Eliminator (N), Indian Premier League at Abu Dhabi, Nov 6 2020

Tournament : | Results | Table | Fixtures | Statistics |
Match : Thread | Cricinfo | Reddit-Stream

Innings	Score
Royal Challengers Bangalore	131/7
Sunrisers Hyderabad	132/4 (19.4/20 ov, target 132)

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Batter	Runs		Bowler	Wickets
Kane Williamson	50		Jason Holder	3
Jason Holder	24		T Natarajan	2
Manish Pandey	24		Shahbaz Nadeem	1

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Batter	Runs		Bowler	Wickets
AB de Villiers	56		Mohammed Siraj	2
Aaron Finch	32		Adam Zampa	1
Mohammed Siraj	10		Yuzvendra Chahal	1

Sunrisers won by 6 wickets
Kane Williamson: It was a tough game. It was always gonna be against a class side like RCB. With the quality of their batting, restricting them to 132 said 1) we bowled well, 2) it wasn't going to be easy. It was a challenge to restrict them. We had time, but with two world class legspinners it was never going to be easy. We had to try and get through their spells and they didn't give us much at all. It was just nice that we could get through their overs without losing too many wickets. You try and do your role as well as you can. Batting at 4, it can vary a lot, and surface dependent. It was nice to spend time and make a contribution, put some partnerships together. It's been an interesting last two weeks for us. [Holder] is cooler than me! He's playing beautifully.
Kane Williamson is the Man of the Match.
David Warner: Last few games have taken a bit out. We had to beat the top three to make it first, and we had to knock out three again. We had to sort of change our strategy around the first six, bowl Sandy and Jase with 5 in the powerplay, hold Natarajan and Rash for the middle overs. We had to work out a formula and it's going well. Congratulations to Natarajan and his wife, they had a baby this morning. What a gift for the little one. What a masterclass from Kane, he's done it for years for New Zealand. With the class of batting line up they had, you obviously knew there was something in that wicket with the new ball holding. You had to wait for the ball to be overpitched. The spinners bowled quite slow, fantastic through the middle overs. But end of the day, when you have a guy like Kane at the end [you back him], Bit close for my liking. Delhiis a fantastic team, we've spoken about their world class bowling. Shikhar is in form, Shreyas as well who is a linchpin for them.
Rashid Khan: It was tough, it was the same kind of feeling like the game against KXIP. A game which is Eliminator, and that pressure as well. Thank god we won it. Just kept it very simple for myself, just hit a good area. As long as I'm hitting that area, I'm good. I've watched my videos and analysed that most of the time I've been hit when I bowl full. So I try to bowl the right areas. This wicket sometimes you get a skiddy kind of turn. Today it wasn't that, it was a bit slow and not skidding as much as the last time we played here. You just have to keep it simple, back of a length. [Dube lbw] I think I got it, but the keeper and the guys from the back didn't think so. We just need to do the basics right against Delhi and see what happens.
Virat Kohli: If you talk about the first innings, I don't think we had enough on the board already. The position we got ourselves in the second half, probably better execution...a game of margins. We just didn't have enough runs on the board in my opinion. [The scores in the last few games] Maybe nerves? We just allowed the bowlers to bowl where they wanted to and didn't put them under pressure. We picked out the fielders a lot. It's been a strange kind of phase, 4-5 games for us. A couple of people have stood up and had good seasons. Devdutt, Siraj as well. Yuzi and AB have been solid as ever. Couple of positives. Devdutt has done it with class and efficiency, it's not easy to get 400 runs. It was a tough year. It tells you the strength of teams in the IPL. You don't have home and away so when conditions are same for everyone, the real strengths come out and I thik that's probably why this has been the most competitive IPL. it was amazing to have the opportunity to come out and play. There's a bigger picture going on here and we all have contributed to that. We're privileged we got to be part of that and gave something to the fans.
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I have been going through the various fan teams being posted here and wanted to try and simplify things, so here goes:
Padikkal Philippe Kohli AbD A B Washi C Siraj Saini Chahal
Basically, we need to fill slots A, B, and C with 2 overseas and one Indian player. Some points to remember:

1. Philippe will open for sure, or at the very least swap with Kohli. He's the player of the tournament in BBL this year, and management is really hot on him, even going as far as calling him the next Ab.
   
2. Yes, Washi is wasted at 7. However, we cannot give him a go at the top of the order because disturbing the core of Padikkal Kohli AbD is the last thing we want to do. AbD is best suited at 4 because he needs time to get dangerous, and good luck trying to move Kohli and Padikkal from their positions.
   
3. Coming to the slots, let's define the roles a bit more: A- Explosive middle order bat who can act as a floater in situations where we suffer a top order collapse. Think Sky, Kane Williamson, Raina of old, etc. B- Basically the same as A, but a bit more inclined towards finishing than stabilising. Think Pollard, Russel, etc C- gun death bowler, the forbidden last piece of the puzzle for RCB since almost a decade.
   

One of A and B needs to be Indian.
For A I was thinking along the lines of Van Der Dussen or Maxwell. Steve Smith, although great for fantasy teams, would not be ideal for RCB as we need to load up on firepower. Kohli and Padikkal are enough as accumulators.
B is where I am completely stumped. These is no real Indian talent available in the pool, unless you look into either SMAT or the retirees like Kedar Jadhav. We will probably end up buying back Dube for this role.
(You could also play Sams at B and get an Indian at A, someone like a Karun Nair but I'm not really convinced with Sams as a finisher)
C is tricky too. Originally it was anticipated that KXIP would go big on one of Starc or Jhye, and we would get the other. With the withdrawal of Starc, Jhye is all but confirmed for KXIP. That leaves us with Mark Wood, Kane Richardson or Cottrell.
Thoughts?

