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Talking Points - Should Piyush Chawla have bowled the last over?
Thursday, 10 May 2018 - 13:30 | Views - 728

Why was Piyush Chawla given the last over?

Captains generally do not bowl a spinner in the final two overs of a T20 innings. You don't want someone tossing the ball up when batsmen are swinging at everything. But perhaps the KKR captain Dinesh Karthik was aware that this IPL season, spinners (9.40 per over in 11.1 overs) had been more economical than pacers (11.10 an over in 113.5 overs) in the final two overs of an innings. However, apart from the skewed sample sizes, spinners have also been used at the death largely when sides have already lost a lot of wickets, and not when they are on a rampage.

Karthik may also have thought that Chawla was the right man to bowl at Ben Cutting, who has a much better strike rate against pace (172.50) than spin (118.33). What he did not expect, though, was for Chawla to bowl a long hop and a couple of flat length balls, and concede 22 runs in the 20th over. When Chawla slowed it up, however, he exposed Cutting's lack of timing against spin, but the damage was done.

Knight Riders need more from their wristies

Wristspinners have played a key role this season, but Knight Riders have not got enough from their two. Kuldeep Yadav and Chawla have been among the four most expensive legspinners this tournament. The other two are Karn Sharma and Imran Tahir, who have both lost their place in the Chennai Super Kings team. Of all the wristspinners who have played 10+ games for their side, Kuldeep and Chawla are easily the most expensive. Chawla has just eight wickets, the joint-lowest of all the bowlers in that group with Yuzvendra Chahal, while Kuldeep's 11 is a lower tally than those of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mayank Markande. Against Mumbai, Kuldeep and Chawla went for a combined total of 91 off seven overs.

What does the big win margin mean for the points table?

Mumbai's net run-rate jumps from 0.070 to 0.529, the highest of all teams. That means that if Mumbai beat Rajasthan Royals in the next game, then one win from their next two could be enough to qualify. Knight Riders' net run-rate has slipped from 0.145 to -0.359, but Royals, whose NRR is -0.552, still need a big win against Chennai Super Kings on May 10 to surpass them.

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