Sehwag: Expect something special from Watson in IPL final

Virender Sehwag 10:21 29/05/2016
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  • Misfiring: Shane Watson has yet to deliver this IPL as a batsman.

    After nearly two months of high-octane action, we are down to two teams. And I feel the two most deserving teams have made it to the final. Both sides have some top-class individual performers who have carried their team’s hopes so far and everyone will be hoping for one more big effort from them.

    Until now, it has been about Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle with the bat for Royal Challengers Bangalore. But I won’t be surprised if someone else stands up to the challenge today.

    So far Kohli had been scoring at a phenomenal rate, but the law of averages eventually caught up with him. In the previous match, when everyone failed with the bat, de Villiers came to the fore and took the Royal Challengers into the final. So the top three have done their job. The one player I feel is yet to showcase his true potential with the bat is Shane Watson. I expect something special from the Aussie in the final as he is too good a batsman to stay quiet for long in T20s.

    On the bowling front, the Royal Challengers were supposed to be on the weaker side. But I have been extremely impressed with the way Yuzvendra Chahal. He plays his home matches on a wicket that is like a graveyard for most bowlers. The final is also being played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and that gives Chahal a huge edge over the other bowlers.

    The other Bangalore bowler who has impressed me, but hasn’t received the accolades he deserves, is Watson. He has won three to four matches on his bowling alone. Be it the match against Kings XI Punjab (2-22), or Pune (3-24), Watson played a huge role with the ball. And then in the first qualifier against Gujarat Lions, his four- wicket burst helped Bangalore restrict the Lions to 158. De Villiers’ knock overshadowed everything else but we should not forget who helped set the game up.

    If I look at the Sunrisers, there is no doubt they enter the match on the backfoot. First they lost out on the services of Ashish Nehra, who has been one of the most accurate fast bowlers. And now, their other star, left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman, is a big doubt. If he is fit, there is no doubt he will be very difficult to tackle. But if not, then Hyderabad are in big trouble.

    On the batting front, David Warner has done for Sunrisers what Virat has for Bangalore. But the one difference between the sides is that Bangalore have two other batsmen who have delivered this IPL, while Hyderabad don’t have any other batter who is even close to peak form. Shikhar Dhawan has come good in a few games and today might be the day he comes up with a big knock. But the rest of the line-up of Yuvraj Singh, Moises Henriques, Naman Ojha really hasn’t done that much.

    However, there is some hope for Hyderabad in the form of Bipul Sharma. In the last two matches, he hit two unbeaten knocks (27 and 14) and they were of great significance. Those innings have come at the perfect time for Hyderabad and gave them some cushion lower down the order.

    If Warner doesn’t fire, then the pressure will be intense on Hyderabad because Bangalore is a high-scoring venue and both sides will be targeting a big total. Also, Hyderabad need Rahman to play in order to contain the Royal Challenger batsmen with the new ball and at the death as well. If he does not play, Sunrisers will find the going tough.

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