Analysis of Bangalore’s clinical show and Lucknow’s dream debut run
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NewsTranscript
00:00To be fair to Lucknow, they are playing their first year and they have reached the playoffs,
00:05which is a credit to them. But still, coming to the playoffs,
00:09they have not beaten any of the other three playoff teams.
00:20Hello, everyone. Welcome to Straight Bad with Gulf News. I'm Mr. Kareem Pui, that is Anish
00:25Sajan. We are here to discuss today's eliminator one, that is RCB versus the Lucknow Supergiants.
00:34Royal Challengers won the right to meet the Rajasthan Royals in the next qualifier that
00:42should be on Friday. So Anish Sajan is not with us, but we will pick him up as we go along. But
00:49right now, we have with us a very elated RCB fan, that is Sanjay Maham and a very cross-fallen
00:57Lucknow fan, that is Vineet Krishna. Also, we have with us Satish. Satish,
01:02please take the honors and tell us what promised to be a very thrilling encounter turned out to
01:07be a damn strip towards the end. Shyam, to be honest, to be fair to Lucknow,
01:14they are playing their first year and they have reached the playoffs, which is a credit to them.
01:20But still, coming to the playoffs, they have not beaten any of the other three playoff teams.
01:25And this is the sixth loss for Lucknow. And all six were against these three teams who are in
01:30the playoffs. So to expect them to beat RCB was a bit too much because the team was still hollow.
01:38They were dependent on a couple of individual skills like De Kock or Rahul or Stoinis. And in
01:47bowling, sometimes somebody or the other was clicking. So there was not a collective performance.
01:54They were somehow managing to reach the playoffs. But today, I'd love to say, RCB fans must be
02:03heaving a big sigh of relief after qualifying. But I'll have to give three people credit here.
02:09Pathidar for his brilliant batting, because a bat for his knock, RCB wouldn't have reached
02:15where they are. Arshel Bowling for his brilliant bowling, despite having an injury in his
02:20bowling arm, he came and delivered. But for those two wides, which was unnecessary,
02:26bowling from Ramdas Tham, which is OK. And the third and the most important is Asaranga,
02:31who saved at least three fours. That was the difference between the victory and the loss today.
02:36Yeah, when you consider the margin of victory, when it's just put in runs, I think. So
02:42that would have taken the match very, very closely. OK. Vinit, Lucknow may have lost,
02:48but I think you guys can walk out with your head high because chasing a total of something like
02:542.07 is not easy. But till the halfway mark, I think that you guys were very much in the game.
03:01Some three overs, including two Asaranga overs. So your impressions on the match, please.
03:08Well, first things first, when I see the Lucknow team overall, you know, this tournament, I think,
03:15you know, pretty pleased with them because in the first season itself,
03:21they managed to reach the playoffs, you know, when many people actually wrote them off.
03:26So pretty pleased with that. But coming to today's match, I thought maybe KL Rao could have
03:33chosen to bat first, because I always have a feeling that, you know, every knockout match,
03:40you bat first, set the target. That's what I always feel in a knockout match. And even though
03:45it's a really good batting track, I thought maybe he missed a trick over there. And another thing I
03:50felt was maybe leaving out Jason Holder, because Jason Holder could have actually,
03:55you know, made a difference. You know, that 207 could have maybe been something about 187,
04:01197. You know, if that was the case, you know, the chase would have been a different story.
04:06But all in all, you know, take nothing away from RCB. They actually played really well.
04:10Rajat Patil, hats off to you. Because, you know, he was pretty much a replacement for
04:15another player. And he stepped up in a pressure situation. And as Mr. Sanjay said, you know,
04:21Hassan Ranga actually saved a lot of crucial runs, which was, you know, detrimental to Lucknow's loss
04:32by that margin.
04:33Satish, I mean, Vinit Mekar made a point about the toss. Do you think the rain or the rain delay
04:41was a factor in choosing to bowl first? Or that is the way Lucknow plays?
04:48I think so, Shyam. And again, second is, Lucknow has a better batting than a bowling. So,
04:54they might be backing their skill, strengths basically. Like, they will be able to chase it.
