All posts tagged: IPLs

IPL’s anti-graft unit warns against use of smart glasses in restricted zones | Cricket News

IPL’s anti-graft unit warns against use of smart glasses in restricted zones | Cricket News

Published by Webster

4 min readChandigarhMay 29, 2026 07:00 AM IST The IPL’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) has issued a fresh advisory to players and support staff in the ongoing edition of the T20 league, warning against the use of smart glasses, sunglasses and goggles equipped with communication and recording technology inside restricted areas on match days, The Indian Express has learnt. Sources said the ACSU, which is responsible for monitoring integrity, preventing spot-fixing and enforcing security protocols in the league, has informed the BCCI that several companies are actively marketing and selling smart eyewear products to players and team personnel participating in the IPL. According to sources, the ACSU flagged that these smart devices are capable of live-streaming, sending and receiving text messages, and making audio and video calls through mobile data or Wi-Fi networks, raising concerns over unauthorised communication and potential misuse during matches. Under the IPL’s Player and Match Officials Area (PMOA) Minimum Standards, such devices have been classified as “Audio/Video Recording Devices” and “Communication Devices”. The ACSU has reiterated that possession or use …

Sooryavanshi’s 03 joins Dhoni’s 7, Kohli’s 18, Rohit’s 45 in IPL’s prized jersey club

Sooryavanshi’s 03 joins Dhoni’s 7, Kohli’s 18, Rohit’s 45 in IPL’s prized jersey club

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3 min readUpdated: May 27, 2026 10:41 PM IST The IPL is in its 19th season but the only jerseys worth collecting and sporting for a long time now were the ones with 7 (MS Dhoni), 18 (Virat Kohli) and 45 (Rohit Sharma) printed on them. This edition, one can add 03 (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi) to the short list. The 15-year-old’s exploits – in terms of run-making, strike rate and six-hitting ability – has made him a favourite among those collecting jerseys. Rajasthan Royals has witnessed a huge demand for Sooryavanshi jerseys this season and a source in the team said that they had never seen such a spike in demand for any particular player’s jersey since the inception of the league. “His jersey is in huge demand, everyone has been asking for his jersey only. And it’s the most-sold jersey too, we have never seen such demand,” the source told The Indian Express. ALSO READ | Sooryavanshi’s 97 off 29 balls: Innings that redefined what’s possible in T20s The teenager – who scored 97 in …

How a team built on Test-match instincts is dismantling the IPL’s T20 template

How a team built on Test-match instincts is dismantling the IPL’s T20 template

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When Gujarat Titans ran a torrid run in the first half of the season, winning only three of seven games, they were everything a modern T20 outfit should not be. The openers were not radicalised to hit the first ball out of the park; muscled batsmen did not pack the middle order; barring an erratic Jos Buttler none provoked fear; the bowling lacked beguiling trickery, the tactics seemed staid and the game was without the thrills and theatrics of the format. Nothing has changed. Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill bat with methodical rather than mad aggression; Buttler has been inconsistent; the humbler stock of Washington Sundar, Nishant Sindhu and Jason Holder comprise the middle order; Kagiso Rabada and his sidekicks predominantly deal in Test-match lengths; and they have hit the second-fewest sixes in the tournament. Yet, in a glorious paradox, they are where every side wants to be. Among the top two, effectively in the play-offs, and title frontrunners with a favourable draw on surfaces that could maximise their gifts. We have a new table …

Who let them in? The mystery around the strangers who sneaked into IPL’s dugout

Who let them in? The mystery around the strangers who sneaked into IPL’s dugout

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‘If your b*@&ds can’t join their two hands, then what can I do?’ This was the South African captain Hansie Cronje explaining to bookie Sanjeev Chawla why he couldn’t deliver on their match-fixing deal after a game in the infamous 2000 India-South Africa series. It was that ODI where Herschelle Gibbs was to score below 20 but ended up hitting much more. Hansie, to save face, was blaming the Indian fielders for dropping catches. He was implying that Gibbs had done his bit and had he been caught, the match would take the course the syndicate had decided. Neither knew Delhi Police were tapping their phones. More than two decades later, retired cop Pradeep Srivastava — who worked the Cronje case as a young DCP — repeats the line and chuckles at “b*”@#&_ds”. This was a few years back, when a group of Express reporters, working on Chawla’s profile after he was forced to return to India from London, had been invited by Srivastava to his home. It was early evening. The frame of the …

Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar reduce Delhi to IPL’s lowest powerplay score — and Kohli steals the show anyway | Cricket News

Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar reduce Delhi to IPL’s lowest powerplay score — and Kohli steals the show anyway | Cricket News

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4 min readUpdated: Apr 27, 2026 11:31 PM IST Synopsis: Delhi Capitals batters meekly surrender in stunning opening spell from Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as Royal Challengers Bengaluru cantered to an nine-wicket win in a low run-chase. Ask a Delhiite who their favourite cricketer is and prepare for a lookalike — conical beard, studs and tattoos — to burst into an RCB chant. Virat Kohli’s presence looms so large over this fixture that it needed something truly special to steal the spotlight away from him as Royal Challengers Bengaluru made their way to the Feroz Shah Kotla on Monday. A sensational new-ball spell from Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and some dire batting from Delhi Capitals’ top order, would do exactly that. The two pacers reduced the home side to the lowest-ever powerplay score in the IPL — 13 for 6 — and ended the prospects of this match being any kind of contest then and there. AS IT HAPPENED | DC VS RCB RCB cantered to an eight-wicket win, taking only 39 balls …

