IPL 2022: Gulf News experts look back at Rajasthan, Gujarat wins

Gulf News

Jos Buttler's clean hitting, Lockie Ferguson's pace talking points of the day  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

00:00Josh Butler has come into this tournament with such a bad form in Test Cricket.

00:12Hello, good evening. Welcome to yet another episode of our special IPL show,

00:18Straight Bat with Mr. Cricket UAE. With me, I've got Mr. Anish Sajan, the Mr. Cricket UAE himself

00:25and our cricket enthusiast, Sahil Sajan. Now, since this is a double header and there could

00:31be supporters of more than two teams logged into us, I would like, Anish Bhai, to just

00:38make a small announcement of the competition that's also in progress,

00:42which is now seven, eight days old, before I throw my first question to you.

00:47Good evening, Gautam. Hi, Sahil. And good evening to all the beautiful people of Gulf News. Yes,

00:52the competition is every day, we have a match, either one match or two match, you need to predict

00:57the winner. And you walk away with the beautiful apparel kit, which is a track t-shirt and a cap,

01:03and go and support your lovely team, rather your favorite team. And that's what you get

01:08logging on to Gulf News page. Great. Okay, now, you know, this back-to-back double headers,

01:16so the IPL has really warmed up now. I mean, first match, now, Rajasthan, two out of two,

01:22then Gujarat, surprise of surprises, two out of two again. So, we have...

01:28So, I'll come back to you about Josh Butler. I mean, the kind of, you know, the bad flow is so

01:51such a lovely, I mean, he does the same damage, but he looks, he looks aesthetically far more

01:57pleasing than I would say, somebody like a Gale. I mean, no offense meant to Gale. How do you rate

02:03his batsmanship on his back? You know what, Josh Butler has come into this tournament with such a

02:08bad form in Test cricket. But somehow, when he is in this white ball, rather pink t-shirt of RR,

02:15and especially when he plays the blue boys of Mumbai, he gets into form. If you see the record

02:20of Josh Butler, he is almost 100% against Mumbai. And today's inning, as you mentioned, there was no

02:26slogging. Shots which were really jaw-dropping and treat to watch. And his innings laid the

02:32platform for a big score. And 193 on a dry wicket. I would not say a dry, dry wicket,

02:39but on a day wicket where the match, where the spinners come into play was too much for Mumbai

02:44to chase down. Right. Well, Mumbai, I mean, the thing is, there were a couple of loopholes in

02:53that Mumbai squad. I mean, now, is it like somebody's worst fears of a Mumbai team coming

02:59true? See, the newcomers like Anmol Preet and all are good. But Rohit has now failed to fire in two

03:06matches consecutively. So whom do they do to rely on? I mean, Karen Pollard, when they had the Pandya

03:14brothers used to come at 7 or 8. Now he is coming at 5. What do you feel they need to do?

03:21Well, let's accept the fact, like when they went in the auction, they bid too heavily on Ishan

03:26Kishan and Jofra Achar, who is not going to play. Ishan Kishan has been doing the job. Now,

03:31obviously, Rohit Sharma will have to make sure that he also gets some runs so that they get that

03:36score. He did manage to get that start in the first game. But having said that, without Surya Kumar

03:42Yadav, they look a bit timid in the depth. Today, even though Tilak Varma played an outstanding

03:47knock to give that depth into the batting, but Surya Kumar Yadav is definitely required so that

03:52Pollard can probably come and do the finishing touch because definitely they are missing the

03:57Pandya brothers. Right. Well, we move on to the second game now. I mean, this was a far more

04:05fascinating game because we were hoping that, you know, how much, when they ended up, when

04:13Gujarat ended up at 171, we thought that that may not be exactly a power score here.

04:19But firstly, what was fascinating was, you know, the batting of Shubman Gill. I mean,

04:24he had always been a class act and he just played six dot balls. So has he done something to his

04:31batting? What struck you? Yeah, I thought, let's take this question. Yes, Sahil.

