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Dean Kino, Cricket Australia’s general manager of legal and business affairs and a key figure in the organisation of the Champions League Twenty20, has resigned from his post

Amol Karhadkar08-Sep-2014Dean Kino, Cricket Australia’s general manager of legal and business affairs and a key figure in the Champions League T20, has resigned from his posts. Though Kino’s departure comes a few days before the sixth CLT20 begins, the organisers believe the tournament will not suffer.Besides holding a post in CA, who are stakeholders in the CLT20 along with the BCCI and Cricket South Africa, Kino served as a member of the CLT20 governing council and as director of legal and business affairs. He was the face of CA at the tournament.Kino’s departure led to a delay in the announcement of three key CLT20 committees. Until 1215 GMT on Monday, the CLT20 website said its committee members were yet to be confirmed. About 90 minutes later, the technical committee, code of behaviour committee and medical committee were updated, less than five days before the first qualifying match in Raipur on September 13.ESPNcricinfo understands Kino has been replaced with CA chairman Wally Edwards on the CLT20 governing council. “All organisations go through attrition and new people come in,” a BCCI official said.Kino, along with IPL chief operating officer Sundar Raman, was vital to the CLT20. He was considered the brain behind the player contracts and financial arrangements with the participating teams. According to an IPL franchise official, Kino was as important as Raman to the CLT20 set-up. He was called, “a pretty key person, being the head of legal and commercial matters.”Kino was also an important link in the relationship between the BCCI and CA, working alongside Edwards, Raman, N Srinivasan and the ECB chairman Giles Clarke for the recent constitutional changes in the ICC. He played a key role alongside CA’s general manager, media rights Stephanie Beltrame and chief executive James Sutherland on the board’s current television rights deal, which reaped A$590 million and secured Big Bash League coverage on the free-to-air Ten Network in Australia.Having departed CA last week, Kino is believed to be planning the start-up of his own sports law consulting business.

The West Indies Cricket Board staged its inaugural player draft in Bridgetown for the upcoming expanded domestic season

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Oct-2014The West Indies Cricket Board staged its inaugural player draft in Bridgetown for the upcoming expanded domestic season. The draft was held over five rounds, with each of the six regional franchises selecting five players each, in addition to the ten each pre-selected from their home territories.Guyana’s Ramnaresh Sarwan was picked by Trinidad & Tobago Red Force in the second round of the draft, while Barbados’ Raymon Reifer went to the Guyanese franchise. They were the only two players who were not selected by their territorial sides.”We felt having a player of the calibre of Sarwan in our side would be invaluable to our squad which includes a number of young players,” said Gus Logie, the T&T head coach.”We have struggled with the all-rounder role and we were glad to get a second player (Reifer) in the all-rounder position,” said Rayon Griffith, the Guyana chairman of selectors.A WICB release stated that the draft was organised to achieve an equitable distribution of the available player talent in the regional four-day and one-day tournaments. The six franchises participated in the draft through a selection panel consisting of the chairman of selectors and head coach. The selection order for the draft was according to the final league position in the 2013-14 WICB regional four-day competition. The following sequence was followed for each round:1. Guyana franchise, 2. Leeward Islands franchise, 3. Jamaica franchise, 4. Windward Islands Volcanoes, 5. Trinidad & Tobago Red Force, 6. Barbados franchiseSquadsBarbados franchise Carlos Brathwaite, Jonathan Carter, Kyle Corbin, Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Ashley Nurse, Dwayne Smith, Kevin Stoute, Omar Phillips, Jomel Warrican; Guyana franchise Christopher Barnwell, Ronsford Beaton, Devendra Bishoo, Anthony Bramble, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Assad Fudadin, Trevon Griffith, Leon Johnson, Veerasammy Permaul; Jamaica franchise Carlton Baugh, David Bernard, Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, John Campbell, Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Dawes, Damion Jacobs, Tamar Lambert, Nikita Miller; Andre McCarthy, Shacaya Thomas, Horace Miller, Brandon King, Brian BuchananLeeward Islands franchise Quinton Boatswain, Jahmar Hamilton, Montcin Hodge, Yannick Leonard, Steve Liburd, Jeremiah Louis, Kieran Powell, Devon Thomas, Hayden Walsh, Kelbert Walters; Trinidad & Tobago Red Force Adrian Barath, Rayad Emrit, Shannon Gabriel, Stephen Katwaroo, Imran Khan, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Nicolas Pooran, Marlon Richards, Lendl Simmons; Windward Islands Volcanoes Sunil Ambris, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Delorn Johnson, Keddy Lesporis, Kenroy Peters, Liam Sebastien, Shane Shillingford, Devon Smith, Tyrone Theophile;

