IPL 2022: Gulf News experts discuss Kolkata Knight Riders' big win over Chennai Super Kings

Gulf News

Shreyas Iyer's captaincy a big takeaway from Knights' first win  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #cricket #IPL2022

Transcript

00:00To my disappointment, you know, it felt like CSK never turned up with the new

00:04captain Jadeja. I would not bet the captain is the batsman who let them down very badly.

00:17Good evening. Hi. Welcome to our first episode of Stredbat with Mr. Cricket UAE

00:24for the IPL season 2022. This is Gautam Bhattacharya of Gulf News. We have got with us

00:31Mr. Anish Sajan and who today was in Bombay to watch the, you know, the opening match of the

00:39new season, which ended up with KKR scoring a six-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings.

00:47And also with me, I've got AK Satish, Sports Editor of Gulf News. Yes. So, Anishbhai,

00:55first up to you, how was it to see the crowd back after two seasons in India? And how was the

01:01feeling? I think you wanted to get a taste of it first up. That's why you had gone there.

01:08Yeah. Hello, Gautam. Hello, Satish. And hello to all the beautiful people of Gulf.

01:12Yeah. You see, I definitely wanted to get the taste of the crowd coming back to the stadium. So,

01:17I made up my mind that I'm going to go no matter what. Took the flight early morning. Took me 12

01:23hours to reach from Dubai to Bankire Stadium. But having said that, that's the passion of cricket

01:29we all have. And I finally made it. But to my disappointment, you know, it felt like CSK never

01:35turned up with the new captain Jadeja. I would not bet the captain is the batsman who let them down

01:39very badly. And by the end of 11 overs, CSK were down and out 60 for 5. And finally, we saw

01:46probably the old clock turning with MS Dhoni. But in the end, it was too less a sport to defend.

01:51And it was a cakewalk for KKR. I'll come to you, Satish. I mean, what we saw, the one-killer

01:59wicket lived up to its early reputation. The ball was seeming. The spinners got a bit of bounce.

02:05And the moment after, soon after, Umesh Jadhav struck. I mean, Chennai were always playing

02:10catch-up, but they kept on losing wickets. But do you see a kind of alarming signal in that?

02:17It's just the first game.

02:29Gautam, traditionally, Chennai has been a slow starters. So, I don't see it any different even

02:34this season. But having said that, Chennai is also missing two of their main players, Moeen Ali

02:40and Deepak Chahar, of course. That makes it 8 among the 11 who played in the last final.

02:46But having said that, again, coming back to the one-killer wicket, even though the savers had

02:52some swing, the spinners had spin, it was also a very true wicket where it allows you to play your

02:57shots. I think the initial wickets, to be precise, the wicket of Uthappa and Ambati,

03:09in quick succession, that actually put Chennai on the back foot. That's where the

03:15slide started. And it was too late for others to come and, especially Dori, to come and play that

03:20knock. Otherwise, it would have been under 100 was at one point of time, Chennai was looking at

03:24as a target.

03:27Coming back to Aneesbhai, you see, you've got Chennai with Moeen Ali not playing this match,

03:34he's still in the quarantine. You've got Ambati Raidu and Robin Uthappa at 3 and 4 of Chennai

03:42Super Kings. I mean, do you think it's just getting it a bit too far? I mean, does it open up

03:49that old question again that should MS come up in the order once again? I mean, maybe not at 3

03:54and 4, but maybe at 5. Do you want to see a change in the batting order?

04:00You can argue now, Gautam, by saying that MS should come up. But to be very honest,

04:05even he was at C because I saw the full game of CSK batting and MS just couldn't read.

04:10Neither he could read Varun and against Naren, he was totally at C. He just couldn't play the

04:15spin as well. It's only in the end overs where they hit 47 runs, where they ended up scoring 132.

04:21But yes, it doesn't look good with Robin Uthappa and Ambati Raidu coming at 3 and 4. So probably

04:28they need a little bit of firepower with Moeen Ali coming in. We'll have to wait and watch.

04:33Again, as Satish mentioned, first games, Chennai has always a slow starters. Even though last year

04:38they were not. Last year they started well at Wankhede Stadium. But you'll have to give them

04:43the benefit of the doubt that this was the first game. But you know what, other players have come

04:48to play too. Today, CSK, I felt, did not turn up at all. They looked like a team which had just

04:54come on a holiday. That was the case two years ago again, right? They played in the UAE that

05:01year. I hope it doesn't carry on for a long time. No, no. Yeah, I mean, it's really early days.

