Credit: X/IPL
The 17th edition of the Indian Premier League has reached almost halfway in the season with 33 matches completed. In the IPL 2024 points table, the inaugural champions Rajasthan Royals are leading with six wins in seven matches followed by Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, and SunRisers Hyderabad with an identical record of four wins and two losses.
Here in this article, we will look at the big updates around the IPL 2024 that took place on Thursday, April 18, but before that, let’s check the matches scheduled for the day.
Today's match preview
Lucknow Super Giants vs Chennai Super Kings
In the 34th match of the IPL 2024, Lucknow Super Giants will be hosting reigning champions Chennai Super Kings. The match is set to take place on April 19, Friday, at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow at 07:30 pm IST. The defending champions are currently seated in the third spot of the standings with a total of four out of six wins in the season. Lucknow Super Giants, on the flip side, have been able to win three out of their six wins thus far. Both teams are in their best form and have given a tough fight to their rivals in the season.
Major events around IPL that happened on April 17
Jasprit Bumrah's magical spell powers Mumbai to 9-run win over Punjab
Mumbai Indians pulled off a thrilling nine-run victory over the Punjab Kings in Mullanpur, Chandigarh. With this victory, the five-time champions jumped to the seventh spot on the table while the Kings went down to the ninth spot with four points from seven games. Batting first, Rohit Sharma got out after scoring 36 in 25 balls while Suryakumar Yadav continued his batting effort to end up with a 78-run knock. Mumbai continued this momentum as they picked up four quick wickets and reduced Punjab to 49-5. But coming out from this position, Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma carried Punjab. Jasprit Bumrah and Gerald Coetzee picked up three wickets each to help Mumbai clinch the win by 9 runs.
CSK replace injured Devon Conway with Richard Gleeson
Chennai Super Kings star batter Devon Conway has been ruled out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 due to an injury. The 32-year-old New Zealand opener scored 672 runs in IPL 2023 and suffered a thumb injury before the IPL 2024. CSK have added England pacer Richard Gleeson to the squad for the remainder of the IPL 2024.
Mustafizur Rahman has nothing to learn: Bangladesh official takes dig at IPL
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) official, Jalal Yunus, remarked that Mustafizur Rahman has nothing to learn from the Indian Premier League (IPL) while playing for Chennai Super Kings. His comments came while speaking about BCB’s decision to bring back Mustafizur Rahman from the ongoing IPL 2024, to have him play in the upcoming T20I series against Zimbabwe at home.
KL Rahul reveals how Virat Kohli pushed him to sign for RCB
Indian wicket-keeper batter and Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul spoke about how he joined his first IPL franchise, Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2012 at 19. Rahul has been a certified legend in the IPL as he has racked up 4367 runs in 124 games at an average of 45 and a strike rate of 134.62. Rahul told Ashwin, "Virat was there (ITC Gardenia), coach Ray Jennings and other support staff were also there and Virat only said, 'Would you want to sign this contract and play for RCB?' I was like, 'Are you kidding? It was always my dream.'"
MS Dhoni made eventual difference in CSK’s win over MI, says Rohit Sharma
During his Club Prairie Fire podcast appearance, Rohit Sharma gave props to MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik for their impactful batting performances in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. The 36-year-old remarked that he was quite impressed with MS Dhoni’s 20 runs off four balls for CSK against MI, which proved to be the eventual difference between both teams. Rohit also talked about T20 World Cup selections and said, "It’ll be hard to convince MSD for sure, to come to West Indies, I guess…. DK will be easy to convince, I guess."