New Zealand vs West Indies: Romario Shepherd replaces injured Dwayne Bravo for T20Is

RCB vs KKR: What experts said as Challengers outgun the Kolkata in style

It was supposed to be a mid-table between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Royals Challengers Bangalore, However, it turned out to be anything, but a battle as the Challengers inspired by an unprecedented form of Mohammad Siraj beat the Knight Riders by a huge margin of 8 wickets with restricted the opponent at 84/8 in the 20 overs in Abu Dhabi. Deciding to bat first after winning the toss, Kolkata were in for a shock as the openers were removed by Mohamad Siraj who swung the new white ball as if it were the red one on this pitch. The entire purple and golden players were just not applying themselves. As a result, they were 40/6 at one point, looking likely to break the record of lowest ever IPL total, which rests with RCB getting all out on 49., Captains’ Viewpoints Reacting to the victory, RCB captain Virat Kohli was happy that he finally did call give the new ball to Mohammad Siraj. “It was a late call to be honest (to give Siraj the new ball). Was thinking of giving Washy,” he said. Kohli further went on to say that he knows that not many people believe in him or his IPL team. “Don't think a lot of people have a belief in RCB. Guys in the changeroom do and that's all that matters. Can have the best players in the world but if you don’t have the belief it's no good,” said the 31-year-old. Chris Morris, who was the second most dangerous bowler after Siraj tonight, also impressed the captain. “Morris is loving the responsibility. He likes to be in a leadership role in the team. Even against Kings, he tried to york Gayle. His energy is amazing. A great, great addition to our squad,” the Delhi born said praising the South African. “Last year he had a tough year. A lot of people went hard at him. But he worked hard. He's seeing the result now and we want him to continue,” he added. Eoin Morgan, the losing captain seemed frustrated with the way his teammates, especially batsmen were unable to apply themselves on the pitch. “Being 4/5 down early on isn't the position we wanted to be in. RCB bowled well and probably looking at the conditions, we should have bowled first,” lamented Morgan. Hoping that the players will learn their lessons and come back hard in the next game, Morgan said, “We will learn our lessons and move on in the next game. It was a question of backing the young Indian guys who showed glimpses of talent and potential.” Agreeing to the fact that they can’t lag behind at any instance in this intensely competitive tournament, Morgan said, “They (RCB bowlers) managed to exploit anything that was on offer and given the nature of the tournament every time you have to be at your best against every team.” Missing the Caribbean all-rounders, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine in the team, The English man hoped that they would return soon to make sure that KKR are well represented. “Hopefully they (Narine and Russell) will be available around the corner and we know when the guys of that caliber, particularly all-rounders are available, things will be different. Hopefully, they will be available soon,” concluded Morgan. Expert Opinion The game was done and dusted in the first innings itself, all thanks to some nonsense batting and some really good bowling. The cricket experts did acknowledge that. However, what was baffling from them was that Lockie Ferguson, the best KKIR bowler was not brought into the attack by skipper Morgan until the end of the powerplay. Senior broadcast cricket journalist, Vimal Kumar said that the loss of KKR, especially with such a huge margin has opened up the table and the fourth place is now back in contention with Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab trying to get in. Ayaz Memon, a veteran cricket journalist was of the opinion that KKR needed to get their batting in order and also needed to bring back their match-winner in Sunil Narine, back into the squad. Similarly, Boria Majumdar, a senior cricket analyst pointed it out that KKR were going nowhere with the plans as instead of picking a like for like substitution, they went in with an extra wicket-keeper, which made no sense to anyone. Lockie Ferguson was brought into the attack very late by Morgan and that wasn't taken nicely by certain cricket experts and former Indian cricketer, now a commentator, Murali Kartik was also one of them. Gaurav Kalra, the cricket journalist was also back to his witty side, although after a long time. He strategically attacked the KKR batting saying that they have made so many runs that it was difficult to reach to the second strategic Time Out. With this loss, the KKR have obviously got a jolt that they are very much in danger of losing out their Playoffs place if they don't get to winning ways in the rest of the four games. For RCB though, it gave them another push to make it to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

