[padmrajravi]

Harshal Patel gets all his wickets through slower deliveries. He bowls only one fast delivery per over in most cases. It was sure that the party would last only till someone figures this out and hit the balls with power without anticipating pace. Sir Jadeja did it today and I think Harhsal's dream run in IPL is almost over. This will happen to many fast bowlers who use excessive slower balls. Once the batsmen starts playing them as a spin bowler with a good quicker ball, the party is over.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

This will happen to many fast bowlers who use excessive slower balls. Once the batsmen starts playing them as a spin bowler with a good quicker ball, the party is over.

Yes, I felt the same. I could draw parallels with Venkatesh Prasad who bowled similarly and once batsmen figured it out, end of story. Harshal is a much improved bowler now, he had played for RCB earlier before moving to Delhi I think. Hope he works on his bowling a little more and comes back, he still has the purple cap currently with a 15 wicket tally.

[VWAllstar]

Who makes these kind of decision? Most of us would have got Bairstow to bat with Kane Williamson. Bairstow is hitting the ball brilliantly.
Williamson is tired and Warner with Bairstow would also be a good option. 9 runs would be an easy one with 1-2 high risk shot.
Delhi must go on with Dhawan, Shaw and Pant.

Edit: DC wins.

[harry10]

Ashwin has left IPL due to family fighting with Covid.

Zampa and Richardson also returning to Australia.
Unfortunate but I expect more people to leave IPL and that's completely understandable.

[poised2drive]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Year after year, SRH keeps depending on their 4 international players to win them the match and the tournament. It is only so much Warner, Bairstow, Kane and Rashid could do. They need to remove such dependency and bring in strong Indian players, match winners.
PS: They should trade Virat, Abhishek, Samad and Shankar all four together and get the Rockstar Jadeja ;-)

Ok since the above isn't possible, why not bring Manish Pandey back. He hasn't been as bad as Virat or Shankar. Kane and Pandey would do wonders on such slow pitches.

Edit A super over. Kane deserves a win.

The Sunrisers , Hyderabad is a peculiar team which seems to never learn from its mistakes despite facing the freaking same problem from the last 4 years- Excessive Reliance on the Foreign Players , mostly on the openers & Fragile Middle Order who buckle under pressure failing even to get 6 runs per over.
This problem was partially solved when there were Yuvraj and Yusuf Pathan in 2015-17 but when they were gone, the problem worsened.

Before it was on Warner & Shikhar Dhawan, now it is on the Warner-Bairstow duo.

In 2019, Warner-Bairstow duo trampled most of the opposition bowling and SRH won almost every contest in the first half of the season. Later, when both of them left for their national duties, the remaining team could not just pick it up from where they left, though they reached the playoffs, thanks to Captain Kane who marshalled his troops with his brilliant captaincy.

And to trade Shikhar Dhawan with those 3 was one of the dumbest moves ever, but I think it was Dhawan who was not happy with the price he was being paid and expressed his interest to shift from franchise.

I guess it would be prudent to let Manish Pandey and Kedhar Jadhav play, while allowing only one of Garg/Abhishek/Virat if Vijay Shankar/Samad is included, since the youngsters have continuously failed to use any opportunity provided by the management.

The absence of Natrajan ( & possibly Bhuvi) will cost them more since Khaleel & Kaul are known for giving away runs in death overs. So if the Indian batsmen cannot even support the Warner-Bairstow-Kane trio, the SRH can be considered a write-off this season.

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Who makes these kind of decision? Most of us would have got Bairstow to bat with Kane Williamson. Bairstow is hitting the ball brilliantly.
Williamson is tired and Warner with Bairstow would also be a good option. .

Simply unbelievable.

Bairstow was striking the ball so sweetly while Warner has been facing a loss of form from the beginning of the season.

The SRH had to clinch the game when it was 4 from 3 with Kane in crease. The Superover will always benefit the chasing team.
How important is just 1 run was displayed yet again !

[Emvi]

Boundaries of the final 2 balls of the innings certainly improved Pant's strike rate, but wasn't enough to take Delhi over the line. Uncharacteristic innings from the DC skipper, thriller of a match nonetheless.

[NPV]

Luck still with RCB, managed to eke out a narrow 1 run win Vs DC!
Great show by ABD as always and helped RCB get a decent score.

Pant's captaincy skills need honing, wasn't a good decision to give Stoinis the last over when he has hardly bowled this season. Also didn't see him talk/consult senior players like Dhawan and Steve Smith.

