Virat Kohli did most things right in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s match against Chennai Super Kings. He opened with a spinner, who removed one of Chennai’s trumpcards, Brendon McCullum. He saw his premium fast bowler back in the squad to bowl a rousing spell. He dropped Gayle and brought in Riley Roussow. He was far more aggressive with his captaincy on the field and stopped a rampaging Chennai Super Kings just when it seemed like they’d run away with the game.
Yet in the end, Chennai were just too good for Bangalore. The thing with Chennai is they have a team packed with match-winners who always step up when required. If not McCullum, it was Raina and Smith. And if not Ashwin, then Nehra. RCB, on the other hand, have a limited pool of superstars and are incredibly dependent on them to come good.
Starc’s return
All eyes were on Mitchell Starc tonight as he made his comeback to cricket after a spectacular World Cup. True to form, he didn’t disappoint. As his figures of 1/24 show, Starc was tidy, except for his third over where his South African compatriot Du Plessis ploughed him for three fours. Aggressive to the hilt, not being able to take more wickets will disappoint him, but RCB will hope that he regains his ability to deliver those toe-crushing yorkers.
The white elephant named Dinesh Karthik
RCB paid Rs. 10.5 crore to acquire the services of Dinesh Karthik. Wrap your mind a bit around that figure: Rs. 10.5 crores. This in an auction where Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka’s finest, went unsold, while someone like Shreyas Iyer, Delhi’s exciting new opener, went for only Rs. 2.6 crore.
Not like the first time this has happened. In the 2014 auction, Karthik went for a higher price: Rs. 12.5 crore from Delhi Daredevils.
There is definitely something which the IPL franchisees see in Dinesh Karthik which we don’t. A customary glance at his stats and the results are quite underwhelming: more than 100 matches at an average of only 24, with a decent-ish strike rate of 123. In 2015 though, it has got worse.
A batting order as top-heavy as Bangalore’s desperately needs the calmness of Karthik’s batting. That hasn’t happened though; Karthik is averaging a paltry 10 in IPL 2015. His scores in the last three games read 6, 9 and 18.
Despite all the things that Kohli did right on Wednesday, there was one big error he forgot to rectify. Sending Karthik ahead of De Villers just did not make sense, especially considering the kind of rut Karthik is in. Karthik pottered around a bit, scoring only 10 off 11 balls.
In RCB’s previous game, De Villiers had scored 41 off the same number of balls. The required rate was just touching 9 when Karthik came in, and it rose to almost 10.5 when he departed – that too, only because RCB had taken 17 off the previous Ashwin over.
Too Much Pressure on ABD
Like in the other games, ABD was left with too much to do again. It is unfair for Indian cricket fans to see a genius like De Villiers continuously having to come in and conduct a repair job. It was only in the ninth over that he joined Kohli at the crease. Against a team with as much firepower in its arsenal as CSK, this was too, too late.
Not that he didn’t try. ABD hit sixes off the last ball in two consecutive overs to keep RCB in with faint hopes of winning. At the other end, Kohli seemed confused about what kind of innings he would play: try and stay till the end or go for the big ones?
Chennai didn’t have to worry though. In the IPL, Dhoni is in his element and he proved it again today; smartly anticipating a throw from the deep to deflect the ball on to the stumps to remove De Villiers. The game was effectively done and dusted then; Kohli played a valiant hand, but Nehra came in to mop it up for Chennai in the 17th over.
Avert your eyes if you’re a Chinnaswamy faithful. With this loss, Bangalore have slipped to the bottom of the table, their net run rate dipping below Mumbai’s and standing lowest. With the next game coming up against the trailblazers at the top, Rajasthan Royals, things don’t seem likely to improve too soon.
Kohli desperately needs his South African wizard to come up with some sorcery.
Chennai Super Kings (181 for 8) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (154 for 8) by 27 runs.
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Yet in the end, Chennai were just too good for Bangalore. The thing with Chennai is they have a team packed with match-winners who always step up when required. If not McCullum, it was Raina and Smith. And if not Ashwin, then Nehra. RCB, on the other hand, have a limited pool of superstars and are incredibly dependent on them to come good.
Starc’s return
All eyes were on Mitchell Starc tonight as he made his comeback to cricket after a spectacular World Cup. True to form, he didn’t disappoint. As his figures of 1/24 show, Starc was tidy, except for his third over where his South African compatriot Du Plessis ploughed him for three fours. Aggressive to the hilt, not being able to take more wickets will disappoint him, but RCB will hope that he regains his ability to deliver those toe-crushing yorkers.
The white elephant named Dinesh Karthik
RCB paid Rs. 10.5 crore to acquire the services of Dinesh Karthik. Wrap your mind a bit around that figure: Rs. 10.5 crores. This in an auction where Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka’s finest, went unsold, while someone like Shreyas Iyer, Delhi’s exciting new opener, went for only Rs. 2.6 crore.
Not like the first time this has happened. In the 2014 auction, Karthik went for a higher price: Rs. 12.5 crore from Delhi Daredevils.
There is definitely something which the IPL franchisees see in Dinesh Karthik which we don’t. A customary glance at his stats and the results are quite underwhelming: more than 100 matches at an average of only 24, with a decent-ish strike rate of 123. In 2015 though, it has got worse.
A batting order as top-heavy as Bangalore’s desperately needs the calmness of Karthik’s batting. That hasn’t happened though; Karthik is averaging a paltry 10 in IPL 2015. His scores in the last three games read 6, 9 and 18.
Despite all the things that Kohli did right on Wednesday, there was one big error he forgot to rectify. Sending Karthik ahead of De Villers just did not make sense, especially considering the kind of rut Karthik is in. Karthik pottered around a bit, scoring only 10 off 11 balls.
In RCB’s previous game, De Villiers had scored 41 off the same number of balls. The required rate was just touching 9 when Karthik came in, and it rose to almost 10.5 when he departed – that too, only because RCB had taken 17 off the previous Ashwin over.
Too Much Pressure on ABD
Like in the other games, ABD was left with too much to do again. It is unfair for Indian cricket fans to see a genius like De Villiers continuously having to come in and conduct a repair job. It was only in the ninth over that he joined Kohli at the crease. Against a team with as much firepower in its arsenal as CSK, this was too, too late.
Not that he didn’t try. ABD hit sixes off the last ball in two consecutive overs to keep RCB in with faint hopes of winning. At the other end, Kohli seemed confused about what kind of innings he would play: try and stay till the end or go for the big ones?
Chennai didn’t have to worry though. In the IPL, Dhoni is in his element and he proved it again today; smartly anticipating a throw from the deep to deflect the ball on to the stumps to remove De Villiers. The game was effectively done and dusted then; Kohli played a valiant hand, but Nehra came in to mop it up for Chennai in the 17th over.
Avert your eyes if you’re a Chinnaswamy faithful. With this loss, Bangalore have slipped to the bottom of the table, their net run rate dipping below Mumbai’s and standing lowest. With the next game coming up against the trailblazers at the top, Rajasthan Royals, things don’t seem likely to improve too soon.
Kohli desperately needs his South African wizard to come up with some sorcery.
Chennai Super Kings (181 for 8) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (154 for 8) by 27 runs.