Riyan Parag became the first RR captain to lose the first 2 matches
Rajasthan Royals has had 7 Captains in its history, including the names of legends like Shane Warne, Shane Watson, and Rahul Dravid (*current head coach of RR). But none of them had lost their first 2 matches as Captain. Riyan Parag creates an unwanted record to his name after losing yesterday’s match against KKR.
Quniton de Kock’s masterclass
Quinton de Kock played a mature knock yesterday and remained not out in the chase at 97*. This is the highest score by a KKR batter in successful chases. This is also the first time that a KKR Opener had remained notout in a chase in 8 years.
The last instinct happened in 2017 when Chris Lynn ( 93* ) and Gautam Gambhir ( 76* ) chased 184 against Gujarat Lions in 14.5 overs by 10 wickets in hand.
Quinton de Kock missed an opportunity for becoming the 3rd foreigner batter and 4th batter to score a century for KKR by just 3 runs.
Underutilized Moen Ali
Moeen Ali is the master of control spin and has been very underrated and underutilized in IPL. Yesterday’s match, he showed his class once again by picking 2 wickets and giving just 23 runs in his 4 overs.
Even in his days in Chennai Super Kings for the last 3 years, the Chepauk wickets are flattered and he didn’t get to bowl full quota in many innings. Even in the El-Classico match against CSK vs MI in 2021 where Pollard single handedly demolished the chase of 219 runs, he bowled one over and just gave 1 run also took the wicket of dangerous Quinton De Kock. But Dhoni didn’t give him another over because Pollard is too strong against off-spin.
But still, MS would have taken a gamble of giving him another over against Pollard, and who knows, the result would have been different that day. But whenever he bowled more than 3 overs, his worst economy was 11 runs, and that happened only once. He never gave more than 33 runs in his entire IPL career. His overall economy is just 7.03 runs per over, which is very good for a spinner in IPL.
He came as the apt replacement for Sunil Narine. Even if Sunil Narine is recovered, KKR can think of playing 3 spinners as Moen Ali brings more value to the side.
Moeen Ali is an underrated legend who deserves to be celebrated to the likes of Sunil Narine, Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Also Read: RR vs KKR: Quinton De Kock’s Resurgence At Top Of Order