Darren Ganga believes Kuldeep should bowl his full quota of overs as he is too good a spinner to not finish his full spell.
Darren Ganga was surprised that ace spinner Kuldeep Yadav did not complete his 4 overs in Delhi Capitals’ bowling effort yesterday.
What was even more intriguing apart from not bowling his four overs was the time of his entry. He was not brought in the powerplay as usual, but was introduced as late as the 11th over.
By then, KKR had comfortably cruised to 79/1 after the powerplay. And while Kuldeep did bowl economically, he finished wicketless in his 3 overs, giving away 27 runs in the process. The Knights eventually put up 204 on the board, a total 14 runs too many for the Capitals.
Darren Ganga’s two cents
Ganga believes that a bowler of Kuldeep’s skill and quality should be finishing his full quota of overs irrespective of the fact he is taking wickets or not. He also opined that bringing on Kuldeep in the powerplay would have ensured that Gurbaz and Narine would play him in a much more conventional manner.
“Kuldeep not finishing his spell to me was a bit of a missed opportunity,” Ganga said. “When you have a bowler like Kuldeep, regardless of the day he’s having, I’d like to see him exhaust his full complement of overs. That is something he [Axar] could’ve looked at. Bowling Kuldeep’s one over earlier on, and then bowling three overs in the middle. That could’ve changed proceedings and probably informed how the other spinners would go on that surface.
“I was having a conversation about teams and their reluctance to use conventional wristspinners in the powerplay phase. To me, if you’re trying to control a phase by taking wickets, that’s an option for you. And then if you know you have an issue with your bowlers not penetrating opposition batters. I think it is worth a gamble for you to use, at least one over of wristspin in that phase.”
Dilemma of shuffling bowlers
Ganga, on the other hand, recognised the captain’s predicament in deciding whether to use other bowlers or support himself. He suggested that Axar’s decisions may have been impacted by the recent inclusion of Dushmantha Chameera. However, he believed that captains should be more resolute.
“If the surface was offering a bit more turn, it might’ve prompted him to bowl in the powerplay phase,” Ganga said. “There are also times, as a captain, you find yourself between a rock and a hard place with you putting yourself as an option compared to using other options.
“Chameera has been brought in recently to join this DC side. His USP is bowling in the first and last phase, so he was given an opportunity to. But at times, you have to be more determined, take the game by its horns and back yourself. I think we overrate match-ups, sometimes, bowlers can still trouble batters’ inside edge as well. I think at times captains can be a bit more enterprising and use that option.”