Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals have failed to live up to expectations in the IPL so far and are placed sixth and seventh respectively on the points table in the eight-team competition.
The likes of Suresh Raina, Brendon McCullum, and Aaron Finch will be aiming to match the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Hashim Amla, and Marcus Stoinis stroke for stroke on what promises to be another belter of a track.
The dew factor will go out of the window but the searing heat will be an issue when Royal Challengers Bangalore take on a better prepared Rajasthan Royals in the first of the 10 IPL double-headers, in Abu Dhabi, on Saturday.
West Indies legend Brian Lara will team up with some of Australia's finest players like Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Justin Langer and Glenn McGrath for the Australian Legends XI, which will take on Big Bash League champions Perth Scorchers in the Festival of Cricket match in Perth on Friday.
Having found some light at the end of the tunnel, Royal Challengers Bangalore will be keen to expose the chinks in Kings XI Punjab's armoury during their must-win IPL encounter in Indore on Monday.
India would eye nothing less than a clean sweep when they take on an Australian side significantly weakened by injury blows, in the third and final T20 International, in Sydney, on Tuesday.
India's vacant cupboard of all-rounders will give Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri numerous points to ponder.
Table-toppers Mumbai Indians are on course to make it to the play-offs but the game is crucial for Rajasthan, who are languishing in seventh place. Defeat would mean a step closer to elimination.
Knuckle ball a powerful weapon for bowlers, says Aaron Finch.
'You can't chase 190 every time. Bowlers have to do something. We haven't won any 4 p.m. games. It's a learning curve for us. Spinners have to step up'
The Virat Kohli-led RCB has won five of its eight games on the back of all-round performances but seemingly blundered in the eight-wicket defeat to laggards KXIP on Thursday.
Bolstered by the arrival of Ben Stokes, Rajasthan Royals will hope for a better showing from its misfiring top order as they try to settle scores against second-placed Delhi Capitals in their return leg IPL match, in Dubai, on Wednesday.
Rajasthan Royals, struggling at the penultimate spot on the points table after two wins and four straight defeats, need something special against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Sunday's IPL match in Dubai.
Rajasthan will take inspiration from their two big wins in Sharjah, to turn things around against a dominant Delhi.
Rajasthan Royals may need to rejig their Indian line-up slightly when they try to pull their IPL campaign out of the current rot against a supremely confident Mumbai Indians,
7 batsmen have scored more than 500 runs in IPL-11 so far. 6 bowlers have taken 18 or more wickets. Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji reveal who they are.
Gujarat Lions defeated Rising Pune Supergiant by seven wickets to register their first win in the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League
The tremors of an earthquake in Afghanistan has forced new Indian Premier League team Gujarat Lions to evacuate their hotel on the eve of their first match in the competition. The National Centre for Seismology in India has reported the epicentre of the earthquake to be in the Hindukush mountain range on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The quake measured 6.8 on the Richter scale. The aftershocks were throughout northern India, including Chandigarh were the Lions are set to face home side Kings XI Punjab at the PCA Stadium on Monday. Moments after the earthquake hit, the Gujarat players and support staff were whisked out of the building by team management and to a safe area outside. "I was sitting on the end of my bed fixing a cricket bat and it felt like the bed started to move," the Lions' Australian paceman Andrew Tye told cricket.com.au outside the hotel.
The new playing condition rules laid down by the International Cricket Council left Indian and Australian cricketers confused after it was applied in the rain-hit first Twenty20 International in Ranchi on Saturday.
Rajasthan Royals' director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara on Friday said that all-rounder Chris Morris, who was brought by the franchise for Rs 16.25 crore in the IPL auction, will have a "very specific role of supporting" pace spearhead Jofra Archer.
Stand-in Australia coach Michael Di Venuto has hoped the revamped T20 unit under Aaron Finch's could gel together and nail a breakthrough World T20 title.
Australia look to make statement a year ahead of T20 World Cup
Australia have left masterblaster batsman Glenn Maxwell out of their squad for the five-match one-day international series against England that follows this week's fifth Ashes Test.
While SRH can't afford to slip up even one bit with five games remaining, RR would be hoping to continue the winning momentum and hope that their foreign recruits continue in good nick like they did in the match against CSK.
Young Rishabh Pant's dismissal in the penultimate over "changed things", according to India captain Virat Kohli.
Both KXIP and the Royals would look to build a winning momentum after starting the tournament as underdogs.
Chasing 135 to win, Gujarat lost both openers - Ishan Kishan (16) and Brendon McCullum (3) -- to be reduced to 23-2 but Finch blasted 5 fours and 6 sixes in his scintillating 34-ball 72-run innings as the visitors romped home with 6.1 overs to spare.
Down but not out. That's what pacer Liam Plunkett tried to convey while summing up the mood in the Delhi Daredevils camp after suffering yet another loss in the Indian Premier League.
Images from the third T20 International between Australia and India, at the Sydney Cricket Ground, on Tuesday.
Royals' new Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara is confident that the team's young Indian fast bowlers will rise to the challenge in this year's Indian Premier League.
Left chasing shadows in the first two games, a listless Indian team would most certainly tweak its bowling combination in order to avoid a second successive clean-sweep when it takes on Australia in the third and final ODI, in Canberra, on Wednesday.
They are the team's leading performers, but Lokesh Rahul and Chris Gayle's batting in the Powerplay overs was one of the "massive problems", opined Kings XI Punjab skipper Ravichandran Ashwin after team failed to make it to the play-offs in Season 12 of the Indian Premier League.
Rohit Sharma will certainly leave a gaping hole at the top of the order, something that skipper Virat Kohli wouldn't have fancied at the onset of a gruelling two-month tour.
For Hyderabad, KXIP encounter is the last game where they can avail the services of Warner before he leaves home for Australia's World Cup preparations alongside Steven Smith and Marcus Stoinis.
Injuries seem to be a permanent companion of India discard Irfan Pathan as the Baroda all-rounder has again reported unfit even before the ball has started rolling for Chennai Super Kings, who will be taking on Delhi Daredevils in their opening IPL encounter on Thursday.
Mumbai Indians enter the match high on confidence following successive victories over holders Chennai Super Kings and last edition's finalists Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Kings XI Punjab released explosive South Africa batsman David Miller after eight IPL seasons along with Englishman Sam Curran and Australian pacer Andrew Tye.
Gujarat Lions' star performer Aaron Finch is confident that their team can win five out of the next six matches to make it to the play-offs of the Indian Premier League after comprehensively defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Hardik Pandya's late cameo and half-century from opener Shikhar Dhawan helped India outclass Australia by six wickets in a high-scoring thriller in the second T20 International to seal the T20 series 2-0, in Sydney, on Sunday.
The home team's bowlers will be wary of Chris Gayle's power-hitting.
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