India all-rounder Krunal Pandya created a new record of scoring the quickest half-century in One Day Internationals (ODI) for a debutant on Tuesday. He thus broke the record which was previously held by New Zealand’s John Morris, who had scored his half-century in 35 balls against England in 1990. 

Krunal scored his half-century in just 26 balls, hitting six fours and two sixes and has now become the 15th Indian batsman to score fifty-plus runs on his ODI debut.

While Krunal Pandya broke the previous fifty-on-debut debut record by a hefty nine balls, it is far from the record of the fastest 50 in ODI cricket.

Here’s a look at the top knocks

AB de Villiers vs West Indies - 16 balls, January 2015

AB de Villiers holds the record for the fastest 50 in ODI cricket taking just 16 balls to reach the landmark. It came in South Africa’s second match against the West Indies at Johannesburg in 2015.

The South Africa captain at the time not only scored the fastest 50 in ODI cricket but also went on to blaze the fastest hundred in ODI as well. South Africa posted a mammoth 439/2 and as many as three players, including de Villiers, scored centuries.

The Proteas won the game by 148 runs after restricting West Indies to 291/7.

Sanath Jayasuriya vs Pakistan - 17 balls, April 1996

The final of the Singer Cup in 1996 was a low-scoring affair, with Pakistan accumulating just 215 runs while batting first. Sri Lanka, however, made a stunning start and their star opener, Sanath Jayasuriya was at the centre of it.

The southpaw went on to score the then fastest half-century in ODIs, reaching the landmark in just 17 balls. By the time he had scored his half-century, his opening partner, Romesh Kaluwitharana was yet to open his account. Jayasuriya went on to score 76 off just 28 balls but Sri Lanka were eventually bundled out for 172.

As many three players have scored fifty in ODI in 17 balls. Apart from Jayasuriya, Kusal Perera did it against Pakistan in 2015, and in the same year, New Zealand’s Martin Guptill matched the figures against Sri Lanka.

Liam Livingstone vs Netherlands - 17 balls, June 2022

England’s middle-order batter Liam Livingstone smashed a 17-ball half-century against the Netherlands on June 17, which is the joint second-fastest half-century in ODI cricket. Of the 54 runs he scored in 17 balls, as many as 50 came in boundaries alone (five 4s and five 6s).

Coming on to bat with England playing at 4/407, Livingstone took little to no time to settle. In only his first over, the 28-year-old scored 32 runs off Philippe Boissevain’s over, hitting four sixes and three fours.

Livingstone continued to wreak havoc for the rest of the innings as he finished with a unbeaten score of 66 off 22 balls.

Simon O’Donnell vs Sri Lanka - 18 balls, May 1990

Before AB de Villiers and Sanath Jayasuriya, Australia’s Simon O’Donnell held the record for the fastest fifty in ODI when he smashed 74 off just 29 balls against Sri Lanka in a 114-run victory for his team in the second semi-final of the 1990 Austral-Asia Cup. 

The middle-order batsman scored his half-century in 18 deliveries as Australia posted 332/3 while also riding on the back of Dean Jones�?scintillating ton.

Since O’Donnell’s 18-ball fifty, four more players have matched the feat. This includes Shahid Afridi, who has done it thrice (against Sri Lanka in 1996, against the Netherlands in 2002 and vs Bangladesh in 2014), Glenn Maxwell (against India in 2013), Brendon McCullum (vs England in 2015) and Aaron Finch (vs Sri Lanka in 2016).

Fastest fifty in ODI: The top 5

Player	Opponents	Balls	Year
AB de Villers	West Indies	16	2015
Sanath Jayasuriya	Pakistan	17	1996
Liam Livingstone	Netherlands	17	2022
Simon O’Donnell	Sri Lanka	18	1990
Mark Boucher	Kenya	19	2001

Apart from Mark Boucher, Justin Kemp, Brendon McCullum (twice), Chris Gayle, Ross Taylor, David Hussey and Shahid Afridi have too scored a half-century in 19 balls. Similarly, the 20-ball half-century group also belongs to Brendon McCullum, Daren Sammy, Richie Berrington, Corey Anderson and Angelo Mathews.

Fastest fifty in ODI for India: Ajit Agarkar holds on to the record

Krunal Pandya’s half-century isn’t the quickest one for India either. Ajit Agarkar holds the record for the fastest fifty in ODI for India taking just 21 balls to reach the milestone. A few others came up second-best taking just 22 balls.

