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After two years of missing out due to an inferior net run rate (NRR), Kolkata Knight Riders are back in the playoffs, and have done it in barnstorming fashion in the second half of IPL 2021. When the season was suspended in May, Knight Riders had played seven games and won two. The move to UAE saw them reverse those results, winning five of their next seven games, and in commanding enough fashion to survive a Mumbai Indians’ late NRR charge.Royal Challengers Bangalore have not been too far behind, following their good showing in the first half with solid displays in the second, winning four of their seven matches in UAE.

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So, there’s no obvious “form team” between the two, both having shown plenty of spark so far in this leg, both filled with match-winners in their line-ups, both discovering breezy options in the top order in Venkatesh Iyer and KS Bharat – and both having captains who haven’t been piling up the runs as they normally would.Virat Kohli has 168 runs in seven games in the UAE leg, bolstered by two fifties in the first three of those. The last four have yielded only 59 runs. His strike rate’s been 117.48, and not too much higher even during his half-centuries. However, Kohli’s returns look gargantuan when compared to Eoin Morgan’s in the UAE leg this year: a measly 32 runs in six innings, reaching double figures for the first time in Knight Riders’ last league game where he finished unbeaten on 13. He’s also been considerably slower than a run a ball, striking at 82.05.That they have come so far despite these numbers from key batters is a credit to both teams. But for one of them, the journey will end tomorrow.

In the news

The biggest question ahead of this game is Andre Russell’s fitness. As of two days ago, Knight Riders chief mentor David Hussey said Russell would be “pushing hard” to get fit for the playoffs, while Morgan took solace from Russell’s ability to heal quickly from injuries. The last time these two sides met, Russell yorked AB de Villiers first-ball, and his legendary six-hitting ability has often found an extra gear against Royal Challengers. But will Russell be fit? We’ll know only at toss time. Shakib Al Hasan has been a good addition to the XI, but really, there’s no replacing Russell.Related

• Andre Russell 'pushing hard' to be fit for playoffs

• How KS Bharat redefined his strategy to turn his career around

• Stats: A season of wickets for Harshal Patel

• How sustainable is KKR's innovative high-risk approach?

Royal Challengers have no injury worries, and having won a stirring last league game against the table-topping Delhi Capitals, might not want to change their XI. George Garton hasn’t had the best returns, and there will be the temptation to bring in Dushmantha Chameera or Kyle Jamieson, but Garton’s changes of pace might suit the Sharjah pitch.

Likely XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Shubman Gill, 2 Venkatesh Iyer, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Rahul Tripathi, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Eoin Morgan (capt), 7 Andre Russell/Shakib Al Hasan, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Shivam Mavi.Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 KS Bharat (wk), 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Dan Christian, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 George Garton, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal.

Strategy punt

• Bowl spin to Virat Kohli. In the UAE leg of IPL 2021, Kohli has faced 47 balls of spin, and while he’s not been dismissed, he’s scored only 42 runs off these. In Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and Shakib, if he plays, Knight Riders have the men to tie Kohli down in the powerplay and middle overs. And bowling spin first up might be a smart ploy from another point of view too, because…
• …Glenn Maxwell has been devastatingly good this IPL, and particularly against spin in the middle overs. In the UAE leg, he’s hit 101 runs off 63 balls of middle-overs spin, and been dismissed just once. In comparison, against pace bowlers he’s made 80 off 74 in this period. That’s not to say Maxwell has struggled against pace – at the death he’s carted them for 87 runs in 43 balls. And if Knight Riders front-load spin against Kohli, Royal Challengers always have the option of sending Maxwell in at No. 3 to disrupt that plan.

Stats that matter

• In games in Sharjah this IPL, the team that has scored more in the powerplay has always won the match. It’s been much easier to score against the hard, new ball with only two fielders out. Maximising that phase will be top priority for both teams.
• Mohammed Siraj is one wicket away from getting to 100 in T20 games. He’s got 99 wickets in 81 games so far.

