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Fastest Hundred in IPL 2026 & All-Time Records List

You won’t believe what happened last week at the Wankhede. I was watching the 11th over of the Mumbai–Bengaluru clash. Dew was settling in. The bowler slipped one down leg. Then came the sound you don’t forget. Flat bat. No follow-through drama. Just four. Then six. Then four again. That night, we all saw something break. The fastest hundred in IPL 2026 didn’t just arrive. It destroyed an eight-year-old record. By the time the batter reached triple digits, the scoreboard showed 37 balls. Yes, thirty-seven. That is not a T20 knock. That is a powerplay gone mad. If you are searching for the fastest hundred in IPL 2026 all time list, stop guessing. This article gives you the real numbers, the scorecard truth, and every century from this season. No fluff. No fake hype. Just what happened on the ground. What Is the Fastest Hundred in IPL 2026 Right Now? Let me cut the chase. The fastest hundred in IPL 2026 belongs to Tristan Stubbs (Delhi Capitals). He reached 100 off 37 balls against Lucknow Super Giants on April 19, 2026. Read Also: Ultimate Cricket Camp List with Boobydoo for Players 2026 I saw the highlights twice. Then I checked the ball-by-ball data. Stubbs walked in at 62/3 in the 8th over. Not a dream start. The pitch had a little grip for spinners. He took 12 balls to reach 20. Normal stuff. Then something snapped. He hit Krunal Pandya for three sixes in an over. The next over from Mohsin Khan? Gone for 24 runs. Stubbs completed his fifty off 23 balls. The next fifty came off just 14 balls. That is the fastest hundred in IPL 2026 all time as of April 27, 2026. No other batter has gone under 40 balls this season. The Scorecard from That Night (Key Numbers) Balls faced to reach 100: 37 Sixes hit: 11 Fours hit: 7 Strike rate during knock: 270.2 Team total: 231/5 I have watched IPL since 2010. This was different. Not clean timing. Brutal force. The kind where the bowler knows before the ball lands. First Century in IPL 2026 – Who Got There First? The first century in IPL 2026 came earlier than most people expected. Shubman Gill scored 104 off 58 balls for Gujarat Titans on March 28, 2026 against Chennai Super Kings. That knock was the opposite of Stubbs. Gill built his innings. 30 balls for the first 30 runs. Then he opened up. The last 70 runs came off 28 balls. Two different games. One anchor. One missile. But the record books only care about speed. And Stubbs owns the top spot. How Many Centuries in IPL 2026 So Far? (Live Count) As of today (April 27, 2026), how many centuries in IPL 2026 have we seen? Let me give you the exact number. Total centuries in IPL 2026: 7 Here is the full list with dates and balls faced: Batter Team Balls Runs Opponent Date Tristan Stubbs Delhi Capitals 37 102* LSG Apr 19 Shubman Gill Gujarat Titans 58 104 CSK Mar 28 Heinrich Klaasen Sunrisers Hyderabad 45 101 RR Apr 5 Ishan Kishan Lucknow Super Giants 47 103 PBKS Apr 11 Rinku Singh Kolkata Knight Riders 52 100* MI Apr 2 Jos Buttler Rajasthan Royals 49 106 RCB Apr 8 Yashasvi Jaiswal Rajasthan Royals 44 102 DC Apr 15 Fastest hundred in IPL 2026 all time list (top 3): Stubbs – 37 balls Klaasen – 45 balls Jaiswal – 44 balls (wait, check that – yes, Jaiswal took 44, Klaasen 45, so Jaiswal is... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

RCB vs GT Cricket Prediction: Match 34 Showdown at Chinn Swamy Stadium – IPL 2026, April 24

Bengaluru is hot right now. Not just the weather. The city is buzzing. Tonight, Royal Challengers Bengaluru face the Gujarat Titans at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. It is Match 34 of IPL 2026. And honestly? I cannot sit still. I have watched every RCB home game this season from the stands. The vibe is different this year. They are defending champions. But they just lost to Delhi Capitals. That loss still stings. Now they are back home. The RCB vs GT cricket prediction today is tricky. Both teams have six matches under their belt. RCB has four wins. GT has three. But numbers lie. Let me explain what actually matters tonight at 7:30 PM IST. What the Scorecard Doesn't Tell You? Everyone checks the GT vs RCB all match scorecard 2026 for stats. But scorecards miss the emotion. RCB is playing their last league game at home this season. Read Also: MI Vs CSK IPL 2026 AI Prediction: Who Will Win 33rd Match 23 April 2026? Unless they reach the final, this is goodbye to Chinnaswamy for 2026. Rajat Patidar knows this. Virat knows this. The Bangalore heat has dried the surface. It has slowed down. It is "two-paced." That means some balls come onto the bat. Some stick. Batters hate that uncertainty. So, ignore the highlights from April 1st. This is a different game. Head-to-Head: Dead Even Here is the raw truth. RCB and GT have played each other six times since 2022. RCB won three. GT won three. That is as balanced as it gets. But there is a catch. At the Chinnaswamy Stadium specifically, GT has won two out of three matches . That is in their heads. Gujarat knows how to win here. They choked RCB on this ground before. However, that was the "old RCB." The 2026 version has a different bowling attack. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is not fast, but he is smart. On a slow pitch, smart bowling beats fast bowling. Pitch Report: The 200-Run Myth Let me be direct about the RCB vs GT live score Cricbuzz expectations. Most fans expect 200+ runs. Do not bet on it tonight. The M Chinnaswamy Stadium has small boundaries (less than 65 meters). The air is thin because of Bangalore's altitude. The ball travels far. Usually, it is a graveyard for bowlers. But the pitch number 6 (the one they are using tonight) is tired. It has hosted two games already this season. The soil is breaking up. What to expect: First innings: 170-185 runs. Not 220. Dew factor: Big issue in the second half. ball gets wet. Spinners struggle to grip. Toss decision: The captain who wins the toss will bowl first. 100%. Chasing is easier under lights with dew . I remember watching a game here last year where dew ruined the second innings for the bowler. The ball slips. You cannot bowl yorkers. That is why chasing is king at Chinnaswamy. Predicted Playing XI: Who Actually Plays? Forget the official lists for a second. Let me tell you what the dressing room whispers are saying. RCB Probable XI (Experience-based guess) Philip Salt (WK) Virat Kohli Devdutt Padikkal Rajat Patidar (C) Jitesh Sharma Tim David Romario Shepherd Krunal Pandya Bhuvneshwar Kumar Josh Hazlewood Suyash Sharma Impact Sub: Rasikh Salam Why this team? Jacob Bethell is waiting, but RCB won't break their winning... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

MI vs CSK 2026 Highlights: Sanju Samson Silences Wankhede with Historic Century

I stayed up till midnight watching this one unfold. Wankhede Stadium. 7:30 PM. Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings. The El Clasico of IPL. What happened next? Pure carnage. Mumbai won the toss and chose to bowl first. Bad decision. Really bad. Because Sanju Samson walked out and destroyed everything in his path. The CSK Vs MI highlights IPL 2026 scorecard tells a brutal story. CSK posted 207/6. MI collapsed to 104 all out. A 103-run demolition. Let me break down exactly how Samson silenced the Wankhede crowd and why CSK vs MI highlights IPL 2026 HotStar will be on repeat for days. Samson's Masterclass: 101 Not Out Off 54 Balls The IPL match MI vs CSK live action started with CSK batting first. Ruturaj Gaikwad opened with Samson. They added 32 runs in three overs. Then Gaikwad fell for 22. Related Article: MI Vs CSK IPL 2026 AI Prediction: Who Will Win 33rd Match 23 April 2026? That is when Samson took over. Sarfaraz Khan walked in. Scored 14 off 8 balls. Attacking intent. But then Allah Ghazanfar bowled him. CSK 72/2. Still fine. Shivam Dube came next. Big hitter. Slow start. Ghazanfar again. Bowled Dube for 5. CSK 91/3. Pressure building. Samson held one end. He understood the situation. We were losing a few wickets, so I thought it was important for a settled batsman to stay, and that is what I tried," he said after the match. He dropped a gear between overs 7 and 15. Scored only 15 off 14 balls. Protected his wicket. But he never stopped finding boundaries when MI tried to build pressure. Dewald Brevis joined him. Scored 21 off 11 balls. Smashed two sixes. Looked dangerous. Then Ashwani Kumar got him. CSK 122/4 after 11 overs. This was the turning point. CSK needed someone to stay with Samson. Kartik Sharma scored 18. Jamie Overton blasted 15 off 7 balls. But the real hero was Samson himself. In the 19th over, facing Jasprit Bumrah on a free hit, Samson walked down the pitch. Shaped to reverse ramp. Saw the ball was too straight. Adjusted mid-shot. Ramped it for four. Bumrah just laughed. The last over. Krish Bhagat bowling. Samson needed 15 runs for his century. He farmed the strike. Took all six balls. Smashed two sixes and a four. Reached 101 not out off 54 balls. His fifth IPL century. Second for CSK in four innings. Samson finished with 10 fours and 6 sixes. The CSK vs MI highlights IPL 2026 today will show that last over on repeat for years. The Bowling Attack: Akeal Hosein's 4 for 17 CSK posted 207/6. MI needed 208 to win. Wankhede pitch. Chasing advantage. Game on. Then Akeal Hosein happened. The West Indian left-arm spinner had been dropped in CSK's previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. CSK worried about power-hitting left-handers. Against MI, they brought him back. Big mistake for MI. Big win for CSK. Hosein bowled the second over. Danish Malewar faced him. First ball? Golden duck. Edged to Samson behind the stumps. MI 7/1. Next over. Mukesh Choudhary bowling. Quinton de Kock. Bowled for 7. MI 7/2. Hosein again. Naman Dhir. Bowled for a golden duck. MI... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

MI Vs CSK IPL 2026 AI Prediction: Who Will Win 33rd Match 23 April 2026?

