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Arsenal chief Andrea Berta was a very busy man over his first summer transfer window at the club, but now one of his decisions is being seriously questioned.

Arsenal record highest summer net spend to back Mikel Arteta

The arrivals of Kepa, Cristhian Mosquera, Piero Hincapie, Martin Zubimendi, Christian Norgaard, Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres, who all cost a combined £267 million, will undoubtedly play a major role as Mikel Arteta attempts to end the club’s long wait for a Premier League title.

It’s been a near-perfect start for Arteta’s side this season, with the Gunners’ imperious defence largely to thank for Arsenal sitting three points clear of Man City at the top of the table.

William Saliba, who recently signed a new deal until 2030, and Gabriel Magalhaes have displayed once again why they’re two of world football’s best centre-backs right now, with David Raya also awarded improved terms after establishing him as one of Europe’s best goalkeepers.

Their solidity was once again evident last weekend as Arsenal battled to a narrow 1-0 win at Fulham, and they hugely profited off yet another dead-ball situation when Leandro Trossard tapped home the only goal of the game from a corner.

While Arsenal’s backline has made all the headlines, the same cannot be said of summer signing Gyokeres, who was brought in to be their main vocal point of attack after two seasons free-scoring in Portugal.

The Sweden international’s arrival for an initial £55 million from Sporting CP followed his extraordinary haul of 97 goals in just over a century of appearances for the Primeira Liga side, but Gyokeres hasn’t exactly replicated that form thus far.

The 27-year-old, after failing to score again versus Fulham, is now on a seven-game goalless run in all competitions, but this could well change at home to Atlético Madrid in the Champions League tonight.

Gyokeres was repeatedly denied by ex-Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno at Craven Cottage on Saturday, and his intent to trouble opposing shot-stoppers has been crystal clear from the get-go.

However, his numbers haven’t reflected this, with the Premier League’s all-time top scorer, Alan Shearer, now sharing his verdict on Berta’s big-name summer buy.

Alan Shearer says Berta paid over the odds to sign Viktor Gyokeres for Arsenal

Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, Shearer insists that Berta paid over the odds to sign Gyokeres for Arsenal, demanding more from the ex-Coventry City forward.

However, while Shearer was critical of Gyokeres’ return, he does explain that the Scandinavian brings something game-changing to the Emirates.

Gyokeres’ ability to hold up the ball and link play allows Arsenal’s creative midfielders to find space and launch attacks, even if he hasn’t yet consistently finished chances.

Moreover, Arteta’s new number nine is still adapting to the Premier League’s pace and intensity, which often takes time, and Gary Neville has tipped the player to “bully” lesser sides once he finds his feet in England.

With regular game time and continued development, Gyokeres’ goal tally is expected to improve, especially taking into account the chances he’s already created for himself on regular occasions in games.

That being said, with Kai Havertz expected to return from injury earlier than anticipated, Gyokeres could be looking over his shoulder if the goals don’t come more regularly soon.

Opener’s availability may be impacted by Australia series in the Caribbean

ESPNcricinfo staff17-May-2021Hampshire have announced D’Arcy Short, the Australia batter, as one of their overseas signings for the summer’s Vitality T20 Blast.Short was earlier named in Australia’s preliminary squad to play ODIs and T20Is in the West Indies in July, and if he is selected for the final touring party, that could impact on his availability for the Blast. Hampshire hope to have him involved throughout the tournament.Short, 30, has previously appeared in the Blast for Durham, as well as featuring in T20 leagues around the world, including the IPL. An aggressive opener, he averages 36.40 with a strike rate of 133.58 in T20, and also offers a handy bowling option with his left-arm wristspin.Related

• Hampshire sign de Grandhomme for second half of T20 Blast

• Qais Ahmad joins Kent for T20 Blast, two Championship games

• Labuschagne to miss WI tour, will continue stint with Glamorgan

“We are delighted to secure the signing of D’Arcy for this summer’s Vitality Blast competition,” Giles White, Hampshire’s director of cricket, said.”He is a high-class performer who has consistently shown his ability to score a high volume of runs at the top of the order, both for Australia and in a number of the world’s best T20 competitions. Alongside his skill with the bat, he also gives us another spin bowling option with the ball so we’re excited about what he brings to the side and are looking forward to having him with us.”Short’s most-recent Australia outings came in December, during the T20I series against India. Overall, he has 23 T20I caps and eight in ODIs, having debuted in 2018.Short said: “I am so excited to join a club with as much history as Hampshire Hawks. I can’t wait to get to the Ageas Bowl and hopefully we can have a strong season and win our first title since 2012.”Hampshire, who came bottom of the South Group in last summer’s T20 Blast, have also signed Colin De Grandhomme for the second half of the Blast, and have South Africa seamer Kyle Abbott on their books as an overseas player.