Welcome back to year four of the Alabama Slammers Franchise Report! Here are the links to the previous versions if you want to catch up (2021, 2022, 2023).
We’ve improved our win total every season, going from 73, to 82, to 88 wins over our first three years. I don’t expect to continue on that same trajectory, but I think we can maintain a winning record. We’ll attempt to upgrade our starting pitching with our improved budget room, and hopefully upgrade defensively at center field.
As with the previous versions, I’ll list the moves I made, the rationale behind those moves, the season results, and the future outlook.
Here are the salaries heading into the offseason: (part 1, part 2).
\Unless stated otherwise, all players were re-signed to their one-year arbitration estimate*
Departures (non-trades):
Gilbert Celestino
Celestino is still in the organization but was optioned to AAA due to better available options.
Alexis Olmeda
Olmeda was called up last season out of desperation but I don’t see him playing in the majors again.
Blake Cederlind
Cederlind wasn’t needed this year, so remained at AAA. He will remain with the organization as long as he is willing to accept a minor league contract.
Aaron Sanchez
Sanchez had two good seasons for us but wanted more money than I was comfortable paying. He signed a 2/$25m deal with the Angels and looks to be a slight overpay.
Curtis Taylor
Taylor was also optioned to AAA for the season and will probably remain a minor league depth piece.
Erich Uelmen
Uelmen was a minor league depth starter but missed most of the season to injury. If he regresses, he won’t be in consideration for emergency starts going forward.
Alex Wood
Wood was really good for us last year but wanted more money than he was worth. He signed a 3/$50.4m deal with the Bandits and looks on pace to be dead money by the end of the contract.
Move #1:
Slammers Receive: Franyel Baez, $2.9m Cash
Diamondbacks Receive: Akil Baddoo
I’m taking a risk with this one. Baez is probably a year away from being MLB ready and I’m about to thrust him into a starting role. He should be elite defensively, but I’d be surprised if he has an OPS+ above 50. I’m counting on his defense having a big enough impact on the pitching staff to justify the lack of offense.
Baddoo is a solid outfielder but nothing special. I’m betting on him never being anything more than average.
Move #2:
Slammers Receive: Kyle Freeland (40% retained)
Athletics Receive: Carlos Garay
We’re desperate for starting pitching, so I’m collecting every middle of the road guy I can. Hopefully I can piece together a competent staff.
Garay looks like a career minor leaguer, so I’m not too concerned with parting with him.
Move #3:
Slammers Receive: Josh Taylor (45% retained)
Red Sox Receive: Tyler Benninghoff
We needed another lefty to balance out the bullpen and Taylor looks like a solid option. He was on the trading block and the Red Sox were pretty much willing to give him away.
Move #4:
Signed free agent Jack Flaherty to a 6/$210m contract.
I had a good amount of budget room heading into the offseason, and a big need for starting pitching. I debated signing multiple mid-tier guys but instead opted to sign the best guy available.
If Flaherty remains healthy, he should be in Cy Young contention for the duration of his contract. Starting pitchers are notoriously injury prone, but his age and injury history convinced me he was worth the risk.
Move #5:
Slammers Receive: Jordan Montgomery (100% retained), $2.6m Cash
Brewers Receive: Trey Dawson
The Brewers were so excited to get rid of Montgomery they gave me $2.6m cash in addition to retaining all of his salary. Dawson looks like a career minor leaguer, so I really don’t see the downside here.
Move #6:
Signed free agent Michael Fulmer to a 2/$4m contract. The second year is a team option with a $500k buyout.
Fulmer was mediocre the last two years, but he was mostly healthy and didn’t cost much to bring back. If he flames out it’ll only cost me $2.5m to release him.
Move #7:
Slammers Receive: Dakota Hudson, $100k Cash
Diamondbacks Receive: Dallas Keuchel, Darwinzon Hernandez
I wasn’t planning on adding another pitcher of this caliber, but the Diamondbacks offered him up when I shopped around Hernandez. I threw in Keuchel to clear some of the starting pitching logjam since he appears to have regressed since the end of last season. If things go well, I’ll get a compensation pick from the loss of Hudson next offseason.
Final Financial Situation:
The owner raised the budget from $176m to $190m at the start of preseason, giving us about $18m in available room for the season. We have the 32nd pick in the draft, so I don’t foresee us having any issues signing all of our draft picks.
Here are the salaries heading into the season.
Move #8:
Slammers Receive: $8m Cash
Royals Receive: Trevor Ezell
I should probably stop saying I have enough budget room heading into the season. I think I’ve had to make a move like this every year so far.
I’m not sure why the Royals think Ezell is worth $8m but I didn’t try to talk them out of it. This looks like another win for the good guys.
Season Outlook:
I think Flaherty and Baez are going to do wonders for the team ERA. If we can maintain the offense from last year and the bullpen remains excellent, we should be able to improve our win total. The Braves will still be a problem though. I don’t anticipate being able to get past them.
Batters:
Primary Lineup vs. RHP when Healthy (\DH enabled in both leagues)*
2B – Nick Gordon
Gordon was really good for the third straight season. He plays above average defense, provides league average offense, and has excellent character. The only question is, how long should I keep him? He’s entering his first arbitration season at the prime of his career, so his trade value will never be higher, but I’m trying to win games and he’s a huge part of that. I’m leaning toward bringing him back, but it depends on what’s available in the offseason.
1B – Paul Goldschmidt
I feel betrayed by Goldschmidt. We were in a very tight division race with four games remaining and he went down for three weeks with plantar fasciitis. I’ve had that before and you can definitely play through it, especially if you’re just playing first base. It’s not pleasant, but it’s definitely manageable if the season is on the line. Goldschmidt is a quitter and will be traded in the offseason.
He would have been a free agent, but the owner wanted me to re-sign him. I usually don’t go out of my way to complete owner goals, but Goldschmidt only wanted 2/$10m and was willing to make the second year a team option. I think I should be able to get off his contract pretty easily and might even get something in return if I can find the right team in win-now mode.
DH – Shohei Ohtani
Ohtain had a good year but nowhere near the kind of season he had during his 2023 MVP campaign. He started off extremely slow, sort of like his 2022 season, but finally heated up late. I have him under contract for three more years, so he will return.
3B – Nolan Arenado
Arenado appears to have had another unlucky season as his BABIP was .226 for the year, but I think I’m going to move him while I still can. He’s 33-years-old and his ratings have dropped significantly since las year. The Rockies retained 45% of his salary, so I should be able to get something decent for him without retaining anything myself.
RF – Estevan Florial
Florial regressed a bit since last year but was still solid. I think I can get comparable production from some of my minor league guys, so I’ll trade him if the right deal comes along.
SS – Freddy Galvis
Galvis is still hanging in there, but just barely. His infield range has dropped below the acceptable range for a short stop, and his hitting is too poor to play anywhere else. Injuries allowed me to move him to second base for the stretch run, but I don’t want him starting there going forward.
He has a team option that I’ll probably pick up because I want to use him as a backup the first part of the season until everyone is healthy. I’ll train him at third base during spring training.
C – Ali Sanchez
I thought Sanchez was ready for a starting role, but he didn’t do much with his opportunity. He’ll probably be back next season. I’m just not sure yet if he’ll be the starter.
CF – Franyel Baez
I didn’t expect much from Baez offensively, so I’m thrilled with his OPS+ of 72. His defense was excellent, and he managed to stay healthy most of the year. He’ll be back next season.
LF – Khalil Lee
Lee filled his role in the nine-spot perfectly for the second straight season. I’m hesitant to bring him back though because his defense is starting to slip. I’ll move him if the right trade comes along.
Bench
C – Christian Vazquez
I’d pretty much written off Vazquez after last season, but he found a way to re-establish himself as the starter. I’ll bring him back if he’s willing to re-sign for a reasonable amount.
IF – Jeison Guzman
I really wasn’t that high on Guzman a couple of years ago, but he’s turned himself into a great utility infielder. He backs up every infield position and doesn’t hurt us at the plate. It was a big loss when he tore his ACL at the beginning of August. Hopefully, he comes back full-strength next year.
OF – Jeisson Rosario
I’d like for my utility outfielder to play better defense, especially when my starters aren’t that great at it. Rosario might get a starting role next year if I move on from one of my other corner outfielders.
Replacements
IF – Marcelo Mayer
Mayer was forced into action early in the season when Goldschmidt went down for five weeks. He was 100% not ready for the majors but I didn’t have any other options. He was sent back down as soon Goldschmidt returned but was forced up again in August when Guzman tore his ACL. I was able to keep him out of the starting lineup at first during his second stint, but he played so well that I had no choice but to start him by the end of the season. He’ll be my starting short stop next year.
C – Roberto Alvarez
Alvarez was called up for three weeks due to an injury to Sanchez. He only played in five games, so there’s not much to say.
OF – Matt Hogan
I called up Hogan when rosters expanded to give us a solid pinch runner. He wasn’t needed much but could have a bigger role next year.
Pitchers:
Pitching Staff when Healthy
SP – Jack Flaherty
Flaherty did pretty much what I expected. He provided an ace at the top of the rotation and helped lower the team ERA. He was the all-star starter and finished fifth in Cy Young voting.
My only concern was injuries, but we avoided those for the most part. He had a 7-day day-to-day after the all-star game, but that was it.
SP – Dakota Hudson
Hudson wasn’t bad, but not nearly as good as I expected. He wants 4/$40m to re-sign so it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to get a compensation pick for him.
SP – Justin Steele
Steele had a poor showing in 2023 but got back to form this year. He posted 3.8 WAR over 172.1 innings and was named pitcher of the month for July.
SP – Michael Fulmer
I was so close to releasing Fulmer multiple times, but every time I was ready to pull the trigger he’d go out and pitch an eight or nine inning gem. His ratings have slipped, so I’m going to decline his team option. I’ll take my chances on someone else.
SP – Jordan Montgomery
I gave Montgomery half a season to figure things out, but he never did. I waived him at the midpoint of the year and eventually had to release him. He signed a minor league deal with the Astros, and they ended up using him as a reliever.
CL – Diego Castillo
Castillo started out slow but got better the second half of the season. He’s an upcoming free agent that wants 4/$40m, so he will not be returning.
SU – Blake Taylor
Taylor was amazing this season and finished third in the reliever of the year voting. He will be back.
MR – Jhonatan German
German was passable but could get replaced next year if better options emerge.
MR – Andres Nunez
Nunez had a really good second season and will be back for a third.
MR – Argenis Angulo
Angulo has been really good since earning a fulltime role three years ago. If he gains a bit of stamina, he might even become a starter.
MR – Josh Taylor
The Red Sox were practically giving Taylor away and I really don’t know why. He was excellent this season and will return next year.
MR – Corbin Clouse
Another top performer in the bullpen, Corbin has three years of team control remaining so should be around for a while.
LR – Tyler Ivey
Ivey is a great example of a guy accepting his role and performing well. I’ve seen a lot of guys with his talent constantly upset about a bullpen role and tank their performance until they’re out of the league. Ivey will be back.
LR – Jose Paulino
I started Paulino in the bullpen to provide starting pitching depth but moved him to the rotation after I released Montgomery. He was awesome in sixteen starts and will be in the rotation next year.
Replacements
LR - Kyle Freeland
Freeland spent a lot of the season in the minors to provide starting pitching depth. He was called up when Montgomery was released and took Paulino’s role as a long reliever. He made one emergency start later in the year. He might be back next season if I don’t have better options.
MR – Ian Hamilton
Hamilton was one of my top relievers a couple of years ago, but I don’t have much faith in him after multiple season ending injuries. He was called up when rosters expanded but will probably remain as minor league depth.
Season Results:
We started off the year great, going 14-7 in our first 21 games and looking like the team to beat in the division, but an injury to Goldschmidt in late April slowed our roll. He was out for five weeks and we really struggled during that span, going 2-8 the first ten games without him. Mayer was forced into a starting role and Guzmanwas forced to learn first base on the fly. Our lack of minor league depth really showed.
After that we hovered around .500 for most of the season, but so did the rest of the division. Between game 60 and game 150 the largest separation between first and last place was three (!!!) games. Nobody was backing down and it looked like the division could go any way.
The Marlins faltered the last couple of games, but the top three teams were separated by two games with three games remaining. We were tied with the Cardinals for first place and had a three games series with them to end the season. We won the first game in thrilling fashion. Nick Gordon delivered a go ahead double in the top of the 13th and we hung on to win. Then he came through again in the second game with a go ahead double in the top of the tenth that sealed the victory. The third game was just a formality, but we won anyways and finished the season as division champs!
We had an amazing run the last quarter of the season, going 30-9 our last 39 games. And to make things even better, we made the playoffs before our expansion rival Mexico City Bandits.
Our first-round opponent was the Washington Nationals, who were led by force-of-nature Juan Soto. We battled back and forth over a close series but lost game seven on a walk off homer in the bottom of the ninth. Even though the series was close, I don’t think we deserved to win. Our starting pitching was awful, and we gave up over six runs a game. Flaherty was the only pitcher to record a quality start.
The Nationals ended up losing in the next round to the eventual champion Dodgers.
Top Prospects:
This is the best our minor league system has been in our four years of existence. We finally had a drafted player reach the majors, had a monster draft this year, and just signed an international amateur with MVP potential. This is the kind of system that wins you a championship in 3-5 years.
1.) Ernesto Bernal
Bernal is back at number one for the third straight season and still looks like a future star. His ratings have improved since last season and he performed well in A+. I’ll probably give him one more season there before moving him to AA.
I thought he might have some untapped outfield range potential, but it appears he’ll never be more than an average left fielder. I’ll move him to first base next season, which will probably be his position in the majors.
2.) Angel Nunez
Nunez has off-the-charts potential, but I’ve learned not to get too excited about international amateurs. Hopefully, he reaches his MVP potential, but more than likely he’ll be an average MLB player. I’ll remain hopeful though.
He has the defensive ratings profile of an average corner outfielder or first baseman, but still has time to improve before reaching the minors. He will probably spend two years in the international complex before making his minor league debut.
I was debating between signing Nunez and Jose Uribe, so it will be interesting to see who is better in a few years.
3.) Josh Epps
I’m very excited about Epps. He was listed as an outfielder coming out of the draft, and could probably be a very good center fielder, but has the potential to be an elite middle infielder. As long as his contact develops, he’ll find his way to the majors sooner than later.
4.) Dan Gay
Gay has the outline of a top-of-the-line starting pitcher. He has durable injury proneness, high work ethic, 5 solid pitches, and elite Stamina and Hold Runners. If he can improve his control and movement, he’ll be an ace.
5.) Pat Leveille
Leveille has progressed nicely since last season and had a great year in rookie ball. He’ll probably begin next season in A.
6.) Alex Galan
“The God of Batting” saw his offensive ratings increase across the board since last year, but I was really hoping he’d get some defensive boosts. He’s so close to having elite defensive ratings. He had a good year in rookie ball and will probably begin next season at A-. I’ll force start him at third base, so he’ll have experience at the three most difficult infield positions.
7.) Rawley Hector
Hector made the list in 2021 due to a lack of better options, but he’s turned himself into a legit MLB prospect. He’ll begin next season at AA and could get some major league action as a spot starter.
8.) Tim Mehler
Mehler has some of the most wasteful defensive ratings I’ve ever seen. He was listed as a shortstop coming out of the draft, but I really wouldn’t want him playing anywhere in the infield but first base with his limited range. I moved him to center field where he has elite defensive potential. I wish he had durable injury proneness or a positive character attribute, but I’m not going to complain too much about picking up this kind of talent in the fourth round. He’ll repeat rookie ball next year.
9.) Jim Sullivan
Sullivan is the total package. He has high character, durable injury proness, three good pitches, and a groundball preference/pitcher type. He wasn’t rated this high coming out of the draft, so hopefully he’s a quick riser.
10.) Joe Amoroso
Amoroso has improved since last season but will still need another year in rookie ball. His ratings suggest he’ll be ready for promotion after next season.
Honorable Mentions:
Jack Walker
Walker hasn’t performed very well yet, but I still like his ratings profile. He should be ready for the majors sooner than later.
Oscar Trevino
Trevino has lost some of his batting potential since last year but his baserunning and defensive ratings have improved. I still like his major league chances dues his durable injury proneness and high character.
Cooper Benson
A couple of years ago I thought Benson was a AAAA talent but I’m seriously considering putting him in my starting rotation next season. He’ll definitely be in the majors at some point.
Will Shirah
Shirah has improved nicely since last year and dominated AA pitching. He might start next season in the majors.
Dropped from list:
Bruce Ledezma
Ledezma was the number one prospect on the 2021 list but he doesn’t look to have an MLB future at this point. His personality was revealed as selfish and the injuries are starting to pile up.
Promoted to MLB:
Marcelo Mayer
Future Outlook:
It’s hard not to be excited about a team that won its division in its fourth year of existence, but I’ll try not to get too ahead of myself. We still need to improve our starting pitching, have a tough decision to make with Arenado, and are still in one of the toughest divisions in baseball. On the positive side, our budget was increased from $190m to $204m at the start of the offseason, we have the ability to bring back most of our players, and the farm system is loaded.
I don’t want to go completely in to win-now mode, but I think we’re really close to pushing our fan loyalty to the next level and I want to try to make that happen. Hopefully, I can find a nice balance between long- and short-term success and we can win now while looking towards becoming a powerhouse in the future.
Here are the salaries heading into the offseason: (part 1, part 2).

I love KL Rahul the batsman, and I still am a sucker for his batting, but my god whatever he's done thus far in IPL 2020 has high-key been infuriating.
Look, I can understand his approach. Since he's the captain, and since he feels the team's middle-order is unreliable, he feels there's a need to take the game deep. I have no problem with it, but if you're gonna take the game deep, you "need" to ensure that you at least have a 70-80% success rate. Rahul has wasted balls and fucked it up in all but one match this season (RCB) and he just doesn't seem to learn. If he knows that he's incapable of finishing matches off, he should at least be a bit more free with his approach. Right now his fifties are hurting the team more than they're helping.
When Punjab have batted first, he has put too much pressure on the likes of Maxwell Pooran and Sarfaraz by batting too slow and getting out at the wrong time and when they have chased, he has never been able to take the team over the line even once.
His approach today, particularly after Agarwal got out, was unacceptable. He showed no intent whatsoever and even when Prabhsimran walked in (what an idiotic fucking move), he was taking singles instead of attempting to put the ball away.
No one is asking him to bat like Russell, but is a SR of 140 too much to ask for? Man, Rahul has had a SR below 130 in all but one match and in most matches, he's batted more than 35 balls. That's so so so hurtful to the side.
You can't be pulling off this bullshit, not learn from your mistakes, and come out and say that "Strike Rate is overrated".
I miss the Rahul of 2018. I'm so fucking done with this responsible batting bullshit. If Warner and Bairstow can trust a middle-order of Garg, Samad and Pandey, then you have no business worrying about Pooran, Maxwell and Mandeep. Rahul was pulling this off even when KXIP fielded seven specialist batsman in the first 3 games.

