Robin Uthappa gave RR a good start with a 41 of 22 balls © BCCI
There was an air of surprise when Robin Uthappa came out with Ben Stokes to open the innings against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The performance of the Rajasthan Royals during the tournament was evident with up to five different opening combinations tested in nine matches. Neither of those pairs clicked, unable to see even the first three overs of the entries.
Strong resistance could be seen from RR’s opponents – the Royal Challengers Bangalore. They’ve had 20-year-old Devdutt Padikkal on top consistently, while opening with India U-19 World Cup star Yashasvi Jaiswal hasn’t worked out for the Royals, all the more so because he was eliminated after just one. game. He has one of the first casualties after a loss, and has only had one notable outing: in the loss to DC.
Buttler has started, but failed to convert. Sanju Samson and Steve Smith had a series of low scores, pressuring the middle, who succumbed to him more often than to surpass him. All of these unfavorable starts led to RR making a decision from left field: promoting Ben Stokes to open the innings.
After a spectacular start in Sharjah, RR has gotten into a tough spot. If the Punjab Kings XI beat the Mumbai Indians on Sunday (Oct 18), RR could slide below them in eighth place due to their lower NRR. The worst thing is that they find themselves in this situation for wasting a match that was theirs to win against RCB.
They need a quick restart from now on and therefore have a silver lining from Saturday’s game to move forward. On Saturday (October 17), it was the first time all season that the Royals’ starting pair added a 50-run position. Interestingly, it wasn’t the punt, from playing with Stokes on top, that facilitated this attack, but rather Uthappa, who got into a very familiar batting position.
Uthappa was biding his time in the middle order; he too had his chances, given RR’s high-level meltdowns since his first two games in Sharjah. He was gradually brought down after a tight race, but returned to XI to live his experience.
But only once he was promoted to the opening position did he rekindle the memories of his old self.
It was a tactical move from RR to send in an aggressive right-hander to deny Washington Sundar, and he attacked him on the power play, hitting him for four fours on his second over. Dragging out a bit, he swept against Sundar’s lengths behind the squad and over mid-deep ground with most of his 32 16-ball runs in the power play coming from the inside. He also did well to clear the frame against the pace, giving RR a strong start with 50 on the board on lap six.
As a starter in 71 innings, Uthappa has 1,944 runs, averaging 28.17 strokes in 128.83. In the middle order, his numbers are pretty similar, with 2,550 runs in 105 innings, averaging 28.33 and a hit of 130.43. In 2014, he started in the middle order for Kolkata Knight Riders, but once Jacques Kallis retired, Uthappa moved up the order. There he achieved ten consecutive scores out of 40 to finish with the Orange Cap, and he never looked back.
“It’s been a while, I really enjoyed it (opening innings),” Uthappa said after RR hit 177 in his 20 overs. “I wanted to get the team off to a good start. Going hard at the top was important, the field got slower and slower as the innings progressed. We were losing a lot of ground at the top of the order, we couldn’t get a start. We needed to. plug that in, kick-start the partnerships (talking about the batting order change). ”
What Uthappa’s move to the top also did was reinforce RR’s middle order with Smith arriving a little later than he usually does, and Buttler, who has been the team’s starter since last season. With a solid foundation to work on, the pair successfully rebuilt innings with a 58-run base. The start, provided in large part by Uthappa, also gave Smith time to start his innings, which worked well for the patron. Little by little he began to time the ball well and used his touch intelligently against the spinners.
“We wanted more experience in the middle with Jos,” Smith said after the game. “We all know Jos is an amazing starter, but he’s also one of the best on the back end just to give us a little more balance at the side. Robbie has opened a bit and I think he played particularly well this afternoon as well. He disappointed me. that it didn’t continue, but it got the team off to a good start. ”
That said, while this batting order worked for Rajasthan today, Buttler is more suitable at the top, with Stokes at No. 5. RR, perhaps, opted to give Stokes a run at the top to get him off to a strong start against. the rhythm, with its struggles against the effects in between. Ditto for Buttler, who has an enviable record as a starter: In 31 innings as a starter in the IPL, he averages 40.66, hitting 157.41. In other positions, his average falls to 22.06 in 21 innings, as does his hit rate to 134.41.
Smith, however, was not entirely sure that this will be the order in which they will persist in the rest of their games that have turned into must-win games going forward. “Different oppositions and different terrains might vary the order. We’ll summarize that as we get to each game, but I’m pretty happy with the order today,” Smith said.
© Cricbuzz
