[Emvi]

Match#47
CSK vs RR

What an innings from Ruturaj Gaikwad! First hundred of the second leg of this edition of IPL.

In pursuit of the target (190), Yashasvi Jaiswal smashes a stunning 19 ball 50!

[VWAllstar]

IPL is indeed becoming more competitive than many international series. There are many less known Indian players leaving a big mark.

How would you have your XI with non regulars? Heres mine.

R Gaikwad
D Padikkal (c)
V Iyer
N Rana
R Tripathi
S Samson (wk)
H Patel
Arshdeep Singh
C Sakariya
V Chakravarthy
Avesh Khan
12th Man: R Bishnoi

This team can take our WC probables and give a tough fight (even win few)

[NPV]

RR unexpectedly unleashed their fearless batting from the beginning of their run chase and in the end made it look so easy.

Jaiswal and Dubey looked in ominous form and demolished the CSK bowling.

We now have 3 promising left handed opening batsmen to look forward to in future - Devdutt Padikkal, Venkatesh Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal

And the right handed opening batsman Ruturaj too.

[Emvi]

Match#52
RCB vs SRH

SRH's Umran Malik bowls the fastest ball of this edition of the tournament- 153kmph(152.9). This lad from Jammu and Kashmir has some serious pace!!

Interestingly, Umran was added late to the squad as T. Natarajan's replacement after the left-arm pacer tested positive for Covid-19.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by Emvi

Match#52
RCB vs SRH

SRH's Umran Malik bowls the fastest ball of this edition of the tournament- 153kmph(152.9). This lad from Jammu and Kashmir has some serious pace!!

Interestingly, Umran was added late to the squad as T. Natarajan's replacement after the left-arm pacer tested positive for Covid-19.

He reminded me of Waqar Younis during the Sharjah Cup in the early 1990's. Similar run up and the burst of power at the time of release. Hope BCCI manages Umran well and provides him with ample opportunities.
How tables have turned over the last 1.5 decade. Pakistan is grooming batters and India is getting good fast bowlers. (Though we are continuing to do good to have a strong top 4)

[pandey.jai]

Read some stats that a significant percentage of IPL winners were top 2 during the league phase. With that loss, I guess RCB aren’t going to win the whole thing this time around.
Not sure what the RCB management were thinking in sending Dan Christian at 3. AbD ended up with pretty much no strike in the last couple of overs.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by pandey.jai

Read some stats that a significant percentage of IPL winners were top 2 during the league phase. With that loss, I guess RCB aren’t going to win the whole thing this time around.
Not sure what the RCB management were thinking in sending Dan Christian at 3. AbD ended up with pretty much no strike in the last couple of overs.

Dan Christian has been a finisher for all the teams he has ever played and he has been a good contributor at that position. ABD has always batted at 3 or 4 in his entire career and is considered to be one of the best white ball players ever.

So, what does brilliant RCB management does. They switch their roles so Dan bats at 3 and obviously fails and ABD gets to play only 13 balls in a chase of 140+ staying not out as he just didn't have enough time to win it. This precisely is why they have never won the trophy and I dare say they won't this time too. DC are favourite and CSK close behind to lift it.

[pandey.jai]

Exactly my point. For some reason, the RCB team management want to try and be cheeky when there is no need for it.
In trying to outsmart others, they may have shout themselves in the foot.

[NPV]

Wow, what a game DC Vs RCB turned out to be!

Never underestimate anyone especially the underdog, expect the unexpected - this is what came to mind.

The way Avesh was bowling and the way Bharat was batting in the last over, I never expected him to score even a boundary, leave alone a six - not taking away anything from his batting in this game though, thoroughly deserved that kind of finish
RCB experimented so much with the number 3 spot and the answer was right in front of them - Bharat did well every time he got the opportunity, hope they groom him well, good future prospect.

[Emvi]

Match#56
RCB vs DC

Stunning finish for RCB in their final group match. With 5 runs needed of the last ball, wicketkeeper batsman Srikar Bharath became an unheralded hero after he tonked Avesh Khan for a mighty six to take his side to a memorable victory!

[VWAllstar]

Looking at the current form, we really need to make some changes to the WC squad. Especially, Hardik Pandya cannot play purely as a batter. We have quite a few who are in great form to fill in as a pure batter.
Rohit Sharma does not look fit and interested however he is a different player in big tournaments. Kohli hasnt done much to be part of the playing XI however come what may he is going to play throughout :(

I hope we be more practical and select horses for courses.

Ishan, KL, Rohit/Kohli, SKY, Pant, Jadeja, Shardul..

Playing both Rohit & Kohli would really mean to drop one of the top performers of IPL.

[VWAllstar]

End of an era : Virat's last time as a Captain of a Franchise Cricket Team. Personally never liked him and not sad to see an underachieved era come to an end.

Though he hasnt really achieved a lot being the captain for 9 years, RCB would be tempted to retain him? Its going to be an interesting Mega Auction and more interesting to know which players are been retained.

Unfortunately we did not have Kohli & ABD bat together even once this season. Shows how wrongly ABD was utilized.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Shows how wrongly ABD was utilized.

Virat Kohli: The king without a title. Feel sorry for the 9 IPL seasons RCB captain to end on a low-key. He has been making strategic, tactical mistakes, from team selection, batting order to bowling changes. For instance, in yesterday's match, there were better deserving in playing 11 than Dan Christian. While toss is 50-50, RCB could have bowled first in a key game. The ideal spot for VK is No 3. Going after Narain was not a good idea. The captain didn't bowl Shahbaz, messed up bowling quota options.

All of this made RCB was strong on paper but it never delivered. It kept its fans on the hook with an eternal promise to win the cup.

[KPR]

VK doesn't have the luck to win a toss. If he is lucky then he takes contradicting decision to the trend. He is a very good batsman and really bad captain. It is the quality of Indian players in line up that won him international matches. OTOH IPL is about carrying a team of players with mixed experience, age and skill levels. I'm not at all surprised to see him failing here.

[am1m]

Question: do you guys feel 'connected' to the IPL franchise of your city? I don't feel particularly attached to the fortunes of RCB even though I was born and raised in Bangalore and have lived there for most of my life. (Used to work at an IT company out of one of the offices at UB City (though in no way connected to any of the UB group businesses) back when Mallya owned all of that and got to see Dravid, Gayle, Bhogle and Kumble all walking in for meetings (on separate occasions), that was a thrill though!) I'm actually a fan of RR more than any other franchise. Just curious about the general trend though.