With one game remaining and the Vikings eliminated from playoff contention, there is nothing to look forward to other than a better draft pick and personal accolades/milestones for the players.
The statistical milestones that are up for grabs for Cousins/Cook/Thielen/Jefferson can be found here:
https://old.reddit.com/minnesotavikings/comments/kkax87/personal_recordmilestone_watch_for_week_17/
At the top of that list has to be Jefferson and the rookie receiving yards record. This is going to be a really in depth post, but in short, he has a rare opportunity in terms of team circumstance and opponent to have a career day, and legitimately challenge the rookie receiving yards record.
Jefferson's Current Place in History for Rookie Receivers
Going into Week 17, Jefferson has no shot at challenging the rookie receptions record (2003 Anquan Boldin with 101 catches, Jefferson is at 79), or rookie TD record (1998 Randy Moss with 17 TD, Jefferson with 7). In rookie receiving yards, however, he currently ranks 5th all-time:

Receiver	Season	Games	Yards going into Final Game	Yards in Last Game	Final Yardage Total	Yards Behind Season Leader (Rank)
Bill Groman	1960	14	1,323	150	1,473	0 (1st)
Anquan Boldin	2003	16	1,350	27	1,377	319 (3rd)
Randy Moss	1998	16	1,281	32	1,313	111 (3rd)
Odell Beckham Jr.	2014	12	1,120	185	1,305	393 (10th)
Justin Jefferson	2020	15	1,267	TBD	TBD	149 (8th)

In order to pass each player on the list, he would need to put up these totals:

Rank	Receiver	Receiving Yards	Jefferson Yards Needed to Pass	Games With Required Yardage
1	Groman (1960)	1,473	207	0/15
2	Boldin (2003)	1,377	111	4/15
3	Moss (1998)	1,313	47	10/15
4	Beckham Jr. (2014)	1,305	39	12/15

Team Situation - Nothing to Play For
The Vikings officially cannot make the playoffs. Since Mike Zimmer took over in 2014, the Vikings have played a total of 3 meaningless games:
Week 16 in 2014: L 37-35 to Dolphins (7-7) Week 17 in 2014: W 13-9 vs. Bears (3-12) Week 17 in 2016: W 38-10 vs. Bears (3-12)
2016 Week 17:
QB Bradford - 3,627 yards, 17 TD coming into Week 17 - Up 24-10 at half, kept in all game - 25/33, 250 yards, 3 TD
RB Jerrick McKinnon and RB Matt Asiata - Peterson injured for most of season - McKinnon had 143-450-1, Asiata had 113-388-6 coming in - McKinnon had 16-89-1 + 3-21-1, Asiata had 8-14-0, 3-31-0
WR Diggs, WR Thielen, TE Rudolph - Diggs injured for Week 17 - Thielen had 68 (91 targets)-960-5, Rudolph had 72 (117 targets)-723-6 - Thielen had 1 (1)-7-0, Rudolph had 11 (15)-117-1 - Major disparity considering the milestone, but Bears had great corners with no Diggs to draw attention away and Bradford loved Rudolph as a security blanket.
Zimmer never rested skill position players in the 2014 games. Old Greg Jennings played all 16. Peterson was injured that entire year.
The above tells me that even though it was a meaningless game, he gave his starters ample opportunity and didn't pull them in a blowout. The Thielen thing is interesting though, he only needed 40 yards for 1,000, ran the most routes on the team, and was targeted once vs. Rudolph's 15.
When a game doesn't matter and you're just letting your starters pile up stats, it leads me to believe he may do this again.
Detroit Lions Historically Poor Coverage
The Lions are the worst coverage team in the NFL. Not only this, but they're one of the worst coverage teams in NFL history.
In terms of advanced analytics, PFF has them at a 29.4 coverage grade. The next worse this year is the Jaguars at 33.1. The median is 61.9 and the best is Washington at 84.3.
The only teams with a worse grade since PFF started recording stats in 2006 are:
2014 Washington: 28.6 2010 Texans: 28.7 2010 Jaguars: 29.3
In terms of more simple receiving stats, the Lions have allowed the 10th most yards per passing attempt since 1970, along with the 2nd highest passer rating of all-time (since 1940):

Team	Season	Completions/Attempts	Passing Yards	Yards/Attempt	TD-INT	Passer Rating
NYJ	1975	180/316	2719	8.604	26-15	94.9
BAL	1981	301/491	4128	8.407	37-16	100.6
DET	2008	304/444	3716	8.369	25-4	110.8
NOR	2015	372/544	4544	8.353	45-9	116.2
RAM	1991	259/434	3545	8.168	25-11	95.6
NWE	1989	259/449	3666	8.165	27-16	91.6
ATL	1989	259/437	3554	8.133	19-20	82.5
BAL	1978	191/357	2901	8.126	29-17	90.4
NWE	1990	218/374	3021	8.078	21-24	89.9
DET	2020	355/517	4175	8.075	35-7	111.3

The numbers also weight heavily towards receivers. These are the 6 teams that have allow more than 9 yards per target to WRs:

Team	Completions Allowed	Targets	Yards Allowed	Yards/Target
Lions	225	316	3067	9.71
Eagles	201	290	2673	9.22
Vikings	192	286	2626	9.18
Falcons	224	331	3005	9.08
Cowboys	190	290	2621	9.04
Jaguars	205	297	2676	9.01

15 teams in the league allow fewer than 8 yards per target to WRs.
Every metric points towards the Lions being not only the worst pass defense in the league, but one of the worst ever, and one of the worst at defending against WRs.
Looking At Lions Performance vs. Top 2 WRs Each Game
Assuming Jefferson and Thielen are good to go in Week 17, they'll form their usual 2-headed monster that demands attention. I thought it would be worthwhile to look at how each receiver has done in each game.
Yards per Route Run simply calculates the number of yards divided by the number of routes a player has run. For reference, among the top 100 most targeted receivers, these are the top 5 this season:

1. Davante Adams - 3.01 Y/RR
2. Corey Davis - 2.67 Y/RR
3. Julio Jones - 2.60 Y/RR
4. Justin Jefferson - 2.60 Y/RR
5. Calvin Ridley - 2.55 Y/RR

These are the two WR in the middle:

1. Tyler Locket - 1.65 Y/RR
2. Robert Woods - 1.65 Y/RR

And these are the 5 at the bottom:

1. Larry Fitzgerald - 0.92 Y/RR
2. Demarcus Robinson - 0.89 Y/RR
3. Greg Ward - 0.88 Y/RR
4. Isaiah Wright - 0.84 Y/RR
5. Jeff Smith - 0.83 Y/RR

This is the weekly breakdown for the 2 receivers on each team that ran the most routes:

Receiver	Primary Corner	Routes	Targets	Receptions	Yards	Y/RR
Allen Robinson	Oruwariye	36	9	5	74	2.06
Anthony Miller	McRae	22	6	4	76	3.45
Allen Lazard	Oruwariye	27	5	3	45	1.67
Marquez Valdes-Scantling	Okudah	24	7	3	64	2.67
DeAndre Hopkins	Okudah	36	12	10	137	3.81
Larry Fitzgerald	Roberts	33	3	1	0	0.00
Tre'Quan Smith	Trufant	25	4	4	54	2.16
Emmanuel Sanders	Okudah	24	9	6	93	3.88
D.J. Chark	Oruwariye	43	14	7	45	1.05
Keelan Cole	Roberts	38	9	6	143	3.76
Calvin Ridley	Okudah	42	7	5	69	1.64
Julio Jones	Oruwariye	40	9	8	97	2.43
Zach Pascal	Coleman	30	6	3	44	1.47
Marcus Johnson	Okudah	23	4	2	39	1.70
Adam Thielen	Trufant (SHADOW)	21	5	2	38	1.81
Justin Jefferson	Okudah	19	4	3	64	3.37
Terry McLaurin	Trufant (SHADOW)	57	8	7	95	1.67
Cam Sims	Oruwariye	55	5	4	54	0.98
D.J. Moore	Oruwariye	32	9	7	127	3.97
Robby Anderson	Trufant	31	9	7	46	1.48
Brandin Cooks	Coleman	30	5	5	85	2.83
Will Fuller	Oruwariye	28	7	6	171	6.11
Allen Robinson	Roberts	35	7	6	75	2.14
Darnell Mooney	Oruwariye	35	6	4	43	1.23
Davante Adams	Oruwariye	37	10	7	115	3.11
Marquez Valdes-Scantling	Coleman	28	6	6	85	3.04
A.J. Brown	Oruwariye	28	7	5	44	1.57
Corey Davis	Oruwariye	27	6	4	110	4.07
Mike Evans	Roberts	39	12	10	181	4.64
Chris Godwin	Coleman	30	9	5	84	2.80
-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Wide Receiver 1	N/A	518	120	86	1228	2.37
Wide Receiver 2	N/A	457	99	69	1169	2.56
-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total for Top 2 WR	N/A	975	219	155	2397	2.46

Funny enough, Jefferson was the only top 2 receiver they faced that ran fewer than 20 routes in a game.
So, in other words, the aggregate #1 WR that faced the Lions this year would be the #8 WR in the league by yards per route run, just behind #7 Stefon Diggs. The aggregate #2 WR that the Lions faced this year would be the #5 WR in the league by yards per route run, just behind Jefferson and just ahead of Ridley. The average of the top 2 WR would be the #6 WR in the league, behind Calvin Ridley, but ahead of A.J. Brown.
How the Lions deficiencies benefit Jefferson's Game
It's simple to say that a team has a bad pass D, but it's important to look at how those yards are being accumulated. If I could describe the Lions Pass D as simple as possible, it's that they are very prone to giving up huge plays. They aren't "bend don't break" at all, they have massive lapses consistently. This is something that benefits Jefferson's game as a receiver that makes his living in intermediate and deep game.
Most 20+ yard receptions this season:
Calvin Ridley - 23 Travis Kelce - 23 Justin Jefferson - 22 Allen Robinson - 21 Tyreek Hill - 20
Most 20+ yard receptions allowed (sorted by WR 20+ yard receptions allowed):

Teams	20+ Yard Receptions Allowed	20+ Yard Receptions Allowed to WR
Lions	60	44
Falcons	59	44
Vikings	56	44
Colts	51	40
Dolphins	52	39
Eagles	49	39
Texans	49	38
Cowboys	48	38
Bengals	56	37
Panthers	49	36
Broncos	53	36
Seahawks	51	36
Steelers	44	36
Saints	43	36
Jaguars	51	35
Titans	47	35
Jaguars	46	34
Browns	44	34
49ers	41	33
Bears	49	32
Jets	48	32
Chiefs	45	32
Patriots	41	31
Chargers	42	30
Chiefs	48	29
Cardinals	45	29
Giants	41	28
Bills	37	28
Packers	37	26
Washington	35	26
Rams	32	25
Ravens	37	22

The interesting thing about this is that the Lions have allowed 24 total and 18 from WR in just the last 5 games, the exact point when they changed coaches and shifted from Okudah and Trufant as their primary corners due to injury to their current set-up, which I will get into below. Also remember that the Lions don't have as many pass attempts against compared to most teams, but they're still right up there in volume due to their inefficiency.
The QB statistics in their last 5 games are: 121/161 (75.2%), 1,591 yards (9.88 yards/attempt), 17 TD-0 INT, 141.08 passer rating
Lions Personnel
The Lions corners have been a mess this year. Darius Slay left for Philly so they signed Desmond Trufant from Atlanta. He's been dealing with injuries all year and is on the injured reserve.
Jeff Okudah was the 3rd overall pick, who they threw right into the fire much like we did with Gladney and Dantzler. He lost playing time and is also on the injured reserve. He graded out as the worst corner in the league in numerous metrics. Trufant wasn't far ahead of him when he was playing.
Justin Coleman was injured in Week 1, but returned to his usual role in the slot after has been a constant in the slot all year. Last season he was statistically one of the worst corners in the league. He was targeted 2nd most and gave up the 4th most yards.
With the multiple injuries to corners occurring in Week 1, Amani Oruwariye was thrust into a starting role right off the bat, and has been relied on as an outside corner every week. He was a 5th round pick in 2019, being used sparingly in his rookie year towards the end of the year. With all the injuries to corners this year, he's literally played double the coverage snaps over the next highest corner.
Darryl Roberts was their #5 CB coming into the year. They signed him to a 1 year deal after he struggled last year and lost his job on the Jets. He filled in in the slot when Coleman + Trufant went down but has been used exclusively as an outside corner since the more recent injuries to Trufant/Okudah.
They've used a couple different practice squad guys, but most recently Tramaine Brock just as a healthy body. He saw some playing time against the Bucs with Roberts struggling.
Here are the stats for all the players in the secondary, with Jefferson added in for reference. I've also added in the Lions rank/100 for the 100 CBs with the most cover snaps (roughly 3 corners per team), and the safeties rank out of the 64 safeties with the most cover snaps (roughly 2 safeties per team):

