Gulf News readers and experts analyse Royal Challengers Bangalore’s comprehensive win over Mumbai Indians
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00:00Hello everyone. Welcome to Straight Back with Gulf News and Mr Cricket UAE. That is Anish Sajjan.
00:15Today we are going to discuss Mumbai's match with Royal Challengers Bangalore.
00:20Anish, just give us a brief lowdown on the match.
00:24Thank you, Mr. Shyam. Hello, Mr. Satish. And hello to both the fans.
00:29The most important thing I want to stress, Shyam, about this match is that it was a very comprehensive
00:34win by RCB after two losses. Even Mumbai had two losses. But RCB had them in the tank that they
00:44beat Mumbai Indians, the depending champions, convincingly. And what worries me more, Shyam,
00:49is the form of the Mumbai Indians' batters, especially three guys, Ishaan Kishan,
00:53Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya. And they are the part of the Indian 15-man squad.
01:00Okay, before I get to Satish and Jai from Gulf News, let me talk to the fans here.
01:06Sai Prasad is a Mumbai fan and Hussain Yusuf is an RCB fan. So, Sai, tell us,
01:12what went wrong with Mumbai, the five-time champions? They are not playing like champions.
01:17It was really heartbreaking to see Mumbai lose, actually. I mean,
01:21the first itself, the catch. My heart was in my mouth, actually, when Rahul Chahar dropped the
01:28catch of Kohli. And it was difficult to understand what was going wrong, actually. Actually, we were
01:36outplayed by a fantastic batting and all-round performance by the Royal Challengers, Bangalore.
01:42And it was fantastic batting and bowling performance. I think, down in the middle order,
01:47we did have a bad… As Mr. Anish was saying, we had bad forms of Sky and Ishan Krishna's
01:54really worrying. And I was surprised that why were we keeping Kevin Pollard and Hardik for the last?
02:02They should have come up a little bit higher up the order. They could have made a difference. I
02:09think the left-right combination was… Maybe it's too late, but I feel it was probably incorrect,
02:16now looking at hindsight.
02:18Sir, you make an interesting point of bringing up Kevin Pollard and Hardik up the order.
02:24Before that, let me get to Hussain Yousafzai. As an RCB fan, are you really happy with the
02:30comprehensive of the batsmen? I mean, the bowlers, the batsmen, everybody came to the party together
02:35and you can't have better than this. Hussain, you must be really, really thrilled. Tell us your
02:40feelings.
02:41Totally. Initially, I thought we were 20 runs short. And the way Mumbai started, I thought this
02:48is going to be a one-sider. But then, Maxwell and Charles step up to the party, bring us the
02:52breakthrough. And before the match, I was thinking, Mumbai have a go-through bowler in Bumrah, where
02:59they are conceding runs, they give the ball to Bumrah, he gets a wicket. And RCB doesn't have
03:03that. But maybe, maybe Harshal Patel can prove to be that bowler this season for RCB. And yes,
03:09what a win. Let's keep this momentum going. We have four matches and we can,
03:15that third spot is up for grabs and RCB surely will be at the third, at the end of the IPL.
03:21Jay Prasad, I know you come from the city of Bangalore, so you must be backing RCB also.
03:27But I mean, I know even Satish, for that matter, he's a Chennai fan, but he skipped
03:32RCB as a potential winner here. So, Jay, I mean, did you expect such a comprehensive
03:39win, especially since they lost the first two matches very badly?
03:43Yeah, yeah. The initial, the way they started in the UAE, especially getting out below 100,
03:50it looked like Bangalore, I had a feeling like they would get back to the same old ways,
03:55where they have been coming close and not winning the title. But thankfully, this time,
04:01I think they have regrouped themselves well and looks like they have started
04:07seeing the winning formula again. And today also, if you look at it, it was a very neat
04:12performance, all-round performance from the batting side. Then we had the bowlers coming in.
04:18The only time I actually thought that the match was taking a slight turn towards
04:22Mumbai's favour was when the opening partnership was happening. But later on, if you see,
04:27the bowlers did extremely well. And then it was just the phone number, which you can see,
04:30single digits. So that, I think this win will give immense confidence for the team. And
04:37I think hopefully from here, we should see that this time, I have the gut feeling that
04:44Bangalore might go all the way. So do you still stick with your prediction or
04:50why I ask you is, on their day, RCB can be fantastic. But if it's their off-day,
04:58I mean, they just collapse. So that is not championship stuff.
05:03No, Shyam, I think the last match itself, I think I wrote in the preview that it is not the batting
05:10that is a cause for worry for Bangalore. It is the bowling. Because they have said batsmen who
05:15have all done in the past, they have had one failure, maybe two failures in between.
05:19But they all have the capacity to come back and come back and hit the rivals hard.
05:25So let me just stop you. You said it's not just the batting, but they collapsed to below 100.
05:32They collapsed to 95.
05:33That was the first game, Shyam. That was the first game. The second game,
05:38if you look at Kohli, Gord Barker's touch, they did reasonably well.
05:41Let me also give you another example. If you look back in RCB's history,
05:46they have even fallen down to something like 35, 45, I think.
05:5266. 66.
05:5466.
05:54So they have a string of low scores. So there's a history of collapses in RCB.
05:59So…
05:59No, I think maybe every season they might have one collapse. I think that's over.
06:04We can look forward. We can look forward to…
06:07You are an optimist.
06:10You can't… See, these kind of players, they won't produce the same bad form, Shyam.
06:16They'll come back. These are the guys who are champions for no reason.
06:20They have been through the grind.
06:22RCB haven't been champions.
06:24No, no. What I'm saying is individual players.
06:26Champion players.
06:27Champion players who have been… They are where they are for nothing.
06:31They don't give up so easily. If they fall one day, maybe once in a while,
06:35as a collective group, also sometimes it can happen. But they will surely come back.
06:40I get your point. I completely understand where you're coming from.
06:44You have reason to believe it. In fact,
06:47the only problem is the consistency. That is the worry there.
06:50Okay, let me quickly get back to Anish.
06:53Anish, we've seen the same side win the IPL one year back, or not even less than one year back,
07:00a few months back, at least 2020. It's pretty much the same team.
07:04And what really happened, what we've been seeing this season is
07:09the middle order has been collapsing repeatedly and they have no clue how to fix it.
07:14What do you think is the possible remedy here?
07:18Absolutely bang on, Shyam. The same team which had won a few months back in UAE,
07:25and quite comprehensively. In fact, they dominated the 2020 IPL in UAE,
07:29where they lost, I think, only three games. And that same team is struggling to come up
07:34because of the form, which I said, of Ishaan Kishan, Surya Kumar Yadav and the Pandya brothers.
07:40And that is hurting them. Because as much as their bowling is strong, it was their batting.
07:45There was somebody either putting the hand-up, it was Ishaan Kishan, who I think hit the maximum
07:49sixes, if I'm not wrong. And then Surya Kumar Yadav was also among runs. There was Rohit
07:54Sharma, there was Quintin de Kock, there was the Pollards, there was the Hardik Pandyas.
07:59Everybody was contributing with the bat. But this time around, I'm afraid, if you watch their
08:04scores, I can't remember, they have crossed 150 or 160. 154 is the highest score if they scored
08:11against KKR. I'm not too sure about that. Anyway, go on. Yeah. So, coming to the same point about
08:23Mumbai, it's the batting which is letting them down. If you see the Bhumbras and the
08:27Bolts have been bowling well. Chahar has not been that bad, Rahul Chahar. He has come in front of
08:32scrutiny because of the performance of Yujinder Chahal. But otherwise, he's okay. He dropped a
08:38catch. But nonetheless, you have to give credit today to RCB for demolishing Mumbai Indians. And
08:45when the big show comes to the party, that is Glenn Maxwell, and he does it with the bat and
08:50ball as well as with the fielding, RCB are always going to win. Now, we are just waiting for the
08:55AB de Villiers show.
09:00Sai, do you think Mumbai can turn it around or can they qualify? Because if you look at,
09:05they are in the seventh spot, just above Sunrisers Hyderabad.
09:08There are four more games to play. We are still hopeful. We can win. And definitely,
09:13we will also pray for the other teams to lose. But having said that, I think the
09:19IPL… I mean, the RCB team players have decided to give a send-off to the captain. I think he's
09:25going to play the last IPL as a captain. So probably, they are trying to give a send-off
09:29and that's why they are grouping up. But Mumbai also…
09:32That's an extra motivation.
09:34Probably. But Mumbai has a fantastic… Still a chance of qualifying, an outside chance.
09:38And there are four games to play. And next, we are playing Punjab Kings. And I think they
09:42will come back. They are not going to take this too seriously. They are going to come back with
09:47a bang.
09:48Hussain, I'm sure you can't say a word against RCB. But still, I'm asking you. Will RCB win
09:57this year?
09:59Well, absolutely. Absolutely. I feel now that they have gained that momentum. And
10:05Kohli winning the IPL will be a very good confidence booster for him going to the World Cup.
10:10Satheesh, how can Mumbai fix their batting problem? I think we discussed in an earlier
10:20match. Because Surya Kumar Yadav and Ishaan Kishan have been struggling. And you think
10:27they need to be replaced? Or like Sai said earlier, maybe they could send Pollard and
10:35Pandya up? Will that help? Or what is your possible suggestions?
10:40I mean, it's unfortunate that collectively, the entire batting group has failed. As Anish
10:46Khai rightly pointed out. Even sometimes, if the openers are not giving the start, which…
10:50No. Last two games.
