After six straight defeats, RCB tasted a rare win – that too against a rampaging side. But the most striking aspect of it was, throughout the match they never looked like a bottom-placed team. After the batting unit had done its part, the RCB bowlers took over. The energy levels on the field were top notch as the intensity that was missing in the previous matches was visible on the night. That at one point Karn Sharma bowled with a fielder at slip and silly point, spoke of how a good outing could do a world of good for a side that hasn’t tasted a win. Now that they have finally managed to taste it, RCB have the opportunity to play party poopers.
The ball before Faf du Plessis perished, he did the exact thing. He manufactured room by moving away from the leg-stump and tried to slap rather than cut T Natarajan. The ball was short, but the lack of pace defeated him and he ended up toe-ending the ball. But the RCB skipper was in no mood to eschew the shot. Before the next ball, he shadow-practised the stroke a few times, wound his shoulders, in case those were stiff.The next ball was similar, if anything a bit wider than the previous one. Du Plessis’s response was the same, he tried to slap the ball. But this ball was even slower, wider and angled away. So even if he had decoded the change of pace, he had little control of the shot, and hence could not impart any momentum onto the ball. It squirmed off the edge and hung in the air, before compatriot Aiden Markram came under it.
Kohli gets the first punch in
Pat Cummins and Virat Kohli will forever be linked by the silence that engulfed Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium when the latter’s inside edge made its way to the stumps in the World Cup final. Kohli was biding his time in the hope of a late assault on that day and would have been peeved to be dismissed while going for only a single. The situation was different at Uppal on Thursday with Royal Challengers Bengaluru off to somewhat of a flier when the Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper came on to bowl the third over. Those fluid wrists came into play on the first ball as the Aussie pace spearhead’s length ball was flicked over mid-wicket for a four. The next one, a length ball outside off, was lofted over cover. T Natarajan’s first ball was whipped between mid-on and mid-wicket for another boundary, before Cummins brought on Kohli’s perceived kryptonite, spin in the form of Shahbaz Ahmed and Mayank Markande, to rein him in.
Pat Cummins’s masterclass on how to bowl a T20 over
Watch the 12th over replay if you can. Pat Cummins with a masterclass on how to bowl in T20. As a captain, Cummins had just seen his young spinner Mayank Markande being smashed for four consecutive sixes by Rajat Patidar in the 11th over and the score zoomed to 127 for 2. As ever, Cummins took on the responsibility to bowl the pressure over. The first was a pacy length ball to Patidar that was punched to long-off for a single. Next one was a back of length and Kohli punched it hard but could only get a single to long-off. Then began the changes. A yorker came and Patidar could only dig it out for a single. Kohli was served a slower off cutter into the turf and short, and the mistimed pull fetched just another single. Next ball was another slower but of different nature – this one much fuller and dipping like an off-break at Patidar who pushed it for a single. What now to Kohli for the final ball.. Yorker or another slower one? It was the change of pace again, but a slower bouncer and just a single again. Just 6 runs after a flood of runs. Unsurprisingly, Patidar fell next over, trying to get a maximum and holing out at the boundary off Jaydev Unadkat.
Patidar takes over the mantle
With Virat Kohli reduced, or choosing, to milking spinners, it came upon Rajat Patidar to take them down. The Madhya Pradesh batsman, who hd recently returned among runs after a long barren run, developed a special liking for Mayank Markande, after the spinner had deceived Will Jacks with a delightful change of pace. Patidar had signalled his intentions by smashing Shahbaz Ahmed back over his head off the second ball he faced. Markande was taken for five sixes – four in succession in the 11th over. All but one of them were hit in the arc between the sightscreen and wide long-off. When Markande dropped short, Patidar found the stands behind cow corner. The modest pace of Jaydev Unadkat was given similar treatment. Kohli’s struggles at the other end forced Patidar to fall on the sword as there was hardly any impetus from the other end, Unadkat getting the vital breakthrough.
I.C.Y.M.I!
Rajat Patidar taking the attack to Mayank Markande 💥@RCBTweets 142/4 after 15 overs
Watch the match LIVE on @JioCinema and @StarSportsIndia 💻📱#TATAIPL | #SRHvRCB pic.twitter.com/xiDvZavpTA
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 25, 2024
Slow and steady wins Unadkat the race
Jaydev Unadkat could be no more than a utility bowler. He doesn’t invoke fear in batsmen, he does not instigate video analysts to spend hours decoding his variations, he does not pounce into batsmen’s nightmares. But what he has is the exceptional skill to vary his pace, a reason he always commands a handsome sum on the auction day. He has the whole assortment—off-cutter, back-of-the-hand one, and leg-cutter. His pet slower ball this season has been the slow bouncer, which he delivers from around the stumps to the right-hander and like an off-cutter. He bangs them onto the turf, whips up good bounce. The Virat Kohli wicket ball seamed away a tad from him. It was the slight deviation off the surface that stripped Kohli of the power he wanted to generate. The RCB totem lost his balance in search of power and ended up bungling to deep square leg. Unadkat struck the victory pose. Why not? He had just dismissed Kohli for the first time in the league.
A story of what if
Right from the player auctions to now, one of the biggest talking points with regards to RCB has been the lack of quality spinners in their ranks. Apart from Karn Sharma and Glenn Maxwell, they have relied on Mahipal Lomror, Will Jacks to fill their quota. As the tournament progresses, this glaring hole will be exploited by opponents and Swapnil Singh showed why they could have added a world-class spinner to their kitty. With SRH getting another strong start, he removed Aiden Markram with a full-toss, which the batsman missed totally to be given out lbw. Then in the same over, despite Heinrich Klaasen going after him straight away, he had the courage to slow it down and give it some air. It meant, Klaasen mistimed it and Cameron Green pouched it at mid-on. With four wickets down, the powerplay belonged to RCB.
