The Second Saturday of the IPL again witnessed two one sided affairs. Two consistent teams getting the better of two hapless ones. Two Teams taking big strides forward and two shackled up to their knees. The Saturday saw some brilliant performances, some unexpected to say the least and some the usually belligerent.
IPL 16 : Mumbai Indians ( MI ) vs Chennai Super Kings ( CSK ) – Match 12 : Mumbai
Tushar cleans up Rohit
MI hosted CSK on Saturday night at the plush Wankhede stadium looking to kickstart their campaign after being outclassed by RCB in Bengaluru in their first match. MI were batting first and to their advantage Deepak Chahar suffered yet another injury in his very first over. With Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan trying to force the issue and looking positive, CSK were on the backfoot. But then a brilliant delivery from Tushar Deshpande changed the game for good. A peach it was. Rohit ( who has been consistently inconsistent off late ), played inside the line of the ball which moved just a fraction, squared him up and hit the top of middle stump.
Jaddu-Santner stifle listless MI
A dismissal like this, makes people sitting in the dugout think. Ishan Kishan perished soon after as Mitch Santner and Ravindra Jadeja applied the breaks. Surya Kumar Yadav who had the world under his feet just a few weeks ago, has gone quiet and the silence is hurting MI. He was superbly caught on the leg side by Dhoni. Cameron Green was brilliantly caught by Jadeja. The full blooded shot coming towards Jadeja by the rate of knots, almost took his head. Jadeja took a blinder infront of his face. Tilak Verma too did not last long and though Tim David tried a bit, MI accumulated just 157 in their 20 overs. A score much below par.. Jadega had scalped 3 wickets for just 20 runs in his 4 overs.
Vintage Jinks’ Classy Fifty Sinks MI’s Tender Bowling
With Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali not available, Ajinkya ‘ Jinks’ Rahane got his chance and more than grabbed with both his hands and feet. He smashed the fastest 50 of this IPL, with class written all over it. In about 3 overs he had almost sealed the match A sedate Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube got together in the end and ensured an emphatic victory for CSK.
MI have a lot to think, their much touted batters are not firing and their bowling looks very fragile. There is not much teeth in it to trouble oppositions. CSK on the other hand are sitting pretty and would be overjoyed by sinking Mi at Wankhede.
IPL 16 : Rajasthan Royals (RR) vs Delhi Capitals ( DC ) – Match 11 : Guwahati
A Yashasvi Hammering
Yashasvi Jaiswal is riding a huge wave of form and with the great Jos Buttler in no mood to take a back seat either, RR has the most fearsome opening partnership in the IPL. First Yashashi took the DC bowlers to the cleaners ( belting 5 fours in Khaleel’s first over ) and then Jos the Boss pummelled more agony. Shimron Hetmyer eventually providing a late flourish to set DC a stiff 200 runs target.
Jos The Boss
DC have a decent bowling attack and in the middle had curtailed the scoring too, but then Buttler and Hetmyer got away from them in the end. RR have batting depth and they are putting it to good use.
Boult swings it RR’s Way
In Trent Boult RR have a very potent weapon upfront and he proved it once again. In the very first over, Prithvi Shaw DC’s impact player was beaten all ends up and was caught brilliantly by Sanju Samson. Manish Pandey, who has been in the wilderness for a while was next it. He was greeted by a swinging yorker which caught his pads low down and was adjudged LBW. Two wickets in the over and the match was dead and buried there itself.
Fearful Capitals All at Sea.
There was no support coming for David Warner from the rest of the batting line up. Rilee Roussow and Rovman Powell failed yet again and though Warner did manage a fighting 65 ( I am surprised he was criticised for his slow batting. I don’t think he had any option with wickets tumbling from the other side ), DC were well and truly beaten with a punishing 57 run deficit. They have lost all their 3 matches so far. Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly would be scratching their heads in disbelief. A strong team, but playing forgetful cagey cricket. They are all at sea and have put themselves in a hole. Someone from this team has to rise and play fearlessly.
The IPL returns to Ahmedabad where Gujarat Titans are taking on Kolkata Knight Riders and in Hyderabad SRH play host to the Kings from Punjab. An exciting Sunday awaits .
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Featured Image : Jaddu shines in yellow/ pic courtesy Indian Express