Under the glaring afternoon sun on Saturday, Urvil Patel faced throwdowns for more than 30 minutes in preparation for Gujarat’s Ranji Trophy duel against Delhi. For much of the net session at the Palam ground, the 28-year-old honed his attacking strokes.

He did so whilst donning yellow-coloured batting gloves, a not-so-subtle reminder of his association with Chennai Super Kings since the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL).

Afterwards, the Gujarat wicketkeeper-batter spoke enthusiastically of the confidence that the CSK stint has infused. In the 2026 IPL, he notably took just 13 balls against Lucknow Super Giants to bring up a half-century, the joint-fastest in the T20 league’s history. M.S. Dhoni’s guidance from close quarters was the icing on the cake for Urvil.

“After playing in the IPL, confidence is high. Just seeing Mahi bhai around gives confidence. I was fortunate to have my seat next to his in the CSK dressing room,” Urvil told the media on Saturday.

With the added exposure, he is aware of the enhancements needed in his game. Despite his blazing 23-ball 65 versus LSG, he compiled just 129 runs in seven games this year.

“I was not satisfied with my overall performance. I reviewed how the season went and I’m working on the things that I have identified,” he admitted.

In the Ranji Trophy too, Urvil isn’t wary of taking the aggressive route. Last week, he hammered a 67-ball 85 against Odisha. “I look to be clear in my mindset. If I decide to attack, I show full conviction. I don’t have self-doubt.”

A combined 20 international caps across formats. 224 encounters in a high-pressure environment like the IPL. Mahli Beardman made batters possessing this level of experience look silly with his pace during Australia A’s thumping win over India A in the first one-dayer.

The 21-year-old picked career-best figures of four for 23 using one simple tactic — steam in and bowl fast. He took the new ball for the visitors and by the time his first spell of 140 kmph projectiles was done, India A was already in a spot of bother.

Beardman first made his mark during the 2024 Under-19 World Cup. His searing pace was evident then, and he has only sharpened his tools since. A productive Big Bash League campaign earned him a T20I debut against Pakistan.

“We’ve got a rich history of fast bowling in Western Australia (WA), where I come from. I grew up watching Mitchell Johnson. I was lucky enough to be coached by Dennis Lillee. That’s something that has been passed down,” the speedster explained.

Spending time as a standby player in the Australian squad has helped Beardman pick the brains of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

“I try and be as much of a sponge as possible and soak up as much knowledge as I can,” the youngster said. “They’ve been awesome from a technical aspect. Being so mature and having played so much cricket, they’ve got a really simple outlook on the game,” he explained.

With more such outings with the ball, it won’t be long before the 21-year-old reclaims a spot in the senior team.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi is back where he belongs. He is doing what he loves the most – playing cricket. The 22-year-old was deprived of that blissful feeling after being sidelined for three months with a finger injury, sustained while on Kolkata Knight Riders duty in the IPL.

But Raghuvanshi is on a comeback trail and the runs are starting to flow from his willow. After hitting three half-centuries for Mumbai in the Thimmappaiah Memorial tournament in Karnataka, he struck 51 for Rest of India u-23 on the opening day of the encounter against Tamil Nadu u-23 at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday.

“It was a pretty bad injury, and it took me months to return to cricket. But as a cricketer, you just want to be on the field and play. This is what I want to do. I always want to be on the ground rather than on a hospital bed,” said Raghuvanshi.

“[During my recovery], I had the hunger to get back on the field. Every day I was thinking about how I could get better. The months did not fly… I was like: ‘I should be on the pitch’. I am grateful to be playing cricket again. I have no issues in my body, and I am feeling really good about my batting. I am excited for the season, but I am not looking too far ahead,” he added.

Pillar of strength

An interaction with Raghuvanshi may be incomplete without the mention of Abhishek Nayar, his long-time mentor and head coach at KKR in IPL 2026. “He is everything to me. I have learnt a lot about life and cricket from him. Anytime I have a problem, I go to him. He is a pillar [of support] in my life. I speak to him almost every day”.

