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Pakistan finally seem to be finding some substance in their continuous chatter of revolutionizing their approach. Against Bangladesh, they were able to put together a brilliant performance with both bat and ball to soar away with the victory, taking a 1-0 lead in the series. But more than anything, Pakistan would love some consistency, something that’s remained sorely elusive in whatever glory they have found lately. They look to have started off on the right foot, but how long that remains the case is a question both exhilarating and terrifying for them. Being cross with fate, they have seen many…

Mumbai Indians (MI) got off to winning ways after losing four of their first five games. That naturally brought myriads of criticism, especially after their terrible run last season. A six-game winning streak shot them back among the big guys, and despite losing two of their last three games, they made their case strong enough not to move from the fourth spot. While that assured them of a playoff position, they will not get another shot to try their luck. It’s funny how the same scenario exists for Gujarat Titans (GT), who have journeyed from travelling in first class, certain…

There was a particular effortlessness in the way Suyash Sharma talked about his brilliance in Mullanpur, and perhaps that was just what made him so effective and lethal against Punjab Kings (PBKS). Three overs, three wickets, and seventeen runs. His simplicity made it seem like just another day at the office. Except this was hardly that. This was an Indian Premier League (IPL) Qualifier, and Suyash ravaged through Punjab’s middle order and set their woes in stone for the night. “The coaches have told me just one thing: I have to hit the stumps, it doesn’t matter whether I bowl…

Harry Brook isn’t a fan of looking back at the horrors of the past. Especially not after the sort of brilliance England displayed at Edgbaston. A 238-run victory to kick off a new era under the leadership of their new captain was a refreshing deviation from a past that had not been very kind to them. Two World Cup defenses going awry and four back-to-back ODI series defeats had left the English in largely unfamiliar territory. On Thursday, however, they finally found their way out of it. Although the visiting side may have been a tad too uncompetitive in the…

Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) met during the group stages at this venue in Mullanpur. Little did both teams, or anyone for that matter, know that one of the playoffs would be a rematch of that game. While both RCB and PBKS were still very much in the playoffs race, Mullanpur was never one of the venues scheduled to host any of the playoff matches. And Punjab didn’t mind that, since they didn’t exactly take a liking to playing here as their home venue. Before this season, they had won only one out of their five games…

This series was originally supposed to have three T20Is and two one-dayers, but ODI games without any 50-over World Cup in the succeeding year seem scandalous. And so, they were done away with, replaced by two more socially acceptable, relevant, and time-saving T20I games. But, as fate would have it, even those two added games had to be dropped to make room for whatever could be salvaged of this series between the extended version of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and Bangladesh’s all-format tour of Sri Lanka in June. Bangladesh and Pakistan mirror each other in their shoddy outings in…

Bangladesh’s head coach Phil Simmons knows what his team is missing as they gear up to face Pakistan for the first time in a bilateral series since 2021. Their pace attack, which mostly pulls more than its weight for the team, will have to run the hard yards without two of their big guys in the three-match T20I series. Taskin Ahmed, owing to an ankle injury, has been out of competitive cricket for two months now, and his fellow pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who was called in as a replacement for Mitchell Starc in the IPL by Delhi Capitals, has also…

By the time the Ahmedabad atmosphere started silencing down after the game between Gujarat Titans (GT) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), the only noise still disturbing the calm came from an unusually large crowd that stayed even after the game was done and dusted, and after MS Dhoni led his side to give table-toppers GT a stinging defeat. “Dhoni, Dhoni,” they were chanting. It sure was the end of Chennai’s campaign this year, which had been nothing short of woeful. It was also potentially, perchance, maybe, the end of an entire era. But Dhoni didn’t seem too bothered. He never…

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) were the runners-up in the last Indian Premier League (IPL) final. They lost the final largely due to the fact that their destructive opening duo of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma failed to fire the way they did while storming their team to the final. For SRH, this season has felt like a fever dream, with that final on repeat. Their openers have similarly failed to fire this season, and this game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who won that same final, might bring back peak memories of that night. KKR, themselves, too, haven’t had a season…

Quetta Gladiators (QG) and Lahore Qalandars (LQ) have played three Pakistan Super League (PSL) finals each, and they are all set to play their fourth. At a glance, Lahore come across as the more successful side, with two trophies against Quetta’s one, and their unbeaten record in finals at Gaddafi Stadium. But Quetta have had a tournament unlike any side this season. It has been as measured as it’s been menacing. They have the second-best win-to-loss ratio (4.000) among all PSL teams, in all seasons. One of their only two stutters this season did come against LQ. And, as part…