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has, in his first public comments since undergoing an angioplasty, clarified that he did not suffer a heart attack. He also thanked people who had wished him well around the world, and confirmed he was on the mend.In a video shot at his home and uploaded to his YouTube channel, Inzamam said his visit to the hospital had been a “routine check-up” after experiencing discomfort in his stomach. “I want to thank everyone in Pakistan and around the world for praying for my health. I want to thank the Pakistan people, and cricketers from Pakistan and around the world who sent their well-wishes.”I saw reports saying I had suffered a heart attack. I did not. I went to my doctor for a routine check-up, who said they wanted to conduct an angiography. During angiography, they noted an artery of mine was blocked, so they inserted stents to alleviate that problem. It was successful and easy, and I came back home after just 12 hours at the hospital. I feel fine.”The 51-year old was taken to hospital complaining of chest pains on Monday; at the time his management had said that he had suffered a heart attack, and had to be rushed for surgery.Inzamam urged people to keep tabs on their cardiac health, and consult their doctor if they had any concerns. “I went to the doctor because I felt a very slight bit of discomfort. It wasn’t even close to the heart area, but the stomach. Had I delayed getting it checked out, doctors said the heart could have been damaged.”Inzamam, 51, is Pakistan’s highest run-getter in ODIs with 11701 runs in 375 matches, and their third-highest in Tests with 8829 runs in 119 matches. He was also among the country’s most successful captains.He retired from the international game in 2007 and has since held several positions in Pakistan, as a batting consultant and then the chief selector from 2016 to 2019. He has also worked as head coach of Afghanistan.

An end to Australian cricket’s pay war hinges on the same place it started – Cricket Australia’s board of independent directors.It was the change of the CA board from 14 state-appointed delegates to nine independently-appointed directors in October 2012 that provided a major catalyst for the governing body’s attempt to break up the fixed revenue percentage models at the heart of all collective bargaining agreements between the board and the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) over the past 20 years.Now, the compromise deal being thrashed out and drafted, in talks between the CA chief executive James Sutherland and his ACA counterpart Alistair Nicholson, must be approved by the same directors – chairman David Peever, Mark Taylor, Bob Every, Jacquie Hey, Earl Eddings, Tony Harrison, Michael Kasprowicz, Michelle Tredenick and John Harnden – who pushed for change in the first place.The hand of Peever and his directors has been evident throughout the process, which began formally with a meeting between the CA chairman and the ACA president Greg Dyer last November. Directors have, in the words of Taylor, been updated via teleconferences “every three days, sometimes a bit more often if need be”.Most recently, private talks between Sutherland and Nicholson were dramatically reset when, following a board phone hook-up on Wednesday, the CA chief executive went public with the governing body’s desire to get a deal done by early this week or to take “residual matters” to private arbitration before a retired judge. Talks between the parties are going on late into Monday night, but directors are said to be confident of CA’s ability to win the argument against revenue-sharing in that kind of forum.They have been closely linked to Kevin Roberts, CA’s lead negotiator, until Sutherland entered the fray in the final days before the previous MoU expired on July 1. Roberts had joined the CA board as one of its first independent directors five years ago, a matter of months after the most recent revenue sharing agreement was finalised, before moving to the executive management team in late 2015.David Peever had defended CA’s proposal, calling their offer a generous one in a column in earlier this month•IDI/Getty Images

