Even as they struggle to find the winning formula, laggards Kings XI Punjab will still fancy their chances when they host Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League cricket tournament in Mohali on Monday.
They endured a disastrous run the last time around to finish at the bottom of the heap and Kings XI Punjab would be aiming to make amends this season when they begin their campaign against newbies Gujarat Lions in their IPL opener in Mohali on Monday. Kings XI Punjab did not make any big buys this year and have a new captain in South African David Miller in place of Australian George Bailey who was released after leading the side to the last place in the previous season. Virender Sehwag has also retired and he will serve as team mentor this season. The Preity Zinta-owned side continues to lack the team balance as it has not added any significant player, only snapping the likes of all-rounders Farhaan Behardien and Marcus Stoinis, seamer Mohit Sharma and left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh. Last season, their batsmen lacked consistency and whenever they did well, the bowlers let the side down. On the other hand, debutants Gujarat Lions have a balanced side with top-class performers in both batting and bowling. They have explosive batsmen in Brendon McCullum, captain Suresh Raina, Aaron Finch and a plenty of top-notch all-rounders in Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja and James Faulkner.
Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni made himself "unavailable" for the tour of West Indies but ruled out immediate retirement a day before the selectors meet in Mumbai to pick the squads for the upcoming away series.
Images from the IPL match played between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday
Kings XI Punjab beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 22 runs in a rain-truncated Indian Premier League game in Mohali.
A charged up Sunrisers Hyderabad will have revenge on their minds when they face an in-form Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League, in Hyderabad, on Thursday.
Chasing a victory target of 440, Himachal Pradesh were 83 for two at close on the third day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Plate division group B match against Orissa at the Barabati stadium.
Adille Sumariwalla was re-elected unopposed as the president of Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for a second term at its Annual General Body Meeting in New Delhi on Friday.
India A pacer Dhawal Kulkarni was involved in a verbal altercation with Australia A leg-spinner Adam Zampa at the fag end of the home team's mammoth chase of 335 runs during the second match of the cricket tri-series in Chennai.
Images from Tuesday's IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, in Chennai.
Perennial under-achievers Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab will look to recover from opening losses and put their campaign back on track.
It was the third win for Mumbai Indians in five games while Hyderabad suffered their second loss in five matches.
Senior cricketers Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina will lead India Red, India Blue and India Green teams respectively in the Duleep Trophy to be played at Greater Noida International Cricket Stadium from August 23 to September 14. The four-day tournament will be played for the first time with pink ball and under lights.
Suspended cricketer Ajit Chandila and two others have been granted bail in the IPL spot-fixing case by a Delhi court.
The Indian under-23 team lifted the ACC Emerging Trophy tournament as they thrashed arch-rivals Pakistan by nine wickets in the final with opener Lokesh Rahul (93) being the star of a lop-sided chase.
The nature of T20 cricket is such that insane totals will be chased on particular days while some of the other occasions will witness a team struggling to get past an easy target, believes Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Jacques Kallis.
Their hopes of qualifying for the play-offs of the Indian Premier League severely dented, Kings XI Punjab captain Glenn Maxwell termed the six- wicket defeat against Gujarat Lions on Sunday as 'pretty devastating'.
Kolkata Knight Riders will have no margin for error when they take on hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad, who will fancy their chances despite coming off a defeat, in the Indian Premier League match in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Kings XI Punjab's new captain Murli Vijay has termed left-arm spinner Axar Patel's bowling spell as 'incredible' during their stunning 23-run win over table toppers Gujarat Lions in an Indian Premier League match in Rajkot.
Enjoying one of the best phases in his career so far, Royal Challengers Bangalore's inspirational leader Virat Kohli is ready to play through pain against Kings XI Punjab with multiple stitches in his split webbing in another must-win IPL encounter in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Kohli sustained split webbing in his left hand while fielding against Kolkata Knight Riders as he went for a diving catch. He left the field briefly to get medical assistance, got his webbing taped and was back in field. He then played another classy knock to keep RCB's play-off qualification hopes alive. "I might need 7-8 stitches," Kohli had said after the match but if KXIP thought that the opposition skipper will make himself unavailable, they would be in for disappointment as RCB's manager Avinash Vaidya said that India's No 1 batsman will be playing in this crucial encounter.
The Royals are aware of the challenges facing them at the Sawai Mansingh Stadum, a few days after Sunrisers Hyderabad got the better of Kings XI Punjab to grab the second position in the standings.
The variety in Sunrisers Hyderabad's bowling attack will pose a few tricky questions for Mumbai Indians
'We are pretty comfortable and to be honest with you, there is nothing we can do about what happened with David Warner. We have moved on from there'
A measured half century from opener Chamu Chibhabha propelled Zimbabwe to their first ever Twenty20 victory over former World champions India by 10 runs, in Harare, on Sunday.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed career-best figures of five for 19 to help Sunrisers Hyderabad register a narrow five-run victory against Kings XI Punjab in Hyderabad, on Monday.
Season 9 of the IPL has seen many youngsters punch above their weight. Some of them make Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com's Young Guns XI.
India fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat claimed a Rs 11.5 crore deal with the usually thrifty Rajasthan Royals even as South African pace ace Dale Steyn went unsold on the second day of the Indian Premier players' auction in Bengaluru, on Sunday.
Andre Russell's spectacular all-round performance powered defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders to a convincing four-wicket victory against Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League, in Pune, on Saturday.
Desperate to get their campaigns back on track, the two bottom placed teams in the Indian Premier League -- Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore -- lock horns in Mohali on Monday, aiming to keep their winning momentum going to stay afloat in the ninth edition of the T20 league.
Lendl Simmons smashed a scintillating 61-ball 100 to guide Mumbai Indians to a morale-boosting seven-wicket win over table toppers Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League in Mohali.
Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers' impressive defence of modest totals continued as the visitors pulled off a 11-run win over Rajasthan Royals on a tricky pitch to claim the top spot
Impressed with leg-spinner Mayank Markhande's bowling for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, former India spinner Venkatapathy Raju praised him and termed control as the rookie's strongest point.
Dinesh Karthik scored a fighting fifty (58 off 44) but it went as vain as the Lions kept losing wickets at crucial junctures to make a hash of the chase.
Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to bounce back when they take on Chennai Super Kings in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Back-to-back losses denting their confidence, defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to put their campaign back on track when they take on Kings XI Punjab in their IPL match, in Hyderabad, on Sunday.
Rajneesh Gupta presents a statistical outlook of the players named in India's squad for the upcoming limited-overs series in Zimbabwe.
New Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, presided by C K Chaturvedi, asked the company to pay Rs 45,792 to Delhi-based family comprising Sandeep Sharma, Navdeep Sharma, Monika Sharma and Poonam Sharma.
Back to their winning ways after sucessive victories, a rejuvenated Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to continue their good run when they take on laggards Kings XI Punjab in an IPL T20 clash at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium on Saturday.
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.
After a below-par effort against Pune Supergiants, the Delhi Darevils will be looking to hit the straps rightaway with their prime players set to comeback in the playing XI as they take on bottom-placed Kings XI Punjab in an IPL encounter at Mohali on Saturday. Following three horrendous seasons, the Daredevils have had a decent outing so far under Rahul Dravid's mentorship and Zaheer Khan's captaincy, having won five of their eight games and are placed third in the eight-team table. There has been no standout performer as such but contributions from most of the players in their five victories has made it clear that Dravid's men are certainly not dependant on any one individual to carry the team forward.
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