coaching and analytical tools.

It is easy to assume franchise cricket is all about money; it is, to a large extent. Players cannot be blamed for cashing in, investors and sponsors require a return on their investments, whilst some administrators have regarded it as a lifesaving device for ailing domestic structures. However, the leagues should be more than that, acting as a platform to promote those structures and develop better talent. ILT20 in the UAE has been criticized for having too many overseas players but its long-term objective is to develop domestic cricket.

National boards have been able act unilaterally in setting up leagues, only requiring sanction from the ICC, which rarely refuses. Outside this largely unregulated market a new entrant is rumored to be at its gates. Cricket’s media machine is rife with the story that a new league is being discussed with the potential to produce a seismic twist to the game’s landscape.

The rumor appears to have emanated from Australia. It focuses on competitions for both men and women modelled on tennis and its Grand Slams, with eight new teams which assemble and play matches in four different locations during the year. Neither the proposed identity and composition of the teams, nor the times of year when the matches could be played, have been revealed. There are few vacant windows in an already crowded calendar. This has led to immediate pushback from several national boards, keen to protect their domestic franchises.

Currently, the cricket economy is based largely on income received from broadcasters and distributions from ICC events. It is weighted heavily in favor of India, followed by Australia and England. Smaller nations struggle financially, a situation which will worsen if sales of broadcasting rights in the next cycle generate less than the current one, a possibility given concerns over value provided during the 2024 World Cup. Boards may be attracted by an alternative revenue source.

If the rumors are true, a major backer of the proposed league — to the tune of $500m — could be SRJ Sports Investments, a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund. Clearly, there is much that needs to be fleshed out — not least player availability, especially those from India; the economic model to be adopted; and the impact on existing structures, both spatial and temporal. It is questionable if those structures can cope with even more pressure.