IPL 2021 | RCB vs KKR: Hits and Flops as RCB continue winning streak

It’s been 13 years since the cricket carnival named Indian Premier League was introduced. And if pundits are to be believed a cricket tournament of this stature had the perfect beginning.  

Royal Challengers Bangalore were up against the Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru. Brendon McCullum was on some rampage as if he had a tiff with someone before coming out to bat. He was hammering the RCB bowlers all around the park and went on to score a fine ton. 

Cut to 2021. McCullum who had been a part of RCB in earlier editions is back with KKR in their coaching staff. New players have emerged over the next decade and a half in Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Andre Russell, but not a lot has changed in 13 years. 

Because this day is known for slaughtering bowling attacks and it hasn’t changed yet. The only tweak that was witnessed on Sunday afternoon was the change in the receiving ends. While in 2008, it was RCB bowlers who suffered some hammering from McCullum, in 2021, it was the former Blackcaps captain’s side KKR that was being hit all around the park. 

The Royal Challengers Bangalore are simply unstoppable at the moment. They have won three out of the three matches that they played in this IPL 2021 so far and are sitting at the helm in the points table. To add to the delight of their fans, the margins of RCB’s wins have got better with every game. 

In the latest additions to RCB’s positives, captain Virat Kohli won the toss, finally. Ok, that actually happened. 

Facing Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai, RCB had the toss in their favour and skipper Kohli opted to bat first on a track that had a little better to offer to the batsmen on Sunday. 

But KKR captain Eoin Morgan certainly had a plan B if he was asked to bowl first. 

He straight away got his spinners into the act and it did work out for the Kolkata-based franchise. Varun Chakravarthy removed Kohli for 5 off 6 and then cleaned up Rajat Patidar who came in at number 3 for 1 in the same over to reduce RCB to 9/2. 

While everyone thought RCB was on backfoot, Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers had some other plans in their minds. 

Well, not ruining the fun here let's have a look at this edition of Hits and Flops. 

Hits

Glenn Maxwell

Well, the RCB fans were left astonished when the Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell fetched a sum of Rs. 14.5 Cr in the mini auctions earlier this year. Of course, his previous IPL records say a lot about his forgettable journey in the cash-rich league. Adding to the frustration was Mike Hesson’s delight in getting Maxwell in the team. 

But somehow and somewhere Maxwell is proving his worth in this competition. There is a meme that went viral a few days back that when a player leaves RCB, he starts performing but for Maxwell, the story is a bit different. 

The scores of 39, 59 and 78 speak volumes about how he has just turned the fortunes for the Bangalore-based franchise and how the aggressive right-handed batsman has brought that “balance” in the team that Kohli had been talking about for a very long time. 

On Sunday, the Australian repeated a similar script but with more precision. RCB were 9/2 at the end of the second over when Maxwell walked in the middle to bat. 

Chakravarthy had removed Kohli and Patidar early in the innings. While the RCB captain had to walk back in the hut, courtesy, a fine piece of fielding from Rahul Tripathi who took a blinder while running back. Tripathi who was stationed in the cover region ran towards the boundary and grabbed a stunning diving catch to send Kohli packing. 

Later, Patidar was castled by the spinner after the right-hander failed to read the line and the ball just went past him to disturb the woodwork behind.  

Maxwell began the proceedings in a cautious manner as a wicket here and there would have created more pressure on RCB. While Maxwell stood strong at one end, his batting partner Devdutt Padikkal too looked good and steady in the middle. 

The two stitched a stand of 86 runs before the left-handed Padikkal had to depart for a well-compiled 25 off 28 after miscuing a pull shot off Prasidh Krishna. Tripathi who was this time stationed in the deep took his second catch of the match to dismiss Padikkal. 

But the left-handed batsman’s departure didn’t really affect Maxwell’s plans. He was already up for an onslaught and it showed. The Aussie cricketer unleashed another display of power-hitting. Maxwell struck 78 off 49 that included three maximums and 9 boundaries and it felt as if he was in no mood of getting runs in singles and doubles. 

While he had a responsible stand with Devdutt, Maxwell also put up a brilliant and brisk partnership of 53 off 35 with ABD before getting out Pat Cummins after getting caught by Harbhajan Singh. 

Well, Maxwell might have missed out on scoring some more runs but the way he batted especially against the bowlers who had created some problems for the team in the earlier part of the match was just impeccable. More than his runs was his zeal to dominate the KKR bowling unit and that showed. 

AB de Villiers

How many of you have played EA Sports Cricket? And how many of you have just smacked the opponent bowlers all around the park? While as kids, we have gone berserk about our batting in a video game, we still have a batsman who bats as if we are watching a video game. AB de Villiers is the name. 

Every time ABD bats to his calibre, you fall short of words to describe his innings. It’s been just three games in this edition of the IPL and the former South African has already unfolded a couple of knocks that are at par. 