Player	Jefferson	Oruwariye - LCB	Coleman - SCB	Roberts - RCB	Harmon - SS	Walker - FS	Okudah - LCB (IR)
Routes or Cover Snaps	487	508	253	248	546	372	251
Slot %	31.42%	11.42%	81.03%	60.48%	12.92% (Box %)	48.74% (Box %)	11.16%
Targets	109	75	41	44	21	45	50
Receptions	79	41	34	31	13	34	38
Pass Breakups	N/A	5	1	2	1	2	2
Catch %	72.48%	54.67%	82.93%	70.45%	61.90%	75.56%	76.00%
Yards	1267	720	334	369	238	410	579
Air Yards Per Reception	10.92	10.24	4.97	9.68	8.38	6.26	10.32
YAC per Reception	5.11	7.32	4.85	2.23	9.92	5.79	4.92
Yards per Reception	16.04	17.56	9.82	11.90	18.31	12.06	15.24
Snaps Per Target	4.47	6.77 (46/100)	6.17 (65/100)	5.64 (81/100)	26.00 (10/64)	8.30 (57/64)	5.02 (98/100)
Snaps Per Reception	6.16	12.39 (23/100)	7.44 (92/100)	8.00 (82/100)	42.00 (11/64)	10.90 (59/64)	6.61 (100/100)
Yards per Target	11.62	9.6	8.15	8.39	11.33	9.11	11.58
Yards per Snap	2.60 (4th)	1.42 (75/100)	1.32 (66/100)	1.49 (85/100)	0.44 (21/64)	1.10 (63/64)	2.31 (100/100)
% of Targets with 5+ Yards Separation	9.70%	1.10%	0.00%	2.40%	N/A	N/A	6.50%
PFF Receiving/Coverage Grade	90.4 (2nd)	52.0 (79/100)	52.1 (76/100)	53.1 (70/100)	67.1 (25/64)	43.3 (60/64)	30.1 (100/100)

Corner Utilization for the Lions
All you need to know is that since the coaching change the Lions corner use has been the same every game. Oruwariye will log slot snaps when no one is one his side, but he lines up at LCB 100% of the time.
Roberts on the other hand is the opposite. He will trail into the slot less than Oruwariye, but in terms of his outside snaps, he lines up on the right side 100% of the time. In the slot, Coleman almost exclusively plays thee.
They have been really simplifying playing a lot of man coverage since the coaching change. They were criticized heavily for playing too much man coverage before under Patricia:
https://www.espn.com/blog/detroit-lions/post/_/id/37084/analyzing-the-detroit-lions-in-man-defense-vs-zone
Of course with an interim coach there's only so much you can do to implement new strategies, and Patricia has been so heavy on man coverage over the years that it's easier to just play the season out and worry about big scale changes with a new coach next year.
Man coverage should bode well for Jefferson, who has among the best #s in the league at beating single coverage. Lions also bring their safety up in the box more than most, leaving a single high safety to defend, which will be good for Jefferson with Thielen drawing attention.
This is a rare match-up where I wouldn't worry at all about the match-up. You could argue that matching up more vs. Oruwariye would be better due to his propensity to give up the big play. But with Roberts' shakiness on the other side and Coleman giving up so much consistent production on the inside, there's really no bad option here. Vikings love using Jefferson on both sides and in the slot a lot, so I see no use changing anything up.
For whatever it's worth, Patricia and the Lions identified Thielen as the Vikings #1 in their first match-up, choosing to use Trufant as their shadow (Trufant on Thielen and McLaurin are the Lions only two shadows of the year). That being said, this is irrelevant for this game, Lions usage has been completely stagnant.
Big plays against members of the Lions Secondary
As mentioned before, the big thing in this match-up is big plays. Here are all the 20+ yard gains that Oruwariye/Roberts/Coleman/Harmon/Walker gave up. I also added the one from Brock in as he saw spot duty against the Bucs.
Oruwariye (Lions #1 Outside Corner):
https://streamable.com/9pv48t
Roberts (Lions #2 Outside Corner):
https://streamable.com/f55whl
Coleman (Lions Slot Corner):
https://streamable.com/lvh1ga
Brock (Lions Depth Corner):
https://streamable.com/j0lwnh
Harmon/Walker (Lions Safeties):
https://streamable.com/2txip5
Bottom Line
While the season is over, I think this is something to look forward to. You only get one shot at putting up rookie numbers, and it's something that will be etched in history for whatever he finishes with.
I think this is just a flat-out rare circumstance that could lead to a huge boom game:

• Vikings eliminated from playoffs, game script won't be as important
• Passing defense opponent who ranks among the worst of all-time, not just this season
• Lions coaching change midseason and lack of personnel among corners has led to them simplifying everything where you know exactly what to expect

If you want to swing for the fence, there have been 12 yardage totals by rookies that if Jefferson joined that group, it would put him into the #1 spot:

Player	Season	Receptions	Yards
Jerry Butler	1979	10	255
Jerry Rice	1985	10	241
Justin Blackmon	2012	7	236
Eddie Kennison	1996	5	226
Anquan Boldin	2003	10	217
Harlon Hill	1954	7	214
Mark Carrier	1987	8	212
Jackie Smith	1963	9	212
Sammy White	1976	7	210
Mike Evans	2014	7	209
Rod Gardner	2001	6	208
Red Phillips	1958	8	208

Saw a lot of post by Redditors here ranting about our losses and claiming that VK should be dropped from captaincy. Its absurd that such a theory came up. First of all, This year’s VKs captaincy was way better than previous ones. Lets go through some examples. 1) Devdutt Padikkal – One of the brighest stars of IPL, He sure will be a great asset for rcb in coming yrs. He started his debut season with a fine 50 against srh. Really we thought Parthiv Patel (who had a very good last year) would open. But the management and Kohli backed him and rest was history. Just think if he was in CSK, I doubt whether he would be the first choice for Dhoni. 2) Washington Sundar - One of the most economical spinner in this ipl, he really did win a lot of matches for rcb. Though given just 3 overs in 1st 2 matches, rcb vs MI match changed his career. Kohli used him as a powerplay bowler and he choked the teams. He even took important wkts in Csk, kkr matches. Undoubtedly Vk and coach’s decision to send him up the bowling line-up paid rich dividends for our team. His economical figures in PP forced batsmens to go hard on Chahal and eventually resulted in their wkts. 3) Mohammed Siraj- Called Lord Siraj by trollers, he was a surprise in this season. Known for his expensive bowling, he became RCBs go to powerplay pacer. His fortune changed after Kohli asked him to bowl the 2nd over against kkr and then ran through the KKR batting lineup. He proved why he was lethal in the pp. 4) Team environment- This season it was evident that we played as a well functioned team. Even if we posted low scores, thanks to our shoddy batting, our bowling and fielding somehow brought us back in the game. The team’s energy was visible when they grouped after every ball. The team was more of a team than a group of distinct players who played for themselves. Kohli provided them the energy to face each challenges. His energy and passion on the field motivated the players.
Note: Our batting was way below par and it always haunted us. Even VK didn’t play like his true self. But this season was of more positives than negative. Still sad that our longing for the Cup has been extended by a year. This year, VK showed a lot of maturity as a captain and we played as a team. Few good choices in the upcoming auction could bolster our batting woes and middle order dilemma. Waiting for Next saala Cup Namde

So, RCB seems to have big names and emerging players in their batting line-up. But why does it always fail? Let's compare how other playoff teams don't face this problem.
Opening :
David Warner - Great opener, plays long and deep, SRH has one of the highest Powerplay scores.
Qdk - Great opener as well, opens destructive with Rohit, plays defensive with Ishan. Does play deep, provides good Powerplay.
DDP - Good opener, good footwork. But can't take it deep, and loses on a risky shot
Wriddhiman Saha - Good partner with Warner, can make a decent opening partnership.
Ishan Kishan - (Let's put aside Rohit) Explosive opener, can play on no.4 as well. Plays faster than DDP.
No consistent second opener for RCB. Philipe is good, but the chemistry is yet to be tested.
3&4 : The important Spin players
Manish Pandey & Kane Williamson - Pandey is a powerhitter, can accelerate innings. Kane Williamson, well... He can take responsibility and play it safe and deep.
SKY and Saurabh Tiwary/Ishan Kishan - SKY and Saurabh can still act as openers, play it elegantly. If it's Ishan then he changes his style to play it deep.
RCB - Kohli and ABD. Here's a problem. Their natural game is not to preserve wicket and play defend. Kohli is a powerhitter, he needs to Either open or move down. ABD is a finisher, he shouldn't come before Over 13.
5&6 : This is the cushion. The most crucial.
Jason Holder and ??? - Tbh even Jason is not extremely reliable. He is 17th over reliable, but not 13th over reliable. And while SRH has options, I don't remember names. Which means I don't remember match Winning performances.
MI - One of the Pandyas, Pollard - Actually the cushion hasn't started yet for MI. They have an option to send in Krunal alongside SKY or Ishan if it's not the 13th over yet. This allows for SKY and Ishan to set in. Krunal should however, learn to not okay big shots and keep rotating strike to set batsman.
RCB - ??? ABD and Kohli have no reliable (and proven) batsman to fall back upon.
7 & 8 :
Rashid Khan & ??? - Here is the end of the tail of SRH. Rashid Khan can make a few shots, provided it's well past over 16. This gives a slight cushion.
Hardik/Pollard and NCN/Pattinson - Lol. Mumbai still had cards to play in their deck. NCN/Pattison don't need to hit hard, but they can rotate strike to the hitter well.
RCB - ???
What I want to say is, RCB top 4 have very little to fall back on if their wicket goes away. So they try to preserve the wicket. Or they are so dependent on ABD. DDP will become better opener with time, but VK needs to step up his game and open, and then keep a defensive 3&4 (who can play spin well, like Williamson, SKY, Saurabh or Ishan) so He himself can powerplay.
Also, ABD needs some better partners in his 5/6 position. Just like how it's Hardik and Pollard, we need ABD and someone else on the same level of hitting capacity as him. This cushion allows MI top order to go all out.
Remember how they lost 3 wickets and still made 200? RCB needs good 3&4 and good 5/6 (one of which is ABD.
P.S. Yes, DC is a playoff team, I know.

​
https://preview.redd.it/3olzcj3tv9x51.png?width=595&format=png&auto=webp&s=b336dbf91b819a4db226102653b3dab40fff8152
The Indian Premier League playoffs begin Thursday in the UAE with last year's champions Mumbai as favourites and Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore among the teams looking to cause an upset.
Surprise package the Delhi Capitals, who like Bangalore are aiming for a first title, will take on the Mumbai Indians in the first qualifier on Thursday with a place in the November 10 final at stake.
The losers of that match will get another crack at qualifying on Sunday against either Kohli's Bangalore or Sunrisers Hyderabad, who clash on Friday in an eliminator.
AFP Sport looks at the strengths and weaknesses of the four teams still standing in the world's richest Twenty20 league:
- Mumbai Indians -
Rohit Sharma's four-time champions underlined their status as tournament favourites by being the first team to qualify for the playoffs as they topped the standings with nine wins in 14 games.
South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock has led the batting with 443 runs while getting key support from Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Kieron Pollard.
Pace bowlers Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah battered the opposition with a combined 43 wickets.
The 2019 champions had already qualified top of the table before they were hammered by Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday and, despite fitness doubts over Sharma, are targeting back-to-back titles for the first time.
- Delhi Capitals -
The Ricky Ponting-coached Capitals made a sensational start, winning five of their first six games, before losing four in a row but then beating Bangalore to reach the playoffs.
India opener Shikhar Dhawan is the key batsman and this year became the first player to score two consecutive IPL centuries. But Rishabh Pant, India's new batting hope, has been misfiring.
The South African pace duo of Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada have been impressive with Nortje bowling the fastest ever IPL delivery, a 97 miles per hour (156 kph) thunderbolt, and Rabada leading the IPL wicket-takers with 25 victims.
- Sunrisers Hyderabad -
Skipper David Warner came into his own with an unbeaten 85 off 58 balls to take Hyderabad into the playoffs on Tuesday.
The 2016 IPL winners benefited from the return of wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha, who hit two half-centuries in three successive wins to help them to third in the standings.
With West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder contributing and the deadly spin of Rashid Khan, who has taken 19 wickets, Warner will be hoping for the same result in this week's eliminator as in the 2016 final when Hyderabad beat Bangalore to lift the trophy.
- Royal Challengers Bangalore -
India captain Virat Kohli has never won an IPL title and it hurts. RCB finished bottom of the eight-team table last year, and after seven wins and seven defeats they scraped into the playoffs on run rate after losing their final match to Hyderabad.
Kohli leads a strong batting line-up, combining with young opener Devdutt Padikkal for 932 runs while South African veteran AB de Villiers has been the go-to man in crunch situations with an overall strike rate of 163.
Spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar will be key with their ability to choke an opposition team's run-flow while claiming wickets. Kohli insists his team are worth their place, but said he needs them to be "more brave" when chasing runs.

