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MI dominate DC to go top of the table!

Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Capitals

Game Analysis and Post Match Thoughts

Location: Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi, UAE

The 27th game of IPL 2020 was played between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals. Mumbai and Delhi are currently 7 games into their respective campaigns. Delhi were above Mumbai before the game thanks to a sensational start. Mumbai went on to win the game and maintained their winning streak since their loss to RCB. 

This is the latest IPL table where you can view your teams current league standing!

Delhi Capitals skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bat first. DC openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw came out first. Prithvi Shaw went out early after hitting a lucky boundry to Trent Boult, his former DC teammate last season. Next came in the experienced Ajinkya Rahane who also hit some boundaries but got dismissed by Krunal Pandya googly which went straight to the pad and resulting in an lbw. After Rahane came in the skipper, Shreyas Iyer who played very well along with Shikhar Dhawan. They were the best batting pair in Delhi’s innings until Shreyas Iyer got out by Krunal Pandya after mis-timing a shot hitting it straight to the hands of Trent Boult. Next came DC’s strongest and biggest man, Marcus Stoinis who hit Trent Boult for 3 boundaries. You would expect Stoinis to stay and do more damage until the end of the innings but that did not happen. Stoinis tried hit Rahul Chahar’s ball fvor a four but there was a fielder, Suryakumar Yadav who made terrible mis-field which made Stoinis want to take the second run, Shikhar Dhawan did not agree and Stoinis tried going back to his crease but it was too late, he was run out by Suryakumar Yadav. Next came Alex Carrey the man in for Rishabh Pant as a wicketkeeper batsman was the last to come out and hit a couple of boundaries with Dhawan and taking DC to a total score of 162-5. MI needed a strong start to win this game and things were not looking good early on as Rabada bowled the first over in which MI did not even hit a single boundary. However since the first over, de Kock’s form picked up and he hit Ashwin for a couple of boundaries and a six. Rohit Sharma tried following his fellow opener but failed to hit the ball over the rope and the ball landed in Rabada’s hands. Next came Suryakumar Yadav who put up a great partnership with de Kock. QDK registered his second half century of this season and Suryakumar got going after that. Once de Kock was back on strike, he mis-timed a hit from Ashwin and got out. Next came Ishan Kishan, he and Suryakumar made batting look so easy and took Mumbai closer and closer to winning the game. Suryakumar even got his second half century of the season in the process. He too, got out after hitting a ball in the air and getting caught. Hardik Pandya, the birthday boy was next and shockingly got out for a duck (0 runs) after a thick edge to Alex Carrey. Kishan then tried going for the win in style by hitting sixes and fours. In the first shout against Rabada, he got very lucky as a catch was dropped and went over for six but the next ball he was not so lucky as he got dismissed to a brilliant catch by Axar Patel. Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard were the only good batsmen left and were quiet in the second last over bowled by Nort Je only scoring about 3 runs. In the last over MI needed 7 of 6 balls and Stoinis was bowling it. Krunal got the over underway by hitting a four. The next ball he took a single getting Pollard on strike. Pollard hit the ball to backward slip who easily could have got a run out but dropped the ball before throwing it which could have lost Delhi the game. MI now just needed 3 runs off 1 ball with Krunal on strike, Krunal Pandya hit the winning runs as the ball raced to the boundary and Mumbai maintained their winning streak and went top of the table. 

I honestly expected Mumbai Indians to run away with an easy victory when Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan were batting but we just took the situation for granted and relied on the last two good batting options we had. Overall I am glad with the result and MI put in a solid performance with the bat and ball. Currently sitting at the top of the table are the Mumbai Indians after this result, DC are on the same points but have a lower net run rate than MI and therefore sit second. The big question is, can these two teams meet in the final? I guess we will have to wait and see. The next Mumbai Indians game is against KKR in Abu Dhabi this friday. In my opinion, if MI can win the next fixture against KKR and at least 2 more games in our final 4 they can be guaranteed a finish in the top 4. Do you think MI can finish top of the table this season? Let me know in the comments section!

