IPL 2024 Eighth Week Review: Kohli and RCB Qualify, Dhoni and CSK Eliminated

[00:00:01] Cricket Podcast, Edges amp.

[00:00:02] Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Edges and Sledges Cricket Podcast as the

[00:00:14] group stages of the IPL 2024 season have concluded and we have our four playoff contenders,

[00:00:21] Varun.

[00:00:22] Thanks for joining me today.

[00:00:23] I'm your host Ashwin.

[00:00:24] Varun is joining me from Singapore.

[00:00:26] We are actually recording this at the time of the just before the start of the 70th

[00:00:30] and final group game because the tosses seen a rain delay.

[00:00:34] So there is potentially still some change in the points table order.

[00:00:38] But let me start by asking you kind of like, how are you feeling?

[00:00:41] If somebody six weeks ago had said KKR, Hyderabad, Rajasthan and RCB were the four

[00:00:48] qualifying teams, we wouldn't have believed that, right?

[00:00:50] Yeah.

[00:00:51] I mean, I think it's shocking because when we re-looked at our preview and what

[00:00:55] we selected, I think all of us just got one team right out of four.

[00:00:59] Rajasthan.

[00:01:00] Yeah.

[00:01:01] Yeah, and that's a really weird season, right?

[00:01:05] I mean, it's not about us or anyone else.

[00:01:08] Anyone had to guess.

[00:01:09] I'm pretty sure everyone can get two out of four, right?

[00:01:12] But this is the first time I think in the history that two consecutive years,

[00:01:16] eight different teams have made it to the playoffs.

[00:01:18] And that speaks very poorly about Delhi and Punjab.

[00:01:21] But apart from Delhi and Punjab, all of the eight teams have actually made it

[00:01:25] to the playoffs in the last two years.

[00:01:26] So quite something when you think about it.

[00:01:30] And then, of course, you got to love the IPL because we're on the last day of the

[00:01:36] league stage.

[00:01:37] We're at the last game of the league stage and we still don't know the order of

[00:01:42] the top four teams.

[00:01:44] Just 24 hours ago, we found out the top four.

[00:01:48] So I don't know how IPL does it, but it's like, I'm going to keep this in

[00:01:52] mind for the future, man.

[00:01:53] This last league game weekend, like don't travel, don't do anything because it's

[00:01:57] almost like it's quarter-final time.

[00:02:00] Yeah, it's absolutely phenomenal.

[00:02:01] I mean, we will talk about the big game that happened, Kohli versus Dhoni or I

[00:02:05] guess officially FAF versus Rutharaj, but RCB versus CSK, which was basically a

[00:02:09] knockout.

[00:02:10] But in the one thing you haven't mentioned that you and I, as much as

[00:02:12] we've been talking offline about this points table, et cetera, is also the

[00:02:15] fact that tied for fourth place are four teams at 14 points.

[00:02:21] RCB, CSK, Delhi and Lucknow.

[00:02:24] I mean, that is another...

[00:02:25] It happens many years.

[00:02:26] Net run rate does come into play, but that is another wild stat because you

[00:02:29] think of every game where, instead of losing by a margin of 80 runs, you

[00:02:34] lost by a margin of 50 or even RCB versus Hyderabad was 287 and they

[00:02:42] managed to get within striking distance of the target.

[00:02:44] That's what made the difference right after 14 games per team, 70 total.

[00:02:48] The fact that it comes down to net runner, it still somehow blows my

[00:02:51] mind, right?

[00:02:52] Yeah.

[00:02:52] I mean, everyone from team number four to team number seven are just on

[00:02:57] the same number of points.

[00:02:58] And yet it didn't feel like that because Delhi and Lucknow, I think,

[00:03:03] rendered was negative.

[00:03:04] And so to make up that gap, it was a lot, but it was just amazing that

[00:03:07] RCB's equation with CSK was just, you know, win by 18 runs and your

[00:03:13] net runner becomes better.

[00:03:14] So phenomenal.

[00:03:15] Like I said, all the way down to the wire, we at the point of

[00:03:19] recording, unfortunately, we don't even know who's going to play the

[00:03:23] first playoff and the second playoff game.

[00:03:25] But that's what IPM is.

[00:03:27] Yeah, we know that KKR has qualified in one of the first two spots.

[00:03:32] And we know actually KKR is qualified winning the table at this point.

[00:03:36] And we know that RCB is fourth.

[00:03:37] So we'll not make the, I always forget what they call the

[00:03:40] eliminator or the, KKR will play the qualifier and RCB

[00:03:44] will play the eliminator.

[00:03:45] Hyderabad has just won their game.

[00:03:47] So they've jumped into second place, but Rajasthan obviously, if

[00:03:51] they win their final group game of the season against KKR, we'll get

[00:03:55] to jump into second place and face KKR yet again, just a couple of

[00:03:58] days from now.

[00:03:59] So yeah, but this game has rained out the current KKR-RR game.

[00:04:03] Then I think SRH will stay.

[00:04:05] And that is also on net run rate because SRH and Rajasthan will

[00:04:09] both be at 17 points, but Hyderabad has won by big.

[00:04:12] It's just, it's amazing.

[00:04:13] I mean, we try to do a quick rundown of games that happened

[00:04:16] since we last recorded, but since we last recorded, Gujarat had

[00:04:19] two games rained out and they were in completely different cities too.

[00:04:22] Right.

[00:04:23] One in Ahmedabad, one in Hyderabad and that unfortunately knocked them

[00:04:26] out of the tournament.

[00:04:28] Delhi won against Lucknow, but it was a little bit of a damp squib

[00:04:30] because unless Delhi won by like an insane margin, almost

[00:04:34] mathematically impossible margin.

[00:04:35] 600 runs or something.

[00:04:36] I don't know the specifics, but at this point, I don't

[00:04:39] remember what was real, what was made up.

