In what was a virtual replay of last night's action, Royal Challengers Bangalore edged out Sunrisers Hyderabad by six runs to win their second match of IPL 2021 in a row today.
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See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
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NewsTranscript
00:00Well, it was Deja vu, like what happened yesterday. Same scenario, a target of 150-152s yesterday, and Suns risers were cruising.
00:09One mistake by Warner leads to three wickets in one over, and rest is history. And credit to Virat Kohli and his captainship that he held his nerve.
00:16Hello, hello guys, and welcome once again to Straight Bat with Mr Cricket UAE, Anis Sajjan and Gulf News.
00:31Joining us tonight, we have also got myself, Matthew Smith, and Gautam Bhattacharya.
00:38Now, we'll quickly talk about the game in a minute, but we'll quickly say hi to Anis.
00:43Hi Matt, hi Gautam, all good. Just before we go on to the show, just reminding all our fan followers to log on to our page, Gulf News, and follow the contest, and make sure that you log in and you might walk away with this beautiful jacket. Over to you, Matt, again.
01:01Yeah, just as for Facebook, if you log in to the Gulf News on Facebook, and yeah, well, obviously you've got a smile on your face. You had a big smile on your face last night, given one result.
01:13You've got a big smile on your face again tonight because RCB have won again. They survived a Sun risers onslaught and collapse, shall we say, to win by six runs. What's your take on the game straight away?
01:27Well, it was deja vu, like what happened yesterday. Same scenario, a target of 150 to 152s yesterday, and Sun risers were cruising. One mistake by Warner leads to three wickets and one over, and the rest is history.
01:40And credit to Virat Kohli and his captainship that he held his nerve. Normally, when you see such games, tight games, RCB and Virat Kohli are not able to get out of it. Happy that they got out of it because it will give a lot of confidence to Virat Kohli and his team.
01:53Okay, Gautam?
01:55Yeah, I agree with Anish that, you know, the more this kind of close games RCB keep winning, they will develop that self belief. And the other thing is, if they were banking on, you know, their senior spinners like Chahal and Washington Sundar to do the trick in the power play,
02:14suddenly you get Shahbaz Ahmed, who's a left arm spinner, an all-rounder, he's actually from Bengal. And he did the trick three for seven. And Harshal, gradually, I mean, he's going to be the ace in the pack for RCB in the coming matches, I feel.
02:33Perfect.
02:34And obviously, as you say, Maxwell putting in another great stint. This is probably his best start in any sort of a cricket series, going back to when he had these self-declared mental issues. He's really kind of putting himself in a strong position for the RCB team now as well, because they will need him.
02:56Anish?
02:58Oh yes, he's called the big show, the showman. And I remember telling about him in the pre-match show that I hope he fires. And I'm glad he's fired. He looked good in the first match against Mumbai too. Again, looking very good. And that innings, because this was not an easy wicket. And Maxwell likes the ball to come on to the bat.
03:14So, scoring runs on this difficult wicket has given him more confidence. And I'm sure, and I believe this is Maxwell's tournament. I hope I'm not pressing the gun too early. But if Virat Kohli needs it, anybody after AB Deville, it is Maxwell. And if he gets a little bit of support from Devdutt Padikkal in the top, and in the end by Daniel Christian to finish off the innings, Virat Kohli can put up a score of 180-odd. Then they can give a fight to guys like Mumbai Indians.
03:38Yeah, obviously that's a big thing. It's one thing winning the small games when you're, well I guess when you've got to defend a small target and you know it's a tough wicket. But their score against Mumbai was a much higher one in the match. So they've managed to do it both ways so far in their two games.
03:58Yeah, I think exactly. Some of the factors are falling into place. Now, you see, if we were wondering why did they pay Maxwell so much? I think two matches, still early days. But they needed that third guy beyond Kohli and AB and he could be the guy. I think you're right.
04:27Okay, and then obviously David Warner is another man who's had his struggles in IPL. He's also made a bit of a statement, came up short today. And as Ana said, there was that one mistake that caused the collapse. But another good solid half century for a guy who wants to prove himself in IPL.
04:45Yeah, Matt, before I come to David Warner, one more thing I want to say about the big show, Maxwell. I would be very much happy to see him bowl. Because he's a very useful bowler. And he's a smart thinking bowler. And there are times he can come and bowl in the power play and get Virat Kohli that two overs out of the box.
05:02So, if Virat, I'm sure will plan. Because there will be wickets like the Chennai where the spinners come into play. So, horses for courses. Like if you saw today, Jameson went for a few runs. Because his pace and on this wicket, the faster the ball comes under the bat, the faster it goes.