Chris Gayle loves Keralam though he doesn’t have great memories of the State as a player. In the only international match he played in Kochi in 2013, the ‘Universe Boss’ pulled his hamstring and was run out for a duck.

He, however, remains enamoured by the beauty of Keralam. “It is actually good to be back here,’’ Gayle said. “The last time I came here was with my family while I was playing for Punjab Kings. I had a great time in the backwaters. But I am now here for a different reason,’’ added the 46-year-old, sporting a custom-made Kochi Blue Tigers jersey.

“To be part of Blue Tigers as a co-owner is something new and fantastic, something to look forward to particularly in the future. I think from a player’s point of view, being associated with a team after a career in any sport is fantastic.”

Gayle confessed that he wasn’t keeping close track of KCL but felt that he had a lot to offer in building the brand. He described IPL as the best franchise league in the world. “Overall, there is a lot of talent in India, so that is nothing new for me to come and talk about. IPL is the biggest franchise cricket league in the world, and KCL can open doors for players to get to the IPL. Having someone of my calibre as part of KCL is huge.

“I can share my views on how to build the league,’’ he said, adding that younger players are now dominating the shortest format. “The game has truly changed. Everybody is pretty much hitting sixes and it is like a free will. It is fantastic.”

When asked about the current state of West Indies cricket, Gayle remarked: “They are in a rebuilding situation right now. They just finished 1-1 in the series against Pakistan. There is a long process to go forward. I don’t want to say anything more about it now.’’

Former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden feels that the Chennai-based Dinesh Karthik is a “perfect” candidate to take over as Chennai Super Kings head coach.

Karthik, who is serving as the batting coach and mentor of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, has been instrumental in the two-time defending IPL champion’s success. According to Hayden, who played for CSK between 2008 and 2010, the franchise should look within the State to replace Stephen Fleming.

“It’s something that I really hope the franchise gets right. Flemo did a fantastic job with M.S. Dhoni, that was such a strong engine room of CSK,” Hayden told The Hindu.

Hayden, the co-owner and head coach of Glasgow Cosmic in the European T20 Premier League, believes that Karthik is ready to take up the role at CSK.

“There’s been names that have been mentioned. One of them was Karthik. I think that it’s important to have a local coach. I know that a lot of franchises go for international coaches, but I feel the head coach role of a franchise as big as CSK should have that kind of local touch, even Chennai touch, which is why I thought Karthik would be perfect,” the 54-year-old said.

Fleming led Super Kings to five IPL titles and two Champions League crowns. But after three underwhelming campaigns, the Kiwi and the franchise decided to part ways.

“You can certainly have support staff who aren’t local, but what a shift! It was such a beautiful campaign that M.S. and Fleming had: so much success, equal titles with Mumbai [Indians], just such good legacy, but it’s a bold and good move. I’m looking forward to seeing who gets the job.”

B. Sai Sudharsan has been in a rich vein of form over the last few months. The Gujarat Titans opener had a 700-plus run season for the second IPL edition in succession and finished as the league’s third-highest scorer (722 runs).

“It was my best IPL so far,” Sai Sudharsan told The Hindu. “I didn’t score much in the first few games. I won’t say it was challenging; it was interesting, where the belief, trust and everything increased day by day rather than me becoming doubtful.

“When you are scoring, it is easier to believe in yourself. But when you don’t, are you still trusting the process? Mentally, are you still thinking about not scoring in the previous match? So, in those ways, I learnt a lot — to not take the past into a game,” he added.

The Tamil Nadu batter made his Test debut in England last year and has had an up-and-down start to his fledgling career in whites. But, he felt that it had taught him valuable lessons.

Mental approach

“In Tests, even a small weakness will be challenged. As a batter, you have to keep improving in all those small things. At the same time, there is not much time to do so. You have to be smart enough to pick things and evolve,” the 24-year-old remarked.

