On a tough wicket, David cameo not enough for RCB
Kolkata: Maybe Royal Challengers Bengaluru need to stay on the road. At home, maybe they need to practise on a turf soaked in water. If playing at the Chinnaswamy was an alien experience all this while, Friday must have felt like running an obstacle course on the moon. Variable bounce, range hitting going awry, ball stopping in the outfield, basically every nightmare came true for RCB as Punjab Kings restricted them to 95/9 in a rain-truncated match at Bengaluru. For a while 49, IPL’s lowest total, also scored by RCB (against KKR in 2017) looked in peril. But Tim David saved those blushes by muscling a boundary through deep backward square-leg while racing to a 26-ball 50.
As long as Josh Hazlewood was bowling, nothing was impossible though. Getting Priyansh Arya to slice a catch to mid-off before serving up extra bounce to Josh Inglis, Hazlewood really shook the foundations of Punjab Kings’ batting when he got Shreyas Iyer to edge a ball short of length. Nehal Wadhera however rode out two balls from him before turning on the heat against Suyash Sharma, hitting 6,4,4 off consecutive balls before carting Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 10 runs in two balls of the 12th over. First ball of the next over, Marcus Stoinis hit a massive six to finish the chase in style.
Iyer electing to field was justified given how Punjab Kings’ batting had misfired against KKR—before KKR outdid them—but this was no punt. With three of the tallest pacers in this IPL—Arshdeep Singh, Marco Jansen and Xavier Barlett—and Yuzvendra Chahal, who knows every blade of grass at the Chinnaswamy, Iyer decided to bowl with the advantage of length and familiarity. And freakishly outstanding outfield catching. No dropped catches is one thing, but this was judgment and precision at its conjugal best, leaving RCB clutching at straws. On a cool but cruel evening, RCB’s faithful kept waiting for something to happen but that never transpired.
The pitch—that had remained under covers for a long time—or the torturously heavy outfield was partially responsible but the short ball strategy must be lauded in a format that gives bowlers few reasons to cheer. Arshdeep set the tone of the show, pitching to the shorter side of length around the leg stump to Phil Salt, looking to cramp him. Salt wasn’t holding back either but the ball swinging away meant it caught a top edge that almost reached the orbit before wicketkeeper Josh Inglis ran at least 30 yards to complete a good catch. Next to go was Virat Kohli, trying to pull a short, cross-seam delivery but not getting enough behind it. It still seemed to be clearing mid-on, but when you have the 6.8 feet tall Jansen willing to track back and stretch himself, you are never out of the woods.
Rajat Patidar became the second quickest Indian to 1000 IPL runs while trying to anchor the innings but this was a day where the strike was barely coming to him because too frequently were the batters getting dismissed. Liam Livinsgtone showed some spunk but Bartlett got him the first ball of his over, stealing a leading edge that Priyansh Arya did excellently to pouch at cover. Jitesh Sharma’s turn came next, trying to slog sweep Chahal but he pulled the ball a bit last second so it took a top edge that Nehal Wadhera ran in from deep square leg to catch.
Things were dire when Jansen dismissed Krunal Pandya, ruthlessly bouncing him with an angled-in delivery that reared up to take a faint top-edge before brushing the helmet. Concussion test done by the time replays had confirmed the DRS appeal from Punjab Kings, Pandya returned to the dugout after lasting just two deliveries. It looked game set and match when Patidar was finally relieved of his misery, holing out to Barlett at long-off after taking on a tossed up leg-break from Chahal. But David dug in his heels, smashed a few boundaries and gave a glimmer of hope. He returned a strike rate of 192, at par with the best hitters of the game, on a day only Patidar crossed 100.
EOM