After Virat Kohli endured one of the more trying Indian T20 League matches of his otherwise illustrious career on Thursday, a comment made by former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar has been slammed as 'distasteful' by Kohli's wife Anushka Sharma.

Kohli's team Bangalore suffered a 97-run defeat at the hands of Punjab in their Indian T20 League match, during which Kohli dropped two catches from KL Rahul, Punjab's star performer on the night. The Bangalore captain then went on to get dismissed with just one run off five balls to compound his misery on the night.

Likely referring to a viral social media clip during the lockdown where Kohli was seen facing balls thrown by Anushka from their home's terrace, Gavaskar quipped during that commentary that, "He (Kohli) wants to�?he knows the more he practises the better he will become. Now there was a lockdown (in India because of the global pandemic), and he has practised only against Anushka's bowling. That is not going to help him a lot."

This led Anushka to take to Instagram and pen out a 'story' on the platform, beginning with, "That, Mr Gavaskar, your message is distasteful is a fact but I would love for you to explain why you thought of making such a sweeping statement on a wife accusing her for her husband's game? I'm sure over the years you have respected the private life of every cricketer while commentating on the game. Don't you think you should have equal amount of respect for me and us?"

"I'm sure you can have many other words and sentences in your mind to use to comment on my husband's performance from last night or are your words only relevant if you use my name in the process?"

"It's 2020 and things still don't change for me. When will I stop getting dragged into cricket and stop being used to pass sweeping statements."

"Respected Mr Gavaskar, you are a legend whose name stands tall in this gentleman's game. Just wanted to tell you what I felt when I heard you say this."

It is important to note that Gavaskar's comments were initially misconstrued on social media with a quote that insinuated that Gavaskar had said that Kohli had only practised with Anushka's 'balls' instead of 'bowling', the latter being what the Little Master had actually said.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Prakash Singh, Manjunath Kiran

KL Rahul is one of the best T20 batsmen in the world right now, of that there is no doubt. His match-winning knock of 132* off just 69 deliveries in the sixth match of the Indian T20 League 2020 season against Bangalore showed exactly why.

The 28-year-old kept batting at a steady scoring rate throughout his innings and absolutely teed off in the last couple of overs. Yes, he was given two lives as Virat Kohli dropped him twice when he reached an individual score of 83 but that doesn't take anything away from how good his knock was. He made full use of those two lives given to him and scored 49 off his last 14 deliveries, which eventually helped him to finish with a massive strike-rate of 191.30.

If the contributions of the other batsmen are taken into account, they tally up to just 63 runs scored at a meagre strike-rate of 121.15. So that sums up how valuable Rahul's knock was and the kind of impact it made to Punjab's chances of winning.

The most fascinating part about Rahul's innings, however, was the way he paced it.

	PP (1-6) Overs	Middle (7-15) Overs	Death (16-20) Overs
Runs	23	45	62
Balls	18	31	20
Scoring rate (runs per over)	7.66	8.72	18.61
4s	4	6	4
6S	0	1	6

Table: Breakdown of Rahul's approach in each phase of his innings of 132

As visible in the table above, he started off in a very steady manner at a scoring rate of just over 7.5 runs per over and then kept accelerating gradually. He scored at almost 9 runs per over in the middle overs, which is actually very good, and more so considering that his partners in that phase -- Nicholas Pooran and Glenn Maxwell -- scored at a combined scoring rate of just 5.46 runs per over. While they struggled from one end, Rahul ensured that there is no loss in intensity from his end and he just kept pressing on the pedal until he went completely berserk in the final two overs.

In fact, this kind of batting approach from Rahul is exactly what makes him a nightmare for bowlers. When he first joined Punjab in 2018, he used to be a Powerplay beast.

Year	PP(1-6) Overs	Middle (7-15) Overs	Death (16-20) Overs
RpO	9.45	7.72	15.14
Balls faced	231	139	46

Table: Rahul's scoring rate across different phases throughout Indian T20 League 2018

As the table above shows, 55.5% of the total 416 deliveries Rahul faced in Indian T20 League 2018 were in the Powerplay phase whereas 33.4% were in middle-overs and the remaining 11.1% in the death overs. Moreover, his Powerplay scoring rate was excellent too.

