Monday’s slate is full, and there are plenty of ways to get in on the action. Be sure to read all out best bets here at Sports Illustrated. 

Here are my favorite player props in plus-money today. All odds according to DraftKings.

Best MLB Prop Bets Today for Monday, July 22

Randy Arozarena over 1.5 total bases (+120)  

Carlos Rodon has struggled mightily of late, posting an ERA of 7.20 since June 1 for the New York Yankees. 

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena has also struggled this season, but he has been red hot since the All Star Break.  

Arozarena hit .462 with two doubles and three homers just this weekend vs. the Yankees. He’s also hit lefties better than righties all year (.247 vs. .201) and he’s been better in day games and away games this year, too.  

I’ll take a shot on the value today. 

Bryan De La Cruz over 1.5 total bases (+130)

Bryan De La Cruz has been sluggish coming out of the All Star Break with just one hit so far, but I am looking for that to change tonight vs. the New York Mets at home.

De La Cruz has hit lefties better than righties this season, and Mets lefty David Peterson is due for regression.  Despite an ERA of 3.09, Peterson’s expected batting average is in the bottom 6% of the league, and according to Statcast, his xERA is 5.09.

De La Cruz is tied for the seventh-most extra base hits vs. Southpaws this season (14), with four homers and ten doubles, while also batting .270 vs. lefties (as opposed to just .220 vs right-handed pitching). He’s better at home, too, so I’ll grab the value tonight. 

Yordan Alvarez over 1.5 total bases (+105)

Houston Astros star Yordan Alvarez hit for the cycle yesterday in Seattle, and you can expect him to remain hot tonight in Oakland.  

Lefty Hogan Harris is starting for the Oakland A’s. According to Statcast his xSLG is in the bottom 7% of the league, and his xERA is 5.79.

That means we should see another solid game from Alvarez who is hitting lefties even better than righties this year.   

Alvarez is slashing .353/.580/.990 vs. southpaws this season with 15 extra-base hits. He’s also hit .455 in the three games since the All-Star Break, and the Astros are on a mission to regain control of the AL West.   

I’ll bet on Alvarez tallying a few more bases tonight. 

Manchester United are battling Chelsea over the signing of RB Leipzig’s highly-rated young midfielder Assan Ouedraogo, as Ruben Amorim eyes up new additions.

The Red Devils fell to a woeful 1-0 defeat at home to Everton on Monday evening, failing to beat a Blues side who played most of the game with ten men.

It was a big setback for Amorim, with United now going three Premier League matches without a win, and the manager bemoaned the performance of his players at Old Trafford.

It was further proof that United need to look at midfield additions, whether that be in the January or summer transfer window, and an exciting update has now dropped in that respect.

Man Utd have upper hand on Chelsea in Assan Ouedraogo race

According to Sky Germany [via Sport Witness], Manchester United are pushing ahead in their efforts to sign Ouedraogo from Leipzig in 2026. The Red Devils’ interest in the 19-year-old is “becoming more concrete” all the time, with Premier League rivals Chelsea also pushing for a deal.

United have an upper hand in that they have already had contacts with the player’s camp, pursuing him before he left Schalke in June 2024, but a “top offer” will be needed to pry him away from Leipzig given he has no release clause.

Ouedraogo is a huge young talent with so much potential, so United should be looking at him as a fantastic option to add to their midfield in the coming months.

Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes are both in their 30s now, and struggled together against Everton, but the Leipzig star would be a long-term signing who would add much-needed fresh legs in the middle of the park.

Amorim and Wilcox agree on blockbuster Man Utd move for "elite" £80m star

The Red Devils could now make a notable signing that would be represent a statement at Old Trafford.

BySean Markus Clifford Nov 24, 2025

Ouedraogo recently scored on his debut for Germany, and he will be pushing to be one of the standout youngsters at 2026 World Cup, with scout Antonio Mango desribing him as a “midfield sensation” earlier this month.

While the German teenager is at his happiest in a central midfield role, he can also shine in a more attacking central berth, as well as on the left wing, and United beating Chelsea and others to his signature would feel like a major statement of intent.

Worse than Bruno Fernandes vs Everton: Amorim must bin Man Utd's 3/10 flop

When MLB expanded its playoff format to 12 teams in 2022, the hope was that it would create a more compelling final few weeks of the season. Four years in, it seems that mission was accomplished.

With just over a month to play, the races for each league’s three wild-card spots are far from settled. In the American League, five teams are within three games of the final bid. In the National League, the Cubs, Padres and Mets are fighting to fend off the Reds, who are just a game back. As each club jockeys for position, the margins will be thin in determining who makes it to October and who gets left out in the cold.

