IPL 2020: KKR May Push Andre Russell Up The Batting Order

When RCB management made bad auction decisions and let Rahul and Gayle go to KXIP, RCB's batting strength was duo of ABD and Kohli with bunch of inexperienced batsmen. Getting Kohli and ABD together meant winning the match for oppositions. A pattern started emerging where both of them got out frequently to release the pressure against spinners in the middle overs. They were equally bad against googlies in 2018 and 2019 season. Kohli averaged 6 against googlies with SR of 104.35 (4 dismissals). ABD fared worse with average of 5.2 at 83.87 SR (5 dismissals). Following are some matches where both of them got out together and team lost momentum -
IPL 2018 3rd Match - RCB vs KKR - RCB were cruising hard on 127 for 2 after 14.1 overs. ABD had just hit previous ball for a six but trying to slog another one, he hit the next one straight to fielder. Kohli followed him to pavilion next ball. This was first IPL match after both KL & Gayle left. RCB could only score 50 more runs in 5.3 overs and KKR chased the target with 7 balls left in batting paradise.
IPL 2018 35th Match - RCB vs CSK - RCB were 47 for 1 after 6 overs with Kohli struggling to middle the ball. Dhoni introduced Jadeja into the attack and Kohli fell first ball trying to pound on arm ball. ABD replaces him and faces two dot balls in the same over. Spin is introduced from the othe end and ABD gives a simple catch to Dhoni off Bhajji after failing to hit a reverse sweep. RCB could only reach 127 after 20 overs with the help of Tim Southee's 36 off 26 at the end. They never recovered from Kohli and AB's back to back dismissals. CSK won the match easily.
IPL 2018 39th Match - RCB vs SRH - RCB were 71/2 after 9 overs chasing 146. Target was looking easy at that stage but Rashid's latest over saw Kohli getting dropped in slips and ABD missing a wild swing. Sakib was re-introduced to capitalise on that and he delivered by sending Kohli off in same over. Part 1 of Job was done. Rashid unleashed back to back googlies (ABD's kryptonite) in next over and ABD was also taken care of. RCB needed 67 of 56 deliveries at that stage but they failed in a spectacular fashion (At one point they just needed 19 off 2 overs with 5 wickets in hand and 2 settled batsmen in the middle).
IPL 2019 14th Match - RCB vs RR - RCB were 48 for 0 after Powerplay. Leggie Gowtham was making sure Kohli doesn't rotate strike much and waste balls by denying Parthiv strike who was striking at nearly 170 in first 6 overs. When field opened, Kohli tried to jab first ball through point for single but he misread Gopal's googly. He got out very next ball (bowled), trying to play the googly through covers. ABD replaced him and Gopal bowled 3 more googlies. ABD wasn't able to read the ball so like a tailender in test match, he realised best form of defence is attack. Gopal came back with 3 more googlies in next over and mistimed the shot every single time and gave a simple return catch to bowler. When he got out, RCB were 71 for 2 after 8.3 overs. They only added 87 more runs in 69 balls and lost the match as expected.
IPL 2019 49th Match - RCB vs RR - It was just a 5 over run curtailed fixture. Kohli and ABD opened the innings and scored 23 runs in first over. Gopal was sent in to control the duo but Kohli had realised googly barrage was coming. He scored 12 off first 3 deliveries none of which were classic leg breaks. Kohli expected another googly but it was a classic leg break and he is caught near boundary. Gopal learned from his mistake and bowled leg break to ABD also as he gave a simple catch to Parag. Gopal completed his hat trick next ball. RCB scored 35 off first 9 deliveries and 27 off next 21 with 7 wickets lost. 62 was enough to make sure RCB wins but some teams had realised Kohli and ABD can be kept in check through quality spin bowling.
IPL 2020 6th Match - KXIP vs RCB - RCB were reeling in at 11 for 3 after 4 overs. ABD started attacking pacers from the start so KXIP brought in Bishnoi for 6th over. ABD attacked his bad length by smoking him for 3 fours in an over. KXIP didn't back down and brought in Murugan Ashwin from other end. Although he didn't get any wickets that over, he troubled both Finch and ABD with mix of leggies and googlies. Finch got out in Bishnoi's next over, failing to read his first googly of the day. Ashwin set up a trap for ABD by setting field for a googly and bowling leg spin. ABD survived first ball but got out next ball hitting the ball straight to sweeper cover. RCB's hopes ended with ABD and KXIP went back to pacers because leggies had done their job by deception.
Now coming to KXIP vs RCB return match where they sent ABD down the order at 6. That move was heavily criticised by everyone. In all the matches i mentioned when ABD and Kohli got out, only left handers i.e. Moeen and Parthiv showed any kind of intent to prevent a collapse. Kohli said, "We had a chat, a message from outside about left-right combination and we wanted to go with it because they had two leggies. Sometimes things don't come off. We're pretty happy with the decisions we took, but it didn't come off". It is clear their analyst did his research and figured ABD and Kohli batting together in the middle overs against quality spin is too big of a risk, more so because Ashwin and Bishnoi have very good googlies. Ashwin had already accounted for Finch's wicket with 13.3 overs left and spin duo was on. If ABD and Kohli were to get out together, team would've surely collapsed as they were playing without Gurkeerat and there were only 4 all rounders left.
Kohli said after KKR match,"The management have brought in a proper culture. We have a plan A, we have a plan B, and people are executing it that's why it's looking good". Sundar was sent in to prevent collapse first and then attack after getting set with Kohli looking for singles. When Sundar got out, they switched to Plan B as team had only reached 86 for 3 after 10.3 overs. Dube played the aggressive role against spinners but he struggles against Jordan's pace. What made matters worse is Kohli and ABD got out together once again (the whole reason this plan was made) to Shami, after seeing off leggies. Cameos from Morris and Udana took them to respectable total but it wasn't enough to stop KXIP. Gurkeerat was brought back next match to replace Dube as he instills more confidence to prevent a collpase.
It was a strategic move that failed and coped criticism for it but it wasn't without merit. Moreover, it wasn't Kohli's plan as his brand of cricket is based on intent, confidence and hardwork, not on stats analysis. It is a good thing Kohli is finally listening to his support staff by using stats based approach like MI but MI never saves Pollard from any type of bowler. ABD shouldn't be saved from any bowler either. Stats based approach works more during bowling anyways as RR's weird batting approach based on stats has already proven it does more harm than good. Hopefully they don't use any weird batting order to hide from out-of-practice Tahir and out-of-form Jadeja.

It has been a really weird IPL till now, Teams literally lost the matches because of the really weird decision made by team managements which doesn't even make sense to normal cricket fans, some of them are outrageous and frustrating to watch...what do you think is the most brain dead of all?

1. KKR not bowling Ferguson after he took 5 wickets in the last game when they needed to defend 82 runs.

2.punjab sending newbie prabsimran instead of maxwell.

1. RCB sending ABD at no.6

4.CSK persisting with kj.
5.punjab persisting with maxwell inspite of his lack of game awareness.
6.KKR'S batting order.
7.RR'S unsettled batting order after 10 freaking games..
8.punjab sending pooran in the 1st superover instead of gayle against Mumbai.
9.Smith giving 19th over to unadkath instead of archer against RCB.

1. CSK not even trying Imran tahir atleast in one match till now.

Feel free to add what you feel is brain dead stuff happened in IPL 2020.