Category: TATA IPL MATCH REVIEWS

Hello and a warm welcome to another blog on the match reviews on the TATA IPL 2024. So with this short introduction, let’s get right into the content!

16. Delhi Capitals VS Kolkata Knight Riders | Dr Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy Stadium, Visakhapatnam
Shreyas Iyer opted to bat first as he mentioned the wicket was a belter. So it was for Sunil Narine, with the help of U-19 star Angkrish Raghuvanshi, scored 88 in the powerplay and laid the foundation for Shreyas Iyer and Andre Russell to break SRH’s 277 record. Shreyas Iyer couldn’t fire but did support Russell well. After the captain departed Rinku Singh, now almost stamping his post as India’s long-time finisher smoked a couple of boundaries and the rate did touch 14 an over in the 19th over but both Rinku and Russell well in succession and KKR fell short of the record but still got a huge 272 on board. But unlike the SRH game, this game had no fight as the Delhi batters, who had to hit from ball one were cheaply dismissed by Starc, who finally found his form and Vaibhav Arora, who both shared five wickets but Pant and Stubbs fought a lost battle valiantly, with both getting fifties but eventually the Capitals fell short by a huge margin of 106 runs.
In a DC disaster, they took almost 2 hours to bowl their 20 overs, the main factor being KKR hitting 18 maximums. Also, after a long break, Pant was confused about how to set his field after Narine and Raghuvanshi first started hitting the ball in all directions. Delhi will feel happy that he is good with the bat but a major drawback is that Pant missed two DRS opportunities, which proved to be almost 50 runs costly in the end. Delhi in the long run need to improve its bowling, especially Nortje who has been under par with his bowling so far. But on top of that, they need to bowl their overs quickly as Pant has already been fined for over-rate. Speaking on KKR, they played a complete team performance, with the bowlers backing up the batters and they played an almost perfect game. I am saying the word “almost” because they could have broken SRH’s record, but now again the 277 is a huge mountain for a team trying to break the new IPL record. Also, a special mention to Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who had just played his U-19 and in his debut game, playing some beautiful cricketing shots, he supported Narine well and also gave the platform for Russell to smoke some more sixes. So in a way, he had his perfect debut. So Angrish Raghuvanshi and Mayank Yadav are the exciting young talents every team needs to look out for in this IPL.

17. Gujarat Titans VS Punjab Kings | Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and opted to field first. The Titans had a superb start with the bat as Gill found his rhythm for the first time this season, supported by the wise Kane Williamson and Sai Sudarsan to give a good foundation to the innings. Rahul Tewatia added a powerful finish along with his captain, Gill, who remained unbeaten till the end for his 89 to give the Titans a huge 199 on board. The Kings started very badly at the start but Bairstow and Prabhsimran did attack well but went back shortly after. Wickets started crumbling while the Kings kept the rate in check but the game felt it was heading towards the home team winning. But the talented un-capped Indians, Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma, the impact player started to play their shots and got the target well under grasp before Ashutosh fell for a superb 31. But Shashank held his nerve and the Kings chased down a huge total to win a memorable and thrilling game.

In a game where the Titans dominated nearly the entire game and still ended up on the losing side, had a superb total on board after batting first. But perhaps Williamson or Vijay Shankar, who fell cheaply, could have been more aggressive would be on the back of their mind, but at the end of it they had the runs on board and even had a good day with the ball except for the death over as they were dealt with the bat of Shashank Singh, the player who was bought by mistake by the Kings during the auction and the impact substitute, Ashutosh Sharma started to give a glimmer of hope before they eventually started to believe they could win the game and in the end they did a close match with 3 wickets in hand and just a ball spare. Maybe the promising Darshan Nalkande could have been bowled another over in the death as he almost defended 7 runs in the last over but with all being said, Shashank Singh, alongside Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Mayank Yadav are the talents to watch out for this year’s TATA IPL…

18. Sunrisers Hyderabad VS Chennai Super Kings | Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad
Pat Cummins opted to bowl first in a sea of yellow (CSK fans). But they witnessed a disappointing show with the bat as Rachin and Ruturaj were slow at the start on the ground, where more than 500 runs were scored in the last game. Rahane as well was slow but the only man who was aggressive was Shivam Dube, who hit a superb 45, on the other hand, Jadeja hit a 23 ball 31, giving CSK 165, which was almost 30-40 runs under par. The SRH openers just continued from where they left from their previous home game against MI, where the openers put the CSK pacers to the sword and scored 78 in the powerplay, finishing the game effectively here. The other batters, especially Markram, who hit a fifty, consolidated the innings well and SRH were comfortably home with 11 balls spare and 6 wickets in hand.
In this one-sided game., the main difference is the intent of the SRH batters, they attacked from ball one and got the results they wanted, unlike CSK, who were more conservative and scored only 48, the difference in the powerplay between the two teams being a massive 30 runs. Ruturaj maybe could have used his spinners a bit earlier in the powerplay but by the time they started bowling well and controlled SRH, the rate was already below a run-a-ball. So both SRH and CSK have won 2 and lost 2, with both teams winning at home and losing their away games played so far, a thing which both teams would love to improve as they move on into the tournament.

