Despite losing their first match in the IPL 2021 to Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians face a problem of plenty.

Their regular opener Quinton de Kock, who had to sit out of the tournament opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as he was serving his quarantine on arrival from South Africa, was back at training on Sunday and will feature in the second match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Tuesday.

It means that Chris Lynn, who was MI’s top-scorer in the loss against RCB on April 9, may have to warm the bench as the Proteas wicketkeeper-batsman will likely face the new ball with skipper Rohit Sharma.

“Quinton de Kock is out of his quarantine. He did a practice session yesterday (on Sunday) with the team looking forward to the season. Yes, he will be available for tomorrow’s game,” said MI director of cricketing operations, Zaheer Khan.

“It is a good headache to have. To be lucky and be fortunate to have such a squad where people are waiting for opportunities and pushing each other,” Zaheer added.

MI’s power-packed middle and lower batting failed against some inspired and intelligent bowling from Harshal Patel. But their power-hitting unit comprising the Pandya brothers and Kieron Pollard among others batting are too good to fail as a whole twice in a row.

Containing them will be a big challenge for Kolkata Knight Riders who on Sunday scored a close but impressive win over SunRisers Hyderabad.

With their spin bowlers, who they relied on last season, not proving effective in Sunday’s game, MI’s batting could worry Eoin Morgan’s side.

Pat Cummins, who came in as second change, will again hold key for the KKR bowling unit.

An interesting contest will be between Nitish Rana, who top-scored for KKR with 80 (off 56 balls) against SunRisers’ strong bowling unit, and Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult.

While Boult is accurate, Bumrah’s pace and bounce can be hot to handle.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

Strengths:

• Many power-hitters in the side: Russell, Morgan, DK

• Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathy in good form

Weaknesses:

• Too much dependency on Foreign players

• Fitness issue with many players

MUMBAI INDIANS

Strengths:

• Strong batting order

• Balanced attack of Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah

• Mentally a very strong team

Weaknesses:

• Limited options in the spin bowling department

Ahead of the second leg quarter-final clash against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer said that side can bounce back as the French side has “problems at the back”.

Bayern suffered their first European defeat under Hansi Flick last week as PSG ran out 3-2 winners at Allianz Arena to take control of the tie. The reigning champions will now have to win by two clear goals or while scoring more than three away goals at Parc des Princes in order to reach the semi-finals.

“We need to stay calm in our heads, but have fire in our heart. We want to approach the game the right way, with motivation, a good attitude of course, and the stability you need against such quick players,” Neuer told the Bundesliga’s official website.

“We’ll need to keep our cool, play attacking football and put them under pressure. They have problems at the back. If we create as many chances as we did in Munich, then we can do it,” he added.

Bayern will play against PSG in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday.

Sanju Samson’s fighting hundred went in vain as Arshdeep Singh held his nerves in the final over to help Punjab Kings register a thrilling win over Rajasthan Royals here at the Wankhede on Monday.

Punjab Kings squad celebrating a dismissal.Sanju Samson, the losing captain, of Rajasthan Royals, was given man of the match for scoring 119 runs off 63 balls.

KL Rahul’s calm and composed knock, aided by Deepak Hooda’s belligerent hitting, helped Punjab Kings post 221 in the allotted 20 overs. In response, Rajasthan Royals fell just five runs short of the target to clinch the game. With Ben Stokes back in the hut, Jos Buttler and Samson had revived Rajasthan Royals’ innings before the English batsman lost the plot and got out in the eighth over.

However, Samson and Riyan Parag didn’t give up and kept fighting as the duo smashed 13 and 20 runs in the 15th and 16th over. Samson took on Richardson and whacked him for 19 runs in the 18th over as the equation came down to 21 off two overs.

Samson, who smashed 119 off 63 balls, kept fighting till the end but wasn’t able to get the job done for the Royals as Punjab Kings clinched a thriller on the last ball. The wicket-keeper batsman had also refused a run to remain at a strike when Rajasthan Royals needed 5 off 2 balls.

Chasing a mammoth 222, Rajasthan Royals suffered an early jolt as they lost star all-rounder Ben Stokes in the first over. Manan Vohra tried to revive the innings with a six and a four but eventually got out in an attempt to slog every ball.

However, Jos Buttler was in some other mood as the wicket-keeper started firing right from the word go. The English batsman creamed four consecutive fours in Australian pacer Riley Meredith’s first over in the IPL.

Despite a few initial blips, Rajasthan Royals went past 50 in quick time. With runs flowing from both ends, the Sanju Samson-led side scored 59 runs after the completion of powerplay.

But Jhye Richardson’s slower yorker did the trick for the Punjab Kings as Buttler was cleaned up in the eighth over to reduced Rajasthan Royals to 70/3. With the ever-mounting required rate, Samson decided to switch gears, but finally team fell five runs short and succumbed to the battle.