The household names will need to produce during this crucial time, of course, but so too will the x-factors and complimentary pieces. With a focus on the latter, here’s a pick for who will be each wild-card contender’s key difference maker for the stretch run.

New York Yankees

Current standing: 69–57, AL East 4 GB, AL wild-card 4 GU on fourth place
X-factor: SP Cam Schlittler

The rookie has impressed during his first two months in The Show, allowing no more than three runs in any of his first seven starts. Schlittler was considered among the Yankees’ top pitching prospects entering the season and is coming off his best outing when he threw 6 2/3 shutout innings against the Rays on Wednesday, giving up just one hit while striking out eight. Given Max Fried’s continued struggles, New York can use all the quality starts it can get down the stretch, and Schlittler is proving he can provide them.

Boston Red Sox

Current standing: 68–59, AL East 5.5 GB, AL wild-card 2.5 GU on fourth place
X-factor: SP Dustin May

The Dodgers are gearing up for their second consecutive NLCS appearance in hopes of defending their 2024 World Series title. After disposing of the Phillies in four games in the Division Series, Los Angeles will now set its sights on the Brewers, with Game 1 of the best-of-seven series slated for Monday night.

On Sunday night, Dave Roberts spoke to reporters and detailed what the Dodgers' pitching plans for the upcoming series would be, via Fabian Ardaya of . Roberts indicated that the team intends for starters Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to each start two games of the series and that Shohei Ohtani is also set to pitch "at some point," though he didn't specify when.

Snell is scheduled to start Game 1, and Roberts said the Dodgers would turn to Yamamoto in Game 2.

Tyler Glasnow also figures to start at least a game in the series, though he also pitched in relief earlier this postseason and had plenty of success doing so. It's possible he'll start Game 3 and Ohtani would then go in Game 4.

As for the Brewers, they've yet to name a Game 1 starter, though Freddy Peralta is in line to start in Game 2 against Yamamoto.

First pitch for Game 1 is scheduled for 8:08 p.m. ET from American Family Field in Milwaukee on Monday.

All the ideas about how to stop up the Dodgers’ leaky bullpen missed one thing: Maybe the starters can just do all the work. 

A night after lefty Blake Snell threw eight one-hit innings to win Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto authored a one-run, three-hit complete game to give his team a 5–1 win in Game 2 and bring them two wins from a chance to defend their 2024 title. It was the Dodgers’ first complete game this season, Yamamoto’s first in the majors and the nation of Japan’s first in the MLB postseason. He retired the final 14 hitters he faced. 

Even he was impressed: , he mouthed and applauded into his glove after Andrew Vaughn swung through a splitter for out 27.

Snell and Yamamoto became the first pair of teammates to throw at least eight innings on consecutive postseason days since Madison Bumgarner and then Tim Lincecum did it for the 2010 Giants in Games 4 and 5 of the World Series. 

“Both those pitchers were as dominant as two pitchers have been,” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy. “We chased way more than we've chased all year. We’ve been the best in baseball at not chasing. These pitchers brought out the worst in us.”

Even kids can tell the Brewers are in a tough spot. “It seems like we haven’t been hitting singles,” lamented Murphy’s 11-year-old son, Austin, as the manager’s postgame press conference wrapped up. 

“It’s because the pitching’s so good,” his dad explained.

The fortress that saw him amass much Test success is a country Pakistan may not play another Test in anytime soon