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Important Message

Dear Audience, 

I really thank you for your support and kindness. I would like to inform you that I had a few summatives this week which were extremely stressful and thats why the blogs for the MI vs SRH and MI vs RR games are not ready yet. They will be ready by Saturday evening at latest. Thank you for your patience. Stay safe!

[thesportsstand24]

MI dominate KXIP to win their 2nd game of the Season convincingly!

Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab

Game analysis and Post match thoughts 

Location: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi 

KL Rahul                                                                                       Rohit Sharma 

Match 13 of Dream 11 IPL 2020 was played between the Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab in Abu Dhabi on the 1st of October. The Kings XI have been looking very promising this year with some great performances notably against the Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals where they were robbed of a victory in both games in my opinion. Mumbai on the other hand started off poorly against CSK, got back to winning ways vs KKR and almost won but then lost to RCB in the super over. It has been a roller coaster ride for the two teams ever since the tournament started. Let’s get into the game!

Your team’s latest league standings are right here!

Kings XI Punjab won the toss with skipper KL Rahul opting to bowl first. Yet another toss lost for Mumbai Indians. Mumbai’s batting started poorly after Quinton de Kock got out by Sheldon Cottrell who conducted his unique salute celebration. Suryakumar Yadav was next to bat and got off to a good start with the bat but unfortunately got run out by Mohamed Shami. Ishan Kishan the star of the show vs RCB came out to bat with his captain and gave Rohit Sharma strike the majority of the time but did hit a six and a couple of fours but it was not quite his day this time as he got out to a catch near the boundary. Pollard then came to the crease to put runs on the board with his skipper and in that process Rohit Sharma reach a half century, his second of the season showing he was in form. He hit a few more boundaries and sixes after his 50 but soon got out after a brilliant boundary line link up catch between Glenn Maxwell and Jimmy Neesham which was so so unlucky for Rohit but we have to give credit to Maxwell for his awareness and brilliant fielding. Hardik Pandya and Pollard did what they do best in the last three overs hitting 52 runs and securing a total of 191 runs for the Mumbai Indians with the last over being the most entertaining where 4 sixes were hit! Kings XI Punjab needed to have a good opening partnership if they wanted to get the 2 points (win the game) and they do have the opening pair to do just that consisting of skipper KL Rahul and his fellow Indian teammate Mayank Agarwal. Both hammered Trent Boult and James Pattinson in the first few overs but struggled once Krunal Pandya was introduced to the attack. Overall Punjab got off to a decent start but that was cancelled out by a classic Jasprit Bumrah yorker. Karun Nair came next but was only dismissed by Krunal Pandya after he played the ball on to the stumps which was quite unfortunate. Nicholas Pooran came next and hit one of Krunal’s deliveries out of the stadium. That hit probably sent the ball straight to the highway. Pooran got going hitting some beautiful shots while his captain on the other hand for the first time this season, was struggling. KL Rahul’s innings eventually came to an end after a superb Rahul Chahar googly went straight to the stumps as the Punjab skipper attempted to sweep. Next came Glenn Maxwell who also never really got going  and Pooran’s game also started slowing down a bit. Pooran would eventually be dismissed a few runs before getting a half century by James Pattinson where the ball edged his bat and went straight to de Kock. It was now all up to Maxwell as all of the Kings XI batsmen were dismissed and only a couple of tail-enders left to come. Unfortunately for the Kings XI, he was dismissed by Rahul Chahar after mis-timing a shot which went straight to Trent Boult who doesn't drop too many catches. Jimmy Neesham soon followed after a high full toss by Jasprit Bumrah which went straight to Suryakumar Yadav. A couple of wickets soon followed and that was the end of the match. The final score for the Kings XI Punjab was 143 for 8 wickets giving the Mumbai Indians a victory by 48 runs and firing them to the top of the table. 

Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard 

The game was great for Mumbai Indians, not too great for KXIP who have got to up their game if they want to qualify for the knockout stages. The game was decent, more fun when Mumbai was batting and a bit less fun when Punjab was batting. Some of my favourite moments in the game were Maxwell’s and Neesham’s catch, Pollard and Hardik last 3 over spell, Rohit Sharma getting another half century and Rahul Chahar’s wickets. Going forward both teams certainly have to improve but I think Mumbai Indians will have a better chance of finishing in the top 4 this season as compared to KXIP. We have got the Sun Risers Hyderabad game on October 4th in Sharjah, UAE. Let’s go for the win in that game and take advantage of the current form that SRH are in. 

[thesportsstand24]

Thriller!

Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Location: Dubai International Stadium

Game Analysis, Post Match Thoughts and Stand out performances 

This game was played between defending champions Mumbai Indians and four time finalists Royal Challengers Bangalore. Interestingly the teams were lead by India’s captain and vice captain with Virat Kohli captaining RCB and Rohit Sharma captaining the Mumbai Indians. 

Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first which was not a bad start as RCB hit the ground running after a great opening partnership between Aaron Finch and Devdutt Padikkal. Finch secured his first half century of the season but got dismissed by Trent Boult with Pollard taking a catch near the boundary. Virat Kohli the skipper walked out next. Kohli looked to make a statement of intent as he had been kept quiet with the bat in the previous two games. However it was not a good day for Kohli as he was dismissed for only 3 runs by Rahul Chahar. His fellow Indian teammate Rohit Sharma took the catch. RCB was under pressure and needed a good performance and they had the man to do just that. His name is AB de Villiers and he just nailed it along with Padikkal with both scoring half centuries. Padikkal also got out the same way as Finch and was out. Next came Shivam Dube who did the unthinkable, taking RCB to the 200+ run mark. RCB secured a total of 201 runs with the bat. Mumbai had hard work to do in order to win the game. Mumbai got off to a rough start with the bat after Rohit Sharma, de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav all went early in the game which proved to be very costly going forward. Hardik Pandya then came on to form a decent partnership with Ishan Kishan after hitting Adam Zampa for 2 sixes but then getting dismissed by the same man when he tried to go for another six but the ball went straight to Pawan Negi. Mumbai looked to be in trouble now and Pollard and Kishan were the only in form batsman left in the squad. They played slow until the CEAT tyres strategic timeout. Only god knows what they heard or did in those 2 and a half minutes because in the last 8 overs they gave everything starting with Kishan hitting a couple of sixes against Saini and Pollard getting started against Zampa and Chahal. Mumbai needed over 100 runs in the last 8 overs and brought it down to only 38 in the last 3 overs. At this point Pollard and Kishan had to hit a four or six with every opportunity they got and boy did they take their chances. Mumbai needed a total of 19 runs in the last over and started off with Ishan Kishan taking two runs after a disappointing hit. He made up for that with two sixes which bought Mumbai an opportunity to win the game needing just 5 runs off 2 balls. Kishan went for the win but got out after a mistimed shot. What was sad was that he got out for 99 runs, so disappointing to not see him hit the air and not getting a century. Now it was up to Pollard, it was do or die 5 runs of 1 ball if it was a six Mumbai win, if it was a 4 it would go to super over and it did go to a super over in fact the 2nd one of the tournament in just 10 matches! Mumbai made an interesting decision by not sending Ishan Kishan for the super over and had a fairly disappointing super over scoring only 7 runs and losing Pollard who hit their only boundary. RCB were expected to win but had a hard time with Bumarh’s yorkers but ABD still managed to hit a four after a bouncer by Bumrah and left Virat Kohli on strike to hit the winning runs and RCB won the game. 