“I feel it is all about owning that place. I could have owned it a bit more and been a bit freer [in my approach]. The more I do that, the more I can bring out the best version of myself. A little bit of that happened during the Afghanistan Test match.”

Seamless transition

Post IPL, Sai Sudharsan seamlessly transitioned into red-ball cricket with an 81 against Afghanistan in the one-off Test before striking two centuries for India-A in the recent tour of Sri Lanka. Considering India is set to travel to the island nation for a two-Test series next month, he couldn’t have asked for better preparation.

“Because of the strong breeze, the line of the ball changes quite a lot. Experiencing that was really valuable. You can’t commit too early and judge the line and length. You have to judge the ball as late as possible,” he explained about the things he picked up in the two India-A matches.

Even as he looks towards less hectic weeks, when he will appear in a few TNCA first division league games, Sai Sudharsan has identified the areas to work on.

“The first is from a physical perspective. I want to become stronger, leaner and fitter in terms of my movement and recovery. I want to continue fine-tuning my game against spin and understanding my footwork for the challenges ahead,” he said before signing off.

The first six overs and the last five. Is that what the IPL is about? When one-day cricket (50 overs) was threatening to take over the sport, attracting the crowds and the money and endangering the calendar, it had gone through a similar phase. First ten and last ten, television viewers told themselves, which meant they had 30 overs to attend to more pressing matters.

Did T20 grow out of this middle overs crisis? There is one significant difference, though. While in the longer format, it was a holding period to ensure there were wickets in hand for the final slog, T20 is all slog. It is about hitting fours and especially sixes, and there’s always someone down the order who can occasionally do this as well as the top guys do. The opener and the finisher share one aim.

This year’s tournament saw more sixes (1426) and fewer viewers. Perhaps there is a connection. The viewership data are from Broadcast Audience Research Council and concerns the first half of the tournament, but it is telling all the same.

Better balance

Even the six-addict might like to see better balance between bat and ball. Achieving this will be the tournament’s aim between now and the next edition. Or maybe not. So far administrators have been more keen on loading the dice in favour of the batter.

The format has one advantage, however. It can make new rules. The farther it moves away from the red ball game, the better it is for both. This column has been arguing for years that T20 and Test match cricket are different sports which just happen to use the same equipment.

Still, it is ironical that in a tournament where totals of over 200 (and once even 250) were casually chased down, the final was a tribute to the bowling. RCB restricted Gujarat Titans, having out-thought their opponents with consistent short-pitched bowling. They never looked in trouble thereafter. Virat Kohli was resplendent in reply, playing an innings worth losing sleep over, as millions did.

In Kagiso Rabada’s second over the sequence of 4,4,6,4 alone was worth the price of the television set. That six off one of the fastest deliveries of the night was enticed into going over the fence with the gentlest of persuasions, all wrist and bottom hand. Kohli didn’t even look up as if too shy to countenance such treatment of a great bowler. Rabada, the tournament’s most successful bowler was taken for 88 runs in all by Kohli in this year’s IPL, off just 37 deliveries. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the quiet warrior through the season. RCB owe him.

Gujarat Titans effectively lost the final in the first four overs after their prolific openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan were dismissed. This might sound like fixing the dots after the picture is complete, but it was clear only one team expected to win from there. The scoreboard pressure so favoured by commentators was on the side which had batted first.

Some years ago, Kohli would have managed the chase differently, anchoring the innings without taking risks. But this new Kohli has internalised the tactical changes in the format which calls for only one gear – the top one. Two hundred is the key figure, whether as a fighting total or a batter’s strike rate. GT fell well short of the first while Kohli got to his half century at that rate.

Look into the future

Two events might have given us a peep into the future. The tacky ‘entertainment’ between innings and the referral to AI by commentators. Is AI getting ready to take over from them? May not be a bad idea considering some of the quality!