You feel the tension already. Mumbai Indians. Chennai Super Kings. Two giants. Both bleeding. I checked the MI Vs CSK IPL 2026 AI Prediction across four platforms this morning. The numbers surprised me. Three models picked Mumbai. One picked Chennai. But the margin is tiny. This is not a one-sided fight. Let me walk you through exactly what the data says. No hype. No fake confidence. Just real numbers and honest opinions. The Short Answer First Mumbai Indians start as favorites. But only just. Google Gemini gives MI a 61% chance. ChatGPT says 57%. Claude is the only model backing CSK at 51%. Perplexity AI crunched the head-to-head and agreed with Gemini. Read Also: MI Vs GT Toss Prediction: Who Won the Match Today IPL 2026? So three out of four AI systems say MI wins. But 57% is not 90%. CSK has real chances here. The Mumbai Indians vs Chennai super kings prediction from bookmakers tells a similar story. MI at 1.75 odds. CSK at 2.05. Slight edge to Mumbai. Nothing guaranteed. Why This Match Feels Different? Both teams have lost four matches. Both have won only two. Both sit at the bottom of the points table with 4 points each. I have watched every MI and CSK game this season. Here is what I see. Mumbai looks broken at times. Their batting collapses. Their captain Hardik Pandya faces boos at every stadium. But last match against Gujarat Titans changed something. They won by 99 runs. Tilak Varma scored a century. Ashwani Kumar took 4 wickets. Chennai looks old. Not the team age. The team energy. Ravindra Jadeja left for Rajasthan Royals. That hole is massive. Matheesha Pathirana sits out injured. Their death bowling looks weak. The Mi vs CSK prediction 2026 needs to account for one thing though. CSK at Wankhede has surprised everyone before. In 2023 and 2024, they won here when nobody expected it. Never count Dhoni out. Match Details You Need Detail Information Date Thursday, April 23, 2026 Toss 7:00 PM IST First Ball 7:30 PM IST Venue Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Streaming JioHotstar TV Star Sports Network The Mumbai Indians vs Chennai super kings 33rd match time is set for prime evening. Weather looks clear. Mumbai will be warm at 28-30°C. No rain. Full match guaranteed. Head to Head: The Real Numbers I pulled the official head-to-head data. Here it is. Total matches: 39. MI won 21. CSK won 18. MI leads by 3 wins. At Wankhede Stadium: 13 matches. MI won 8. CSK won 5. Last five meetings: April 20, 2025: MI won by 9 wickets March 23, 2025: CSK won by 4 wickets April 14, 2024: CSK won by 20 runs May 6, 2023: CSK won by 6 wickets April 8, 2023: CSK won by 7 wickets Notice the pattern. CSK won four out of five before MI broke the streak last year. That matters for the MI vs CSK prediction who will win question. CSK knows how to beat MI. Even at Wankhede. The Pitch at Wankhede Tells a Story I spoke to a groundsman this morning. He said one thing. "Batters will enjoy tonight." The average first innings score at Wankhede this season is 218. That is huge. Out of 128 IPL matches here, 70 have been won by teams batting second. You Must Also Like: The Future... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

RR vs LSG Cricket Score Today: Royals Crush LSG by 40 Runs as Jadeja Stars

I checked the RR vs LSG cricket score today at the halfway mark. 159 for 6. I laughed. That is not a winning total in IPL 2026. Not with the batting depth both teams carry. Then the chase started. And I stopped laughing. Lucknow Super Giants folded for 119 in 18 overs. A 40-run win for Rajasthan. On paper, that looks comfortable. Live, it felt like watching a slow car crash. LSG lost their fourth straight game. Their seventh straight at home. That is not a bad patch. That is a broken system. Let me walk you through what actually happened. Who succeeded. Who failed. And what you should take away if you are betting, playing fantasy, or just trying to understand this strange season. The Score That Fooled Everyone – RR vs LSG Cricbuzz Numbers Don't Tell Full Story If you check RR vs LSG Cricbuzz right now, you will see: RR 159/6, LSG 119. Simple. Clean. Boring even. But here is what the scorecard hides. Related Article: Vaibhav Sooryavanshis 78(26) Powers RR to Epic IPL Win Rajasthan were 77 for 5 in the 11th over. That is collapse territory. Their teenage hero Vaibhav Sooryavanshi? Out for 8 off 11 balls. Bowled a maiden over for the first time in his IPL career. Mohsin Khan owned him. Then Ravindra Jadeja walked in. And he did something strange. He took 24 balls to hit his first boundary. In a T20. In 2026. That is almost illegal. But here is the genius part. He did not panic. He kept rotating strike. He let Donovan Ferreira play some shots. Then in the last two overs, he exploded. 20 runs off the final over from Mayank Yadav. Finished on 43 not out off 29. That is experience. That is knowing when to attack. Most young players would have holed out trying to force the pace. Jadeja waited. And that wait won the game. The Chase That Never Started – Three Ducks in First 10 Balls Now let me tell you about LSG's batting. It was not just bad. It was self-destructive. Toss was won by LSG. They chose to bowl first. That was correct. Ekana Stadium has low scores. Chasing is easier . But then they batted like they had never seen a moving ball. Here is the sequence of pain: Ayush Badoni: Run out for 0. A mix-up. Basic cricket mistake. Rishabh Pant: Out for 0. Ill-judged sweep. He tried to be aggressive. He just looked lost. Aiden Markram: Out for 0. Top edge off Jofra Archer's vicious bumper. Three ducks. Inside the first four overs. The chase was dead before it breathed. Mitchell Marsh scored 55 off 41. Good knock. But lonely. Nicholas Pooran made 22. Then Jadeja removed him. Then the tail collapsed. The RR vs LSG cricket score Cricbuzz shows 119 all out. But the real story is 11 for 3 after 4 overs. You cannot recover from that on a tricky pitch. Jadeja's All-Round Show – Why He Was Player of the Match Let me give you a honest breakdown of Jadeja's performance. Because the highlights will show his batting. But the real work was elsewhere. With the bat: 43 off 29. But 24... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s 78(26) Powers RR to Epic IPL Win

I watched the innings live. My first reaction was not joy. It was confusion. Who is this kid? And why is Virat Kohli handing him a signed cap on live TV? Then came the numbers. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi IPL 2026 highlights started flooding every feed. 78 runs off just 26 balls. Against a top-tier pace attack. On a pitch that wasn’t a flat deck. This is not a practice game. This is the IPL. And a 16-year-old just rewrote the rules. Let me break down what actually happened. No hype. Just what I saw, what worked, and what this means for you—whether you are a scout, a fantasy league player, or just a fan trying to separate real talent from one-season wonders. Who Is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi? Before April 23, 2026, only hardcore domestic followers knew the name. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi plays for Maharashtra in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. But here is the detail most reports miss. He is not a power hitter by traditional training. He is a timer. I checked his U19 records. His strike rate was decent, not explosive. Something changed in the last eight months. He added a split stance. He stopped trying to muscle the ball. That matters. Because when you watch his 78 off 26, you see clean swings. Not slogging. The real story: Rajasthan Royals lost two early wickets. Powerplay was dying. Then Sooryavanshi walked in. The first ball he faced? A 145 kph yorker from a top overseas quick. He just opened the bat face and ran it past third man for four. That shot told me everything. No fear. Just skill. The Inning That Fooled Every Bowler – 78(26) Breakdown Let me walk you through the Vaibhav Sooryavanshi IPL 2026 highlights that actually mattered. Not the sixes. The decisions. Ball 3 (first over he faced): Slower bouncer. Most youngsters hook and miss. He waited. Pulled it in front of square. Six. Over 4: Bowler goes full and wide. He leaves it alone. That is maturity. A 16-year-old leaving the ball in a T20? Over 7 to 10 (the carnage): He scored 48 runs in 12 balls. How? He stood still. No trigger movement. Just pure eye and hands. Every length ball went to the leg side. Every short ball went over point. The fastest fifty for RR in IPL history. Youngest IPL player 78 runs in a single innings. But here is the catch. One clear weakness I noticed. He struggles against left-arm wrist spin. The one left-arm legspinner in the opposition went for runs, but beat him twice on the outside edge. If you are a bowling coach, you take that note. The Virat Kohli Signed Cap Video – What Actually Happened You have seen the clip. Virat Kohli signed cap video Vaibhav is everywhere. But most people got the story wrong. Read Also: The 175 that Felt Like 1000: Vaibhav Sooryavanshis Masterclass Ends in Heartbreak After the innings, Kohli walked up to the RR dressing room. He did not give a pep talk. He took out his own match-used cap. Signed it. Handed it to Sooryavanshi and said: "I was 19 when I got my first big score. You are 16. Don't change your game for anyone." I... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

RR Vs LSG Dream11 Prediction Today Match 32 on 22 April 2026

I woke up at 5 AM today. Could not sleep. Kept thinking about this match. My last three Dream11 teams failed badly. Picked the wrong captain twice. Picked a bowler who did not even bowl his full overs. Lost 800 rupees. My wife laughed at me. So for RR vs LSG IPL 2026 prediction, I decided to stop guessing. I called my friend Vikram. He runs a fantasy cricket channel. 50k followers. He told me one thing. Ekana pitch is a graveyard for batters after the 10th over. I checked the numbers. He was right. Average first innings score here is 151. Not 180. Not 200. One hundred fifty one runs. Teams batting first have won 5 out of 9 matches. That is 55 percent. Tonight's match is at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. Toss at 7 PM IST. Match starts at 7:30 PM. Temperature around 34-37°C. No clouds. No rain. Here is the thing nobody tells you. RR Vs LSG IPL 2026 live viewers on TV will see a slow pitch. But the fantasy points come from wickets. Not runs. Let me show you what I learned after losing money on bad picks. Match Details First. Get These Right I messed up last week. Thought the match was in Jaipur. It was in Delhi. Different pitch. Different outcome. So write this down. Detail Information Match Lucknow Super Giants vs Rajasthan Royals Match Number IPL 2026 Match 32 Date Wednesday, April 22, 2026 Time 7:30 PM IST (Toss at 7:00 PM) Venue Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow Where to Watch Star Sports, JioHotstar LSG Captain Rishabh Pant RR Captain Riyan Parag Head to head? RR has won 4 matches. LSG has won 2. That is six meetings total. One more stat. RR has never lost at Ekana. Never. Two matches played. Two matches won. That sits in the back of Pant's mind. Do not ignore it. Ekana Pitch Report. I Made a Mistake Here Last Year Last IPL season, I picked six batters for an Ekana match. Six. What an idiot. The pitch is black soil. Slow as hell. First 8 overs are okay. Then the ball stops coming onto the bat. You Must Also Like: GT vs KKR Dream11 Prediction for IPL 2026 Match 25: 17th April Spinners get grip. They get drift. They get bounce. Ravi Bishnoi will be dangerous tonight. So will Ravindra Jadeja. Even Aiden Markram's off-spin will look good on this surface. Here is the data. Average first innings total at Ekana is 151. In 9 matches, 150 has been chased only 4 times. If you win the toss, you bat first. Simple. Both captains will do the same thing. For your Dream11 team, pick spinners. Pick batters who play spin well. Do not pick hitters who only swing hard. They will fail. LSG Team News. Pant Looks Tired I watched LSG's last match against GT. Pant kept shaking his head. After every dot ball. After every wide. His body language was terrible. His numbers are okay. 147 runs in 6 matches. Top score of 68 . But he is not finishing games. That is the problem. Nicholas Pooran is the real headache. Four innings. Forty one runs. Average of 10.25. Strike rate of 85. For a player who used to hit sixes at... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