He is about to become the second-fastest player in Test history to the double of 300 wickets and 3000 runs

Alagappan Muthu25-Sep-2024This is a bunch of words. Fair warning, they aren’t particularly concerned with making sense. They could try but at this point they aren’t quite bothered. They are just placeholders. Actually, they’re a gimmick. It’s ham-fisted, as they can be occasionally but that doesn’t preclude them from working, which let’s hope this does because it’s already starting to peter out. We’re conducting an experiment. It involves Ravindra Jadeja. We’re already close to halfway there.In 2021, he pulled off an extreme version of what he is so good at. Trapping batters on the crease. India were behind in the game, trying to rectify a problem that seemed to follow them whenever they go away from home. The lead bowlers building pressure – Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav combined had figures of 26-7-76-5 – without finding any real support: the others were 16-3-56-0. Jadeja had been on the periphery of things until now but as soon as the captain Virat Kohli realised he needed a little more control he turned to him. Also, we’ve arrived. It would’ve taken about 60 seconds to read this. And if Jadeja had been bowling while you were reading this, you’d have missed the entire over. He bowled the 50th of England’s first innings at The Oval in 64 seconds.Disbelief is the shadow that genius leaves behind. Let’s call that the first law of Warnodynamics. Every time he bowled legspin it was like he was tilting the world. There were numerous batters who needed a second look just to check, yep, those are my stumps and yep, they’ve been shattered by a ball that only seemed half interested in landing on the cut strip.Related

