IPL 2022 analysis: Sore points during thrilling IPL league phase

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Transcript

00:00this IPL 70 games have been cracking rather or most of the games where we went to the wire.

00:15Hello, good evening everybody. Welcome to once again to the straight back with

00:21Gulf News and Mr. Cricket UAE, Mr. Anish Sarjan. We have come to the end of the

00:28league phase of the Indian Premier League season 15 and we have the entire set of fans. There will

00:34be some who are happy to be here. There will be some who will have some grouse against the team

00:40and we will talk about the entire process that what happened in the last week and of course what

00:46next for the remaining four teams. We'll be talking about it over the next few minutes or

00:54the next period of time and before I go into asking any of the fans, I will ask Mr. Anish

01:00Sarjan. Anish bhai, how was it? You think the final four teams now actually you can sum up

01:09your entire thoughts on the league as well as what next you can talk about it. Thank you Satish and

01:14hello to all the lovely fans and the beautiful people of Gulf News. Yes, this IPL 70 games have

01:20been cracking rather. Most of the games went to the wire and to be very honest, the four teams

01:28which made it to, I had predicted Delhi, it did not come into the playoffs but the four teams

01:33deservedly are in the playoffs. Feel a bit for Delhi as well as for I would say Punjab but in

01:41the end, you have to say that the teams which played well and executed well have made it to

01:45the playoffs. So, we should have a cracker of a playoff in the next one week. Lovely. So, let's

01:53start with today's game. I will go to Varun. Varun, do you think Hyderabad missed a chance to

02:05finish on a high because such a meek surrender, nobody would have expected from such a strong

02:11bowling unit like Hyderabad. What's your thought on today's game and of course, what happened to

02:16them? They had five consecutive wins in the middle of the league and then they had five

02:22consecutive losses and probably now have to win another loss today. So, it's even by and large,

02:27it's a six and six, I think they are. Yeah, I mean, as you said, we had the five wins but again

02:34from the second half, the pitches were slowing down and we still decided to go with the four-pacer

02:39formula. You know, even if we had Abhishek Sharma, he's also a pretty good spinner I would say but

02:45we haven't been using him. Only Washington Sundar, he's also been injured. He's been going out.

02:49We get in Suchit, he plays one game and he goes out again. Sundar comes in. So, we haven't really

02:55gotten that good spinner this season and now finally, somehow we're getting the two spinners.

03:00Thank you to Bhuvi but that also failed today. So, I think the first half was good. The pitches were

03:07really according or suitable to us for our four-pacers. Even the 68 all-out. Yeah, so that

03:15was also good. That was good to see from the pace. Sorry to interrupt Varun but even today, not a

03:21single over was given to Abhishek Sharma. Yeah, that's the thing. Because we had, I think, Washington

03:27Sundar and Jagadeesh and Suchitra. We already had the two spinners in. So, maybe there was no need

03:31of Abhishek Sharma and 157 was never going to be enough on this pitch with the kind of batting

03:39lineup Punjab Kings has from Bairstow to Livingston. They just carried away the game

03:43and then Shah Rukh Khan surprisingly came in at three, played a handy knock and then Jitesh

03:49Sharma again. So, the bowling, it wasn't good in the second half and again the batting, we just

03:55collapsed. The fielding was horrible. Fielding was really horrible. Well, good thing I stopped

04:05the game, I think, halfway through Punjab Kings batting. So, you didn't see some of the

04:11comedy of errors, you missed it. Yeah, thank God I missed that. But again, we have some positives

04:18to take from the uncapped players played well like Abhishek Sharma, highest runs scored in

04:23uncapped section. Second, right behind Abhishek Sharma is Rahul Tripathi. Umran Malik, he's been

04:29taking wickets consistently and the speed, that's one thing you can always look out for. So,

04:35some things went away, some things didn't. But it's just one bad season. We can't really say

04:42because this team is still young, right? I think this is the youngest. But the sad part is last

04:48year also, Hyderabad finished 8th and this year also they're finishing 8th. So, 8 and 8, just like

04:53Punjab 6-6-6-6, we're 8-8. Let's hope that's not the thing for next season. But again, this season

04:59is like a recovery season from last year. I feel, you know, these kind of youngsters who haven't

05:04really played the 14 games throughout the season or Markram, you know, these kind of players who

05:08haven't really gotten that full run in IPL, now they have got it. So, now by next year, you know,

05:14they will know how the IPL feels like and, you know, they might get a bit more prepared, a bit

05:18more ready for next year. So, let's just see how it goes. Until then, go out and join me. That's all.

05:24Okay, enjoy. Okay, coming to Clinton. Clinton, yeah, though Punjab played true to their potential

05:33today, do you think they should have continued this for a longer period of time? Because still,

05:38I think it is just about one win that was missing from Punjab that could have taken them to the

05:43playoffs. Because they have a very healthy run rate probably, better than Bangalore.

05:50Well, absolutely. If I would point out three games wherein we should have won and we lost.

05:57First one would be the one against Gujarat Titans. Odin throws the ball. When it was 13-3,

06:04he bowls a dot ball, he throws it. Tevatia comes on strike, he hits two sixes. There the game goes.

