The fact that some of the records in the ongoing IPL are held by KKR players reflects the red-hot form of the team.
A rampaging Kolkata Knight Riders stand in the way of Delhi Daredevils' revival plan as the two teams, with contrasting runs so far, gear up to clash in an Indian Premier League (IPL) fixture in Kolkata on Friday.
They may be fighting for a place in the Kolkata Knight Riders' team, but senior spinner Brad Hogg revealed that fellow mystery spinner Sunil Narine is now bowling within the ICC's permitted 15 degrees of flexibility. The 45-year old Hogg also warned that Narine is still 'difficult to pick' despite the re-correction in his action. "I remember taking some balls from him (at training) and his action was perfect," Hogg said. "We all know he can do it without the restriction, he can do it legitimately. "Let me tell you I was struggling to pick him up from other end when he was bowling the doosra - I thought it was going the other way," Hogg said. Narine missed out on KKR's victory against Delhi Daredevils on Sunday after flying home to Trinidad due to his father's death. The West Indies spinner has re-joined the squad and will be fighting for the overseas spinner's spot with Hogg, who had claimed match-winning three wickets against the Daredevils.
Kyle Mills has justified benching star Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav for the past couple of IPL matches
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels Gautam Gambhir looks good for a national recall after a string of good scores in the ongoing IPL but the Kolkata Knight Riders captain does not want to look too far ahead as "comebacks are only by-products" of good performances. "At the moment, it's about IPL and I am concentrating on getting runs and help KKR win. All the rest, comebacks or no comebacks, are only by-products," said the left-handed batsman at the pre-match media conference against defending champions Mumbai India at the Wankhede Stadium. The Delhi Ranji Trophy captain had appeared last for India in the fifth and final Test match at the Oval in August, 2014, a match that India lost by an innings and in which he made 0 and 3, and has never been picked for the country in any of the three formats since. In fact in his last four Test innings for India, he failed to reach double figures in three of the innings.
West Indies opener Chris Gayle, who is a popular name among T20 leagues around the world, was not picked along Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has withdrawn Sunil Narine from the upcoming tour of India after the spinner was banned from bowling in the Champions League Twenty20 final for an illegal bowling action.
Buoyed by their spectacular win over Chennai Super Kings in the opening match of this season's campaign, Kolkata Knight Riders will take on spirited qualifiers Lahore Lions in their second game of the Champions League Twenty20 in Hyderabad on Sunday.
With questions being raised over Sunil Narine's action again, Kolkata Knight Riders' bowling coach, Wasim Akram, says the mystery spinner will bounce back from the rough patch.
Kieron Pollard was recalled to the West Indies squad announced on Wednesday for next month's triangular One-day series against Australia and South Africa.
Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine failed to make the cut as West Indies announced their 15-man squad
India's Test captain says the West Indies bowler is "a class act in Twenty20 cricket and that is why even the Mumbai batsmen knew that even if he is bowling slower, it is going to be difficult for the batsmen to pick him up".
Images from the Indian Premier League match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders, in Abu Dhabi, on Monday.
Ishan Kishan changed the script completely with swashbuckling stroke-play in the middle overs to steer Mumbai past Kolkata in Wednesday's IPL match in Kolkata.
Stand-in skipper Virat Kohli said he was forced to keep an attacking field against the West Indies in Sunday's tri-series match as he needed wickets to defend a modest score of 230 at Sabina Park.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar dismissed talk of the cash-rich Indian Premier League being the reason behind Champions League T20 being scrapped, saying "there's no connection" between the two events.
Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list the 50 Most Valuable Players after 46 IPL 2022 games.
Former West Indies skipper Carl Hooper has said it's a shame that the top players from the Caribbeans are not interested in playing for the country.
Robin Uthappa smashed his way to a quickfire half-century as Kolkata Knight Riders notched up a comfortable six-wicket victory over Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League in Mohali, on Tuesday.
Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Pat Cummins says it's time to make amends for the team's opening match reversal when he leaked 49 runs from his four overs as KKR suffered a record 20th loss to Mumbai Indians.
With 10 points from 11 games, it is a must-win encounter for Dinesh Karthik and his men if they want to keep their play-off chances alive.
Dhoni has turned back the clock with his last three innings, two of them half centuries, adding to the fine run of imposing all-rounder Shane Watson.
Te MVP of IPL 11, after Week 4, is young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant.
To match or even surpass the Royals, KKR have the biggest stars in Andre Russell to go along with reigning World Cup winning English skipper Eoin Morgan
Kolkata Knight Riders would look to usher in a fresh era under new captain Dinesh Karthik with a victory when they open their Indian Premier League campaign against heavyweights Royal Challengers Bangalore, in Kolkata, on Sunday.
Top India batsman Virat Kohli has maintained his second position in the latest ICC batsmen rankings while medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has moved up a place to be seventh in the bowlers' standings.
Desperate to not miss a single game, a big-hitting star has requested BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, on behalf of the players from both countries, to lessen the quarantine period to three days.
Shubman Gill has the repertoire of strokes and can any position but given a choice, the young turk would prefer to open regularly in the shortest format of the game.
The change in format may bring about some strategic shift in the playing eleven for India with captain Virat Kohli expected to open the innings.
Images from the Indian Premier League match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders, in Dubai, on Sunday.
The Most Valuable Player Index table is telling another (worrying?) story: Performance from players in teams that are not going to make the top four is dropping somewhat alarmingly. The IPL is gruelling and cruel. It can do wonders to your career, but can also seriously hurt your international prospects if you get injured in a match that is essentially inconsequential. Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index after Game 63.
Images from the Indian Premier league match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders, in Abu Dhabi, on Thursday.
India skipper Virat Kohli and his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni are among the top players who are retained by their respective Indian Premier League franchises, Royal Challengers Bangalore and comeback outfit Chennai Super Kings respectively.
Virat Kohli, with the IPL final left to play, could become the first batman in the history of T20 cricket to score 1,000 runs in a single tournament.
Mumbai Indians opener Quinton de Kock rued the lack of support for Hardik Pandya, whose incredible power-hitting kept Kolkata Knight Riders on tenterhooks till the final ball of the 18th over.
Playing only his fourth IPL game, the 17-year-old from Assam showed great resolve and maturity to script Rajasthan Royals's majestic turnaround at Eden Gardens.
Defending champions West Indies will be without Kieron Pollard for next month's World Twenty20 in Bangladesh after the big-hitting all-rounder failed to recover from a knee injury.
The Pandyas continue to be in the thick of things with Hardik Pandya (391) ahead, but Krunal Pandya (300) not too far behind. Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list the 50 Most Valuable Players after the first 38 IPL 2022 games.
Rediff.com encapsulates all the sporting action from the past week in this eye-catching photo feature.
The Kolkata Knight Riders eliminate the Rajasthan Royals by 25 runs in a see-saw contest.