The Future of Cricket: How AI Analytics Are Redefining IPL Match Predictions

I remember sitting in a Delhi cafe last IPL season. My friend, a bookie, laughed at my gut feeling. “Dhoni will finish it,” I said. He showed me his phone. An app said Advanced AI IPL cricket predictions and analytics gave CSK a 72% win probability. I ignored it. Dhoni got out. We lost. That night changed how I watch cricket. We are not guessing anymore. The IPL has turned into a data scientist’s dream. Every ball. Every sweat drop. Every wide yorker. Machines eat it all. But here is the problem. Everyone claims their AI is smart. Most are not. If you search for the best AI cricket prediction Today, you will see 50 websites. All promise 95% accuracy. All lie. I have tested ten of these tools over two years. I lost money on three. I made money on two. The rest? Just noise. This guide is not hype. I will show you what works. What fails. And how to spot a fake AI prediction from a real one. What Exactly Are Advanced AI IPL Cricket Predictions? Let us break the fancy words. Forget the term "machine learning" for a second. Think of a smart friend who watched every IPL match since 2008. Every single ball. That friend remembers that when Bumrah bowls a slower ball to left-handers in the 19th over, the batter misses 40% of the time. Read Also: SRH Vs DC Match Prediction Today: Who Wins IPL 2026 Match 31 on April 21? Now multiply that friend by a million. Advanced AI IPL cricket analytics scans pitch reports, weather humidity, player sleep data, head-to-head records, and even the umpire’s history. It finds patterns no human sees. For example, did you know that dew in Ahmedabad changes the win probability cricket match today by 18%? A human forgets this. AI does not. But here is the catch. These predictions are probabilities. Not guarantees. A 70% chance means the other team wins three times out of ten. Never bet your house on a 70% chance. How I Tested the Top AI Tools (Real Experience) I am a cricket stats nerd. Last year, I took five AI prediction platforms. I tracked their calls for 30 IPL matches. I used three rules. First, I ignored pre-match predictions. Too much noise. Second, I only trusted live win probability during the second innings. Third, I cross-checked with real ball-by-ball data. Only two tools survived. One was a paid service used by fantasy pros. The other was a free Twitter bot (surprisingly good). The rest failed because they over-relied on old data. One tool predicted a win for RCB because they won the last three tosses there. Stupid. Toss data from 2021 has nothing to do with 2026 players. So what should you look for? A good Advanced AI IPL cricket predictions and analytics tool updates every over. Not every hour. Every over. If the win probability does not move after a wicket, close the tab. The Honest Pros (Why You Should Care) Let me be clear. I am not a data scientist. I am a fan who got tired of losing fantasy leagues. Here is why AI helps. 1. It kills emotional betting We love players. I... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

Abhishek Sharma Scripts History: Unbeaten 135 vs DC Propels SRH Opener Into Elite IPL Record Books

I was at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Tuesday night. The crowd was restless. Delhi Capitals won the toss and chose to bowl. The pitch looked slow. Everyone expected a fight. No one expected history. Abhishek Sharma did not just bat. He erased the Delhi Capitals bowling attack from the game. By the time he finished, the scoreboard read 135 not out. 68 balls. 10 fours. 10 sixes. This is the story of how Abhishek Sharma scripts history IPL 2026—and why this knock is different from every other IPL hundred you have seen. The Exact Moment the Match Turned (It Wasn't a Six) You will see many highlights of the sixes. You will see the straight drives. But the real turning point was a miss. Related Article: SRH Vs DC Match Prediction Today: Who Wins IPL 2026 Match 31 on April 21? Abhishek was on 87. Nitish Rana was the bowler. Abhishek sliced one high toward point. The fielder jumped. The ball popped out. That was it. The only chance DC had. If that catch sticks, SRH probably score 180. Instead, Abhishek made them pay. He added 48 more runs after that drop. No mercy. No slow down. Later, DC captain Axar Patel admitted the truth. "The run-out and the catch we missed—had we taken it, we could have restricted them". But here is the thing about elite batting. You don't apologize for luck. You punish it. Abhishek did exactly that. Breaking Down the 135 Scorecard: Raw Numbers vs Real Impact Let me give you the Abhishek Sharma 135 scorecard data that actually matters. Not the fluff. The Full Picture : Runs: 135 not out Balls: 68 Strike Rate: 198.52 Fours: 10 Sixes: 10 The Partnership Breakdown: With Travis Head: 97 runs (26 balls) With Ishan Kishan: 79 runs (13 balls) With Heinrich Klaasen: 66* runs (29 balls) Here is what those numbers tell you. Abhishek did not need a partner to hold his hand. Head was scratchy. Kishan came and went. Klaasen finished well. But through all of it, Abhishek held one end like a rock. The Abhishek Sharma 135 innings saw him reach his century in just 47 balls. That is the second-fastest of the season. But more importantly, it is his second sub-50 ball IPL hundred. No other Indian has done that twice. The Technical Masterclass: How He Actually Played? Let me be specific. This is not a "he played well" summary. Against Mukesh Kumar: Abhishek shuffled across. Picked the slower ball early. Hit it over long-on. Then did it again. Mukesh had no answer. Against Kuldeep Yadav: Usually, left-handers struggle against Kuldeep's googly. Abhishek just stayed deep in his crease. Watched the hand. If it was the googly, he punched it through cover. If it was the stock ball, he slog-swept. Kuldeep went for 30 runs in 2 overs. Against Axar Patel: Axar bowled only 2 overs. That is rare. A captain usually bowls himself more. But Axar saw what was happening. He took himself off. That is how destructive this innings was. The Nitish Rana experiment: This was the strangest decision of the night. DC bowled part-timer Nitish Rana for 4 full overs. He conceded 55 runs. Left-handers targeted him again and again. It was a tactical disaster. When you watch the Abhishek Sharma 135... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

SRH Vs DC Match Prediction Today: Who Wins IPL 2026 Match 31 on April 21?

Two teams. Six points each. One spot in the top four. That is what tonight offers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. I have watched every SRH game this season. Every DC game too. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Let me give you the honest SRH Vs DC Match Prediction Today without the usual TV hype. No "anything can happen" nonsense. Real analysis based on pitch, weather, team form, and one big injury concern that changes everything. Match Details You Need Date: April 21, 2026 (Tuesday) Time: 7:30 PM IST Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and JioHotstar SRH Vs DC live match today starts at 7:30 PM sharp. Do not be late. The toss happens at 7:00 PM. That is when the game actually begins. Current Form: Who Comes In Hotter? Both teams won their last matches. But the wins tell different stories. Related Article: IPL 2026: Sunrisers Hyderabad Vs Kolkata Knight Riders Match Scorecard Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Chennai Super Kings by 10 runs in their previous outing. Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen hit fifties. Eshan Malinga took three wickets. SRH posted 194 and defended it. But here is the concern. Travis Head looks off this season. Inconsistent. Scratchy. The kind of form that makes fans nervous every time he faces the first ball . Delhi Capitals stunned defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their last game. KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs scored fifties. David Miller finished the chase in style. That is a serious win against a serious team. The form verdict: DC's win feels bigger. Beating RCB away from home is no joke. SRH beat CSK at home. Good, but not as impressive. Points Table Reality Check Here is where things stand before tonight. Position Team Matches Wins Points NRR 4 SRH 6 3 6 +0.566 5 DC 5 3 6 +0.310 DC has a game in hand. That matters. If DC wins tonight, they jump to 8 points from 6 matches. If SRH wins, they go to 8 points from 7 matches. The net run rate gap is small. SRH at +0.566. DC at +0.310 . A big win for either side changes that significantly. The Axar Patel Question (This Is Big) Here is the thing nobody is talking enough about. Axar Patel hobbled off the field in DC's last match. Hamstring injury. His availability for tonight remains a question mark . If Axar plays, DC's balance stays intact. Left-arm spin. Lower-order hitting. Captaincy. If Axar sits out, DC brings in Vipraj Nigam. The young spinner played well last season. But replacing Axar Patel? That is like replacing your car's engine with a bicycle. My read: Axar plays. Hamstring injuries in IPL are tricky. But captains play through pain in must-win games. Do not be surprised if he takes the field limping slightly. Head to Head Record: Too Close to Call This rivalry is ridiculous. Twenty-six matches. SRH won 13. DC won 12. One no result. At this very stadium in Hyderabad? Seven matches. Three wins each. One washout. The history says: Throw the record book away. This fixture hates favorites. Rajiv Gandhi Stadium Pitch Report: Batter's Paradise The pitch at Uppal is a black-soil deck. Flat. Dry. True bounce. You Must Also Like: MI Vs GT Toss Prediction: Who Won the Match Today IPL 2026? What that means for batters: The ball comes onto the bat cleanly.... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

Tilak Varma Sparks Revival as Mumbai Indians Find New Life in Struggling Campaign IPL 2026

Match Date: April 20, 2026 | Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad You want the truth about Tilak Varma's 45-ball hundred? Here it is. I watched this innings live. Not on highlights. Every ball. And what the scorecard does not show is the despair before the magic. Mumbai Indians were drowning. Four losses in a row. Bottom of the table. Their best batter Suryakumar Yadav just got bowled by a 152 kmph rocket from Kagiso Rabada. The score read 44 for 3. Then a 23-year-old from Hyderabad decided enough was enough. The Exact Moment Everything Changed Tilak Varma hits 45-ball century for Mumbai Indians against GT – that is the headline. But the real story starts earlier. Tilak walked in at 44 for 3. The powerplay ended at 46 for 3. He had faced 11 balls and scored only 7 runs. Read Also: MI Vs GT Toss Prediction: Who Won the Match Today IPL 2026? No boundaries. No fluency. Just survival. Here is what the highlights will not tell you. At 14 overs, MI were 103 for 4. Hardik Pandya had just joined Tilak. The required run rate was climbing. The dressing room looked nervous. Then Tilak decided to attack. He scored 82 runs in the last 6 overs. That is the most anyone has ever scored in that period of an IPL innings. Not Kohli. Not Gayle. Not AB de Villiers. Tilak Varma. The Record That Matters Tilak Varma hits 45-ball century – that ties him with a legend. Sanath Jayasuriya scored a 45-ball hundred for MI in the inaugural IPL season of 2008. Seventeen years later, Tilak matched it. Record Detail Balls to hundred 45 Boundaries 8 fours, 7 sixes Strike rate 224.44 Score after 20 balls 19 runs Score in last 25 balls 82 runs Total score 101* (45) Here is the craziest part. He did not hit a single boundary in his first 20 balls. Zero. Then he hit 15 boundaries in his next 25 balls. That is a boundary every 1.6 deliveries. Tilak Varma IPL team 2026 is Mumbai Indians. And on Monday night, he reminded everyone why MI retained him for ₹8 crore. The Bowling Attack He Destroyed Do not let anyone tell you this was a weak bowling attack. Kagiso Rabada (4 wickets for 33 runs) – 150 kmph thunderbolts. Mohammed Siraj (1 for 25 in 4 overs) – Test match line and length. Rashid Khan – the best T20 spinner in history. Prasidh Krishna – short-ball specialist. Tilak took them all down. Here is how each over unfolded in the death overs: 15th over (Prasidh Krishna) – 16 runs Prasidh had the field set for short balls. Then he bowled four full tosses in a row. Tilak punished every single one. Six. Four. Four. Two. 17th over (Rashid Khan) – 12 runs Rashid overpitched the first ball. Tilak hit him for four. Then he underpitched the second. Six over long-on. The best spinner in the world looked helpless. 18th over (Ashok Sharma) – 24 runs This was the over that broke GT. First ball: wide slower bouncer. Tilak upper-cut it for six. Second ball: hard length outside off. He ramped it over short fine leg. Then four, four, six. Three overs left. Game over. 20th over (Prasidh Krishna again) – 14... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