04:38Yeah, but Shubman, you know, we've seen him. He's got that classy touch in him. Like, you know,

04:44we've compared him to Virat Kohli back in the day. Now, see, Shubman Gill is not a slogger. He likes

04:51to time the ball. He takes his time. But today he was, like you mentioned, six dot balls only. He's

04:55played brilliantly. And this is how he should develop his T20 game. I remember when he was

04:59playing for KKL, he was criticized a lot in the start, like he used to start slow. But now this

05:0584 is an improvement and that shows that he's working on his T20 game.

05:10Right. Yeah. And Sahil, another question to you. I mean, two games,

05:17whether when Hardik Pandya came on to bat, he has been coming at number four. He's taking that

05:22responsibility. When he has come to bowl, he shared the new ball, possibly looking at the

05:27wicket. So what do you think about his attitude? I mean, I think he's looking quite good. It's

05:32still very, very early days, but he's looking good with his game, with his fitness.

05:37I mean, this is a change of role for him. You know, he was a number guy who used to come at

05:42number six or number seven. Now he's a captain of a team. And now he's coming at number four.

05:47This is a huge change. And so far, he has played really well. He's batting with a lot of maturity

05:53and he's bowled well today. Clearly, you saw three overs, 22 is a good stat. So far, he's done well

05:59as a captain and he's playing with a lot of maturity and he's not made bad decisions on the

06:03field. So credit to him, really. He's done well. Right. I'll go back to Aneesbhai. Hardik's

06:11captaincy in particular, what do you think about it? The decision to bring himself on,

06:16instead of going with Shami and Lockie, you know, looking possibly at the wicket,

06:22which would suit his kind of bowling. What do you feel, Aneesbhai?

06:27Well, you have to give credit because it has come off. When it comes out, it looks good. But to be

06:32very honest, without taking anything away from Pandya, it was brain freeze by Delhi. They were

06:37cruising. They required probably 54 or 36 balls with six wickets in hand. And the only danger

06:43man from the opposition was Lockie Ferguson, who was actually bowling thunderbolts. And the first

06:49ball of his second spell, rather Rishabh Pant played an indecisive shot, whether he first wanted

06:55to duck, then he pulled it. And the pace was such that it carried to the fielder. And after that,

07:00also, they were in the game. We can say that a couple of boundaries hit by Akshar Patel,

07:05and you lose one more wicket. I mean, the run rate required was not too much.

07:10But the problem was, they lost too many wickets. And at one stage, it seemed that they will cruise

07:15along to the victory. And then they collapse. And then you lose by 14 runs, which is a big margin.

07:20So you have to give credit to Pandya and his captainship. And to none other than the guy,

07:26Lockie Ferguson, who turned the game on his head. To be very honest, he really bowled quick.

07:32And for me, he is the man of the match for today's game, as much as Subban Gill played

07:35an outstanding knock. What is so special about Lockie's bowling, if I ask you to

07:44it down? Because, you know, even in the UAE, I mean, where wickets were tiring in the second

07:50part of the IPL, we saw the games that he got, he made a difference. So is there always a room for

07:58quick pace, along with, of course, the slower ones or the cutters that he bowls? What do you

08:02think, Ganeshbhai? His biggest strength, obviously, is pace. And the pace is 145-147. So it's not easy.

08:09And he surprises you with that bouncer where he cramps you for room. Like if you see the

08:13shot which Rishabh Pant played, he didn't know what to do about it. Similarly, Prithvi Shaw,

08:18the ball came on, hurried on to him. And if you talk about the dismissal of Akshar Patel,

08:24he was cramped for room. So he tried to flick it away, but there was not enough time. So that is

08:30what is his biggest strength. And don't forget, he has that slower ones and the cutters which he

08:34bowls where you are not able to read him. I cannot forget him for a very important

08:39final, semi-final where he lost to them in Manchester, where also he bowled very well.

08:45If you remember the wicket of MS Dhoni where he got run out, he hurried on to him.

