IPL 2020: Dinesh Karthik defends Rahul Tripathi's demotion following KKR's heavy defeat

IPL 2020 | KKR vs RCB: AB de Villiers, Washington Sundar bully KKR to impel RCB to third spot

Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 194/2 (AB de Villiers 73*, Aaron Finch 47, Prasidh Krishna 1/42) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 112/9 (Shubman Gill 34, Andre Russell 16; Chris Morris 2/17) by 82 runs. Sharjah's featherbed unveiled its alter ego tonight as Royal Challengers Bangalore made light work of Kolkata Knight Riders to steamroll at fat 82-run win in the 28th match of the Indian Premier League 2020. AB de Villiers engineered a visual treat worth 73* off 33 balls before two-wicket hauls from Washington Sundar and Chris Morris sealed the deal, as RCB locomoted to the third spot on Monday, October 12. On a venue that has proven to be a spinner's worst nightmare, that wreckers-in-chief Yuzvendra Chahal and Sundar conceded just 32 runs in eight overs amongst them while booking three scalps deserves a 21-gun salute. KKR chase derails before taking flight Franchises generally don't lose sleep when asked to chase at Sharjah, regardless of the enormity of the task. Albeit the odds were heavily stacked against KKR tonight, given the demons lurking from the surface. And the dominoes tumbled in a rather uniform pattern. Tom Banton was a bundle of nerves on his debut, ricocheting Navdeep Saini's missile onto his stumps. Let alone playing his designated role of an enabler, Nitish Rana struggled even to navigate the ball off the thirty-yard circle, eventually perishing castled to an ungainly swipe off Sundar. Shubman Gill, the lone wolf who'd hitherto bound KKR's riposte with a sedate 34, fell prey to an episode of hideous miscommunication in an approach to sneak a tight run from backward point. Fresh off a morale-boosting half-century in a winning cause, talisman Dinesh Karthik couldn't come to KKR's rescue either as Chahal had him chopping on to a donkey-drop. Morgan, fit-again Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, and Rahul Tripathi each located catchers off miscued swats in their endeavour to narrow the deficit. Kamlesh Nagarkoti was the final casualty as RCB's net-run-rate tickled pink with a boost of such gigantic proportions. Finch bites the bullet to good results Having blown hot and cold in recent times, RCB's openers blazed a trail from the outset. Aaron Finch, a perpetual victim of the front-foot syndrome, had obviously gone back to the drawing board and figured out an escape route. What he did wasn't rocket science though. The right-hander shimmied down the track almost compulsively in a bid to negate the lateral movement and get his feet up and moving before impact. Safe to say, it worked like a charm. He whipped Pat Cummins through mid-wicket before putting his dancing shoes on to marmalize Prasidh Krishna over long-on. Devdutt Padikkal too made his presence felt with a couple of authoritative slashes off Pat Cummins, with no intentions whatsoever of keeping the ball along the turf. KKR read the conditions well to bounce back Assuming the responsibility of bowling the last over in the PowerPlay, Andre Russell banged hard seven-meter lengths to prod Finch into his shell while also mixing the pace to leave him guessing. The variations could've materialised in an incision had Nagarkoti not allowed Finch's aerial jab to burst through his fingers at short-fine. Declined entry in the wickets column, the star all-rounder took matters into his own hands, with his nippy yorker slinking underneath Padikkal's hoick to uproot the middle-stump for 32. Finch ploughed the same furrow, creating room to glide his arms only to let Krishna's half-volley strike timber. The scoreboard gleamed a trifling 107/2 in 14 overs despite breezy knocks from Padikkal and Finch, thanks to KKR thinking on their feet and amending their strategy midway to a cocktail of off-cutters and short-of-good knuckleballs. ABD beats the living daylights out of KKR However, the moment of truth awaited the purple shirts. Having bided his time initially to waddle to 10 off 11 balls, AB de Villiers threw caution to the wind, bulldozing an awesome 63 off the next 22 to pour cold water on KKR's stranglehold. Virat Kohli bore witness to this eye-popping massacre deliberately from the non-striker's end, milking singles to bring the range-hitting tormentor into the thick of the action during their century partnership for the third wicket. The increasingly sluggish nature of the pitch hardly ruffled de Villiers, who belaboured KKR left, right, and centre to help RCB raid a cosmic 80 off the last five overs. What's next in store? In the pink of their health with five victories in seven games, RCB shouldn't break a sweat in elbowing a woebegone Kings XI Punjab on Thursday, October 15. The next hurdle in KKR's ebb-and-flow ride is table-toppers Mumbai Indians, quite a daunting one at that, with whom they lock horns on Friday, October 16.