If SRH loses atleast one of their next two games (Against RCB and MI, both of which will want to enter the playoffs with a win) + KXIP loses their next game against CSK (the party poopers this year) and RR manages to beat KKR (being on the win spree RR is) RR will enter the playoffs this year with MI (1st), RCB (2/3), DC (2/3).
Also, it looks like SRH is almost out here. CSK can deliver the KO punch to KXIP, now that they've nothing to lose, RR should focus on getting a very good bowling combination against KKR's Morgan, Narine, Shubhman and Nitish.
The batting is well settled. Maybe getting Akash Singh (bad idea for the last league game) or Mayank Markande by benching either one of Aaron or Kartik Tyagi (should be Aaron who goes out). Jofra getting some support in the Powerplay overs can do wonders. We need a more settled bowling line-up and RR can beat KKR. All the best to the team.

We're slightly over 1/4 into the season currently, but who's looking like the player of the season so far, and who seems to be carrying their teams?
For each team:
MI:
Pollard: Insanely consistent, and has helped Mumbai post 5 consecutive 190+ totals. 163 Runs, average of 163 (Not Out 4/5 innings), and a whopping strike rate of 208. Let's not forget his fielding, I think his catch ended up sealing the game vs RR today. Has also been more useful with the ball in this season compared to previous ones.
Bumrah: I don't think he's been as good as previous seasons, but damn, he's still a wicket taker. 11 wickets, and the most number of dot balls in the tournament. More expensive than before, but is still a great bowler in death, providing crucial dot balls and is the catalyst for Mumbai's success so far.
Boult: See above, a good wicket taker, good in the powerplay and good in death. Less wickets, but he's been more economical so far.
HM to James Pattinson, but I don't think he has anything to distinguish himself from Bumrah/Boult just yet.
A lot of Mumbai have been good, but everyone else hasn't been as consistent as these 3, and I think these 3 are the main reason for their success so far.
DC:
Rabada: I don't think he needs any explanation, one of the best bowlers right now, and is the main driving factor behind Delhi's deadly bowling attack. Picks up wickets, great economy and can easily close out games. Probably one of (if not the) best T20 bowlers right now.
Nortje: Same as Rabada, what a great find for Delhi, and is one of the main reasons why Delhi can defend their high totals. In that KKR game, Nortje's over were crucial ones which stopped KKR from crawling back in towards the back end after Rabada vs Morgan. Has been ever so slightly more economical than Rabada.
Stoinis: He's single handedly saved two games for Delhi now, and they're only 5 games into the tournament, one vs KXIP and the other the other day vs RCB with his cameo with that bad. Economical with the ball, but has proven to be able to keep his cool under pressure when required, i.e the KXIP game and vs KKR.
Patel: Here's an unpopular opinion, but damn, his economical spells have saved so many runs. He's easily been the biggest surprise of the tournament for me. An economy of 4.57 is insane after 4 matches bowling 14 overs.
HM to the Iyer-Prithvi-Pant trio, but again, no one's consistent enough I feel. They all play cameos in different games, and if one doesn't perform, someone else definitely will.
RCB:
De Villiers: No surprise here, Mr. 360 is a crucial factor in RCB's success this season so far. He's changed the course of multiple games, having 155 runs, averaging at 50 and striking at 170. This is also considering he's recently taken up the tough and tiring responsibility of wicket keeping in the middle east, it's pretty impressive.
Padikkal: Easily the best youngster of the tournament so far, and getting 3 50s in your first 4 matches, is a damn impressive feat. Good opener, and can perfectly pace an innings. I see a bright future for this guy if he keeps it up.
Sundar: Probably the only economical bowler on RCB, and is the only reason RCB aren't going for scores of 200+ every single game. Not much to say, he saves run, bowls with an economy of 4.80 and helps RCB keep totals lower than 200.
Chahal: Alongside Sundar, Chahal makes part up the deadly bowling core. Slightly less economical, but has been amazing at picking up wickets, I only see him picking up more as time goes on due to the pitches slowing down.
No HM here, I think these 4 have been carrying RCB pretty hard, with occasional knocks from others. I think Kohli will find form though and add to this list eventually.
KKR:
Cummins: Has proved to be a great pick up both with the bat and ball. Clearly showing his worth. Great economy and getting early wickets in the powerplay has proved crucial for KKR so far. I think he'll keep performing, and I'm also looking forward to him batting at the death
I'm not gonna lie, I like KKR, but I don't think there's been too many standout performers so far. Not because the team is bad, but just because all games feel more collective rather than one/some people dominating. Usually I'd say Andre Russell, but he hasn't performed as well as other years yet to make himself stand out, though I guess that's a high bar to set. I guess the HM go to Morgan, Gill and Russell.
CSK:
Du Plessis: Every game CSK has won, or came close to winning has been due to this guy. I genuinely cannot think of a time a team has been carried harder by a player. 2016 Warner was close, but even then, at least SRH bowlers were good. CSK bowlers have been pretty mediocre, and the rest of the batting lineup has been even worse. Let's not forget the 94 average for an OPENING batsman in T20.
Curran: Has been very useful with the bat and ball. I think CSK could have won more games if he was sent to bat earlier, because clearly he probably could have helped win that game vs SRH. Hell, even if he was given strike more often by Dhoni, who was clearly struggling. Anyways, promising all rounder, one of CSK's younger guys this year, and I expect him to be a key to success
If CSK are gonna make another run this season, everyone else is gonna have to step up, because Du Plessis and Curran are the only consistent performers. Good signs though with Watson performing last match. Hopefully everyone else picks up.
SRH:
Rashid Khan: The main reason why SRH is able to defend so many totals. His 4th season and is still as hard to play as ever. Bowling to Pollard and Pandya the other day, only for them to treat it as a test match shows how scary this guy still is. A perfect combination of wicket taking and economical, and will have to continue if SRH dream of making it to the Top 4, especially since Bhuvi is ruled out.
Natarajan: He really reminds me of old Bumrah, and his yorker percentage is just insane. I'm happy to see someone so humble finally got his chance, after waiting 3 years, and it's paying off. Bhuvi may be enjoyed, but I see him potentially being able to replace that void ever so slightly. He's been very promising, and if he continues, I can see him easily making the Indian team.
Other than these 2, everyone is so inconsistent. Warner gets runs, but he isn't striking it as well. Bairstow has seemed to struggle all games other than first one. Williamson has got out clumsily twice now, so hasn't really been able to show his class. And the rest just haven't clicked.
RR:
Archer: Probably the most consistent on this team. Not even just with the ball, but even with the bat. Striking at nearly 250, and rescuing them of the 1st/2nd games shows his potential as a pinch hitter. And for his bowling, he's probably one of the best right now in the world, and has shown his class this IPL with his wickets, death bowling and economy.
RR hasn't been too consistent either. Tewatia, Samson and Smith all looked on hot fire at the start, but have sorta seemed to lose it these past 3 games. Top order has to step up.
KXIP:
Rahul: I feel bad on him, he's still a class batsman, and is probably going to finish towards the top again, but the rest of the team aside from a few people aren't allowing to get those wins. Granted, they've been close, but have always been let down some way or the other. Anyways, his 72 average, 302 runs, 140 SR, 2 50s and 1 100 speak for themselves.
Agarwal: Currently in the form of his life, he's pretty much in the same boat as Rahul. Less runs, but is striking it better. He's gotten KXIP so close to finish line in the games vs. RR and DC, but the rest of the team haven't been able to finish it.
These 2 have been carrying RR hard, the rest of the middle order doesn't form consistently, and the bowling has been pretty bad. Shami started off well, but has became pretty bad. Pooran has been ok, but not consistent enough. Cottrell has been just OK outside of that Tewatia game. Everyone else has been so forgettable
So, after that, the Top 5 so far of the tournament for me would be:

1. Du Plessis: I think given the state of CSK, and not having a true "batting partner" until Watson last game, he's done very well to accumulate an average of 94, whilst also single handedly consistently carry the batting lineup. I think his efforts so far needs to get more praise, given the lack of support he's gotten until last game. Let's not forget about the stunning catches he's taken in the field too.
2. Archer: Both his contributions with the bat AND ball have astounded me. Bowling his full quota of overs every game, bowling in the powerplay, bowling in the death and having an economy of 7.1 is very impressive. On top of this, he's striking at just under 250 with the bat, and has helped RR get over the line in games such as vs KXIP and CSK.
3. Rahul: Similar to Du Plessis, but he has slightly more help in the form of Agarwal. Not much support, but is doing his best to try get his team over the line. I don't like how he's paced some of his innings though, such as in Sharjah vs RR, where his SR was very low considering he's an opener and the size of the ground. However, that aside, he's still been very consistent and is the main reason why KXIP has even got so close to winning games.
4. Rabada: Rabada is the most consistent wicket taker, and is incredibly reliable. I think without him, the Delhi bowling lineup would collapse, so his influence is massive. Easily one of the best T20 bowlers right now.
5. Agarwal: Finally, Agarwal's form has been amazing too. There isn't much to say, but KXIP's opening pair has been deadly, and it'd be a shame to not have him on this list, especially after his performances.

HM: Stoinis, Rashid, Pollar and Natarajan (No particular order)
What do you guys think?

It was in 2016.
That year was different but the same. RCB was bulldozing every team which came it's way. Whereas SRH thier counterpart was scoring 140/150 but their bowling line up with b Kumar and mushtafizur were winning them games.RCB with the batting heavy team vs SRH bowling heavy was fitting finale.
SRH scored in that match 208 in the final with ben cutting hitting 39 (15 ) (which made the difference in the end I feel) on most days it was a huge total but wait they scored that in Chinnaswamy stadium against RCB with Kohli chasing he must be licking his lips and winning IPL for the first time that too in front of your home crowd, you cant ask for a better moment. RCB needed 209 with gayle and Kohli opening. Virat Kohli is coming in that game with 900 runs in the season with 3 IPL hundreds. They scored a blazing 114/0 in 10 overs . On most days it was game set match but wait gayle mistimes and get caught for brilliant 76. Now comes AB de Villers (he is coming from heartbreak from 2015 world cup) he joins Kohli with whom he shares a great bond and TWO DOUBLE HUNDRED partnership.
As an RCB fan I am thinking Kohli master chaser will make a match winning 100 , complete a record breaking 1000 runs in a season, and game end. But kohli falls for 54 when score reads 140/2 in 12.5 overs. So RCB needs 69 runs in 7 overs but then they lose cluster of wickets and end the game exactly for 200/7 in 20 overs just runs short leaving every RCB fan with tears and heartbreak. if they had won it and not won any cup for the next 10 years nobody world have been this frustrated but to insult to injury 2017 they got all out for 47 chasing low score of 131 against KKR.
A batting line in T20 with a top 5 consisting of Gayle , Kohli , Ab De villers , Watson, and KL rahul you can't ask for more.
But alas.

In my opinion, there are a lot of changes that we need to make in order to do better and be more consistent next season:

1. We need a strong overseas t20 opener: we already have Padikkal, and I believe we need a strong overseas opener with him. Whether it be a Jason Roy or an Alex hales, we need somebody to give a strong start.
   
2. We need Kohli and AB to remain at 3 and 4(No changes required): These two are batsmen who if in form, can destroy any bowling line up from any team by first stabilising and accelerating towards the end.
   
3. We need a strong capable batsman at 5: Someone who can carry the team in case the top 4 don’t work well. This player should be able to take the innings deep, finish strong, or carry the team depending on the situation.
   
4. A good finisher to bat at 6: This player should be able to tear apart bowlers, give his contribution of a 30 off ten balls and go on his way merrily. This player should also be someone who can bowl a couple overs if needed and can replace a bowler in case an injury takes place.
   
5. A strong overseas all-rounder at 7: Someone who can bowl all of his overs and bowl em good. He should also be able to support the above finisher or carry the team depending on the situation.
   
6. A bowling all-rounder at 8: this guy should also complete all his overs and be able to hold his own against opposing bowlers if he gets to bat, and should be someone who can support the guys coming at 6 and 7 or before.
   
