Sanju Samson’s men clinch second spot, but were far from their dominating self
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00:00Glad you mentioned that line, Shyam. The Chennai Super Kings allowed Rajasthan Royals to qualify
00:07in the top two. And I will say why. For two things. 75 in six overs and 75 in the next 14 hours.
00:24Hello everyone. Welcome to Straight Bad with Gulf News and Segregated UAE. That is Anish
00:29Sarjan. We are here to discuss Rajasthan Royals' win over CSK and the win over Chennai Super Kings
00:35allowed them to qualify for the second spot for the playoffs. To tell us more about it,
00:41let's go to Mr. Cricket UAE. Anish, let us give us a rundown of today's game.
00:46Thank you, Shyam. Hi Gautam. Hello Prem. Glad you mentioned that line, Shyam. The Chennai
00:51Super Kings allowed Rajasthan Royals to qualify in the top two. And I will say why. For two things.
00:5975 in six overs and 75 in the next 14 hours. Okay, the wicket got slow, blah, blah, blah, whatever.
01:06We will talk about it later. But second, when you have a bowler of Santana, who is much,
01:11much more experienced than the youngster Solanki, you leave him high and dry. And then,
01:15you allow Arar to cross over the line. Well played, Ashwin. Without taking anything away from him.
01:20But I believe you should say that Chennai gift-wrapped this and gave it back to
01:25what you call Rajasthan Royals.
01:29Pretty much. And I am sure Prem Rajendran wouldn't complain being a Rajasthan supporter.
01:36How did it go for you?
01:39Right. So, I think to some extent, yeah, Chennai did sort of bottle it in some sense. Because
01:45with the start that they have and the platform that the openers gave them. I mean, actually,
01:49with Moeen Ali gave them, you would expect, I was expecting at least a 200 score. But,
01:54you know, our bowlers really came through and sort of put the brakes on the game. And that
01:59really, really helped us, you know, curb down a low total. And to be fair, even we had our
02:04little struggles with the chase itself. But I think Ash, being a quality all-rounder that he is,
02:09sort of came in, clutched it for us. And I think that's, it's an important win for us,
02:12because it gives that momentum going into the playoffs. And I think having that two-game win
02:17streak and then going into the playoffs really makes a difference. Because then,
02:20we get into the playoffs with that mentality of winning. So, it's a really important win for us.
02:26Of course, the money is broken down for a 75 and 75. 75 in six overs and a 75 in 14 overs.
02:35Where did it go wrong for Chennai?
02:38Yes, it's a cluster of wickets, Shyam. I mean, once I had little issue with that
02:44Conway's dismissal. But once that happened, then before Raidu, they lost somebody. So,
02:52three quick wickets, and they could never get going from there. I mean, it's more than 75.
02:59Yeah, in fact, it was something like 90 at the halfway mark. So, it's a cluster of wickets from
03:05which they could never really recover. Dhoni kind of huffed and puffed his way to that 28 or
03:11something that he scored. And with that, Moeen Ali lost his momentum more importantly. He was
03:18no longer the same batsman in the next 10 overs. Next 8 overs, let's say. And then finally,
03:24it was frustrated Moeen, he had to throw away his wicket.
03:29Ali, what really happened here? If you look at the bowlers, both the spinners bowled 4-0 each.
03:34Like, Ashwin won for 28. And Chahal too for 26. And Albert McCoy, who is not a spinner,
03:40came away with 4 overs for 20 runs and 2 wickets. Was it the wicket the problem? Or was it the
03:47lack of depth in Chennai Super Kings the problem?
03:51Well, you have to give credit to Rajasthan Royals bowlers. They bowled well. They understood that
03:56after the wicket of Conway, CSK just couldn't get going. But like Gautam mentioned, huffed and
04:04puffed. You have seen Dhoni whenever he comes to bat. And you bring spinners, he just can't get
04:08going. Most importantly, I feel bad is that he just can't rotate the strike. And there are times
04:12when he just plays in the cover region, he runs off. I believe Moeen Ali would have got out or
04:18run out twice had the bowler picked up, had the fielder picked up. But coming to the point is,
04:22you just need to rotate the strike. Okay, you can't hit sixes of the spinners when your eye
04:27is not in. Dhoni likes to go after them only in the last couple of overs. But at least rotate the
04:32strike. A guy who is going at a strike rate of 200, you just not giving him strike. And then
04:37Moeen Ali is stranded. I mean, come on. He was batting at an average of probably a strike rate
04:42of 220. And in the last, he gets to bat 25-30 balls. Of course, opposition is not going to
04:51complain. But I am afraid MS Dhoni messed it up here with the bats. Yeah, we have been seeing that
04:57kind of innings from Dhoni every now and then. And this was one of those days. But nobody complained,
05:02Shyam. That's the sad part. Nobody complained. You only remember when he scored one or two
05:06sixes of the last over. But there are time and again in this many matches. Even the World Cup
05:11Dam semi-final, he played out like this and India lost that game. Gautam, I will quickly come back
05:18to you on Dhoni itself. We have been seeing how Dhoni has been struggling. Because one or two
05:24in the whole of this IPL, I have seen one or two innings where he has really come good.