Player	Opponents	Balls	Year
Ajit Agarkar	Zimbabwe	21	2000
Kapil Dev	West Indies	22	1983
Virender Sehwag	Kenya	22	2001
Rahul Dravid	New Zealand	22	2003
Yuvraj Singh	Bangladesh	22	2004

While Krunal Pandya’s feat is worth hailing, he is now the 15th Indian cricketer to have racked a 50-plus score on their ODI debut. KL Rahul and Faiz Fazal did it last in 2016.

Brijesh Patel - 1974

Ajit Wadekar - 1974

Sandeep Patil - 1980

Raman Lamba - 1986

Navjot Singh Sidhu - 1987

Pravin Amre - 1991

Saba Karim - 1997

A Khurasiya - 1999

Robin Uthappa - 2006

Ravindra Jadeja - 2009

Ambati Rayudu - 2013

Manish Pandey - 2015

KL Rahul - 2016

Faiz Fazal - 2016

Krunal Pandya - 2021

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Punit Paranjpe

All-rounder Krunal Pandya tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, resulting in the postponement of the second T20I between Sri Lanka and India that was scheduled for the evening. 

The second T20I has now been pushed back by a day and will take place at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday before the third match of the 20-over series between the teams takes place on Thursday.  

The positive result came a few hours before the scheduled start of play at 8 PM IST. It is understood that eight other members of the squad have been in close contact with Krunal and they have been asked to self-isolate in their respective hotel rooms.

Krunal’s positive result was confirmed on Tuesday morning after the latest round of tests for the travelling unit were conducted on Monday.

 Shortly after the news of him testing positive was out, a BCCI press statement confirmed that "the entire contingent is undergoing RT-PCR tests today to ascertain any further outbreak in the squad".

Team India is in Sri Lanka to play three ODIs and the same number of T20Is. The visitors clinched the ODI series 2-1 and were leading 1-0 in the T20Is before this latest development.

The all-rounder is part of a new-look India squad that is visiting the island country for a couple of limited overs series, while the senior team is in England for a five-match Test series, starting August. 

Rahul Dravid is in-charge of the squad touring Sri Lanka with Shikhar Dhawan acting as the captain and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as his deputy.

Featured photo : Ishara S. Kodikara / AFP

Rohit Sharma’s Team Mumbai faltered against Team Punjab on April 23 as they had to endure their third defeat of the 2021 Indian T20 League season. Despite Rohit Sharma’s best effort, Mumbai could only muster 131/6 and were defeated by nine wickets.

Mumbai were sluggish right from the very beginning, scoring a mere 21 runs at a run rate of 3.50 before the it rose to 8.44 during the brief period of the middle overs (7-15 overs). 

However, it soon came down to 6.80 in the death overs (the final five overs), where the likes of Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singh conceded just 34 runs while picking four wickets.

Quite interestingly, Mumbai’s middle-order consisting of Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya has faltered more often than not this season. During the last season of the Indian T20 League, Mumbai scored at a rate of 13.61 runs per over during the death overs, a figure that has dropped to 7.48 this season.

Mumbai’s death over collapse this season:

• 34 runs against Punjab
• 36 runs against Delhi
• 32 runs against Bangalore

Now, one can easily blame the slow nature of the Chennai pitch, but keep in mind that this is the same surface where Bangalore have excelled upon this season. While Mumbai have failed to even touch the 160-run mark even once in Chennai, Bangalore have done it twice in three attempts. They, in fact, scored 204 against Kolkata on this very pitch.

On paper, Mumbai do have some prolific names in the middle order in West Indies�?Pollard and the Pandya brothers, but they have combined for just 150 runs across five Indian T20 League matches so far, which translates to a contribution of just 30 runs per match from the trio.

The tricky condition of Chepauk’s wicket means bowlers have found it easy to bowl against the trio. With the percentage of slower balls significantly increasing, the batsmen have to put the extra power to cross the rope and this has often resulted in them giving away wickets. 

Now, Mumbai’s unfamiliarity with this pitch can be one of the factors in their inability to score runs. Between 2016 and the start of the current season, Mumbai had played just two matches in Chepauk.

In any case though, one cannot take anything away from Punjab. Their bowlers picked one wicket in each of the last four overs while conceding a mere two boundaries and a six. Just two of the final five overs saw more than six runs being conceded. 