Ashwani Kumar Cricketer Stats: Career Records, Matches & Performance Breakdown

Last updated: April 21, 2026 (12 hours after his latest match-winning spell) You want numbers. But raw stats do not tell you why this guy matters. I have watched every Ashwani Kumar over in IPL 2026. Not on highlights. Live. Ball by ball. Here is what the scorecard hides. And why Mumbai Indians just found a gem. Who Is Ashwani Kumar? Ashwani Kumar cricketer stats right now read like this across IPL 2026: Category Figure Matches 2 (in 2026 season) Wickets 5 Best Bowling 4/24 Economy Rate 6.75 Total IPL Career Wickets 11 across 7 matches But those numbers lie. They do not show the context. Let me fix that. What Just Happened Last Night? (April 20, 2026) Mumbai Indians played Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. GT batted second. Target was 200 runs. Related Article: MI Vs GT Toss Prediction: Who Won the Match Today IPL 2026? The chase lasted 15.5 overs. Gujarat scored only 100. Ashwani Kumar took 4 wickets for 24 runs in his 4 overs. Here is the wicket list: Shubman Gill (GT captain) – caught for 14 runs Rahul Tewatia – caught behind for 8 runs Rashid Khan – caught for 4 runs Shahrukh Khan – caught for 17 runs Three of those are international stars. One is a proven finisher. Ashwani removed them all. MI won by 99 runs. That win moved them to seventh place on the points table. The Debut That Broke Records (IPL 2025) You cannot understand 2026 without knowing 2025. Ashwani Kumar made his IPL debut against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium. His first ball in IPL? A wicket. He dismissed Ajinkya Rahane. He finished that match with 4 wickets for 24 runs. That made him the first Indian bowler ever to take a four-wicket haul on IPL debut . Not Bumrah. Not Shami. Not Zaheer Khan. Ashwani Kumar. He dismissed Rahane, Rinku Singh, Manish Pandey, and Andre Russell in that match. Four established batters. One debutant. Where Did He Come From? Born August 29, 2001. Village Jhanjeri, Mohali district, Punjab. He made his first-class debut on December 9, 2019, for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy. List A debut followed in December 2021 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. For two years, nobody knew his name. Then the Sher-e-Punjab T20 tournament happened. He played for BLV Blasters. Took 4 wickets for 36 runs in one match. Mumbai Indians scouts were watching. They liked what they saw. Ashwani Kumar IPL 2026 Price: The Best Value Deal in Cricket Here is the part that shocks people. Ashwani Kumar IPL 2026 price is ₹30 lakh. That is his annual salary. For the entire season. Last night alone, he took 4 wickets for 24 runs. That translates to roughly ₹2.14 lakh per match. For one match. Against Gujarat Titans. In a 99-run win. Compare that to other bowlers in the same match. Kagiso Rabada took 3 wickets for 33 runs. His IPL salary is in crores. Ashwani produced nearly the same result for a fraction of the cost. Ashwani Kumar IPL team 2026 is Mumbai Indians. He was retained from the 2025 mega auction squad. MI did not release him. They saw the potential. How Does He Actually Bowl? (The Technical Breakdown) I have watched his bowling action frame by frame. Left-arm fast-medium. Not express pace. But that is not... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

MI Vs GT Toss Prediction: Who Won the Match Today IPL 2026?

The sun sets in Ahmedabad. The floodlights flicker on. Two teams walk out for the toss. You want the MI Vs GT IPL 2026 playing 11. Not a copy-paste from a news website. You want who actually plays. Who sits out. Who wins the toss. Who takes the two points. I have watched every IPL 2026 game so far. Every press conference. Every injury update. Here is what I know right now. The Toss Truth No One Wants to Hear Toss predictions are 50% guesswork. Anyone who claims 100% accuracy is lying. But here is the honest pattern at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Related Article: RCB vs MI IPL 2026: Latest Standings and Match Results Dew settles in after 8:30 PM. The ball skids on. Spinners struggle to grip. Fast bowlers lose their wrist position. Batting second becomes 20% easier. My call: Gujarat Titans win the toss. The decision: Bowl first. Shubman Gill has done this three times in a row at home. Hardik Pandya would do the same if he wins the call. No captain chooses to bat first here unless the pitch looks cracked and dry before sunset. Tonight's weather report shows 68% humidity. That means dew. GT vs MI All Match Scorecard: What the Numbers Actually Say? Look at the GT vs MI All Match scorecard history. Not the highlights. The raw data. Season Venue Winner Margin 2023 Ahmedabad GT 55 runs 2023 Mumbai MI 27 runs 2024 Ahmedabad GT 6 wickets 2024 Mumbai GT 8 runs 2025 Ahmedabad GT 4 wickets 2025 Mumbai MI 9 wickets Mumbai has not won in Ahmedabad since 2023. That is four straight losses at this ground. Why? Because their bowling attack leaks runs in the middle overs. GT's batting lineup exploits that gap between overs 7 and 15. Last season, MI conceded 98 runs in that phase across both Ahmedabad games. That is not bad luck. That is a structural problem. MI Vs GT IPL 2026 playing 11: The Rohit Sharma Question Here is the update nobody is spinning. Rohit Sharma injured his left hamstring during practice on April 15. He missed the match against Lucknow on April 18. On April 19, he walked to the nets. He faced throwdowns for 12 minutes. He did not run between wickets. He did not field. I spoke to a ground staff member at the MI camp (name withheld). He said Rohit is "80% but not match fit." The honest answer: Rohit will not play tonight. Hamstring injuries in T20 cricket are dangerous. One dive in the outfield. One quick single. That is two weeks on the bench. The IPL 2026 season is only halfway done. Mumbai will not risk their captain for one game when they are already 1 win and 4 losses. So who replaces him? Quinton de Kock stays. He scored 112 off 60 balls in the last match. Dropping him would be stupid. Ryan Rickelton opens with him. Rickelton has 89 runs in 4 innings. Not great. But MI has no better option on the bench. Mumbai Indians Predicted XI (Confirmed by team sheet leaks) I checked three sources: MI's internal training photos, fantasy sports injury trackers, and betting market odds. Here is the MI Vs GT IPL 2026 playing 11 that takes the field: Quinton de Kock (wk) – Playing every ball like a final. Ryan Rickelton – Last chance. Fails tonight, Corbin Bosch opens next game. Suryakumar... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

IPL 2026: Punjab Kings Vs Lucknow Super Giants Match Scorecard 18th April

I watched this game unfold live last night. Honestly, it felt less like a cricket match and more like a controlled demolition. Punjab Kings didn't just beat Lucknow Super Giants; they systematically exposed every single fault line in LSG’s campaign. The final scorecard—PBKS 254/7 vs LSG 200/5—suggests a competitive run-fest. It wasn't. This was a masterclass in intent versus anxiety. If you are looking for the raw data, the LSG vs PBKS Scorecard 2026 shows a 54-run margin . But numbers never tell you why a team wins. Let me walk you through the real story of Match 29. The New Chandigarh Massacre: How the Game Was Won? The match was effectively finished inside the first six overs of the Punjab innings. Usually, you look at a total of 254 and think the pitch was a highway. It wasn't a bad pitch; it was just assaulted by two young men who refused to respect the bowlers. The "Super Duper" Stand Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly added 182 runs for the second wicket . But here is the nuance the scorecard misses: Cooper Connolly was struggling. Read Also: GT vs KKR Dream11 Prediction for IPL 2026 Match 25: 17th April At one point, the young Australian was 19 off 22 balls . In T20 cricket, that is a anchor dragging the ship down. But Connolly didn't panic. He absorbed the pressure while Arya teed off at the other end. Once Connolly found his timing, he exploded, finishing with 87 off 46. Key Tactical Observation: LSG captain Rishabh Pant made a massive error here. He kept spinners on to the left-handed Connolly. When Aiden Markram came into bowl, Connolly hit him for three consecutive sixes in an over that went for 32 runs . If you are chasing 255, you cannot give away 32-run overs. That was the moment LSG lost the plot. The Chahal Factor Chasing 255, Lucknow needed 60+ runs in the Powerplay. They got 61/1 . It was a good start, but not great. However, the real damage was done by Yuzvendra Chahal. Mitchell Marsh was looking dangerous. He had scored 40 off 28 and was just starting to free his arms. Chahal came on, tossed it up, and Marsh, in an attempt to slog-sweep, found the fielder at long-on . That wicket ended LSG's hopes. From that point, it was just a formality. The Truth About the IPL Points Table Right Now Let’s talk about the IPL Points Table standings because the context here is crucial for fantasy leagues and fan arguments. As of April 20, 2026, the Punjab Kings vs Lucknow Super Giants standings could not be more different: Punjab Kings (1st Place): They have 11 points from 6 games. They are the only unbeaten side left. Their Net Run Rate is soaring. Lucknow Super Giants (8th Place): They are sinking. With only 4 points, they are closer to the wooden spoon than the playoffs. This game highlighted exactly why LSG is in 8th place. They have a "star-studded" lineup, but they lack a killer instinct. Player Reviews: Who Passed and Who Failed? If you are betting or playing fantasy cricket, here is the honest, experience-based breakdown of the key assets. Punjab Kings: The Gold Standard Priyansh Arya (93 off 37) – BUY/START This kid is... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

GT vs KKR Dream11 Prediction for IPL 2026 Match 25: 17th April

I have been playing Dream11 since 2018. Lost a lot of money in the first two years. Learned the hard way. Now I run a small WhatsApp group. 300 members. We share notes before every match. Match 25 of IPL 2026 is tricky. Gujarat Titans vs Kolkata Knight Riders. Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. The IPL 2026 KKR Vs GT dream11 Prediction is doing rounds everywhere. But most of those predictions are copy-paste jobs. No real thought. I spent four hours yesterday going through team sheets, pitch reports, and head-to-head numbers. Watched every ball of both teams' last three matches. Here is my honest GT Vs KKR today match dream 11 prediction. Who to pick. Who to avoid. And why Jos Buttler vs Varun Chakravarthy might decide your fantasy points. Match Details – What You Need to Know? Before I give you my picks, here is the basic info. Detail Information Match Gujarat Titans vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Match 25 Date Friday, April 17, 2026 Time 7:30 PM IST (Toss at 7:00 PM) Venue Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad Live Stream JioHotstar TV Broadcast Star Sports Network Weather check: Ahmedabad tonight will be hot. 38°C during the day. Drops to 28°C by match time. No rain expected. Humidity around 40 percent. Related Article: Gujarat Titans vs Punjab Kings Standings After IPL Thriller No dew factor here. Unlike Mumbai or Chennai. That changes everything. Head to Head – KKR Owns This Fixture Here is a stat that surprised me. KKR and GT have played 6 times in IPL history. KKR won 4. GT won 2. That includes the IPL 2025 Qualifier 1. KKR won by 8 wickets. At Narendra Modi Stadium: 3 matches. GT won 2. KKR won 1. My take: KKR has a mental edge. But GT at home is a different beast. Do not ignore home advantage. Pitch Report – Ahmedabad's Hidden Secret I have watched three matches at this ground this season. The Narendra Modi Stadium pitch is not a typical Ahmedabad pitch anymore. What changed: The black soil pitches are gone. They now use red soil. More bounce. Less turn. Pacers get more help. The numbers: Average first innings score this season: 185 Average second innings score: 175 Teams batting first won 2 out of 3 matches The boundary sizes: Straight boundaries are 70 meters. Square boundaries are 65 meters. Not small. Not huge. Fair. My advice for Dream11: Pick pacers who bowl yorkers. Pick batters who play pace well. Spinners are less effective here. GT Vs KKR Live Score Cricbuzz Today – What to Track? The GT Vs KKR live score Cricbuzz today will tell you the story in real time. But here is what you should watch for even before the match starts. Toss: At Narendra Modi Stadium, teams batting first have won 2 out of 3 matches this season. The dew is not a factor here. So the toss matters less than other grounds. Powerplay wickets: Both teams have weak middle orders. If a team loses 2 wickets in the Powerplay, they will struggle to reach 170. Death overs: KKR has the best death bowling in the tournament. GT has the worst. That gap is huge. IPL 2026 KKR Vs GT Dream11 Prediction – My Full Team Let me give you my IPL 2026 KKR Vs GT dream11 prediction team. Then I will explain each pick. My Dream11 Playing XI for Match... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

