Gulf News readers and experts run through KKR’s dramatic win over Delhi to reach IPL final in UAE

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Transcript

00:00Hello everybody, once again and welcome to Straight Back with Golf News and Mr. Cricket

00:12UAE, Anas Sajjan. Well, there are close matches and then there are close matches, especially

00:19one that should have been done at halftime. It is a bit of a real scare for KKR today.

00:25Anas, I'll let you say hi and then we'll go through the match.

00:29Hi Matt, hello Shyam, hello happy Abhijeet and Sahil and disappointed Maaz. Well, this

00:37match as you mentioned should have gone one way when it began in the second innings. Delhi

00:42were cruising and they had a brain freeze and like the great Sunil Gavaskar always says

00:47and he kept on saying during commentary, when you are set, make sure you finish the games

00:51and especially on wickets like Sharjah, it's not easy when you come into bat later. And

00:55they almost gave away a gift to Delhi but they had Tripathi probably to have better

01:02sense and head that six. Otherwise, probably it would have been Maaz smiling here and Abhijeet

01:07probably tearing his hair apart.

01:09Yeah, Shyam, obviously you were at the stadium. What was it like there?

01:15I mean, it is absolutely the match turned on its head. In fact, I was pretty much getting

01:20ready to finish my copy and getting ready for an eight-wicket win actually. So from

01:26122 for two, it came down to 130 for seven. I swear and I had completely reworked my copy.

01:34So it tells you how the match panned out. Like Anish said, it was just a brain freeze,

01:39nothing else. And these are professional cricketers. They have been in this situation any number

01:44of times and time and again, they just lose their head and that is something inexplicable.

01:49That is what pressure does. Pressure does to the best of players. I mean, it just freezes

01:54them out and you see collapse like this, which is why P20 matches are always interesting

02:00and you cannot call a match till the last over or till the last ball in this case.

02:05Yeah, it was the final ball. Maaz, I mean, obviously when you saw duck after duck after

02:10duck, I think there was four in a row on that scorecard. You must have thought maybe your

02:14luck was in.

02:16Definitely. I mean, it was at a time in the 70th over, Avesh Khan's over. It looked like

02:20Delhi just gave up and Ashwin just dropped a catch and all were looking very dead. But

02:26the comeback that Rabada gave, two or three runs over and a wicket. One run in fact. Three

02:32runs was from Nokia's over. So that two over just changed the game entirely and it was

02:39not a day for nails and hearts to be honest. I was sitting on the edge of my seat and I

02:43was like, we are back in the game. I left my phone. I stopped tweeting. I was like,

02:47I have to play, I have to focus. And yeah, it was a very, very good match towards the

02:52end. So, but at the end of the day, it's KKR who is in the finals, but very proud of their

02:56capitals throughout the season. They have played amazing cricket. Yeah, a little bit

03:00of hiccup in the last few matches, but to be honest, the last three matches, it was

03:04not a one-sided game. RCB match, Bharat playing the last ball, hitting the six. Last previous

03:11match with CSK was Dhoni's heroics. And this game, as we saw, it was Rahul Tripathi in

03:16the last. So it was not a bad performance, but yeah, not in the finals.

03:21And Abhijit, obviously, as Maaz was just saying, these games are getting more and more thrilling

03:27as we get to the business. And KKR got one more trick up their sleeve as they go into

03:31the final.

03:32Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's a shared belief that we all fan have and we backed our team.

03:41I was expecting them to be in the final, to be honest. From day one, they stepped in

03:46to EUAE. So they actually turned the table around and it's just the last one more game

03:53and we are holding the trophy.

03:59And Sahil, welcome. Long time no see, Sahil. Delusions of grandeur there from Abhijit.

04:05Or do you think they have a chance against the... Probably because Chennai have also

04:09had their wobbles. So it is one match. I mean, is this going to be unpredictable or

04:15do you have a firm favorite?

04:17Of course, the Knight Riders have a chance. Abhijit has all the right to brag. You know,

04:21they have won seven out of nine games since the time they've come in. That's no joke.

04:26You know, they were seventh when they came to Dubai. So the Knight Riders have all the

04:30bragging rights and it's not going to be a CSK. CSK are not favorites for sure. It's

04:35totally equal the way the Knight Riders have come into the halfway of this tournament.

04:39Their full credit to them and they should have won today. Yes, they made their lives

04:43harder by themselves. You know, there's two seniors. I blame these two seniors, Captain

04:47Morgan and Dinesh Karthik. You know, these guys have to step up. They cannot keep playing

04:52this cricket and they cannot say it happens like, you know, in the big game. No, these

04:55guys are experienced players and, you know, that's the thing. But they have reached and

05:00now it's going to be a cracker of a final.

05:02OK, and I think Satish has joined us. Are you there, Satish?

05:05Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry for the delay, sorry.

05:08That's OK. As a Chennai boy, I think you want to respond to that. How do you see that?

05:14Even I was a bit taken aback when Sahil said he didn't back Chennai.

05:20Hardcore fan more than me. No, jokes apart, I think Kolkata has had two very close games.

05:28Number one, they played in Sharjah, which was a tailor-made for their bowlers.

05:33Now, in Dubai, it could not be the same wicket. The wicket could be different.

05:38It might not spin the way it has done here, though these are slow wickets.

