IPL 2019: Match 35, KKR vs. RCB Player’s Report Card

WOW! That’s the only adjective that comes to mind when I think of the match I just witnessed. It had everything you would expect from a high scoring match – a century, couple of half centuries, a few cameos, lots of sixes and a nail biting finish. In the end, a match filled with lots of drama and intense moments came to an end in exciting fashion with RCB walking away with the victory.

Anyway, we have analyzed the players’ performance in this match and assigned a rating to each player. The players’ report card along with their rating is given below.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore

Virat Kohli

You could tell by the way RCB played that they were determined to win this match. Despite getting off to a slow start at the beginning, they made up for it by scoring 91 runs in the final five overs of the match. Virat’s Kohli's century and Moeen Ali’s half century helped RCB reach a total of 213/4.

Surprisingly, RCB managed to hold their nerve till the very end of the match to win by just 10 runs.

The players’ report cards are given below:

Parthiv Patel (Runs: 11 St.Rate: 100)

Rating: 2/10

Parthiv Patel struggled to get going at the start of the innings like he usually does. This slowed up RCB’s run-rate in the powerplay. He could've tried to play till the end of the powerplay but threw his wicket away.

Virat Kohli (Runs: 100 St.Rate: 172.41)

Rating: 10/10

What can you really say about Virat Kohli that hasn’t been said before? When he is the mood for runs, no bowler can stop him. Although He was a bit slow at the start, he made up for it in the end and ensured his team got to 200. It was an absolute batting master class!

Akshdeep Nath (Runs: 13 St.Rate: 86.87)

Rating: 1/10

Akshdeep Nath squandered the amazing opportunity to score some massive runs for his franchise. Virat & co. backed him to play a big role on this beautiful batting surface, but Akshdeep struggled to get going and eventually got out for just 13 runs.

Moeen Ali (Runs: 66 St.Rate: 235.71 Wickets: 0 Eco.Rate: 13)

Rating: 9/10

Moeen Ali was one of the biggest reasons behind RCB’s huge total against KKR. He was the one who got the ball rolling and started hitting those massive sixes. In total, Ali hit 5 fours and 6 sixes. Ali even hammered 26 runs off Kuldeep Yadav’s over which turned the game in RCB’s favour.

His performances didn’t just stop after his dismissal. He bowled one over for RCB and helped them (RCB) seal the win.

Marcus Stoinis (Runs: 17 St.Rate: 212:50 Wickets: 1 Eco.Rate: 8)

Rating: 6/10

Marcus Stoinis came in to bat a bit late in the innings, but made best use of the situation, scoring 17 runs from just 8 deliveries. With the ball, he was quite useful and picked up the wicket of Robin Uthappa. Surprisingly, Stoinis was one of the most economical bowlers for RCB.

Dale Steyn (Wickets: 2 Eco.Rate: 10)

Rating: 7/10

Dale Steyn bowled really well in the powerplay and he got the ball to shape away from the batsmen. He struck early with the wickets of Chris Lynn and Shubman Gill. However, his final over was quite expensive. He kept bowling in the slot and was hammered for 18 runs in his final over.

Navdeep Saini (Wicket: 1 Eco.Rate: 7.75)

Rating: 7/10

Navdeep Saini was the most economic bowler of his team. He kept bowling in good areas and didn’t give the batsmen too much width to free their arms. Even while bowling to Russell, he held his nerve and bowled in good areas. Saini definitely looks to be a good prospect for India in the future.

Mohammed Siraj (Wickets: 0 Eco.Rate: 9.5)

Rating: 1/10

Mohammed Siraj bowled quite well early on, but his struggle for wickets continued. He was quite expensive in the death overs and kept bowling in Russell’s arc allowing the West Indian to put him away with ease.

Yuzvendra Chahal (Wickets: 0 Eco.Rate: 15)

Rating: 0/10

This just wasn’t Yuzvendra Chahal’s night. Nothing went right for the leggie. He kept bowling wide of the stump and the batsmen had no problem in hitting him for sixes. He gave away a couple of extras as well which could’ve been avoided.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Andre Russell

Unlike RCB, KKR committed a few errors on the field. They bowled in poor areas and dropped a couple of catches. Even their batting wasn’t up to the mark. They played with little intent and didn’t look interested in scoring runs. The innings picked up once Andre Russell walked in to bat. The West Indian all-rounder brought the team within winning reach, but couldn’t finish the job as KKR succumbed to their fourth consecutive loss.

The players’ report cards are given below:

Chris Lynn (Runs: 1 St.Rate: 50)

Rating: 0/10

KKR needed Chris Lynn to get them off to a great start, but he failed miserably and threw his wicket away cheaply after scoring just one run. Considering he was dropped by Stoinis for a duck, he should’ve made this innings count.

Sunil Narine (Runs: 18 St.Rate: 112.50 Wicket: 1 Eco.Rate 8)

Rating: 5/10

Narine bowled a really good spell with the ball and even picked up the wicket of Parthiv Patel. He was also the most economical of the spinners and conceded runs at just 8 RPO. However, with the bat, he wasn’t in the best of form. Narine just seemed to be swinging at every delivery that came his way. Eventually, he was dismissed for 18 runs by Navdeep Saini.

Shubman Gill (Runs: 9 St.Rate: 81.82)

Rating: 1/10

Shubman Gill just struggled to get going right from the start and threw his wicket away cheaply. He was dismissed for 9 runs by Dale Steyn.

Robin Uthappa (Runs: 9 St.Rate: 45)

Rating: 0/10

Robin Uthappa just wasn’t batting like his usual self. He struggled with his timing and showed no intent at all. His poor efforts with the bat increased the require run-rate while putting unnecessary pressure on his team mates. When he was dismissed for 9, the required run-rate was over 15 runs per over.

Nitish Rana (Runs: 85 St.Rate: 184.78)

Rating: 9/10

Nitish Rana was the surprise no one saw coming. He constructed his innings beautifully and batted very well with Andre Russell. Rana nearly took KKR over the finish line and remained unbeaten on 85 runs.

Andre Russell (Runs: 65 St.Rate: 280 Wickets: 1 Eco.Rate: 5.67)

Rating: 9/10

It should come as no surprise that Andre Russell turned out to be KKR’s trump card. He has single handedly won them matches before and he came close to doing it again. Russell played a magnificent innings that comprised of 2 fours and 9 sixes.

Even with the ball, he was KKR’s standout bowler. He picked up one wicket for 17 runs in three overs.

Harry Gurney (Wickets: 1 Eco.Rate: 10.50)

Rating: 2/10

Harry Gurney tried to vary his pace and bowl a lot of slower balls, but Virat Kohli was able to read him perfectly. Eventually, he got the wicket of Kohli in the final ball of the match.

Prasidh Krishna (Wickets: 0 Eco.Rate: 13)

Rating: 0/10

Prasidh Krishna bowled with some fiery pace, but by doing so, he only made it easier for the batsmen to score runs. He was one of the most expensive bowlers of the match.

Kuldeep Yadav (Wickets: 1 Eco.Rate: 14.75)

Rating: 0/10

On a pitch that had almost nothing in it for spinners, Kuldeep Yadav was easy pickings for the Moeen Ali and Virat Kohli. Moeen alone scored 26 runs of one over from Kuldeep Yadav before being dismissed in that very same over. It was a really disappointing match for Kuldeep.

Piyush Chawla (Wickets: 0 Eco.Rate: 10)

Rating: 1/10

Piyush Chawla only bowled one over in the match and conceded 10 runs. Perhaps it was wise decision by Dinesh Karthik considering what happened to Kuldeep Yadav.