A superb opening stand from Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis ensured Royal Challengers Bangalore cruised to an eight-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League opener.
Having fallen just short of the IPL final last year, RCB got their 2023 campaign off to a terrific start, dominating their opponents on both sides of the ball at The Mangalam Chinnaswamy Stadium.
RCB made a fast start with the ball, with Harshal Patel well-placed to claim an outside edge from Ishan Kishan (10) before Reece Topley bowled Cameron Green (5), though a bizarre collision between Dinesh Karthik and Mohammed Siraj saw the latter inexplicably drop Rohit Sharma.
Rohit was less fortunate when he handed Karthik a catch for just one run three balls later, though his exit allowed Tilak Varma to step up with a quickfire 84 off 46 balls, carrying Mumbai to 171-7.
That outstanding effort proved to be in vain, however, with Du Plessis (73) and Kohli (82 not out) putting on a strong opening stand of 148, both bringing up half-centuries by the end of the 12th over.
While skipper Du Plessis walked with five overs remaining, lofting through to Tim David for a simple catch, Mumbai never looked likely to break the momentum of RCB, who recorded a statement win.
Varma wastes no time
In dragging Mumbai to a respectable tally with his knock of 84, Varma averaged a boundary every 3.5 deliveries.
Only Jos Buttler – who struck a boundary every 2.2 balls in the Rajasthan Royals' win over Sunrisers Hyderabad – has posted a better such rate in the early stages of the IPL this season, with Varma hitting nine fours and four sixes from the 46 balls he faced.
Unfortunately for the 20-year-old, RCB's top-order batsmen were in similar form as Mumbai failed to build any momentum with the ball.
Fifty up for Kohli
RCB never looked likely to fall short in their chase of 172, with Kohli taking centre-stage to bring up a personal IPL landmark.
With his knock of 82 runs from 49 balls, Kohli recorded his 50th score of 50 runs or more in the IPL. Only David Warner (60) has more half-centuries in the competition's history.
Dottin among nominees for ICC Women’s Player of the Month for October
West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin has been named among the three nominees for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award for the month of October.
Dottin made her comeback for the national side at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, and was a driving force as the islanders reached their first semi-final at the event since 2018.
She was instrumental in victories over Scotland and Bangladesh, but saved her most valuable contributions for the latter stages, where she shone with the bat, ball and in the field in their group stage win over England, before producing a memorable individual display with 33 runs and four wickets in the thrilling semi-final defeat to eventual champions New Zealand.
Dottin will be going up against New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr and South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt for the award.
The nominees for the Men’s award are New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner, Pakistan’s Noman Ali and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada.
Kevin Sinclair replaced by Junior Sinclair in Harpy Eagles Super50 squad after internal report to GCB
All-rounder Kevin Sinclair will take no further part in the Guyana Harpy Eagles CG United Super50 Cup campaign in Trinidad and Tobago. The decision made by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) followed the submission of an internal report by the Harpy Eagles' management team that it was necessary to replace the player.
The GCB, in making the revelation, also announced that Kevin Sinclair will be replaced by Junior Sinclair in the squad at the tournament.
Though the GCB’s statement did not clarify if sub-standard performance is the reason behind Kevin Sinclair’s ejection from the squad, it pointed out that it was a “necessary squad adjustment.”
“Following an internal report from the Guyana Harpy Eagles management, it has been decided that Kevin Sinclair will no longer be participating in this year’s competition,” the statement read.
In the three matches played in the Super50 Cup, Kevin Sinclair tallied 14 runs and snared three wickets.
He made 14 from 16 balls against Windward Volcanoes and took 2-66 from 10 overs in the same match.
However, he did not bat in the rained-out contest against Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners and was dismissed without a score against Barbados Pride and only took 1-26 from 10 overs in that same match.
The Guyana Harpy Eagles are winless after three matches.
A similar situation arose last year during the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament when organisers announced Kevin left the Guyana Amazon Warriors squad for “personal reasons.”
Kevin Sinclair’s departure opens the door for Junior Sinclair to take up a spot in the Harpy Eagles squad ahead of Tuesday’s contest against Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
Guyana Harpy Eagles Squad: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Matthew Nandu, Tevin Imlach (captain), Kevlon Anderson, Kemol Savory, Junior Sinclair, Keemo Paul (vice-captain), Ronaldo Aimohamed, Veerasammy Permaul, Isai Thorne, Ashmead Nedd, Nial Smith, Sylus Tyndall, Rampertab Ramnauth.
Salt confirmed as England wicketkeeper despite Buttler return for West Indies T20Is
Phil Salt will be wicketkeeper in England’s upcoming T20I series against West Indies as white-ball captain Jos Buttler looks to improve his captaincy.
Buttler has been ruled out with a calf strain but will return to England's squad for the five-match T20I series that begins on Saturday.
Until now, Salt has kept in just 13 of his 59 England appearances across all formats but has taken up the mantle for the ongoing ODI series against West Indies.
Buttler, on the other hand, has donned the gloves in 106 of his 108 T20Is.
Salt, though, is enjoying his new role.
"It's not something I've done a lot for England recently, but I enjoy keeping. I feel like that's where I offer most to the side," Salt said, as reported by ESPN.
"We've not had a chat about anything going forward. I'm just glad to be doing it at the moment."
While Salt is not guaranteed the gloves after this series, he will find comfort in Buttler's intent to optimise his captaincy by experimenting with a role in the field.
"I was going to give up the gloves and commit to being at mid-off and see how that felt. If it will help me with my captaincy it is something I am open to," Buttler told Sky Sports in September after being ruled out of the T20 series against Australia.
England are tied 1-1 in their ODI series against the West Indies with the decider to be played on Wednesday.
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