Harpreet Brar, a little known left-arm spinner, turned an unlikely hero for Punjab Kings against Royal Challengers Bangalore this evening. Playing his first match this season, he turned the match on it's head by picking up the prize wickets of Virat Kohli (35), Glenn Maxwell (0) and AB de Villiers (3) in a space of two overs to set up a 34-run win for his team.
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00:00RCB, Gautam, will have to look at their number 3. I'm afraid, even though we are talking about AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, Billard Kohli, and David Padikkal, but their one player, they need to, I know Rajat had a bad game, but there's a guy in the dugout by the name of Finn.
00:16Hello guys and welcome once again to Straight Bat with Mr Cricket UAE, Anas Sajjian and with Golf News.
00:35We're here with Anas himself, myself, Gautam from India and Sahil, our resident cricket expert.
00:43Now, a little bit of a turn up for the books today as Punjab take on RCB, but first of all, let's say hi to Anas.
00:51Hi Matt and hi everybody. As always, I keep saying and we all believe that you should log on to your favourite page, Golf News, predict the winner, walk away with this beautiful jacket and three months of subscription.
01:06Straight into it, Anas. RCB were not expecting this one today, were they? That was a brilliant performance by Rahul, brilliantly backed up by Chris Gayle, cameo at the end as well.
01:22It seems to be that 170s is the flavour of the month right now. All the scores seem to be one in the 170s.
01:34Well, yes, you're right Matt. We all had predicted that it was going to be RCB all the way. And at one stage, they were stumbling at 118 for five.
01:45But they stitched a partnership, Rahul as well as Harpreet, ensured that they got that 20 runs extra and scored 179.
01:53And then, suddenly, the wicket played different. And unfortunately for Virat Kohli, no excuses for that, but his opening partner Rajat Padithar got stuck.
02:04And they had no idea how to go about it. And in the heap, they lost three wickets. Like Virat Kohli slogged, he got out. Glenn Maxwell played the wrong line.
02:15And AB de Villiers probably was too late behind the order. And after that, it was history. RCB was always chasing the game.
02:25And Gautam, obviously, as we just touched on there, this is a very different kind of knowledge and, shall we say, even lack of confidence that came into the batting line-up compared to what we saw against Delhi.
02:42Yeah, but you see, this can happen. And for that, I would like to give a lot of credit to that opening spells by Shami and Meredith.
02:51You know, the way they extracted life from the wicket and then that early wicket of Padikkal.
02:58Certainly, I mean, I won't say complacence. There can be nothing of that sort in a T20 game.
03:06But then suddenly with Padikkal not being able to force the pace, it became a bit of a struggle for Kohli.
03:12And then, you know, came those two magical overs from this guy, Harpreet Brar. And the match turned on its head.
03:20And Sahil, obviously, do we think that we talked about how great he's been, but was Harshal a little bit expensive today?
03:31Yeah, he's been having a tough time since that Jadeja massacre, you know.
03:38Also, in the last two overs, he went fighting 39 runs. So, I mean, yeah, the guy is still the leading wicket-taker, but he cannot be conceding such runs towards the end.
03:49So, yeah, it's costly, you know. KL went a bit slow after the wickets of Gale, Huda and all.
03:57But then in the end, they all attacked. So, yeah, Harshal's got him.
04:01I think what's happening, Sahil, with Harshal is, I mean, in those games, I think he was getting a bit of...
04:09If, you know, that off-pace thing in the wicket doesn't help him, then the batsman, then good batsmen can easily pick him up to attack as a soft spot.
04:20It's turning out to be counterproductive to use him on wickets like Ahmedabad. What do you say, Anish, about that?
04:29Spot on. Spot on, Gautam. You mentioned it right. Where the ball is coming on to the bat, you can attack him because he doesn't have space.
04:39Where there is a little bit of slowness in the wicket, he can probably use that.
04:43And we saw what happened in Mumbai when Jadeja tore him apart. And today too, probably, I would say that he bowled the wrong line and wrong length.
04:52And he was easily taken apart by a youngster, Harpreet. So, it might be at the back of Virat Kohli's mind now to change his dead bowling.
05:00Maybe, you know, switch it to probably Siraj because he missed a trick because Siraj did not bowl one over.
05:07I was just going to suggest that maybe it's time to, especially these guys that have achieved quite well, giving them a rest, even if it's just for one match.
05:19It could make all the difference just to keep them fresh. You see it in baseball all the time.
05:26You know, like they say, okay, we've got a big game coming up, but I'm going to rest them and we're going to keep them fresh for the next one, just to get the two points.