19. Rajasthan Royals VS Royal Challengers Bengaluru | Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
Sanju Samson won the toss and opted to bowl first in a ground where they had won defending totals. The RCB were off to a fantastic start with Kohli in his supreme best and supported well by Faf but the RR spinners kept these two in check. At the halfway mark, they should have got 200-220 with all 10 wickets in hand but when Faf left, Maxwell continued in poor form and there was no support for Kohli, but he still held the innings again and scored a scintillating 113, giving RCB 183, a par total in this ground. RCB did start well with the ball but Samson and Buttler completely dominated the RCB attack, the spinners were ineffective and for a brief period, RCB did come back but it was too late as Buttler finished the game and got his 100 as well.
In RCB’s fourth loss in their first five games, either Faf or Kohli should have switched gears after the 8th over and it wouldn’t matter if one of them got out because there was enough firepower left. And when Saurav got out in the 17th over, Green was sent in, instead of DK, which was a surprise as DK has had a good season so far and 183 was a good total but for a bowling line-up of RCB, even 200 didn’t look enough. There is no proper spinner for the RCB except Maxwell but he couldn’t be used as two right-handers were on the crease. But the Pacers had a good game, especially Reece Topley. I also feel Faf is not using Siraj more frequently in the powerplay, a phase where he was at his prime last year. So the Royals are unstoppable and along with KKR, are still unbeaten but the RCB have a lot of problems, with Maxwell, and Green yet to show their potential, the quality of bowling and the fielding was also absolutely pathetic in today’s game as well, with no one backing up or no one calling the ball near the boundary. For the Royals, they would want to just continue their winning streak…

Hello and a warm welcome to another blog on the match reviews on the TATA IPL 2024. Apologies I couldn’t post a blog for the past 5 days because I was travelling but I will still cover every match of this year’s IPL as promised. So let’s get started.

10. Royal Challengers Bengaluru VS Kolkata Knight Riders | M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to field first on a tricky Chinnaswamy surface. Once again Faf departed cheaply but Green played a good hand alongside Kohli and Maxwell also played a good 28. But after Green and Maxwell got out, Patidar and Rawat fell cheaply but a great flourish by DK and a masterful 83 by Kohli propelled RCB to 182. This looked like a good total for the RCB but Sunil Narine had other plans as he ripped through the RCB seamers supported by Salt to finish the game in the powerplay itself as KKR raced to 85 in the first 6. Even though the openers departed shortly after, the two Iyers, Venky and Shreyas guided KKR home comfortably by 7 wickets.
Speaking about the tactical aspects, even though Kohli’s knock was masterful, it was very slow with a strike rate of just 140 and the top order has still not fired for the RCB. Also the KKR seamers bowled a lot of cutters as the wicket was on the slower side but the RCB were very poor with ball, except Vyshak who just gave 23 runs in his 4 overs, the others getting absolutely whacked around the ground. So to overall review this game, RCB did have the total on board to defend but the bowlers especially Siraj, who went for 46 in his 3 overs and Alzarri Joseph, who went for 34 in just 2 overs are some worrying signs for RCB in the upcoming matches. KKR were undoubtedly the better side with Narine again getting a 47, and everyone else also did contribute equally and quicker than the RCB batters, which ultimately made a huge difference between the two teams, and breaking the jinx by becoming the first away team to win a game in this year’s IPL.