05:10I mean, it's a new season. It's a completely different ballgame. I mean, look at the

05:16pace bowling attack of Chennai. I mean, you've got Tushar Deshpande and other men who did a

05:23fair job to start with. But they had so little runs to bowl at. You know, they couldn't contain.

05:29But I'll come back to Satish a little here. What do you think are the positives for

05:35KKR from this game? I would say that Shreyas as captaincy is the biggest positive, number one.

05:42And second is, I think, Bharath Arun has worked his magic as a bowling coach. We all know what

05:50he has done to the Indian team. So, if you look at the bowlers, they were completely in total

05:55control of a good batting line-up like Chennai Super Kings. So, that means, they are playing to

06:02their full potential as bowlers. And the other very interesting point is, Ajinkya Rahane and

06:10Billings. Probably Billings played one game last season and Rahane probably none. And they were

06:16the main scorers for Kolkata. That also speaks very highly of the team management of Kolkata,

06:22which has reposed faith in these players, whom they have seen the talent or the skills in them,

06:29while picking only three foreign pros. That's another statement which Shreyas Iyer has made,

06:35which is a pretty good thing. So, all these are positives for Kolkata. And I think they have

06:41started quite well and made amends for their loss in the final in Dubai. I think that was the

06:49biggest difference, like where the captain Owen Morgan was not scoring runs. Here, Shreyas Iyer

06:54was cool, composed and he was there till the end, even though Rahane, they lost in the end and

07:00Billings also. So, it was altogether quite a collective clinical performance from Kolkata.

07:09Anisbhai, I mean, like you have captain teams at a different level. Now, this guy Shreyas,

07:15I mean, I've always felt that looking ahead, he's one guy whom India could have even groomed for

07:20white ball captaincy. I mean, he's just about 27. Do you really see a future leader at a higher

07:27platform in him or do you think it's too early? No, you hit the nail, Gautam. I'm glad you've

07:33mentioned this point because this was an ideal opportunity for BCCI to groom a young captain

07:39like MS did in Virat Kohli. Because you have got Rohit Sharma with due respect to what he's

07:45achieved in IPL and to whatever he did now in the series against Sri Lanka and West Indies.

07:50But this was an ideal opportunity. I'm not saying this because Shreyas Iyer won today's match.

07:55But we have seen the way he confidently led Delhi to both the playoffs and in fact,

08:00one final they lost to Mumbai. So, this guy had all the potential. It's just that they needed to

08:06get that potential and give him that confidence. Now, what India is doing is India is waiting for

08:10two more years till Rohit Sharma passes on the baton and that I believe India while are waiting

08:16for the next to next World Cup. That means you're talking about losing out in this T20 World Cup

08:21and T50. They are desperate to win a World Cup. That's why they didn't want to take a chance.

08:25Right. Before winding up, one word from Anisbhai on the big game tomorrow. I mean,

08:32you've got the Delhi versus Mumbai game coming up. So, your take on that?

08:40Well, terrific game. It's going to happen in the heat of Mumbai. I saw the temperatures 35 degrees

08:45hot and humid happening at the Brebon Stadium. I will still favour Delhi just because of the

08:51firepower you have. But like Gautam always mentions, you can never rule out Mumbai. Mumbai

08:56and their home ground are always tough to beat. We'll have to see how they turn up at Brebon Stadium.

09:01But I will still, if I have to back a team, I'll back Delhi.

09:06Just one word quickly from you on the two games tomorrow. Whom do you think? Who has the edge?

09:11I still feel Mumbai didn't have that firepower because I think they've spent a lot of money on

09:18one player, Ishan Kishan, in the auction. And again, Rohit Sharma, Surya Kumar Yadav,

09:25all these guys are not in full flow. So, going by that form, I would still love to back Delhi. But

09:36having said that, Mumbai in Mumbai is a dangerous proposition. So,

09:41I would say it's a 60 or a 55-45 in favour of Delhi.

09:48Right. Well, and before we wrap up, Banerjee, if you can just speak about the incentives that

09:57our followers have on offer.

10:00Yes, this is what all the lovely fans of Gulf News get to win by predicting the winner of

10:08every match. They get a complete kit, whereas they get a track, they get a t-shirt,

10:12as well as a cap from Gulf News and cricket. And if you predict it right, two winners walk away

10:19with this beautiful kit. So, please make sure to log on to your favourite page, Gulf News,

10:23and predict the winner in every day's game, this IPL and be a winner.

10:27That sounds awesome. On that note, we leave you and we'll be back tomorrow with the post-match

10:33chat. Log on to www.gulfnews.com, as well as our newspaper to follow the IPL with us.

10:40Thank you. Good night. Thank you. Thank you.

Category

Transcript

Recommended