Royal Challengers Bangalore remained alive in IPL 2019 after a thrilling one-run victory over Chennai Super Kings at Bengaluru.
After winning the toss, CSK elected to field and got off to a great start as they got rid of both AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli inside seven overs. They executed their plans at the death as well as the hosts finished with 161/7 Parthiv Patel's fifty.
In response, CSK's top-order faltered once again and despite an MS Dhoni masterclass, they fell short by one run.
Here are the three major takeaways from RCB's win over CSK:
Familiar problems for CSK
Before this game, Chennai Super Kings were the only team to not have a single batsman so far with over 300 runs in the tournament. SRH, RCB, KXIP and DC all have two batsmen apiece with over 300 runs and KKR's Nitish Rana is just three shy of 300 with Andre Russell leading the way for them with 392. SRH have two batsmen who have over 400 runs.
For CSK, MS Dhoni, who missed their previous encounter, leads the way with 314 runs courtesy of his unbeaten 84. None of their top-order batsmen, barring Faf (who has played only six games) and Dhoni (who averages an incredible 104) have an average of more than 25.
Although CSK have had five different batsmen scoring fifties, they have had no one, barring Dhoni, who has been consistent. And while that hasn't been an issue so far, that is something they will have to address, especially going into the business end of the season.
Are teams over-thinking the batting order?
'Were looking for a left-right combination', those were the words of Parthiv Patel, when asked about why Marcus Stoinis came in ahead of Moeen Ali, who is RCB's most in-form hitter.
Moeen's last two games saw him score 50 off 32 and 66 off 28 and yet he came in at No. 6 against CSK with only 4.2 overs left in their innings. While having a left and right combination is good, it shouldn't come at the cost of your best or in-form batsmen facing fewer deliveries. And that certainly seems to be a recurring trend in this IPL.
RCB aren't the only team to be guilty of this, KKR seem reluctant to move Andre Russell up the order even though he is their leading run-getter and MI seem to want to keep Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard for the death instead of giving them more time to make an impact.
How much is too much at the death?
Consider the scenarios in four of RCB's last six games (including this one)
KKR needed 53 off the last three overs against RCB at Bangalore, KKR won with five balls to spare.
MI needed 31 off the last three overs against RCB at Mumbai, MI win with an over to spare.
KKR needed 61 off the last three overs against RCB at Kolkata, KKR lost by 10 runs.
CSK needed 49 off the last three overs against RCB, CSK lost by 1 run.
Perhaps it is just RCB's dismal death bowling. But it can't all just be down that. The fact that the batsmen don't fear the required rate and the fact that they seem to be clearing the fence at will means that the teams need to ask, how much is too much at the death? Especially against RCB.