You don't do it in the middle of the IPL - Gautam Gambhir on Karthik and Morgan's role swap

IPL 2020 | MI vs KKR: Hits and Flops as de Kock and Rahul Chahar lead Mumbai to a comprehensive win

Mumbai Indians seem to have found the number of the Kolkata Knight Riders as they once again defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by a huge margin of eight wickets with 19 balls remaining in the 32nd match of the Indian Premier League 2020. The game in Abu Dhabi had come under the limelight way before its started thanks to all the controversy built around the change team’s leadership from Dinesh Karthik to Eoin Morgan. In the match though, the outside changes didn’t turn any fortunes for the Kolkata-based side as they lost two in two big games. Morgan decided to bat first after winning the toss didn’t help the team’s cause as wickets fell at regular intervals to make things worse for the team. Had it not been for Pat Cummins and his blistering knock at the end of KKR innings in Abu Dhabi, chances were that the match would have ended way earlier than it did. If Cummins was a bright spot for Kolkata, Rahul Chahar and Quinton de Kock stood out for the Mumbai Indians. On that note, let’s look at the Hits and Flops of the game. Hits: #1 Quinton de Kock While many thought that the match was heading for a thriller, especially after the way KKR finished with the bat and also because of the past reputation KKR had made this season by defending low scores. But the South African captain had other ideas as he went into the attack mode right from the word go. De Kock made 78* off 44 balls with nine fours and three sixes at the strike rate of more than 177. He made sure that no chance of reprieve was given to the KKR at any moment. For his efforts and contributions, he was rightfully adjudged Man of the Match. #2 Rahul Chahar The Mumbai Indians seem to be building towards its perfect team as more and more youngsters are producing match-winning performances. Rahul Chahar is one of those youngsters. When the leggie came to bowl in, he not only took wickets but stemmed the flow of runs of the opposition, building even more pressure on the batsmen. It was this ploy of his that made him bowl excellently as can be seen from the figure of 2/18 in his quota of four overs. The two wickets that Chahal took were off consecutive deliveries as he got Shubman Gill caught in the deep while Dinesh Karthik got out LBW. #3 Pat Cummins Although from the losing team and he did give away runs during his bowling, it is Pat Cummins with the first fifty of his IPL career saved the KKR innings. Coming to bat at a time when all big guns of the team had returned to the pavilion, Pat Cummins showed splendid courage to take all the blowers to the cleaners. In his innings of 53 runs off 36 balls, there were two sixes and five fours. From struggling at 61/5 in 10.4 overs to getting up to 148 in the next 9.2 overs was courtesy of the 87 runs partnership between Morgan and Cummins in which Cummins was the aggressor. Flops #1 Dinesh Karthik In the news due to handing over his captaincy terms to Eoin Morgan, Karthik looked like a lost cause. Instead of firing on all cylinders, Karthik looked hesitant on the ground. It reflected in his batting too as the former KKR captain could only manage to hit one four of the eight deliveries he faced. The intent was lacking and so was the fire. It is exactly the right time for Karthik to show it to the people that he deserved to remain captain of the team. #2 Andre Russell Senior cricket journalist Boria Majumdar pointed how Russell has not been able to win even a single game for the KKR this season with his bat and how he was playing only on his reputation. Today also he played without any proper plan or approach and got out of just 12 from 9 balls. In the bowling department too, he wasn’t able to do much and gave away 15 runs from two overs without picking any wicket. While KKR would battle it out against Sunrisers Hyderabad to save their campaign in their next game, Mumbai would take on Kings XI Punjab to seal their positions in the playoff phase.

IPL 2020 | MI vs KKR: What Experts said as Rohit Sharma and Co. breeze past the Knight Riders

