The IPL Sunday Roast #8
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By Rahul Patil
The Sunday roast took a lot longer to cook this week. What I thought was lamb turned out to be Hogget. In the time it’s taken me to slow cook this piece of meat M S Dhoni and Stephen Fleming’s Chennai Super Kings have booked their place in the final of IPL 2023. Blackcap Devon Conway who has played a starring role at CSK will have a chance to add to his tournament tally of 625 runs plus a shot to add the IPL title to his list of on field exploits.
It took game number 67, 68 and 70 (3 of the last 4 league stage games) for us to find out which teams would qualify for the playoffs this year. Defending champions Gujarat Titans like last year qualified in top spot. The ageless M S Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings have bounced back after the disappointment of last season to qualify in second spot. Like they did last year Lucknow Super Giants have once again qualified in third place. The fight for the fourth spot went right down to the wire with five time IPL champions the Mumbai Indians deservedly claiming it after finishing at the bottom of the table last year.
So there we have it. Playoffs draw all locked and loaded as per below.
With CSK beating GT in qualifier 1 and making it to the finals, the remaining three teams will battle it out to see who joins them. While they do that here’s my take on the teams that didn’t make it to the playoff’s this year.
10) Sunrisers Hyderabad
On paper this was arguably the best side of the tournament simply because they had all the bases covered. Indian internationals like Mayank Agarwal and Rahul Tripathi at the top of the order. A power packed middle order boasting of Harry Brook, Henrich Klassen and Glenn Phillips. Indian international seamers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Natarajan. One of the world’s finest T20 spinner in Adil Rashid along with one of the fastest bowlers in International cricket in Umran Malik. In Aiden Markram they had a batter in the form of his life and a captain who had recently won the T20 title in South Africa.
Unfortunately, tournaments are not won on paper. The potential never made it to the field. There were glimpses of brilliance i.e. the Harry Brook hundred and Henrich Klassen’s phenomenal season (448 runs, average – 49.78, strike rate – 177.07) but the rest of the team failed to live up to the expectations.
The selection of Brian Lara as coach was a surprising one as Lara doesn’t have rich coaching credentials. Please don’t get me wrong. Lara was a brilliant player but good players do not necessarily make good coaches. The same way ex cricketers do not make great commentators. But that’s for another day.
The sole kiwi in the squad i.e. Glenn Phillips played five games for them this season and won them a thriller against the Rajasthan Royals. Phillips though didn’t get picked consistently due to the presence of other big international batters and in hindsight maybe the franchise will feel that they should have invested in him a bit more.
9) Delhi Capitals
The team were dealt a massive blow due to the unavailability of regular captain Rishabh Pant following his car crash. David Warner was made captain and although he personally had a good season with the bat (516 runs, average – 36.86, strike rate – 131.63) it clearly wasn’t the IPL legend David Warner who used to dominate attacks for fun. They were banking very heavily on Prithvi Shaw who came into the tournament in a rich vein of form but failed to deliver consistently. When all-rounder Axar Patel who normally bats at number six or below is your second highest scorer of the tournament you know you are in trouble.
Delhi’s coaching staff is a star studded lineup. Ponting is the head coach and under him are four other ex-international cricketers i.e. James Hopes (Bowling Coach), Shane Watson, Ajit Agarkar and Praveen Amre (Assistant Coaches). There is also ex India captain and ex BCCI chairman Saurav Ganguly in the mix with the title of Director of Cricket. Is it the case of too many cooks spoiling the broth? Delhi are one of four teams to have never won the IPL. Picking kiwis in their squad might help for starters.
8) Punjab Kings
A bit like the Sunrisers Hyderbad the Punjab Kings on paper were a solid squad. But nobody is surprised that Punjab finished 8th on the ladder. It’s because that’s what Punjab do every year. They go to auction, pick the best players that promises everyone the sun, the moon and everything under it. But the promises remain on paper and somehow the best players in the world fail to deliver as a team on the field when playing for Punjab.
The team owners then promptly fire the captain, the coach, the entire management staff, go back to the auction and pick a completely new squad that once again on paper promises to deliver. But guess what happens? History repeats itself and Punjab fail to deliver year after year.