The BCCI has deferred the selection meeting that was to finalise the squad for the four-Test series in Australia on Tuesday

Amol Karhadkar04-Nov-2014BCCI’s legal team meets

A day after the Mudgal committee report was submitted to the Supreme Court, the BCCI’s legal team held discussions ahead of the next court hearing on November 10.
BCCI counsel Akhila Kaushik spent almost the entire day at the board’s office along with officials and lawyers. It is understood the legal team discussed the possibilities that could arise from the Mudgal committee report, which is likely to be made public on November 10.
Representatives of four IPL teams also had separate meetings with IPL officials. While Rajasthan Royals, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians had detailed discussions with IPL executives, the other four teams’ representatives are likely to meet IPL chief Sundar Raman on Wednesday.
“The discussions were about the residual matters of IPL 2014,” said an executive. “The good thing is now the BCCI is willing to listen to the teams’ perspective instead of their earlier dictatorial attitude.”

The BCCI has deferred the selection meeting that was to finalise the squad for the four-Test series in Australia on Tuesday. Sanjay Patel, the board secretary, said the decision was made to allow the selectors to watch two more ODIs against Sri Lanka. The meeting will be reconvened on November 9 or 10.”Right now, only one match is over, and we were thinking of involving the other seniors who are out, or some of the juniors who are out, but then we came to the conscious decision to wait for another two ODIs because for three games the team is already there and this particular injury [to Varun Aaron] required a replacement, which we have decided,” Patel told reporters in Mumbai.Though he didn’t specify the reason for delaying the Test squad selection, Patel said the selectors had discussed the possible team combination for the tour to Australia. He said he had a detailed discussion with chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil about player contracts as well.”[For] three hours we were discussing at length every thing,” Patel said. “What can be the combination for Australia, some discussion with the chairman of selectors regarding our contracts also. We also discussed about the timeline of the entire programme because everything is in line.”The BCCI’s annual player contracts expired on September 30 and the retainers for 2014-15 are expected to be finalised at the annual general meeting on November 20. The player grading is decided by a committee including the BCCI president, the secretary and the chief selector.With the Test selection being deferred by almost a week, the logistical wing of the BCCI will get less than a fortnight to ensure smooth arrangements before the team’s scheduled departure for Australia on November 21. Patel was confident there would be no hurdles. “We have time. There is still a fortnight to go for the team’s departure. We have enough logistics supports and if not we will manage.”Despite Patel’s explanation, it turned out to be a strange day at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. As reported by ESPNcricinfo on Monday, the confusion over whether the team for Australia would be selected continued even after the selectors entered the office. After spending close to two hours with his colleagues and BCCI officials, Patil was the first to leave. The four other selectors left together after an hour, following the BCCI’s announcement of the deferment through a media statement.The announcement was followed by some news reports linking the selection postponement with the submission of the Mudgal Committee report on corruption in IPL 2013 to the Supreme Court, but Patel denied that was the case. “Selection committee meeting has nothing to do with the Mudgal Committee report and we haven’t been restrained by the court in that regard,” he said.

