The euphoria over India’s first-ever ICC Women’s World Cup win (50 overs) being a distant memory now, it’s time for Harmanpreet Kaur & Co to take a fresh guard for a tilt at the upcoming T20 World Cup in June-July in England. The current form of the Women in Blue, however, raises an element of concern as South Africa snubbed them 4-1 in a five-match T20 series at home which ended on Monday, 28 April.

The final T20 in Benoni saw skipper Laura Wolvdaart leading by example, yet again, with a power packed 92 off just 56 balls as India fell short in the chase by 23 runs. It was an insipid performance by the Indian team overall as they looked out of sorts in this format—failing to exploit the powerplay while their bowling unit failed to make early breakthroughs in the earlier matches. The fielding looked sluggish in parts and a disappointed Harmanpreet later admitted it was a kind of wake-up call and they needed to ‘regroup’ soon.

The best showing by Indian women in the T20 World Cup so far had been a runners up finish in the 2020 edition Down Under, while the previous edition in 2024 in the UAE saw them exiting from the group stages. The shortest format, if truth be told, is still a work in progress for the Indian team though a 2-1 series win in Australia last February turned out to be their only silver lining in a tour Down Under. 

In a multi-format tour, the returns were dismal as India suffered a 3-0 sweep in the ODI series (all heavy losses) while Australia beat them by 10 wickets in a one-off Test—with the visitors failing to reach 200 in either innings.  The focus, for now, will be to sharpen their game for the T20 showpiece and the pressure of expectations will be huge after their historic triumph in the ODI World Cup at home.

’’We need to sit together as a group and think how to move forward. Disappointing for us, lots of positives and learnings for us,’’ Harmanpreet said at the post-match presentation. A look at the team composition in the last series reveals that the Women in Blue have not been able to create a horses-for-courses policy to excel in this format—overtly relying on the ODI stalwarts like their captain, deputy Smriti Mandhana (rested for last two matches as South Africa had already taken a 3-0 lead), Jemimah Rodrigues as well as Deepti Sharma, Player of the Tournament in ODI World Cup.

‘’We did well in patches today. In batting, the powerplay was something which cost us as we didn’t get too many runs and lost two wickets. It’s disappointing, we need to keep working hard,’’ remarked Harmanpreet.

The team is now scheduled to tour England for a three-match T20I series starting in end-May and will serve as their final preparation for the 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. A tough challenge hence awaits—and it’s time that the likes of Shafali Varma and Richa Ghosh, whose explosive style suits the format which is pushing the boundaries, to take up more responsibility.

It was in April three years back when Rinku Singh ‘arrived’ as a true finisher in the horizon of Indian cricket – slamming those five sixes in the last over from Yash Dayal against Gujarat Titans to snatch a miraculous win for Kolkata Knight Riders. Now an established name in national T20 set-up and a part of the last T20 World Cup winning squad, the down-to-earth star from Aligarh lived a renaissance of his fortunes against Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday after a series of indifferent seasons.

An innings of 81 off 53 balls under the most trying circumstances after the Knights were reduced to 91 for seven, five catches in the deep where Rinku seemed to be omnipresent – it was simply his night in a low-scoring, error ridden contest. It’s a win which hasn’t really altered the fortunes of the Knights, but they have at least pulled themselves back from the last spot to eighth on the table.

Be it during KKR’s successful campaign in 2024 or the Men in Blue’s World T20 win, the batting position of Rinku often came in the way of him playing the man of the moment. Coming in between number six to eight, he often got starts and was hitting the ball well – much in the manner Rinku took them over the line in their last home game against Rajasthan Royals – but the gritty half-century at his home turf Ekana was an exceptional effort which would rank as a much more valuable one than the manic hitting one had been privy to recent times. 

Reduced to 31 for three after powerplay, there were serious doubts as to whether the Knights would be able to bat the full 20 overs and put a competitive total. As wickets kept tumbling at the other end to a resurgent left arm quick Mohsin Khan, Rinku absorbed the pressure and went at around a run-a-ball for the majority of his innings, scoring 43 runs off his first 40 deliveries. Once he got the measure of the LSG bowlers, he shifted gears and in the final two overs, KKR plundered 43 runs as Rinku took Shami and Digvesh Rathi to the cleaners.

LSG skipper Rishabh Pant made a tactical mistake when he fell back on young wrist spinner Digvesh Rathi for the final over and Rinku picked him up for special treatment. He hammered Rathi for four consecutive sixes – taking the Knights to a 150-plus total.

