The great gig in the Gulf

With IPL 2020 starting today in the UAE, Mumbai Indians look to defend their crown. O re, yes, but IPL13 will be the first Indian sporting event since Covid-19 disrupted our lives

THE FIVE TALKING POINTS OF IPL13 1 HIGH ON MSD

He’s back. Since Martin Guptill’s incredible throw shattered a billion Indian dreams in the 2019 World Cu MS Dhoni has not played competitive cricket. Unburdened retirement worries, the CSK skipper will step out to toss o Saturday, 435 days after that semi-final in Manchester. Can he last the rigour of another IPL? Will he bat higher up? Ho deal with the absence of Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh? Will he guide

CSK to a fourth title?

2 BUBBLE WRAPPED

Seven weeks in a bubble for a Test series had West Indies captain Jason Holder talking about how mentally draining the experience . From that series through the NBA and US Open, bubbles have en breached. Will IPL13 buck that trend after Virat Kohli and Rohit arma made pleas to players to not do anything silly?

3 SPIN PUNCH?

If the wickets tire, as Sharma and KKR chief mentor David Hussey have said they could, will spinners come into play more? Abu Dhabi had 6.3 overs of spin in the PSL, but Dubai had 7.3 and Sharjah 7. That is less than the average 8 overs of spin in IPL. Sharma also spoke of pacers getting reverse swing. In short: a lot of adjustments in a game tailored for an IPL in India.

4 PITCH PERFECT?

How wickets will behave in UAE has dominated conversations. 60 matches spread over Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah in under 50 days got Rohit Sharma saying that ‘pitches will play a big part.’ In 45 games, a score of 179+ has been reached 7 times in Dubai. In Kolkata, it happened in 15 of the last 23 games, and in Delhi it happened 15 of 21 games.

5 FEWER SIXES LIKELY

At Eden and Wankhede, a six is hit every 17 balls in IPL. It takes 49 balls to do that in Abu Dhabi. Wonder how Andre Russell, who hit 52 sixes in IPL2019, will deal with that. The percentage of runs through sixes in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah are 11, 22 and 29 respectively. Barring Sharjah, that is lower than all Indian grounds that host IPL except Hyderabad and Jaipur.