[00:04:41] But from, but yeah, Delhi won.

[00:04:44] Rajasthan lost yet again.

[00:04:45] And I had a great stat, Varun, because RCB has, who have

[00:04:48] qualified with six wins on the track.

[00:04:51] The last time our Rajasthan won a match, RCB was 10th on the table.

[00:04:59] Just think about that journey.

[00:05:01] So, so I don't know if I think RR has lost four, four on the

[00:05:07] track, right?

[00:05:08] Four on the track.

[00:05:09] Yep.

[00:05:10] But they had actually before this lost only one game.

[00:05:15] So it's almost, I mean, RCB has done better than them, but I'm

[00:05:17] just saying it's almost like mirror image reverse kind of

[00:05:22] season for both these teams where one was down and out.

[00:05:25] And I think had 1% probability of qualifying.

[00:05:29] Yes, some say some showed it as zero because they were rounding down.

[00:05:32] You and I both worked in the corporate world.

[00:05:34] You always round up, always round up no matter what it is.

[00:05:37] But yeah, some said 0%.

[00:05:39] And the other thing is like it's great goalies, like just got this

[00:05:42] thing about percentages, right?

[00:05:43] In that India Park T20 World Cup game, India's chance of winning

[00:05:47] was 3.6%.

[00:05:49] And he got that to 100.

[00:05:51] RCB's chance of winning or qualifying was sub 1% and he got that to 100.

[00:05:56] So phenomenal.

[00:05:58] Truly incredible, just incredible.

[00:06:00] Varun, if we have time, I will come back and talk about the rest.

[00:06:04] But what this week was really, really about Saturday morning,

[00:06:09] Virat Kohli, you mentioned already, Virat Kohli and FAF and the RCB team

[00:06:12] going for their sixth win on the trot.

[00:06:15] CSK not even needing to win, just needing to lose by less than 18

[00:06:21] runs in order to qualify.

[00:06:24] And I mean, I don't know about you.

[00:06:26] It's been a while since I felt this level of emotion.

[00:06:29] I think on this podcast, it's pretty clear DJ is very, very big,

[00:06:34] though, Amazonian fan.

[00:06:35] I am a very, very big Kohli fan and I think you like both guys.

[00:06:38] So let me start by asking you, like, is this, was this a win-win

[00:06:41] kind of day because you were going to be happy regardless?

[00:06:43] So is it a lose-lose because you were going to be sad regardless of what happened?

[00:06:47] I mean, I was, I don't know.

[00:06:48] It was, it was too weird because I had actually thought that if there

[00:06:52] is a way that Dhoni makes it to the final in Chennai, I'm going to see

[00:06:55] if I can get a ticket and try to fly down.

[00:06:57] And obviously the probability of that happening was probably sub 1%.

[00:07:00] But we just spoke about that.

[00:07:02] Right?

[00:07:02] So I was actually in my mind ready and mentally ready to

[00:07:06] be able to fly down for that.

[00:07:07] So I had kind of was like, come on, like we got to make this happen,

[00:07:13] but then like when I sat back and analyzed it, I kind of was like

[00:07:15] 51% of you wants Kohli to win and 49% of you wants Dhoni.

[00:07:19] So I was in a win-win situation.

[00:07:24] And I have not felt sad because I think, you know, I read this

[00:07:29] somewhere that it's almost like you're fighting somebody's fighting

[00:07:31] for their last trophy and somebody's fighting for their first trophy.

[00:07:35] So, you know, I was like not, uh, I was not sad about it.

[00:07:39] I think at the end of it, like Kohli and RCB had the momentum.

[00:07:43] They did enough.

[00:07:45] I think their bowlers are standing up just enough at the right time.

[00:07:48] I wouldn't say that they're doing very well, but yeah, man, it was a,

[00:07:52] it was genuinely a win-win game for me.

[00:07:56] I liked the articulation of you cheering for somebody who's

[00:07:59] winning potentially their last trophy and versus their first IPL trophy.

[00:08:03] I mean, yeah, all things considered, you still have to say both

[00:08:06] MS Dhoni and CSK far over-delivered expectations this season between injuries,

[00:08:12] between just where they were in the table early on the season.

[00:08:16] And then of course RCB has over-delivered, but you know, I was

[00:08:20] joking with a friend of mine, I said the most RCB thing to happen

[00:08:23] here would be for them to actually win their sixth game on the

[00:08:25] trot, but win it by like 16 or 17 runs and miss the playoffs as a result.

[00:08:30] That would have been just poetic of the kinds of seasons they've had.

[00:08:33] But why don't it feels like a little bit of an injustice to walk through

[00:08:37] the game as it is, but I'm going to, I want to do it because I want to

[00:08:41] start by asking you about Virat being 47 off 29 and getting out.

[00:08:45] And DJ and I got to talk about this last week or a couple of weeks ago

[00:08:48] when he got out on 92 at one point.

[00:08:50] It is not the Virat we're used to that sees, uh, you know, 47 off 28

[00:08:55] balls and goes for a six usually 47.

[00:08:58] He, you know, hit a measured shot, go for a boundary.

[00:09:01] I mean, phenomenal catch by Darrell Mitchell here.

[00:09:03] One of those almost fell over the boundary, tossed it back and, and get it.

[00:09:06] But, but this is what, this is what his naysayers have been asking him to

[00:09:10] do in IPL cricket for a while, right?

[00:09:12] Stop playing the overly measured, stop going for the single, stop

[00:09:15] slowing down in the forties and nineties and he's, he's, he's

[00:09:18] not doing it right.

[00:09:19] So are we upset that he didn't hit the milestone or is exactly

[00:09:22] the role that RCB did have to play?

[00:09:24] No, I'm not upset he didn't hit the milestone.

