Well, I did say that might be a thrashing. No one was really expecting RCB to be handing it out though. Their outstanding bowlers did the job really and made life very easy for the top order to see the side home. It’s an important win too, as this was only their fifth match and they had some catching up to do in terms of the number played. With any luck, from their perspective, this will help them kick on.
That’s all from me tonight. Stick around as the match report is nearly done and dusted. Then join either me or Simon Burnton tomorrow (depending on how the Test match is going) for the double-header. Thanks for reading. Bye!
RCB win by nine wickets
16th over: RCB 130-1 (De Villiers 47, Kohli 62) target 131 Hooda’s first ball is full and whipped to the mid-wicket fence by De Villiers. That’s that, then.
Updated
15th over: RCB 130-1 (De Villiers 43, Kohli 62) target 131 It’s Kulkarni to bowl and Kohli begins with a hook along the ground to the boundary for one. A push down the ground then means that RCB are just a hit away, but Kohli can only pull a bouncer to mid-wicket for two. Wide full-toss next, pushed square for a single, but De Villiers can only get one from the last two balls. Scores level.
14th over: RCB 124-1 (De Villiers 41, Kohli 58) target 131 Right, this shouldn’t take long from here. Tambe comes back with just 17 needed and, after De Villiers takes a single, Kohli gets to the pitch and hammers another straight six. A trio of singles to complete the over and I dare say we’ll only have one more.
13th over: RCB 114-1 (De Villiers 39, Kohli 50) target 131 Ha! This is hilariously dismissive. Watson throws everything into this short ball, Kohli takes one step and has time to give the bowler a withering look as he whacks it effortlessly back down the ground for six. That brings up the 100, then a two, followed by a one brings up 50 for Kohli. As a captain and as a batsman today, he’s been brilliant. De Villiers gets on strike and rockets a full one back past the bowler, along the ground for four. Two, then one more makes 16 for the over.
13th over: RCB 98-1 (De Villiers 32, Kohli 41) target 131 Faulkner back as the required rate drops below five. There’s almost a soupcon of excitement as AB gets a leading edge down the ground past the bowler, but all that results is a single. For the third successive over, five from it. 25 balls since the last boundary, but it doesn’t really matter.
12th over: RCB 93-1 (De Villiers 31, Kohli 37) target 131 I imagine these two will look to just cruise home in risk-free fashion from here. Tambe, whose first two overs went for 11 and 10, is tighter here although you get the feeling that’s more the batsmen’s choice. Five from the over again, one (a single) to De Villiers, four (two singles and a two) to Kohli.
11th over: RCB 88-1 (De Villiers 30, Kohli 33) target 131 Morris, with 0-18 from his first two, will be hoping things go a bit better from his last two. In the playing XI fan vote thing they do, 4.3% of voters decided they’d rather not have De Villiers in the RCB lineup. I can’t understand those people. Kohli dabs for a sharp single to bring up the 50 partnership, although a direct hit from the keeper would have sent AB packing.
10th over: RCB 83-1 (De Villiers 28, Kohli 30) target 131 Hello again. Kulkarni back into the attack, with just 55 needed. Singles from the first three balls bring that down in the slowest way possible, before De Villiers changes things up with a glance for two round to fine leg. One more from each of the final two balls.
9th over: RCB 76-1 (De Villiers 24, Kohli 27) target 131 The Royals retain faith in Tambe, but De Villiers smacks the second ball over mid-on for a one-bounce four. The required rates is down to just over five now, so Tambe and Watto have a mid-over conference. Come on, guys. Tambe fires one down on De Villiers’ pads and gets whipped down to long-leg for four more, and that’s time for the time-out.
8th over: RCB 66-1 (De Villiers 15, Kohli 26) target 131 Ah it’s a change of ends for Watson. Kohli whips a drive square through the off-side for one, then De Villiers knocks it down the ground for another. Watson tries the slower bouncer trick again, but Kohli turns it to Pravin Tambe at fine-leg and the veteran’s misfield allows them a couple. One more down to third man, then AB drives dead straight for one more. Six from the over and Watson has at least got a nice spell of 1-7 from his two overs to his name.
7th over: RCB 60-1 (De Villiers 13, Kohli 22) target 131 Excellent job done, Watto removes himself from the attack and introduces spin, in the form of Tambe. I have to say, he’s a canny bowler who looks better than the league cricket he’s signed up to play over here in England this summer. Oh no, he drops short and Kohli demolishes it, over mid-on and way back into the stands. Eight from the first three balls, then they run two with no effort at all.
