After days of build-up to the blockbuster opening game of the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League featuring two of the biggest names in Indian cricket as the respective captains, the first match proved to be a dreary affair on Saturday in Chennai.
“A scrappy start to the league,” said Virat Kohli at the post-match presentation as Royal Challengers Bangalore slid to a seven-wicket defeat against the defending champions Chennai Super Kings.
If you were expecting a match similar to the only game played in Chepauk last year (where CSK chased down a 200-plus total), you were in for disappointment. This match saw a grand total of 141 runs be scored, in a little less than 35 overs, with a total of nine fours and two sixes.
Now, there is nothing wrong with a pitch that has some assistance for bowlers in a T20 match. The game favours the batsmen on most counts these days and it’s rare to see bowlers dominate the proceedings in white-ball cricket.
But what transpired at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday was the bowlers equivalent of a 250-a-side T20 match.
Poor pitch
There are no two ways to put it: the track for the big match left a lot to be desired. When MS Dhoni said at the toss that he was not sure what this pitch would do, you knew it was going to be tricky. As it transpired, there was hardly any pace on the wicket and the sticky-nature of it resembled a wearing fourth day track of a Test match where stroke-making proved to be a nightmare.
“The batting wasn’t good, it wasn’t easy to bat on, looked much better surface though, I thought 140-150 would have been an ideal score, especially with dew expected later on. A scrappy start to the league, but I don’t think either team enjoyed batting,” said Kohli after the match – criticising the pitch without making it sound like an excuse.
And, in a good sign for future matches in Chennai, Dhoni did not mince his words either.
“I feel if the wicket stays like this, it will be tough for us also. The wicket definitely needs to be a lot better than where it is right now, even with dew it was still spinning big... if you have genuine spinners in your lineup it’s very difficult to score runs. I feel the wicket needs to be much better than how it is now,” the CSK captain said.
It would have been easy for Dhoni to feel satisfied at the end of a job well done – a seventh consecutive win against RCB. After all, the pitch was perfect for his team in many ways. Instead, Dhoni chose to make his feelings known and that would ensure some effort is put into how the square is prepared for the next match, when Rajasthan Royals visit on 31 March.
Having said all that, however, Kohli and Co did not make things easy for themselves on the night. Like they have made it a habit over the years, they shot themselves in one foot as the pitch took care of the other to sweep them over.
A night to forget for RCB
First things first, Kohli and the think-tank read the pitch horribly wrong. Bad as it was, it is quite inexplicable that the Indian captain took a look at that pitch and decided: yes, let me play three out and out quick bowlers, two seam-bowling all-rounders, and just two spinners. It is not to say that playing a third spinner in Washington Sundar would have drastically altered the result but surely, a spinner who has played all his cricket in Chennai, on a turning wicket, would have been a better option than any of the fast bowlers who were selected. Yes, it was a difficult pitch to read but certainly not one to pack your lineup with quicks.
As far as their batting is concerned, it was a performance that was indicative of a side that struggles to get going when their two main men do not score the bulk of the runs.
When Kohli struggles for timing in the powerplay of a T20 match, you know the pitch is not easy. The warning signs were there for RCB from the word go, and when he got out to perhaps the worst ball Harbhajan Singh bowled in his four-over spell, the recalibration should have kicked in the visitors’ dugout. This was not a 140 pitch, not even close.
But instead, we saw Moeen Ali come out all guns blazing, hitting a six and then continuing to take the attack to Harbhajan when he was done in by the two-paced nature of the surface.
The eighth over of RCB’s innings, perhaps, summed up their batting performance on the night. Harbhajan, bowling his fourth over on the trot now, got AB de Villiers to top edge a slog sweep and the South African was offered a reprieve by his countryman, Imran Tahir, at long leg. A fairly simple chance was put down and de Villiers had a lifeline. Which he promptly threw away the very next ball by going for a big shot again, this time finding the best CSK fielder: Ravindra Jadeja.
Out walked Shimron Hetmyer for his much-anticipated IPL debut. And he could have been back in the pavilion, run out without facing a single delivery had Dhoni managed to get a direct hit. Two balls later, he promptly ended up throwing his wicket away by... yes, running himself out.
It was as if the RCB batsmen were so appalled by the pitch that they refused to take second chances that came their way and rushed back to the pavilion. From that point onward, there was no turning back.
Like Kohli said, it is good that, from RCB’s perspective, such a performance came in the first match of the tournament – there is plenty of time to recover. But, if fans were looking for signs for the team management to make smarter decisions on the cricket field (like Kohli spoke about in length before the match), there was a sense of deja vu.
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