A batsman between du Plessis, Shahbaz, and Maxwell could have played a big innings. If Virat Kohli could have formed a partnership with him, Bengaluru had a chance to win this match. But no other batsman could stay at the crease for long except Virat Kohli. Mahipal Lomror played an excellent innings of 34 runs but it was enough. Moreover, Dinesh Karthik also did not play well in this match. Varun, Suyash and Russel's bowling were very controlled in this match. Due to the controlled bowling from the beginning of the innings, Kolkata managed to win one match after losing 4 matches.
A big psychological barrier was created as soon as Kolkata Knight Riders scored 200. It was an excellent decision from the KKR captain to send in David Wiese. He scored 15 runs from the last over, along with Rinku Singh. And once Faf du Plessis got out in the third over to the bowling of Suyash Sharma, the Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen were under a lot of pressure. Virat Kohli was in excellent touch. But what he can do alone, when he doesn't receive any sort of support from the other batsmen? And the KKR spinners were very disciplined yesterday. |
|
|
|
But it might also be the case that costs go higher in the case of multiple nations hosting it. Costs may go up, but it is mostly for the fans and not for the organizers. Look at the FIFA World Cup of 2026. A total of 3 countries are hosting it - United States, Canada and Mexico. For the hosting nations, this arrangement is somewhat beneficial, because the matches are spread out across different localities and no new facilities need to be created. But for the fans, it is going to be a nightmare. They need to frequently travel from one country to another, if they want to attend all the matches of their team. Visa issues are there, and then there is a need to travel thousands or even tens of thousands of kilometers across different countries. |
|
|
|
The Saudi government has taken various steps to introduce their country to the world. Apart from various developmental works they are now paying special attention to the sports world. They are investing in sports like football and Formula 1 and are currently focusing on cricket. As a result, they have a keen eye on the Indian Premier League. They are so enthusiastic about creating a cricket league like IPL that they have expressed their concern to India and have taken the initiative to run a new tournament. However, BCCI has not yet commented on it. I think if the ICC approve the application of Saudi Arabia, maybe we can get a good result from India.
Saudis are only interested in the publicity that they get from hosting major sporting events in their country. They have hardly taken any steps to popularize cricket to the native Arab population. It is understandable, as cricket is not an Olympic sport and is increasingly getting restricted to the South Asian community. BTW, there are some big movements from the IPL franchises. They are trying to sign deals with overseas players, to get them contracted to different teams managed by the same franchise. Details can be found here: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/ipl-teams-and-international-stars-in-informal-contract-discussions-1371491If this move succeeds, then a number of star players will opt out of international cricket and may focus solely on franchise cricket. |
|
|
|
or they can declare at around 700 and try to bowl Ireland out during the 5th day.
Matches such as this one are the reason why no one watches test cricket these days.
This is a more realistic goal for SL. They have 70-ish overs today, given rain stays away if not then it would be around 55-60 overs. It should be okay as well because they are going okay with a healthy run rate and considering they have plenty of wickets in hand, they could go ballistic in the end and get a lead of 270-300. That would mean a first innings total of 750-800 for Sri Lanka. Right now Irish bowlers are looking clueless. Andy McBrine is the only bowler with experience, and the remaining 3 are very young and inexperienced (Graham Hume, Matthew Humphreys and Ben White). Allrounder Curtis Campher is the only bowler who has picked up a wicket till now. Nishan Madushka is batting at 202, and I won't be surprised if he gets to 300, or even 400. Kusal Mendis is at 160 right now, and he may have his own 300 in sight. Overall, one of the most lop-sided matches I have ever watched in test cricket. |
|
|
|
|
I don't know what happened to Nepal. They got bowled out for just 157 runs against Qatar. Sandeep Lamichhane at no.10 top scored with 42, and he added 46 runs for the 10th wicket partnership with Lalit Rajbanshi (the latter scored just 1 run). Nepal will be able to qualify for the semi-finals even if they lose today's match, but in all probability they will be facing Hong Kong in the knockout phase. And Hong Kong is the strongest team from Group B. This is what I don't like about Nepal. They work really hard, but when it matters they lose crucial matches.
|
|
|
|
RCB are losing their way recently. They aren't able to win without a match-winning innings from Kohli or Faf or Maxwell which goes to show how bad the other batsmen are performing in their team.
KKR are inconsistent as usual. Roy is the primary reason why they won. Iyer's catch to dismiss Kohli was great too.
KKR is inconsistent because some of their main players are either injured or out of form. But they should be happy with the performance yesterday. Reaching a total of 200, and that too against a bowling attack that includes internationals such as Mohammed Siraj, David Willey, Harshal Patel and Wanindu Hasaranga is not very easy. But they were able to do that thanks to contributions from Jason Roy, Narayan Jagadeesan, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana and David Wiese. Rinku Singh didn't scored too many runs yesterday, but he has been their find for this season. |
|
|
|
A few words about Liton Das today.