If the batting clicks, then the bowling doesn’t and vice versa. If both, the batting and bowling click then the fielding lets them down. The answer might lie in stability and freedom for the players but for that to happen the owners need to have a good hard look at themselves and acknowledge the fact that they themselves might be a huge part of the problem.
The second team to never have won an IPL title after Delhi, Punjab too don’t have any kiwis in their squad. I might actually be onto something here.
7) Kolkata Knight Riders
Like the Delhi Capitals KKR this season were without their regular captain Shreyas Iyer due to an injury. Stand in captain Nitish Rana to his credit did a great job with limited resources. KKR’s problems started from the time of the last auction where they didn’t select well.
A side boasting of the likes of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine in their ranks should do well in a T20 tournament, shouldn’t it? The truth though is that both these superstars are not the force in T20 cricket that they once were but by continuing to invest in them is hampering KKR’s chances bigtime. They take up two overseas players spots in every game and keep the likes of Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson out. Both didn’t feature consistently in the playing XI and didn’t produce a noteworthy performance in the limited opportunities they got.
Despite a poor season KKR will be looking forward to next year as Shreyas Iyer being back will help their batting and in Rinku Singh they have unearthed an absolute diamond. Rinku’s stats read 474 runs at an average of 59.25 and a strike rate 149.52. For someone who bats at number 5 and below these are incredible numbers. His 5 sixes of the last 5 balls of the game to win a match against the Gujarat Titans is an innings for the ages. How they build on the back of the positives of this season will be what defines their story for IPL 2024.
6) Royal Challengers Bangalore
They might have finished 6th but to be fair to them they were in with a chance of qualifying for the playoffs half way through the last game of the league stage. The third team after Delhi & Punjab to have never won an IPL title RCB has kiwis Bracewell and Finn Allen in their ranks. Well there goes my theory about no kiwis = no IPL titles. It was fun while it lasted though.
Over the years RCB has been guilty of being over dependent on a couple of batters. The constant has been Virat whereas the second has been either a Chris Gayle, an AB DeVilliers, a Glenn Maxwell or a Faf Du Plessis. The rest of the batters though specially their Indian batters have never really come to the party. Is it the pressure of living under the aura of Virat Kohli or is it the lack of opportunity? Whatever it is, it comes back to haunt them year after year.
The other problem RCB have had over the years is that their bowlers have consistently been incapable of defending big targets. This year apart from the incredible Mohammed Siraj the rest were pretty forgettable. Batters win you T20 matches but bowlers win you T20 tournaments. RCB would do well to acknowledge this fact and prepare for next season. For everything that Virat has done for this franchise they owe him and their loyal fans a title for sure.
5) Rajasthan Royals
The inaugural IPL winners and last year’s finalists started really well this year but a dramatic mid-season slump meant that in the end they missed the playoffs by a whisker. Last season RR rode on the back of 863 runs from the blade of Jos Buttler. This season though was a different story. Buttler got 392 with 5 ducks. The most ducks by a batter in a single season. Jos though is a class act and I expect him to definitely bounce back like he has done time and again in the past.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for RR though. Like KKR did with Rinku, RR have found a beast in Yashasvi Jaiswal. 625 runs at an average of 48.08 and a strike rate of 163.61. The most runs by a batter who hasn’t played international cricket yet. Yuzvendra Chahal on the other hand made merry with the ball picking up 21 wickets at an average of 15.09 and economy rate of 8.17. It won’t be long before both Jaiswal and Chahal are part of India’s white ball plans.
Sandeep Sharma will probably be hurting the most in the RR camp. He overstepped on the last ball of a game to hand SRH a free hit and the win. Those 2 two points being the difference between playoff qualifications and a fifth place finish. Captain Sanju Samson will be disappointed with his own batting form and captaincy too. Some of his on field decisions defied logic and cost them big.
Trent Boult did his bit for the Royals by picking up wickets consistently in the power play. He wasn’t at full fitness for the entire tournament though and missed a few games with a niggle.
It not an easy gig this IPL business. Big money, big crowds, tonnes of pressure and cut throat competition. Bring on the remaining playoff games mate!
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