Harish Kotian/Rediff.com comes up with a pretty strong playing eleven from the long list of big names warming the benches this IPL season.
Table-toppers Kolkata Knight Riders and a transformed Kings XI Punjab cross swords in an Indian Premier League contest in which big-hitting Jamaicans Andre Russell and Chris Gayle will be up against each other in Kolkata on Saturday.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's heroics with the bat went in vain as Chennai Super Kings went down by four runs against Kings XI Punjab in a close finish in the Indian Premier League.
In the absence of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul was named vice-captain of the ODI and T20I teams. He also makes a comeback to the Test team, as Shikhar Dhawan was named only in the limited-overs' side.
The Australian was in imperious form in the Indian Premier League and signed off his season with 692 runs, the highest so far in the tournament, before heading home for World Cup preparations.
Sunrisers' initiative drew praise from the team's skipper David Warner.
Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia on Friday advocated daily testing of players during the IPL and predicted that the upcoming 13th edition of the T20 league in the UAE will be the most watched in the tournament's history.
Shreyas Iyer is still proud of what his side has achieved in the 13th edition of the tournament.
5 instances when teams didn't cross the 70 run mark in 13 seasons.
The IPL has produced many, many, memorable moments on the way.
India will embark on a redemption tour to England just after the ongoing Indian Premier League and Cheteshwar Pujara, who is expected to be the team's batting mainstay, feels it will be a tough ask for the visitors' to switch to Test cricket mode from the Twenty20 format.
However, Rajasthan would be a bit more desperate than Delhi as they are languishing at the second last position in the points table with just three wins from nine outings.
Jaydev Unadkat was the most expensive purchase to continue his good run at the auction.
Shami unleashed yorker after yorker to keep Kings XI in the match.
India's tour will mean further biosecurity demands on players but Maxwell said he now felt better able to cope with them.
RCB appoints Hesson as director of cricket operations, Katich named head coach
Rediff.com presents the best catches from the eighth edition of the IPL.
Featuring Watto, Wiese, Rahane, Hogg, Sarfaraz, Finch, de Kock, Tambe, Kulkarni, Maxwell...
The 33-year-old, who has taken a break from Tests to manage his workload, missed the final of South Africa's domestic 50-overs tournament with a back injury, which also kept him out of Royal Challengers Bangalore's IPL opener against Delhi.
Among the Indians, while Robin Uthappa was bought by Rajasthan Royals for 3 crore, Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari went unsold.
The Bombay high court on Tuesday allowed the Board of Control for Cricket in India to host Indian Premier League matches in Maharashtra only till April 30 after which it has asked the organisers to shift the matches outside the state.
Kings XI Punjab, over the years, have unearthed some serious talents in IPL and the latest from their stable is young Gujarat left-arm spinner Akshar Patel, who attributes much of his success in the seventh edition to the flexible thought process of team's captain George Bailey.
Kings XI Punjab skipper K L Rahul, who scored a hundred against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL match in Dubai on Thursday, said he was lacking confidence in his skills as a batsman heading into the team's second fixture in the tournament.
The ever-reliable Mohammed Shami has bowled with a lot more 'clarity of mind' in the ongoing IPL, which has helped him deliver near-perfect performances this season, said Kings XI Punjab skipper KL Rahul.
Ashwin's legacy, marked by his intellect and dominance on the field, will resonate for years to come.
Kings XI Punjab owner Ness Wadia said the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the Indian Premier League last year has made a dent on brand IPL.
In terms of viewership, the IPL even outperformed some of the pay-per-view matches of the Premier League in Britain.
Mumbai Indians lock horns with an out-of-sorts Rajasthan Royals in an IPL match in which home skipper Rohit Sharma's return from injury will also be awaited, in Mumbai, on Saturday.
This season, franchises like the Lucknow Super Giants have revamped their kits while teams like the Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings XI were satisfied with minor modifications.
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.
Players, match officials, team officials will only permitted access to the ground and their respective hotels.
Shaun Marsh's sensational strokeplay helped Kings XI Punjab edge past Rajasthan Royals via the Super Over after the match had finished in a tie in the Indian Premier League, in Ahmedabad, on Tuesday.
The IPL players' auction will be conducted in Kolkata for the first time.
This year's auctions will wrap up in one day.
'My goal initially was to play for the team (KKR) regularly and contribute to the wins. Hopefully, I will be able to perform for the Indian team. I want to thank selectors for having faith in me.'
A blazing 115-run stand between David Miller and Glenn Maxwell helped Kings XI Punjab pull off a sensational six-wicket win over formidable Chennai Super Kings in their opening Indian Premier League match in Abu Dhabi.
In another blow to Mumbai Indians' campaign in IPL-7, pace spearhead Zaheer Khan has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament, according to skipper Rohit Sharma.
He has lost a good 5-6 kgs and worked that extra hard on his fitness, making him 'leaner than ever before' in the words of India captain Virat Kohli.
Check out the star arrivals.
IPL 9 was not just about unfancied Sunrisers Hyderabad's triumph, Virat Kohli's run spree or Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman's economy rate.
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