Weekend time means double header in IPL 2020.

The only change that has happened in due course of

the tournament is that the afternoon sun has cooled down a bit and it has become a bit easier for the
players out in the middle. Today’s afternoon game was a very critical one, as RCB and RR faced off for
their 2nd match in the tournament. If RCB came out victorious, it would consolidate their position in the
top 4 and make the road to the playoffs smoother. ON the other hand, it was most important for RR to
win, as losing this match would land them in must-win territory for the next 5 matches to make it to the
playoffs.

Steve Smith won the toss and chose to bat. There are some captains, who find it too difficult to rectify
their mistakes promptly. Smith is one of them, as he again sent out Stokes to open the batting today.
Luckily for RR, Robin Uthappa accompanies Stokes. I have been saying in every RR match report, that
Uthappa needs to open the batting. The results were visible today as the veteran right-hander raced to
41 off 22 deliveries giving a solid start to RR, exploiting the powerplay field restrictions.

Stokes, no wonder, failed again at the top of the order as he got dismissed for 15. I found it inexplicable
that RR stuck to Stokes even after choosing Uthappa as the other opening partner. That only meant that
the highly successful Butler, who has changed matches for RR for the past 2 seasons with the abt, at the
top of the order, dropped down to 5. Absolutely brain-fade strategy from RR to be honest.

Today RR corrected one half of their opening pair. Let’s hope they rectify the other half pretty soon.
After Stokes got dismssed by a slower from Morris and Chahal took responsibility to end Robin’s cameo,
it was down yto Samson and Smith to negotiate the middle overs. Smith is a completely different
batsman, when there are gaps in the field. The reason, he was finding it difficult in the last few matches
was that, he was coming out in the powerplay. With point, cover, midwicket and square-leg inside the
30-yard circle, he found it tough to mlik the bowler for singles.

Today he was at his best, as he dominated the middle overs, running hard between the wickets and
hitting the odd boundary. He scored 57 off 36 deliveries to anchor the inning for RR- something that he
has so often done in the past. With Samson missing out cheaply, Butler had to bear the responsibility to
control the middle overs along with Smith. As I expected changing his batting position from Opening to
No. 5 affected his game big time as he scored 24 at lesser-than-run-a-ball.

Thanks to Steve Smith and the impressive Rahul Tewatia, who is making a name for himself with some
handy cameos down the order, RR posted an above-par score of 177-6. It is strange how times change.
Six months ago, Simon Doull called RCB’s buying of Chris Morris for 10.5 crores as mindless bidding.
Infact KKR’s acquisition of Cummins for 15.5 crores was throught to be a better buy than Chris Morris.
RCB is looking like a different bowling attack ever since Morris joined them , while KKR’s premiere fast
bowler has scalped 2 wickets in 8 matches.

Morris today dismissed all the 4 overseas players of RR in the form of Butler,Smith Stokes and Archer to
put a lid on RR’s scoring rate. To imagine, that he conceded only 26, even after going for 14 off his 3 rd
over is just mind-boggling. Yuzi Chahal- the king of the middle overs spun a web around the opposition
as usual, dismissing Samson & Uthappa and RCB once again looked a complete bowling side on t he
field.

RCB came out tobat with their trusted opening duo at the crease. I feel the best part about RCB’s batting
this season, has been that batsmen have been assigned specific roles. It is clear from the approach of
Finch and Paddikal that RCB wants a solid start from their openers, rather than an explosive start. They
would rather prefer to be at 42-0 at the end of 6 rather than being at 28-3.

Finch departed early today, after looking in impressive touch. The impressive leggie, Shreyas Gopal
accounted for the burly Australian, with a well-tossed up delivery. After the first wicket, the chase-
master Kohli and Paddikal held forte, laying a foundation for the chase.

The only issue I have with RCB’s chase today is that Kohli and Pddikal looked too sedate in the middle
overs. While rotation of strike is the most important part of the partnership, the duo did not put away
the bad balls to the boundaries. In a bid to play risk-free cricket, RCB dug themselves into a pit, as they
scored just 53 between overs 7-14, losing 2 wickets in the process. Kohli and Paddikal both had a strike
rate of just around 100, something that could have hurt them considering the match situation.

Both Kohli and Paddikal got dismissed off consecutive deliveries, landing RCB in a further soup. The very
impressive Tyagi is improving with very passing match and his accuracy and consistency of deiveries is
looking much beyond his years. The way he is complimenting Jofra Archer should be a matter of pride
for the young chap. Tonight Tyagi probably scalped his dream wicket of the IPLas he had Kohli caught at
deep mid-wicket courtesy a magnificient catch by Rahul Tewatia.

And then the Superman landed at the stadium. Just when RR was thinking that they have got hold of the
target defence with some excellent bowling from Archer and Tyagi, AB De Villiers changed the match-
ONCE AGAIN. De Villiers is playing a role for RCB, that Andre Russell played for KKR last year. The South
African is playing freak cameos to win him team games, that they should have lost. Once again, he
proved to be the difference between the 2 sides today.

With 35 required off the last 2 overs, RCB was looking to have lost grip over the match on a slowing
pitch. But then Smith deicded to use Unadkat in the penultimate over- a decision that will be debated
for long. However, I feel that it would not have made much of a difference had Archer bwoled the 19 th
over. When De Villiers is in demolishing form, you just need to stand back and appreciate the great guy,
even as a n opposition captain. AB smashed Unadkat for 3 consecutive sixes to take 25 off his over and
wrapped up the game with another six off Jofra.

By the time, the game ended Superman AB has raced to 55 off 22 deliveries on a pitch, which seemed
sluggish to other batsmen. With this win, RCB looks to have laid a foot on the playoffs already with 12
points. While RR needs to get their batting order right and win every game from now, it is a bed of roses
for the men in red. However, there was a tactical mistake from Kohli today,that got overshadowed by
AB’s brilliance. Morris should have come out to bat ahead of Gurkeerat Singh Mann at 5 today, to lend
more support to AB.