Shami, in particular, was fantastic to watch. The veteran Indian bowler picked both of his wickets in his final two overs.

Punjab welcomed their star spinner Ravi Bishnoi in the starting XI for the first time this season, and the result was evident. The youngster ended his tenure with figures of 2/21 and his victims were Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav. Note that this was Bishnoi’s third most economical spell in the Indian T20 League where he has bowled four overs.

Friday’s game against Punjab was Mumbai’s last game in Chennai as they now move to the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi; once again a pitch that has shown no significant pace in the past.

Featured photo: AFP / Sajjad Hussain

Records tumbled when Sam Curran's gritty unbeaten 95 against India in the final ODI took England right on the cusp of a series win, but that just wasn't meant to be as T. Natarajan, the bowler given the onus to moderate the English onslaught, did his job in the final over as the visitors suffered a clean sweep at hands of India who, after winning the Test as well as the T20I series, clinched the ODI series too.

This was England's eighth tour of India since they last won an ODI series here and their record worsened on Sunday, March 28, as they have now lost six of them while drawing two. Their last ODI series win over India away from home came in December 1984. The three ODIs, played in Pune's Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, saw India surpassing their previous tally of five consecutive 300-plus scores in ODI. As things stand, their last night’s 329 was their sixth consecutive 300-plus total in the 50-over format.

Apart from that, the ODI series also saw as many as 70 sixes being hit by the two teams which is now the most number of maximums in any series of fewer than five games. There were several such records, and here we look at a few of them.

Sam Curran, the man of the hour

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. England were in a dire need of someone who can rejuvenate the sinking ship when they were reduced to 95/4 in 15 overs. As for India, it looked like a walk in the park as visitors kept on losing wickets, but Sam Curran went on to change the complexion. The 22-year-old scored an unbeaten 95, which is now the joint-highest score by a number 8 batsman. 

Highest score by a #8 batsman in ODIs
Player	Runs	Strike Rate	Opposition	Venue
Chris Woakes (England)	95*	103.26	Sri Lanka	Nottingham
Sam Curran (England)	95*	114.45	India	Pune
Nathan Coulter-Nile (Australia)	92	153.33	West Indies	Nottingham
Thomas Odoyo (Kenya)	84	86.59	Bangladesh	Nairobi
Lance Klusener (South Africa)	83	107.79	Australia	Johannesburg

Curran scored at a strike rate of 114.45 and this is the 7th highest strike rate in an ODI innings by a number 8 batsman to face a minimum of 60 balls. He hit nine fours and this is the joint-second most fours hit by a number 8 batsman against India. The all-rounder played two 50-plus runs partnerships for the 8th and the 9th wicket and this is the first time that this has happened in ODIs for England, and 7th overall.

Indian bowlers on different spectrum

Indian bowlers outrightly dominated their England counterparts as the top-three wicket-takers from the ODI series were all Indians. Shardul Thakur, from the lot, impressed the most with seven wickets which included one four-wicket haul in the final ODI. All of the top-three wicket-takers from the series were seamers. The three, put together, scalped an impressive 19 wickets, which is a stark contrast to what the spinners delivered.

Fewest wickets taken by Indian spinners in a series (min 39 overs)
Series	Matches	Overs	Runs	Wickets
IND vs ENG 2020/21	3	39	312	1
IND vs ENG 1992/93	6	105	503	5
IND vs SL 2006/07	4	64	323	5
IND vs WI 1983/84	5	44	201	6
IND vs SA 1991/92	3	56	275	6

India had two spinners in their ranks, Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya, and the two picked a solitary wicket between them. This is the fewest wickets taken by Indian spinners in a series with a minimum of 39 overs. The two spinners gave away a combined total of 312 runs in three games while going for an economy of 8.00 and a bowling strike-rate of 234.00. These are the worst figures for Indian spinners in a bilateral series at home.

As far as England are concerned, the final ODI had as many as seven different wicket-takers from England. Amongst the lot, a certain Mark Wood impressed the most with a figure of 3/34, which is his fifth-best bowling figures in ODIs, and the best against India. The instance of having seven different wicket-takers is only the fifth time that it has happened in an ODI match.

Matches with 7 wicket-taking bowlers in ODIs
Match	Wicket taking bowlers	Balls	Runs	Wickets
India vs England	7	290	328	10
Scotland vs Australia	7	219	133	10
Netherlands vs Bermuda	7	262	104	10
New Zealand vs Sri Lanka	7	199	164	9
New Zealand vs India	7	230	135	8

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Punit Paranjpe

The Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced an 18-member Indian squad for the upcoming ODI series against England to be played in Pune.

