IPL 2020 | RCB vs CSK: Kohli 90 steers Bangalore to biggest win over arch-rivals Chennai

IPL 2020: What experts said as Virat Kohli’s Challengers down an ‘out of favour’ Chennai

Another day another loss another time Dhoni failed and so did the top order, another blame put on the captain, another set of trolling on the internet. This has been the pattern of the Chennai Super Kings’ playbook in the IPL 2020. The last one has to change first and definitely because the kind of trolling that the former Indian captain is being subjected to is just inhuman. In Dubai, winning the toss and deciding to bat first didn’t go quite well for Kohli as the team lost wickets at regular intervals. However, the captain stood the test of time and not only hit a magnificent 90 off just 52 balls with four fours and an equal number of sixes but also made sure that the team reached a respectable total of 169, which looked impossible at one point when they were languishing at 93 for four in the 15th over. In the bowling department too, the Royals were looking way better with the inclusion of Chris Morris, and with the help of the conditions, in which the pitch changed a bit in between the 40 overs, Virat’s side was able to put pressure on the Super Kings and they faltered courtesy those. This resulted in a huge victory of 37 runs for the Challengers improving their run rate immensely. Captains’ Viewpoint Speaking on this occasion, RCB skipper Kohli was delighted with the win and called it his team’s ‘one of our most complete performances.’ Describing the situation in the middle while he was batting as wickets were falling from the other end, Kohli said, “We got into a bit of a tricky position in the first half. From there on, we pushed forward. We spoke during the second timeout (with the bat) that 140-150 would be good, ended up getting more than that.” “It was a tricky pitch,” he added. The 31-year-old further said that he was really pleased to get the two points and focussed on building momentum for the second game. “We have back-to-back games coming up, so important to build momentum. It's about understanding the conditions and respecting the game, instead of trying to hit every ball into the second tier of the stadium,” he said. The Delhi born, who was not in the best of the forms coming into the tournament and also in the initial phase of it, said that the Super Over against Mumbai Indians helped him free up. “That Super Over where I had to strike, else we would have lost, freed me up. Training all these days also helped,” the captain said. South African all-rounde4r Chris Morris hit form from the word go and hence was praised by the captain as well. “Yes, he's been really good, gun on the field and three wickets on debut. With him and Gurkeerat, the batting also gets deep,” Kohli said. “When you get momentum in this format, it can be the difference between finishing at the top or at the bottom,” he concluded underscoring the importance of momentum. It is often said that when the team doesn’t perform, a captain has a lot more to say than when it does. Similar has been the case with Chennai Super Kings’ captain MS Dhoni. With just two wins from seven games and his own form being quite forgetful, Dhoni has made words his weapon doing as critical an assessment of his team as possible, unfortunately, words don’t count but runs do. Speaking the post-match presentation Dhoni said, “I think the last 4 overs when we were bowling (didn't go to plan), before that the bowlers had done a good job, we needed to close it nicely.” “Batting has been a bit of a worry and today also it was evident. We need to do something about it,” he added. Batting indeed has been a thing to worry about as in all the five games that the team lost, apart from the Rajasthan game, most of them have been due to the failure in batting. Presenting a new vision going forward in the tournament, the Ranchi-born said that his team isn’t here just to participate and therefore would put in all the efforts possible to get a result in their favour. “We can't just keep turning up... it is almost the same thing that is happening maybe the individuals are different but I think we are better off playing the other way round - play the big shots and even if you get out it is fine because we can't leave too many after the 15th or 16th over that just puts too much pressure on the lower order batsmen,” he said. “We have not been able to adapt and plan for bowlers bowling from 6-14 overs,” he added. The captain got philosophical in the assessment saying that dwelling in the past or daydreaming about the future would end up pushing his team in deeper trenches, from where coming back would not be easy at all. “I always have told the players to focus more on the process. When you start looking at the results of the previous game or the next game it really puts an extra burden on you,” said Dhoni. Everybody makes great assessments. Dhoni too has said many things which were very good while assessing the performance of his team. But what he said today touched many as it actually summed up the entire season for the Super Kings. “I feel when it comes to our bowling we have shown we can restrict the opposition, either we give too many in the first six or the last four. Too many holes in the ship and when you try to plug one there is water flowing from another,” he reflected upon the performances so far. “We need to get our act together. Everything needs to work in the same game to get a result. Once we get a result in our favour it will be slightly different for us,” added the 39-year-old. “In the coming games we will be slightly more expressive, get out in the 17th over rather than having wickets,” Dhoni revealed