Kolkata Knight Riders gun fast bowler Mitchell Starc revealed the team’s bowling plan against the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s openers – Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma – after their convincing eight-wicket win in the first qualifier at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
Starc said they tried to swing the ball and not provide the left-handers any width. So the plan was simple – bowl stump to stump and not give the dangerous opening duo any chance to free their arms.
The plan worked as Starc got the big fish – his countryman Travis Head for a duck. Vaibhav Arora had Abhishek Sharma caught at covers, with Andre Russell taking a good catch. To have the two pugnacious left-handers back in the dressing room was a perfect start for KKR and then to get the wickets of in-form Nitish Reddy and Shahbaz Ahmed, was the an icing on the cake.
Starc returned with impressive figures of 3-22 in his first spell of three overs as he broke spine of the top order. The Australian returned with figures of 3-34 in his quota of four overs and proved why he is a big match player.
The left-arm experienced seamer played a key role in skittling out the Orange Army at 159, which was a below-par score.
Starc, who was the awarded the Player of the Match, said in the post-match presentation, “We know how important the powerplay is. These were the two sides who have dominated in the powerplay with the bat. We needed to pick early wickets and get into their middle-order. The way Head and Abhishek have been playing thoughout the tournament, they like width and free their arms. We just tried to swing the ball and not provide them width. Bowl stump to stump and tried the hard length. The spinners were effective and the whole bowling department was great. Got lucky I guess (on taking Head’s wicket), was nice to see his back early, not always the case. We have been playing against each other in recent times.”
Meanwhile, Starc also showered praise on Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora, who dismissed Abhishek Sharma and Abdul Samad respectively in their spell.
Starc said, “They (Arora and Harshit) are exciting to watch and are talented, they are skillful. It’s good to see how hard they train. Harshit has been phenomenal this year. Our bowling attack has been great, it’s hard to single anyone out. As an older and overseas player, it’s good to see. No doubt they’ll take many wickets in the IPL and for India as well.
KKR will look to bring their best in the summit clash on Sunday at Chennai.
