Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders were two teams who had yet to open their accounts after the first 7 days in IPL 2020. Both were desperate to get their campaign on track as they met each other at Abu Dhabi yesterday. IPL is a very long tournament and hence its always important to get some momentum in your side otherwise the motivation falls and it gets very difficult to come back. It’s even harder this time around with no “Home Grounds” and no “Home Crowd” to root for you from the stands.

Here are my 5 points from yesterday’s match.

1. Pat Cummins’ comeback

The premier fast bowler whom KKR bought at a hefty price this year looked off-color in the first match. But he was back with a vengeance yesterday and his very first ball stamped his class with a back of length delivery to David Warner. He didn’t give a single hittable ball in his quota of 4 overs, 3 of which he bowled inside the power play. His returns of 1/19 in 4 overs were the best among both the teams and by the look of things Pat Cummins would be a threat to all participating teams this year. KKR needs him to be at the top of his game in each and every match due to the inexperience amongst its bowling resources.

2. Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy & Nagarkoti 

KKR invested heavily in young players over the last couple of years. After the 2018 U19 World Cup win, KKR went aggressively to secure the purchase of a few U19 rookies. Two of them were Mavi and Nagarkoti. Both these youngsters were the frontline pacers of the Indian campaign in New Zealand 2 years back. Unfortunately, Nagarkoti got injured and was sidelined for close to two years. Even Mavi was injured for one year but credit to the management that they didn’t let them go and finally we found both of them playing together. I have been waiting for 2 years for this to happen.

Both bowled just 2 overs each and looked sharp as well. I just hope they live up to their potential.

Varun Chakraborty was a hefty recruit by Kings XI last year. An unknown mystery spinner who can turn the ball both ways without any change of action – Varun was decimated at Eden Gardens last year and his IPL journey seemed to have ended.  Kings XI didn’t give him another chance and was let off at the end of the season. This year, KKR took him and he looked a far different bowler than the one that turned up last year. His line was impeccable and he didn’t give any lose balls. The last ball of his quota of 4 overs went for a six otherwise his bowling figures would have been exactly the same as Cummins. That he bowled his full quota and Kuldeep didn’t bowl his drives home the point. By the look of things, it seems this year Varun will get an extended run. Getting the wicket of the dangerous looking Warner must have given Varun a lot of confidence for the rest of the tournament.

KKR is overtly dependent on young Indian players and hence it’s important that this group take this as an opportunity to stamp their class.

3. Manish Pandey

Manish Pandey according to me is the right-handed Raina. Not only is he an aggressive batsman, but he is also a terrific fielder too. That he didn’t get an extended run in the Indian Cricket team boils down to luck because he got injured during a crucial phase and other young players came in and established themselves. He is an important clog in the SRH setup because SRH is another team that has a lot of uncapped or inexperienced young Indian players. For SRH to succeed, Manish has to play a very important role because they are way too much dependent on Bairstow and Warner. Manish has to not only be the finisher but also has to sometimes rebuild the innings and take it deep. In this context his innings of 51 yesterday was the sole reason why SRH got to a total of respectability.

4. Shubman Gill 

Shubman Gill is one player about whom everyone is talking about for more than one year now. Last year he played some handy knocks in the IPL and he has been a very consistent performer in the domestic circuit too. He captains the India “A” team as well. Though he is yet to break into the playing XI of the Indian team the time is not far off. He was cool as a cucumber yesterday. Not only was he aggressive yesterday but when the situation demanded he completely cut down on stroke-making and concentrated on rotating the strikes. He seems to have a problem with the rising ball outside the off-stump though. In the last match he fell into that sucker pull and today he looked in discomfort too with similar kinds of deliveries. This problem seems to be more with left-arm pacers. He needs to work on this aspect but probably there are not many left-arm pacers around the nets in the KKR setup. He consciously made amends though and I could distinctly see that he was trying to roll his wrists over while attempting the pull shots. He is a fast learner and I am very sure he will overcome this with the help of Brendon McCullum and David Hussey.

His 70 runs yesterday was the highest score in IPL history to contain no misses or edges. So the highest chanceless knock ever in IPL history.

Well played Shubman Gill. KKR will hope that he continues with this form of his in the coming matches.

5. Eoin Morgan

Morgan was a star recruit for KKR this year. He had played earlier for KKR too but now Eoin Morgan is the captain of the world cup winning team and the man who is regarded to have turned around the English limited overs set up. To get a man of his caliber is of great importance for this team because it means Dinesh Karthik has someone to fall back upon in the field because Morgan is a great leader. If you ask me, Morgan should actually lead this team in place of Dinesh. Yesterday he started circumspectly and tried to sweep every ball against Rashid. Fortunately for him, he didn’t get out in that initial struggling phase because towards the end he started toying with the bowlers. He is a class act and once he gets into the groove he can take away the match from any opposition. His innings of 42 off 29 balls yesterday must have come as a breath of high relief for KKR because after a long time in recent memory that KKR won a match chasing without Russell.

