Category: IPL

There was a stillness about the Gujarat Titans dugout. Sai Sudharsan was in the middle of lifting the early weight of impending doom caused by Shubman Gill’s first-over exit but they were still all on the edge of their seats. Gill plonked himself front and centre of the space, his pads still on 10 overs in. Ashish Nehra wasn’t patrolling the boundary line. He instead sat on the side, chatting away with performance analyst Sandeep Raju. The IPL trophy, placed just a little away from the dugout, glistened in the night sky as Sherfane Rutherford indulged in some shadow practice around it. In the middle, Sudharsan brought his monk-like approach to the team’s biggest game of the season. His Tamil Nadu teammate Washington Sundar caught on and GT’s percentage cricket was working at that point to keep MI on their toes. Right at the halfway stage, Hardik Pandya had a big decision on his hands. Just four days ago, he defended his call to bring in Ashwani Kumar instead of Karn Sharma as the impact substitute in Lucknow where MI lost to PBKS. On Friday night too, the toss up was between Ashwani’s medium pace or the leg spin – of Raghu Sharma. The initial plan, as Mahela Jayawardene later revealed, was for MI to get spin on and use the grip on the surface and the longer side of the boundary to trap the batters. They however, did not anticipate the heavy dew that turned up. Once again, in came Ashwani with the idea to try and nail yorkers. At 130/2 in 12 overs, GT were still not ahead of the curve in chase of MI’s 228/5. Their resolve still triggered a few mini-conferences between Hardik and Suryakumar Yadav, that involved talking tactics and doing some heavy towel work on the ball. But knowing two of the remaining eight overs belonged to Jasprit Bumrah, Sudharsan and Washington had to speed up before the death to give themselves a real chance in chase. The potential game-breaker came in the 13th over. As the wet ball kept skidding through, Trent Boult’s pace variations didn’t stick. Sundar saw through them and hit two successive sixes. Under pressure, the left-armer attempted a bluff. He pulled his long-off fielder in and sent square leg to the boundary to set up a short-ball ruse but went full. Sundar, batting deep in his crease, was in a position to dig it out and get another boundary down the ground in an 18-run over. It brought Nehra to his feet and the equation to 81 off 7 overs. Then came a brief pause followed by a Bumrah-fuelled flip to the proceedings. Sudharsan and Washington had scored 53 runs off the previous four overs, but there was a break before they could try and dig into the fifth. Suryakumar received medical attention to his back and left leg, while Bumrah and Hardik indulged in a discussion. When the play was ready to resume, Bumrah floored Washington with a nasty yorker, leaving the batter down on his face. Sudharsan later revealed that the stoppage did not affect their rhythm as he and Washington anticipated it and stuck to focussing on what they had to do next. But the wicket gave Bumrah and MI an opening that they tore down at the death. Walking alongside his experienced teammates was 23-year-old Ashwani Kumar, tasked with bowling two crucial overs under intense pressure – and was perhaps marked as a target because of it. Yet, he delivered outstanding nine-run overs, repeatedly hitting a full length outside the off-stump as Hardik placed boundary riders on the leg-side and packed the inner ring on the off.

