IPL 2022: All round effort takes RCB past CSK

For a while, it seemed no one was going to stay with Dinesh Karthik and allow him to do his thing but luckily, for Royal Challengers Bangalore, he got strike for a full over in the 20th. And he made it count. Dwaine Pretorius wasn’t too far from the blockhole but Karthik retreated so far back into the crease, with his back leg adjacent to the off-stump, that he somehow managed to swing two stunning sixes over the legside to loot 16 valuable runs in the over.
It was the difference between a good total on a pitch that helped turn and where the ball held up a touch, and a below-par one. In this season, Karthik has time and again shown that he doesn’t just slog, but picks his shots and the bowlers to go after. Here he had no choice but to go after the ball in the last over, but even then, it wasn’t mindless slogging. He made his moves in the crease, targeted his preferred areas, and was successful in dragging RCB to a competitive total.
Kohli flatters to deceive
Until Karthik provided the finishing touches, it seemed RCB had lost their way after a decent start from Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis. They weren’t explosive, had their share of luck, but ensured the Powerplay wasn’t wasted. There was one stunning slap-cut over cover for a six off Simarjeet Singh but otherwise, it was a knock where Kohli tried to find his way back into runs. The ball flew off the outside edge and he was beaten a couple of times before it seemed he was settling down. Until Moeen Ali intervened with a beauty.
The England off-spinner has dismissed Kohli 11 times across formats now. Bowled, trying to drive against the turn through the covers; LBW, trying to work it to the onside; caught, attempting big shots – and this time around it was a classic off-spinner’s dismissal. Moeen had beaten him on the cut with a delivery that straightened outside off. He then spun one down the legside.
Moeen Ali has clean bowled Virat Kohli in the past. (Source: iplt20.com)
The moment he got his line right to outside off, Moeen had his man. Not that Kohli wasn’t expecting it. Unlike the past, he had sensed the pitch was helping turn, and chose to go conventional with the turn. But in trying to drag it from well outside off, he over-compensated and his bat came down outside the line of the ball that spun sharply through his bat-and-pad gap. Early on in his career, Moeen would give the ball a rip at release but didn’t get much drift or big turn. Once while playing in Sri Lanka, Kumar Dharmasena, the former off-spinner turned umpire, told Moeen to grip the pocket of the left trouser with his non-bowling arm as that would ensure he got more of his body into action. He also corrected the axis of his seam position, changing it from square of the pitch to a more upright one, towards fine-leg, and that helped with drift and turn.
Conway & Moeen fall short
When he moved from South Africa to try his luck in New Zealand in 2017, Conway was batting at No. 10 and keeping wicket. Slowly, he started moving up the batting order, scoring tons of runs, including a triple hundred, and once he had waited out the ICC regulation of three years in a new country, was picked New Zealand.
Amazingly, Conway can bat as dourly as Cheteshwar Pujara if need be in Tests, as he often does, and can swing his bat as merrily as he has done in IPL for Chennai Super Kings.

He kept sweeping and cover driving the RCB bowlers to disarray before he fell, failing to clear the deep fielder with a sweep in the 14th over off Wanindu Hasaranga. That triggered the turnaround. Next over, Ravindra Jadeja holed out to a slower one from Harshal Patel to mid-off where Virat Kohli cupped his palms skywards to pouch the skier.
One big wicket remained of Moeen and that came the way of Harshal in the 18th over. The left-hander had just hit a thrilling six off a slower length delivery angling in towards him from around the stumps, sending it over square-leg with an extravagant extension of the arms.
Next ball, Harshal turned the door-knob at release, his Bravo-type slower ball, and importantly, pushed the ball wider outside off-stump. Moeen misread it, and just about checked his shot but it was too late and sent a dolly to cover. It left Chennai needing 41 from 16 balls but with only MS Dhoni left, and RCB’s main bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Harshal operating, it was always going to be difficult.
And it was.Dhoni fell, pulling Hazlewood straight to Kohli at deep midwicket in the 19th over and it was all over.