05:28But otherwise, to again reuse your own phrase, huffing and puffing. That's what we have been
05:35seeing of Dhoni. We have not been seeing the Dhoni of old. And worse, Dhoni is going to come back the
05:40next year. So, how do you look at that? Yes. I mean, see, there is a thing called shelf life,
05:49Shyam. I mean, I'm sorry to say that about this great man. But at the toss, he did commit himself.
05:54He said he wanted to retire in front of the Chennai fans. But we have seen in the UAE,
06:00here also we have seen what the spinners are trying to do. In fact, Chahal did quite well.
06:06Just like inducing him to stretch for his drive or for his forward defensive shot. And
06:13they were exposing him so badly. Number one, yes, this season, it had been marginally better with
06:19the bat than the last two seasons, which were not much to write home about. Yes, Chennai needs to
06:25shake off that hangover if they want to really win forward because other teams are going to do the
06:32same. I think only the whistleblower army of CSK are looking forward to it. But I don't think
06:39true cricket fans are looking forward to it. Okay. Now, just to get back to Rajasthan with you and
06:46Prem. Butler's form is a worry. He has been a whirlwind in the first half. And as you get to
06:52the business then, when you are in the play-off, his form is a real worry. And Rajasthan heavily
06:59leans on him for good scores. When he is not scoring, you are not getting past 150.
07:05Right. I agree. I think I read a statistic that he scored about 400-500 runs in his first
07:12seven matches and just about 100 or something in his last seven matches. Which is obviously a
07:16concern for Rajasthan. And I think that is something that needs to come good in the play-off
07:21stage as well. But another benefit that has come out of that actually, in the first seven games,
07:26our runs were heavily reliant on Butler. But I think today's game included and a few previous
07:32games actually highlighted the significance of our lower order and the other batsmen that are
07:38there. For example, Yashaswi Jaiswal, who actually hit a 50 today and a 50 before the game as well.
07:43So what it has done is it's opened an opportunity for the other batsmen to come good and take his
07:50place and take the fair share of the run scoring in the games that we've played so far. But again,
07:57it's still a worry because obviously we know that Butler is a world-class batsman and he's one of
08:01the most destructive opening batsmen in the whole of T20 cricket. So I think his form is sort of
08:06crucial. And I think going into Qualifier 1, he has to probably put a lot more in the nets to
08:11really just preserve his wicket and make sure that he takes the game deep. Because I think that's
08:15the important thing. Because I think he gets out within his first 10 balls and if he stays
08:20for at least 20-odd balls, after that he can really start accelerating. And when he puts
08:25the accelerator down, he's unstoppable. So yeah, I think that's what needs to happen.
08:31I mean, this has been a feature of Rajasthan, isn't it? Their batting has never been
08:36consistent. They used to be a top-heavy team. Now, they have bats from down the order. But still,
08:43they are not firing as a team, isn't it? If today, if it was not for Ashwin,
08:47they would have been in real trouble, isn't it?
08:50Very much, Shyam. Butler's form has rubbed on to the other opener which we were talking about,
08:56Yashashree Jaiswal. In fact, the youngster has taken it on his shoulder. But I am afraid
09:01that captain Sanju Samson, instead of just going for the glory shots, can also rotate strike.
09:06If he can look upon to his hero, Virat Kohli. I know Virat Kohli has not had a good season
09:10this year. But it's all about running between the wickets. You just can't be hitting across
09:14the line. Okay, today he was well taken by Santner on his own bowling. But the idea about T20 cricket
09:21is not only slam bank cricket. You were not chasing 200 runs. You had got off to a flyer.
09:26And when you have got off to a flyer, what you need to do is to rotate strike. And when you don't
09:30rotate strike, you get stuck. And when you want to get out of that rut, you go for that glory shot
09:35and you end up losing the wicket. Today, it was Ashwin. But Ashwin's job is to bowl four overs
09:39and get you wickets. His job is not to win matches. The role of Samson and the other
09:44batsmen is to win matches. Very, very well said. But Gautam Ashwin has been having a very,
09:52very good season this year, isn't it? It looks like he's got his eyes firmly on the world T20 squad.