On the RCB side, don't know why Sundar is being sent up the order when his striking and strike rate aren't good. Sams should have been sent before Sundar today. Obviously Kohli thinks differently

[padmrajravi]

Originally Posted by NPV

On the RCB side, don't know why Sundar is being sent up the order when his striking and strike rate aren't good. Sams should have been sent before Sundar today. Obviously Kohli thinks differently

Since RCB is in a good position, Kohli may be trying to perfect the India T20 team structure. I think Sundar is one innings away from getting to the form he displayed in Australia. If he clicks, it offers a great option for Team India. With Sundar, Jadeja, Bhuvi, Hardik and Shardul, It is possible to field a team of 11 batsmen.

[Ananthang]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

Since RCB is in a good position, Kohli may be trying to perfect the India T20 team structure. I think Sundar is one innings away from getting to the form he displayed in Australia. If he clicks, it offers a great option for Team India. With Sundar, Jadeja, Bhuvi, Hardik and Shardul, It is possible to field a team of 11 batsmen.

Siraj and Shami are bowling beautifully this year, looks better than Bumrah.

Sundar - Hope he gets to show his batting talent before being dropped
Hope Dhawan keeps his form, having a in-form Opener would be fantastic.

Hope we find few more batting all rounders before end of the season.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

Since RCB is in a good position, Kohli may be trying to perfect the India T20 team structure. I think Sundar is one innings away from getting to the form he displayed in Australia. If he clicks, it offers a great option for Team India. With Sundar, Jadeja, Bhuvi, Hardik and Shardul, It is possible to field a team of 11 batsmen.

So you are saying Kohli is using RCB as a laboratory for India team ? Now I see why we are still waiting for RCB to win IPL

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by NPV

Obviously Kohli

Kohli himself needs to find his purple patch back. Although his lean patch itself is as good as most batsmen being in form; the lack of big scores and a moderate strike rate won't do us much good in the upcoming WC.

None of the big guns (Sharma, Kohli, Pandya, Rahul) seem to be having a stellar IPL yet. Saturated with the amount of cricket being played? Bubble fatigue?

Where's that man hitting 100s across all formats (including IPL), as easy as we walk across the road to buy bread.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

I think Sundar is one innings away from getting to the form he displayed in Australia.

Sundar was in great form in Tests. He doesn't have mush accomplishments in bowling or in batting in T20s. I have no idea why Kohli thinks Sundar can bat anywhere.

RCB are top for 2 reasons,
-Harshal Patel is taking wickets
-Maxwell has found his calling with RCB (he hit his 1st IPL 50 in 5 years, and is now 3rd leading scorer)
Rest are performing normally.

Punjab has caught the RCB bug this time - faltering in different departments if different matches and failing to cross the finish line. Any idea why Pooran continues to play when Malan + many Indian players are on the bench?

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Sundar was in great form in Tests. He doesn't have mush accomplishments in bowling or in batting in T20s. I have no idea why Kohli thinks Sundar can bat anywhere.

RCB are top for 2 reasons,
-Harshal Patel is taking wickets
-Maxwell has found his calling with RCB (he hit his 1st IPL 50 in 5 years, and is now 3rd leading scorer)
Rest are performing normally.

Punjab has caught the RCB bug this time - faltering in different departments if different matches and failing to cross the finish line. Any idea why Pooran continues to play when Malan + many Indian players are on the bench?

There are few more reasons why RCB is on top.
- DDP's form and strike rate upfront
- Kohli's ability to rotate strike
- Maxwell finding his form (as you mentioned)
- ABD's form
- World class keeper batsman. I feel no other team has that liberty. (Dhoni has lost his reflexes, QDK is a good keeper but not in ABD's league as a batsman, Pant & KL are still learning)
- Harshal Patel's & Jamieson's bowling form
- Sundar able to bowl 4 overs with economy rate under 7.5

Where they lack is a good finisher to accompany ABD if Maxwell & Kohli fail.

[KPR]

From bits and pieces to complete player Jadeja is in form of his life. I will not be surprised if Jadeja becomes 1st umpire in today's match. I'm going to watch today's match for him and his direct hits.

[NPV]

Today's match is RCB Vs what looks like RCB B team aka PBKS

KL Rahul is due for a big innings but I hope he isn't gifted lives like last year when he went on to score 140+

In fact, in the previous edition, Punjab's only 2 wins were against RCB!