IPL 2021 in UAE: Gulf News readers, experts talk on Punjab win

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00:00Hello to the beautiful fans from Punjab, as well as SRH, and also to all the wonderful people of Gulf News.

00:17Hi, a very good evening. This is Gautam of Gulf News. With me, I've got Mr. Cricket UAE,

00:24Anish Sajjan, in his trade bat program. And then we have got two very avid fans of

00:30Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings in Alavi Inayat and Arun Hussain. Hi, welcome to the show.

00:42Well, the first of the doubleheaders, I will have to say that, you know,

00:48neither of the contest did rise to any great heights. I mean, maybe for the second game,

00:52the wicket was a bit of an issue. So, I will come to Anish, what's your take about the first game?

00:58Delhi had it too easy? Good evening, Mr. Gautam. Great to have you back after a long time. You've

01:05been a silent spectator and enjoying the tweets. And hello to the beautiful fans from Punjab,

01:10as well as SRH, and also to all the wonderful people of Gulf News. Yes, you have to say Delhi

01:17had it easy, to be very honest. When they scored 150-odd, I thought RR would chase it.

01:22But I'm a little bit perplexed with the way RR went about the chase. They were in a hurry.

01:27We lost a couple of wickets too early. And then it was left to Sanju Samson,

01:31who was fighting a lone battle.

01:35Yeah, I mean, this is the point that, you know, your bowlers managed to restrict

01:41Delhi to 155, which is a gettable score. And then, I mean, it is virtually, if it becomes

01:48a virtually one-man show, when will the youngsters in their middle order like

01:55Lambror or Riyan Parag, we talk a lot about Parag. I mean, when will they learn to take

02:01the responsibility? I agree with you, Mr. Gautam. Now it's the third season Parag is playing and

02:08Tevati, I believe, is playing the second season. Nonetheless, as you rightly mentioned, it's the

02:14youngsters who need to put up their hand and say, yes, we have for the team. But at the same time,

02:20even the seniors, if you're talking about, even Liam is a youngster, he's not played so much.

02:25But he's come on the back of a good form in the 100s. But he was in too much of a rush. I mean,

02:30it was the first over, I guess, he rushed out to go after Avesh Khan. And 154, that wicket was at

02:37least still better than what we saw in the second game. But we'll come back to that. But I'm afraid

02:42Arar lost the plot. This is one team which is good on one day, bad on the other. They're not consistent.

02:49Right. Okay. Alvi, I'll come to you first. The evening game, your take on that?

02:57My take would be like, it was an easy match. You know, seeing the score, I thought they will make

03:04it even less than 20 overs. But given the record of that pitch, the pitch, all the balls were too low.

03:12You know, they were just unable to score on any, there was no timing at all. And even, you know,

03:19the Saha tried to make a good partnership. But that unfortunate run-out was, I think,

03:28was the turn of the match. And the 19th over, of course, it was the turning point for the match.

03:36After that, we didn't have any chance for coming back to the game.

03:42Yeah, I mean, see, this is the point. I mean, what, well, I mean, for this season, it looks like,

03:48you know, it's kind of done and dusted for Sunrisers Hyderabad. But a couple of things,

03:54couple of gambles they could have taken. I mean, I won't say gamble. Like, you know,

03:59Anisbhai wrote about it on our pages that when you've got a guy like Jason Roy sitting,

04:05I mean, you've got nearly 140 plus strike rate playing for England, part of their World Cup

04:10winning squad. What is the harm in, you know, because David Warner is not his normal self.

04:16We can make that out. I mean, there is something seriously wrong with him.

04:20What is the harm in trying Roy? What would you like to say as a fan?

04:24Absolutely. I thought maybe today Jason Roy will take the place of Warner,

04:29seeing the last game and the state of Warner's form. But I was surprised, you know, Warner was

04:36there. But again, I thought that there is a, you know, chance for him because he has a good,

04:41you know, average against Punjab as he has, you know, 900 plus runs against Punjab

04:48itself. So, I thought maybe they considered that and they gave him a chance for this match.

04:55Right. Well, I'll come to Aru. I mean, you're trying to hide the white green there. But yes,

05:03I mean, squeezing through for a credible win. I've just got to see the table as to where it

05:09takes Punjab. I mean, have they climbed up from Sprung? See, as you witnessed, the last one was

05:18the turning point for us. Generally, the last three balls were in our favor. Otherwise, they

05:24could have hit one more six and it would have gone to their head. So, we are always like Anish

05:32sir, like Mr. Cricket said, we are always like magnets. We play on the edges.

05:38We are like risk takers, you know.

05:44Yes, tell me. And of course, you have witnessed the ballers, Ashwas Deep and these

05:51Mohammed Shami and Ravi Bishnoi. They have taken like three, two and all together six,

05:57seven wickets they have taken. Seven wickets. Yeah, seven wickets they have taken.

06:02Shami gave the start. Shami gave the start.

06:05He gave a wonderful and fabulous start. Of course, the match was

06:11in our favor from the beginning itself. Right. Now, one thing you see, three changes in your

06:17playing 11. Basically, you lost the last match by two runs. So, three changes in the playing 11.

06:24I mean, what do you think? I mean, if you want to keep Mark Ram, I mean, he's a good guy to

06:29keep in the middle order, isn't it? I mean, he should be there. Sir, I feel somewhere because

06:34of the changes, we might have witnessed this victory. Otherwise, we would have lost this game

06:41as well. You know, maybe Chris Gayle might have not played well. But when he comes to the field,

06:48the fear and the, you know, fear in the opposite players, they like make it all. That matters.