Has the IPL has become too predictable, the six-hitting too frequent for its own good? No sport played only for the aficionado can survive. Fans unbothered by nuance and untouched by a wider range of skills ensure success.

So will the cricket board decide that preparing less than perfect batting pitches, and fiddling with the rules come under the category of killing the golden goose? The balance it usually looks for is in the balance sheet.

Dashing keeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been relieved from Lucknow Super Giants’ captaincy after a disastrous 2026 IPL season where they finished last among 10 teams.

As a batter, it turned out to be a woeful season where he got only 312 runs in 14 innings. On May 14, the PTI had reported that Pant was set to lose captaincy, something which was reiterated by LSG’s Director of Cricket Tom Moody.

“Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) wish to formally announce that Rishabh Pant has requested to be relieved of his captaincy duties with the franchise, and the franchisee has accepted his request with immediate effect,” the franchise said in an official statement.

“Rishabh approached the franchisee with this request and we have respectfully accepted it,” Moody was quoted as saying in the media release.

“These decisions are never easy. We are grateful for everything Rishabh has brought to this dressing room as captain. Our focus now is on the collective rebuilding and restructuring to reach the best standards,” the former Australian all-rounder added.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hopes to score a double century in T20 cricket. When a 15-year-old says that, he would normally invite indulgent looks and tolerant smiles if not outright derision. But not this 15-year-old. If he bats through 20 overs, it might even come easily. Twice this season he has made a fifty in 15 balls, and against Sunrisers Hyderabad he reached a century in 36 balls. Now extrapolate.

Ironically, six-hitters like him (he already has 53 and at least one match remaining to overtake Chris Gayle’s IPL record of 59) might have tilted the balance between bat and ball too much in one direction to the detriment of the format. Already this season there has been a record 1349 sixes (as at the end of the league phase), and diminishing marginal utility has kicked in.

Sooryavanshi was born after the birth of the IPL, and so perhaps sees nothing extraordinary about the glut of sixes in a format that is about a glut of sixes. What makes him special is what has made all the best batters special — the ability to pick length early. Footwork, balance, bat speed, fitness, temperament are all secondary. Picking length is fundamental. Everything begins there.

If you pick length late, batting becomes all about survival. Batters don’t have the time to work everything out after the ball pitches. The decision about what to do looks spontaneous because batters are reading the cues from the bowler from wrist position to release point to seam angle and trajectory to pace through the air. The best look unhurried because they have decoded everything and the body has got into position early. Timing improves not because the hands are faster, but because preparation is.

Different formats magnify this skill in different ways. In Test cricket, early length recognition allows patience and control. In T20s, it enables anticipation and innovation: ramp shots, pick-up pulls, and premeditated movement all depend on reading length almost instantaneously. The earlier you know where the ball will land, the more options you have.

In many ways, batting is a race against uncertainty. The bowler’s job is to delay the batter’s recognition for as long as possible. The batter’s job is to solve the puzzle early enough so he can stay balanced and decisive.

Impressive temperament

Even in a tournament filled with world-class batters, if Sooryavanshi stands out, it has to do as much with his age and confidence as with his ability to meet the ball at any point in its bounce. There is too his impressive temperament. Former England captain Michael Vaughan has pointed out that Sooryavanshi drives the future of T20 cricket. His strike rate, 232, shows other openers the path that can be taken. He has stretched the limits of the possible.

Is he the finest 15-year-old to play cricket? Sachin Tendulkar was 16 when he hit Abdul Qadir for 27 runs in an over, with four sixes. That was in an exhibition game following a rain washout, but had he played T20 as a teenager, there’s no telling what records he might have set. He too had the ability to pick length early and strike with rare power.

It can be assumed with a degree of confidence that Sooryavanshi will be in the Indian team for the white ball tour of England in July. The bowling he has faced in the IPL is of a superior quality and has greater range than anything a single country can muster.

