An RCB Story

[jammyd]

As no one has done one so far, I thought I would be the first one to post an IPL story and as RCB are my favourite team I decided to choose them.

Strengths:
Batting is the RCB's main strength with the likes of Gayle, Kohli and De Villers capable of winning a game by themselves at any one point. Add in Roussow (though I'm not sure how much he will play), Karthick and the two youngsters Singh and Kahn and I'm very excited with our batting line up.

Weakness:
Bowling. Apart from Starc I'm not sure who I can trust to keep the runs down and take wickets. Another worrying thing is the lack of quality Indian players. Apart from Kohli and Karthick, no Indian player is a guaranteed starter so next year I'm hoping to get some high quality Indian players.

Prediction:
I'm hoping to qualify to the playoffs but I'm not expecting to win it this year. I think Kohli will be our top run scorer and Starc will take the most wickets.

First up is an away game to Kolkata, who have gone for a spinning pitch so we include three spinners in Abdulla, Chahal and Saxena. Bisla opens the batting with Gayle and our other overseas players are De Villers, Wiese and Starc

[jammyd]

Things didn't start well for us as Gayle (16) and Bisla (10) were dismissed early on by Russel. However a great partnership between Kohli (71*) and de Villers (46) and a great late knock from Singh (24*) took us to 169-3.

Halfway prediction: we are slight favourites but we do have a weak bowling attack.

Starc and Wiese struck early to pick up the key wickets of Gambhir (14) and Pandey (1) and with it being a pitch designed for the spinners I thought we would win comfortably. However, a great knock from ten Doeschate (45) gave them momentum but great bowling from Chahal (2-25) meant that Kolkata needed 14 from the last over that was bowled by Saxena. However, his inexperience showed and S Yadav hit the winning runs off the last ball meNt that I start with a loss.

I will be doing a player awards at the end of each game and at the end of the season I will see who our most valuable player at the end of the year is. First place will get 10 points, second place 5 and third 3 points.

For this game:
1. Kohli for 73*
2. Chahal for 2-25
3. De Villers for 46

[jammyd]

Review of the last game:
Positives: apart from our openers (and I'm not worried about Gayle) our batting line up performed very well and scored at a decent rate. Bowling wise, Starc and Wiese picked up two wickets each but were quite expensive but Chahal was the stand out.
Negatives: Bisla is a bit of a worry and with a lack of openers available, I'm not sure what I am going to do if he has a couple more failures. Also, our spinners lost control on a turning pitch.

Our next game is against Hydrabad and the pitch is a complete road. We make one change with Patel coming in for Saxena.

[jammyd]

Hydrabad batted first and their innings was all thanks to Warner (93*) and Williamson (44). Patel (3-30) and Wiese (2-34) picked up some late wickets to restrict them to a moderate total of 173-6. Abdulla had awful figures of 0-43 and kept on releasing any pressure that was being built.
Verdict: due to our firepower and the flat pitch I think we go into the second innings as slight favourites, though I said this last time and we lost that one.

Bisla (6) got out early again but Gayle (39) and Kohli (29) scored at a steady rate that poised the game very well. However they both fell quickly and De Villers (0) and Singh (2) meant the game was almost certainly lost. However good partnerships between Karthik (42*) and Patel (14) and Abdulla (16) at least made our score respectable, though we still fell short on 158-8.

1. Patel for 3-30 and he was our second most economical bowler as well as 3 late wickets.
2. Karthik for 42*. Scored at a decent rate and made our score respectable.
3. Gayle for 39. Started our innings off well and once he and Kohli fell our hopes ended as well.

[jammyd]

Review of last game:
Positives: Gayle managed to score some runs but more importantly Karthik showed us what he could do with the bat. Patel also took some wickets on his first appearance for us but wasn't really backed up.

Negatives: Bisla once again failed and will be dropped for the next game. Also the middle order batting collapse was a slight worry though I'm sure they will bounce back. Our bowlers generally bowled quite well but we just couldn't handle Warner.

