TALKING POINTS
Follow Us“I keep joking in the dressing room that God is telling us 'you guys are good, I'll help you'. It's happening so often that I fear we may run out of luck in the knockout games.”
Gujarat Titans won quite a few close games in the first half of the Indian Premier League 2022 which they could have easily lost. And, Hardik Pandya didn’t shy away from accepting that when Rashid Khan smoked two maximums off the last two deliveries against Sunrisers Hyderabad to help his team pull off a miraculous run-chase earlier in the tournament. Not many people gave them a chance after what they did at the auction table and were surprised after they won eight of their first nine encounters.
Then came a couple of defeats against Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians and it felt like the Titans had spent all their luck in the first half of the competition. However, what they did against Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday (May 10) had nothing to do with luck. The surface in Pune was slightly on the trickier side and Gujarat could only manage 144/4 in their 20 overs. Rashid Khan and Co. had to step up and that’s exactly what they did, bundling out Lucknow for just 82 in 13.5 overs. As a result, Gujarat became the first franchise to qualify for the playoffs.
Mohsin, Dayal continue to rule the roost
SRH’s Umran Malik has hogged most of the limelight with his sheer pace but there have been a couple of other domestic Indian seamers - Mohsin Khan and Yash Dayal - who have been equally impressive, if not more.
Let’s talk about Mohsin first. The 23-year-old from Uttar Pradesh has the best economy rate amongst bowlers who have bowled at least 20 overs in this tournament. He has been impressive across all three phases and even has an economy of less than six in the death overs. Even on Tuesday, Mohsin returned with figures of 1/18. What’s even more impressive is that Mohsin has dismissed big guns like David Warner, Liam Livingstone, Rishabh Pant and Rovman Powell and has bowled those tough overs if and when needed.
Then there is his statemate, Dayal. The Titans have a formidable bowling attack but the 24-year-old has still managed to leave a mark. The left-arm pacer hasn’t been as economical as Mohsin but has picked up some big wickets at crucial junctures. He has managed to get the better of Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram, Shreyas Iyer and Ruturaj Gaikwad but that’s not it.
Against Kolkata Knight Riders, with 29 runs to defend, Dayal bowled the penultimate over to Andre Russell and conceded 11 runs and Gujarat went on to win the game by eight runs. Even tonight, the Titans didn’t have a lot to defend and it was Dayal who got them two early breakthroughs in the powerplay before Rashid Khan and R Sai Kishore finished the job in the middle overs.
The wait is finally over for Sai Kishore
The left-arm spinner from Tamil Nadu made his much-awaited IPL debut and did exactly what he has been doing for years in the domestic circuit. Lucknow were already four down, and with Rashid operating at the other end, there wasn’t a lot of pressure on the 25-year-old. A sharp catch at the point region to dismiss De Kock got him going and before he outfoxed young Ayush Badoni in his first over and let a huge roar out. With Rashid claiming four wickets, Sai Kishore only got to bowl two overs but did pick up two wickets.
It was pretty evident how eagerly he was waiting for this opportunity, especially after warming the bench for Chennai Super Kings for a couple of years despite being one of the best fingerspinners in India. 45 wickets in 39 T20s at an economy of just 5.43 - these numbers are as good as they come and it would have been frustrating to not get any game-time. When he was bought for INR 3 crore in the auction, it felt like Sai Kishore will be a certain starter but that wasn’t the case.
He didn’t feature in the first six matches because of the team combination and surfaces. However, we are at the business end of the league stage and the pitches are starting to wear out, meaning he could become a regular in the XI. "I rate Sai Kishore quite high as a left-arm spinner. He's quite a technical bowler. Because of his height and his pace, he gets a little extra from the wicket. Because of the fast bowling attack, we were not able to make him play. But looking at this wicket, we thought if we can add a spinner with the right-handers, it'll make a big difference,” said Pandya.
Lack of runs from Pandya
The ace all-rounder had a perfect start to this year’s IPL but has struggled big time in the last five encounters. Gujarat couldn’t get too many quality top-order batters in the action and as a result, one of the best finishers of the modern generation, Pandya had to bat higher up the order. In the first six games, the 28-year-old’s lowest score was 27 and also slammed three consecutive half-centuries. What’s more, the right-arm seamer was also bowling his full quota of four overs before he was forced to miss a game because of a groin injury.
However, things haven’t quite gone in his favour since his match-winning 67 against KKR. Pandya has only managed 49 runs in the last five innings at a strike rate of 108.9. The fast bowlers have targetted him by bowling those hard-length deliveries and that’s precisely what led to his downfall against Lucknow as well. Avesh Khan dropped one short and wide and Pandya went too hard on the cut, only to end up edging it to the wicketkeeper. That didn’t make any difference at the end as his bowling unit wreaked havoc in the second innings, but the team management would want their skipper to return back to his best ahead of the playoffs.