06:11The game against Lucknow. And then the slide started from there. Yeah, it was always very

06:16inconsistent. Winning, losing, winning, losing. If you look now, so we have played 14-1, 7 loss,

06:207. So, we have done justice to what we have been doing all along. That was exactly one win, one

06:26loss, one day win loss. They have not scored two consecutive wins through the season. That's a

06:30problem. Even since last season, we have not won two in a row. So, 2021-2022, we have stuck to our

06:37same protocol that we have been following. Very good, very good effort. But that is coming from

06:44a team that is probably one of the best because we all thought that in the auction, Punjab did

06:48quite well. And if the performance is going to be the same as what it was in the previous year,

06:53and what did the auction do? Well, that the management would be in a better position to

07:01answer because even Harsha Bogle at the start of the season, just after the auction said,

07:06if Punjab do not qualify this year with this team, then the problem lies within and they should look

07:12within themselves. So, that's absolutely true. Correct. He makes a lot of sense because I mean,

07:19you look at Jonny Bairstow, you look at Liam Livingston, you look at Shikhar Dhawan,

07:23you look at Kagiso Rabada, you know, there are four match winners there in your team and

07:27the batting that we provide. Jitesh Sharma, not to forget, I mean, he's played really,

07:32really well. Arshdeep Singh had another brilliant season. So, it was all there,

07:37it was just about catching on those key moments, which we failed to do, which we've been failing

07:42to do ever since Anil Kumble has taken over the reins of coach. I'm not blaming him. I'm not

07:48saying anything. But since 2020, we've been bottling games, which we should have won any day.

07:57You look at RCB that day, they were chasing 160-odd in a must-win game, their big players

08:03stood up. Yesterday also, Mumbai Indians, nothing to lose, chasing 160, their big players stood up.

08:08Punjab chased 205 at the start of the season, they failed to chase 154 against Lucknow,

08:15they failed to chase 159 against Delhi. So, that and with the batting that we have. So,

08:20I mean, the problem, I don't know where… Yeah, with almost close to 4.5 overs to spare,

08:26if you can score 150 runs, then that's a big total, like 30 balls, almost 39 balls you are

08:31still having, which can go for another 70-80 runs easily. Anyway, bad luck to Punjab. And then let's

08:40now go from the bottom of the table. And I'm sure the next person will be Naresh. So, Naresh,

08:50your thoughts. I'm sure you spoke a lot about Mumbai, but I think finally, they won a few

08:57games and they look like set for next year. So, it looks like it's a better… It's going to be

09:03a better team and you can see like a form of Mumbai next year. What are your thoughts on that?

09:09Yeah, you can say, the season has been in two halves. The first half, you can say,

09:15was an extreme terrible half. And the second one was a much decent half. We lost

09:19eight first games and then we won four out of the remaining six. If we had won the same number

09:25of games, we would have been at 16 and things would have been very different. But that hasn't

09:29happened. Takeaways, though, you know, Ishan Kishan struggled, he ended up to be the most

09:37highest scorer, 400-plus runs. Tilak Verma fined of the season, 397 runs. Tim David in between was

09:45dropped. What was corrected, we could see it probably in the second half, 200-plus strike rate.

09:53And Brevis has done well. So, when Surya Kumar is fit, Brevis, Surya, Tilak Verma and Tim David

10:00probably will become a core middle order going ahead. Worst season for Rohit Sharma in the

10:07history of IPL, only 268 runs at the average of 19. He could actually score in one inning,

10:13probably. He has the potential to do that. Yeah, but that's been his worst season with the bat.

10:18And some, I can say some tactical mistakes of the way changes were made in the team,

10:25the way the bowling changes were made. Bumrah, you can say. Bumrah, again, also was quite frustrated

10:30in the first half but has come back very well. A fiver and even the last game against Delhi

10:36was brilliant. We also lost out on the games which we could have won. It's just that we gave

10:41just too many runs in between. I think, Naresh, one big change that has happened in the last

10:46five games is dropping Pollard must have given you the option to bring in some fresh legs and fresh

10:54energy to the team, isn't it? Yeah, I had kept Pollard for the last because that's the biggest

11:00decision the franchise now has to make for the future. That's a real decision they have to make.

11:06I don't think there is anything we need to discuss. I think it will be left on Pollard

11:11himself. He gave up international cricket during the season of IPL. How he's going to continue

11:16performing in the other leagues like the CPL coming up in two months, that will decide his

11:24future for Mumbai. But yeah, we need a quality spinner to come in. We will have to also take

11:30a call on Geoffra Archer because he's again ruled out playing in the English summer. So,

11:35that's the other decision to make. Daniel Sams did well in the second half and probably Daniel

11:42Sams will be more suited when we play IPL around the country. Those pitches would probably suit

11:48him more. But yeah, we need a good seamer if Archer is not fit. We need a good spinner who

11:55can bat and be a wicket-taking spinner. We have spinners who are restricting runs or probably

12:00giving away too many. But some good young blood. Even Hrithik Shaukine was bold enough to bowl in

12:06the power play. He's done well. But yeah, we lost those opportunities where I can say a couple of

12:12more games we could have won and ended up better on the table. Okay. Now, Arjan must be waiting.

12:19But this is not the general time Chennai comes in, isn't it? Last year, Chennai were the champions.

12:26Now, coming to the ninth table. What are your thoughts? I think the season is gone.

12:32But your thoughts on what's next? It's been a dismal season for us this time. Dhoni can't keep on

12:42tiring our team every single time. Of course, we want Jadeja back next season. We want to have a good

12:49next season. We want Jadeja back. We don't want him going to a different team or anything.

12:56And I think we need to pick up a little bit more talent. Our team this time has been,

13:03it's not been the best. We've been underperforming. And even in the squad that we currently have,

13:10we're not playing to our full potential. Also, I think we could add a few more players. Now,

13:18let's not make it all dad's army and get only people who are above 35.

13:24At least this year, it's not a dad's army anymore. At least you have four or five youngsters now.