Karnataka pacer Prasidh Krishna has earned his maiden India call-up while swashbuckling batter Suryakumar Yadav, all-rounder Krunal Pandya and fast bowler Mohammed Siraj have also been included in the Indian ODI squad for the first time.

TEAM - Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Shreyas, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Krunal Pandya, W Sundar, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Md. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur.

�?BCCI (@BCCI) March 19, 2021

The Chetan Sharma-headed selection panel has, however, ignored in-form Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal, who were the two highest run-getters in the recently-concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy. Shaw and Padikkal had amassed 827 and 737 runs respectively in the 2020-21 Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The three-match ODI series will be played from March 23 to 28 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. 

Meanwhile, India and England are currently involved in a five-match T20 series, with the series tied 2-2. The deciding T20I will be played at the Motera Stadium on Saturday, March 20.

India’s ODI squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur.

Feature image courtesy: BCCI

Three defeats on the trot and Shreyas Iyer’s Delhi now suddenly find themselves walking on thin ice. With only two games to go, they need at least one win to qualify for the playoffs of this year’s Indian T20 League and judging by the line of fixtures that awaits, it certainly is going to be on arduous task, to say the least.

Up next for them is a stern test against Mumbai; a team that got the better of them by five wickets the last time these two met. The record Indian T20 League champions have got nothing to lose, having already qualified for the playoffs, but they will spare no expense in order to spoil one’s party. The two teams have always been on the neck of each other as their head-to-head count suggests (12 wins from 25 for Delhi and 13 for Mumbai), but on Saturday, Delhi will play for intent and expect nothing less than an exhilarating display. 

Having said that, here we look at some key stats that are certain to affect the course of the game:

Krunal keeping Delhi in check

Mumbai all-rounder Krunal Pandya has taken a mere five wickets in 12 games this season at an average of 55.60 and an economy rate of 7.51. The figures might very well not ooze any sort of confidence, but there certainly is another side to his bowling. Krunal has actively been used during the Powerplay overs this season as well and during this period, he has managed to keep things tight, bowling at an economy of 6.22; the best he has managed in his last three seasons.

The economy of 6.22 during the Powerplay overs is, in fact, the fourth-best amongst spinners who have bowled a minimum of 30 balls in this period this season. As far as Delhi are concerned, it is safe to say Krunal loves playing against them. He picked 2/26 in the reverse fixture this season, and his team would want more of the same from him on Saturday. Furthermore, his average and economy of 16.75 and 15.1 respectively against Delhi is the best among all the active teams. Here is the detailed breakdown:

Team	Inns	Runs	Balls	Wkts	4s	6s	Avg	Econ rate	SR	Balls/boundary
Chennai	7	164	138	7	10	8	23.42	7.13	19.7	7.66
Delhi	8	134	121	8	12	2	16.75	6.64	15.1	8.64
Punjab	9	226	162	4	15	7	56.5	8.37	40.5	7.36
Kolkata	10	199	175	6	16	6	33.16	6.82	29.2	7.95
Rajasthan	6	157	108	4	13	5	39.25	8.72	27	6
Bangalore	10	237	216	9	14	5	26.33	6.58	24	11.36
Hyderabad	7	107	96	3	4	2	35.66	6.68	32	16

Table: Krunal Pandya against active Indian T20 League teams.

And last, but not least, Krunal is just 14 runs away from scoring 1000 Indian T20 League runs. A whopping 23.83 % of his runs have come against Delhi (235/986).

Players to watch:

Delhi - Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant, who missed Delhi’s preview game against Mumbai this season, is yet to hit the ground running, having scored 253 runs at a strike rate of 115.00. This is the worst strike rate he has managed in any Indian T20 League season. In nine games so far, the 23-year-old has crossed the 30-run mark on just five occasions. A further bifurcation of his disappointing season reveals his struggle against spin bowling. Out of his eight dismissals so far, five have come against spin while three against pace.

Spin/Pace	Runs	Balls	Dismissal	Dots	4s	6s	Avg	SR	Dot %	Balls/dis	Balls/boundary
Pace	161	114	3	41	19	5	53.66	141.22	35.96	38	4.95
Spin	92	106	5	43	6	2	18.4	86.79	40.56	21.2	13.25

Table: Rishabh Pant in Indian T20 League 2020.