A roundup of the third round of matches from the West Indies four-day Professional Cricket League.

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2014Veerasammy Permaul’s 12-wicket match haul went to waste for Guyana as Barbados pulled off an improbable defense of a fourth-innings target of 69 to win by two runs at Providence Stadium in the third round of four-day matches in the Professional Cricket League.Barbados entered the final day’s play at 214 for 7 in their second dig, a 54-run lead after Guyana enforced the follow-on with a first innings lead of 160. Permaul already had 10 for the match and took two of the final three wickets on day four as Barbados only lasted another 5.5 overs to be bowled out for 228.The left-arm spinner finished with 4 for 75 in the second innings following a remarkable 8 for 26 in the first innings, opening the bowling on both occasions, to produce a career-best match haul for the second game in a row. His 12 for 101 replaces the 11 for 76 he claimed in Guyana’s 92-run win over Windward Islands in the second round of the competition.However, Dwayne Smith and Ryan Hinds sent Guyana into a rapid panic by taking two wickets each inside of the first six overs to reduce the hosts to 10 for 4. Opener Rajindra Chandrika made 30 to top-score in the chase, but the next best figure was Christopher Barnwell’s 12 lower down the order. Guyana was at 50 for 5 in the 21st over with just 19 needed to win when Chandrika was dismissed by Jonathan Carter.Barnwell fell to Carter seven runs later before Smith wiped out the tail to finish with 5 for 17 and Man-of-the-Match honours. Guyana had made 261 after being sent in to bat on day one and remained in control of the match up until the very end when Smith’s heroics ended Guyana’s perfect record. Bowling straight paid off very handsomely as a whopping 18 lbw decisions were handed out over the course of the match, seven of them claimed by Permaul.Windward Islands completed a comfortable nine-wicket win over Leeward Islands behind a Man of the Match performance from offspinner Liam Sebastien, who claimed his first career ten-wicket match haul in the win. Leewards won the toss and elected to bat first in Grenada but were bowled out on the first day for 101 after Sebastien wrecked the Leewards order with 5 for 39.Devon Smith cemented a first innings advantage for Windwards by making 145 at the top of the order, an innings which helped secure his call-up to the West Indies Test squad in South Africa in place of the injured Chris Gayle. Windwards eventually declared on 308 for 5 after 108 overs.Leewards turned in a much more convincing reply as 104 from Orlando Peters helped take them to 334. They were eventually bowled out in the last over of day three to set Windwards a target of 136 as Sebastien once again took five in the second innings. Tyrone Theophile’s 62 not out clinched the simple chase for Windwards to give them their first win of the competition while also serving to keep Leewards winless.Jamaica recovered from a disastrous start in Port of Spain to record an impressive 37-run win over Trinidad & Tobago. After winning the toss and electing to bat first on day one, Jamaica lost its first four wickets with the score on 6 but were rescued by a 145-run fifth-wicket partnership between captain Tamar Lambert and David Bernard, who made 87 and 65 respectively in Jamaica’s first innings total of 173. They were the only two to cross double figures as five batsmen were dismissed without scoring. Legspinner Imran Khan claimed 6 for 52 for T & T.Left-arm seamer Sheldon Cottrell thwarted any hopes the hosts had of securing a first-innings lead by taking 5 for 42 as T & T were bowled out for 131 in reply. Jamaica then made 196 in their second innings as opener Shacaya Thomas top-scored with 46 to set T & T a target of 239. Spinner Nikita Miller also contributed a valuable 40 late in the second innings for Jamaica and then backed it up with 7 for 63 to be named Man of the Match as T & T were bowled out for 201.

