A gritty 79-run partnership between skipper KL Rahul (60 not out) and Chris Gayle (43 not out) took Punjab Kings over the line as they scored an emphatic nine-wicket win over champions Mumbai Indians this evening.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Punjab, learn from Delhi how to beat Mumbai.
00:10Hi guys and welcome once again to Straight Back with Gulf News and Mr Cricket UAE.
00:15We all know what that means that Anas Sajjan is here with us.
00:17I'm Matt Smith. We've got Anas' son, Sahil, who's one of the cricket experts.
00:23And also Gautam is joining us from India.
00:26We had a bit of a turn up for the books tonight, but first of all, we'll go over and say hi to Anas.
00:34Hi Matt and hi everybody. As always, we ask you to log on to your favorite page,
00:40gulfnews.com and predict the winner and you walk away with two beautiful jackets
00:43and three months of subscription, Matt.
00:46Yeah, cool. Well, just jump straight in. Obviously, we had a bit of a turn up for the books.
00:51I think all three of you guys yesterday plumped for Mumbai Indians to get the better of Punjab.
00:59Didn't turn out that way in the slightest. We're here recording early tonight because
01:04Punjab got it wrapped up. They had a fairly questionably easy or not so easy task in the
01:11chase, but they just ate it up with ease and it just shows when they're batting fires,
01:19how different they can be to the struggles they've had recently.
01:21Anas, what was your take on the game?
01:24Well, Punjab learned from Delhi how to beat Mumbai. They made sure, first of all,
01:28they bowled well. They got overs out of Deepak Hooda, Muzik Henriquez and then Ravi Bhushanoy,
01:34we've been talking about him. He was the guy who got them a couple of crucial wickets
01:38backed by Shammi. And as always, Mumbai, I'm afraid on the Chennai tracks, in spite of
01:44getting used to the conditions, did not apply themselves well. I'm afraid the decision to send
01:50at number three of Ishaan Kishan backfired where he ended up eating up 17 balls and scored a mere
01:56seven. And when you have a guy like Surya Kumar, who was batting so well, you're wasting him down
02:01the order at the expense just to get a left-hand grind. That cost them dearly and 130 was too less
02:08and Punjab chased their runs quite comfortably in the end.
02:12Okay, I will go to Zaheel next because I know that he's been waiting to have a dig at Dad over,
02:19or get a chance to have a dig at Dad, seeing that his team's slipped up against a team that
02:24was been fairly struggling up to now, shall we say. Zaheel?
02:30Honestly, I was just stunned today. You could see like Punjab's bowling lineup. They started
02:36off with Deepak Hooda and Muzik Henriquez. These guys are not like, yeah, they're bowlers,
02:41but they're part-time bowlers. They're not like full-time bowlers. And they bowled a combined
02:44of six overs and conceded 27 runs. Now that's wrong on Mumbai Indians' part to score only that
02:50much of them. Okay, yes, the wicket is tough, but come on, look at Punjab's lineup. And today,
02:56their main man, Mohammad Shami, fired for them. He bowled brilliantly towards the end.
03:00And it was smart captainship from KL Rahul, you can say. He gave him the last three overs
03:06and he just conceded a mere like 18 runs and he bowled brilliantly. So well done to Punjab.
03:12And again, again, Mumbai batting first. This is now, they're batting every game first and
03:16it has not worked out for them. And I have to be honest here, they cannot keep depending on
03:21the likes of Bumrah. You cannot, you have to score runs to win. It cannot always be Bumrah,
03:26Bumrah. And Trent Boult will not always bowl well. He had a tough day today. You know,
03:31he had a tough day against Sunrisers Hyderabad, but again, Bumrah had saved him that game. So
03:36they have to improve. A bit of over-reliance,
03:39you think maybe they should be a bit braver and mix it up?
03:42Absolutely. The batting has to lead from the front.
03:45Okay. And Gautam, speaking of the batting, we've questioned the Punjab batting a couple
03:51of times now when they've really misfired. They just seem to click for them today.
03:57Yes, but see, they were, you know, they were not batting under pressure. The total was
04:02very, very modest. I mean, the only pressure that they invited upon themselves was, you know, when
04:08Mayank got out. And then, you know, there was always, as in fact, Anish keeps saying in his
04:15previous conversations that you give Mumbai a window of opportunity, and they will try to
04:21drive a deal through that. But today, the total was so thin. And it helped for Rahul that he had
04:28Gail for company. Gail had a few anxious moments, hung around. Then the moment he got the deliveries
04:35in his arc, those sixes, they released the pressure. And then they were happily on their way.