06:56Yeah. So, I feel somewhere,

07:01Gayle's and other people's replacement gave us a victory. Although they might have not

07:08gave so much of runs in the field. Right. Anisbhai, coming back to you,

07:18you know, thin wind. I mean, it's a bit of an agey match. But one thing I saw you

07:26discussing in the group that you're playing the second or third match in Sharjah. Now, if one of

07:31the strips is like this, then, you know, what happens in the T20 World Cup, which is there

07:37in less than a month's time? You know, what do you think? Yeah, I'm a bit surprised with

07:44Sharjah wickets. They are known to be sporty. They are known to be full of runs. And this wicket

07:49was slow and low. And trust me, it was not easy for any of the batters bearing Jason Holder,

07:54who could probably talk a few sixes. If you have to ask me, the five sixes came on the

07:59bat of Jason Holder. And in the first days, we had only one six. This was definitely a difficult

08:04wicket. And like Williamson mentioned, you had to adapt to the conditions. But like,

08:09I want to hit upon the point, we need wickets full of runs. T20 is all about entertainment.

08:17It's not about playing calculated cricket or test cricket. You want fours and sixes.

08:24And in Sharjah, we've seen scores of 200-220. And I'm afraid if this is the condition of the

08:30wicket only in the second game, which has happened, I don't know how many strips they've

08:33prepared. We still have 24 games to go. So, I don't know how many games are left in Sharjah

08:37and how many are in Dubai and how many in Abu Dhabi. But bearing a couple of matches,

08:42what I saw where it had runs, rest all have been below 160. So, the ideal wickets for T20 World

08:49Cup, I'm not sure what are we going to get. Are we going to get some hidden wickets, which will

08:53be kept under wraps and then only been kept for the World Cup? Only time will tell. But I'm afraid

08:58spectators want runs that is fours and sixes. They don't want to see scores of 120. Okay,

09:04one time you can see a match of 120, but you want 180-190 where runs are chased and people enjoy.

09:12Right. Yeah, well, before wrapping up very quickly, I will just ask you that tomorrow

09:19the first game once again is, you know, you've got

09:28you know, Bangalore and

09:33no, sorry, Bombay. Yeah, Bombay are playing Bangalore.

09:38Yeah, that is the second match, I guess.

09:40Yeah, Bombay are playing Bangalore in the second game.

09:43That's the second game. Yeah.

09:45And Chennai and Calcutta, the two of the high-flying teams, if we can say so,

09:50they are playing in the first game. So, very quickly, your take on these two games.

09:55Well, the first game KKR and Chennai, like both teams look to be in form. Both have won both

10:01their games. And especially I would like to talk about KKR. They are playing the brand of cricket,

10:07which England seems to be playing for ages. For the last four years, that fearless brand of cricket

10:13finally, Brendan McCullum and Owen Morgan has brought this in and cultivated. And that's what

10:18we could see even when they were choosing 90 when they bowled out RCB or they were choosing 160-odd

10:25against Mumbai. So, if they can continue and we need to see how MS Dhoni can counter that. So,

10:32it should be a cracker of a game. I only hope the wicket plays true. And in the second game,

10:37Mumbai versus RCB, both the teams are coming out the back of two losses. Mumbai are not used to

10:43being in this state. They are defending champions. Whereas, RCB had started well in the first half

10:48and they are struggling. So, it should be a good game. Difficult to predict a winner out of the two.

10:55At this stage, yes. I will come to Aru. These two matches, they are not your teams,

11:00but your take quickly. I mean, who do you think Chennai versus Calcutta and Mumbai versus RCB?

11:08See, in the first game, I think Chennai has a fair chance.

11:12And if Chennai is able to win this match, I think it will lead the points table.

11:19Because right now, it is just one, like in the second position…

11:23One game short.

11:24Yeah, one game short.

11:25Delhi-Delhi play the game more.

11:27Yeah. So, talking about the second, of course, as Mr. Cricket said, Mumbai are defending champions.

11:34And the RCB is really struggling. So, I think Mumbai is going to take the lead.

11:42Right.

11:42And going to reach the playoffs.

11:44Right. That's interesting. Yeah. I mean, Mumbai, this is something unusual. Sixth position,

11:51I don't remember when did I last see them in sixth at the business end of the tournament.

11:56I have never witnessed it, yeah.

11:58Yes, yes. And the final word from Alavi, your predictions for the two winners tomorrow?

12:04In the morning game, I would like to go with the United as we have seen in the last two games.

12:13They were playing amazing and their bowling lineup actually was pretty good.

12:19And for the second, I think I would like to go with Kohli.

12:24Also, you know, we still have, like, Kohli has a chance where he can, you know, again,

12:29get a last cup, IPL. And he has waited a long.

12:35Yeah, I mean, this is something. This is his last year as the RCB captain. I mean,

12:40we would all want to see the trophy in his hands. Unfortunately, it hasn't happened.

12:46Anyway, so…

12:47Not only Kohli, De Villiers is also in him.

12:52Yes.

12:52I don't think, like, De Villiers still, you know, might be in IPL or…

12:56Yes. No, no. He hasn't. I mean, he has always played for… I think he played for Delhi once

13:02and then he moved to RCB. Yeah, that's it.

13:04Correct. Yes, yes.

13:06Anyway, I mean, the nice insights from you all and looking forward to tomorrow's,

13:11you know, both heavyweight games, I would say. Till then, follow our program with Mr. Cricket UAE

13:21and follow it on the Facebook and social media platforms and gulfnews.com.

13:26Thank you so much.

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