Firstly I would like to congratulate RCB on their unbelievable performance and well deserved win. Good job! Mumbai were honestly never supposed to play the super over. I thought RCB would defeat us comprehensively looking at the way we were batting but boy was I wrong. Pollard and Ishan Kishan were our best players and gave us fans hope that Mumbai had a chance. About Ishan Kishan not going for the super over, Rohit Sharma later confirmed in an interview that Ishan Kishan was in no state to go out for the super over as he was exhausted which I and other MI fans understand. So well played RCB and good luck for the rest of your campaign! As for MI, a tough game against Kings XI Punjab next in Abu Dhabi. 

Some performances that stood out to me in the match were the batting performances of Ab de Villiers, Pollard and Ishan Kishan. Ab just nailed it with his performance in RCB’s batting innings and the super over. Pollard was the star of the show hitting 50 runs in 19 balls and giving Mumbai hope. Ishan Kishan was sensational and showed his potential and talent after a couple of disappointing campaigns with MI. These three players were just outstanding and in the end cricket won the hearts of fans this game because it just tells us it’s not over, anything can happen and it’s anybody’s game.

[thesportsstand24]

Mumbai Indians return to winning ways

Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders Game Summary and Post Match thoughts

Location: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, UAE

By Vir Kamath

The 5th game of IPL 2020 was played between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. Both sides have a good history and both have a combined total of 6 trophies where 4 belong to MI and 2 belong to KKR. 

Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and their captain and former Mumbai Indians player Dinesh Karthik opted to bowl first leaving Rohit Sharma's Mumbai Indians to bat first. Quinton de Kock got dismissed early once again after hitting a skyer. Since his dismissal Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav put on a good partnership with the bat and hit the KKR bowlers deliveries out of the park. Suryakumar would later fall to a run out by England skipper, Eoin Morgan. Young Saurabh Tiwary and Rohit Sharma also put up a decent partnership with the bat. However Tiwari never got going and got out by a catch. Hardik Pandya then walked to the crease to hit a couple of fours and a six before getting dismissed by hitting his bat on the wicket also known as a hit wicket which was very unlucky. Rohit Sharma continued his fine form with the bat till 80 runs until he got dismissed after mistiming a shot which went straight into the hands of Pat Cummins. It was then up to Pollard and Krunal Pandya to take Mumbai to the decent score as their previous ambitions of hitting more than 200 runs was out of the window. They managed to secure a total of 195 runs leaving KKR to chase 196 to win the game. Kolkata got off to a decent start with Sunil Narine hitting their first six. Kolkata Knight Rider's youngster Shubman Gill also hit a couple of boundaries only to get dismissed by Trent Boult who bowled a bouncer giving the young batsman no option but to hit it over the fielders in the circle but he mistimed his shot and Pollard took a spectacular catch. Not long after Narine also got out after Pattinson bowled a trick delivery which clipped Narine's bat and went straight to the keeper for a catch. Next came former Mumbai Indians player Nitesh Rana who hit Rahul Chahar for a couple of boundaries and put up a half decent partnership with KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik. Rana got out by a spectacular catch by Hardik Pandya which in my opinion could be the catch of the season. Pollard bowled that delivery and secured his first IPL wicket since 2015! Eoin Morgan, the current England skipper who lead them to world cup glory back in 2019 came out to bat along with Dinesh Karthik. However the KKR Skipper found himself back in the pavilion after getting out lbw to Rahul Chahar. Next came KKR's main man Andre Russel, he and Morgan hit a couple of good shots but both got dismissed by you guessed it, Jasprit Bumrah. Russel fell to a classic Bumrah yorker which crashed into the stumps. Morgan followed suit after a thick edge which carried to de Kock. At this point everyone thought it was game over for the Kolkata Knight Riders as all their main batsmen were out. It more or less was until Pat Cummins ruined Bumrah's show after hitting 4 sixes and running between the crease as KKR got 27 runs in that over. At this point KKR just did their best to save themselves from humiliation but eventually lost the game after Pat Cummins got out by his Australian teammate Pattinson and two wickets fell after that to give Mumbai Indians the victory. 