Danyal Rasool11-Feb-2020The crowds piled in from before the sun had emerged back up the sky. The stadium began to buzz again, just as it had 15 years ago, when this last happened. It was a momentous day for the country, as, at long last, Pakistan finally began to emerge from the pit they found themselves in on March 3, 2009. This cricket-crazy, single-sport country had its single sport back. Sri Lanka were here, and so, after 15 years, was Test cricket in Rawalpindi. Pakistan rejoiced.Amid the celebrations, the excitement of players who would finally get to ditch the inverted commas and actually play at home, the conspicuous absence of one man slightly soured the occasion. The man arguably more responsible for making the UAE (“home”, remember) such a fortress for this Pakistani Test side in their years of exile was nowhere to be seen as his team-mates lined up to get a first taste of Test match action in Pakistan. He was probably the best spinner in the world for the best part of five years, and his numbers in that period were record-breaking. It had barely been a year since he dismantled an 82-year-old record to become the quickest bowler to take 200 Test wickets. He had won games for Pakistan too numerous to recall by memory. He stood alone atop the perch, but now, perched above the action in the dressing room, perhaps for the first time, Yasir Shah really felt alone.There is no doubt Shah’s form has taken a hit over the past 14 months or so, though to be speculating about his place in the side at this stage still feels vulturous. The series just prior to this drop in form, he had taken 29 wickets in three Tests against New Zealand in the UAE, and since then, four of the six Tests he played took place in South Africa and Australia, where he has historically struggled. Shah does average over 70 across these six Tests, and even that number is somewhat buffered by the four he took in the second innings against Bangladesh – three tailenders after the match was as good as won.Even so, this wouldn’t be a concern at any other stage of his career. Except for the fact there is an excellent chance the fortress that saw him amass that success and hone both his craft and reputation, is a country Pakistan may not play another Test in. One-hundred-sixteen of his 213 wickets have come in the UAE, in a scarcely believable 17 Tests. And the signs Pakistan don’t feel Shah can quite match those achievements now they have moved back to Pakistan, combined with his struggles on the road – especially in the southern hemisphere – don’t quite bode as well for his future in the side.It doesn’t help that Shah’s drop in form came just at the moment he needed his brilliance the most, and Pakistan dropping him for that first Test in Rawalpindi against Sri Lanka sent out a clear message he was no longer an automatic selection in the side. An underwhelming performance in Karachi didn’t help matters, and it was almost a surprise to see him take the field against Bangladesh last week, particularly as captain Azhar Ali had, on the eve of the Test, talked up the possibility of playing with three seamers and a fast-bowling allrounder the norm in Pakistan in the future.Some perspective may be in order, though. That Shah took six wickets in the match and still doesn’t quite convince people is a tribute in itself to the almost superhuman levels of performance he was putting in, in the UAE. In that sense, he may be a victim of his own success. Test cricket in Pakistan is very different from that in the UAE, and pitches nowhere in the country offer legspinners the same kind of assistance. Coupled with the deliberate direction Pakistan appear to be taking, at least for now, of grooming pitches more conducive to quality fast bowling, he is likely to find his role in the side changing from spearhead to support act.Getty Images”If you look at Test matches in the past in Pakistan, it is true spinners took wickets but there isn’t the sort of turn here that the UAE provides, even if the wicket is flat,” Ali said following his team’s victory. “The turn is sharper in the UAE and rough is created much quicker. The dirt here is different; in the first innings, it is very difficult to get the ball to turn. So Yasir’s role has changed slightly.”People are expecting him to get 10-12 wickets in a match. I’m not saying he won’t do that but we’re preparing wickets that help the fast bowlers as much as possible, and pitches that have more carry-through to the keeper. We’re trying to ensure there is more seam movement on the ball so we can trouble opposition sides, especially Asian opposition sides.”When non-Asian opposition comes, we’ll see if we go a different direction with the surfaces but for now I think the fast bowlers have been given the task of leading. Yasir, who has undoubtedly been a champion bowler for us and has proved how good he is, will begin to get those big wickets whenever the conditions are more favourable for him. This is a change for him, too. These are different conditions to bowl in than he has been used to in his international career. But he is adapting, and his performances will continue to improve.”Whether Ali’s comments are good news for Shah may end up depending on his outlook. On the one hand, the captain making it clear he need not take a clump of wickets every match to prove his worth in the side should take some pressure off him. But on the other, Pakistan want to prepare tracks specifically designed to work against his best skillset, and that could mean he is surplus to requirements more and more often in the future.In the rest of 2020, Pakistan play six Test matches, one in Karachi against Bangladesh, three in England and two in New Zealand. Those aren’t places Shah has always excelled, though his performances in the first and fourth Tests in England in 2016 were reputation-forming. Remember, though, that he was strikingly ordinary in the second and third Tests, and missed the two-Test series in 2018, so which Shah we get there is very much an unknown. But since he can no longer afford to rely on home comforts to reinforce his indispensable place in the side, his performances there could be a harbinger for his future as the leader of Pakistan’s spin attack.The UAE has been extraordinarily kind to Pakistan as its adopted home for nine years. But as they turn their back on the desert, one man may find it’s a little harder to say goodbye.