10:54Yeah. But see, Shyam, what is happening is, they gave a start. But it is not convincing
10:59if you look at. They are dominating the way they used to do it. And again, that is one
11:06aspect of it. But second is, at the end of it, the batsman, when he goes in, he will
11:10be fighting against two opponents. One within and one against the opponent. Because he is
11:15not getting runs. So one knock, that should get… Each one and everyone should get one
11:21good knock to get that boost. So now we have only four games left. And there are four batsmen
11:26who are still struggling. That is Surya Kumar Yadav, Ishaan Kishan, Hardik Pandya. Of course,
11:31even Krunal Pandya used to come up with something good knocks in the past. He has not done that.
11:35And Pollard has also not found his… What is also happening is, I think they have still
11:40not read the UAE wickets well enough like the other teams have done. Because the UAE wickets,
11:46if you look at the batting first with the RCB, it is not easy coming and playing your shot.
11:52You got to stay on. I think that is what Kohli did. When you have Devdutt Padikkal… He lost
11:57Devdutt Padikkal early. Kohli played that sheet-anchor role, which we call in the past,
12:03where he was rotating the strike in and around without taking much of a risk. Of course,
12:08the two catches were dropped and that helped him. But that's a different issue altogether.
12:12But the fact remains that there was one central focus point which was like everybody was moving
12:17around it and they were building the innings. So that way, I think, Mumbai has to identify
12:24somebody. Because they have this habit of going hammer and tongs against all attacks,
12:28all wickets, which is not possible on every ground and every other day. I think they need
12:33to rework on that particular strategy. It's the approach that needs to be reworked than the order
12:39or anything. So, once you approach that way, probably Polar or Hardik Pandey would have
12:46come in ahead because they would have thought that, yes, the wickets are slow. You need time to
12:51get your eye in and get your movement in and get the confidence to go for that.
12:56That's what Maxwell did. He even struggled initially.
12:58Yeah. Satish, let me stop you there and add one thing. By the time,
13:03see Hardik Pandey or Polar is in, they don't have the time to get the eye in.
13:07Correct. Correct. But if they had come in No. 3 or No. 4, instead of going with Ishaan Kishan,
13:12No. 3 and No. 4 would have given that. Maybe if they had brought the run rate down or the
13:17asking rate down to a comfortable level. Because the first inning showed us that
13:23the old ball and the last few overs are going to be extremely difficult to hit.
13:27So, these are some of the things which we need to learn from the team batting first.
13:31These are clues. Satish, why I say here is because their first wicket,
13:36their 57-1 in 6.5 or 4 overs, that is nearly close to 10 runs for over.
13:43That is where the whole thing unravels. Yeah, Shyam. That's exactly, you know,
13:47like they were going after 10 runs and over. But they should have tried to keep that momentum
13:53instead of bringing in Ishaan Kishan, who was not among runs. And this is not the
13:58game where they should have given Ishaan Kishan. They should have targeted the victory first,
14:03than trying to get individuals into form. Because once you get the victory,
14:07and once you get the two points, that would boost your confidence as well.
14:12Okay. Thank you, Satish. And Jay…
14:14And I will have to just put one small record also, Shyam. There were three hat-tricks today.
14:18One was Harshal Patel getting a hat-trick. And then the second one was the third time in a row
14:26Mumbai is losing. And then the third time… And this is something to do with Devdutt Patel.
14:32For the third time in this EY match series, he has tried to play in the third-man area and got out.
14:39Okay. That's an interesting observation.
14:43Jay, you are a RCB man. But I am giving you a Mumbai question.
14:47Will Mumbai turn around? Or will they… They have five-time champions for nothing. But
14:53do you think they can come back and qualify this time?
14:57Yeah, yeah. That's what. Mumbai… See, quite a lot of star players they have. And
15:03they have the capability to do it. But given the current situation, the current table,
15:09they will have to depend on other results as well. But from here, they still have a very good chance
15:16in case they win their matches and then play for the other result. But just since the first
15:22two slots are more likely booked and the third slot is… Going RCB way.
15:29Yeah. I would still want RCB to pick up the third slot and fourth probably, let's see.
15:34Bombay, maybe. But it's still a difficult path for them. Yeah. But I end up that it's still…
15:41Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. Finish it.
15:44Yeah. I would still want Bombay also to come in because they have offered us some real good,
15:51interesting cricket. And let's hope… But given the current situation, it's a slightly
15:57dicey situation for them.
16:00Okay. Before we wind up, Anish, any last thoughts?
16:04Yeah. The gentleman just mentioned about Harshal Patel. He has got mind-blowing analysis.
16:1010 matches, 23 wickets at an average of 13. So, a lot of credit goes to this young man. I don't
16:16think he is young enough. But 23 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 13 is commendable. And
16:22a lot of credit. In fact, he has been the reason RCB is sitting on 12 points.
16:28Yes. And especially, he has taken care of the death over a second.
16:32Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. So, RCB definitely there.
16:36Yeah.
16:36Yeah. One match against Jadeja.
16:39Yeah. Yes. That is the only one time. Otherwise, he has been on song, really.
16:44Thank you very much, everyone. And for more updates, log on to gulfnews.com and all our
16:49social media channels. And we shall be back with you tomorrow with more updates on IPL.
16:54Thank you so much. Good night.