At the time, Roberts was seen as a possible successor to Sutherland, due to his strong corporate background, and also because the move of a CA board director into management was virtually without precedent in the organisation’s history. Roberts’ role in leading negotiations for CA mirrored Sutherland’s own role as lieutenant to his predecessor Malcolm Speed before taking the top job in 2001.Public pronouncements by board directors have been few and far between during the dispute, limited to television appearances by Taylor, who in May spoke stridently of the impasse and expressed his frustration at the lack of meaningful negotiation.A little less than two months later, Taylor offered a more conciliatory tone at Ashes launch on July 11, which followed the MoU expiry that left more than 230 players out of contract, and called for an MoU compromise.Yet, the more hawkish views evident on the board were underlined just two days later, when Peever penned an indignant column in newspaper that was then posted on the board’s website. In it, he attacked the ACA and the media for peddling “myths” about his industrial relations history with the mining firm Rio Tinto, where he served as managing director in Australia until 2012. He also pitched for CA’s hardline position in very similar ways to Sutherland during his multiple public appearances over the same period.With days remaining before determinations must be made on issues like the looming Test tour of Bangladesh, and a raft of commercial agreements with broadcasters and sponsors around the home Ashes summer, the biggest question is whether the CA board will show a level of flexibility more in line with the words of the former captain Taylor than those of the current chairman Peever.

Two South African businessmen, two IPL franchises, two PSL franchises, and representatives from Hong Kong and Dubai were unveiled as the owners of the eight teams in South Africa’s T20 Global League. The owners, the cities and their marquee players were unveiled at an event in London on Monday.Durban, Benoni, Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth will each host a franchise, which left no room for the likes of Kimberley, East London and Potchefstroom, who host franchise cricket. The Stellenbosch franchise will likely play at Boland Park in Paarl.International buyers own three-quarters of the franchises with the biggest name being Shah Rukh Khan. The Bollywood superstar added to his Knight Riders brand with the purchase of the Cape Town franchise to add to teams in Kolkata and Trinidad. There was also a second IPL influence. The Delhi Daredevils’ holding company GMR sports bought the Johannesburg franchise.The two South African-owned franchises are based in Pretoria and Stellenbosch and run by South African businessman Osman Osman, who owns a lifestyle brand, and Brimstone, a company owned by Mushtaq Brey.ESPNcricinfo

Two PSL owners, Fawad Rana of the Lahore Qalandars, and Javed Afridi from the Peshawar Zalmi, bought franchises in Durban and Benoni respectively while the Bloemfontein franchise was bought by Hong Kong’s Sushil Kumar and the Port Elizabeth team by Dubai’s Ajay Sethi. Both have previous involvement in cricket, Kumar owns a Hong Kong franchise while Sethi is involved at Channel 2 in the UAE.CSA also unveiled eight ambassadors, all former South African national players: Graeme Smith, Andrew Hall, Ashwell Prince, Herschelle Gibbs, Paul Adams, Allan Donald, Andrew Hudson and Paul Harris.Despite no Indian players being available for the tournament, its overlap with the BPL, the chances of Australian players being scant given the clash with their summer and the ECB’s refusal for Eoin Morgan and Jason Roy to attend the launch, CSA president Chris Nenzani was hopeful the competition would receive global support.”We thank all other cricket boards and we hope that they will support this venture in the manner that we have helped and supported their leagues. We hope they will help us to make it a success,” he said.More than 400 players have registered their interest with a draft scheduled for August.

ScorecardDarren Stevens’ century came off 48 balls but Kent couldn’t quite hunt down a huge target•Getty Images

