Lungi Ngidi leads DC's pace attack without Mitchell Starc. That dipping slower ball came from Dwayne Bravo. He refined it over years. The T20 World Cup tested it. IPL sharpened it further.

Batsmen now pick pure pace. Ngidi added flight and revs. The dip fools them. With Starc out, he steps up. DC trains at BCCI's CoE in Bengaluru—lights sessions, full camp—for next games.

Modern batting demands variations. Intent-driven batsmen smashed seamers flat. Ngidi's slower balls bite back. Bravo spotted the skill early. Ngidi listened. Data shows slower balls take wickets at 7.2 economy in IPL slogs. His run at 6.8.

Look, here's the thing. Kagiso Rabada grabs 3 for 29, two in the powerplay. GT restricts KKR to 180 at Motera. They chase it in 19.4 overs. Shubman Gill's 86 off 50 does the rest.

Rabada nails the bounce there. Pairs with Mohammed Siraj's 2 for 23. KKR's Cameron Green fights hard, 79 off 55. But he jams 4 off 11 late. Last four overs? Just 23 runs. GT smells blood early.

KKR winless in seven now. GT grabs third straight win. Rabada says bounce helped, strategy with Siraj set from ball one. Intent merchants like Green can't save death-over flops. Powerplay wins IPL games. GT knows it.

Punjab Kings beat Mumbai Indians by seven wickets at Wankhede. They chased 196 in 16.3 overs. MI made 195 for six.

Prabhsimran Singh hit 80 not out off 39 balls. Eleven fours. Two sixes. Shreyas Iyer scored 66 off 35. Arshdeep Singh took three for 22. MI's Quinton de Kock carried his bat with 112 off 60. Eight fours. Seven sixes. Naman Dhir made 50 off 31.

PBKS now lead the table with nine points from five games. Four wins. One no result. MI sit ninth with two points. One win from five. Hardik Pandya said his side must answer hard questions. Take ownership. Fourth loss in a row. Crowd calls it the cathedral. Empty echoes tonight.

Washington Sundar snagged a wicket in the Powerplay. GT's opener. Crowd murmured.

That Impact Player rule? It's flipped his role upside down. Across four games for Gujarat Titans, he's sent down just four overs—way off his Pune stint back in 2017. Teams swap in specialists now. Allrounders aren't bowling as much. Sundar thrives batting up top. Ready for whatever. Loves those Powerplay bursts, he told the Times of India.

Look at the numbers. IPL allrounders used to average 5.8 overs a match pre-rule. Down to 3.2 now. Sundar dodged that early this season. Matthew Hayden's coaching him. Bat contributions too. His four overs? Economy under 6. Subs mean pure bowlers, pure batters. Sundar adapts. Bowls tight on call. Bats higher up.

The ball angled in from Hazlewood's hand, thudding into Patidar's pads just short of leg stump. First over back at Chinnaswamy after 151 days sidelined. RCB beat LSG while he found his hard lengths.

He leaked just 20 off four overs. Thirteen dots choked the chase. Variable bounce aided him; he stuck to back-of-length probes. RCB's unbeaten home run stretches on. Kohli came in as Impact Player again, knee and ankle taped, made 49 off 34. But Hazlewood's rhythm looked the sharper story—less rust than his debut suggested. Coach's faith in the Aussie quick pays early dividends.

Injury shadows lift slow in T20. Hazlewood gripped the old ball tighter by over three. RCB face DC next; Axar and Kuldeep wait. Patidar's middle-overs blitz looms large there. Hazlewood bowls over the wicket, stares down the variable strip. Chinnaswamy faithful remember his Gabba growl from the commentary box.

BCB rolled out lifetime 'Captains Cards' for 33 skippers since 1977. Tamim Iqbal pushed the plan through. Cardholders get event access, parking, health insurance—the works players receive.

That's every captain Bangladesh has had. Current ones included. He spotted the disconnect between board and former leaders. Now they hold permanent perks. No more waiting at Mirpur gates.

Bangladesh cricket shifts. Old guards link to the board's new welfare efforts. Skippers who led the team get lasting benefits. Tamim's step matches runs to leadership. Ethical observers nod. Others will follow.

Substitute rule in county cricket draws debate.

Peter Moores' Nottinghamshire grabbed it two rounds in. Gained an edge. The coach admits the laws sit too loose right now. Glamorgan's Kiran Carlson spots real problems too. Tactics twist games unfairly, he says (per BBC Sport).