In the late hours of April 12, Shreyas Iyer fielded questions from the expert panel of the broadcasters on what had just happened. “It makes me laugh…” offered the Punjab Kings captain, after his side failed to defend 245 in Hyderabad. This was just their fifth game of the season, too soon to be an inflexion point for the worse after a bright start. But, stranger things have happened in this league, more dramatic trajectories forged after one morale-draining defeat. Punjab Kings were equipped with an environment to quickly move on, helped in part by the short turnaround time in their IPL schedule. But the next big hurdle shook them up almost immediately. At the halfway stage against KKR in Chandigarh three days later, they had a mere 111 runs to defend. All the batting positives, highlighted in the dressing room post the SRH-fixture, disappeared without a trace. But the bowlers swooped in to save the day, giving the team a performance for the ages. “I have coached a lot of games in the IPL and that might just be about the best win I ever had,” said the man who walked into a setup devoid of direction and flipped it around in his maiden attempt. Since winning his first IPL title as head coach with Mumbai Indians in 2015, Ricky Ponting has been drawn to potential restoration projects in the tournament. In 2018, he rocked up at Delhi Daredevils – the erstwhile name for Delhi Capitals – and declared that he was there to win the title. The opposite transpired that season as Delhi finished eighth but the following cycle was by far Delhi’s best. They got progressively better, ending at third, second and first on the points table in 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively, with the second of those seasons even earning them a runners-up medal. The bonds forged during this tenure with a young but intuitive captain Shreyas paved the way for a reunion in 2025. Punjab Kings entered the mega auction in November with the fattest purse of INR 110.5 crore, and had the option of bringing either of his two captains at Delhi – Shreyas or Rishabh Pant, who led DC from 2021 onwards in Shreyas’ injury-hit absence. In Ponting’s mind, the choice was clear. “I was pretty keen to work with him [Shreyas] again,” Ponting said. “It was pretty obvious [from] how much money I was willing to spend on him at the auction. We had a great working relationship in Delhi, we made a final [IPL 2020] in Delhi under his captaincy. “I’ve known him as a person and as a player for a long time. He’s a quality person and when you’ve got quality people around your team, when you’re trying to make a difference and you’re trying to change culture, that’s what you need. If you spoke to the players individually, I think every single one of them would give Shreyas a great rap because he has spent a lot of time with them,” he added. With the power of hindsight, the brainstrust at PBKS can celebrate their win that predates the season – of bringing in a coach who has commanded authority everywhere he’s gone and a captain of his choice – fresh off title wins in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, IPL and T20 World Cup in 2024. Here too, Ponting started out with the big talk – the intent to build the greatest-ever Punjab team in the IPL, and his flamboyant skipper has shown gumption to match that in every step of the way. Granted, the bar is low to pull that off at Punjab Kings, a team that has repeatedly loitered in the mid to lower strata of the points table since a solo final appearance in 2014. But the standards set this season have been sky high, and consistently so. Chennai Super Kings of 2023 were the earliest to change their batting ways to adapt to the impact substitute era, and Sunrisers Hyderabad of 2024 latched on and took it forward. The 2025 iteration of PBKS has stormed that party with young, uninhibited batters in tow. All through the season, the PBKS players and the coaching staff have spoken about freedom, but maximising such an environment begins with first putting together the right ingredients. Once Ponting was in the building, the auction and retention decisions reflected his ideas straightaway. They took the tough call of letting Ashutosh Sharma go in favour of two other uncapped retentions in Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh, but made up for it with more inspired uncapped signings. Priyansh Arya having multiple suitors wasn’t a surprise – he’d lit up the Delhi T20 league with 36 runs in an over, two centuries and a season tally of 605 in 10 innings at a strike rate close to 200. PBKS trusted him to bring the same swagger at a level above in the IPL and went the distance. Nehal Wadhera was another such acquisition, chomping at the bit for a breakthrough season after the opportunities earned at Mumbai Indians in 2023 and 2024. Over the last two months, these four – two openers, one middle-order batter and a finisher – have brought PBKS’ expansive batting plans to life. PBKS’ fab (uncapped) four of IPL 2025 Batter Innings Runs SR Prabhsimran Singh 14 499 165.78 Priyansh Arya 14 424 183.53 Nehal Wadhera 12 298 152.04 Shashank Singh 11 284 149.46 **Numbers until the end of league stage PBKS have also been blessed with Shreyas levelling up with the bat after a middling season in 2024 by his standards. 2025 is already his best ever, where he has been an all-phase tormentor. Shreyas has struck at 148.38 in the PowerPlay, 164.57 in the middle-overs and 216.12 at the death. Shreyas Iyer in IPL 2024 and 2025 Season Matches Runs SR 4s/6s IPL 2024 15 351 146.86 34/14 IPL 2025 14 514 171.91 38/31 This top-order has turned a side in perpetual distress into a fun,…