Australia’s distraught captain Michael Clarke has spoken about Phillip Hughes on behalf of the national team at the SCG

Daniel Brettig28-Nov-20142:35

Michael Clarke expresses Australia’s deep pain

Australia’s distraught captain Michael Clarke has spoken about Phillip Hughes on behalf of the national team, revealing that his No. 64 ODI shirt will be retired out of respect for their departed friend and teammate.Clarke spoke for around two and a half minutes, promising “I’ll do my best” and fighting back tears with almost every sentence. During these moments it was difficult to imagine the Australian team turning out for a Test match in Brisbane as soon as Thursday next week – Clarke’s predecessor Ricky Ponting has stated he does not think they can.”Words cannot express how we feel as a team right now. To Greg, Virginia, Jason and Megan, we share in the deep pain that you’re feeling,” Clarke said. “Apart from when he was at home on the farm with his beloved cattle, Hughesy was at his happiest playing cricket for his country with his mates. Things were all put into perspective when Hughesy said ‘where else would you rather be boys, but playing cricket for your country’.”We’re going to miss that cheeky grin and that twinkle in his eye. He epitomised what the baggy green is about and what it means to us all. the world lost one of its great blokes this week, and we are all poorer for it. Our promise to Hughesy’s family is that we will do everything we can to honour his memory. Last night I asked Cricket Australia if Hughesy’s Australian one day international shirt No. 64, could be retired, to which they agreed. That means so much.”His legacy of trying to improve each and every day will drive us for the rest of our lives. We’d like to thank everyone both here and overseas for the touching tributes to Hughesy in recent days. Our dressing room will never be the same. We loved him and always will. Rest in peace, Bruzzy.”Clarke paused longest before uttering the words “our dressing room will never be the same”. Knowing this, Ponting has expressed his belief that the first Test against India should not go ahead as scheduled.The match is due to begin at the Gabba on Thursday. However, on Friday CA’s chief executive James Sutherland said that cricket would go on “when we’re ready”, and added that the players had not yet been consulted about their feelings on whether the Test should go ahead.It is believed the Hughes family wants the Test to go ahead, but the raw emotions displayed by Clarke while reading a statement from the Australia team and staff on Saturday morning made it hard to imagine the players being ready to take the field again so soon. Ponting said it would be a miracle if they were in the right frame of mind for a Test.”It’s been such a tragic week for the Hughes family and the cricket community and I can’t imagine how anybody can be expected to play Test cricket on Thursday,” Ponting wrote in the . “In fact I don’t think it would be right. Even if the boys think they can play, it would be a miracle if they find the right frame of mind needed for five days of cricket.”Ian Chappell has said he believes the Test would provide the players a good opportunity to concentrate on something else, after several days of grieving. That sentiment was echoed by Allan Border, who said it would all come down to whether the players wanted the match to go ahead.”My personal view is that rather than sitting around I think they might be better off playing,” Border said on . “It would be very difficult, I’m not shying away from that. Sitting around in your room you’re going to be thinking about it 24/7.”India’s tour match against a Cricket Australia XI, which was due to take place in Adelaide on Friday and Saturday, was cancelled after Hughes died on Thursday. Sunil Gavaskar said it was difficult to imagine the players being in the right frame of mind to play the first Test.”I guess it’s something the boards will have to look at,” Gavaskar said on NDTV in India. “The first Test is almost a week away but I am sure nobody would be in a mood to play. Nobody would be in the right frame of mind.”

Australia had to settle for a draw in the Sydney Test, but the sight of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood hooping the reverse-swinging Kookaburra around late on day five was an encouraging one for the future