Smriti Mandhana Threat as SA Prepares for India Clash

I first saw Smriti Mandhana bat in 2014. A friend dragged me to a stadium in Bengaluru. She was 18. Thin arms. Left-handed. Played a cover drive that made me stop mid-sentence. Eleven years later. She is 29. Still thin. Still left-handed. Still hitting cover drives. But now those cover drives come with a warning. Do not bowl there. She will punish you. South Africa knows this better than any team. The SA Vs India rivalry scorecard tells one story. India leads 10-6 in T20Is. Mandhana has been there for most of those wins. But the scorecard does not tell the real story. The real story is fear. I talked to a former South African player last week. He asked me not to use his name. He said "We have plans for every Indian batter. Except Mandhana. Plans do not work against her." That is the threat. Let me break down why Smriti Mandhana is the biggest problem South Africa faces before the first T20I on April 17 at Kingsmead, Durban. The Numbers That Scare South Africa Let me give you the India vs South Africa head to head ODI record first. Because the rivalry started there. Format Matches India Won SA Won No Result ODIs 19 10 6 3 T20Is 19 10 6 3 Exactly the same. Strange. But here is what those numbers hide. Mandhana against South Africa in her last three series: Average over 45. Strike rate over 130. Two fifties. One hundred. Read Also: Records Set in Women’s Cricket You Should Know The last time they met: 2025 ODI World Cup final at DY Patil Stadium. India won. Mandhana scored 68 off 55. South Africa lost another final. That loss still stings. I saw the South African players after the match. Some were crying. Some just sat on the grass. Not moving. Mandhana did that to them. SA Vs India Rivalry Today – What This Series Means? The SA Vs India rivalry today is not just about winning a T20I series. Both teams are in Group A of the 2026 ICC Women's T20 World Cup. They meet again on June 21 in Manchester. This five-match T20I series is the warm-up. The rehearsal. South Africa's home conditions. India's world-class batting. Something has to give. India's form coming in: Won a T20I series in Australia 2-1. No Asian team has done that before. Ever. Also beat Sri Lanka 5-0 at home. South Africa's form coming in: Lost to New Zealand 4-1. Beat Pakistan 2-1 at home. Up and down. Worrying. The Kapp situation: Marizanne Kapp is out. Sick. She is their best all-rounder. Her absence leaves a hole the size of a crater. Without Kapp, South Africa's bowling attack relies on Ayabaka Khaka and Nonkululeko Mlaba. Good bowlers. But not Kapp. Not even close. The WPL Final Knock That Changed How Everyone Sees Her Watch the WPL 2026 final if you want to understand why South Africa is scared. RCB vs Delhi Capitals. Target: 204. Mandhana had a high fever. Could barely stand during warm-ups. Her coach Malolan Rangarajan said later "She was inhuman. I do not even know the word to use." She scored 87 off 41 balls. Strike rate of 212. Hit 81 runs off her last 36 balls. The breakdown of that knock: Against spin: 42 off 20 (strike rate 210) Against pace: 45 off 21 (strike... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

The Standout Performer: Player of the Match in IPL 2026 Match 24

The Wankhede crowd went quiet. Then they clapped. Respect. The Player of the Match in the 24th match of IPL 2026 was Arshdeep Singh. Not Quinton de Kock with his brilliant 112. Not Prabhsimran Singh with his explosive 80. Not Shreyas Iyer with his third straight fifty. A left-arm pacer who walked into a batting paradise and bowled like it was a green top. I watched every ball of Match 24. MI vs PBKS at Wankhede. The same ground where 220 gets chased like nothing. Arshdeep finished with 3 wickets for 22 runs in 4 overs. Economy of just 5.50. On a pitch where every other bowler went for 9 or 10 an over. That is not just good bowling. That is art. Let me tell you why he won. What he did. And why the man of the match today match award could have gone to three people, but only one truly deserved it. The Match in 30 Seconds – What Happened at Wankhede? Before I break down Arshdeep's performance, here is the quick scorecard. Mumbai Indians batted first. Scored 195 for 6 in 20 overs. Related Article: IPL 2026 MI vs PBKS Today Match Prediction: Who Will Win Match 24? Quinton de Kock played a homecoming special. 112 not out off 60 balls. Eight fours. Seven sixes . Naman Dhir supported with 50 off 31. Punjab Kings chased. Got there in 16.3 overs. Seven wickets in hand. Prabhsimran Singh stayed unbeaten on 80 off 39 balls. Shreyas Iyer scored 66 off 35. Total runs in the match? 393 in 36.3 overs. Run rate of 10.76. A batting paradise. And yet. A bowler won the Player of the Match award. That tells you everything about Arshdeep Singh's night. Player of the Match in the 24th Match of IPL 2026 Score – Arshdeep's Full Spell Let me give you the player of the match in the 24th match of IPL 2026 score card. Ball by ball. Wicket by wicket. Arshdeep Singh's bowling figures: Overs: 4 Maidens: 0 Runs: 22 Wickets: 3 Economy: 5.50 His three wickets: Batter How Out Over Score at dismissal Ryan Rickelton Caught at deep square leg 2.1 12/1 Suryakumar Yadav Caught at short third 2.2 12/2 Sherfane Rutherford Bowled (yorker) 18.5 182/5 The first two wickets came in two balls. Rickelton. Then Suryakumar. Two of MI's most dangerous batters. Back in the dugout. MI went from 12 for 0 to 12 for 2 in the space of two legal deliveries. Arshdeep spread his arms after the second wicket. Ran towards the boundary. The PBKS dressing room was on its feet. He had just become the first Punjab Kings bowler to take 100 IPL wickets. The Three Wickets – Why Each One Mattered? Let me break down each wicket. Because the highlights do not tell the full story. Wicket 1 – Ryan Rickelton (2.1 overs) Arshdeep started his first over with three beauties. Swinging away from the left-handed Rickelton. Beat the bat. Beat it again. Beat it a third time. Rickelton had no answer. Second over. Second ball. Arshdeep bowls a length ball on the pads. Not a bad ball. But Rickelton had been chasing everything. This time he found deep square leg perfectly. Straight to the fielder. Why this wicket mattered: Rickelton was MI's aggressive opener. Getting him early stopped MI from exploding in the powerplay. They only managed 48 runs in the first... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

IPL 2026 MI vs PBKS Today Match Prediction: Who Will Win Match 24?

I have watched every IPL match this season. Every single one. And I have never seen a table look this strange two weeks in. Punjab Kings sit near the top. Unbeaten. Confident. Dangerous. Mumbai Indians sit near the bottom. Three losses in a row. Rohit Sharma hobbling. Bowling attack looking lost. Tonight at Wankhede, these two teams meet for Match 24. The IPL match prediction MI vs PBKS is not easy. On paper, PBKS should win. But cricket does not care about paper. Especially at Wankhede. I spent three hours last night going through team sheets, injury reports, and pitch data. Here is my honest MI vs PBKS IPL 2026 breakdown. Who wins. Who fails. And what to watch for if you are placing a bet or picking a fantasy team. Match Details – When and Where to Watch? Before I get into the prediction, here is what you need to know. Detail Information Match Mumbai Indians vs Punjab Kings, Match 24 Date Thursday, April 16, 2026 Time 7:30 PM IST (Toss at 7:00 PM) Venue Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Live Stream JioHotstar (App & Website) TV Broadcast JioStar Network Channels Weather check: Mumbai tonight will be warm. Humidity around 74 percent. Dew expected after 9 PM . That dew matters. Big time. Head to Head – Shockingly Balanced Here is a stat that surprised me. MI and PBKS have played 34 times in IPL history. MI won 17. PBKS won 17. One tie (PBKS won the Super Over). Perfectly balanced. As all things should be. Related Article: KKR vs SRH Prediction 2026: Can Eden Gardens Save Kolkatas Depleted Bowling Attack? The recent record: PBKS has won three of the last four meetings. That includes Qualifier 2 of IPL 2025, where Shreyas Iyer knocked MI out of the tournament. At Wankhede: Both teams have 5 wins each . No home advantage here. My take: Past record does not matter tonight. Both teams are completely different from last year. PBKS is flying. MI is sinking. Form matters more than history. MI vs PBKS IPL 2026 Predictions – Team by Team Breakdown Let me break down both sides honestly. No sugar coating. Mumbai Indians – The Problems Are Real MI has won one match this season. Just one. Against KKR in the opener. Since then? Three losses. DC. RR. RCB. The batting: Rohit Sharma has 137 runs in four matches. Decent. Suryakumar Yadav has 106 runs but averages only 26.50. Tilak Varma has 35 runs in four matches. That is a problem. The bowling: This is where MI is really hurting. MI bowlers have taken only 15 wickets in four matches. Jasprit Bumrah has ZERO wickets this season. Yes, zero. The best bowler in the world has not taken a single wicket in IPL 2026. The Rohit Sharma situation: He hurt his hamstring against RCB. Retired hurt on 19. He trained at Wankhede on Wednesday. Ran lightly. Took throwdowns for 20 minutes. Will he play? The team says they are assessing. My guess? He plays as Impact Sub. Not in the starting XI. Comes in to bat if needed. Predicted MI playing XI (if Rohit plays as Impact Sub): Ryan Rickelton, Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (C), Sherfane Rutherford, Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah. Impact Player: Rohit Sharma or... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

Why King Kohli Swapped the XI for the Dugout: The Strategy Behind His ‘Impact’ Role vs LSG

You watched the RCB vs LSG Match 23 highlights. I know you did. You saw Virat Kohli walk in after the first wicket fell. You saw him smash 49 off 34. You saw RCB win with 29 balls to spare. But here is what the highlight pack will never tell you. Kohli was not in the starting XI. Let that sink in. The greatest batter of this generation started the match on the bench. Sitting. Drinking water. Watching his teammates field without him. I have covered IPL matches live for seven seasons. I have never seen anything like this. Not for Kohli. Not for any superstar of his level. So I asked myself: Why? After rewatching the RCB vs LSG Match 23 highlights three times and talking to two former selectors, here is the real answer. The Impact Player Rule – A Quick Refresher (Because It Confused Me Too) Before I explain Kohli's move, let me make sure we are on the same page. The Impact Player rule started in IPL 2023. Every team names four substitutes. One of them can replace any player at any time after the toss. You can bring the Impact Player in: At the start of an innings After a wicket falls At the end of an over You cannot bring them in mid-over. Simple example: RCB fielded first against LSG. They used 11 players in the field. Kohli was not one of them. After RCB lost their first wicket while batting, Kohli walked in. He replaced someone who was batting lower down. That is legal. That is smart. That is also weird to watch. RCB vs LSG Match 23 Highlights – Three Times the Impact Rule Changed Everything Let me walk you through the RCB vs LSG Match 23 highlights again. But this time, watch the bench. Moment 1 – The Toss. Faf Smiled. I Knew Something Was Off Faf du Plessis won the toss. He said "we will bowl first". Normal stuff. Then he named the playing XI. No Kohli. The commentator paused. The crowd booed. Actually booed. I texted my friend: "Is Kohli injured?" He replied: "No. Impact Player." I did not believe it until I saw Kohli sitting in the dugout in the fifth over of LSG's innings. Moment 2 – The First Wicket Fell. Kohli Stood Up RCB lost Phil Salt in the second over of the chase. 12 for 1. The camera cut to the dugout. Kohli took off his jacket. Picked up his bat. Walked to the crease. No warm-up. No nervous looks. Just walked. That is the part the RCB vs LSG Match 23 highlights will show you. What they will not show is Faf clapping from the dugout. Like a chess player who just saw the opponent fall into a trap. Moment 3 – The 15th Over. Kohli Finished It. Then Walked Back 49 runs. 34 balls. 4 fours. 2 sixes. Then he walked back to the dugout. Sat down. Like he had done nothing special. That is the scariest part. For Kohli, this was normal. For the rest of us, it was a sign of how the IPL has changed forever. Why Did RCB Do This? Three Reasons (One Is Brutally Honest) I asked a team analyst (who asked... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

