Heena Sharma Blog

  The much-awaited franchise-based cricket tournament, Indian Premier League, will begin on Saturday, almost six months after its scheduled start due to coronavirus imposed hiatus. In the IPL 2020 opener, defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) will lock horns with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabhi in an empty stadium, a sight unusual for the world’s richest cricket league. Covid-19 has introduced a new normal to the world and empty stadiums for sporting events are now the norm as part of this new normal. IPL 2020 opening ceremony and cheerleaders This year’s IPL would be all about cricket as opening ceremony will not take place due to Covid-19 pandemic. Also cheerleaders won’t be the present owing to social distancing norms which means IPL 2020 will be all about cricket with no glamour. Read More

Michael Hussey feels that Mahendra Singh Dhoni does not have "too many weaknesses" but even if he has, the Chennai Super Kings batting coach wouldn't share them with in-form Australia ahead of their World Cup clash on Sunday. Having crushed Afghanistan and put up an inspirational performance against a rampaging West Indies, Australia are expected to be more than a handful for India when the two teams square off at the Oval. Hussey has played alongside Dhoni at CSK and as coach, watched him from close quarters in the franchise. So, will Hussey share his insights on Dhoni with the Australian coaching team? "No chance. There aren't too many weaknesses there anyway," the former Australia batsman let out a chuckle as he spoke to PTI in an exclusive interview. However, Hussey is confident that Australia will have their plans in place for the former India captain. "All the teams do very thorough analysis on all the players so I am sure that t...

In match 41 of the VIVO Indian Premier League 2019 (IPL 2019), Chennai Super Kings will host Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday. MS Dhoni's Chennai are at the second spot of the IPL 2019 points table while Kane Williamson-led Hyderabad is at the fourth spot. Chennai have lost two consecutive matches while Hyderabad pulled a 9-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders to continue their winning run. Dhoni faces an important task of sorting the batting order as Chennai is heavily dependent on him if opening batsmen fail to score. If Chennai win the match, their ticket for the playoffs will be confirmed. SRH's story has been the same throughout IPL 2019, only the openers -- David Warner and Jonny Bairstow -- have delivered among batsmen for the team and if they fail to score, the middle order takes no time in collapsing. If Chennai manage to breach the protection SRH openers provide, they can easily take control of the match while S...

Parthiv Patel, the man whose direct hit gave Royal Challengers Bangalore an improbable one-run win over Chennai Super Kings, said he was left quite surprised when Mahendra Singh Dhoni missed hitting the last ball of the cliffhanger. Patel wasn't expecting a marauding Dhoni to miss Umesh Yadav's slower delivery before his direct throw sealed it for the home team on Sunday night. Dhoni scored 24 off the first five balls of the final over before missing the last ball. A scramble for one run ended in Parthiv's direct throw leaving Shardul Thakur short of his crease. "We honestly wanted him (Dhoni) to hit through the off-side on the shorter side of the ground. If he had hit it on the leg-side, there were two runs because I don't think the way he runs, there was any chance of stopping those two," an elated Patel said at the post-match press conference. "So we wanted (Umesh) to bowl slower and outside the off-stump and surprisingly he missed it. I ...

Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni escaped a ban and was let off with a 50 per cent fine on his match fee for an unprecedented confrontation with the on-field umpire during the IPL encounter against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur. In a rare instance, Dhoni, who was not even meant to be on the field of play, lost his cool and rushed out of the dug-out to challenge umpire Ulhas Gandhe after he flip-flopped on a no ball on Thursday night. "MS Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings captain, was fined 50 per cent of his match fees for breaching the VIVO Indian Premier League's (IPL) Code of Conduct during his team's match against Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur," the BCCI stated. Gandhe had tried to rule a waist-high full toss as no ball by RR all-rounder Ben Stokes. But he reversed his decision after square leg umpire Bruce Oxenford did not signal for it. "Dhoni admitted to the Level 2 offence 2.20 of the IPL's Code of Conduct and accepted the sanction...

In match 25 of the VIVO Indian Premier League 2019 (IPL 2019), Ajinkya Rahane-led Rajasthan Royals will host MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Thursday. Rajasthan Royals have struggled in the tournament with just two wins off five matches.They have failed to make the most of home ground advantage as they lost against KKR in their last match. Chennai is at the top of IPL 2019 points table with five wins in 6 matches and they would look to continue with the winning spree. Problems are aplenty for Rajasthan as the side has not been able to convert a good show into victory and with the opposition like CSK, they will have to sweat hard to break the losing spell. Dwayne Bravo might make a comeback after he was injured and rested for two matches. Overall, the side also demolished an equally strong Kolkata Knight Riders and it must be planning to grab early wickets to derail RR's strong batting line-up. Here are the playing 11 probabl...

