ESPNcricinfo looks at the road ahead for Gautam Gambhir as he takes charge as head coach of India

Shashank Kishore10-Jul-2024More than six years since playing his last competitive game, Gautam Gambhir takes over as India’s head coach at the age of 42, the second-youngest Indian after Kapil Dev in the late 1990s to be given the job. Fiercely competitive on the field, and feisty and outspoken off it, Gambhir takes charge of an Indian side that qualified for the finals of the last World Test Championship and ODI World Cup in 2023, and just won the T20 World Cup in 2024.What are the big assignments coming up for Gambhir?His first series in charge is a white-ball tour of Sri Lanka at the end of the month, followed by two Test series at home against Bangladesh and New Zealand, which are part of the ongoing World Test Championship. India are currently on top of the WTC points table and well placed to make the final.The first big one for Gambhir, is India’s five-Test tour of Australia at the end of the year. India won their previous two Test series in Australia, in 2018-19 and 2020-21, and this contest could be crucial to the final shaping of the WTC points table.So what does Gambhir have on his coaching resume?Well, he hasn’t coached a domestic or international team previously in List A or first-class cricket, but that’s not unusual for the Indian team. For example, both Ravi Shastri and Anil Kumble did not have prior coaching experience when they took charge in 2014 and 2016 respectively.Gambhir got the job on the back of successful stints as mentor of two IPL franchises. Under his guidance, Lucknow Super Giants qualified for the playoffs in their first two IPL seasons, and then he oversaw Kolkata Knight Riders’ run to the title in 2024. So in that regard, Gambhir’s pathway to the India job is extremely different to his predecessor Rahul Dravid, who spent years as head of the National Cricket Academy and coaching India’s age-group and A teams.Will Gambhir have to make any tough calls in the near future?In terms of personnel, with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja retiring from T20Is, the transition is already underway in that format. The ODI and Test set-ups are stable for the near future and the question of transition or succession may only arise after the Champions Trophy and the World Test Championship in 2025.Gambhir, in his role as a media professional, has been critical of senior players resting between high-profile assignments but with his tenure likely to run until the 2027 ODI World Cup, he might have to work with a workload management plan to have India’s best players at their fittest for the most important assignments.Data or instinct, where will Rohit and Gambhir meet ?After winning the T20 World Cup, Rohit thanked Dravid in a poignant note for leaving all of his “accolades and achievements at the door” and making the players feel “comfortable enough to say just about anything” to him.Rohit and Dravid were often aligned in their strategies and used data and analytics in their planning, like when they selected four spinners in their T20 World Cup squad because of conditions in the West Indies.Gambhir is driven more by instinct and less by data, something he has stated a number of times, which means he may need to get onboard with a major aspect of Rohit’s captaincy, both with India and formerly with Mumbai Indians.Rohit (37) and Gambhir (42) are also contemporaries, having made their international debuts four years apart. They were regular India team-mates between 2009 and 2013 and opponents in the IPL up until 2018.Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir appeared to bury the hatchet in IPL 2024•BCCIGambhir and Kohli being in the same dressing room?In 2009, Gambhir handed over his Player-of-the-Match award to a young Kohli who had scored his maiden ODI century. A year later, the two shared a crucial third-wicket partnership to prevent a collapse in the 2011 ODI World Cup final. Then in 2016, Gambhir made a comeback to the Test side under Kohli’s captaincy.But it’s their on-field confrontations in the IPL – as captains in 2013, and as mentor and player in 2023 – that has defined public perception of the equation between the two. In IPL 2024, however, the two were seen to be more friendly with each other in public. When asked about his relationship with Kohli, Gambhir said the “perception was far from reality.” And when Kohli was asked about it during the season, he said: “I hugged Naveen [ul-Haq, with whom he had an altercation in IPL 2023], and then the other day, Gauti came and hugged me … We’re not kids anymore.”Gambhir comes across as a firebrand in public, will he be as aggressive as a coach?It’s true that Gambhir has been involved in a fair share of heated moments – on social media and in person – over a number of issues ranging from cricket to politics. However, he is believed to be someone who goes to great lengths to stick up for those in his team. For example, his altercation with Kohli in IPL 2023 is believed to be a result of him not taking kindly to a verbal spat between Kohli and the LSG fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq. And in 2017, he had a run-in with the Delhi state coach over the handling of youngsters in the team.Gambhir has been outspoken against giving an individual excessive limelight in a team game, a philosophy he followed during his mentoring stints at LSG and KKR.So what impact did Gambhir have as mentor during KKR’s run to the IPL 2024 title?In IPL 2021, 22 and 23, Sunil Narine had scored only 154 runs and had stopped opening for KKR. Once Gambhir returned to the set up as mentor in 2024, he convinced Narine to go back up the order and to play without pressure. Narine went on to score 488 runs at a strike rate of 180.74 to go with his 17 wickets, his best bowling performance in an IPL season since 2018.Off the field, Gambhir is believed to have been a mediating influence between the head coach Chandrakant Pandit, whose old-school methods brought huge success in domestic cricket, and a number of overseas players who found Pandit’s approach unusual.