Though KKR won the match yesterday one needs to look at things holistically and understand that SRH itself is struggling so winning against a struggling team doesn’t mean that the loopholes have been plugged.

Is going with 7 bowling options the right way to go about for KKR?

Making Naraine open – is this the right way to go?

Does Tom Banton get a look in?

Does Kuldeep hold on to his place?

When does Williamson come back for SRH?

Will SRH sacrifice Bairstow to play an out and out fast bowler in Billy Stanlake?

Lots of questions to be answered!

Before I end, let me wish the only KKR man to hit a century in IPL and the current Head Coach of the team, Brendon McCullum a very happy birthday!

Chennai Super Kings is one of the most successful teams in the Indian Premier League. But, if you take a courtesy glance at their squad you will realise that the average age of the team is very high. It’s loaded with experience but if age is catching up with you then this T20 format can be very exhausting. Most of their players are either retired or have played International cricket many years back. Add the absence of Raina and Harbhajan from the squad along with the injury to Bravo and CSK has some big holes to fill. After the first match, their MoM, Ambati Rayudu got injured and it complicated matters further. It’s under this context that they met Delhi Capitals in their third outing of this season in Dubai.

Here is my 5 point analysis of yesterday’s match.

1. To walk or Not to walk

A simple delivery outside the off-stump – Prithvi Shaw played for the outswing – the ball didn’t swing – took the faintest of edges and landed in Dhoni’s gloves. Nobody heard a thing and the game continued as usual. Both Dhoni and Chahar didn’t hear the nick and hence didn’t appeal. Prithvi Shaw carried on nonchalantly.

Adam Gilchrist propagated the ethics of walking which has been highly debated amongst the cricket circles. He always walked if he knew he nicked the ball. Was Shaw right in staying on? Legally he was right in staying on because no one appealed. But it definitely was a lucky break for him.

2. Prithvi Shaw 

Prithvi Shaw was highly regarded in Mumbai circles even before he became the captain of the Indian U-19 team that won the World Cup in 2018. His talent was fast-tracked and he burst into the Indian team as an 18-year-old and scored a stroke-filled century on debut. But his attitude let him down thereafter and he suddenly found himself out of the team and right now he is still in the fringes. One of his biggest drawbacks is his consistency. Even in last year’s IPL, he blew hot and cold. Will he be consistent this year? Yesterday he gave a glance of what he can achieve. He played a strokeful 64 runs which was the only half-century across the two teams. One thing he needs to look at is playing in the V during the initial stages – playing cross-batted strokes in the initial part of an innings is always fraught with danger. I hope he scores runs consistently this season. That’s the only way he can justify his talent.

3. The flying MSD

Age is just a number for MS Dhoni. At his age, he is extremely fit and can challenge any other youngster in the field. The last ball of the 19th over – Shreyas Iyer nicked the ball and it flew past close to the first slip towards the boundary – but wait, there was a flying saucer on the field named, MSD who just threw himself to his right to snatch the ball in thin air. What a catch!

4. Rabada

Kagiso Rabada is one of the best bowlers in the world today. South Africa is having a lot of internal turmoil when it comes to cricket these days but their shining armor has been Rabada who has taken a huge load of work over the last 2 years and has been consistent across all formats. Delhi Capitals has the most balanced lineup across all teams this year plus one of the youngest teams in the tournament. Rabada, their primary fast bowler never disappoints them. Yesterday was no different. His 3 wickets amplified that fact. In the earlier match too it was Rabada who won them the Super Over. An exciting talent and we will hear more about him in the days to come.

5. The toss factor

All captains are fearing the dew factor and hence opting to chase after winning the toss but what’s happening is that most of the time the first innings score is getting so high that the dew factor is getting negated. It happened yesterday again. I guess its time for teams to look at their strengths and decide their course of action. Chasing will only be possible if you have to chase around 160 runs (most of the time) otherwise it will be difficult as the days progress because the pitches will get slower in the latter half of the tournament.

It was 2 losses in a row for CSK which should be a botheration for them. On the other hand, Ponting and Iyer must be in a very happy space with Delhi Capitals winning two on the bounce.

So what do you think should be the changes for CSK in their next match?

Kings XI Punjab snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in their last match. On the other side, Royal Challengers Bangalore won their inaugural match in IPL after many years. They were hoping to make it 2 in a row which last happened to them way back in 2009. This is the pretext in which RCB met KXIP in Dubai yesterday.

Here are my high points from yesterday’s game.