13:31Of course, one didn't perform. Starting from Ghekwad, you have the two fast bowlers,

13:38Chowdhury and Simranjit Singh. Shivam Dubey, I'm sure Anisbhai will come in now. The moment

13:50you talk about Shivam Dubey, he's going to come in. And I'll let the fans stop.

13:58Conway has been good. Yeah. Conway has been good. So, it's no longer a dad's army. But for

14:03Raidu and maybe to some extent,

14:07Uttapa, most of these, because Bravo didn't play in the final games. You have Santner who's still

14:14young. So, it's not a dad's army anymore. Arjun, you can tell anybody that it's not dad's army

14:19anymore. Yeah. You know, we need to leave a few people. We can't keep the dad's army anymore.

14:26We need to shift into that younger team. That's why, okay, this is kind of a crazy idea. But what

14:35if we auction off one of our older players and then bring in Arjun Tendulkar into our team?

14:44Oh, please, please. He's not even played one match for Mumbai.

14:50Exactly. So, let him perform and we'll see whether he's worth it or not.

14:57His father won't leave him, Arjun. His father won't leave him.

15:02It's not like they're going to pay over like 50 lakh for him. They aren't going to retain him,

15:09that's for sure. So, they're going to keep him on the auction, but they're going to try and get him.

15:14What if CSK tries and bids with Mumbai and perhaps we can get him for 50 or...

15:23No, no. Let's move away from Arjun Tendulkar. So, you think it's, you know,

15:29like more fresh young blood is required and that's where Chennai is missing.

15:35Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Arjun. Now, let's come to Maaz, the man who doesn't

15:42hold his punches before Maaz. Anisbhai, tell me, like, do you think,

15:50and every match I'm seeing, there are so many catches dropped, so many misfielding happening.

15:56What happened to the standard of the fielding, Anisbhai? I'm serious. I'm wondering,

16:00like, what exactly, where are we heading? Trust me, Satish, the fielding standard in this IPL,

16:06as much as the cricket has been of the highest standard, the fielding standard

16:10has been very, very poor. A lot of people maybe have been either having butter or maybe like the

16:14Hyderabad people had the biryani today. I'm not sure. But it's been very, very poor. And I have

16:21to say that this fielding lapses have cost a lot of teams important matches. Speaking about the

16:28fielding, the umpiring also has been pretty poor this year. I mean, since we're just away from the

16:33subject. But these two things have been a total letdown. I'll be very honest. Yeah, I think

16:39because at the end of it, fans need to keep that morale up and they need to keep coming back,

16:44isn't it? Like these kind of sloppiness will only reduce the standard of the game.

16:50All right. Okay. Now, Maaz, what next for you? I'm sure you're happy with the team. That's what

16:59I remember when we spoke last time. But is there anything that Kolkata need to do differently,

17:06other than, of course, McCullum is not going to be there anyway. So is there anything else

17:10other than McCullum Kolkata needs to do? I think it's been a season of ups and downs for us. And

17:17even in the start of the season, even though we won three, four matches in the start, I said that

17:22we haven't played the best cricket. It was usually the individual performances that has been winning

17:26us games. And I think it's been the case for KKR for a lot of seasons recently. But even this

17:32season, it was a lot of dependency on Andrew Russell. I know he's an X factor, but you can't

17:37always depend on him. Luckily, this season he was fit throughout the season and we didn't lose him

17:43for any of the matches. And that's been a very, very good blessing for us. Otherwise, I don't

17:48see, I don't know where KKR would be without him. He wasn't there this season. But yes, McCullum

17:54going to England is a blessing in disguise because in the last four seasons, we have not qualified

18:00for the three seasons. Last season also was a rollercoaster of a ride. We lost

18:05a few matches, like five matches in the first half, and then we come to Dubai and win seven

18:09matches. So it's been a rollercoaster of a ride. But I hope the new management is more focused on

18:16a single, like, you know, they're not changing players every now and then and they rely on

18:22players and give them chances that they deserve. But I think a few releases I would make would be

18:28from Shivam Mavi. We have been persisting with him for the last three, four years, but,

18:34you know, you haven't seen that spark in him. Yeah, he has played two, three good matches,

18:38but you don't, that's not what you want from a youngster. You see Chetan Sekharia, Ajdeep Singh,

18:42Umran Malik, they have been consistent. They have been learning. Yeah, they have been expensive.

18:46They have been giving runs, but they're also learning and maturing from time to time.

18:51But if you see Shivam Mavi, or even Kamlesh Nagokutty, we did release him, but they haven't

18:57been maturing. So I think we need a backup for Umesh Yadav and also a few good openers. And

19:04I think we would also like to have a replacement of Varun Chaturvedi,

19:08if in case he doesn't have a good season next year as well. We have someone to go back to.

19:13I don't think we need to say that he needs to be released. He was just a replacement for Alex

19:17Hills. If Alex Hills was there, the season would have been completely different for KKR

19:22with the opening partnership. But yeah, two good openers and some good fast bowlers from India

19:30would filter those gaps that were left out this season. But I would like to mention about

19:36Shreyas Iyer. We have finally found a good captain. I personally feel he's a better captain

19:43than KL Rahul and might lead Team India in the future as well. What makes you say this? I just

19:49want to know. All of us would like to know. If you see KL Rahul, he has been

19:59making few decisions. If you see the test match in South Africa,

20:04Kohli went. The team has been very, very on a high note with Kohli. But when KL Rahul was

20:10captaining, it looked like the team was dead. I mean, there was no excitement in the field. The

20:15body language was dead. And at some point, I have seen that in Lucknow Super Gents as well.

