IPL 2020: I haven't got a whole lot of opportunities so far - Glenn Maxwell

IPL 2020: Sairaj Bahutule laments lack of partnerships in Royals' chase

Rajasthan Royals erred in their chase against Delhi Capitals, resulting in yet another loss - their fifth of the season. In pursuit of 162, the side got off to a quick start and at one stage they brought the equation down to 39 needing off last five overs. However, indecisive running between the wicket and poor shot making bottled up their chances of grabbing two vital points. Royals’ spin-bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule stated that the team frittered away from a dominating position by losing too many wickets in the chase. He said that the lack of partnerships led to the defeat. "I think partnerships were very important. I don't think we needed to lose that many wickets after the start Buttler and Stokes gave us and especially that run out." The former India cricketer added that Ben Stokes’ wicket and Riyan Parag’s run-out derailed their chase and it hurt them bad. "I think the most important part was Stokes' wicket and I think the run out also was very crucial, which we probably could have avoided." The coach defended the move to send Stokes as an opener. He opined that both Steve Smith and the England all-rounder are fine players and hence they should bat at the top. According to him, a good start at the top will help the middle-order breathe easy. The Royals currently sit at the seventh spot with five defeats and three wins. They carry the same number of points as Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad but with an inferior net run-rate.

IPL 2020: I will discuss my role with the management - Ben Stokes

England’s Ben Stokes was away from the game for a fair amount of time. Firstly due to the Covid-19 outbreak which shut all cricketing affairs across the globe. Afterwards, once cricket resumed the all-rounder had to rush back to New Zealand to be alongside his ailing father. By the time Stokes reached UAE to take part in the Indian Premier League 2020, his side Rajasthan Royals had snatched two wins and ended up on the receiving end quite a few times. The experienced campaigner underwent a six-day quarantine period after which he was straight away drafted into the side as an ‘opener’. The southpaw faced half a dozen deliveries and made 5 runs apart from bowling one over. The Royals did win the game but Stokes’ role in the team lacked clarity. He hit a 35-ball 41 in yesterday’s match against Delhi Capitals. While the quickstart provided by Stokes and his fellow England teammate Jos Buttler was a positive takeaway for the Royals, it makes more sense to have the proven middle-order batter get back to his usual batting slot. "I'll have some discussions with the management for my role in the upcoming games. I want to come in and make a difference, hopefully, I can play a role and impact the game in a positive way for Rajasthan Royals.” the 29-year-old said.

