Indian Premier League - General Discussion

It's turning because of wickets getting tired. It is for this reason I feel CSK and RCB will be very dangerous teams as their spin bowling supplies are filled to the brim. It amuses me even more than in spite of their two spinners being top 6 batsmen, CSK still refuses to play Tahir. When the likes of Bravo encounter the good batsmen in the death, I expect him to be shredded to bits. I think Thakur already does what Bravo specialises in and that opening combination is a big no no. Raina is also not fluent. You can see it and the tracks are going to only get more and more tired.

What do you think about Gowtham or Karn replacing Ruturaj in the XI, with Rayudu moved up to open the batting? I know it could be overkill having 2 off spinners in Moeen and Gowtham, but you can always not bowl one of them depending on form and seeing Ruturaj's form, you could expect Gowtham to score much more than that considering he has won games for RR in the past with his bat. And Karn Sharma is no muck with the bat too, with 1000+ runs in T20's at a S/R of 127. Or they could try Sai Kishore (at risk of slightly lengthening their tail, which is non existent as of now).

Rayudu seems moving positively with his batting form (though I am never a fan of his running). You think Rayudu and Du Plessis could be CSK's rock solid opening combo, affording them the extra spinner as pitches get tired?
 
What do you think about Gowtham or Karn replacing Ruturaj in the XI, with Rayudu moved up to open the batting? I know it could be overkill having 2 off spinners in Moeen and Gowtham, but you can always not bowl one of them depending on form and seeing Ruturaj's form, you could expect Gowtham to score much more than that considering he has won games for RR in the past with his bat. And Karn Sharma is no muck with the bat too, with 1000+ runs in T20's at a S/R of 127. Or they could try Sai Kishore (at risk of slightly lengthening their tail, which is non existent as of now).

Rayudu seems moving positively with his batting form (though I am never a fan of his running). You think Rayudu and Du Plessis could be CSK's rock solid opening combo, affording them the extra spinner as pitches get tired?

I would not go towards Gowtham unless CSK play in Delhi. I think they're a franchise who are able to separate the price paid for a cricketer and the playing 11. I'd said it last year as well that Raina and Harbhajan were huge losses and you scolded me after that. Harbhajan is still bowling so well. Because of the pitches becoming roads, the likes of Ashwin, Harbhajan and some more finger spinners are vastly underrated in their roles.

Till the time Moeen Ali is going some, they need not play Gowtham. Don't forget, they have Suresh Raina as well in case they need 2-3 overs more of off spin. While we have won two games with huge margins, the weakness at the top of the order and the fast bowling reserves remain. I would just straight swap Gaikwad and Uthappa. I saw Uthappa bat in the domestic tournament prior to this and he was in really good form and more than that he's a bank to make 30's and 40's. The only change that needs to happen with Uthappa which will basically require one conversation with Dhoni is that Uthappa can get out after the PP but not stall.

I am not in favour of Faf at the top. It's a wasted resource and I would definitely put Rayudu there to partner Uthappa. Faf will either play a little cameo on a flat deck like yesterday or just have a 110-120 middling half century. I also feel Raina at 4 is sluggish while I think Ali's stocks will further increase if he bats at 4. Between Dhoni and Raina he's the injection of intent needed in the middle overs.

If Dhoni is going to bat below 5 then it's trouble for us. We need to accept some of his limitations and he should probably even avoid batting if 15 overs have passed as Jadeja, Curran are much better off. Jadeja at 7 and Curran at 8 are just a waste of resource and we will get found out when we meet the big ticket teams where every over matters.

This is my all purpose CSK XI

Uthappa
Rayudu
Raina
Ali
Dhoni
Jadeja
Curran
Thakur
Chahar
Tahir
Behrendoff

I genuinely believe that they need to get an overseas quick and Tahir in. I know Karn is a local option but Tahir gets wickets and is a consistent bank. I know Bravo has done well but just like Russell, he's predictable and when he meets the batters who are the real deal, they will circle him like sharks and eat him alive. Sure, there could be one or two flukes but I don't see it as a permanent solution.

