KKR spinners trump DC counterparts in a battle of wits


The official IPL website asked spectators to vote on which of the competing teams had the superior spin attack halfway through the first innings of play. With players like Varun and Narine in one corner and Kuldeep and Axar in the other, the question was directly related to one of the match's fascinating subplots. The vote was exactly 50/50 at the mid-inning break. Following a strong start in the Powerplay (79/1) by the KKR top order, DC's spin trio managed to hold the visitors to 204, which appeared to be about average. When Axar and Faf du Plessis, with two set hitters in the middle and seven wickets at their disposal, cut the target to 69 runs off 41 balls, it appeared insufficient. At this point, Narine's cunning and Varun's came into play, causing a collapse from 136/3 to 160/8, with both players sharing the five wickets that fell in the collapse. Comparison of spin attacks: DC vs. KKR (Match #48) KKR 12 6 7.91 7/5 Team Overs Wkts ER 4s/6s conceded DC 11 4 8.63 8/3 Anukul Roy, who was making his first appearance of the season, was a wise choice prior to them. Despite beginning both overs with boundaries, he bowled well with the new ball, giving up just 15 runs in the Powerplay in two overs. Additionally, he used an arm ball to remove the threatening Abhishek Porel from the second ball of his opening over. On the night, KKR spinners on average bowled marginally quicker, straighter, and shorter than DC spinners. 76% of deliveries from KKR spinners were shorter than the 5 meter mark for which they bagged 5/70 at 7.50/over. In comparison, DC spinners bowled 61% of their deliveries in this zone but did not add anything to their wickets tally and conceded at 8.29/over.