• Stats – Jadeja the third left-arm spinner to join 300-wicket club

• Weather and pitch in focus as India, Bangladesh ponder three spinners

• The underappreciated genius of Ravindra Jadeja

• Jadeja's control on lifeless pitch justifies Kohli's faith in combination

• India and Bangladesh brace for lower bounce on black-soil pitch

Jadeja has invoked this same reaction from Steven Smith. Twice. In 2013, Smith let a ball that pitched outside off stump go and got bowled, and then, in 2017, he let a ball that pitched outside leg stump go and got bowled. But those matches were played on spinning pitches – Delhi’s day one already looked like day three and Ranchi’s by day five was no picnic. So the skill that was required to make one of the world’s best all-conditions run-scorers essentially give up his wicket gets overshadowed.There is merit to both sides of this debate, except we’re not going to go there. Instead, we’ll pick up on how even the most ardent Jadeja fan and the most dedicated Jadeja myth-buster will come together to agree that the way he hustles through his overs is not normal. Once, in Mumbai 2016, with barely seconds on the clock, he got through what seemed certain to be the last over of the day quickly enough that R Ashwin had a chance to bowl at the nightwatch Jake Ball and dismiss him before end of play. Nowadays nobody bats an eyelash at that.Numbness becomes a necessary salve against genius. Second law of Warnodynamics. Eventually, people just began to accept that he could do amazing things amazingly well and amazingly frequently that it would be exhausting to react to all of them. He was one of the first to see the potential in Jadeja. He called him a rockstar.In Kanpur, Jadeja will set another speed record. He will become the second-quickest player in the almost 150 years of Test history to the double of 300 wickets and 3000 runs. He’ll get there in 74 matches, just two more than Ian Botham. There is a temptation to brush even this off, because only 26 of those matches have come away from home and in them his bowling average is 32.78, which is almost a full 10 points above his career figure. But the thing is he isn’t picked for his wickets when India travel. He gets in on the basis that he can hold up one end so that the fast bowlers can be rotated from the other.The ‘rockstar’, as Shane Warne called Ravindra Jadeja, has given the impression he can land the ball on a laser pointer•BCCIAt the Oval, three years ago, when India were racing against time to go 2-1 up in a five-match series, Jadeja got through a workload of 30 overs in the final innings and allowed just 50 runs. Along the way, he kept hitting the rough so often and so hard, not because it was giving him a whole load of help but because it was scuffing the ball up enough for his team-mates to generate devastating reverse swing.That smooth, easy, three step, maybe four, at best five, repeatable action with which he has given the impression he can land the ball on a laser pointer is a super power and it is not too far off from, say, an action that is jittery and wind-milling and weaponises an elbow that can hyper-extend. Because in the end both of them create the same effect on the batter. It is hard to line the ball up and play it with confidence. And with how rapidly he goes through his overs, Jadeja traps them inside this feeling, which must feel doubly annoying for an opposition because he rarely reciprocates.”He has been a very inspirational story as far as I am concerned,” Ashwin said after the final day’s play in Chennai earlier this week. “He made his Test debut just after me. Probably six months apart maybe. And I saw how he used to bat. Then I was batting ahead of him at one stage. And he has actually walked in at No. 5 for us several times. Many of these occasions over the last three or four years, when he has walked in to bat, I felt so good in the dressing room. You feel so calm and composed when he is batting. He has brought that kind of assurance. And someone who is an allrounder, who is a bowler who can bat, to turn himself being such an impeccable batsman…”His second skill in some ways lends him more of a presence in the minds of the fans. Because when he get to a landmark, he does the sword dance. The first time it happened was when he stopped caring about the match situation and simply began whacking the ball. He doesn’t do that anymore. He’s grown beyond that.Only once in the last nine years has Ravindra Jadeja had a sub-35 batting average in Tests•BCCIIn only one of the last nine years has Jadeja averaged anything less than 35. The strength of his defence was on show during a century in Birmingham when he walked in with India on 98 for 5, and it has been a vital part of why India are able to outlast oppositions. Getting rid of the top-order actually brings one of their better batters to the crease.”[He has] played some great knocks for us overseas as well,” Ashwin said. “Such an inspirational story about how he has found his off stump, how disciplined he has managed to be, how he has contributed. Jadeja on the field is a fire, he is a rocket on the field. So, all in all, I envy him. I am jealous of him but totally admire him. I have learnt to admire him for the last four-five years, even more than I have in the past. Sometimes, when you are in the race along with your co-cricketers – you are in a race – you compete, you are ambitious, you want to get ahead of one another even inside a team. It’s like brothers going in arms. And then you slowly start admiring one another. That admiration has gone one step higher, knowing that I can never beat Jadeja. I am comfortable in my skin but totally inspired by what he has done.”It is interesting seeing the profile of people that have appreciated Jadeja for his work so far. As a 19-year-old, he had Shane Warne convinced. Through his 20s, he was harassing batters of incredible quality. Faf du Plessis, when asked about which bowler gave him sleepless nights, went “Test matches in India, Ra-vin-draaa Jade-jaaa.” Smith’s said the same and Ashwin’s probably already filing the necessary papers to start a fan club. Game don’t get any gamier and you know what game does. #Recognise.

Newcastle squandered a wonderful opportunity to all-but seal their place in the Champions League knockout rounds after a late equaliser from Bayer Leverkusen meant the points were shared in an entertaining 2-2 draw at the BayArena. Anthony Gordon levelled the match from the penalty spot for Eddie Howe's side and substitute Lewis Miley headed them in front, but a late strike from Alejandro Grimaldi landed a point for the hosts.

Newcastle found themselves behind in the 13th minute after Leverkusen captain Robert Andrich’s header hit Bruno Guimaraes' backside and deflected past stranded goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, and there was a real scare just a few moments later after Malick Thiaw hauled down Bayer captain Patrik Schick on the edge of the area. Dutch referee Serdar Gozubuyuk initially pointed to the spot, but VAR informed him it was just outside the box and Thiaw will consider himself fortunate to only receive a yellow card in what was poor first-half from Howe’s side. 

There was a huge shift of momentum in the second-half, as Newcastle hounded and pressed the hosts, which paid dividends when Nick Woltemade – playing his first game back on home soil following his summer move to St James’ Park – caused Bayer keeper Mark Flekken to panic and haul down the striker to concede a penalty, which Gordon swept home with aplomb. That strike means Gordon is just the second Newcastle player to score five or more goals in a single season in the Champions League, alongside Alan Shearer in 2002-03. 

Joelinton hobbled off in the 60th minute, to be replaced by Lewis Miley, who provided Newcastle’s second goal just 14 minutes after coming on after he bravely leapt high above the Leverkusen defence to nod home a fantastic cross from Gordon. Howe’s side pressed for a third and both Jacob Murphy and Gordon saw shots hit the post. The Magpies were left to rue those missed chances, though, as Leverkusen struck with two minutes remaining, a neat one-two on the edge of the box allowing Grimaldo to fire low past Ramsdale. 

