Ruturaj’s bold calls should hold CSK in good stead
Rajasthan Royals may have surprised many when Riyan Parag came out to bat at No. 4 against Lucknow Super Giants, but that was something the Royals management seems to have thought off well before Season 17 of the IPL started.
Parag celebrated his promotion up the order in style, making a 29ball 43. Coach Kumar Sangakkara was pleased as he talked about the strategic move at the press conference on Wednesday.
“We looked at how Riyan performed over the years,” Sangakkara said. “It is a difficult thing for someone like Riyan who has an overall game to only get the toughest parts of the game, where he has to come in and up the run rate at the death.
“The hard work he has put in and the runs he has scored in the domestic season played a part in that decision.”
Delhi Capitals’ director of cricket Sourav Ganguly said his team needed to bat better. “With Rishabh Pant back, the batting is stronger,” he said.
“If we bat well, we will win a lot of matches because we have the bowling.”
The speedsters, rather than spinners, delivered for CSK against Titans.
One of the trademarks of a typical Chennai Super Kings team, especially while playing at its fortress, M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, is having a plethora of spinners at its disposal.
And it would have come as a surprise that Ruturaj Gaikwad’s side brought deathbowling specialist Matheesha Pathirana into the bowling lineup in place of spinner Maheesh Theekshana for the fixture against Gujarat Titans at Chepauk on Tuesday.
Uncharacteristic move
CSK’s uncharacteristic move worked like magic, on a pitch with a tinge of green on it, as the fivetime
IPL champion trumped GT by 63 runs, with each of its five medium pacers taking at least one wicket.
Not a spinners’ day
Ravindra Jadeja not being required to bowl his full quota of overs (20150), and the opposition tweakers Rashid Khan (40492) and R. Sai Kishore (30281) finding it tough to create an impact made CSK’s decision to tinker with its combination look even better.
CSK’s ploy, though, would not have solely relied on the nature of the track. The thinktank saw the upside in having two death bowlers in Pathirana and Mustafizur Rahman — which also helped get the best out of Tushar Desh
pande who could finish his spell (40212) by the 16th over — and went with the horsesforcourses option.
GT seamer Mohit Sharma voiced the same opinion during the postmatch press conference.
“I feel CSK would have gone with two spinners if the pitch was drier,” Mohit said. “Every team comes as a package. And, depending on the scenario at the ground, sides look to bring out the best Playing XI,” he added.
It is still early days in Ruturaj’s captaincy career and the fact that he is not averse to taking bold calls to optimise the resources he has — something that M.S. Dhoni is known for — should hold him in good stead.