IPL 2020: Barring 'Super-man' AB de Villiers, every batsman struggled - Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli lavished praise on AB de Villiers after Royal Challengers Bangalore’s resounding victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in Sharjah on Monday. The veteran Proteas batsman hit a stunning 33-ball 73* to take RCB to 194/2 in 20 overs. The Bangalore outfit were 94/2 after 12.2 overs when De Villiers joined the company of Kohli. The skipper found it hard to hit boundaries throughout his knock of 28-ball 33*; he instead rotated strike at will to hand his senior partner a more dominating role. "We were very happy with the total. This pitch was drier. And the day was pleasant so we thought there would be no dew. Barring one superhuman [de Villiers], every batsman struggled on the pitch. The talk was around getting 165, but we got 195 [and] you know exactly why." Kohli said on the back of the 82-run win. The duo stitched a 100-run unbroken stand in 46 deliveries. Kohli credited De Villiers’ ‘genius’ for taking the side to a commanding position post the first innings. The win took RCB to the third position in the points table while Knight Riders find themselves at the fourth spot with eight points.

IPL 2020| RCB vs KKR: Hits and Flops as an AB de Villiers special seals the deal for Virat Kohli’s men

Coming on the back of a comprehensive win over the Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore took Kolkata Knight Riders to the cleaners as they defeated them by a huge margin of 82 runs. While RCB’s innings was more or less all about the AB de Villiers show, Kolkata could drag themselves to only 112 after being outfoxed by the spin duo of Washington Sunder and Yuzvendra Chahal. Choosing to bat first on a relatively slower track compared to previous Sharjah wickets, Virat Kohli and his men had a cautious start until a certain de Villiers entered the party. It was de Villiers with the bat and the spinners with the bowl that stood out for the RCB in their win against the Knight Riders. For the Kolkata team though, there was just no single person who could be called as not guilty in an effort that looked much like a waste of energy as the match ended in a classic one-sided affair. To pick two it would be the new entrant Tom Banton and the old fox Andre Russell, who would be called the culprits of the desert for KKR. All these players and their contribution (or the lack of it) in the game forms the part of the Hits and Flops segment of the match. Hits #1 AB de Villiers When de Villiers entered the ground with RCB at 94/2 in the 13th over and even after him being there for more than 10 deliveries and captain Kohli at the other end, the innings wasn’t actually moving one bit as the team slumbered to 112/3 in 15 overs. But as Kamlesh Nagarkoti was brought back into the attack, the former South African captain started smoking the balls out of the park. From 11 off 10 deliveries, de Villiers went damn crazy as ended up with 73 off 33 balls, which means, he scored the next 62 runs off just 23 balls. It was his inning that got RCB from ending at 160-175 to 195. The inning was so special, mostly because no other batsman had the ability skills, and execution to control the pace of the bowler that well. #2 Washington Sundar Sundar has been bowling brilliantly for the Challengers since the last 3-4 games, While in other games had generally been just economical, in this one, he chose to diversify his role as a wicket-taker and took two crucial wickets of Eoin Morgan and Nitish Rana. More than the wickets, what was important was the fact that he became un-hittable, and batsmen (who had not got out by then) tried to play him off as easily as possible, thereby stopping the flow of runs. The Tamil Nadu born ended up with the figures of 2/20 in his four overs. #3 Navdeep Saini Saini wasn’t among wickets in the match, he took only one. But that wicket was the one that shifted the balance in RCB’s favour. In his second over, he got rid of Tom Banton, the new entrant in the KKR playing eleven, with a ball that wasn’t just a ripper but almost a perfect length ball, beating Banton on all fronts and crashed through his defense. Saini though ended up with the figures 1/17 in three overs. Flops #1 Andre Russell Andre Russell is someone that KKR looks up to win them 3-4 games of the season single-handedly. However, this series has been one of the worst for the West Indian as he hasn’t been able to contribute much with the bat for the team. Apart from the game against Rajasthan Royals where he scored a quickfire 24 off 14 balls, nothing worth noticing has come from Russell’s bat. Even in today’s game, after bowling two responsible overs, the guy bowling theirs over was asked something and killed as well. #2 Tom Banton Playing only his 1st IPL game, Banton couldn’t actually handle the system as he was bowled by a KKR fast bowler. Banton's wicket put pressure on others to follow suit and thus many other people were wither bowled or caught out. But not being able to score, putting pressure on others make Banton a flop for sure. Having lost the game in such a bad way, Dinesh Karthik and Co. would cool off for the next three days before facing Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi. RCB would be up against the Kings XI Punjab in two days' time though.

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.