Hard Hitting Klaasen comes to Rajasthan Royals for Banned Steve Smith

The countdown has begun for the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier league and with only a handful of days left, franchises are making last-minute additions to their squads.

Returning after a two-year ban, Rajasthan Royals are slated to begin their IPL campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 9. After Steve Smith was ruled out of the 11th edition following the ball-tampering scandal, South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen has been named as his replacement. Smith was due to lead the Rajasthan Royals in the upcoming edition of the T20I lucrative league, but he was banned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after being imposed a 12-month suspension by the Cricket Australia for his involvement in ball-tampering scandal that took place during the four-match Test series against South Africa.

Considered as one of the few South African players to have managed to cope with Indian spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, Klaseen has been bought at his base price of Rs 50 lakh after being went unsold at the IPL Players Auction that took place in Bengaluru in January, ESPNcricinfo reported. Klaseen, who made his international debut for South Africa against Indian in February, has a strike rate of 146 after 44 innings in the shortest format of the game.

The updated squad of Rajasthan Royals is as follows: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), D'Arcy Short, Rahul Tripathi, Aryaman Birla, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Prashant Chopra, Heinrich Klaasen, Ben Stokes, Stuart Binny, Jofra Archer, K Gowtham, Jatin Saxena, Mahipal Lomror, Zahir Khan, Shreyas Gopal, Midhun S, Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dushmantha Chameera, Ben Laughlin

IPL 2018: KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS, RAJASTHAN ROYAL OPEN TO TIME CHANGE, BCCI MAY CONSIDER

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to take a favorable call on the proposed changes to the timings of the matches of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Some franchises have seen merit in the idea, supposedly mooted by Star, and are understood to have conveyed this to the regulators. Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals have made it clear that they are comfortable with the change of timings, if not necessarily for the overlap of the matches.

“Look they are proposing to advance the games by 30 minutes — 3.30 pm for the afternoon games and 7.30 pm for night games. We see nothing wrong there. An early finish is in everyone’s interest. In-stadia public can go home early. It would be safe for them too. We will have an issue if there is an overlap of the games,” Venky Mysore, the CEO of the Shah Rukh Khan owned Kolkata franchise, told Mirror.

The original proposal was to start the evening games at 5.30pm and night matches at 7 pm but in the face of some opposition from certain teams, there seems to be some adjustments in the proposals. The teams have been explained that the viewership of the matches in the evening declines by 25 per cent in the last hour as the average match duration is three hours 24 minutes. The matches, more often than not, end after 11 pm. It is further argued that it would be difficult for in-stadia fans to find transport back home in places like Delhi, Kolkata and smaller cities like Jaipur.

Agrees Ranjit Balthakur of Rajasthan Royals. “We would prefer an early finish. In Jaipur, people tend to sleep early. If there are no doubleheaders, we are comfortable. In fact I have suggested that on weekends, instead of evening games, we can have breakfast games,” the CEO of the Jaipur team said.

The BCCI has not come out with its policy but an argument has also been made that players reach hotels only by 1 am after finishing the post-match formalities. Given the busy travel schedule during the league, the players often take flight early in the morning after a late arrival at the hotel. Early starts can lead to extra rest time for the players, it has been argued.

The biggest deciding factor yet could be the sponsors, who apparently don't get appropriate exposure during the post-match presentation. The presentations happen around 11.30 pm, by when viewers, both inside the ground and of television, won’t be there in big numbers.

The BCCI and IPL officials were not immediately available but the authorities seem to be sensitive to the view that there is transport discomfort after 11.30 pm.

There is a chance that the timings will be tweaked so that the matches end by 10.30 pm, not 11.30 pm.

Production bid delayed

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that the bidding date for the production services of the IPL and domestic games has been postponed by a week.

The BCCI has informed the concerned parties that the bidding will now happen on February 19, instead of February 12.

All round Bangalore beats sober Rajasthan

14th April

RAJASTHAN ROYALS vs ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE

1 Half century

K.Pietersen 62

Man of the match - K.Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen scored 62 in only 29 balls with 2 sixes and 10 fours.

