Sai Kishore underuse baffles fans and experts alike despite the Titans beating Delhi Capitals yesterday at Ahmedabad.
Sai Kishore bowled just a solitary over as Delhi Capitals made 203 in their 20 overs, a total Titans chased with 4 balls to spare.
A Gujarat Titans (GT) player tops the Purple Cap chart, with two of his teammates ranked No. 6 and No. 9, respectively. Prasidh Krishna, R Sai Kishore, and Mohammed Siraj have taken 36 wickets between them in seven games. Perhaps the most intriguing topic of conversation following Saturday’s victory over the Delhi Capitals (DC) was the overs in which Sai Kishore was not given an opportunity to bowl.
“It was quite strange,” Ambati Rayudu said on ESPNcricinfo TimeOut after the game. Sai Kishore bowled just one over in the game. It was the last over of the DC innings. He gave away just nine runs and got the wicket of the big-hitting Ashutosh Sharma. With Rashid Khan hardly setting the IPL on fire – he had none for 38 this time – why hide Sai Kishore away?
“Given the conditions – it was an afternoon game – you would expect the ball to grip a little bit, especially with the new ball when the seam is hard and slightly elevated,” Rayudu said. “He should have bowled at least one over in the powerplay and definitely through the middle. He’s been their best spinner so far; he’s been bowling better than Rashid in this competition. Doesn’t make sense to me.”
Unsurprisingly, matchups may be the answer, as left-handed Axar Patel batted from the fifth over till the eighteenth, and Nicholas Pooran, who is also left-handed, had thrashed Sai Kishore in GT’s last game, finishing with 1.3-0-35-0.
“Spooked by match-ups and perhaps what’s happened before. I think the last time we saw him bowl, [he was] put under the pump, but it was Pooran. And that’s why we’re all scratching our heads, going ‘why didn’t he give him a go?’ Especially when three of your topline seamers are all going at more than ten runs an over,” Mark Boucher said on the same show.
“Even if he’s bowling to a match-up like Axar, he’s still got the mindset that ‘I can bowl it outside his eyeline’ and I think he might still have created opportunity there. Yes, your best spinner in the competition at the moment and he only bowled one over, in a day game – it is very strange not to have given him the opportunity, or a better opportunity.”