04:41I mean, I think Punjab got everything right today. Very surprising. I almost forgot that they had
04:47Moses, Enriquez in their lineup. And the commentators were saying the last time we
04:53won an opening over was in 2013 IPL, possibly for KKR. So God knows, what was he doing in the lineup.
05:03So that's it. They had a good day.
05:07Anish, does that again, show just what both the guys has touched on there,
05:11and the bravery of mixing things up, compared to over-reliance on your go-to guys when they're
05:16not firing? Very true. Like Sahil mentioned, that you can't always depend on Bumrah and
05:23Bole to bail you out. That's the ploy they have been trying. If you watch it from the first game,
05:28when they played against RCB, they almost won that game. And then they won against KKR and
05:32Sunrisers. But it didn't happen against Delhi and today against Punjab. So you have to make runs.
05:40And Rohit Sharma has been time and again saying that our batsmen have been repeating the same
05:45mistake. And today again, after that slow start from Ishaan Kishan, they came back to Surya Kumar
05:51Yadav and Rohit Sharma. But the last four overs after the fall of Surya Kumar Yadav's wicket,
05:56they hardly managed 25 runs. And again, I am not sure about Surya Kumar Yadav's
06:01shot selection. He was trying for the fast ball against Shammi, he was trying to sweep him.
06:06And against the spinner where he got out, Bishnoi tried the reverse sweep. He has got beautiful
06:12shots. In fact, I dare say, he looks to me the batsman of the tournament on this difficult wicket.
06:19He probably would go on the offside when he backs out and hits the spinners over the top.
06:26That's his better shot rather than trying fancy shots. Because he's too good a player
06:29to try these fancy shots. Cool. Now, Sahil, we were talking in the past couple of days about how
06:38success breeds success. And obviously, Punjab has had their confidence knocked a little bit.
06:47But looking at both teams now, can Punjab look to build on this victory over defending champions?
06:54And also from a Mumbai point of view, where does this leave them in terms of confidence? Because
06:58they've really not hit the heights that they're expected to. As for Punjab, you know, this is a
07:05major confidence booster. You know, they have beaten the champions. But today, this was a wicket
07:09which was not easy to play. When batting first, obviously, Punjab had the advantage, you know.
07:14They knew how to judge their total. But still, their bowling lineup is not good. Yes, today,
07:20they worked out well. You know, the part-timers bowled well. Shammi bowled well. And it was Bishnoi's
07:25first start, I think. I think Ravi Bishnoi played his first game, right? Yes. So, he bowled brilliantly
07:32today. So, yes, big confidence booster for Punjab. And as for Mumbai, I think they'll be fine. You know,
07:38the likes of Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya. You know, Pollard did play one game against Sunrise
07:44as well. But also, he has not batted well, let's be honest here. These guys need to fire. These guys
07:48are the one backbone for Mumbai, yes. And also, I'm forgetting Quintin de Kog. He's not done much at all.
07:54You know, Chris Lin had played the first game. He had scored a good 49. Quintin de Kog has come in.
07:59Let's be honest, he's done absolutely nothing with the bats. So, these guys need to fire. What
08:04else can I say for Mumbai? But, you know, their bowling is great. So, I guess they'll be dependent
08:10on that throughout the tournament. And Gautam, how does the Mumbai coaching team pick the guys
08:17up from here? Obviously, you've watched IPL all the way through. The thing with Mumbai is,
08:25if you look at their support staff, it's like a who's who. But they, you know, they carry them
08:32well. They don't carry them like a baggage, I'm sure. And I know for a fact that Mahala Javad
08:38Dene, he comes across as a soft-spoken man, but he can be tough when it's required.
08:44What's happening is that template of Mumbai doesn't seem to be working. I mean, out of five
08:49games, twice they managed to defend scores which were barely 150 plus. So, the template, that's
08:55something which was not working. And Rohit knew that. Possibly because Suryakumar Jadhav was in
09:02such a good form, he wanted to keep him for number four to lend some spine to the batting order.
09:07But then, you know, this young guy, Ishan Kishan, he ate up a lot of
09:12balls. I just want to pick up Anish's brains. I mean, do they have any more options left in the
09:19line-up, Anish, whom they can try in the middle order? To be very honest, I was just trying to dig
09:25into their, you know, squad. And there are some couple of names like Mohsin Khan. I haven't, to
09:30be very honest, heard much about him. So, it comes to foreign players, of course. Yeah. So, it comes
09:37to foreign players. They have Kris Lin, like as Azhar, as Sahil mentioned, that maybe Quintin
09:42De Kock can be given a break and they can get Kris Lin back into the batting order. And Kulthar
09:48Nail probably can come in as to give some, you know, firepower in the end. Because what has
09:54happened is, because Krunal Pandya and the Hardik Pandya has not fired, they are not getting that
10:01finishing touch. Because what happens with Mumbai in the last years, as well as years over. After
10:0715 overs, these two guys were able to give the push. And I am afraid Hardik Pandya looks totally
10:12out of touch. And since he is not contributing with the ball, I dare say he is a misfit apart
10:19from his fielding. If he is not going to contribute with the ball too, you rather replace him with
10:24some guy who can add value with the bat. But I don't know the likes, who they have in the batting
10:30order. I am afraid they will have to try out some new faces and give it a shot or wait for Pandya
10:36brothers to come and form on flat wickets of Bangalore.
10:41Cool. And I will just stick with you there Rajasthan. We will turn to our daily soap
10:46opera that is Rajasthan Royals. They are playing tomorrow in a clash of the bottom teams against
10:52KKR. Obviously, they were dealt the news today. It is like every day, it is another bad news story
10:58for these guys. And as I said, Joffrey Archer confirmed he is out for the duration of the
11:06tournament. They have lost Stokes. You don't know what is next with these guys. Where do they go
11:14from here? And it is a big chance for them to maybe pick up some points against a team that
11:19is also struggling tomorrow in KKR. Probably, Sail or Gautam can take this.
11:24Sure.
11:28I don't know where they will go from here. Their bowling line-up is not that great. I like the
11:34likes of Mustafizur and they have a young kid, Zakaria. He is also pretty good. But
11:41not their bowling, their batting is also nothing great to be honest.
11:45So, I can't really say much about them.
11:49Gautam, maybe you can add something.
11:51I think that last 200-plus chess may have given KKR the boost it needed.
11:59And some of the players are actually not playing as per the reputation. They have the names.
12:05I mean, Morgan, I don't know whether he needs to cut that ultra-aggressive approach of his.
12:11Then they can again get Shakeel back because he is actually a world-class performer. I mean,
12:17he has been scoring slowly. His bowling was also nothing much to write home about.
12:21But he is a far better performer than, you know, as his reputation precedes him.
12:26Then maybe they have a marginal chance. But as this match showed in IPL, you probably cannot tell.
12:35Anything can happen in the next four hours.
12:38Yes.
12:39Indeed. Yeah, I mean, obviously, Anis, if you get anything else to add there, I just think that
12:45again, I think it will be another fascinating one tomorrow where one team is guaranteed to get a
12:50confidence boost. And again, as we saw last year, some teams that are struggling at the bottom can
12:56just go on this run and get right back into the mix of things and into the playoff contention.
13:01Well, I just saw the table right now. And I'm surprised that Mumbai, you know,
13:06generally are slow starters. But compared to the last IPL, they are now on the same
13:11as a couple of other teams. Like Punjab is also two wins out of three, out of five. So is Mumbai.
13:18Even though, because of the net run, they are still at four. But tomorrow's
13:21match might change the table. But what I want to say is that Mumbai next go to Delhi.
13:26And we might probably get the same sort of pitches, Gautam, there also, where they might
13:31find difficult if there's grip and turn. Maybe not as slow as Chennai and a smaller boundary in Delhi.
13:37But the fact for the other teams, we need to see whether it's like the Rajasthan Royals we
13:42are talking about. Can they bounce back? Because they couldn't score runs when they were flat
13:47tickets. Tomorrow is the last chance in Mumbai. And then they also head to another destination.
13:52So it's going to be a tough thing for RR. If they do not bounce back tomorrow,
13:57it's going to be a long, long road. And so it's for KKR. Four teams have lost three games.
14:02Whichever team loses will be having four losses.
14:06Yeah. So there's a lot to stake tomorrow, even though it's just one match. But it can mean so
14:13much to a lot of teams. But yeah, that's great, guys. I think you can wrap it up there unless
14:18anyone's got any other nuggets to add. Just say, thanks for listening, guys. I just want to say,
14:25remember to log on to Facebook and you predict the man of the match in every contest. And you
14:33can walk away with one of these tops and also a three-month subscription to Golf News. And just
14:38thanks to Anis and to Gautam and to Sahil for another enlightening chat. And we'll see you guys
14:43all tomorrow. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, guys.