What the modern cricket team wants – less of the Buchanans and Wrights and more of the Ted Lassos

Alan Gardner04-Aug-2024The coach is a form of transportation that gets you to the ground. So said the late great Shane Warne, who knew more than most about the game and always had a line to wind up an opponent (in this case, John Buchanan, the man in charge of the Australia team Warne played for).But then, one of Warne’s last gigs before his untimely death a couple of years ago was head coach of London Spirit in the Hundred. Just how much coaching he actually is open to question, given it was an experimental format, Eoin Morgan was the team’s captain… and Warne spent a chunk of his only season in charge isolating due to Covid. Nevertheless, he would have had plenty to pass on, even if some of it was about pizza toppings. Perhaps, given Warne’s capacity for misdirection, his original observation was an early outing for the now ubiquitous banter bus rather than a carefully considered personal philosophy.The wisdom of Warne (or otherwise) came to mind recently, after some high-profile ins and outs on the roster of international coaches. India decided that, after the grace and humility of Rahul Dravid, whose three years at the helm featured appearances in the global showpiece finals for all three formats and culminated with a first World Cup win since 2011 for them, his replacement would be Gautam Gambhir – a man of furiously beetling brow best known for getting into stoushes with the opposition during his roles as an IPL mentor. Oh, and with no actual coaching experience.Related

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Meanwhile, Matthew Mott, whose extensive CV includes multiple world titles across the men’s and women’s game, was let go halfway through a four-year deal by England having () just taken them to the T20 World Cup semi-final, where they lost to future champions, India.Perhaps this all makes more sense when looking at the example provided by England’s other head coach, Brendon McCullum, who graduated from twiddling about on the fringes of the Knight Riders T20 multiverse to overseeing a cult movement built in his name within a couple of years. Never mind arranging net practice or helping players with technique, we are now in the era of the coach as hype man, vibes merchant, live-your-best-life guru. These guys wouldn’t even take Warne’s jibe as a slight. Need a lift? No problem, bro.Trading on bluster rather than expertise isn’t completely revolutionary, of course – Ravi Shastri successfully repurposed his commentary-box routine for the dressing room as one of Dravid’s predecessors – but we’re in strange territory when Andrew Flintoff is being touted as the man to replace Mott when his most high-profile coaching achievement is teaching some teenagers from Preston not to hate cricket for a BBC documentary.As with so many things, maybe Warne was closer to the truth than we thought. A coach may not be for getting to the ground, but these days at least, they do need to pump the players’ tires.

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This year’s edition of the Hundred is supposedly being viewed as a “shop window” by the ECB, as it tries to tempt overseas investors to stick a little money in the kitty for English cricket’s long-term benefit. But what if the shop in question is more Poundland than Harrods? (For overseas readers unfamiliar with Poundland, the clue is in the name.) The ECB’s proposals to sell shares in the eight teams were described as “delusional” and a “car crash” in one newspaper report – and that was the opening night of the men’s competition, when 100 was less of a description than an unachievable goal (Birmingham Phoenix 89 off 81 beaten by Oval Invincibles 93 off 69). The fear is that whatever the window dressing, franchise owners shopping around for their next shiny toy are quickly going to realise that what’s on the plate is a nothing burger…

