An RCB Story

[jammyd]

Kolkata won the toss and batted, but my decision to pick Aravind paid off as he got (3-35) to peg them back early on. He was backed up superbly by every bowler apart from Sammy who bowled three good overs but got hit for 20 in one over from Pandey (71* off 54), who was the only one to put up any resistance. Patel (3-33) also helped dismiss their middle order and although Dinda (0-19) and Nachim (0-22) couldn't take any wickets, they were very economical. They end on 143-7 but apart from Pandey, the top scores was 24 then 12.
Verdict: on a flat track we did superbly to restrict them, and I think they are at least 20 runs short.

Things started off badly as we lost Gayle (8) in the first over. However, good knocks from Rossouw (53) Kohli (30) and De Villers (33) saw us close, and it was left to Kahn and Karthick to see us through as we won by 6 wickets and 11 balls.

1. Aravind for 3-35 and taking early wickets.
2. Patel for 3-33
3. Rossouw for 55 and making sure we eased home.

[jammyd]

Review of last game:
Positives: to be honest, this was almost a perfect performance from everyone. All of the bowlers apart from Sammy had great figures and Sammy bowled 3 out of 4 good overs, it was just the one loose over he had. Batting wise, Rossouw is showing what a great batsmen he is and everyone apart from Gayle contributed or were not out

We make one change for the next game, with Bisla coming in for Khan, who is yet to contribute.

[jammyd]

Chennai won the toss and batted and got off to a great start thanks to Du Plessis (43 off 28) and Smith (20 off 10) before Smith was LBW from the impressive Sammy 3-25. Du Plessis then got run out and then no-one else could really get going, with Hussey the next top score with 15 mainly thanks to Nachim (2-21) and Dinda (2-31) who is bowling so well. They end up on 142 all out.
Verdict: they are 20 runs short so it should be another victory for us!

Things started off badly as Pathan got a double wicket maiden in the second over to dismiss Roussow (1) and Kohli (0) but Gayle (27 off 27) and De Villers (71 off 42) almost took us to the end. With 2 overs to go we needed 8 to win with 5 wickets in hand. However Jadeja then took 3-5 in one over meaning we needed 3 to win with Nachim on strike. With 2 balls to go he finally got the 4 we needed to see us through to another victory. Credit goes to Pathan 3.5-18-2 and Jadeja (5-37) for almost snatching the victory from us.

1. De Villers for 71 and almost won it by himself. What was particularly impressive was that he scored at more than 10 runs an over, taking the pressure off everyone else.
2. Sammy for 3-25 and getting the crucial breakthrough before making sure the tail didn't get many runs.
3. Nachim for 2-21 and stifling their middle order.

We are now in 7th place, 4 points adrift of 6th with 5 games to go. Looks like we will have to win all of these.....

[jammyd]

Review of last game:
Positives: De Villers was incredible and we really owe our victory to him, as he got half the total in 35% of the balls. Bowling wise, everyone was good/ok apart from Aravind. Dinda especially is bowling very well and proving reliable as well, he is taking wickets and being economical.
Negatives: the batting. I don't mind about Roussow and Kohli but it shows how reliant we are on the top 4 for runs. Looks like next year we need another Indian batsmen as well as a quality spinner.

We make one change for a huge game against Punjab, who are currently in 4th place. If we win, we will be just one win away from them and we have to play them later as well. Badrinath comes in for Bisla, and will play as a specialist batsmen at 7. I'm promoting Karthik and Sammy to 5 and 6.

[jammyd]

We won the toss and bowled first as I trust our chasing skills. This looked to be an awful decision as Vijay (22) and Sehwag (46 off 25) got them off to a flier. It was very similar to last game as we got the key wicket of Sehwag via a run out which triggered a collapse and it was left to Baily (28 off 32) and Johnson (18 off 20) to ensure we did not bowl them out. Aravind, Patel and Nachim all took a wicket but went for at least 35 runs due to Sehwags onslaught but we were indebted to Sammy (1-25) and Dinda (2-12) to restrict them to 148-8
Verdict: on a road, I think they were 15-20 runs short.