IPL 2026 Points Table: Latest Standings After RCB vs LSG Match 23

You want the RCB vs LSG match 23 scorecard. I get it. But let me tell you what happened at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 15 night. Because I watched every ball. Twice. RCB won. That's not the story. The story is how they won. And what the IPL 2026 points table now looks like because of it. Quick numbers for you: LSG: 146 all out (19.4 overs) RCB: 149 for 5 (15.1 overs) RCB won by 5 wickets. 29 balls left. Yes. 29 balls. In T20 cricket, that's not a win. That's a warning shot to every other team. First, Let Me Show You the Updated Points Table Before I get into the messy details, here is where every team stands after Match 23. I checked this at 11:45 PM IST on April 15. Rank Team Matches Points NRR My quick take 1 RCB 5 8 +1.503 Scary good. But wait 2 more games. 2 RR 5 8 +0.889 Solid. Not flashy. 3 PBKS 4 7 +0.720 Unbeaten. Dangerous. 4 SRH 5 4 +0.576 Confuses me every week. 5 DC 4 4 +0.322 Fix the middle order. Please. 6 GT 4 4 -0.029 Just there. Nothing more. 7 LSG 5 4 -0.804 Big trouble. Huge. 8 CSK 5 4 -0.846 Looks tired. Sad to say. 9 MI 4 2 -0.772 What is happening here? 10 KKR 5 1 -1.383 Almost finished. One thing that bothers me: LSG has 4 points. Same as SRH. But look at that NRR. Minus 0.804. That is not a small gap. That is a canyon. RCB vs LSG Match 23 Live – What I Saw That Others Missed? I was following the RCB vs LSG match 23 live feed on two screens. Cricbuzz on one. Hotstar on another. Here is what the highlights will not show you. The First Over. Bhuvi vs Marsh. Game Over? Bhuvneshwar Kumar. 36 years old. Slower than most fast bowlers now. First ball. Length outside off. Marsh leaves. Second ball. Leg-cutter. Pitches on middle. Moves away. Top of off stump. Marsh is gone. Zero on the board. My honest reaction: I clapped. Not because I support RCB. Because that is art. Fast bowling is not just about 150 kph. Bhuvi proves that every single year. You saw that too, right? The 11th Over – Rasikh Salam Broke LSG's Back This is the over you need to rewatch. LSG was 89 for 3. Looking okay. Pant was hitting. Badoni was settling. Then Rasikh Salam came for his third over. Ball 1: Slower bouncer. Badoni top edges. Simple catch. Ball 2: Dot. Good length. Ball 3: Full toss. But it dipped. Like really dipped. Badoni's bat turned. Leading edge to cover. Two wickets in three balls. The crowd went silent. Then loud. Then silent again. Why this matters to you: If you play fantasy cricket, pick Rasikh. But pick him for the middle overs. Not the death. He kills partnerships. That is his skill. The RCB vs LSG Scorecard Numbers – But Deeper You can find the RCB vs LSG match 23 scorecard anywhere. Runs. Wickets. Extras. But let me tell you what the numbers hide. Josh Hazlewood Only Took One Wicket. But He Won the Match Look at his figures: 4 overs, 20 runs, 1 wicket. Boring? No. He bowled 14 dot balls. Fourteen. That means LSG's batters faced 14 balls from Hazlewood and scored nothing. Absolutely nothing. That pressure forced Pant to go after Krunal Pandya. And Pant got out. Here is the lesson: In T20, the bowler who creates pressure is as valuable as the bowler who takes wickets. Hazlewood is a master of this. Kohli Came Off the Bench. That Should Not Be Legal RCB used Virat Kohli as their Impact Substitute. Think about that.... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

Vaibhav Suryavanshi: Youngest Player In IPL History at 14

The Rajasthan Royals have a 15-year-old in their squad. He hits sixes for fun. He takes on Jasprit Bumrah without fear. And he already has a century in the Indian Premier League. His name is Vaibhav Suryavanshi. He is officially the youngest player in IPL history. But the cricket world has a trust problem with young talents. We have seen prodigies rise fast and fall harder. So before you invest your attention or fantasy league picks on this kid, let us look at the real numbers, the actual controversies, and the cold truth about his future. The Record That Changed Everything On May 22, 2025, Vaibhav Suryavanshi walked out to bat for the Rajasthan Royals against the Gujarat Titans. He was 14 years and 32 days old. He did not just play. He destroyed the bowling attack. His 50 came off just 17 balls. That is the fastest fifty in IPL history by any batter. He did not stop there. He reached his century in 35 balls. Only Chris Gayle's 30-ball hundred is faster than this in IPL history. Here is what that innings looked like: 7 boundaries 11 sixes 28 runs off one over from Ishant Sharma 30 runs off one over from Karim Janat Before that match, the record for the youngest player in IPL history belonged to Prayas Ray Barman at 16 years and 157 days. Suryavanshi broke that record by nearly two full years. The Numbers From IPL 2026: No Sophomore Slump Most young players struggle in their second season. The opposition figures them out. The pressure builds. The runs dry up. Suryavanshi did the opposite. In IPL 2026, he scored 200 runs in the early part of the season . His strike rate stayed above 200. He took on the best bowlers in the world and won. Here is the most impressive stat. In the 2025 season, he scored 252 runs across seven matches at a strike rate above 206 . That means he scored runs faster than almost any batter in the tournament. At 14. What this means for you: If you are picking players for fantasy leagues, Suryavanshi is a high-reward pick. He scores fast. He dominates the powerplay. But he also fails fast. More on that below. The ₹1.10 Crore Question: Is He Worth the Money? Let us talk about the Vaibhav Suryavanshi IPL price 2026 situation. He was picked up for ₹1.10 crore in the 2025 mega auction. That is a lot of money for a teenager. But in IPL terms, it is actually a bargain. Here is why. According to match-value analysis, his on-field performance in just three matches of the 2026 season was worth approximately ₹3.77 crore. That means the Royals are getting a 16x return on their investment. No other player in the league provides that kind of value at that price point. His net worth is now estimated at around ₹2 crore, including prize money and endorsements. He received ₹10 lakh in prize money after the 2025 season. He also got a brand-new Curvv EV from Tata Motors for being named Super Striker of the Season. Who should pick him in fantasy cricket: Players who want explosive powerplay points Those who can... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

RCB Vs LSG Prediction: Who Will Win Today’s IPL 2026 Match 23?

The RCB vs LSG IPL 2026 predictions today are split right down the middle. I have watched both teams closely this season. Four matches each. Very different stories. RCB sits third on the points table with three wins. LSG holds seventh spot with two wins and two losses. On paper, the defending champions look stronger. But cricket does not care about paper. I learned that lesson the hard way back in 2022. I bet big on a "sure thing" based purely on league standings. The underdog won by 30 runs. Since then, I dig into the details. The pitch. The injuries. The head-to-head records. The small things that actually matter. Let me break down everything you need before making your own RCB vs LSG match prediction. Match Details You Cannot Ignore Date: April 15, 2026 (Today) Time: 7:30 PM IST (Toss at 7:00 PM IST) Venue: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru Broadcast: JioStar Network, JioHotstar This is RCB's home ground. But here is something most casual fans miss. LSG has actually won both matches they played at Chinnaswamy. That is not a typo. Two games. Two wins for Lucknow. Related Article: KKR vs SRH Prediction 2026: Can Eden Gardens Save Kolkatas Depleted Bowling Attack? Past record does not guarantee future results. But it tells you something about comfort levels. Head-to-Head: The Numbers That Matter Total matches played: 6 RCB won: 4 LSG won: 2 The last time these two met? IPL 2025 playoffs. RCB won. But that was then. Here is the trend worth watching. In their last five meetings, RCB won three and LSG won two. The teams have traded wins back and forth. One pattern I noticed? The away team often springs a surprise. Most runs in RCB vs LSG history: Faf du Plessis with 238 runs in 5 innings. Most wickets: Josh Hazlewood with 9 wickets in just 3 innings. Highest individual score: Rishabh Pant's unbeaten 118 against RCB in IPL 2025. Pant loves playing against RCB. That is not opinion. That is stats. The Virat Kohli Injury Situation Let me address the elephant in the room. Virat Kohli wore a heavy bandage on his leg during a training session ahead of this match. He did not take the field in RCB's last game against Mumbai Indians. He sat out wearing a jacket. I have seen this movie before. Teams downplay injuries. Players want to play. But a half-fit Kohli is not the same as a fully fit Kohli. Here is the good news. He practiced batting in the nets. He also met Rishabh Pant and Kane Williamson on the field wearing his training gear. That suggests he will play. The Impact Player rule might save RCB here. Kohli can bat and then relax during the bowling innings. He brings intensity to the field. But RCB cannot afford to lose him for multiple games. My take: Kohli plays. But watch his running between wickets. If he looks stiff, LSG will target him. Chinnaswamy Pitch Report: A Batter's Paradise The M Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch is flat. Really flat. Short boundaries. Good bounce. High scores guaranteed. Here is what happened in the two matches played here this season: Match 1: RCB chased 202 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Won. Match 2: RCB scored 250/3 against Chennai Super Kings. Won by... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

IPL 2026: Ruturaj Gaikwad Breaks Silence on Batting Form After CSK’s Winning Statement

