Ishan Kishan shows his full potential
IPL hundreds are so rare that it’s nearly impossible to overshadow one. Ishan Kishan did just that at the Wankhede. So ferocious was his assault on Kolkata’s bowlers that the result was a foregone conclusion even before the innings reached the halfway mark. In his three previous innings this season, Kishan had made a total of 73 runs from 60 balls – middling returns at a mediocre strike-rate. Kolkata saw the form that catapulted him into the Indian side. Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav and Sunil Narine all had to be taken out of the attack because of the manner in which Kishan took them down – 16 from Shardul’s first over, 17 from Umesh’s second, and 33 from Narine’s two – and that left Nitish Rana with few options to turn to. Cricket remains obsessed with milestones, but for those watching, there’s little doubt that Kishan’s 25-ball 58 was the key innings of the day.
On any other day, Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai Indians captain, being named as one of the substitutes would have been the pre-match headline. Not when the name “Tendulkar” pops up on a Mumbai Indians scoresheet for the first time in a decade though. Arjun Tendulkar wasn’t just given his cap by Rohit, he was also thrown the new ball by Suryakumar Yadav, who led the side on Sunday. Tall and strongly built, with a severe boot-camp haircut, Arjun handled the pressure with aplomb. The dangerous Rahmanullah Gurbaz was given nothing to hit in a first over where he conceded just four, and it was only when Venkatesh Iyer targeted the last two balls of his second over that his figures were slightly spoilt. He wasn’t especially quick, but he could easily have dismissed Gurbaz (miscuing down the ground), Narayan Jagadeesan (leg before) and Iyer (bowled). Given how expensive Duan Jansen and Riley Meredith were, it was a surprise that SKY didn’t call on him again.
Iyer ends KKR’s century wait
It’s easy to mistake the Knight Riders’ logo for a Roman Centurion’s helmet. But a centurion was what the franchise hadn’t had since the IPL’s opening day back in 2008, when Brendon McCullum smashed that unforgettable 73-ball 158. In the years since, KKR batters have made 90 or more on seven occasions. The two most significant innings in the team’s history were Manvinder Bisla’s 89 that upset Chennai Super Kings in the 2012 final, and the 94 that Manish Pandey made as KKR chased down a target of 200 in the 2014 summit clash. But after almost exactly 15 years of waiting, Iyer needed just 49 balls to end the jinx. It was some innings as well, with Iyer scoring 104 of the 148 made while he was at the crease. The next-highest score was 21, and he struck nine of the 10 sixes in the innings.
Experience paying off for Chawla
On a belter of a pitch where every other bowler was hit for at least one six, Piyush Chawla, who spent the 2022 season without a franchise and in the commentary box, bowled his full quota for just 19 runs. On a day when Narine, KKR’s spin talisman, was clubbed for 33 runs in two overs, Chawla bowled 10 dot balls and conceded just one four. There was no great mystery about his bowling, but he varied length and pace cleverly and landed the googlies that have always been his strength.
Impact Captain
It would have left a sour taste in traditionalists’ mouths, but with the Impact-Player rules being what they are, expect a few more repeats of what we saw today in upcoming games. We don’t know for sure if Rohit wasn’t fit enough to field a full 20 overs in the harsh afternoon heat, but it was SKY that led when Mumbai fielded. At the end of the innings, Meredith was replaced by Rohit, and Mumbai’s opening pair set about carving up Kolkata’s attack. Rohit made just 20 from 13 balls, but by then, Mumbai had raced to 65 from just 4.5 overs. The full-time captain exited the stage, leaving it to his stand-in to pretty much finish the game.
His most fervent backers have kept saying that all SKY needed was more time in the middle. To an extent, they were right. You can’t really say someone is out of form when they’re not in the middle long enough to make any sort of assessment. But there’s also little doubt that his form was a major concern, especially in view of Mumbai’s slow start to the season. The 25-ball 43 today buys him time, with the imperious whipped six over square-leg off Andre Russell a reminder of a game-changing talent that few possess.