6th over: RCB 49-1 (De Villiers 12, Kohli 12) target 131 It’s a double change as James Faulkner comes on for a bowl. De Villiers takes a couple from the first ball, then laces a lovely drive through cover for four. Faulkner drops short and gives AB a bit of width, which is a terrible idea, obviously, and it’s cut through extra cover to the rope. The fifth ball is dabbed to gully and brings an excellently run single. Kohli on strike for the final ball and it brings an identikit one.
Wicket! Gayle c Samson b Watson 20
Booo! Watson takes all the pace off the ball, sending down as slow a bouncer as you’ll see. Gayle gets caught in two minds, thinks about playing the dab-pull and it loops up off the top edge and through to the keeper who takes it above his head.
4th over: RCB 36-0 (Gayle 20, Kohli 11) target 131 Boos ring out as Gayle pushes down the ground for a single. As the commentators point out, this medium-quick bowling is to Gayle like a picnic to a grizzly bear, so why persist with it this long? A long-hop is waved nicely over mid-wicket for four by Kohli, then an edge down to third man is cut off for two.
3rd over: RCB 28-0 (Gayle 19, Kohli 4) target 131 De Villiers is padded up; if he’s moved up to three that’s a hell of a statement from RCB, but makes their lineup incredibly top-heavy. The faintest hint of width from Morris and Gayle punches a rocket through cover, all along the ground for four. He then misses out on a high full-toss, but thumps the next one off the back foot again over extra-cover for four more. The final ball is in the slot and smashed for six over long-on. 424 boundaries for Gayle in his IPL career, compared to 526 singles. That’s ridiculous.
2nd over: RCB 13-0 (Gayle 5, Kohli 3) target 131 It’s going to be Dhawal Kulkarni from the other end. He strays on to Gayle’s pad and it brushes the pads on its way down to long-leg for the first boundary of the innings, albeit in leg-byes. Gayle then rocks on to the back foot and lifts an effortless drive over the man at mid-on and away for four more.
1st over: RCB 4-0 (Gayle 1, Kohli 2) target 131 Gayle and Kohli come out to open, with Morris the bowler in the firing line. Gayle especially has a point to prove after being dropped for the last match, while Kohli is hardly a wallflower with the bat. A second-ball leg-bye brings the first run, then an elegant cover drive for one brings the first off the bat. A good slow yorker is well dug out by Gayle for one to get the big man off the mark. The final ball finds the leading edge to cover and brings one more.
Stat!
The lowest total defended by #RR is 144/6 in #IPL beat #KKR 125/10 at Jaipur 2013 #RRvRCB
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) April 24, 2015
This should be over quickly. Gayle, Kohli and ABdV have a chance to make a real statement here.
End of innings
20th over: Royals 130-9 (Tambe 2, Morris 3) The first ball of the final over sees Kulkarni comprehensively bowled. Tambe survives two balls and indeed gets off the mark from the second, giving Morris the strike. Apparently the 43-year-old Tambe has two first class matches to his name. A full-toss is squeezed away off the bottom of the bat for one by Morris, before Starc shaves Tambe’s off-stump with the penultimate ball. A single from the last ball. Starc finishes with 3-22 from his four overs.
Wicket! Kulkarni b Starc 1
Kulkarni backs away to leg and Starc dismissively sends his off-peg tumbling. Nine down now.
19th over: Royals 127-8 (Kulkarni 1, Morris 2) Remarkably, the Royals may have half a mind on avoiding the ignominy of being bowled out here. Harshal Patel will bowl this final over and Faulkner is nearly run out by the 17-year-old Sarfaraz going for a sharp single to cover. Ones from each of the first four balls, then Karthik earns his entirely salary with that catch alone. Just one from the last ball and that’s an outstanding over.
Wicket! What a catch! Faulkner c Karthik b H Patel 4
Oh this is absurd keeping! Faulkner squats to play the Dilscoop and feathers the slower ball round the corner. Dinesh Karthik flings himself to his left and snaffles a wonderful reaction catch, then does well to keep hold of the ball when landing.
18th over: Royals 122-7 (Faulkner 2, Morris 0) Now Mitchell Starc comes back into the attack and his ODI captain is on strike... for just the one ball. Faulkner comes to the crease with his side struggling badly. He gets on strike thanks to a single to Binny and dabs to backward point for a single to get off the mark. That brings Binny back to the crease and he doesn’t hang around long, holing out for a 19-ball 20. Chris Morris is the new man. The Royals made 3-2 from that over, so not a great one for them.
Wicket! Binny c Wiese b Starc 20
Binny goes, slicing a big booming drive up in the air and finding the man at deep extra-cover.