11. Lucknow Super Giants VS Punjab Kings | Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
Nicholas Pooran, captain of the LSG this game, playing KL Rahul has an impact sub, chose to bat first in a track which suited batting, a rare track at the Ekana. de Kock and Rahul started well but soon the latter and Padikkal fell but de Kock was on song but once he departed, the innings started to fall a little bit with even Stoinis and Pooran getting out by the 16th over but an aggressive Krunal Pandya gave the LSG a superb total of 199, but still they would feel they missed out 10-15 runs. The Kings’ openers completely dominated the first 10 overs but were shocked by the speed of Mayank Yadav, bowling even above 155 km/hr, and the Kings just crumbled after this, giving LSG a huge comeback victory of 21 runs.
Eventhough LSG did get 199, still Padikkal hasn’t fired with the bat as well as Badoni, which are some of the batting concerns for LSG. But they would be happy that Krunal Pandya now at 7 hit a 43 to give them 199. The Kings would still feel they left an easy win out there with everything going smoothly until the speedster from Delhi, Mayank Yadav, not only shocked the Kings but also the entire world with his express pace and height was able to completely exploit the rule allowing 2 bouncers, got 3 wickets and giving just 27 runs and other than that, the Kings did absolutely nothing wrong with the bat but the damage inflicted by this young man was more than enough to give Lucknow their first home win. But the Kings can take a lot with this game as Bairstow had his first good hit and Livingstone with bat and Sam Curran with ball were some very good positives going into the tournament for them.

12. Gujarat Titans VS Sunrisers Hyderabad | Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
Pat Cummins opted to bat on the second day game of the season. The openers started slowly but gave SRH a steady start but soon Agarwal and Head, unlike last game didn’t fire. Abhishek Sharma also played a good 29 but with him, Markram played very slowly with a 19 ball 17. Some good cameos from Klassen and Samad gave SRH 162, which was easily chased by the Giants, with all the top 5 batters playing a good, especially the partnership between Sudharsan, who has had a splendid season so far with the bat and Miller gave the Titans a confortable win by 7 wickets and with 5 balls spare.
After posting 277 their previous game, not even one SRH batter crossed 30 and the batting was below average, which they would want to improve next game. The Titans had a near perfect game as even their bowlers weren’t hit that much, and Mohit Sharma was the best of them, giving just 25 runs and getting 3 wickets gave the batters a relatively easy score to chase unlike their game against CSK, where they had to hit more than 200, also they did give Sudharsan a good platform to play anchor comfortably and some aggression from Miller and finished off by Vijay Shankar ended this almost one-sided encounter, eventhough the game ended in the last over

13. Delhi Capitals VS Chennai Super Kings | Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Stadium, Visakhapatnam
Rishabh Pant won the toss and opted to have a bat in DC’s new home ground in Vizag, bringing in Shaw as well. This proved to be a good decision as Warner with his new opening partner, Shaw decimated the CSK attack in the powerplay followed by Pant getting an emotional and important 50, appreciated well by the DC and Indian fans, which gave DC a superb total of 191. CSK started with one of the worst starts of the season with Ruturaj and Ravindra following cheaply and consuming a lot of balls as well. Even though Rahane and Mitchell played quickly, it wasn’t enough, and a final act from MSD alongside Jadeja also couldn’t get the Super Kings over the line and fell short by 20 runs.
This game was won by DC because they had dominated the powerplay in either innings as in their batting Warner and Shaw were brilliant, giving the Capitals 62 runs in the powerplay and they reduced CSK to a cheap 32 also for the loss of 2 wickets. But the main positive for the management was MSD who is still at his best and the way he played and the power he generated, it didn’t look like he is going to retire from the IPL next year. So the CSK fans did have a smile on their faces even after losing the game by a big margin of 20 runs, seeing their “Thala” bat for the first time.

14. Mumbai Indians VS Rajasthan Royals | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to field first at the Wankhede, with Hardik getting booed by the crowd during the coin toss, showing the divided fan base of MI. The bowlers didn’t disappoint Samson by picking up Rohit, Brevis and Naman Dhir, all for a golden duck before Hardik and Varma stitched stitched an important partnership for the 5th wicket to try and rebuild the innings but when Hardik fell for 34 to Chahal, the innings completely collapsed giving the bowlers only 126 to defend. Akash Madhwal bowled a fiery spell to give MI some hope, picking up 3 wickets, but this wasn’t enough to stop the in form Parag, who notched up a fine fifty and guided the Royals to a massive win with 26 balls spare. In the most controversial match of the season, I feel Trent Boult exploited the track which did help seamers so did Nandre Burger and they had severely dented MI’s chances to win. The only positive for MI in this Wankhede disaster was Akash Madhwal, who was absolutely perfect with his lengths and pace, which gave the crowd some sort of hope but 125 is never enough at the Wankhede any day. MI would be wanting Suryakumar back as soon as possible as he was an absolute beast at the Wankhede last year. But more importantly, I have to write on the divided fanbase of the Mumbai Indians. If Rohit Sharma has no problem, then why are Rohit fans wanting him to be the captain? This is a huge problem for the management as their banner #OneFamily has divided and all fans aren’t united. But I feel that the management should support Hardik, who still had a smile after being booed, which shows his strong and humble character as well and encourage the fans to be united once again mainly through social media. But for the Royals, it was just a fun day, with everyone coordinating with each other and the team bonding looks strong as well.