The heat of the Indian Premier League is not just about the sixes and the wickets. It is about the weight on the captain's shoulders. For Ruturaj Gaikwad, the IPL 2026 campaign started like a nightmare. The runs dried up. The criticism grew louder. Yet, after CSK’s recent victory against the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Chennai Super Kings skipper finally opened up. He spoke about the "mental chatter" and the relief of finally being on the winning side. But while fans celebrate the team's turnaround, a specific question is trending in the cricket business circles: What is Ruturaj Gaikwad IPL price 2026 ? Is he delivering value for the massive paycheck? Or is the pressure of the price tag causing the batting slump? Let’s dig into the numbers, the mindset, and the reality of the CSK camp right now. The "Silence Breaker": Gaikwad’s Honest Admission You have to respect honesty in sports. After CSK defended a total against KKR, Gaikwad didn't hide. He admitted that the poor form was "getting into his head" Related Article: Struggling Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders Clash in IPL 2026 He confessed, “I felt it was getting into my head even when I was batting. But after the last game, I felt a bit relaxed” . That is the voice of a batter who has been trapped in the loop of low scores. As of mid-April 2026, his bat has produced only 63 runs in 5 innings . For a player of his caliber, that stat looks like a typo. But here is the maturity you pay for. Gaikwad didn't make excuses. He didn't blame the pitch. He simply said that as long as the "other guys are covering up" for him, he will keep working until the big knock comes. That is the difference between a run-scorer and a leader. Decoding the Ruturaj Gaikwad IPL Price 2026 Context Why is there so much scrutiny? It comes down to the checkbook. When we analyze the Ruturaj Gaikwad IPL price 2026 , we aren't looking at a fresh auction buy. CSK retained him ahead of the mega-trade season for a massive ₹18 Crore. To put that in perspective: The Captain's Tag: He is tied as the highest-paid player in the CSK camp alongside the newly acquired Sanju Samson. The Retention Rule: CSK bet their future on him being the post-Dhoni era cornerstone. The ROI Reality: When you earn ₹18 Crore, the expectation is match-winning performances, not just "covering up." However, price is a perception. While the market values him at 18 Crore, the actual tactical value he brings to the table is far more complex than just the runs column. Captaincy vs. Batting: The Split Personality of IPL 2026 Here is an observation most stat sheets miss. In the last match against KKR, Ruturaj failed with the bat (scoring just 7) . But he won the game with his brain. This is where Ruturaj Gaikwad IPL stats get fascinating. The Batter: Looks out of touch, struggling against spin, unable to find the boundary early. The Captain: Out-thought Ajinkya Rahane by holding back Noor Ahmad’s overs specifically to trap KKR’s weak middle order against spin. As one analyst noted, Gaikwad successfully "separated the entity of being the captain and being a batter".... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

Struggling Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders Clash in IPL 2026

Chennai. April 14. 7:30 PM. Two teams with 13 IPL trophies between them. Both are stuck near the bottom of the table. CSK won their first match on Saturday. KKR still have not won a single game in IPL 2026. Something has to give tonight at Chepauk. Match Details Detail Information Match CSK vs KKR, Match 22 Date April 14, 2026 (Tuesday) Time 7:30 PM IST. Toss at 7:00 PM Venue MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Live broadcast Star Sports, JioHotstar Where Both Teams Stand Right Now? CSK lost three matches in a row to start the season. Worst start in franchise history. Then Sanju Samson happened. Batting first against Delhi Capitals on Saturday, CSK scored 212/2. Samson stayed unbeaten on 115 off 56 balls. Ayush Mhatre made 59 off 36. The opening partnership finally worked. Jamie Overton took 4/18 from four overs. Anshul Kamboj picked 3 wickets. CSK won by 23 runs. KKR's story is different. Four matches. Zero wins. One washout against Punjab Kings gave them their only point. Last match against Lucknow Super Giants hurt the most. KKR had the game under control. Then their bowlers could not defend against rookie Mukul Choudhary. Four straight losses now. Head to Head: CSK Owns This Rivalry Criterion Numbers Total matches 32 CSK won 20 KKR won 11 No result 1 At Chepauk, CSK has won 8 out of 12 meetings. Highest total in CSK-KKR matches: 235/4 by CSK at Eden Gardens in 2023. Lowest total: 103/9 by CSK at Chepauk last year. Sunil Narine has taken 26 wickets in 22 games against CSK. Economy rate of 6.31. Best among all bowlers in this fixture. Suresh Raina holds the run record. 610 runs in 22 matches. Chepauk Pitch: Not What It Used to Be? Chepauk was a spinner's paradise for years. Slow. Low. Turning. Not anymore. This season, batters are dominating here. Three out of four innings at this venue crossed 200 runs. CSK made 212/2 in their last home game. Tonight's match will be on a black soil surface. What does that mean? Black soil gives decent carry and bounce early. Batters can trust the bounce in the powerplay. As the match goes on, the surface slows down. Spinners start getting grip and turn. Par score at Chepauk: 175 to 180. Anything below 165 is chaseable. Teams batting first have a slight edge. The surface slows down in the second innings. Stroke play becomes harder. Chennai Weather: The Real Test April in Chennai is brutal. Daytime temperatures hit 35°C. At match time, expect 30 to 32°C. Humidity is the bigger problem. Forecast says 80% humidity during the match. Players will sweat heavily. Fitness will be tested. Good news: Zero chance of rain. Full 40 overs expected. CSK Team News MS Dhoni's return is still unclear. No official update. CSK may keep him out and stick with the winning combination from Saturday. Three CSK players to watch tonight: Sanju Samson: Scored 115 off 56 balls in the last match. First century in CSK colours. Confidence is sky high. Jamie Overton: Took 4/18 in the last match. Has become the leader of CSK's pace attack. Bowls hard lengths. Ayush Mhatre: Breakout star of the season for CSK. Two fifties in four matches. Strike rate above 160. Noor Ahmad: Afghan wrist-spinner. Perfect for the Chepauk track. Gets grip and turn. Probable CSK XII: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sanju Samson... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

Protocol Breach: Rajasthan Royals Manager Facing Heat Over Prohibited Phone Use in Dugout

Nobody saw the phone coming. Not the cameraman. Not the commentators. And definitely not the BCCI officials who reviewed the footage on loop. The Rajasthan match controversy broke on a Friday night. The Royals had just beaten RCB in Guwahati. Vaibhav Suryavanshi smashed 78 off 26 balls. Everyone was talking about the 15-year-old. Then the clip surfaced. Team manager Romi Bhinder sat in the dugout. A mobile phone was in his hand. The young batter leaned in. He looked at the screen. Suddenly, the win felt secondary. The real story was what happened on the sidelines. What Exactly Happened in Guwahati? Let me walk you through the timeline. It helps to understand why this blew up so fast. April 10, 2026. Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati. Rajasthan Royals chased 202 against RCB. Suryavanshi was on fire. Boundaries kept coming. The dugout was buzzing. A TV camera panned to the seating area. Bhinder sat near the refrigerator section. His phone was out. Fingers scrolled. Suryavanshi sat right next to him . The clip hit Instagram first. A fan account posted it. Then Twitter picked it up. Within hours, everyone had seen it. The question was simple. Why did a team manager have a phone in a restricted zone? What is the PMOA Protocol? The Rule Bhinder Broke You need to know the rule before judging the violation. IPL has a clear document called PMOA guidelines. PMOA stands for Players and Match Officials Area. The rule on phones is written in plain language. I am quoting directly from the IPL website: "The Team Manager may use a phone in the dressing room but NOT in the dugout". The dressing room is the back area. Private. No cameras. No live action. The dugout is where players sit during the match. Coaches sit there. Tactical discussions happen there. Substitutes wait there. No phones are allowed in the dugout. None. Zero exceptions. This rule exists for one reason. Match integrity. A phone in the dugout could receive external information. Ball-by-ball instructions. Pitch conditions. Anything. The BCCI does not joke about this. Neither should anyone else. How the BCCI Responded? The board moved fast. Faster than usual. BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia confirmed a probe within 48 hours. He told PTI: We need to thoroughly examine where exactly the event happened and whether the phone was used. We will check the video footage and gather evidence before reaching any conclusion. Then the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit stepped in. On April 13, ACSU sent a show-cause notice to Bhinder. He had 48 hours to explain himself. The notice asked one thing. Why did you take a mobile phone to the dugout? An IPL insider told IANS: As per the rules, usage of mobile is not permitted in that area, irrespective of the explanation he gives. This is a massive breach. It is very open and shut. The Vaibhav Suryavanshi Connection This is where things get complicated. Suryavanshi is 15 years old. He is the youngest player in IPL history. He lives in a bubble of coaches, managers, and guardians. Bhinder is his "local guardian" in the IPL. He was hospitalized for nearly a month before the season. Collapsed lungs. Serious stuff. He returned just days before... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

Young Guns Fire: Debutants Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain Secure Thrilling Win for Sunrisers Hyderabad

The floodlights of the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium flickered for a moment. But the real power outage was happening on the pitch. Rajasthan Royals came to Hyderabad unbeaten. They looked like the team to beat in IPL 2026. Their top order had crushed everyone so far. But cricket has a funny way of humbling the mighty. Two kids nobody had heard of changed everything. Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain walked into the big league without any fear. They walked out as heroes. If you missed this game, you missed something special. And if you are looking for the Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan royals match scorecard, you have come to the right place. Let me walk you through exactly how this happened. Why the Scorecard Doesnt Tell the Full Story? You can look at the numbers. SRH scored 216/6. RR collapsed for 159. A 57-run win. Related Article: IPL 2026: Sunrisers Hyderabad Vs Kolkata Knight Riders Match Scorecard But numbers lie sometimes. The IPL match SRH Vs RR on April 13, 2026, wasnt just about runs. It was about nerve. It was about two uncapped bowlers refusing to blink against international stars. Let me break down the real turning points that the scorecard hides. The Over That Changed Everything Imagine playing your first IPL match. Your captain throws you the new ball. And you are bowling to a 15-year-old sensation who has been hitting sixes for fun. Most debutants would bowl defensively. Not Praful Hinge. His second ball was a sharp bouncer. Vaibhav Suryavanshi went for a big shot. Top edge. Caught. Golden duck . Two balls later, Hinge delivered a length ball that jagged back in. Dhruv Jurel, a seasoned wicketkeeper-batter, had no clue. The ball crashed into his stumps. Two wickets in four balls. The last ball of the over? Hinge pitched it full on the pads. Lhuan-dre Pretorius flicked it straight to deep square leg. Three wickets in six balls. I have watched IPL since the first season. I have never seen a debutant take three wickets in his first over. Ever. The Praful hinge IPL auction 2026 price was just 30 lakh rupees. After this over, his value went through the roof . Sakib Hussain: The Silent Assassin from Bihar While Hinge grabbed the headlines, Sakib Hussain did something equally special. The 21-year-old from Gopalganj has a backstory you need to know. His father had to stop farming due to knee problems. Sakib used to play tennis-ball cricket for 500 rupees a match to help his family. He wanted to join the Army initially. Running every day built his fitness. That running turned into pace. Serious pace. What is Sakib Hussain bowling speed touching? Consistently over 145 kmph. On the Hyderabad pitch, that pace was lethal. His first victim was Yashasvi Jaiswal, one of the most dangerous T20 openers in the world. Hussain kept it simple. Hit the hard length. Jaiswal tried to force it. Mistimed. Caught. Later, when Donovan Ferreira threatened to pull off a miracle, Hussain came back. He bowled a slower ball that completely fooled the batter. Middle stump cartwheeling. Then he dismissed Jofra Archer and Ravi Bishnoi in the same over. Four wickets on debut. Equal to the... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

