First, they easily beat KKR at the Eden Gardens and then hammered CSK in Chennai. Ayaz, when they did it in Kolkata, you called it an upset, so what are you calling it now?
I think this is a bigger upset than beating KKR. It has just opened up the season for RCB with so much promise, having won two away games and yet to play at home. And what's important, I think is that they are not heavily dependent only on Virat Kohli or one other player. Josh Hazlewood has been their biggest success. Then there's Krunal Pandya, Yash Dayal, Rajat Patidar, and so on.
In the past, you would see them rely heavily on their batting line-up, and maybe a Gayle or an ABD or Kohli saves them. But Rajat Patidar's team seems to be a collective. If it was Krunal Pandya in the first match, Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were brilliant at the top against CSK. I think they gave away only 41 runs in the first 7 overs they bowled, and they picked up 4 wickets.
At the start of the season, I thought that they didn't have a strong team. I thought that maybe short on experience and perhaps even class after having offloaded players like Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj. But Yash Dayal today is a very improved bowler. He is looking better and better with each passing game. Josh Hazlewood, coming back from injury, has just kind of found his peak form, right at the start. So, that's great. And there is Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
I think they also bat deep. Liam Livingstone, Tim David are guys who are of very strong value. Krunal Pandya is a champion all-rounder. So, it's looking to be a very good unit now. But, you know, the challenge begins from here.
Let's talk about CSK and a very interesting statement made by Stephen Fleming after the match for a moment. He said that there is no home advantage at the Chepauk. If you take this particular match, maybe he is right. The fast bowlers got a lot of help from that wicket. But then again, you see Noor Ahmed has the purple cap. It's the spinner who has got seven wickets bowling on the same pitch in two matches. So, what did you make of Fleming's statement?
It is very intriguing what he said. Did he mean to say we could have done better but we didn't? Or was he saying other teams are improving and therefore, we better improve in other departments fast? When you look at it, CSK's performance was mediocre. There were dropped chances and it just didn't seem like Chennai were in their best form. The crowd-pleasing cameos from Dhoni are not good enough to win you matches or the title. I think that there is some concern which I sensed in Stephen Fleming's statement at the end of the match. But again, you know, these are early days, it's not like they have lost 3-4 matches on the trot.
Noor Ahmed was very good as always. But the other spinners didn't kind of turn the screws on the batting. But there are lessons to be learnt without doubt. I think Ashwin and Jadeja might feel unhappy with their own performance in both departments.
Let's now talk about the man, MS Dhoni. First of all, we heard Ambati Rayudu make this statement that CSK fans are Dhoni fans first and then the team's fans. Which he says is bad for the franchise, especially after MSD retires. And the second part, you eventually did see him come out to bat and he smashed 30 of 16. So, what is he doing at number 9?
That's a big question. Since last season, it seems that he is doing the role of the impact player towards the end. He is coming in, blasting 20-25 runs in maybe 8 or 10 deliveries... But you may not always be in that situation to make only 20-25 runs. Sometimes the demand may be to make 75-80 runs. If you are not doing that, then your position and your role in the batting order come up for scrutiny.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, so far, has made a huge impact with his wicket-keeping. He has pulled off two magnificent stumpings in both matches. So his reflexes are not the concern.
Ambati Rayudu has raised different questions altogether. He is saying that CSK fans are not necessarily so interested in the result. They are interested in seeing Dhoni come out. So, I think that's also something that they need to sort out.
Dhoni is a superstar. And there is a whole commercial dimension to the IPL and franchises which you cannot ignore. You can't say that I will only choose players who I think may go and win matches but may have no star value.
But yes, weightage should be given to performances, and what can lead you to win is something that has to be reviewed. I think after each match, this is what CSK should do.
This was a huge defeat for CSK at home, the likes of which they hadn't seen before. Let's see whether they would take any lessons from it or stick to the same plans...