The spectators basking in glorious sunshine at the St. Helens ground in Swansea were treated to a feast of runs – 697 in all – and two exhilarating centuries by Colin Ingram and Darren Stevens.Ingram struck his century from 78 balls, but that was pedestrian compared to Stevens who smashed 147 from only 67 deliveries. While Stevens was at the crease, Kent were favourites, but after his dismissal, Glamorgan’s bowlers stuck to their task to win by 15 runs, with 16 balls remaining.Thirty five sixes were struck in the match which equalled the record for a List A game, set in the game at Trent Bridge between Northants and Nottinghamshire last year.After Glamorgan were asked to bat, their innings was built around Ingram and Will Bragg who put on 212 for the third wicket after they had lost two wickets in three balls. Ingram continued his outstanding form in the competition by scoring his third century – this was a second in successive games. His innings came from 98 balls, which included six fours and eight sixes, and during the eight games, the South African left hander has hit 29 sixes and 31 fours.Bragg, who achieved his career-best, gave his only chance on 88, and was six runs away from his maiden century when he chipped Calum Haggett to cover. The lower middle-order also made worthwhile contributions, with Chris Cooke hitting a rapid 36, and Andrew Salter, who struck Ivan Thomas for three successive sixes in the last over, hitting 29 from nine balls.Kent needed to score at 7.10 runs an over, and they lost Daniel Bell-Drummond in the eighth over, when he bottom-edged Marchant de Lange to the wicketkeeper. Joe Denly and Sam Northeast took the score to 75, before both were dismissed in David Lloyd’s second over.Stevens then started his ferocious attack on the Glamorgan attack, and greeted Ingram by hitting him for 32 in his two overs. He quickly moved to 50 from 28 balls, and it took the 41-year-old Stevens only 20 more balls to reach his 100, which included 10 sixes and six fours.The fourth-wicket pair had put on 131 in just 13 overs, before Sam Billings, who had contributed only 24 to the partnership, was well caught on the long leg boundary.There was no respite from Stevens who, when he struck his 14th six, recorded the most sixes hit by an opposing batsman against Glamorgan in List A games. He was eventually out, caught athletically by de Lange on the midwicket boundary, and left to a standing ovation from the sizeable crowd.The Glamorgan seamers, relieved to see the back of Stevens, then picked up three more wickets, as Alex Blake and Calum Haggett were caught by Cooke behind the wicket, and Matt Coles was run out from a direct hit by Salter.Kent required 57 from the last 10 overs, but Charlie Hartley was bowled by Lloyd, who picked up his fifth wicket, and finished with a career-best 5 for 53, before James Tredwell was run out attempting a run to the wicketkeeper.

Aravinda de Silva has decided to resign from the SLC cricket committee, of which he was chairman, 13 months after he took on the role. A board release said de Silva will step down on June 30 due to “personal commitments that would hinder his availability and time investment in the Committee further”.”It is understandable that [de Silva] needs to prioritise his personal commitments,” board president Thilanga Sumathipala said. “He has supported the strategic vision of this administration and been vastly instrumental in many of the developments we have made.”We intend to continue to engage Aravinda’s expertise in our key cricketing activities on a consultancy basis,” Sumathipala added.During his time in the committee, de Silva had been among the more influential SLC figures, overseeing, in particular, a re-order of SLC’s coaching structure. However, his clout is also understood to have waned in recent months, with SLC having appointed other officials to advise the national team. De Silva had also twice served as chief selector – most recently in an interim stint last year, when his selection panel picked the squad for the World T20.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella has been ruled out of the ongoing ODI series against Bangladesh after suffering a hairline fracture in his left hand.Dickwella had sustained the injury on Sunday, at training. Though it was originally thought to be a minor injury, he had had trouble gripping his bat on Monday. Subsequent X-rays then confirmed the fracture.Team manager Asanka Gurusinha said that while the injury was “minor” it may take “a couple of weeks” to fully heal, which also puts Dickwella in doubt for the T20 internationals that follow the ODIs. Dickwella had also been unavailable for the first ODI of the series, thanks to the suspension he picked up for dissent, during the T20 series in Australia.Though it is a batsman that exits the squad, Sri Lanka have called up offspinner Dilruwan Perera, and strengthened the seam battery through the inclusion of Nuwan Kulasekara and Nuwan Pradeep as well. Those changes are likely a reflection of the outcome of Saturday’s match, in which Sri Lanka’s attack was ineffective – especially at the death overs – as Bangladesh scored 324 in their 90-run win.Kulasekara had played in Sri Lanka’s 0-5 ODI defeat in South Africa in January and February, but had had mixed results in that series. He has 195 ODI wickets, however, and will be the most experienced bowler in the squad by a distance.