20:19So I wouldn't say Shreyas Iyer is a very, very active captain. But there have been few decisions

20:26by Shreyas Iyer. The way he has been using his bowlers, it has been very, very nice. And

20:30so I think Shreyas Iyer would... Nothing to take away from KL Rahul and Lucknow Super Gents.

20:35But I think Shreyas Iyer might be the captain for the Indian team in the future.

20:40One thing I can say in support of Shreyas Iyer is,

20:43he got the best out of Sunil Narayan after a couple of years this year.

20:47So that's one positive aspect I could talk about Shreyas Iyer.

20:51Even for that matter, Umesh Yadav. He has used him very well.

20:55So yeah, the use of bowlers has been very nice by Shreyas Iyer.

20:59Good. Okay. Do we have Sakit here? I don't see him. Sakit is there for Delhi?

21:05Yes.

21:06Delhi we have.

21:10Sakit, what a disastrous game yesterday. And those two decisions could have actually given

21:17a spot in the playoffs. Now that's gone. Do you think Pant is a good captain? Or it's too much

21:24to put pressure on that young guy? What is your thought as a Delhi fan?

21:31So as a Delhi fan, you know, this season from a Delhi fan perspective was, you know,

21:36really encouraging for me. Barring the last match. Yeah, you know, the last match,

21:40he made a few errors, you know. First of all, the catch that he missed, you know, for Brevis.

21:45Brevis, yeah, definitely didn't go on to score more runs. But he did add 10 to 12 more runs.

21:50That did affect us. And then, you know, that was just the game changing moment, I would say.

21:55So barring that match, if you look at the entire season, the 13 games before that,

21:59yeah, with the bat, he has not been that consistent. But you look at his decisions,

22:04you know, when he's bought the spinners on and all of that, he's been pretty good with that,

22:07the batting order. And also, I still feel, you know, some people might not like support me with

22:14this. But I still feel what happened with Rajasthan, you know, when he actually stood up,

22:18you know, because it was clear that it was a no ball, you know, when...

22:22But I have to interrupt, but there are rules there, like the laws are clear that you can't...

22:30No, definitely there are rules.

22:34As the captain of the team, you know, he felt it was his responsibility to speak up, you know,

22:38because if he had a chance that, you know, if he could speak up and the decision could have

22:43gone to the third umpire upstairs, and maybe it could have been reversed. So maybe the outcome

22:47of the game could have been changed, although it was pretty over by that time. But you never know,

22:52you know, there are already three sixes in a row. So barring that it was a good season,

22:56I still want like, you know, Rishabh Bhatt to stay the captain, I feel this season will really

23:01help him to mature forward. And to, you know, sum it up in a nutshell, it's been a very unfortunate,

23:07you know, series of events for Delhi, you know, first of all, you see the two main players Warner

23:13and Mitchell Marsh, they arrived after two or three matches, Delhi played, then Anirudh

23:19Naukar, you know, at the start of the tournament was also injured. Then you have Prithvi Shaw's

23:24injury in the second half of the IPL, he could only play, you know, the last game against Mumbai.

23:29And there was COVID in between.

23:31Yeah, so definitely a lot of unfortunate events. And so I feel I really feel really confident that

23:39if Delhi, you know, barring all of this come next year with the exact same score, I do not,

23:44I don't want to see any big transfers or anything. I'm really happy with the performance of Marsh,

23:49Warner, and you know, all the other players also like Kuldeep, Aadav and all. So I'm pretty

23:54confident that next year, they'll definitely be able to make it this time, it was just a matter

23:57of, you know, one bad game. That's it. Correct. Correct. That's, that's good.

24:02But Satish, my point, I understand that they had some out of the box, like the COVID and the injury

24:09rather the sickness to Prithvi Shaw, or Mitchell Marsh. I'm just trying to, you know, I saw the

24:16whole highlights again of Delhi's match against Mumbai. He's appealed in the beginning for the

24:23first ball of Tim David. And we could see, you know, Sarfaraz into his ears. Lelo, I am still

24:32baffled why he wouldn't go for that. He had two reviews in the bank and just four hours to go.

24:38What must be the reason? Any of you guys, maybe the fan can say.

24:41Definitely, I would like to add upon this. So the main reason why I feel you know,

24:45that punt might have not gone up on that was Shardul Thakur's confidence. I mean,

24:49if you're a bowler, you know, 90% of the times when something like this happens,

24:54you know, 90% of the time when something like this happens, and even if the ball is not as

24:58close to the bat, the bowler is always confident. The bowler always asks the keeper.

25:02No, but on the contrary, I will have to go back. There have been instances where the bowler

25:08didn't even appeal, but the umpire was confident enough to appeal it and got the wickets.

25:13So it should be the other way, isn't it, Sakhi?

25:16Yeah, definitely. You can say, you know, it was a slight error for him. But I still feel,

25:19you know,

25:19No, no, no. I'm not going to pillory punt because it's one and again, like it's not a punt. There

25:25were 10 other people on the field. So they could have pushed punt to take it. For some strange

25:32reason, it didn't happen.

25:34But I still feel at the end of the day, you know, there is some involvement of Shardul Thakur,

25:38you know, because he is the bowler. And if the bowler does not feel, you know, maybe, you know,

25:42it was so slight that punt did not hear it. But if Shardul Thakur could have convinced him that,

25:46you know, you can go up, you still have two reviews, maybe he would have gone up and the

25:50decision of the match could have been different. But yeah, I mean, because of his one decision,

25:54I cannot, you know, say that, you know, I'm

25:56No, no, no. I don't believe that way. I don't believe that way. He's done a quite good job.

