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00:00Hi guys, welcome once again to Straight Bat with Golf News and Mr. Cricket UAE himself.
00:05We had another cracking match, RCB had a perfect tonic with a thrashing of poor old Rajasthan.
00:11We're joined as ever by Anis himself and I'll say hi to him first and then he can do his introductions.
00:19Hi Matt, hi Shyam, hi Satish, hi Romit, hi Hussain. It was not a cracking match, it was a whipping of RCB which I remember telling on our fan page that RCB is going to whip the RR boys and it did happen.
00:42I'm afraid at one stage they were 100 for 1 and at that time I thought I might be proved wrong. But RR probably were too much in a hurry and they were around 150.
00:53So they managed to score 50 runs probably in the last 10 overs and lost, I don't know how many wickets, 9 wickets rather.
01:00Shyam, can you give us a little wrap-up from the stadium?
01:06Yeah, I pretty much agree that it was not a cracking match at all. Although it promised to be one, but it never reached that height.
01:14The start was stunning actually. I thought we had a match on our hands. But the thing is, once the openers left, there was hardly any fight left in Rajasthan.
01:24And the thing is, Rajasthan is so much reliant on Sanju Samson that the moment he goes, the rest of them collapse in a heap.
01:32This has been a pattern we have seen in all the other previous matches. So when he went, the collapse and when the crash occurred, it was not much of a surprise really.
01:43And anything less than 150, I never thought that would be enough to test a Bangalore batsman. And it just goes to the wicket.
01:53It's pretty anticlimactic.
01:57Dr. Romit, we'll come to you with your black armband on first. The Rajasthan Royals are looking as though they might be a spent force this time around.
02:06I am confused to be honest. Because we had the first 10 overs full of adrenaline and then we had the remaining 30 overs full of hypertension.
02:20Like Mr. Cricket said, I have already packed my bags. But I have a few things to say. Definitely what Shyam said, that Sanju Samson, people rely on him a lot.
02:33But then today, it was his mistake. When he had hit two sixes in a row, he could have had some patience knowing that the overs from 11 to 15 are critical overs.
02:44And in IPL, I have seen most of the debacles that have happened recently for the best of the best teams is lack of patience.
02:51I don't know why they want to go for shots. They can even go for singles and doubles. They have forgotten that. And that is something to really worry about.
02:58But as you know, today the Royals really were Royals. So Hussain must be happy.
03:05Which Royals?
03:07And Anis proved himself right today. Crackingly right.
03:11I was just going to say that Anis called it on the big show Maxwell himself. He turned up like so. He definitely knows his stuff.
03:22Hussain, you are going to have a smile back on your face. There has been a couple of wobbles for RCB. But they are looking as though they are going to be at least into those playoff positions.
03:32Oh yes, definitely. They have cemented their place in the playoffs now.
03:36And how often we have seen IPL teams getting off to a flyer and not capitalizing in the end.
03:42RCB yet again failing to get a wicket in the powerplay. But then I think champion stuff, Shahbaz and Rajiv Chahal. Great balling.
03:54And Maxwell, I think a sensible innings for him. A couple of close encounters in the beginning. But then the way he played was amazing. So cheers to Bangalore.
04:04Satish, coming over to you there. Obviously Evan Lewis got Rajasthan off to a great start. It looked like it might have been their day.
04:14But the team, Ambarat and even Kohli before he got run out. Maxwell all getting on there. They shared all the wickets. It looked like a real team effort today by RCB.
04:25Yes, it is a real team effort by RCB. But it was made easy by Rajasthan Royals, to be honest. And I would squarely blame somebody like Sanju Samson.
04:36Because after losing the third wicket, you can't go and try to hit over the extra covers and go for a sixth next ball. Or second, the following ball, whatever the number of balls is. Two balls later, maybe.
04:50And the longest boundary, that is. And that's a blunder. It's a royal blunder. For all the Sanju Samson's talent, he has been failing miserably in big games.