While AB de Villiers graded the conditions at Seddon Park as a “0 out of 10” as far as Champions Trophy preparation goes, he gave the match itself full marks for demanding a fight from South Africa ahead of the major tournament. After cruising past Sri Lanka 5-0 at home, South Africa were looking for more of a challenge from New Zealand and that’s exactly what the got in a closely-fought, low-scoring game in Hamilton. And they managed to get home in what were “the toughest conditions I’ve ever played in”, according to de Villiers.”Experience-wise it was 10 out of 10 to be put under pressure like that with the bat in hand. Conditions-wise? Zero out of 10. I don’t think we’re going to face any conditions like that in the UK,” de Villiers said.Both sides were surprised by the amount of turn, although South Africa’s decision to play both specialist spinners suggest they were expecting things to be on the slower side. But Imran Tahir went wicketless and conceded a run a ball, and Tabraiz Shamsi’s sole scalp cost 39 runs. So there were few hints that Michael Santner, Ish Sodhi and then Tim Southee, who bowled what were essentially fast offcutters towards the end, would cause so much trouble.”I didn’t see the ball turn that much when we bowled,” de Villiers said. “Early on with the new ball it wasn’t so bad, but it’s easy to say that now. It would have sounded like an excuse if we’d lost.”After an 88-run opening stand between Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock, South Africa were well-set but they lost 5 for 39 in the middle period of the chase and an eerily familiar falter seemed in their future. Bar de Villiers, the big men were all dismissed and it was up to a 20-year-old Andile Phehlukwayo to hold his nerve and help his captain score 50 off the final seven overs. Even de Villiers himself wondered if the game was gone.”Not for a second were we in control,” de Villiers said. “Our two openers gave us a really good foundation, but I felt they were the toughest conditions I’ve ever played in.”De Villiers knew if he hung around until the end, South Africa would be in with a chance. “I decided to stay patient and take it as deep as we can and then maybe we’ll get close,” he said. But he also knew he would need some help. He had to trust Phehlukwayo; he would have known he could.The young allrounder partnered David Miler in giving South Africa a memorable win over Australia last October, showing maturity beyond his years. He has also showed an ability to hit hard – and took sixes off both Trent Boult and Tim Southee as proof – and although he rarely gets the opportunity to finish games, South Africa now know that he can. “He was hitting it pretty sweet. It was very impressive the way Andile played. There is a lot of talent in that young man,” de Villiers said. “He was one of the very few guys tonight who could pick up the pace of the wicket and he played it under his eyes. I was very impressed with him.”As impressed, perhaps, as with the form the side is currently in. South Africa have equalled their best winning streak with a 12th victory in succession and are building up steam ahead of the Champions Trophy. Even though they insist the numbers don’t mean too much, there’s no doubt it’s still a nice thing to have achieved. “We don’t play for those kind of records but it’s a nice one to have. We are very aware of it. We are only human and will lose one. That’s the nature of the beast. So we’ll go to Christchurch, hopefully play a good game and make it another one,” de Villiers said. “That was a great win for us. But there’s lots of games left in the series and we know it’s nowhere near done.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRoss Taylor was fluent throughout his innings of 101 balls, striking 13 fours•Getty Images

