Former India head coach Ravi Shastri believes Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s experience makes his return to the T20I squad a straightforward selection call, while describing India’s tour of New Zealand as a crucial examination of the team’s direction across formats.

“There is no substitute for experience. It’s not bought or sold in the market, so when you have experience with that kind of quality, it’s a no-brainer,” Shastri said of Bhuvneshwar, who has returned to the Indian T20I set-up after a four-year hiatus.

The 36-year-old’s recall follows impressive performances for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL, where he played a key role in the franchise’s consecutive title triumphs. “With the kind of form he showed in the IPL and the years he’s been around India, he’ll be ideal for New Zealand conditions, or for that matter, any conditions,” Shastri said.

RCB’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar during the IPL 2026 match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals (DC), at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru on Saturday, April 18, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
K. MURALI KUMAR

India will play five T20Is and five ODIs alongside two Tests during the tour. While the longest format carries significant weight in the World Test Championship race, Shastri cautioned against viewing the other legs in isolation.

“The Test series is important. The emphasis now will be on the one-day game as well as T20. The whole tour of New Zealand is an important tour,” he said. “The full one and a half month is going to be critical because it will tell you where Indian cricket is going in the future. Conditions in New Zealand might be a little similar to what you might encounter in South Africa.”

Shastri also identified the tour as a significant challenge for ODI and Test captain Shubman Gill, despite the batter’s familiarity with New Zealand conditions.

Shubman Gill of India bats during Day Four of the 4th Rothesay Test match between England and India at Emirates Old Trafford on July 26, 2025 in Manchester, England.
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images

“He is in prime form. He has always done well in New Zealand right from a young age. But for a young captain travelling there overseas, it will be a challenge,” he said.

On Rohit Sharma’s preparations for the 2027 ODI World Cup, Shastri advocated continuity rather than reinvention.

“He doesn’t have to change for anybody in the world. He has been getting runs. There’s very little he has to change, and if there’s anything to be changed, he will know it better than anybody else,” he said.

(Watch India’s tour of New Zealand live and exclusive on Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV from October 22.)

Cricket met chess on Sunday night. Royal Challengers Bengaluru all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, who has played for India in both short formats, took on the World No. 4 Javokhir Sindarov in a game of chess.

After the match against the Uzbek, played at RCB Bar & Cafe, Venkatesh said: “I got the opportunity to play with the world’s No. 4 chess player. I managed to survive five minutes without losing.”

Sindarov, who will challenge India’s D. Gukesh for the World championship this year, is in the city for the Global Chess League, in which he is playing for Fyers American Gambits. He was joined by his teammates Daniil Dubov, Nihal Sarin, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, and MarcAndria Maurizzi.

Venkatesh also spoke of Bengaluru’s passion for multiple sports. “I’ve been to a lot of cities in the country, but the love for sports here is just amazing, and it goes well beyond cricket,” he said.

“Whether it is football, athletics, chess, pickleball or paddle, people here take their sport seriously, both in playing and supporting it.”

There was also an exchange of shirts between RCB and American Gambits.

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.

As Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 final in Ahmedabad on Sunday (May 31), celebrations erupted across the country, including Hyderabad. However, the festivities in several parts of the city turned disorderly, with multiple videos circulating on social media showing instances of vandalism, traffic disruptions and violations of public safety norms.

Police were forced to intervene at a number of locations and reportedly resorted to mild lathi-charge in some areas to disperse unruly crowds and restore order.

The Secretariat Road stretch, which has increasingly become a major point for public celebrations following major sporting victories, witnessed large gatherings on Sunday night. Hundreds of fans assembled to celebrate RCB’s title triumph, but several were seen obstructing traffic and flouting traffic regulations. One video from the area showed a group of supporters striking police barricades, causing them to topple onto the road and disrupt the flow of vehicles. Others were seen moving around shirtless and creating a nuisance in the vicinity.

In another incident reported from KPHB, a group of people was seen throwing around waste baskets left behind by vendors after the weekly Sunday vegetable market. Videos showed individuals scattering objects onto the road while blocking traffic and engaging in disruptive behaviour.

Another video circulating online showed a man emerging through the sunroof of a moving car and setting off a rocket firecracker while holding the cracker box in his hand, raising concerns over public safety and reckless conduct during the celebrations.

Amid the celebrations, RCB urged supporters to mark the occasion responsibly. In a post on X after the victory, the franchise advised fans to celebrate with their families and avoid gathering in large crowds. “Best way to celebrate is with your loved ones. Relive the memories, and enjoy this special moment from the comfort of home,” the team said.

The appeal comes against the backdrop of the tragic event that followed RCB’s maiden IPL title win in 2025. During victory celebrations in Bengaluru, a crowd crush outside the stadium resulted in the deaths of 11 fans and left more than 50 others injured.

From going on a barren 17-year run, Royal Challengers Bengaluru is now looking to build a legacy as an IPL powerhouse.

Back-to-back titles have lifted RCB to fourth on the list of the most successful franchises, behind Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, and Kolkata Knight Riders. The power dynamics of Indian T20 cricket are beginning to tilt toward the Garden City.

RCB’s title defence this season was built on assembling the most balanced side in the competition — one with clarity in roles and depth across departments. It was a campaign shaped by collective strength, with several players stepping forward with match-winning performances.

