The 10th match of the Vivo IPL was different as unexpected 204 runs were scored by Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chidambaram stadium where the average score is 150 runs. The RCB batsmen smashed the KKR bowling attack as they thrashed their bowlers all around the park and posted a total of 204/4 on the board.
After Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat, KKR was on the front foot as their mystery spinner, Varun Chakravarthy got rid of both Kohli and Rajat Patidar in the second over. However, much to everyone’s surprise, KKR skipper Eoin Morgan discontinued his spell from the attack and brought him back in the 8th over when Glenn Maxwell and Devdutt Padikkal were well set. Pundits were clueless about this decision.
Aakash Chopra Explains Why Everything Went Wrong For KKR Skipper Eoin Morgan
Aakash Chopra criticised Eoin Morgan’s tactics of holding back Chakravarthy’s overs instead of using him more in the powerplay. Chopra stated that Morgan should have thought about ending the game early.
“It is said that once you have a wrestler on the mat, you can either give him the chance to get up or crush him. Morgan said he will extend the match; he stopped Varun Chakravarthy after taking two wickets, and when an in-form Maxwell had come to the crease, where you will want a bigger contest at the start,” said Chopra.
He also slammed the English skipper for handing the 19th over to Harbhajan Singh. Chopra was clearly not happy with the way Morgan did his business in their clash against RCB.
“And then he did another surprising thing. He got Harbhajan Singh to bowl the 19th over. Who gives the 19th over to an off-spinner when AB de Villiers and Kyle Jamieson are batting, it means two right-handers. I agree his calculation might have gone slightly wrong, but Shakib’s over was remaining. You could have got a left-arm spinner who takes the ball away,” he added.
Russell was sent at number 6 which was too late and he didn’t get any chance to settle in.
Chopra said: “What was the only way you could have won the match? You could have got out for 150, but the only way to win was to give Russell 40-odd balls to face. If he had come around the 9th over, he could have won them the match, otherwise, the loss was anyway confirmed because 200 runs couldn’t have been chased on that pitch.”
“So Morgan’s captaincy was really below-par. Gautam [Gambhir] said if he had been an Indian captain, the Indian media would have torn his clothes. Just because he is an overseas captain, no one is talking about it, but it should be done because the captaincy was very ordinary,” he concluded.
It was an AB de Villiers show yesterday and no bowlers were spared. Despite the winning start, KKR has now lost 2 consecutive games. KKR will face Chennai Super Kings in their next match at Wankhede Stadium on coming Wednesday
