Kuldeep Sen (4-20) and Ravichandran Ashwin (3-17) fashioned a 29-run win for the Rajasthan Royals after Riyan Parag’s 31-ball 56 helped them to post a healthy 144/8 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League game at the MCA International Stadium Pune on Tuesday night.
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00:00A match which RCB should have won on a platter. I would say that they gift-wrapped and gave it back to Rajasthan Royals as an Eid gift.
00:18Hello everyone. This is the Straight Bad with Gulp News and Mr. Greer TV. That is Aneesh Sarjan. We are here to discuss today's IPL match.
00:26That is the Rajasthan Royals 29-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore. Joining me and Aneesh is Sanjay who is an ardent RCB fan and we also have the Gulf News Sports Editor, Satish.
00:40Before we get into it, let's get the summary from Aneesh.
00:44Thank you Shyam. Hi Satish. Hello Sanjay.
00:48Yes. A match which RCB should have won on a platter. I would say that they gift-wrapped and gave it back to Rajasthan Royals as an Eid gift.
00:59Sanjay, I know you can't hide the disappointment. But I would say that once RCB batted, they were never in the match. They never looked like facing it. What do you say?
01:15To be honest, the moment Virat Kohl event, I gave up 50% of my hopes because that is where top order collapses.
01:21So I can proudly tell this is the 9th consecutive time our top order is playing successfully. So it's again on the pressure goes to the middle order.
01:29So Faf was anchoring well. 23 of 18 or something. Then he gives away his wicket to Ashwin, Josh Butler. And in the same over, Kuldeep Singh gets Glenn Maxwell for a golden duck which was a turning point for us.
01:45Someone like Maxwell would have contributed some 34 runs. It would have helped us. But literally, I am giving up on RCB.
01:52From 3 years, it's the same scenario. First half, we will perform such excellently. We will be on top 3 or top 2. Second half, it will be 7 matches. We managed to win only 2 or 1.
02:03Even in the last year, it happened. We were wiped out for 4 matches. We won 3. We qualified because Kolkata lost. Kolkata couldn't complete the match in 16 overs.
02:15That is where Netrunner Red got and we qualified. This year, it's the same scenario.
02:20Sanjay, let me cut you short. You said 3 years. I will say we have been seeing this for the last 15 years actually.
02:30Satish, am I right in saying that they are prone to spectacular batting collapses over the last 15 years?
02:42What is the reason?
02:45There is nothing wrong in what you are telling, sir. There is nothing wrong in what you are telling. We have been waiting for 15 years, at least for one trophy and we have still not even managed to get it.
02:54In 2011, it was in our hands. One no-ball, it costed. In 2016, it was in our hands. So-called Watson costed the game.
03:01Sanjay, my point is not that. My point is, if you look at every year, the lowest score would have been by RCB. Am I right, Satish?
03:16Correct, Shyam. I keep telling this often. IPL is one game where you can't win with your foreign pros.
03:27Bangalore has been always spot on with their international players. They were getting good players. But there are one or two holes that has been sinking the ship.
03:37That's the reason why when you come to the second part of the IPL competition, the pressure mounts.
03:44These French players who have done reasonably well started feeling the pressure and started succumbing to those pressures.
03:52And that's when you start seeing that the ship is sinking. This has happened with Shahbaz today. Shahbaz was out of sorts in his bowling.
04:01He had a wrong call and got Dinesh Karthik run out. And other two also, like Pathidar and Sahyash Prabhudesai, they were a bit clueless.
04:15So, I think RCB is going wrong every year in the auctions straight away. I think that's where they are failing. In some years, when they reach the final stages, it could be brilliance of either Gale or it could be the brilliance of AB or it could be the brilliance of Kohli.
04:32But these are the players who have been sinking the RCB ship for a longer time.
04:38Let's get back to the match. I think RCB started quite well today, isn't it? Siraj had a bold super spell. And not just that, they got Butler out. So, it was a very promising start, isn't it?
04:52Yes, they had the opposition on the mat with probably 7,410 trios to go. And I believe they have dropped a catch of the guy who scored final guns for them.
05:05Riyan Parag.
05:06Riyan Parag was dropped by Hastanga. But having said that, 145 should have been chased. And like Satish was right on the head, he hit the nail, that the Indian players are not performing.
