IPL 2021: Straight Bat with Gulf News and Mr. Cricket UAE Anis Sajan - RCB vs KKR and DC vs PBKS
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00:00Top performer. I think it's definitely got to be Glenn Maxwell. This guy, he has not scored a 50 for a while and now he's stepped up this tournament.
00:08He's just killed it for the RCB. And you know, with not only Maxwell and RCB, they've got of course ABD, Kohli.
00:14So, you know, this is an explosive team and a very fun team to watch. And on their day, they will ruin every team.
00:20But what about your KKR? What's happening with your KKR? Gautam and Sahil?
00:30Hello, good evening. Welcome to another edition of the Straight Bad Show with Gulf News and Mr. Cricket QAE.
00:42This is Gautam of Gulf News. With me, I've got my senior colleague, Shyam Krishna.
00:47And of course, apart from Anees, we have got Mobin Agha, one of our proud winners of the jacket,
00:54which you need to just win and predict the winner and win one of these lovely jackets
01:00on our social media platform. And of course, Sahil Sajan, who had been a regular in our shows.
01:07Before we start, I would like to ask Anees to take us through a bit about this contest,
01:13which has been the kind of response that it had been generating.
01:17Hello, beautiful people of the Gulf News community. Every day you have a contest on the Gulf News page.
01:22Predict the winner of the match on that particular day. And you walk away with this beautiful jacket,
01:26rather two winners win this beautiful jacket and three months of subscription. So make sure
01:31to log on to your favorite page, gulfnews.com every day and win these exciting prizes. Gautam.
01:37Thank you so much. Of course, two games, two tall scoring games. In fact, for a change,
01:46Chennai has also got also saw a high scoring game today. So I'll come back to Anees.
01:52So Bangalore, I mean, looking, they have never had as good a start as before. Three wins out of three.
01:58So what do you make out of it? I mean, there's still a long way to go. I mean,
02:02sometimes teams are flattered to be seen. What do you think?
02:06Well, honestly, when I saw Virat Kohli winning the toss and deciding to bat, I was quite happy
02:12because the curators or rather the specialist had said that it's going to be a dry wicket.
02:17And the moment the mystery spinner Varun Chakravorty got two wickets, I felt that the
02:22decision has backfired. But the mistake made by Owen Morgan that he did not continue with Varun
02:28Chakravorty. He just gave him one over and brought him up to six overs. And by that time, Maxwell was
02:33set. And when Maxwell gets set, he's the showman, as they say. And in the end, you had to just watch
02:38and admire the innings of the great 360 degree players, AB de Villiers, who made batting look
02:43simple on this dry wicket so easy that they ended up scoring a mammoth total of 200.
02:50Shyam, what's your take? Bangalore, I know, is one of your favorite teams.
02:54So what do you make out of it? Yeah, I wouldn't say favorite. I mean,
02:59they're favorites to make the knockout. But still, I would say that they're not,
03:04you could say they won three games, all the games, actually, all the three games. But
03:09still, it's not as dominating as I would expect. But this was indeed a top-notch performance today.
03:17Right. Well, quickly moving on to the second game. If we get time, we'll, of course, come back to the
03:24Bangalore show once more. Delhi Capitals, they had a hiccup in the previous game. But
03:32today, they showed how they chase a big target on helpful batting conditions. And of course,
03:37Shikhar Dhawan seems to be getting better with age. What do you make of it?
03:44Well, Punjab should have scored more than 200 runs. They were at least batting at around 11
03:51runs per over. And without a loss, they have scored a century. According to me, they should
03:57have scored at least around 225. Pulling them down to 195 by Delhi Capitals, that was a good
04:03bowling performance from them. And then the batting of Shikhar Dhawan.
04:09Right. Sahil, I'll come to you. You know, this Punjab, they often had this issue in the
04:16past. I mean, they've got nearly 200, 190-plus runs, but they've failed to defend.
04:23So do you see something like this again, coming back to kind of haunt them this season?
04:29Honestly, yes. Because now they've introduced two new bowlers to the IPL. Jaya Richardson and
04:34Riley Meredith. They're new to this contest. Yes, they've done well for Australia. Jaya
04:39Richardson has done well for Australia. And Riley Meredith has also done well in the Big Bash.
04:43But this is a completely different league. The IPL is a much tougher league. So yes, I think
04:48Punjab will still struggle towards the end of the IPL. And also today, not only them, even
04:52Mohammed Shami had a terrible day in the office. So I see Punjab struggling.