1. Rahul: Naam toh Suna Hoga

When KL Rahul first burst into the international scene he was a copybook batsman just like his mentor Rahul Dravid. He in fact scored a century too in his very first series against Australia in Australia. He was straightaway branded as a Test Specialist. But consistency eluded him. His career was going nowhere and then he decided to enhance his keeping skills. This ensured that he replaced Dhoni as India’s number one keeper in limited-overs cricket especially with Rishabh Pant unable to convert his talent into runs. In 2019, he kept for all the matches in IPL and this followed in the international arena too. Is Rahul India’s answer to Adam Gilchrist? Only time will say but a copybook cricketer transforming himself into an aggressive opening batsman is a story by itself. Though he has lost his place in the Indian test team – I think his class of play can’t be kept out for long.

Yesterday other than the two umpires, Rahul was the only person who was in the field for the entire duration of the match. First, he carried his bat through the innings and then kept for the entire duration of the RCB chase. This is no mean feat considering the heat in Dubai.

The boundaries that he hit on the offside were class apart. He is one of the best cover drivers in world cricket.  Rahul is an aggressive player but he knows how to build an innings. He didn’t go after the bowlers right at the start. He got his eye in but didn’t let the bowlers dictate to him. He ensured that the run rate was always above 8 per over in the power play. 

Yesterday’s game was all about KL Rahul. Because he built his innings so meticulously – it ensured that in the end, he became unstoppable. The last 2 overs yielded about 50 runs for KXIP and it was only possible due to Rahul’s heroics. He took apart Dale Steyn and cut him a sorry figure at the end.

Rahul hit 21 boundaries (14 fours and 7 sixes) and that’s an average of one boundary per over. It was a brutal innings at the end.

In the process, he surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s long-standing IPL record of being the quickest Indian to 2000 runs in IPL history.

Rahul finished with 132 runs which incidentally is now the highest individual score by an Indian in IPL history.

Incidentally, RCB as a team lost the match by 23 runs to Rahul. The gap was this big yesterday.

2. Virat Kohli dropping sitters

Kohli is an aggressive individual and believes in a high-performance culture. He himself raises the bar when it comes to anything related to cricket in the field. He always leads by example and demands the best from his players. So it was quite strange to see him drop 2 absolute sitters yesterday. And guess what both the catches he spilled was of Rahul and it was before he reached his century. In the final analysis, these 2 catches might not look like a difference but you never know what would have happened if Kings XI ended up scoring less then 180. So according to me, these 2 catches did have an effect on how RCB fared when they batted because they lost momentum towards the end and they were mentally exhausted.

3. Dale Steyn

If there is one fast bowler whom I loved to watch it was Dale Steyn. His lucid action, speed, aggression was inspiring. That he was the number one bowler in the world during his hay days was not a surprise. Unfortunately, Dale Steyn could never replicate that type of form on a consistent basis in IPL. I was a bit surprised that RCB relied on him to carry the load of pace bowling this year especially with having Umesh Yadav in their ranks who himself is an inconsistent performer when it comes to limited-overs cricket. Dale Steyn cut a sorry figure yesterday going for 57 runs in his 4 overs. I doubt if we will see him in the next match. But does RCB has a readymade replacement? It was really sad to see how one of the best bowlers in the world ever getting hammered to submission. He was a pale shadow of himself. I hope Dale Steyn will show some spark before the tournament ends.

4. Horror start 

When you start a chase and especially if it’s a big one then what you need is a very good start in the power play. But what happened yesterday was just the opposite. Both Cotrell and Shami were in top form and before we could blink the eye RCB was reeling at 4/3 with Devdutt, Philippe, and Kohli back in the hut. The chase fizzled out even before it could start and what ensured after that was mere formalities.

5. Ravi Bishnoi

I first saw Ravi Bishnoi in the last U-19 World Cup which happened earlier this year. Though India lost in the finals to Bangladesh two players stood out. One was Jaiswal who ended up being the highest scorer of the tournament and the other one was Bishnoi who ended up being the highest wicket-taker. It was no surprise that Bishnoi was drafted in the first XI and he did his reputation no harm in the first match. He came back even stronger yesterday and picked up 3 wickets. A wrist spinner is always great to watch. He is young and he is aggressive and I hope with the guidance of Anil Kumble we will see a better Bishnoi ready for International cricket. He is still primarily a googly bowler and he needs to get his leg-spin equally effective for him to become a consistent performer at the world stage.

It turned out to be two days in a row where we had a one-sided contest. This is not good for the tournament where the teams are pretty equally matched. 

So what do you think would be the future course of action for RCB to get their bowling sorted? 

Do let me know your thoughts?

Finally, it was time for Kolkata Knight Riders to take the field in this year’s IPL. KKR is the weakest team on paper this year because they are the only team who will be playing 4 players or more in their first XI who are uncapped at the international level. And there is a 5th one – Shubman Gill who is yet to play an international T20 game. So a very inexperienced lineup – not taking away the talent – who will always be depending on a few stars to bail them out. 

The last couple of years it has all been about Andre Russell and he won matches for KKR from seemingly impossible situations.

