Heena Sharma Blog

  The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is planning to bring out a tender for two new franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL) soon, according to a news report. According to a new report in the Times of India, the BCCI was considering two new franchises after this year's IPL but later decided to add one for the 2021 edition and the other from the 2022 season. However, it yet it to get the consensus as the board's top office bearers and IPL's governing council discusses it further. The tender is likely to come after Diwali, the report quoted a source as saying. The Adani Group, the Tatas and the RPG-Sanjiv Goenka Group are keen to own a franchise in IPL, according to the report. Read More

  In the finale of Indian Premier League 2020 (IPL 2020), Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals will lock horns for the coveted trophy at the Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday. Orange and purple caps holder in 2020 IPL PLaying its yet another IPL final, Mumbai will be upbeat as the side has fared   better in the league stage too while pressure will be on Delhi as the side is playing its maiden IPL final. MI vs DC final playing 11 prediction and head to head Mumbai didn't face much resistance to reach the final of IPL 2020 while Delhi suffered a few setbacks but it bounced back in time to seal its berth in the final. Mumbai will have a psychological advantage as it has defeated Delhi in all the three matches in the tounament so far, with all being a one-sided affair.   Read More

  Mumbai Indians all-rounder Hardik Pandya has become the first player in the ongoing Indian Premier League to take a knee in support of the ' Black Lives Matter ' movement. Pandya's gesture came during the game against Rajasthan Royals here on Sunday. The all-rounder smashed 60 run from just 21 balls. After reaching his half century in the 19th over, he went down on a knee with his right arm raised to show solidarity with the movement against racism. West Indies all-rounder and Mumbai's stand-in skipper Kieron Pollard responded by raising his right fist. After the match Pandya even tweeted a picture of himself with the caption "#BlackLivesMatter". Last week, West Indies Test skipper Jason Holder, who plays for the Sunrisers Hyderbad, had expressed his disappointment over none of the IPL teams taking a knee in solidarity with the movement, which, he felt, went unnoticed in the league. Read More

  In match 40 of the Indian Premier League 2020 (IPL 2020), Rajasthan Royals (RR) will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday. Both RR and SRH looks to stay afloat as the reace to the playoffs has intensified. RR has 8 points from 10 matches and is placed at the sixth spot in the IPL 2020 Points Table . With the pitches getting slower, the spinners are coming more into play and RR will again depend on Shreyas Gopal and Rahul Tewatia to get the job done against SRH. Jos Buttler has been able to find his form at the right time but Sanju Samson is still struggling with the bat. SRH, on the other hand, need a win desperately. The team has not been consistent throughout the tournament and it would under presssure after losing to KKR in the super over in their previous clash. Read More

  In match 22 of the Indian Premier League 2020 ( IPL 2020 ), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will take on Kings XI Punjab KXIP) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday Sunrisers Hyderabad, albeit inconsist, looks better off than KXIP considering how the latter keeps losing the plot despite doing well in all three departments -- batting, bowling, and sometimes fielding. SRH is plagued by injuries to key players including Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and they would need a formidable bowling attack becuase KXIP's batting is rock solid as KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal are in a good touch with the bat. Just a little bit fixes in bowling should do the job for KXIP. In head-to-head record, SRH has won 10 out of 14 encounters against KXIP. But in Dubai, we have seen anything but the usual happening. Read More

  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

Mumbai Indians (MI), the defending champion, would like to continue its glorious run of last season in Indian Premier League 2020 (IPL 2020), too. The Rohit Sharma-led team would be eyeing a record fifth IPL title in the 13th season. The Mumbai-based franchise will kick off its IPL 2020 campaign against 2019 runner-up Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the tournament opener at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on March 29. MI has made some strategic changes to its IPL 2020 squad by bringing in Australian Chris Lynn at the top of the batting order. With Hardik Pandya facing intermittent fitness issues, Australian bowling all-rounder Nathan Coulter-Nile should prove handy for Mumbai. In IPL 2020, the Rohit Sharma-led side will play its only afternoon match (4 pm start) at home against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 5. Read More

