IPL 2020 | RCB vs KKR: What Experts said as Challengers rout Knight Riders to enter top-3 in points table
There have been too many one-sided encounters in this season of the IPL so far, but none has been as boring as the on that took place today between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore at a venue which has been known for exciting thrillers in this season. In Sharjah, the Virat Kohli led team thrashed Dinesh Karthik’s KKR by a huge margin of 82 runs.
AB de Villiers was at his hitting best today as he managed to score 73 off just 33 balls, while others struggled top even middle the delivery on a slowish and rugged Sharjah wicket, which has now started to offer to turn a bit. The Bengaluru spinners in Washington Sunder and Yuzvendra Chahal took advantage of it as they choked the flow of runs, thereby forcing the Kolkata batsmen to commit mistakes.
No one from the KKR was able to hold the fort against the Bangalore attack as they could only make 112 runs off their 20 overs at the fall of nine wickets while chasing a mammoth 195.
Captains’ Viewpoint
With two comprehensive wins out of two games, captain Kohli was in the best of the moods, especially because the wins came after the Delhi disaster, which had lowered the morale of the team which is in search of the elusive trophy. Speaking during the post-match presentation, the winning skipper praised his team for being such a bunch in which one player or the other steps up to perform every time.
“Coming here, it was important to get the right start. Great to see individuals step up when the team requires,” he said.
Impressed with the way the bowlers have bowled, Kohli said that it is always possible to go ‘deep’ into the tournament if “your bowling unit is strong”. “Bowling unit, with Morris coming in, looks all the more potent,” he further added.
The slowness of the pitch at Sharjah surprised all. Kohli too was aware of it and accordingly, the team made the changes in the plan. “At the toss, the pitch didn't have the usual Sharjah sheen. Knew the wicket was going to get slower and slower,” he said. “Barring one super-human, everyone struggled on that pitch. The talk was around 165-170,” he praised de Villiers.
Calling the three-week camp before the IPL, a blessing in disguise for the team, Kohli credited it for the clarity in his head. “Preparation was really good. The three-week camp helped us. Have clarity of plans. Know exactly what we want to do on the field,” he said.
AB de Villiers was the real difference between 160 and 195. Acknowledging that, the 33-year-old Indian captain said, “I thought I had a few balls under my belt so I'll start striking. But he came in and hit his third ball nicely. On a pitch like that, only AB can do that. It was a special knock,” he said.
He further added, saying that the team could get to 195 ‘purely because of the genius of that man.’
On the other hand, Dinesh Karthik, who had been brilliant as a captain in the last two games, with all his tactical changes, was at the receiving end of the things. He credited opposition player de Villiers for taking the game away from him and his team.
“He (de Villiers) is a world-class player and hard to stop him on a ground like this and at the end of the day his innings was the difference between both sides,” said Karthik.
Reflecting upon such a humiliating loss, the skipper said that the team “needs to sit down and make sure” that few things are done in a better way.
Calling batting the prime concern for the team, Karthik said, “We didn't do well today (in that department) and that's something we gonna try and improve. We have three days break and we need to start fresh after that.”
Refusing to read too much into the defeat, Karthik humbly accepted that his team was outplayed today. “I think every captain has a day like this where everything doesn't go according to plan and it's one of those days for me, I don't want to read too much into it,” concluded the 36-year-old.
Expert Opinion
Ab de Villiers’ batting and the fact that Karthik chose to play an extra batsman instead of six bowlers were the main talking point of the game apart from the brilliant bowling by RCB.
Boria Majumdar, a well-known cricket expert praised skipper Kohli for showing to the world that ego has no place in sports in general and in a team game in particular
Aakash Chopra, the cricketer-turned cricket analyst pointed at Andre Russell's batting, saying that he has not been able to perform with the bat, the way KKR would have wanted and this is a major reason for the failure of the Kolkata based side.
According to Harsha Bhogle, one of the most trusted cricket voices in the world, the change in the RCB has come courtesy of a change in the plan of asking de Villiers to keep wickets.
For Ayaz Memon, Ab de Villiers was on an altogether different level, especially with the stark difference evident between his and the batting of the men who played on the same wicket.
Kolkata-based senior sports journalist Joy Bhattacharjya rated the Bangalore spinners as top-class calling them an example of things to come in UAE with respect to turn and spin.
The Knight Riders now have a three-day break to ponder upon their strategy with which they would come out to play against Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi. Virat Kohli's team though has only two days' time before they face a Kings XI Punjab which would now be from the burden of qualifying for the Playoffs and hence could be more dangerous to face in Dubai.
 "Sayantan Bhattacharjee")
