Sanju Samson guided a tricky chase for Rajasthan Royals with an unbeaten 42 to help his team notch up a crucial six-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium this evening. They have now won two of their first five games.
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NewsTranscript
00:00When the match started, I was hoping that it might be KKR because when you watch the paper,
00:04the spot on paper, you find KKR quite strong.
00:16Hi guys and welcome to Straight Bat with Mr Cricket UAE and Golf News. We are here with
00:23Anas and Gautam and myself, Matthew Smith and we're here to talk about tonight's match
00:30and we're looking again at another crazy match. We don't know what's going to happen with these
00:36matches now but first of all, we're going to say hi to Anas. Hi Matt and hi Gautam. As always,
00:44I keep saying that you need to log on to your favourite page, Golf News, predict the winner
00:48and you walk away with this beautiful jacket and three months of subscription.
00:54And then obviously, we talked yesterday about Rajasthan and KKR. Both teams have really
01:01wanted to win. Yeah, we got one. How do you think how it went today? Well, you know,
01:09when the match started, I was hoping that it might be KKR because when you watch the paper,
01:14the spot on paper, you find KKR quite strong. But it was a strange sort of a start given by
01:20both their openers, Nitish Rana as well as Gill, who found it difficult going and scored 24 in 6
01:27overs, which was, I believe, around 20 runs short in the power play. And in the end, they found it
01:34difficult to accelerate and they were struggling at what about 134, which is too lesser target
01:40on a wicket like Mumbai.
01:45And Gautam, hi to you. Oh, Owen Morgan, again, not really firing.
01:54Yes, I mean, today, of course, he was unfortunate to be run out. But what's happening is people have
01:59now started to find holes in his captaincy as well. You know, I mean, in a T20 game,
02:05you always think on your feet. If your openers haven't had a good power play,
02:10and you were also out cheaply, then the best thing he could have done was to get
02:16Russell up the order ahead of Karthik. They've always had this dilemma because, you know,
02:21this is the kind of wicket which Russell likes when the ball is coming onto the bat and he could
02:25have, he can make the difference in a matter of two overs. So again, Karthik was kept
02:32struggling when Russell came, it was late. And for a change, I mean, the Rajasthan Royals bowlers,
02:39they were on the money from the word go. And the touch of Sangakkara is gradually showing.
02:47I mean, they're not that much there with the bat to come, you know, to counter challenging
02:52situations. But the bowlers did an excellent job today, which set it up for them.
02:56And Anis, we were talking about earlier about what the key is to lead from the front if you are like the opening batsman. Samson, Karthik, you know, who are the key guys now, you know, if you've got the confidence back? Who are the key openers now?
03:27I'm glad you asked me this question about Sanju Samson especially. You know, there have been times
03:31when he's been blamed for throwing his wicket away. Today, when he realised that the target
03:35is not too high, he was quiet to put his head down and play the ball on his merit. And scored
03:41a runner ball 40 and made sure that his team won. Because, you know, he had only two points in the
03:46bank. And this victory was very important as it was to KKR. So getting these two points was crucial.
03:52Because you never know. Because if you lose a wicket, you lose wickets in heaps. And the experience
03:57is not there. Okay, they had with him David Miller. But finally, you had the young Parag and maybe
04:03Morris. But having said that, I have to give credit that they came with a game plan like
04:08Ji mentioned that Sangakara's magic is slowly but gradually taking place. What they did was,
04:14they realised that the wicket was not that good as generally Wankhede stadiums are. So from one
04:19side they attacked. Like the opener, Jaiswal attacked. He hit how many boundaries? He hit
04:24five boundaries. Then you had even Shivam Dubey hitting two boundaries and one six. So that all
04:29made a difference where it gave time and cushion for Samju Samson to put his head down and ensure
04:34that he was there till the end. Okay, so the question I have is, obviously, Rajasthan are
04:43very limited in their options now, as we know. So what is their, are they going to just be a
04:51one trick pony from here on Gautam? Are they basically just going to have to keep going at
04:56what they know what works? Yes. See, the thing is, why I don't want to lose hope on them is,
05:05you know, they're just gradually sorting out the bowling. They're one of the few teams,
05:09who have got three, you know, left arm medium paces. And this Chaitanya Sakaria, this kid,
05:19he had been really a revelation. So that if they use well, and sometimes, you know, when you are
05:28deprived of the big names, I mean, obviously, today again, Butler got a knock and it was quite
05:32scary. If you're devoid of the big names, sometimes it helps the squad in
05:39gelling together and trying to do their best. So if there's, you know, wannabe guys like
05:44Shibam Dubey, I mean, he's got a start in the IPL, he gets good money and all that,
05:50if he's willing to take responsibility, then Miller, you see, he hung around,
05:56survived to close LBWF, but he's an experienced batsman. So if these people can come together,
06:03then they can improve on what they did last year. At least that's what you can hope from them.