Indian Premier League (IPL) defending champions, Mumbai Indians , entered the IPL 2020 auction with one of the strongest squads, as they had retained their core team and had very few slot to fill. The most prominent open slot for them was that of an overseas bowling all-rounder, as they had released Ben Cutting. With Hardik Pandya in the squad as a batting all-rounder, they were locked in an intense battle with Chennai Super Kings for Australian bowling all-rounder Nathan Coulter-Nile, and they finally bagged him for Rs 8 crore. Another valuable buy for the Akash Ambani-owned IPL franchise was Chris Lynn, who could prove handy at a batting-friendly Wankhede wicket, at his base price of Rs 2 crore. Here are the key numbers for Mumbai Indians after the IPL 2020 auction: Squad Strength: 24 Overseas players: 8 Players bought in IPL 2020 auctions: 6 [Chris Lynn, Digvijay Deshmukh (uncapped), Mohsin Khan (uncapped), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Prince Balwant Rai Singh (uncapped), S

Former Delhi Capitals skipper Gautam Gambhirs dream of owning an Indian Premier League side will have to wait for a while as his interest to be a part of the ownership team of the Delhi franchise has failed to materialise as of now. The former India opener was said to have been eyeing a 10 per cent stake in the team which is jointly owned by GMR Group and JSW Sports. Speaking to news agency IANS, a DC official confirmed that while talks were on, the move isn't happening as of now. "Not happening as of now. There were talks of him coming on board and there were talks if you ask me honestly, but not happening this season 99.9 per cent. If it does happen later then that is a different story, but don't see it happening ahead of the 2020 season," the official said. Interestingly, rumours were also doing the rounds that if not a co-owner, Gambhir might also be roped in as mentor since that position has been left vacant after former mentor Sourav Ganguly stepped

Australia cricket team pace spearhead Pat Cummins became the most expensive foreign player in the history of Indian Premier League (IPL) as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bagged him for a whopping Rs 15.5 crore in IPL 2020 auction held in Kolkata on Thursday. Cummins' bidding price went past England all-rounder Ben Stokes' previous record auction bid of Rs 14.5 crore, made at the IPL 2017 auctions. The Australian pacer also became the second-most-expensive player in the history of IPL auctions, next only to Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, who had been signed by the Delhi franchise (then Delhi Daredevils, now Delhi Capitals) for Rs 16 crore in the 2015 season. Initially, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals were locked in a bidding war for Cummins, who had a base price of Rs 2 crore. The bid swiftly soared past Rs 5 crore, with RCB briefly in the lead at Rs 5.25 crore. Cummins eventually returned to KKR for a jaw-dropping Rs 15.5 crore. Read More

Australian cricketer Pat Cummins became the second-most expensive player in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after he was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for Rs 15.5 crore during an auction held in Kolkata on Thursday. A total of 62 players were sold in the auction. This was out of a pool of 332 players in the race for 73 slots in eight IPL teams. The total money spent was Rs 140.3 crore. Cummins, co-vice-captain of the Australian national cricket team in all formats, found himself at the centre of a bidding war involving Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and KKR. He is not only expected to add depth to KKR’s bowling side, but also likely to chip in with his batting skills lower down the order, according to cricket experts. The 26-year-old fast bowler, ranked the number one in Test cricket, now stands marginally behind Yuvraj Singh, who was signed for an all-time high amount of Rs 16 crore in 2015 by then franchise Delhi Daredevils. Cummins

All-rounders have always sold like hotcakes when it comes to Indian Premier League Auctions . The T20 format paves way for those who 'multi-task' to be more in demand and on Thursday, when IPL 2020 auction of the lucrative franchise league auction takes place here, it won't be any different. Glenn Maxwell, Australia cricket team Maxwell is returning from a break due to mental-health reasons and although he does not have great numbers to show for in the tournament -- 1397 runs at 22.90 in 69 matches -- his game changing ability is expected to pull franchises. Maxwell is handy with his off-breaks too and is a brilliant fielder. Chris Morris, South Africa cricket team Morris was released by Delhi Capitals ahead of the auction this year due to his low-key performances in 2019. But the South African bowling all-rounder who made a name from the IPL is always an asset when it comes to death bowling. He also has ability to take wickets regularly and although he is inj

