Indian Cricket Team Updates

It was only his second game of the Pepsi Indian Premier League 2013, but Rajasthan Royals’ 18-year old Sanju Vishwanadh presented a calm and composed front as he negotiated the Royal Challengers Bangalore attack. With a 41-ball 63 , the slightly built lad from Kerala, played a pivotal role in chasing down a challenging total at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Monday.  The youngster who turned out for the Jaipur franchise this season, grabbed the opportunities he got with both hands and is an eager student. Sanju Vishwanadh has been soaking in everything he can, including aspects other than cricket from experienced campaigners around and is grateful for the chance to be able to do so.  Besides the veterans in his team, the youngster who loves his wicket-keeping as much as his batting equally, considers AB de Villiers his hero and looks forward to gaining more inputs from the South African player.  While speaking to iplt20.com after an impressive match winni...

Match Report: Mumbai Indians continued their winning form with a nerve-wracking four-run victory over Kings XI Punjab at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Rohit Sharma starred for MI with an undefeated 79 that saw David Miller's 56 go in vain. Rohit sharma captain of Mumbai Indians and David Hussey captain of Kings XI Punjab during the toss before the start of match 41 of the Pepsi Indian Premier League ( IPL) 2013 between The Mumbai Indians and the Kings XI Punjab held at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on the 29th April 2013 Chasing a stiff 175, KXIP were shook early as Lasith Malinga deceived Mandeep Singh (9) with a slower delivery and had his stumps in disarray. Manan Vohra (1) followed him caught by Kieron Pollard off Mitchell Johnson. KXIP got a move on with three boundaries off Malinga in the 5th over. David Hussey went after Dhawal Kulkarni hitting him for consecutive boundaries, before launching him over the ropes. KXIP lost their third wicket as Pollard pulled of...

Match Report: Rajasthan Royals maintained their unbeaten record at home with a thrilling four-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Sanju Samson played an incredible innings of 63 to lead in RR’s successful chase of RCB's 171. Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli before the toss during match 40 of the Pepsi Indian Premier League ( IPL) 2013 between The Rajasthan Royals and the Royal Challengers Bangalore held at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on the 29th April 2013 Chasing a stiff 172 for victory, RR were lucky as Virat Kohli spilled Rahul Dravid off the very first ball of the run-chase. Dravid made the most of it hitting Ravi Rampaul for two boundaries. Rampaul got the first wicket as Ajinkya Rahane (2) top edged a pull to be caught at fine leg.  Sanju Samson, promoted up the order smashed Vinay Kumar for consecutive boundaries. Moises Henriques then deceived Dravid with a slower delivery and broke the stumps behind hi...

Those who had plans of watching ‘The Chris Gayle Show’ at the Wankhede stadium on Saturday had to return back disappointed. The Wankhede stadium witnessed one of the most intimidating spells of fast bowling as Mitchell Johnson and Lasith Malinga bowled in tandem to restrict a power packed RCB batting line up to a paltry 34 in their first five overs.  Chris Gayle was hardly given any room to score freely, and some of the runs that he got were off edges and bouncers that luckily hit his bat to fetch him boundaries. Tillakaratne Dilshan too was finding life difficult at the centre as his efforts to accelerate went in vain as Mumbai Indians looked lively with the ball on the field.  Over number six, enter Dhawal Kulkarni and he got the struggling Dilshan in the fourth ball of his very first over this IPL. A fist pump by Dhawal followed, and the series of events after that only had the young Mumbai seamer walking back with a heart full of content and figures of 4-0-29...

Match Report: Delhi Daredevils lifted themselves off the bottom of the table through a hard earned 15-run win over Pune Warriors India at the Chhattisgarh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur. David Warner did the star turn for DD with a well composed 51 that enabled them post 164, following which the bowlers did well to restrict PWI to 149. Chasing a stiff 165, PWI started cautiously as Irfan Pathan bowled a maiden first over. After a few sedate overs, Robin Uthappa upped the tempo with two boundaries off Morne Morkel. PWI made 43 runs from their power play overs. Aaron Finch smashed three boundaries off Pathan's seventh over as PWI started to up the ante. At the halfway stage, PWI were 75 for 0, still needing 90 runs of the remaining ten. Pathan struck a double blow in the 11th over pegging back PWI. First Uthappa (37) was caught by Unmukt Chand in the deep before Finch (37) was adjudged caught behind. Yuvraj Singh looked in dangerous mood with two imperious ...

Match Report: Chennai Super Kings continued their domination defeating Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. Michael Hussey set up the match for CSK with a heroic 95 that saw CSK post a massive 200, a total that proved 14-runs too many for KKR. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir during toss of match 38 of the Pepsi Indian Premier League between The Chennai Superkings and the Kolkata Knight Riders held at the MA Chidambaram Stadiumin Chennai on the 28th April 2013 Chasing 201, KKR got off to a flier scoring 18 runs off the first over bowled by Dirk Nannes. Gautam Gambhir (14) hit Chris Morris for two boundaries, before the bowler came back strong to castle his leg stump. Manvinder Bisla looked in ominous mood smashing Morris for four boundaries in the fifth over. Mohit Sharma had Brendon McCullum (6) play on to his stump to give CSK their second wicket. Jacques Kallis was given a reprieve when he was put down on 6 by Suresh Rain...