06:09Okay, and then let's talk about the elephant in the room that is Owen Morgan, another duck.
06:16Is there a lot of questions on this about his ability in, well, let's not say IPL, but
06:24how he is able to lead a team when he keeps feeling with the bat?
06:30See, Morgan is a very close friend of Anish. So I don't know if he'll be brutally
06:37honest about him, but I would like to know. That's why I said it quite politely.
06:45I'm glad this question was rolled out to me, Matt. And Gautam has made me,
06:53put me in the spot by making sure that Rob Morgan is very close to me. Yes, he's a very
06:57dear, dear friend of mine, but I will be very upfront and honest in admitting I have found his
07:03captainship a little bit of want. One thing like he doesn't seem to be on the spot. But having said
07:10that, IPL is not an easy baby to captain. You know, I've seen a lot of captains going for a toss.
07:16Like I have from the start, from the Ricky Pontings, who was removed from his captainship.
07:23And that is where probably Rohit Sharma got an opportunity. I mean, this is for all our fans
07:27who are watching. Just for information, when Rohit Sharma got the captainship 2013, he was not the
07:33first choice captain. It was Ricky Ponting. In the middle of the tournament, Ricky Ponting probably
07:37decided to step down. Was he injured or not? I'm not sure. But he stepped down and rest is history
07:42for all of you guys. But having said that, captainship is not easy. We've seen Dinesh
07:47Karthik removed from the captainship. We've seen Ajinkya Rane stripped off his captainship. We've
07:51seen Stephen Smith stripped off his captainship. Even David Miller stripped off his captainship.
07:56So it's tough. It gets the worst out of you and it gets the best out of you. So if I have to pick
08:03up only two captains, I probably feel it's only MS as well as Rohit Sharma. And to some extent,
08:09David Warner. Because they have been scoring. Rohit Sharma is not scoring runs. But Warner
08:15has been scoring consistently runs. And the cool touch of MS Dhoni is probably, you know, let him
08:22do the magic touch. Now when it comes to Virat Kohli, he has not won an IPL title.
08:27But he's been very fortunate. Let me be very upfront. He's been very fortunate. Now I'm not
08:31trying to cover here Morgan. Morgan will be fortunate if he sticks to one more year of IPL,
08:37if his team doesn't reach the playoff.
08:41I completely agree with you. And when you rattle off the names, then you realize
08:52how difficult it is to captain a team successfully in IPL. But what's going to happen is, you see,
08:57I mean, this year is the last year of the cycle. Next year, you've got two more teams and you've
09:03got a mega option. So the dynamics of all these teams may change. Now, I only want,
09:09I know that Morgan has not been getting the runs. But you know, if they again think of
09:15changing Morgan midway, then that will be the last nail in KK's coffin.
09:23No, but here's another question, you know, like, you talk about Kohli, he's never won. But
09:30if he doesn't win this year, and when he gets expanded next year,
09:34is it going to be a nail in his coffin when he gets?
