Picture Credit: IPL
India's own T20 League, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has returned to the country after almost a two-year hiatus and the fans can't ask for more. The first two games of the season have already produced some thrilling cricketing actions. While the first game of the season saw Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders battling it out at the Wankhede Stadium, the second game of the season had Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals up against each other.
However, there was a similarity in both the games. The two top teams of the tournament had to see the face of defeat in their opening games. While Kolkata cramped CSK batters in the first game, it was some impressive batting on display by Delhi Capitals against the five-time champions Mumbai. With two games done, the points table has also seen some changes.
Winners of both games are sitting at the two helm positions while the two teams to lose their first game of the season are languishing at the bottom. Both Kolkata and Delhi have two points, but DC are a tad ahead in terms of the Net Run Rate. While DC have a NRR of 0.914, KKR have NRR of 0.639. Meanwhile, the bottom two teams are Chennai (NRR -0.639) and Mumbai (NRR -0.914) respectively.
Have a look at the updated points table after Match 2
Need to stay together as a group: Rohit Sharma
After failing to defend 177, Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma explained what went wrong for his team. Sharma said that the bowlers did not bowl according to the plan and that cost them the game. He also expressed the need to stay closer as a group.
"I thought it was a good score. It didn't look like a pitch where you can get 170+ at the start but we played in the middle and finished well. Just didn't bowl according to our plans. Never been the talk (of badly wanting to win the first game). We always come prepared whether it's the first game or last game. We want to win every game. Things didn't go according to plan but that can happen. Just need to stay close as a group and take the learnings. Disappointed with the loss but not the end," said Sharma after the loss.