Indian Premier League (IPL) defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have released 12 of their players from last season ahead of IPL 2020 players’ auction, to be held in Kolkata on Dec 19. They have retained 18 players. The Mumbai franchise retained their core team, including veteran Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga, despite his fitness issues. Among the 12 released players, Evin Lewis, Jason Behrendoff and Alzarri Joseph were the most prominent ones as they made some match-winning contributions last season. Lewis had given a flying start to the team during the powerplay in several matches, while Behrendoff had taken 6 wickets against Rajasthan Royals in a low-scoring game to provide his team a crucial win last season. Yuvraj Singh, who retired from all forms of cricket, including IPL, earlier this year, has also been released by MI. New Zealand pacer Trent Boult, West Indian Sherfance Rutherford and Mumbai pacer Dhawal Kulkarni were traded in by the franchise, owned by

The player auction for the 13th edition of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) will take place in Kolkata on Thursday (December 19). Ahead of the auction, the eight IPL franchises released some of their players from last season; the 72 vacant spots thus created will be filled through a bidding process on Thursday. Even as many big names of the game queue up to be picked up in the IPL 2020 auction, Business Standard lists the cricketers who drew the biggest pay cheque in IPL 2019. The richest from last season was India cricket team captain Virat Kohli, who has been representing Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) since the inaugural season of the IPL, with a salary of Rs 17 crore. He was followed by former Indian captain MS Dhoni, young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and Team India vice-captain (limited overs) Rohit Sharma, at Rs 15 crore each. Read More

The champions of the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Rajasthan Royals, have released 11 of their players from last season (including left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat and four overseas players), ahead of IPL 2020 auction in Kolkata on December 19. This is not the first time that Unadkat is being released by the Jaipur franchise. Bought for a whopping Rs 11.5 crore during the IPL 2018 auction, he had been released at the end of the season. Again, Unadkat was bagged by Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2019 auction for a hefty sum of Rs 8.4 crore. However, the left-arm pacer’s IPL record last season was not exceptional; he scalped only 10 wickets in 11 matches with an economy rate of 10.66. Besides, Rajasthan Royals traded Ajinkya Rahane to Delhi Capitals for Mayank Markande and Rahul Tewatia. Rahane led Royals in 24 of the team’s 100 matches between 2011 and 2019. He was also the leading run-getter for the franchise (2,810 runs at an average of 34.23 and a strike rate

As many as 332 cricketers will go under the hammer at the IPL 2020 auction in Kolkata on December 19 with Australia's Glenn Maxwell and South African Dale Steyn among those opting for the highest base price of Rs 2 crore. "While 997 players had initially registered for the auction, the final list has been pruned after the eight franchises submitted their shortlist of players," read an official IPL statement. Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh and Sri Lanka veteran Angelo Mathews too have opted for the Rs 2 crore base price. Only 73 slots are there to be filled in the eight franchises and only 29 of them can be foreign buys. Robin Uthappa, who was released by Kolkata Knight Riders last month, is the sole Indian player in the auction list with a base price of Rs 1.5 crore. Premier Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood, who has never played in the IPL, has put himself in the highest base price bracket alongside bowling partner Pat Cummins, who has represented KKR

After a poor showing in the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2019), Virat Kohli-led Royal challengers Bangalore (RCB) would look to turn their fortunes around in the coming season of T20 championship (IPL 2020). The Bengaluru franchise, which has never won an IPL title so far, had put up its best performance in 2016, when it reached the finals only to be pipped for the crown by Deccan Chargers Hyderabad. In each of the three editions since, RCB has failed to enter even the playoffs. Looking to wash the stains of its unfortunate past, RCB has decided to make several changes to the squad this time. Ahead of IPL 2020 auction, the franchise has released 12 of its players, including renowned T20 stars like Shimron Hetmyer, Colin de Grandhomme, Marcus Stoinis and Tim Southee. Royal Challengers Bangalore has retained only 13 players from its 25-member 2019 season squad. And only two of the 13 retained are foreign players — AB de Villiers and Moeen Ali. RCB has also m