7. Three specialist bowlers: What I would prefer is one of 7 or 8 being a pacer and the other being a spinner. Now coming to the three final bowlers, two should be pacers or spinners depending on the conditions. One of these bowlers should be someone who can take wickets at will. Someone who is another Jasprit Bumrah. Someone who can immediately take the game away from the opposition by taking a wicket at will. One of these bowlers should be an overseas player and he could be the match saving bowler mentioned, or again it could be an Indian bowler.
   

RCB needs all of these things to have a balanced team.

It's been a fun IPL so far, the quicker pitches have made it very interesting and no doubt raised what the average scores would have been (as well as the boundaries in Sharjah). After a sticky start for some, the players are overall up to speed and some have found form better than others. Here's my take on it so far:
DC - Thought it would be their best chance to break their duck and win it this season and they've been very good so far. Didn't rate Nortje much coming into this but he's been a real surprise, bowled really well. Rabada as class as ever, top order is working well and they do have the attack to do well as the pitches slow up. Will be in the mix to win it although there is a concern for me about their finals experience, especially if they play Mumbai.
MI- Thought they'd struggle at the start of the season due to pitches but they've been quicker than expected. The bowlers have bowled well particularly Pattinson, the middle order is hitting form. Pitches slowing up will present challenges but tbh if they played Delhi in a final I'd make them slight favourites due to finals experience.
RCB - Less memeable than ever (minus KXIP getting their only win against RCB and KL scoring more than the whole RCB team) but looking good, AB and Kohli in form, decent bowling attack, concern though with Finch's form at the top. Should come in 3rd.
KKR - Good pace attack but that defeat yesterday to RCB was ominous and it'll be interesting to see how they will do when the pitches slow. Also his batting may be a bit of a drain but Narine is a matchwinner with the ball and will be needed back, it'll be a shame as an Englishman if it's at the expense of Banton but it's probably needed. Also depending on pitches will have to consider Kuldeep again.
SRH - Thought they'd be near the top but middle order issues and a lack of Bhuvi in their pace attack have held them back and when Rashid Khan gets some tap like on the weekend, it's very tough for the rest of them. Bairstow and Warner have been middling tbh (Bairstow really didn't look comfortable against top class pace in Archer and Cummins), Kane surely has to come in at 3 further down the line. Slower pitches may help them given the nature of the attack but the loss to RR was a warning. Need to step it up.
RR - Weakest Indian core out of all the teams but can't deny some of them have stepped up big time, particularly Lord Tewatia, Parag and I've been impressed with Tyagi. Out of the overseas players Jof has been the only one consistent, Smith and Buttler need to start delivering more often. If Stokes gets up to speed quickly they could still be in the mix but they need him firing with both bat and ball.
CSK - Well I thought this would be the year they'd age badly given the lack of cricket this year, lack of crowds to give them their energy and well it's happened. Need a rebuild badly and just been really poor. Dhoni doesn't look happy to be out there at all tbh.
KXIP - Bowling has let them down badly, Mujeeb at 7 says it all about their tail, some braindead decisions like not sending Maxwell in earlier in the KKR game, some braindead bowling with special mention to Cottrell and Shami v RR. Have not helped themselves at all.
Thoughts? Final table for me I think will be this:
DC, MI, RCB, SRH, KKR, RR, CSK, KXIP

For a longest time i have considered Kohli to be a world class bullshitter. He is charming i will give him that. But more often than not, that charm hides all the useless statements he gives out in press or post match interviews. And while interviews could be prepared and nurtured with a PR firm to make them better. It's the post match interviews which let us take a raw look into his thought process. How he perceives things.
And on that note i have compiled here the list of all his post match interviews this IPL. Take a look, it's amazing once you start noticing it.

S.No.	Match	Scorecard	Winner	V.Kohli post match comments	Scorecard
1	1st Match: CSK v RCB at Chennai - Mar 23, 2019	RCB 70 (17.1/20 ov); CSK 71/3 (17.4/20 ov)	CSK won by 7 wickets (with 14 balls remaining)	No team wants to start like this but the good thing is a game like this is out of the way. I am pretty happy with the attitude the guys showed in the field. I know the batting effort wasn't ideal but attitude on the field was great and when our time comes, we will be ready to strike. The wicket looked much better than it played. We though 140-150 would be an ideal score. A scrappy sort of start but either team would have struggled batting first. [On Saini] He is touching 150 clicks which is very promising. He is going to be a lethal weapon. That's the way we are looking at him.	Link
2	7th Match: RCB v MI at Bengaluru - Mar 28, 2019	MI 187/8 (20/20 ov); RCB 181/5 (20/20 ov)	MI won by 6 runs	We are playing at the IPL level, it's not club level, the umpires should have their eyes open. That was a big no-ball. We should have done a better job with the ball after they were seven down. The last few overs were brutal for us. Bit of a mistake from me to take Bumrah on at that time. Bumrah makes a hell of a difference in any team.	Link
3	11th Match: SRH v RCB at Hyderabad (Deccan) - Mar 31, 2019	SRH 231/2 (20/20 ov); RCB 113 (19.5/20 ov)	SRH won by 118 runs	Probably our worst loss ever. Difficult one to explain. We were outplayed in all departments by a quality side. This showed why they are former champions and finalists. We could have tried different things, like bouncers. They batted really well once they got in. Few of the edges fell into vacant areas. Brilliant to sustain intent for the first 16-17 overs. We've thought about the batting order but I feel myself at 3, and AB and me batting together brings us more balance. We still have 11 games, and things can turn around quite quickly in this league. We have to capitalise on that in the next games. When things don't go our way, we will have to find ways of winning moments. You need to start well, and the next game should be that game for us.	Link
4	14th Match: RR v RCB at Jaipur - Apr 2, 2019	RCB 158/4 (20/20 ov); RR 164/3 (19.5/20 ov)	RR won by 7 wickets (with 1 ball remaining)	Today was a more competitive performance but I think we were 15-20 runs short with the bat. If you make that many mistakes in the game you're going to end up on the losing side. In a tournament like IPL when you don't have momentum things can get difficult. The team hasn't got off to a great start...but we have to keep believing as a side.	Link
5	17th Match: RCB v KKR at Bengaluru - Apr 5, 2019	RCB 205/3 (20/20 ov); KKR 206/5 (19.1/20 ov)	KKR won by 5 wickets (with 5 balls remaining)	The last four overs, the way we bowled, we deserve to lose. If you bowl with not enough bravery in the crunch overs, then you will always struggle against power-hitters like Russell. We cracked a bit under pressure, and that's the only story. Had we got 20-25 more, maybe it would have helped. But if you can't defend 75 in the last four overs, then I don't know if you can defend 100. We just didn't have enough composure. We have a bit of a chat about what went wrong, but apart from that, there's nothing much you can say. It's been a disappointing season, but we have to believe we can turn things around.	Link
6	20th Match: RCB v DC at Bengaluru - Apr 7, 2019	RCB 149/8 (20/20 ov); DC 152/6 (18.5/20 ov)	DC won by 4 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)	We thought 160 would be competitive, but we kept losing wickets at regular intervals, so I wanted to take the game deep. Even 150, had we held on to our chances, would've been difficult for them. We need to grab those chances, can't give excuses every day. We just weren't good on the given day. That's the whole story of RCB this season.	Link
7	28th Match: KXIP v RCB at Mohali - Apr 13, 2019	KXIP 173/4 (20/20 ov); RCB 174/2 (19.2/20 ov)	RCB won by 8 wickets (with 4 balls remaining)	The most pleasing thing is coming for the interview at this time of the match and not earlier. It is a great feeling to be able to get across the line. We should have closed out a couple of games before this game so it is good to close this one out. The guys had desire, that was one word that we spoke about this week. We thought 190 was par so to restrict them to 170 was a good effort, to pick up 4 wickets for 60 runs in the middle overs was a great effort	Link
8	31st Match: MI v RCB at Mumbai - Apr 15, 2019	RCB 171/7 (20/20 ov); MI 172/5 (19/20 ov)	MI won by 5 wickets (with 6 balls remaining)	We played a pretty good game. With the ball, we weren't that great in the opening six overs but the guys fought hard in the middle overs and came back well. At the end, we had to take the risk with the left-arm spinner, with two right-handed batsmen. Giving pace was risky, especially with a bit of dew. Unfortunately, it didn't come off. Moeen has been outstanding. Striking the ball well and bowling with a lot of heart. It's good to see a senior foreign player taking responsibility and he deserves all the credit.	Link
9	35th Match: KKR v RCB at Kolkata - Apr 19, 2019	RCB 213/4 (20/20 ov); KKR 203/5 (20/20 ov)	RCB won by 10 runs	Felt really good, especially winning here. Not walking to an interview straight after the game is a relief. You have to leave it to the bowler in those situations. I think the way Stoinis bowled that 19th over was very good. Those three balls were crucial in the end, and in the end Moeen showed composure.	Link
10	39th Match: RCB v CSK at Bengaluru - Apr 21, 2019	RCB 161/7 (20/20 ov); CSK 160/8 (20/20 ov)	RCB won by 1 run	I thought we were outstanding with the ball until the 19th over. On the last ball, that was the last thing I would've expected to happen. It feels good to win a game by a small margin as we've lost a few by a small margin as well. MS did what he does best and he gave us all a massive scare. In the first 6 overs, we thought the ball wasn't coming onto the bat that much. Parthiv and AB started to rebuild. At the halfway mark we thought 175 would've been a very good total on this pitch. We thought we were 15 short. We thought their bowlers didn't make us play enough on the front foot.	Link
11	42nd Match: RCB v KXIP at Bengaluru - Apr 24, 2019	RCB 202/4 (20/20 ov); KXIP 185/7 (20/20 ov)	RCB won by 17 runs	We've won four of five and it could have been five of five. The game changing partnership was Marcus and AB - it didn't look likely that we would get past 200. Losing six in a row hurt us, none of us had been involved in something like that. We know how we play, the world knows how we play.	Link
12	46th Match: DC v RCB at Delhi - Apr 28, 2019	DC 187/5 (20/20 ov); RCB 171/7 (20/20 ov)	DC won by 16 runs	I think even after losing the toss the way we bowled was nice but it got away from us. We were thinking 160-165. We showed a lot of character but in the crunch moments Delhi played better than us and that's why they got the result they did. AB and I got out to balls we shouldn't have but that's how it goes sometimes. We've got to go out there, play expressive cricket and see how it goes.	Link
13	49th Match: RCB v RR at Bengaluru - Apr 30, 2019	RCB 62/7 (5/5 ov); RR 41/1 (3.2/5 ov)	No result	...	Link
14	54th Match: RCB v SRH at Bengaluru - May 4, 2019	SRH 175/7 (20/20 ov); RCB 178/6 (19.2/20 ov)	RCB won by 4 wickets (with 4 balls remaining)	If we focus on the second half, it is exactly what we would have wanted in the first. After losing your first six matches, it is very difficult to comeback in a tournament like the VIVO IPL. We have a lot to learn from this season. The first couple of things matter a lot in setting the intensity. We are happy with the way guys have turned things around and the kind of cricket that we have played in the second half. A lot of credit goes to the team management for getting us back in the right frame of mind. We haven't finished in the position that we wanted to. But because the second half has been so good it doesn't feel like a bad season. We won last 6 off our 7 matches and it is something that we can be proud of.	Link

It is based on those post match conversations with him, that i label him as a bullshitter. He never says anything of insight or even has the ability identify and pick up the issues at hand which needs to be looked at. He is almost always defensive even when he wins. His attitude that his strategies, while work out tremendously for him as a batsman, should also work for the other team members is as archaic as it gets. Compare that with the leadership of Kane Williamson or Dhoni, you know why they succeeded, even though they didn't had bowlers and batsman like Indian team at the moment.

