When Noor Ahmad was bought for INR 10 crore in the auction, it raised quite a few eyebrows. Chennai Super Kings had never splurged this heavily on an overseas wrist spinner in their history. However, it took just two outings for Noor to justify his price tag. He grabbed four wickets in a high-stakes clash against Mumbai Indians, earning the Man of the Match award, and followed it up with three crucial wickets against the formidable batting lineup of Royal Challengers Bangalore.
RCB got off to a flying start, thanks to a quickfire innings by Phil Salt. With Salt going all guns blazing, Ruturaj Gaikwad was forced to turn to his strike bowler. Noor came into the attack during the Powerplay in the fifth over. The plan worked as Noor outfoxed Salt with a googly, and MS Dhoni’s lightning-fast hands did the rest. It was reminiscent of Suryakumar Yadav’s dismissal in the CSK-MI game.
Virat Kohli looked rusty, but his wicket was crucial for CSK, and Noor once again delivered. He forced the RCB stalwart to attempt a slog sweep that went straight into the hands of Rachin Ravindra.
The change in pace worked perfectly on that occasion. His third wicket came in the form of Liam Livingstone in his final over. Just a ball before, Livingstone had smashed Noor for a six, but the left-arm wrist spinner got his revenge on the very next delivery.
Wanted to hit the length: Noor
“The pitch was a little different; there wasn’t much turn, and I wanted to bowl length deliveries,” Noor told the broadcasters during the mid-innings break.
Although the Afghanistan-based wrist spinner proved to be a tad expensive, he once again bagged crucial wickets, finishing with figures of 3/36 in his four overs.
With seven wickets in two games, Noor now holds the Purple Cap. And at the rate he’s going, the left-arm wrist spinner looks poised to add plenty more to his tally.