KKR vs RCB: A match to forget for the younger players
The Kolkata Knight Riders got off to a winning start as they beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets with seven balls to spare. This match was dictated by several stellar performances from experienced players: an AB de Villiers masterclass injected momentum into Bangalore's innings, while Sunil Narine's pinch-hitting got KKR off to the best start possible. Indian veteran Umesh Yadav bowled a sublime spell and was supported by some electric fielding from Brendon McCullum. Indeed, the T20 veterans proved that they were the best in the business.
The same could not be said for the uncapped players. As the opening match of the IPL showed, in Mayank Markande's three-wicketr haul, the tournament can provide great opportunities to uncapped players looking to kickstart their careers. However, the uncapped players on show in Kolkata failed to impress and were rather disappointing overall. In particular, Sarfraz Khan, Washington Sundar and Rinku Singh did not live up the high standards expected of them.
Sarfraz Khan
Heading into this year's IPL there was a lot of hype surrounding the 20-year old Sarfraz Khan. He was retained by RCB prior to the auction, which was unprecedented, and joined the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to be favoured by his franchise. In Bangalore's phenomenal batting unit, Sarfraz may not always have the opportunity to bat for longer periods of time and build an innings.
However, he had the chance yesterday to bat for six overs against KKR. He really struggled at the crease. In particular, he was extremely late on the ball when facing Mitchell Johnson and mistimed the vast majority of his shots. Eventually, he holed out to long-off and failed to commit to his shot, which left Kohli furious in the dug-out. He only faced ten balls and managed a feeble six runs. The stage was set for a classic Sarfraz counter-attacking inning, but in the end, it was Mandeep who ended up taking the initiative.
Washington Sundar
There was a lot of hype surrounding the young spinner, Washington Sundar after a great series in the Nidahas Trophy. RCB showed a lot of faith in the offie, as they gave him the third over to bowl to Narine and Uthappa. He started well, keeping his first few balls tight, but tossed the last ball of his first over up and found no turn whatsoever. That led to him being launched down the ground for a huge maximum by Uthappa.
Nevertheless, the start of his spell had inspired Kohli with confidence that he could still manage an economical spell and so was given the fifth over. Narine ended up taking 15 off it, including two sixes and a four. Sundar had no clue how to bowl to the pinch-hitter and ended up crumbling and even bowled a wide. In his last over he picked up the wicket of Nitish Rana, but that was inevitable given his aggressive approach. He ended up with figures of 4-0-48-1. This clearly dented his confidence as he also dropped Vinay Kumar in the latter stages of the innings. It was a night to forget for Sundar.
Rinku Singh
Pre-season reports from the KKR camp had suggested that Rinku Singh had played some great knocks in their training matches. It is hard to see what he really brings to this KKR unit, except for being a needed uncapped player. He came in to bat at six, which itself was rather surprising as they could have favored Andre Russell instead.
When he arrived at the crease, KKR were on 138-4 needing 39 runs to win. It was a great opportunity for Rinku to play a calm knock and bat through to the end, as the required run rate was very manageable. Ultimately, though, he really struggled against Woakes' short balls and ended up playing and missing a few times before knicking one behind to de Kock. He only contributed six runs off the same number of balls and missed an opportunity to impress on the biggest stage in T20 cricket.