15. Royal Challengers Bengaluru VS Lucknow Super Giants | M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to field first in a packed RCB crowd. The Lucknow openers were aggressive at the start but when KL departed, Padikkal also departed, showing signs of an RCB comeback but de Kock, the batter in form scored a quick 80 followed by 5 sixes by Pooran, giving LSG 181 on a sticky wicket. The chase started well as Kohli and Faf looked aggressive, but soon Kohli was caught, and Faf run out due to some horrendous running. But the flurry of wickets never stopped as even Maxwell and Green departed, both by the young Mayank Yadav. Patidar did play some good shots, but still, the required run rate was climbing, and when he fell, all hopes looked to be gone. But Lomror started blasting almost every ball in his short stay, but when he departed, the game was effectively over as LSG bowled out RCB in the end and gave them an all-round win by 28 runs. Even this game was completely one-sided from start to finish. RCB dropped the two big prizes, de Kock and Pooran, which proved to be about 30 runs costly. Also, I was baffled why Vyshak, who was the only good bowler against KKR wasn’t included in the starting 11 and still Green, Faf and Maxwell, the big Aussies haven’t fired yet and it is high time they do so, followed by some horrendous bowling in the middle overs, not exploting the sticky track by not bowling cutters. But Patidar had a good day with the bat, and Lomror proved he is the perfect impact sub for RCB are some promising takeaways from this game. Speaking about LSG, I just want to write on one man, the immensely talented and speedster, Mayank Yadav. The heavy RCB batting line-up was absolutely no match for his pace and bounce and similar to how he won the game for his team in the PBKS clash, he did exactly the same thing and won the game for LSG this time around. But in the back of their minds, KL would be thinking of a 40+ win margin but Siraj had some fun and reduced it to 28, still satisfying the skipper but still a dismay for RCB fans all around the world…

Hello and warmly welcome to the daily match review about every game of this year’s IPL. Today I will be writing on the match between the Rajasthan Royals and the Delhi Capitals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. So to make things clear, the first paragraph will be a general review of the game, mainly the important highlights for people who have not watched the game. The second paragraph will be about a deeper analysis of the game, and where the game changed. So the readers who have already seen the game can skip the first paragraph and directly move onto the second paragraph. This will be the structure of every daily blog on the IPL hereafter and secondly, the website is updated and users can check the latest blog and the previous blogs on the home page itself. The blog will be present on this website at 9 pm IST every day, so keep your reminders and have a break with a nice 10-15-minute read. I hope I have clarified the major updates and let’s start with the review.

Rishabh won the toss at the SMS and chose to field first, with the Royals again going with just 7 batters. But their batting started rusty as Jaiswal, Buttler and Samson fell cheaply, leaving the Royals in dire straits. But then came Ravi Ashwin, who was promoted and played a good hand alongside Parag but once even he fell for a quick 29, the run rate was still below 7. But then the carnage started as Parag started whacking almost every ball to the boundary supported by Jurel and Hetmyer to give the Royals a massive total of 185. Now speaking of the chase, the openers started well but both Marsh and Bhui were removed by Nandre Burger in the same over. But Warner was on song and Pant played a second fiddle to him and it looked at one stage the Capitals could finally break the jinx by becoming the first away team to win a game. But both Warner and Pant were removed and the chase slowed down completely. But Tristan Stubbs, alongside Axar Patel, started giving the Capitals hope with needing 17 runs in the last over but Avesh Khan bowled brilliantly to give the Royals a hard-fought win of 12 runs, keeping the jinx alive.