the strategy of the team for further games. Expert Opinion The cricket experts were although impressed by Dhoni’s honest assessment of his team’s performance, to them, the ship for Chennai Super Kings seem to have sailed. Veteran expert Ayaz Memon while sharing his thoughts on the game said that it would be difficult for Dhobi's side to make a comeback from such a 'hopeless' situation. Harsha Bhogle, another cricket expert and commentator threw in an idea for Chennai Super Kings to sign Ajinkya Rahane to play the role of a solid number-3 for the team. Cricketer turned commentator and analyst Aakash Chopra took the topic to another but valid point as he asked fans to not become so inhuman as to troll a player and team to such an extent that the platform of Twitter becomes toxic for them. Boria Majumdar, senior cricket expert summed up the entire RCB victory saying that now the Virat Kohli led team has found a good balance. For Vimal Kumar, a cricket journalist himself, it was a matter of putting forth his views ion MS Dhoni saying that the long sabbatical that the skipper took from cricket after the 2019 World Cup has impacted his play. Overall, it wasn't at all a satisfactory performance by the Super King sand as Dhoni said, they need to bring out their best when they face Sunrisers Hyderabad on 13th October. The Challengers though would like to continue building on the momentum, as their leader Virat Kohli had pointed. They face an in-form Kolkata Knight Riders in their next game on Monday, 12th October.

IPL 2020 |KKR vs KXIP: Three Reasons Why KL Rahul and Co. would like to forget this match as quickly as possible

It was not as much about winning the game for Kings XI Punjab, as it was about taking out the mental block of 'failing in crucial moments' from their memory. Ever since the third game of their campaign, they have lost a match by failing to win the crucial moments even after bossing the entire match. Unfortunately, they did exactly that today as well. Having reached 143/1 in17 overs, one would believe that a team needing 21 runs from there on with two set batsmen at the crease would win the game 99 out of 100 times. And it was that one time in which the Kings faltered and how did they falter! going on to lose the game by two runs when they needed 14 from the last over. There are many reasons which could be attributed to the Kings XI for the loss and Kolkata Knight Riders for the dramatic win in Abu Dhabi. However, three would suffice to break even the story of a downhill run of the Punjab unit. #1 Dinesh Karthik Onslaught On a new track, the Kings XI bowlers were going great as they picked up two early wickets and choked the flow of runs for KKR. At the end of the 10th over the team was languishing at below sixty with both Eoin Morgan and Shubman Gill trying to rebuild the innings. Only after the Morgan wicket, the commander-in-chief of the Knight Riders- Dinesh Karthik arrived and marched the troops ahead taking the lead. While at one point it looked difficult for Kolkata to get to even 150, Karthik’s 58 of 29 deliveries at the strike rate of 200 was the dose that the team needed. It was also what Karthik needed, having failed in the last five games. Just to feel confident and to be able to say to himself that ‘Yes! I deserve to lead them’, this inning was very much required for the 35-year-old. His partnership with Shubman Gill (82 off 43) and then the death over hits helped KKR reach a competitive total of 164. #2 Sending Prabhsimran ahead of a proven hitter Glenn Maxwell Everything was going smooth for the Punjab team as they were on their way to pick up their second comprehensive win to boost their confidence until Nicholas Pooran decided to become a hero all of a sudden. In the process, he ended up throwing away his wicket. But even at 144/2 with 21 required from 16 balls and hitters like Glenn Maxwell and Mandeep Singh in the dugout, one would fancy the batting team to win. But instead of sending a proven talent like Maxwell in the middle, the Kings XI management decided to send a young Prabhsimran Singh in front of a vastly experienced Sunil Narine. Not only did the move fail as Singh ate away too many balls and got out eventually without fulfilling the purpose, but it also put pressure on a set Rahul, who melted under it. #3 KL Rahul’s failure as a finisher When Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul were going well, Rahul was batting relatively slow but was complimented well by Mayank. Also since the required rate was quite low, it didn’t really bother anyone and later on, he picked up pace as well. But when it was really the time to kill the match he fell flat on his heels. When the required rate was too low and Pooran was finding it difficult to connect, he should have gone on and talked to him, suggesting him to take a single. Considering the point that Pooran is an established name and hence Rahul did not feel like suggesting him anything, he should have at least talked to Prabhsimran and asked him to get a single and give him the strike. Let’s say Prabhsimran wasn’t able to take the single. So when it was the last ball of the Narine over, Rahul should have refused the single as now 21 were required from the two overs, and taking the charge as a captain was something necessary at that moment. Let’s for a moment also consider that he did not want a young man to believe that the captain has lost the confidence in him and therefore took the single, then he should have at least not got out playing such a rash shot as he did. He should have taken the game to the final over himself and then won it. Alas! It could not happen, giving Rahul and his team a memory that would haunt them for a long time.