After a brief glimpse of the riches and rigours of the IPL, the 17-year-old legspinner is focusing on his career with Bengal and getting a college degree

Varun Shetty29-Mar-2020Prayas Ray Barman takes an Uber to come see me because he’s too young to drive. We meet late in the afternoon on an early-March day in a café in a packed mall near Esplanade, a fair distance from where he lives, in Nagerbazar in north Kolkata. He is dressed in a polo shirt and track pants and stands out with his athletic frame, but no one openly recognises the cricketer who, just under a year ago, became the IPL’s youngest debutant.In December 2018, Barman was picked up by Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 1.5 crore (approx US$ 208,000 at the time) at the IPL auction. A couple of months later, during a team event ahead of the season, Barman looked up from his phone to find Virat Kohli asking him how he was doing. A lifetime’s journey had seemingly been squeezed into his first few months as a senior cricketer.But the biggest surprise for Barman was the fact that he got to play at all. Having assumed he would spend the season practising and being groomed for the next year, he sat in the dugout, watching Royal Challengers’ disastrous opening game, against Chennai Super Kings on a turning Chepauk pitch. But before their third match, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he got the unexpected call-up.”Till the toss, I didn’t know I was playing,” Barman said. “Nehra sir [Ashish Nehra, assistant coach] told me that I might play, because [Yuzvendra] Chahal had a bit of a finger injury. The next day Chahal bowled a few balls and said he’s okay to play. So Nehra sir said, ‘Hard luck, you’re not playing today, but it’s a long season.'”A minute before toss time, head coach Gary Kirsten gathered the team into a huddle and said that they reckoned the pitch was a bit dry and that an extra spinner would help. Barman was to make his debut, at 16 years and five months.”At that moment I thought, ‘I’m not warming up as a player who will play the match.’ It was an afternoon match, so it was pretty hot. I was like, now I’ve to do my bowling, I’ve to catch a few balls, I’ve to get into the zone of playing. We chose to field first, so that half an hour was the most important half an hour of my life. It went by like five minutes.”When he came on to bowl at the end of the Powerplay, Sunrisers were 59 for 0. Their belligerent openers, David Warner and Jonny Bairstow, had made century stands in their first two games and looked set for another big partnership here.

“If you spend some time with me you’ll see that I’m a very confused kid,” Barman says. “I don’t know what I am doing and where to go next”

Before the match, Barman says he had read something about a steep patch in the landing area of the pitch that would allow him to rock back and bowl fuller than usual. One of the first thoughts he had when he got the ball was that he needed to adjust his action accordingly. Both batsmen were watchful as Barman settled into a nice length and had them driving down the ground at worst and dabbing to leg at best. He conceded six runs, his cheapest over of the innings.In his next over, he dropped one marginally wide outside off and Bairstow stretched his hands to slap it over the extra-cover boundary. A regal, deflating shot followed by back-to-back fours.”In the pre-match bowlers’ meeting, we said that we wouldn’t give Bairstow much room because he likes to free his arms, hit it over covers,” Barman said. “The second ball of the second over, I bowled wide because I was expecting him to step out. He didn’t, so he was able to free his arms. Virat Kohli came up to me and said, ‘Don’t be worried about what he is doing. Don’t bowl defensively and don’t try to stop runs. Just try to get him out, because if he gets out, all the runs are checked automatically.’ So that was what I planned on doing, but that didn’t click that day.”Warner and Bairstow went on to set a record opening stand – 185 – and make individual hundreds in Sunrisers’ highest ever total. Barman finished his quota for 56 runs, more than he had ever conceded previously in a four-over spell.”There was this feeling that I was not able to deliver for the team,” Barman said. “But I knew that the likes of Chahal, Umesh Yadav, all these world-class bowlers had been hit for some runs. So I was like, I’ve not done good, but it’s okay, it’s a bad day for the team. Gary said, ‘It’s all right, you were good, there’s nothing to worry about.'”When RCB travelled to Jaipur, Rajasthan Royals legspinner Ish Sodhi told Barman that on another day, he could have had 2 for 20 with the same spell. Unfortunately for Barman, another match wasn’t in sight. Kohli’s team began their season with six losses and tried as many as 19 players in the season as they navigated that rut.A stress fracture in the back after the IPL sidelined Barman for three to four months and he hasn’t played any recognised cricket since. Nor was he was retained by the Royal Challengers.Barman had to juggle travel, practice and studying for his school exams during last year’s IPL•BCCIAhead of the 2018 auction, Royal Challengers were among four IPL teams interested in Barman, who had topped Bengal’s wicket charts (11 in nine matches at an economy of 4.45) in his debut Vijay Hazare Trophy season.Barman delivers with a high arm and his stock trajectory is flat. He is not overly reliant on spin, and that makes accuracy one of his strengths.The Royal Challengers asked him to send in video footage of his bowling in the tournament, and clearly they were impressed with what they saw. At the auction Barman was their only front-line bowling pick, after a brief tussle with Kings XI Punjab.Watching from his grandparents’ house in Kolkata, Barman could barely process it. Sixteen at the time, and having only moved to Kolkata from Delhi three years prior to focus on a career with Bengal, Barman had ended up in his favourite IPL team, one led by Kohli.”There was a time around 65-70 lakh and it [the bidding] stopped and it was in RCB’s favour. I thought it’s good that I’m in RCB. I’m not craving a lot of money here, but I need to be in that team. That’s my favourite team. But then it continued,” he said.He spent the first half of the season shuttling between Kolkata and whichever city the team was in, with improvised practice sessions squeezed in when he wasn’t studying in hotel rooms for his year 12 central board exams. With letters from the BCCI and the franchise, he managed to reach out to the board of education to get his exam dates postponed.Barman describes himself as someone who will rarely begin a conversation, but remembers pushing as much as possible to speak with team-mates like Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chahal during the course of the season.Chahal spoke to him about “out-thinking batsmen”, and de Villiers encouraged him to try things out. “I’ve not played much T20 cricket, so I asked [de Villiers] what I could do. He spoke about the technical part and said, ‘You are delivering the ball well, you have a great action, similar to Anil Kumble. You have a good height that you can use to your advantage.’ So that was a great moment.”While the IPL provides a lot of exposure to young and unknown players like Barman, it cannot always substantially aid the growth of cricketers who are on the sidelines, particularly when it comes to match skills. Barman was not used to the workload he experienced as a professional in the IPL.The back niggles he wanted to deal with after the tournament developed into a stress injury, even as he focused on getting picked for the Under-19 World Cup. He lost about four months recovering. Then on the eve of the 2019 Vijay Hazare Trophy, he suffered a finger injury and his prospects of being back in the IPL for the 2020 season diminished.

