MATCH STORIES
Follow UsMumbai Indians acquired Trent Boult from the Delhi Capitals via a trade deal with one singular motive dominating all others - to pair him with Jasprit Bumrah and unleash him in the powerplay.
His lethal swinging deliveries and immaculate control would have wreaked havoc at the Wankhede Stadium in the first six overs, as the pitch there has always been conducive to swing bowling at the beginning of the game. Since 2021, pacers have picked up 1.3 wickets in the powerplay on average at the venue, and within their clan, the left-arm pacers are the ones to give five runs less per wicket when compared with their right-arm counterparts, who average 25.8 runs/wicket in the phase.
MI knew what they were getting.
As fate would have it, Boult didn’t play a single game for MI at the Wankhede because of COVID-19, and the IPL moved to the sandy lands of the United Arab Emirates.
In 2022, the Kiwi in blue and gold switched to the team in pink and purple and changed that team's fortunes by continuing his role as one of the most lethal strike bowlers in the powerplay.
He’s been a part of the Rajasthan Royals franchise since IPL 2022 only, and within this small period, he has earned himself a spot amongst the best bowlers who have played for them. He has 34 wickets in 29 innings and has the fourth-best average in RR’s history (25.4) for a pacer.
However, his real quality stands out when you start looking for pacers who have peaked in the first six overs. When you consider who strikes the most in this phase, there’s no comparison as Boult has a record of taking 18 balls/wicket in the toughest phase of the game for a pacer, and no one, not even Jofra Archer (who has the best bowling average), has been better than that for RR.
When you consider all the active pacers in this league (since IPL 2022), only Mohammed Shami, Kagiso Rabada and Archer have numbers worthy of comparison with Boult.
On April 1 (Monday), bowling against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, Boult displayed not only what he could have done on a regular basis at this venue for his old team but also a showreel of why he’s exactly so good in this phase of the match.
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After bowling three dot balls to start the innings, Boult conceded a single and Ishan Kishan got Rohit Sharma on strike.
Rohit knew what Boult would bowl to him. He had set up with just a slightly open stance, waiting for Boult to bowl a swinging full-length delivery targeting his pads. But Boult isn’t a one-trick pony. Rohit was bluffed.
It was a scrambled seam ball on a length, landed on the off-stump line, and went in that corridor of uncertainty. Rohit’s bat came in straight, and the edge was taken. All the throats shouting “Rohit, Rohit” were glued together by Boult’s brilliance as a fog of silence fell over the Wankhede. Their hero was out on a duck.
The next ball to Naman Dhir was exactly what Rohit was anticipating, and the young batter from Punjab was just outclassed as the ball came in to hit his pad from over the stumps after falling on a length. Dhir was on the front foot, and the only way for him from there was to the pavilion.
Lightning Boult had struck twice in two balls in the first over itself. Only Bhuvneshwar Kumar (25 scalps) has as many wickets as him in the first over of the IPL.
When he came back in the third over, he again targeted the good length from over the wicket to right-handed Dewald Brevis with a packed off-side field. Brevis slashed hard at the ball angling away from him, and Nandre Burger completed the catch.
Outswing. Inswing. Accurate, good length bowling. Always targeting the stumps. Precise fields, followed with perfect execution. That was what Boult did in his first eight balls today, and that was enough to insinuate a carnage for MI that ended only when the 20 overs were over.
And you know what? Throughout the years in the IPL and elsewhere as well, the key to Boult’s success is bowling in that full and good length areas (roughy 3-7 metres), and then relying on his skiddiness and swing to deceive the batters, as he keeps targeting the stumps (visible in the beehive below).
This season, his performances have been further aided by including Burger in RR’s squad, whose hit-the-deck bowling from a left-arm angle makes it hard for any team to face the two in tandem in the powerplay.
Their performance at the start has also allowed the likes of Avesh Khan and Sandeep Sharma to bowl in the middle overs and at the death, along with R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, giving a well-rounded look to RR’s bowling attack.
In 2022, the Royals reached the IPL final. Last year, they couldn’t make the playoffs due to losing six out of their last seven games. This time, with Boult peaking in the powerplay overs once again, they stand a very good chance of going the 2022 way.
Meanwhile, for Boult, now that he plays for New Zealand very sparsely, an IPL trophy will have to be one of the best moments in his career. The good thing is that dream seems to be happening, one powerplay pulverisation at a time.