[00:09:26] I think, uh, he has a lot of naysayers, almost every single person.

[00:09:31] And I think somewhere between not wanting to accept feedback and saying,

[00:09:36] I kind of, I know how to do this best.

[00:09:39] There is some acknowledgement of what everyone is saying.

[00:09:43] And he doesn't, he's not, he's never going to publicly come out

[00:09:46] and say that, yes, I agree with everything that has been said.

[00:09:48] But you know, when you dig deep and you've lost these matches

[00:09:51] and then you say that, you know, I'm, we got to turn it around for the fans.

[00:09:55] I think that's what Coley said that the RCB camp spoke about that we're going

[00:09:59] to turn it around for the fans, not for ourselves, not to try and qualify.

[00:10:03] We just got to play respectable cricket.

[00:10:06] And I think somewhere between losing so badly in the first half of

[00:10:09] the tournament and all the criticism that happened along with the fact

[00:10:14] that he's gotten selected for the T20 World Cup, which he always was going

[00:10:18] to, but he knows that he has to change his role somewhere, something

[00:10:22] has clicked and I'm really happy because I didn't, I don't remember

[00:10:26] the 47s or the 92s like that.

[00:10:28] I remember it as significant contribution at a solid strike

[00:10:32] grade when the team needed him.

[00:10:33] So I think he is changed slightly and just enough for it to be a positive.

[00:10:42] I've gone through stats websites on year by year on IPLs and you sort

[00:10:47] by bearing, you sort by number of runs scored.

[00:10:50] You often see Virat at or near the top.

[00:10:53] He is this year.

[00:10:53] He's currently carrying the orange cap and nobody else seems close.

[00:10:57] You sort by number of boundaries at fours head.

[00:11:01] He's often at the top, right?

[00:11:03] I think this year he is second to Travis head with 59 fours versus 61.

[00:11:08] I have never recalled, I probably was here.

[00:11:11] I've never sorted by sixes hit and seen Virat Coley at the top of the list.

[00:11:15] And this year he has 37 sixes from 14 innings.

[00:11:18] Yes, Abhishek and Sunil Narayan played a couple of fewer matches, but man,

[00:11:23] that is a change that is a huge pivot.

[00:11:25] So he's the highest six hitter.

[00:11:27] Highest six hitter this year's IPL edition.

[00:11:29] Now among teams that have qualified for the playoffs, Abhishek, Sharma,

[00:11:33] Sunil Narayan, Travis, Henry, Anparag, Rajat, Patit, there are all within six or

[00:11:37] seven sixes of him.

[00:11:39] So that could change at the end of the season, but at the end of the

[00:11:41] playoffs, what a phenomenal statistic, right?

[00:11:44] Yeah.

[00:11:44] That just shows you it's changed man.

[00:11:46] And it's not like he started opening this year and that changed it.

[00:11:49] He's been opening for a while.

[00:11:51] Yeah.

[00:11:51] So it's a mindset change and you got to reinvent man.

[00:11:55] You just got to reinvent.

[00:11:56] And I give him full credit.

[00:11:59] Absolutely.

[00:12:00] All right.

[00:12:00] RCB ended up getting to 218, FAF2 plus C.

[00:12:03] Did you get a chance to watch that decision?

[00:12:05] The run out, Mitchell Santner.

[00:12:07] It was very confusing, right?

[00:12:08] I think it was Rajat on the other end, hits a straight drive.

[00:12:11] It happens a lot in this game, right?

[00:12:13] It happens a lot, right?

[00:12:14] Clips the fingers, goes on to hit the wicket, bats just out.

[00:12:18] But Santner didn't even seem to know that it had clipped his finger.

[00:12:20] He was sort of like, appeal?

[00:12:22] How's that?

[00:12:23] Can you check for me?

[00:12:24] I mean, if the ball hits your finger, don't you know?

[00:12:27] I mean, maybe it hit the side of his nail or something.

[00:12:30] He wasn't sure if it was wind or the ball, but yeah, no, I'm just being,

[00:12:34] I'm just being silly.

[00:12:35] I'm of course you would know, but then the umpire used the

[00:12:38] snickometer, right?

[00:12:39] That was phenomenal.

[00:12:40] I mean, why not?

[00:12:41] You have the technology, use the stick to see if it hit the finger.

[00:12:45] It was for all.

[00:12:47] Yeah, great.

[00:12:48] Yeah, go ahead.

[00:12:49] No, but I was just going to say, I think, I think everyone just got

[00:12:52] going man, like this is a perfect T20 innings, 47 of 39, 54 of 39,

[00:12:56] the opener, Rajat Patidar.

[00:12:58] Again, the minute he turned around, RCB turned around.

[00:13:02] And trust me, this guy, when he bats well, he looks amazing.

[00:13:06] Like I think Rappa has actually changed it.

[00:13:11] And if they, if you get Rappa out early, I think you're short 30 runs.

[00:13:16] You're like, you're cutting RCB short 30 runs and he's just hit fifties.

[00:13:20] He's hit sixes to the spinners.

[00:13:22] He's kept the momentum going.

[00:13:24] His strike rate is high.

[00:13:25] He is the Rajat Patidar that I think we saw two seasons ago, which

[00:13:29] RCB wanted to kind of invest in.

[00:13:32] And green has come good.

[00:13:34] Maxwell, if you noticed, didn't move his feet.

[00:13:37] I think somebody must have told him this is the Afghanistan game of the

[00:13:40] 2023 World Cup.

[00:13:41] He was still at just swinging it and he actually got 16 or four or five

[00:13:46] balls, but everyone played their part man.

[00:13:49] Yeah, I really exactly what you want.

[00:13:51] I mean, Tikshana and Santner bowled well as kind of the, you look

[00:13:54] at CSK's bowling lineup at the, at the Chinna Swamy, UC spinners,

[00:14:00] the track was unbelievable.