Mumbai Indians have a stellar record against KKR and their captain loves this opposition too. No better opposition to get their campaign back on track after the loss against CSK a few days back.

So how did it go yesterday?

Here are my 5 pointers from yesterday’s match.

1. The Rohit Show

Rohit Sharma loves Eden Gardens. His test debut happened there. His world record of 264 runs in ODI happened there and he has scored tons of runs at that venue. This also meant that he scored lots of runs against KKR because Eden Gardens happen to be KKR’s home ground. Yesterday Rohit was in his elements. He pulled and drove at will. There is no better puller in the game of cricket than Rohit Sharma today. KKR did the cardinal mistake of bowling way too short and he took great advantage of the same. He missed his century yesterday but his 80 runs were way ahead of the next best scorer. 

2. The fast bowling conundrum 

From the inaugural IPL in 2008, KKR always spent a huge amount of money on a premier fast bowler. But the returns have always been poor. Be it, Ishant Sharma, in 2008 or Shane Bond in 2010 it has always been about diminishing returns. It hurt KKR even bad in 2018 when they spent a huge amount to secure the services of Mitchel Starc only to see him getting injured and subsequently not being available to play the IPL. This year, KKR spent humongous Rs. 15 Cr to secure the services of the world number 1 fast bowler – Pat Cummins. A lot depends on his performance because of the inexperienced pace bowing attack within the KKR ranks.

Unfortunately, Pat Cummins failed to fire yesterday. He was a pale shadow of his usual self. He had no control over line and length yesterday. He ended up going for 49 runs in 3 overs and his captain lost faith to have him complete the full quota of 4 overs.

3. RS 200. KP 150

Rohit Sharma hit 6 sixes yesterday and he went past the 200 sixes mark becoming the second Indian after MS Dhoni to register 200 sixes in IPL. A great achievement and he is not going anywhere soon. I won’t be surprised if he ends up hitting another 200 sixes before hanging his boots.

Keiran Pollard is synonymous with Mumbai Indians for many years now. He seemed to have had lost his mojo a couple of years back but he came back very strongly last year and is now the captain of the West Indies team. He was the captain of TKR (KKR’s Caribbean franchise) which won the CPL this year. That he completed 150 matches for Mumbai Indians is a great achievement because it shows his consistency as well as Mumbai’s love for him. They never left him out even when he had a tepid year or two. This year could be the KP year!

4. The return of Bumrah

Bumrah looked completely off-color in the last match. The 6 months of lockdown showed the rustiness as he struggled to get his length right. But yesterday the Boom Boom Bumrah was back in his elements. He was simply unplayable. His pace and guile kept the batsmen guessing throughout. His first 3 overs went for only 5 runs and he took 2 wickets too. That he went for 27 runs in his final over was an aberration because the competition was over by then.

Welcome back Bumrah!

5. Enigma called Kuldeep Yadav

KKR won IPL matches previously under the backdrop of 8 overs insurance cover from Sunil Naraine and Kuldeep Yadav. The magnificent bowling of Kuldeep Yadav till 2018 not only made him a top bowler in international cricket but also the go-to bowler for his captain in KKR. But something changed last year. He just couldn’t control his length and has always been either too short or too full and he had a horrible season which took its toll in his World Cup performance too. Cricket is a game of confidence and I felt that the lockdown period will help him to get his mojo back. But I was wrong because he was a pale shadow of 2018 yesterday. Not a single ball turned to make the batsmen uncomfortable. He was too short which was a rarity till 2018. He was milked easily and he gave away boundaries way too many. In a lineup that is filled with inexperienced players if one of your premier players is off-color then it’s very bad news for the team. Let’s see how he goes in the subsequent matches.

KKR hardly lost their inaugural matches in the previous editions and has a very high percentage of wins when it comes to winning their first match in a campaign but this year they have started in a wrong foot and with a very bad net run rate to boot. 

Will they be able to turn this around from here? What do you think?

Rajasthan Royals were the surprise winners of the inaugural IPL in 2008. They couldn’t replicate that win again and in fact, have not reached the finals ever since. They beat Chennai Super Kings in 2008 to win the championship and they faced the same opponents at Sharjah yesterday to kick off their 2020 campaign. 

Rajasthan Royals plugged a lot of gaps in their lineup in the last 2 years and after the last auction, their first XI had a very balanced look. But with Ben Stokes still to join the team and Jos Butler not available, RR had a problem in their batting. 

So how did the match go?

Here are my 5 pointers from yesterday’s match.

1. Sanju Samson’s heroics

Sanju Samson is one player who never got a long rope when it came to establishing himself in the Indian cricket team. His talent as a frontline batsman is enough to get him to the team – that he is an equally efficient wicket-keeper is an additional plus. But unfortunately, he always gets a stop-gap chance when it comes to playing for India. First, it was Dhoni who was irreplaceable then it was Rishabh Pant and now KL Rahul who is standing in between Sanju and a chance to play for India. The number of chances that Pant and Rahul got if it was given to Samson – I am very sure he would have been a permanent fixture in the Indian team by now.