26:01Yeah. Correct. He is young. For that age, he has done quite remarkably well, because Delhi is a

26:08high profile team. It's not those one of the smaller teams or like it's not Punjab or somebody

26:13who has not won it. Delhi has been in the top run for a long time. But yes, it's a good job done by

26:20Rishabh Pant. Sanjay must be waiting for a long time. And he must be finally laughing because

26:27every time he comes in, he will laugh. There's some very tough things to say about

26:32Royal Challengers and somehow Royal Challengers have managed to sneak into the top four.

26:38I could see a gleaming Sanjay, I won't hold you back. Go for it.

26:42Like, yes, the match before the match against GT, the before the match, I was like,

26:47we have to win this. But deep down inside, I was like, yes,

26:52in the recent times, even GT were told they will choke. So, I thought even GT might

26:58go against us because to prove them wrong and we are the best team,

27:03GT might put themselves. But looking at the bowling, yes, Josh Hazlut was good in the power

27:08play. Then again, he got smacked. Hasaranga, I don't, I am enough. I'm done complaining about

27:14Hasaranga. The moment he picked 10 plus wickets, I stopped complaining about Hasaranga. I am wrong.

27:18I was wrong during the auctions. I was wrong. He proved me wrong. So, yes, I think the match

27:24against GT, it was a team performance. Even in the bowling department, yes, we leaked the runs

27:28from 14 to 15. Miller and Hardik Pandya went guns blazing on us, scoring big shots and all.

27:35But yes, I would still not scold Siddharth Kaur because all of a sudden in the 14th match, you...

27:41Sanjay, you are breaking off.

27:43We are not able to hear you.

27:44Yeah, yeah. Good, good.

27:46We bring Siddharth Kaur and you ask him to contribute to the team. How can he do?

27:49No, Sanjay. Sanjay is breaking. We will come back to you, Sanjay.

27:53Satish.

27:54Yes.

27:54I believe we can hear him. I'm not sure.

27:57Oh, okay, okay. Then maybe it's my mistake. Okay, go ahead. Go ahead, Sanjay. Sorry.

28:02Yes, you bring in Siddharth Kaur for the last match and you ask him,

28:07please come step up and perform for us. I don't think it's so easy. Considering that was a crucial

28:14match for us to get through to the playoffs and you're dropping Siraj and you include Siddharth

28:19Kaur and you ask him, come Siddharth Kaur, just pick four wickets for us, get the openers out,

28:23get the middle-order batsmen out. That's not his cup of tea. If you just...

28:27The same thing happened in 2020 also. The 13 matches you play Finch, 14 matches you bring in

28:33Josh Philippe. That has been the shit changes we do every time in the crucial matches.

28:38But God's grace, Hazelwood, Harshal Patel, again, he was injured. I think we would have restricted

28:45them if Harshal would have gone the last two overs instead of Josh Hazelwood and Siddharth Kaur

28:50there. I was damn sure if Harshal was on the field, Faf was going and pretty happy that Virat

28:55Kohli shed everyone's mouth, telling that, yes, I'm back. I'm still in the game. The partnership

29:01between Faf and Virat Kohli of 120 or 124 for Nolan. The second partnership of 100 between Faf

29:06and Virat. The first one was with Punjab Kings in the first match and now they're coming back.

29:11Maxwell is back in the bank. We're picking crucial wickets, contributing with the bat.

29:18I think that's one thing which I noticed is something different is, generally,

29:23Royal Challengers will have these one or two small low poles or those weak players who will let the

29:29team down time and again. But I think that's where Dinesh Karthik and your Harshal Patel and everybody

29:35has come in, including Lomore or even, for that matter, Shahbaz Ahmed. All these guys have stepped

29:43up to that level when they were down. I think that's one thing which is positive from

29:48Bangalore this year.

29:49Yeah. Rather than a match against GTE, I was literally waiting for yesterday's match.

29:55For the first time, other than RCB match, the full match I saw, it was yesterday. MI versus DC.

30:00I sat in front of the TV. I saw full match. I didn't eat anything.

30:05Whether my parents were forcing me to have dinner or nothing. No, no, I'll not have. I'll eat after 11.30.

30:10The last over, 28 runs equal. Tim David goes. I was like, no. The last hope, Tim David went 34.

30:16No, how? What will be the scenario? Then no ball came in the last over. I was fixed. Now, we are

30:21there. Now, MI is going to win it. MI won the match. I was very happy. I slept happily.

30:26What about when Rohit was batting? How was your reaction?

30:29When Rohit was… Literally, I scolded whatever words I… I don't know whatever I scolded my dad.

30:35No, no, no.

30:36My dad was like, you know all such things. Yeah, yeah. This happens when people… He eats complete

30:43two overs with just two runs. I'm like, no, only Ishan Kishan is performing. Who will support him?

30:47Was he doing purposely, you feel?

30:50Yeah, somewhere down the line, I think that because he has some grudge against RCBI.

30:55No, no, no.

30:56Later in the post-match, he tells…

30:57No, no, no. That's fine. That's unfair.

31:01Kohli and Rohit have been the best friends on the field. So, you can't say that.

31:06And actually, in the Instagram… Yesterday in the Instagram story, I just posted a story

31:11telling it's RCBI versus DC, not MI versus DC. I made this trend roam everywhere in Twitter,

31:16in WhatsApp. No, guys, it's RCBI versus DC. Paint the stadium with blue. All the players,

31:21blue jersey, come. You have to wear blue and you just have to support MI. So, they might win.