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Sri Lanka’s batting in their recent T20I series with India has already inspired some of the sickest burns you’re likely to read on this website. But the epic scale of their self-pwnage in the third match was so bad it almost became good, only to be ruled bad in the final analysis. With nine runs needed from 12 balls and six wickets in hand, Sri Lanka faced up to Rinku Singh and Suraykumar Yadav like a collection of tenpins in the crosshairs of Jesus Quintana. Rinku and Suryakumar duly picked off their first four wickets in international T20; Thanos clicking his fingers dreams of causing such destruction. Then, having scrambled a tie to force a Super Over, Sri Lanka managed to score one run off the bat for the loss of two wickets from four balls. Somebody please give this team a Darwin Award.

Vote for the best individual Border-Gavaskar Trophy performance by an Indian in Australia since 2000

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Oct-2024Update: This poll has ended. Virat Kohli’s performance goes into the quarter-finals. Check the other polls here.ESPNcricinfo LtdVirat Kohli was only the second batter to score two centuries on Test captaincy debut•Getty Images

Virat Kohli – 115 & 141 in Adelaide, 2014

India lost by 48 runsIn a career full of milestones, Virat Kohli has a very special place in his heart for these two hundreds. He’s made that plain on every subsequent trip to Adelaide. The runs that he made, the way he made them, getting hit on the head by a Mitchell Johnson bouncer early and brushing off the Australians who came up to him to ask him if he was okay just so he wouldn’t have to break out of that bubble he needs to be in to score those big runs, and the path that he put his team on, saying they will not be going for the draw – all played a big role in helping him decide what kind of cricketer and captain he wanted to be.His 114 in the first innings on captaincy debut kept India in the game after conceding 517, and his 141 in the second gave India hope that as long as Kohli was batting, there was a chance of pulling off an outrageous chase of 364. That performance made Kohli the first visiting batter since 1961 to score two centuries in a Test in Australia, and no once has done it since.By Alagappan MuthuWatch the highlights of these performances on the Star Sports network at 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm IST, from October 25 onwards.Sourav Ganguly’s century helped India leave Brisbane with the series level•Chris McGrath/AFP via Getty Images

Sourav Ganguly – 144 in Brisbane, 2003

Match drawn, series level 0-0Ahead of the 2003-04 tour of Australia, the words ‘chin music’ had become so deeply associated with the Indian captain Sourav Ganguly that he departed India early to spend six days with Greg Chappell training to face short-pitched bowling.His preparations were tested immediately at the Gabba, where India slipped from 61 for 0 to 62 for 3, in response to Australia’s 323. In conditions that offered the pace and bounce that are the hallmark of Australian venues, Ganguly displayed remarkable judgement in his handling of the short delivery, and scored his first Test hundred in Australia.The innings was a statement from a leader that his team was to be reckoned with on this trip down under. Ganguly gave India a first-innings lead that helped India leave Brisbane – an Australian fortress – with the series level, an achievement that went a long way to securing India’s first drawn series in Australia since 1981.By Shashank Kishore

It has been a disappointing year for India in the shortest format but they have a positive record against in-form West Indies

Sruthi Ravindranath14-Dec-20242:52

Harmanpreet: Australia series was learning experience for young bowlers

Can India end their gloomy T20 year on a high?Despite winning 13 out of 20 T20Is they’ve played so far this year, it’s been a disappointing year for India in the format. After starting the year with a series loss to Australia in Navi Mumbai, India bounced back with a dominating 5-0 win against Bangladesh away. In July, they went unbeaten into the final of the Asia Cup but suffered a heartbreaking loss to Sri Lanka. The heartbreak continued in the T20 World Cup in October when they were knocked out in the group stage after losses against New Zealand and Australia. The next World Cup, in the ODI format, is set to take place next year in India, but this T20I series is not without context, especially for the hosts. It is a chance for them to rethink their approach in T20Is, especially in crunch games, and also start building their squad for the 2026 T20 World Cup in England.Related