05:20Even though Shahbaz has reasonably done well in this tournament. He had an off day today where he got Dinesh Karthik run out, went for runs. And today, this was a chance for him to finish the game.
05:29But having said that, Virat Kohli is going through a torrid time with the bat. And he is putting pressure on the other players. Where you need somebody to carry the role, what Virat Kohli used to do.
05:41He used to hang around till the 20th over, make sure that you bat. And today's was an ideal match, where he could have got 80 balls, 90 balls and for his 50 and got the game through.
05:51But I am afraid it didn't happen. And they paid the price and lost by 29 runs.
05:57Yeah, absolutely. All you needed was one person to bat deep and the game would have been in their hands. But having said that, great bowling performance by Rajasthan, isn't it?
06:09I mean, finally, Rajasthan did some justice to their bowling talent. What do you say, Satish?
06:16Yup, Shyam. It was a high time that they came good. But it was again a surprise. Kuldeep Sen was not playing. He came into the game and he was a surprise package.
06:29But I think it was also… A couple of things we need to take into consideration. One, the wickets are changing.
06:36So, bowling first seems to be the better option than… Rather, batting first seems to be the better option than batting second or bowling first.
06:45Because last few games, if you look at the teams, batting second are not able to chase their targets. Number one.
06:51Number two, yes, as the wicket gets worse and the second innings, Rajasthan bowlers bowled at a very good length.
06:58Prasidh Krishna, he actually induced two shots of Kohli. The previous ball from Otsadapsharam, Kohli tried to play a pull shot, which he didn't connect.
07:09And the next ball, he brought it slightly closer to the body. And that's where he made the mistake.
07:14It was a well-spot-out tactics and even the first over, he was very close. All along, it was a good game.
07:22And I need to give credit to my good friend…
07:25Sanju.
07:27Sanju, all the credit. He did a good job today in defending 144. And again, as a batter, he failed. He could have again continued playing longer innings.
07:39But all over, it was what expected of Rajasthan as a bowling unit.
07:46Sanjay, well, did RCB lose the match or Rajasthan won the game?
07:56RCB, as Anish said, they just gift-wrapped it and gave the win to RCB.
08:04145, it was actually chaseable on a pitch like Pune. And yes, when your top-order collapses, the pressure comes to middle-order.
08:13When you see from the bowling angle, our match-ups were top-notch. We bought in Asaranga for Sanju Samson and he got in for the fifth time.
08:20Butler and Josh Asdor, that was the match-up. Everyone was looking at Josh versus Josh.
08:25It came up. So, even Siraj was good with the ball. He took out Padikkal, he took out Ashwin, who was sent as a floater.
08:34Though he contributed something with the bat. 17 runs with 4-4s. Though he managed to pick two wickets.
08:40So, RCB has become such a team. If you perform well in your bowling department, your batting department fails.
08:47If you perform well in your batting department, set a good target. For example, I would tell, we have two situations this year.
08:53First match, we set a target of 205, registering the highest score. I mean, for that particular time, that was the highest score.
09:00And our bowling just gave it away with one over to live. 19 overs, they chased it away like anything Punjab.
09:06So, now it is like, as a bowling, we did good. Batting, nothing.
09:12I think only Hasaranga was a top scorer, I guess. Hasaranga 25 and Duplessis is 23. Only those two were the high-scorers.
09:19So, remaining were like 0-7, 1-6-5.
09:22No. Hasaranga was 18. Vap was the highest scorer. 23.
09:30And yes, Anisar was like… Before we go on, Anisar was like, yeah, four days for Ramzan and he told he wanted to go for a match.
09:38I just suggested, sir, don't buy tickets for RCB. You might regret it.
09:42Because we don't know whether we are finishing it with a win or we are finishing it with a loss.
09:46It's always a last ball, Jinder, for RCB.
09:49Sanjay, you are not an RCB fan, man.
09:54No, but…
09:55You have so much confidence in them.
09:57Sanjay, but not everything is lost, isn't it? Still, RCB has got five games and they have to win.
10:02And we need to win four. Looking at the current scenario, we need to win four because two teams are at 12 points and three teams are at 10 points.
