IPL 2020 | RCB vs CSK: Hits and Flops as MS Dhoni's ship is sinking with 'too many holes'

Another match ended rather frustratingly for the Chennai Super Kings where the bowlers gave away too many runs in the last few overs while the batsmen struggled to get going. The match against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League 2020 ended on a similar line to that of the five matches the team in yellow had lost in this season.

Here we rate the best and worst performances of the night that made their side win or lose the game.

Hits

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli had regained his form in the game against the Rajasthan Royals and it was the Chennai Super Kings who had to face the full brunt of his unmatchable class. Quick running between wickets, conversion of 1s and 2s and immaculate pacing of an innings to set up a score or chase have been the hallmarks of Virat Kohli’s batting over the years. And the night against the Chennai Super Kings, he put on display all his traits on the way to a 50-ball-90. 

Virat Kohli is a different batsman than others going around in the T20 format as he believes in maximizing every ball if he can’t hit them to the boundary. Chennai’s bowlers were wayward in the last few overs and Kohli took aloof them to cleaners as RCB scored as many as 76 runs in the last five overs to reach a total that demanded intent from the Chennai’s batsmen which they have been lacking throughout this season.

On the captaincy front as well, Virat was proactive and did not get sucked into bowling Chris Morris against MS Dhoni but rather backed Yuzvendra Chahal to challenge Dhoni. Ultimately, his faith repaid off and Chahal dismissed Dhoni and the plan worked to perfection for both Virat and the RCB. 

Virat Kohli's RCB has been showing improvements in the season and after few hiccups are back on the winning track. Virat Kohli would love to ride on this momentum as he knows once lost, the momentum is hard to come by in IPL.

Washington Sundar

Washington Sundar has proven to be a trump card for Virat Kohli, especially in the power play. He does not have too many mysterious balls up his sleeve and neither he looks as threatening or wily as Ravichandran Ashwin or Sunil Narine but he has a quality of enjoying the batsmen going after him. He has the temperament of a good old-aged spinner who shows a good heart and never gets frightened by batsmen coming at him.

He was introduced very early - in the fourth over of the innings and he was on the money straight away beating Faf du Plessis in the air. After a mistimed shot landed in a no-man zone, du Plessis served again on a similar delivery and gave his wicket to Sundar. Sundar was not done as his first over that had yielded only 6 runs put pressure on Shane Watson who decided to take the attack to him.

He did not get bogged down by the start of the onslaught from Watson and held the ball back. Watson premeditated a shot that had earned him a boundary behind square leg and Sundar was too accurate to miss his stumps. He bowled three overs and gave away only 16 runs for two prized wickets of du Plessis and Watson that very much pushed the Chennai Super Kings on the brink very early in the chase.

Chris Morris

When the Royal Challengers Bangalore had gone aggressively for Chris Morris in the IPL 2020 auction, the message was clear that Virat Kohli was in a desperate search for someone who can provide him with x-factor in both departments. Chirs Morris has been rated highly since he burst onto the scene in the Champions League 2012 and his career graph has only risen ever since.

In the match against CSK, Kohli used him sparingly and tactically to tackle the Chennai batsmen in specific junctures of the game. He was asked to open the bowling but was quickly taken off the attack to be introduced only in the 10th over when the pair of du Plessis and Watson was back to pavilion. Kohli had realised that the opening pair likened the pace on the ball and that Morris’ capabilities at the end overs were more essential for the team than with the new ball.

Morris was playing his first game but he never looked rusty and was up for every challenge his captain threw at him. He was lethal in the end overs as Virat Kohli had hoped for and accounted for Sam Curran before he could set his eye on. He followed with a double-wicket over in the 19th over to kill whatsoever chance the Chennai Super Kings had of pulling off the chase.

Flops

MS Dhoni

It's very rare to see both MS Dhoni-the captain of the Chennai Super Kings and one of the leading batsmen in the team to have such a lengthy period of failures. Dhoni has not looked like someone he once was for some time now but to see him struggling to inspire his team and lift the level of the game in his camp is so surreal. He is looking puzzled in the format and the league that he has bossed his whole life as a cricketer but that phase of MS Dhoni capable of doing anything with or without a bat in hand sounds like a very old story now.

He has been blamed for batting lower in the order and not attempting to lead the side from the front and the story was similar in the match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. But, the realist in Dhoni knows he does not have too good a form behind him to take on the bowlers from the word go and hence allows batsmen who are in better knick to have a go before him.

He batted at number 5 against RCB and from the outset, he looked to mean business. There was no running around quick singles but he started attacking Chahal the moment he was brought into the attack. However, the guile of Chahal got the better of him who dragged the ball away from him when he stepped out in search of room to free his arm. Dhoni lost his shape (characteristics of his lack of form) and could time it well enough but did not get the elevation to send the ball over Gurkeerat Singh Mann stationed at the long-off boundary.

The match was more than done with his wicket and that feeling was well described in the celebration between Kohli and Chahal after his departure.

Sam Curran

Sam Curran has emerged as one of the most-talked-about players in the Chennai camp that otherwise has been famous for old horses who have not been able to run at a rapid pace. Curran has shown his hard-hitting skills and also his effective seam bowling. He was bowling well until Virat Kohli decided that the time was nigh to send him over the boundary lines.

He was hit for a classy six by Kohli at the start of the 15th over but came back strongly picking up the wicket of Washington Sundar. The 18th over proved to be his nightmare as Virat Kohli had set his foot on the accelerator by that time and he made his case worse by not bowling to plans and field setting. Kohli smashed him for three sixes in the same over that yielded 24 runs in total and the momentum it provided to the RCB batting was never to be reverted back in the CSK favour as Virat Kohli was on the crease till the last over.

Curran having a forgettable night against the RCB and it turned bad to worse he walked out to bat. Chris Morris hurled a short of a length delivery at him and Curran attempted to hit that on the leg side only to spoon a catch to AB de Villiers. Umpire did not agree to Morris and ABD’s appeal and later the decision was overturned to send Curran back to the pavilion on possibly his worst night on the field in the IPL 2020 so far.

CSK’s bowlers started brilliantly with the ball before Virat Kohli snatched the momentum away from them with a 52-ball-90. The batting was always an issue of connection as the RCB had put on a stiff total in the range that the men in yellow had found it tough to chase in the IPL 2020. The story could not be different as Watson and du Plessis struggled to get off to a fast start and ended up getting out just when they attempted to break free. Batsmen followed but the momentum did not change and ultimately another battle ended with a similar script to that of earlier matches where the Chennai team had left far too many for batsmen to chase in the last overs. MS Dhoni agreed that his ship has too many holes in it and he day one of them is fixed, another one props up to harm the team.

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