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IPL 2021: Chris Lynn backs Rohit Sharma for his tactical moves against RCB

Chris Lynn who made his debut for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL 14 curtain-raiser against Royal Challengers Bangalore backed his captain Rohit Sharma for keeping three of Jasprit Bumrah’s overs in the death. Rohit Sharma has always relied on Bumrah to give him important breakthrough in crucial junctures and he has his way of handling his bowlers in crucial phases of the match. Lynn said that Rohit ‘has a method to his madness' in context to his tactical moves during the opening encounter of IPL 14. 

"Rohit has been a very successful captain, so you got to back the captain and back the moves he makes," he said at the press conference after the conclusion of the opening match. "I think Bumrah is excellent in death overs, so he wanted to keep his overs at the back-end."

"Rohit has a method to his madness, so at the end of the day, it (not using Bumrah against Maxwell early) wasn't a tactical error. Just that it was a skill error on our part," he added.

Rohit Sharma has been the most successful IPL captain with five titles under his belt. Meanwhile, it must be noted that MI haven’t won any of their opening games in the competition since 2013. The defending champions in that regard will be in a good space after losing the first match which has been the case with them for several years now. However, they have managed to win five titles in that period. 

Coming back to the match, Rohit used just five bowlers during the course of the innings. Hardik Pandya who threw underarm from the deep on at least a couple of occasions wasn’t given the ball and it was perhaps due to a shoulder niggle which Lynn mentioned during the presser. 

"I think Hardik has a bit of shoulder niggle, but I'm not 100 per cent sure. The physios and the doctors will look after that if anything's wrong with Hardik. We missed the sixth bowler, but it's very early in the tournament, still a long way to go. But I do believe if Hardik is bowling, that brings in a lot of confidence in his batting and adds another dimension, not only to his game but also for us."

Lynn, who was making his debut for the Mumbai Indians scored a brisk 49 but in the process ran out his skipper. He came in the XI as a replacement for Quinton de Kock who is currently serving a seven-day quarantine. 

"It was my first game for Mumbai, so obviously I was a bit nervous and I batted with Rohit for the first time as well. If I had been able to run past him and sacrifice my wicket, I definitely would have done it, but that wasn't the case. Running out my captain, it was my first game for Mumbai, well it could be my last, who knows. Happens in the game of cricket,” Lynn added. 

Riding on a brilliant knock from the blade of AB de Villiers, RCB huffed and puffed to their victory target of 160 in the final ball of the match. RCB who are looking for their elusive IPL title will look to continue the momentum in the coming matches.

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IPL 2021| Brian Lara and Matthew Hayden hail AB de Villiers after special knock

The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League started off with a bang as Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Mumbai Indians in a nail-biting tournament curtain-raiser by 2 wickets and in the final delivery of the match. Riding on a scintillating knock from the blade of Mr 360, AB de Villiers, RCB huffed and puffed to the victory target of 160. Hailing his special knock, former cricketing stalwarts Matthew Hayden and Brian Lara showered praises on the modern great in the post-match show on Star Sports. AB de Villiers was seen in action for the first time after the completion of IPL 2020 and the demeanour in which he played never made people believe that he had been out of cricketing action for a long. Lauding ABD’s knock, Lara said that the “Timeless ABD” delivered when his team needed him the most. “He is timeless. He has got the experience. IPL is the only form of cricket he is playing at the moment. I suppose he is keeping fit and ready for it. At this stage, when they lost Virat Kohli, RCB needed him to come good. He was explosive at the right time; he controlled the game. He came in after Glenn Maxwell as well; he controlled the game and got them home,” said Lara. The innings from ABD was not all about brute force. He rotated the strike to perfection and never looked in any discomfort what so ever on a pitch that was not conducive for batting. The spinners were getting some turn from the surface and the slower deliveries from the fast bowlers were stopping on the pitch. Former Aussie opener and a legend of the game, Matthew Hayden marked out the standout point of ABD’s knock which was strike rotation. “Absolutely remarkable performance from ABD. No question. He had that presence of mind, just knowing when to go and when to hold back. But that most important thing is that rotation of strike that we saw and clean striking of the ball," said Hayden. Meanwhile, he also gave his opinion on where the defending champions came short in the opening encounter of IPL 14. “The mark of a great player is how they take on other great players. Jasprit Bumrah is one of the best death bowlers; he has been for quite some time in this tournament. But ABD went straight after him, straight on the front foot and those 12 runs in the 19th over is where Mumbai Indians came short,” Hayden further added.

