Kolkata beat Delhi by three wickets
Nitish Rana held his nerves to drive Kolkata Knight Riders to a thrilling three-wicket win against Delhi Capitals. In a low-scoring affair, the balance swung from one way to another before Sunil Narine smashed two sixes and a four off Kagiso Rabada to help Kolkata seal the game. Kolkata chased down 128 runs in 18.2 overs. Rana top-scored with 36, while Shubman Gill got 30. For Delhi, Avesh Khan picked up three wickets.
Delhi missed the service of the injured Prithvi Shaw, who was replaced by Steven Smith. Shikhar Dhawan and Smith got them to a brisk start before Dhawan got out in the fifth over. Smith held the innings together with 39, a score later equalled by Rishabh Pant.
Hardik steers MI to the fifth victory of the season
An unbeaten 40 from Hardik Pandya steered Mumbai Indians chase 136 against Punjab Kings with six balls to spare. Ravi Bishnoi got both Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav in his first over to push Mumbai in a spot of bother, but Saurabh Tiwary held the innings, scoring 45 in 37 balls. He forged crucial partnerships with both Quinton de Kock and Hardik.
Punjab Kings were without Mayank Agarwal, who missed the game due to a stiff back. Mandeep Singh, his replacement, could not do much: he was pinned lbw by Krunal Pandya on 15. Nicholas Pooran and Chris Gayle got out cheaply, but Aiden Markram scored 42 off 29 deliveries, and Deepak Hooda made 28 to take Punjab to 135/6.
Last two IPL 2021 games to begin concurrently
The final two games of the league stage of the Indian Premier League 2021 will begin concurrently on 8 October. The matches will begin at 07:30 PM IST. Sunrisers Hyderabad will face Mumbai Indians, while Royal Challengers Bangalore will clash against Delhi Capitals.
The IPL Governing Council also confirmed that two new franchises will be announced on 25 October. The minimum bidding amount for the tender was INR 2,000 crore.
Bangladesh will not play practice game before T20 World Cup
In order to maintain their six-day mandatory quarantine, Bangladesh have cancelled their plan of playing a practice game in Oman ahead of the T20 World Cup. They will now directly play two official warm-up matches against Sri Lanka and Oman.
'We will be having a six-day quarantine in Oman and if we play the practice game against a local team, the bio-bubble may be put at risk. So we decided to skip the practice game,' said a BCB official to Cricbuzz.