IPL 2026 Dispatch, April 7: Sooryavanshi Smashes First Ball Six Off Bumrah, Lalit Modi Slams BCCI For 2400 Crore Loss

What looked like another day will be washed out like yesterday in Kolkata was turned around by the groundsmen of Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati, who, despite continuous rain for hours, made an 11-over per side match possible because of their tireless efforts.

Rajasthan Royals (RR) maintained their winning run by thrashing five-time champions, Mumbai Indians (MI) by 27 runs in a rain-curtailed match. After being invited to bat first, RR posted a mammoth 150-run target in just 11 overs courtesy of blistering knocks by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (39) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (77).

In response, MI were restricted at 123/9, thus losing by 27 runs as their power-packed batting line-up succumbed under the burden of a huge target. It was their consecutive loss of the season, which would definitely leave some tough questions for the captain and management to answer before their next game.

Sooryavanshi's Welcomes Bumrah With A Six

15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi faces the first ball from Jasprit Bumrah and deposits it out of the boundary disdainfully for a six. Though he has taken down almost every bowler he has faced so far in the IPL, his contest was hyped up before the match because not many batters have been able to crack Bumrah, even at the international stage, let alone the IPL.

The first round of the battle was won by Sooryavanshi as he smashed the first ball over the mid-on boundary and backed it up with another six over the square rope.

The southpaw batter played a fiery knock of 39 off just 14 balls, including five sixes and a lone boundary. He forged a blistering 80-run opening with Yashasvi Jaiswal in just 5 overs to provide the right impetus to RR's innings while batting first.

Munaf Patel Rates Mitchell Starc As DC's Best Bowler

Delhi Capitals are still awaiting Australia's left-arm quick to join the squad as the southpaw in still healing from the shoulder injury, he sustained during Ashes 2025-26.

While talking to the media ahead of DC's match against Gujarat Titans, their bowling coach, Munaf Patel informed that Starc is yet to receive NOC from Cricket Australia and their team is in constant touch with the board in regards to his fitness.

Munaf emphasised on the importance of Starc for the DC squad and hailed him as their main bowler.

 Munaf Patel said, "We’ve won two matches, so his absence hasn’t been felt so far. If we don't do well, it depends. He is one of the best in the world. There is no bigger bowler in the IPL than Starc. Bumrah is the only one I can think of. He has so much experience, he swings at 140kmph plus with the new ball. I follow up with the team every day. Cricket Australia will update us. We need him as our main bowler."

Ajinkya Rahane Opens Up On His Batting Approach

Ajinkya Rahane has borne the brunt of KKR's dismal show so far in IPL 2026 as he has been the centre of criticism so far mainly for his batting approach.

Rahane was KKR's batting mainstay last year with 390 runs and started well this year as well with a 40-ball 67 in the first match against MI, failing only once in the tournament yet there have been some voices, who are against his place in the team, mainly because of the firepower KKR have at bench in the form of Tim Seifert, Rovman Powell and Rachin Ravindra.

In a recent interview, Rahane defended his batting approach by stating that he has always been an aggressive players and changes his game according to the requirements of the teams, he's played for.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Bengal Pro T20 League, Rahane said, “I have always been an instinctive player, an attacking player. But the franchises I played for earlier, my role was different."

“I have always been an instinctive player, an attacking player. But the franchises I played for earlier, my role was different. When you have that passion to improve and never feel satisfied, you automatically try to get better. The last three-four years have been really good for me in this format. I’m really enjoying my cricket. It’s always about contributing to the team, but from a personal point of view, I try to improve at least five percent every year,” he added.

Lalit Modi Slams BCCI On Rs 2,400 Crore IPL 'Loss'

IPL's former chairman Lalit Modi criticized BCCI for not adhering to original scheduling commitments, which is leading to a loss of around INR 2,400 crore revenue to the parent body (according to Modi).

In a recent interview with Sportstar, Modi said that the tournament was designed to have a home and away format, which, according to the current 10-team tournament, should have 94 matches (90 group and 4 knockouts) and not the current 74.

According to Modi, if the original commitments had been adhered to, then BCCI would have earned an additional INR 2,400 crore in terms of revenue, leading to 120 crore of extra revenue for each franchise. He also said that if the international calendar cannot accommodate a full 94-match schedule, then BCCI shouldn't have moved to 10 teams from 8.

Quote Of The Day

Mumbai Indians' bowlers had a tough night in Guwahati as RR batters led by the opening duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi slammed them to all parts of the ground, scoring 150 runs off just 11 overs in a rain-curtailed match. MI batters could catch up with the huge total and eventually fell short by 27 runs.

It was MI's second consecutive loss of IPL 2026 that left them tottering in 7th place in the points table. MI captain, Hardik Pandya, didn't look much amused by the performance of their bowlers asked them to take more responsibility.

In the post match press conference, Hardik Pandya said, "Our bowlers need to take the responsibility. As a bowling group, we were not at all up to the mark and they played tremendous cricket."

MI will play their next match against the in-form Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 12, 2026 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Picture Of The Day

A shoutout should go the groundsmen of the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, who made a 11-over per a side match possible in conditions, which at one stage looked incapable of staging a cricket match.

Renowned cricket analyst Harsha Bhogle, who was in Guwahati informed about heavy rain at 4:30 PM (three hours prior to the game) and since them it rained continuously till 9:00 PM.

However, despite such torrential rains, the groundsmen did a fabulous job to get the match started in just an hour. The effort got even more attention as it saved back-to-back matches getting washed out in IPL 2026 as the last match on April 6 between KKR and PBKS at the iconic Eden Gardens got washed out.