The draw leaves Howe's side 12th in the table and hopeful of qualifying for the Champions League knockouts with PSV at home and Paris Saint-Germain away to come in the New Year.

GOAL rates Newcastle's players from the BayArena…

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  Goalkeeper & Defence

  Aaron Ramsdale (8/10):

  Was called into action regularly all evening and did well to block the vast majority of the shots which came his way. Nothing he could do about Leverkusen's goal, the deflection completely flat-footed him. Will be disappointed the second goal managed to squirm underneath his body. 

  Lewis Hall (7/10):

  An excellent evening, was kept on his toes all evening and threw his body on the line towards the end of the match. 

  Malick Thiaw (6/10):

  Very lucky not to be shown a red card and concede a penalty midway through the first half, but his grab on Schick was just outside the box. 

  Dan Burn (7/10):

  A towering presence at the back, covered the miles and was called on to put in a some lung-busting runs to cover his defence when exposed. 

  Tino Livramento (7/10):

  A decent evening, didn't put a foot wrong. Steady, if not inspiring performance. 

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  Midfield

  Bruno Guimaraes (7/10):

  Awarded the own goal which came in the 13th minute, but he knew nothing about it as the ball ricocheted off his backside and past Ramsdale. Was full of running all evening. 

  Sandro Tonali (6/10):

  A subdued evening for the Italian, whose slip on the edge of the opposition box almost led to a second for Leverkusen. Was generally a composed presence in midfield. 

  Joelinton (6/10):

  Like many of his team-mates, he endured a quiet first-half, but looked keen to get on the ball after the break. But picked up a knock and was taken off on the hour. 

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  Attack

  Anthony Gordon (9/10):

  Fired home the penalty will real confidence, calm in a clutch moment for his side. Andso unlucky to give his side the lead, but saw his low drive in cannon off the post. 

  Harvey Barnes (7/10):

  A bundle of energy all evening and looked determined to provide the moment of quality Newcastle were searching for. Hooked off in the 78th minute. 

  Nick Woltemade (8/10):

  Endured a difficult first-half, but it was his pressing early in the second which earned Newcastle their penalty. Had chances to score himself, but it wasn't his night. 

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  Subs & Manager

  Lewis Miley (8/10):

  Brought on in the 60th minute, to replace Joelinton and was excellent in his work, covering acres in midfield and providing cover for defence. Huge beam spread across his face after heading home a superb cross from Gordon. 

  Jacob Murphy (6/10):

  Enjoyed plenty of the ball when he came on to replace Barnes in the 78th minute. 

  Jacob Ramsey (N/A):

  Brought on to replace Gordon in the dying seconds of the match. 

  Yoane Wissa (N/A):

  Was brought on in time added on, not enough time to influence the match. 

  Eddie Howe (7/10):

  Will be pleased with the way his team improved in the second-half, but frustrated they didn't kill off the match when they had the opportunities. 

The allrounder hammered a 28-ball 62, took 3-13, and effected a run-out against RCB

Vishal Dikshit25-Apr-20216:18

Manjrekar: Jadeja helped CSK score 37 in 20th over because of ‘bad balls, awesome hitting’

A stunning assault of 36 runs off his bat in the final over, the prize wickets of Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers, and a spectacular direct hit to run out Dan Christian made Ravindra Jadeja the star as the Chennai Super Kings handed the Royal Challengers Bangalore their first loss of IPL 2021. With their fourth straight win in five games, the Super Kings also snatched the top table position with a 69-run win in Mumbai.

RCB penalised for slow over-rate

Virat Kohli, the Royal Challengers captain, has been fined Rs 12 lakh after his team maintained a slow over-rate against the Super Kings. It was the team’s first over-rate offence of the season.