Subs can jump in mid-match under the rule. Picture the IPL Impact Player, but counties skipped the guardrails. Batter slips in to bowl. Bowler pops up late to bat. Balance tips hard. Moores' crew snagged those key moments and won. Others aren't happy. Early numbers? Twelve subs so far. Seven flipped the outcomes.

Counties test T20 futures. Current rules allow role switches. Referees review before season deepens.

Peshawar Zalmi smashed Multan Sultans by 24 runs. That tightens their hold on top spot in the PSL 2026 table even more. Kusal Mendis went off for 68, firing them to 196-6. Five wins from six now. Unbeaten run rolls on.

Sufiyan Muqeem grabbed 3/30 to lead the attack. Iftikhar Ahmed chipped in with his all-round effort too. Multan Sultans scrapped to 172-8 despite needing 51 off the final five overs. Weren't quite enough. Zalmi's bowlers shut the door.

Zalmi's run just keeps stretching out. Chasing teams feel the squeeze now. League's getting hotter by the match.

Mumbai Indians took a 7-wicket hammering from Punjab Kings right there at Wankhede. Quinton de Kock smashed an unbeaten 112 off 60 balls—8 fours, 7 sixes—to drag MI to 195/6. Naman Dhir chipped in with a brisk 50 off 31. Didn't matter. PBKS romped home at 198/3 in 16.3 overs. Prabhsimran Singh blazed 80* off 39. Shreyas Iyer added 66 off 35.

Arshdeep Singh ripped through with 3/22. MI's attack? Leaky tap. De Kock slotted back in as opener—Rohit Sharma's out with that hamstring tweak from the RCB match, where he'd retired hurt on 19 off 13. Hardik Pandya said at the toss Rohit might sit out more. That knock? De Kock's 25th IPL fifty as keeper-batter. Beats MS Dhoni's 24. Now second to KL Rahul.

MI grabbed 21-year-old Punjab seamer Krish Bhagat for base price INR 30 lakh. Replaces injured Atharva Ankolekar—knee problem from Ranji Trophy. PBKS shrugged off their SRH win. MI? Still licking wounds from that 18-run defeat to RCB.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru grabbed top spot in the IPL 2026 table. They pulled off a five-wicket victory against Lucknow Super Giants right there at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium. Bowlers got things going early, wrapping up LSG for 146 in 20 overs on that slow, tricky pitch. Rasikh Salam ripped through with 4-24. Bhuvneshwar Kumar chipped in 3-27. Perfect start.

Mitchell Marsh hung tough for 40 off 32. Ayush Badoni made 38 off 24. Mukul Choudhary pushed on with 39 off 28. Still, Josh Hazlewood's 1-20 meant RCB's attack overwhelmed them. Chasing, RCB knocked off 149 for 5 in 15.1 overs flat. Virat Kohli built it steady—49 off 34 balls (6x4, 1x6). Captain Rajat Patidar then went off for 27 off 13 (1x4, 3x6). His attacking style defined RCB's fresh batting vibe. Even on the sluggish track, the tempo never dropped. Experts like Ambati Rayudu and Aaron Finch praised Patidar's approach as RCB's new batting identity.

RCB's last win? An 18-run scrape past Mumbai Indians, where they racked up 240/4. LSG dropped their previous one—a 7-wicket defeat to Gujarat Titans. Now they slide lower. Back-to-back results put RCB atop the table. Playoffs? They're locked in.

Coaches, pundits, players—they're all ripping into the ECB's injury replacement trial in the County Championship. Ridiculous, they call it. Six subs in the second round alone. Nottinghamshire pulled off a late switch against Glamorgan that swung victory their way, and now Kiran Carlson and Peter Moores are fuming, demanding changes yesterday.

Broader replacements were the idea. Didn't work out. Matches tipping unfairly from all the heavy use, especially those late edges that wreck the balance. Critics won't shut up about it.

Sanju Samson picks up the ICC Men's Player of the Month for March. India hauled him off the bench in the T20 World Cup final. Ninety-seven not out. Then 89. Another 89 after that. Those knocks clinched the title. Oh, and that IPL 115 not out off 56 balls against DC? Gave CSK their first win of the season.

Coach Eric Simons spots MS Dhoni's calm rubbing off on him. Setbacks hit early in his career—tested the kid hard. Self-belief. That's his line now.

Amelia Kerr grabs the women's award. She piled up 176 ODI runs, snared 18 wickets.