IPL 2020 | RR vs DC: Fiery Anrich Nortje leaves Rajasthan gasping for breath

Delhi Capitals extended their purple patch with a nourishing 13-run triumph against Rajasthan Royals in the 31st match of the Indian Premier League. Shreyas Iyer and Shikhar Dhawan mustered brisk half-centuries before an otherwordly bowling performance spearheaded by Anrich Nortje saw RR lose the plot in response on Thursday, October 15 at the Dubai International Stadium. Though life isn't always sunshine and butterflies. Iyer popped his shoulder while diving across and had to be rushed off the field with physio Patrich Farhart. However, Dhawan offered a soothing balm in the post-match presser, "He's in pain but his shoulder is moving. We'll get the X-ray report tomorrow." Dhawan-Iyer steady DC's ship DC bestowed Tushar Deshpande his debut at the expense of all-rounder Harshal Patel. And even though it were batsmen from his own team at the receiving end, the youngster must've been chuffed to bits after watching firebrand Jofra Archer wreak havoc. He bowled some serious gas, rupturing through Prithvi Shaw's hesitant defensive prod the first ball of the game before hurrying Ajinkya Rahane late on the pull. However, Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer forged an enterprising 69 to ensure DC stay ahead of the eight-ball despite the early jolts. The closest RR came to snapping the association was when Rahul Tewatia fancied a shy at the non-striker's end, but couldn't hit the bullseye otherwise Dhawan would have been gone for all money. Dhawan leaves DC in the lurch, once more Having malfunctioned to put his vehicle into overdrive in the previous outing, Dhawan left a lot to be desired yet again post notching his fifty. Not an unconventional stroke-maker by any means, he chanced his arm with an utterly farcical reverse-sweep to lob a dolly to short third man. Much to DC's respite, Iyer cleared his front leg and winched a couple of sweetly-timed maximums in Jaydev Unadkat's 15th over, the latter even involving an unsuccessful boundary-teasing effort from Ben Stokes. Looking to go down town, the skipper eventually diced a hoick to long-on off Kartik Tyagi, who really cut the mustard with excellent figures of 4-0-30-1. The well-set enforces walking back in short order was directly proportional to DC making a meal of the slog overs. That a trivial 32 runs were squirted at the cost of 4 wickets in the last five romps the point home. A proper game of cat and mouse The PowerPlay in RR's chase was a gale of high-octane cricketing entertainment at its riveting best. Stokes elevated to the top, kicked off proceedings in splendid fashion, clipping Kagiso Rabada tastefully to the square leg fence. He then zapped in quest of a non-existent single, only to heave a sigh of relief as Ajinkya Rahane missed the target by a hair's breadth. Jos Butler welcomed Anrich Nortje into the attack with a meaty blow over long-on before unfurling from his treasure trove a pair of fearless scoops. Albeit the under-fire paceman stuck to his guns, releasing a freakish 155kmph missile to leave Butler's stumps in disarray. Steve Smith fell prey to a soft dismissal off Ravichandran Ashwin, elbowing RR in a spot of bother at 40/2. DC keep needling fresh scars All this while, Stokes had proved a thorn in DC's flesh, whacking half a dozen boundaries to go along with lung-burning dashes between the wickets. But the snowball effect gripped him nonetheless, as Tushar Deshpande bagged his maiden IPL scalp, an off-cutter yanked to long-on for 41. And boy what a jackpot that was, a moment that he savoured with a raucous celebratory jig. Sanju Samson took a particular liking towards Axar Patel, schooling him for two maximums and a four. Yet, the astute left-arm emerged roses in the battle of wits, darting in a slider to castle the right-handed dynamo for 25. Robin Uthappa selling Riyan Parag down the river yielded DC the license to ride roughshod from thereon. Uthappa plays possum to RR's chagrin Despite Nortje gobbling a sitter at fine-leg to reprieve Tewatia on nought, DC enjoyed the wood on the match. And Uthappa cops the fair share of the blame for eating up way too many deliveries in a bid to anchor the chase before quitting just when the team needed him to go bonkers, knocked over by Nortje's gun-barrel yorker. Safe to say, his vapid 27-ball 32 did more harm to RR's prospects than good. 25 now sought off the final two, Jofra Archer flashed his rapier-like blade to no avail, with an atrocious splice travelling at a comfortable height to Ajinkya Rahane at backward point. Rahul Tewatia drilled a single off the last ball of the penultimate over to retain strike as the atmosphere rumbled with anticipation galore. So near, yet so far The stand-in captain, Dhawan backed rookie Deshpande whole nine yards and entrusted him with the responsibility to defend 22 off the final over. As if the pressure cooker environs weren't lending enough drama, he strayed to a wide first up to raise plenty of eyebrows. The next delivery was bang in the slot, as Tewatia packed a punch to hoist it towards long-on but Ajinkya Rahane displayed admirable presence of mind on the rope to parry the ball back in the playing area in the nick of time. Though it was a tough nut to crack that both batsmen got busy in witnessing the heroics on the boundary line and actually forgot to jog an easily available second run, which could've brought Tewatia back in the scheme of things. Shreyas Gopal did jam a single right away, but Despande passed the test with flying colours regardless, nailing the block-hole to relent a meagre eight, capping off a near-perfect slog-operation from the DC pace cartel. What's next in store? Duty calls again for both the franchises on a weekend bonanza. Bottom-dwellers RR have teetered to the edge of the cliff and ought to peel a win by hook or by crook versus Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first of Saturday's double-header. Ruling the roost, DC have nothing more than a few injury concerns to worry about as they aspire to complete a double against Chennai Super Kings under floodlights.

IPL 2020| DC vs RR: Hits and Flops as Rahul Tewatia becomes an anti-hero for the first time in a Rajasthan chase