Wicket! Smith c Karthik b Starc 31
A wide yorker and Smith slices it straight up. Karthik completes the formalities.
Updated
17th over: Royals 119-5 (Smith 31, Binny 19) That’s more like it actually from Binny, reverse-sweeping Chahal over backward point for a one-bounce four. The bowler then drops short, but Binny misses out cutting to the fielder on the rope. Another reverse sweep, but Gayle reads it and adjusts his position accordingly to save three. Binny then looks to smash it high over extra-cover, doesn’t get hold of it but the ball lands safely between three converging fielders.
16th over: Royals 109-5 (Smith 29, Binny 11) Ugh, terrible fielding by Iqbal Abdulla. Binny goes dead straight, up in the air and presents Abdulla with an absolute dolly. It goes into the hands and bobbles straight out again. Easy as you like, that. Wiese, the bowler, responds admirably to the disappointment, beating Smith’s attempted cut a couple of balls later. Binny looks to slog the penultimate ball, backing away and slapping a tennis forehand to long-off for the ugliest single imaginable. Stuart Binny’s ongoing employment in cricket tarnishes the sport. Smith shows how it’s done from the final ball, stepping across and helping the ball on its way to the fine-leg fence with the delicate swivel-hook.
15th over: Royals 100-5 (Smith 24, Binny 7) The extended break between entries was, as you may have guessed, on account of a time out thing. Harshal Patel is back. You might think someone might go after him here, but no. The closest thing we get from the first four balls is Binny miscuing a wild, angry hook off the bottom edge and straight into the ground. One, one, dot, dot, then Binny feathers an edge just wide of the keeper for a blessed boundary. He was looking to run it down to third man, didn’t get it off the face of the bat but got the desired result anyway. A leg-bye from the last ball brings up the team hundred.
14th over: Royals 93-5 (Smith 23, Binny 2) Wiese again and Smith bottom-edges a cut down past his off-stump. A single to bring Binny on strike, then he whips square for one to get off it. This has been a cracking bowling effort, with just seven boundaries and three sixes conceded so far. It’s all on Smith, but with wickets tumbling he hasn’t been able to get going.
13th over: Royals 89-5 (Smith 21, Binny 0) OK Chahal is back on to bowl. I guess this has to be his final over, as he’s already bowled that one extra ball in the over that Kohli completed. He gets rid of the new batsman Samson – or rather he throws his wicket away – bringing Binny to the crease. You don’t want to be relying on Stuart Binny. In fact Samson didn’t get any bat on that, it was simply a good, turning leg-break that bowled him. Just two – from a cover drive the ball before the wicket – from the over.
Wicket! Samson b Chahal 4
This is pretty pathetic. A big cross-batted heave, it takes the inside edge and once again the stumps are messed up.
12th over: Royals 87-4 (Smith 21, Samson 2) It looks like Chahal is back on the field. For the time being though, Abdulla is on for his final over with a tidy 0-23 from his first three. He sends down the filthiest wide imaginable as the ball squirts out the side of his hand, but follows it immediately with a wicket.
Wicket! Hooda b Abdulla 1
This is the most straightforward wicket you’ll see: Hooda swings his bat in a big arc, misses it and middle stump is pegged back.
11th over: Royals 82-3 (Smith 19, Hooda 1) Nice shot from Smith, stepping a long way across to off and whipping the ball around the stumps for four to fine-leg. He follows this up with a cut for two, after Gayle makes a good half-stop, then drives for a single to finish the over.
Rest of 10th over: Royals 73-3 (Smith 11, Hooda 0) Kohli is going to bowl the remaining five balls himself and it’s tidy enough, apart from a waist-high full toss that Smith punches away to the fielder on the rope and indeed that brings a run-out.
Wicket! Nair run out 16
Good work by Kohli. The batsmen came back for the second in no hurry as the throw came back in from the boundary. Kohli received it on the popping crease and threw it underarm into the stumps. Nair was miles out.
10th over: Royals 68-2 (Smith 8, Nair 14) Here we go again and Chahal puts down a caught-and-bowled chance of sorts, as Nair hammers it back at him, at head height to the bowlers right. He gets a hand to it and appears to have hurt his little finger. He’s not going to be able to continue.
9th over: Royals 68-2 (Smith 8, Nair 14) The South African David Wiese enters the attack and Nair runs his medium pace down to third man for one. Smith then pushes out to cover for another and Karun goes down the ground, just for a single once again. Singles the order of the day as Smith cuts gently away, then Nair does the same. Five off the over. Time-out time.