Although it was the change in the captaincy of the Kolkata Knight Riders from Dinesh Karthik to Eoin Morgan that gained more traction than the match itself, Mumbai Indians wasted no time in registering its 11th win over KKR in the last 12 games including the two this season. The Rohit Sharma led team defeated Morgan’s side by eight wickets chasing down 149 with ease. The game turned out to be a one-sided affair in Abu Dhabi, much like the last meeting between the two teams at the same venue in the initial phase of the tournament. For Mumbai Indians, Rahul Chahar led with the bowl, while Quinton de Kock did the same thing with the bat. For KKR though it was a case of disappointments all around apart from late order brilliance by Pat Cummins with the willow in hand. Captains’ Viewpoint Rohit Sharma seemed very happy with the results of the game and talking about the same in the post-match presentation, “It's special to chase and win, gives us plenty of confidence. We didn't chase a lot in the first half (of the tournament), think we were clinical with both bat and ball, the expected performance was there.” The skipper then went to say that he plans every game thinking about matchups between his players and that of the opposition. Expanding upon it, he explained how he had planned for the KKR all-rounder Andre Russell’s batting. “I believe a lot in match-ups, we have got success as a team (doing it),” Rohit said. “Understanding the match-ups is important but we need to be instinctive at times. Krunal and Rahul also bowled to Russell, I took a chance with the ball gripping and turning, but I knew Bumrah was the go-to guy against him,” added the 33-year-old. Impressed by fellow opener and South Africa captain Quinton de Kock, Sharma said, “I prefer batting with him (de Kock), he's very straightforward, likes to take on the bowler from the word go - but I usually like to assess the situation.” Adding that he would let de Kock play his natural game so that he too can enjoy the time in the middle, Sharma said, “I don't want to put any pressure on him.” Calling the tournament a funny proposition for everybody involved, especially the teams and the players, the Mumbaikar said, “This tournament is very funny, can't take the foot off the pedal at any time, we have seen teams lose at times.” “The guys are very hungry, they haven't played a lot over the last six months - be it Ishan or Hardik, they want to play and they want to win,” he concluded. On the other hand, Eoin Morgan, who was leading the men in Purple and Gold felt that the team needed to do a bit more and by the end of the first innings itself, they had thrown themselves out of the contest. “We weren’t in the race at all really, being four or five down,” he said. Adding that the score they made in the first innings was never challenging, he said, “Guys fought hard but just not enough runs on the board.” “When a team like Mumbai plays like that, they are hard to stop,” Morgan said while praising opposition. Ireland born English captain then admitted that even after having a lot of experience in the middle, the batters have not been able to adapt to the situation. “[At] No.4, 5, and 6 we have a lot of experience. We’re trying to adapt according to the situations.” “Don’t think it would have made much difference today,” he added. Expert Opinion More or less, experts after and during the match were of the view that Mumbai Indians have been flawless this year while Kolkata with their decision-making in terms of playing the matchday 11 have been pathetic. Talking about how Kolkata has messed up their entire season, veteran cricket expert Ayaz Memon said that the KKR team looks terribly short of confidence and due to Narine sitting out and Russell being in a bad form, the troubles have just expanded for the team. Harsha Bhogle, the renowned cricket commentator called Mumbai a complete team with no visible flaws. Former India cricketer now turned cricket pundit, Aakash Chopra too echoed Harsha's ideas and furthered it by saying that the two finalists for this year's show could Delhi and Mumbai. Boria Majumdar, a senior cricket journalist was of the opinion that Andre Russell in the Kolkata team hasn't been able to perform, as per expectations and therefore, the team could try new talent. Sambit Bal, a senior cricket journalist predicted the game to be the first of ever slow thriller along with a doubt that it might not happen due to Mumbai's brilliant batting lineup and all his fears and doubts indeed came true. While Kolkata would like to see their new captain turn things around with a reshuffling of the batting order when they next play against Sunrisers Hyderabad on 18th October. For Mumbai, it would be a chance to get into the playoffs with the most wins when they face Kings XI Punjab on the 18th as well.

