Chennai, April 15
Chennai Super Kings left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed has credited a tactical blueprint for his dismissal of Sunil Narine during the side’s 32-run over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), revealing that creating ‘doubt’ in the mind of the KKR opener was central to their execution of plans of removing him cheaply.
With KKR sending Narine to open with a quest to get a few big runs in the power-play, CSK backed their pacers to get the better of him. After a couple of boundaries and plenty of mistimed strokes and misses resembling a close car chase sequence of an action movie, Khaleel dismissed him in the fifth over.
“First of all, we wanted to win the game back-to-back - so we thought, how can we win this game? Obviously, when Narine comes we don’t know and can't predict which ball he will hit for boundaries or even get dismissed on.
“So it was a little tough, but that's what we talked about in the meeting, we will plan it, how we will use the (longer) sides of the ground, what angles we can use, and where it will be difficult for him to hit. So that execution was very good because I felt that as a whole bowling unit, our mind and plan was very clear - so I felt that execution was better,” Khaleel said in a video posted on IPL’s social media accounts.
Drawing on his years of experience bowling to Narine in the IPL, Khaleel detailed how he used an around-the-wicket approach to set a trap. “Because I have been bowling to him year by year, so I had an idea that when I come here at my around the wicket angle, there is a fear that a bouncer can come and one can make a mistake on the next ball.
“So that was it, how to put doubt in Narine’s mind. For that doubt, I went there, and had to execute the same thing, that I didn't have to give him much elevation. We had exactly fielding plans, so we were safe on both sides, so that was a very good plan," he added.
The pacer also emphasized that the early breakthrough allowed the spinners, especially Noor Ahmad, to dominate the middle overs. “Actually, after the power play, spinners also bowled very well because we were expecting Noor to come good.
“We know that it is difficult to read him, but that game was not coming out for him before because as a bowling unit, the start was good. But in the middle, the role of the spinners is crucial and we were waiting for them to come out. Noor can become unpredictable, because of the wrist he has,” said Khaleel.
Seamer Anshul Kamboj disclosed how deep-dive video analysis and simple power-play bowling plans helped him hold his own against KKR batters. “Nothing much. I just came up with a plan in the beginning, about how to bowl to which batter because we watch videos before a match.
“We see what his weak point is, and we try to plan our bowling accordingly, so as our field plans. So I was just trying to execute well, and not look at other results,” he said.
Detailing his specific strategy to dismiss Finn Allen, Kamboj said, “I just had the same mindset - when I saw his videos, I felt that he was trying to hit more towards the mid-on, towards the long-on.
“So if the ball goes away from the stumps, he can have a lot of problems, and give us a chance to take his wicket. So I was trying to hit more outswing, rather than bowling in-swing, because in-swing will be easier for him, but it's difficult to hit outswinger over long-on.”
Kamboj also credited Noor for this three-fer wrecking KKR bowling line-up. “On this wicket, the ball was sticking a little, so Noor got a little help to comeback, so that helped us a lot, because I feel that when you have a little momentum, your body runs well, and your execution is also good.”