05:42The difference is in the bounce. Sharjah is a slow wicket, which will have a lower bounce,

05:47which will help the spinners of KKR. Whereas in Dubai, it will have a slightly higher bounce,

05:54even though the ball is slow. So that makes a huge difference in terms of playing the spinner.

06:01But again, just to go back, you had Delhi accelerated their knock a little bit earlier

06:08in the innings instead of playing it too safely. Another 10, 15 runs could have made a big

06:12difference. But having said that, huge credit to KKR for having reached the final. It is again,

06:18like I've been telling this, the top three batsmen have been scoring runs. Once the top

06:23three have been removed, the middle order is pretty, pretty weak. So in a final like this,

06:29it is going to be very difficult. So anyway, I'm looking forward to the final. And

06:36as any day, I would say, I would go back to Chennai.

06:41Okay. And I'll just open it up now, guys, for anything else that anyone wants to add. I mean,

06:46obviously, Pant failed again. It looked like we had another easy game. But now, like we just

06:55mentioned shortly there before, there's been some right nail biters in the last few games. And

06:59hopefully, we can get one more in the final. You see, Matt, these wickets in Shahjah were so

07:05difficult to bat. So like you mentioned that Delhi were slower, like Satish mentioned, they scored

07:12less. But mind you, when KKR came on to bat, batting was much easier. The ball was coming

07:16on to the bat like a football. And the way the openers got off to the start, Delhi were struggling

07:22when they were opening. They just somehow managed to reach that score, thanks to late hitting by

07:27Shreyas Iyer, and to that no ball which Varun Chakravorty bowled. Otherwise, that Hetmayar

07:32wouldn't have been able to hit two sixes. But that's, there are no ifs and buts. But having said

07:36that, what I am not happy about Delhi is they're changing players. In the last four games, they've

07:43changed four players. Let me remind you, in the last match, they replaced Tom Curran.

07:51With this match, they had Stoinis, who came back after a hamstring injury. Now I understand he's

07:57a big match player. But it's a big risk. And you saw him, he was in the massage room. Then before

08:03Tom Curran, you had Ripal Patel. Then before Ripal Patel, you had that offee from Delhi, I can't

08:09remember his name. Four changes in the last five games. It's asking for too much. Whereas you

08:14see CSK, they stick to their core player. Bearing Suresh Raina, they took Robin Uthappa and they

08:21backed him in spite of two failures and then he delivered. So these are small things which I'm

08:26sure Delhi will learn. Ponting is an experienced campaigner. He's won a couple of World Cups for

08:30Australia. It's just that, to get their act, this is a young side, they must be deflated today.

08:35But I'm sure next time they would be lucky and they would cross the hurdle.

08:40Okay. Yeah, anyone else? Anything to add there? I mean, I just think,

08:44otherwise we can wrap it up. I think that's all.

08:46Yeah, I mean, to me, Delhi are exhibiting the traits of a classic choking. Big match,

08:54we choke at the hurdle. I mean, this has been what we've seen even last year also. They came

08:59to the final and were completely blown away in the final. I think they will need one major

09:07win under their belt before they start delivering, especially in knockout games.

09:18I think the captaincy also came into the picture, isn't it? Morgan's captaincy

09:24versus Perth's captaincy. I think that's where that difference came in also, Shyam, isn't it?

09:29Yeah, bang on. That's very, very true, actually. Because the way Morgan was bringing the changes

09:35and I know you wouldn't expect Perth to be in the same class in the same place. First year,

09:39first major captaincy. Yeah, maybe. I, in fact, even thought Nokia should have been in the game

09:47a little earlier than what you did.

09:50I think it's a good…

09:52You can't expect drop catches in such a slow-scoring game.

09:55Correct. Absolutely. Absolutely.

09:57Yeah, if you're coming down to the final ball, these tiny little things can prove to be absolutely

10:04vital. So, yeah, I think we can wrap it up there, guys, unless anyone has anything vital to say.

10:11Sahil, who's going to win? CSK or KKR? Come on now. You have both favourite teams.

10:15All right.

10:15Put your hand up for one team. You can't put both hands.

10:19Okay, we'll do the rounds then. Shyam, who's going to win?

10:22Come on, everybody put up their hands. Sahil, who do you say is going to win?

10:26I don't know. I already got confused. CSK.

10:30I'm a huge SRK fan, so it's always going to be KKR winning it.

10:33They won against Chennai in 2012. So, history will repeat.

10:42Satish, you said CSK. Shyam?

10:45Yeah, I mean, CSK looks formidable. But I think

10:49Kolkata will win simply because they seem to be lucky. They seem to be pulling off

10:54last-gap wins. Maybe even the final could be a last-gap win.

10:58You never know, Shyam. You might not be third-time lucky.

11:04Never knowing. I don't know.

11:05Matt, you are the neutral guy. You have to pick up.

11:09Well, I mean, I tipped RCB at the start, but I also strongly fancied Chennai. I thought they

11:16would do quite well. Obviously, they've been through that wobble. They got a good win last

11:21time, and I think that they might get over the line.

11:24Just like how RCB is out, CSK will be too.

11:29Right, boys. I shall wrap it up there. Thank you, everybody, for joining us here at Gulf News.

11:37As usual, you can log on to gulfnews.com for all our reviews, analysis, previews,

11:43and obviously our live coverage as well. We shall see you on Friday for the final.

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