So after the match between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals the week 1 of Vivo IPL 2021 is wrapped and we have seen too many low-scoring affairs in the first week itself.
The match between RR and DC was the lowest of them all as DC managed to score only 147 in their 20 overs and didn’t able to send the ball into the stands once, RR, on the other hand, had struggles of their own after losing 4 early wickets they were scoring under 5 r.p.o for the first half of the innings and only the magic of two proteas Miller and Morris could take them home.
This was a third low-scoring match in the row after MI beat KKR on Tuesday and RCB humbled SRH the other night in Chennai. In all three matches, no team was able to cross the 160 mark and the team chasing the low total struggled to cross 150 and only RR with the help of Morris were able to get the win chasing. These kinds of scores are not normal especially in the early part of IPL.
Is BCCI helping the Indian team for the T20 WC by preparing slow pitches and low-scoring wickets? If there was no home advantage given then why are matches being held in Chennai where it is very unlikely that matches for World T20 will happen.
BCCI could be planning to confuse the foreign players by preparing these wickets just months before World T20, as players like David Warner and Kieron Pollard who have been playing in India for years now will experience difficulties on pitches they were used to playing and scoring big runs.
This could de-rail their rhythm and give Indian players the home advantage in the World T20 which otherwise could have been lost as most of the players would have spent 2 long months playing in India and using the IPL to prepare for the World Cup. It is visible as most of the big cricket associations are allowing their top players to play in IPL at the cost of missing International duties.
Players like Kagiso Rabada, Quinton De Kock, and Anrich Notje were allowed to leave the series against Pakistan in the middle to join their respective franchises, on the other hand, English players like Moeen Ali, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, and Sam Curren are allowed to miss the first test against New Zealand if their respective teams qualify for the latter part of the tournament.
Chennai is known for low scoring and slow spinning tracks but even the match at Wankhede which is known for real high scoring clashes are producing low scoring matches, The average high score on Wankhede wicket for the last 5 years has been 170 and we have even seen the scores of 200+ chased down there.
As speculated the matches for World T20 are gonna be played in Indore, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Dharamshala, and Banglore which all are promising to be high-scoring stadiums. Chennai is very unlikely to be part of World T20 and hence this could be a strategy from BCCI to help the Indian team gain home advantage in the World Cup.