Day two of IPL 2022 saw the first double header of the tournament. In the first encounter Delhi Capitals made a winning start to their campaign with a thrilling win over the Mumbai Indians whereas in the second encounter Punjab Kings over powered and out muscled RCB.
Game 2
Delhi Capitals 179/6 (Lalit Yadav 48*, Axar 38*, Shaw 38, Murugan 2/14, Thampi 3/35) beat Mumbai Indians 177/5 (Kishan 81*, Sharma 41, Kuldeep 3/18, Khaleel 2/27)
Top level cricket returned to the historic Brabourne stadium in Mumbai after a long time but five time IPL champions Mumbai Indians had a forgettable day at the office against a Delhi Capitals team still looking for their first IPL title.
Put into bat on a belter of a wicket team India regulars Rohit Sharma & Ishan Kishan gave Mumbai a great start by putting on 67 in just 8.2 overs. The introduction of the resurgent Kuldeep Yadav put the brakes on Mumbai’s progress. Kuldeep came into the Indian side with a bang in 2017 but a dip in form that lasted a long time saw him dropped from the KKR side in the last IPL. Today though we saw the old Kuldeep back again. In a masterclass of left arm Chinamen bowling Kuldeep displayed all the nuances of his craft. The revs on the ball, the flight, the drift, the dip, the turn and the bounce were all on show and in a man of the match performance he broke the backbone on Mumbai’s batting.
While Mumbai kept losing wickets from one end IPL’s most expensive pick Ishan Kishan (remember Mumbai paid a whopping INR 152.5 million for him in the 2022 auction) made sure he held up one end and also kept the score board moving. Thanks to his unbeaten 81 of just 48 balls Mumbai managed to reach a par score of 177 of their 20 overs. A quick mention for 19-year-old rookie Tilak Varma who scored 22 of 15 balls on his IPL debut. Going by the quality of the entrée I am definitely looking forward to the main course.
Like Mumbai Delhi too got off to a flier with Tim Seifert and another ‘point to prove’ India player Prithvi Shaw regularly finding the boundary. But first two wickets in an over by Murugan Ashwin followed by two wickets in an over by Basil Thampi reduced Delhi to 72 for 5. It looked like the writing was on the wall for Delhi but 3D cricketers Lalit Yadav, Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel had other plans. Displaying nerves of steel all three stunned Mumbai by launching a ferocious rearguard attack and took Delhi home comfortably with ten balls to spare. When Bumrah goes for 43 of 3.2 overs you know Mumbai has had a bad day. But then they have always been slow starters in most IPL’s.
Game 3
Punjab Kings 208/5 (Rajapaksa 43, Dhawan 43, Patel 1/36) beat RCB 205/2 (Du Plessis 88, Kohli 41, Chahar 1/22)
It is the 15th year of the tournament and both these sides are still searching for their maiden IPL title. At the mega auction earlier this year Punjab Kings packed their team with power hitters. Looking at the manner in which they chased down 205 with an over to spare their team selection could well be the masterstroke that takes them to their maiden IPL title this year.
There was an outpour of emotion by CSK fans when Faf Du Plessis was bought by RCB this year. The kind of rich form Faf has been in recently with the bat justifies that reaction from the CSK fans. Asked to bat first after losing the toss Faf opened the RCB innings with the impressive Anuj Rawat. He took is time to get set and at one stage was 23 of 34 balls. But switching gears comes easily to Faf and he unfurled the full spectrum of his stroke play to dazzle the crowd at the D Y Patil stadium and the millions watching on TV. Faf finished on 88 of 57 balls and with finishing touches from Kohli and the ever green Dinesh Karthik RCB set Punjab Kings a target of 206.
Arguably the best batting conditions of the tournament, a lightning quick outfield and the presence of dew meant that defending 205 wasn’t going to be easy but Punjab made a mockery of the target by comfortably chasing it down with an over to spare. Barring IPL debutant Raj Bawa all their batters were amongst the runs and they came at a fair clip too. The way Bhanuka Rajpaksa nullified the threat of his Sri Lankan teammate Hasaranga was superb. The way man of the match Odean Smith hit sixes of good deliveries was mind-blowing and unreal. RCB over the years have always struggled to defend a score. They are normally a great batting unit but a below average bowling unit which hurts them regularly. Still it is early days in the tournament, so they do have time to find the right balance.
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