“There was this feeling that I was not able to deliver for the team. But I knew that the likes of Chahal, Umesh Yadav, had been hit for some runs. So I was like, it’s okay, it’s a bad day for the team”

“I thought that was coming [being dropped in the IPL]. If I was there in the Syed Mushtaq Ali squad and played one or two matches, I think the chances of getting back would have been more.”As we talk, Barman comes across as a level-headed and self-aware. A hint of where those might originate is in the story of how his IPL riches were managed – by his father and a financial expert, invested in a flat in Kolkata. There’s also the warming anecdote of the advice he was given by his grandparents before he left for the IPL: don’t accept drinks from strangers.For a boy who was seemingly in the middle of a fast-paced dream sequence just about a year ago, Barman seems like he has managed to return seamlessly to his regular life. “If you spend some time with me, you’ll see that I’m a very confused kid,” he says. “I don’t know what I am doing and where to go next. It’s been kind of a not-so-methodical way that I’m leading my life right now. Need to take some time and do a bit of work so that I’m moving towards one goal.”The confusion is evident when he describes the BA course he’s currently pursuing as “something to do with economics and English”. But for the most part, his assessment of his life strikes one as that of a sensible, level-headed young man, despite the spontaneous peak he achieved last year.He is one of the several young Indians who, as the media describes them, have become “crorepatis” in a matter of minutes. Barman stands out with his attitude. He does want to get back into the IPL, but not at the cost of his education.”You don’t know when what happens. I was injured when my 12th results came out. By that time I knew what an injury can do. You have to finish graduating. I’ve not been attending college, [but my] college is supportive. Not even my parents are giving me a lot of pressure to study. They’re just hoping I get my degree.”As he plots a way to become a multi-dimensional, multi-format legspinner, Barman has shed the pressure that comes with being an IPL player. Since his experimental foray into Bengal cricket as an 11-year-old, he has been a regular in their developmental cricket. Last year, with the sudden catapult into senior cricket, Barman wasn’t too sure if he should be “senior-driven or U-19 driven”. Now, with the message clear from Bengal management that he continues to be in their long-term plans, and with a more relaxed off season and workload, he is settling into a routine.

Professional Cricketers’ Trust has supported Tom Smith, Benny Howell and Gareth Roderick