31:26And they won the match. But that review of Rishabh Pandey… If Rishabh Pandey had taken

31:30that review, RCBI would be out of the playoffs by now.

31:33Yeah, true. True. Okay. Now, Vineet, what a year for Lucknow. Coming in as a debutant.

31:44You have a team, not too many stars on the team. You have taken some of those players

31:51who have been offloaded by these teams. And now you are there. You are there with 18 points.

31:58Obviously, though Lucknow are in third position, they have done exceedingly well

32:03this season. Just your thoughts. What do you think will happen in the playoffs?

32:10First to start off, not a lot of people expected Lucknow to actually go through to the playoffs.

32:16Because they are a new team. They expected to choke and not perform well. But I feel they

32:24actually exceeded expectations of many people who expected Lucknow not to go through. But

32:32actually looking at most of the games, I felt there were a couple of games where we should have

32:36performed better, which may have cost us top spot in particular. Like for example,

32:42the match against Gujarat Titans where it was like suicidal cricket, where we got bowled out

32:49for 82. And the match against Rajasthan Royals also. Pretty much the second last and the third

32:55last match. So I thought maybe there was a bit of pressure creeping in. But then the last match,

33:01we managed to win it. But again, that pressure will be there on the playoffs.

33:07It should be there. Being a new team, it's obviously going to be there.

33:11Just one point. Lucknow has not won a match against the rest of the three teams in the

33:15playoffs. They are still yet to win a match against RCB, GTA and RR.

33:22Which is true. I see a lot of banter there. Which is true. But then even playoffs is a

33:27different scenario. So you never know. I mean, it could be a battle of nerves. But truth be told,

33:34the form of Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul has been very important.

33:37And that's the only thing that's happening. Because other than the openers,

33:41the batting looks very hollow, isn't it?

33:44I think because when Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul do not perform, there's a little too

33:50much pressure on Deepak Hooda. Deepak Hooda is also another batsman who has been in great form

33:57this season. But the thing is, he's not getting too much support at times from the rest of the

34:02middle order. Like players like Krunal Pandya could actually do better. If Stoinis had actually

34:07been promoted up the order, he could have made a difference. But you know, he pushed far too

34:11down the order. And bowling, I can say, you know, it's actually been really good. Avesh Khan is

34:18among the top 10, you know, when it comes to wickets. Which is actually good to see. And the

34:23other bowlers are chipping in. Mohsin Khan has been a good find, to be honest. And Ravi Bishnoi,

34:29well, if you see the stats, you know, he hasn't performed exceedingly well. But it's because he's

34:34the only spinner in the team. Although Krunal Pandya does chip in with a few overs. But I feel

34:39like, you know, because he's the main specialist spinner, it might be putting a little too much

34:43pressure on him being young. And I feel he'll be alright, you know, by next season.

34:51Okay. I want to ask Satish one question to Vinit. Do you think there's a common between Rahul and

34:57Sanju Samson, the style of captainship? One sends Ashwin Redd and one keeps Stoinis Redd.

35:04You're asking me and Eshbhai or you were asking? No, no, I'm asking Vinit.

35:09I mean, that's where, you know, they're like polar opposites, you know. I feel like

35:13Sanju Samson can take some audacious decisions like that. You know, sometimes it works,

35:18sometimes it doesn't. But I feel, you know, KL Rahul could actually maybe push Stoinis up to

35:25number five. Because Stoinis, in the big-batch league and all, Stoinis opens the batting.

35:30No, but the sad part is, Vinit, whenever Stoinis has been pushed up, he has not been performing.

35:36That's another one we have to take into consideration as well. Because you send

35:41somebody up and he doesn't perform. At least when he comes back, he hits those three or four sixes

35:46and two fours. He gets those 20-25 odd runs in no time. That's true. I mean, it's pretty much like

35:52how Pollard has been handled in Mumbai Indians. You know, sometimes in a situation where you need

35:57him to actually stay in the crease, you know, he comes a little bit up the order. And when you need

36:02him as a finisher, you know, he's down the order. I guess, you know, maybe KL Rahul is actually

36:06following something similar. You know, he wants Stoinis as a finisher. But Stoinis is not

36:11having the same consistency at Pollard. Who do you have in the past? I'm not talking about that now.

36:17That's true. But then, you know, again, Stoinis is an all-rounder. So, you know, you can definitely

36:21expect a couple of overs from him. Even in the last match also, he chipped in with a couple of

36:26wickets. Although it was a bit expensive, he can somewhat guarantee you a wicket as a sixth bowler.

36:34Correct. That certainly is. He won the match against Kolkata last game. Two wickets in the

36:39last two balls where three runs were needed. And of course, thanks to Kolkata by and large. But

36:46still, he did bowl well. Yeah. He had to bowl. I mean, it's also a bit of, you know, keeping calm.

36:52You know, I think he kept calm in that last over. Especially, you know, when Rinku Singh was

36:56actually trying to hit each and every ball for six. So, you know, kudos to him.

37:03Okay. I think we are probably going too far. And we'll keep it Rajasthan and GT. There's

37:11nothing much I'm sure the fans would be having. But still, Ram Ganesh, you have been there as a

37:18Rajasthan fan. What do you think Rajasthan or Sanju needs to do differently in the playoffs?