Rajasthan Royals lost second straight match at home. With this loss Rajasthan's chances of reaching semi finals are fading now.Bangalore has risen to 2nd with healthy net run rate.

Most runs - Orange Cap

S.Tendulkar 542

J.Kallis 528

S.Raina 400

Most wickets - Purple cap

P.Ojha 18

R.Vinaykumar 16

A.Mishra 15

Most sixes

R.Uthappa 25

Y.Pathan 24

M.Vijay 23

Points Table

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Mumbai Indians	12	9	3	0	0	18	+1.116	2084/237.0	1831/238.3
Royal Challengers Bangalore	13	7	6	0	0	14	+0.467	2032/240.4	2054/257.3
Chennai Super Kings	12	6	6	0	0	12	+0.348	1978/231.3	1952/238.1
Delhi Daredevils	12	6	6	0	0	12	+0.024	1908/237.0	1909/237.5
Rajasthan Royals	13	6	7	0	0	12	-0.421	2047/250.4	2091/243.3
Deccan Chargers	12	6	6	0	0	12	-0.438	1865/238.3	1946/235.4
Kolkata Knight Riders	12	5	7	0	0	10	-0.632	1876/239.2	1927/227.3
Kings XI Punjab	12	4	8	0	0	8	-0.484	1912/236.2	1992/232.2

Sachin super steers Mumbai once again..

11th April

RAJASTHAN ROYALS vs MUMBAI INDIANS

1 Half century

S.Tendulkar 89*

J.Duminy 31

A.Dole 30

S.Watson 3/37

Sachin Tendulkar's highest score in IPL.

He became the 7th player to score 1000 IPL runs in this match.

Man of the match - S.Tendulkar

This is the first time Rajasthan Royals have lost in their home grounds.

Mumbai Indians became the first team to be qualified for the semi finals and this is the 1st time they are through to last four.

Most runs - Orange Cap

S.Tendulkar 512

J.Kallis 501

S.Ganguly 366

Most wickets - Purple cap

P.Ojha 16

A.Mishra 15

R.Vinaykumar 14

I.Pathan 14

Most sixes

Y.Pathan 23

R.Uthappa 21

M.Vijay 21

Points Table

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Mumbai Indians	11	8	3	0	0	16	+1.040	1901/217.0	1687/218.3
Royal Challengers Bangalore	11	6	5	0	0	12	+0.443	1762/205.0	1773/217.3
Delhi Daredevils	11	6	5	0	0	12	+0.206	1764/217.0	1726/217.5
Rajasthan Royals	12	6	6	0	0	12	-0.288	1917/230.4	1959/227.5
Chennai Super Kings	11	5	6	0	0	10	+0.107	1835/218.0	1813/218.1
Kolkata Knight Riders	11	5	6	0	0	10	-0.417	1737/219.2	1784/214.0
Deccan Chargers	11	5	6	0	0	10	-0.539	1714/218.3	1808/215.4
Kings XI Punjab	12	4	8	0	0	8	-0.484	1912/236.2	1992/232.2

Lumb blasts Punjab and leads Rajasthan for another victory

7th April

RAJASTHAN ROYALS vs KINGS XI PUNJAB

1 Half century

M.Lumb 83

N.Ojha 44*
M.Jayawardene 44

Michael Lumb scored his 83 runs in only 43 balls with 12 fours and 2 sixes.

Man of the match - M.Lumb

Warne magic gives Rajasthan a 2 run thriller

5th April

DECCAN CHARGERS vs RAJASTHAN ROYALS

2 Half centuries

R.Sharma 73

S.Watson 58

S.Warne 4/23

S.Trivedi 3/16

R.P.Singh 3/17

Man of the match - S.Warne

Rajasthan have never lost defending 150 plus scores in IPL matches.

Most runs - Orange Cap

J.Kallis 425

S.Tendulkar 349

N.Ojha 308

Most wickets - Purple cap

A.Mishra 14

P.Ojha 13

M.Muralitharan 12

Most sixes

Y.Pathan 21

M.Vijay 20

R.Uthappa 17