8th over: Royals 63-2 (Smith 6, Nair 11) Another change as Abdulla returns to bow his non-turning slow ones. Karun plays a nice checked, aerial, straight drive down the ground, but Mandeep Singh comes around to field it on the bounce. They get one, Smith gets another then Nair brings out the slog-sweep over mid-on for six. He’s hit on the pad next ball looking to repeat the trick, but outside the line of off.
7th over: Royals 54-2 (Smith 5, Nair 3) So after a solid start, the Royals have to do rip it up and start again.
Two singles from the first three balls of Patel’s over, both scored while I was looking for the above video, then Smith hammers away a neat pull-shot for a couple more. Nair does it himself but it’s closer to the mid-wicket fielder and kept to one. Good over that for RCB.
6th over: Royals 48-2 (Smith 1, Nair 1) Spin from both ends now as the leggie Chahal comes on and his first ball is slogged over mid-on by Watson for six. Two balls later he comes down to the pitch of the ball on leg-stump and chips it a foot or so over the man at mid-on and down to the rope for four. Watto gets greedy though and holes out to Starc, who had been positioned at long-on exactly for that shot. Good captaincy, I guess, from Kohli but it was, ahem, uncharacteristically brainless from Watson. Nair gets off the mark with a single nudged into the on-side, then Smith does the same.
Updated
Wicket! Watson c Starc b Chahal 26
Watson has a big swing but hits it flat to Starc about 10 feet inside the rope at long-on.
Updated
5th over: Royals 36-1 (Smith 0, Watson 16) Perhaps because people have been born and subsequently died of old age in between each of Starc’s deliveries, he’s out of the attack and replaced by Harsha Patel. It’s tight, wicket-to-wicket stuff and yields just two singles from the first four balls. Rahane then punches down the ground and a bad misfield at mid-off sees the ball bobble up and over Sarfraz Khan and away for four. The last ball brings a wicket.
Wicket! Rahane lbw b H Patel 18
Walking down the pitch, Rahane plays around a slower ball and is struck by one that would have gone on to hit middle and off, I reckon.
4th over: Royals 30-0 (Rahane 13, Watson 15) Spin again and we’re going to need a lot of it, otherwise this match will finish at about 9pm London time. Rahane levers the first ball, which is too short, over mid-wicket for the first six of the innings. A pair of singles, then Rahane nails a perfect sweep, picking it off middle and hammering it dead square for four. Shot, that. One more from the last ball.
3rd over: Royals 17-0 (Rahane 1, Watson 14) Starc again and he’s taking forever between deliveries. This over is going slower than the last two Song of Ice and Fire books. After two dots, Starc drops short and Watson mistimes a pull uppish, through mid-on for four. Four more from another short one, outside off this time and cut over backward point. Eight from an interminably long over.
2nd over: Royals 9-0 (Rahane 1, Watson 6) Spin from the other end, with Iqbal Abdulla into the attack. Surely this is a risk against Watson? That said, this guy did get McCullum early against CSK, so who knows? Four dots to begin with, then Watson looks to smite him down the ground but can’t get hold of it. A punch down to long-off for one off the final ball brings the only run of the over.
1st over: Royals 8-0 (Rahane 1, Watson 5) Mitchell “Arya”* Starc will open the bowling to Rahane and gets one to swing back into his front pad. Probably just sliding down leg, but that’s a great start. The next ball does swing down leg and is a wide, but there’s a lot of movement for the left-armer. A single down the ground brings Starc’s Australian teammate Watson on strike and the first ball he faces is another wide. The next is left alone, then there’s a long old pause between balls. Arya goes too full and Watson caresses it through extra cover for four. Swing the other way, away from the right-hander, and Watto gets a thick edge, aerially, down to third man for a single.
*OK I just gave him that nickname myself.
Here we go. Watto and Rahane stroll out to the middle.
Oh cricket. This is a rather depressing, but important, story from our own Ali Martin.
The International Cricket Council has launched an urgent investigation after the Essel Group, the company behind the now defunct Indian Cricket League, began registering companies with names that appear to be rival national cricket boards, raising fears of a future split in world cricket.
The matter was discussed during last week’s ICC board meeting in Dubai, along with the recent registration of website domain names, including worldcricketcouncil.co.in, by an employee of the broadcaster Ten Sports, which is a subsidiary of the Essel-owned Zee Entertainment Enterprises.
Gayle then. His 10 off 24 against Mumbai was one of the worst innings in T20 history, I reckon, but his record in this tournament is astonishing. A top score of 175 – the top score – and the fourth highest run scorer in IPL history from more than 30 fewer innings than anyone above him. All that at an average north of 45.
The noise at the ground is quite something. It’s deafeningly loud and in a way it’s surprising that anyone has any energy. It’s 40 degrees in Ahmedabad.
