India’s quest for T20 World Cup glory – Three X-factors to watch out for

The fifteen-member squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup, which is set to take place across England and Wales in the months of June and July, was announced on the 3^rd of May. The ODI World Cup winners have set the benchmark very high; a tournament where they made an entire country believe. Walking in as champions of another format surely does give them the confidence, but also the pressure of added expectations from an entire country full of cricket lovers. The squad selection has sparked a few discussions and needless to say certain decisions are being praised while some others are being debated over. Regardless, Indian women walk in with their heads held high and with immense faith in a team that has more than enough firepower. milkshake.it.com

Three key players to watch out for:

Arundhati Reddy- As a pace-bowling all-rounder, she has immense importance in this format, especially on English soil. The pitches in England could offer some nip. The pacer also generates a fair amount of inswing and employs cutters.

Arundhati can also contribute with the bat lower down the order; something that was noticeable during this season’s WPL. Additionally, she was the standout performer in the series against Australia, where she finished as the joint highest wicket-taker, with a four-wicket haul in one game followed by two wickets each in the next two matches. Her performance won her the ICC Women’s Player of the Month in February of 2026. In the recent series versus South Africa, she was not really among the wickets on a frequent basis but upon closer look, one would observe that she was able to maintain a decent enough economy rate. Additionally, she is also a gun fielder, often throwing her body on the line for the team, which makes her a stand out.

Shreyanka Patil – The young bowler had to stay away from competitive cricket for a long gap of fourteen months because of an injury lay-off but she has announced her arrival in style. She looked in good touch at the Women’s Premier League 2026 and also has a fifer to her name. Additionally, Shreyanka finished the season with 11 wickets. In the three-match rubber against Australia, she picked up three wickets in the series decider while operating at an economy of 5.50. She put up a brilliant show in the recent series against South Africa. Despite the disappointing performance from the Indian side, she was able to consistently pick up wickets – often the only one to do so. Even with the bat, she can chip in with useful runs lower down the order.

Deepti Sharma- The player of the tournament in the ODI World Cup is often known to step up for the team in crunch situations. She is currently the all-time leading wicket-taker in women’s T20 Internationals (160 wickets) and her ability to contribute with the bat and finish games also makes her an integral part. In the recent South African series, she took a 5-wicket haul in the fourth match. Deepti also contributed with the bat, and coincidentally that is the only match that India won.

SPECIAL MENTION

Smriti Mandhana – She recently won the WPL title for the second time as a captain with Royal Challengers Bengaluru. In the final, Mandhana cracked a match-defining knock of 87. She also became the highest run-getter of the season and walked away with the orange cap. Additionally, she has some stellar records to her name. With 4293 runs to her name, Mandhana has scored the most runs for India, across genders, in T20Is.

She scored her maiden T20I century in England at the Trent Bridge stadium. Mandhana’s recent series versus South Africa was below par for a player of her calibre but she is a big-match player. As the vice-captain, her inputs on the field would also be beneficial.

NOTE- ALL STATS ARE TAKEN FROM CRICBUZZ AND ESPN CRICINFO

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The Punjab Kings (PBKS) finally tasted what a defeat feels like in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. They let Rajasthan Royals (RR) chase down the highest total in Mullanpur’s history, with Shreyas Iyer’s team running out of ideas. However, they are still at the top of the table and an away clash beckons in the form of Gujarat Titans (GT). Punjab made three changes in their last game against RR, one of which was forced. Shashank Singh was benched as he was injured. Is he available now? Let us discuss below.

Mind-blowing PBKS batting to miss Shashank Singh

There has been no other consistent, dangerous and far more successful batting unit than Punjab (2026), not just this season but in IPL history. Across four metrics, including overall batting average (43.1), strike rate (186), balls per boundary (3.6) and balls per six (7.9), they top the all-time charts. The main reason is the opening duo, of course.

Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh have formed a deadly pair, hammering runs at 14.69 per over in IPL 2026. Easily the best for any wicket. Within the powerplay, PBKS has a run rate of 12.40, which ranks at the top. In comparison, GT are on the sixth spot with a 9.75 run rate in the first six overs. While Prabhsimran has been the leading run-getter for Punjab, Arya has been the tormentor, hammering runs at a strike rate of 250.4.

Then, Cooper Connolly and Shreyas Iyer follow. Connolly, playing his maiden IPL season, has been mighty impressive, having socred 270 runs at 45.00 per dismissal. He hammered a handsome knock of 72 in the reverse fixture. Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer just continues to knock the selection door every time he bats. At the Narendra Modi Stadium, his numbers are crazy. At the venue, Iyer has hammered 243 runs at an outstanding strike rate of 222.94 across four innings. He just loves batting there.

Most runs for PBKS in IPL 2026

Player	Inns	Runs	HS	Avg	SR	50	4s	6s
Prabhsimran Singh	7	346	80*	57.66	179.27	4	37	17
Shreyas Iyer	7	309	71*	61.80	174.57	4	18	22
Priyansh Arya	7	283	93	40.42	250.44	2	21	26
Cooper Connolly	7	270	87	45.00	168.75	2	24	18
Marcus Stoinis	5	110	62*	55.00	229.16	1	10	8

However, there will be no Shashank Singh again. He is missing out due to a hamstring issue and won’t play the GT vs PBKS game either. Instead, Punjab gave an opportunity to Suryansh Shedge in the previous game. The Mumbai all-rounder got to bat just a couple of deliveries against Rajasthan and is likely to continue. Meanwhile, Nehal Wadhera will love to better his record vs GT (62 runs in 4 innings).

The biggest shining light for Punjab in the last game was Marcus Stoinis’ knock. The ‘Hulk’ had just 48 runs in his first four innings. But against Rajasthan, he bludgeoned everything out of the park, hitting 62 off just 22. This will give Punjab a huge boost of confidence.

Harpreet Brar to continue?

Now comes the bowling. The duo of Marco Jansen and Arshdeep Singh is always a certainty. The left-arm combination just works for Punjab, which believes in “left is right”. Arshdeep, however, went for quite a few in the last game. His record in Ahmedabad (6 wickets at 9.64 economy) isn’t superb as well, nor is Jansen’s (2 wickets at 10.38 economy). They will need to be at their best against the consistent batting pair of Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan.

In the last game, Lockie Ferguson played his first IPL 2026 game for Punjab after joining the squad late. He was on a paternal leave. But the match didn’t bode him well, as he was completely taken down. However, expect PBKS to stick with him and not bring in Xavier Bartlett again.

Fascinatingly, Punjab brought in Harpreet Brar as an impact sub in the last game over Vijaykumar Vyshak. Brar, despite going wicketless, did superbly to come out with figures of 0/25 at 6.2 economy. Other PBKS bowlers went over 13 runs per over in that game. So, Brar was twice as good as his fellow mates against RR. While the Ahmedabad surface suits pacers slightly more than spinners, expect Punjab to stick with Brar, who deserves another match under his belt. Meanwhile, Yuzvendra Chahal will continue to lead the spin attack.

Yuzvendra Chahal’s record vs Gill, Buttler

Batter	Runs Conceded	Dismissals	Average	Batting SR	Bowling SR
Shubman Gill	69	4	17.25	121.05	14.2
Jos Buttler	90	3	30.00	123.28	24.3

Predicted Punjab Kings Playing XI vs GT

S. No.	Player	Role
1	Prabhsimran Singh (wk)	Wicketkeeper-batter
2	Priyansh Arya	Batter
3	Cooper Connolly	Batting all-rounder
4	Shreyas Iyer (c)	Batter
5	Suryansh Shedge	All-rounder
6	Nehal Wadhera	Batter
7	Marcus Stoinis	All-rounder
8	Marco Jansen	Bowling all-rounder
9	Lockie Ferguson	Fast bowler
10	Arshdeep Singh	Fast bowler
11	Yuzvendra Chahal	Spinner
Impact Player (12)	Harpreet Brar	Bowling all-rounder

pic.twitter.com/fh8Mv7ovOd

— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) May 2, 2026

PBKS full Squad & schedule for IPL 2026

The post Predicted Punjab Kings Playing XI vs GT: No Shashank Singh again for Shreyas Iyer-led side appeared first on Inside Sport India.