Yesterday Sanju oozed class. His century partnership with Smith where he played the dominant partner was the sole reason why The Royals shot ahead of the opposition. Samson had a great opportunity to score his 3rd IPL century yesterday but he missed his chance. I hope he carries this form right through the tournament because it’s the consistency that’s the selectors are looking for and if he is consistent this year then he will get the ticket to play for India in the next T20 World Cup. 

9 sixes along with a strike rate of over 200 made this innings of Sanju Samson memorable not to forget the 2 stumpings and 2 catches that he took behind the wicket.

2. Faf du Plessis – the only saving grace for CSK

Faf is an anchorman. And he plays that role very well in the CSK set up. But when you have to chase above 200 runs then it’s about Bang Bang from the start. But you need someone who can carry the bat through. The chase becomes gettable only when there is another player at the other end who goes slogging consistently. Unfortunately for Chennai that didn’t happen consistently yesterday but Faf kept to his name and ended up with 72 runs at about 200 strike rate. He kept CSK in business till he was there at the crease. That Chennai went so far was only because of Faf who was the second-highest scorer yesterday after Sanju Samson.

3. The story of 2 overs

High scoring matches always mean sorry bowling figures but in Chennai’s case, it was actually about 2 overs. Rajasthan Royals scored 158 in 18 overs but scored 59 runs in 2 overs. One of those overs was in the early part of the match when Piyush Chawla went for 30 runs as Sanju Samson went on a rampage against him. The pitch was such that if you pitched it up then you are inviting the batsmen to slaughter you and that’s exactly what happened. The ground at Sharjah is distinctly smaller than Dubai and Abu Dhabi and so it was very difficult to contain a batsman in form. The other over happened to be the last over when Ngidi went for 29 runs. Actually he was lucky to concede only 29 runs because 25 runs were scored from his first 2 legitimate balls due to No Balls and subsequent free hits. Archer showed why he is such a dangerous player – people can remember him as an out and out fast bowler but many forget that he is more than handy with the bat. The 4 sixes that he hit in the last over made all the difference in the final equation. As you can see, these 2 overs and especially the last one is what made all the difference because Chennai lost by only 16 runs at the end.

4. Sixes galore

Small ground with less grass on the pitch meant that we were in for a run feast. The batsmen didn’t disappoint and we had 33 sixes yesterday which is a record in IPL history. That it was evenly matched by both the teams showed that even a score of 216 could have been chased down if Chennai got a better start. I think Rayudu was sorely missed yesterday!

5. Mahi sends a signal

A match featuring CSK and can you get away without a mention of Dhoni? Definitely not. He came quite late which is something he needs to think on because by the time he came the match was more or less over. Faf helped him to take the match deep but by that time the thinking was to keep the margin of loss at manageable levels considering the Net Run Rate which might come into the picture to determine the top 4. Dhoni went on a rampage in the last over with the first 3 balls going for 3 sixes. And each six was bigger than the previous one. One of the balls crossed the road adjacent to the stadium with a group of people jostling for the ball. Mahi just showed a glimpse of what he is capable of at this ripe age and no opposition captain is going to take him lightly going forward. He might not have played competitive cricket for more than 400 days but it’s all coming back quite quickly. We are in for an exciting IPL.

So what was your favourite moment from yesterday’s clash between CSK and RR?

Royal Challengers Bangalore along with Kolkata Knight Riders have always been the poster boys of IPL. The swag of their owners especially when Vijay Mallya was at the helm of affairs made RCB a team always on the news.

The profile of their players also made fans excited. Be it Chris Gayle or Virat Kohli or AB DeVillers. But top-heavy batting lineup never got the team the desired results. RCB remains one of the lowest-performing teams when it comes to IPL.

This year it looks slightly different because finally, they seem to have made the right choices. Their balance in the team looks good and hopefully, 2020 would be that breakout year for RCB.

Yesterday was RCB’s first match in this year’s IPL and here are my 5 breakout points from the match.

1. Devdutt Padikkal

People who follow Indian domestic cricket should not be surprised by this name. He has had a phenomenal 2019-20 and it was no surprise that he was named in the opening lineup yesterday. He looked like a class apart yesterday. His fluid strokeplay on the offside and in the V stamped his class. It was expected that Aaron Finch would be the aggressor with Padikkal playing the second fiddle. But it was completely the opposite. A 90 run opening partnership at a quick time gave RCB the start that they needed for a solid middle-order to make the most. The best part was that it was dominated by Padikkal who himself scored a dominant 50. We will hear a lot about him in the near future.

