A Prithvi show in Ahmedabad

One of the reasons IPL has become the darling of the cricket world is because of the close contests that you get to see every night. But unfortunately, it has not been the case this season. Delhi Capitals, Chennai Superkings, and Delhi Capitals have created quite a gap between themselves and the other teams. For the cricket-loving public, it’s important now that teams like, KKR, Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings, and Sunrisers Hyderabad put up a good show and create some upsets.

Delhi Capitals over the past few seasons have been having a good run against KKR and when they met each other yesterday in Ahmedabad they were the favourites to win the match. First of all, KKR has been laid low by the bad form of their frontline batsmen and their bowlers have been inconsistent too. T20 cricket is fun to watch because you see a lot of 4s and 6s upfront and most of the time the game goes into the last over making it thrilling to watch.

But unfortunately, the matches involving KKR have been the opposite and it’s a struggle to watch them play. They lack intent in the powerplay overs which makes the game drag. Yesterday was no different with KKR struggling once again and the match finished with plenty of overs to spare. 154 runs was definitely a very low score but the way Prithvi Shaw started by hitting 6 fours in the first over, the match became a no-contest thereafter.

So what were the hits and misses from yesterday’s match in Ahmedabad? Let’s have a look.

The Hits:

I watched Prithvi Shaw hitting his debut century in Test cricket a couple of years back. His sense of timing and his strokes on the offside left me in awe. Then quite suddenly he lost form and it was a pain watching him bat last year. His natural instinct to go for shots led to his downfall. He is a naturally aggressive player and it was understandable that he might get out sometimes but he started getting out too quickly and too consistently. Eventually, Shubhman Gill replaced him in the Test team but how fortunes have changed over the last couple of months. Prithvi Shaw scored buckets of runs in the domestic tournament which preceded IPL whereas Shubhman Gill struggled with the bat in the England series. Cut to IPL 2021 and we are seeing a rejuvenated Prithvi Shaw on display. Yesterday he started with a bang and made a mockery of the chase by hitting 6 boundaries in the first over against Shivam Mavi. He continued in the same zest throughout the innings and for a while, I felt he might end up getting a century. I guess he would have got his century if he had not got out. Either way, he single-handedly took Delhi capitals to victory yesterday by scoring 82 runs off 41 balls.

I saw Lalit Yadav for the first time in this year’s IPL and I liked him instantly. He is an all-rounder and a terrific fielder. I was a bit disappointed when Delhi dropped him in the last match but was happy to see him back yesterday. He had a telling effect on yesterday’s match when he picked up 2 wickets in the 11th over to push KKR when they were about to get loose. KKR couldn’t recover from that setback and ended up scoring only 154 runs.

That KKR was able to score 154 runs was only possible due to the final push given by Andre Russell. It was Russell’s birthday yesterday and I hoped for a special innings from him. It was not a typical Russell innings but in the end, he did hit some towering sixes to help KKR cross the 150 run mark.

The misses:

The tale of two talented youngsters: Shubhman Gill and Prithvi Shaw. As Shaw’s stocks dropped last year, Gill’s kept rising and now when Shaw is getting his form back, Gill has completely lost confidence. I thought KKR might bring him down the order yesterday but they didn’t. To be fair to him, Gill seemed to get back his touch but the wickets in the middle overs got him tense and he ended up losing his wicket after scoring 47 runs. It would be a good idea to play him at number 4 going forward.

Eoin Morgan has been a disaster for KKR this season. he is one of the best white-ball cricketers in the world but his record in India has never been very good. KKR had a lot of expectations from him after they took him last year but he has not scored many runs for them yet. I am not sure if the team management will persist with him or not but I think they should and I think it would be best suited for him to open the innings. Let’s see if that’s the case in the next match.

What to look forward to?

KKR definitely needs some changes because it’s quite clear that the players upfront are not showing the needed intent. KKR has reached the panic stage because they need to win 6 of the next 7 matches to make it to the playoffs. Stranger things happened in IPL but the chances look very glim.

My ideal playing XI for the next match is given below:

Venkatesh Iyer, Eoin Morgan, Rahul Tripathi, Shubhman Gill, Dinesh Karthick, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Harbhajan Singh, Prasidh Krishna & Varun Chakravarthy

For Delhi Capitals the heart-breaking loss against RCB is now a thing of the past and I think they might not want to tweak the winning combination. Avesh Khan has been a revelation and I think another few performances like this and he might sneak into the Indian team in International T20s.

So what do you think? Will KKR be able to make a comeback? Will Shubhman Gill showcase his special talent this year? Do write in as we await the match between RCB and Punjab Kings later this evening.

PS. It could always be worse!

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