IPL 2020: 5 mind-boggling and controversial decisions in the IPL 13 so far

Here are the five controversial and mind numbing decisions made so far in IPL 2020 by the teams.

By Jatin Sharma - 17 Oct, 2020

The IPL 2020 tournament has been a hit despite being played behind closed doors. The BCCI did all it could in order to make the T20 extravaganza happen and a bit of luck also helped them host the tournament in UAE. Though they would have wished for the IPL to take place in India, rising COVID-19 cases made that impossible.

The tournament has seen some amazing cricket with Rajasthan Royals chasing down the 224-run target in Sharjah, Chennai Super Kings struggling to find form in the first half of the IPL 13. Royal Challengers Bangalore winning a string of matches for a change and are in the top four teams on the points table.

IPL 2020: "Light of joy in darkness," AB de Villiers explains why IPL 13 is so special

However the IPL 13 has also seen its share of controversial and mind-boggling decisions from franchises when it comes to coping up with resources, playing XIs, and strategies to confuse the oppositions.

Team COC shortlists five such unexplainable decisions from franchisees, which have affected their performance or might affect their upcoming future in the tournament.

Check out the 5 mind-boggling team decisions in the tournament so far

 

Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube promoted over AB de Villiers against KXIP

During the 31st match of the IPL 2020 between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), the Virat Kohli-led side batted first and after the openers had given the team a decent start, everyone expected to see Kohli and AB De Villiers do their magic once again.

The duo had recently completed 3,000 partnership runs and 10-century partnerships in IPL history and RCB fans were waiting to see them bat again. However, inexplicably, RCB management sent in Washington Sundar ahead of AB, who made 13 runs in 14 balls.

With overs dwindling fast, RCB then sent in Shivam Dube, confusing the experts and fans alike, as De Villiers was in the form of his life, scoring three half-centuries in the IPL so far.

IPL 2020: ‘I was asked to wait’, AB de Villiers reveals he was getting ready to bat at No. 4 against KXIP

Dube made 23 in 19 balls before getting out to Jordan and then De Villiers walked in. He had no time to settle down with four overs left and got out for 2 in 5 balls trying to up the ante. It was only due to Chris Morris’ 8-ball 25 and Kohli’s 39-ball 48, that RCB managed 171/6 in 20 overs, which didn’t prove to be enough.

AB de Villiers explained the rationale behind sending Dube and Sundar before him in his column for Hindustan Times and wrote, “I was asked to wait because the coach and captain had decided to send out left-handers to face the two KXIP leg-spinners, who were bowling at the time.”

 

KXIP continues to bench Chris Gayle

The same match between KXIP and RCB saw the return of ‘Universal Boss’ Chris Gayle in IPL 2020, as he played his first match after his team had lost 6 out of the previous 7 matches of the tournament. Gayle made 53 with 5 sixes and 1 four and helped in KXIP winning their second match in triumphant fashion.

Before that Gayle was battling a stomach bug for a few days, but the Punjab team management’s decision of not starting with Gayle right from the start shocked many fans and experts alike. The left-hander has an envious record in the league with 4537 runs in 126 matches with 6 centuries and 29 fifties and the highest score of 175*. His strike rate is 150.33 and he has hit 331 sixes so far.

IPL 2020: WATCH - "Put some respect on the name," Chris Gayle on pointing at 'The Boss' on his bat

Therefore the rationale behind keeping him in the dugout was lost on the public. Though Rahul and Mayank did extremely well at the top, with both having scored a century in the tournament each, KXIP was constantly losing matches, and the inclusion of Gayle might have helped with the fragile batting in the middle order that has hampered the franchise so far.

Gayle showed his worth in his first game of the IPL 2020 but batted at no.3 for them and hopes are high that KXIP continues with him for the remainder of the matches.

