CHENNAI: Less than a week ago, when Chennai Super Kings were reeling from three losses in as many games, one of their biggest issues was the lack of wickets and impact from their spinners, in particular, Noor Ahmad. The Afghan spinner has been one of their mainstays in recent years and has been critical to their success.
This season, however, he looked like a pale shadow of himself until Tuesday. On a slowish black soil pitch against Kolkata Knight Riders, the left-arm wrist spinner took three wickets for 21 runs, helping Chennai seal a 32-run win — their second of the season. Even in the previous match against Delhi Capitals on Saturday, Noor was amongst the wickets, taking 1/36.
How did the turnaround happen? One of the key factors was obviously the pitch they played on Tuesday, but there was more to it. Even as CSK was searching for their first win, Noor was working with Assistant bowling coach Sridharan Sriram and former captain MS Dhoni. “I think it was good, the wicket helped today, there was a little bit of boredom for him. The other wickets were quite flat. Today, he was a little bit slower through the air. There was more side spin on the ball, and there was more drop. So that's something he's been working on. Even MS had a long chat with him during one of the practice sessions, getting him to bowl more leg break. So I think it was very helpful today and the results were there to show,” Sriram explained after the match on Tuesday.
The conversation was largely about getting some deviation off the surface, especially when Noor was relying heavily on his googly so far. Working along with Dhoni and Sriram, Noor slowed down and adjusted according to the surface on Tuesday. The three wickets he got said it all. The first one was a leg spinner that came back into Cam Green and cleaned the stumps. The second one was a tad fuller and wider, too, Rinku Singh, who could not get enough reach to clear the long-on fielder. The third and final wicket was a low full-toss, which Ramandeep Singh tried to reverse sweep and found the fielder.
“I think to be able to get some deviation off the surface is very important. I think that is what he's been working on. Everybody accepts there are going to be days when the wickets are going to be very flat. But still looking to be aggressive, putting revs on the ball and getting the ball to spin will definitely help him a lot, and that's where you can induce mistakes. Because once you start to get defensive, then the batters are going to get on top of you,” Sriram said on Noor’s spell.
The other aspect of his turnaround is having a trusted spinner in Akeal Hosein. In the first few games, the West Indian spinner was warming the bench as Chennai was still figuring out their best possible XI in the absence of Dewald Brevis. From the moment he came into the XI — during the Delhi match — he has had an impact on the team as well as Noor. On Tuesday, too, Hosein, who came on to bowl in the powerplay, had a conversation with Noor about bowling right lengths on the black soil pitch during the strategic time-out.
“I think they complement each other very well,” Sriram said. “They both communicate with each other very well as well. They have a good understanding of camaraderie between them. Today, actually, Akeal was the one who went and told Noor about the exact length. That in-between length that he needed to bowl. In his first over, it was either a bit short or a touch full. But then, once he found that in-between length, I think Noor was relatively unplayable. Credit to Akeal as well because I was a part of that conversation in the strategic timeout where Akeal was telling Noor about that in-between length where the ball was just holding enough. And hitting down the ground was not that easy,” the assistant bowling coach added.