Royals add a third verse to their Gospel of 'Left' field theories
The Rajasthan Royals (RR) are fast turning the expansion of IPL into words like 'Innovation, Powerplay, Left-armers' by constantly playing the 'Fear of the Unknown' card on the opposition. Their latest victim became the five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) at the iconic Wankhede Stadium.
Among the oldest yet most proven T20 cricket theory remains the 'three wickets in the Powerplay'. Most coaches and experts preach picking up at least three wickets in the powerplay to all but triumph in a T20 outing.
RR made it the Gospel by again placing all their eggs in the 'powerplay' basket during the emphatic victory over MI.
When was the last time a side bowled two left-arm pacers throughout the powerplay? Yet for Sanju Samson, it has become his go-to move to push the opposition back straightaway, with the wicket-taking abilities of Trent Boult and Nandre Burger.
The left-arm pace-bowling duo have bowled three overs each in the powerplay in two of their three games thus far. Only Ravichandran Ashwin has bowled the lone over inside the powerplay for RR this season in their opener against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
Yet, there is a method to the madness by Sanju Samson, and the RR brains trust as the Double Bs of Boult and Burger possess the uncanny knack of bagging wickets with the new cherry at the snap of a finger. And that was certainly the case when they decimated MI in the first half-an-hour of the highly-anticipated contest, leaving them 20/4 in the fourth over.
Double B's run riot over MI batters
Boult exploited Rohit Sharma's frailties against left-arm swing bowlers manfully by playing the double bluff card. The Kiwi veteran, knowing full well that Rohit would cover for the in-swing, bowled the delivery that instead left the Indian captain, resulting in a tame nick through to the wicket-keeper.
However, the trademark Boult in-swinger wasn't far off as he wasted no time, trapping Naman Dhir for a first-ball duck to leave MI reeling at 1/2 in an over.
As if the damage wasn't already done, Boult wanted to leave no nails hanging. In his second over, the wily customer removed a third batter in Dewald Brevis for a first-baller to all but end MI's hopes for a maiden win in IPL 2024.
Not one to be left behind, Boult's left-arm bowling partner, Burger, snaffled the well-settled Ishan Kishan with the perfect Test match delivery in the following over, leaving MI in disarray at 20/4 in under four overs.
Despite MI valiantly attempting to play catch-up the rest of the game, the powerplay heroics of RR's left-arm pacers had pinned the nail deep into the coffin, making it three out of three for the inaugural IPL champions to open the 2024 season.
It casts back to the days when the Perth Scorchers rattled opponents and built their trophy fortresses through the left-arm pace-bowling barrage of Jason Behrendorff, Joel Paris, David Willey, and Mitchell Johnson.
Indian fans will also remember the odd stretches when at least two or all of Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, and Irfan Pathan played together to bamboozle opposition batters.
2020 to 2024: How Trent Boult Turned from 'Hero to Villain' for MI
Remember Trent Boult running through opponents in the powerplay for the Mumbai Indians (MI) to their most dominant title run in IPL 2020? Unfortunately, roles reversed when the 34-year-old haunted them with a similar ploy last night.
During his run with MI in 2020, Boult picked up an incredible 16 wickets in the powerplay at an average of 15.10 and an economy of under 7. It included a remarkable eight wickets in the first over of a match, including a first-ball dismissal of Marcus Stoinis in the grand finale against the Delhi Capitals (DC).
RR have seemingly built their bowling strategies similar to MI's in 2020, with Boult bowling most of his overs in the powerplay and Jasprit Bumrah manning the death overs. In RR's case, Boult and Burger lead the charge by bowling three overs in the powerplay, followed by Sandeep Sharma being used exclusively at the death.
Whether the climax for RR is similar to that experienced by MI remains to be seen, but the start of the tale looks all too familiar, much to the delight of the Rajasthan fans.
The left-arm new-ball duo of Boult and Burger already have 11 wickets between them, with their early scalps pegging the opposition on the backfoot before the blink of an eye.
A hat trick of wins to begin the IPL 2024 season is further evidence of the well-thought-out strategy of having distinct and clear roles for each bowler working wonders.
Boult and Burger throughout the powerplay, Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal manning the middle phase, and Sandeep Sharma and Avesh Khan bossing the slog overs makes RR the most complete bowling unit of the competition.