IPL 2020: Can KKR survive Mumbai Indians' lethal pace trio at Abu Dhabi?
Mumbai Indians have a rather simple strategy when it comes to their bowling. Unleash their three-pronged pace attack — Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and James Pattinson — on the opposition and take it from there. It might be a simple strategy but's also proved to be very effective. Out of the seven matches, the opposition has survived without giving a wicket only once. In fact, five of the other six times, the three bowlers between them have picked up at least two wickets.
It's why coach Mahela Jayawardene is loath to change even if the pitches are gradually becoming slower. "Fast bowlers still have a bigger role to play in this competition... be it in the powerplay, middle overs and the backend," he said ahead of their match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday. "So, trying to keep that balance as long as they are making contributions, penetrating through the opponent batting line-up, it does not matter what kind of surfaces we play on," he said.
It's true. They have played on all types of surfaces in the three venues but Bumrah (11 wickets at an rpo of 7.92 and a strike rate of 15.27), Boult (11, 8.01 and 1.90) and Pattinson (9, 8.25 and 17.44) are adequate at doing what they do. Their pace, movement, if any, off the wicket and variation have troubled batsmen in all the seven matches.
Why have they been so successful? One only needs to look back to what happened the previous time these two sides faced off. Chasing 196, Kolkata Knight Riders needed a quick start. But all three had a set plan and stuck to it all night. The way they hounded Narine — short and into his rib-cage — will live long in the memory. Their combined figures of 12-1-87-6 under the Abu Dhabi lights was a demonstration of perfect T20 fast-bowling and they will hope to repeat it against the same opposition in the same venue.
It's something that KKR have to absolutely avoid if they are to have any chance of moving up the table after Friday night. For starters, they need to figure out the issue of who will open the innings with Shubman Gill. He has walked out with three partners in seven innings (Narine, Rahul Tripathi and Tom Banton). That much uncertainty at the top will only feed negative energy. It could also have an adverse effect on Gill, whose 254 runs is the highest in the team. That only one other batsman has more than 150 runs (Eoin Morgan) reflects poorly on the top-order.
They have also not helped their cause by hiding Andre Russell too low in the line-up. He has only faced 50 balls so far, too low for a bonafide T20 batting star. The key to success for them is trying to remedy this middle-order muddle apart from getting more from the likes of Pat Cummins, who is the most expensive foreigner ever. He cost `15.5 crores and it's fair to say KKR are still waiting for him to start performing. In the seven matches so far, the Australian has picked up only two wickets at an average of 111, with a strike rate of 78. There is also the continuing mystery over Kuldeep Yadav, an India international who has been consigned to an afterthought.
The one silver-lining for KKR has been the performances of the young Indian bowling core of Shivam Mavi, M Prasidh Krishna and Kamlesh Nagarkoti. Between them, they have accounted for 13 wickets even if all of them have been a touch expensive.
On paper, MI, who have won their last four games, start favourites.