It’s always intriguing when, in an auction, a team enters into a bidding war for a particular player, but in the end, it’s another team that acquires him.

This was the case with defending champions Maratha Royals, who wanted to retain all-rounder Vaibhav Mali, but had to let go of him at Saturday’s auction for Season 4 of the T20 Mumbai League which will be held from June 1 for a fortnight, The team that succeeded in acquiring Mali was North Mumbai Panthers for Rs 9 lakh.

Head coach of Eagle Thane Strikers Dhawal Kulkarni also missed out on picking Shashank Attarde, last year’s purple cap holder. “Very satisfied with the way the auction went. We have a balance of youth and experience and covered all the bases. Got all targeted players except Shashank Attarde, unfortunately, but such are the auction dynamics,” said Kulkarni.

Attarde went to Aakash Tigers for his base price of Rs 3 lakh. Meanwhile, head coach of Aakash Tigers Vinayak Mane was happy with his picks. “We have Shams Mulani, Sarfaraz Khan, Jay Bista as retained players, a solid middle order, good pace department and also the India under-19 player Naman Pushpak, a leg-spinner,” said Mane.

Mumbai Cricket Association president Ajinkya Naik said all those India internationals from Mumbai, who are available to play in the T20 Mumbai League, but do not participate, will not be considered for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. “It is a common practice in Mumbai for international players to play for their respective clubs. We are only continuing with that practice,” said Naik.

Chairman of the T20 League governing council Rajdip Gupta laid emphasis on the Tier 2 players getting opportunities in the TML: “The recently-concluded MCA Champions Trophy provided opportunities for the fringe players to showcase their skills. About 10 players from the Champions Trophy have been picked up in the auction, and that is good news for them.”

Among the top buys for Season 4 were Akash Parkar, who went to SoBo Mumbai Falcons for Rs 12 lakh while Aakash Tigers picked up the next three costliest players — Prasad Pawar (Rs 11.50L), Musheer Khan (Rs 11L) and Arjun Tendulkar (Rs 10L).

Top 3 buys

>> Akash Parkar (SoBo Mumbai Falcons): Rs 12 lakh
>> Prasad Pawar (Aakash Tigers): Rs 11.50 lakh
>> Musheer Khan (Aakash Tigers): Rs 11 lakh

Afghanistan left-arm spinner Noor Ahmad led a disciplined bowling effort as Chennai Super Kings restricted a lacklustre Mumbai Indians to 159 for seven in a critical IPL match here on Saturday.

Noor returned excellent figures of 2-26 in four overs while Anshul Kamboj grabbed 3-32, even as Naman Dhir top-scored for MI with 57 off 37 balls in an insipid display by the visitors after winning the toss.

Captain Hardik Pandya consumed 23 balls for his 18, reflecting MI’s struggles. At the time of going to press, CSK were 100-3 in 11 overs.

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He may have copped criticism for various reasons of late, but Rajasthan Royals skipper Riyan Parag said he does not need to “answer his critics” but his job is to win matches for his team.

Parag’s 50-ball 90 and Donovan Ferreira’s brutal 14-ball 47 not out powered RR to 225-6, but they lost to Delhi Capitals by seven wickets on Friday. “I don’t think I need to answer any critics or anyone talking about it [vaping]. But, my job is to get two points. So, my score and my innings don’t really matter if we lose,” said Parag.

We will take action: BCCI

Meanwhile, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said that the players and officials work to keep up the image of IPL. “It is not only their players or an official, as a team they have to maintain certain decorum so that the image of IPL is never adversely affected. To ensure that, we’ll be taking some action,” Saikia said.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever