Devdutt Padikkal kept his date with his first century in the IPL in only his second season as he and skipper Virat Kohli combined to help Royal Challengers Bangalore to an emphatic 10-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals this evening. This was RCB's fourth straight win in what's been their best-ever start - and in their first outing at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium.
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NewsTranscript
00:00You can't win an IPL title which is so strongly contested by changing and chopping.
00:30Hi Matt and hi everybody. Emphatic 10-wicket victory but before I come to the match
00:42I hope all of you beautiful people are logging on to our govnews page
00:46and predicting the winner every day and you walk away with two beautiful jackets
00:50and three months of subscription free.
00:51Cool and hi to you other guys as well. Now we've discussed so far about it being early days
01:01and RCB getting off to a flying start. Obviously they won again four from four,
01:08they've already beaten the defending champions, they've now got a great net run rate
01:12but I think tonight's match made a bit more of a statement just in the manner of the win.
01:18How did you see it yourself Anas?
01:21Well, a 10-wicket victory with 21 balls to spare will give a lot of confidence to RCB,
01:27captain and the whole team and their fans that they have done this for the first time
01:33and moreover, you know, four victories apart from the first game have all come good for them.
01:40So, Virat Kohli must be definitely eyeing the playoffs and would definitely like to be on
01:46the top two so that in case if there is a slip-up in the first game, they still have another bite
01:51of the cherry but RCB in this tournament look hands down and better than the rest of the teams.
01:58Okay and Gautam, obviously you were watching it from over there in India. How did you see it pan
02:02out and what do you think it means in terms of what are the other teams thinking?
02:09Yes, I mean, you see the kind of wicket where the match was played, RCB enjoyed playing the
02:15cricket there and before that on the sluggish Chennai track, they came in with three out of
02:21three. So, they're really looking good. I mean, as I keep saying that this may be early days but they
02:27need something between 14 to 16 points to make the playoffs and now they are on eight.
02:35So, they're looking good. Okay and Sahil, again you normally root for one team or another
02:43in every match. How did it go for you this evening?
02:47I mean, I had predicted RCB would win. I just didn't know that they would win quite easily
02:54and it was a matter of time that Devdutt Padikkal had to score. I mean, unfortunately,
02:59the guy had tested positive before the tournament started. So, he was not at full flow. So, it's
03:03just a matter of time and he showed it today and Virat Kohli also getting good amount of runs,
03:08confidence. When the captain is scoring runs, good for the team. So, yeah, well played RCB.
03:15Of course, of course and I would say Anish, you mentioned there as well about the 10-wicket
03:21victory. That's pretty good going in its own right in a T20 match but as your son just mentioned
03:29there, the fact that Padikkal was coming back and the fact that Kohli had a point to prove,
03:33just how emphatic was it that the two guys carried their bats all the way through?
03:38Yes, before that, I definitely want to touch base upon the bowlers. You know,
03:43RCB always had a problem with their bowling attack. But like we mentioned before,
03:47Mohammad Siraj after the Australian tour has looked a totally different bowler. And he gave
03:52them that initial breakthrough of getting the dangerous Butler out and then followed up with
03:56couple of more wickets. And then you have Harshal Patel, even though he was a bit expensive today,
04:02but managed to pick wickets. And that's the key for RCB holding RR on this flat wicket to below
04:10180. And when you talk about Devdutt Padikkal, you know, he was in form, red-hot form before
04:15coming into this tournament. Even though he tested positive, he showed that he is good. He was
04:21RCB's highest scorer in the last year's tournament. And again, he is carrying on the good work. So,
04:27the lot of burden from Virat Kohli and De Villiers has been taken by Glenn Maxwell and Padikkal.
04:34Okay. And Gautam, they say that success breeds success. As you mentioned there as well,
04:41as they go on to other stadiums and other surfaces, will this confidence give them not
04:49only an extra bounce themselves, but put an extra step of fear into the other opposition?
04:55Yes. See, this performance graph started showing an upward curve from last year itself. But this
05:03year, they've plugged in the gaps so well, as Anish Bhai was saying, you know, Shiraj is a
05:09different bowler and you've got this giant Kyle Jameson. He's not that quick, but the height from
05:15where he brings in the deliveries, his Yorkers will be lethal as they go along. So, you know,
05:23the team is looking good. I mean, maybe just a couple of iffy places, like not every day will
05:29be like today. So, who comes in at number three? That's a question. Number four will, of course,
05:34be AB. Then you have Glenn Maxwell. So, it's quite an awesome lineup, which should instill
05:42the fear into their rivals. You know, Gautam, since you mentioned about that number three,
05:47I had read about they might consider Alan Finn if they get flat tracks like what they found
05:54today. There's a guy from New Zealand who in his first last match against Bangladesh had scored
05:5970-odd of 30 runs of 30 balls. So, he is a good bet if they decide to have another foreign player
06:06at the cost of probably Kane Richardson in case they want to strengthen their batting further.
06:12They just may because last month they played with three for overseas players. I mean, that is
06:17quite a rarity. So, yes, they're looking good. Okay. And obviously, we were talking earlier about
06:25being top versus bottom. Rajasthan are now languishing already, six points behind the
06:30leaders. Are they in trouble? Yes, to be very honest, they are. First of all, you know, they
06:38have been quite badly dented with the absence of Jofra Achar, who was injured, and then the injury
06:44of Ben Stokes. And then in the middle of the tournament, you know, one player walking away
06:50because of fatigue of the biosecure bubble, that is Liam Livingstone. So, this definitely
06:56dents the confidence of a team because they've lost three good foreign players. Now, in the
07:01backup of a foreign player, when I look at, they have Joss Futtler and David Miller. I can't think
07:07about anybody else unless Kyle or Gautam can say they have somebody in the backup as a foreign player.
07:14The rest of them are bowlers, and of course, Morris. But, you know, Anish, I'll take this
07:20opportunity to ask you that, see, Joss Futtler becomes their main batsman in the absence of
07:27Ben Stokes not being there. So, what do you think? I mean, today, what was the undue hurry
07:34in trying to make room and trying to go for the chip shot, very bold? What do you make of this?
07:40I'll be upfront in making the statement that Joss Futtler probably felt that this is a wicket
07:46where they need to score about 220 as we saw yesterday's match. Also, it didn't look secure
07:52at one time. So, sometimes, you know, you are in that hurry. But I remember MS Dhoni saying that
07:58the first three overs in Mumbai, where the ball is new and there is a little bit of steam or swing
08:03movement, you need to see it off because you can make it up in the back end. Because hitting sixes
08:09in Mumbai is the easiest ground compared to a wicket. So, Joss Futtler, if he can,
08:15probably go back to the drawing board, have a word with Kumar Sangakkara, the legend,
08:19that what mistakes he is making. Because he has got the capacity, in fact, rather the capability
08:25to make up for that lost time in the early overs. And his wicket, along with Sanju Samson,
08:31can take Rajasthan Royals to a bigger total. And mind you, now, I don't know how many matches more
08:36they are going to play at this ground. But their next match, if I'm not wrong, they move to
08:44Delhi, which is going to be slow wickets.
08:48Delhi is painfully slow.
08:52I've heard about Delhi, they move to next.
08:56But then, it's got very short boundaries. That's all. I mean, we sit scary at the Potla
09:02or Arun Jaitley Stadium, whatever you call it, for fours and sixes.
09:08Sahil, you want to share something?
09:14I would want to say, now, I mean, I guess if they bring a player in, there is a quarantine. And I
09:20don't know if the board wants to do that. But they have to bring a foreign player. And I mean,
09:25I was searching and I think they can get a player like Alex Hales. You know, a hard hitter.
09:30He split with the IPL. So, yes, there is a 14-day quarantine. But come on,
09:36now you got to take the risk. Your team is anyways doing bad.
09:41I agree to this point. You better take that bait of quarantine. But maybe,
09:46because he's a dangerous player like the other players of English cricket.
09:51He's a fantastic batsman.
09:53So, cool. And again, just briefly, we're just looking ahead. Again, it could possibly be
10:01another mismatch because we've got struggling Punjab up against defending champions Mumbai.
10:06That's on the Chennai wicket. How do we see that one going, guys? Just quickly around the table.
