RCB finally got one over CSK after four consecutive losses against the four-time champions. RCB had their best Powerplay of the season but lost wickets in a cluster to get pulled back. Dinesh Karthik brought his finishing game to the fore once again to propel RCB to a par score. CSK started strongly but were unable to finish the game. We look at some of the key moments from match 49 of the 2022 IPL.
Kohli’s struggles with strike rotation
Virat Kohli is going through one of his worst seasons in IPL. He has struggled to score runs in a majority of his innings and when he has scored them, they have been scored at a strike rate which has eventually proved to be detrimental to his side. Despite playing 27.5% of his team’s total balls, Kohli ended up with a strike rate of less than 100.
Only thrice has Kohli scored at a lower strike rate than his 111.9 this season. His dot ball percentage of 38.9% this season is the highest he has had since 2012. Kohli has a boundary percentage of 48.15% this season, which is the second-lowest he’s ever had in IPL.
One of the key reasons for RCB’s struggles this year is their slow Powerplay starts. Both Faf du Plessis and Kohli aren’t dashers who strike from ball one, but it’s the lack of strike rotation that is hampering RCB, especially Kohli. Kohli’s boundary percentage of 66.67% in the Powerplay is his second-highest since 2013, but a dot ball percentage of 51.4% in Powerplay is his highest since 2014. These figures are very unlike Kohli and are an indication of his poor form.
Dhoni holding back Theekshana
Another captaincy gem from Mahendra Singh Dhoni. With Dwayne Bravo not playing, CSK’s death bowling was always going to be put under the scanner, especially against Karthik, who is severe against pacers in the final stages of the innings. Dhoni countered it brilliantly by holding back an over from Maheesh Theekshana.
Before bowling the penultimate over, Theekshana had given away 25 runs off his three overs. To bowl the 19th over, Dhoni had three options – Mukesh Choudhary, Simarjeet Singh and Theekshana. The former two are still new on the scene and with Karthik’s prowess against pace, they might have struggled.
Theekshana didn’t just concede two runs off the penultimate over, but he even picked up three wickets. It was a brilliant move from CSK to have a spinner who usually bowls straight, to have him bowl at the end, and it was a move that kept RCB under 180.
Dinesh Karthik’s last over heroics
RCB needed a strong finish to post a par score. At the end of the 19th over, they had posted just 157 runs, but they had their this season’s saviour, Dinesh Karthik, at the crease. Karthik survived an LBW call off the first ball of the last over by a whisker, but then smacked two sixes to take RCB beyond 170.
Karthik has been in tremendous finishing touch this season. With 16 runs against CSK off the 20th over, he now has 33 runs off just 13 balls in the 20th over of this year’s IPL, a strike rate of 253.8. That strike rate is his second-best in a season where he has played at least six balls in the 20th over of the innings. Karthik’s finishing abilities are one of the main reasons why RCB are now in the top four of the points table.