IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders bowling coach Bharat Arun recalls a bowlers’ meeting mid-way through the tournament. The team had failed to defend a score of 261 against Punjab Kings. Their plan A was seemingly failing, their ‘smart’ tactic of bowling well outside off-stump, away from the reach of marauding batsmen, wasn’t getting the desired results.
Arun brought out data to steer the course-correction. The answer was staring at their faces. It was time for bowlers to look into the eyes of the batting bullies and stand up to them.
“Midway through the season, we looked at our stats. The lengths we were hitting with the ball finishing on the stump line or in the channel had been one of our best deliveries. That was what had given us the most number of wickets. Even the economy rate was under eight, fabulous considering the high scores we saw in this IPL,” Arun tells The Indian Express.
It was a double-edged sword, as Arun would concede. “Interestingly, the same balls were also the ones that were hit out of the park!”
But the team decided it was time to be braver as it was also the more sensible move. According to Arun, during that phase, KKR had also started training with defensive lines, where their pace attack – which included Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana – consistently hit the wide-line mark.
“We just kept it as Plan B. That wide-of-off-stump channel was becoming predictable for batsmen. So we would just use it to bluff them and then go back to attacking the stumps. Those deliveries were getting us wickets. So even if a batsman hit it, we were okay with it and our bowlers could again bowl the same delivery. But if we went for the wide line and got hit, the bowler would go for a different length and the battle would become easier for the batsmen. So our plan was even ‘if you get hit, go back to the same line that is working for you,’” Arun says.
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Courage gets rewarded
Thereon, KKR would go back to bowling those aggressive lines – targeted at the stumps. With a well-rounded attack at their disposal, they finished the IPL with 110 wickets – the highest for any team – and four of their bowlers finished among the top-20 wicket-takers.
Despite the attacking line and length, there is another figure that stands out. KKR delivered 597 dot deliveries, 27 more than the second-best Rajasthan Royals. Playing most of their matches at Eden Gardens, a venue known for high scores, their bowlers went at a run rate of only 9.16.
It was also a reward for employing a horses-for-course policy. With six bowling options available, KKR didn’t let reputations come in the way of making the best use of their resources. It meant there were matches when Rana and Arora bowled more overs than Starc, particularly when the Australian was struggling to get used to the conditions.
“Any of the six could finish their quota and it was totally up to the captain as to who he went with. We were not looking at the names, whoever did well on that day would finish their quota. We were absolutely okay with being hit, because in T20s, batsmen will go after the bowlers,” Arun says.
Spin punch
As much as the impact made by their seamers, Kolkata gained big time from their two mystery spinners Varun Chakravarthy (21 wickets) and Sunil Narine (17), who took 38 wickets between them. In a departure from the past, when teams were prepared to play at least one of them out without losing a wicket, the Impact Player rule meant batsmen came out swinging against them. And in a season where several spinners were taken to the cleaners, Varun and Narine were an exception. While the former went at 8.04 runs an over, Narine conceded only 6.69 runs an over.
“Both are attacking bowlers, so to make them do anything different wouldn’t have worked. So like the pacers, they also attacked the stumps. Varun did it more than Narine, which showed how bold he was. The mindset becomes more important… Bowling not to get hit is a lot different from bowling to get wickets. Like Starc, even Varun was going for runs initially, but once you get into the mindset of going for wickets, it becomes easy,” Arun says.
Nurture Rana
Though Starc walked away with the kudos after standout performances in Qualifier I and the final, Rana and Arora too were impressive. Rana, especially, looks a promising prospect for India to invest in.
“Rana has got pace, control and a good slower one. It is a good combination to have. But having talent is one thing. Knowing how to use it, depending on the circumstances, is another aspect. Through the IPL, he has matured a lot. The first match, where he bowled well in the last over and won us the game, improved his confidence. He has been able to translate that confidence into performance. Now you need to nurture him, not just technically and tactically, but also in terms of diet and fitness that complements his bowling,” Arun adds.
