Fast and bouncy wickets with a bit of carry always provide good entertainment as they offer equal opportunity to the batsmen and bowlers. The Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai has provided such exciting conditions in this IPL.
It hardly proved to be effective for Kolkata Knight Riders though. Their top-order struggled against a disciplined Sunrisers Hyderabad pace attack and then their bowling failed to provide the breakthroughs. The result was hardly worth remembering as KKR crashed to their third defeat in six matches on Friday.
Former KKR batsman Rahul Tripathi was the chief tormentor with his dashing 71 off 37 balls. Having played a major role in KKR’s ascendancy last season, he was forced to miss the final after straining his hamstring. His batting has remained effective as the KKR bowlers will testify.
Chasing 176 was never easy but Tripathi made sure the early loss of the openers made no impact. He was severe against Varun Chakravarthy, never allowing the mystery spinner to settle into a line. He also didn’t spare Pat Cummins’ short deliveries, utilising the short boundaries to good effect.
Aiden Markram (68 not out) provided the finishing touches once Tripathi left. The seven-wicket victory once again proved that Sunrisers mean business this time.
Batting blues
KKR huffed and puffed in the face of some tidy and aggressive bowling by the Sunrisers but still managed to crawl out of a difficult situation. The Knights had been reduced to 31 for three in the fifth over but Nitish Rana (54 off 36 balls) and Andre Russell (49 not out off 25 balls) provided the much-needed support. It was mainly because of Russell that KKR managed to add 53 runs in the last four overs.
Sunrisers have thrived mainly on the back of their excellent pace attack this season and the quartet of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Marco Jansen, T. Natarajan and Umran Malik provided the fireworks again. So impressed was South African left-arm pacer Jansen with the conditions that he felt like “bowling at the Wanderers in Johannesburg”.
Umran’s show
Whatever his exploits at the international level, Shreyas Iyer has always been regarded as someone circumspect on fast and bouncy wickets. The KKR captain never seemed comfortable against Umran’s express pace and after failing to get the edge of his bat on a couple of occasions, the pacer bowled the perfect straight yorker at 148kmph which rattled Shreyas’s stumps.
Jammu and Kashmir's Umran, 22, has been the most talked about fast bowler in this IPL because of his pace. He also possesses a well-directed bouncer and dismissed Sheldon Jackson with one such delivery. The presence of Dale Steyn in the support staff has obviously helped his cause. The former South African pacer’s jubilation was understandable once Umran breached Shreyas’s defence.
