IPL 6: RCB V KXIP - The Quick Flicks

Finally, RCB’s fortress at Bangalore has been breached, as KXIP played out of their skins to send shock waves through RCB’s camp with a famous win. It took a couple of experienced campaigners to take them to a comfortable victory.

Snapshots from today’s game:

Umpiring howlers

It is sad to see a country that has produced umpires like Venkataraghavan, Pillo Reporter and Ram Gupta doesn’t even have one good umpire to talk about at present. Today, we saw two howlers given by S. Ravi. It is high time that BCCI, instead of indulging in petty politics, thinks of improving the standard of umpiring in the country.

Subdued Gayle

For a while, one felt that Gayle’s twin brother was masquerading in disguise, as he scored runs at a snail’s pace. Gayle was even lucky to survive an lbw shout against him. It didn’t take long for him though, to assess the conditions on hand, and take Punjab’s bowlers to the cleaners. The destroyer from Jamaica didn’t exactly set the pulse racing, as we didn’t see too many of his trademark towering sixes. But the scary news for bowlers is that Gayle can still score runs at a strike rate of 145.28. It looked like Gayle and his partner in crime, Kohli, had taken the game away from Punjab’s grasp, but it wasn’t to be.

The emperor of T20 cricket gives a fitting riposte

When the emperor of T20 cricket is wounded, the opposition team better beware. The wounded tiger, Azhar Mahmood, gave a timely riposte to Punjab’s think-tank for even daring to drop him from the side. Before the tournament started, I did opine that if Punjab have to make any headway in this year’s IPL, they need Azhar Mahmood to fire on all cylinders. But in spite of some good spells with a ball in hand, he was struggling as a batsman. In the game against RCB though, the ace all-rounder turned the match on its head with a top-drawer performance.

With his bag full of tricks, Azhar baited, enticed and teased batsmen into making mistakes. Despite cramping up, and bowling under extreme pressure, he gallantly didn’t allow Kohli and Gayle to break free in the end overs. With the willow in hand, he played with the kind of maturity that one has seen him do it time and again for Kent, Surrey and the Auckland Aces.

Gilchrist – Form is temporary but class is permanent

Gilchrist, at the age of 41, is past his best. But as he has a wide array of strokes, it takes a brave man to bet against him doing well in the T20 format. Just like Gayle, the rub of the green went his way, as the umpire Ravi made a horrendous decision by not adjudging him out lbw. Until Gilchrist made 49 runs, he couldn’t even find the middle of the bat, but with downright dogged determination, and great gusto, he played like a street-fighter. Even in South Africa in 96-97, when Gilchrist was a rookie, one rarely saw the ball not hitting the sweet spot of his bat. Yes, it wasn’t a typical Gilchrist knock, but he used all the experience he has garnered over the years to make his mark in IPL 2013.

RCB’s bowlers disappoint

It was another disappointing performance from RCB’s bowlers. The track was good for batting, but still one can’t excuse RCB’s bowlers for bowling such wayward stuff. It was unfathomable that RCB’s medium-pacers kept testing the middle of the pitch against Mahmood and Gilchrist. In their pomp, both were well known for playing rasping pulls and crunching cut shots. It just doesn’t make sense to bowl short to either of them. Even Muralitharan couldn’t stymie the flow of runs. RCB, perhaps, missed a trick by dropping the whole-hearted fast bowler Ravi Rampaul.

Comedy of errors

The crux of RCB’s rather tepid performance can be summed up by the mistimed top-edge of Gilchrist’s bat that went up in the air, only for the wicket-keeper, Arun Karthik, to not have any idea about where the ball had gone. It was nothing but a comedy of errors.

If RCB’s players were complacent about playing at their well-guarded fortress and winning today’s game, they just have been given a rude shock by KXIP. They need to wake up from their deep slumber; otherwise, there is every chance that Vijay Mallya’s dream of winning the IPL will continue to remain an unfulfilled one.