[00:14:01] The amount of spin was unbelievable.

[00:14:03] I mean, we started the innings at 200 plus and needed, and you need to win by 18.

[00:14:08] And then when they came back on after the rain, they're saying,

[00:14:10] Oh, this might be a 160 wicket.

[00:14:11] So actually kind of amazing for them to get to 218.

[00:14:16] And other than Tikshana and Santner, everybody went for runs.

[00:14:20] And then you're sitting here saying, okay, the equation becomes

[00:14:22] the most crystal clear, right?

[00:14:24] Varun, you're thinking, okay, do I want to win?

[00:14:26] I want to get the points.

[00:14:27] If CSK got the points, they would have gone to 16, et cetera.

[00:14:29] But ultimately it was not, none of that mattered.

[00:14:32] This is the, this is their last playoff game.

[00:14:34] All that really mattered was can you cross 200, 201?

[00:14:38] And the math because of decimal places, there was no scenario in which a tie

[00:14:42] would have changed anything because if they made 200, if they got all out

[00:14:44] for 200 or got finished the 20 overs for 200, RCV's through.

[00:14:49] And if they made 201, CSK are through.

[00:14:53] Varun, why don't we take a very quick break.

[00:14:54] We will come back and talk about the chase and how it unfolded and then

[00:14:58] where the IPL season goes from here.

[00:14:59] So don't go anywhere.

[00:15:00] We'll take a quick break and be right back.

[00:15:10] Welcome back to the Edges and Sledges Cricket Podcast.

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[00:15:26] Varun, chase started.

[00:15:27] Let me first ask you, Faf to Plessy or Virat.

[00:15:30] It's not super clear because in the, in the team talks in the

[00:15:33] huddle before they went back out, Virat was doing almost all the talking.

[00:15:38] Maxwell got the ball.

[00:15:39] How do you feel about that?

[00:15:40] If you're RCB, you're saying, but I'm competing against Jadeja,

[00:15:45] Santner and Thikshana with Karan Sharma, Glenn Maxwell, and, oh,

[00:15:53] and then Swapnil Singh and maybe Lomroar.

[00:15:55] Like you do, you don't quite on paper have the spin attack to

[00:15:58] compete against CSK and you threw the first ball to Glenn Maxwell.

[00:16:01] And what happened to the first ball of the bat?

[00:16:04] I mean, perfect start, right?

[00:16:07] Yeah.

[00:16:07] I mean, RCB has also always had a bad bowling lineup.

[00:16:10] So I think they just have to deal with it.

[00:16:12] So they're not going to look at matchups, but I mean, I would totally

[00:16:17] bowl with Maxwell, right?

[00:16:18] It's a big game, you know, you get hit for two, three, six is okay.

[00:16:22] Fine.

[00:16:22] Doesn't matter.

[00:16:22] You've got 200 plus on the board.

[00:16:24] You can recover, but in an off chance where you get a big

[00:16:28] wicket like Ruhu or Rachim that is game changing.

[00:16:32] And what happened on the first ball of the match was everyone

[00:16:34] was in shock because he bowled this slightly short, non-spinning

[00:16:39] slow delivery and Rathuraj just kind of played it back and straight

[00:16:43] into the field as her and Maxwell was in shock.

[00:16:46] Everyone was in shock.

[00:16:47] It was like, it was too early for the rat to have that kind of energy.

[00:16:51] Like he, even he was like, wait, what, what just happened?

[00:16:54] And is there like a switch, he knows how to flick and it's like

[00:16:58] at least a couple of balls, right?

[00:16:59] Just to get the, to get the game going.

[00:17:02] But yeah, Rathuraj looked in shock.

[00:17:05] CSK looked in shock.

[00:17:06] I think it was just a terrible thing.

[00:17:10] Now I read an interesting stat that I think says Rathuraj was chasing

[00:17:14] 175 plus in the IPL averages like 10 or something, man.

[00:17:17] So then when you start thinking back at it, um, a lot of his big

[00:17:22] scores are probably batting first or when you're chasing less.

[00:17:25] So yeah, I, nobody's thinking of stats when you're playing, but

[00:17:28] you got to put in that little bit extra effort when you know they've

[00:17:31] set you up with a spinner, just, just when you know, you're the key batsman.

[00:17:35] I feel like that was the game there because it, it just, it

[00:17:40] was just too early to lose it.

[00:17:42] Yeah.

[00:17:42] And I mean, Darrell Mitchell came in and got out not very long after, right?

[00:17:45] So 19 runs on the board, you've lost your second wicket and still enough of

[00:17:50] us have watched enough IPL cricket at the Jindaswamy that anything is possible.

[00:17:55] And actually, Rajan Ravindra who'd had a tough season thus, till thus far,

[00:18:00] some credit to CSK management and to Rathuraj slash MS, whoever's actually

[00:18:05] running the show for backing him this much, right?

[00:18:08] Because he ended up coming really good.

[00:18:10] Rahane looked decent.

[00:18:12] Very, very strange knock from Shivam Dove, right?

[00:18:14] Shivam Dove walks out at five, 85 for three.

[00:18:16] And he just, he just, I don't want to imply that this is why, but he

[00:18:20] just hasn't been the same since the world cup squad got announced.

[00:18:24] Right.

[00:18:24] And again, I'm not, I'm certainly not implying that he took his

[00:18:27] foot off the gas since he made the cut.

[00:18:29] But, but actually now as we pivot to being Delhi, being out at us,

[00:18:33] we focused on team India.

[00:18:34] That's not a great sign.

[00:18:36] Right?

[00:18:37] Yeah.

[00:18:37] It's, it's a bit sad actually, since that announcement came out, I

[00:18:40] don't think he's done anything.