And while he has managed to score runs against the pacers, he has particularly failed to do so against spin, striking at a lowly rate of 86.79 with a dot ball percentage of 40.56%. As he gears up to face Mumbai, expect him to put extra effort against pacers as his record against Jasprit Bumrah is truly underwhelming, having been dismissed four times against him.

Mumbai - Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar Yadav scored a quick-fire 32-ball 53 against Delhi last time out, and judging by the form he is enjoying at the moment, expect Delhi to be on their toes on Saturday. Since the 2018 edition of the Indian T20 League, Mumbai batsmen have aggregated 6844 runs and a whopping 1298 (19%) have been scored by Suryakumar Yadav; the biggest contribution by any other player from the team.

Most runs in Indian T20 League since 2018
Player	Runs
KL Rahul	1847
Shikhar Dhawan	1489
Rishabh Pant	1425
Virat Kohli	1418
Suryakumar Yadav	1298

Accumulating 1298 runs means he is the fifth-highest run-scorer in the league since 2018 and is the only uncapped player in the list that has the likes of KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli. Mumbai play Delhi in Dubai, a venue where Suryakumar has duly struggled. In two games played at Dubai, the Mumbai batsman has scored two ducks, and will look get past the voodoo on Saturday.

Stats to watch out for:

200th: Mumbai will be playing their 200th Indian T20 League game, the first team to play 200 matches in the competition.

0: Mumbai are yet to win a match at Dubai in Indian T20 League, they have played 5 matches and have lost all 5.

1: Six Kishan needs to reach 100 T20 6s

11: Runs Pant needs to complete 2000 Indian T20 League runs, the third player to reach this landmark for Delhi in the competition.

3/4 : 3 times in 4 innings Quinton de Kock has been dismissed by R Ashwin in Indian T20 League.

Writer’s pick:

Mumbai are coming on the back of an inspiring victory over Rajasthan, while Delhi seems to have exhausted all of their confidence following their 88-run defeat against Hyderabad. On Saturday, we expect Mumbai to do a double over Delhi, given that their players have the momentum on their side and are enjoying a great run of form.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Sajjad Hussain

A stellar display with the ball followed by an assured performance with the bat saw Mumbai beat Kolkata for the second time this season and rise to the top of the Indian T20 League standings.

Here are the key talking points from the contest:

De Kock's destructive redemption

A brilliant delivery to Pat Cummins from Jasprit Bumrah should have yielded a wicket for Mumbai, however, a drop from Quinton De Kock gave the Australian a lifeline and he made good use of it, scoring 17 off six balls in the final two overs. De Kock atoned for his mistake with the bat, smashing a magnificent and unbeaten 77 off 44 balls, guiding Mumbai to an eight-wicket win and back at the summit of the standings.

Varun's valiant effort with the ball

De Kock and Rohit Sharma's assault in the Powerplay all but ended Kolkata's chances to pull off a victory. However, spinner Varun Chakravarthy bowled a tremendous spell to keep his team in the hunt, giving away just 23 runs in his four overs and picking up the wicket of in-form Suryakumar Yadav. His economy rate of 5.75 was the best among all Kolkata bowlers, with Andre Russell's 7.50 a distant second.

Chahar and Krunal stifle Kolkata

Mumbai's pace attack has been the driving force of their bowling line-up, however, it was spin duo Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya who bowled terrific spells that restricted Kolkata to a paltry 148. Chahar finished with figures of 2-18 while Pandya gave away just 23 in his four overs, as the duo combined to give away just 41 runs in their eight overs. A top-notch effort from an underrated duo.

A one-sided rivalry

With this win, Mumbai completed the season double over Kolkata. This was their 21^st win over the two-time champions, extending their own record of most wins against a single team. On the flip side, Kolkata have beaten Mumbai just six times and bar a run of three-straight wins, they have never beaten Mumbai in successive matches. The most lopsided rivalry in Indian T20 League history.

Feature image courtesy: Twitter.com / Indian T20 League

Victorious in their last outing, Mumbai next take on Bangalore at the Dubai International Stadium in UAE on Monday, September 28. 

Mumbai enjoy a tremendous 16-9 win-loss record against Kohli and his men and will be eyeing a win that will see them go level on points with Rajasthan and Delhi at the top of the points table. Here's everything you need to know about the fixture.

