IPL 2021

Beasty

Starts today with Mumbai Indians against Royal Challengers Bangalore

3.00pm start on Sky Sports Cricket

Website

Fixtures

dohboy

I realise I'm a bit of an outlier these days but I can't get into the IPL or any of the T20 leagues tbh. It all seems like superfluous fluff to me. I can never keep track of the teams, who plays for who, or why it even matters. It feels like exhibition stuff. Apologies for the buzzkill post lol

Gillespy

I think it's better than the majority of international bilateral white ball series you see honestly. Today you had Virat, AB and Maxwell batting together. Boult and Bumrah bowling together. It went down to the last ball. That's like Bayern vs PSG in football. You either like it or you don't but that's as good as it gets really.

Compared to Jofra bowling to Smith at Lord's or the Gabba test a few months ago, it's very quickly forgotten no matter how exciting it is in the moment. I'll watch it, I won't stress about missing some of it like I would a good test series.

Beasty

Nice win for Royal Challengers Bangalore yesterday. Went to the final ball of the 20th over

One thing about this league is how much pressure everyone is under. Only 4 non-Indian players allowed, but squads may have 8 or 9 to choose from.

Added interest this year is the fact the World T20 is held in India later this year, meaning a lot of people need to make an impression to try and break into their respective teams. We've already seen a decent knock from Moeen Ali today, and he's one on the fringes of the England T20 team

Big disappointment for me is that Adil Rachid is not playing in India. Don't know whether that's by choice or not, but he's one of the first on the England white ball teamsheet nowadays and has shown just how capable he is in Indian conditions already this year

Gillespy

Adil Rashid is a head scratcher. In my book he's the best white ball leggie in the world.

Some clean striking by Sam Curran has given CSK a good total to defend. Too bad a good few of them came off brother Tom. Who bowled well until then. Mistake from Pant not giving Woakes his four overs.

Beasty

Gillespy wrote: »

Adil Rashid is a head scratcher. In my book he's the best white ball leggie in the world.

The one I can imagine is he may simply wish to spend more time with his family, and England duties are probably limiting that already.

Looking at the likes of the Currans, Woakes and Moeen who are in the IPL you would think Adil Rashid would be picked up ahead of any of those. They are certainly better batsmen, but Rashid is un unconventional batsman who can pick up a few runs when needed. I've took a picture of him hitting a cracking drive in the World Cup

I do think he has a few years ahead of him and maybe he's thinking of heading into the IPL in a year or two's time. Chris Gayle is sticking to the T20 circuit and must be picking up an absolute fortune for the odd appearance here and there in his forties. Rashid has come on leaps and bounds over the past few years and certainly a lot of observers were putting him alongside Morgan, Stokes and Archer as the ones pretty much guaranteed places in the England white ball team.

dohboy

James Vince was the best batsman in the BBL and didn't bother putting himself forward for the IPL auction. Preferred to play county cricket. I think some lads probably happy making the money they are already, and this year may not have fancied going into another Covid bubble for six weeks.

Gillespy

Doesn't play first class cricket anymore. And remember he had a very good BBL season a few years ago and hasn't been back there since either. He had a shoulder operation last year so maybe was managing that. In a way it would be a bit refreshing being happy with his lot and having a good work/family balance.

Was Vince in the auction. He's a bit of a mercenary playing everywhere so I doubt it's by choice. Worked out ok for him, starting the season with a 200 will put him back in the England test conversation.

TrueDub

dohboy wrote: »

I realise I'm a bit of an outlier these days but I can't get into the IPL or any of the T20 leagues tbh.

Me either, basically since they started.

Gillespy wrote: »

I think it's better than the majority of international bilateral white ball series you see honestly.

Kind-of yes, mostly no. Player quality is higher, game quality/relevance is lower. All IMHO.

Gillespy wrote: »

It's very quickly forgotten no matter how exciting it is in the moment. I'll watch it, I won't stress about missing some of it like I would a good test series.