1. Manvinder Bisla (INDIA) Even after having some of the world-class batsmen in their line-up, the Bangalore side is never short of batting problems. They have been unable to break the code and in the process, they have underutilized some of their batting commodities. The situation was quite similar in 2015 as the Challengers were trying to find an opening partner for Chris Gayle. So they snapped up Manvinder Bisla in the auction who is an unrated keeper-batsman of the Indian domestic circuit. The right-hander is a hard-hitting player who relies on his hand-eye coordination to succeed. Bisla rose to fame after his match-winning knock in 2012 IPL final but his stocks didn’t rise in the next two seasons. As a result, he was traded by the Kolkata team before the 2015 IPL auction. Bisla didn’t have to wait long for his opportunities and opened the innings with Chris Gayle on his RCB debut. Surprisingly he played only two games and then skipper, Virat Kohli promoted himself and took over the opening duties. Thereafter he was benched for the rest of the series and was subsequently released from the squad. It turned out to be his last stint in IPL as since then he has failed to attract a buyer in the auction.
2. Rilee Rossouw (SOUTH AFRICA) South African players have always been a constant in the formula of the Indian Premier League. Especially the Bangalore team which has been home to some of the most iconic stars of the Rainbow Nation. Again in IPL 2015, the squad consisted of three African stars including Rilee Rossouw who was considered as an emerging talent in those days. The left-handed batsman was a replacement signing in 2014 but the franchise decided to retain him for the 8th edition. Due to the presence of established international players, Rossouw was not going to be a regular in the playing XI. Still, he was hopeful of getting enough chances to showcase his talent as he is a good white-ball player. To everybody’s surprise in one of the games, he secured a spot in the playing XI ahead of Chris Gayle but ended up with a golden duck. Then in the following tie, he managed 14 runs but after that, carrying drinks became his primary trade. Unfortunately, the skipper didn’t trust him anymore and lost his place in the squad before the 2016 edition. At that time the southpaw was in good nick so it can be said that the franchise didn’t use him wisely. The matters became worse as he has not signed an IPL contract in the last 4 years.
3. Parvez Rasool (INDIA) It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why the Chinnaswamy stadium is considered as a morgue for bowlers. Especially the size of boundaries will never allow the spinners to befriend the Bangalore track. Even the history is pointing towards the same as most of the tweakers have not enjoyed their IPL career in RCB jersey. Among them is Parvez Rasool who was part of the Bold Army in the 9th edition. The Jammu and Kashmir cricketer has been a good performer in the domestic arena and has represented three IPL teams. In 2016 after serving Sunrisers Hyderabad for two seasons a daydream to play under the leadership Virat Kohli became a reality after transferred in the trading window. In the first game of the season itself, the off-spinner made it to the playing XI and bowled an impressive spell. It seemed that he can complement Yuzvendra Chahal on slow surfaces and played three more games but remained wicketless and leaked runs. Rasool needed to work on his consistency but he was not given enough time to prove his worth. Sadly a renewed contract never arrived and since then he has found his name in the list of unsold players.
4. Ravi Rampaul (WEST INDIES) The West Indies stars have a huge role in making the IPL the most celebrated T20 league of the world. Without the Caribbean flavor, the tournament is incomplete and that’s why they have invariably attracted elusive deals in the auction. All the teams including Bangalore have spent a pot of money on the island cricketers. One such player who bagged a profitable deal in the 2013 mega sell-off is Ravi Rampaul. The speedster can be deceptive with his pace and can generate movement even on true surfaces. It turned out to be a good buy as he scalped 14 wickets in his debut season and his economy rate of 6.93 was amongst the best in the series. It was a positive sign for the franchise who have struggled with their bowling in every season. With his form, he might have been a game-changer in 2014 but this time the team had the services of Australian spearhead, Mitchell Starc. Being the reserve option Rampaul became the part of the playing XI in mere two games. Though the left-arm pacer bowled well the team should have used the Windies star appropriately. As usual, RCB’s poor decision-making skills came to the fore and he is still unable to figure out the reasons for his omission from the squad.
5. Abu Nechim (INDIA) Though IPL has been a boon for budding cricketers sometimes it can be harsh on the best of the talents. Especially if a player is an aspiring fast-bowler and gets a contract from the Bangalore franchise in the auction. The flat tracks and small boundaries have always bullied the bowlers and nightmares have become part of their life. Abu Nechim is one of them who was the fresh recruitment of the Bold Army in the 7th edition. The pacer is one of the few players who faced the wrath of BCCI for plying his trade in ICL but luckily he returned to the competitive cricket. Then after spending three years in the Mumbai camp, he was going to represent the Challengers as they needed bowling stocks. In 2014, the speedster played 4 ties for his three wickets but he lacked consistency. In the following season, all hell broke loose when he conceded 60 runs in one of his spells and it sealed the deal of his IPL career. Thereafter he was an afterthought for the franchise and found himself carrying the drinks for the 2016 edition. Finally, he was relieved of his duties and since then he has been churning out good performances for his stateside, Assam.

Overall, the squad looks very good. Most, if not all, bases are covered, and there are back-ups for most players. As always, the bowling looks stronger than the batting, especially as we have one of IPL's best pacers-Bhuvi- and spinners-Rashid. Having let go of Dhawan, however, even with the addition of Vijay Shankar and Abhishek Sharma, the squad looks a little light on heavy hitters.
Here is my preferred XI and batting order.
*1.David Warner (VC):-His position at the top is unquestionable, the best batsman overall between 2015-2017. Hopefully staying in the sidelines for a year, the upcoming World Cup, and the loss of his regular opening partner won't affect his batting. He is not the captain of the side simply because I prefer a cooler head, Williamson, as captain.
*2.Manish Pandey:-Dhawan's departure means a new opener at the top. Last season, neither Goswami nor Saha impressed at the top. Neither would I like to play another overseas player here. Manish Pandey highly impressed everyone in 2009, when he opened for RCB. His famous 94 in the 2014 final also came when he was essentially opening. Last season, at 4, he didn't really impress. I believe that if he bats at the top and takes his time, he'll perform best. Having an opener going all guns blazing from the start, as Warner does, will take a lot of pressure off him. Just like opening brought out the best in Rayudu and Brohit, I hope it does to Pandey. If he does end up opening, I hope the management is patient with him if he fails initially.
*3. Williamson (C):-Not much to say here other than he was outstanding last season with the bat and the captaincy, and he hopefully continues it. He will be playing the entire season, which is another plus.
*4.Vijay Shankar:-He has shown in his brief performances with India and DD that he is a very capable batsman and can both accumulate and play aggressively. Given our side's strong bowling, it is unlikely he'll be required to bowl much, but that option exists. I feel DC played him too low last season
*5. Shakib al Hasan:-His overseas spot can be replaced with another openekeeper, but I feel he provides some much-needed balance to the side and stability to the middle order. His bowling is actually somewhat underrated, because as a spinner he is obviously overshadowed by Rashid, but last season he got both Brohit and Kohli out. Ideally he'd bat at 4, as he's an accumulator, so if Shankar fails at 4, he moves up to 4.
*6. Abhishek Sharma:-In his very limited opportunities, he has shown he can explode at the death. Given our side's dearth of lower order hitters, he's a much needed addition, and he also bowls left arm spin. DC let this one slip. I hope the side is patient with him for a few games, as he's a young guy, but if he succeeds, he can become another Pandya.
*7. Wriddhiman Saha (WK):-This guy is completely useless with the bat, and I don't want him to play any higher as it'll mess up the batting order. He is essentially playing as a specialist keeper, as we are essentially forced to do so, and "hiding him" in the batting order is the best thing to do.
*8. Rashid Khan:- A lot has been said about his spin bowling but he's also no slouch with the bat, as he showed in the Qualifier last season.
*9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
*10.Sandeep Sharma
*11. Siddharth Kaul
Bowling:-Bhuvi is our obvious first choice pacer to lead the attack, but it's inevitable he'll be rested. We have other options too: Thampi, Kaul, Khaleel, and Sandeep. As a first choice, the pacers should be Bhuvi, Kaul, and Sandeep. Sandeep is a very underrated bowler and had led the KXIP attack for several years. He bowled brilliantly in THAT game vs MI. Khaleel is highly overrated by the selectors and looks hopelessly out of place in the Indian line-up. Once Bhuvi is rested, we have to play Khaleel, as Thampi is no better but being a left armer gives Khaleel an edge. As for Rashid, I do wish Williamson bowls him early in the innings too, as he can deal a decisive blow to, say, RR by getting Buttler out in the powerplay rather than letting Buttler pummel our pacers. This side has 7 bowling options, including Vijay and Abhishek, who should be only used sparingly.
Backups: It's unfortunate a player of Baistow's caliber is sitting out of the first XI, but I give Shakib the edge over him, as the latter is an all rounder, and the former's ability to play spin in India is untested. Obviously the other 3 overseas slots are unquestionable. He and Warner will both be gone post-May, so Guptill will have to replace Warner, which is unfortunate, but all teams will be experiencing such situations. If Abhishek Sharma repeatedly fails, we have Pathan or Hooda to replace him, but I really do hope he plays the majority of the season.

Round 7 of the Ranji finished today and the race for the Quarterfinal spots is getting closer and this round saw plenty of excitement. Milind Kumar has already reached 1000 runs for the season and has 1 game left this season. In the Elite groups Priyank Panchal is leading the charts with 746 runs. Bihar's Ashutosh Aman is leading the wicket takers tally with 51. In the Elite divisions, Rajasthan's left arm quick Aniket Choudhary leads with 40 wickets.
Group A
The big name tussle between Mumbai and Saurashtra ended in an entertaining draw. Mumbai made 394 led by Jay Bisht and Siddesh Lad's centuries as IPL millionaire Unadkat bagged a 4-fer. Saurashtra conceded a small lead of 46 led by Sheldon Jackson's 95. Mumbai set Saurashtra a target of 285 on the last day. Saurashtra made a dash for it and ended on 266/7 to settle for a draw. RCB pick Dube made twin 39s and picked up 4 wickets.
In an entertaining match at Shimoga Karnataka took on Railways playing without vinaykumar, with Karnataka needing an outright win to stay in contention. Karnataka batted first and made a fighting 214 with newcomer Siddharth top scoring with 69. Ronit More then ran through the Railways line up reducing them to 92/8 before a late order rally led them to 143 and conceding a lead of 71. Karnataka openers Nischal and Padikkal, U-19 RCB newcomer, then set the stage with a century partnership and Siddharth continued his merry run with an unbeaten 84 of 87 balls. Manish Pandey, leading in the absence of Vinay, made a sporting declaration one hour before close on 290/2. Railways' top order put on a good fight reaching 127/2 before collapsing against Krishnappa Gowtham for 185 giving Karnataka a much needed victory. Our favorite Kaptain Karun Nair is still out with a thumb injury. Dega Nischal, Karnataka's opener looks like a good technical player and has made some clutch runs on tough pitches in just his first full season. K Gowtham is continuing his good form from the A series where he was the top scorer and has added much needed experience to the Karnataka line up.
The most recent winners Vidharbha and Gujurat went head to head at Nagpur. The match however ended in a tame draw with Vidharbha's pro top order leading the way. Gujurat were dismissed for 321 with Panchal getting a first ball duck. Jaffer and Ganesh Satish then led Vidharbha's response with 126 and 75 respectively and Vidharbha ended up with 485. Gujurat comfortably batted out and made 216 in their third innings settling for one point. While mathematically possible, Gujurat's chances are now very slim.
Maharashtra and Chattisgarh also played out a draw with Chattisgarh pocketing three points thanks to centuries from their lower order batsmen.
Group B
HP thrashed TN by 9 wickets led by an all-round performance from Rishi Dhawan. TN were dismissed for 217 with captain Indrajith making 30 and brother Aparajith making 53. HP replied with a mammoth 463 led by Kalsi's 144 and Rishi Dhawan's 75. TN managed 345 with centuries from Indrajith and Mukund setting HP a target of 110 which they chased down with ease. HP lost a wicket at 107 to miss out on the bonus point.
Delhi beat MP in a low scoring encounter and managed keep their hopes alive for the QF berth. Batting first, MP made a pltry 132 with spinner Vikas Mishra taking a 6-fer. Delhi managed 261 thanks to wicket keeper Anuj Rawat's century. Avesh Khan doing the bulk of the damage with a 6-fer. Vikas Mishra returned to dismiss MP for just 157 with another 6-fer ending with 12 for the match. Delhi lost a wicket 2 runs shy of the target to miss out on a bonus point.
Hyderabad and Punjab played out a thrilling draw. Hyderabad batted first and racked up 317 with almost all the top order contributing. Punjab were bowled out for 303 conceding a narrow 14 run lead. Hyderabad then set Punjab a target of 338 with under a day remaining led by captain Akshath Reddy's 161. Shubman Gill led a thrilling response from Punjab making 148. Punjab looked like they would pull off the chase till Gill was at the crease but once he was dismissed it was an even contest. Manpreet Gony, promoted up the order hit some lusty blows to take Punjab close but they kept loosing wickets. Siraj picked up the last 5 4 wickets to fall including Gill and Punjab ended 15 short and lost their 9th wicket on the last ball of the match.
Andhra pocketed 3 points against Bengal in another drawn game. Manoj Tiwary made another 90 for Bengal.
Group C
Rajasthan solidified their lead led by their pace battery and batting mainstays Robin Bist and captain Lomror.
UP thrashed Tripura by an innings and 384 runs for a bonus point win. UP racked up 552/7d and then dismissed Tripura for just 108 and 60. Ankit Rajpoot bagged a 6-fer in second innings to finish with 8 wickets for the match.
Shabaz Nadeem led Jharkhand to a come from behind 81 run win against Services. JH conceded a first innings lead of 74 after making only 193. Captain Ishan Kishan top scored with 68. JH batted better in the second and set Services a target of 270. Nadeem ran through the Services bating line up with a 7-fer to hand Jharkhand an 81 run win.
Odhisa beat J&K by 8 wickets and Assam beat Goa by 7 runs in the other two matches.
Plate Group
Uttarkhand-Puducherry match had to be called off due to inconsistent bounce on the pitch.
Bihar continued their late rally to the top spot with another mammoth 273 run win over Nagaland.
Meghalaya thrashed Mizoram by an innings and 324 runs in another mismatch.
Manipur beat Arunachal Pradesh in the last match in this group.
Quarterfinal scenarios
Saurashtra lead the combined Group A and B table with 26 points from 7 games. HP are second with 22 and are closely followed by Vidharbha and Karnataka on 21. All three teams have played 6 games and have matches in hand. Kerala round off the top 5 with 20 points from 6 games as well. However, Gujurat (19 from 7), MP (18 from 6) and Bengal are still in with a chance. Mathematically, only TN with 12 points from 7 games are out and all other teams still have a chance but the race is likely among the teams mentioned. Vidharbha have two tough games against Saurashtra and Mumbai and Karnataka have a relatively easy game against Chattisgarh and tough one against Baroda but both teams have their fate in their hands. Gujurat have only one game left against Maharashtra and while they can expect a win, they will need other results going their way as well. Kerala also have two tough games against group leaders HP and Punjab. All in all, the QF berths are likely to be finalised only in the last round.
Rajasthan comfortably lead the Group C with 37 points from 7 games and the race for the second spot is on between Jharkhand(30) and UP(32).
Uttarkhand need one more win in their last match to confirm their berth in the QF.

