IPL 2020: Match 9: Rajasthan Royals Vs. KingsXI Punjab

Sharjah is having the smallest ground amongst the 3 venues at this year’s IPL. When Rajasthan Royals played Chennai Super Kings in their first match at Sharjah both the teams topped 200 runs. So one thing was for sure that we were in for a run feast when Rajasthan Royals met Kings XI Punjab yesterday! But the see-saw battle that happened was something unbelievable. After a spate of a few one-sided matches, we got a humdinger yesterday.  

We are living in absolutely challenging times these days and IPL is a kind of a breather for all cricket lovers and it’s no different for me.

Here are my 5 points from yesterday’s encounter.

1. Mayank Agarwal

The last 2 years have been nothing less than magic for Mayank. He was always in the fringes but the breakthrough never came. But he got consistent from 2017-18 and after doing well for India his confidence skyrocketed and this IPL he has been supremely confident and very consistent. He outscored Rahul yesterday very easily. He timed the ball to perfection and luck was with him too because when he mishit the ball it landed away from the fielders. In the first match, Mayank failed to take his team home and he decided to make amends yesterday by playing a stroke full century. 2 consecutive centuries from Kings XI Punjab and it was primarily due to him that RR was set 224 to win.

106 off  50 balls is no mean feat. A strike rate over 200 with 10 fours and 7 sixes – An innings of pure class. That he ended up on the losing side proves what a chase it was yesterday. One for the cricketing folklore.

2. The flying Pooran 

Nicholas Pooran is one of the future stars in World Cricket. He had a terrible car crash in 2015. Doctors were not sure if he could walk again forget playing cricket. That he came back from such an incident and to play cricket again and that too at the international level is an inspirational story by itself. Yesterday Pooran took fielding to another level by audacious save which can put great goalkeepers to shame. That he is a wicket-keeper probably helped in that spot jump. The ball was destined to go for a Six when Pooran made the forward lunge. He caught the ball flying but he was across the ropes and in a moment of magic, he threw the ball inside the arena with his body inches off the ground. He saved 4 runs for the team. In the final analysis, that incident didn’t matter much but the acrobatic fielding of Pooran will remain as one of the highlights of this year’s IPL.

3. The consistent Sanju Samson

Sanju Samson is an enigma in Indian Cricket. He is probably one of India’s best batsmen today but he has been guilty of being inconsistent. This is primarily the only reason that he has been overlooked when it came to getting selected for the Indian team. He never got a long stint and whenever he got one he couldn’t capitalise to make it a big one. But, I guess if you see talent then its important that you back him. If you take the case of MS Dhoni – he flopped in his first 3 matches against Bangladesh – got another chance against Pakistan – flopped again but in the next match (Dhoni’s 5th) he scored a strokeful century and he never looked back since. Sanju Samson needs a chance for 2 series at least without undue pressure for him to blossom at the big stage. 

One thing that I guess he has realised is that he has to make this IPL count for him to get into the Indian set up. He played a great hand in helping Rajasthan Royals win their first match and he followed that up with even better innings yesterday. 85 off 42 balls with 4 Fours and 7 Sixes kept Rajasthan Royals in the hunt as long as he was there. He had a century in his platter but with Tewatia not able to score Sanju had to take the onus himself and too much aggression led to his downfall.

This innings of Sanju Samson would hopefully make him realise that consistent performance in IPL would keep the selectors interested. I hope without taking undue pressure he should keep performing because he has a bright future in Indian colors in the future.

Two Man of the Match awards for Sanju in a row – the stakes have never been so high for him.

4. Fielding

When the IPL started this year many players looked rusty. It was quite obvious that the 6-month lockdown had taken its toll. The fielding standards were way below par. Some of the misses in the initial matches took us back to the fielding standards of the ’80s. Yesterday it was different. KingsXi Punjab acquired the services of Jonty Rhodes this year and it has rubbed off on the team and how. People will keep talking about the Pooran save for a long time but there were other brilliant saves as well. The boundary saved by Cottrell and another one by Mayank were simply brilliant. The fielding standards have definitely picked up in the second week of the IPL.

5. Rahul Tewatia – Naam toh yaad rahega

The Rahul’s in IPL 2020 are having a field day. If it was KL Rahul’s heroics that took IPL by storm then it was the turn of Rahul Tewatia today. IPL has always given a great platform for many unknown Indian players to perform and showcase their skills in front of a global audience. When Steven Smith got out yesterday, Rajasthan Royals took a risk with Rahul Tewatia – who is a bowling allrounder – by sending him up the order. The move was failing spectacularly with Rahul unable to take even singles – forget pinch-hitting. His first 20 balls yielded only 11 runs and he was one of the reasons why Sanju Samson lost his wicket because he thought to take the onus himself. Sanju Samson in fact denied a single in one of the overs because he didn’t want to waste any balls on Tewatia anymore. But something changed after Sanju got out because the next 11 balls that Rahul Tewatia faced yielded 42 runs with one Cottrell over being smashed for 30 runs (5 sixes). By the time he got out the equation read 2 runs needed off 6 balls – the match well and truly in Rajasthan Royals’ grasp.

Last year Andre Russell won a few matches for KKR from absolutely despair situations – this innings of Tewatia was completely in Russell zone. 6 sixes in the last 11 balls that he faced turned the match completely in its head. All the hits were clean and came from the middle of the bat. The best part was that it came against International pace bowlers. I doubt if Cottrell has ever been hit in this manner ever. Incidentally, this was the highest successful chase ever in IPL history.

Let’s see if this is a one-off incident – I will be eagerly waiting to see what he does in the rest of the tournament.

It was one of the thrillers which won’t be forgotten easily. IPL 2020 is giving us a lot of reasons to smile.

So what are your thoughts on the lengths that Shami and Cottrell bowled towards the end? Was it a case of taking things lightly after Sanju Samson got out?

Thoughts?

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