IPL 2018: One tactical point the teams missed this season

The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has almost come to a close. It will be either the men in yellow or the men in orange who will get their hands on the silverware. This IPL was great fun to watch and treated the fans with many thrillers. Almost all the teams fought hard and were in contention to make it into the playoffs this year. But, only the best four could get through and the best two will lock horns in the grand finale on Sunday night. All the teams this year were completely revamped. The franchises only retained the core players and there were quite a few new faces in the teams. The captains and the management had to try out new combinations to find the best. In this entire process, it is almost inevitable that there would be a few tactical errors here and there. Here is a look at one tactical error for each team this season: 1. Sunrisers Hyderabad | Middle-muddle Sunrisers Hyderabad. (Photo by Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS) The Sunrisers Hyderabad was by far one of the best sides after the auction. It seemed like they covered almost all their loopholes from the previous seasons have got an opportunity to pick from a wide array of players. Although they lost their skipper David Warner ahead of the season, they were terrifically led by Kane Williamson. Middle-order has always been an area of concern for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. It seemed like they had got that sorted this year with Manish Pandey coming in. Pandey had a great IPL 2017 with KKR. However, on the field, their expectations didn’t turn into reality. They spent some huge bucks to buy him out at the auction. Here, they missed a trick for sure. They haven’t cushioned him with capable batsmen after him surmounting the pressure on him. Instead of investing on a specialist wicket-keeper like Wriddhiman Saha, who is not known for his T20 game, SRH should have preferred more of a T20 specialist batsman who could keep a bit. 2. Chennai Super Kings | Bad replacements Chennai Super Kings. (Photo by IANS) The Chennai Super Kings were heavily mocked by people for having a lot of players over 30 years of age. But for a second thought, they trolled all these back by becoming the first team to enter the finals this year. The experience of these same set of players proved out to be vital for them in crunch situations. They had at least one good performer every game to help them go the distance. However, one area where they suffered is their bowling. Not all CSK bowlers are fairly experienced and this has troubled the team on quite a few occasions. They have leaked huge runs at the death. This has raised the pressure on DJ Bravo so much so that it started affecting his performances with the ball at the death. The management here missed a trick by not getting bowlers capable enough to bowl at the death as a replacement for injured players like Kedar Jadhav and Mitchell Santner. They had a chance to fill in their loopholes after the tournament started but failed to do so. 3. Kolkata Knight Riders | Improper combinations Kolkata Knight Riders Piyush Chawla celebrates fall of Rahul Tripathi’s wicket. (Photo by Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS) The Kolkata Knight Riders have found themselves a new leader in Dinesh Karthik after Gautam Gambhir’s exit. However, this massive change didn’t affect their performances as much. They managed to reach the playoffs like they always do and finished third this season. Unfortunately, they lost the game to the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second qualifier kicking them out of the tournament. Although KKR didn’t fail this season, one reason that would have surely surfaced had they not performed well is their improper combinations. KKR tried out a lot many things this year showing the inexperience of Dinesh Karthik as a leader. Players like Robin Uthappa, Shubman Gill batting out of positions speaks volumes about the improper combinations. In fact, only three foreign players played in the second qualifier against SRH showing this instability. Their inexperienced quicks conceded almost 40 runs in the last two overs against SRH in that game which potentially cost them the game. DK should have realised that having experience in crucial games is important for them. 4. Rajasthan Royals | Failing to pick the best batting order Rajasthan Royals’ Shreyas Gopal celebrates fall of Mandeep Singh’s wicket. (Photo by Surjeet Yadav/IANS) The Rajasthan Royals finished fourth in the IPL this year. They were knocked out of the tournament after they lost to KKR in the eliminator. In fact, they were quite lucky to get through to this stage. They had to depend on the other teams to qualify for the playoffs and all the results worked in their favour. However, they struggled in the initial matches with their batting order. They tried out various combinations before Jos Buttler was sent opening the innings. Jos turned the tide around for the team and set the tournament on fire after he started opening. He is probably one of the biggest factors as to why RR made it into the playoffs this season. Had they got this combination right early on, they could have possibly ended much higher on the points table and could have got that second chance in the playoffs. 5. Mumbai Indians | Rohit Sharma not opening Mumbai Indians celebrate fall of Chris Gayle’s wicket. (Photo by IANS) Taking nothing away from Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma opening could have made a much better impact than SKY. That is a slot to which Rohit adapted as fish is to water. It is always important to give the best batsman the maximum chance and allow him to face the maximum deliveries. Suryakumar Yadav, with the kind of form he was in, could have fitted well into the middle order as well. Rohit Sharma made almost nil impact playing at the No 4 position and he should have reverted back to the opening slot before it got too late. Although they are no surety about him making an impact, a player as destructive as Rohit is can cover his slow start within no time and his extended stay in the middle can pose a severe threat to the oppositions. 6. Royal Challengers Bangalore | On-field and off-field decisions Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Yuzuvendra Chahal celebrates fall of Shikhar Dhawan’s wicket. (Photo by IANS) The Royal Challengers Bangalore had a poor season this year despite them having a good team. Their team never looked as balanced as this one was. They surely had the ability to go the distance with this team but some bizarre decisions didn’t help them get through. Also, this was the first ever time that there were questions raised about Virat Kohli’s captaincy and there were a few demands asking him to step down. In all the analyses before the start of the season, it was believed that either of Brendon McCullum or Quinton de Kock will play in the XI. But the management took a strange decision to field both these players weakening their bowling. Bringing in Corey Anderson for a T20 specialist like Nathan Coulter-Nile was another questionable decision. Virat too made some tactical errors on the field with his bowling changes and field placements costing them a few games. He should have opened the innings just like Rohit to have created a better impact. These are the kind of mistakes that get prominence only when the team fails to do well. 7. Kings XI Punjab | Poor Leadership Kings XI Punjab’s Andrew Tye celebrates fall of Evin Lewis’ wicket. (Photo by IANS) It is quite an irony when a team, after winning five out of the first six games, fails to make it to the playoffs by losing seven out of the next eight. Although one might argue about them being overdependent on a few players, poor captaincy has played an equal role in their downfall. In a quest to be unpredictable, Ashwin has taken many strange and bewildering decisions this season. Right from axing Yuvraj Singh and making him bat after Axar Patel later on, tinkering with the batting order so many times, nothing went well with Ashwin’s leadership. Although we might not see him being axed, Ashwin- the captain has been a big let down this season. 8. Delhi Daredevils | Head coach’s unfamiliarity with the team Players of Delhi Daredevils celebrate the fall of Hardik Pandya’s wicket. (Photo by Surjeet Yadav/IANS) There was a lot of talk about two prominent captains like Gautam Gambhir and Ricky Ponting gelling well together. There were expectations on them working a few miracles this year. But, I’m afraid, that didn’t work at all for Delhi. From the outset of things, it seemed as if Ricky Ponting was more of the dominating personality according to what Gambhir revealed about his place in the XI after the season. When this is the case, Ponting’s unfamiliarity with the local talent is quite evident. Players like Harshal Patel, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane got their chances late in the tournament after they were knocked out. The management erred with the team selection for quite some time putting them in a spot of bother even before the race for the playoffs actually started.

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IPL 2018: One tactical point the teams missed this season

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