Matt Roller29-Sep-2020If Gloucestershire are to reach T20 Finals Day for the first time since 2007 after three quarter-final defeats in the last four seasons, it will be no exaggeration to suggest that they would not have been able to do so without the Professional Cricketers’ Trust (PCT).The PCT, which offers mental health services to cricketers past and present in the UK – and is facing a £250,000 shortfall this year due to the impact of the pandemic – has provided support to a number of players and staff in their dressing room over the past few seasons following bereavements. Among them are Ian Harvey, the assistant coach, who lost his wife; Gareth Roderick, whose father took his own life; and Tom Smith, whose wife Laura, died in 2018 following a battle with cancer.”After Laura died – in these last two years – I couldn’t have played cricket without [the PCT’s] support, both financially and the mental support I’ve received,” admitted Smith at a virtual event on Tuesday. “As a group of players, everyone is extremely emotionally intelligent. We’re one big family and to survive all of that as a group of players – generally most of us have been there the whole time throughout all of those scenarios; it’s a very loving environment.”There’s so much around bereavement that it’s normalising grief now, and I think people are a lot better at discussing it and having conversations. I know as a widower that the care and support I’ve had from team-mates and the wider cricketing world has been immense. I think that stems from the Trust.”ALSO READ: Professional Cricketers’ Trust faces £250,000 shortfallAnd that support is not limited to bereavement, either. After incorrectly being prescribed anti-depressants several years ago, Benny Howell contacted the Trust to help him see specialists for his Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). “It’s a bit of an unknown to a lot of people but it helped me figure out how my mind works and how I can figure out how to navigate through the chaotic mind that I have,” Howell explained.”It’s still an ongoing process with me, but they’ve helped me a hell of a lot. I know people who don’t have the opportunity to have the Trust on their side; they go through the NHS, and sometimes it takes three months to see someone, so I’m very grateful to have the Trust.”

“One thing I’ve really reflected on is that the Somerset game, where I got the winning runs, I certainly felt happiness there. I felt everyone else’s joy – it meant a lot to all of us to get that home quarter-final, and a lot about this is enjoying other people’s happiness as much as mine”Tom Smith

“The stigma in men’s sport about mental health is certainly a lot better than it was,” Roderick said. “In society it’s not as talked about as it should be but in men’s sport, the light has been shone on it really, really well. [Players] see other guys going through similar journeys as them and it makes it easier for them to step into the light and ask for help and start their own conversation and their own journey.””As cricketers, a lot of people still see you as a sportsman, so you should be happy and everything should be fine, but actually whether you’re a billionaire, a plumber, a sportsman, a journalist – whatever it is – everyone has their own challenges and everyone needs help at times,” Howell added.Smith’s story is perhaps the most remarkable. After his wife passed away two years ago, he was helped by the Trust and Rainbow @ Grief Encounter, a charity that provides support for bereaved children and their families. Not only has he managed to continue his career, but has also thrived with his left-arm spin: in this season’s Blast, nobody has more than his 14 wickets, which he has managed while conceding just 5.91 runs per over.Gloucestershire wore a one-off kit for their Blast game against Sussex in 2019 to mark Rainbow @ Grief Encounter’s support for Tom Smith’s family•Getty Images”With me being a single parent with two young kids at home, [lockdown] was a really tough period of time, as I’m sure many parents experienced,” he said. “The thought of not getting any cricket and being in lockdown with my girls put me into a very dark place.”Because I’ve been so excited to play cricket after lockdown, it’s maybe freed me up. I’ve felt very relaxed on the field. I’ve enjoyed every moment, probably because of what I did experience during lockdown.”I talk a lot about feeling five out of ten, and not feeling the big highs and lows. That’s something that after lockdown I really wanted to address, and wanted to make some changes in my life to feel some more emotion. That’s not going to be an overnight thing, that’s going to be a thing that happens over time.”One thing I’ve really reflected on is that the Somerset game – where I got the winning runs – I certainly felt happiness there. I felt everyone else’s joy – it meant a lot to all of us to get that home quarter-final, and a lot about this is enjoying other people’s happiness as much as mine. Throughout the tournament I’ve had far more sixes and sevens, not necessarily from my own success but being around a team, a group of people pulling in the same direction that want to win.”

While the likes of Pollard and Russell enjoyed fruitful tournaments, others struggled on turning tracks