[00:18:42] And again, the deeper you try to look at it, when you think of last

[00:18:45] year's final, you can almost visualize the same Shivam Dove as you saw

[00:18:50] yesterday, which was struggling to get the boundary and you know, Mohit

[00:18:54] Sharma bowling Yorkers, him not being able to do anything, just

[00:18:57] digging it out for a single.

[00:18:59] And I think that's where you just kind of, you know, as a person who plays

[00:19:05] in such high pressure situations, I think you got to look for doubles,

[00:19:08] triples, like run hard, do everything you can till that first boundary

[00:19:14] comes because otherwise playing a game of spring and innings of seven

[00:19:19] or 15, you could almost say that lost them the game, right?

[00:19:23] And I'm a big Shivam Dove fan, but seven of 15 with no boundaries,

[00:19:28] uncharacteristic.

[00:19:29] And I think that cost them the game.

[00:19:32] So Jadeja walks out at six, plays again a blinder and we'll talk about

[00:19:36] the last couple of words again.

[00:19:38] And then the fifth wicket falls.

[00:19:41] And were you, were you expecting for all the memes and jokes,

[00:19:45] et cetera, at number seven, when the fifth wicket falls at 13.4,

[00:19:49] when Dubai actually gets out, do you expect Tala to walk in?

[00:19:55] So I don't and I don't because they've already made it clear that his

[00:20:01] knee cannot handle it.

[00:20:03] Yeah.

[00:20:04] So I don't think, I think like I can see cheeky smile on your face,

[00:20:07] but I think, I mean, you guys keep saying stuff about seven, the number

[00:20:11] seven, why wouldn't you walk out at seven on the last wicket?

[00:20:15] About seven.

[00:20:16] In fact, it was played on May 18th and eight minus one is seven.

[00:20:19] And Virat's number is 18.

[00:20:21] Which is also eight minus one is seven.

[00:20:23] So all.

[00:20:24] One minus eight is minus seven, which is negative.

[00:20:28] Seven.

[00:20:29] My point is it's clear he can't do it.

[00:20:32] His body can't take it.

[00:20:34] Now you can say he shouldn't be playing.

[00:20:35] Yeah.

[00:20:35] A hundred percent.

[00:20:36] There's a lot of debates going on, but he's not done badly.

[00:20:39] He's also kept for 20 overs.

[00:20:41] I don't think his let his team down with the keeping, but I think maybe

[00:20:45] the batting impact on his knees or body has a different impact.

[00:20:50] That's just it.

[00:20:50] Right?

[00:20:51] So I knew he's not going to walk out, but at the same time that that catch

[00:20:56] that Faf took off Santner was like AB de Villiers vibes on the boundary

[00:21:02] where he took this stunner.

[00:21:04] I mean, that catch was, that's a wicked out of nowhere.

[00:21:08] Like for Siraj who was looking average, that was a wicked out of nowhere.

[00:21:14] And that's when you are forced.

[00:21:16] I can't remember which over that happened.

[00:21:19] It was the last ball of the 15.

[00:21:20] So 15 overs at that point.

[00:21:22] Yeah.

[00:21:24] So five hours to go.

[00:21:25] That's the point he walks in.

[00:21:27] And at one stage, I think you had Jadeja, Dhoni and Lockie Ferguson

[00:21:32] all in the action and couldn't help but think this is the 2019

[00:21:36] final, semi-final because New Zealand versus India.

[00:21:40] And yeah, I just, just had too many 2019 rights.

[00:21:44] Yeah.

[00:21:45] I think you mentioned a briefly, but that catch, I mean, he's

[00:21:48] the guy's 39 years old and you saw both in that split second.

[00:21:51] I've watched that catch so many times at this point in that split second,

[00:21:54] he stopped and he paused and just like put his arms out to celebrate,

[00:21:58] which means he knew what he had just pulled off.

[00:21:59] And then they panned to Kohli's face and his jaw just like,

[00:22:03] eyes go big, the jaw drops like, oh my gosh, what has just happened.

[00:22:07] And he looked exact same way when AB did it like 60 overs.

[00:22:11] Which is phenomenal.

[00:22:12] I mean, how could you not?

[00:22:13] I mean, I'm not going to get into the Kohli debate, but how could

[00:22:15] you not love a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve?

[00:22:16] He's not the skipper and he had nothing to do with that wicked.

[00:22:19] It was surajit fast, but man, phenomenal.

[00:22:23] All right.

[00:22:23] So the Hone and Jadeja are batting 2019 vibes all like it was, it's

[00:22:29] again seemed a little bit bizarre overall, just how many parallels were there.

[00:22:33] But it came down to 63 needed in 24 balls to qualify.

[00:22:38] I'm not even talking about winning because at this point they've

[00:22:39] probably put that out of their minds, right?

[00:22:42] 63 or 24.

[00:22:44] Yes, they are.

[00:22:45] Remember five sixes in the last over against KKR, which basically for many

[00:22:52] people who hadn't been watching for a while, put Rinku Singh on the map.

[00:22:55] I mean, you expect under Russell Durup but Rinku Singh five sixes and

[00:22:58] Yash Sayal comes into ball 16.1 with two overs left and four

[00:23:03] overs to go on the team.

[00:23:05] If you're Faf at that point, are you trying to preserve overs differently?

[00:23:09] Do you think about Cam Green?

[00:23:11] You know, he used surajit over in the 18th.

[00:23:13] What's going through your head at that point?

[00:23:14] Are you just saying try to keep as many as humanly possible for the 19th or 20th?

[00:23:19] Yeah, I think so because Glenn Maxwell and Cam Green are not

[00:23:23] premier bowlers for their own teams, just like for their country.

[00:23:27] Yash Sayal, Swapnil Singh, Karan Sharma.

[00:23:32] And you're likely not giving it to Swapnil or Karan just because

[00:23:34] they're spin, right?