04:58With Quinton De Kock, Kale Howell, you have Stoinis coming in, you have Huda. All these guys,
05:06they are all in decent form. And so far, they have been winning. So, he must have backed the
05:10batting basically. So that, maybe, even if Lucknow had got 220 or 230, they could have still gone
05:20ahead and lost it because of the pressure. Already the bowlers are not doing well. If you look at,
05:25Ravi Bishno has not done anything of note this season. Same is the case with Krunal Pandya and
05:32the wickets, more of aiding the spinners, if you look at. Yesterday, Rashid Khan showed how much
05:39the ball is spinning. So, I think that's where they lost it. So, in a way, I think more than
05:45the rain, they would have backed their batting strength, more than the bowling strength.
05:50Okay, I take that. Sanjay, did you think that the RCB could pull it off today?
05:56Yeah, like, even when Faf in the toss time, he told like, 50-50 decision,
06:01I was taking, it was a 50-50 thought, whether I was batting first or bowling first. Yes,
06:05RCB was put to batting first, and as Faf goes to the pavilion in the fourth over, and I was like,
06:11no, this is not the Faf Duplessis we are seeing. He's meant only for playoffs.
06:16I asked that question simply because RCB has been generally up and down throughout this season.
06:23They win and lose, I mean, lose matches which they have won, and generally,
06:29it's been patchy. So, which is why I asked the question, do you expect RCB to win? And
06:34it's really given that they were struggling until that last overflourish from Karthik and who was
06:44that? Pantidat. Yes, Pantidat. They put on 84 runs and 85 runs in the last five overs.
06:52So, yes, guys, I keep telling, a top-order failed again today. Both Virat and Faf couldn't
06:58contribute. Virat, even though it was a slow start for him, 25 runs or 24 balls, Faf went for a
07:02golden duck, which was unfortunate for us because I expected something from Faf because when it
07:07comes to IPL, we expect Faf to perform in playoffs. He's known for big match, big tournaments. So,
07:12yes, at some stage, I expected, no, we are going to collapse, and my par score was 155 to 170,
07:19which wasn't a good score in Eden Gardens. So, I don't know from where did this Pantidat land in
07:26this crease, I literally don't know. He was playing an anchoring knock in between. The
07:30sixth over, he took on Kurnal Pandya and he made us cross 50 runs in the apart play. 16th over for
07:36Ravi Bishnoi, the way he batted his timing, his placements were so amazing. And DK, the way he
07:42converts strike rate from 90 or 80 strike rate, he suddenly converts it to 190, 180 as he did
07:50today, getting back to back sixes and fours. That's the reason. 92 runs in the last five
07:55overs, just a little bit of concentration on the opening because Rajasthan has a power-packed
07:59bowling. Bolt is back to form. Prasidh is bowling good lengths. So, if our top order contributes
08:05much enough, I think we can beat RR and we can go through finals. Okay, we'll come to RR part
08:10of it later. Let's focus on today's match. Welcome Anishbhai. Thank you. Sorry guys, I was in a
08:18dandy. I got stuck. No worries. No worries. We'll take you on board straight away. We just started
08:24only a few minutes back. So, let's dive straight into it. Tell us your impressions of Pantidat
08:30because he took the match away from them. Oh yes. You know what? He has been doing well
08:36consistently for RCB in this season. He came in as a replacement and he has shown what he's got
08:42talent. Okay, he was dropped by Deepak Ghoda, but everybody gets an opportunity. And he made it count.
08:47And Zinnings was the difference between the two matches. 190 and 210 was the difference of RR winning.
08:55Okay. So, Satish, I'll just get back to you here. You see, we have seen in the past that RCB relies
09:01a lot on overseas players and their superstars. Today, between Faf, Maxwell and Kohli, they put
09:09together 34 runs. All the rest were put by little-known players. So, is there a lesson in there?
09:17Chama, this I've been, I think a couple of times I've already said in this
09:22show. I know, which is why I put it back to you again. RCB always had this issue of one or two
09:28weak links that would sink that ship time and again. Whereas, on the contrary, this time,
09:34basically, they were relying too much on the international stars like AB or Chris Gayle or
09:40even for that matter, a superstar like Kohli to shore them up. They have been doing consistently.
09:45Whereas this year, not just this game. There are many games where either it was Dinesh Karthik or
09:51you are looking at Shahbaz Ahmed or Patidar, Lomore, Harshal Patel. All these guys came and
09:59started doing well. And I think this is something very similar to what Gujarat is at this point in
10:05time. Almost a lot of people have put their hands up and performed, which actually makes them even
10:12more dangerous when you look at the next game. Because people like Faf and Maxwell and Kohli,
10:18they will play with much more ease, saying that, yes, we failed, but still we won it.