Deivarayan Muthu12-Sep-2020Chennai Super KingsDwayne Bravo (Trinbago Knight Riders): He will turn 37 next month, but he reminded the world that he’s still one of the most reliable death bowlers going around. While Bravo didn’t pick up a bucketful of wickets – he took only nine at an economy rate of 7.50 – he smothered the opposition with his slower dippers and yorkers at the death en route to becoming the first player to 500 wickets in T20 cricket. Bravo, though, wasn’t available to bowl in the final on Thursday because of a knee complaint.Mitchell Santner (Barbados Tridents): In his first CPL, the New Zealand spin-bowling allrounder stood out amid the Tridents’ rubble, proving once again that fingerspinners can be as effective as wristspinners in white-ball cricket. He claimed six wickets in nine matches – he missed one game because of a niggle – at an economy rate of 5.59. Santner also doubled up as the Tridents’ finisher, hitting nine fours and five sixes down the order across eight innings.Imran Tahir (Guyana Amazon Warriors): Despite being the highest wicket-taker in IPL 2019 it remains to be seen if Tahir starts for the Super Kings this season, considering the wealth of slower bowlers at MS Dhoni’s disposal. However, the 41-year old made a strong case for retaining his overseas slot by collecting 15 wickets at an economy rate of 5.82 in Guyana Amazon Warriors’ run to the semi-finals in CPL 2020. Only Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Scott Kuggeleijn took more wickets than him.Mumbai IndiansKieron Pollard (Trinbago Knight Riders): He had a bumper tournament with the bat, taking pitches and opposition attacks out of the equation with his six-hitting. Pollard was also “bang on” with his tactics as captain, according to his coach Brendon McCullum, and he even contributed with the ball, bagging 4 for 30 when the title was on the line against the St Lucia Zouks. He will join defending IPL champions Mumbai Indians on the back of a player-of-the-tournament award in the CPL and his 14th T20 title overall.Chris Lynn (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots): The Australian opener was at sea against quality spin bowling on sluggish surfaces, and if the UAE pitches offer as much turn as the ones in the Caribbean did, Lynn could be in for a tough time there as well. In the nine innings Lynn batted in this CPL, he only managed 73 runs off 85 balls against the spinners at a strike rate of just over 85, while being dismissed by spin six times.Sherfane Rutherford (Guyana Amazon Warriors): Much like Lynn, Rutherford struggled to adapt to the slow, low pitches both at the Queen’s Park Oval and the Brian Lara Cricket Academy. All told, he scored a mere 39 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of under 80, but his Amazon Warriors captain Chris Green has backed him to return to form in the IPL and other future tournaments.Mitchell Santner and Rashid Khan’s performances in the CPL will please their respective IPL franchises•Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / GettySunrisers HyderabadMohammad Nabi (St Lucia Zouks): In the absence of Chris Gayle, Nabi became the Zouks’ go-to man, delivering with both ball and bat and guiding the team to their maiden CPL final. His captain Daren Sammy matched up his offspin with left-handers, and in all he picked up 12 wickets in as many matches at an economy rate of 5.10. Along with fellow offspin-bowling allrounder Roston Chase, Nabi fronted up to bowl at the death as well.Rashid Khan (Barbados Tridents): The 21-year-old legspinner passed 300 T20 wickets during this season, but most sides chose simply to play out his four overs. Khan came away with 11 wickets in 10 matches while conceding 6.85 runs an over. He had his moments with the bat, too, although he was dismissed for a golden duck in his last CPL innings, while promoted to No. 3.Fabian Allen (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots): The power-hitting allrounder missed his flight from Jamaica to Barbados, and was subsequently ruled out of the league. His unavailability coincided with the Patriots’ sharp decline. He has, however, already linked up with the Sunrisers in the UAE.Kolkata Knight RidersSunil Narine (Trinbago Knight Riders): The spinner and opening batsman missed seven matches for TKR this year because of kidney stones and injury. However, he did start the tournament in grand fashion with back-to-back half-centuries at the top, and also spun the ball both ways with a reworked action, hiding the ball behind his back during his run-up.Andre Russell (Jamaica Tallawahs): A knee flare-up limited Russell’s bowling, but it didn’t seem to affect his power-hitting. He stuck three half-centuries in the tournament, including a 28-ball 54 from No.4 against the 2019 champions Barbados Tridents. In all, Russell cracked 222 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 141.40.Chris Green (Guyana Amazon Warriors): In the absence of Shoaib Malik, Green took charge of the Amazon Warriors and led them to the semi-finals. He came into the tournament with a reworked action, but was his usual thrifty self, particularly with the new ball, giving up runs at only 5.68. His control came to the fore during a stellar spell of 4-2-3-1 against the Tridents, and he said he was confident with his new action and rhythm heading into his first IPL season.Nicholas Pooran gets under a catch•Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / GettyDelhi CapitalsShimron Hetmyer (Guyana Amazon Warriors): He blew hot and cold in the Amazon Warriors’ middle order, but was still their best batsman with 267 runs in 11 innings at an average of 33.37 and strike rate of 125.94.Sandeep Lamichhane (Jamaica Tallawahs): The Nepal legspinner pinned down the opposition in the middle overs; his overall economy rate of 5.27 was the fourth-best among bowlers who had bowled at least 20 overs this season behind Narine, Chase and Nabi.Keemo Paul (Guyana Amazon Warriors): The pitches in Trinidad weren’t conducive to pace, but Paul and Kesrick Williams were among the few West Indies seamers who did fairly well. Paul picked up nine wickets in ten matches at an economy rate of 7.32, with his 4 for 19 against Patriots being the third-best figures this season.Kings XI PunjabSheldon Cottrell (St Kitts & Nevis Patriots): Like most West Indies quicks, Cottrell didn’t pose enough wicket-taking threat and managed just five strikes in seven games as the Patriots fell away swiftly. He also conceded more than eight an over.Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Jamaica Tallawahs): No.2 on the ICC T20I rankings, No.2 on the CPL wicket charts. The Afghanistan spinner performed the dual role of striking in the Powerplay and outside of the first six overs. He and Lamichanne were central to Tallawahs making the semi-finals despite their batting meltdowns.Nicholas Pooran (Guyana Amazon Warriors): In a tournament dominated by spin and slower bowlers, Pooran produced the only hundred, which came off a mere 45 balls at a strike rate of 222.22. This was Pooran’s maiden T20 hundred and it had his mentor and TKR captain Kieron Pollard posting this on Instagram: “keep aiming for the stars and continue on that journey @nicholaspooran . Many more to come in this format an also the other TWO formats.”Rajasthan RoyalsOshane Thomas (Jamaica Tallawahs): The West Indies quick sprayed the ball around and was taken for 78 runs in seven overs. He played just three matches and warmed the bench for eight.No Royal Challengers Bangalore player was part of CPL 2020.