The Qualifier I and Eliminator of the ongoing Pepsi IPL 2013, will be played at the Feroze shah Kotla Ground, Delhi, on Tuesday, 21 May 2013, and Wednesday, 22 May 2013, respectively. The Feroze shah Kotla Ground is the home venue of the Delhi Daredevils, who topped the league stage in the 2012 edition of the IPL.  The team ranked first at the end of the league stage of the Pepsi IPL 2013, will play the team ranked second, in Qualifier I, at 8:00 pm on 21 May 2013. The winner of this game will qualify for the Pepsi IPL 2013 final. The team ranked third at the end of the league stage, will play the team ranked fourth, in the Eliminator, at 8:00 pm on 22 May 2013.  The winner of the Eliminator will play the loser of Qualifier 1, in the third playoff (Qualifier 2), at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on Friday, 24 May 2013. The final of the Pepsi IPL 2013, between the winners of Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2, will be played at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on Sunday, 2...

Match Report: Mumbai Indians extended their winning streak to two as they routed Royal Challengers Bangalore by 58 runs to record a magnificent victory at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday. RCB, who haven't won a single match away from home this season, were bullied into submission first by the MI batsmen who put on 194, before their bowlers shred RCB's batting into disarray. Rohit sharma of Mumbai Indians and Virat Kholi captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore during the toss during match 37 of the Pepsi Indian Premier League ( IPL) 2013 between The Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers Bangalore held at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on the 27th April 2013 Chasing a steep 195, RCB started tentatively. Chris Gayle pulled Mitchell Johnson for a six in the third over before hitting two boundaries in the fifth over. Dhawal Kulkarni had a struggling Tillakaratne Dilshan (13) caught by Johnson at third man to give MI their first wicket. Harbhajan Singh then...

Match Report: Shane Watson delivered a second consecutive telling innings to enable Rajasthan Royals stretch their undefeated streak at home to four matches with a convincing eight wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. RR restricted SRH for 144 with James Faulkner picking up five wickets before Shane Watson starred in the chase with an undefeated 98 to see RR home.  Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid and Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Kumar Sangakkara shake hands after the toss during match 36 of the Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013 between The Rajasthan Royals and the Sunrisers Hyderabad held at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on the 27th April 2013 Chasing 145, Dale Steyn bowled a fiery first spell removing Ajinkya Rahane (1) caught behind in the third over. Rahul Dravid and Shane Watson started cautiously preferring to see off the fiery Steyn. Dravid hit two boundaries off Ishant Sharma as RR made 30 from the power ...

Match Report: Kolkata Knight Riders avenged their first leg defeat to Kings XI Punjab to stem their three-match losing streak with a six-wicket win at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. After restricting KXIP for 149, KKR chased down the target with 10 balls to spare riding on the back of Manvinder Bisla's unbeaten 51. Gautam Gambhir and Adam Gilchrist shows his support for MARD (Men Against Rape and Discrimination) during match 35 of the Pepsi Indian Premier League between The Kolkata Knight Riders and the Kings XI Punjab held at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata on the 26th April 2013 Chasing 150, Gautam Gambhir got KKR rolling with two boundaries off Praveen Kumar's first over. Bisla (51*) was given a life when Mandeep Singh dropped him off Azhar Mamhood at the start of the second over. Mahmood however came back to rattle Gambhir's (8) stump the next delivery and had Yusuf Pathan (0) caught behind the following delivery. Bisla stepped out to swat Mahmood for ...

It was only last month that Shikhar Dhawan announced himself to the world with a rampaging 187 against Australia – the fastest century on Test debut. The dream, however, was followed by instant frustration as he had to miss the next Test with a hand injury sustained while fielding. Dhawan was out for close to six weeks, forcing him to sit out the first seven games of Sunrisers Hyderabad. The team missed him too, as they managed only one 150-plus total without him. Dhawan’s first game in IPL 2013 came against the Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk. And Dhawan defied the post-injury rustiness to smack a fluent 63 off 45 balls . Sunrisers managed 159. Although the visitors lost by five wickets, Dhawan’s return to the side and the continuity of his form holds a huge promise for his team. After the match, the flamboyant opening batsman spoke to iplt20.com about how he planned his comeback and how he approaches a T20 game. Did you really come from an injury layoff? It didn’t seem so f...

The Chennai Super Kings registered yet another thrilling win at home, chasing 160 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad . While major contribution to CSK’s win came from MS Dhoni (67 off 37) and Michael Hussey (45 off 26) there were a few events on the field that really changed the game in their favour early on. First, Murali Vijay took a stunning diving catch at mid-on to get rid of Quinton de Kock in the first over and then Suresh Raina pounced on the ball at covers and affected a direct-hit to send the in-form Hanuma Vihari packing in the third over. While Shikhar Dhawan steadied SRH’s boat, the two early wickets ensured CSK’s target remained in gettable limits. With the likes of Raina, Michael Hussey Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja, CSK are emerging as one of best fielding sides this IPL. What brings out the best in the CSK fielders is that they enjoy the work. After CSK’s five-wicket win, iplt20.com caught up with their fielding coach, Steve Rixon to talk about the ...