Brief Scores: Punjab Kings 221/6 (Rahul 91, Hooda 64, Sakariya 3-31); Rajasthan Royals 217/7 (Samson 119, Riyan Parag 25; Arshdeep Singh 3-35 )

Real Madrid held on to earn a narrow 2-1 El Clasico win over Barcelona on Sunday and go top of the La Liga charts on Saturday. Karim Benzema broke the deadlock in the 13th minute with his ninth goal in seven league games, finishing Lucas Vazquez’s cross with a back heel nudge.

Madrid doubled the lead before the half-hour mark when Toni Kroos’ freekick deflected against Sergino Dest’s back and flew past Jordi Alba on the line, reports DPA.

Barcelona fought back in the second half in torrential rain, with Oscar Mingueza pulling one back from close range. Substitute Ilaix Moriba almost equalised in stoppage time but hit the crossbar.

Atletico Madrid travel to face Real Betis later on Sunday and could go back top with a point. They are currently level with Real on 66, while Barcelona are third on 65.

Barcelona complained of two penalty decisions they were not given, with Ferland Mendy clashing with Ousmane Dembele and later Martin Braithwaite in the area.

“I think everyone saw the game, if you’re a Barcelona fan you’re furious, very unhappy about the two refereeing decisions,” said an angry Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman.

“In the first half we were not good in attack or defence, in the second we improved. It’s a very clear penalty, once more we have to shut up and accept it.”

The Barcelona coach later walked out of a pitch-side interview after a reporter did not answer his question about whether his team should have been given a penalty.

Neither incident was clear cut, and Madrid could have put the game to bed in the first half when Fede Valverde hit the post with the score already at 2-0.

“I’m happy for (the players), we made a lot of subs today, we suffered but nothing changed,” said Real manager Zidane. “They are all committed, and they want to play and that’s the good thing. We have to enjoy today and the other day,” he said, referring to the team’s defeat of Liverpool in the Champions League.

The Board of Governors (BoG) of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) met through a virtual conference call and the board received a presentation and an update on the report of the two-person fact-finding panel that was set-up by the PCB chairman to review the bio-security protocols, bylaws, and arrangements for the Pakistan Super League.

The presentation was given in order to help them make recommendations on how to better ensure the implementation of a bio-secure environment for future events. The BoG discussed and debated the panel’s findings in detail. They expressed their disappointment at the failures that were highlighted in the report and advised remedial actions needed to be taken. The BoG also endorsed all recommendations of the fact-finding panel, including robust and stringent implementation of the protocols, as well as maintaining a zero-tolerance approach towards all those who breach the Covid-19 SOPs, which are put in place for safeguarding the health and safety of all participants.

The BoG was informed that as part of the strategy to ensure the PSL 6 resumed and completed in a safe and secure environment, the PCB was in the final stages of appointing a globally recognised safety management company that specialises in providing Covid-safe technology solutions, bio-secure monitoring & management, as well as response and reaction to positive tests.

The members were informed that a mandatory seven-day quarantine period for all participants will commence from May 22 in one hotel and following three days of training sessions, PSL matches will resume on June 1 with the final scheduled for June 20.

Indian Premier League’s (IPL) most expensive player of all time Chris Morris will be on display and facing a huge challenge when Rajasthan Royals (RR) take on Punjab Kings in their opening encounter of this season on Monday.

With Jofra Archer missing from at least the first part of the IPL season due to injury, Morris will have to shoulder the responsibility of being his team’s frontline bowler as RR will look to stall the power-packed batting of Punjab Kings.

RR’s biggest problem is the lack of support to overseas pace bowlers. Last year, Archer failed to get any support from others as only spinners did well. This time though Morris should have the support of pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman.

However, whether Rahman finds a place in the playing XI remains to be seen. With batsman Jos Buttler, all-rounder Ben Stokes and Morris a certainty, RR will be hard-pressed to pick between Rahman, a fast bowler, or other big-hitting overseas batsmen like Liam Livingstone or David Miller.

“Sanju (Samson) and I will both agree that it’s a big blow for us. Jofra is a very vital part of our make-up and not to have him is unfortunately the reality of it. We have to work around it and plan contingencies,” Kumar Sangakkara, the Rajasthan Royals director of cricket, told media in an interaction on Sunday afternoon.

With the Mumbai wicket being batting-friendly, it is likely that RR will go in with Rahman who is known to bring variations with his cutters and can extract something from the pitch.

Punjab Kings batsman KL Rahul, who was the Orange Cap winner last year, had an indifferent run in recent times at international level. But he and Mayank Agarwal could again be the backbone of Punjab franchise’s batting.

It will also be interesting to see how Punjab balance their overseas quota of four players. They will play West Indies batsman Nicholas Pooran but whether they will play Dawid Malan, the top ranked batsman in T20 Internationals, or not remains to be seen.