He walked on crutches in one of his first public appearances at Feroz Shah Kotla last year, but when an emotional Rishabh Pant walks out as captain of Delhi Capitals, he will need to put on his 'out of box' thinking cap to stop a marauding Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL match in New Delhi on Saturday.
India got off to a horror start in their practice match as youngsters Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill failed with the bat on Day 1 of the three-day game against New Zealand XI at Seddon Park, in Hamilton, on Friday. All the batsmen were dismissed by fast bowler Scott Kuggeleijn as India were reduced to 5/3 in the seventh over.
Sunrisers Hyderabad's batting will have to guard against the wily leg-spinner Chahal,
Yuzvendra Chahal might be despondent after the selectors snubbed him for the T20I series against Australia, but the leg-spinner channelised his angst positively with a six-wicket burst against Uttarakhand.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru's IPL campaign that began with optimism has melted into chaos. Their bowlers require a drastic transformation in mindset against Sunrisers Hyderabad for them to register an elusive win in Bengaluru on Monday.
Sent in to bat, North Zone couldn't get any momentum and were reduced to 17 for two in 6 overs.
After Shubman Gill was ruled out of the tour with injury and Mayank Agarwal suffered concussion during training, Rahul was asked to step in for his first Test in almost two years -- and now in no mood to surrender that position.
Both SRH and PBKS have two wins and two losses from their four matches to be tied with two other teams in the middle with four points
Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone blasted superb half-centuries to power Punjab Kings to a thumping 54-run win in a must-win match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Game 38 of IPL 2020 will see the Kings XI Punjab take on the Delhi Capitals at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
B. Sai Sudarshan's patient half-century helped Rest of India score 298 for 8
Game 24 of IPL 2020 will see the Kings XI Punjab take on the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi in the afternoon.
SRH and PBKS will go all out to snap the two crucial points to nose ahead in the race for play-offs.
The Punjab bowlers led by Kagiso Rabada have fared well. But the likes of Vaibhav Arora, Arshdeep Singh along with Rahul Chahar, who has nine wickets, would need to be on the money.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Glenn Maxwell are among some of the big names that the existing franchises have decided to retain for IPL 2022.
High on confidence after making their first playoffs in three years, Sunrisers Hyderabad will aim for a second-place finish in the IPL points table when they take on Punjab Kings in their final league game in Hyderabad on Sunday.
IMAGES from the IPL 2022 game between RCB and Punjab Kings in Navi Mumbai, on Sunday
So, what are the options that India can look forward to?
Birthday-boy Abhimanyu Mithun savoured a rare hat-trick as Karnataka lifted the Vijay Hazare Trophy with a 60-run victory over Tamil Nadu in a rain-hit final, in Bengaluru.
The 34-year-old was India's number one Test wicket-keeper until a career-threatening shoulder injury ruled him out of action for almost a year.
India's young opener Shubman Gill returned home on Wednesday after being ruled out of the upcoming five-match Test series against England because of injury.
Indian openers Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal looked clueless against the Australian attack in both the innings.
Milind Kumar played seven seasons for Delhi in Ranji Trophy along with stints for Sikkim and Tripura before he migrated to the US in search of better opportunities.
Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) have acquired the services of Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) pacer Shardul Thakur for the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League.
The injury-ravaged Indian team was dealt another blow on Tuesday as pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is likely to miss the fourth and final Test against Australia, starting on Friday, due to an abdominal strain.
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami gave an exhibition of high-quality fast bowling on Saturday, on Day 2 of India's warm-up match against New Zealand XI, sending a warning signal for the home team ahead of first Test in Wellington.
India opener Mayank Agarwal says his time away from the national team was spent in understanding his mind space, something which India coach Rahul Dravid has always emphasised on and it benefitted him immensely as he reclaimed his place in the side.
The Vidarbha batter boasts an incredible average of 752 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, with five centuries from seven games.
IMAGES from the IPL 2022 game between Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings, in Pune, on Wednesday.
Krunal Pandya's superb all-round showing helped Lucknow Super Giants notch a comprehensive five-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Gujarat captain Chintan Gaja and spinner Vishal Jayswal shared seven wickets between them to bowl out Himachal Pradesh for 215 on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy match.
At the start of the auction on Sunday, Punjab Kings had the highest funds at Rs 110.5 crore, which decreased to Rs 10.9 crore before Day 2 on Monday.
New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel claimed the rare honour of bagging all 10 wickets in an innings before India demonstrated their own bowling might to take control on Day 2 of the second and final Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
The pace trio of Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar and Navdeep Saini did the damage with the ball as India B outclassed India A by 76 runs in the Duleep Trophy.
Jason Holder was adjudged Man-of-the Match for his all round show. He picked up 3-19 and scored an unbeaten 47 off just 29 balls.
Baba Indrajith helped himself to a fine hundred while another senior campaigner Vijay Shankar scored a half-century as Tamil Nadu cruised into the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Reader Mayank Agarwal has sent us a photograph.
PHOTOS of the IPL 2023 match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Images from Thursday's IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore, in Dubai.
'The game against Delhi Capitals came to my mind. However, Gayle told me 'Mayank, just watch the ball and the rest will be fine'.