Rahul Tewatia, the find of this season fired blanks along with Robin Uthappa to ruin a simple chase for the Rajasthan Royals as the team went down to Delhi Capitals by 13 runs in one of the important games of their Indian Premier League 2020 campaign. At one stage needing 39 runs off 30 deliveries with Uthappa well settled and Tewatia having gotten used to the game situation, the Royals scored only two runs in the 16th over. If that was not disastrous already, they further scored just four runs in the 18th over. With that kind of impetus, there was no chance of them winning the game and that’s exactly what happened. For Delhi Capitals, their bowlers, especially Anrich Nortje and the two spinners in Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin stood out as they helped the team bounce back and win the game from such a situation which seemed impossible at one point. Tushar Deshpande, the debutant was brilliant with the ball for the Capitals as well. In the batting department, both the captain and the acting captain in Shreyas Iyer and Shikhar Dhawan respectively looked good and provided Delhi with a foundation after their early debacle against the pace sensation Jofra Archer. On that note, here are the hits and flops of the game as Delhi Capitals moved to the top of the table after their 13 run victory against Rajasthan Royals. Hits #1 Anrich Nortje We are halfway through the 13th edition of the IPL and many new stars have been born. But the one that has taken all the limelight with his pace and the sheer pace is the South African replacement of Chris Woakes - Anrich Nortje of the Delhi Capitals. Along with the express pace, he has an understanding of the game as to what to bowl in which situation. And today’s game was the best example of that. Having come to bowl at a time when both the opening batsmen of the Royals, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler were going crazy with the bat, Nortje too was hit for a string of boundaries by Buttler down the leg. The ball which was hit for the boundary was also the fastest of the tournament at more than 156 KMPH. But did Nortje cut the pace after that? No! But what he did was, change the line a bit, get the bowl to swing by bowling a bit fuller, and Bam! He got Buttler bowled off a 155KMPH ball. That was one of the turning points in the game. Coming back to bowl in death, the 26-year-old speedster once again showed his class as he got the wicket of well-settled Robin Uthappa and gave just four runs in the 18th over of the game when the chasing team required 29 of the last three overs. He finished with the figures of 2/33 in his four overs and was rightfully adjudged Man of the Match. #2 Ravichandran Ashwin Ashwin has over the games emerged to be one of the safest bets for captain Iyer and whenever the team seems to be in trouble, he reaches for the Tamil Nadu born. In this game too, the spinner was introduced to the attack in the fourth over and within his first over, picked the all-important wicket of opposition captain Steve Smith. It was also Ashwin, who in the 16th over of the game gave away just two runs when the team needed 39 from 30 deliveries, making the required rate go higher and the pressure to rise in the batsman’s mind. He bowled four consecutive dots to Rahul Tewatia, the chase master from the last game. The Tamil Nadu born finished with the amazing figures of 1/17 from his four overs. #3 Shikhar Dhawan Criticised for his slow innings in the last game against Mumbai Indians, Shikhar Dhawan changed his approach and went in all attack mode even as the wickets fell at the other end. From 10/2 in 2.3 overs, Dhawan built a partnership with captain Shreyas Iyer as they steadily reached to 95 in the 12th over. In that partnership, the 35-year-old Delhi born was the aggressor as he went on to make 57 off just 33 balls in an innings which included six fours and two sixes and the runs came at an amazing strike rate of 172.73. He eventually got out playing a shot which at best shouldn’t have been tried by him. But his runs came out to be handy as the team defeated in the death overs and couldn’t achieve as much as they had wanted. Apart from batting, Dhawan also did a brilliant job as a stand-in captain, rotating the bowlers in the best possible manner and more importantly helping the team get those two crucial points. Flops #1 Rahul Tewatia For once, just once in the tournament, Rahul could not do a Tewatia. Considered to be the hero of the run chases for his teams, after two sensational victories from positions of no hope, Tewatia turned out to be an anti-thesis of himself as he not only ate away deliveries but couldn’t connect any shot putting undue pressure on his fellow batsmen. The Haryana player made 14 runs off 18 balls as he played for consecutive dots in the 16th over of the innings, managing just two runs off it. From requiring 39 off 30 balls to 22 of the last six, there was a Tewatia in there who mounted dot deliveries after dot deliveries every over and failed to create anything out o the 20th over as well. #2 Robin Uthappa When the tournament had not yet started, Uthappa said in interviews that he wanted to make a comeback into the Indian team and IPL was the right platform for it. With the kind of performances that he has put out, the Indian dream seems out of reach. What’s even more surprising is that he has been chances by the RR management even after failing continuously. In this game too, he along with Tewatia were the prime reasons for their team’s defeat. Uthappa not only got Riyan Parag, the last game’s hero run out, but also failed to finish the game having got settled down. It was him and Tewatia who were at the crease when the team needed just 39 off 30 deliveries at a required rate of less than 8 which is considered peanuts in the modern era. Although Uthappa scored 32 off 27 balls at a strike rate of 118.52, that was of no use as he couldn’t win the game for the team Special Mention: Tushar Deshpande The debutant might not have made to the Hits in the game as the list could only include three names, but his contribution in the first-ever IPL game needed to be told, and that’s why we chose to have him in the Special Mention category. Having made it to the highest form of domestic cricket in India where one is rubbing shoulders with international stars, Deshpande wasn’t afraid in his methods or approach as he go9t rid of the best all-rounder in the world right now- Ben Stokes, that too at a juncture where the English man was settled and the Delhi team needed a wicket badly. Not only that, the young man held his nerve in the last over against someone like Tewatia, who has made a name of himself for hitting bowlers in the last few overs of the games and winning matches for his team dramatically. The Mumbai lad’s spell of 4-0-37-2 was just a glimpse into what all he can achieve if nurtured properly. With this win in Dubai, the Capitals, who have now reached the top spot in the table, would take on Chennai Super Kings, who are looking for a revival in their fortunes. Rajasthan Royals though would take on Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore in their next encounter. Powered by Froala Editor