TATA IPL MATCH REVIEWS: MATCHES 1-5

Hello all and welcome to this short review of the first five matches of this year’s IPL, where the home team has always won. So let’s get started!

1. Chennai Super Kings VS Royal Challengers Bengaluru | At Chepauk, Chennai
   CSK always started as favourites coming into this encounter as they returned to their fortress at Chepauk, with a new, exciting and potential long-term captain, Ruturaj Gaikwad. The game started with Faf smoking Chahar and Deshpande to the fence for the first four overs, before the Fizz, Mustafizur Rahman, with his slower ones, got Faf and Rajat Patidar for a duck. The procession continued as even Maxwell was edged for a duck. But Virat and Green briefly brought back RCB with some timely boundaries but a spectacular fielding effort from Rahane and a superb slower ball from the Fizz got Green and RCB were in dire straits. But a superb counter-attack from Anuj Rawat and Dinesh Karthik brought RCB to a total of 173, still under-par. The chase started off to a flyer with some luck, but Rachin Ravindra was hitting boundaries all over the park. RCB kept pegging CSK with the wickets of Ruturaj, Ravindra and Rahane at regular intervals before a superb short-ball ploy got even Daryl Mitchell. Also, Shivam Dube was struggling with the short-ball ploy and RCB were still in the game. But a masterful tactic by CSK, sending in Jadeja instead of Rizvi, which effectively brought down the left-arm spinner, Mayank Dagar who kept Mitchell quiet and when Dube and Jadeja got accustomed to the ruthless short-ball ploy, they started whacking the RCB bowlers around the park and comfortably won it for CSK with 6 wickets in hand and 9 balls spare.
   
2. Punjab Kings VS Delhi Capitals | Mullanpur, Mohali
   With the emotional return of Rishabh Pant in a newly built ground, the Delhi Capitals got off to a flyer courtesy of the big Australians, Marsh and Warner, before both shortly after getting out. After this Shai Hope showed a lot of promise out there but was outdone by Rabada. After Hope got out. Rishabh Pant had to carry on but failed to after cheaply getting out for a quick 18 and the innings completely stumbled after this but a fine knock by impact sub-Abhishek Porel propelled DC to a below-par total of 174. The Kings also were off to a flyer before both openers departed but a well-composed knock by Sam Curran, who just bowled 1 over and a useful contribution from Prabhsimran Singh in the middle, who was the impact sub for the Kings and a strong finish by Livingstone got the Kings home comfortably in the end with 3 balls spare. But a special mention to Rishabh Pant, on his return to professional cricket after a long time, had a superb day behind the stumps by even stumping Jitesh Sharma.
   
3. Kolkata Knight Riders VS Sunrisers Hyderabad | Eden Gardens, Kolkata
   After 2 one-sided games, this year’s TATA IPL had its first thriller at the iconic Eden Gardens, packed with a KKR crowd. KKR were put into bat, and except for Phil Salt, the KKR top-order was blown away cheaply before a good supporting hand from Ramandeep Singh gave Salt some support before both Ramandeep and Salt departed leaving KKR precariously placed. But Russell showed his muscles and tonked everything he saw, giving KKR 208 a good total of 208 on board. The Sunrisers innings started well with Agarwal and Abhishek Sharma sensibly placing and timing the ball to the boundary, but Sunil Narine came in and completely restricted the scoring as the Sunrisers had a tough time getting some handy runs. This proved so instrumental that the equation came to 61 of 18 balls, which was nearly impossible. But then came an absolute carnage from Heinrich Klassen, supported by Shahbaz Ahmed, and out of nowhere, they brought the game to 7 runs of 5 balls. But the talented Harshit Rana, through excellent execution, woke up the depleted KKR fans and KKR won a thrilling game by 4 runs.
   
4. Rajasthan Royals VS Lucknow Super Giants | Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
   Sanju Samson won the toss and opted to bat first in the pink city with an aggressive approach, keeping just 7 batters. Buttler departed early as Jaiswal followed soon with a quick 24. But then Sanju Samson and Parag came to the party and RR were looking for 200-210. But when Parag fell, the innings fell briefly but a quick cameo powered the Royals to a huge 193, with Sanju not out for a brilliant 82. The chase started with Rahul opening, not Padikkal with De Kock but soon after De Kock, Padikkal and Badoni fell by 4 overs, leaving KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda to play a catch-up act as the latter played aggressively. But Chahal removed him and kept RR on top but a fine partnership between Rahul, who looked KLassy and knocked up his 50 and an aggressive Pooran. As they both were running away with the game, RR’s death over specialist, Sandeep Sharma picked Rahul’s wicket, and soon after Stoinis and Pooran fell due to immense pressure building up on the Super Giants, leaving Pooran all alone, to give RR quite a comfortable victory by 20 runs.
5. Gujarat Titans VS Mumbai Indians | Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to field as there would be a good amount of dew in Ahmedabad. The Titans were off to a steady start but once Bumrah removed Saha and Gill fell for Chawla, MI were on top but Sai Sudarshan anchored well through and eventually fell in the 17th century and useful cameos from Omarzai, David Miller and Rahul Tewatia gave the Titans a respectable total of 168 on board, but was 10-20 runs short. But the chase started with Ishan Kishan getting out for a four-ball duck but Rohit Sharma was looking impressive and an aggressive Naman Dhir played a quick-fire 20 on debut giving MI the perfect start even though Kishan got out. When Naman got out, Rohit and Brevis stitched a brilliant partnership and at the 10th over, it looked like MI were going to win for all the money. But after Rohit fell to some disciplined bowling from Sai Kishore, the innings slowed down, building some pressure on the MI batters. But even when Brevis fell, the rate started to soar higher and wickets started stumbling, leaving MI needing 19 off the last over. But after two boundaries Hardik fell, which was followed by a massive roar from the crowd and some boos as well for the MI skipper as the Titans staged an incredible comeback win to start Shubman Gill’s reign as captain and also the first win of their IPL campaign.