This was some sort of day for New Zealand. Ross Taylor equalled Nathan Astle’s record for the most ODI hundreds for New Zealand. Trent Boult completed a career-best six-wicket haul. New Zealand regained the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy. They jumped to No.3 on the ODI rankings and wrapped up an eighth consecutive bilateral one-day series win at home. And they did it all in front of a sell-out crowd at Seddon Park.They also did it in a fashion that would have pleased some of their cheekier fans: getting Australia’s hopes up, and then dashing them. Set 282 for victory, Australia looked sunk when Marcus Stoinis holed out to leave the tail-enders needing 84 off 65 balls, but Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins plundered 31 from a pair of Mitchell Santner overs and the required rate fell back towards a run a ball. New Zealand fans became suddenly nervous.But all Kane Williamson needed to do was call on Boult, whose pace and bounce forced a false shot from Cummins, who was caught at midwicket. In his next over, Boult bowled to a plan set up by Williamson, who had placed a floating third slip, and Adam Zampa’s steer found the man perfectly. Five balls later, Boult finished the job by bowling Josh Hazlewood. It left Boult with 6 for 33 from his ten overs, and New Zealand with a 24-run win and the trophy.The fortunes of the teams had fluctuated all day. New Zealand looked set for a huge total batting first, lost their way, and then smashed 30 off their final two overs to reach a competitive but far from daunting 281 for 9. Australia’s chase was looking good while Aaron Finch and Travis Head ticked the score along in the first 20 overs, but a run of wickets put them on the back foot. Yet not until Boult’s late wickets could New Zealand feel safe.By the barest of margins, Australia held on to the No.1 ODI ranking, although they may yet lose it in the coming week if South Africa continue to dominate in their home series against Sri Lanka. Australia sorely missed their captain and vice-captain, Steven Smith and David Warner, in this series; while there were contributions from their top-order replacements, none were sufficient to set up a win. Here, it was a pair of fifties from Finch and Head.A fine piece of fielding from Santner in the deep led to the run-out of Shaun Marsh early in Australia’s chase, and Peter Handscomb chopped on to Boult for a duck to leave Australia at 44 for 2. Finch and Head put on 75 for the third wicket before Finch holed out to deep midwicket off Williamson’s spin for 56, and spin continued to trouble Australia when Santner had Glenn Maxwell caught behind in the next over for a duck.Head was the victim of a fine boundary-line catch from Dean Brownlie off Boult on 53 and, in a fore-runner of Williamson’s floating-slip plan that later foiled Zampa, James Faulkner fell to exactly the same ploy for a duck to leave Australia wobbling at 174 for 6. Stoinis struck four fours and a six but it was a mere cameo compared to his starring role in Auckland, and when he was caught at long-on off Santner, it was all left up to Australia’s bowlers.Starc remained unbeaten on 29 as the Australians fell 24 runs short, and he was left to wonder what might have been. In the final over of New Zealand’s innings, he rattled the stumps of Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson with the first two balls, but then let slip a waist-high no-ball that allowed Santner to come on strike and club two fours and a six from the final three deliveries. It was just the late boost New Zealand needed.Taylor and Brownlie had given them a fine start but from 162 for 2 at the 30-over mark, New Zealand lost a string of wickets and much momentum, and managed only 119 runs from their final 20 overs. As things turned out, that was enough. The key man was Taylor, whose 16th ODI hundred brought him level with Astle as New Zealand’s all-time most prolific ODI century-maker.Taylor walked to the crease in the 15th over with opener Brownlie already on 36; Taylor scored his own runs so freely that he beat Brownlie to the half-century. Taylor was particularly strong on the cut shot and brought up his fifty from 44 deliveries; in the next over, Brownlie raised his half-century – his first in ODI cricket – from his 65th ball.Brownlie, playing his first international since 2014, had proven a very effective replacement for the injured Martin Guptill, but on 63 he fell when he drove at a fullish, wide ball from Faulkner and was adjudged caught-behind on review. That began a difficult period for New Zealand, who lost Neil Broom to another edge behind off Faulkner for 8, and then Colin Munro, who couldn’t find his rhythm, drove a catch to mid-off for 3.The middle-order problems continued as James Neesham chopped on off the bowling of Hazlewood for 1, and New Zealand by this stage were wobbling at 209 for 6 in the 41st over. But Santner managed to keep his wicket intact and allowed Taylor to move to a 96-ball hundred with a thick edge through third man for four off Mitchell Starc, though he was caught swiping to leg off Faulkner in the next over for 107.Although the innings had started poorly for New Zealand when Tom Latham, in the third over, flicked a leg-side delivery from Starc straight into the hands of Hazlewood at fine leg for an eight-ball duck, the next two partnerships steadied New Zealand well. Kane Williamson (37) put on 70 with Brownlie before the Taylor-Brownlie stand, which was worth 100.Against an Australian outfit minus their two best batsmen, New Zealand’s efforts were enough. The day, the series, and the trophy were theirs.