IPL 2021 | RCB vs CSK: Hits and Flops as Virat Kohli’s men sent back to the drawing board by Super Kings

The Royal Challengers Bangalore seem to be getting back to their old self as they have started to lose games as the business end of the tournament is approaching. This is now their third consecutive loss and fourth in the last five games. Their UAE leg of the tournament started with a loss against the Kolkata Knight Riders and after this six-wicket loss, now they have lost two in two. 

On the contrary, Chennai super Kings seem to be moving in the upward direction having beaten Mumbai Indians in the first game, they are now two in two in the UAE leg of the tournament. 

In fact, with this victory at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, the Men in Yellow climbed to the top spot in the points table as they have garnered 14 points from their nine games and have a better run rate than the Delhi Capitals, who too have 14 points from the same number of games. 

Much like every game, this game had its Hits and Flops and this is that section of the post-match piece which analyses such players who turned out to be either Hit or Flop in the entire game. 

Hits 

Dwayne Bravo

When the RCB inning was rocking and there seemed no way to find a wicket, one man turned it around for the Super Kings and it was their West Indian champion Dwayne Bravo. The 37-year-old didn’t only get Virat Kohli out but also broke a huge 111 run stand for the opening wicket. It was courtesy of this breakthrough only that the MS Dhini team made a comeback into the match. 

Bravo however didn’t just stop there and alongside controlling the flow of runs, also got the wickets of Glenn Maxwell and Harshal Patel in the last over and gave away only two runs to curtain the RCB innings to only 156. In total, Bravo picked three wickets in this game going for just 24 runs in his four overs. 

Rightfully, the devoted Super Kings was awarded Man of the Match. 

Devdutt Padikkal

RCB got off to a flying start and a huge part of the reason was Devdutt Padikkal’s batting. After getting out cheaply in the first game, the Karnatak man tried to make up for it in this game and did brilliantly to hit 70 off just 50 balls. He was part of the 111 runs opening stand with skipper Kohli. 

While in the powerplay he was just flawless, as the wicket slowed down, his elegant strokeplay didn’t sail him through and he became Shardul Thakur’s first scalp, but not before hitting five fours and three sixes. 

Shardul Thakur

Not a great death bowler alright, might not be a great swing bowler either and not the best all-rounder for sure. But Shardil Thakur is someone who has time and again bailed Super Kings out in tough situations in the recent past. In this game too, just after Bravo opened the gates, Thakur made sure that it became wide open and Chennai enter right through it. 

The right-arm pacer two crucial wickets of Padikkal and de Villiers and that it too in the same overs to deal a heavy blow to the chances of the RCB getting past 180. Also, he gave away just 29 runs from his quota of four overs. 

Flops

AB de Villiers

When de Villers was most needed by his team, he failed at that very time. After getting a start of 111 runs in just 13.2 overs, the old BD would have butchered the CSK bowling lineup, but this ABD wasn’t really sure of how things were moving. Arriving at just the right time, the former Proteas player made just 12 runs off 11 balls when his misery was finally ended by Thakur. 

ABD is one player that RCB trust to take them out of any mess, but in the last two matches he hasn’t been able to do it and with yet another failure in this game, it has surely made de Villers look out of form, and inside a lot of problems in coming days. 

Wanindu Hasaranga

When the Sri Lankan all-rounder and leg spinner was bought by the RCB as a replacement for Adam Zampa, it was expected that he would do great things with the ball. However, in the two matches that he has played, it hadn’t looked like he is the world number two T20I bowler. 

After going wicketless in his first IPL outing against the KKR, Hasaranga remained wicketless on a spin-friendly pitch in this game. In this very game, many spinners took a lot of wickets from both the side, but the Sri Lankan import was not good at all. He went for 40 runs in his four overs quota. 

The two teams will now move on to their second assignment, which is on September 26 on the double header’s day. While RCB would take on Mumbai Indians at Dubai International Stadium, CSK would play KKR on the same day and prior to the RCB- Mumbai game, but it will be played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.