Even though he used to get Punjab off to flying starts, there was a significant deceleration in the middle overs. This was the phase he mostly used to get dismissed in. Rahul carried just three out of his 14 innings to the death overs in 2018. Even though he faced only a few deliveries at the death, the kind of damage he did is completely visible.

	PP(1-6) Overs	Middle (7-15) Overs	Death (16-20) Overs
RpO	7.25	8.32	9.84
Balls faced	192	168	78

Table: Rahul's scoring rate across different phases throughout Indian T20 League 2019

However, there was a considerable change in his batting approach in 2019. Rahul toned his game down significantly in the Powerplay as he scored at a run-rate of 7.25 RPO in that phase last year. Yes, he had gone through a rough patch of form prior to the Indian T20 League last year and that made him start off carefully. But it also had to do a lot with the unstable Punjab middle-order. It became necessary for Rahul to bat throughout the innings.

As a result of his changed approach, Rahul faced a lot more deliveries in the middle and death overs in 2019 as compared to 2018. Moreover, he had carried six of his innings to the death overs this time, which was double of the number of times he did that in 2018.

And it seems like he is following the same approach this year as well, as he has started off slowly in the powerplays in both of his outings so far. Although he got dismissed early in his first outing, we saw how he accelerated gradually in the last game. In fact, it is this gradual acceleration that is making Rahul a nightmare for the bowlers. Bowling teams like to control the game in the middle-overs but Rahul just doesn't let that happen.

Feature image courtesy: Twitter.com/Punjab

"We have done really well defending a total less than 170 and seeing the bowlers execute their plans so well," Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli said after winning the toss and putting Punjab to bat. So little did he know what Punjab captain, KL Rahul, was about to bring on the table.

Taking the field alongside Mayank Agarwal, the captain played a 57-run opening wicket stand, and in the midst, became the fastest Indian to score 2000 Indian T20 League runs, breaking Sachin Tendulkar's 8-year-old record. Notably, the opener reached the mark in his 60th inning, while Tendulkar took 63. On an overall perspective, the 28-year-old became the 32nd player to score 2000 Indian T20 League runs and 20th Indian to the same.

Fastest Indian to 2000 Indian T20 League runs
Player	Innings
KL Rahul	60
Sachin Tendulkar	63
Gautam Gambhir	68
Suresh Raina	69
Virender Sehwag	70

Just in, Rahul’s Punjab teammate Chris Gayle is the fastest batsman to score 2000 Indian T20 League runs. He achieved the mark in his 48th innings.

In terms of balls faced, Rahul is the fifth-fastest Indian to the record, achieving it in 1454 balls. Virender Sehwag tops the list, having scored 2000 Indian T20 League runs in just 1211 balls.

Leading from the front on Thursday against Bangalore, the captain scored a half-century in 36 deliveries - his 17th in the Indian T20 League and 13th for Punjab. This half-century was, in fact, his first against Bangalore and also his first as a captain. And well, the carnage didn’t stop there. He was of course helped by his national compatriot, Virat Kohli, who dropped him on two different occasions in the span of five minutes, notably at mid-wicket and other at covers.

Capitalizing on the given opportunity, he went on to score an unbeaten ton, notching 132 runs in just 69 deliveries; his second century in the Indian T20 League. His knock shattered a couple of other records as well. For the starter, his score of 132 is not only the highest score by an Indian in the Indian T20 League, but it is also the highest by any captain in the competition.

Scoring 64.08% runs of his team's total (132/206), the 28-year-old smashed the ball left, right and centre, scoring a majority of his runs on covers (28), fine leg (26), long on (23) and point (21). Furthermore, the Karnataka batsman scored 98 of his 132 runs through boundaries (14 fours and seven sixes), which is now the most by any Punjab player in the history of Indian T20 League, surpassing Virender Sehwag's knock of 122 he scored against Chennai in 2014 where he scored 96 through boundaries.

Rahul, with his approach, was tactically brilliant. He steadied the pace when Punjab lost Nicholas Pooran and Glenn Maxwell in quick succession, but went absolutely berserk in the death overs, scoring 16 runs in the final three deliveries of the innings, ruining Shivam Dube's perfect night. An over before, he hit Dale Steyne for 26 runs, all in boundaries (three sixes and two fours).