Jadeja first launched five sixes in the Super Kings’ final over to lift them from 154 to 191 and then bowled Maxwell and de Villiers in consecutive overs to reduce the Royal Challengers to 83 for 6 that effectively ended the chase with Virat Kohli already back in the pavilion for 8. Devdutt Padikkal threatened to take control of the chase with an attacking 34 off 15 that gave the Royal Challengers a powerful score of 65 in the powerplay, but the loss of four wickets in four overs after that did irreparable damage to their pursuit. Jadeja also dismissed No. 3 Washington Sundar for 7 in his match-winning figures of 3 for 13 and Imran Tahir’s double blow before the Royal Challengers could reach 100 effectively sealed the Super Kings’ win.Another du Plessis fifty lays platform
Fa du Plessis struck his second consecutive fifty and gave the Super Kings, who opted to bat, a solid start by clearing the in-field with ease against the fast bowlers. He caressed the first ball he faced through the covers and then lofted Mohmmed Siraj over long-on and Kyle Jamieson twice on the off side to set the tone for his team-mates.Ruturaj Gaikwad played second fiddle for the first four overs before attacking Yuzvendra Chahal and Navdeep Saini to give the Super Kings a powerplay score of 51 for 0. Patel takes the pace off the ball and CSK
Kohli had said at the toss they brought in Saini to “go hard at the batsman in the middle overs” with his pace but the exact opposite happened. Saini got only two overs for leaking 27 runs as his pace helped the Super Kings batters clear the short boundaries with ease. Becoming only the second team to opt to bat at Wankhede in the IPL since 2018, the Super Kings cruised to 83 for 1 at the halfway mark after Gaikwad fell for 33. Suresh Raina, promoted to No. 3 in the absence of the injured Moeen Ali, had already smashed three sixes in the first 15 balls he faced and the Super Kings were ready to launch from 110 for 1 after 12 overs.Patel soon put the brakes on them by dismissing the well-set du Plessis and Raina off consecutive balls. With both batters offered back-of-length cutters, Raina found deep midwicket and du Plessis holed out to long-on. The Super Kings could have even been 112 for 4 had Christian not dropped a sitter at deep midwicket when Jadeja was on 0. The next ball also saw a misfield – from Padikkal – and Jadeja made the Royal Challengers pay for it.Related

• He has barely warmed up, and Ravindra Jadeja is already changing games – in 3D

The Jadeja death over
On 154 for 4 after 19 overs, Jadeja heaved Patel, this season’s highest-wicket taker, for four merciless sixes on the trot on the leg side. Whether it was a slower ball, a cutter or an attempted yorker, Jadeja kept smashing them towards the deep midwicket boundary. The third ball of the over was a no-ball for being a high full toss, and after Jadeja retained strike with a double off the over’s fourth legitimate ball, he went on to smoke a fifth six, over long-on, before finishing the over with a one-bounce four behind square on the leg side to take the over’s tally to 37.The Jadeja show continues
Until Padikkal was batting, it looked like he would run away with the chase like he did against the Rajasthan Royals three days ago. With a combination of flourishing drives, pick-up shots and fluent strokes he tore into Deepak Chahar and Sam Curran to race to 34 off 14 before handing a catch to deep backward square leg off Shardul Thakur’s short ball in the fifth over. Kohli had already edged Curran behind two overs ago and the chase now rested on Maxwell and de Villiers.And Jadeja hit the stumps when both were batting. Maxwell first lost his leg stump by missing a slog-sweep, on 22, in the ninth over and de Villiers saw the ball turn past his outside edge to knock his middle stump two overs later. Jadeja had his arms in the air, the Royal Challengers had their top six dismissed, and the Super Kings were truly on top.Between those two big wickets, Jadeja also swooped in from cover to smash the stumps down at the wicketkeeper’s end that found Christian short of his ground in the 10th over.

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has confirmed that Cole Palmer is set to make his return after two months out against Leeds in midweek. The Blues star has been absent since the club's defeat to Manchester United on September 20, and while he returned to the bench against Arsenal at the weekend, he did not come on, with the England international being eased back into action.

• Palmer's return

  Palmer has been absent for Chelsea since their defeat to United but was back on the bench against Arsenal at the weekend. While Moises Caicedo's red card may have scotched any chance of the England international coming on, he is now poised to play against Leeds on Wednesday. The playmaker's return from a groin issue was pencilled in for last week, but he broke his toe in a freak accident at home, and his comeback was subsequently delayed. Now, he is set to play at Elland Road, his manager, Enzo Maresca, has confirmed.

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  Maresca's confirmation

  Maresca told reporters:"He is available. The last game he was on the bench. For sure with the players was more complicated for Cole because now he needs to come back in terms of fitness condition. He is available, he can start the game.

  "The idea of the game is to start giving minutes until he can play 90 minutes."