Brydon Coverdale11-Jan-20153:06

Young quicks excited about bowling together at World Cup

Australia had to settle for a draw in the Sydney Test, but the sight of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood hooping the reverse-swinging Kookaburra around late on day five was an encouraging one for the future. In the absence of the injured Mitchell Johnson, and with Ryan Harris tiring at the end of a series, much was required of Starc and Hazlewood.Both men are 24 and together with others such as James Pattinson and Pat Cummins, will form Australia’s pace core over the coming decade. Both men were also named in Australia’s 15-man World Cup squad on Sunday and will now turn their attention to the white-ball game for the tri-series against England and India.Hazlewood has started his international career in both formats especially well, but for Starc the Sydney Test was a trial of sorts after his disappointing effort at the Gabba, where he battled in the heat and was criticised by Shane Warne for his body language.At the SCG, it was as if Starc had made a conscious effort to be more aggressive in his demeanour, including a send-off for M Vijay when he struck in the first over of India’s first innings. Throughout the match Starc collected five wickets and looked a different man to the one who struggled in Brisbane as the third fast bowler behind Johnson and Hazlewood.”I just wanted to get out there and bowl fast, get a few up there in the 145s and 150s,” Starc said. “In the Sydney Test being the guy out there to bowl fast and be aggressive and having that confidence leading into this Test may have helped as well, but when the ball starts coming out where you want it and consistently you have more of that confidence in yourself and that probably came out through the Test in my body language.”I’ve been in that situation a couple of times where I’ve played with Mitch and without him, but being the only left-armer and being given a licence to go out there and bowl as fast as I can was enjoyable and to play in Sydney is always good fun. To play with Joshy and Rhino and trying to win a Test match was exciting. We couldn’t quite get over the line but I enjoyed the Test match.”Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc will now turn their attention to the white-ball game•Getty ImagesStarc’s selection in Brisbane and Sydney continued his in and out trend; he has not played consecutive Tests in the same series since his debut campaign against New Zealand in late 2011. Hazlewood, on the other hand, played three successive Tests at the Gabba, MCG ad SCG, and he said that although his body was sore after the 125.2 overs he sent down in the series, it had been a good introduction to Test cricket.”The body’s pretty sore after a tough Test series on some pretty flat wickets, but the body’s pretty good and ready to play some more cricket,” Hazlewood said. “It was a pretty dry and slow wicket and that’s what you’re going to get in Test cricket a lot of the time in other countries as well so it’s good to get used to it early on.”I thought the Gabba wicket was pretty good, it suited me while Melbourne and Sydney were quite flat and hard work but that’s what you’re going to get a lot of the time so I’ve got to get used to it.”Hazlewood finished the series with 12 wickets at 29.33 and was the only bowler from either side to end up with an average below 30. During India’s chase at the SCG his accuracy was so consistent that his first seven overs cost only one run. He was especially impressive reverse-swinging the old ball as Australia sought a late win, but when the new ball arrived India’s batsmen found the going easier.”I was bowling with the ball when it was quite old and getting a little bit of reverse swing, but once you get down to 8, 9, 10, 11 you just want the extra bounce of that new ball to try and maybe find an edge or get that extra zip off the wicket and knock them over so I think we had to take it,” Hazlewood said. “It didn’t work, but that’s something we have to deal with.”Now Starc and Hazlewood must get reacquainted with the white ball ahead of the tri-series, which begins with a match against England at the SCG on Friday.”Once you’re going you may as well keep going,” Hazlewood said. “Once the ball is coming out well you feel like you want to keep bowling, whether that’s with the red ball or white ball, it’s just changing to that and getting used to the white one again.”

Speaking for the first time since his release from jail, Rubel Hossain has said it was a “mentally” worrying period, but now his sole focus is on the upcoming World Cup