Things started badly as we lost Gayle to the second ball of the game and although Roussow (28) and Kohli (26) recovered well, when Roussow was bowled and Kohli run out, shortly followed by De Villers for 4, we were in a lot of trouble, needing 80 off 9 overs. However, Karthik brought up his 50 off 31 balls and he and Sammy ended up cruising home as they brought up their 80 partnership off just 7 overs as we won with 2 overs to spare. Karthik ended on (55* off 34) and Sammy on (30* off 17). They took a particular liking to Maxwell who bowled 3 overs for 43.

1. Karthik for 55* and really stepped up when we most needed him.
2. Sammy for 30* and 1-25
3. Dinda for 2-12. Slightly harsh he isn't higher up but Karthik and Sammy had such an incredible partnership.

[jammyd]

Review of last game:
Positives: despite our top 4 all being out for less than 30, the first time this has happened so far (I think), Karthik and Sammy really stood up and won the game by themselves. Sammy also had a great spell but Dinda was once again amazing, bowling overs 14 16 18 and 20 and taking 2-12 is awesome.
Negatives: the top 4 failed but I'm not concerned by them. The other three bowlers were expensive, but none of them went for 40 runs and it was a road and Sehwag was in great form, so it's not too concerning either.

We name an unchanged side for our next game, against Mumbai, once again on another complete road.

[jammyd]

Mumbai won the toss and chose to bat, which I'm not disappointed about as I was planning on bowling anyway. We got off to a dream start as Aravind (3-17) dismissed the dangerous trio of Sharma, Finch and Pollard before they had got to 30. However, after that they put up some fight as Rayudu (27), Patel (54*) and Chand (20) got them to 145. Dinda for once conceded the most runs and got (1-36). Apart from Aravind, Nachim was our best bowler with (2-27)
Verdict: I think this should be another victory. After their start, they were always going to be below par, and I think they are 25 runs short of par.

Well that was easy! Gayle (31 off 19) got us well ahead of the run rate early on then Roussow (80* off 64) and Kohli (34* off 27) meant we won by 9 wickets with 11 balls to spare!

1. Aravind for 3-17 and after his spell, I was never in doubt we would win.
2. Roussow for 80* and guiding us home with no hiccups.
3. Gayle for 31 at a very quick rate meaning that we didn't have to push too hard for the rest of the innings.

[jammyd]

Review of last game:
Positives: batting wise we were amazing, and Roussow once again repaid my faith in him. Bowling wise, Aravind was amazing and Nechim was very good.
Negatives: bowlers were quite expensive but it was a very flat track.

We make no changes for the next game, a crucial match against Punjab. If we completely smash them, then we could go 4th by means of run rate, having played the same number of games as everyone else. If we lose though, we will be 4 points behind 4th with 2 games to go.....

[jammyd]

We won the toss and chose to bowl again on a very flat track. We got the perfect start as the very impressive Sammy (3-20) got Vijay out to the first ball of the game and then got the dangerous Maxwell and Miller shortly afterwards. Like in our last game against Punjab, they were reliant on a quick 46 off 35 from Punjab and a slow 22 off 25 from Bailey. When Dinda (3-22) and Patel (3-26) dismissed both of them I thought we would run through the tail but Saha (41 off 20) gave them some crucial late runs, but we still bowled them all out for 135.
Verdict: they are at least 20 runs short. Our bowling looks to be clicking and I'm confident in our batters.

We lost Gayle and Roussow early but Kohli and De Villers recovered. However when De Villers went for 16, Karthik then went for 0 to leave us 54-4. Kohli (32) and Sammy recovered but we lost the crucial wicket of Kohli with 54 runs needed. However, a crucial 37 run partnership between Sammy (38 off 21) and Badrinath (18 off 17) got us close before Patel and Aravind saw us through.