 

MS Dhoni continues to bat lower down the order

MS Dhoni came into the IPL 2020 with no pressure of impressing the Indian team selectors, having retired from international cricket in August 2020. Therefore many hardcore CSK fans and experts alike, hoped that Dhoni will bat further up the order to seize the control of the game.

This became more likely when Suresh Raina, their pillar of strength in the middle order, chose to opt-out of the tournament due to personal reasons, and everyone wanted Dhoni to bat at no.4. However, what they saw was Dhoni trying to push himself down the order further and giving chances to Jadhav, Jadeja, and others to go ahead of him and upping the ante.

IPL 2020: “Can’t promote other batsmen,” Virender Sehwag wants MS Dhoni to bat up the order

It resulted in CSK losing three straight matches after their win over MI in IPL 13 opener. They won against Kings XI Punjab but lost to KKR and RCB before a victory against SRH. Dhoni has made 133 runs in 8 matches at a strike rate of 135.71 with the highest score of 47*.

Unfortunately, the majority of his innings have come when CSK was down and out of the match and he worked towards lessening the amount of damage for the team.  

 

Dinesh Karthik hands over KKR's captaincy to Eoin Morgan mid-tournament

Dinesh Karthik has one of the best win-loss percentages as captain in IPL history. He was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) with much anticipation and was named captain as well, as KKR moved on from Gautam Gambhir, their most successful captain ever.

Karthik led the franchise to the playoffs that season but failed to do so in the IPL 2019. Talks began about his captaincy style as well, despite the success. The matter got a lot more interesting as KKR acquired the services of England’s 2019 World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan in the IPL 2020 auction.

IPL 2020: Cricket fraternity reacts as Karthik hands over KKR captaincy to Morgan

Even experts believed that Morgan was going to take over from Karthik if the franchise had a bad start to the season. However, Karthik led well in the first half of the season, with KKR being placed 4th on the points table.

He even out-smarted MS Dhoni in their match-up, earning a brilliant victory over the three-time champions with his use of spinners in the second half of the innings.

But it seems that the constant hanging of the sword over him that he might be replaced any moment by the management, was enough for Karthik, as he handed over the captaincy to Morgan before their encounter against Mumbai Indians.

Though it was not welcomed by a portion of experts and fans, most were happy with Morgan taking over, which was more to do with Karthik’s leadership style, as Russell had spoken out against him and management in 2019 for not batting him up the order.  

 

Ben Stokes opening the batting for Rajasthan Royals

Ben Stokes is a gun all-rounder and is one of the biggest attractions of the Indian Premier League. He had made his debut in the IPL 2017 for the Rising Pune Supergiant but moved on to Rajasthan Royals, for whom he has done amazingly well.

Though RR has had their share of problems with captaincy, which changed hands multiple times over the last few years, with Ajinkya Rahane handing over the captaincy to Steve Smith mid-season in 2019 IPL. Their biggest concern going into the IPL 2020 was the availability of Ben Stokes, who was in New Zealand when the tournament started.

His father Ged was diagnosed with brain cancer and Ben was there for his father and family, skipping the West Indies and Pakistan series for England in the process. However, Stokes confirmed that he will play in the IPL 2020, though missing a few matches in the process.

IPL 2020: Ben Stokes values precious time spent with father in Christchurch

RR was in need of that boost from Stokes as they languished in the bottom half of the points table. He played his first match of IPL 13 against Sunrisers Hyderabad and for some reason, the Royals’ think tank decided that it would be peachy for Stokes, who is a gun finisher in the middle order, to open the innings with his England teammate Jos Buttler.

The experiment failed with Stokes making 7 runs against SRH, but he came good against DC, making 41 runs. But he didn’t look comfortable opening the innings, but RR has decided to stick with the decision for time being. Even in the recent match against RCB, he managed just 15 runs in 19 balls, and the realization must dawn on RR by now, that he is not an opener.

Let’s hope Stokes can inspire RR into the playoffs as they need atleast 5 wins from their remaining matches to do so.

By Jatin Sharma - 17 Oct, 2020

TAGS