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

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

IPL 2020 | DC vs RR: What Experts said as Rajasthan royally ruins an easy run chase

There are many ways to lose a game but teams this season in the IPL are making people believe that the easiest among them is to lose from winning positions. It was yet another case of that when Rajasthan Royals, which required 47 runs from 36 balls with five wickets in hand and a pair of one settled and experienced batsman Robin Uthappa and eternal match-winner for the team Rahul Tewatia at the crease, failed to win from there. Delhi Capitals, after winning the crucial encounter by 13 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium have now regained the top spot in the points table replacing Mumbai Indians. The equation had once come down to 39 from 30 balls. No doubt that the Delhi bowlers bowled really well at the death and credit must be given to them, however, one cannot simply ignore as to how from a surely winning [position, the Rajasthan team royally threw away the chase. Captains’ Viewpoint Shikhar Dhawan was the stand-in captain for injured Shreyas Iyer, who went out of the ground after an unfortunate shoulder injury. Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Dhawan cleared the air that the injury to Iyer hasn’t been much serious as of then and only report s would tell of its intensity once they are published tomorrow. “He's (Iyer) in pain but his shoulder is moving. We'll get the proper report tomorrow,” Dhawan said. Talking about the game, the Delhi born said that it was evenly poised at one stage and rather Delhi were thrown behind in some situations. Crediting the team for fighting back he said, “One moment it was quiet even and to pick it back from there was a team effort.” Adding to it, Dhawan also felt that it ‘was important’ that the boys ‘stayed positive as a team.’ “[We] Knew their batting isn't deep, knew if we got their top-order we can get them,” he further added. Praising the bowlers the 35-year-old said, “Every time we want them to deliver they're delivering.” He then went on to call the debutante pacer Tushar Deshpande a courageous bowler who could be a great asset in the future for the team. “Courage he showed, line and length he bowled was amazing,” he said. “Have to keep the momentum. Long tournament and will keep the process going,” concluded Dhawan. Steve Smith, the losing captain wasn’t much impressed with the efforts of his batsmen which included himself. Disappointed with the loss he said that the wicket slowed a bit as the game progressed but that can’t be an excuse. “We got off to a good start with Jos [Buttler] and [Ben] Stokesy, then we lost a couple of wickets and got another partnership between Stokesy and Sanju [Samson], then again lost wickets in clumps,” the 33-year-old explained how his team lost the momentum. He further added, “On slow wickets, it is hard to make up too many runs at the backend.” Be it, Stokes, Samson, or Uthappa, every one of them got a start but were unfortunately not able to continue and play till the end to finish the game for the team. Pointing that out, Smith said, “We needed to take it a bit deeper from some of our batters and we were not able to do that. Boys were getting in and getting out, not going on to make 50 or 60.” “We thought we bowled well at the backend and restricted them to 160-odd, that was probably around par on this wicket,” the skipper said praising his bowlers. The three of the fastest bowlers in the tournament, Jofra Archer, Kagiso Rabada, and Anrich Nortje were part of this game and showed with their skill as to how difficult it is to keep bowling at more than 145KMPH and then still be able to use the slower ball without much effort. Complimenting the quicks, Smith said, “It has been the trend in the tournament, the boys that have the airspeed have had the most success, Jofra has been great for us and same with Nortje and Rabada for Delhi.” “They changed things around tonight by bowling with pace, taking pace off and varying it nicely, we weren't able to deal with that,” Smith said about the Delhi pacers and the same time pointed out the difference between the two sides. With just three wins from eight games, the Royals are languishing at the second last position in the points table. Things don’t look good for them and the captain understands it. Throwing light on the future plans Smith said, “We are not in the greatest position at the moment, so need to move on from this and hopefully come back with a big game in three days' time.” Expert Opinion: It’s no guessing the fact that as is the audience, experts would now be frustrated with the way teams have gone on to lose games from winning positions in this edition of the IPL. Today though, apart from that frustration, there was genuine approval among the experts that Delhi has been the best bowling attack so far in the tournament and that this game was a clear stamp of authority on that statement. Akaash Chopra, the cricketer turned analyst and commentator praised the Delhi Capitals for fighting bravely even through injuries in this entire tournament. He also called the Capitals as the best bowling unit and reminded people as to how it is always the bowlers that win 'tournament' for teams. Veteran analyst and commentator, Harsha Bhogle too praised the Delhi team saying that it was the kind of victory that would boost the morale of the players and also provide satisfaction in the sense that they could bounce back from any position. The commentator further praised Delhi's spinners for bringing the all-important change in the game. Vimal Kumar, a senior cricket journalist simply pointed out the fact that it was Rajasthan Royals who blew away the chase rather than Delhi Capitals being able to drag the win to their end. While Vimal's was a blunt criticism of the Royals, Ayaz Memon, one of the finest cricket experts pointed his shots at the batsmen especially the foreign imports of the Rajasthan team for not being able to deliver. He also questioned the batsmen who got a start and then threw it away. Joy Bhattacharjya, a veteran sports journalist chose to highlight the speed with which Delhi's Anrich Nortje was bowling. The South African pacer delivered the fastest bowl in this edition of the IPL when he clocked 156.22 KMPh to Jos Buttler. While Delhi would take immense confidence from this game going in to play the Chennai Super Kings on 17th October. They would however want their captain Shreyas Iyer to be fully fit in two days' time. For Rajasthan, it's all about either winning or packing their bags from here on. They would face an in-form Royal Challengers Bangalore on the 17th as well.