NEWS
Follow UsOnly the other night, on April 11, Mumbai Indians decimated Royal Challenges Bengaluru’s bowlers, knocking off 197 in just 15.3 overs. It was almost like chasing at the venue gave the side a huge advantage, with the dew coming into play. So, when Chennai Super Kings set a target of 207, it did not feel like CSK had a whole lot of advantage.
MI knocked off 63 runs in the powerplay, needing only 144 runs in the remaining 14 overs of the run chase, a feat that is quite achievable at the batting paradise Wankhede Stadium. For the most part of the first ten overs, MI were well on track to chase it down.
But the regular wickets from Matheesha Pathirana derailed the rail off the track slightly. The damage, however, was done largely at the other end by two Mumbaikars - Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande - with the duo bowling it tidy at the end.
With MI needing 77 off 36, Thakur was tasked with the job of bowling the 15th over of the innings, and the all-rounder ended up conceding just two runs from the over, increasing the asking rate from 12s-13s to upwards of 14.
"The unsung heroes tonight were Tushar and Shardul," Simons said at the post-match press conference. "Shardul bowled one of the best overs I have ever seen. At that stage they were looking at 12s-13s an over, the game's very much in the balance. He bowls the over and it goes up at 14. The game turned there.
While stating that, Simons also heaped praises on Pathirana, whose figures of 4/28 was the biggest difference between the two sides.
“Pathirana is a very special talent, just the way he comes and does things. I’m very pleased with his accuracy tonight, it was outstanding. I said to him afterwards, the wickets is a bonus, the accuracy is very good, sometimes you bowl accurately but don’t get wickets but tonight, he was accurate and got wickets,” Simons said on Pathirana’s accuracy.
"Matheesha will get a lot of accolades and he deserves it because of the way he bowled and the breakthroughs he gave us. But those two gentlemen did extremely well for us to push the rate out of reach out of MI,” he added.
It wasn’t just Thakur but also Deshpande, who continued the pressure with a three-run 16th over, including the wicket of Hardik Pandya, to put Mumbai in a state of bother. Simons called the Mumbaikar an ‘intelligent’ bowler, stating that clarity played a huge role in his understanding of the role.
"Tushar is a very intelligent bowler. Our conversations are around his tactics, his understanding of conditions and oppositions. One of the things we try and do is make sure bowlers have clarity when they arrive at game and they know exactly what they have to do and also understand the tactics. So not just what the tactic is but also why it is like that. And he has a very clear understanding of the tactic and also why it is like that."
It wasn’t just about the two Mumbaikars helping CSK to a win, it was another Mumbaikar in Shivam Dube who did most of the batting damage earlier in the game, where he scored a 38-ball 66.
“It is huge, he (Dube) is putting in tremendous effort at the training, they didn’t bowl spin when he was batting out in the middle. He’s controlling the game because they don’t bowl spin anymore, they are scared to,” Simons said.
“His ability to be effective against pace bowling has become effective to him, I don’t think people appreciate his timing, he does have brute force but his timing against pace is a quality.”
So, what has changed for Dube at CSK? Simons attributes it to the all-rounder feeling safe.
“One of the most important things you can give your cricketer is safety, safety to fail, safety to grow, safety to try and be challenged and trusted. That’s one of the things that happens with CSK. That’s a very important aspect of CSK, certainly from Dube’s perspective,” he added.
“To play like he does, you have to take risks, he was battling a bit, and allowing someone to grow, and make mistakes helps him grow. We are just unlocking his talent.”