04:58Right. But Anish, the thing is, today, both these matches, you know, the four teams on display,
05:07they kind of showed the standard to which the IPL can generally go, you know,
05:14tall scoring games. But then again, KKR seems to be getting into that warp, something is
05:21getting wrong after the initial start of one game only. So how do you explain it to you?
05:29Well, first, let me talk about the KKR versus RCB game. You know, not all is
05:33looking rosy in their camp. If you must have realized in the last year,
05:37in the middle of the tournament, they switched the captainship to Owen Morgan.
05:41And they thought that things might change. But unfortunately, KKR missed the boat. They were
05:46almost there to make the knockoff. But the last game, Sunrise has won. If you talk about this
05:51year, I am afraid after winning the first game, the second game against Mumbai, which they should
05:57have won, they tried to play the Gango style of England cricket. And that actually cost them that
06:01game. Because at one stage, they required an average of probably six or six and a half,
06:05which you mentioned yesterday. And today, again, Owen Morgan, as I said, missed the trick by not
06:10getting Varun Chakravorty. So probably, they are still not able to plan what exactly they need to
06:16do. And as you said, they look good on paper, but they are not able to execute. So worrying sign.
06:22And for Punjab, I am afraid, like Sahil mentioned, the two new bowlers, the Australian fast bowlers,
06:26they are not able to hit the right length. And now they are going to go to Chennai. And I am
06:30not sure whether they have any good spinner apart from Vishnoy to do the tricks.
06:35Yeah, if you watch the second game, you see, they tried Punjab. You know, Jalaj Saxena,
06:46now this player had been doing apparently doing quite well at the domestic level for MP.
06:52So Jalaj and Deepak Khuda, another part-time spinner for your spinners. I mean, when you had
07:00Ravi Vishnoy, when you had Murugan Ashwin, what kind of a gamble was that, Shyam? I mean,
07:06were they looking for the extra batting or what? Actually, I was quite surprised that they're not
07:12playing Ravi Vishnoy because Ravi Vishnoy played all the games last season. Yeah, he did well.
07:18Yes, exactly. And I was sort of quite surprised why he didn't play up till now. Maybe we'll see
07:24more of him in Chennai. But right here, even here, I would have expected him to play.
07:34Okay, if you want to. But again, Jalaj Saxena, you said he's an MP player. Jalaj Saxena plays
07:40for Kerala. And yes, he's got a tremendous domestic record. But IPL is a different ball game.
07:48Also, not just that today's game, the way the Delhi were dominating, I don't think the bowlers
07:53wouldn't matter. Actually, the way Shikhar Dhawan was toying with the ball, you could bowl
07:58anywhere and he could put it anywhere he wanted. So I think today, irrespective of the bowler,
08:04he was just on top. But coming to your question about the spinners, I would have expected
08:10at least Gautam or Ravi Vishnoy. If they don't want to play Gautam, they should have played
08:15Ravi Vishnoy. I was actually surprised.
08:18Right. Sahil, you see, we have crossed the first week of IPL. Just randomly,
08:27who do you think, who would be your star performer of the week?
08:32Star performer of the week? I think it's definitely got to be Glenn Maxwell. This guy,
08:36he has not scored a 50 for a while. And now he stepped up this tournament. He's just killed it
08:42for the RCB. And with not only Maxwell and RCB, they've got, of course, ABD, Kohli. So this is an
08:48explosive team and a very fun team to watch. And on their day, they will ruin every team.
08:54But what about your KKR? What happened with your KKR? Gautam and Sahil,
08:58what happened to your team? KKR, when are they going to pull up their socks?
09:02I feel the KKR is not a good team and I don't think they'll make it.
09:06It's difficult. See, this year, the team looked better on paper because of some balance,
09:11which they managed to add with Sakhibal Hassan coming. But ultimately, you got to deliver.
09:18So, so far, I don't see that in them. I mean, they are losing steam with each match. I hope
09:23they're able to come back in the next one. And, you know, just because it's time of taking stock
09:31after about the first week, I'd also like to ask you, who's your star performer instead of,
09:37you know, taking it match by match?
09:40You mean to say as an individual or a team?
09:42As an individual. As an individual. Who do you think caught the eye, who made the difference?
09:47I think Sahil had a very good choice in Glenn Maxwell. It's difficult to do.
09:53Because from the game one against Mumbai, he looked in good touch and he made a very big
09:59statement that he's given a role by RCB and he's able to play according to that role. And when
10:05a team gives a role, now I'm glad you asked me this question. We are talking about Glenn Maxwell,
10:10but whether we talk about Punjab or whether we talk about KKR, you know, they have solid players.
