Gulf News experts look back at RCB’s thin win over KKR

Gulf News

A low scoring game, which had both pacers and spinners calling the shots, eventually saw Royal Challengers Bangalore log in their first points of IPL 2022 with a three-wicket victory at the DY Patil Stadium this evening.  Read the full story here:   See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km

Transcript

00:00But I believe this was a good opportunity for RCB to not only win but also make the net 100.

00:05But in the end, they will be happy with the two points. Nonetheless, KKR also missed their opportunity with that run-out.

00:11Lost. Who knows, had DK got run-out, what would have been the scenario in the last 10 balls?

00:17Hello, good evening. Welcome to another edition of our show, Straight Back with Mr. Cricket UAE, Anish Sajjan.

00:35We have assembled here in the late hours once again to discuss what had been a cracker of a low-scoring match between RCB and KKR.

00:45With RCB finally having the last laugh with a three-wicket win and logging their first points in IPL 2022.

00:53Now, with me, I've got obviously Mr. Sajjan and cricket enthusiast, Sahil Sajjan, who had been also keeping late hours.

01:01Now, my first question to Anish will be, what a match. I mean, you've got the Pacers using the bounce.

01:10You've got Hasaranga wreaking havoc on the rival batsmen. Then Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravorty also doing their job.

01:19Finally, RCB going over the line. So, your thoughts on that, Anish?

01:24Well, two contrasting games I saw on this wicket. One, which I was witness live to see the Punjab vs RCB game.

01:31Where 200 runs were chased with ease. When I say with ease, it was crossed in the 19th over.

01:36Whereas on this match, to chase 128, RCB made a meal of it. Yes, credit to the KKR bowlers that they fought.

01:44But I believe this was a good opportunity for RCB to not only win but also make the net 100.

01:50But in the end, they will be happy with the two points. Nonetheless, KKR also missed their opportunity with that run-out loss.

01:56Who knows, had DK got run-out, what would have been the scenario in the last 10 balls?

02:03Right. So, once again, in this wicket, when we thought that Faf put in KKR to bat.

02:15We thought that the match was almost half-won there. But that was only part of the story.

02:20The kind of bounce that was there on the wicket, which was making all the difference.

02:27Which Umesh used in the second innings. And then the spinners.

02:36So, what made the difference in the tenor of these two games? A low-scoring one.

02:43Obviously, KKR failed to apply themselves today. Some of the short selection was horrible.

02:49Where do you think KKR went wrong? Wasn't a little bit of patience also needed?

02:55Well, I am afraid, sometimes, this Gango style of cricket, which McCullum had started in the 2015 World Cup and then England started.

03:03It can go haywire. Because if you saw, with due respect to Hasranga, who got four wickets.

03:09The other wickets were all like, they wanted to hit the ball out of the pucks.

03:13Shriya Sair, he had Sunil Narayan at one end. His role was to make sure as a captain to bat till the end.

03:19I mean, as much as you want to play that freestyle of cricket, you want to play that fast-track cricket where you go bang-bang.

03:26And he still went and to say in the post-match that they are going to play the same style.

03:29They are not going to change. But you need to be having that short selection.

03:33There is a difference between fearless cricket and careless cricket.

03:37And I am afraid, KKR were careless and they lost this match there itself.

03:42They made a fight with their bowlers. But they lost the match when you score 138 runs batting first. It is not accepted.

03:48I think that's a very nice catch-line. I mean, slight difference between fearless and careless.

03:55I will come to Sahil. Sahil, what were the most interesting takeaways for you from a dramatic match like this?

04:03I mean, mistake-prone but very exciting. How would you look back at it, Sahil?

04:09First of all, interesting. I am going to say that Hasaranga is now a top-class player.

04:16I want him to be like the next Shaquible Hassan in world cricket.

04:20You know how much he has grown for Sri Lanka. Now clearly we saw today how he troubled the KKR bowlers.

04:26Yes, I mean the batsmen. Yes, agreed. KKR played really poor shots.

04:30And I get it what was mentioned earlier. Come with that fearless tactic what England cricket has taught us.

