IPL 2020: Match 25 – CSK vs RCB – Who Said What

The 25th match of the Indian Premier League got underway between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings in Dubai. CSK needed two points in their bag desperately but ended losing again by 37 runs in their ongoing unlucky journey in IPL 2020. RCB showed up with bat first and posted a good total of 169/4 on the board as the knock by skipper Virat Kohli (90* off 52) remained phenomenal in the game.

Virat Kohli was named as the player of the match for taking his team home in an amazing manner. Devdutt Padikkal contributed a significant 33 off 34 to keep RCB going. Deepak Chahar gained back his rhythm and came up with great bowling by conceding just 10 runs in three overs. He picked a wicket too during the course of the game.

RCB’s bowling dominated CSK

Chasing the target at Dubai International Stadium, the opening order failed to get anything substantial for the team. The knock by Ambati Rayudu fetched 42 off 40 for the team but that was too less ahead of the required run rate. The spell by Chris Morris remained splendid from RCB’s bowling unit as he conceded just 19 runs and picked three wickets.

Losing skipper, MS Dhoni said

I think the last 4 overs when we were bowling (didn’t go to plan), before that the bowlers had done a good job, we needed to close in nicely. Batting has been bit of a worry and today also it was evident. We need to do something about it. We can’t keep turning up and it is almost the same thing that is happening maybe the individuals are different but I think we are better off playing the other way round – play the big shots and even if you get out it is fine because we can’t leave too many after the 15th or 16th over that just puts too much pressure on the lower order batsmen.

Our batting has lacked a bit of you can say power more from the 6th over onwards, individuals get tentative and no matter how much confidence you are giving them, ultimately they have to have their own plan as to how to play. We have not been able to adapt and plan for bowlers bowling from 6-14 overs.

I always have told the players to focus more on the process. When you start looking at the results of the previous game or the next game it really puts extra burden on you. I feel when it comes to our bowling we have shown we can restrict the opposition, either we give too many in the first six or the last four. Too many holes in the ship and when you try to plug one there is water flowing from another.

We need to get our act together. Everything needs to work in the same game to get a result. Once we get a result in our favour it will be slightly different for us. Overall you have to look at the combinations, the number of spinners you are looking at, how fast bowlers are bowling.. We started with five bowlers initially but now we have six bowlers but that is same thing we can do in the next game – that is one position we can swap with a foreign bowler or an Indian bowler. But our main worry remains the batting where we haven’t been consistent. In the coming games we will be slightly more expressive, get out in the 17th over rather than having wickets.

Winning skipper and Player of the match, Virat Kohli said

It was one of our most complete performances. We got into a bit of a tricky position in the first half. From there on, we pushed forward. We spoke during the second timeout (with the bat) that 140-150 would be good. Ended up getting more than that. It was a tricky pitch. Really pleased to get two points. We have back-to-back games coming up, so important to build momentum. It’s about understanding the conditions and respecting the game. Instead of trying to hit every ball into the second tier of the stadium.

Having played so much cricket, especially T20 cricket, I have learnt that if you are set at the death, you can capitalize. Before that, I was trying to do too much. If you think too much about responsibility, you get burdened. That Super Over where I had to strike, else we would have lost, freed me up. Training all these days also helped. Yes, he’s (Morris) been really good, gun on the field and three wickets on debut. With him and Gurkeerat, the batting also gets deep. When you get momentum in this format, it can be the difference between finishing at the top or at the bottom.