My Thoughts

Posts Tagged ‘Alex Carey

DC’s first game against KXIP despite their win followed a similar pattern to the 2019 season. Their top order collapsed leaving too much to do for the middle order. DC’s inconsistencies throughout 2019 was due to the fact that their batters did not put in cohesive performances through the season. Shikhar Dhawan at the top had a brilliant season with over 500 runs but his partner Prithvi Shaw had a shocker. Colin Ingram, Sherfane Rutherford and Colin Munro struggled in the chances they received.

The pressure on Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant was enormous and both came out with a decent 400+ runs last season. Even though Iyer and Pant tried their best their batting collapses were too often for them to make a difference. Despite having 3 batters in 400+ list DC failed to make an impact. In the first game of the season Delhi Capitals once again found themselves in the familiar territory. The top order failed leaving again captain Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant to perform the rescue act. Delhi almost faltered but a freak innings from all-rounder Marcus Stoinis rescued them from being bowled out within their allotted 20 overs.

The personnel have changed but the problem remains. Shikhar Dhawan can have a few failures and he is not the problem, Prithvi Shaw is. The Indian Test opener had a average season last year with an average of only 22. DC will benefit from good starts in few games at the top which was few and far between last season. DC will also want more from Shimron Hetmyer at number 3 and will be hoping that the West Indian will come into some sort of form for them in the rest of the season. Marcus Stoinis looks in tremendous form with the bat but innings like the one he played in the first game does not occur regularly.

Delhi Capitals still have Alex Carey in their squad who was in amazing form in the recently concluded ODI series in England. Ajinkya Rahane is in their squad as well but I am not sure he is the right fit for DC at the moment. I don’t think there is a need to panic for DC just yet after just one game but again they will be keeping an eye out on the batters. Making the right calls at the right time is crucial in the tournament like IPL as a downward spiral can make the tournament feel really long.

Delhi Capitals have a very strong squad and with right personnel in the playing XI, they will be strong contenders for the title.

Advertisement

When England won the toss and batted again they wouldn’t have envisioned what would transpire over the next 99.4 overs. England themselves started poorly. They had lost both Jason Roy and Joe Root before even getting off the mark. Jonny Bairstow who has been in supreme form this series once again was the saviour. He along with captain Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler got England to 96/4 but again the visitors were still firmly on top.

Sam Billings who has already scored a hundred in this series first stitched a significant partnership of 114 to get England out of the woods. Billings once again was brilliant and scored 57 before he was dismissed by Adam Zampa. Bairstow though kicked on and completed a brilliant hundred (112). Chris Woakes scored a quickfire fifty to guide England to a competitive 302/7. For Australia though Adam Zampa was among wickets again with 3/51. He has been brilliant with the ball all through the series and has also been able to keep the runs in check.

Australia’s innings did not get to a great start either. The found themselves 73/5 in just 17 overs and with half of their side gone the game was firmly in the grasp of the hosts. Glenn Maxwell and Alex Carey then counterattacked with a stunning assault on the English bowlers. Both of them completed brilliant hundreds. Maxwell who has been in great nick through this series once again was fantastic. He scored his runs at a high strike rate and kept the bowlers under pressure throughout. Carey was brilliant as well and when the pair was separated after an enormous partnership of 213, the game was all but over for England.

Even though there was a bit of drama at the end, Australia completed the win with 2 balls to spare. Australia will be thrilled to have won the series and they have been brilliant in this format over the last year or so. They would particularly be happy with the performances of the middle order. Almost the entire series was won by the middle and lower order as the top order did not contribute much in this series.

For England though this series has been a difficult one. They are probably the only team to have played a lot of international cricket over the last few months and frankly were not at their best in this series. The other good thing about the series were the pitches. These weren’t the roads we normally see in the ODIs in England. The bowlers had a fair chance in all the games and we can see that in the scores across the 3 games.

The Australian bowling was excellent and Zampa in particular. The consistency shown by Glenn Maxwell is another positive for Australia in this series. This series was brilliant and Australia surely were the better team and should have won the series 3-0, if not for their horrendous collapse in the second ODI.


My Thoughts

My Tweets

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 376 other subscribers