Royal Challengers Bengaluru's bid for a maiden home victory this IPL season will depend on their batters' ability to handle the spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Glenn Maxwell when they face the Punjab Kings on Friday.
If Punjab goes for a flat deck, there is no guarantee that the bowling unit can defend anything in the 220 range, especially when KKR have the likes of Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, and Venkatesh Iyer in their ranks.
In the bowling rankings, Keshav Maharaj and Matt Henry have broken into the top five
With Mahendra Singh Dhoni being the same player and no one to "bell the cat", CSK are in unusual mess with a mis-firing top-order where the skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad has had to give up his opening slot.
SRH's ultra-aggressive approach with the bat has backfired spectacularly as they have suffered four defeats in a row -- leaving them languishing at the bottom of the points table.
Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis has been left supremely impressed by the quality of youngsters in the Punjab Kings squad as well as the Indian T20 set up on the sidlelines of the IPL.
With recent matches indicating that chasing teams have fared slightly better, the toss-winning captain may opt to bowl first.
Australia, who have already secured their place in the final of the World Test Championship against South Africa, won the opening Test, also in Galle, by an innings and 242 runs.
Lucknow Super Giants skipper Rishabh Pant is looking to make his mark and secure a win in his team's first home game of the season.
Rajasthan Royals face a tough challenge against a marauding Punjab Kings batting lineup, led by in-form Shreyas Iyer.
Starc's withdrawal comes after pace stalwarts Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood were ruled out due to injuries.
Inglis sustained an injury in a freak accident while playing golf.
This squad is by far one of the most compact in Punjab's IPL history and with the tactical genius of Ricky Ponting at the helm, it will be a folly to write them off at any time of the competition.
Australia's second-string pace attack produced a first-rate display to sink Pakistan with a comprehensive 29-run win in the weather-truncated first T20 International on Thursday.
Australian opener Matthew Short suffered an injury while fielding but he returned to open the batting and Smith said he could take a few days to recover.
Nathan McSweeney, who opened in the first three Tests with little success, has been dropped.
Selectors have recalled pace stalwart Hazlewood for the second ODI after he missed the MCG match to play Sheffield Shield cricket.
Smith's unbeaten 120 is his second successive hundred of the series while Carey made a career-best 139 not out hitting 22 fours and three sixes between them.
This is Sri Lanka's biggest victory over Australia in ODIs in terms of runs.
They will meet the winner of Wednesday's second semi-final between South Africa and New Zealand in the final in Dubai on Sunday.
Australia bowled out Sri Lanka for 231 in the hosts' second innings and then chased down the target of 75 losing the lone wicket of opener Travis Head.
Dimuth Karunaratne's Test career ended in a whimper as Sri Lanka's most prolific Test opener fell caught behind to Kuhnemann after making 14.
If Smith is ruled out, then the left-hand batter Travis Head will lead the squad as he is the vice-captain of the side.
Pat Cummins will captain Australia at the Champions Trophy after being named in a preliminary 15-man squad also featuring fellow quick Josh Hazlewood on Tuesday.
Glenn Maxwell's hopes of reviving his Test career may be over after the all-rounder missed out on selection in Australia's much-changed squad for the Sri Lanka tour.
Both teams have struggled in the ODI format recently. World champions Australia lost to Sri Lanka (0-2) and Pakistan (1-2) in their last two series, while England, now coached by Brendon McCullum in all formats, haven't won an ODI series since their disastrous 2023 World Cup campaign.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Last Friday saw the release of India's 'most violent film ever', Kill.
Australia's Test regulars will skip the three-match series against Pakistan in November as they prepare for the blockbuster clash against India.
Their pre-tournament decision to fill the squad with five spinners drew a lot of flak from all corners, but it is now proving to be a masterstroke on the slow pitches in Dubai.
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Australia clinched a 3-0 T20I series sweep over Pakistan in Hobart, powered by a blistering unbeaten 61 off 27 balls from Marcus Stoinis on Monday.
'I've been bowling here for the Melbourne Stars, I know the pitch, I know the length.'
Matthew Wade has revealed that his team's defeat to India in the T20 World Cup earlier this year was probably the moment that ended his career as it was the first time that the thought of retirement crossed his mind.
Shaheen and fellow quick Naseem Shah led the way, picking up three wickets apiece during a showcase of swing and pace, which accounted for Jake Fraser-McGurk (seven) and Aaron Hardie (12) in the first powerplay.
Uncapped McSweeney to open with Khawaja in India series
Virat Kohli top-scored with a fluent 84 as India overpowered Australia by five wickets to storm into the ICC Champions Trophy final, in Dubai, on Tuesday.
All about IPL 2025 which kicks off on March 22, Saturday.
Australia will be without their premier pacers but their envious pedigree in ICC tournaments make them favourites to progress to the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy from Group B.
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