To say Suryakumar Yadav is amongst the best batters in T20s is stating the obvious. But even for a T20 batter as exceptional as Suryakumar, there exists a chink in the armour. Most batters’ scoring rate dips when they come up against bowlers who can turn the ball away from him and in Suryakumar’s case it is basically facing left-arm orthodox and legbreak bowlers. This season he has resorted to his super strength to top the challenge – the sweep shot and the use of angles to manipulate the field. Since the start of IPL 2018, only twice has Suryakumar managed to score at 140+ strike rate in a season against left-arm orthodox and legbreak bowlers combined – 2023 and 2025. The four spinners that got the better of him the most in this period belonged to one of the two types mentioned above – Yuzvendra Chahal (52 balls, 64 runs, three dismissals), Ravi Bishnoi (32 balls, 39 runs, three dismissals), Ravindra Jadeja (37 balls, 34 runs, two dismissals), and Mitchell Santner (six balls, five runs, two dismissals) – the last one being his team mate this time around. Suryakumar Yadav vs LA orthodox + legbreak in IPL Season Runs Balls Dis Ave SR Bnd% 6s 2018 92 72 3 30.66 127.77 15.27 3 2019 118 107 4 29.50 110.28 10.28 2 2020 134 101 3 44.66 132.67 15.84 2 2021 78 67 5 15.60 116.41 14.92 1 2022 87 74 3 29.00 117.56 13.51 3 2023 183 115 2 91.50 159.13 22.60 4 2024 48 40 1 48.00 120.00 12.50 1 2025 210 126 1 210.00 166.66 24.60 9 He arrived in IPL 2025 with little form behind him, averaging under 15 in the five preceding months, and in the season opener at Chepauk, the opposition tied him down with away spin. But by the time he faced them again in the first game of the second round of fixtures, Suryakumar worked his way to some form spending valuable time in the middle and he came up against old foe in Jadeja right away. Of the fourth ball he faced from the bowler, Suryakumar knelt down, put his front foot across and got inside the line of the ball to slog sweep him over square leg – the first time he cleared the ropes of Jadeja’s bowling in IPL. The first ball next over, he repeated the shot but placed it slightly towards right of where the previous six was hit. When Jadeja adjusted his lines further wide, Suryakumar swept him hard well in front of square to pick up another boundary. 11 balls. Two fours. Two sixes. 24 runs. Jadeja – check. Against Noor Ahmad, who dismissed him in the reverse fixture with a wrong one turning away from over the wicket, Suryakumar was even more severe sweeping him in the arc from 180-degrees behind the wicket to wide mid-on and hitting him for five boundaries in the night. Ravi Shastri, the former India head coach under whom Suryakumar made his international debut, explained the batter’s methods on air during the innings against CSK, “the reason why Surya is so good with the sweep shot is that if you watch him closely he is anticipating the pace of the bowler and then the planting of that front foot. When he wants to go fine he gets across with that front leg outside off-stump. When he wants to go square, the front is middle and leg stump line to get that angle right and hit the ball in that area.” Mumbai Indians were starting to gather some momentum in the tournament after a slow start and up next in the way was Bishnoi. In the return fixture in Lucknow earlier in the season which Mumbai lost, Suryakumar had hit Bishnoi for 24 off the 13 balls faced hitting him for four boundaries, all behind square. At Wankhede, Bishnoi was introduced to the attack when Suryakumar came in and he slog swept the first ball from the leggie for a maximum over mid-wicket. He pitched one shorter and was met with the same result. Like Jadeja, Bishnoi also went wider outside off the next ball to take it outside the batter’s hitting arch and was responded with a hard sweep along the ground for a boundary to the right of deep square leg. Two innings. 21 balls. Six fours. Two sixes. 