10:23Let's play freely. So, that makes it even more dangerous.
10:27Yeah, because they will be assured that there is still a backup to come. And even if they fail,
10:33there is somebody to pick up the slack. All right. Vinit, let's say it's not all
10:38gloom and doom for you. Today was again Mohsen Khan's another dream spell. He's been one of
10:43the revelations of this. Three seasons in the Mumbai Indians bench, he is completely a transformed
10:48man. Tell us about him. I think probably those three seasons in Mumbai Indians might have actually
10:57helped him to learn some things, because he had a lot of players around him in Mumbai Indians,
11:01players like Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malekar. He might have learned a bit
11:05of training with those people. And I think that's what we're actually seeing in this season
11:12for Lucknow. You know, when everyone else has actually been belted for runs, Mohsen Khan has
11:19been the standout bowler in the last four or five matches, at least for Lucknow. Vinit, I have a
11:25small question. Sorry, in case if you are finished. Good, good. Even Krunal Pandya was in the same
11:31Mumbai team for the last three years or four years. Why he didn't learn, whereas Mohsen Khan has
11:36learned it? I mean, you know, different players learn differently. So, you know, there's always
11:42that. But I think, you know, Mohsen Khan has pretty much been that standout young player. You know,
11:50like this season, every, almost every team has had that standout young player. Like in RCB,
11:56we seen Rajat Patil there today. In Gujarat, we saw Yes Deyal. Like again, in LSD, we saw Mohsen
12:02Khan. Like that, you know, Mumbai also fill up warm-up. Like that, all the young players.
12:07No, no, no. My question was just about learning experience. If Mumbai is going to be such a
12:11learning experience, how one person learns and the other person doesn't. That was my question.
12:16Yeah. Let me jump to Vinit's defense here. So, see, he, I mean, he could have warmed the bench,
12:25but he had the best of facilities. He's got the best of coaches, everything around him. So,
12:29when you're not playing, there's less pressure on you. So, probably, if you're a willing learner,
12:36you can really hone the skills, which is perhaps what's happened in Mohsen's case.
12:41Good for him. Let's move on. I mean, one of the bowlers we've been keenly watching this season
12:48has been Mohammad Siraj. We know, we've seen that how he rose through the ranks in IPL and
12:54reached the Indian team now. But this has been a very atrocious season for him. It's been pretty
12:59up and down. Today was another of his bad performances. Give us an assessment of him, please.
13:06Well, I'm afraid, you know what, as much as I want, I like him. I like Virat's aggression
13:11in Test cricket. But Test cricket and the wide ball cricket, especially the T20 format,
13:15is a totally different format. He needs to, you know, be very, very different from what he
13:22was in Test cricket. Like, he needs to alter his length. His length is a problem. And sometimes,
13:26he also loses his line. There is a thin line, I've always said, between temperament and talent. He's
13:31got talent, but I'm afraid he lacks the temperament in the short ball format. It's been now, not one
13:37year, two years, he's been playing for RCB for long and he's been leaking runs. I don't know,
13:4110 runs is very common for Siraj. I hope he gets better. Because he's young, he's dynamic. I only
13:48problem is, his feet is not on the ground. Of late, he's tasted success in Test cricket
13:52and I feel his feet is in the air.
13:55All right. I really hope that he gets better because he's such a good swing bowler and
13:59India could use him and his aggression, if only he tempers it. Yes, coming back to Sanjay.
14:06Good performances from the bowlers. Hasaranga, too. Hasaranga, despite going for runs in the
14:11last two overs, he actually put us to two over spells, which we consider 10 runs.
14:16Actually, in the first spell, he came over two overs at eight runs and Shahbaz came away from
14:22four overs with 34 runs. That actually throttled Lucknow. So, bowling has been
14:31one of the reasons why RCB has turned the campaign around. Do you agree there?
14:37Yes, this season, to tell you when you compare to the previous season, this season we have
14:42improved bowling attack. Just exclude the four over 64 run, which was considered by Josh as well.