10:14Well, Mumbai also has not looked that 100% compared to Punjab. But you know,
10:20that doesn't give Punjab an edge over Mumbai. Punjab has lost three games quite badly when
10:26they played in Mumbai. And they have come into the slow, sluggish tracks in Chennai. And the
10:31first match they played against Sunrisers, they were found wanting. So, I don't see any reason
10:37why they would not struggle. Because the spinning attack doesn't look good. They have to get Ravi
10:42Vishnoy, even though he's a youngster, just to make sure that they can compete against Mumbai.
10:48And as I said last time, Mumbai is a team, even though they have lost two matches,
10:53you give them a window of an opportunity, they grab the opportunity completely.
10:59Cool. And TB?
11:02Yeah, I think it's difficult to look beyond Mumbai, really. And I'm also quite disappointed
11:09with the way year after year, at least these two teams, I mean, Punjab and Rajasthan for one.
11:16This year, Rajasthan had actually pinned a lot of hopes on Kumar Sangakara. And
11:22their management had told me that he's the guy who's accountable. Obviously, he's not going to
11:27go in and bat. He can't do. Same thing with Anil Kumli. He was one of the,
11:35is so respected as a thinker of the game. So, I'd just like to ask Anil very quickly that,
11:42you know, there is this knee-jerk reaction. I mean, one day, you play a genuine leg spinner,
11:48next day, you play two part-time spinners. So, how far do you actually see them going, Punjab?
11:54And it's very quickly, if you can just take us through that.
11:56I'm glad you asked me this question, Gautam. First of all, you hit the nail about Kumar
12:01Sangakara that he would be responsible. Then you mentioned about Anil Kumli. Now, you see,
12:05both are legends in their own rights. But as you mentioned, they are not the ones who are
12:09going to play. But they can probably give the right direction to these teams like Punjab or
12:14the Rajasthan Royals. Like you mentioned, they keep changing the squad. The panic button is
12:18pressed. And year after year, like Punjab has never won an IPL title,
12:23batting, reaching once the final, whereas RR just won the title once. So, after that,
12:28they haven't looked the same post. So, they are not trying to, you know, make a team which will
12:34go the distance. You have to give confidence. Now, the reason I'm taking a little long,
12:38Gautam, on this part is like, if you look at teams like Mumbai.
12:41It's worth talking. Yeah. I mean, we know who the good teams are. But here what's going wrong,
12:45we, you know, if you can throw some light.
12:48I'm hitting the nail here is that when you are taking players, or when you are hiring
12:54players for your franchise, you need to give them the security and the belief that you are
13:00here to stay with us. You can't keep chopping and changing players. A franchise is built over a
13:06period of time. Like Mumbai Indians, let's take the example of Mumbai Indians.
13:09They won their first title in 2013, whereas the IPL started in 2008. So, it took them time.
13:15Okay. CSK also, they won their title in the third year. So, they've made sure that they've
13:21packed their players. And if you watch these two franchises compared to the rest of the franchise,
13:25they keep chopping and changing. Bearing KKR, probably they have stuck around with the Russells
13:30and the Marines. But the success of these two franchises is because they pack their players,
13:36they give them the security, they give them the belief, and a franchise is built.
13:40You can't win an IPL title, which is so strongly contested by changing and chopping.
13:49In a nutshell, and Sahil, we just talked about there, and obviously teams that have never won
13:56it. Obviously, RCD have never won it. We might be seeing that changing. That'll be one statistic
14:00that might change this year. That'll be a fascinating one to keep an eye on.
14:04Sahil, if you get any quick thoughts on who do you think will win tomorrow?
14:09I think, look, Mumbai, this season they've not started well. So, do I want to say Mumbai will
14:16win? No, I don't want to say. But Punjab's team, they're not great, man. They don't have a great
14:22squad. Last match, I saw the way they were playing. Not even one player stepped up for them.
14:27Chris Gayle is not performing. Rahul is not performing. I have to say Mumbai. Look at
14:31Mumbai's bowling lineup. They're just unplayable. Cool. Well, guys, I think we've been around all
14:39the doors there. That was a good, solid chat. So, once again, I would just remind everybody
14:46that's watching to log on to our Facebook, predict your winner for each and every day's
14:50competitions and you get the chance to win these tops and a three-month subscription.
14:54And then also, once again, just thanks to our guests. That's Anis, Sahil and Gautam.
15:00And we'll see you all again tomorrow. Cheers, guys.
15:02Thank you, Matt. Thank you, Gautam. Thank you, Sahil. Lovely to chat with you guys.