09:39No, see, Kohli is special. See, Kohli like Dhoni, he is special. I mean, he is virtually,
09:47he is the brand. I mean, when IPL takes a decision, these franchises take a decision,
09:53it's also driven somewhat commercial. I mean, I can tell you for a fact that when the name
09:58Rishabh Pant, the captain, because Rishabh is being marketed by the group who co-owns Delhi
10:04Capitals. So, you know, it's easy to, you know, like putting forth as a brand rather than somebody
10:10like Ishika Dhawan or Ravi Ashwin, who had been there on the circuit. So these things also play
10:17a part. And I mean, if you look at it that way, you don't see Kohli being removed, even if he
10:22doesn't win this. How long Gautam? Like Matt put up a very good question that 13 years,
10:27out of 13, probably he is captain 10 years. If I'll be upfront and admitting that this is going
10:33to be a test of character for Virat Kohli into one is this IPL, as well as the T20 World Cup
10:38coming up soon in October. And I'm afraid if he's not able to win out of the two, at least one,
10:44his captainship will be questioned. And if I'm a team owner, I know as much as he's a brand,
10:49he might get me the stakes in marketing or sponsorship. But finally, I need a title on my
10:54cabinet. How long can I be deprived just for the marketing? Let's put it this way.
11:01Well, the way that I see Virat, I mean, I love Virat because I think he's amazing.
11:07Just the way that he carries himself and now that he's, and congratulations as well,
11:14the fact that he's a new dad, the way that he carried himself through the bio bubble,
11:19everything there, he took himself away from the India team, came back in, and then he's
11:26gone into the team. I think that the whole world is rooting for him to win this time,
11:35having come so close and not so close so many times that even the rival teams are now going,
11:45oh, come on, let's get one for Virat. What do you think?
11:49Well, I am not sure whether the rival teams would like just to give it on his hand,
11:55yell, you take the cup. But as a passionate Indian fan, I definitely want him to probably,
12:02this IPL title, if he gets it, it will help him getting the confidence to probably
12:06win an ICC trophy because that is still lacking. He has won an under-19 cup. But mind you, he's
12:11lost the champions trophy to Pakistan, where India were favorites. Then the semifinals last
12:15year in the World Cup in 2019, India were thorough favorites except for beating England.
12:20And they lost that match. So there are question marks on his captainship. And I'll be upfront,
12:25there are chinks in his armor. And this is the test for him. These are going to be two acid tests.
12:30Gautam?
12:32Yes, I love to agree with you. I mean, see, that question extends somewhat the future of Indian
12:39captaincy in general. I mean, we can keep it for another day. But talking about IPL, the
12:46way this team is playing, we just have to hope and pray that it is again, not a case of picking
12:52too early because IPL throws up strange things at you in the second half as if, you know,
12:58the tournament is virtually often played in two parts. And people who survive, that's
13:05the way, you know, that's where Mumbai or Chennai is so special. So if they do it, it will
13:12also be good for the profile of IPL. You know, you get a new winner, you always want to see a new
13:17winner in either in Bangalore, or even Delhi. So let's see. I mean, it's still early days.
13:28I think, I mean, personally, I think it'd be amazing for RCB to win, not only for Kohli,
13:35but for the team that's always been there and thereabouts, but have never won it. But also
13:41to heighten, let's say, Kohli's resume to say that I've now done this, I've now done this,
13:52I've now done this. Let's go on and then let's do this because we've got a T20 coming up.
13:58All right.
14:05Yeah. Yeah, definitely. He looks, the thing about him this year is he looks a little more relaxed.
14:14I mean, maybe as you said that, you know, being a dad, and he's reached a stage where he doesn't
14:20have to prove anything to anybody. He was possibly more happy for Padikkal,
14:25than him getting his first half century. So maybe this could be the year. Yeah.
14:31Yeah. And now that he's a dad, he's got everything else going on, maybe he's got new ambitions,
14:40instead of just like focusing on, you know, like the test matches, he can now go on to
14:48aspire to different things, maybe, with Kohli.
14:53Hopefully, hopefully, Matt.
14:55Inshallah. Okay, guys, thanks very much. We shall be back tomorrow. And guys, don't forget,
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15:19tomorrow. So it's going to be crazy. So we'll see you all there. Thanks, guys.
15:24Sure, sure, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Pleasure. Take care, guys.