04:37But there is again a difference. All poor shots you can see. You saw Nitish Rana's shot.

04:42You saw Shreyas Iyer's shot. You saw Naren's shot. These are all poor shots.

04:46What can I say? Credit to them for fighting hard.

04:51But the two fast bowlers I want to talk about KKR, Romesh and Sadi.

04:55They are not that world-class bowlers. They have played in the highest level.

04:59But those two really stepped up for KKR today.

05:02And obviously we cannot miss out Sunil Narayan, the main man. Unbelievable.

05:07Yes, Sunil had been the tried and tested match-winner for them.

05:12Now, you know, Sahil, when there is something, when there is some juice in the wicket,

05:18I mean eventually there is a question of drawing up the balance between how much this Rana especially,

05:28this is not the first time that he has done it. He has had a six before that, mind you.

05:32Then again he was trying something like that and he got the top edge and he was gone.

05:36So, you know, first match they were not tested.

05:41So, now that with this kind of a batting line-up, how do you think?

05:45Because all these wickets, they have something early on for the bowlers, isn't it?

05:50Sahil, this is you.

05:53Absolutely, you know, like see, they don't have that world-class batting line-up.

05:59They have decent batsmen, you know.

06:01They expect now, clearly you can see they expect a lot from Venkatesh Iyer, what he did in the second half of last season.

06:07They expect too much from him, which I don't blame them, you know.

06:11He is now an Indian cricketer also, let's not forget that.

06:14So, they expect a lot from him.

06:15Obviously, they expect Shreyas to do some magic.

06:18Ajinkya Rane has not been in that T20 form, like how he used to be back in the day.

06:24He is not the same, obviously.

06:26But, you know, they expect too much from 2-3 batsmen now.

06:29Obviously, we will now see Pat Cummins coming in the bowling line-up.

06:32There are going to be some changes for KKR, for sure.

06:34Right, right.

06:36Anizbhai, coming back to you, you have seen Virat Kohli's dismissal.

06:42I mean, that was, from that back of length, it was almost an unplayable delivery.

06:47Again, that tendency of poking at the delivery.

06:51Something which is being bolted to the channel.

06:54How do you look at it?

06:56I am glad, Gautam, you asked this.

06:58Because I was anyways about to talk about Virat Kohli.

07:01This is really bothering me.

07:02This is the dismissal where he used to get out to Anderson in England.

07:05And now, when you know that you have lost your Faf du Plessis and you lost your early opener.

07:10And Virat is known to finish games.

07:13And this was a total where he could have let that ball go.

07:15Poking outside, you would probably get a single to third man.

07:18And there was bounce and there was a little bit of spice in the first few overs.

07:22I just get baffled now to see Virat Kohli getting out this way.

07:26Because this was the time to stamp his authority as the master of chase.

07:30And Virat Kohli making the same mistake again and again is a worrying sign not only for his RCB,

07:36but for all Indian fans when he comes out and plays for India in the white ball or the red ball cricket.

07:42Because this is not the Virat Kohli we know.

07:44He knew where his off stump was.

07:45And off late, he has been going too much outside the off stump and poking at deliveries where he should let it go.

07:50And today was not the chance because he was chasing 128.

07:54Not required, but I am afraid time and again he is repeating the same mistake.

07:58Right. Right.

08:00Well, I mean, the resistance came from three kind of unheralded guys.

08:06I mean, you had David Willey and Rutherford.

08:09Rutherford we have heard of. He has served West Indies well off and on in white ball.

08:13And then you have got Shahbaz Ahmed who is also...

08:16He doesn't have that average of the runs to show, but he seems to have a good temperament.

08:21I mean, he has done it once in a while in the last season here also.

08:25Do you think Shahbaz can be really groomed as a kind of left-arm spinner and all-rounder in there?

08:32You know, there is a lack of big names. I mean, there is no AB.

08:35Of course, Maxwell is going to come in there.

08:37What do you think about these three guys who actually made the victory possible today?

08:42First, let me talk about this guy, Sherfan Rutherford.

