IPL 2020 | KXIP vs MI: Today I Learnt - Cottrell’s comeback and Rohit ‘run-machine’ Sharma

ByDeepak Yadav, SportsCafe Editor

10/01/2020

Two teams having a similar journey in the IPL so far, each winning only 1 out 3, KXIP and MI took on each other in a match that ended one-sided in favor of Mumbai. While Sheldon Cottrell made an impressive comeback after a forgettable last match, Bumrah looked fierce as he finished with 2/18.

Cottrell has great mental strength

After getting belted for 5 sixes in one over by Rahul Tewatia, Sheldon Cottrell returned with all guns blazing as he bowled a peach of a delivery to send Quinton de Kock packing, and followed it up with his trademark ‘march’. Along with the wicket, he didn’t give away any runs in the first over of the match, getting KXIP off to a terrific start. This makes for a befitting story as Cottrell could have very easily gone down under pressure, but the West Indian made a solid statement by coming back strongly. In his second over he was hit for two consecutive boundaries by Suryakumar Yadav, but he followed it up with a disciplined third over, conceding just 17 runs in the 3 overs he bowled in the powerplay. Later, when he was called on to bowl in the 13th over, Cottrell bowled an economical over, giving just 3 runs. Looks like we are destined to witness a few more marches this season.

Rohit ‘run-machine’ Sharma may very well win the Orange Cap

Rohit absolutely destroyed the KXIP bowlers with his clinical timing as he pierced through the fielders without dropping one sweat and the same happened when he hit the ball over the ropes - it looked as if he was magically timing the ball. The Mumbai skipper made batting look so easy that it must have made other batsmen envious of his elegance. While on the other end Ishan Kishan was struggling to hit the ball over the ropes, Rohit was hitting them over like it was a walk in the park. However, he could not finish the innings as Glenn Maxwell and Jimmy Neesham took a relay catch at the boundary to dismiss the in-form Mumbai skipper on 70 off 45 balls. He also brought up his 5000 IPL runs with this innings. With the way Rohit is hitting the ball and scoring runs for fun, having already scored 170 runs in 4 matches, it won’t be a surprise if he ends up the highest run-scorer of the tournament.

Jasprit Bumrah is rightly called one of the best

Giving runs away at an economy of more than 9, Bumrah didn’t quite look like himself in the first three matches of IPL. Although he did produce rippers in between, he didn’t produce them consistently enough from the perspective of one of the best bowlers in the world. Pat Cummins hitting the Mumbai pacer for 4 in an over was just a reflection of the fact that Bumrah has not been having great time in the middle in the recent past. However, in this match, he bowled an in-seaming ripper to dismiss in-form Mayank Agarwal and then carried on his exceptional bowling without giving any loose balls. Later, he came back in his third over to dismiss Jimmy Neesham and finally, finished with match-winning figures of 2/18 off his four.

The Maxwell show is delayed

Maxwell has had a nightmarish start to the IPL, scoring just 30 runs in the 4 matches he played. In this match too, he got out for a paltry 11, looking nowhere near to cause any harm to the bowlers of Mumbai. The wicket of Maxwell going to a leg-spinner as he tries to hit across the line on a flighted delivery is an incident that has happened far too many times to not think of it as the inevitable result of Maxwell facing a leg-spinner. Rahul Chahar used the exact same template to get him out once again as his struggle with the bat for KXIP in this IPL continued. It looks like the Maxwell show that people have been expecting will not be happening any time soon, given that the Victorian doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes.