CSK conceded 97 runs in the final five overs.
Ambati Rayudu pointed out how CSK bowlers didn’t have a set plan and bowled loose deliveries even after getting hit for boundaries against RCB last night. The Super Kings conceded 97 runs, the second joint-most in IPL history, including as many as four boundaries and 11 maximums, in the final five overs.
On ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show, Rayudu started by explaining CSK just stuck with the bad plan, and nobody intervened to slow the game down and guide the bowlers. Later, he pointed out how the bowlers’ follow-up deliveries after getting hit for boundaries were also loose, which eventually made a difference.
“Their follow-up balls after a boundary or a six aren’t great. Generally, as a bowler, you need to be aware that, okay, I have been hit for a six, but it’s the next ball that matters. Whenever you see good death bowlers, they always follow up with a very good ball. But their powerplay bowling and middle-overs bowling was much better than what it was last game.”
From the 16th over onwards, RCB shifted gears, hitting two or more consecutive boundaries on three occasions, including two overs that featured three or more sixes. Khaleel Ahmed went for successive boundaries in the 16th, Noor Ahmad conceded three sixes in a row in the next over, and all hell broke loose when Jamie Overton was taken apart for 30 runs, including four sixes and a boundary, in the penultimate over.
On a deck that was tacky at the start, CSK started the powerplay well and came up with a plan to restrict the RCB openers from hitting big shots during the field restrictions. They earned their first boundary on the 20th ball of the innings and soon removed Virat Kohli in the fifth over.
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While RCB still managed 51 in the powerplay, most of those runs came in the second half and via several false shots. Then, in the middle overs, CSK again managed to restrict the batters till the 10th over and even dismissed Phil Salt, leaving the opponent in a spot of bother.
However, things turned once Rajat Patidar joined a struggling Devdutt Padikkal, as the RCB captain belted the bowlers all around the park and tilted the momentum in his team’s favour. Soon, Padikkal found his touch too, and the two added 58 runs in just 21 deliveries for the third wicket, and by the time Padikkal got out, the likes of Tim David had a set stage to thrive on.
And he thrived with flying colours, as the Aussie batter hit his second fifty and went to register his highest-ever IPL score. In the second half of the innings, RCB scored a whopping 159, the fourth-most in the competition’s history, which cancelled out CSK’s good work in the first half and propelled the defending champions to their third-highest total ever.
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