High scores vs Bangalore in Indian T20 League
Player	Runs	Team	Ground	Match Date
BB McCullum	158*	Kolkata	Bengaluru	18-Apr-08
KL Rahul	132*	Punjab	Dubai (DSC)	24-Sep-20
JM Bairstow	114	Hyderabad	Hyderabad (Deccan)	31-Mar-19
Q de Kock	108	Delhi	Bengaluru	17-Apr-16
AC Gilchrist	106	Punjab	Dharamsala	17-May-11

And last, but obviously not the least, his unbeaten 132 is the highest individual score a Punjab player has scored in the whole of Indian T20 League's history, and second-highest score against Bangalore after Brendon McCullum's unforgettable 158 in the inaugural edition of the tournament.

This was arguably one of those performances from Rahul which will go down as one of the best in the history of the competition. And well, riding on his back, Punjab registered a thumping 97-run victory over Bangalore, which is now their second-biggest win (in terms of runs) in the Indian T20 League history. Ironically, their biggest win also came against Bangalore in 2011 when Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh played a 206-run stand to take their team to 232/2. Piyush Chawla and Ryan Harris then did the work with the ball to dismiss Bangalore at 121, registering a victory by 111 runs.

Feature image courtesy: Twitter/Punjab

After a heart-breaking Super Over loss against Delhi in their opening Indian T20 League (Indian T20 League) 2020 match, Punjab picked up their first win of the season thanks to an inspiring knock by their skipper KL Rahul.

The Punjab captain scored an unbeaten 132 to help his team beat Bangalore by 97 runs and surge to the top of the standings on the back of a superior Net Run Rate. Here are some key talking points from the contest: 

Misfiring Bangalore pacers

Bangalore’s pace battery will know that they must do much better than they have done in their first two matches if Bangalore want to go deep into the tournament. Their pace trio of Dale Steyn, Umesh Yadav and Navdeep Saini combined for no wickets and were hit for 129 runs from 11 overs. Yadav and Steyn were expensive in Bangalore’s last match against Hyderabad as well, going for 48 from 4 overs and 33 from 3.4 overs respectively.

Steyn, who has had his fair share of harrowing experiences in the Indian T20 League, had another off day at the office against Punjab. The South African bowler was pummeled to all parts of the ground by KL Rahul and ended up conceding 57 from his four overs. It was the most runs he has ever conceded in the Indian T20 League and his previous worse return was also against the same opposition while he was in Hyderabad colours, conceding 51 runs from his four overs.

Kohli’s woes against left-armers

After being dismissed by Thangarasu Natarajan in Bangalore’s season opener, Virat Kohli fell at the hands of another left-arm pacer in Sheldon Cottrell. Kohli perished trying to pull a short ball in a fashion reminiscent to quite a few of his dismissals in the recent past. Since the 2017 edition of the Indian T20 League, eight of his 37 dismissals in the Indian T20 League have come against left-arm pacers.

Virat in Indian T20 League Since 2017
Bowler type	Runs Scored	Wicket	Balls	Avg	SR
RA pace	638	16	452	39.875	141.15
LA pacer	186	8	137	23.25	135.77
Leg spin	196	5	145	39.2	135.17
Off spin	131	4	115	32.75	113.91
LA spin	108	3	84	36	128.57
Slow left-arm chinaman	58	1	46	58	126.09

His average of 23.25 against left-armers is also the least when compared to other types of bowlers. After a slightly underwhelming Indian T20 League compared to his lofty standards last time around, Kohli will be keen to make amends, making it interesting to see how he irons out any perceived chinks in his armour that opponents may feel he has.

Punjab’s foreign batsmen need to step up

Both Punjab’s matches so far have seen domestic stars shine for the side. Skipper Rahul made 64.08 per cent of his team’s runs as Punjab posted a formidable total of 206 on the scoreboard against Bangalore. While Rahul’s unbeaten 69-ball 132 is an encouraging sign for the team, the lack of runs from their international players like Glenn Maxwell and Nicholas Pooran will be a concern.

Their opening match of the season witnessed a similar story. The only difference then was that it was Mayank Agarwal who got the runs instead of Rahul. Agarwal made 89 of Punjab’s 157 runs against Delhi in their first match, while Maxwell scored 1 and Pooran somehow inexplicably managed to get on the crease twice after being dismissed for a duck in Punjab’s reply as well as in the Super Over.

