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Two of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) extremes meet today. Quetta Gladiators (QG) have already qualified for the playoffs, and Multan Sultans (MS) have been eliminated. So, if there ever were a bigger dead rubber in PSL history, it couldn’t be bigger than this. The game also doesn’t have any sort of impact on the fate of other teams. And on top of that, it’s a day game in a 43-degree hot Rawalpindi. But cricket must go on, even a week after a potential war-like situation. Multan Sultans (MS), at the start of this season, had the highest win-to-loss ratio…

Rajasthan Royals (RR) have won just three out of their 12 Indian Premier League (IPL) games, one of which came against Punjab Kings (PBKS). Since then, though, a lot has changed, some of it dramatically. RR have crashed out. PBKS have kept their momentum. The South Asian region teetered on the edge of chaos and somehow stumbled back. Even the IPL itself saw a sword dangling over it. A lot really has changed. One thing, however, has stayed as is, and that is how cutthroat and cruel this tournament remains. Almost a week ago, India was on the brink of…

Punjab Kings (PBKS) had just reached the halfway mark batting first in Dharamsala when a sudden wave of anxious urgency swept through the IPL officials. Signals went up. Something awful was unfolding. Awful it was, indeed, when the players found out they were in the middle of a potential war-like situation. The ground was emptied. Match abandoned. The tournament was suspended indefinitely. Some stayed in India. Others flew home on the first available flight. Now that the IPL has resumed and normalcy is tentatively restored, Punjab have realised they were turning the world upside down in their pursuit of a…

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) held a practice session on Thursday at the Chinnaswamy, with all but one of their overseas picks looking ready to pick up where they left off. Phil Salt, Liam Livingstone, and Jacob Bethell arrived in India after the Indian Premier League (IPL) resumed following a week-long suspension. Tim David, Lungi Ngidi, and Romario Shepherd also joined the squad. The only RCB foreign player who remains absent is Josh Hazlewood, whose return is uncertain due to a minor shoulder niggle. While the injury may not have been a major concern on its own, the upcoming World Test…

Barring Jos Buttler and Gerald Coetzee, Gujarat Titans’ entire overseas squad, including Rashid Khan, Sherfane Rutherford, Kagiso Rabada, and Karim Janat, stayed in India, even as the threat of war loomed large. This meant they were the first team to resume training shortly after a ceasefire was brokered. Now that the Indian Premier League (IPL) has an official restart date, Buttler and Coetzee are expected to return too, but GT’s problems are far from over, with fixture clashes likely to gut their core just when they need it most. Jos Buttler, the backbone of their campaign this season, is likely…

After a week-long unplanned hiatus, both tournaments, the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Pakistan Super League (PSL), are set to resume action on May 17. The remaining eight PSL games, including four group stage matches and four playoffs, will be played at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium and Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Lahore will exclusively host the playoff games, which means all of the remaining group stage matches are locked in for Rawalpindi. The revised schedule for the league includes one double-header on Sunday (May 18). Multan Sultans (MS) will face Quetta Gladiators (QG) in the day fixture, while Peshawar Zalmi (PZ) and…

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCC) has announced an updated schedule for the current edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is set to resume on May 17. The week was postponed nearly a week ago, after a Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Delhi Capitals (DC) game was called off halfway, due to heightened cross-border conflict between Pakistan and India. The tournament, which was due to stage a final on May 25, will now conclude on June 3, almost a week after the original final date. As per the revised schedule, six cities across India, including Jaipur,…

Punjab Kings (PBKS) have a defeat, three wins, and a washout in their last five games. The situation is somewhat inverted for Delhi Capitals (DC), with one win, three defeats, and an abandoned match. DC and PBKS are separated by just one win and ticks of NRR, but both teams are miles apart in their current form. PBKS are on a roll. They won their previous two games, albeit against struggling sides, and were robbed of a definite win against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by rain. DC, meanwhile, lost four of their last six completed games, which would have been…

Islamabad United (IU), after beginning so strongly, have lost three games on the trot, and one of them, the most recent one, came against Quetta Gladiators (QG), whom they will play once again. But the good news for Islamabad is that they return home now. They have lost all three on the road, to be precise, in Lahore. However, their five-match winning streak still keeps them in the hunt for the playoff qualification. Quetta, at this stage of the league, aren’t too naive either. They blasted 16 runs in the last over versus Islamabad in Lahore to pocket the game…

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)’s survival strategy is simple: win all the remaining games. If they do so, they will end up with 17 points, which would be one and two lower than the maximum Delhi Capitals (DC) and Mumbai Indians (MI), who are right above KKR on the table, can manage. When put like this, the path forward seems as straight as it gets. Especially when their next two games will be against the teams already disqualified. But it isn’t as simple, Kolkata know this too. All of their plans could be done and dusted with a single defeat or…