Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji analyse IPL performances in Rediff.com's Most Valuable Players ratings.
tung by the defeat in the series opener despite putting up a big score, India will have to plug their bowling loopholes when they take on Australia in the second One-Day International on Friday, fully aware that any slip-up will make their task of bouncing back difficult.
It will be a test of character and battle for supremacy when Delhi Daredevils and Gujarat Lions, two of the most impressive teams of IPL 9, lock horns against each other at the Feroze Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday. Barring one bad day in office, both Daredevils and Gujarat Lions had a near perfect campaign so far in the tournament. While new outfit Gujarat Lions are comfortably placed at the second spot in the eight-team standings with eight points from five matches, the Daredevils are a place below in the third position with six points from four games.
Virat Kohli remained the highest-placed Indian batsman at fourth even as Shikhar Dhawan rose a rung to sixth in the latest ICC ODI rankings.
The perennial fitness battles of Shane Watson are likely to rule the all-rounder out of Australia's second Test against South Africa.
Pre-tournament favourites Australia currently occupy third spot in Pool A.
India Test regulars like Cheteswar Pujara and Ishant Sharma have also thrown their hat into the ring with base prices of Rs 50 and Rs 75 lakh respectively.
Battered and bruised after four successive defeats, India will make a last-gasp effort to avoid the embarrassment of being whitewashed by an unrelenting Australia when the two sides clash in the fifth and final One-Day International in Sydney, on Saturday.
'Twenty20 cricket can be a lottery at times, but I think we'll definitely reach the semifinals.'
Shane Watson claimed a hat-trick as Rajasthan Royals restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to a 134 for 9 in the IPL match in Ahmedabad on Thursday. However, his effort was in vain as Hyderabad came back with a vengeance to dismiss the former champions for 102 and win by 32 runs for only their third victory this season.
When the 2015 ODI World Cup began, no one cared to look past Australia to lift a record fifth title. A strong team, home advantage, and flailing opposition, meant that they were in pole position going into the tournament.
The series already in their pocket, India would aim for a clean sweep against the hosts and end the tour of Australia on a high when the two teams clash in the third and final Twenty20.
India's batsmen have gone about their job efficiently, posting big totals on the board but the bowlers have been ordinary at best, allowing the hosts to chase down those tall scores in each of the first three ODIs of the five-match series.
Featuring Yusuf Pathan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Marcus Stoinis, Ashish Nehra.
The fourth One-Day International between India and Australia was abandoned in Ranchi, because of a wet outfield caused by heavy rain.
Ajinkya Rahane hit a resolute fifty and spinner Pravin Tambe scalped three crucial wickets as Rajasthan Royals notched up a 14-run victory over Chennai Super Kings to advance to the finals of the Champions League Twenty20.
South Africa won the fifth One-Day International against India by 214 runs on Sunday, to win the five-match series 3-1, their first ODI series win on Indian soil. Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers from the match played in Mumbai.
Glenn Maxwell played a whirlwind knock of 89 runs before David Miller provided the finishing touches with a breathtaking 19-ball 51 as Kings XI Punjab hammered Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in a high-scoring IPL Twenty20 match in Sharjah.
Featuring Gayle, Kohli, Root, Dilshan and Butler.
Moeen Ali, the England all-rounder, with a batting strike-rate of 82.1 and an economy rate of 4.2, was tops.
Captain Steve Smith struck his maiden half-century in the Indian Premier League to steer Rajasthan Royals to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in Ahmedabad, on Tuesday.
As we write this we still await the crucial India-Australia knock-out in Mohali. But India's individual performances in the T20 World Cup so far haven't been truly impressive. A look at the most valuable player index (MVPI) table reveals that there's no Indian player in the top 20. MVPI merges a player's batting + bowling + fielding performance into a single 'run equivalent'. The formula to compute the MVP is devised to reward batsmen who score runs at a high strike rate, bowlers who take wickets at low economy rate and fielders who field the best (take a lot of catches and participate in run-outs). Since this is a relatively low scoring tournament we have assumed a team's par score to be 150, and each wicket to be worth 15 'runs'. It isn't a surprise that players from New Zealand dominate the rankings so far, although Joe Root tops the table after his 83 in 44 balls against South Africa.
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's T20 World Cup challenge has ended. But it is likely that Virat Kohli (MVPI of 338) will go on to become the tournament's most valuable player because he enjoys a lead of 109 runs over second-placed Joe Root (229).
'Muslims and Dalits must erase the way they remember their past, or carry out their their performances in private,' says Jyoti Punwani, as Maharashtra's Censor Board denies permission to a play Jai Bhim, Jai Bharat.
With it's scandalous past, still fresh in the minds of fans and critics alike, the Indian Premier League (IPL) organisers will look to ensure that the focus remains firmly on cricket when the cash-rich event gets underway with a glamorous opening ceremony on Tuesday.
Rajneesh Gupta presents how the teams have performed in eight seasons of the IPL.
'I just need to go back and bat at my old position at No 3.' 'In the IPL, captaincy is just for namesake. You just need to go out there and play well.' Suresh Raina tells Harish Kotian/Rediff.com about the challenges that lie ahead as he leads the Gujarat Lions and how much he will miss his beloved Chennai Super Kings and under his favourite skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
India's batting sensation Virat Kohli, named player of the tournament, is also the most valuable player of World T20 2016. With a fifty and two wickets, England's Joe Root is just behind him.
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.
The Most Valuable Player (MVP) race will be a direct face-off between Kings XI Punjab's hard-hitting batsman Glenn Maxwell and Kolkata Knight Riders' dashing opener Robin Uthappa.
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Privatising public sector companies would have encountered significant opposition from their managers as well as from strong unions.
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.
The cricketing world is all set for another feast with the Indian Premier League.
'Judging by the formbook, both sides are an equal chance to win. Pakistan has the better-balanced attack, offset by a batting line-up that oscillates between the brilliant and the bwahahaha, sometimes in the space of the same over.' 'As for India, 'bowling attack' is an oxymoron and the batting line-up is still struggling to memorise its lines.'
With a MVPI of 1128 the Royal Challengers Bangalore captain has set records that even he might find hard to surpass.
As the top 10 teams prepare to battle for the World T20 crown, Rajneesh Gupta breaks down each squad's T20 performance and their showing in previous editions of the event.
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