05:35Yes, Sahil, you can answer this.
05:43Can you repeat the question, sir? I was not focusing.
05:46Just saying, maybe sometimes, even if you're up against tough opposition, it's worth it just to rest your guys sometimes to keep them fresh for the next game coming up.
05:56And to just give them that little bit of time on the sidelines.
06:02I would say no, I don't think so. Because every game is important. Okay, maybe towards the end.
06:08Suppose if your team has won like 12 out of 14 games and you know you've maintained that number one spot, then okay, yes, you can rest the guy so that you can be fit for players.
06:17But every game is important. Today, I think everyone thought that RCB is going to kill Punjab. But no, they didn't. Punjab killed RCB.
06:28So, I don't think a team should take a risk of resting one of their main players. No, I definitely don't think so.
06:38Okay, we talked about Gautam, we talked about the other day, the very expensive king of T20 cricket, Chris Gayle, really hadn't shown up today.
06:55Did he prove his worth today with his, let's say, sideman role to Rahul?
07:03Oh, absolutely. See, I mean, this Punjab batting remains as brittle as ever. I mean, sometimes you feel that if Rahul can bat at both ends, it would suit them.
07:13So today, there was this valuable partnership between him and Gayle. And Gayle at 41, he's shown a different facet of his batsmanship.
07:23I mean, there were several instances of finding the gaps. Of course, those sixes were there. And he's really, I don't know how many times it's the job of the statisticians to say,
07:36I mean, the first time that I've seen him bat at number three was last year's IPL in UAE. I've never seen him do this.
07:44But, you know, the way he has been trying his best to help the team is exemplary. He has proved the worth or proved the way Kings XI, in fact, that time they were Kings XI.
07:59They took him when nobody, no other side, he went on. So he is really the master that he is. He has proved his worth.
08:08Now, to touch on, just as you mentioned there about the UAE, to touch on something quite serious at the moment.
08:16There was talk about them, the World Cup, the World T20 Cup. A few guys went on record today saying that they're already preparing to go with backup plan B,
08:31which would be back in the UAE, which they had in the IPL last season. Now, Anis, in your opinion, do you think it's a good idea right now to go full steam ahead and keep it in India?
08:44Or should we be looking at the UAE as a realistic option right now?
08:47It's still early days, to be very honest. As of now, the way the cases are rising in India, it doesn't look the right place to conduct a world event.
08:57But if they're able to pull off the IPL without any more stumbles, I don't see the World Cup happening anywhere except India.
09:06Okay. And Gautam, I'll just back to you there. I mean, obviously, we've seen a lot of these showing guys pull out.
09:16Will some of the international stars then maybe be reluctant to go to India, even if things do stabilize?
09:24The thing is, UAE and Sri Lanka had been kept as plan B by ICC since last year, when they decided to reshuffle the dates.
09:37Now, what has happened is when a BCCI official is going on court, which means, you know, it's an admission of how serious the thing is at this point.
09:50But it's still early days, because the World Cup, you cannot really be juggling from one place to another.
09:56And why the BCCI chose to host the IPL this year in the country was, you know, they couldn't imagine that the second surge would be as severe.
10:06So they thought that it will be a test case for the World T20.
10:11The last time they only hosted it, but that was 2016. And it was, you know, it was normal times.
10:18So this is an experiment that they had taken. While organizationally, things seem to be okay.
10:24But once again, you know, there is that bit of a situation that everybody is praying and keeping their fingers crossed that the tournament passes off without a hitch.
10:34Absolutely. And obviously, we talked on before about the, it gives a slight sense of relief,
10:44even though some people say it's inappropriate in such dark times that they've decided to push ahead and they're going to keep going ahead with this one.
10:52So I guess we'll just see how it pans out and hopefully everything can get back to a sense of normality.
11:02Now, Sahil, looking ahead to tomorrow, we've got a little cracker.
11:06And I have to take my words back because you got absolutely bang on the other day when I was saying that you were going to get them wrong about Rajasthan.
11:14And the, OK, so we've got Mumbai Indians against Chennai tomorrow.
11:24We'll get three teams tied on 10 points and we're going to have to start looking at who are the proper contenders to get through.
11:33Can Mumbai move back up and get themselves among the big three as it looks at the moment?
11:40It's apparently the El Classico of the IPL. So we don't know if Mumbai will win or I don't know if CSK will win.
11:49But if you're asking me, yes, Mumbai can surely beat them. You know, they've got the mentality, you know, the winning mentality.
11:56So it's going to be a cracker of a game. But if you want me to pick one, I have to pick CSK.