What will be interesting, and really get the national debate going is the possibility of Sooryavanshi making an early entry into Test cricket. There is a vast gap between T20 cricket and Tests. What Sooryavanshi has in is favour is the ability to read length early. But what of his defence? A batter with a sound defence can make the shift to limited-over formats more easily than a limited-over player can switch to five-day Tests. Suryakumar Yadav, world-class batter in T20 for instance, has managed just one Test, and might be a cautionary tale.

Sooryavanshi is in India A teams (red ball) where his progress will be keenly monitored. Meanwhile let us enjoy the sight of a 15-year-old carrying an IPL team on his shoulders. A boy among adults who might be destiny’s child.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hopes to score a double century in T20 cricket. When a 15-year-old says that, he would normally invite indulgent looks and tolerant smiles if not outright derision. But not this 15-year-old. If he bats through 20 overs, it might even come easily. Twice this season he has made a fifty in 15 balls, and against Sunrisers Hyderabad he reached a century in 36 balls. Now extrapolate.

Ironically, six-hitters like him (he already has 53 and at least one match remaining to overtake Chris Gayle’s IPL record of 59) might have tilted the balance between bat and ball too much in one direction to the detriment of the format. Already this season there has been a record 1349 sixes (as at the end of the league phase), and diminishing marginal utility has kicked in.

Sooryavanshi was born after the birth of the IPL, and so perhaps sees nothing extraordinary about the glut of sixes in a format that is about a glut of sixes. What makes him special is what has made all the best batters special — the ability to pick length early. Footwork, balance, bat speed, fitness, temperament are all secondary. Picking length is fundamental. Everything begins there.

If you pick length late, batting becomes all about survival. Batters don’t have the time to work everything out after the ball pitches. The decision about what to do looks spontaneous because batters are reading the cues from the bowler from wrist position to release point to seam angle and trajectory to pace through the air. The best look unhurried because they have decoded everything and the body has got into position early. Timing improves not because the hands are faster, but because preparation is.

Different formats magnify this skill in different ways. In Test cricket, early length recognition allows patience and control. In T20s, it enables anticipation and innovation: ramp shots, pick-up pulls, and premeditated movement all depend on reading length almost instantaneously. The earlier you know where the ball will land, the more options you have.

In many ways, batting is a race against uncertainty. The bowler’s job is to delay the batter’s recognition for as long as possible. The batter’s job is to solve the puzzle early enough so he can stay balanced and decisive.

Impressive temperament

Even in a tournament filled with world-class batters, if Sooryavanshi stands out, it has to do as much with his age and confidence as with his ability to meet the ball at any point in its bounce. There is too his impressive temperament. Former England captain Michael Vaughan has pointed out that Sooryavanshi drives the future of T20 cricket. His strike rate, 232, shows other openers the path that can be taken. He has stretched the limits of the possible.

Is he the finest 15-year-old to play cricket? Sachin Tendulkar was 16 when he hit Abdul Qadir for 27 runs in an over, with four sixes. That was in an exhibition game following a rain washout, but had he played T20 as a teenager, there’s no telling what records he might have set. He too had the ability to pick length early and strike with rare power.

It can be assumed with a degree of confidence that Sooryavanshi will be in the Indian team for the white ball tour of England in July. The bowling he has faced in the IPL is of a superior quality and has greater range than anything a single country can muster.

What will be interesting, and really get the national debate going is the possibility of Sooryavanshi making an early entry into Test cricket. There is a vast gap between T20 cricket and Tests. What Sooryavanshi has in is favour is the ability to read length early. But what of his defence? A batter with a sound defence can make the shift to limited-over formats more easily than a limited-over player can switch to five-day Tests. Suryakumar Yadav, world-class batter in T20 for instance, has managed just one Test, and might be a cautionary tale.

Sooryavanshi is in India A teams (red ball) where his progress will be keenly monitored. Meanwhile let us enjoy the sight of a 15-year-old carrying an IPL team on his shoulders. A boy among adults who might be destiny’s child.