Sports कट्टा

He is the only Indian to have won the Orange Cup in a team's title-winning run in the Indian Premier League. But soon after being rewarded the Orange Cap after Kolkata Knight Riders lifted its second IPL trophy, Uthappa handed it over to Pravin Amre, his personal coach. Besides recalling the incident, Amre also reveals how his and Uthappa's association began, which was a kind of revolutionary step in Indian cricket.

With the top four having been confirmed, we present to you a player from each of the four franchises in IPL Playoffs who could be instrumental for helping his team lift the title. And with veteran analyst Sunandan Lele joining us yet again, we also predict our final showdown

He may not be involved with the Varroc Vengsarkar Academy in Pune now, but Sanadiip Chavaan remains one of Ruturaj's go-to men when it comes to discussing his cricket. While stressing that Ruturaj is a self-made cricketer, Chavaan spills out Ruturaj's favourite food and Ruturaj's analysis, Yuzvendra Chahal's craft with the ball

From noticing a rookie based on his throw in the nets to admitting that coaches at the Varroc Vengsarkar Academy in Pune, including him, are now eager to learn from, rather than impart knowledge to, Ruturaj Gaikwad, coach Mohan Jadhav takes us through Ruturaj's fascinating journey

While Smriti Mandhana made India Women's debut Pink Ball Test a memorable affair with her maiden Test hundred in Australia, fellow Maharashtrian Ruturaj Gaikwad set the IPL ablaze with his maiden IPL ton. While explaining the magnitude of their achievements with veteran analyst Sunandan Lele, we also try and simplify the equation for the fourth place that's still up for grabs in IPL Playoffs.

India opener. Domestic stalwart. Successful IPL team head coach. India batting coach. And now batting coach in IPL. Having donned various hats during his highly commendable cricketing sojourn, Sanjay Bangar - the Royal Challengers Bangalore batting coach who is also a parent to a promising cricketer - is now a co-founder of a cricket coaching app along with legendary Virender Sehwag. In a two-part freewheeling chat in "Gurucha Kaanmantra", Bangar explains various aspects of cricket coaching.    

• How he became a coach/ mentor even before retiring from First Class cricketer (01m 30s)
• Importance of imbibing basics of coaching in the 8-12 years age group (05m 07s)
• Why should parents trust a coach (07m 17s)
• Should coaches change natural batting technique (09m 44s)
• Differences in coaching a domestic, international and IPL team (11m 57s)
• How an indoor school coach in Manchester casually pinpointed a technical flaw in his batting (15m 01s)
• Challenges of tweaking techniques midway through a series (17m 58s)
• How he got India batters out of the "wide stance" theory that prevailed in India's (21m 00s)
• Challenges of ensuring T20 overdose doesn't compromise batters' technique (23m 49s)
• The need to institute an online coaching/ mentoring platform (27m 28s)
• Can online coaching replace personalised coaching? (31m 36s)
• When can Indian coaches dominate global coaching scenario? (38m 19s)
• Outro (42m 23s)

Is MI - and national selection panel - running out of patience with the middle-order problems? Does Mumbai Indians still have it in them to qualify for the Playoffs? And with veteran analyst Sunandan Lele with us, besides predicting the top four picks for the Playoffs, we also had to get an update on Balu Lokhande from him.

We saw Ruturaj Gaikwad clobbering the likes of Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah in IPL 2021's second half in UAE but do you remember the promising Chennai Super Kings opener was at a low after being exposed by Boult in IPL 2020? The Punekar recalls how Dhoni and batting coach Michael Hussey's pep-talks helped him turn the tide after the COVID-19 infection and a series of low scores in his maiden IPL outing.

Did he resign voluntarity? Or was he nudged into announcing his decision to step down as India's T20I captain after the next month's T20 World Cup? Will we see him in T20Is after the World Cup? And considering the big event is just around the corner, should he have waited before making his decision public? We try and help you understand these aspects better

Different venue, rejigged teams, but the tournament continues. Strange as it may sound but the timing of IPL resumption becomes even more critical with the T20 World Cup that will follow the lucrative league. Besides stressing its significance, we also discuss the players to watch out for over the next four weeks.