Sunday, April 28, 2013

Why Gayle had to flop on 27/4/2013 (RCB vs MI)


In RCB's last match, they had posted 263 runs in 20 overs with Chris Gayle remaining unbeaten on 175. So they were expected to at least make a match of it while chasing 194 posted by MI in their 20 overs in this match. Also recently, scores as high as 185 had been chased successfully in two consecutive matches by other teams without the services of Gayle.

Against this background, with Gayle on crease and Dilshan hitting crisp boundaries now and then, what would any punter do or rather what could any poor punter do? Nothing but to bet against MI, the favourites with odds varying between 1.45 and 1.5. And with Dilshan out, odds coming down to less than 1.3, a punter would further bet backing RCB, expecting Gayle to fire anytime soon now. See it the other way. With Gayle on the crease, no one normally could dare bet against RCB and in f/o MI at such low odds. Now, Gayle succeeding even briefly would have necessitated change in odds (increase in odds in f/o MI in this case) such that the punters having backed RCB could book profits, or at least cover their losses/betting amount. That couldn't be allowed and therefore Gayle had to get out cheaply (without firing but keeping hopes kindled with an odd six and two boundaries). And soon after the other big two, Kohli and Villiers also perished very cheaply, leaving no chance/opportunity for the punters to cover their losses at any stage.

And who else but Harbhajan (the bowling villain for MI in their last match) to take Gayle's wicket?

Let us also have a look on MI batting prior to that. Tendulkar shows a lot of promise and enterprise before getting himself out LBW. Rohit Sharma, a batsman in form, gets himself run-out.

Towards the end, the brilliant run out of Dinesh Karthik by Kohli, and similar run out of Rayudu the next ball goes to show the excellence, expertise, and robot like precision these players possess. And when they so often perform worse than school kids in matters of catching, running between wickets, throwing, batting, or bowling, one should easily understand what is behind that.

And then Pollard gets out the next ball, 3 wickets in 3 balls, and the session manipulation is taken due care of.







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