Author: Newsdesk

KL Rahul has led Kings XI Punjab brilliantly in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), feels former India captain Sunil Gavaskar.

Apart from leading the team from the front, Rahul has been in great form with the bat as well as he has scored 567 runs in 11 matches and is holding the Orange Cap.

“They (Kings XI Punjab) have been brilliantly led by KL Rahul. KL Rahul has grown into the captaincy role, and though he didn’t score as many as he normally does, he made sure, with his field placing, with his bowling changes, even giving Chris Jordan that 19th over and then trusting Arshdeep to defend 14 in the final over is fantastic,” Gavaskar said while speaking on Star Sports show Cricket Live.

Kings XI, after losing five matches in a row, were at the brink of losing a spot in the playoffs. However, they have registered four consecutive wins in the last four matches and have kept their chances alive of ending in top four at the end of the league stage. In their last game against SunRisers Hyderabad, Kings XI defended a paltry score of 126 in Dubai to register their fifth win of the tournament.

“You know, they have just found the winning way! They seem to have lost that at the start of the tournament. Remember, every time they were close to winning and they went into the Super Over in their first-ever game and then again, after that they were losing in the final overs,” said Gavaskar while praising Kings XI for their tremendous comeback.

“Then, somewhere down the line, they found that key that takes them to a win and the last few games, they have played exceptional cricket. Last match, to defend a 126 takes a lot of doing, takes a lot of self-belief and that’s what they showed,” he added.

The 71-year-old also highlighted the fighting spirit of head coach Anil Kumble and how it has been transferred to the entire squad.

“Do not forget the role of Anil Kumble. Anil Kumble has been a fighter all his cricketing career, you could see when he went out with a broken jaw and bowled, and that sprit is seen in the KXIP,” said Gavaskar.

“That is the reason why they have comeback from impossible situations and are now in the hunt for the place in the playoffs,” he added.

Also Read: Kings XI Punjab back in race after hiccups

India captain Virat Kohli is the most complete cricketer across formats, England Test captain Joe Root has said.

Root said he didnt consider himself in the top bracket of batsmen, including Australia’s Steve Smith, and New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson.

“I try not to measure myself against other players. But I do watch a lot of how they go about constructing different types of innings across the three formats. You’re looking at three of the greatest players the game has seen,” Root was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

“Virat is probably the most complete player out of the three of them across formats. His ability to chase things down in the limited-overs format and to pace it as well as he does as often as he does and be not out at the end is extraordinary. He’s got a very good all-round game but you wouldn’t say he’s weaker against spin or pace,” Root said.

The England captain said that Kohli had learnt from his past mistakes and had handled the pressure of being India captain well.

“He obviously struggled on his first tour to England, but he scored really heavily when he came back. And, similarly, elsewhere in the world, he’s put in massive performances. All that with the weight of India on his shoulders, as well,” said Root.

Root called his England team-mate Jos Buttler as the best white ball player the game has ever seen, though he felt that the world is yet to see the best of Buttler.

“The way he can play a number of different scenarios. He can just demoralise attacks and very quickly swing games massively in your favour,” he said.

Also Read: IPL First: Kohli plays 200 games for a single team

Mumbai Indians all-rounder Hardik Pandya became the first player in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) to take a knee in support of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.

On Sunday, Pandya, who made a brilliant 21-ball 60, went down on a knee with his right arm raised after reaching his half-century off the penultimate ball of the innings against Rajasthan Royals. He signalled towards the Mumbai Indians dugout to which stand-in skipper Kieron Pollard responded with a raised right fist during the match which Rajasthan won at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

After the match, the all-rounder posted a picture of his gesture on his social media handles with the caption, “Black Lives Matter”.

Sportspersons have been coming out in open and speaking more about racism since the death of African-American George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police personnel in May earlier this year.

Cricket joined hands with the ‘BLM’ movement for the first time when both England and the West Indies teams, along with the match officials, took a knee earlier this summer during their three-match Test series.

Recently, Delhi Capitals pacer Kagiso Rabada stated that sportspersons should spread the message of racial equality.

“It is important for people not to feel inferior. Liberation of mind is the most important thing. I think this is the message you want to spread especially as a sportsman when you do have a platform to express this. Lot of people follow what you do, because that is the nature of sportsman — there’s nothing different if I compare myself with every other person who hasn’t played cricket — but I am on a stage where people can now listen to me,” Rabada had told reporters during an interaction.

West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder, who is playing for the SunRisers Hyderabad in the IPL, also said to the Cricket Writers Club that he had not seen any discussion about BLM in the IPL which he found “sad.”

“I personally was a bit disappointed to see how the Pakistan and Australia tours, that went on after ours, that they were not showing their solidarity afterwards. It’s a hard challenge and a long hard road. It’s not an overnight fix but the most important thing is we need to come together and see each other as equal human beings,” he said.

The Women’s Big Bash League, which started on Sunday, also saw a team take the knee where the Sydney Thunder decided to show the gesture throughout the tournament.