IPL 2020 | RCB vs CSK: Hits and Flops as MS Dhoni's ship is sinking with 'too many holes'

Another match ended up frustratingly for the Chennai Super Kings where the bowlers gave away too many runs in the last few overs while the batsmen struggled to get going. The match between the CSK and Royal Challengers Bangalore ended on a similar line to that of the five matches the team in yellow had lost in this season Here we rate the best and worst performances of the night that made their side win or lose the game. Hits Virat Kohli Virat Kohli had regained his form in the game against the Rajasthan Royals and it was the Chennai Super Kings who had to face the full brunt of his class. Quick running between wickets and conversion of 1s and 2s along with immaculate timing of accelerating to set up a score or chase have been the hallmarks of Virat Kohli’s batting over the years. And the night against the Chennai Super Kings, he put on display all his traits on the way to a 50-ball-90. Virat Kohli is a different batsman than other batsmen going around in the T-20 format as he believes in maximizing every ball if he can’t hit them to the boundary. Chennai’s bowlers were wayward in the last few overs and Kohli took aloof them to cleaners as RCB scored as many as 76 runs in the last five overs to reach a total that demanded intent from the Chennai’s batsmen which they have been lacking throughout this season. On the captaincy front as well, Virat was proactive and did not get sucked into bowling Chris Morris against MS Dhoni but rather backed Yuzvendra Chahal to challenge Dhoni. Chahl dismissed Dhoni and the plan worked well for both Virat and the RCB. Virat Kohli's’ RCB has been showing improvements in the season and after few hiccups are back on the winning track. Virat Kohli would love to ride on this momentum as he knows once lost, the momentum is hard to come by in IPL. Washington Sundar Washington Sundar has proven to be a trump card for Virat Kohli, especially in the power play. He does not have too many mysterious balls up his sleeve and neither he looks as threatening or wily as R Ashwin or Sunil Narine look like but he has a quality of enjoying the batsmen going after him. He has the temperament of a good old-aged spinner who shows a good heart and never gets frightened by batsmen coming at him. He was introduced very early -- in the fourth over of the innings and he was on the money straight away beating Faf Du Plessis in the air. After a mistimed shot landed in a no-man zone, du Plessis served again on a similar delivery and gave his wicket to Sundar. Sundar was not done as his first over that had yielded only 6 runs put pressure on Shane Watson who decided to take the attack to him. He did not get bogged down by the start of the onslaught from Watson and held the ball back. Watson premeditated a shot that had earned him a boundary behind square leg and Sundar was too accurate to miss his stumps. He bowled three overs and gave away only 16 runs for two big wickets of Du Plessis and Watson that very much pushed the Chennai Super Kings on the brink very early in the chase. Chris Morris When the Royal Challengers Bangalore had gone aggressively for Chris Morris in the IPL 2020 auction, the message was clear that Virat Kohli was in a desperate search for someone who can provide him x-factor in both departments. Chirs Morris has been rated highly since he burst onto the scene in the Champions League 2012 and his career graph has only gone upwards. In the match against CSK, Kohli used him sparingly and tactically to tackle the Chennai batsmen in specific junctures of the game. He was asked to open the bowling but was quickly taken off the attack to be introduced only in the 10th over when the pair of Du Plessis and Watson was back to pavilion. Kohli had realized that the opening pair likened the pace on the ball and that Morris’ capabilities at the end overs were more essential for the team than with the new ball. Morris was playing his first game but he never looked rusty and was up for every