Sigh
IPL on Sky Sports 1. English Test Cricket on Sky Sports 2. Nice of Sky to start mirroring cricket's commercial hierarchy.
— Aatif Nawaz (@AatifNawaz) April 24, 2015
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The teams
Rajasthan Royals: AM Rahane, SR Watson, SPD Smith*, KK Nair, SV Samson†, DJ Hooda, STR Binny, JP Faulkner, CH Morris, DS Kulkarni, PV Tambe
RCB: CH Gayle, Mandeep Singh, V Kohli*, KD Karthik†, AB de Villiers, SN Khan, D Wiese, HV Patel, MA Starc, Iqbal Abdulla, YS Chahal
The toss
Virat Kohli wins it and asks the Royals to have a bat. Gayle plays for RCB after missing the defeat to the Super Kings.
I’ve also seen this described as the Royals derby. For the record, Rajasthan and Bangalore are 1,296 miles apart. Of course this match is being played in Ahmedabad, what with no matches being allowed in Rajasthan. Just the 915 miles between there and Bangalore.
Today’s riff. I noticed earlier that there is a Disney movie slated for next year, called Bridge of Spies, which led to much speculation as to whether or not it’s a T’Pau musical (starring Amy Adams as Carol Decker). In the finale, the world-conquering villain has just one country left to take over: China. He’s so close, in fact you might say... (you see where this is going).
So, pitch me your best rock band-themed movies. The more obscure the band (while still having a song people can remember), the better.
Preamble
Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble. Don’t call it a royal rumble.
Afternoon/evening, folks. With caution against the kind of moronic inanity that might land me a gig commentating on one of these matches for TV done, let’s have a look at the match, shall we? Before this whole advert tournament started, you’d think of this as a mouthwatering match-up between two of the heavyweights of the competition: Smith, Watson, Faulkner and Southee on one side, Gayle, Kohli, De Villiers and Starc on the other. If that can’t sell the IPL then what can?
Alas, the Royal Challengers have been more disappointing than the finale to Dexter (OK that was harsh). Bottom of the table until Mumbai lost yesterday, they’ve lost three out of four so far. Gayle, Kohli and De Villiers have all scored runs sporadically, but they’re yet to combine to demolish an attack. Plus the second most expensive player in this year’s auction, Dinesh Kartik, is averaging a fraction over 10. Meanwhile of their seamers, only Starc is going for under eight an over, with Sean Abbott’s economy north of 11.
Their opponents tonight, the Rajasthan Royals, are sitting pretty atop the table. They may have finally been beaten, with Kings XI Punjab ending their five-match winning run in their last match, but they’ll be happy anyway. Ajinkya Rahane is in good form, Steve Smith is arguably the hottest batsman in world cricket post-World Cup and they have cap’n Watto (any idea what makes that guy so dislikeable?) back from injury.
So will the scalp of the leaders motivate RCB to the kind of mighty performance of which they’re so clearly capable? Will they finally make good on their talent and turn this into the closest thing the IPL is capable of to a classic? Or is it going to be the pummelling that form and the table suggest it will be, getting me to the pub early? It’s all about me, isn’t it?
Play begins at 2.30pm London time, or 8pm local time. Toss and teams etc. In the meantime, there’s a boxing preview on TV featuring musician Lethal Bizzle. I’ve just been told that our very own Barry Glendenning knows him! This is what Lethal Bizzle sounds like (warning: I don’t know what he sounds like as I haven’t actually watched this):
UPDATE: I listened to a bit of it and dear god it’s awful. Listen to this instead (oh and get the new live album, it’s wonderful):
Dan will be here shortly. In the meantime, catch up on yesterday’s action with his report of Delhi Daredevils’ win over Mumbai Indians:
An IPL record partnership of 154 between Shreyas Iyer and JP Duminy helped the Delhi Daredevils end a run of nine home games without a win by sending the Mumbai Indians to a fifth defeat in six matches this season. Delhi won by 37 runs.
Despite losing Mayank Agarwal for one to the third ball of the innings, an imperious half-century from Iyer, supported by Duminy, quickly put Delhi in control. Some poor bowling in the middle overs from Mumbai’s Kieron Pollard and Jasprit Bumrah, who took one for 55 from his four overs, allowed the Delhi pair to race to the hundred partnership in 11.4 overs with a flurry of boundaries.
The 20-year-old Iyer, whose 83 from 56 balls was the highest score for the Daredevils this season, is sure to have caught the eye of India’s selectors. When he and Duminy took their partnership to 150 in the 16th over it was the highest for any wicket in the 2015 edition of the competition.