10:01Yes, looks like it. I mean, we have not been able to accept the idea of him coming in at five
10:07ahead of Bishimran Hetmaar. So, he's kind of silenced the critics for now. But there is a
10:14question that, you know, the point that Prem was also trying to make. The Royals batting lineup,
10:20it still was an unsettled look. I still don't know what Spadikal, who's a habitual opener,
10:26doing at number four. I mean, if he's at number four, then he should bat like a number four and
10:31try and anchor the innings, number one. Then, you know, now that Hetmaar had come back,
10:38I mean, so there is a question of unsettled look down there. And this role, as Anirudh
10:44said, ought to be taken by Samson himself and nobody else in this next two, you know,
10:50in a possible two matches, let us say. So, you think in the next match, sorry, I'm cutting,
10:56Shyam. I'm very happy for Ashwin that he pulled it off. You think the other opposition is going
11:01to give it in the hands of Ashwin by bowling the bowlers what he wants? No, no, no. And mind you,
11:08I mean, the next four matches, you know, next week, they're going to be played on fresher
11:14wickets. So, it will be a completely different equation there. Yes, that reminds me. Yes,
11:21this is going to be a completely different ball game because the newer wickets and the whole
11:27range of tactics will be different. And before we get to it, just staying on with
11:36the Rajasthan. Actually, I just lost my train of thought. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:43No, no worries. Yeah, I am back with it. This is again for Prem. Prem, you guys have an
11:49embarrassment of riches up front. You have four openers. You have Joseph Butler, you have Sanju
11:55Samson and Devdutt Padikkal, which means two of them back down the order. Sanju Samson has been
12:05doing okay with the weather coming one down or two down, although he has not had his usual quota of
12:12IPL run. But somebody who's been really, really struggling has been Devdutt Padikkal. He's not
12:17been the same player we have seen last year. Yeah, I think, especially when we started with
12:22the auctions, for example, I was really excited to see that we have brought in Devdutt Padikkal
12:26because there's no secret about his talent. He's really one of the most talented batsmen that India
12:31has. But given that he's been given a different order, a different role as a middle order batsman,
12:37I think it's taken a toll on him. And even when we did give him a chance sort of at the top order,
12:42when we dropped Yashaswi and had Devdutt at the top the order, it sort of didn't really work out
12:47and he couldn't really get accelerating in the innings. Which brings me to my next point,
12:52actually. I think in this Rajasthan team, there's sort of room for either one of them. It's got to
12:57be either Yashaswi or either Devdutt. So I feel like fitting both of them into the same lineup
13:02is going to be really difficult. And maybe, you know, considering the next season or something,
13:07they have to sort of make a choice whether they want to keep with, stay with their attention or
13:11move on to Devdutt particular at the top of the order and possibly bring in a new middle
13:15order batsman, something like that. Because I don't think it's been working out for Devdutt.
13:19He had one good innings, I think, where he sort of accelerated and played really well. I think
13:23he hit 37 of 19, which was a good innings. And I think that sort of challenges my point. But for
13:30the most part, I think he has struggled at the number four position and maybe they should try
13:34someone new there. My shot, I think this is a bit of a left field opinion, but I think maybe someone
13:40like Riyan Parag could bat at four. He would be an interesting choice there because he's been given
13:45the role of finisher and he's been given that labor. But I think giving him a few more extra
13:49deliveries to face could really unlock some potential there because he is a talented player
13:54at the end of the day. So that could be an option that Sanju could make in the coming games as well.
14:00Fair point. But I'm not a huge admirer of Riyan Parag. But I will leave that with you.
14:05Aniz, how do you look at Rajasthan's prospects in the… I mean, they get to play two eliminators,
14:13if necessary. How do you see their progress from there?
14:19Well, I can say that on paper, they look a very good side. In fact, the best spinning
14:24attack they have in the whole tournament, because they have an off-spinner who can win a match on
14:28his own. They have a leg-spinner who is the highest wicket-ticker, that is Ujjwinder Chahal.
14:32They have Joss Butler, who has gone off the boil. They have Sanju Samson. They have Yashaswi
14:38Jaiswal. And if Padikkal comes into form, and they have Hetmeyer, as well as Parag,
14:42the so-called finisher. So as a package. And in the ball, they have Bolt and Prasidh Krishna.