challenge his captain threw at him. He was lethal in the end overs as Virat Kohli had hoped for and accounted for Sam Curran before he could set his eye on. He followed with a double-wicket over in the 19th over to kill whatsoever chance the Chennai Super Kings had of pulling off the chase. Flops MS Dhoni It's very rare to see both MS Dhoni-the captain of the Chennai Super Kings and one of the leading batsmen in the team to have such a lengthy period of failures. Dhoni has not looked like someone he once was for some time now but to see him struggling to inspire his team and lift the level of the game in his camp is so surreal. He is looking puzzled in the format and the league that he has bossed his whole life as a cricketer but that phase of MS Dhoni capable of doing anything with or without a bat in hand sounds like a very old story now. He has been blamed for batting lower in the order and not attempting to lead the side from the front and the story was similar in the match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. But, the realist in Dhoni knows he does not have too good a form behind him to take on the bowlers from the word go and hence allows batsmen who are in better knick to have a go before him. He batted at number 5 against RCB and from the outset, he looked to mean business. There was no running around quick singles but he started attacking Chahal the moment he was brought into the attack. However, the guile of Chahal got the better of him who dragged the ball away from him when he stepped out in search of room to free his arm. Dhoni lost his shape (characteristics of his lack of form) and could time it well enough but did not get the elevation to send the ball over Gurkeerat Singh Mann stationed at the long-off boundary. The match was more than done with his wicket and that feeling was well described in the celebration between Kohli and Chahal after his departure. Sam Curran Sam Curran has emerged as one of the most-talked-about players in the Chennai camp that otherwise has been famous for old horses who have not been able to run at a rapid pace. Curran has shown his hard-hitting skills and also his effective seam bowling. He was bowling well until Virat Kohli decided that the time was igh to send him over the boundary lines. He was hit for a classy six by Kohli at the start of the 15th over but came back strongly picking up the wicket of Washington Sundar. The 18th over proved to be his nightmare as Virat Kohli had set his foot on the accelerator by that time and he made his case worse by not bowling to plans and field setting. Kohli smashed him for three sixes in the same over that yielded 24 runs in total and the momentum it provided to the RCB batting was never to be reverted back in the CSK favour as Virat Kohli was on the crease till the last over. Curran having an unforgettable night against the RCB and it turned bad to worse he walked out to bat. Chris Morris hurled a short of a length delivery at him and Curran attempted to hit that on the leg side only to spoon a catch to AB de Villiers. Umpire did not agree to Morris and ABD’s appeal and later the decision was overturned to send Curran back to the pavilion on possibly his worst night on the field in the IPL 2020 so far. CSK’s bowlers started brilliantly with the ball before Virat Kohli snatched the momentum away from them with a 52-ball-90. The batting was always an issue of connection as the RCB had put on a stiff total in the range that the men in yellow had found it tough to chase in the IPL 2020. The Story could not be different as Watson and Du Plessis struggled to get off to a fast start and ended up getting out just when they attempted to break free. Batsmen followed but the momentum did not change and ultimately another battle ended with a similar script to that of earlier matches where the Chennai team had left far too many for batsmen to chase in the last overs. MS Dhoni agreed that his ship has too many holes in it and he day one of them is fixed, another one props up to harm the team.