When Virat Kohli and Venkatesh Iyer fired at the top, RCB surged ahead. When they did not, Devdutt Padikkal, captain Rajat Patidar and Krunal Pandya found a way. The fast bowlers — Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy and youngster Rasikh Salam — repeatedly shut down chases or set up victories. Krunal added another layer through a slingshot round-arm release and a surprise bouncer to keep the batters guessing. Seen as a whole, this side had answers for every situation.

Rajat Patidar became the third captain after M.S. Dhoni and Rohit Sharma to successfully defend the crown.
| Photo Credit:
VIJAY SONEJI

If T20 leadership is often measured by constant intervention, Patidar offered something different. His captaincy was calm and understated.

He rarely looked hurried or flustered, even in tense moments. That composure filtered through the dressing room.

Then there was Kohli, who underlined once again why he remains the heartbeat of the franchise. For the second straight year, Kohli finished as RCB’s highest run-scorer, and this time he did so at a significantly improved strike-rate (165.84 to 144.71).

His unbeaten 75 in the final against Gujarat Titans was an innings of authority and class. As ever, his energy was infectious, all the while maintaining the highest standards. RCB may now be in the Patidar era, but it remains a team deeply shaped by Kohli’s presence.

Rajasthan Royals’ Vaibhav Sooryavanshi captured the imagination of the cricket fans.
| Photo Credit:
VIJAY SONEJI

If Kohli represented the enduring value of the old guard, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi offered a glimpse into the future. The teenager emerged as the feel-good story of IPL 2026.

Sooryavanshi batted with a freedom and confidence that felt extraordinary even by IPL standards, forcing himself into the spotlight through sheer weight of performance. His game was marked not just by clean hitting, but by a sharp match awareness that belied his age.

RCB reaffirmed that titles are built on combined excellence rather than star power alone. At the same time, Sooryavanshi’s extraordinary exploits gave rise to a new hero of the masses. This season truly saw the cream rise to the top.

From coming into the Royal Challengers Bengaluru squad in 2022 as a replacement player for an injured Luvnith Sisodia, Rajat Patidar now stands one win away from joining M.S. Dhoni (2010, 2011) and Rohit Sharma (2019, 2020) as the only captains to have won back-to-back IPL titles.

As a batter and leader, Patidar’s graph continues to grow. This season, the Madhya Pradesh cricketer has added another dimension to his game as a fearsome striker. He was at his aggressive best in an unbeaten 33-ball 93 which flattened Gujarat Titans in the Qualifier 1, taking his tournament strike-rate to an impressive 196.

On the eve of the IPL 2026 final here, Patidar was asked about his meteoric rise. Staying true to his modest demeanour, the RCB skipper sought to play it down.

“I’ve never thought about the captains who have won back-to-back titles, or whether I want to compete with someone or not,” Patidar said here on Saturday.

“You said my journey has been a rollercoaster ride. I’ve never focused on that. I’m just focusing on what I can do before the final,” he added.

The 32-year-old deflected pointed questions on whether he aspired to get picked for the Indian T20 side, stating that he was not thinking about it.

Patidar stressed on the importance of taking this final as a fresh challenge, rather than approaching it with the overconfidence of a defending champion.

“You cannot keep talking about 2025. You have to be in the present. We have to keep the mindset that we are here to win the title, not defending anything that we have done in 2025,” Patidar explained.

When the business end of a league like the IPL gets as arithmetic as it has in the ongoing edition, no game is ever just about a straightforward win. Ask Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The defending champion needed to thwart a surrender to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 90-odd runs to prevent its neighbour from crawling up to the top two bracket of the standings.

“We did discuss the various targets. We needed 166 to confirm top two, 179 to confirm top of the league, and obviously 255 to win the game,” head coach Andy Flower explained after RCB’s 55-run loss to SRH on Friday (May 22, 2026).

The 58-year-old credited Venkatesh Iyer with instilling belief in a curious RCB eleven that featured only three overseas players.

“I thought Venky batted brilliantly up front to give us that impetus. We wanted our batsmen to get a feel of the game and make a decision about whether they wanted to take on the 255 (target) or the 180.”

Venkatesh has been a handy middle-order reinforcement, but has been malleable to any demands made of him in the batting order.

“He’s had to wait for his chance. And every time he’s had a chance, either as an impact player when we’ve needed the extra batsmen because we’ve got ourselves into some trouble in the innings or in the last two matches when he’s been given a chance, first at number four in Dharamsala and then today opening the batting, he’s taken all of those chances.”

“I’ve got a lot of respect for a man that’s played a lot of IPL cricket, played for India, and was sitting on the sidelines waiting for his chance. He’s been in that dugout. He’s had a big smile on his face all the time. He’s worked hard in every single practice session across all three departments. He’s been exemplary, to be honest.”

Losing Venkatesh changed the momentum of RCB’s chase at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium and Flower attributed that to Sunrisers’ mastery over its home conditions.

“SRH’s seamers bowled about 50% slower balls. As the pitch got slower, those balls were gripping and didn’t make batting easy.”

“The team knows these conditions very well and have picked a bowling attack that can exploit these conditions. I think they also just use the two pitches in the middle and know how to use them well,” he added.