Pant’s forgettable night
When Rishabh Pant came out to bat, later than what seemed ideal, Jake Fraser-McGurk’s amazing onslaught had brought the asking rate – that started at 13.35 runs per over – down to 11.2. The requirement seemed almost a jog compared to what had transpired so far in the game. The Delhi Capitals skipper is one of the powerhouses in the line-up and is relied upon to provide the finishing kick or take the team home. But what followed will not be remembered fondly by Pant fans. Tristan Stubbs and Lalit Yadav too struggled to get the ball away, but they didn’t stay too long. Pat Cummins, T Natarajan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and even Nitish Kumar Reddy, bowled smartly and with a lot of skill, but it doesn’t explain Pant being 20 off 24 deliveries in the 16th over. When he did get a few to the fence and over it, it was too little too late with the asking rate above 20. Even those shots needed Pant to almost swing himself off his feet as the rhythm and timing seemed to desert him. Not one of his best nights, as skipper and batsman.
HULK, SMASH.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have a mantra in IPL 2024. Like Captain America tells Hulk in the climactic sequence of the first Avengers movie… they just SMASH. That is what Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have been doing from the word go. Head missed out swinging the bat hard off the first ball that Khaleel Ahmed bowled. But from there on, the carnage began. Could you win a T20 match in the first 3 overs? Well, if your score reads 62/0 after the first 18 balls, then you have given yourself a pretty good chance, haven’t you? First over: 19 runs, 1 six and 3 fours. Second over: 21 runs, 2 sixes and 2 fours. Third over: 22 runs, 4 fours and 1 six. “It’s not going to work every game. But I can tell you, everyone’s terrified of when they come up against us and we have got to blow some teams out of the water before they have even walked out on the field,” Head had said. Boy, are they striking terror in bowling sides this year.
Another record for SRH
125 runs in the powerplay. Yes, let that sink in. One hundred and twenty five runs off thirty six balls. That’s 20.83 runs per over, and nearly 3.5 runs per every delivery. A total of 13 fours and 11 sixes, as Head and Abhishek went berserk. Statisticians register that as the most runs ever hit in the first six overs of a T20 match anywhere in the world. So let’s a take moment and remember the dot balls… the rarest of rare commodities when SRH batters seem to be in the mood. In the first 6 overs, there were 6 dots. Amazingly, the night began with one. Head missed out on a wide delivery from Khaleel. Lalit Yadav then bowled 2 in his 2 overs, one of them a technicality, as it was a leg bye. Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav and Mukesh Kumar each bowled one in their overs as the ball flew all around the field.
Slowing down a speeding car
When SRH was going like a fancy car driving on a freeway without speed limits, DC introduced a few speed bumps out of nowhere, thanks to Kuldeep and Axar Patel. Rishabh’s face at one point looked like that of the most worried human in the world at that point. But slowly, yet steadily, the two DC spinners put the brakes on SRH’s run-scoring madness. First, they combined to dismiss Abhishek and Aiden Markram in the same over. Twice, ‘c Axar b Kuldeep’ appeared on the scoreboard. Then Kuldeep struck the massive blow by dismissing the marauding Head. And a few deliveries later, Axar had his arm up in the air for the third time, this time to celebrate the wicket of Heinrich Klaasen. The DC antidote to SRH’s scoring speed was the slowness of their spinners. Some breathing space, finally.
Nitish brings a touch of class
The theme of the evening was brutality with the bat before Nitish Kumar Reddy brought a touch of elegance to proceedings. When the ball is meeting the stands several times an over, it takes something special to make a shot all along the turf a memorable one. But the copybook cover drive that Reddy played when Khaleel came round the wicket made one take note of the class in the youngster. The high elbow, the leaning into the shot and the full face of the bat making contact with the ball made the point that one needn’t always bludgeon the ball in the format. Reddy also showed proficiency off the backfoot and when Axar got his length only slightly shorter than ideal, the right-hander found the legside boundary. Even his sixes showed his versatility. Mukesh’s full ball outside off was effortlessly deposited over cow corner, while Rishabh was left aghast when Kuldeep was reverse-scooped over the third man fence. It was only an express delivery from Nortje that had him crumpled in a heap and made him uncomfortable during his innings.
Shortlived Shaw show
Chasing a target of 267, DC really had only option. Start with a bang. Unlike the mad fury of Head though, Prithvi Shaw took the precision route against Washington Sundar. First ball, cut through the offside for four. Second ball, powered through the leg side to split the gap between the two fielders for four. Third ball, legside again, getting down low to sweep behind square. Fourth bowl, back to the offside, another well-placed cut through a packed ring field. Cummins had a wry smile on his face. Perhaps, here we go again? That, however, would be that for The Shaw Show. Washington pegged DC back with a slightly slower one that Shaw could only slice to the fielder at cover. A frustrated walk back after a promising cameo.
Powerplay madness
SRH smashed 125 runs in the powerplay of their batting innings. DC too good off to, what could conventionally be counted as, a really good start as they reached 88/2 at the end of the 6 overs. On a night of powerplay mayhem though, SRH’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan combined for three terrific overs. Bhuvi started off with three wides but hit back with the wicket of David Warner. His two overs went for 15, Nattu’s 6th over for 7. While their 3 overs went for 22 runs, the remaining 9 powerplay overs went for a whopping 191. In the end too, Natarajan’s 4/19 with a wicket-maiden for 19th over was sensational.
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