Speaking to the broadcasters after Knights had the last laugh in a one-sided super over, the first this season, Rinku reflected on his gameplan: ‘’My mindset is usually to see how to play the game (because I usually walk in after 4-5 wickets have fallen) and I think about how to take the game deep. Wickets had fallen (tonight) so I wanted to take singles, doubles and then capitalise on the loose balls. Just found out late that a spinner would bowl the 20^th over.’’

Replying to the question as to how the catches seemed to be following him everywhere in the deep, Rinku said in his trademark style: ‘’I love fielding, right from my childhood. I enjoy my fielding.’’ Deep down, he must have been feeling relieved at finally being able to vindicate the team management’s faith to hoist him as the vice captain – a reward for his loyalty and commitment to the Purple Army over the years.

At 27 years, he is already a IPL veteran – as the days of trolls, carrying drinks now look far behind him. There could be any number of wannabe stars in this cash-rich league but if you want someone to bat for your life in this format, it has got to be Rinku Singh!

There are no better sights in contemporary cricket than to see KL Rahul in top gear. The senior pro of Indian cricket showed the fire still rages in the belly when he became only the third player – and first Indian – to hit 150-plus in the history of IPL on Saturday though it came in a losing cause.

It was a hot afternoon at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the capital which saw Rahul, now 34, turn up the heat again for Delhi Capitals in a season which has already seen him plunder 357 runs. A record target of 265 looked daunting by any stretch of imagination despite the favourable batting conditions, but Punjab Kings came up another evidence of their new found self belief when they overhauled it to prevail by six wickets with seven balls left.

The smaller boundaries, along with the belter of a wicket on offer provided a perfect stage for Rahul to unfurl strokes all round the wicket against a Punjab attack which looked clueless – 16 boundaries and nine sixes dotting his unbeaten 152 off 67 balls. However, the 'double trouble' of Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh made use of the conditions for a blistering powerplay, though it was eventually Shreyas Iyer's brutal assault of 71 (off 36 balls) which took them home.

The way individual landmarks and team totals are falling by the wayside in IPL, it won’t be long before the likes of a Abhishek Sharma or Priyansh Arya race to a 150-score. However as on date, it’s the highest individual score by an Indian in IPL history as Rahul surpassed Abhishek Sharma’s 141 (against Punjab Kings, 2025). Striking at over 200 throughout the 20 overs, Rahul completed his century off 47 balls - which marked just the third 150-plus score in IPL history after Chris Gayle’s 175 not out (RCB vs Pune Warriors, 2013) and Brendon McCullum’s 158 not out (KKR vs RCB, 2008). 

What’s more, it’s the first time in 13 years that a batter has scored 150-plus in IPL. ‘’There are mixed emotions about the innings,’’ said a visibly fatigued Rahul who worried about suffering from cramps. Dropped on 18 by Shashank Singh, Rahul made full use of the reprieve to forge a 220-run with local boy Nitish Rana (91) for the second wicket. It was second biggest stand for any wicket in IPL history behind 229 set by Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. ‘’It was satisfying to play cricketing shots and Rana was also in full flow,’’ Rahul said at innings break.

Highest individual scores in IPL
175* - Chris Gayle (RCB) vs PWI, Bengaluru, 2013
158* - Brendon McCullum (KKR) vs RCB, Bengaluru, 2008
152* - KL Rahul (DC) vs PBKS, Delhi, 2026
141 - Abhishek Sharma (SRH) vs PBKS, Hyderabad, 2025

Highest individual scores by an Indian (Men’s T20)
152* - KL Rahul vs PBKS, Delhi, 2026
151 - Tilak Varma vs Meghalaya, Rajkot, 2024
148 - Abhishek Sharma vs Bengal, Secunderabad, 2025
147 - Shreyas Iyer vs Sikkim, Indore, 2019
146* - Punit Bisht vs Mizoram, Chennai, 2021

Is a Chetta (meaning elder brother in Malayali) rule about to begin in Chennai Super Kings? The speculation is slowly gaining ground as Sanju Samson has found his mojo in the yellow shirt after a tentative start to the season – easing his way to his second century of IPL 2026 as his new team prevailed in the El Clasico of IPL against Mumbai Indians on Thursday.

While the wicketkeeper-batter seems to be carrying on from where he had left off in the T20 World Cup, there is a school of thought which feels Samson has what it takes to be the successor to the great Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captain. The talismanic former skipper is back in the thick of things after a calf strain and is in line to make an appearance in their next away game against Gujarat Titans on Sunday, but social media clips show MSD is happily playing the mentor to the 31-year-old.