~~~
In the end the choice was made between David Wiese and Litton Das, and the former got selected because he is a T20 specialist and experience in playing around the world in different T20 leagues. And yesterday Wiese added some valuable runs towards the end. He made 12 runs from just 3 balls. However, he didn't got a chance to bowl, as Suyash Sharma and Varun Chakravarthy were terrific in their respective spells. Kolkata Knight Riders have 6 matches remaining in the group stage. I hope that Litton will get his chances. |
|
|
|
RCB vs KKR match was excellent batting performance in first condition KKR did best. and their run-rate increased sufficiently from the next 16 overs onwards. Jason Roy and Nitish Rana two batsmen scored the highest runs for the team and Jason Roy scored a half century. But when RCB was batting their performance was also outstanding especially Virat Kohli's batting performance was excellent. If he could have played some more time for the team, more runs could have been scored and the match could have been won. But unfortunately all the other players in the match did not give that good batting performance due to which RCB had to lose the match. And in the end KKR put in enough good batting and bowling performances to win by a huge margin of 21 runs.
Royal Challengers Bangalore lost the match when Virat Kohli decided to send Shahbaz Ahmed ahead of Glenn Maxwell. When Faf du Plessis got out, RCB were 31/1 after 2.2 overs. And this is when Shahbaz came in. He scored 2 runs from 5 balls and got out. The momentum for RCB was lost right there. Mahipal Lomror made some big hits after Shahbaz got out, but the required run rate kept creeping up all the time and Dinesh Karthik also wasted a lot of balls in the earlier part of his innings. RCB should have won this match, but in the end they lose it because of their own stupid tactics. |
|
|
|
I believe that even if they do bring in some Indian players that are old and close to retirement, they are still not going to attract a good number of spectators. They will need to bring in those Indian players who are actually performing really well right now the current superstars of India.
Players like Suryakumar Yadav and others who are generally showing good entertainment in T20. Without the actual players who are superstars right now in India don't think the Saudi Cricket League is going to be able to shine properly. After all, we all know that they are the biggest revenue generator for cricket
Suryakumar Yadav is quite young and he is representing the Indian team in multiple formats. There is no chance that he will opt for the Saudi league, even if he is offered 10 times his current contract value. I was hinting about some of the players who are close to retirement, such as Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu. They are in the final phase of their career, and in case they get a very sweet deal from the Saudi sheikhs, then they maybe tempted to dump the IPL and move to the new league. But all these are just rumors. The Saudis are yet to finalize their plans for the league. |
|
|
|
|
Last two group stage matches in the ACC Men's Premier Cup will be played today, and both of them are very crucial. Nepal will be taking on Qatar in the first match. Nepal has already qualified for the semi-finals, and even if they lose today it will not create them any issues. On the other hand, the winner of the match between Hong Kong and Kuwait will be the second team to qualify from Group B (United Arab Emirates have already qualified for the semi-finals from this group). And as I mentioned in one of my previous posts, getting in to the semis doesn't mean anything. Only the winner of the tournament will qualify for the Asia Cup.
|
|
|
|
The pitch is completely batting favourite. I thought Ireland have played well, looking the performance from Sri Lanka what Ireland did is nothing. As said if the session haven't got disturbed Sri Lanka would've come closer making 400+ runs. Somehow it looks like Sri Lanka will try to win the match giving a good lead tomorrow. Even without the interruption of rain the match is more likely to end in draw. Rather than a serious match, it looks like a friendly practice match looking the batting and the scoring.
Yeah.. this is a pitch where the Sri Lankan batsmen can make a total of somewhere around 1000. Incidentally, the highest total in test cricket was made by Sri Lanka (that was way back in 1997, when they were playing against India at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo). I am not sure whether Sri Lanka would prioritize creating a world record over winning the match. Because they can bat for the next two days and get to a total of 1,000-1,200, or they can declare at around 700 and try to bowl Ireland out during the 5th day. Matches such as this one are the reason why no one watches test cricket these days. |
|
|
|
At the end of the day I'm sure Trump will be the at least close to become the next president.
And Biden will be there as well, both of them, at around 50%.
I'm not sure how people would feel about it. Another term for their president?, both have already served. You can see what they have done in real life.
Maybe some people want a third option, but I don't think there is.
If the elections are being held right now, then Trump will win by a landslide. If he is leading the popular vote by a comfortable margin, then he is going to sweep the electoral college (that is how the system works to the advantage of the GOP). Right now, Americans are opting for the lesser evil among the two available options and for many it is going to be Trump. There is a lot of discontent in the United States over double-digit inflation, stagnant economy and the failed economic policies. And Trump has the advantage of not being in power at this time. Third party option... is simply not there. |
|
|
|
If we leave Virat Kohli, then no other batsman was up to the mark in yesterday’s game. At first the bowler really conceded many runs, now if the batsmans doesn’t support the team, then how they gonna chase these high scoring games? Virat had to give standing, as on the other side the wickets are falling. So there was no option for Virat to increase his strike rate and play the game, Virat did his part whereas the middle order lacked the confidence. And yes Varun Chakraborty did an amazing spell which led his team to victory. Hope RCB will bounce back soon.
Royal Challengers Bangalore are the eternal chokers in the Indian Premier League. This is their 15th season in the league and they have never managed to lift the trophy despite numerous attempts. And even in WPL, we saw how this team performed. RCB focuses more on showing off than performance in the field. The selection defies logic sometimes. Previously useless players such as Navdeep Saini used to be selected from match after match. Now it's the turn of Shahbaz Ahmed and Mahipal Lomror. There are so many promising youngsters in the bench, but none of them are given opportunities. |
|
|
|
In the ongoing season of IPL, the first three players Kohli, Maxwell and Du Plesis have contributed for the 79% of the scores. Rest players have made the remaining 21%, Important things the top three have made 12 half centuries and no half century have come from the rest of the players. The team have good batting line-up and bowling order, but they aren't performing well
LOL.. that is the reason why these three are known as KGF (Kohli-Glenn-Faf) within Royal Challengers Bangalore. Those from India would understand what is KGF. Other players have been pathetic and it is partly due to poor selection as well. I don't understand the logic in sustaining Shahbaz Ahmed in the playing XI, when he can neither bowl nor bat. He bowled one over yesterday and conceded 25 runs. And when he came out to bat, he scored 2 runs from 5 balls. And this guy is being selected over promising players such as Karn Sharma, Sonu Yadav, Manoj Bhandage and Rajat Patidar. |
|
|
|
Having more countries will cut the costs of building new stadiums or improving the actual ones by only one nation to having multiple nations that will divide this charge while enjoying more profits from having more games.
It is all commercial business.
First of all, a major tournament such as World Cup should be only hosted by countries who have the means to do so. I don't have any issues with countries such as USA, France, England or Japan hosting this tournament, because they already have the facilities available. On the other hand, if you allow small countries such as Qatar (total population of just 300,000 citizens) to host the tournament, then a lot of infrastructure needs to be created newly. I would consider this as wasteful spending. Because after the world cup, most of these new facilities will be kept idle. |
|
|
|
|
Varun Chakaravarthy performed well with the ball, along with Suyash Sharma and Andre Russell. However, given the huge price which was paid by Kolkata Knight Riders to bring Chakaravarthy to the team (₹12 crore, or $1,463,000), his performance has been disappointing so far in this season. Some of their other high profile signings have also disappointed, including Shreyas Iyer (injured) and Lockie Ferguson (out of form). Now coming to Royal Challengers Bangalore, they are losing the matches because they include useless player like Shahbaz Ahmed in the playing XI.
|
|
|
|
|
I don't have a good opinion about stablecoins. And therefore I don't care whether additional restrictions are being imposed on them or not. Take the most popular stablecoin as the prime example. Tether (USDT) is having a market cap of $81.5 billion and remains as the largest stablecoin in the world. But the promoters (iFinex Inc) have refused to conduct third party audits on the backup funds. And at times, they have admitted that only a small fraction of these reserve funds are held as cash or assets that are equivalent to cash. And this is the reason why they have faced legal action from the New York Attorney General office (NYAG), as well as from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
|
|
|
|
|
I don't know what is going on with Al Nassr. After losing the SPL match against their arch-rivals Al Hilal, they again lost to Al Wehda in Kings Cup. Al Nassr has been knocked out of Kings Cup with this defeat. Cristiano Ronaldo was clearly not happy and he was arguing with his team-mates after the loss. I don't know whether such behavior will benefit anyone (they lost the match despite the fact that Al Wehda was playing with 10 people, as Abdullah Al-Hafith got the red card in 53rd minute). Now their next match is against Al Raed on 29th April.
|
|
|
|
|
Those who claim that gold price will go up in the future needs to remember a few facts. Gold as such is abundant in earth's surface. For example, the amount of gold that is dissolved in the oceanic water is estimated at 20 million tons (total amount of gold that has been mined till now is only around 200,000 tons). However, only in a few cases, the gold ore is concentrated enough to make the mining economically viable. That said, technology is advancing at a break-neck speed and it is quite possible that in the future mining gold from ores of lower concentration may be made possible. In that instance, the demand-supply equilibrium maybe disrupted and the gold price may crash.
|
|
|
|
|
^^^ I am not sure whether there is a need to overhype the CSK bowlers. For sure they have performed well this season. For example, Tushar Deshpande has picked up 12 wickets so far, but those wickets came at an average of 23.16 and an economy rate of close to 11. Compared to him, Ravindra Jadeja performed much better. He picked up 10 wickets at an average of 17.60, and his economy rate is exceptional at 7.33. Akash Singh has also bowled well and he has so far picked up 5 wickets from 4 matches. But overall, CSK has won their matches mostly due to the batting, with bowlers playing a supplementary role.
|
|
|
|
|
Show Posts