2. The ABDV finish

If the opening partnership gave RCB a rousing start, it was left to AB Devillers to finish it off. Losing both the openers in the space of 2 balls meant RCB had to play a period of consolidation as both Kohli and AB got their eye in. Virat couldn’t score many and that left AB to finish things off nicely. The innings stuttered in the middle overs and RCB would have struggled to reach 150 if ABDV didn’t give the necessary push. The sixes that he hit were those which only AB can especially the hit over extra cover. remember these grounds are at least 15 metres longer than the Chinnaswamy Stadium. It was his hitting which ensured that RCB crossed 150 and finally ended up with a score of 163 runs.

3. Johny Bairstow

Bairstow started his IPL career last year and he was the standout player in the initial part of last year’s IPL. Nothing changed and he was on the money right from the word go. Sunrisers Hyderabad has a big gaping hole in the middle order this year especially with Shakib not available hence its a very top-heavy batting lineup. Bairstow didn’t disappoint and till he was there it looked an easy chase for SRH. In fact, he had scored 50% of the runs of SRH till he was there. He along with Manish Pandey played a good hand after the initial dismissal of Warner. That he was the highest scorer among all players in the match proved his dominance yesterday. Ironically his wicket made all the difference yesterday.

4. Yuzvendra Chahal

Chahal is a product of IPL. He first burst into the scene a few years back and been a permanent spinner for RCB. A leg spinner who loves playing chess and it was no surprise that he was always looking to get wickets. A few years back he used to pick up wickets but used to go for a lot of runs but he learnt new tricks, improved his line of attack, varied his pace and broke into the Indian team. he along with Kuldeep Yadav made India a force to reckon with in the limited-overs format in 2018-19. Yesterday when the Bairstow-Manish partnership was going well, it was Chahal who broke that partnership by taking the wicket of Manish Pandey. His first 3 overs went for only 12 runs. But it was the final over that turned out to be the defining over of the match. With SRH looking set to win at 121/2, Chahal took 2 wickets in 2 balls including the prize scalp of Bairstow. 121/2 suddenly became 121/4 with a dodgy middle order and an injured Mitchel Marsh. Chahal finished with 3/18 in his 4 overs and was rightly declared the Man of the Match.

5. The collapse

Chahal triggered the collapse but the equation was still in Sunrisers’ favour. If you want to know what is the meaning of “Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” – look no further other than the highlights package of yesterday’s chase. From 121/2 SRH collapsed to 153 all-out losing 8 wickets for 32 runs in the space of 22 balls. Comical run out of Abhishek Sharma and an equally comical way of getting out of Priyam Garg just amplified the troubles of SRH. Mitchel Marsh’s injury didn’t help either. This was the second-worst collapse in IPL history and something that SRH has to forget very quickly.

RCB starts with a win which is a rarety going by their past records but SRH looks in trouble already. First, they don’t have the services of Shakib and now Williamson is injured and his replacement Mitchel Marsh also got injured. The young Indian players have to step up otherwise this would be a campaign to forget for SRH.

So what are your views on yesterday’s match? Is RCB looking strong to be the title contenders this year?

IPL is back and how!

2 days – 2 matches – 2 humdingers and already one super over!

This IPL will be closely contested. Each team is evenly matched. It’s going to be fun.

Here are my 5 best moments from yesterday’s match between Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab.

1. MD. Shami breathing fire

Shami broke into the Indian team during Sachin’s farewell series in 2013. He came in as an out and out, pace bowler. A bowler who can swing the bowl at a very good pace. His rise in Test Cricket was phenomenal but he couldn’t transfer that potential into the Limited Overs format. He was highly inconsistent in his line and length when it came to 50 overs or 20 overs cricket. But his breakout year was 2018 when he made a comeback looking fitter and some new balls in his armoury namely the bouncer and the knuckle ball. He became the go-to man for Virat Kohli during the Cricket World Cup in 2019. Shami turned out to be one of the few Indian cricketers in the first 2 matches in this IPL who didn’t look rusty after the 6 months break. He was breathing fire yesterday. Each and every ball looked like will get him a wicket. He was unlucky to not get 4 wickets due to a dropped catch but his return of 3/15 in his 4 overs was easily the best bowling figures of the match.

2. Marcus Stoinis ‘ heroics with the bat

Delhi Capitals was in all sorts of troubles right from the word go. Shami’s bowling along with bad batting and running pushed them back. Though Pant and Iyer brought back some sanity they were far behind from the par score. It all changed in the last 2-3 overs as Marcus Stoinics showed why he is regarded so highly among the pundits. He took 30 runs of Jordan in the last over and from a below-par total Delhi Capitals ended on a high with 153 runs to defend.

3. Ashwin 

Ashwin was the captain of the KingsXIPunjab last year and I expected him to make a difference in this match while playing his last year’s team. And how right was I? His first over which turned out to be his only over broke the back of the KingsXI chase. He conceded 2 runs and took 2 wickets. 33/2 became 35/4 and the chase was derailed. But unfortunately, Ashwin got injured in the last ball (hopefully its not shoulder dislocation because if that’s the case then Delhi Capitals will struggle with their lineup for the rest of the tournament).