1. Sammy for 38 off 21 and 3-20 and starred in both innings.
2. Dinda for 3-22
3. Patel for 3-27

[jammyd]

Review of last game:
Positives: batting wise everyone was poor apart from Sammy which was slightly worrying. Bowling wise everyone was good with 3 bowlers taking 3 wickets.

Negatives: batting wise we failed as a unit on a flat track against a poor bowling side. Aravind wasn't great either but he seems to have a great game followed by a bad game.

We move into our next game against top of the table Hydrabad and a win might secure our progress, who would have thought

[jammyd]

We started off this crucial game by losing the toss and they put us in, which is annoying as I wanted to chase to see if I can reach the target that David Warner would help them get to.
We didn't get off to a good start as Gayle got out for a run a ball 22 but after that Rossouw (97* off 56) and Kohli (65* off 42) hit their bowling everywhere. Apart from Henriques (1-26) we smashed all of their bowlers and we end on 184-1.
Verdict: I am about 10 runs above par but if Warner starts smashing it no total is big enough.

What happened next was very unexpected. Sammy got Warner second over then Aravind got the next 6 wickets and got record figures for an RCB bowler of 6-32. Only Ojha (30 off 12) got above 15 and they were all out for 78.

1. Aravind for 6-32
2. Rossouw for 97*
3. Kohli for 65*

[jammyd]

Review of last game:
Positives: everything. Gayle was slightly disappointing as he scored slowly. Rossouw was incredible and very unlucky not to get our first 100 of the championship. He was well supported by Kohli as well. Bowling wise, Sammy took the huge wicket of Warner then Aravind tore their batting apart. After them, Dinda 2-13-2 and Patel 1-5-1 finished the job.

We are currently in second and everyone has played all their games apart from us and bottom of the table Delhi. However, our net RR is only slightly higher than Punjabs so if we lose by a bit then they will overtake us. We are, unsurprisingly unchanged.

[jammyd]

We lost the toss and they decided to bat first. We got off to a good start as Sammy (2-30) got De Kock, the man who scored 100 against us earlier, out early. However, Iyer (58 off 30) set a great platform and was well supported by Jadhav (21) and Morkel (27 off 19) as they ended on 176-9. All of our bowlers conceded at least 30 runs which was disappointing.
Verdict: it think they are 15 runs above par. This will be tough.

Our chase never really got going due to our openers. Gayle got 30 off 31 and Rossouw 23 off 27. Kohli tried to up our run rate but got out for 12 off 5. Karthik (41 off 24) and Sammy (19 off 9) gave us hope but it was too late. We end up on 151-8, 25 runs short so we move to third, making our road to the final much harder.

1. Karthik for 41 off 24
2. Sammy for 19 off 9 and 2-30
No one else was good

[jammyd]

Review of last game:
Positives: not many. Sammy and Karthik were both good but no one else did anything good.

Negatives: our openers scored too slowly and after that we had no chance. Bowling wise we were poor as a unit but I'm hoping this is just a one off.

We play Chennai in the first qualifier and the winner will play Punjab. We are unchanged

[jammyd]

We won the toss and bowled first and got off to a good start, with Aravind getting Smith for 0. Du Plessis got 30 off 18 but apart from late hitting from Abbott (21 off 14), no one else really performed well. Patel was impressive with 0-19 and was well supported by Dinda (3-32) and Sammy (2-28) as they reached 141-7.
Verdict: they are 15/20 runs short so I think we should make it to the second qualifier.

Gayle and Rossouw got us off to the perfect start and brought up a century opening stand. When Rossouw (58 off 47) got dismissed followed by Kohli (0), Gayle showed his class and eased us home by 8 wickets. He finished unbeaten on 76 off 51 as we won with 16 balls to spare.

1. Gayle for 76* off 51
2. Rossouw for 58 off 47
3. Dinda for 3-32