[00:23:35] Like so, yeah.

[00:23:37] I mean, I think these guys are like Swapnil Singh is so random.

[00:23:40] I feel like Faf may not remember who he is half the time.

[00:23:45] It threw me back to 2009, eight when the first first IPL Rajasthan Royals had a

[00:23:50] player called Swapnil S.

[00:23:51] Nodkar.

[00:23:51] I don't know if you remember.

[00:23:52] Yeah, I think he opened up the batting or something.

[00:23:56] Yeah, what a throwback.

[00:23:57] It was great.

[00:23:58] Yeah.

[00:23:58] So I think the point is just that you know you're going to bowl out

[00:24:02] suraj.

[00:24:03] Lockie in fact didn't finish at the end of it.

[00:24:05] He bowled only three.

[00:24:07] But I think Yash Sayal has been training for this, right?

[00:24:11] So you give you back the guy.

[00:24:15] Look, I mean, don't get me wrong.

[00:24:16] They don't have anyone else.

[00:24:17] Yeah.

[00:24:18] So from whoever they have, if one guy in particular has been training to

[00:24:22] bowl the slower ones, the death overs, then you give the ball to him.

[00:24:25] There's nothing else you can do.

[00:24:27] Yeah.

[00:24:27] So 13 runs off the 17th over, right?

[00:24:30] The equation, I got to do really quick math as I try to remember,

[00:24:33] gave him 50 from three overs needed to win.

[00:24:36] And you're thinking, okay, 17 runs on over.

[00:24:38] Suraj gets the ball goes for six, two dot four.

[00:24:42] He has a single, a wide 15 runs gone.

[00:24:45] You can say he was trying to defend 17.

[00:24:46] He did.

[00:24:48] He went par for the course, right?

[00:24:50] Lockie Ferguson and Yash Sayal have to bowl the last two because

[00:24:53] suraj is now bowled out and Lockie gets it first.

[00:24:57] Bowls a beamer to Dhoni.

[00:24:58] I mean, it slips out of the hand or whatever it is.

[00:25:01] At that point we were saying is this his second, second beamer over

[00:25:04] his tight directors, he got to come off.

[00:25:08] So I guess what it came down to from what I could tell is it didn't seem

[00:25:12] like it was at risk to the batter because it was far enough away from

[00:25:15] his body, like it slipped and it was wide, but it wasn't enough

[00:25:18] for them to get taken off.

[00:25:20] And Jereja hits a boundary.

[00:25:23] Dhoni hits a boundary and then 23 needed to have seven.

[00:25:27] And you're thinking you need at least four here to get it sub 20

[00:25:30] to give yourself a shot and Jereja hits a mammoth six.

[00:25:34] And he kind of bent down the same way as he did to get that.

[00:25:38] I don't know what, but the momentum when he did that to Mohit Sharma

[00:25:42] last year, it was exactly the same.

[00:25:45] So 17 now needed Yash Sayal who's given, I guess, 30 in the 20th

[00:25:49] over before gets the ball and on that first ball.

[00:25:55] I mean, I wasn't talking to you.

[00:25:56] We were in the same room, but you were, we were on WhatsApp

[00:25:59] reliving, living through a time.

[00:26:00] I could almost hear your emotion in your messages.

[00:26:06] It was 110 meters six that went outside the Chinnaswami

[00:26:11] stadium in the last over by Dhoni.

[00:26:16] Like, I mean, it cannot get better than that.

[00:26:19] Like at that point, I was like, this is game over.

[00:26:23] This is it.

[00:26:24] It's finished.

[00:26:27] Jaddu and Thala between them just know how to do this.

[00:26:31] Because at that point, the equation comes down to 11 of five.

[00:26:35] Yeah.

[00:26:35] With Jaddu and Dhoni both there.

[00:26:37] Yeah.

[00:26:38] So I was like, this is it game over.

[00:26:41] But what changed is 110 meters ball went outside the stadium.

[00:26:45] Again, this is just conjecture.

[00:26:46] No, no, no, it's not.

[00:26:47] I was going to tell you since you went to sleep last night,

[00:26:51] you messaged me there between now and when you woke up.

[00:26:54] Dinesh Kartik is the guy who actually said this in the dressing room.

[00:26:57] Oh, okay.

[00:26:58] So he's real.

[00:26:59] So he said it and I think it's still complete bullshit.

[00:27:02] But he said, and I don't know if you're saying it in jest, but in the team

[00:27:06] meeting after the game, he said, the best thing that happened to us was that

[00:27:10] Dhoni hit the ball outside the stadium because then what it meant was that

[00:27:15] you got a new ball, which was easier to grip and easier to bowl the slower

[00:27:20] ones and things.

[00:27:21] And so he said that was the best thing.

[00:27:23] And then, and then he also looks at Yash and said, Oh, I'm well bored

[00:27:26] also Yash.

[00:27:27] So he kind of just gave full credit to Dhoni for hitting it outside the

[00:27:30] stadium and he thinks that is what won them the game anyway.

[00:27:34] Yeah.

[00:27:34] I mean, Yash gets to walk in with a dry ball and gets Dhoni out the next ball.

[00:27:41] I mean, at this point, hundreds of millions of Dhoni fans are watching

[00:27:45] this thing, this is it time for a special.

[00:27:47] He's going to finish it off in style.

[00:27:49] I mean, he was batting at 25 of 12 balls at that point, over 200.

[00:27:53] And he like, this is it.

[00:27:55] He's going to get to finish it off in style.

[00:27:56] The semi and the final are both in Chennai, like you said earlier.

[00:28:00] It was, it was just written.

[00:28:02] It was the dream was really, and we all discussed this, right?

[00:28:06] That it's going to be 195 in the 19.5 overs.

[00:28:11] Dhoni is going to hit a six.

