Vettori won the toss on a sporting wicket and opted to bowl first and let his strong batting line-up chase down a total with Dave Hussey captaining in Gilchrist's absence, the first time he'd missed a match through injury in an astonishing 16 years, remarkable! Punjab's batting is yet to fire this tournament and the trend of early wickets continued for them, they are still searching for that stability at the top of the order. This is predominantly as a result of Valthaty total loss of form this year, possibly weighed down by expectations after last year's heroics, and he looked a man low on confidence as he spooned a catch to mid off soon after his partner, debutant Saini, to leave Punjab 27/2 after 5. It was once again up to Marsh to rebuild the innings, in this instance alongside Hussey, and he looked to be in good knick with some delightful text book strokeplay including one gorgeous cover drive. The partnership was going along well, excellent running was a noticeable feature between the Aussies, and any momentum they were generating was completely halted when McDonald sent back Marsh. McDonald is a fringe player for RCB but showed his worth today as he bowled wicket to wicket whilst varying his length and pace intelligently, forcing a mistake as Marsh tried to chop away a delivery that crashed into the top of off, finishing with figures of 4-0-25-2. Hussey played well to reach 41 from 34 but his wicket to the last ball of the 15th over looked to put RCB in total control with new men at the crease for the death overs. This is a period that KXIP have struggled with throughout IPL 5 but on debut Mahmood (33* from 14)transformed their innings, seemingly meandering to around 140, with some big hitting as they were propelled to 163/6. He is a player capable of clearing boundaries and this is precisely what KXIP have lacked towards the end of their innings, a welcome return after visa issues. Zaheer Khan was the other star with the ball, such a clever ball in the powerplay overs, often one step ahead of the batsman, as he took 2-25 to leave the match in the balance at the break.
However, Punjab made a brilliant start as Awana took 3 early wickets to put his side in the driving seat. He bowled with impressive pace, hitting 140kph at times, and accuracy, sending back Agarwal and Kohli, whose struggles this year continue, in his first over. RCB's 2 best players were brought together at 25/3 and whilst Punjab were on top, they would have known that this was the crucial partnership would determine the match and it did just this. Gayle (87 from 56 and another MoM!) and AB de Villiers (52 from 39) put on a masterclass in chasing a total in 20/20, they were outrageously calm at times, seemingly oblivious to the climbing required rate. It was a measure of both men's self confidence that they knocked the ball round, hitting the odd bad ball, and just let the rate rise above 10 in the knowledge that there good enough to change gears at a moments notice. Their partnership of 131 came from 12 and a half overs, which I could barely believe as I checked the scorecard afterwards, barring some late acceleration to finish the game at a canter they just never seemed to take any risks or panic into big hits. One of the best partnerships you'll see in this format, no wonder they're 2 of the most highly rated players in 20/20 cricket. Chawla was impressive again (4-0-21-1), I've already mentioned I'm a big fan of his and its great to see that he's having a successful IPL, but he was the only threat for RCB to counter in those middle overs. KXIP still don't have a threatening paceman to come back to break a partnership, maybe Awana (4-34) could do that job but Hussey rightly used up most of his overs at the top, and they will be counting down the days before Harris returns. Gayle and de Villers were far too good for an intelligent but not particularly threatening Punjab bowling outfit as McDonald and Vettori were able to finish the game in the last over with ease. One moment that is definitely work YouTube-ing would be Dave Hussey's one handed catch to dismiss Gayle, how he got there, let alone caught it, I do not know!
Punjab did well to reach 163, thanks mainly to Hussey and Mahmood, and then were right in the match thanks to Awana's brilliant burst in the powerplay overs. However, an effortless, chanceless and matchi winning partnership from Gayle and de Villiers was simply too good, and a treat to watch as they launched their late strike having positioned themselves so well, Gayle smashing the ball down the ground and de Villiers playing his clever scoop shots. Its a still a very open IPL points table, RCB with 6 points from 6 and KXIP with 4 from 6 and Bangalore in particular will know that they can continue to reel in those above them.
No comments:
Post a Comment