EDIT- To sight and example, Bravo was bowling wides to Dube in one of the middle overs. I have no issue if someone bowls 10 wides in an over provided they're looking to pick wickets. Dube had his feet stuck in cement and didn't try to capitalise on the predictability of what Bravo was going to bowl but not all franchises will have Dube batting there. You have to look to take wickets through 20 overs because against a good batsman you will anyway get tonked if you don't. It doesn't matter what ball you're bowling or what field you have.
 
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So for the first time this year the defending Champions would play against last year's runners-up. I expect this one to be a cracking contest this time unlike last year where DC lost all their matches to MI.

I think for DC they definitely need to bring back Mishra. I don't think playing Smith on slow surfaces would help them by any means and would infact hamper their run-rate in the middle overs. They need to bring back Hetmyer in place of Smith and bat either of Pant or Stoinis at 3. Looking at the form, I think Pant must play at 3.

For MI, I think they need to go ahead with only 3 Overseas players and let Jayant Yadav play. They are surely lacking a genuine spin bowling option. I think this has to be one of the toughest matches for MI this season but I still feel they would come out on top over DC today.
 
So for the first time this year the defending Champions would play against last year's runners-up. I expect this one to be a cracking contest this time unlike last year where DC lost all their matches to MI.

I think for DC they definitely need to bring back Mishra. I don't think playing Smith on slow surfaces would help them by any means and would infact hamper their run-rate in the middle overs. They need to bring back Hetmyer in place of Smith and bat either of Pant or Stoinis at 3. Looking at the form, I think Pant must play at 3.

For MI, I think they need to go ahead with only 3 Overseas players and let Jayant Yadav play. They are surely lacking a genuine spin bowling option. I think this has to be one of the toughest matches for MI this season but I still feel they would come out on top over DC today.
Don't think so.

With no game time preparation and playing 3 matches at Wankhede by DC this will be a very difficult task for them to beat MI who are sitting pretty at the Chepauk having been there since the tournament started.
 
Dhoni should just not play at any level now.

He is way beyond his time should have sent Sam Curran higher up the order instead of him today.
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Nice one.

I said this last season but his slump did look very bad last time around too. I'd love for him to play one famous knock for old times' sake but he is a risk at the moment with the bat. We have enough batting depth to accomodate him down the order too. I'd happily take a very short cameo from him if it means he doesn't hamper the scoring rate.

The alternative would be to put entire trust into his batting and hope he plays like the 2019 IPL on sluggish tracks by starting slow and catching up later. The detriment to that is unlike in the past where you could bet your life on him not getting out to anyone even at the cost of letting the game slip away potentially, he now seems vulnerable to even your decent domestic bowler. In addition, his weakness versus wrist spin is only worsening. I'd still take the risk and have him bat at four or five (come in the eighth or ninth over pretty much and bat through) just to see how he performs. This is all contigent on CSK actually employing the hitters they have with proper aggression in the comfort of the current batting depth and Dhoni's own self confidence. As I mentioned earlier, he just seems to not have that trust anymore that he did in the past.
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Oh and Mo has completely won me over, if he didn't already with his English Cricket persona. What a legend! Mystifying that he plays so poorly for England in contrast.
 
For MI, I think they need to go ahead with only 3 Overseas players and let Jayant Yadav play. They are surely lacking a genuine spin bowling option. I think this has to be one of the toughest matches for MI this season but I still feel they would come out on top over DC today.
I'm thinking the same, Jayant is a gem, maybe Anukul over Krunal? He doesn't seem to do anything these days but Rohit's obsession with him might just play.
 
Don't think so.

With no game time preparation and playing 3 matches at Wankhede by DC this will be a very difficult task for them to beat MI who are sitting pretty at the Chepauk having been there since the tournament started.
Facing Mishra and Ashwin on the Cheapuk pitch might be an uphill task for us. However, Rohit is one big innings due so far in this tournament. So hopefully it might be his day today. But I stand by my view, MI will somehow win today but it would be difficult.
 
Facing Mishra and Ashwin on the Cheapuk pitch might be an uphill task for us. However, Rohit is one big innings due so far in this tournament. So hopefully it might be his day today. But I stand by my view, MI will somehow win today but it would be difficult.
As far as we win, everything is fine. :D
 
Mumbai in all sorts of a jam! Absolutely bottled this! Will we be able to save this again through our bowling?
 

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