This season of the IPL, the competition's 10th, has held particularly interest for English fans as there has been, for the first time, significant English representation in the tournament. Of course, there have been plenty of English players in the competition before, the likes of Owais Shah, Dimi Mascarenhas, Kevin Pietersen and others gracing these shores long before Andrew Strauss and the ECB's turn-around on franchise cricket, but this was the first edition in which integral members of England's international structure were permitted to play.
As an English fan, this excited me considerably and gave the world's best T20 competition context and meaning for me. There were 8 English players, one on each franchise, so in theory, every game would see one English player against another.
There was certainly trepidation on my end. England have been famed for their inability to play on sub-continent tracks, and I felt that players would struggle with the conditions, intensity and speed of the game. In some ways, I was proved correct, in others, wrong.
The Auction
Before the auction, there were two players retained by franchises from the previous season: Jos Buttler by the Mumbai Indians, and Sam Billings by the Delhi Daredevils. Eoin Morgan had been released by Hyderbad Sunrisers, whilst Chris Jordan had been released by the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
England's limited-overs revolution, which had culminated in a world T20 final appearance in Kolkota and a decent outing to India in the months preceding the auction, made a number of players desirable. These included the likes of Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and T20 tyro Tymal Mills. It was suspected that Ben Stokes would go for big money, owing to his all-round skills and 'match-winner' qualities. There were issues over players' availability - a brace of ODIs against Ireland and a training camp would curtail players' time in the tournament - but in general, the view was that England players would be in high-demand.
This turned out to be true. Ben Stokes became the highest paid overseas player in IPL history, when Rising Pune Supergiant handed him a £1.7m contract. Responses were mixed. Stephen Fleming's weary head-shake became synonymous with the deal, and I, like many, was sceptical of how well Stokes would live up to such a huge billing.
Perhaps more unexpectedly was the sale of Tymal Mills, the left-arm seamer, to Royal Challengers Bangalore for £1.4m. He was bought as a like-for-like replacement for the injured Mitchell Starc, though many pointed to his inexperience and physical fragility as drawbacks. However, none could deny his sharp pace and cleverly disguised variations. Again, the consensus was that it was too much, but I was optimistic.
Another surprising sale was that of Chris Woakes for £504,000 to Kolkota Knight Riders. I never particularly considered Woakes as a game-changing T20 player, so when some considered him as a replacement for arguably the best T20 player in the world, Andre Russell, I was hesitant. Captain Eoin Morgan was signed by King's XI for £240,000, whilst Chris Jordan was picked up by RCB for £60,000. Jason Roy was picked up by Gujarat, somewhat puzzlingly considering their line-up was already stacked with international talent. Alex Hales, somewhat curiously, went unsold - an untimely injury may have hampered his cause - whilst Jonny Bairstow, less curiously, did not receive any bids.
Players
Sam Billings - Delhi Daredevils - 6 matches - 138 runs @ 23.00 - HS: 55
Billings was always one of the less heralded England players on show, and he endured a brief, and mixed, competition. His stand-out innings was a stylish 55 against King's XI - his sweep against Sandeep Sharma demonstrated his versatility with the bat and ability to work the field to his advantage. However, I felt that he lacked a certain something at the top of the order and some commented that he looked easy to dismiss. I was inclined to agree - he picked out of the fielder a couple of times and for all his stylish play he lacked a bit of substance. He never really struck me as someone who would go on to make a big 80* or even 100*. There's no doubting he has talent, but I prefer him lower down the order. In an ideal world he'd come in at four or five, but he's a bit expendable in this franchise, and that was shown when he was dropped in order to add more fire to the bowling attack. It'll be interesting to see whether he gets picked up next year or not in the auction - I think maybe Delhi might have been expecting a little more.
Grade: B
Jos Buttler - Mumbai Indians - 10 matches - 272 runs @ 27.2 - HS: 77
Jos demonstrated his potency in flashes throughout this IPL. His best knock was a brutal 77 in a stunning chase against King's XI, who had put up a strong 198 on the back of Amla's 104. It demonstrated his power and wrist-strength, and reminded everyone why he's such a highly-rated player. Beyond this, Jos was a teensy-bit frustrating: he often made a rapid 15-30 - he struck at a strike-rate of over 150 during his tenure - but he'd regularly throw it away when set. I think this was partly to do with the fact that he was opening; he's another player who I prefer to see in the finishing role. He would come in straightaway and go hard, but when the game moved away from a phase when he just slog with abandon, he got a bit confused and struggled. When batting with Rana against KXIP, he showed what can happen when he's got a permanent license. He's begun to adapt more readily to conditions in India, and played better considering his recent lean form. He would have wanted to go bigger on more occasions, and will be disappointed in some of the ways he got out. The IPL has been, and will continue to be, a great learning curve for him.
Grade: A-
Chris Jordan - Sunrisers Hyderabad - 1 match - 0 runs @ 0.00 - HS: 0 - 1 wicket at 9.00
Jordan was picked up as overseas fast bowling cover, and played exactly that role for the entire tournament. He played a solitary game, the Eliminator, and took a solitary wicket off a solitary over. In true Chris Jordan fashion, he opened up with a wide, took a wicket with a bad ball and got hit for six. It's impossible to give him a rating because he played so little. Chris Jordan is such an enigma of a cricketer. He seems to get regularly battered around the park, but still averages 25 in T20s with the ball. When it matters, he has been one of England's go-to death bowlers, with mixed results. It would have been great to see him in a proper role in the IPL, but I understand his very limited game time.
Grade: N/A
Ben Stokes - Rising Pune Supergiant - 12 matches - 316 runs @ 31.60 - HS: 103* - 12 wickets at 26.33 - Econ.: 7.18
So stoked for Ben. So many people rubbished him and griefed him for his exorbitant price tag at the beginning of the competition. As he grew into the competition, however, his status as one of the world's premier all-rounders came to the was confirmed. By the end people were raving about his match-winning potential, and that's exactly what some had been stressing beforehand: he might not perform consistently with the bat or ball, but when he does, he tends to win you the match. Throw in some excellent fielding, and you have one hell of a player. His nadir came against the Daredevils at the beginning of the tournament, where he got marmalised by Chris Morris and then made a paltry 2. But from there, it was pretty much only up. The peak came in a match-winning innings of 103* against the Gujarat Lions, where he marshalled the chase and battle cramps to take Pune home and guide them towards the play-offs. When on song with the bat, he looked incredible - his slog sweeps against Ravi Jadeja were brute power - and of all players with more than 300 runs, only McCullum and Maxwell faced fewer balls. More pleasingly, perhaps, was his advancement with the ball. He took 12 wickets and was able to trouble batsmen with a variety of sharp pace and deceptive variations. He won three man of the match awards, and by the time his stay in the tournament was coming to an end, he could virtually do no wrong: his outfielding and groundfielding were immense, his batting was powerful and his bowling was surprisingly economical. He would have wanted to eliminate cheap dismissals and work on his death bowling, but overall, he's come out of the tournament with many critics silenced and his reputation greatly enhanced. He will be one of the most desirous players at the next auction, and could fetch an even higher price than this year. And of course, he will continue to develop as one of England's most dangerous players in all facets.
Grade: A
Jason Roy - Gujarat Lions - 3 matches - 59 runs @ 29.50 - HS: 31
I feel for Jason Roy. He's one of the most destructive openers in world cricket, but he gets signed up by a team with two more of the world's best openers, Finch and McCullum, and a guy whom franchises seem to love, Dwayne Smith. There didn't seem to be room for him, and this was apparent by Gujarat's horrendously top-heavy batting line-up in the opening few games. Gujarat kept losing, with no particular blame on Roy, and things had to change, so Roy was the unfortunate casualty. He was rightly miffed, and left before the end of the tournament to prepare for the Champions Trophy. When he did get out to the crease, he showed classic Jason Roy - brutal hitting and slightly reckless dismissals. I recall the game again against the Sunrisers where he was going along nicely, but then toe-ended one straight to midwicket and we were united in our frustration. It encapsulated Roy nicely, fantastic talent and destructive power, but too much of a tendency to throw it away. Who knows what would have happened if he were given a full slate of games to show his skills. I hope gets that opportunity next year.
Grade: B
Eoin Morgan - King's XI Punjab - 4 matches - 65 runs @ 16.25 - HS: 26
A non-starter of a campaign for Morgan. He seemed like he was surplus to requirements at King's XI, and especially when Amla started to fire, he was always a periphery player. This was reflected in the few times he did get to play; he never really clicked and scored at a paltry strike-rate of 104. I don't have a lot to say, his tenure was disappointing but not entirely unexpected - with Amla, Marsh and Maxwell being established in the side throughout the tournament, Morgan never really had a role. I hope he can turn it around for a good Champions Trophy campaign.
Grade: C
Chris Woakes - Kolkota Knight Riders - 13 matches - 46 runs @ 11.50 - HS: 18 - 16 wickets @ 22.70 - Econ. 8.77
Chris Woakes was one of the enigmas of the tournament. He seemed to get smacked about with the ball - he bowled too short, too wide and with not enough menace. He padded his stats with 3 wickets for nothing against RCB when they scored 49 all out, but as things progressed, he seemed to improve. He tuned into conditions gradually, and became a threat with his subtle movement and lively speed. In a losing cause against RPS, he showed that fast-medium bowling still has a role to play in T20. He was, unlike some other English players, given full responsibility by KKR despite, quite reasonable, calls to replace him with Shakib al Hasan because of his expense. Whilst his economy rate was high, he remained a wicket-taker - he was KKR's joint-highest along with Umesh Yadav with 17 - and probably justified the trust put in him.
Grade: B+
Tymal Mills - Royal Challengers Bangalore - 5 matches - 8 runs @ 2.66 - HS: 6 - 5 wickets @ 30.60 - Econ. 8.57
Where is Tymal? He started out for RCB, missed a game because he was ill, and seemingly never appeared again. I'm assuming it was because RCB had found a combination they preferred - they seemed to like the all-round option of Travis Head more - but it was disappointing to see such an expensive and exciting player discarded so quickly. His slower-balls regularly deceived batsmen, but he was too erratic to be consistently effective. Against top-quality batsmen, he was too loose and conceeded too many runs without taking the wickets to make it justifiable, unlike Woakes or Stokes. He'll bounce back and continue to play for England, and hopefully get picked up, albeit for a reduced price, at the next auction and be given another chance. He's got the skills, he just needs to hone them.
Grade: C