Want Delhi Capitals to play the best cricket in the second half of IPL 2020 - Ricky Ponting

IPL 2020: Tweet sparks captaincy speculation at Rajasthan Royals

On a day that saw a captain of an IPL side stepping aside for someone else to take over, a Twitter post from Rajasthan Royals sparked a huge speculation about Steve Smith handing over the reins of Royals to Jos Buttler. The official Twitter handle of the franchise published a photograph of Jos Buttler calling him ‘Boss.’ The tweet led to people flooding the micro-blogging site with different takes while others wondered about the authenticity of the development. Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogole first tweets about the development in the Royals’ camp before pulling his tweet back for the lack of clarity on it. He explained his deleted tweet as a measure to be ‘doubly sure’ about the scenario of Royals’ captaincy change. Smoke social media users went far too ahead and also started quoting what looked like an ideal quote of Steve Smith while discussing the captaincy transfer with the Rajasthan Royals management. However, when the team management got the sense of the furore its post about Buttle has created on Twitter, the official handle blamed the admin for ringing false alarm albeit in a cheeky manner. Ultimately, the Rajasthan Royals management enabled Twitter to have too much fun today.

IPL 2020 | RR vs RCB: Match Preview, Predicted XI & Dream11 Fantasy Picks

The ongoing season of the Indian Premier League is entering into a crucial phase when all matches hold special importance where the fortune of teams hinges on outcome in every match or every ball. The tournament is heading to the end of the fourth week and while some teams have found their best XI whereas others are yet to find the combinations that serve them in the best manner. In the first match of the third weekend with doubleheaders, the Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore will go head to head as battle lines will be drawn between arguably the world’s best two batsmen. The Royal Challengers have shed off their past reputation in the history of the IPL and have shown enough depth in all the departments to get the IPL 2020 campaign on a much better note than previous editions while Royals have shown signs of a muddled team which is being led by management that is not quite sure of the best players who can lead the side in long and consuming tournaments such as the IPL. Both these teams committed a handful of mistakes in their last game and were punished by the opposition. The Royal Challengers are coming to this game after a hammering at hands of KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, and Chris Gayle after the team management held back AB de Villiers against an exaggerated threat of leg spinners while the Rajasthan Royals' could not match up the firepower of Delhi Capitals and were beaten hands down in all the departments. The Royal Challengers will walk on the field to face the Royals with a real sense of purpose after a day when the strategy did not go well for them against Kings XI while Steve Smith’s side has a lot to ponder over the outlook of the side. The inclusion of Ben Stokes has not been able to revive the Royals’ campaign and a lot of the blame has to go to captain Steve Smith and coach Andrew McDonald. Before Stokes’ arrival in the tournament, Smith was opening the inning - a strategy that made the team a top-heavy side with no batsmen capable of turning things around. It was widely believed that Stokes’ entry would make the middle order stronger and the English all-rounder will play the role of a finisher for the Royals. However, they had other ideas and in a bizarre move asked Stokes to open and Smith moved to his slot of number three. The Royals have shown signs of spark and the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad was one of those games when the team had pulled off a miraculous set of performances to clinch the game in their favour but the team had lacked a sustained period of brilliance with the bat or ball. Steve Smith’s struggle with the bat has not helped the case and the Aussie star would hope to turn things around albeit the challenge in front of him in Yuzvendra Chahal and Navdeep Saini is nothing short of monumental. Steve Smith, like he has done in his international career, needs to rise through it to guide the Royals on the path towards playoff. On contrary, Virat Kohli and company need to regroup after a dismal performance against the Kings XI Punjab when there were signs of the old RCB coming back with both on-field performances and off-field tactics. Virat Kohli needs to remind his troops that momentum slips away very quickly in IPL and that they need to be wary of being complacent and not winning games when in good form. Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore: Match Details Match Number- 33 Date: 17th October 2020, at 3:30 PM IST, 02.30 PM Local, 10.00 AM GMT Venue: Dubai Broadcast: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch and Weather report A fresh pitch will be used for the game between the Royals and the Royal Challengers and it will give batsmen the freedom to go for quick runs in the power play. Dubai has appeared to be producing pitches that support stroke playing this season and the match between these two sides can be a run feast if batsmen on both sides can make the most of the conditions that are likely to be on offer. Fielding in the sun is never easy and it will be no different when the captains will walk out for the toss. It’s almost certain that the captain winning the toss will bat first and put the runs on board. Weather conditions during day time will be tough on players with humidity likely to be on a higher side will make players, especially those who will be fielding in the sun, sweat it out for every bit of effort. Team News Rajasthan Royals The Rajasthan Royals have made a lot of shuffling in the playing XI and it has not paid off well both for the team and the players who have been in and out of the side. The team should give players who fielded in the last game a longer rope after they pulled off a brilliant chase just a game before the last one. But, if the team feels like they need to chop and change just one player, the could potentially field Varun Aaron in place of Jayadev Unadkat, who picked up two wickets last game but gave away over 10 rpo. There were rumours about Steve Smith stepping aside and handing over the captaincy to Jos Buttler but there is no official word from either the franchise or Smith himself. Expected XI Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Steven Smith (c), Sanju Samson, Robin Uthappa, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat/Varun Aaron, Kartik Tyagi Royal Challengers Bangalore After years of turbulence in the team selection and a lot of chopping and changing, the Royal Challengers have shown the maturity of a good and developing team by backing the players to come good even with some minor blip in form. Keeping their IPL 2020 track record in mind, it’s unlikely they will bring any changes to the playing XI but an alarm bell must have started ringing for Mohammed Siraj who had two bad games in a row. Expected XI Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers (wk), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore: Dream11 team and suggestions AB de Villiers, Jos Buttler, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Chris Morris, Ben Stokes, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Jofra Archer, Kartik Tyagi Captain: AB de Villiers Vice-captain: Jos Buttler

