Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the new-ball duo for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, served as a reminder on Monday that excellent bowling combined with a little help from the surface may restore the bat-ball balance in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL).
With teams frequently chasing down totals of 200 or more and flat pitches and small boundaries contributing to extremely high scores, the IPL has turned into a batter’s paradise.
Critics claim that this season’s lack of balance between bat and ball is partly due to the impact player rule, which permits teams to substitute a specialized batter for a bowler during a game.
Delhi Capitals scored 264/2 on Saturday, becoming the best score of the season, but they were powerless to stop Punjab Kings from pulling off a record chase with seven balls to spare.
However, two days later, Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar combined for seven wickets and dismissed DC for 75 on a different, livelier track at the same Arun Jaitley Stadium.
In stark contrast to the batting carnage frequently observed during powerplays, DC lost six wickets in just four overs.
Both RCB seamers got the ball to swing around while bowling the standard Test match length.
“Even I’m surprised the way the wicket played. The way they hit those areas and got that bit of swing, that was tremendous to see. I think the swing was normal, and the good thing was we got early wickets and that’s why it kept us in the driving seat,” Reuters captain quoted RCB captain Rajat Patidar as saying.
DC captain Axar Patel claimed they had trouble against two elite bowlers.
“They swing the ball and have done it at every ground,” he added. “If our openers or one-down batters had batted one or two more overs, it could have been a different score or a different match. Credit to them for the way they bowled.”