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WI’s chance to improve their record vs IndiaWhile West Indies arrived in Navi Mumbai a week early to acclimatise, India have been dealt with a rough schedule. They have barely had time to prepare after finishing the ODI series in Australia, which finished on December 11, and took a day off on Friday to rest it out. That they lost 3-0 to Australia in that series also doesn’t help their case. West Indies will want to use this opportunity to improve their record against India.The results between these two sides have been one-sided, with West Indies losing 13 out of the 21 matches they have played against India. In fact, West Indies have lost their last eight games against India. But an overall improved form this year, where they have won six out of their last eight T20Is and also made the semi-final of the T20 World Cup, will add to their confidence.”We’ve been working really hard and been really focused on our game and what we can improve,” West Indies captain Hayley Matthews said on the eve of the first T20I. “Coming up against a team like India, we know it is going to be a tough assignment. But we have been playing some really positive cricket over the last year and back ourselves to hopefully go out there and be able to change things around a bit.”Harmanpreet Kaur keeps an eye on proceedings•PTI Are India too dependent on their Big Two?Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur are among the top three for most T20I runs in India this year. That Mandhana and Harmanpreet were the top run-scorers in the Asia Cup final and the T20 World Cup match against Australia, respectively, highlights India’s dependence on the duo. India have also lacked firepower in the middle order, with the likes of Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma and D Hemalatha (dropped for this series) struggling to score consistently. Rodrigues, Deepti, Mandhana, Yastika and Hemalatha also played in the recently concluded WBBL but none of them had great returns.Selection questionsIndia have dropped Arundhati Reddy and Shafali Verma from both ODI and T20I squads. When asked about the reason behind it, Harmanpreet said the question should be directed to the “right people”.Reddy was the joint-highest wicket-taker for India at the T20 World Cup. Shafali, who was dropped for the Australia ODIs as well, has been racking up the runs in the domestic one-day tournament where she’s currently the highest run-scorer for Haryana and second-highest overall with 330 runs in six games with one century and two fifties. She even took three wickets with her offspin in Saturday’s match against Vidarbha to go with her 68 off 39 with the bat.There’s also been plenty of chopping and changing. Hemalatha, who played eight matches, has been dropped from this series. Amanjot Kaur, who last played in the Australia T20Is earlier this year, has not found a spot since. Uma Chetry has been travelling with the team since her call-up for the South Africa series in July but has played just four T20Is so far.The likes of Priya Mishra, Saima Thakor, Minnu Mani and Titas Sadhu have also been named in the T20I squad as well, but whether they will get their chance to play remains a question. Seamer Thakor, who had a breakthrough WPL 2024, may earn her T20I cap and take Reddy’s place having already played six ODIs. India have also handed maiden call-ups to Uttarakhand batters Nandini Kashyap and Raghvi Bist. Both players are known for their big-hitting abilities and are coming off good domestic seasons, and India might want to try them out as they look for fresh faces to build for the next T20 World Cup.Deandra Dottin has been a key figure for West Indies since her international return•Getty ImagesThe Dottin impact for WIWest Indies have hugely benefited from Deandra Dottin’s return to internationals. She was their top run-scorer at the T20 World Cup, scoring at a strike rate of 162.16 and hitting most sixes (9) in the tournament. She singlehandedly threatened to take the semi-final away from New Zealand, first taking four wickets and then scoring 33 off 22 in the chase. Her wicket was the turning point in the game as West Indies lost by eight runs.She has also had success with the ball, highlighted by her recent performances in the WBBL, where she finished with ten wickets in Melbourne Renegades’ title run. Matthews has been excellent as an opener, but West Indies rely on Dottin’s power game for quick runs in the middle and death overs.”She is an impact player on the whole,” Matthews said of Dottin. “She is obviously a very dangerous player out on the field. When you speak about something in T20 cricket, what’s very important is boundary-hitting and six-hitting and there are probably not many people in the world that can strike a cricket ball like her. So it’s just been great to have her back. She has really enjoyed being back in the group, and I think everyone is taking her in well again. It has just been good to have it back on and off the field.”