On Sunday, de Villiers was one of the two batsmen from the RCB franchise who was definitely playing on a different track. He once again hammered the KKR bowlers all around the ground scoring an unbeaten 76 off 34. 

The 200-mark looked pretty tough at one moment when Maxwell departed at the end of the 17th over while the team score read 148/4. But what followed next was “nothing new”. ABD has done that previously and he repeated that again. 

From 148/4, de Villiers took RCB’s score to 204/4 in the last three overs. It is usually said that a batsman targets one or a couple of bowlers to score his runs and he probably had set his eye against Andre Russell. 

Russell came into the attack at the death. He bowled the 18th and the 20 overs and was hammered for 38 runs in two overs. There came a time when Russell was under so much pressure that it was visible and evident that he had no idea about what line and length he should bowl in front of ABD. The right-handed batsman’s knock included three sixes and 9 boundaries. 

Harshal Patel

It seems as if RCB have done no wrong in picking players in this edition. Harshal Patel was one of the two players apart from Daniel Sams to join RCB after he was traded from Delhi Capitals. 

The youngster has proven his worth first against the Mumbai Indians where he picked up a five-wicket haul and then with economical bowling against Sunrisers Hyderabad and now vs Kolkata Knight Riders. 

A track that had something for the batsmen on Sunday, Patel showed his skills with the ball and returned with impressive figures of 2/17 in 4 overs. More than his figures was Harshal’s intelligent piece of bowling. 

A player is an asset to a team when knows his strengths more than his weaknesses and the right-arm bowler is probably a cricketer of similar sorts. Harshal bowled at perfect lengths and resisted the run flow that could have turned the fortunes for them. He didn’t let the batsmen cut loose with his Yorker length deliveries while also deceived them with the pace at some point in time. 

Consistency has what Harshal has maintained in this IPL 2021 and if he continues to bowl like this, it would be a great boost for the RCB especially looking at their past records. Patel can be one bowler who can be useful for the side in the beginning as well as in the death overs. 

Flops

Andre Russell

There is another popular saying about cricket. This game is cruel. On one day it can make a player a hero and on the other that particular player might emerge to be the reason for a team’s defeat. 

West Indies and KKR all-rounder Andre Russell is certainly falling in this tally for now. While he was just spectacular with the ball against Mumbai Indians, Russell was hammered by AB de Villiers on Sunday in Chennai to return with figures of 0/38 in overs. 

There came a time in his spell that he let go of a run out at the bowling end. His gesture defined the kind of frustration that Russell was having with his bowling. 

But was it just about Russell’s clueless bowling or there was something more to it?

A new Andre Russell or rather the “bowler” Andre Russell introduced a new technique against the aggressive batsmen while he was up against MI. He bowled wide yorkers around the fourth and fifth stump channel and bowled coming around the wicket against the right-handers. 

He did try to bowl similar kind of line and lengths to ABD but it seemed as if the RCB batsman had done his homework well. De Villiers had all the answers to the deliveries that had fetched Russell wickets against MI. Those wide yorkers were struck through the covers while the ones angled into the stumps were dispatched straight back past the bowler. 

While the West Indies all-rounder struggled with the ball, he showed glimpses of his talent with the bat. The right-hander came in at number 7 while KKR were struggling at 114/5. The Caribbean batsman started off the innings in a steady manner and then targeted Yuzevndra Chahal to gather a few runs off his over. Russell and Shakib gathered 17 runs from the Chahal’s over to get their side back on track a bit. 

But Shakib’s departure left the onus totally on Russell. The aggressive batsman then made a blunder in the penultimate over. KKR needed 44 off the last 2 overs with Russell and Harbhajan Singh in the middle. Russell failed to score any boundaries in this over while didn’t score runs by running singles and doubles to create more pressure on himself. 

KKR eventually managed just one run in the 19th over while Russell departed on the first ball of the 20th for 31 off 20 balls. 

While he failed to keep the opponent batsmen silent, Russell also had a forgettable time with the bat in the later stage of the match. 

Kyle Jamieson

All-rounder Kyle Jamieson was another shocking and expensive pick that was made by the RCB in the auctions. The right-hander hasn’t really lived up to the mark and the money he got. Though he has been picking up wickets consistently, Jamieson hasn’t had a great match so far in the tournament. 

On Sunday, he did manage to scalp three wickets against KKR but the economy rate with which he bowled was nothing but atrocious. The fast bowler missed the trick that as much pace as he would generate, it would be helpful for the batsmen to score runs off his bowling. 

An instance of this was visible in the starting of the chase when Shubman Gill hammered Jamieson all around. It was Gill’s hard luck and some brilliance in the field by Dan Christian who caught him at the mid-on region after putting in a perfect dive towards his right. 

Jamieson was smashed for 41 runs in his three overs but he returned with a three-for. 

There haven’t been many of loopholes in the RCB unit except for a couple of bowlers who have been leaking runs now. On the other side, Morgan’s KKR have to rejig a lot of plans to get themselves back on track.