Indian Cricket Team Updates

Having accumulated as many as 11 pace bowlers ahead of IPL 2013, Royal Challenger Bangalore had made all plans to leave their bowling coach, Venkatesh Prasad, overworked. Thankfully for Prasad, he had someone of the ilk of Zaheer Khan by his side, as the team’s most experienced fast bowler.  (Also Read:  RCB vs CSK - M70 Report & Stats: IPL 2013 ) The fact that Zaheer was nursing his injured calf for best part of the tournament, gave him more time to spend with the young pacers off the field. Now, with the tournament having entered its business end, India’s best left-arm seamer is back on the field, picking wickets like he normally does. In only his second game of the tournament, Zaheer picked up four wickets in two overs against CSK to keep RCB’s Playoffs chances alive. After the match, he spoke to IPLT20.com about his fitness progress and of his determination to getting back into India colours. Zaheer Khan also took time out to talk about his young pace...

Chennai Super Kings have been the most consistent and one of the most balanced IPL teams since the first season. A strong core of Indian players has been their biggest strength and the main reason behind them finishing in the top-four every time. (Also Read:  RCB vs CSK - M70 Report & Stats: IPL 2013 ) However, there was one slot that they tried hard to fill for the first five years but without much success – that of a quality Indian pace bowler. Ahead of IPL 2013, CSK’s bowling coach Andy Bichel oversaw a trail of a few uncapped fast bowlers, picked from the length and breadth of the country and picked four from them. Haryana’s 24-year-old pacer, Mohit Sharma, was one of them. After CSK’s last league match of the season, Mohit has 17 wickets from 13 matches at an economy rate of 6.23. Also, a majority of his wickets have helped his team break the back of the opposition top-order in the Power Plays. In a chat with IPLT20.com Mohit spoke of his journey in t...

Match Report: Royal Challengers Bangalore kept themselves alive in the Pepsi IPL 2013 and avenged their first leg defeat to Chennai Super Kings with a 24-run victory in a rain affected match at the MA Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Asked to bat first, RCB posted 106 on the back off a spectacular innings by their skipper Virat Kohli, before their bowlers restricted CSK to just 82. Mahendra singh Dhoni captian of Chennai Super Kings during a practice session before the start of the game during match 70 of the Pepsi Indian Premier League between The Royal Challengers Bangalore and The Chennai Superkings held at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on the 18th May 2013 The match was delayed for two and half hours due to rain. The match eventually commenced at 11:00 pm IST as an eight-overs a side contest. Kohli punched Ravichandran Ashwin through cover for a boundary in the first over to get RCB rolling. Chris Gayle hit a six off Chris Morris in the second over. Ashwin...

Royal Challengers Bangalore have been a formidable batting side. This season, they bolstered their pace bowling attack, resulting in their improved death bowling. However, in the last match, a rampant Adam Gilchrist led Kings XI Punjab to a successful chase of 175 runs. Ahead of RCB’s last home game of the season, against Chennai Super Kings, their highest wicket-taker, Vinay Kumar, admitted that death bowling has been a let-down for the team in the last few matches. “We did really well as a bowling unit in the first few games. We have defended nine and seven runs in the last over in this tournament. In the last few games that hasn’t been the case and we have been giving away runs in the death overs,” Vinay said, adding, it is not an issue that only RCB are confronting at this stage of the tournament. “But that’s happening with every team – the bowlers did well in the first half of the tournament and now the batsmen are doing well. Sometimes, the dew factor also plays...

The match in Bengaluru on Saturday night between the Royal Challengers and Chennai Super Kings bears more consequences than being a mere contest between two of the strongest IPL teams.  While the hosts will do anything to end up on the winning side to give themselves a chance in the top-four, CSK would want to end the league phase with a win and a first place on the points table. Super Kings coach, Stephen Fleming, stressed on the importance of ending in the top-two in order to have an advantage in the Playoffs and secure a spot in the Champions League T20. “If Rajasthan Royals don’t win their game (against Sunrisers Hyderabad), we will automatically be in the top two,” Fleming said. “If that happens, we may have the option of giving opportunities to guys who have been on the sidelines for a while. But we’re not going to be throwing games away or do anything stupid because we realise that consistency has always been our key.” According to Fleming, another re...