RCB and DC go head to head at Abu Dhabi International Cricket Stadium in tonight’s high-stakes tournament match. As the penultimate match of the knockout round begins on Abu Dhabi’s flat court, we still don’t know the names of the three teams that made it to the knockout stages. This year’s IPL competition is very tight, the fate of the 4 teams depends on the final matches.
DC won the field throw and pick. Shreyas Iyer made an interesting change to the team when he replaced Hetmeyer with Rahane in game 11. DC have historically valued firepower over their batting solidity. The change in DC’s batting lineup just shows the value of solidity in the T20 format even in intense matches like this.
Both teams came out of a pretty bad period. DC lost 4 games in a row while RCB lost 3. Their losing streak should have ended tonight. In a battle between two underperforming teams, the team that establishes momentum early usually wins the match. Shreyas Iyer has done exactly that with his stellar positions on the field. With back, point, cover, Iyer in the middle, stunt outside asking Joshua Phillipe to take the lead. Joshua Phillipe is not a great player in mid-air chops and with Steve Smith’s stance, his only scoring option is to hit a header through the inner court. Thanks to some precise bowling shots from Daniel Sams, Phillipe found it difficult to continue and was eventually beaten by Prithvi Shaw for cover. Iyer’s first plan was a success, and that gave DC an early advantage.
The responsible impressive Virat Kohli and Paddikal strengthened the half as they did all season. However, just as they have been consolidating well all season, they have failed to move their game to the next item. Virat, once again fell down at a crucial moment after the start, as he overcame a deflected hit flying from Ashwin to deep midwicket.
Some tight bowling by Axar and Ashwin in the middle round meant that DC also dominated in the middle, after a good play of power. This season, Ashwin is bowling the best of the past 5 years. I believe he’s tried too many things, including the foot swing, and it’s reassuring to see him back to his strength with the off-spin spin.
Paddikal followed Kohli after making 51 out of 40 deliveries, and Morris joined the parade. Anrich Nortje died especially for the first time in the last 5 games and frequent goals have damaged RCB’s dreams of scoring high. Obviously, AB De Villiers has too much work to do alone, as he has fought alone with 35 of 21 serves to establish a decent score for RCB. For the first time in the last 4 games, DC showed discipline in the face of death as both Rabada and Nortje ended up perfectly executing the yorkers and their slows.
It’s on chases like this that you need your experienced polishers to join the party, and DC 2 their most experienced countrymen took charge tonight. But before we get to Dhawan and Rahane, we need to take a moment to applaud Siraj for firing Shaw. That ball going straight into the middle stump and then flying off to hit the stump is a dream serve for any speed player and Siraj will want to play it again and again in the future. near the.
After Shaw was kicked out early, Rahane and Dhawan joined hands to close the game for DC. Rahane has struggled to hit double figures this season but in his team’s most important encounter,. He came well. Shikhar Dhawan delivers his own typical blow while Rahane punches, steers, sweeps, and knocks with authority.
When Shikhar Dhawan is moving with his front foot and playing those decisive shots, it’s always interesting to watch him make those twists and turns. Dhawan stepped out with Morris and Siraj’s spinners and speed controls comfortably to throw the RCB bowling into mayhem.
The mainstay of the RCB attack throughout the tournament was Yuzvendra Chahal. The duo Dhawan and Rahane are smart enough to take him down, without taking unnecessary risks in front of long legs. In fact, the ease with which Rahane and Dhawan negotiated with Chahal led Virat to bring in Shahbaz Ahmed to motivate the batters to take some risks.
Dhawan delivered several powerful blows to Shahbaz to complete his half-century-long blitzkrieg, after which he eventually fell to the ground with an amputated leg. However, Rahane stayed like a rock and ensured that DC had no hiccups in this survival chase. He played a hugely important inning with 58 runs to ensure that DC made it to the knockouts as one of the top 2.
The fact that DC went deep into the match and did not attempt to win by 17.3 rounds ensured that RCB also qualified for the knockout stage, but in 3rd place. Hence tomorrow’s clash. It turned out to be a battle of survival for SRH, as an overall victory would ensure they sneak in as 4.order team in the playoff race.