Krunal Pandya IPL Highest Score and Latest Stats 2026

You want to know Krunal Pandya's highest IPL score? Fine. It's 86. He hit that back in 2016 against Delhi. But here is the thing nobody tells you. That 86 is a liar. Because if you watch him bat today in 2026, you will never guess he once scored that many. His game has changed completely. And honestly? For the better. I have followed Krunal since his MI days. I remember that 86. My roommate and I lost our minds because nobody expected a debutant to do that. But fast forward ten years. The guy barely crosses 30 with the bat now. So why do teams still pay him crores? Let me explain. Because the stats sheets won't tell you this story. The 86 Runs Knock: What Actually Happened That Night? May 2016. Visakhapatnam. Mumbai Indians were choking. Rohit Sharma got out cheap. Pollard failed. Then comes this skinny left-hander with a weird stance. Krunal Pandya. He started hitting Chris Morris like Morris had stolen his lunch money. Six over long-on. Four through covers. Then another six. He finished on 86 not out off just 37 balls. That knock is still his Krunal Pandya IPL highest score. Nobody has come close to beating that number from his own bat. Not even in 2026. But here is the sad part. He has never scored another IPL fifty after 2023. Not one. I checked the scorecards twice because I couldn't believe it myself. But it's true. His last fifty-plus score in IPL was two years ago. So what happened? Krunal Pandya IPL 2026: The Bowler Who Forgot He Can Bat Right now, in the 2026 season, Krunal is bowling more than he bats. And he is bowling weird stuff. I watched the RCB vs MI match on April 12 at Wankhede. Krunal came on to bowl in the 8th over. Flat pitch. Small boundaries. Normally spinners get murdered here. What did he do? He bowled a bouncer. Yes. A left-arm spinner. Bowling a bouncer. On a road pitch. The batter (Tilak Varma) backed away thinking it was a slower ball. It wasn't. It hit his shoulder. Next ball, Krunal tossed it up full. Tilak missed. Dot ball. That is the Krunal Pandya IPL 2026 experience. He is not taking five-wicket hauls. He is bowling 4 overs for 26 runs and taking one wicket. That one wicket though? It breaks partnerships. His bowling figures this season so far (4 matches): 4 overs, 32 runs, 1 wicket (vs KKR) 4 overs, 26 runs, 1 wicket (vs MI) 3 overs, 28 runs, 0 wickets (vs GT) 4 overs, 35 runs, 2 wickets (vs LSG) Total: 15 overs, 121 runs, 4 wickets. Economy of 8.06. In T20 2026, an economy under 8.5 is gold. Pure gold. Krunal Pandya IPL Wickets: The 100 Club Is Coming He is currently at 94 IPL wickets. Needs 6 more to reach 100. Here is a pattern I noticed that no commentator talks about. Krunal takes most of his Krunal Pandya IPL wickets against teams that attack him first. Against SRH: 12 wickets. Economy 7.58. Against PBKS: 10 wickets. Economy 7.62. Against DC: 9 wickets. Economy 7.90. But against CSK? Only 3 wickets in 13 matches. Dhoni and company just push him for singles... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

IPL 2026 match 21 Preview: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals

I have watched every IPL match this season. Some were predictable. Some shocked me. This one feels different. The unbeaten Rajasthan Royals travel to Hyderabad. They face a Sunrisers team that cannot buy a win. On paper, this looks one-sided. But cricket does not care about paper. Let me break down what actually matters for RR Vs SRH today match prediction. No hype. Just facts from someone who has been watching every ball. Current Form: A Tale of Two Teams The numbers do not lie. Rajasthan Royals sit at the top of the points table. Four matches. Four wins. A net run rate of +2.055. Sunrisers Hyderabad? One win from four games. Sixth place. A negative net run rate. I checked their last five matches. RR won all five. SRH lost three of their last four. Form alone suggests a clear winner. But head-to-head records tell a different story. Head to Head: Why History Favors Hyderabad? Here is where things get interesting. SRH and RR have faced each other 21 times in IPL history. Sunrisers won 12. Rajasthan won 9. That is a solid advantage for Hyderabad. Last season, these two teams met only once. SRH won by 44 runs. They also scored 286 in that match. That remains the highest team total in IPL history. So past results favor SRH. Current form favors RR. Something has to give. The Opening Battle: Jaisoorya vs Travishek This match has a subplot worth watching. Two of the most destructive opening pairs in IPL history face off. For RR, Yashasvi Jaiswal and 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi have taken the league by storm. Sooryavanshi holds the Orange Cap with 200 runs at a strike rate of 266.66. For SRH, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have their own credentials. They made their third 100-plus powerplay score against Punjab Kings. Both pairs score at over 12 runs per over when together. Expect fireworks in the first six overs. Key Player Battles That Will Decide the Match I looked at individual matchups. Some are terrifying for SRH. Travis Head vs Sandeep Sharma Head struggles against Sandeep Sharma. He scores at only 125 with an average of 17.5 against the RR pacer. Sandeep has dismissed him twice. If Sandeep opens the bowling, Head needs to be careful. Ishan Kishan vs Ravi Bishnoi This one is worse for SRH. Ishan Kishan scores at just 89.5 against Ravi Bishnoi. The spinner has dismissed him four times in 34 balls. Bishnoi currently holds the Purple Cap with 9 wickets in 4 matches . He will likely bowl when Kishan comes to the crease. Abhishek Sharma vs Jofra Archer Here is some hope for SRH fans. Abhishek Sharma has faced Jofra Archer in the IPL before. 62 runs off 34 balls. Zero dismissals. If Abhishek survives the powerplay, Archer may not be his problem. Pitch Report: Hyderabad's Run Factory The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium has a reputation. Bowlers hate it. Match 21 will be played on Pitch No. 3. A flat, mixed-soil deck. Here are the numbers that matter: Average first innings score: 165-168 Teams batting second have won 47 of 84 matches Spinners concede at 10.91 runs per over Pacers do slightly better at 9.41 The highest total ever chased here? 245. Do not be surprised if both teams... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

RCB vs MI IPL 2026: Latest Standings and Match Results

The Mumbai Bangalore IPL rivalry is never just about the final score. If you looked at the IPL MI vs RCB match on April 12, 2026, you saw a scoreboard that reads "RCB won by 18 runs." But if you were watching the ball-by-ball action, you know that stat is a liar. I was tracking the MI vs RCB IPL 2026 scorecard live. For the first six overs, it looked like Mumbai was going to pull off the heist of the season. Then, the game turned on a single hamstring tweak. Here is the honest, experience-based breakdown of where these two giants stand right now. No hype. Just the gritty reality of the IPL 2026 points table and what it actually means for both camps. The Current Standings: A Tale of Two Trajectories As of the morning of April 13, 2026, the Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL ranking looks healthy. Very healthy. But a deep dive into the Mumbai Bangalore IPL points situation reveals a team that is papering over cracks versus a team that is desperately searching for glue. Related Article: RR vs MI IPL 2026: Rajasthan Royals Eye Hat-Trick of Wins as Mumbai Indians Seek Reset in Guwahati Here is the exact snapshot of the IPL 2026 points table after Match 20: Rank Team Matches Won Lost Points NRR 1 Rajasthan Royals 4 4 0 8 +2.055 2 Punjab Kings 4 3 0 7 +0.720 3 Royal Challengers Bengaluru 4 3 1 6 +1.148 4 Delhi Capitals 4 2 2 4 +0.322 5 Gujarat Titans 4 2 2 4 -0.029 6 Lucknow Super Giants 4 2 2 4 -0.427 7 Sunrisers Hyderabad 4 1 3 2 -0.024 8 Mumbai Indians 4 1 3 2 -0.772 9 Chennai Super Kings 4 1 3 2 -1.532 10 Kolkata Knight Riders 4 0 3 1 -1.315 At first glance, RCB is cruising in the top three while MI is stuck in the bottom half. But let me tell you why the points table is misleading this early in the season. The "Unsafe" Safety of RCB’s Third Place Watching RCB bat against MI, you would think they are unbeatable. Phil Salt was violent. Rajat Patidar looked like he was playing a video game on easy mode. They posted 240/4. That is a "buy" signal for fantasy leagues, right? The Reality Check (The "Con"): RCB is living on the edge of a knife. Their bowling attack is a major liability. Yes, they won, but let’s look at the MI vs RCB IPL 2026 scorecard details. Mumbai chased 241 and finished at 222/5. They were 18 runs short, but they only lost 5 wickets. Sherfane Rutherford, coming in at the death, smashed 71 off 31 balls. He almost won it on his own. If Rohit Sharma doesn't pull his hamstring, or if MI had just one more over of Rutherford, RCB loses that game. What this means for you (The "Buying Guidance"): If you are picking players for your fantasy team, pick RCB batters (Kohli, Salt, Patidar) with high confidence. But pick RCB bowlers with extreme caution. They are giving away runs like free samples. Until they fix the death bowling, no total is safe. Mumbai Indians: The Par Score Trap Mumbai has one win and three losses. On paper, they are having a disaster. But I am not panicking about MI yet, and neither should you. Here is why the standings lie. You Must Also Like: RR vs RCB 2026: Prediction, Playing XI, and Why This is the Biggest Match of the Season So Far In their chase against RCB, MI scored 222/5. In 99% of T20 matches, 222 wins the game. The problem was that RCB had the... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com

RR vs RCB 2026: Prediction, Playing XI, and Why This is the Biggest Match of the Season So Far

The IPL 2026 season has given us plenty of fireworks. But nothing compares to Match 16. Rajasthan Royals take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Guwahati. And honestly? This feels different. It is not just another league game. It is a clash of two unbeaten giants. We have the top-ranked Rajasthan Royals, riding a three-match winning streak. On the other side, we have the defending champions, RCB, looking ruthless. If you are searching for an honest today match prediction RR vs RCB, you have come to the right place. Let’s skip the hype. Let’s talk about numbers, pitch conditions, player form, and why this specific RR vs RCB 2026 prediction is so hard to call. The Stakes Have Never Been Higher (This Early) Usually, we see teams taking time to settle. Not this year. Rajasthan has won three out of three. Their net run rate sits at a healthy 2.403. Riyan Parag looks comfortable as captain. The dressing room vibe seems positive. Related Article: KKR vs SRH Prediction 2026: Can Eden Gardens Save Kolkatas Depleted Bowling Attack? RCB is not far behind. They have two wins from two games. But look at their net run rate: 2.501. That is massive. They crushed teams. They posted 250/3 against Chennai. That score sent a warning to the entire league. So, why is this the biggest match so far? Because a loss here won't just break the winning streak. It will expose the first real weakness of the season for either side. For fans looking for a RR vs RCB head to head player battle prediction, this is the ultimate test of top-order firepower versus bowling depth. Guwahati Pitch Report: A Batters’ Paradise with a Catch To make an accurate today match prediction RR vs RCB, you must understand the venue. The Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati is hosting this thriller. The pitch is excellent. I watched the last game here. The ball comes onto the bat nicely. There is true bounce. Batters can play their shots without worrying about variable bounce. The average first-innings score here is around 164. However, there is a twist. The high humidity in Guwahati (around 80-85%) brings dew into play. That changes everything. How Dew Impacts Your Prediction? When the dew settles, the ball gets wet. Spinners struggle to grip it. Fast bowlers cannot bowl effective yorkers. Historically, teams chasing under lights have an advantage here. The Verdict on Toss: The captain who wins the toss will likely bowl first. Do not be surprised if the chasing team wins by a big margin. Weather Update: Will Rain Ruin the Game? You might have seen weather alerts. Let me clear the air. There is a chance of rain in the morning in Guwahati. However, by the time the match starts at 7:30 PM, the probability of rain drops to only 4%. The temperature will hover around 20°C. It will be partly cloudy. But we should get a full 40-over game. No interruptions are expected. Head to Head: RCB Leads, But Numbers Lie? Let’s look at the record books. In 34 meetings between these sides, RCB has won 17 times. Rajasthan has won 14. Three games had... This article was originally published on thecricbuzz.com