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Low quality ‘thriller’ pans out
A bouncer and two full tosses to start the final over when he was defending 6 but somehow it came down to 4 from 3 as the batsmen couldn’t do much with the full tosses. Arshdeep Singh angled the next one wider outside off, making Andre Russell reach out to scoop-slog for a couple of runs. It was followed by a splendid outside-off yorker length squeezed under the bat, and the throw from the wicketkeeper was back at him. Arshdeep collected, turned around calmly, and softly pinged the stumps to beat Russell’s desperate dive. Now 2 were needed from the last ball, and Rinku Singh was on strike. Russell gulped some water down at the dug out. And it couldn’t have been deliberate but what came out was another full toss, his lucky delivery this over but it was slapped to the fine-leg boundary for the match winning four. Arshdeep would sink to his knees even as KKR coach Chandrakant Pandit would cup Rinku’s cheeks and pat gently. Yet another low-quality ‘thriller’ came to an end in this IPL.
– Sriram Veera
Pops out, pops in
The bowler Harshit Rana had desperately wanted to go for DRS for an lbw appeal against Prabhsimran Singh but the wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz suggested it was high and the captain went with him. Next ball, Simran dashed out, cramped himself, tried an ugly swipe across the line and the ball flew off the edge to right of Gurbaz. He stretched both hands at it but it popped out, but luckily it didn’t go too far or down too fast, allowing Gurbaz to leap and pouch. Running past him, from short third man towards the bowler, was Varun Chakravarthy who suddenly felt he should instead turn around and congratulate Gurbaz on his grab.
– Sriram Veera
WHAT. A. FINISH! 👌 👌
It went right down to the final ball of the match! 👍 👍@rinkusingh235 & @KKRiders held their nerve & how to seal a win over the spirited @PunjabKingsIPL! 👏 👏
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/OaRtNpANNb #TATAIPL | #KKRvPBKS pic.twitter.com/9NZLfEzF0l
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 8, 2023
Varun, keeping it simple
After a season of trying too much, Varun Chakravarthy has spoken about how he has returned to the basics this year: just three variations, mainly. One of them was enough to completely bewilder Liam Livingstone. The leg break that he squeezes out squared-up Livingstone who pushed his bat down the line, and was struck on the back pad in front of off stump. As Anil Kumble has shown for years, sometimes it’s best not to spin the ball too much, just a bat’s width is enough. And Livingstone’s DRS call showed it was umpire’s call.
– Sriram Veera
The Neeraj Chopra-doppleganger
With his hair-do, even facial features, and the release – face gaping at the sky – Suyash Sharma looks more like the javelin star Neeraj Chopra’s younger brother. He had had Shikhar Dhawan in trouble on couple of occasions with his googly but couldn’t get the wicket. It would come later in the 18th over, when he slipped a googly wide outside off, forcing Sam Curran to drag. Up went the ball and Suyash was closer to it but the wicketkeeper Gurbaz shouted out that he would take it – and ran all the way past the bowler to take it around short mid-on area. At release, the way he shapes up, Suyash could well be hurling a javelin and thus far has been pretty good with the ball, twisting out his googlies and the occasional leg breaks at varying pace.
– Sriram Veera
Vaibhav, Harshit don’t stick to their lines
Poor Nitish Rana. He had captained pretty well in the game, ringing in the changes, but was left hand-wringing at the end as 36 runs came off the final two overs from the inexperienced seamers Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana. Punjab Kings were struggling at 143 for 7 from 18, but both Vaibhav and Harshit upped the blood pressure of their skipper by not bowling to the field set. A bouncer from Arora, with no one in the back for example. Or a length delivery with width outside off from Harshit. The gift balls kept appearing and Shahrukh Khan and Harpreet Brar took full toll. At the half-way stage, KKR’s bowling coach Bharat Arun had said that 180 will be a par total and he would be happy if his team restricted Punjab for that. Though as the situation unfolded, they could have got Punjab for a lot less, Arun has got his wish.
– Sriram Veera
Miscued reverse slog
It was an odd choice of direction from Nitish Rana. He went for a reverse slog off a googly from Rahul Chahar but went rather ambitiously for the wide long-on region, not the direction one associates with that shot. Unsurprisingly, he miscued it but it still took a fine running lunging catch from Liam Livingstone moving across from long-on to take it. Rana had a wry smile on his face, leaving KKR needing 56 from 28 balls.
– Sriram Veera
Russell’s game-turning six
Andre Russell was cramped, but somehow he contorted his body to whip away a length delivery slanted on his pad – not a bad line considering it was cramping him for room but not the ideal length- over square-leg for a lovely game-turning six. Then next ball, the third of the penultimate over, he was gifted a length on the middle and leg, and he was ready for it this time, clearing his front foot and heaving it over midwicket. A ball later, Sam Curran, whose bowling has been pretty average this season, offered width and short length and the ball was thrown back from beyond the point boundary. As is his wont, Russell repeatedly punched his bat. An act of love, presumably.
– Sriram Veera
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