Pandya's peculiar record against Bangalore

Hardik Pandya is one of the cleanest hitters of a cricket ball and is known for going extremely hard at the opposition. But the all-rounder particularly enjoys playing against Bangalore. Here are his numbers against Bangalore compared to the other players who have done well against Virat Kohli and his side.

Player	Match	Innings	NO	Runs	High Score	Balls	Strike Rate
Andre Russell	9	9	3	323	65	142	227.46
Hardik Pandya	9	9	7	185	50	103	179.61
David Miller	12	10	1	251	101*	150	167.33
David Warner	17	16	2	675	100*	411	164.23
Yuvraj Singh	16	14	1	339	62	207	163.77

Among batsmen with at least a minimum of 100 balls faced, Pandya has the second-best strike rate of any batsman against Bangalore. Their bowling at the death has forever been a concern for the team and Pandya could yet again expose that weak spot on Monday.

Virat's weakness against southpaw speedsters

While it’s hard to identify a loophole in Kohli's batting technique, there seems to be a pattern developing in his dismissals. In his first two matches, Kohli has been dismissed while trying a pull shot against Thangarasu Natarajan and Sheldon Cottrell, two left-arm speedsters. Here’s his record against left-hand pacers and right-hand pacers in Indian T20 League since 2018.

Pacers	Innings	Runs Scored	Batting Balls	Bowler Wicket	Avg.	SR
Left Arm	14	132	87	5	26.4	151.7
Right Arm	29	479	318	9	53.2	150.6

His numbers are clearly much worse against left-arm pacers and in his next match, he'll come up against one of the best southpaw speedsters on the planet in Trent Boult. Could the New Zealander add to a growing trend or will Kohli weather the storm? 

Players to watch out:

Mumbai �?Krunal Pandya

Averaging over 200 runs and 10+ wickets each season, Krunal Pandya is an extremely dependable all-rounder for Mumbai . The left-arm spinner is particularly important against BAN owing to his stellar record against AB de Villiers. Pandya has dismissed de Villiers four times in the Indian T20 League. With BAN so heavily reliant on de Villiers, if Pandya were to work his magic a fifth time, it would help Mumbai greatly in their quest for a win.

Bangalore �?Aaron Finch

BAN opener Aaron Finch needs to perform better at the top of the order for his side. The Australian white-ball cricket team captain has scored 49 runs in his first two outings with the bat this season, but with BAN's middle-order packing no power or consistency outside of de Villiers, BAN are heavily reliant on their top order to give them a good total on the board. A match against his former employers might be the chip on the shoulder that Finch needed but he needs to hit form and do it quick.

Stats to watch out for:

1: Rohit Sharma needs just one six to complete 150 for Mumbai. So far, only Kieron Pollard has reached that mark for MUM in the Indian T20 League.

2: Veteran speedster Umesh Yadav is just two scalps away from reaching 150 career T20 wickets.

10: Rohit Sharma needs just 10 more runs to complete 5000 runs in the Indian T20 League. He will become the third man after Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli to reach the mark.

47: Saurabh Tiwary needs 47 runs to complete 3000 runs in his T20 career.

85: Virat Kohli needs 85 runs to reach 9000 runs in T20 cricket. He would become the first Indian batsman to reach that mark.

Writer’s pick

Mumbai simply have too much juice in all three departments and nothing short of a miraculous performance from Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers or Yuzvendra Chahal is going to help them emerge victorious in this contest. Expect an easy Mumbai victory on Monday.

Think you know more? We have a fantasy game lined up for you.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Indranil Mukherjee

India have an excellent pool of spin-bowling all-rounders at the moment. Apart from Ravindra Jadeja, who is the first-choice player across all formats at present, India have options like Krunal Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, and even Krishnappa Gowtham, who are proven assets in the limited-overs formats.

Even though India prefer Jadeja in this role ahead of others, irrespective of formats, there is a large faction of people who believe that he is not suitable for T20I in particular. They are not completely wrong, as Jadeja averages in the high 30s with the ball and has a strike-rate of just 122.87 with the bat in his entire T20 career. These numbers aren't quite good enough for someone who is expected to bowl his entire quota of four overs along with scoring quick runs with the bat in the lower order.