The CSK management are known for their aversion to any knee-jerk changes – what with them installing a younger Ruturaj Gaikwad as the new captain from 2024 season. The choice must have had a buy-in from Dhoni but then, that was a phase when the Ravindra Jadeja experiment had failed and it looked worthwhile to invest in an emerging Indian talent like Ruturaj. However, the arrival of Samson has created a viable alternative as he brings in the experience of leading Rajasthan Royals for four seasons between 2021 and 2024.

 In his popular podcast, Ravi Ashwin – who does know a thing or two about the CSK mindset – said: ‘’The mantle passing over, if you ask me, I mean, I’m no astrologer but all I can tell you is I do see Sanju captaining CSK at some stage. Don’t know when, but I do see that happening. The one thing I wouldn’t want to risk upon or don’t want Sanju is him stepping into someone’s shoes. You don’t have to really step into anybody’s legacy. We don’t necessarily need to live like that or play like that.’’

Interestingly enough, Samson combined the demand of batting deep in their innings as well as maintain it’s momentum – a factor which contributed to them reaching a 200-plus total despite none of the other batters managing to cross even the 25-run mark. Asked about it, he attributed to a sense of responsibility: ‘’We actually kept on losing wickets here and there. Whenever we wanted to go big, I think we were losing a few wickets. So, I thought it’s very important for a settled batsman to stay until the end. That's what I tried and that’s what happened today.

‘’The game tells you what to do. You don’t have to come with a preconceived mindset and you don't have to be premeditating, telling yourself this is how I play or this is what I want to do.

‘’With the experience I have, the team definitely comes first. You can say: this is the way I play and that you might get out or you might not, but with the experience and the responsibility shown in me, it is my duty to understand the match situation and what the team demands, putting that first and then planning my game around it,’’ he said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

The Kerala man is now third in race for the Orange Cap with 293 runs from seven matches - following Abhishek Sharma (323) and Heinrich Klaasen (320). Irrespective of whether he eventually emerges the topscorer or not, CSK has found the leader of their batting unit. 

Tilak Varma may be only 23, but he was very much among the chosen five—alongwith Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah—to have been retained by Mumbai Indians when they rebooted in the last mega auction. He showed a maturity far beyond his age to adapt his batting as per the match situation since his IPL debut in 2022. The only thing missing in his IPL track record till Monday, 20 April, was a century.

And it came when the team needed it the most against a consistent Gujarat Titans at the later’s fortress—ending a four-match losing streak for the five-time champs. The pressure of losing that many matches in a row in IPL can often make the most successful of teams look like a divided camp—and it was not an exception with the Mumbai Indians. A seventh spot on the table, with two wins from six matches, may not look as healthy as the team would like to be but it at least gives them a plank to bounce back.

A 45-ball century—joint fastest for MI with Sri Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya achieving it in the inaugural 2008 edition—must have come as a huge relief for Tilak who had scraped together 43 runs from previous five innings. He followed the time-tested method of spending sometime in the middle, scoring only 17 runs from the first 20 balls before exploding at the backend of the innings.       

‘’It (101 not out) was very important for the team and for me,’’ Tilak told the broadcasters. ‘’Over the last four or five games, the one thing constantly running through my head was that I hadn’t spent much time in the middle and hadn’t faced many balls, so my aim was to spend some time at the wicket and then adapt according to the team's situation.’’

 Explaining his approach, Tilak said he assessed the pitch early and focused on straight hitting to counter the slow nature of the wicket. ‘’Whenever MI comes to Ahmedabad, they usually give us a black soil wicket, which is a bit slow in nature. It’s not that our batters cannot adapt, but we know what we can do if there is more bounce,’’ said Tilak, a key member of the Men in Blue in T20 format with a T20 World Cup and Asia Cup already on his shelves.

 ‘’Since it was slow and low, we had to adjust and try to hit straight. There wasn’t much bounce, so playing across the line to deliveries in line with the stumps was risky. I decided to hit straighter and I read the conditions well; thankfully, I was able to score some runs.’’

While his lacklusture batting form possibly saw him coming in at number five, which needed him to explode in the last six overs, Tilak was candid enough to say that his preferred position is number three. ‘’Personally, I like batting at number three a lot. However, I am happy to bat wherever the team needs me because since childhood, I have practised in a way that allows me to play confidently in any position. But if someone asks me, I would always say number three.’’

With the monkey off his back with the runs flowing off his bat, Tilak was optimistic about a turnaround though there is now a major question mark over Suryakumar Yadav’s dry run. ‘’We know what we are capable of, having several World Cup winners in the side, experienced players, and the skills we possess. If we execute well, we can be unstoppable. So it is important to keep our heads down and continue working hard," he said.