IPL 2020 | RCB vs KKR: Slick Siraj wrecks Kolkata into submission

Mohammed Siraj emerged from out of the syllabus to make a mockery of Kolkata Knight Rider's top-order, finishing with unbelievable figures of 3 for 8, to eventually restrict them to a paltry 84/8. Royal Challengers Bangalore hunted down the target without breaking a sweat and pinged up to second in the standings, furthering their ambitions of getting two cracks at sealing the ticket for the IPL 2020's grand finale. Siraj grabs opportunity with both hands KKR doled Tam Banton another chance to realize his potential alongside making room for the velocity of Prasidh Krishna. It was the first occasion since April 2012 that KKR took the field without their cornerstones Russell or Sunil Narine. RCB hedged their bets on Mohammed Siraj at the expense of utility cricketer Shahbaz Ahmed. The rest is history. Siraj the spearhead in pinning KKR to rout Mohammed Siraj certainly woke up on the right side of the bed today, becoming the first bowler in the league's history to bowl two wicket maidens. It was glitzy slam-bang cricket in progression, although the lengths he produced gave the impression that he might be plying his trade in white flannels. Rahul Tripathi nicked behind fishing outside the off-stump while a banana inswinger concocted Nitish Rana's golden duck. Yet to spare a run, the man of the moment too induced an edge from Banton after Navdeep Saini hustled Shubman Gill on the pull. RCB keep their foot on the opposition's throat Yuzvendra Chahal jumped on the bandwagon, ensnaring Dinesh Karthik plumb with an astute googly. The leggie's ruse to trap Pat Cummins deserves special mention. He put the kibosh on easy getaways with a stringent middle-stump line before serving a wide donkey-drop to beguile the all-rounder into a miscued hoick. Eoin Morgan waged a lone war for his 30 but post his departure off Washington Sundar, the limited batting credentials in KKR's tail saw them terminate at an exigent total, safeguarding which was as difficult as nailing jelly to a tree. KKR fail to strike when the iron was hot Early incisions were the need of the hour if KKR stood any remote chance of pulling off the heist. But Devdutt Padikkal and Aaron Finch are no sitting ducks. The duo peddled caution with aggression to navigate RCB to a boisterous 44 for none as the PowerPlay drew to a close. Though Eoin Morgan deciding against chucking Lockie Ferguson into the attack early left many with a furrowed brow. The openers biting the dust in quick succession extended the men in maroon a puncher's chance, albeit Virat Kohli and Gurkeerat Singh Mann joined forces to make light work of the remainder. The emphatic fashion in which the latter milked the cherry will please head coach Mike Hesson, who's been on the lookout for some solidity in the middle-order to render AB de Villiers a tad of breathing space. The record books witness a hint of disruption 4 - Maidens bowled by RCB, the most in an IPL innings 2 - Maidens bowled by Siraj, the most by a single bowler in an IPL match 84 - The lowest total batting first for a team that weren't bowled out. 15 - Most overs taken for a team to score 50 runs, beating the 13.1 taken by KXIP against CSK in Durban, 2009. Next on the agenda.. KKR have a meeting arranged with a franchise at the other end of the spectrum, Delhi Capitals on Saturday afternoon at Abu Dhabi. Whereas, RCB salivate at the prospect of locking horns with stragglers Chennai Super Kings exactly a day later.

IPL 2020 | KKR vs RCB: Twitter has the last laugh as Siraj and co. rolls over Kolkata batsmen

Kolkata Knight Riders earned certain dubious distinctions in their ongoing match against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Abu Dhabi. Eoin Morgan and his men came across as walking ducks against the Bangalore bowlers. RCB found an unlikely hero in Mohammed Siraj, who created panic in the KKR dressing room by scalping three top-order wickets. Siraj sent back opener Rahul Tripathi before claiming the wicket of Nitish Rana in the subsequent delivery. Navdeep Saini got the better of vulnerable Shubman Gill and Siraj came back to remove Tom Banton to restrict the opposition to 14/4. Kolkata could never recover from the shocking start as the side kept losing wickets in regular intervals. Dinesh Karthik’s numbers against leg-spinners took another hit tonight as he was caught off guard by Yuzvendra Chahal. Skipper Morgan made the only notable contribution of a 34-ball 30 and he too perished while playing a big shot towards the fag end of the innings. However, an unbeaten 19* from Lockie Ferguson and brief innings by Kuldeep Yadav took the side to 84/8 - the lowest score by a team in IPL without getting bowled out. This would be an ideal opportunity for Kohli and Co. to improve their net run rate and make an effort to be in the reckoning for a top-two berth. Kolkata will have their task cut out as they would look to keep their hopes of qualifying for playoffs alive. Over to some of the eye-catching tweets from the first 20 overs of the contest.

Tainted cricketer Nasir Jamshed faces prospect of deportation to Pakistan

The prospect of former Pakistan opener Nasir Jamshed securing an immediate release from prison took a major dent. The tainted cricketer was sentenced to 17 months in prison in February for his alleged involvement in spot-fixing in BPL and PSL games. Apart from this, he was also banned from playing competitive cricket. The verdict was placed by an anti-corruption tribunal. Jamshed is due for release on October 21. While his wife and daughter are in Birmingham, he faces the prospect of deportation back to Pakistan. Jamshed’s wife, Samara Afzalis, is a Birmingham-born doctor. Jamshed was in the UK on a spousal visa which was due for renewal in February 2019. But since a court case was underway, it was decided to put off a renewal decision until the closure of the case. The UK’s immigration authorities have made a note of Jamshed’s sentence. Under the UK law, any non-citizen given a prison sentence for more than 12 months can be deported. An update in the case is set to take place next week and hence Jamshed would be learning about his stay for the coming period. There are high chances of the cricketer fighting his case from Pakistan. The 30-year-old has played 66 white-ball games and two Tests for Pakistan.