Test cricket is one of the formats where Umesh Yadav has been a revelation for India, especially in home games, with his ability to extract reverse swing. Keeping that in mind, it's high time Umesh takes a break from white-ball cricket and continues focussing on the longer version of the game. Because he has been too wayward and poor for such a long period of time, particularly for RCB, so much so that even a Siraj looks like a better option at the moment. How long will RCB keep picking him for his 2018 IPL exploits? (20 wickets in 14 games). And then RCB fans wonder why the Reds never win the silverware. 

Yadav is a considered a striker in powerplay overs with the ability to pick wickets with brand hard new cherry but with 17 runs off two overs and quite a few come-hit-me-with-ease-deliveries, he was taken off and as a result, an enforcer like Saini had to bowl two overs in first six overs. Not to forget, he was smashed for 48 runs in the last game against SRH. In 2019 IPL, he had taken merely eight wickets in 11 games, giving away 9.81 runs per over. His overall death overs economy in IPL remains as high as 10.4 and now if he can't deliver early blows for his side, only god knows why he is persisted with. He ended with 35 runs in three overs with Kohli trusting Dube over him for the final over. 

If you look at KL Rahul batting for KXIP in IPL from 2019, you wonder and feel if he's doing a Sachin Tendulkar for India of the 1990s, burdened with the hopes and expectations of millions on his shoulders. Obviously, I didn't mean literally but KL Rahul has been playing well within himself, to a point of being unrecognizable from the free-flowing and swashbuckling batsman that he was for the Kings in the 2018 edition of the league, which created this big reputation of his in T20 cricket. Who can forget his 16-ball-51 against Delhi?

It has to be one of the most disastrous days of Virat Kohli's cricket career, at least since I first saw the prodigal kid make waves in cricket, winning his country the Under-19 World Cup in 2008. He has been such a champion cricketer that he does unbelievable things day-in-day-out. But today is a day, which he would rather want to forget. The RCB skipper made some poor calls like giving Shivam Dube the final over, who gave away 23 runs, asking Saini to deliver two overs in the powerplay despite his reputation of being an enforcer in the middle-overs and giving just two overs to Sundar, who had given away just 13 runs. Not playing Moeen was also not the best of decisions especially if he wasn't going to bowl Sundar more. He could have asked ABDv to keep wickets and dropped Philippe to accommodate Ali.

One of the things that is rare and made AB de Villiers surreal has been his ability to master all the conditions, countries and different bowling types. But of late, he has had his struggles against leg-spin. Since 2018 IPL, ABDv has had a strike-rate of 85 against googlies and today again, he was undone by M Ashwin's googly as he made the long walk back to the pavilion after holing out to Sarfaraz Khan on 28 off 18 after looking in great rhythm all the while and being hardly troubled by anyone.