Now speaking about the tactical aspects, I would first say it was a superb ploy to use Ashwin as a batter when the team needed more stability and to give good company to Parag, who had the time to settle. And even when Ash did get out when the rate was still below 7, he had done his job completely, giving a good platform to Jurel and Hetmyer. So the settled Parag then started blasting almost every ball, increasing the run rate for the Royals to about 8 an over. Here I think the Capitals missed a trick of not using the 2-bouncer rule and rather they just went for the Yorkers, in which some were full-tosses but the others were just slot balls, easy for the RR batters, especially Parag to hit and thus the last over, where Nortje, blessed with pace could have bowled more pacers and instead went for the Yorker, and the result being 25 runs off the last and giving RR 10-15 runs extra and also not impacting their plans of their impact player, because at some stage, because of their precarious start Sanju would have forced to use Rovman Powell and not use Nandre Burger but because of Ash and Parag, I would say the Royals were lucky to not comprise on their foreign bowler. Speaking of the DC innings, I would say Mitchell Marsh played a rash shot and Bhui was just done by the sheer bouncer by Burger. But still, Warner was on song but just threw his wicket and so did Pant, chasing a wide ball outside off. But huge credit to Stubbs and Axar for making a game out of that as the Capitals needed 60 off the last 4 overs and the drop catch by Boult, who I guess lost it in the lights proved to be 15-20 runs extra but that last over by Avesh Khan was absolutely pin-point, where he backed his Yorkers and his captain giving his team the victory. So overall, a chaotic game, with the batters not capitalising on the middle overs but the only difference I would say is between the last overs bowled by Nortje, who backed his Yorkers and after the first 3 balls, since he already he went for 14 runs should be gone for the short ball ploy, but ended up giving 25 runs and the last over bowled by Avesh Khan, who also backed his Yorkers and when it worked initially, stuck to it and ended up giving just 4 runs.

Hello and a warm welcome to the daily match review about every game of this year’s IPL. In this blog, I will write about one of the most insane games ever played in the history of this sport, which was between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Mumbai Indians at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium where again the trend continued where the home game once again emerged victorious. But to put all of these aside, the fans did witness a match which maybe comes once in a decade or a century because there were records broken for fun by both teams, especially SRH posting the highest score ever in the IPL, surpassing RCB’s 263. So let’s get started with the review!
Hardik Pandya won the toss and unsurprisingly chose to bowl first but even in his wildest dreams he and his team wouldn’t imagine the carnage they were about to witness. The chase started quickly as Travis Head got his SRH debut but soon after Mayank Agarwal. But with Abhishek Sharma joining Head, the bombardment of that innocent leather ball started where they were hitting sixes for fun, getting the 100 in just 7 overs and hitting 148 in the first 10, and were even looking at 300 at this point. Still, when Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma departed for their bullet-style 63, Aiden Markram and the spin-feaster Heinrich Klassen smoked everything into the stands, breaking RCB’s 263 in the last over but falling 1 run short of the biggest T20 total of 278, but still they posted a mammoth 277/3. At this point, the chasing team would just put their hands up and surrender but not the Mumbai Indians. Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma started attacking from ball one and got fifty in just 3 overs. Soon, Kishan and Rohit departed but they did ensure the run rate was in check, so the local boy, Tilak Varma had some time to settle. Then even he started tonking all the balls out the ground, supported by the promising Naman Dhir and from nowhere, MI were 141/2 at the halfway mark, above the required run rate, which just shows the intent of the Mumbai batters. But Naman Dhir fell and soon even Tilak Varma fell right after the break and the innings slowed down, which MI couldn’t afford to do because the run rate was touching 20 an over. Even as Tim David and Shepheard hit some boundaries, 277 was too many for MI as they still fell 31 runs short but they did post 246 in the end, which is also a commendable effort and ensured their NRR doesn’t go off for a toss. But as I said in the beginning, the fans got their money total worth it to watch a game of all the big guns in full form, smoking a total of 38 sixes into the stands and a total of 69 boundaries. More number of records broken in this game are mentioned in this cricbuzz article: Stats Highlights: SRH break 11-year record to post highest IPL total | Cricbuzz.com