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IPL 2021 | MI vs RCB: What Experts said as Harshal Patel-ABD show dazzles Chepauk

The opener of an IPL season, hit by the pandemic, brought much-needed relief for the people as a modest scoring thriller was more than what was asked for. A match that see-sawed for the most part of it saw two heroes in Harshal Patel with the ball and Ab de Villiers with the bat. A movie is never complete just with heroes. There are side heroes, the supporting cast the villain and timing too. All the was supplied in equal proportions as RCB chased down 160 on just the last ball of the match to take decisive and more importantly morale-boosting two points. While Harshal Patel bagged a brilliant five-for de Villiers was there to guide the Red and Gold home. Captains' Viewpoints Reacting to the victory, Virat Kohli, the winning captain said, “It was important to play against the strongest opposition to test the depth of our team.” Saying that everyone got involved, everyone's got game time, Virat focussed on the bench strength of the team and how each player could be replaced by a like for like. Kohli, 32, got a start himself but didn’t look as smooth as he should have, eventually resulting in an innings, that looked more forced than a free-flowing one, as is expected from someone of his level. But instead of speaking on his approach, Kohli contested that it was the pitch that made the difference in the batting in the second half. “To be honest, the pitch was looking decent in the first half. I thought the dew might help, but as the ball got slower, the length ball got difficult to get away. It's not a ground where you can hit through the line unless the situation demands it. It's not going to be that momentum that you see in the IPL. especially in Chennai,” Kohli said, characterising the pitch that was offered in the opener at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. In the last six overs of the RCB innings, the team conceded only 39 runs and took six wickets. Harshal was the destroyer in chief in those six overs as he picked five of the six wickets to fall. Calling it the best six overs in their team’s history, Kohli lauded Patel, saying that he is going to be their lead death bowler going into this season. “Harshal is relishing the role. He is going to be our designated death bowler. Very confident about what he wants to bring to the table and as a captain you want someone with that clarity. In T20 cricket that's all you ask from the bowler.” “And the wickets that he got weren't fluke wickets. He actually wanted the guys to hit the ball where he wanted them caught.” The chase master then went on to describe how Glenn Maxwell almost changed the complexion of the game (39 from 28 balls) with his stay at the crease. However, it was AB de Villiers that did most of the damage to the opposition with his quickfire 27 balls 40. Describing his contribution, the Delhi born said, “AB is probably the only player who's so versatile and can do what he did on slow pitches today, so we have to understand.” Rohit Sharma, the losing captain (not often though, but mostly in the opening matches of the tournament) was proud of the way his team fought. Talking about their streak of losing the opening match and then going on to win the Championship, Rohit said, “Winning the championship is important, I guess, not the first game. Great fight, we didn't let it go easily. Although the score wasn't something we were happy, to begin with.” Young Proteas all-rounder, Marco Jansen bowled the last over and while defending just eight runs, stretched the game to the last ball, in front of someone like AB de Villiers. Praising him, Sharma said, “[Jansen] is definitely a talent we've identified. When you look at the situation with four overs left they had AB and [Dan] Christian, that's why we went with [Jasprit] Bumrah and [Trent] Boult.” In hindsight, according to Rohit, the pitch wasn’t that great and it is getting time to gel as a group. The 33-year-old believes that the team will and can bounce back from this defeat as always. Expert Opinion Experts were elated with the way both the RCB men Harshal and ABD overpowered the situation to take their team home. Harshal’s five-wicket haul was the first by any bowler against Mumbai Indians and people couldn’t stop going gaga over it. Aakash Chopra said that the 29-year-old Haryana fast bowler owned the game with his skill set. Apart from Harshal, what impressed people was also the way de Villiers took the team over the lines. Saj Sadiq, a Pakistan journalist was most impressed by the work ethics of the 37-year-old’s work ethics. Ace Commentator Harsha Bhogle was won over by two overseas fast bowlers in Marco Jansen and Kyle Jamieson, both of whom playing from opposite sides, displayed some quality death bowling. Jamieson was hard to negotiate, even early on. Washington Sundar being promoted to open was a decision beyond understanding for many including cricket expert and analyst Ben Johnson. Vikrant Gupta, a veteran TV journalist went on to praise Virat Kohli for rediscovering Glenn Maxwell this season by offering him the all-important number-4 spot. Gaurav Kalra, a witty TV journalist and former India Test opener and Punjab Kings batting consultant, Wasim Jaffer were at their usual best as well. In the next affair, Mumbai would look to turn the tide around against Kolkata Knight Riders on April 13, while RCB would take on arch-rivals Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Deccan derby on April 14.