Nail on head.

I love Test cricket with a passion. I enjoy a lot of ODI cricket. T20I is interesting on a superficial level. T20 franchise cricket does nothing at all for me.

That's just me, though. I love seeing people enjoy cricket of every type, so I'm glad to see interest in every game.

Richard Hillman

Good game with RR and Punjab today. The biggest down point is that it took 4 hours 15minutes to finish. That is just not acceptable. They were saying 90 minutes per innings before the tournament and somehow its getting longer.

Gillespy

Pity for Samson he couldn't win it off the last ball. Did the right thing holding the strike, Morris could hit the four needed but he looked in no form to do it. Rajasthan need Archer back badly.

dohboy

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Good game with RR and Punjab today. The biggest down point is that it took 4 hours 15minutes to finish. That is just not acceptable. They were saying 90 minutes per innings before the tournament and somehow its getting longer.

Are they ducking points for slow over rates, or are there any other repercussions?

Gillespy

Fines. Dhoni has already been fined for being slow in the first game. Fines won't make a jot a difference to these captains. The teams will pay them anyway even though it's only pocket change to them.

Gillespy

KKR bottled it big time today. Morgan can't go pointing the finger at anyone when set off the meltdown. It's like they had one eye on net run rate and threw the game away.

Stokes ruled out of the competition with a broken hand. Liam Livingstone should get a game now, he looked very assured in the England games he played in India.

Mysterypunter

South Africa vs Pakistan just taken off the air for an IPL match, I wonder can he hit a hero super maximum, who can take the momentum into the next over, maybe the batsman with a hero super maximum sponsored by honestmoneytransfer.com. Or maybe a leg spinner will produce a ball which is slogged in the air for a hero super catch of the match sponsored by honestmoneytransfer.com. And the commentary is brought to you by Mark Nicholas who is sponsored by constantlyamazed.com, your website for people who have not seen an amazing shot since the last amazing shot. A man of which it was said, that he joined the navy so the world could see him. Curtly Ambrose was on commentary in the West Indies Sri Lanka series and was asked about tactics and team meetings during rain breaks, the English approach was to keep loosened up, and discuss where to bowl, Curtly said, I would be in the dressing room playing cards. That's the sort of commentary I enjoyed. Not the psychological ****e that the English commentaters come out with.

Mysterypunter

Babar Azam 100* off 49 balls. Pakistan 166/0, chasing 204, but Sky show IPL, starring Glen Maxwell, washed up slogger scoring his first IPL 50 for 5 years. Who's codding who?

Gillespy

I didn't even know Pakistan were playing today. South Africa reserves presumably as the big guns are in India now. Baber is a great batsman. Taking your frustration out on the fact he isn't allowed play in the IPL would be better.

Mysterypunter

Gillespy wrote: »

I didn't even know Pakistan were playing today. South Africa reserves presumably as the big guns are in India now. Baber is a great batsman. Taking your frustration out on the fact he isn't allowed play in the IPL would be better.

Suppose so, the last 2 games were very similar and entertaining enough.

Gillespy

Just like yesterday a team has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Mumbai pulling off such a win is one thing, RCB doing it is another. Two from two now, maybe this year is finally their year.

neeleshsharma

Gillespy wrote: »

KKR bottled it big time today. Morgan can't go pointing the finger at anyone when set off the meltdown. It's like they had one eye on net run rate and threw the game away.

Stokes ruled out of the competition with a broken hand. Liam Livingstone should get a game now, he looked very assured in the England games he played in India.

Mumbai Indian s bowling is too strong.

Inquitus

Will the IPL continue with the ongoing Covid disaster in India, and the cancellation of today's game due to positive tests?

Gillespy

Talk of moving the whole lot to Mumbai where there are three grounds and maybe using Pune too which isn't that far away. Cases are way down in Mumbai now compared to other parts too.

No room for any postponements as India have the test final in early June. Last thing they'll want to do is cancel it. Bubble everyone in Mumbai and play two games a day if needed to get it done.