In match 23 of VIVO Indian Premier League 2019 (IPL 2019), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will host Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday. It's set to be an interesting clash as Dinesh Karthik-led KKR is at the top of IPL 2019 points table while MS Dhoni-led CSK is at number two. Both Chennai and Kolkata won their last match against Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals respectively and they would look to extend lead as IPL 2019 approaches half-stage. For CSK, there is uncertainty over Dwayne Bravo's inclusion in the playing 11 as he missed the last match due to injury. It will be a clash of two strong sides and Chennai would require the service of all-rounder Bravo to counter Andre Russell's rampaging. Chennai brought in Faf du Plessis, Scott Kuggeleijn and Harbhajan Singh in place of Dwanye Bravo, Shardul thakur and Mohit Sharma and it worked well as du Plessis smashed a half-century and Harbhajan picked two wickets in his fir...

In Match 15 of VIVO Indian Premier League 2019 (IPL 2019), Mumbai Indians will look to stop the winning spree of Chennai Super Kings at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday. However, CSK will go into the match as favourites after winning their first three IPL 2019 matches. They are placed at the top of 2019 IPL points table with six points while Mumbai Indians are placed seventh with one victory and two defeats. Mumbai Indians team management would look to make some changes in their playing 11 by bringing in Ishan Kishan in place of out of form Suryakumar Yadav. The hosts will have the option of fielding new recruit, West Indian fast bowler Alzarri Joseph, or all-rounder Ben Cutting in place of the off-boil Lasith Malinga. On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings, might bring back Harbhajan Singh in CSK playing 11 replacing Mitchell Santner. Mumbai Indians lost their IPL 2019 opening fixture against Delhi Capitals as Rishabh Pant hammered MI bowlers all over the park including...

Veteran spinner Imran Tahir described Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as "unreal", saying even without talking much he has the capability to lift the team up. Chennai Super Kings secured a thrilling eight-run win over Rajasthan Royals in their IPL match here on Sunday night as Dhoni hit a match-winning unbeaten knock of 75 off 46 balls to guide his team to a respectable total of 175 under challenging conditions. "The way he carries himself is just unreal. He won't say much but he knows how to lift the team up. He is a great leader and a great human being," Tahir said at the post-match press conference. The South African also credited Dhoni for living up to his reputation of being one the best finishers in the world and a good tactician. "You know Dhoni plays really well in these situations because like (Dwayne) Bravo he's done this so many times, and that's why he's called Mr Cool. He works hard on his game plan. E...

In the first match of VIVO Indian Premier League 2019 (IPL 2019), defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will start their quest for a fourth IPL title when they meet perennial underachievers Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday. For Virat Kohli, it couldn't be a bigger statement if his young side could start off with a bang at Mahendra Singh Dhoni's "spritual home", a task which will be easier said than done. CSK's core members are the oldest in IPL 2019: Dhoni and Shane Watson are 37, Dwayne Bravo is 35, Faf du Plessis is 34, Ambati Rayudu and Kedar Jadhav are 33, and Suresh Raina will turn 32 soon. Chennai Super Kings have two spinners with truckloads of experience: both Tahir, 39, and Harbhajan Singh, 38, have ability to change the complexion of a game with one-off over. Even the two out-of-favour India players, leg-spinner Karn Sharma, 31, and seamer Mohit Sharma, 30, are on the wrong side of th...

Faf du Plessis scored well composed 67 and took Chennai Super Kings beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by two wickets. CSK reach finals while SRH will now play Qualifier 2 IPL 2018 News : Chasing 140 in the Qualifier 1 of the   VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL 2018) ,   Chennai Super Kings   won the match by 2 wickets and sealed their berth in the finals, thanks to the wonderful batting by Faf du Plessis and a cameo by Shardul Thakur. CSK will now play in the finals on May 27. SRH will face the winner of the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. Kaul came to bowl the 17th over and just gave 4 runs. CSK needed 43 from 18. Brathwaite came to bowl the 18th over and Faf hit him for a four and six. He completed his 50 as well. Harbhajan was run out on the bowler's end for 2 from 9 runs. Shardul Thakur was the new man in. Faf hit Brathwaite for 20 runs and took the equation to 23 from 12 balls. Kaul came to bowl the 19th over and Thakur edged one for four an...