Abhishek Sharma: IPL’s smiling Buddha who demolishes bowlers | Cricket News

Abhishek Sharma: IPL’s smiling Buddha who demolishes bowlers | Cricket News

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4 min readUpdated: Apr 21, 2026 10:20 PM IST Among all the post-modern openers in the league, Abhishek Sharma inhabits a rarefied space of his own. So much so that he is already making a compelling case to be one of the most destructive openers in IPL history, not so much for his numbers as for the sheer impact he makes and the thrill he promises. He is IPL’s biggest blockbuster, the batsman that stops traffic, that fills stands, that forces people to set their chores aside without a dilemma. He is the smiling Buddha who demolishes bowlers. FOLLOW LIVE | SRH vs DC  Raised in the IPL era, the 26-year-old is a fusion of all the legendary openers who had revelled in the IPL stage. He has the six-hitting vigour of Chris Gayle. He hits one maximum every 9.8 balls (as an opener); the Jamaican swiped one six every nine balls. They are different in musculature and methods, but both rely on a sweet and high bat-swing. Like Gayle, he glides down the surface, …

Why Bhuvneshwar Kumar is IPL’s undisputed powerplay king | Cricket News

Why Bhuvneshwar Kumar is IPL’s undisputed powerplay king | Cricket News

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4 min readApr 18, 2026 06:54 PM IST In a format built on attacking instinct, where batsmen look to take control from the very first ball, the first six overs of an IPL innings feel like the last refuge of proper fast bowling. And no one has owned that phase quite like Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The reason is fairly straightforward — he gets the basics right, almost obsessively so. Bhuvneshwar is among the rare bowlers who can swing the ball both ways at a decent pace, and more importantly, land it exactly where he wants, ball after ball. There’s no drama to it. No exaggerated variations, no constant change-ups. Just control, movement, and patience. He lives around the top of the off stump. One ball shapes away just enough to tempt the drive, the next nips back in to pin the batsmen. It’s subtle, and in a format where batsmen want clarity, he creates doubt. And once that doubt creeps in, he’s already ahead. 🎥 Same over, 2⃣ INCREDIBLE catches 😮 And Bhuvneshwar Kumar 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲 …

QUICK COMMENT | If it is 0/1, call Ishan Kishan SRH’s daring No.3 is proving to be IPL’s top crisis-manager | Cricket News

QUICK COMMENT | If it is 0/1, call Ishan Kishan SRH’s daring No.3 is proving to be IPL’s top crisis-manager | Cricket News

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3 min readUpdated: Apr 13, 2026 08:49 PM IST Ever since he returned to the Indian setup in January this year, Ishan Kishan has quietly developed into one of the most impactful counterattacking openers in modern T20 cricket. Over the past three to four months, the southpaw has shown an ability to transfer the pressure back on the opposition as soon as he has walked to the middle at the fall of an early wicket in the powerplay. Thursday was another instance when Sunrisers Hyderabad lost Abhishek Sharma off the first ball against Rajasthan Royals. The standout feature is how Kishan times his aggression. He does not allow bowlers to breathe or for conditions to settle. Instead, he walks into high-pressure situations and turns the script around within a matter of deliveries. Unstoppable 🔥@SunRisers Captain Ishan Kishan is putting on a show and HOW 🧡 Updates ▶️ https://t.co/xGTDdKbXpY#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #SRHvRR pic.twitter.com/0wOceq9d8n — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 13, 2026 Against RR on Monday, the southpaw gave another glimpse of that ability. Walking in at 0/1, …

Story of IPL’s 154 kph pacer: A farmer, two cricketer sons, cash crunch, one drops out, other makes cricket ball fly | Cricket News

Story of IPL’s 154 kph pacer: A farmer, two cricketer sons, cash crunch, one drops out, other makes cricket ball fly | Cricket News

Published by Webster

It started in the corridor outside their house. Ashok Sharma used to bowl at his elder brother Akshay. The only goal was to hit him. The only way to hit him was to bowl fast. “I used to hit him bowling fast,” Akshay says. “So in order to take revenge, he also began to bowl fast so that he could hit me. We never thought he would become so good going ahead.” When Ashok got the ball in school cricket in Rampura, batsmen his own age would move away from the stumps. Not in dismissals, but in retreat. “He had broken many ribs,” Akshay recalls. “I have seen batsmen running away.” The pace was not coached. It was personal. A younger brother trying to hurt an older one in a corridor. The corridor led to a ground. The ground led to school cricket. School cricket led to a delivery clocked at 154.2 kmph for Gujarat Titans against Rajasthan Royals in Ahmedabad — the kind of speed that makes viewers look up from their phones. Rampura …