[00:28:12] They're going to lose the batch qualifying and that's where it was hitting.

[00:28:17] Yeah.

[00:28:18] And yet Yash Dayal managed to get Dhoni out the next ball.

[00:28:22] I mean, it still went up in the air slower ball.

[00:28:26] And that was the beauty of it.

[00:28:27] It's hard.

[00:28:27] It's incredibly hard to bowl a slow ball under any circumstances,

[00:28:30] let alone with the wet ball.

[00:28:31] But with the dryer one, what he's known for is that back of

[00:28:33] the hand slower ball and he delivered it got Dhoni out.

[00:28:36] Shardul walks in.

[00:28:38] And just, just another thing that's where between last year and this year

[00:28:41] the rule changed, right?

[00:28:43] Where Jattu would have been on strike with four balls to go.

[00:28:47] Yeah, the crossing you're right.

[00:28:49] They would have crossed.

[00:28:50] To me is a game changing rule, which I think is fantastic.

[00:28:54] But if Jattu was on strike with four balls to go on 11 runs, even a boundary

[00:28:59] and a couple of twos was enough.

[00:29:01] Yeah.

[00:29:01] Jattu was on 42 of 20.

[00:29:03] I mean, it was easy.

[00:29:05] Yeah.

[00:29:05] And that's, that's what I'm saying.

[00:29:07] That rule change actually costs Chennai the game.

[00:29:10] Wait, why?

[00:29:10] I thought you guys are the guys who walked in next as one of

[00:29:13] India's best all-rounders.

[00:29:14] You should be able to finish games, right?

[00:29:16] He should, but unfortunately, I don't know if he's been around for

[00:29:19] like the whole IPL he's been in and out.

[00:29:21] And I feel like he, yeah, he's like a three ball specialist.

[00:29:26] So he has to have figured this out.

[00:29:27] He should have transformed himself into a Tehwati guy.

[00:29:30] So yeah, I mean, 11 needed off four as Sharzul walks out.

[00:29:33] Very difficult for number eight to walk out in that scenario.

[00:29:38] Misses the ball.

[00:29:39] Again, a little bit of a shock that they didn't run because for me,

[00:29:42] you want to rage on strike, even if there's risk of the keeper running

[00:29:45] you out, you want to give it your best shot, but they didn't try to

[00:29:47] run after he missed it.

[00:29:49] Then they get a single and you're thinking, Varun at this point, two

[00:29:52] balls to go, 10 runs needed.

[00:29:54] Jadeja on strike in yellow.

[00:29:58] And you're thinking we've, we've seen this.

[00:30:00] We've been here.

[00:30:01] He did exactly this equation, different match, but for Chetek

[00:30:05] needed off two.

[00:30:06] 12 months ago.

[00:30:07] Exactly this.

[00:30:09] And he did it.

[00:30:10] And in this scenario, obviously, Yash bowled a nice slower ball

[00:30:13] outside the off stump.

[00:30:15] Jadeja missed it and the celebration started.

[00:30:17] He had to bowl one more, but they were like, just one illegal

[00:30:19] delivery doesn't matter where it goes.

[00:30:21] And that was the game.

[00:30:24] And you saw, you saw the only sitting in the restroom with his

[00:30:27] head sort of dropped, but the only doesn't show a lot of emotion.

[00:30:30] And then you panned over and Virat had his like arm over his eyes

[00:30:35] and, and there were tears after all the running and celebrating and

[00:30:38] hugging, I mean, it was just, even as I'm really, I had not intended

[00:30:42] for this episode to be RCB versus CSK relived.

[00:30:45] It was supposed to be a full week of IPL.

[00:30:47] The best game of the IPL, we had to have an episode for it.

[00:30:50] I mean, they cut to Arushka who's fist dropping.

[00:30:53] They cut to Virat who's got tears in eyes.

[00:30:55] I mean, six on the trot after having zero point something, single

[00:31:01] digit decimal percent chance of qualifying and RCB are through

[00:31:05] to the playoffs, what a moment.

[00:31:07] And just that sport for you, right?

[00:31:09] Like it's good as one half of this group is celebrating, how

[00:31:13] absolutely shattered because everybody had that fairy tale ending for the

[00:31:16] honeydream and it just, in January is just sad, but it was sad for

[00:31:22] the only, it was great for Virat and there's no other way to describe it.

[00:31:26] I guess the only question for me here is the only hasn't officially

[00:31:28] announced anything, so why we are the ones saying farewell tour and

[00:31:32] this was a, isn't that any.

[00:31:35] Yeah.

[00:31:35] And he's not going to say anything.

[00:31:36] He's going to put up to eat like 10 months from today.

[00:31:40] From 1929 hours, considered.

[00:31:43] Pretty much that's what he's going to do.

[00:31:45] He's not going to announce it.

[00:31:47] You really think so?

[00:31:48] I mean, I guess if he wanted to go out with the bag, he would have

[00:31:50] done it after last year's trophy and just called it.

[00:31:52] So I don't think he wants to go to the bank.

[00:31:54] I think they asked everyone to stay back in the last Chennai game.

[00:31:58] And he took a tennis racket and was throwing things into the stands.

[00:32:02] And I mean, that's pretty symbolic enough for me.

[00:32:06] And yeah, I think, I mean, we're joking about the street and all.

[00:32:10] I think it will come out sooner than we expect, but it will come out

[00:32:13] because the mega auction is going to happen.

[00:32:16] You are going to want to bring in players who are going to

[00:32:19] stay with you for three years.

[00:32:21] And Dhoni has got to be there rebuilding CSK from the outside, not

[00:32:27] the inside, that's just the way it's got to be.

[00:32:30] Yeah.

[00:32:30] I mean a lot to unpack.

[00:32:31] We didn't, we didn't get to talk through the rest of the games.