  Maresca has also confirmed that he is facing a "complicated" decision over Reece James' selection, adding: "It's complicated. I would like to start him, but we need to do the right thing."

  Asked if he can play in midfield, he said: "I think he can play in both positions. He has been full-back all his life. He also has played as a midfielder. But I think he can be good in both positions. When we decide for him as a midfielder, most of the time it's also when we want physicality in terms of midfielders, when we face some teams that are strong in the middle. So it depends a little bit on the game plan. But as you said, he's doing very well in both positions."

• Chelsea challenging at the top end

  Chelsea and Manchester City are currently running Arsenal the closest in the Premier League and held the leaders to a 1-1 draw at the weekend, despite Caicedo's red card.

  And midfielder Enzo Fernandez insists they should be seen as proper title contenders, telling GiveMeSport: “Of course we are [title contenders]. This season, there are many contenders: Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United. All the teams are battling towards the top.

  “There are some very strong Premier League sides. Arsenal have also been doing really well for many years. And Liverpool are a great side. I’m not going to choose one because they’re all good.

  “And we know the Champions League is very tough. We’ll try to reach the final, which is what we deserve as a club. We’ve been doing well, so we’re capable of being right up there.”

  On the lure of moving to west London, he added: "When Chelsea came in for me, I had no doubts. I wanted to make the move up, in sporting terms, to the Premier League.

  “I wanted to come to Chelsea at all costs and didn’t want to let the opportunity pass me by. Everyone knows that and thank God it worked out. I’m here now and I’m very happy."

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  What next for Maresca's men?

  Chelsea face Leeds this week and sit six points behind Arsenal ahead of the week's fixtures. The Blues also face Bournemouth this weekend, as they attempt to close the gap on the Gunners at the top-end of the table. 

  Meanwhile, Arsenal face Brentford in midweek in a potential banana skin of a London derby, before then taking on Aston Villa this weekend. The Gunners, of course, also face European obligations, and will play Club Brugge three days after their clash with Villa; Chelsea play Atalanta on Tuesday.

Bumrah’s 5 for 21 against RCB, meanwhile, is at the top of bowling performances of the season

S Rajesh17-Apr-2024Jos Buttler’s stunning unbeaten 107 against Kolkata Knight Riders is now at the top of the list of best batting displays of IPL 2024, according to ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats. According to this rating tool, which gives points to every batting and bowling performance based on a complex and detailed algorithm that takes into account match context, Buttler’s innings won him 145.12 rating points, which puts him ahead of his team-mate Riyan Parag’s 122.2 points for his unbeaten 84 against Delhi Capitals.ESPNcricinfo LtdAfter a slow start to the season, Buttler has stamped his presence quite emphatically with two hundreds in his last three innings. His other ton – 100 not out against Royal Challengers Bengaluru – is at No. 4 with 114.03 points.Buttler’s century against KKR overshadowed the other hundred in the game, Sunil Narine’s 56-ball 109. Despite scoring at a higher rate – 194.64 compared to Buttler’s 178.33 – Narine’s century gets 111.49 points, and is in sixth position due to the match context and the relatively greater pressure under which Buttler scored his runs.In the last six overs, with Royals needing 96 from 36 balls, Buttler scored 65 off 27 at a strike rate of 240.74. In the last three overs, he faced all 18 balls and scored 40 – a strike rate of 222. Since the Smart Stats algorithm takes into account the pressure on the batter for each ball, Buttler received greater credit for winning the game virtually single-handedly in the last few overs.Related

• Buttler 107* tops Narine 109 as RR ace record chase against KKR

• Stats – Buttler and Narine make the IPL record books

• Narine, Buttler, and a tale of two tons

• Mumbai have a cheat code and his name is Jasprit Bumrah

Also in the top five are a couple of other match-winning innings: Andre Russell’s unbeaten 25-ball 64 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their first match of the season, and Shashank Singh’s 29-ball 61 in Punjab Kings’ thrilling chase of 200 against Gujarat Titans.Travis Head’s 102 off 41 against RCB is in eighth position, while the hundreds scored by Rohit Sharma (105 off 63 against Chennai Super Kings) and Virat Kohli (113 off 72 against Royals) are in 13th and 14th positions, respectively. In fact, Kohli’s 49-ball 77 against Kings is rated marginally higher at 12th position, since that was scored in a tough, winning run-chase with little support at the other end.