A look at some of the takeaways from the men’s and women’s Super Smash that ended with Central Stags and Wellington Blaze winning respective titles

Deivarayan Muthu04-Feb-2025

Stags’ youngsters roar

No Doug Bracewell (at the SA20 with Joburg Super Kings). No Ajaz Patel (injury). No Seth Rance (retired). No Josh Clarkson (impending fatherhood). No problem for Stags as they toppled a powerful Canterbury Kings side that included as many as ten players who have played international cricket for New Zealand.For the Stags, it was William Clark, 23, and Curtis Heaphy, 21, who sealed their chase of 136. Toby Findlay, another youngster, sparkled in the final, coming away with 3 for 29 in his four overs, including the big wicket of Daryl Mitchell. Having sussed out that the pitch was two-paced, Findlay used his variations well, often digging the ball into the track to mess with the timing of Kings’ batters. In his first season as a contracted CD player, Findlay emerged as a Super Smash champion and promises more for the future.Blair Tickner, the senior Stags seamer, finished with a chart-topping 16 wickets in nine innings at an average of 18.43 and economy rate of 9.21.Amelia Kerr shone with bat and ball in the Women’s Super Smash•Getty Images

Amelia Kerr at it with ball and bat

Having won the T20 World Cup with New Zealand in 2024, Kerr added the women’s Super Smash trophy to her cabinet. She racked up 441 runs in 12 innings – the highest in the men’s or women’s Super Smash this season – to go with 15 wickets in 11 innings at an economy rate of 6.06. Two of those wickets came in the final where Blaze successfully defended 104 in front of their home crowd.Kerr was also in the thick of the action in the Eliminator against Northern Brave, following up her 29 off 24 balls with 4 for 19. Blaze’s imports from across the Tasman, Hannah Darlington and Maitlan Brown, also played their part in them becoming back-to-back champions in the women’s competition.

Jamieson, Shipley, Sears return to action

Kyle Jamieson, Henry Shipley and Ben Sears, who were injured before the Super Smash, returned to action and hit full tilt in the competition. Having proved his fitness – and form – Sears also made New Zealand’s squad for the upcoming ODI tri-series in Pakistan and the Champions Trophy.Kyle Jamieson made a successful return from injury in the Super Smash•Getty ImagesAs for Jamieson and Shipley, they were part of an all-New Zealand Canterbury attack that troubled a number of batters. Jamieson, who didn’t play any competitive cricket for 10 months prior to the Super Smash, marked his return from back injury, with 2 for 26 against Otago Volts at Molyneux Park. Midway through the Super Smash, Jamieson earned a PSL deal with Quetta Gladiators and continued to operate without any apparent discomfort.In the men’s final, Jamieson burst through Jack Boyle’s defences with a sharp inducker and proceeded to dismiss Dane Cleaver, who had top-scored for Stags, but it was not enough for the Kings to wrest the title. Jamieson ended the tournament with 14 wickets in 12 innings at an excellent economy rate of 5.95.Shipley, who was also working his way back from a back injury, took 12 wickets in eight innings at an economy rate of 8.04. He also made some cameos with the bat in Kings’ run to another final.

Meet Matt Boyle, the breakout star of the tournament

Though New Zealand don’t have the depth of India or England, they have some young talent bubbling through. Twenty-two-year-old Matt Boyle is the latest talent who is already being talked up as a future Black Cap. A tall left-hander who can hit the ball long and far, Boyle emerged as the top run-getter in the men’s Super Smash, with 377 runs in 11 innings at an average of 37.70 and strike rate of 156.43 for Kings. Matt is the younger brother of Jack, who has moved to Central Districts from Canterbury and son of Justin Boyle, who played for both Canterbury and Wellington.Central Stags are Men’s Super Smash champions•Getty ImagesBoyle had also showcased his power for New Zealand XI in December last year, when he clattered an unbeaten 57 off 34 balls against a Sri Lankan attack, which included mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana and slinger Nuwan Thushara, in a ten-over tour game in Lincoln.

Bevon Jacobs watch

After having secured an unexpected IPL deal with Mumbai Indians and having broken into the New Zealand squad, Bevon Jacobs turned up at the Super Smash for Auckand Aces, hitting 263 runs in eight innings at an average of 37.57 and strike rate of 140.64. His unbeaten 90 off 56 balls against Northern Brave in Hamilton was arguably the innings of this season. Having entered the fray at 30 for 3 in the fifth over, Jacobs propelled Aces to 187 for 5. Though Brave chased down the target, Jacobs served a reminder of his raw power and potential.After Aces were knocked out of the Super Smash, Jacobs headed to the UAE to link up with MI Emirates, the affiliate of his IPL side, in the ILT20.