08:46You know, I had seen him in the T10 very closely because he was part of my squad.

08:49And he used to have that Calispo style of batting where he used to hit sixes at will.

08:56In fact, he was the only player to get a 100 in T20, rather T10 at that time.

09:01And with time, I thought he will mature into a good batsman.

09:05And today what we saw that he put his head down, okay.

09:08He consumed a lot of balls, but that is what the situation demanded.

09:11But now coming to Willy's innings, again, he also is a dasher who put his head down.

09:17Because at that time, had RCB lost one more wicket, who knows what would have happened.

09:21So, they made sure that they stitched a partnership.

09:24And the last one you are talking about, Shahbaz Ahmed.

09:26Yes, definitely he can be groomed as a batter.

09:28And he was the one who took the pressure of RCB by hitting three sixes.

09:32Two of Russell and one of, I am afraid, an off-colour Varun Chakravorty today.

09:37So, Shahbaz Ahmed's inning was one of the critical knocks which made him take RCB closer to the win.

09:45But again, one point, you know, I want to come to that important point, Mr. Gautam.

09:51A lot of players want to play the glory shot, whether it is Hasaranga in the end,

09:56or you are talking about even the first boundary which our all-rounder, the guy who bowled beautifully today,

10:05the guy who is at Harshal Patel.

10:07So, there are times when you got a boundary, you take a single and rotate the stride.

10:11I mean, you know, it is easy for us as an armchair expert to make these comments.

10:15When you are on the field, you tend to choke and make mistakes.

10:18But the run rate was not 10 and 12. The run rate was 7 and 8.

10:21You get a boundary, you go to the other side.

10:23Why not finish the game? Why not go take that single?

10:27But I am afraid today's youngsters just want to go for the glory shots.

10:31Right. Okay, before we wrap up, tomorrow we have got, you know, the second round of games has started.

10:38So, Chennai will be definitely looking for victory.

10:41And they have got the best chance against Lucknow Super Giants who still doesn't look settled.

10:46What is your take on that, Manish? Who would you put your money on?

10:51Definitely, I will put everything on CSK because they are an experienced team.

10:58They have Mohin Ali coming back into the squad.

11:00And I have always been a little bit apprehensive about KL Rahul's captainship.

11:04I understand that he scores runs but he goes into his own shell when he is captaining.

11:08And you are not against MS Dhoni but you are under a player who is under MS Dhoni's shadow.

11:14That is Ravindra Jadeja.

11:16I believe the tails of CSK will be up when they match up against Lucknow.

11:20But this T20, as I said, defies all logic, especially IPL.

11:24Any match can go for a twist.

11:27But if you have to back one team, I would back CSK.

11:30CSK.

11:31Sahil, your take before we close this?

11:34I don't know generally.

11:37Both teams look average on paper.

11:40You know what, I am going to give the new team.

11:43I am going to support the new team tomorrow.

11:45Why?

11:46Just, you know, why support the big team?

11:51I am going to go for Lucknow.

11:54What do you mean? Why support the new team?

11:56That's why you are going to support the old team.

11:58Say that Rahul, you want to support Rahul and give him a win.

12:01Yeah, maybe you can say that.

12:04I hope to see a shocker tomorrow. That's all.

12:06So, say that CSK is favourite.

12:08CSK is obviously a favourite but I hope to see a shocker. That's all.

12:12What's your call, Gautam?

12:14See, I am also putting it maybe 60-40 in favour of CSK.

12:19Because I don't expect Rahul and Quintin de Kock to fail in every game.

12:24But having said that, Moeen Ali coming back there, that also gives them a lot of balance.

12:30And then the way, the consistency which Rituraj had shown.

12:34With Rituraj and Devon Conway also, it's difficult to see them failing again.

12:39But in that power play, lot of things are happening over the last 4-5 games.

12:43So, let's see what's in store.

12:45We are looking for certainly another crack.

12:47Thanks to both of you for being here.

12:49Tune in tomorrow for our program of Straight Bad with Mr. Cricket TV.

12:53Good night.

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