Feature image courtesy: Twitter /Indian T20 League

South African batsman AB de Villiers started his Indian T20 League 2020 campaign on a bright note as he played an entertaining knock of 51 off just 30 deliveries in Bangalore's tournament opener against Hyderabad on September 22. That eventually turned out to be a match-winning innings as well, as Hyderabad fell short of Bangalore's total by a narrow margin of 10 runs.

This knock also helped him maintain his good batting record against Hyderabad -- 440 runs at an average and strike-rate of 36.67 and 167.30 -- intact. De Villiers and Bangalore will be playing their next match against Kings XI Punjab on Thursday (September 25), and if his Indian T20 League numbers against Punjab are anything to go by, there is carnage written all over on this fixture once again.

The 36-year-old has a total of 680 runs to his name in 19 innings against Punjab and 662 of those runs have come while playing for Bangalore, at a mindboggling average and strike-rate of 60.18 and 165.91 respectively.

Most runs for Bangalore vs Punjab
Players	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s	50s
AB de Villiers	17	662	60.18	165.91	0	7
Chris Gayle	12	634	52.83	176.6	2	5
Virat Kohli	23	632	30.1	131.12	1	2
Jacques Kallis	5	187	46.75	137.5	0	2
Parthiv Patel	5	117	29.25	153.95	0	0

In fact, there is no other Bangalore batsman in the history of Indian T20 League who has amassed more runs against Punjab than de Villiers. His average of 60.18 against them is also the best among these batsmen, with his strike-rate only being the next best to Chris Gayle.

Gayle (634) is the closest to de Villiers' tally of 662 runs but he is a part of the Punjab setup now and hence, doesn't stand a chance of overtaking de Villiers. Only Virat Kohli (632) stands a chance of going past de Villiers but he has already played six innings more than the South African and still stands 30 runs short.

Moreover, four out of de Villiers' seven fifties versus Punjab have come in his last five innings against the franchise. His scores against them in the last five innings read 89*, 10, 57, 59 and 82*. That sums up how much he has enjoyed batting against the Punjab-based franchise in recent times.

As he takes the field against Punjab once again, de Villiers will be very eager to maintain his good run of form against them. The match will be played at the same venue -- Dubai International Cricket Stadium -- where Bangalore played their season opener against Hyderabad and the familiar conditions will only give de Villiers the confidence to go out and do what he does best! 

Feature image courtesy: Twitter/Indian T20 League

Bangalore pacer Umesh Yadav has been a subject of constant criticism for his dreadful display in the Indian Premier League. Against Punjab on Thursday, the bowler was at it once again, bowling arguably the worst ball of his career. Up against the Punjab skipper, KL Rahul, the pacer over-pitched his delivery to an extent that not even Rahul, but wicketkeeper Josh Philippe couldn't help but to watch the ball sail towards the boundary.

And while the pacer was getting the heat, Bangalore captain Virat Kohli showcased a shocking display on the night. The skipper dropped KL Rahul on two different occasions; one at mid-wicket and other at covers. The Punjab captain capitalized on the given opportunities and went on to score 132 off just 69 balls. His knock included 14 fours and seven sixes. Riding on his back, Punjab posted 206/3 on board.

Fans, meanwhile, had a go at the duo. This is what they are saying:

Lmaoo Kohli having butter fingers.

�?Diggaj (@diggajpyakurel) September 24, 2020

Kohli's love for Rahul....

�?Sanath (@dude__ffs) September 24, 2020

I think, Umesh Yadav should bowl his 4 overs before the match starts!

�?Rajasekhar Mamidanna (@RajaMamidanna) September 24, 2020

Umesh Yadav & Dale Steyn are more pandemic to RCB than Covid-19

�?S (@sanket7262) September 24, 2020

The last time Kohli dropped two absolute sitters within five minutes, Manmohan Singh was the Prime minister of India.

�?Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) September 24, 2020

Kohli regretting eating that butter popcorn before the game.#Dropped

�?Ram Narayan (@ramnarayan93) September 24, 2020

Business as usual for #UmeshYadav. He is on fire #RCBvKXIP

�?bharathnt (@bharath1) September 24, 2020

KL is going to end Umesh Yadav's IPL season.

�?Ashwin (@AshwinR94) September 24, 2020