BREAKING: KKR's Dinesh Karthik hands over captaincy to Eoin Morgan ahead of MI clash

Under fire for his strategic calls throughout the tenure of Indian Premier League 2020, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik has decided hand over the captaincy ropes to England's World Cup winning captain Eoin Morgan. Karthik had come under severe criticism for several tactical failures at the initial days of the tournament and was called out on social media by fans and experts for batting ahead of Morgan and Rahul Tripathi who are famed for their batting prowess in the middle and the top order respectively. However, things seemed under control in the last two out of the three after KKR managed to stage unreal coupes against Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab. However in the hindsight, that was probably undone by the defeat against Bangalore where Tripathi once again batted at the lower order. KKR CEO Venky Mysore said in a statement released by the franchise that it takes a lot of courage to take such a decision midway through the tournament and he is thankful that DK put the team first. “We are fortunate to have leaders such as DK, who has always put the team first. It takes a lot of courage for someone like him to take a decision such as this. While we were surprised by his decision, we are respectful of his wishes. We are also fortunate that Eoin Morgan, the 2019 World Cup-winning captain, who has been the vice captain, is willing to lead the side going forward. DK and Eoin have worked brilliantly together during this tournament and although Eoin takes over as captain, this is effectively a role swap and we expect that this transition will work in a seamless manner,” Mysore said. This is a developing story. More to follow.

England receive invitation for a white-ball tour to Pakistan in 2021

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) stated that they have received an invitation to tour Pakistan for a white-ball series in the early part of next year. While there isn’t any confirmation of the schedule yet, ECB have expressed their willingness to go ahead with the tour and that they are working with PCB to overcome all the hurdles. Interestingly, England have not travelled to Pakistan since 2005 and as per the Future Tours Programme (FTP), their next trip is likely to be in 2022. ECB have set their priorities straight. Checks on Covid-19 bio-secure bubble and security for the team in the country top the list. The busy cricketing calendar is one of the main challenges that England will have to address in order to make the proposed series possible. "We welcome the fact that international cricket is returning to Pakistan and are committed to doing what we can to help this develop further," ECB said in a release. "As with any proposed tour that takes place at this time, the safety and welfare of our players and staff is paramount," the release further said. "As such, there are a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration, including the proposed protocols in relation to COVID-19 bio-secure bubbles, the proposed levels of security around the team, as well as the feasibility of undertaking this tour against the backdrop of an already busy schedule of international cricket for the England men's team. England are set to travel to India for a full-Test series followed by limited-overs series. The tour to Pakistan could take place in the same window. Zimbabwe were the first team to visit Pakistan in 2015 since the terror strike on Sri Lanka’s team bus back in 2009. Earlier in 2020, Bangladesh played a Test match in the country before the second match was postponed due to Covid-19 outbreak.