14:47And plus, McCoy has been doing… So their side looks good. It's just that I only hope that they
14:53bat first and they don't bat second. Because they are a team which likes to defend. Okay,
14:58I understand in a fresh wicket, it's going to be a different challenge for the spinners.
15:01But I still feel the spinners, we have won them many matches. And that is what is going to help
15:07them. Because I don't see them chasing a target going forward. Gautam, Anil just actually gave us
15:15a very good example of how the team was constructed. Because last year or the previous years,
15:22we have always seen a batting heavy or a top heavyweight Rajasthan team with a fore-balling
15:28attack. Now, in this auction, they have rectified the bowling aspect of it and they have built a
15:33solid side. But the performances have not been keeping up with it. They have been completely
15:39inconsistent because they won only 8 of their 14 matches. They have not been dominant like the
15:45Gujarat. But on their day, they could take any side down. But the thing is, that consistency
15:51or the lack of it, will it come to haunt them in the eliminators?
15:54They just might. I mean, they have to be ready to be able to shift gears. Because what's happening
16:02is with Butler, if you get him in the same Butler, if he had got going past the powerplay,
16:08it would have been a different issue. See, once they don't get on in the powerplay as fluently
16:13as they would like to, then if they can do that, they reach that 180-200 mark. Otherwise,
16:19they don't have a plan B. It may just come back to haunt them when they are taking on a
16:25high-pressure game. It's a completely new team. They have made the playoffs
16:31after God knows how many years. So, it can certainly come back to haunt them in a high-pressure game.
16:37All right. Before we wind up, Anish, let's have it about the tournament.
16:44About our KISK pick-the-winner contest. Because we are at the last two games left in the league
16:51phase. So, let's have it. Yeah, Shyam, thank you. Today, I thought it's going to be Chennai.
16:58One, because they were batting first. But again, it proved us wrong. But that's the beauty about
17:04this game. This IPL has thrown us a lot of surprises. So, every day, we have a contest
17:08where you pick the winner and you walk away with an apparel kit, as well as one year's
17:12digital subscription of Gulp News. Now, it's our turn to pick the winners for tomorrow's game,
17:18that is Mumbai Indians versus Delhi Capitals. Actually, the fate of two teams are riding on
17:22the tomorrow's match. Delhi Capitals, of course. But the one team which is not playing also will
17:28be affected by the result of this match, that is RCB. So, Gautam, who will win tomorrow's game?
17:36Yeah, I think now it's become quite straightforward. If Delhi wins,
17:41I would put my money on Delhi. So, if Delhi wins, they are reaching 16, isn't it?
17:48They are reaching 16 points.
17:50Yeah, they will reach 16 with a better run rate.
17:56With a better run rate. So, I would put my money on Delhi. I mean, it will be unfortunate to see
18:02either of Delhi or RCB not being able to make it. But that's how it goes. I mean,
18:07that's how it's always worked in the IPL. Prem, what's your pick?
18:14I think the fact of the matter is that Mumbai just have had a good run towards the back end
18:20of the tournament. They've had some players sort of hit form at the wrong time. Actually,
18:24after eight straight defeats, they've started to pick up a little bit of form. And I think
18:29they're going to go out and play with that fearlessness to just go out there and express
18:33themselves. And yeah, I think my money is on Mumbai. Because I think they'll play with that
18:39level of fearlessness. And Delhi are going to be really cautious about it. And they'll have
18:42that pressure on the back of their mind that if we screw this up, then we're done. Our tournament's
18:47done. We're going to walk back with a wooden spoon. So, I think my money is on Mumbai.
18:52As Prem says, Mumbai will play fearless cricket and Delhi will be under pressure.
18:58So, what is your pick?
19:00I would back Mumbai as long as they don't rest players like Bumrah and the main players. I mean,
19:06I know Pollard has already been out of the tournament. But I don't want Bumrah to be
19:09rested. I'll back Mumbai. Like you mentioned, the pressure of going into the next round might
19:15eat up Delhi. And Pant's poor form is not going well with Delhi. So, I'll go with Mumbai.
19:21Yeah, I also agree with you guys on that simply because this season, Delhi's performance under
19:28pressure has not been really, really good. So, which is why I would back Mumbai. Not just that
19:35I would want RCB. That is a little partial. That is a city I love. So, I would want RCB to go and
19:42make the last four. So, I'll put my money on Mumbai tomorrow. So, thank you very much for
19:49joining us today. It's been a pleasure talking to you all. Thank you to all our listeners for
19:53tuning in. There's two more games left. Please join us for the video chats in the coming days.
19:58Good night.