Our next game is against Mumbai and we make quite a few changes. Roussow will open the batting with Gayle and replaces Weise as our fourth overseas player. Saxena returns as do Dinda and Aravind for Chahal, Abdulla and Bisla. We could really do with a win.

[jammyd]

Our new look opening partnership of Gayle and Rossouw got us off to a flyer and put on 69 in 8 overs before Gayle fell for 47. From here Rossouw took over and dominated the 93 run partnership with Kohli (39) and ended unbeaten on 87 off 57 as we finished on 177-2 on a seaming track.
Verdict: I think we were 10-15 runs above par so I am quite confident.

I'm not quite sure what happened. Finch (66 off 33) and Sharma (83 off 54) hit our bowling all over the park and put on 123 off 10.5 overs. Only good late bowling from Dinda (0-23 off 4 overs) prevented them winning in embarrassingly quick time as they won with 8 balls to spare. Apart from him everyone went for more than 9 runs an over.

1. Rossouw for an unbeaten 87 and a run rate of more than 9 runs per over
2. Dinda for 0-23 who, despite his first over going for 15 pulled it back very well.
3. Gayle for 47 and getting us off to a good start

We are now the only team who has not yet won, but we have played at least one game less than everyone else. This is far harder than I first thought.

[jammyd]

Review of last game:
Positives: Well it looks like we have found a batting partner for Gayle in Rossouw, even though he is not meant to be an opener, I saw him open in a game or two this year so I thought I would give it a go. Gayle and Kohli both did well as well. However, the other big plus was Dinda for some really economical bowling.

Negatives: the rest of the bowling attack, not much else to say really.

We go into our next game against chennai and prepare a seamers pitch in hope to negotiate the effect of their spinners. We make three changes with Weise, Aaron and Warrier replacing Starc, Saxena and Aravind. I think if we lose this one our chances of qualifying for the playoffs will be close to 0.

[jammyd]

We won the toss and I decided to bowl first in a hope to get quick wickets against Chennai. However, thanks to du Plessis (72 off 51) and McCullum (65 off 42) they got off to a flier and they put on 140 off 15 overs. What was worrying was we only had 14 dots in this time. They ended strongly with Manhas (24 off 14) boosting them to 192-4. Our best bowlers were Dinda 2-42 and Wiese 1-34 but they were hardly great.
Verdict: looks like we are in for another defeat here.

Well, apart from Gayle everyone was pathetic. Gayle got 82 off 49 but apart from that the next best score was Kohli on 16. Think our chances are done now. Sharma really destroyed us with 3-28.

1. Gayle for 82 off 49.
No one else is worthy of a mention.

[jammyd]

Review of last game:
Gayle. I think that's about it. Apart from him everyone has a shocker but he gave us a respectable chase.

Negatives:
Everyone else.

Onto the next game away to Rajasthan. We make a few changes with Khan in for Singh and Chahal in for Warrier.

[jammyd]

We won the toss and chose to bat first on what was a very flat track but things started off badly as we lost Rossouw for a golden duck. Gayle was once again excellent as he (60 off 46) and Kohli (31) rebuilt. We were in a good position with 8 overs left but we then struggled with de Villers (25 off 23) looking particularly out of sorts. We lost a cluster of wickets at the end and limped to 161-8 with Southee (3-25) particularly effective.
Verdict: we are at least 20 runs short.

Rahane (41) and Watson (38 off 22) got them off to a flier. We pulled it back well but mainly thanks to Dinda (2-24) but we just couldn't get out Smith (53*) and we lost again by 4 wickets and 9 balls. A much better performance by the bowlers but the game was lost by our batters.

1. Dinda for 2-24 on a complete road whilst others got hit around.
2. Gayle for 60 off 46. We really need others to start helping him and Kohli.
3. Kohli for 31

[jammyd]

Review of last game:
Positives: once again Gayle got us off to a good start and Kohli was also decent. Bowling wise, Chahal was economical (0-28) and Dindia (2-24) and Patel (3-38) got wickets.

