CSK vs MI | Kieron Pollard leads Mumbai; Rohit Sharma & Hardik Pandya misses out on restart

IPL’s El Clásico: Lungi Ngidi, Ambati Rayudu remember the heartbreaking first-round loss against MI

It was one of the most entertaining matches in the first leg of the Indian Premier League 2021 India leg, when Kieron Pollard, single-handedly defied all odds to take Mumbai Indians to a win, chasing down 219 set up by the Chennai Super Kings. Lungi Ngidi and Ambati Rayudu, the two of the most important players from that game for the Super Kings revisited that day, just ahead of the start of the second round of Mumbai vs Chennai clash, what is also termed as El El Clásico of the IPL. “It was a run-fest I mean, 220 playing 220, I mean the batsmen were unbelievable,” said Ngidi in a video released by CSK on their official Twitter handle. “You know, the captain did say that the game was gonna go to the last ball and it did,” added the South African, who in fact bowled the last over and the last ball of the match. After some dismissive batting by Pollard, where he had scored 71 off 28 balls, the Mumbai Indians needed 16 to win from the last over and Ngidi was given the ball at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. He bowled brilliantly, executing the yorkers and giving away only eight runs off the first four balls. But as fate would have it, a low full toss down the leg and Pollard needed no second invitation to cash on. With a yorker drilled down to long-on and Pollard than running two runs with his giant steps and the match was all over. Ngidi, reflecting on that moment said, “You know, it was tough, the guys, they batted really well and we did as best as we can to try and defend it but to take the game right down to the last ball, I think, everybody got their monies worth watching that game.” On being asked what he thinks, it is going to be like this time around, the 25-year-old Proteas said, “You never know what’s gonna happen when you are playing Mumbai Indians, so it’s gonna be an exciting one. Yeah, we came out on the wrong side of the results last time, but we are definitely looking forward to rectifying that.” Rayudu, who scored a belligerent and unbeaten 72 off just 27 balls thinks that the team knew it was going to be tough and believes that Mumbai can always be a tough opponent. “MI is an important game for us, but having said that, we are also focussing on the broader picture and that is the tournament itself,” he said. The two teams clash in the opening match of the UAE leg of the season at Dubai International Cricket Stadium and nothing less than a crackerjack is expected from that game.

We have good memories of playing in UAE as a unit: Delhi Capitals' Axar Patel

The second half of the IPL 2021 is scheduled to begin on Sunday in Dubai where Mumbai Indians will lock horns with Chennai Super Kings. The teams have reached UAE for the remainder of this year’s IPL. In a video released by Delhi Capitals on their social media handle, all-rounder Axar Patel is seen talking about joining the franchise back, last year’s memories of the IPL that was held in UAE itself and how excited is he to get back on the field and don the DC jersey. “Obviously, I’m enjoying it a lot and I’m feeling really good after going with the Delhi Capitals family. I was waiting to be with the team as soon as the second leg of the IPL was announced in Dubai,” Axar said. “I would want that the excitement remains and we go into the match with equal passion,“ he added. Delhi Capitals had ended as the runners up in the last edition of the IPL after losing the final to Mumbai Indians. Mentioning about the same, Patel admitted that the memories did cross his mind and also added that he would want the side to repeat the performance again in this season. “When it was announced that the second phase will be played in UAE, the first thing that went across my mind was that we were the finalist in the last season and that was the first time when we played in the title clash. So, these are the good memories that we have. We just hope that the way we performed in the last edition, we can repeat that again this year but the result should be in our favour,” the left-hander said. Delhi Capitals will resume the campaign against Surfers Hyderabad on September 22, 2021 in Dubai.

T20 Blast Final: Jordan Cox, Joe Denly help Kent win its first T20 trophy in 14 years

It was a blast indeed on the Finals day at the T20 Blast 2021 season as Kent Spitfires went on to win their first-ever final in the last 14 years in what was also their first-ever appearance in the final in 13 years after an antagonising final loss by three runs against Middlesex in the 2008 season. Jordan Cox and Joe Denly turned out to be the heroes with the bat and ball respetc9vley for the Spitfires, who had reached the final by beating Sussex in the second semi-final of the T20 Blast Finals Day. The first semi-final was won dramatically by Somerset when they defeated Hampshire, chasing down 151 after being 34-5 to win the game by two wickets. In the final, though, nothing dramatic happened as Kent went about their defence of 167 in a very methodical way with Denly removing Tom Banton off the very second delivery of the Somerset innings. That set the tone for the Kent bowlers who then went on to pick wickets at regular intervals, eventually reducing the Taunton based side to 119-9 in the 18th over before some nice shots by Josh Davy took them to 142 at the end of the innings. Denly was the pick of the bowlers for Kent removing both the Somerset openers in Banton and Will Smead alongside Tom Lammonby. Earlier in the evening, after winning the toss, Somerset invited Kent to bat first and even as the team kept on losing wickets regularly, Jordan Cox with his patient approach but very fiery innings of unbeaten 58 off just 28 balls took the Spitfires to 167-7 from their 20 overs. With this loss, Somerset have now lost four of their five Blast finals with the lone victory coming in their first-ever final appearance in 2005.

Extremely disappointed that NZ chose to abandon white-ball tour against Pakistan: Wasim Akram

Earlier last week, in a dramatic turnaround ahead of their first ODI match against Pakistan, New Zealand cancelled their historic white-ball tour citing security reasons. Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has now reacted to the Blackcaps abandoning the tour and has expressed his disappointment on the same. "I think the world underestimates how powerful our security forces are. Cricket is more than a sport to us and we will do everything in our power to prevent cricket (from) being taken from us again. The world needs to give us a chance to prove that!," Akram tweeted on Sunday. The former left-handed bowler further added that the Pakistan forces have made the country one of the safest places in the world to play cricket. This tour would have been NZ's first in 18 years in the subcontinental national and could have paved away the roadmap for other countries to visit Pakistan. "Extremely disappointed in NZ choice to abandon the #PAKvNZ tour. Pakistan has proven that our security measures for international games is of the highest order, making Pakistan one of the safest places in the world to play cricket today. I feel we are not hearing the whole story," Akram said. The two sides were slated to play three ODIs and five T20Is. While the ODIs were scheduled to take place in Rawalpindi, the T20Is had to be played in Lahore. With NZ's cancellation of the trip, teams like England have put their own tour under scanner and it is expected that they will try to force a move out as well. Pakistan have been one of the busiest touring teams in the pandemic and have played several series away from home. The conversation in recent months had been about the countries extending their gratitude by touring Pakistan, but the NZ pullout would be a huge dampener on the plans.