Rohit Sharma wins MOTM after a brilliant innings with the bat!

This game was pretty dull to be honest ever since KKR came out to bat. KKR in my opinion just are not the same team as they used to be 2 or 3 years ago when they convincingly defeated all their opponents and are probably just missing that one good player which offers creativity. Their team yesterday mostly revolved around youngsters who are talented but they need the motivation and passion from the experienced players which is currently missing. On the other hand Mumbai Indians broke the jinx of not winning games in the United Arab Emirates and returned to winning ways this season and just ruled out any chances of KKR winning the game. If they can continue their form they have a chance of securing their 5th IPL title. I think the MOTM or Man of the Match would have to go to Rohit Sharma who hit KKR's bowlers out of the park with some beautiful sixes and also led his team to victory by making the right rotation with the bowlers who eventually did the job for MI. Before I end I would like to point out a star duo in the making in the MI squad. That is the duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult. Both took 2 wickets each and their phase is deadly. Most batsman would have nightmares facing them be it in IPL games or International matches. Well played MI and a tough fixture against RCB next in Dubai!

[thesportsstand24]

CSK stun MI in IPL opener

Game Summary and Post Match Thoughts

Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings

Location: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

By Vir Kamath

The first game of IPL 2020 was played between none other than of course Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. Statistically speaking both sides are the most successful in this tournament sharing a combined total of 7 titles with the defending champions Mumbai Indians taking 4 and last season’s runners up Chennai Super Kings taking 3. 

Chennai Super Kings won the toss with their skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni opting to bowl first which left Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians side to bat first. Mumbai Indians got off to a good start with the bat with Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock doing the damage in the power play phase of the match (the first 6 overs). However Chennai Super Kings ace Piyush Chawla gets Rohit Sharma out with a googly and England star Sam Curran sent de Kock back to the pavilion. Soon after a decent partnership began with Yadav and Tiwary and from then on the game fell in CSK’s hands with their bowlers keeping Mumbai’s middle order consisting of sensational talents like Pollard, Hardik and Krunal Pandya quiet. Mumbai ended their batting innings with 162 runs for 9 wickets. Chennai Super Kings got off to a shaky start with the bat with both their openers Shane Watson and Murali Vijay being dismissed by Mumbai Indians new signings and debutants New Zealand star Trent Boult and Australian James Pattinson. CSK then had a great run with the bat with a great partnership between former South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis and former Mumbai Indians player Ambati Rayudu. This partnership could have single handedly won Chennai the game with their damage done with the bat and their respective strike rates. Rayudu went out to Rahul Chahar after getting caught and bowled and Jadeja came in and smashed 10 runs of 5 balls only to get dismissed by Krunal Pandya. Sam Curran then came in to hit 2 sixes only to get dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah and was the last man to get dismissed for CSK with the skipper himself MS Dhoni walking out to bat and watching Faf du Plessis hit the winning runs.

As a fan of Mumbai Indians I can say that they did not have the best of games. Mumbai have just never won a game on the opening day and repeated that fashion in today's game against their arch rivals Chennai Super Kings. Mumbai got off to a good start with the openers causing damage with the bat but the game sort of fell in Chennai’s hands once wickets started falling. I really think Mumbai did get off a good start with the ball with Trent Boult and James Pattinson striking first. However since the fall of the first 2 wickets Mumbai just fell apart with poor fielding and bowling from bowlers I do not wish to name because hey everyone does have an off day and makes mistakes. Fair play to CSK today I think they handled the pressure extremely well and overall had a better game than Mumbai Indians. My man of the match for today is Faf du Plessis, he had a great game. Those 2 catches were phenomenal which just shows the class and talent of Faf, whilst he took 2 great catches he also had a great game with the bat getting a half century and hitting the winning runs for CSK. Congratulations CSK, you were the better team today. On to Kolkata Knight Riders next for MI!