Sidharth Monga

India

Senior Writer at ESPN Cricinfo

Articles

Rohit Sharma's imperfect goodbye to Test cricket

1 week ago | espn.in | Sidharth Monga

The last act of Rohit Sharma the Test batter and captain will remain sitting out of the Sydney Test. The writing had been on the wall from the time he conceded he didn't consider himself good enough - or in good enough form - to be one of the five best Test batters in the country. It is a move highly uncharacteristic of an elite cricketer. They get there in the first place by living in denial of any limitation. A comeback from there is unheard of.
Indian Premier League

1 week ago | espn.in | Sidharth Monga

Gujarat Titans 147 for 7 (Gill 43, Bumrah 2-19) beat Mumbai Indians 155 for 8 (Jacks 53, Sai Kishore 2-34) by three wickets (DLS method)In a chaotic match laced with rain breaks during the second half, Gujarat Titans got home by the barest of margins to reach the top of the IPL 2025 points table and end Mumbai Indians' six-match winning streak. When it started to rain just before midnight, MI would have thought they had fashioned an improbable comeback.
Saliva may not be the only reason we're seeing reverse swing this IPL

1 week ago | espn.in | Sidharth Monga

Rajasthan Royals (RR) have had their mental fortitude questioned this season to the extent that pundits have been criticising their decision to chase even when it is plain to see they should. This kind of message comes with the territory: you play a popular league, you fail to close out two matches from nine required in the last over, and the first diagnosis is likely to be around mental strength and the first prescription is to tell you to stop doing what you have been doing.
Indian Premier League

1 week ago | espn.in | Sidharth Monga

Gujarat Titans 224 for 6 (Gill 76, Buttler 64, Sudharsan 48, Unadkat 3-35) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 186 for 6 (Abhishek 74, Klaasen 23, Prasidh 2-19, Siraj 2-33) by 38 runsAnother Gujarat Titans (GT) match, and we are again left wondering how they will go if their top three fall early with Rashid Khan at no. 7.
Rohit sends a warning to the bowlers with an un-Rohit knock

1 week ago | espn.in | Sidharth Monga

Close your eyes and think of any decent Rohit Sharma innings in T20s. You likely see pulled sixes, pick-up shots for sixes behind square on the leg side, slogs over deep midwicket, the odd slog-sweep. In Jaipur, as he brought up a third score of 50 or more in a season for the first time since 2020 despite a slow start to IPL 2025, he played none of those shots. You wondered if it was actually Rohit out in the middle.
Indian Premier League

2 weeks ago | espn.in | Sidharth Monga

Kolkata Knight Riders 204 for 9 (Raghuvanshi 44, Starc 3-43, Axar 2-27) beat Delhi Capitals 190 for 9 (Du Plessis 62, Axar 43, Narine 3-29) by 14 runsSunil Narine's figures at one point: 2.1-0-25-0. Varun Chakravarthy at another: 3-0-31-0. In a chase of 205, having restricted a rampant Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Delhi Capitals (DC) were in the ascendence having punished the two main KKR weapons.
Indian Premier League

2 weeks ago | espn.in | Sidharth Monga

In just his third IPL match, the 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi brought down to their knees seasoned pros from the best bowling unit in the tournament, some of whom have been playing for longer than he has lived.
The Suryakumar Yadav trick to dismantling spin bowling

2 weeks ago | espn.in | Sidharth Monga

Ravi Bishnoi must have thought he had bowled a good ball. It was 4.81m in length, quick and at the stumps. Suryakumar Yadav slog-swept it for a six. Usually 4-6m is considered the good length for spinners, but as pitches have become truer and hitting quality has improved, 6-7m has become the go-to zone for the spinners. For Bishnoi in IPL 2025, 6-7m has been the defensive good length, 5-6m normal good length, and 4-5m his attacking good length.
Mayank Yadav returns from injury a slower bowler

2 weeks ago | espn.in | Sidharth Monga

Playing his first competitive match in six months, the tearaway quick Mayank Yadav came back a much slower bowler. He returned figures of 4-0-40-2, bowled the first over of a T20 match for only the second time in his career, and took his first T20 wicket off a slower ball in matches that have a ball-by-ball record. The slower balls were the standout feature of his comeback; he has never bowled more in a single T20 match than the eight he sent down at the Wankhede Stadium against Mumbai Indians.
Indian Premier League

2 weeks ago | espn.in | Sidharth Monga

Punjab Kings 201 for 4 (Prabhsimran 83, Arya 69, Arora 2-34) vs Kolkata Knight Riders 7 for 0 (Narine 4*) - Match abandoned due to rainPunjab Kings had to settle with just one point despite scoring 201 on a slow pitch as late-evening thunders showers washed out the chase in Kolkata. They will be disappointed for they had done the hard work on a pitch whose consensus reading was "very, very slow".