IPL 2020 | KKR vs KXIP: What experts said as Kings XI Punjab throw away easy win

It is hard to describe what transpired between the 16th and the 20th over of the Kings XI Punjab innings as it was really difficult to understand what the batsmen were trying to do when all they needed from the last five overs was just 48 runs with nine wickets in hand and a settled captain and the most in-form hitter in the form Nicholas Pooran on the crease. Kings XI were outdone by two runs at Abu Dhabi in a yet another Kolkata Knight Riders special, as the Dinesh Karthik led team made a comeback from, a place which seemed unbelievable to claw back from. 21 runs were needed from three overs and Pooran was going berserk. Then suddenly he decided to play a shot that was never required throwing away his wicket at the most crucial moment of the game. Then came the biggest mistake of the game, sending a Prabhsimaran Singh in front of a wily Sunil Narine was like sending the goat in front of the lion, who feasted happily on it. One run from the 18th over is what the Kings got suddenly sending their required run-rate to the sky and again with Prabhsimran on strike, but this time agai9nst a Prasidh Krishna. With a brilliant over from Krishna in which he got both Prabhsimran and Rahul out and just gave away 6 runs, the game was set for a finish that nobody could have imagined after the end of the first half of the chase. In the end, Sunil Narine turned out to be too much for Maxwell who could get only 11 from the over as the Punjabis succumbed to another defeat in a losing run that has now extended to five games in a row. Captains’ Viewpoint Speaking in the post-match presentation ceremony, KKR captain Dinesh Karthik seemed visibly happy. Talking about his brilliant innings of 58 from 29, Karthik said, “McCullum is encouraging me to bat higher, though I always feel I bat better somewhere in the middle.” “We have had these conversations, but in the end, I give him the credit for keeping me in a place where I can contribute to the team's success,” he added. Andre Russell, one important all-rounder of the team got injured and Karthik as captain underscore his importance saying, “Whenever Russell gets injured, my heart is always in my mouth because he is a very key player for us. We need to look up at him and make sure he's okay.” The Tamil Nadu born also praised Prasidh Krishna who bowled a brilliant 19th over to give Sunil Narine a very good chance at defending 14 off the last over. “Krishna is special, and is close to a spot for the India white-ball team,” he said. “He has to make some adjustments but the way he bowled in the second spell shows why he is one of the better bowlers in India,” he added. Sunil Narine has been under the scanner for quite some time. But today he proved that why Karthik and the Knight Riders rate him so highly. “I think Narine stands up for us all the time; he's always looking out for the team. A lot of credit goes to Morgan for having the world's best captain around. He keeps things very positive,” said Karthik. Much like everyone else in the KKR vamp and their fan base, the 35-year-old captain too was expecting that the ball hit by Glenn Maxwell landed short so that they wouldn’t have to go through Super Over. “I was hoping it would land just short, and that's exactly what ended up happening. Not easy to hit a shot over cover under pressure. But credit to the bowlers for finishing it really well with the ball,” he concluded. Saying that it would be frustrating for the Kings XI skipper KL Rahul to come again and again in the post-match presentation and dwell upon the mistakes repeatedly is an understatement. And Rahul did give in finally saying, “I have no answers. Just have to keep coming hard in the next seven and win a few,” he said. Rahul said that he was happy with the way the bowlers bowled. “We bowled well, it's the first game on this new strip, but the bowlers adapted well by swinging the ball early and getting wickets in the powerplay, which is the only way to keep them below 180.” “Even in the death, they did well to mix it up, trying to bowl bouncers and bluff the batsmen with wide yorkers. That's what we asked of them and they executed well,” he added. Lamenting on the fact that he was not able to finish the game, Rahul said that it wasn’t easy to get over the line after losing wickets in clusters. “We weren't satisfied at any stage during the run-chase; you're only satisfied when you win. Me and Mayank started off well, but if you lose wickets in clusters at the end, it's hard to get over the line,” said the losing captain. Expert Opinion It was hard for anyone to digest the way Kings XI lost the game and that was evident in the comments by the experts as well. Veteran analyst and commentator, Harsha Bhogle while commenting on the game said that KKR and Sunil Narine must be given due credit for handling such a tough case that easily. On the other hand, a veteran journalist from Kolkata, Gautam Bhattacharya, while praising the Kings XI bowlers raised questions on the team's decision to send Prabhsimran ahead of Maxwell. Similar was the case with senior journalist and one of the most sought after cricket writers, Sambit Bal as he recounted many reasons for the Kings XI defeat, primary of them, which others forgo9t to mention, was the ambitious shot from Nicholas Pooran which triggered the mini-collapse that ultimately costed Kings XI the game. Boria Majumdar, a senior cricket expert, usually known for his to the point opinions also pointed out the mistakes of the Kings management to send in young Prabhsimran ahead of Glenn Maxwell. At the same time, he also praised Prasidh Krishna for his brilliant bowling effort. Gaurav Kalra, another senior journalist, mostly famous for his witty tweets was at it against saying that Kings XI finally manage to churn out a thriller from a game that deserved none. While teams would be looking to avoid Kolkata getting in such a situation where they could defend 10 an over for five overs, for Punjab unfortunately, it seems like the end of the road even when the league hasn't reached it's halfway mark.