12:03OK, I'm writing this down. I've got proof.
12:09And so do you think that Ronaldo, if he paid him enough money, he probably would play in this game?
12:17I personally think Mumbai have got it in them to get themselves up to eight points.
12:22They've got that little gap now. Obviously, like I said, Mumbai, sorry, Chennai, Delhi and RCB are all in 10 points.
12:29All looking fairly well positioned for the playoffs. But Mumbai are a little bit cut adrift on six points.
12:35And they really need to come back because if they were to stay on six and Chennai go to 12, they're going to have a little alarm bell going.
12:47You asking me this?
12:48Yes.
12:49Today, because I was not able to hear that.
12:53Oh, yes.
12:54Sorry, no, I just said alarm bells if they don't win, because there'll be a six point gap if they lose to Chennai.
13:00At the moment, if I have to pick one team, like you asked, who would probably be the favourite tomorrow?
13:07So maybe CSK has a slight edge because they have been playing totally as a team, whereas Mumbai has stumbled and reached to six points.
13:15They have reached a wicket where they like the ball coming under the bat.
13:18It depends on what sort of wicket. If it's going to be a slow wicket like what we saw today, probably CSK will have all aces up.
13:25But if it's a wicket where the ball comes under the bat and you can play along with the line, I feel then it's going to be a good contest.
13:34But I'll still give it 60-40 to CSK. And yes, alarm bells will definitely ring for Mumbai.
13:39But one point I just wanted to hit upon the earlier game, which we probably lost it when we were discussing the T20 World Cup,
13:45is that RCB, Gautam, will have to look at their number three.
13:49I'm afraid, even though we are talking about AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli and they in particular.
13:56But their one player, they need to… I know Rajat had a bad game.
14:00But there's a guy in the dugout by the name of Finn. It's called, I think, Alan Finn from New Zealand.
14:06They will have to either drop a foreign player and get him in or find out somebody who can really up the tempo.
14:12Because what has happened is Virat Kohli needs to anchor the innings. I repeat, Virat Kohli needs to anchor the innings.
14:17So, there are two guys, AB de Villiers as well as Glenn Maxwell, who are going to up the ante.
14:21But in case the guy at the other end gets stuck, you need somebody to hit around.
14:27And that's that boy, which I'm talking about, who's got a solid strike rate of 150 or 160.
14:33He needs to step in because this was a real test for Virat Kohli.
14:36Two games in a row, they have lost one to CSK one year.
14:39If there is a slow wicket, they're going to struggle.
14:44Okay. And you caught him up so quickly. What do you think about that?
14:49Does that seem like the right way to go?
14:52Yes. The thing is, you know, Kohli also has…
14:56There have been some times when he takes this experimentation a bit too seriously.
15:02That's what had been happening with… Because we have seen this guy Shahbaz Ahmed batting at No. 3 couple of times.
15:09We have seen Patidar batting. When you have that kind of a depth, then maybe with…
15:15You know, now Devdutt Padikkal has reached such a stage.
15:18Actually, he can play the senior partner as an opener.
15:21So, you can get another opener because Virat is anchoring the innings and he's become more of a pivot rather than…
15:29You know, of course, the batsman of Virat's capability, making use of the power play is nothing for him.
15:36But they can experiment a bit maybe with the opening slot and he used to come down at No. 3.
15:42I think he used to come at No. 3. They can try that.
15:45Or as Anish says, that you try this overseas player by making some re-jigging of the squad below and then see how it goes.
15:54Spot on, Gautam. I am with you.
15:56I would like to see Virat fully at No. 3. I don't see him playing at No. 1.
16:00Because he's one guy, when he's at the crease, the dugout feels secured as well as the opposition feels…
16:06No, as long as Virat is there, we can't get an entry into the middle order.
16:10Okay, now just looking, I'm up there and Finn Allen is actually… He's a wicket-keeper as well.
16:18He's a kiwi.
16:20Wicket-killer right-handed batsman.
16:23I've honestly never heard from him, but he was a replacement for Philippe.
16:29Yeah, he was your Philippe.
16:32Yeah, interesting. Cool.
16:35So, I think with that, we're in for a cracker tomorrow and I hope that all you guys will be here for that.
16:43Thanks again to Anish, to Gautam and to Sahil for joining us.
16:49Everybody out there, again, don't forget to log on to Facebook and vote for your favourite man of the match in every single match
16:57and you get a chance to win one of these tops and also three-month subscription to Golf News.
17:03And as usual, thanks for listening and we shall see you all tomorrow.
17:07Cheers, guys.
17:08See you, guys. Take care.
17:19See you.