10:10Punjab is chasing behind us, 8 points. Punjab is chasing. They need one more win to get to 10 points.
10:15So, there will be four teams. The competition is higher and the NRR is hit again harder today because we lost by 29 runs and we will be slipped little more down.
10:24Sanjay, you can't still write off RCB as yet. So, Sanjay, I think you still have to have confidence.
10:34We are giving you some confidence there. Share it, man.
10:38No, no, no. I usually, if I go to stadiums, if I go to matches in Bangalore, I look for the teams and I go.
10:46I don't go for match against CSK. I don't go for match against MI because those two teams are not pretty much confident that we are going to win.
10:52I go for matches against Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi like that.
10:57When it's CSK and MI, I back out a little. I don't want to face sadness on the stadium there.
11:04I have been through it. I have gone for a MI match and we lost with a huge margin. So, I never want to see that again. So, I back out usually.
11:11Okay. We will take that mystery out of you. And let's get back to Rajasthan again.
11:18Rajasthan seems to be making a habit of defending their totals. That's one team who has made defending totals a habit.
11:26Which is completely against the grain with the other teams are following.
11:31Well, out of 7 tosses which he has lost, 6 times they have defended except the match against RCB where Dinesh Karthik turned the match.
11:41Otherwise, defended 6. They have lost 1 chasing and 1 defending.
11:46So, I believe the best thing for Sanju is to make sure to put up a decent total.
11:51If Butler can give them that sensible start, put up 180. They are a good bowling side to defend.
11:56Absolutely. They have good variety, good penetration. And they have one of the best spin attacks in IPL.
12:04Yes, you are spot on there.
12:06I think the key should be, Shyam, here is, you shouldn't be giving your early wickets.
12:11Any team that has not given their early…
12:13You took that out of my mouth. Because I was coming to you with a question.
12:19Don't we think… I mean, if you look back at all the matches, they heavily rely on Butler.
12:25If Butler doesn't fire, they collapse. So, that is a flaw there, isn't it?
12:30Huge, huge, Shyam. Like, Rajasthan… Yesterday, I think I spoke in this show saying that if Butler fails, Rajasthan won't be scoring the runs.
12:38And it happened. And we can see that. If in a score, he is going to score about 60-65% of the runs.
12:47And the moment that goes off, it's going to be difficult. And that's where Rajasthan is going to struggle.
12:53And it was a good match-up. And one of the reasons why Butler is not able to score in international cricket is,
12:58he was psyched out by Hazlewood. That's precisely what has happened. He was a little clueless.
13:05Otherwise, he would have seen through the initial spell of Hazlewood, gone on the attack later on, could have still scored runs.
13:12So, I think that's one thing. Every team is adopting a new strategy.
13:19If you look at Shyam yesterday, for that matter, even Punjab, probably they were not going after the bowling.
13:26They are taking their time. And then, the last 10 overs, even you can score 100 runs.
13:31So, I think the factor should be, safeguard your wickets as much as you can and minimizing the risks.
13:39Yes. You can see that. Because the powerplay, they are not really going hard, really.
13:48But the thing is, if you look at the Rajasthan line-up, there is a gaping hole in the middle.
13:55They tried using Karun Nair. And today, they brought in Daniel Mitchell. And that didn't work out, really.
14:01Yeah, it's the first match. I have always believed it takes a couple of matches for any player, foreign player especially, to get his eye in.
14:09And nonetheless, to be very honest, Karun Nair had not done anything great.
14:14So, they got a guy who could also bowl. And who is a decent batsman. So, it was not a bad call.
14:19They dropped Obeid Makai, who had a bad game last time. But in all, to me, RR looks to be a decent team.
14:28And if Butler and Padikkal and Hetmeyer give them the runs, they can defend a target, I think.
14:35Coming back to Sanjay, do you think RCB will make the last four?
14:39It all depends. We have five matches left. And yes, all five matches. One team to look out for is…
14:47Six matches left. No, five matches left.
14:50No, we have one match against SRH. So, SRH we are playing too. We have one match against SRS. That should be played very carefully.
14:57And I think Saturday's match is also very important for us. It's against Gujarat Titans.
15:02They have one of the best bowling line-ups. Rashid Khan, Loke Ferguson and some good bowlers they have.