IPL 2020 | MI vs KKR: De Kock dazzles as Mumbai best Kolkata once again

Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 148/5 in 20 overs (Pat Cummins 53*; Rahul Chahar 2-18) lost to Mumbai Indians 149/2 in 16.5 overs (Quinton de Kock 78*) by eight wickets. Kolkata Knight Riders suffered yet another crushing loss at the hands of their bogey team, Mumbai Indians in the 32nd match of the Indian Premier League 2020. Don't jump the gun on KKR's 148. For, it was scraped from thin air purely on the grounds of Pat Cummins' resolute 36-ball 53 after a humiliating batting implosion. Quinton de Kock's unbeaten 78 fit the bill nicely in response as MI usurped Delhi Capitals to the crest of the points table on Friday, October 16 at Abu Dhabi. Morgan the new cook to KKR's broth KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik had sent ripples through the cricketing fraternity by relinquishing the leadership duties for Eoin Morgan to assume charge, basically with an aim to focus on contributing with the bat. The World Cup winning talisman roped in Shivam Mavi and Chris Green as Tom Banton and Kamlesh Nagarkoti ferried electrolytes. Nathan Coulter-Nile registered his season debut for MI as James Pattinson was rested owing to workload management. Mumbai keep their rivals under the thumb The freshly-anointed captain would have only just donned the thinking cap when he had to rush for his batting gear, as KKR's top-order fell flat on its face. Rahul Tripathi, levied back to the comfort zone of the opening slot, smashed the leather off Trent Boult's wide tempter but Suryakumar Yadav at backward point yielded a glorious interception, reverse cupping the waft advancing at supersonic speed. Shubman Gill perished to an uncharacteristic heave while Nitish Rana scruffed a glove behind to his short ball bugbear. Karthik's premeditated paddle defeated the solitary purpose behind him stepping down from the job, as an ungainly ricochet trimmed the bails off. Andre Russell hammering a six and a four rekindled the glimmer of hope, though it was snuffed out pretty quickly by Jasprit Bumrah who exploited his pet peeve with a well-directed bumper, leaving KKR devoid of any sort of fizz at 61/5 around the halfway juncture. Uber-cool Cummins saves KKR's neck However, Pat Cummins and Eoin Morgan refused to throw in the towel, patching together a counterattack worth 87 to shepherd the men in maroon to presentable waters in terms of the scoreline. The all-rounder enjoyed the luxury of the time to get his eye in, trading singles to begin with before engaging in some calculated risk-reward ploys. Common wisdom would hint towards Morgan torch-bearing the surge, but it was Cummins instead, glazing a barbaric pull off Boult and notching his maiden IPL fifty with a slingshot to the cover fence off Coulter-Nile. Though Morgan leveraged profit in the right-arm's 20th, dumping two massive strikes to relic his bowling economy to a shambolic 4-0-51-1. Rohit-de Kock stand wins half the battle While the majority of KKR's swashbucklers came a cropper, the brash left-right combo of Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock hummed a different tune. The futile adventures of hurling chin music were bonked promptly over the square leg fence besides an assortment of drives and punches whooshing through the carpet. Interspersed between the eloquent strokeplay was a goof-up from the southpaw, but Varun Chakravarthy shelled the immensely tough chance scampering backwards from short fine. The equation had stunted to a low-key 59 off the last ten when pacer Shivam Mavi allowed KKR a little foot in the door, nicking behind Sharma for almost a run-a-ball 35. Hardik adds a dollop of splendour Suryakumar Yadav gift-wrapped his wicket with a silver ribbon and extended it to KKR, picking the wrong ball to sweep and having his stumps tonged. Albeit Hardik Pandya held in store an exquisite garland, as fragnant as it possibly can be, comprising a couple of gun-barrel straight lofts and a bewitching whip off Pat Cummins, whose wicket-drought now stands elongated to five matches. The formalities were done and dusted with a rather anti-climatic nurdle along the turf, bristling MI to their 21st win over KKR in IPL history. Where next from here? Though Pat Cummins delivered the goods with his lesser-known skill tonight, its high time he does justice to the price tag with the ball in the first place. It wouldn't be a cakewalk though, for sure, as browbeaters David Warner and Jonny Bairstow from Sunrisers Hyderabad await KKR in the first of Sunday's doubleheader. MI's juggernaut is operating on rocket fuel and deems potent enough to tyrannize bottom-dwellers Kings XI Punjab later in the evening.

Want Delhi Capitals to play the best cricket in the second half of IPL 2020 - Ricky Ponting

Delhi Capitals are in touching distance for a playoffs berth in the Indian Premier League 2020. Shreyas Iyer’s men have bagged 12 points so far from 8 outings. Head coach Ricky Ponting believes performing well in the second half of the league would be even more challenging as the wickets will get slower as the tournament progresses. Ponting has urged his team to play well in the second half of the tournament. Ahead of Delhi’s encounter against Chennai Super Kings, Ponting said, “One thing I have been telling the boys right from the start of this tournament is that I want us playing our best cricket in the back half of the tournament, not necessarily in the front half of the tournament.” Ponting said Rajasthan Royals struggled to chase a competitive score of 160-odd last Wednesday due to the slow nature of the track. The former Australia skipper also stated that batting first was comparatively easier during the first leg of the tournament. The coach is confident of his team doing well in the business end of the tournament but he insists that the team have their feet firmly on the ground as things could change drastically in the IPL.