Mohammad Isam21-Jan-2015Rubel Hossain has maintained a low profile during the Dhaka leg of Bangladesh’s World Cup training camp. Since joining the team on January 12, a day after getting bail, he had been kept away from any of the official press conferences.In the following days, he missed just one day of training – January 14 – to get court clearance for overseas travel and was given the space to train in peace thereafter. But there has been the odd stray incident. During one of the training days, a group that entered the Shere Bangla National Stadium premises as fans, taunted Rubel when he was entering the ground from the National Cricket Academy building. He didn’t react as the guard at the gate shooed them away but he looked helpless with such behaviour.Generally, however, he has received support in social media and a fan group even went to greet him when he got out of the Central Jail on January 11. In the preceding weeks, fans in BKSP and Fatullah mentioned the name of the actress who had sued him as he took the field for Legends of Rupganj in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League.But since he didn’t talk about it, people talked about him. Finally on Wednesday, BCB’s media manager Rabeed Imam escorted him to the media centre building. In the first press conference of the training camp, a question about Rubel had been posed to Arafat Sunny but it was shot down by the media manager as “unrelated”. This time, it took about three minutes for the first such question to arrive.To his credit, Rubel dealt with them well, accepting it had been a tough period, before adding that his focus remained solely on the game.”I was mentally worried,” Rubel said. “But I don’t have that in my mind. I am not even thinking about it. My main target is the cricket. I am playing for my country, and I am trying to do better for the team. I have been going through a tough time but I don’t want to get stuck on it.”We have a big mission up ahead so I am focusing on how to make it successful. I have had some bad times. I express gratitude to those who stood by me. I will ask everyone to pray for me, so that I can do something in the World Cup.”Rubel had a middling 2014. He took 13 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 34.07. It was another year in which Rubel couldn’t bring down his runs per over below the five-mark. He still concedes at 5.58, which sticks up like a sore thumb like his Test bowling average.Rubel is one of the two Bangladesh bowlers, Mashrafe Mortaza being the other, to have bowled in New Zealand but he hasn’t played in Australia. The Bangladesh pace bowlers have often done well in helpful conditions but last year in the West Indies they threw away a chance to cash in on a wicket that offered bounce and seam movement. Rubel said that was perhaps because they rarely get a chance to bowl in helpful conditions.Rubel Hossain joins his teammates after the press conference•BCB”The pace bowlers become aggressive when they see a wicket with bounce.” he said. “We think of beating the batsmen, hitting them. But bowling in the right areas is more important on these surfaces.”Australia will present us with a chance to bowl on bouncy tracks. We don’t usually get them at home. We have to be clever bowling on such wickets. As a team we believe that we can get accustomed to conditions in Australia.”After the press conference, he walked back to a group of smiling teammates, who were stretching ahead of the day’s training. There were a couple of greeting calls, but Rubel just kept smiling and picked up one of the rubber rollers to start his warm-up.The next two months promises to be the most demanding of Rubel’s career.

Rolling updates of the BCCI elections, in Chennai

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Mar-2015

India’s fast bowlers are on a roll but they may not have the same impact on Australia’s batsmen as Wahab Riaz had, Joe Dawes, the former India bowling coach, has said

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Mar-2015India’s fast bowlers are on a roll but they may not have the same impact on Australia’s batsmen as Wahab Riaz had, Joe Dawes, the former India bowling coach, has said.The left-handed Wahab tested Australia’s top order, especially Shane Watson, with a menacing spell in the quarter-final in Adelaide, exposing their vulnerability to short deliveries bowled at pace, a weakness India would have taken note of, Dawes said, but India’s lack of a left-armer in their ranks might work in favour of Australia.”They’ll be doing their homework and will give it a crack. Fletch [Duncan Fletcher] is a pretty astute coach, he’ll be watching all of these things and he’ll look to try and bring that in somewhere and give it a whirl,” Dawes told . “But the left-hander is a big advantage and that’s where the Indians don’t have anyone with real pace, or any left-hand bowlers here at the moment.”The 42 wickets shared between India’s pace trio of Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Mohit Sharma is one of the prime reasons for India’s unbeaten run in the tournament. Dawes said that one of them could attempt simulating a left-armer’s angle by bowling round the wicket.”No doubt they’ll try that. [But] around the wicket is going to be a bit harder than just having a left-hander there,” he said. “They will have watched that and will give it a go, and Umesh has definitely got the pace to do it but he’s not an overly tall man so that sort of changes the trajectory and the bounce. The left-armers are proving to be quite difficult throughout the whole tournament, aren’t they?”India’s bowlers will also have to overcome the “psychological damage” they endured during a tough summer. India lost the four-Test series 2-0 and were unable to make it to the finals of the tri-series that features Australia and England.”During the Test series they really struggled for consistency,” Dawes said. “They bowled some good balls, then really let the pressure off. It looks like maybe adapting to the conditions and getting their lengths right they’ve really improved their consistency so they’re building pressure now.”MS [Dhoni] leads them well in one-day cricket and they’ve sort of got on a roll. I still think under pressure they’ll be tested. I’m not sure they’ve been tested a great deal under pressure yet.”That’s going to be the real challenge in a semi-final against Australia, where there is that little bit of no doubt psychological damage over the summer where they’ve been hit around a bit.”The turnaround kicked off with India’s win against Pakistan in the opening match. Since then, they have dismissed every opposition en route to the semi-final, a feat they had never achieved in the past.”I think they have got the tools to hurt any side, it’s just whether or not they can be consistent enough to put the ball in the right area on the day, which they have and haven’t done throughout the summer.”