Top five: find out who the fastest to the landmark are

Abhimanyu Bose29-Mar-2025Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Shubman Gill has become the second-quickest to 1000 IPL runs at a single venue, reaching the milestone in his second game at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in IPL 2025. He got there in just 20 innings. It came up during the fourth over of GT’s second game of the season, against Mumbai Indians (MI). Here’s a list of the five fastest batters to 1000 runs at a single venue in the IPL.Chris Gayle, Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru – 19 inningsA part of the holy trinity of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batting line-up along with Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle left his mark on the Bengaluru faithful by hitting bowlers all around and out of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Gayle took just 19 innings to get past the 1000-run mark at the venue, and finished with 1561 runs at an average of 41.07 and strike rate of 159.93.Chris Gayle kept racking up the runs in Bengaluru•BCCIGayle also struck three centuries in Bengaluru, including the 175 not out against Pune Warriors in 2013, which remains the highest individual score in a men’s T20. Gayle got to the 1000-run mark one game after that fabled knock as he hit a 53-ball 77 in a defeat against Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab).Shubman Gill, Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad – 20 inningsBrought in as one of the four pre-auction picks GT were offered when they were introduced as a new franchise in 2022, Gill became the face of their batting line-up quickly, taking to his new home ground like a duck to water. Gill averages an incredible 60.23 in Ahmedabad with a strike rate of 160.25 after his 27-ball 38 against MI.Shubman Gill made himself at home in Ahmedabad quickly•BCCITwo years ago, Gill was nearly unstoppable at this venue, scoring 572 of his 890 runs there, with two centuries including his career-best 129, also against MI, in their Qualifier 2 match.David Warner, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium – 22 inningsDavid Warner’s love affair with Hyderabad is a storied one, and despite the unpleasant ending with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), he truly made it his home away from home. In his first IPL game at the Rajiv Gandhi Internation Stadium, Warner was a visiting batter, for Delhi Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils), and he hammered an unbeaten 109 against the now defunct Deccan Chargers. He never looked back.David Warner really loved batting in Hyderabad•BCCIWarner racked up 1623 runs at an average of 64.92 and strike rate of 160.53 in Hyderabad, hitting three centuries along the way. He crossed 1000 runs at the stadium during his 59-ball 126 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2017.Shaun Marsh, IS Bindra Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali – 26 inningsThe first winner of the Orange Cap, Shaun Marsh made the most of his home venue, scoring 1064 runs at a strike rate of 130.23. He averaged 44.33 in Mohali, where he scored 289 of the 616 runs that saw him top the scoring chart in IPL 2008.Shaun Marsh celebrates a fifty that also saw him go past 1000 runs in Mohali•BCCIUnlike the three players above him on the list, Marsh got the majority of his runs from No. 3. He went past the 1000-run mark in his penultimate innings in Mohali, a 43-ball 58 against Gujarat Lions in IPL 2017.Suryakumar Yadav, Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai – 31 inningsSuryakumar Yadav is widely recognised as one of the best T20 batters in the world, and it was after his move to MI from KKR that he really started to take off.Suryakumar Yadav truly came into the spotlight for Mumbai Indians•BCCISuryakumar has 1083 runs at Wankhede Stadium, 1034 of those coming for MI, with two centuries. He has struck at 162.12 at MI’s home, despite the team not playing there for two seasons during his prime owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.In MI’s penultimate home game in IPL 2024, Suryakumar struck an unbeaten 102 against SRH, going past 1000 runs at the ground in the process.

Stats highlights from Delhi, where DC’s four-match winning streak in IPL 2025 came to an end

Sampath Bandarupalli13-Apr-202515-0 Mumbai Indians’ (MI) record while defending a target of 200-plus runs in the IPL. The highest successful chase against MI in the IPL is 196 by Rajasthan Royals (RR) in 2020.MI and Delhi Capitals (DC) are the only teams with a 100% win record while defending 200-plus targets in the IPL. DC have won all 13 IPL matches while defending 200-plus targets.2520 Days between Karun Nair’s previous two fifties in the IPL – against CSK in 2018 and MI on Sunday. It is the longest gap between fifty-plus scores for any batter in the IPL. Nair, however, batted only six times during this seven-year gap.Related

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Travis Head had the previous longest gap between his fifties with 2516 days – against KKR in 2017 and MI in 2024. Head batted only once during that gap and did not feature in any of the six seasons between 2018 and 2023.

