The Fourth Innings

Cricket | T20I | T20 | IPL | IPL 2022 | RCB | Virat Kohli Every cricket, IPL and RCB fan wants Virat Kohli to score runs. A trademark Kohli innings is a lesson in batting with all of defence, taking singles and hitting boundaries executed to perfection. It is paced brilliantly and there is minimal risk involved with orthodox cricketing shots. I have not come across a more complete batsman in all my cricket following. Oh, the elegance of that cover drive, him holding his pose as the ball races to the boundary, and then fist-punching his partner as the bowler stands in despair. I miss that. I miss the old Virat Kohli. I am not going to argue over whether it is his misfortune or just poor form. The truth is he is not scoring runs in this IPL season. Him taking out his frustration while looking up into the sky after his dismissal v PBKS summed up the emotions of most of us. It is just not happening for him and however much you want to hold on to him, he is giving lesser and lesser reasons ...

Cricket | T20I | 2022 T20 World Cup | India | T20 | IPL | IPL 2022 | RCB | Dinesh Karthik  Finishing cricket matches for RCB in IPL and keeping wickets. 285 runs at a strike rate of 192.56. No it's not AB de Villiers, it is our very own Dinesh Karthik. Don't believe me? Just Google "Dinesh Karthik stats in IPL 2022". In a cricket career that has seen many ups and downs, it is safe to say that Dinesh Karthik is at his peak right now. Remember the Rubel Hossain over in the Nidahas Trophy Final ? Now imagine that same hitting form over an IPL season. What do we get? Millions of people who follow cricket wondering, "Can Dinesh Karthik make a comeback?" Let us come back to that later. "My specialty is that I can bat at five, six, seven and help India in setting up the best score possible or in winning games......." ~Dinesh Karthik, via ESPNcricinfo Hitting 43 boundaries this IPL having faced just 148 balls is phenomenal. What makes this extra special is...

A chase of  210  is always challenging in T20 cricket. But when you have a lineup as strong as RCB does in IPL 2022, you are expected to do better than lose by 54 runs. Credit to the Punjab bowlers for sticking to their plans and backing an excellent performance by their batters. But RCB...oh...RCB, is this another one of those years? They say nothing hurts more badly than a false hope. I feel for RCB fans right now. Year after year, the promise of a new dawn, but the same old issues haunting them. Sometimes I wonder if we could associate the word "chokers" with this IPL franchise. Seven Playoffs and three  IPL finals, yet no trophy to show. Let's not dive too much into the past and focus on this year. The only issue that came up after this year's mega auction was that RCB would have to play atleast two inexperienced batters in their top seven. After giving ample opportunities to Anuj Rawat, they have now settled on Rajat Patidar and Mahipal Lomror, with Shahbaz Ahmed...