14:49Apart from that, even Josh was a good attack in the pace. Even he was doing well in the
14:53depth and he was doing well in the park play. And yes, Hasaranga has been good. Today, two
14:59overs, 10 runs and he has served many boundaries while he was fielding. And yes, in the last two
15:04overs, when Huda and Stoenis took him for 18 runs in one over, that made a difference. But I think
15:10that crucial wicket of Huda, where Hasaranga just tempted him again and he made it went for
15:16the shot and it was bold. And yes, a credit to Josh Heslund, even though he was expensive,
15:22picking Kale Rahul is what I think it was RCB's way. If Rahul was there, I think some wonders
15:29would have happened from, he said, because he started taking the balls after he scored 50 runs.
15:34So, getting the wicket of Rahul by Josh Heslund and back-to-back wickets like Kunal Pandya,
15:39someone like Kunal Pandya is also dangerous because on the first outing, he scored 42 runs
15:43of just 20-odd balls against us. So, when you see a player like Samira can smack Harshal Patel,
15:50why can't Kunal Pandya smack? So, keeping that in mind, those two ball-two wickets
15:55by Josh Heslund and the 17th over by Siraj, where I thought he might concede more than 15 runs or
16:0016 runs, he just restricted to 10 runs and with three or three-odd balls. So, that made an impact
16:05in the 17th over. The 17th over made an impact for RCB, I guess.
16:09But you know, the 10 runs saved by Hasranga in the field,
16:14that 1-6 he saved at one boundary in the second half, you can't forget that.
16:21True.
16:22That 6 was something magical.
16:26That save on the boundary line was phenomenal. But having said that, Satish, on the question
16:33of fielding, we saw some good fielding from RCB. But the same cannot be said about Lucknow. We saw
16:39quite a few drop catches and drop catches has been the theme of this IPL. Can you explain that?
16:47Shyam, please, I can't explain this because I don't understand. These guys, they take catches
16:53day in and day out and they are fit. And some of the catches are so easy, it really beats me how
17:00they keep dropping catches. And the sad part is, Shyam, as much as this IPL was so close and
17:07so entertaining, I see a lot of elementary mistakes coming from these professionals'
17:13players. Even including RCB, when you look at the way they bowled, the number of whites they gave
17:18away when they were actually on top, that gave Lucknow the chance to come closer. Otherwise,
17:23they could have sealed the match then and there. So, I would say the basics have fallen way below
17:29the standards that we expect from IPL, especially the catching. And of course, some of the fielding
17:36by some teams as well. So, seriously, that's a big, big letdown this year from the IPL perspective,
17:44because we have seen some very good catches. Yes, but we have seen more drop catches than good ones.
17:50All right. Going from here, what can RCB take into their match against
18:02Rajasthan Royals? Well, they're going to play a much tougher team as much as LST was there. But
18:08RCB will have a challenge from RR. I remember the first game, they ended 145. And they, I think,
18:16won the second game against them, if I'm not wrong. But having said that, RR will be a difficult
18:20proposition. We'll have to see how Josh Butler comes about, even though he scored a little
18:24scratchy innings. In the end, he made it up. So, and again, today, I would say the drop,
18:29wicket of Virat Kohli was a blessing in disguise for RCB. Because the way he was batting, he looked
18:35very anxious, very edgy. And he ended up eating up a lot of balls. If RCB has to win again,
18:41it's going to be a fresh wicket. They need a decent score to defend because they're
18:45depending heavily on Arshil Patel. Very, very, very true. Okay. Now, before we wind up,
18:54Anish, tell us about the competition. Oh, yeah. We have a wonderful competition
18:59every day on Gulf News, where you have to predict the winner. I know it's very difficult.
19:02I knew the team chasing is going to win today. But I'm afraid it went the other way,
19:08RCB won. So you go and predict on your favorite page, Gulf News, you win an apparel kit and a
19:13year's digital subscription. Yesterday, three of us predicted today's winner, right? Three against
19:19one. But I was really worried. Okay, let's see whether we'll get that right on the Friday.
19:26Friday, RCB meets Rajasthan Royals. Vinit, who do you think will win and why?
19:36Well, RCB have actually peaked at the right time. And plus, they're also getting a bit of luck as
19:42an extra factor. So I'm going to back RCB to go all the way. Sanjay, do you agree with that?
19:50I don't know. But I don't know about what the luck is telling us. I think we can take over
19:55Rajasthan just by telling the last two matches. If you see the key bowlers performance,
20:00Ravichandran Ashwin and Basavendra Chahal, they have been a little expensive. Though Chahal is
20:03economical, you can't find him taking wickets. All of the batsmen are playing out Chahal.