In addition to cricket, the pandemic has disrupted football, tennis, the NBA and Formula 1

Anirudh Menon29-Aug-20206:45

Newsroom: This will make people more careful going forward in the tournament

Cricket
At least ten members of the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise, including an India player, tested positive for the coronavirus on August 28. On the next day, it emerged that another player, uncapped at the highest level, also tested positive. The infected persons, most of them being support-staff members or net bowlers, are understood to have been moved to a different hotel from the team hotel, and are being monitored by medical personnel behind closed doors.ALSO READ: CSK’s Chepauk camp in sharp focusThe IPL is set to start on September 19, but with Super Kings expected to play defending champions Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener, and with their start to training now delayed, it remains to be seen how the schedule is affected. Football
In Spain, a spike of positive cases at second division club Fuenlabrada caused a major disruption to the schedule. Fuenlabrada were forced to abandon their last league (against already relegated Deportivo La Coruna), a match in which a point would have secured their place in the playoffs. The league initially decided to cancel the fixture to keep the integrity of the playoff schedule, but after a furore it was played out three days later. Fuenlabrada lost, meaning Elche, in sixth place ahead of them, sneaked into the playoffs, which they duly won.In early August, the rescheduled Champions League suffered a scare when two Atletico Madrid players tested positive for covid-19. However, this happened before the squad travelled to Lisbon where the knockout stages were to take place. The two were placed under self-isolation at home, and after all other squad members tested negative, the team travelled to Lisbon and the tournament went on without any incident.Now, a number of footballers, returning from post-season holidays, have tested positive for covid-19, including Manchester United’s Paul Pogba and AS Roma’s Justin Kluivert. There are growing fears it may affect the scheduled restart of the domestic seasons in England, Spain, and Italy.Tennis
Novak Djokovic’s Adria Tour event – held during the middle of the worldwide lockdown in June – saw a number of high profile players, including himself, test positive for the virus. Controversy surrounded the tournament due to its apparent lack of coronavirus protocols.ATP and WTA then restarted their events this month, with the protocols in place. The crammed (re)schedule plans to have the US Open run from August 31 to September 13, followed almost immediately by the rescheduled French Open from September 21 to October 11.Novak Djokovic had contracted coronavirus and has since recovered•Getty ImagesThe US Open is going ahead despite the withdrawal of several high-profile names ,including defending champions Rafael Nadal and Bianca Andreescu, due to the apprehensions over covid-19. The tournament had already cancelled the qualifying rounds, the junior matches, and the mixed-doubles event.The players, meanwhile, have been placed in a bio-secure bubble at Flushing Meadows to minimse their chances of contraction. Testing will be conducted through the tournament, and anyone testing positive will be forced to withdraw.Baseball – MLB
The restart of baseball has been beset with postponements due to players testing positive for covid-19. Games across August and July were postponed while teams that did not have positive cases went ahead with their games. This ad-hoc approach seems to remain the plan for the MLB.Basketball – NBA
Multiple players tested positive immediately preceding and following the suspension of the league in March. The league resumed on July 30 with 22 teams in a bio-secure bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort, and there have not been any positive cases amongst the active players since.Motorsport – Formula 1
Racing Point driver Sergio Perez tested positive ahead of the British GP, and his place was taken by Nico Hulkenberg for the two races held at Silverstone. However, after testing negative, Perez returned to the circuit for the next race at the Spanish GP.