05:16And now coming to Warner. You see, he has been the main guy for SRH for so many years. Last six years, he's been scoring above 500. There was a time when he scored even 800 to 900 runs. So, he's the main guy. And one mistake, too much. He did not hit a single ball in the air. One shot in the air, cost a wicket. And then, I'm afraid, Pandey making the same mistake as was done by Rana yesterday. You've got to finish the game on such slow wickets.
05:43Yeah. And what I was going to say as well is, we've seen quite a lot of matches. And again, this may come down to the pitch and the fact that they're all playing in Mumbai-Chennai right now. And we'll move on to other pitches. A lot of teams, traditionally, when you're chasing, you prefer to chase because you know what your target is. A lot of teams are coming up short this year.
06:10G, can you take this?
06:12Yeah. In fact, I would like to ask you this, Anish, as well. I mean, you know, a lot is made up of the due factor, really. I mean, when you know that chasing is difficult and the second part of the game, when the ball gets softer, you're trying to slice the ball, you're trying to do all kinds of things. The ball is simply not carrying. So, what do you think? What does your common sense tell you? Had you been the captain?
06:39Well, to be very honest, I had seen the pitch report very closely enough, even though I don't understand how pitches are being read. But having said that, the two cricketers had mentioned very clearly, it is a bad first pitch because even though there is due, but it's not as much as the Mumbai due. And when the ball gets softer, as you mentioned, it's not easy to play short. And it's for the set batsman to finish it. It's like a new batsman coming on. It's not easy to just, you know, go and attack the bowler immediately.
07:07And the slower the ball comes, it's difficult to clear it. If you saw the over-ball by Siraj in the death where Rashid went after him. So, the faster the ball comes, you can clear. So, if the bowlers are smart, they can make sure that they can contain a score of 150.
07:21But RCB did good today that they did not go for 180. They realised what is the target which can be defendable and which Maxwell did the smart thing that they finished with 150. Otherwise, had they gone too hard in the early stages, they would have ended below par and that would have been costly as you saw that this match was won by just six runs.
07:43Matt?
07:45Okay. Yeah, sorry, Anis, you're just breaking up a little bit there, sorry. But yeah, no, that's a fair assessment. I agree that, you know, like, you've got to know what you want to set yourself as a defendable target.
08:04But most teams still choose to chase if they win the toss. But maybe some teams will now reconsider that when they see that it's not going to be, you know, chasing might not always be in your favour if you think you can put up a bigger total if you bat first.
08:20Again, that kind of brings us on to tomorrow's game. The talk of the week, Rajasthan Royals are up again against last year's finalists, DC. Obviously, Rajasthan's injury issues are going to be a big factor in this game. Either of you guys want to go first on that?
08:39Yeah, Gautam?
08:42Yeah, I think we are again going to take action shifts to Mumbai for one. The other thing is we're going to take a look at some of the most attractive batsmen to watch. If you go back to the DC match, Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan together.
08:59And of course, Sanju Samson's century is still very much fresh in the memory. I think now Royals will finally go for a replacement for Stokes because he's definitely not coming back. But tomorrow, I would certainly like to give DC the edge. I don't know what Anish is thinking about.
09:24You're right. Absolutely, DC go into the match as favourites. They have the big guns like Prithvi Shaw, they have Shikhar Dhawan, they have Rahane, they have a couple of more dashes like Stoinis. They have a very strong batting line-up with Hedgmar.
09:38They have Steve Smith, yeah. They have Steve Smith whom they're not trying to…
09:42I don't think he will get a chance. I don't think he's going to get a chance so early. Because as long as they play at the Wankhede Stadium, I don't see him coming in. If you're playing on difficult tracks, that is where you need likes of Smith.
09:56So now, obviously, Delhi go into the match as favourites. But don't count out Rajasthan Royals. They have the likes of Butler, they have Samson. And it all depends on the Mumbai wickets. Because as you said, no score is dependable.
10:12And if RR can do well… And I want to back that boy, Jaydev Nadkar, who had a tough IPL when he was bought at a high price. Somehow, him to come ahead and tomorrow, all that good was for RR. Let's hope what happens.
10:26Cool. We shall see. We shall see. Well, thanks guys, everybody, for listening. We'll be here again tomorrow night. Again, don't forget to log on to our Facebook page at Gulf News.
10:38Like the page, vote for your player, and you get a chance to win these tops and also a three-month subscription to Gulf News. We'll be here. We should be back with… We had one missing member of the team today, but he should be back tomorrow.
10:56So, we'll see how we get on. Can Rajasthan Royals get back up to winning, or will it be DC getting on the scoreboard again? Thanks, guys. Speak to you soon. Take care. Ciao. Bye.