4. Mayank Agarwal

As batsmen came and went and the score reading 55/5 at one stage, one player stood solid for Kings XI Punjab and it was Mayank Agarwal. For 75% of the innings, his strike rate was below 100 but then he took off towards the end and ended up scoring 58% of their runs. He scored 89 of 60 balls (Should have been 90 because the umpire wrongly called one run short earlier in the match – how ironic that the match ended in a tie). Mayank opened the batting and almost carried the bat through only to gift his wicket away with the team needing 1 run to win off 2 balls.

5. Marcus Stoinis ‘ heroics with the ball

The day was not over for Stoinis. His batting heroics was followed by bowling heroics. With Ashwin injured after bowling only one over, Stoinis had to bowl the other 3 overs and his 3rd over turned out to be the last over of the match. With Mayank on strike and 13 runs to win the momentum was with KingsXIPunjab. The first 3 balls yielded 12 runs and the match was tied. KingsXIPunjab got ready to celebrate only to see the next 3 balls go like this: DOT, W, W. From an absolutely hopeless situation, Marcus Stoinis once again brought Delhi Capitals back into the match. It was a tie.

With such a high octane finish, the Super Over turned out to be a dud. But this match will be remembered for the ups and downs through the 40 overs. Delhi capitals from scoring a below-par total ended up scoring heftily at the end and then with 1 run needed of 3 balls, KingsXIPunjab found a way to tie the match and subsequently lose the super over.

So what do you think that turned the match yesterday?

IPL is back. The poster boy of Indian Cricket – Indian Premier League was back on our TV screens yesterday.

The last year finalists, Mumbai Indians (MI) & Chennai Super Kings (CSK) took on each other in the inaugural match this time.

These are different times and difficult times too. To stage a tournament of this magnitude amidst the pandemic of Covid-19 was a challenge but economics play a big role in everyone’s lives.

So here we are back to India’s signature cricket tournament which is revered across the world.

The game marked the return of India’s iconic cricket captain, MS Dhoni to active cricket after more than 400 days.

Dhoni has not lost any of his sense humour though. During the toss time interview, MS said that because of all social distancing norms he asked the match referee if he can keep the first slip! No one could have said that other than Dhoni because he entertains you and that’s why he is so loved by everyone.

It must be very difficult for all cricketers because living inside a biosecurity bubble for more than 2 months is a very big challenge but that’s what it is and everyone has to not only take care of themselves but of everyone else’s as well. Breaking the protocol would put the entire tournament at risk. It’s good to see that all teams are together in this matter. It’s another matter that at the end of this all, the cricketers might feel like Bigg Boss winners staying isolated for so long.

For fans like us who have seen 95% of IPL on TV, it’s same as usual because we love cricket and to see our favourite cricketers back on the field is a motivation in itself. The last 6 months have been a struggle for everyone and it’s a struggle even today. But if cricket can entertain us and keep us happy then why not.

I hope to write every day related to IPL going forward and I will leave the cliche of being a cricket reporter and rather focus on 5 best moments of a match each day. So here goes my report for the inaugural match between CSK and MI.

1. The inaugural speech by Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak while thanking the dignitaries ended up thanking Jay Shah first who is the secretary of BCCI and followed that with Sourav Ganguly (gave a strange pronunciation of his name which only he could repeat) who is the president of BCCI. Was that intentional to show that Amit Shah (father of Jay Shah and the second most important man in India’s politics today) rules the roost? Where does that put Sourav Ganguly? How come he has become so compromising when he was known for calling spade a spade? Does power make people lose their inner conscience? Do you lose your fighting spirit and self-respect to hang on to the chair? 

2. Many cricketers in the playing 11 looked extremely unfit. Saurabh Tiwary made me feel like as if I was in the field. The fat tummies owing to multiple weeks of lockdown seems to have taken their toll. Lots of balls went between the legs. The quality of fielding, especially by the Indian cricketers, was pathetic. Hope the rustiness will get over after a couple of matches. 

3. Faf du Plessis was the man in the field and ended up taking 3 catches and two of them were brilliant. I am very sure the catch that he took to get rid of Hardik Pandya made a difference of at least 20 runs and hence according to me that catch is actually the turning point of the match.

4. Ambati Rayudu made a tongue and cheek tweet couple of years back about 3D glasses when he was overlooked for the Indian World Cup team because he didn’t bowl and was a relatively weak fielder. It created quite a furore in 2019. Ironically CSK sent him at number 4 and he came in when CSK looked in big trouble but he top-scored for them and along with Faf took the team to a position of great strength from where CSK won the match. 

