Defending a title requires starting well. RCB’s plan for a strong start was built around two specific bowling options, Nuwan Thushara’s slingy variation in the death overs and Josh Hazlewood‘s new ball control through the powerplay. Thushara is likely unavailable before the tournament has even started. Hazlewood has injury concerns around the early matches. RCB […]
Defending a title requires starting well. RCB’s plan for a strong start was built around two specific bowling options, Nuwan Thushara’s slingy variation in the death overs and Josh Hazlewood‘s new ball control through the powerplay. Thushara is likely unavailable before the tournament has even started. Hazlewood has injury concerns around the early matches. RCB […]
The pitch is ready. The players are ready. The 35,000 fans who bought tickets within minutes of them going on sale are ready. Entry points still have workers around them. Concourses have temporary barriers where permanent structures should be. Walkways carry visible signs of ongoing work. M Chinnaswamy Stadium will host RCB versus SRH tonight, […]
Two wicketkeepers. One XI. This sounds like a problem, but it isn’t. It’s actually the most interesting selection advantage CSK has heading into this season. Dhoni keeps wicket and bats at seven in a finishing role. Samson bats at three or four and doesn’t keep at all—both play. Neither compromises the other. The debate about […]
Pat Cummins leads the bowling. Travis Head destroys power plays. Heinrich Klaasen finishes innings. Liam Livingstone fills whatever gap the match creates. That’s four overseas slots covering four separate functions without overlap or waste. SRH’s overseas selection isn’t built around the biggest names available; it’s built around having the right answer for every phase of […]
There’s a specific kind of controversy that appears in almost every IPL season, the boundary catch, where the fielder grabs the ball, throws it up, steps over the rope, comes back, and claims the dismissal. Half the stadium cheers. The other half argues. Third umpire reviews take three minutes. The batter doesn’t know whether to […]
Delhi Capitals went through multiple opening combinations in IPL 2025 and finished the powerplay phase among the worst-performing sides in the competition. The problem wasn’t KL Rahul’s quality. It was asking one batter to both anchor and accelerate simultaneously, two contradictory functions in six overs that very few players in world cricket manage successfully. Rahul […]
Ben Duckett had a Delhi Capitals contract and an England summer ahead of him. He chose the English summer. At 31, in the middle of a period where his national team place isn’t completely settled, that’s not a surprising decision, it’s the only sensible one. What makes this story more complicated than a straightforward career […]
Three teams can win this tournament. One leads the argument more convincingly than the other two. Mumbai Indians under Hardik Pandya have the squad depth, the tactical flexibility, and the leadership clarity that titles require. Royal Challengers Bengaluru have momentum, belief, and a playing structure that finally matches their talent. Chennai Super Kings have experience, […]
252 runs in IPL 2025 at a strike rate of 182.60. Those aren’t the numbers of a batter finding his feet in the competition. They’re the numbers of a finisher who already knows what he’s doing. Naman Dhir didn’t have a breakthrough season last year so much as a confirmation season, confirmation that MI’s trust […]
No superstar quartet. No reckless power hitter collection. No gamble on someone’s best-case scenario. Rajasthan Royals have picked four overseas players who do specific things reliably: Jofra Archer takes wickets, Shimron Hetmyer finishes innings, Dasun Shanaka covers two departments when the match demands it, and Nandre Burger gives the attack a left arm angle Archer […]
The Mumbai Indians have won five IPL titles. They know what a winning XI looks like. It doesn’t look like the most explosive team in the draw. It looks like the most complete one, a squad where every phase has the right player assigned to it, nobody is asked to do something they’re not built […]