10:16So when you have solid players, you have to make sure that you give them roles. I remember talking
10:20to Stephen Fleming. Sorry, I'm taking a bit long, but I need to say this.
10:26Stephen Fleming, we all know he's one of the finest coaches in the world around.
10:30And I always asked him that, how do you select the teams? He said, when we select teams,
10:34we select players and define them roles. That X player has been taken for this role, Y player
10:39has been taken for this role. And that role has been given to them. And if they execute well,
10:44if they do not execute, you can't do anything about it. But everybody is given a role and
10:48they need to make sure that they execute. And the problem with Punjab or the RRs or KKR this time
10:54around, I'm afraid they have players, but they need to be given a proper role. Let's take the
10:59example of Russell coming at number 7 when you're chasing 200. That's not done. You got to push him
11:04a little ahead if you're chasing 200 runs. Yeah, Russell. I mean, today in the three games,
11:11he was batting like the Russell we know. Shyam, do you think he should bat up? I mean,
11:16like they still have this dilemma about their batting order?
11:22No, I guess he's made a very valid point. Because it's almost like they have a set plan
11:28and they refuse to budge from it. See, any team has to be flexible and has to change according to
11:35the demands of the situation. Today was a classic case where Russell could have been pushed up.
11:40Because see, they are chasing 200 plus. So they need to judge, I mean, shake things up a bit. And
11:47Russell would have been perfect if he had come up at least number four, if he were there.
11:52I think he would have made a difference and we might have had a different game on our hands.
11:57Right.
11:58Mubin, you wanted to ask something. Go ahead. Mubin wanted to throw a question to you, Gautam.
12:02Yes, Mubin. Yeah.
12:05This is about KKR, Andre Russell. Isn't he performing not well, even from last year?
12:14And even his bowling is too predictable, coming around the wicket and just throwing it
12:19around outside the upsterm. So isn't he too predictable? AB de Villiers took him today
12:24for granted and he hit him all over the parks. This two overs cost him around 38 runs.
12:31Yes, see, you can say that because every team is constantly dissecting your performance. But
12:38there is also an element of predictability about bowling in T20s. Ultimately, it's the defensive
12:45bowling in T20, which makes the difference for you. I mean, unless you can come up with a spell
12:49like Deepak Chahar, or you have some exceptional spells. Last year, I remember
12:57Mahmood Shiraj, one of his spells against KKR. I mean, that was the one which saw him through to
13:02the Indian team. And having said that, you need AB to make a misfit out of those wide Yorkers
13:13or whatever you try and bowl of him because of the flexibility that he has. That's why he is AB.
13:20That's why. So I think with these two matches, there has been plenty to talk about. But before
13:26we wrap up, just throwing out this one question. Tomorrow, Chennai are coming back in action again,
13:33and they're taking on Rajasthan Royals. So what do you think is going to happen?
13:40Well, again, they play at Mumbai. Chennai must be very confident after that humping victory
13:45against Punjab. Whereas, Rajasthan Royals also has come on the back of a victory against Delhi.
13:49But thanks to Morris, they pulled off that victory. If you have to pick one team out of
13:54the two teams, obviously, CSK go into the game as favourites. But mind you, RR has the firepower.
14:00They have the Samsons. They have the Morris. They need to make sure that they play according
14:04to the situation. If they find that the wicket is like today, they can go bang-bang. But when
14:08they realise there is a little bit of nip, or there is something in the wicket, they need to
14:12respect that, and then accordingly play according to the situation.
14:17Lot of interesting points today. Before we wrap up, just once again, a reminder to all of you
14:22to take part in the predict the winner contest for this lovely Gulf News jackets, and the
14:31subscription of Gulf News for three months. Follow the IPL coverage on our social media platforms,
14:37gulfnews.com for the live. And till then, see you tomorrow evening after the game. Tomorrow,
14:44again, we're back to one game. One more thing, Gautam. Very good to have Shyam. He's one of the
14:50senior editors of Gulf News, like Gautam. So we need his inputs and we'll be very happy. And like
14:56Mubin, any and everybody who wins the contest gets a chance to participate in this chat show. So we
15:02say a lot of people to come in, log on to gulfnews.com, predict the winner. And if you're
15:07the winner, you get a chance to come on the show. Yes. Thank you so much, Yamuna. I think as we go on
15:14and the level of engagement also increases. So there we are. Hoping to see what today we
15:21have got. The 11th match was played. So around 49 exciting matches still to go. Till then,
15:30good night and goodbye. Bye-bye, Shyam. Bye-bye. Bye-bye, guys.