05:04This is where he needs to show his consistency, saying that, boys, I am there as a captain to lead you from the front.
05:10If he had waited for a few overs, maybe rotated the strike, or he could have played that role where Kohli played yesterday, where you can allow the other batsmen to go for their shots and you can hold one end up.
05:23These are some of the tactical mistakes you can't do as a captain as well as a talented batsman. That's first and foremost.
05:30And the next good thing which I would like to point out here is, the rhythm Chahal has got into. He is bowling brilliantly.
05:36So, that's probably… We might even think that he would have been a better choice in the World Cup.
05:45So, these are some of the good points. Of course, 149 with such a batting line-up. Actually, when they were going at 200, almost looking at 200, Bangalore could have still chased with the batting line-up they have.
05:58So, that kind of a batting line-up and you end up with 149, it's like a cakewalk for them.
06:04And Satish, let me add to you. Just before the match started, Sandesh Hampson has released a video where he said that, oh, I have proven myself as a batsman consistently.
06:13Today, I have to prove myself as a consistent captain. And then there he goes again and does the mistake.
06:19I really hope he is not watching this because he is going to feel really… Every single one of you have got the knives out for him today.
06:28But just to move on briefly, Rajasthan are completely out of it. Not quite mathematically, I don't think. But pretty much…
06:39Mathematically, everybody has got a chance.
06:41Even Sunrisers might have a chance.
06:43They need a miracle. They need a miracle on a showing like this. And RCB will have their tails up again.
06:51Now, Anis, obviously, we have talked before about Maxwell and he took a bit of a time out for mental issues.
07:00Does he look like he is right back in the zone now?
07:02Oh, yes. I still remember last year, Radha, at the beginning of the year, he had taken a break out of cricket.
07:09And lot of players go through this. Not because of the bio-bubble. But he really was going through a tough time.
07:16Because I have known him through a friend of mine. And that's the reason he had these tough issues.
07:21But his wife helped him out a lot. His wife is an Indian, mind you. Guys, she is from Chennai, just for information.
07:27Oh, okay.
07:28And you know, you need that support of a lady who can change your life.
07:36Because when you get into a depression, it's a very, very difficult thing.
07:39And lot of cricketers, you must have heard, whether it is an X, Y, Z cricketer, they have gone through distorted time.
07:45And lot of people couldn't come out of it. So, it's good to see Maxwell coming out of it and performing with the bat.
07:51Because this was the same Maxwell who had scored 130 runs in 14 games from Punjab.
07:56And today, he is on almost 360 or 70 runs at a strike-range of 150+.
08:01I am sure RCB must be thanking their stars that they made the right choice by bidding him for 14 crores, which is 2 million US dollars.
08:08Yeah, I think we all wish him all the best and hope that we can get the best out of him, especially with the World Cup coming up.
08:16Now, just a last little run around to you guys.
08:21Sham, where do we go from here in terms of the run-in to the playoffs?
08:27Yeah, like we have been discussing for the last two days, it pretty much stays the same.
08:32The top two positions, Chennai and Delhi Capitals are there.
08:38And RCB pretty much cemented the third place.
08:41So, the top three spots are taken.
08:45So, the scramble is between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians.
08:53Mumbai Indians, yeah.
08:54Yeah, so it will come down to me, between them.
08:59Right now, on current form, actually Kolkata have their tails up, in fact, because they have come behind at least three wins and just one loss.
09:09And that loss also was a very close one.
09:11So, right now, on form, Kolkata looks good, but I would never write off Mumbai after they really put up.
09:18Okay, I think we'll wrap it up there because, I mean, we've covered everything.
09:22As you said, we mentioned a lot of this last night as well, and we'll just see how it transpires tomorrow.
09:27Thank you so much to our guests, Romit and Hussein, and as usual to Anis and Satish and also Sham.
09:35And we'll be back tomorrow to do it all over again.
09:38So, thanks very much, guys, and we'll speak to you later.