The Royal (Challengers) oust the Kings
Abusive IPL bosses, India sweeps Bangladesh, & the history of Women's cricket.
The Royal (Challengers) oust the Kings
RCB have new cult heroes, KL Rahul’s humiliating public redressal, & Jaiswal can’t handle left handers.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat the Punjab Kings by 60 runs to keep their playoff hopes alive. Cricket.com’s Aakash Sivasubramanian writes about Rajat Patidar becoming the 4th person to score 4 consecutive half centuries away from home in the IPL.
ESPNcricinfo’s Shashank Kishore & Himanshu Agrawal talked to the IPL’s leading wicket-taker Harshal Patel about standing out in a batter-heavy season, while Cricket.com’s Aakash Sivasubramanian writes that Swapnil Singh is quickly becoming an RCB favourite after breaking into the side 4 matches ago.
Apparently KL Rahul won’t be retained by LSG and might be dropped for the final games of the season. Mid-Day’s Santosh Suri says that he didn’t deserve to be publicly scolded by the LSG boss, while Wisden’s Abhishek Mukherjee lays out the current problems of IPL employer abuse and potential ideas to deal with it.
Hindustan Times’ Rasesh Mandani analyses what went wrong for the eliminated Mumbai Indians this year.
Indian Express’ Pratyush Raj reports on the increasing worry that Yashasvi Jaiswal may be susceptible to left arm pacers, while an uncredited PTI report looks at why Sanju Samson remains so beloved in Kerala compared to other athletes that have come from the state.
ESPNcricinfo’s Sampath Bandarupalli asks what’s next for the IPL after the tournament hit a 1000 6s in record time, while cricket analyst Dan Weston looks at how differently aged players are over- or under-valued in IPL auctions.
The Punjab Kings & Mumbai Indians are officially eliminated from the IPL…
…and I had to create season reports for them! I go into more detail with a Twitter thread for PBKS here, and you can check out the one for MI here.
By the way, I’ve set up a Twitter and Instagram account under @BestCricStories where I post all these graphs & images, and would appreciate the support if you like them!
India go 5-0
IND Women sweep BAN, Baker’s teammates struggles with playing again, & pro cricketers are more likely to have ADHD.
India Women beat Bangladesh by 21 runs to complete a 5-0 whitewash. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur thinks the WPL boosted her players’ confidence, Indian Express’ Vinayakk Mohanarangan reports on Radha Yadav’s return to form, and an uncredited Daily Star piece says Bangladesh need to get much better before they host the T20 World Cup in October.
Wanindu Hasaranga will lead the newly announced Sri Lanka squad at the World Cup, while 3 million fans have applied for India-Pakistan tickets already!
The Guardian’s Ali Martin reports on the emotions around Worcestershire resuming their county season after Josh Baker’s death. ESPNcricinfo’s Vithushan Ehantharajah talked to Kent captain Bell-Drummond on the team’s first victory of the season, and why he thinks Zak Crawley is a future England captain.
The Guardian’s Barney Ronay discusses if fans should care about the ECB selling off 49% of The Hundred franchises, while the MCC’s members have approved a £61.8m redevelopment of Lord’s that will increase capacity by 1,100 seats.
The Guardian’s Jo Harman writes about the disproportionately high number of cricketers with ADHD compared to general society, and how it affects them.
Cricbuzz’s Telford Vice reports that the SA20 is considering adopting the impact player rule from the IPL.
Women’s cricket over 200 years
Heather Knight on the changing Women’s game, & the 1800s origin of Lady’s Cricket.
Wisden is launching a new weekly Women’s cricket podcast. The first episode sees Yas Rana & Lauren Winfield-Hill catch up with England captain Heather Knight about the changing Women’s game, before they review the latest Rachel Heyhoe Flint Trophy games & preview the Pakistan-England series. [Apple Podcasts]
Red Inker’s Jarrod Kimber talks to Giles Ebor about the original ladies of cricket from 1800s England, and the book Ebor has written about them. [Apple Podcasts]
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