5. Dhoni’s masterstroke of sending Jadeja and then Sam Curran ahead of himself and Kedar Jhadav to keep the left and right partnership going. Jadeja failed but Sam Curran scored 18 runs in 5 balls to change the course of the match and he made the equation easy to get in the death overs. Proves once again why Dhoni is considered one of the best captains ever. Incidentally, this win took him to 100 wins as a captain in IPL.

What are the main incidents of the first match that you think that left a mark for you?

It was in the first week of March while coming from Puri that I last went to Express Food Plaza, a nice restaurant near Kolaghat.

For the first time after Covid-19, I went out once again yesterday to have lunch and guess what the place was once again Express Food Plaza.

Mukesh and Asif picked me up from my place at around 1 PM. The traffic was normal but thankfully no traffic congestion because Andul Road has a nasty history of traffic jams. On the way to Kolaghat, you have to pass through one toll plaza at Dhulagarh. The government of India last year mandated FasTag for all cars to stop congestion at the toll plazas but it’s not 100% implemented yet. The funny thing is that the technology used and the people who are managing the system are making the FasTag lanes slow-moving and this resulted in us losing 15 minutes at the toll plaza.

In between Dhulagarh and Kolaghat there are 2 big vegetable markets and it was quite surprising to see that not even 10% of the people wearing masks. Masks have become like helmets and seat belts in India – the rule is there but most don’t follow. The bigger problem is that without masks you are not fined too hence nobody cares. Just proves how badly we implement anything in India.

The plan was actually to have food at Sher – e – Punjab Hotel but when we reached there, the place was filled with people with a one KM line to get a seat. It didn’t sound a good idea to stand in line and that too under the hot sun standing in a queue and so the next best idea was to have food at the Express Food Plaza.

People who have gone to this place will know that the area is so huge that there is never a waiting time to get a table. But I thought I will see some difference this time since with social distancing and all it was expected for the tables to be spaced out.

How wrong was I!

There was no one at the gate who will sanitize you. This goes against the basic protocol that the Government has issued. The sitting arrangement had no change. It was exactly as it was in the first week of March. Quite understandably the place was not filled but the distance between tables was way too less. As soon as we came in, no one bothered to clean the table in front of us. Same case with the plates. I think it should be a basic protocol to clean the table and the plates with proper sanitised papers in front of the customers. I am not sure why that’s not being followed.

This just shows that people just don’t listen to government advice and this country will only change when we the people try and understand that following the rules is the duty of all citizens of the country.

The waiters were all wearing masks and gloves and caps but no one was sanitising the hands in front of us while bringing the food to us. What’s happening inside the kitchen can be well understood.

My question is why doesn’t the government get more strict in these matters? We need proactiveness from the authorities to make these businesses responsible. We are fighting against a dreaded virus so we better get more strict in these matters.

Today India reported more than 87,000 new cases and if people don’t follow any protocol the entire health system might crack. When are we going to realise that?

Anyways, enough of gyaan, now let’s talk about food.

I have known Asif for more than 25 years. If his name was not Asif – we could easily call him SOSI (SO from Soup and SI from Pepsi). And true to his name he ordered Soup. We also ordered Tandoori Chicken – didn’t have this dish for more than 6 months.

The food at Express  Food Plaza is good. For the main course Asif ordered Fried Rice & Chilly Chicken, Mukesh ordered Masala Kulcha & Butter Chicken and I went for Alu Paratha with Ommellete. Once again went for Alu Paratha because didn’t have this for more than 6 months. We followed this up with Pepsi and true to His name, Asif (SOSI) had twice the amount of Pepsi that I and Mukesh had.

Anyways it was good fun having food at a restaurant after so long though the issue of not following the protocols by the restaurant left a bad feeling. It was equally good to drive through 60 kilometres each way. 

The car back on the roads and I guess we are not far off from our next long journey. Where will it be? We don’t know yet.

I was finally dropped off at my place around 5.30 PM.

So have you been to a restaurant recently? What has been your experience?

I once had a boss who was more of a teacher. With him, each day was learning. During his tenure, he never told me “how” to do any activity. He just kept telling me “why” to do the particular activity. Till that day, I was always told “what” to do. First time in my life I got a reporting head telling me “why” to do it.

Today when I look back, I believe he followed the SERVE model of leadership:

S: See the future – As a leader one needs to have the foresight that comes with experience & how you inspire your team towards that goal differentiates you from the rest.

E: Engage & Develop Others – How well you wear your mentorship hat will ensure how well your team develops into a winning team.

R: Reinvent – Learn, Unlearn & Relearn. In this ever-changing technological landscape, as a leader, you need to be abreast with the latest happenings around you. How flexible you are in this matter plays an important role in your development as a quality leader.

V: Value Relationships – How well you nurture your relationships be it with your customers or your team members will make your team members look up to you.

E: Empowerment – Give confidence to your team members to explore without fear.

Thoughts?

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