************Official IPL 2020******

[Pratters]

If any thing, this is a big blow for KKR. We don't have Piyush Chawla this year and pitches are becoming slower. One more time he is reported, he will be suspended from the tournament.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Narine gets the drop as it’s Tom Banton who gets his spot.

What a better venue to announce yourself than at the legendary Sharjah cricket ground

 

[Nintendo]

Dubey/Sundar as the #5 on the highest scoring ground of the season. What the hell are rcb thinking.

 

[honestbharani]

7 bowlers for RCB and only 5 for KKR. Very interesting how they have gone the opposite sides here.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Kohli going for the extra bowler expecting a few of them to take a tonking or two

 

[Nintendo]

Saw that finch 6 go out of the ground thinking it was massive and it was only 84 metres. Small stadiums really take the fun out it after a while.

 

[Arachnodouche]

I like the look of Prasidh Krishna. He's tall, bowls at reasonable pace, and gets serious bounce too.

 

[Arachnodouche]

How does throwing get reported these days? Do the on-field umpires report a suspect action for investigation? For eg. how do you follow up on someone like Chakravarthy whose quick-arm release makes it virtually impossible to pass judgement on the field?

 

[honestbharani]

It was reported by Gaffeney and I guess, Reiffel? So my guess here is that Narine's action visibly worsened in the last two games and so they called it. Varun has been bowling the same way all along, I guess. It is indeed very tough but basically, I think umpires look for changes in action once an action has been cleared by the ICC. Or at least, that is something I hope they do.

 

[Nintendo]

What's an average score on this pitch? Looked like 180-200 at first but I'm really not sure now. Can't tell if the pitch is really 2paced or if finch is out of touch.

 

[Arachnodouche]

AB is to batting what Wasim is to bowling. Nobody has seemed more omnipotent with bat in hand. Ridiculous hitting.

 

[Nintendo]

Ab is nearly 37 and still as good as ever. He could definitely still be playing international cricket if he wanted to.

 

[Jack1]

Kohli turning down two off the last ball of the innings. De Villiers was running two. That was poor from Kohli. Good batting from De Villiers. Some poor bowling though from Russell.

 

[honestbharani]

Nah, its definitely slow and worn out. Not sure if any of the RCB bowlers can exploit it though. Guess Morris and Udana should theoretically do well. Not so sure about Saini and Siraj. They don't seem to have good cutters and 3 quarter pace deliveries.

 

[Daemon]

AB is to batting what Wasim is to bowling. Nobody has seemed more omnipotent with bat in hand. Ridiculous hitting.

I haven't seen anyone adapt to a more diverse set of conditions and formats as easily as he does. From being the best batsman in India during that ridiculous series Nagpur test series then standing up to peak Mitch Johnson at home, blockathon at Adelaide to the fastest hundred. He's a genius with the bat.

 

[honestbharani]

Yep. AB is a different beast among batsmen. He also almost matched Steve Smith over a 7 year period or something too. All the while being the best LO batsman in the world as well when you consider both formats. The guy is actually under rated as a batsman.

 

[honestbharani]

Also, Sundar is the only reason Ashwin can't make our T20I side. Ashwin is our best T20 spinner but Sundar offers a similar role with greater batting and maybe better fielding. And of course, Chahal is the lead leg spinner.

 

[Nintendo]

Sundar has been so good this ipl. Economy under 5 with 20+ overs bowled so far while bowling in pp.

 

[honestbharani]

Rohit (vc)
Rahul (wk) (if he can sort out his slow starts)
Virat (c)
Shreyas
Rana
Hardik
Dube
Sundar
Bhuvi
Bumrah
Chahal

seems to be our best XI for T20Is as of now. Would ideally love the lefties to be more spread out. Another way to line up would be...

Rohit (vc)
Padikkal
Virat (c)
Shreyas
Pant (wk)
Rana
Hardik
Sundar
Bhuvi
Bumrah
Chahal

 

[JOJOXI]

7 bowlers for RCB and only 5 for KKR. Very interesting how they have gone the opposite sides here.

This isn't just being said in hindsight but I don't think you can really classify Dube as a bowler, capable of bowling the odd over but nothing more in my view - not a criticism of him as he's in the side more for his batting and has provided a couple of decent cameos for the side.

This next part is a bit more in hindsight as lose a couple of wickets early and you are in trouble with just specialist batsman down to number 4 but Morris, Udana can both hit a big ball, as can Dube and Sundar is a capable batsman. I can see why they might have thought is Gurkeeret Singh going to add more with the bat then a 6th genuine bowling option does with the ball. But whilst Dube, Morris and Udana can all strike it big there is a question as to whether if RCB are 3 down before 10 overs if they can build an innings - which given the surface was sluggish would have been even more important had we got off to a bad start.

Next year think we need to go in for a middle-order overseas batter, they might not quite be on a De Villiers level but someone who can be relied upon to be reasonably consistent. I guess the problem is there appears to not be many around who have really lit up the IPL - hence the massive price Maxwell gets - Pollard, Pooran, Pandyas seem pretty set at their current franchises too and Morgan hasn't got off to a great start. Possibility you aggravate ABD's back if we keep having him behind the stumps long term, an overseas middle order batter means Parthiv could come in for Finch if Finch doesn't fire this year and you can tell Parthiv and Paddikal to maximise the powerplay in a way you can't really do with Kohli as he knows he (along with ABD) are crucial to the batting so beds himself in. Would prefer that happens when the field is spread and he can get 1s and 2s at will then when the field is up.