[00:32:34] Abhishek Sharma had some great heroics to give Hyderabad their best possible

[00:32:38] shot at qualifying in top two.

[00:32:41] As it stands at the time we're about to wrap up this week's episode,

[00:32:44] the Rajasthan versus KKR game looks like it's at high risk of rain.

[00:32:48] I mean, it's raining right now.

[00:32:49] I don't know if it's going to get rained out, but if it does

[00:32:51] get rained out to your point, barring the first qualifier, I keep

[00:32:56] forgetting what they're officially called, I guess it's called the

[00:32:57] qualifier becomes KKR versus Hyderabad top two teams.

[00:33:02] And then the second one, the eliminator becomes Rajasthan versus RCB.

[00:33:08] What are your predictions from this point on?

[00:33:10] We've been so wrong at this point of RCB, but we'll make some more.

[00:33:13] Yeah.

[00:33:13] I mean, you have to give a prediction.

[00:33:15] I'm predicting KKR versus RCB final.

[00:33:20] Okay.

[00:33:20] Right.

[00:33:21] And I'm predicting that like Harshit Lada gets, gets

[00:33:24] up into Kohli's face, Gautam Gambhir gets involved.

[00:33:28] Kohli tells everyone to, you know, like buzz off.

[00:33:32] And RCB wins the cup.

[00:33:35] And the next day Gambhir is announced as India coach.

[00:33:39] That's it.

[00:33:39] That's it.

[00:33:40] That's the drama that I'm telling you.

[00:33:41] That is what my prediction is.

[00:33:44] Yeah, I think, I think it's a solid one, man.

[00:33:46] I, I'm not going to disagree with that.

[00:33:49] I have, I can visualize it go a few different ways.

[00:33:51] Uh, I would, I think I'd, Rajasthan is going to come back swinging.

[00:33:54] I think Hyderabad is going to want to show what a dominant season

[00:33:57] they've had with the bat and kind of cemented, but KKR versus RCB.

[00:34:02] That chip would be pretty fitting way to finish off.

[00:34:04] What's been a good season.

[00:34:05] And I let me honestly, all jokes aside, I think KKR has got a good

[00:34:09] shot because I think between Narayan and Chakravarty they, you know,

[00:34:14] playing at chip off, I think their bowling is a great fit for that stadium.

[00:34:19] And so I think they are going to have a slight edge, but yeah, man,

[00:34:23] you got to, you got to hope for KKR versus RCB and Kohli winning it.

[00:34:28] Yeah.

[00:34:29] Varun that's a, that's been a great discussion.

[00:34:32] Like I said, apologies to our listeners who are hoping to get a deep dive into

[00:34:35] daily luck now or something, but this was the match that made it all happen.

[00:34:38] So this was our goal as we wrap up this week's episode, congratulations

[00:34:43] to every RCB fan out there.

[00:34:45] Commemorations with CSK fans.

[00:34:47] I mean, as daily fans, we get it.

[00:34:48] And actually we ended the season as daily fans too tied for fourth

[00:34:52] in terms of points, which is just not that bad.

[00:34:55] Varun, I don't really want to talk about fantasy, but I almost

[00:34:58] skipped it last time and DJ gave me some, some grief for it.

[00:35:02] So I'll just run through really quickly.

[00:35:03] Our edges and sleds fan league in first place is on 108 still been top

[00:35:08] three for a while second place is uncle Sam and third is Bishnoi boy.

[00:35:11] So if I'm not mistaken, all three have been kind of in the top

[00:35:14] for a while, but it's getting pretty close up there.

[00:35:16] And there's lots of boosters, et cetera to use.

[00:35:19] Varun you're at 17th, you've been dropping a little bit

[00:35:21] in our edges and sleds league.

[00:35:22] DJs at 19th.

[00:35:24] So he's right at your tail.

[00:35:26] And I'm languishing kind of way down there in, in 40th, right?

[00:35:29] With people who have stopped making their transfers a while ago.

[00:35:32] That's, that's where I'm at, even though I've used and made all

[00:35:35] of my, uh, all my transfers.

[00:35:38] So congratulations to our top three.

[00:35:39] We'll be tracking as we end up the season.

[00:35:43] Or what are you going to do with your life Monday tomorrow?

[00:35:45] Or at the time of recording this one, there's no IPL for

[00:35:47] the first time in eight weeks.

[00:35:49] I have to feel a huge void.

[00:35:52] I'm going to have to like watch Netflix or something, which

[00:35:54] I haven't done in a long time.

[00:35:55] And then I'm going to just sleep early.

[00:35:57] Yeah, you have the crazy, you were up to three in the

[00:36:00] morning watching the RCBCSK.

[00:36:03] It was good.

[00:36:03] So I'm going to sleep and that's what I'm going to do.

[00:36:05] Yeah.

[00:36:06] We've got matches coming up Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday.

[00:36:08] Saturday is a nice little breather and then Sunday is the final.

[00:36:11] The IPL is almost wrapped and then we'll be back next Sunday

[00:36:14] to talk about probably the final and then immediately

[00:36:17] pivoting to T20 World Cup.

[00:36:19] Thank you everybody for joining us.

[00:36:20] We are at one tip one hand, the number one tip, number one

[00:36:23] hand on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, all the social media.

[00:36:27] We are one tip one hand at gmail.com if you want to

[00:36:29] email us any questions.

[00:36:30] Otherwise, if you're watching this on YouTube, leave us a

[00:36:33] comment, tell us what your favorite part of the RCBCSK

[00:36:35] game was and who you're predicting to win the finals

[00:36:39] of the IPL.

[00:36:40] Do you think it'll be RCBKK like Varun does?

[00:36:43] Thank you everybody for joining us.

[00:36:44] This has been the Edges & Sledges Cricket Podcast.

[00:36:46] We will see you next week.