A look at the two massive errors from skipper Ravichandran Ashwin cost the game for Kings XI Punjab against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens in Indian Premier League 2019.
Remember Samuel Badree being smoked for 30 off 10 by Narine when RCB had visited Eden Gardens in 2017? Narine loves playing against the spinners! How did Ashwin forget that? He has been dismissed only six times in 17 innings by spin and averages an astronomical 259 against such bowlers in powerplays. As against the shorter deliveries, he has been dismissed 10 times in 26 innings while recording an average of 7.6 and strike rate of 126.7.
Ashwin missed the all-important trick and the result was a brutal assault of the new IPL millionaire resulting in only a forgettable welcome for Varun. Although introduced by Ashwin to primarily dismiss Lynn, the Aussie managed a single cleverly to bring Narine on strike and he fired 6, 2, 4, 6, 6 to milk 25 runs out of his first over in IPL – most expensive first over in IPL ever.
Narine was dismissed a few deliveries later by pacer Hardus Viljeon, but his 24-run knock off 12 deliveries had set the momentum for KKR.
When Ashwin forgot a basic fielding rule of IPL…
Mohammed Shami started off well against Andre Russell against whom he owns a fairly wobbly record in IPL history. With a couple of yorkers, Shami kept Russell sweating at the crease before he went around the wicket to deliver the perfect one that dismissed the batsman. The man who had tormented SRH with his blazing knock in Hyderabad in their opener was sent back to the pavilion for a score of just three. But what sheer luck! Russell was brought back to the crease by umpire Anil Chaudhury when he found out that KXIP had fielded only three players in the inner circle during that delivery.
The umpire signalled it as no ball, and Russell never looked back from there on. Prizing his second chance, the West Indian fired eight straight boundaries – 6, 4, 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 4 – to amass 48 runs off 17 balls. Shami was himself hit for the last three boundaries before the wicket, with his record against Russell now standing at 10 sixes from 22 deliveries in IPL.
At the end of the match, Ashwin said, “I take the blame on myself (talking about the no-ball). I should have had a look at him (Varun Chakravarthy or Hardus Viljoen).”