Not only that, but three of the four aforementioned options -- Krunal, Patel and Sundar -- also have better batting and bowling returns than Jadeja. The best option among them is probably Krunal Pandya, who has a much higher batting strike-rate of 138.50 compared to Jadeja's corresponding figure of 122.87. Moreover, he takes a far lesser number of deliveries to score a boundary as well. Statistics suggest that Krunal is a better bowler too as he has marginally better bowling numbers than Jadeja.

Their international numbers might suggest otherwise, though. Krunal has a dismal bowling average of 38.42 in T20Is as compared to that of Jadeja's 29.53. However, the Baroda all-rounder had a tough time bowling on Australian wickets and that is the reason behind his poor bowling average. That is not a major concern as players are supposed to learn from their tough experiences. Moreover, his batting numbers in international T20s are far better than that of Jadeja which makes him an outright winner once again.

Metrics	Ravindra Jadeja	Krunal Pandya	Axar Patel	Washington Sundar
Runs per Inn	7.52	13.44	9.71	3.71
Batting SR	101.76	131.52	125.92	162.50
Balls per boundary	14.16	6.57	9	4
Bowl Avg	29.53	38.42	29.44	27.73
Bowl SR	24.9	28.4	26	24
Economy rate	7.10	8.11	6.99	6.93

Table: Comparison of the performances of Jadeja, Krunal, Axar and Sundar in T20Is for India

Jadeja mainly has a bowling role for India in this format as they have a very strong top and middle-order. Krunal's international T20 numbers might not make him look like a reliable candidate for that role but Sundar and Patel are still there with much better bowling returns than the 30-year-old.

So, it is quite baffling to see India's affinity towards Jadeja in this format even though there are three options available who could make the side stronger.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Manjunath Kiran

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SportsAdda.

The role of number six batsmen is probably the toughest in T20 cricket. They are expected to accelerate right from the first ball as they bat in the latter half of the innings on most occasions. So, they either need to be clinical hitters who are experts in finding the gaps or they need to possess brute power to clear the fence consistently with ease.

Since the 2016 edition of the Indian T20 League, a total of 93 batsmen have played at this position but only 19 of them have scored 100 or more runs. We will take the sample size of these 19 players to analyse which of these batsmen have been the most effective in this role.

Hardik Pandya and Andre Russell - The Beasts

The 2019 edition of the Indian T20 League is mostly remembered for Hardik Pandya and Andre Russell's batting exploits. We truly saw the best of these two players with the bat as they kept pulling off improbable run chases with ease. These two are some of the most fierce strikers in T20 cricket right now and that is apparent, considering how they occupy their own zones in the above plot. While Hardik has amassed 355 runs at this position since 2016, at an RpI of 23.67 and strike-rate of 183.94, Russell has 273 runs to his name at corresponding figures of 24.82 and 210 respectively.

Chris Morris and Ben Cutting not far behind

These two players are not far behind in matching Russell and Hardik's batting abilities. While Morris has an RpI of 17.78 and a strike-rate of 202.53 during this period, Cutting stands pretty close to him, with marginally lower corresponding figures of 16.43 and 201.75.

Both of these players add great value to T20 sides not only due to their hard-hitting abilities but also their ability to deliver with the ball.

Krunal Pandya and Dinesh Karthik deserve to be recalled into India's T20 set-up

Both of Krunal Pandya and Dinesh Karthik are out of contention from India's T20I squad at the moment but their batting numbers at this position since 2016 sum up why they deserve to be recalled. While Krunal strikes at a rate of 153.59, Karthik is a step ahead scoring at 172.13 at this position. The most fascinating part is how reliable they are despite scoring at such high strike-rates. Krunal adds 18.08 runs per innings at this strike-rate whereas Karthik adds 17.50 runs at this position.

Kieron Pollard - Mumbai's Mr. Dependable

No other batsman has scored more runs than Pollard's tally of 438 runs at this position since Indian T20 League 2016. He has been a familiar figure in Mumbai's line-up over the years and has amassed these runs at a steady RpI and strike-rate of 20.86 and 140.84 respectively. These runs include five 30+ scores as well and that includes a best score of 70.

Marcus Stoinis - An underrated name in this list

The Australian batsman is mainly known for his top-order exploits in the Big Bash League but he has been successful in the role of a finisher in the Indian T20 League as well. In a total of six outings at No. 6 since Indian T20 League 2016, Stoinis has amassed 164 runs at a sensational RpI of 27.33 and a healthy strike-rate of 147.75.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Prakash Singh

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SportsAdda.