Gillespy

Suspended indefinitely now which means cancelled given the calender. Sunrisers keeper Saha latest player to test positive. Bet they're sorry they didn't do it in the UAE again.

Royale with Cheese

Those Aussie players getting out early looks a smart move now.

Inquitus

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Those Aussie players getting out early looks a smart move now.

Hard to see a way for the tournament to progress now, lots of cases in lots of teams, personally I don't see a way to manage themselves through this, they should have played it in the UAE again.

Richard Hillman

Aint no way they will finish this in normal circumstances. I reckon they may do it with local non international players

Doodah7

Perhaps the organisers might learn a little bit of humility and have an eye on the bigger picture rather than their avaricious game of crash bang wallop.

Personally I'm delighted. I don't like T20 anyway, but the IPL in particular is a pox on the game of cricket. Tying up players for months on end, disrupting international team and domestic schedules and generally acting like a giant black hole to the sport.

Beasty

While it appears inappropriate to continue the tournament in the current circumstances of Covid-19 ravaging India, there is another side to this. Cricket is so big in India, having something of this nature helps take the pandemic off the minds of many, even if only for 3 or 4 hours a day.

Mysterypunter

Michael Slater having a go at the Aussie PM Scott Morrison. He wasnt too worried until his gravy train was derailed. When it starts to affect him, he starts whinging like a spoilt child. India was in trouble with the covid surge for a few weeks, but it has hit the people in their ivory towers now, and not just the poor stiffs who were left to die on the street. The IPL is the least of their concerns now, coz this is only going one way, and in a backward county like India it won't end well, they are still insisting on holding religious festivals and the like, so good luck with that

ArmaniJeanss

Doodah7 wrote: »

Perhaps the organisers might learn a little bit of humility and have an eye on the bigger picture rather than their avaricious game of crash bang wallop.

Personally I'm delighted. I don't like T20 anyway, but the IPL in particular is a pox on the game of cricket. Tying up players for months on end, disrupting international team and domestic schedules and generally acting like a giant black hole to the sport.

I wouldn't be a fan of the IPL either. I don't think I've ever watched a game from start to finish.

But what domestic schedule does it disrupt? From what I can see its just the English domestic game that seems to be a victim. I don't know of any other Northern Hemisphere domestic season that has an issue with it, and obviously the Southern Hemisphere is in off-season.

The idea that the English season is somehow entitled not to be disrupted for the entire 6 months from April to September seems a little strange, even archaic to me.

Gillespy

It interferes with the early tests in England, it's not clashing with the county championship the gripe is. The touring side as well as England will have players there and therefore get no preparation. Happened last year with the rearranged IPL, Holder and Williamson were playing for SRH while the teams they captain were in NZ getting ready for a series. Had the madness this year of England resting players in the India series so they could play IPL.

I like it, however there needs to be a compromise. It's way too long, knock three weeks off of it and countries will make a window for it then easier.

Richard Hillman

I'm no fan of the Hundred but one thing they did right was to crack down on slow play. I threw on the IPL for a couple of minutes and they had 14 overs bowled after 80minutes.

When T20 began it was supposed to be 75 minutes per innings.

I'm refusing to watch it this year after the Test Cancellation but fully content that they will murder it themselves with their slow play.

The 2 slowest captains in Cricket facing off. Morgan v Kohli. If all 40 overs are bowled it should be still running by 7.30-8pm after a 3pm start. Madness.

Gillespy

Another IPL done. CSK very worthy winners beating KKR in the final. Showing last year was just a wobble. KKR never turned up, spinners couldn't control like they did all along and Ferguson was very expensive. They had a good thing going in Sharjah, didn't cope with this pitch or bigger ground. Morgan as captain, I suppose you have to say did well to get them off the bottom to make the final. He didn't contribute anything in the way of runs. He's in desperate form.

It's going to be all change for the next one. Big auction and with two new teams being added.