15:09So, at least against Gujarat Titans, we need some good win. I would not sell with margin.
15:14Because they are a team which we have to look out for. They have chased targets and defended targets as well.
15:21So, keeping everything in that, Saturday's game is very important for us.
15:25And yes, looking at the top order's performance, Khasaranga is in such a situation that if you want your top order to fire up,
15:32a player who is performing good for RCB, he might have to sit and we might have to get Finn Allen to fire in the top order.
15:38That is the situation with the overseas players. We don't have proper Indians.
15:41So, if you want to bring in overseas, someone like Khasaranga has to sacrifice.
15:46Then that will be a major loss in the spin department.
15:49So, RCB is like, you can tell, they have no way of going further.
15:53They don't have an idea. We didn't do well in the auctions at picking the openers.
15:57Manoj Rawat was given enough chances and he didn't prove himself.
16:05Sacrificing Khasaranga is a good idea because he has been their standout bowler.
16:10Anyway, before we wrap up, please tell us about the competition.
16:14Yes, you got to predict every day going on your favourite page, Gulf News and predict the winner.
16:19Today, I predicted RCB that after they put up 145 to chase, I thought they will win.
16:24But they couldn't. And that's what is the beauty about this game.
16:29This IPL gives you surprises. But what you win is a beautiful track set with a cap as well as a digital subscription of Gulf News.
16:38Okay. Let's start with the readers and let's do our round of prediction for tomorrow's match.
16:45The high-flying Gujarat Titans meet the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
16:50So, Gujarat has won six of their seven matches and Sunrisers won five.
16:58I will go with Gujarat Titans, yeah. Absolutely.
17:01They are a rounded team and they have been tested.
17:04And Hardik Pandya has been a revelation this tournament.
17:08Plus, I would say, David Miller is coming in compensating and he is equally dangerous.
17:15So, I think they are the team to look out for.
17:18And I think if I remember right, my pick was Gujarat Titans when Anisbhai asked me who was your favourite to win the title.
17:26Okay, fine. I will go with Gujarat Titans.
17:31Anis, who is your pick?
17:33I will go with Sunrisers because of their bowling attack is much more potent.
17:37Yes, Gujarat also is potent. But they depend a lot on the batting of Hardik Pandya.
17:42And if they can knock off Hardik Pandya, I am not sure whether the guys like Miller and all can give them that runs.
17:48But it should be a tight game.
17:53Sanjay, who is your pick?
17:55I know this is not an RCB game. But between Gujarat Titans and SRH, who will win?
18:01Yeah, looking at the form, I would tell SRH. Because Williamson has not lost a toss.
18:07Keeping the pace. So, if Williamson manages to win, he will obviously choose to bowl first.
18:12So, based on that, as Anis said, apart from Pandya, there is no one who is contributing.
18:16Not the openers or not the middle-order.
18:18David Miller, he played only one match where he scored that 88 or 89.
18:2494, not out against him.
18:26Yeah, 94, not out against him.
18:29Remaining that, Hardik Pandya has been the major contributor. 50-80, 65-57.
18:34So, I think Natarajan or Marco Hansen can easily pick him up.
18:37So, based on the Sunrisers bowling, I would tell it is a Sunrisers match.
18:44Now, it is my turn. I know it is very tempting to go with Satish because of Gujarat Titans.
18:53Simply because they have been so dominating.
18:56In fact, that has been the only team which has been dominant in this edition of IPL.
19:00But I will go with Sunrisers Hyderabad because they are the underdogs here.
19:04And not just that, I like a team which comes and punches above their weight.
19:12Every year, Hyderabad has been a side which does more than what the talent is to offer.
19:21And the way that Williamson has been rallying them around has been brilliant.
19:24So, I will go with Hyderabad.
19:26So, just three of us for Hyderabad. And Satish, you are the lone man for Gujarat.
19:32Let's see how the match unfolds tomorrow.
19:37At least, I hope you get it right tomorrow.
19:41So, that's it from us today. Thank you very much for joining us.
19:45Thank you for tuning in to this. For the latest updates and developments,
19:51please log on to gulfnews.com and all our social media channels.
19:54Goodbye. See you tomorrow.