Suresh Raina smashed an unbeaten half-century as Chennai Super Kings booked a berth in the second qualifier with a comfortable seven-wicket win over holders Mumbai Indians in the IPL eliminator in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Delhi's strong batting line up of Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Steven Smith and Pant himself will look to fire on all cylinders right from the opening game.
Ravindra Jadeja kicked-off Chennai Super Kings' campaign in the opening match of the India leg of the Indian Premier League with a match-winning performance with bat and ball, as the two-time champions easily beat 2012 winners Kolkata Knight Riders by 34 runs, in Ranchi, on Friday night.
England batter Liam Livingstone fetched a staggering Rs 11.50 crore deal from Punjab Kings, who also roped in West Indies fast bowler Odean Smith, for Rs 6 crore, on Sunday, Day 2 of the TATA Indian Premier League 2022 Player Auction, in Bengaluru.
India's batting ace Yuvraj Singh commanded the highest price, Royal Challengers Bangalore paying a massive 14 crore for him, while Dinesh Karthik was a surprise pick at 12.5 crore by Delhi Daredevils.
So 52 games have already been played in the Indian Premier League this season. Here are the Most Valuable players and some random observations by Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle.
Mumbai Indians will have their task cut out when they lock horns with Chennai Super Kings.
Barring Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, all players have declared their allegiances to IPL franchises over their respective countries' domestic sides ahead of the upcoming Champions League Twenty20.
Photos of the Pool B game between West Indies and United Arab Emirates being played in Napier
Pakistan suffered their second consecutive loss as they were handed a crushing 150-run defeat by the West Indies.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's well-calculated half-century in challenging conditions turned out to be game-changer as Chennai Super Kings won their third match of the season with a eight-run defeat of Rajasthan Royals, in Chennai, on Sunday.
Riding on half-centuries from their openers Mike Hussey and Lendl Simmons followed by excellent performance from their spinners helped Mumbai post a comfortable 25-run victory over Rajasthan Royals in a one-sided Indian Premier League encounter in Ahmedabad.
Suresh Raina's quickfire half-century went in vain as Chennai Super Kings went down to Royal Challengers Bangalore by five wickets in a thrilling finish in the Indian Premier League in Ranchi.
Defending champions the West Indies trounced Pakistan by 84 runs on Tuesday to set up a semi-final meeting with Sri Lanka in the ICC World Twenty20. Led by a late charge from Dwayne Bravo (46) and skipper Darren Sammy (42 not out) the West Indies put up an impressive 166 for six after electing to bat and then shot out Pakistan for a meagre 85 in 17.5 overs.
Senior batsman Ramnarseh Sarwan has been dropped from the 13-member West Indies cricket squad for the first three matches of their ODI tri-series against India and Sri Lanka starting June 28.
Chennai Super Kings' head coach Stephen Fleming says Harbhajan Singh's two wickets off successive balls tilted the scales in favour of Mumbai Indians.
Notwithstanding Ravindra Jadeja's poor showing in the ongoing Indian Premier League, Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming has backed the all-rounder, saying he believes in giving chances to players rather than chopping and changing a winning combination.
CSK will be brimming with confidence having defeated the Royals earlier in the season
The top five includes Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav; both reminding the Indian selectors that they can still be formidable magicians.
351 cricketers -- 230 Indians and 131 foreigners -- will go under the hammer in Saturday's IPL players' auction.
'Twenty20 cricket can be a lottery at times, but I think we'll definitely reach the semifinals.'
A stunning hat-trick from Josh Hazlewood was not enough for Australia, as Darren Sammy led from the front with an unbeaten half-century to fashion a morale-boosting three-wicket win in a World Twenty20 warm-up match at Eden Gardens.
Penpix of the West Indies squad for the 2015 cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The International Cricket Council released the provisional squads of the 12 teams for next year's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand on Friday. However, co-hosts Australia and minnows Ireland decided against releasing the provisional list although they submitted 30 names to the parent body within the stipulated deadline.
Robin Uthappa and Andre Russell struck belligerent fifties after veteran Brad Hogg's four-wicket haul to help Kolkata Knight Riders return to winning ways with a seven-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in a thrilling Indian Premier League match in Kolkata, on Thursday.
Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming conceded on Friday that the spin department of his side hasn't been as effective as compared to previous IPL seasons, but denied that the team management has lost confidence on its slow bowlers.
David Warner, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and Zaheer Khan have all led from the front in IPL 9.
His team might have registered a crushing 54-run win over Dolphins in Bangalore but Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni indicated that it would need to improve its bowling to win the Champions League Twenty20.
Mumbai Indians gave a fitting farewell to Sachin Tendulkar's T20 career by notching up a comprehensive 33-run victory over Rajasthan Royals to clinch the Champions League Twenty20 title.
IPL Player draft: How the bidding went
In the run-up to the 2015 World Cup, India seemed to stumble, but were a changed side once the tournament commenced. They have been clinical in their wins and have cruised to the quarter-final. Along the way, they continued their hold over archrivals Pakistan -- winning their sixth match against the neighbours in the mega event. They then thrashed the more fancied South Africa and took care of business in the other four first round matches. Here are the key moments that stood out in each of their first round matches.
India to be tested the way they were by the West Indies from the position they had gotten themselves in at one stage might just augur well for them. In fact they had a lot of positives to take away from the game. That they won, allows them to remain at the top of the table with a couple of games against Zimbabwe and Ireland. But given their win required a seventh wicket stand of 51 runs, it also means it would have given them a chance to experience what they could in their knock-out matches.
Misbah-ul-Haq produced a crucial captain's innings to steer Pakistan to a four-wicket win over West Indies in the fifth One-day international in St. Lucia on Wednesday and secure the series 3-1.
Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list IPL 2020's 50 Most Valuable Players after the league phase.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians in all likelihood will be retaining skipper Rohit Sharma along with Pandya brothers, Hardik and Krunal, while under- performing Delhi Daredevils may keep Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer in their stable ahead of the IPL auction on January 27.
Every person was tested 72 hours before they travelled in order to ensure that all members of the party were travelling virus free.
We are a cricket loving country and there is so much to learn from the game about investing and financial planning.
Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list IPL 2020's Paisa Vasool Players.
The tournament, which has been shifted to the UAE due to five million plus COVID cases in India, is a 'TV-only event', expected to be lapped up by all and sundry who crave for cricket and Bollywood in equal measure during prime time.
However, if anyone has unfinished business over a decade of IPL, it is India captain Virat Kohli. He made his intent amply clear earlier this week.