Indian Premier League - General Discussion

[Bigby Wolf]

Happiness is watching Dale Steyn Bowl and delivering those trademark outswingers. And boy how elated was he after getting that 1st wicket of Chris Lynn - the moment of the match for me.

 

[Aalay]

Sunil Gavaskar is an absolute muppet, great player whatever but an idiot. "Virat Kohli, this best batsman in the world in all 3 formats." What is he talking about, ODI I can agree, but best in test cricket and t20 cricket, not even close. Steve Smith is miles ahead of him in test cricket, t20 cricket is another story, Kohli isn't even one of the top 5 best t20 batsman going around the world.

I am not sure about the miles ahead part. Steve Smith was definitely a better test batsman than Kohli before he got banned. However, I think Virat has improved quite a lot in test cricket in last few years. His last year in test cricket especially was very good. Kohli caught up with the ODI format very quickly but it took him some time to do that with test and T20's. However, as I mentioned, he has always improved as a batsman in test cricket as he has become more experienced. Although still behind, I think he is pretty close to Steve Smith in test cricket. I don't think there is that much difference between them and it will be interesting to see how Smith goes in his comeback to test cricket.

In ODI's, Kohli is miles ahead of any batsmen in this generation. By the time he ends his career, he will probably the best ODI batsman the game has ever seen alongside Viv Richards and Sachin Tendulkar.

I think Kohli had his best year in T20's in 2016. Since then BCCI has rested him quite a bit in T20I and that I feel kind of hurt his T20 game. However, If you are saying he doesn't feature in top 5 T20 batsmen in the world, I would love to hear your list.

P.S. Definately agree with Sunil Gavaskar part. He was a great batsman for India but not a fan of his commentary. I think I called him a muppet in this forum after the 2015 WC when he came out with a ridiculous statement and some people got offended.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Navdeep Saini is a gem he should be one of our regular bowlers post the WC.

Game would have been over by now if RCB held on to their chances - a drop catch and runout missed of Rana and a tough chance of Russell.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

43 off 12 now required with Stoinis and Chahal the remainig two bowlers. Russell and Rana can go berserk on Chahal ?

 

[Bigby Wolf]

If any senses prevail its Moeen Ali who should be the MOM for his all round effort.

 

[Neo 7]

Today , none can say it was only Russell . Nitish too played his part brilliantly in making KKR almost chase it .

The only difference was Stoinis going for just mere 30 runs . That's it .

 

[Gaurav_7]

My goodness Kohli is such an idiot, an absolute idiot of a captain, more so a person too. That innings by Russell and that sort of a partnership will surely get anyone and everyone stand up and salute the two batsmen. But that reaction of his after Russell got out was disgraceful. Acts as if he has just won the IPL final after scoring a ton!

 

[Targaryen]

My goodness Kohli is such an idiot, an absolute idiot of a captain, more so a person too. That innings by Russell and that sort of a partnership will surely get anyone and everyone stand up and salute the two batsmen. But that reaction of his after Russell got out was disgraceful. Acts as if he has just won the IPL final after scoring a ton!

That is one of the reasons why RCB is last with least points in the Fair Play Table.

 

[Neo 7]

And , it's 3 to 4 matches now that Russell scored more than 50% runs .

 

[Gamer Pradosh]

Today , none can say it was only Russell . Nitish too played his part brilliantly in making KKR almost chase it .

The only difference was Stoinis going for just mere 30 runs . That's it .

Dont forget the brilliant innings from Robin Uthappa.. 9 from 19 balls.. That saved it for RCB.. Add the 10 extra balls into the chase and it would have been piece of cake..

 

[Bigby Wolf]

If could have , would have , should have then....

Game would have been over by now if RCB held on to their chances - a drop catch and runout missed of Rana and a tough chance of Russell.

 

[Ashutosh.]

KKR would win if Uthappa had scored 20 runs in 20 balls.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

This is my XI for RCB which will escape the eagle eyes of the great tactical genius Kohli-

Vohra
Parthiv
Kohli
AB
Mandeep
CDG
Woakes
Southee
Yadav
Chahal
Saini

This is my post from May 2018 in discussion with @zwarrior

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Moeen Ali was a deserved MOM yesterday. Indian batters have all fallen into this trap of setting up for a biggie. Kohli had become a dominating T20 bat and has now fallen back into his old shell. This media generated codswallop of set up and then attack is absolute rubbish. Kohli has 5 hundreds in how many IPL games? 150? The T20 template is changing and India is falling way behind, or should I say, the established Indian batters are falling way behind. If you just see the games, I think bar Pant and Pandya, no one strikes me as someone who can strike it at 150+ Most Indian batsmen are hovering between 120-130. I think that's a worry and probably the main reason I would have liked to have taken Pant to the WC.

 

[Jalen]

I am not sure about the miles ahead part. Steve Smith was definitely a better test batsman than Kohli before he got banned. However, I think Virat has improved quite a lot in test cricket in last few years. His last year in test cricket especially was very good. Kohli caught up with the ODI format very quickly but it took him some time to do that with test and T20's. However, as I mentioned, he has always improved as a batsman in test cricket as he has become more experienced. Although still behind, I think he is pretty close to Steve Smith in test cricket. I don't think there is that much difference between them and it will be interesting to see how Smith goes in his comeback to test cricket.

In ODI's, Kohli is miles ahead of any batsmen in this generation. By the time he ends his career, he will probably the best ODI batsman the game has ever seen alongside Viv Richards and Sachin Tendulkar.

I think Kohli had his best year in T20's in 2016. Since then BCCI has rested him quite a bit in T20I and that I feel kind of hurt his T20 game. However, If you are saying he doesn't feature in top 5 T20 batsmen in the world, I would love to hear your list.

P.S. Definately agree with Sunil Gavaskar part. He was a great batsman for India but not a fan of his commentary. I think I called him a muppet in this forum after the 2015 WC when he came out with a ridiculous statement and some people got offended.

I am not sure about the miles ahead part. Steve Smith was definitely a better test batsman than Kohli before he got banned. However, I think Virat has improved quite a lot in test cricket in last few years. His last year in test cricket especially was very good. Kohli caught up with the ODI format very quickly but it took him some time to do that with test and T20's. However, as I mentioned, he has always improved as a batsman in test cricket as he has become more experienced. Although still behind, I think he is pretty close to Steve Smith in test cricket. I don't think there is that much difference between them and it will be interesting to see how Smith goes in his comeback to test cricket.

In ODI's, Kohli is miles ahead of any batsmen in this generation. By the time he ends his career, he will probably the best ODI batsman the game has ever seen alongside Viv Richards and Sachin Tendulkar.

I think Kohli had his best year in T20's in 2016. Since then BCCI has rested him quite a bit in T20I and that I feel kind of hurt his T20 game. However, If you are saying he doesn't feature in top 5 T20 batsmen in the world, I would love to hear your list.

P.S. Definately agree with Sunil Gavaskar part. He was a great batsman for India but not a fan of his commentary. I think I called him a muppet in this forum after the 2015 WC when he came out with a ridiculous statement and some people got offended.

For t20 cricket, I'd definitely agree Kohli's prime at t20 level was 2016, but he has slowly fallen away. I think there are much better t20 batsman in terms of strike rotation or consistent power hitting, that would be:
1. Warner
2. Finch
3. Babar Azam
4. Maxwell
5. KL Rahul

Rohit and KL might be a bit of a bold choice but the others, I'm sticking with.