But one would imagine that maybe the Eden Gardens, or the Chinnaswamy, or the Wankhede could be the grounds where the record of 263 would be broken but it was surprisingly at Hyderabad. The reasons I can pick for this are some poor bowling by MI, giving just too many balls to hit especially Kwena Maphaka, who just got the player of the series award in the U-19 World Cup recently held in South Africa and made his IPL debut in this game, but yes he still a young champ and sure he will come back. But when SRH hit 277, their eyes would be on an easy 80-100 runs win, boosting their NRR, but allowed even MI to hit 246, which is also a huge total and in fact, MI possibly could chase it down. So the bowling by both teams was under-par but the standout performance for me, which made the difference in the two teams was by captain Pat Cummins, cool as a cucumber picking up 2 wickets below 9 an over but the game-changing over was bowled by Bhuvi, who didn’t pick a wicket and was hit for 53 in his 4 overs which is bad, but the 13th over which he bowled, he conceded just 5 runs, which as cricbuzz mentioned in their commentary, was “gold dust” considering the number of runs and boundaries hit in this game. But MI needed 96 off the last 6 overs, still chasable and even when Tilak Varma got out, Hardik and Tim David could get MI home. But Hardik played a rather slower innings, just 24 of the 20 balls he faced, in a chase where a batter at least needed a strike rate of 180+ and struggled to muscle anything over the fence after initially scoring a four and a six in his first 4 balls. So generally even in a high-scoring chase, say about 180-200, there are just 3 phases in the game, powerplay, middle overs and the death overs. But in this case, these phases are shortened and are just about 3-4 overs and winning almost every phase, if not every phase is necessary to be alive in the chase and MI did dominate a huge amount of the chase, but the overs between the 3rd over and the 6th over, where the 18 balls bowled went for just 26 with the fall of the aggressive Mumbai openers but more importantly the phase, which was between the 12th over and the 16th over, where again just 25 runs in 4 overs were given. In the SRH innings, they dominated every phase and so ended up handing a heavy defeat to MI by 31 runs. I did write this extended paragraph, especially for this match to emphasise how SRH won those small phases of the game, where they didn’t get many wickets but these overs were very economical and these small differences accumulated into a big difference and the result was SRH winning by over 30 runs, but huge credit to the MI batters for hitting 246 in the chase but they will still feel they could have chased it.
So, hope you enjoyed this rather, long review of one of the most incredible games played in the history of the sport as I thought it was necessary to explain these small things which play a huge factor in a game.

Hello and a warm welcome to another blog where I will write a short preview of the 6th match, between RCB and PBKS, and the 7th match, between CSK and GT. Similar to the first 5 games, the home side emerged victorious even in these games. So let’s get started!

1. Royal Challengers Bengaluru VS Punjab Kings | M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
   Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to field first, a no-brainer for a captain at the Chinnaswamy, where chasing is the best option and a high-scoring game was expected in front of a packed RCB crowd. The Kings lost Bairstow early but a stable partnership between Dhawan and Prabhsimran started taking the game away from RCB but Maxwell removed Prabhsimran in the 9th over and soon after removed Dhawan as well. There were small cameos from Livingstone, Sam Curran and Jitesh Sharma but RCB kept pecking the Kings with regular wickets and it looked like the Kings were going to finish on a below-par total. But a crucial knock from Shashank Singh gave the Kings a respectable 176. The chase started with Kohli getting dropped the second ball, then hitting 3 more boundaries in the first over itself. But Faf and Green fell shortly after keeping the Kings at the top. But Kohli was on song and Patidar played a second fiddle before getting bowled by Harpreet Brar, who even removed Maxwell shortly after and ended up giving just 13 runs in his 4 overs, which is almost impossible at the Chinnaswamy. But Kohli still kept playing, keeping RCB in the hunt, but once he and Rawat fell, it looked like PBKS were going to break the jinx and become the first away team to win a game. But DK had other ideas and a smart ploy of having an extra batter in the form of Lomror, who came in as an impact sub, proved to be effective as DK and Lomror won RCB their first game and more importantly, a win at the Chinnaswamy, and also giving the RCB fans a proper Monday night entertainer and a King Kohli special.
   
2. Chennai Super Kings VS Gujarat Titans | M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
   Shubman Gill won the toss and opted to field first as CSK played even their second game of the season at their fortress. CSK were off to a blast with Rachin Ravindra never putting the brakes and playing a superb 46. But soon after Rahane and Ruturaj, after playing a handy 46, departed, GT thought of clawing back into the game. But Shivam Dube went berserk with an explosive 51, consisting of 5 sixes and showed why he is that X-Factor for CSK. He was supported by Mitchell for a while and short cameos from Rizvi and Jadeja propelled the Super Kings to a massive 206, and perhaps here itself, the game was done and dusted. The chase started well with Saha picking up boundaries but when Gill fell, the Titans slowed down and soon after Vijay Shankar fell, courtesy of a brilliant diving catch by MS Dhoni, which was followed by a huge roar by the Chennai crowd. Even as Sai Sudarshan played anchor, it was very slow and the others also failed to contribute as wickets were falling almost every over, supported by good catching, especially by Rachin Ravindra, who picked up 3 catches but the standout was Rahane’s catch of Miller. When even Sudarshan fell, it was imminent that the Titans would crumble to a huge loss. And this proved to be true as the Super Kings decimated the Titans with a massive all-round win by 63 runs.
   

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.