Negatives: whilst de Villers scored 25 it was very slow and I might drop him for the next game. Rossouw got another low score and I'm wondering if the one innings was a fluke, but I will stick with him for the time being. Wiese and Aaron were again expensive and between them got figures of 6.3-72-0.

Onto the next game away to Dehli who are the other struggling team and we make one change, bringing in Starc for Wiese. They have prepared a track that offers nothing to seam but will spin a lot so I'm hoping to use Gayle for a few overs! If I lose this one I don't know what I will do

[jammyd]

We won the toss and decided to bat first in the bottom of the table clash with the pitch favouring spin. We got off to an awful start as Gayle was run out for a slow 9 then Rossouw went for 21. We rebuilt slowly with Kohli and de Villers and at the halfway mark we were 67-2. However then they started hitting the bowlers everywhere and put on a record 3rd wicket stand for RCB with a 133 run partnership. Kohli got 93* off 57 and de Villers stopped himself being dropped with 57* off 30. We ended with 180-2.
Verdict: I think we are 10 runs above par but with our bowling attack you never know.

They started quickly but also lost wickets and were 60-3 off 6 overs with Aaron 2-42 taking a couple of wickets. Then Singh and De Kock put on 93 and when we got rid of Singh for 26 they were 148-4 off 14. I tried bowling Gayle but he went for 18 off 2 and Chahal got smashed for 30 off two with both wicket less as well. However the next 5 overs we really pulled it back and they only scored 27 runs and lost 3 wickets including the crucial wicket of De Kock for 101. Patel bowled the last over with them needing 8 but only conceded 1 run and took two wickets. The one run was a dropped catch and the over included 3 plays and misses. Incredible! And we got our first win. Dinda (2-25) and Patel (3-13) were incredible.

1. Patel for 3-13 and a great last over.
2. Kohli for 93* and helping us recover.
3. De Villers for 60* and adding some great late runs to set up a victory.

[jammyd]

Review of last match:
Positives: Kohli hit a true captains knock but more importantly De Villers found some form, showing how deadly he can be if it's his day. Dinda was once again very impressive taking wickets and being economical. However, Patel bowled incredibly and kept his cool at the end when it mattered.

Negatives: both openers failed but they have got runs so I'm not too concerned. However, Chahal was awful in a pitch that favoured him and Starc (1-46) and Aaron (2-46) offered us no control and their places are under review.

We go to next game with one change, Nachim in for Chahal

[jammyd]

We won the toss and batted first against Rajasthan but Gayle (19) and Kohli (17) made starts but didn't carry on. However, good knocks from Rossouw (55) and De Villers (40), who now looks in form again, along with a late cameo from Karthik (17*) got us up to 160-5, Kulkarni (3-28) was the main destroyer.
Verdict: probably about a par score, but with our bowling I would have liked a few more runs.

They got off to a flyer thanks to poor bowling from Starc (0-39) and Aaron 3-31-1 as Watson, Smith and Nair all passed 30. Some more great bowling from Dinda (2-21) pegged them back, but he wasn't really supported and they cruised home with 4 balls to spare.

1. Rossouw for 55.
2. Dinda for 2-21 when everyone else was expensive
3. De Villers for a quick fire 40

[jammyd]

Review of last game:
Positives: very similar to last game, as two of our top 4 scored heavily however, the other two made starts but couldn't push on which is slightly annoying. On the bowling side, once again Dinda put his hand up, but sadly no-one else supported him this time.

Negatives: once again all from the bowlers. Starc offered nothing and will be dropped for the next game, for Wiese or Sammy. Aaron as well was poor and likely to be dropped. Patel and Nachim weren't great but have been ok before so will be given another chance.

Sammy and Aravind come in next game for Starc and Aaron. Another must win as we are losing ground quickly.