47 runs. Bishnoi – check. In all, Suryakumar has faced 126 balls from left-arm orthodox and legbreak bowlers this IPL and scored 210 runs at a strike rate of 166.66, getting out just once – the average and strike-rate both highest for him in any season and so is the number of sixes hit (9). He has employed sweeps against them almost every third ball – 41 out of 126 – and he has hit them for boundaries every other ball (14 fours & six sixes). The reason behind the numbers he is having this season is that he has not been restricted to being a one-trick pony. In the must win game against Delhi Capitals on a slow wicket with appreciable turn against two quality wrist spinners in Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam, Suryakumar showed exceptional restraint shelving his repertoire of sweep shots and instead chose to play in front of the wicket largely. He scored at a run-a-ball against spin in the innings, and laid into the seamers instead, smashing them for 59 off 29 balls at a rate of almost two runs a ball. Only 10 batters have scored more runs than Suryakumar against spin in an IPL season of which one, Glenn Maxwell in 2014, has managed to do it at a better strike-rate. No batter in a season of IPL has scored more runs of sweep shorts or its variants as much as Suryakumar has scored in IPL 2025. 39 of these runs were scored in the fine leg area, 58 in the backward square leg area, and 42 in the forward square…

MS Dhoni has said that he will take time before making a decision on his future. The 43-year old led CSK to victory in their last outing in IPL 2025 in Ahmedabad but did not give a definitive answer to a question about what the future holds for him as a player. “It depends, you know. Again, I would say the same thing. I have 4-5 months to decide. There is no hurry to decide,” said Dhoni in the post-match presentation ceremony. “Every year, it’s 15% more effort. To keep the body fit. Not to forget this is top level cricket. It’s professional cricket. You have to be at your best,” he added. “It’s not always performance that you can count. Because if cricketers start retiring because of performances, few of them will retire when they are 22. So what is important is to see how much hunger you have. What kind of fitness you have. And how much you can contribute to the team. Whether the team needs you or not.” “So [I] have enough time and go back to Ranchi. I haven’t been home for a long time…enjoy a few bike rides… [take a] couple of months then decide,” quipped Dhoni. When asked further on the decision, Dhoni re-iterated that he hadn’t made a decision one way or another. “I am not saying I am done. I am not saying I am coming back here at the same time,” he said. “As I said, I have the luxury of timing. When you have the luxury, why not? Think about it and then you can decide.” In IPL 2025, Dhoni was the oldest player of the season. He also had to step in midway to captain CSK after an injury to Ruturaj Gaikwad. He led them to three out of their four wins and six defeats. As a batter, he managed 196 runs in 13 innings coming lower down the order with a highest score of 30.

The IPL’s move to amend the playing conditions mid-season has not enthused a section of the franchises and Cricbuzz understands concerns have been raised with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). After the BCCI announced the addition of 60 minutes of extra time to the match duration, at least one team has put the displeasure on record. “While these mid-season changes to the rules may be necessary under the circumstances, one would have expected more consistency in the way such changes are being applied,” Venky Mysore, the CEO of Kolkata Knight Riders, said in an email to Hemang Amin, the COO of the IPL. The KKR official’s contention was that if such an extension was made earlier, their match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on May 17 may not have necessarily suffered a washout. He felt the extra time may have permitted a five-over game. “When the IPL re-started (on May 17), it was clear that the first game on May 17 KKR vs RCB was at high risk of being interrupted due to rain in B’lore. The forecast was there for all to see. Not only was the game washed out, but the additional 120 minutes now being applied may have provided a chance of at least a 5 over a side game (sic).” After the washout, the Knight Riders were knocked out of the race for a playoffs berth. Currently they are in sixth position with 12 points from 13 games and the maximum they can reach is 14 points. For the record, two of their games have been washed out this season. “The washout ended KKR’s chances of making the playoffs. Such ad hoc decisions and inconsistencies of applying them are not appropriate for a tournament of this standing,” Mysore said, adding, “I am sure you also understand why we feel aggrieved.” The KKR stand is not an isolated one and a few other teams this website spoke to also feel that the change of rules mid-season is not appropriate. The general impression is that it would set a wrong precedent. After its Governing Council meeting on Tuesday, the BCCI added one extra hour to the playing conditions 13.7.3 stating that “several matches are at risk of being affected by rain.” The rule change has been introduced with immediate effect. There are eight of the 70 league matches left in the tournament. According to the updated rule, a match scheduled to start at 7:30 PM can now begin as late as 9:30 PM without any overs being deducted. Under the earlier provision of just one hour of extra time, overs would have been reduced if play hadn’t started by 8:30 PM. Counting backwards, the cut-off time now allows for a five-over match to begin close to midnight.