An unwanted record looms for Delhi Daredevils. No team in the IPL has lost 12 matches in a row; Daredevils are on the doorstep with 11 defeats

The Preview by Devashish Fuloria14-Apr-2015Match factsWednesday, April 15, 2015
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)3:07

Agarkar: Daredevils desperate for a win

Big pictureAn unwanted record looms for Delhi Daredevils. No team in the IPL has lost 12 matches in a row; Daredevils are on the doorstep with 11 defeats. Against Kings XI Punjab’s dynamic seamers and yet-to-fire-properly batsmen, in conditions that will be swing-friendly, Daredevils’ resolve to arrest the slide will be severely tested.Only two of those losses have come this season but despite Daredevils being a massively rejigged team, the manner in which they lost could potentially bring that familiar cloud of depression back over their heads. JP Duminy saw positives in the one-run loss in Chennai, but when the team let the game against Rajasthan Royals slip, “heartbreak” was being mentioned. Daredevils need to beat that feeling because, in both previous matches, they have held their own for majority of the game.Kings XI have no such problems. They are slowly warming up into the tournament and are quietly waiting on the Glenn Maxwell/David Miller’s day out.Watch out for…Johnson v Yuvraj: A rip-snorter from Mitchell Johnson in Pune 18 months ago was perhaps the first sign of Yuvraj Singh’s decline. The batsman edged the bouncer to Phillip Hughes, the wicketkeeper. The next time he came in to bat, he was bounced out again, for a duck. In his next innings, he left a gap so wide between his bat and pad that Johnson could have bowled with a football and still hit the stumps. Another duck. Yuvraj only played six more ODIs after that. The way he is handling bouncers this time, expect Johnson to steam in the moment he arrives.Daredevils’ legspinners, Amit Mishra and Imran Tahir, have added much-needed bite to their bowling and since the two are slightly different, batsmen can’t apply the same rule to them. Mishra, slower of the two, relies on flight and turn, the conventional methods, while Tahir is skiddy and uses the googly more frequently. The two have already picked up eight wickets between them and will test left-handers and right-handers alike.Stats and trivia With 1133 runs, David Miller is the second-highest run-scorer for Kings XI Punjab. The top-scorer, Shaun Marsh with 1973 runs, doesn’t find a place in the XI Yuvraj Singh has scored 86 runs in his six previous IPL outings in Pune. However, in his previous match at the ground, he was Man of the Match for his 136 in the first innings of Punjab’s Ranji Trophy tie against Maharashtra Amit Mishra has been hit for 108 sixes in the IPL, the most for any bowlerQuotes”We just have to go out there and be positive and not think negatively at all. We can only get better. If we get one win under our belt I am sure we can turn this around.”
“They swung the ball last year as well and there is no difference there, but they have definitely added some more pace to their bowling. The wickets are definitely helping them.”