Virat Kohli's inspirational leadership for Royal Challengers Bangalore will be up against the brute force with which David Warner has steered Sunrisers Hyderabad when the two teams, eyeing their maiden IPL title, square off in a high-intensity summit clash in Bengaluru on Sunday. RCB, however, will have a slight advantage over Sunrisers as they have the experience of playing in an IPL final twice in the past -- 2009 and 2011, but on both occasions, they had finished runners-up. Sunrisers' best finish was a play-off berth which they managed in their debut season in 2013.
Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem claimed seven for 79 to put Jharkhand in control against Haryana on the second day of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final match, on Saturday.
Rohit Sharma laid the foundation with a stylish half-century as Mumbai Indians romped home against Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets in an Indian Premier League encounter.
And no, the commercial sporting leagues didn't cause the drought, says Shekhar Gupta.
Carlos Brathwaite's inclusion will lift the spirits of Delhi Daredevils.
Last season's early elimination still fresh in his mind, Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir, on Saturday, said his team would not take anything for granted.
It is a treat to watch them bowl in tandem. Ironically, they also share the same last name. Rising Pune Supergiants spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Murugan Ashwin. While off-spinner R Ashwin has emerged to be India's lead spinner in the last couple of years, his partner M Ashwin is the talk of season 9 of Indian Premier League with the amount of turn he generates with his leg-spinners as well as googly. Catch the Chennai-based spinners in conversation with IPLT20.com
As he approaches what could be possibly the last phase, or the last few years, of an illustrious career, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a month shy of his 35th birthday, stressed that maintaining his fitness level to keep up with the demands of international cricket is priority.
With 59 matches spread across 10 cities, the cash-rich league starting Saturday will unearth new domestic talents apart from giving some of the tried and tested faces a shot at redemption during the next seven weeks of what is again expected to be a perfect marriage of cricket and entertainment.
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, on Friday, said that he should not be made a villain for bowling one of the two no-balls which proved to be a crucial factor in India's World Twenty20 semi-final loss to the West Indies.
In-form Virat Kohli leads the MVP rankings in the IPL with a MVPI of 1062 but David Warner, enjoying a sensational run with the bat and currently at third with a MVPI of 878, has the RCB captain in his sights.
2016 is at the halfway stage and the year has already seen some stunning sporting wins, underdogs emerging triumphant on the biggest stages of them all.