37:30Yeah. I think the last two matches, not experiment and take all these random decisions like

37:36sending us an opening or something now. I think he did his job at the point. He won the match for

37:42us. He's turned out to be a good find in terms of that adding an extra batting to his already

37:50insane amount of skills. But I think what we need to do is to make sure that we continue on the same

37:56fashion. I think Yashasvi Deswal coming into form is a great thing for us. Because last seven

38:02matches, Butler has gone down. And I was afraid that like usually, we will just rely on individual

38:08brilliance. And with Butler going down and with Chahal not getting the wickets, we will just

38:13come off. But other people have stepped in. Prasidh Krishnan, the bowling is looking great. Trent

38:18Boult has come back in form. Prasidh Krishnan is bowling well. So bowling wise, I think even Obaid

38:22McCoy, the way he's performed the last two matches, I think we've got one of the best bowling in the

38:26tournament because we've got a left armor. We've got Obaid McCoy who bowls slower balls. We've got

38:30Prasidh Krishnan bowling fast. We've got the two best spinners in the country. So I think bowling

38:35wise, we are very sorted. Batting wise, I think the law of averages was probably going to catch

38:40up with Butler. I do want him to come back. We've got two matches. Hopefully two matches, not three.

38:45But if we get through, if we get a good start from Butler, at least if not a big score, at least

38:51some good start. But Butler has not been scoring runs ever since the wickets became slower in

38:56Mumbai. But now, they are playing in Kolkata, which is a fresh wicket, which is going to be

39:02true in the first games. Only two games they are playing. I'm sure it's going to be a true

39:07wicket. So you might see him firing on all cylinders like in the past. Absolutely. And that's

39:12one of the things. And I guess the one thing which was asked to me earlier, I think Maaz had asked me,

39:16what is Riyan Parag doing in your team? I was going to ask you that. I think my answer now is, he's

39:22there for his fielding. Because from the amount of catches that are being dropped all over the

39:26place, at least he's doing that right. He's got 15 catches. He's doing that. I still feel that is

39:30the one weak link in our batting because the moment comes down to him, which is why Ashwin

39:35had to step up. So he did hit a 50. So I hope that it doesn't come down to him. I hope our top four

39:41can take care of it. DDP is doing well at four. Sanju Samson, the reason why he's not picked up

39:45again in the Indian team now is because he's not given that kind of impact performance that he's

39:49given. Sanju, the problem with him is, he's too good for his 30s and 40s. He needs to take it

39:55further. Because the way he plays, he plays like a king. No doubt about it, he's got the talent.

40:02But you need to be consistent and you need to score big. These are the two things that's

40:07missing from Sanju. And talking about playoffs, I think Rajasthan is very well a place to go

40:14through because I feel, this is my personal objective or personal opinion, that Gujarat

40:18has been slightly lucky to be where they are. A couple of sixes of Rahul Tabatia.

40:26And if that hadn't happened, Punjab would probably be here today. If that last heroics

40:32of Rashid Khan didn't come and Marco Jansen didn't lose his plot, Gujarat wouldn't be on

40:38the top. So I wouldn't say they're invincible. No, but the 94 by Miller against Chennai, when

40:44they were 85-5, that should give them a lot of confidence to come and take on the playoffs.

40:50Because they didn't win by fluke, but they have won it really hard. I agree. They haven't won

40:56by fluke, but they're on the top of the table, thanks to some good luck. Some good luck. And

41:00that's what even Hardik Pandey has said. I mean, his statement was in an interview that I hope

41:04our luck doesn't run out by the time we reach the playoffs. So fingers crossed, I do hope that

41:09luck runs out. So that we can win the final directly. But any chances, Ram, with skipping

41:16in mind Ashwin's form, he will be upgraded to open the innings and Butler being brought down?

41:21I really hope not. I think Rajasthan has done some funny things and it's paid off so far,

41:27but let's just stick to the formula. We've got Yashaswi in good form, Butler hopefully

41:32strikes, Sanju is great at three, he should not be batting lower than that. These four is fine.

41:37We've got Hetmayar down the order between Riyan Parag and Ashwin, fair enough, do what you want.

41:43I'm okay with it as well. Because at least Ashwin uses his brain to play.

41:48Yeah, absolutely. And last but not the least.

41:50And the other thing about Riyan Parag, he's a good dancer. He's a good dancer.

41:54Riyan Parag is a good dancer. He's an on your face character.

42:00Akash has been waiting, waiting and waiting. Unfortunately,

42:04he has to wait.

42:05So you have to wait. Take it as a compliment because you have come last because of the

42:13cable topples. Okay. You think, as everybody is feeling, you think you guys peaked a little too

42:19early and in the playoffs, your luck might run out? What is your thought?

42:25No, I don't think so. We were lucky. If you see a series of games, there are two or three games

42:31that we were lucky. Everybody is lucky in two, three games. So that's not the case. So you have

42:36seen our games. Our bowling attack was strong throughout the season. We have five good bowlers

42:42like Shami, Rashid Khan, Joseph, Ferguson and Yash Dayal, which is new finding. And he has

42:47taken two, three wickets every game in the last two, three matches. So our bowling attack has

42:54been good throughout. And you take the last two games, we had restricted Lucknow for 82,

42:59which is in the top of the table in the playoffs. And we restricted team to 82,

43:04being scoring only 140. So the bowling and even the Chennai match, the previous match with Chennai,

43:12we got them out at around 125. So bowling has been very strong throughout. So that's not

43:19what I call the luck factor. The team is going very good. And looking at the batting,

43:25the top performance of the batting, I think that the gap was filled after

43:32Saha came in. So Saha did not play 50% of the matches, but after he came in,

43:39the top order has been performing very good. And Miller and Hardik Pandya and Tevortia. So

43:44they are the pillars of the game in the middle order. So anywhere we think that we are losing

43:49the game, one of these three comes up and they come up and win the game for us. So overall,

43:56we have been a very good performance. The team is going good. I don't think we should change

44:00anything from now. One thing is that Matthew Wade, which has been coming in and out and he's

44:06not even performing. So we should let him go out and let our bowling attack be more stronger.