08:49And Dhoni was on the back foot. Okay, now that's too far. 2019, I am going back. But that's the

08:54thing. His over in that crucial 49th over or 48th over which he bowled to MS was one of the crucial

09:02points. And that is why Lockheed Ferguson, for me, is a good, good bye-bye Gujarat Titans.

09:07Right, right. Yeah. Okay. I mean, yes, I mean, so two pretty different kind of games,

09:14but fascinating games today. Again, another round of doubleheaders coming up. We have got,

09:19you know, this time, what is your expectation of Chennai for tomorrow?

09:25This is for me or Sahil?

09:28No, I think I'll come to Sahil to wrap up. Yeah.

09:31Okay. So, you know what? The best thing today was that both the captains who lost the toss,

09:38especially Sanju Santhan has lost two, has won both the games. And Pandya, he won the first game

09:44winning the toss. And the second game, he lost the toss. So, today, the tide somehow changed. So,

09:48out of the 10 games, we have had three games going with teams batting first. So, the ratio is still

09:537-3. Otherwise, it was just win the toss, bat first. So, I am glad the bowlers have come into play.

10:00Proved wrong.

10:01Yes. So, it was like what we saw in the Chennai game. You know, difficult to hold the ball with

10:07the dew. And I am glad the bowlers have turned it around. You have to accept the fact, dew or no dew.

10:13Either you put up a big total and bat the opposition out. Or if your boulder got few

10:18runs on the board, you ensure that you take your catches. And today, let's accept the fact that

10:23both the teams held on to the catches. And that's the reason they have won. There's no excuses for

10:28losing a game now.

10:30Right. I will come to Sahil. Sahil, again, there are two games tomorrow. I mean,

10:36still early days. First round of back-to-back doubleheaders. What's your take? I mean,

10:43who would be your favorites in the two games tomorrow?

10:46Tomorrow, it's CSK versus Punjab, right?

10:49Tomorrow is only one game, if I am not wrong, Gautam. Being a Sunday,

10:53surprisingly, they have kept one game only tomorrow. CSK versus Punjab.

11:00CSK versus Punjab. That's right. Yeah. So, what do you think? I mean, Chennai,

11:06you have to log in points.

11:09Tough choice. I think I'm gonna have to stick with Punjab Kings as much as

11:14now I have a slight attachment to Chennai. But I'm gonna stick with Punjab Kings tomorrow,

11:18for sure. Because, you know, they have some world-class players in them.

11:22Right. And another thing, Sahil, see, you know, we haven't spoken about it much. Gujarat

11:28Titans, once again, you know, I keep saying, possibly like a broken record that early days,

11:34being such a big tournament. But, you know, there is an advantage if you're an underrated

11:39franchisee. And they're really capitalizing on that. The batting hasn't been tested today.

11:45Of course, Shubman anchored the innings so very well. And then finally, there were some late

11:50charges. But they've got people to do it. And they've got a Tevatiya. So how far do you see

11:55them going? Now you've got a little more faith on them? It's too early to say for now. I mean,

12:02it's just been two games. But yeah, of course, they have decent players. And they don't have

12:07like high-profile players other than Pandya, Rashid, Shubman. And now Tevatiya is now going

12:12to be a high-profile player one day. And Lockheed. Lockheed. I mean, still, there is a lot of hope

12:19for them to reach top 4. For sure. For sure. Not because they won these two games. There's hope.

12:25Right. I mean, to sum up before I close this, I think what the performance of Gujarat

12:32Titans and Lucknow Super Gents in the last game have shown, I mean, this could well turn out to

12:38be an open IPL, the 2022. Once again, early days, we will see how it goes. And we look forward to

12:47another cracking game tomorrow and hope that maybe Chennai is finally able to log in their

12:51first points. So that's it for today. Wishing all the good night to our readers and browsers.

12:58Thank you for taking part in the event. It's the first day of Ramadan. Thank you for your time.

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