20:09And Butler, yes, he's struggling a lot in the second half in the first six overs.
20:15So I think someone like Siraj, only Siraj can get Butler in the par 5 because Siraj has the
20:20ability to swing the ball. Hope he finds his form back. We saw him last year taking Butler in UAE,
20:26the way he swung the ball onto the pads, the LBW call. So somewhere, yes. And as Anish
20:32sir told, hope Virat Kohli and Faf finds their form. So a good wicket to bat on Ahmad Abbas is
20:38batting-friendly pitch. I don't know which pitch they play. Whatever we saw in the last
20:43match of the International T20, it's a batting-friendly pitch and it favours spin a lot.
20:48So hope, I think Hasaranga overtakes Chahal at least. He's one wicket behind 25. So at least
20:54for my happiness, we take on Rajasthan and we beat them. Actually, I'm sorry. Actually,
21:01why I mentioned the luck factor earlier is because in previous seasons, RCB have been
21:06on the receiving end of luck. I'm not saying they're a bad team, but at times, they've been
21:15on the receiving end of luck. So this time, things have been favourable to them. And somewhere deep
21:23down in my mind, I would love to see Virat Kohli lifting the IPL. So that's why somewhere I feel
21:30like RCB might actually take it, even though earlier I might have predicted LSG.
21:36Vinny, you seem to sound like a Bangalore fan rather than a Lucknow fan.
21:42I mean, everyone's a fan of Virat Kohli. That's fair.
21:46So yeah, something is to be heard again. Sanjay makes a good point about the Ahmad
21:50Abbas wicket because this is a wicket which we have not seen in this IPL. How do you expect it
21:55to behave? And who will win?
21:58It's going to be a fresh wicket anyway. So I would say it will be a nice wicket to bat on.
22:02And to me, I would favour RCB for the simple reason. Last time I saw, Butler's downfall
22:09started with RCB, if I see it right. And he was very uncomfortable against facing Hazlewood.
22:17Literally, Hazlewood psyched him out in that game. And that's where Butler's downfall started.
22:23So I would say that Hazlewood probably again get Butler. And once Butler goes, RR is still
22:29not the team that they would be when he is on song. So in that sense, I would say it's RCB.
22:36Because spin-wise, both teams have some good spinners, Hasuranga and Shahbaza as well.
22:44Whereas there, Chahal and Ashwin, both of them could… So the spin-wise, bowling-wise,
22:48they are equal. But I would say the batting is going to be the difference. And here,
22:54RCB has got a better edge there. And if Kohli or Faf gets going, then… Or Maxwell, for that
23:02matter, even. We have three dangers for RR, whereas only Butler is there. Apart from Sanju,
23:10who will… You can start, Sanju, with the 40 runs. And maybe you can end it there.
23:14Yeah. Consistency issue.
23:18So Anil is the only one for backing Rajasthan. You three guys are backing Bangalore.
23:24No, I am backing RCB.
23:26I am backing RCB. Not for anything else.
23:29All of you are on RCB.
23:30You know what? Today also, apart from the teams and the fans of Bangalore,
23:35the whole Eden Gardens wanted RCB to win. That's the peak of Virat Kohli. I know he's
23:41not been doing well. But everybody wants to see Virat Kohli in the final. Okay, they might
23:45support their own team, Gujarat, in the final. But this match, they will definitely want RCB to go.
23:50Yeah. Because there was a huge roar going up the Eden Gardens every time a wicket fell.
23:55Yes. You are bang on. And all four of you are on RCB. So for me, when RCB plays, whoever is
24:02the team, my cricketing logic goes out of the window. I just back RCB. So all four of us are
24:10backing RCB. All five of us are backing. So if RCB enters the final, that would be their fourth
24:17time. Let's see whether they'll become fourth time lucky if they make the final. So we'll find out
24:24that on Friday. We'll see whether Sanjay is laughing or whether he's not. I'm sure he'll be
24:30laughing. I hope he has the final laugh on Sunday.
24:34Yeah.
24:39Thank you, guys. Thank you for joining us on this show. Thank you to all our listeners and
24:44viewers for tuning in. And for the latest updates and developments, please log on to
24:48gulfnews.com and all our social media channels. And we will see you again on Friday. Thank you
24:54very much. Good night.
25:03Transcribed by https://otter.ai