44:12Like we should bring Ferguson in the game back.

44:18So we should focus on our bowling attack. Definitely, he'll play in Kolkata.

44:22I think we should play. And we should focus on our USP. Gujarat's main USP is the bowling attack.

44:30The economy rate has also been very strong for us with the bowling. So we should focus on that

44:37and hopefully, we'll take the cup.

44:41Okay. Anizbhai, finally, your thoughts on the playoff. What do you think?

44:49The four teams, the first game, GT versus RR, who is your pick?

44:55Well, obviously, what I've heard and what I've read about Kolkata wickets, they have the team

45:02which feels first. So it's going to come into play because it's going to be a fresh wicket.

45:07And the ball, the seamers will be in action there as much as you're talking about the spinners. But

45:11I feel the team which has a good pace attack and the team, I don't want to talk about toss. Toss

45:16is not in your hand. But the team which has a good pace attack should be able to win. And if I have

45:20to pick one team, I definitely will back Gujarat to the core. Somebody or the other has been putting

45:26their hands up. And they have the finest brain in cricket in Hardik Pandya. Absolutely. I fully

45:31agree with that. And what's your next game? Like Bangalore versus the ex-Bangalore boy.

45:38I will go with the original Bangalore, just for the captainship sake of Fab Du Plessis.

45:44And they're far too dependent on Quinton and Rahul.

45:48Correct. Correct. Correct. Okay. I think it's been a very, very long and a very pleasant

45:54conversation. And… Let's take everybody's call who's going to win the IPL. Satish, quickly.

45:59Yeah. Yeah. Probably we won't be having them. That's another one. Correct. Everybody,

46:03quickly, from Naresh. Who's going to win?

46:10Naresh, who's it?

46:11Gujarat. Gujarat.

46:12Naresh goes with Gujarat. Okay.

46:14Okay. Saket.

46:16I'm picking Rajasthan.

46:18All right.

46:19Okay. Ram.

46:21Of course. Allah bole. Rajasthan.

46:24Okay. Sanjay, I'm sure I can put RCBA thing.

46:29Yeah. Yeah. You can put RCBA. If not RCBA, it's Rajasthan.

46:32Oh, if not. Okay. Okay.

46:36Quinton.

46:38Rajasthan.

46:39Oh, okay.

46:41Maaz.

46:43I saw this post on Instagram where it said the final is going to be with Gujarat and Bangalore.

46:48And Virat Kohli is going to finish off in style and score, essentially.

46:51So I hope that comes true and RCBA wins.

46:54Oh, okay. You're backing RCBA. Lovely.

46:56Arjun, your thoughts.

46:59RCBA.

47:00Very good. Lovely.

47:01Virat Kohli fans.

47:02Okay. Akash, anything other than Gujarat?

47:08I would back RCBA. If it is not Gujarat, then RCBA.

47:11No, no, no. No, no. Your pick. Your pick. I'm not asking you to pick anybody else other than

47:14your pick.

47:15Virat Kohli fan. Virat Kohli fan. That's it. Nothing else.

47:18So you're saying Gujarat or RCBA? Which one?

47:21Gujarat. Gujarat.

47:22Obviously, Gujarat. Gujarat is the first. You said if not Gujarat, then whom?

47:25Okay. Gujarat versus RCBA. You're expecting a final then. At least.

47:30Yes. Yes. That's what I'm expecting.

47:33Okay. Vineet, your thoughts.

47:37I'm actually going to go a bit audacious. I'm going to go for Lucknow itself.

47:42Very good. No problem. You're a hardcore fan, man. You are entitled to be.

47:47Okay. Last but not least, Varun.

47:50Allah bol. Rajasthan. Come on.

47:52Wow. Okay. Rajasthan has become a strong favorite. Very good. But we have to see that

47:59it's going to be new wickets, different scenarios. So we'll have to see how well Rajasthan…

48:05It rained a lot in Kolkata also, weekend, because of the Assam storm. Even Kolkata had

48:10a lot of rains. So there'll be a lot of freshness around here.

48:13Freshness. So Pacers will have a lot of parties on those wickets.

48:18And it will be good games. And thank you, everyone, for joining.

48:21That is one thing. Before we go, I know we've had a long show, but I believe next year,

48:26the IPL should look into with five teams making to the playoffs. Because after going for two months,

48:31you know, one team misses out just by sneak. Like they've done in the big match,

48:34there's no harm in having five teams in the playoff and then give them an extra shot.

48:40Absolutely. And Anisbhai, you can also talk about the competition we had, the contest rather.

48:44Oh, yes. It's been very unpredictable IPL. The toughest of all the IPLs I've seen at least.

48:49So you've got to go on the page of Gulf News, predict the winner, like the first matches between

48:55Gujarat and RR. We all have heard from you, but you go and predict. Tell your friends also to

49:01predict. And who knows, you could walk away with this lovely jersey and one year digital subscription

49:06of Gulf News. Yeah. Great. Lovely. It's been a wonderful talking to all the fans. And I'm sure

49:13we will probably see some of them back. Some of them we'll try to get again. Once again,

49:19we'll get everybody next Sunday, hopefully. Analyze the end of the match. So thanks for

49:24joining. And please do tune in to all the channels, news channels and follow gulfnews.com.

49:29Thank you very much.

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