A surprise promotion to No. 3 set him on course to play a match-winning innings

Sidharth Monga30-Mar-2025Sometimes one cursory glance at a scorecard can tell you the story of the match. In a 182-vs-176 match, eight batters batted more than 10 balls. Only one managed a strike rate of over 150. That of 225. Over 36 balls.Mega auctions can be tough on the mid card. Nitish Rana was one such solid and bankable mid-card player with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). In the year immediately preceding the auction, Rana injured his middle finger and played only two games. A year before that, he was their captain as Shreyas Iyer was out with injury. It is difficult for teams to reward loyalty with only so many players they can retain. In Rana’s case, the India cap he earned when two India teams played simultaneously in 2021 disqualified him from being retained in the uncapped quota.It is not to say the hurt was not justified. When KKR didn’t bid for him nor use the right-to-match card for him, Rana’s wife posted on social media: “loyalty is expensive, not everyone can afford it.” What a time then to produce his best IPL knock: only his fifth score in the 80s but his only half-century at more than two runs a ball.Related

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That Riyan Parag would be pushed from mid card to main event was decided and conveyed to Rana even before the RR coach Rahul Dravid talked up Parag as the No. 3 in a press conference. There was a clear plan to what Dravid wanted, and he didn’t want it telegraphed to the opposition, who had anyway taken a long flight from Chennai to Guwahati with one day’s gap between their two defeats.RR wanted to make the most of the powerplay, so it made sense to deploy a low-cost wicket, but they also wanted to deny Chennai Super Kings (CSK) the use of R Ashwin with the new ball. CSK have Khaleel Ahmed to exploit the early movement, but have struggled for a quick to share the new ball. Sam Curran’s replacement, Jamie Overton is also more of an into-the-pitch user of the older ball.Now, you might wonder, why a left-hand batter to deny an offspinner? For starters, by now you know Rana enjoys a sweet match-up against Ashwin, who finally managed to dismiss him for the first time today but not before the carnage. Ashwin, though, is not the only offspinner to suffer at the hands of Rana. Before this game, Rana averaged 33.9 and struck at 154.13 against all offspin in the IPL.It’s not that CSK were not aware of the match-up, but they didn’t have too much choice but to go to Ashwin once Rana got off to a flier. Against left-arm orthodox, Rana enjoys an even better match-up. Off 21 balls from Kuldeep Yadav, the only left-arm wristspinner he has faced before this game, Rana had scored 36 runs without getting out. There could still be a case made for going to Noor Ahmad before feeding Rana the bowling of Ashwin, but CSK are a side that plays percentage cricket. Not for them such fancy moves of bowling Noor inside the powerplay only for the seventh time in an IPL career of 26 matches.2:27

Rapid fire review: How did Rana play so well when others couldn’t?

Rana didn’t waste any time in showing why he dominates fingerspin so much. He swept Ashwin for successive sixes and a four immediately. Ashwin was aware of the spin threat, which explains the attempt at really full balls, but he ended up overcooking two of the first three. The full length nearly worked when he got an lbw call but the DRS review reinstated Rana. He went on to drive Ashwin over extra cover and also reverse-hit him for four. In between, he also played perhaps his best shot of the innings: an inside-out extra-cover drive off Noor.While it was the perfect tactical ploy by Dravid and Parag to exploit CSK’s lack of bowlers who can test Rana with high pace, Rana took care of the execution perfectly.In an interview on Rana’s comeback last year, Harsha Bhogle said he was trying to catch a glimpse of his injured finger, to which he had said: “Sir, that I can’t show you because it is my middle finger.”Given his anger at not being valued enough by his previous franchise – Rana and his wife unfollowed KKR on socials – he showed his mature side in a “rocking-the-baby” celebration.