It may be too soon to conclude that Suryakumar Yadav has left his lean patch behind, but by spending some time out in the middle, he seemed to remember what putting bat to ball felt like. It helped that there was not much in the form of run-rate pressure after Ishan Kishan had given Mumbai Indians a whirlwind start. Yadav took a bit of time settling in, and was helped by Suyash Sharma who gave him a short and wide one third ball. Another similar boundary followed and then came back-to-back sixes against Lockie Ferguson – a pick-up shot over fine-leg and a flick over midwicket. That, more or less, settled the result, which gave Yadav the licence to target Andre Russell in the next over with a six and a four, with some trademark whips off his pads. His return to form will be great news for the franchise’s prospects.
– Tushar Bhaduri
Famous surname
When your surname is Tendulkar, all eyes are on you to find out if there’s anything else special about you. Arjun showed in his first over itself that he has something about him as a left-arm pacer. A full toss second ball almost landed in the hands of the mid-on running backwards, while a few sharp inswingers, one of which resulted in a loud LBW shout, and a bouncer, prompted a lot of excitement. With sister Sara in the stands, there was no shortage of encouragement and the 23-year-old didn’t embarrass himself at all in his initiation in the IPL, for the team which his father had graced for a long time. With left-handed Venkatesh Iyer on strike in his second over, Arjun had a few going away from the batsman, before a four through the offside and a six over long-off dented his figures.
– Tushar Bhaduri
Channeling the inner Greenidge
It used to be said that Gordon Greenidge was more dangerous when he was limping or injured. Venkatesh Iyer seemed to channel his inner Greenidge. After upper-slashing Cameron Green for a six, Iyer shuffled outside the off-stump and tried to scoop him. But the slowness of the surface deceived him, as he missed the ball entirely, and struck him on the side of his front knee, just behind the flap of the pads, much after he had played the stroke. Iyer winced in pain and plunged to the ground, his treatment taking out at least five minutes from the game. He was back on his feet, but moved gingerly, limping for singles. Even the next ball he faced, the front-knee collapsed as he attempted a back-foot punch, which took off to the boundary from the inside half of his bat. But then, just like that, he sashayed down the track and clumped Duan Jansen over long-on for a six. Four balls later, he stepped out again and swung Jansen over long-off.
– Sandip G
Tough initiation
His twin brother is making his presence felt as part of Sunrisers Hyderabad, but Duan Jansen’s initiation in the IPL was anything but auspicious, courtesy Venkatesh Iyer. After two decent deliveries, the KKR player stepped down the track and though he didn’t get all of the ball and gained plenty of height, it went 76m to cross the long-on fence with ease. As he was bowling inside the Powerplay, a miscued lofted shot eluded the fielders, landing just beyond the 30-yard circle. The last ball of the over was crunched over wide long-off by the left-hander after taking a few steps down the ground. The over went for 16 runs, but Jansen would have been justified in thinking that he hadn’t bowled too badly.
– Tushar Bhaduri
Blind premeditation
Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s tortured stay ended in unusual fashion. In his attempt to jailbreak, he swung the ball hard at a Piyush Chawla googly and ended up outside-edging to the third-man stationed inside the ropes. It was unusual in that most batsmen tend to inside-edge a googly. Even if one out-side edges it, it tends to go finer, and not squarer. It puzzled the commentators too. Graeme Swann, the former England commentator, was stinging in his assessment: “I think he picked the ball from his hands, but didn’t watch it off the pitch. Wait, I think he neither picked the ball off his hands nor played it off the pitch. Anyway, an unusual one.” Had he picked the googly off his hands or the pitch, he would have slogged or swept with the inward angle. In short, he was a victim of his blind premeditation.
– Sandip G
Slowdown at crucial stage
Talk about going in reverse gear. KKR were all set for a score well in excess of 200 when they inexplicably pressed the handbrake. From 135/4 in 14 overs on a belter of a Wankhede pitch, with short boundaries and a quick outfield, they ended up with ‘only’ 185/6 – that’s 50 runs in six overs while there were the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh and Andre Russell in the middle. Iyer slowed down as he neared his hundred, but Rinku at the other end couldn’t take up the run-scoring responsibility. Mumbai Indians bowlers too raised their game, making clever use of change of pace, bouncers and yorkers to keep the batsmen guessing. For a large part of the innings, Iyer was the only batsman to find the boundary, and the situation didn’t change too much after he got out for 104.
– Tushar Bhaduri
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First published on: 16-04-2023 at 19:38 IST
